The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1323379
Inside NEW Y EAR! Happy & Healthy Wishing You A Wednesday, december 30, 2020 PIKE PUBLISHING VOLUme 150, nUmber 53 $1.00 24 PaGes FOUr secTIOns TWO InserTs PeTersbUrG, In 47567-0068 NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ����������������� A1-6 Church �������������� B1-3 Obituaries ���������������B5 Home Life ������������C1-6 History ������������������� C2 Opinion ������������� C4-5 Winter Sports ������D1-2 School ��������������������D4 Classifieds ���������� D4-5 Legal Notices ������ D4-5 USPS 604-34012 Pike Gibson water rates to increase 15% By Andy Heuring Pike-Gibson water customers will face a 15 percent increase in their water bills starting in January 2021. A legal notice from Pike-Gibson Water Corp. states on December 21, 2020 the board of directors voted to approve a 15 percent increase in wa- ter rates and charges. The increase will be effective beginning with the January 2021 billing cycle. According to the legal notice, a customer using 2,000 gallons or less now pays $ 9.91, but that will increase to $11.40. The next 8,000 gallons now costs $ 9.28 and will in- crease to $10.67. The next 15,000 gallon price currently is $7.54 and will increase to $ 8.67. By Andy Heuring Winslow Town Councilmen and represen- tatives of the Patoka Township Fire District met Monday night and worked their way paragraph by paragraph through a proposed contract. The contract would call for Patoka Township to provide fire protection for the Town of Winslow in 2021. "We aren't going to make any decisions or take any action on this tonight," said Winslow Council member Debra Lamb. Over a period of about 90 minutes, Winslow's Town Council went over each para- graph with Patoka Township Fire District members Charles Barr and Ed Schuessler, and Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Shelton. A copy of the proposed contract can be seen at https://bit.ly/3aT3EaU. The two main sticking points the two sides worked through involved response require- ments and costs. There were a few smaller items where they changed a word or two and then agreed on them. The first involved a clause in the contract on response. It states: Patoka agrees to provide at least 10 responders within 10 minutes on 80 percent of fire extinguishment calls within corporation limits of the Town of Winslow as minimal staffing. Minimum staffing includes members responding from the automatic aid agreement established by Patoka. Staffing for fire extinguishment is Indiana certified at least to Firefighter II status. " I disagree with that. Ten within 10 min- utes on 80 percent. You aren't getting that now with your department. How do you expect me to provide it? " asked Barr. "This is me addressing the problems we have with our own department," said council president Josh Popp, who wrote the contract. "I probably will never agree with that. I think it is premature to be discussing this. Again, it is in the contract, does this mean we go to court? " asked Barr. Winslow mulls fire protection contract with Patoka Twp. By Andy Heuring Pike County is in the orange on the Indiana COVID map, but the county is teetering on returning to red, the highest level. Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish said in an email to county of- ficials on Tuesday, "We are not sure at this point if we will stay on orange for the week when the map is updat- ed on Wednesday or if we will move back to red." "The Indiana State Dept. of Health (ISDH) is changing the way they calculate the positivity rate starting Wednesday. It will be close, but we are hoping to remain orange." Pike County, just last week, had returned to orange from red. The total number of cases in Pike County as of Tuesday was 895, with four new cases on the day. There have been 85 new cases in the last week in Pike County, which is 15 less new cases than the previous week. Gladish said there are 116 active cases in Pike County. Pike County's death toll increased to 24, as there was one death record- ed on December 24. Statewide cases, deaths and hos- pitalizations are trending downward since the Thanksgiving spike of a few weeks ago. The record of new cases for one day in Indiana was 8,436 on December 2. That fell to 5,907 on December 12, then 4,683 on December 22 and 4,020 on De- cember 28. Deaths in one day peaked at 89 on December 11. It fell to 76 on De- cember 21 and 29 on December 28. COVID rates may force Pike County back into red See FIRE on page 6 See COVID on page 2 See REVIEW on page 4 See WINSLOW on page 2 JANUARY • An Ohio man had a coughing fit, causing him to run off the road and hit a tree on the south side of Highway 56, just east of High- way 257, in the early morning New Year's Eve hours. Michael Roy, of New Carlisle, suffered nine broken ribs in the accident. • Petersburg City councilmen discussed whether or not they should permanently close Trafzer St. at Highway 61. The Indiana De- partment of Transportation is reconstructing Highway 61 and gave Petersburg the option to disconnect Trafzer St. from Highway 61. IN- DOT recommended Petersburg close it due to line of sight problems. Petersburg decided to have councilmen study it before making a decision. • Pike Central's wrestling team won the Sa- lem Super Six Tournament, going 5 -0 in the sextet dual meeting. Jon Cannon was named the Most Outstanding wrestler in the tourna- ment. He also recorded the fast pin in the tour- nament in just 11 seconds. • Flu season hit Pike County hard last win- ter. On Wednesday, January 22, the percent- age of absent from school jumped to 23 per- cent at Pike Central High School, 15 percent at Pike Central Middle School, 11.3 percent at Petersburg Elementary and 9.3 percent at Winslow Elementary. Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Blake said there is no hard and fast number for when they will cancel school. She said when the attendance rate drops in the low 80s, she will start considering it. • Petersburg Police Cpl. Kyle Mills was giv- en a Life Saver Award by Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch. Mills saved Susan Holman's life in December when she was choking. Holman was eating while driving and became choked. She said she could not breathe. She then no- ticed Mills' police car parked along Illinois St. So she drove to it, jumped out of the car and approached Mills. He recognized the problem and performed the Heimlich Maneuver, dis- lodging the food from Holman's throat and al- lowing her to breathe. • Five Petersburg Elementary School robot- ics teams qualified for the state finals. Those teams were Pink Popcorn: Zayne Bell, Ellie Arnold, Joshua Smith and Tyler Collins; Flam- ing Dragons: Llinkyn Knust, Draven Barrett, Callie Craig, Eli Keeker and Landon Harvey; Dabbing Einsteins: Josh Harker, Jacob Har- ker, Jackson Brkhart, Noah Berry and Tuck- er Loveless; Sour Power: Karly Gideon, Kade Benner, Channing sorgius, Zane DeCoursey and Keira Blaize; and the Pink Pegasus: Elle Readle, Kady Gideon, Avery Meece, Eva Cox 2020: A year of constant disruptions Family loses home in Christmas Day fire By Andy Heuring A Christmas day fire destroyed the resi- dence of a Petersburg family. Jason and Dar- lene Sisk lived in the house with their daugh- ter, Shelby. The house is owned by Chad West- ern and was being purchased by the Sisks. Petersburg Fire Chief Ross Elmore said the Sisks weren't home when the fire started. Ja- son Sisk said their family was at Jacob Sisk's house in Petersburg for Christmas. His daugh- ter, Shelby, had left there and was going to an- other Christmas celebration and stopped by the house to pickup something on her way. El- more said when she got out of her vehicle, she heard smoke alarms going off. She went inside and saw the drapes and couch were on fire. She called her parents and they called 911. Flames were coming through the roof when Petersburg fire arrived. They were paged out at 2:22 p.m. Elmore said "It was pretty much destroyed. We salvaged a few items from the bedrooms, but most things were destroyed." He said the fire was mostly contained to the living room and carport area of the house, but there was heavy smoke and heat damage throughout the house. Jefferson, Patoka and Harrison Township of Knox County assisted Petersburg. Firemen No one injured in Main St. crash No one was injured in a two-car crash at the intersection of Highways 61 and 57 on Christmas Eve. Petersburg Police Sgt. Chad McClellan said Kimberly Dunigan, 52, of 705 E. Cherry St., Peters- burg, was driving south on Highway 61 and entered the intersection as the traffic light was chang- ing to yellow. According to McClellan's report, Sharon L. Cannon, 59, of 4995 Coomer Ln., Petersburg, was driving east on Highway 57. Witnesses, according to Sgt. McClellan, said Cannon entered the in- tersection when the light was red and "showed no sign of slowing or stopping." Her 2002 Toyota Camry slammed into the passenger door of Dunigan's 2019 Ford Fusion. Cannon's vehicle came to rest on the sidewalk, and Dunigan's vehicle was spun left and came to rest facing east on Highway 57 Neither were injured and the damaged was estimated to be $2,500 to $5,000. Petersburg firemen spray water on a fire that rages on a house at 309 North St., Petersburg, on Christmas Day. Jason, Dar- lene and Shelby Sisk lived in the house owned by Chad Western. The Sisks were at their son Jacob's house celebrating Christ- mas when the fire started. It was noticed by Shelby as she stopped by the house to pick up something.