The Press-Dispatch
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739 S. State Rd. 61 • Winslow 812-354-8701 AUTO • HOME • LIFE • BUSINESS • ANNUITIES • FARM One agent for all your insurance needs. AUTO • HOME • LIFE • BUSINESS • ANNUITIES • FARM One agent for all your insurance needs. AUTO • HOME • LIFE • BUSINESS • ANNUITIES • FARM One agent for all your insurance needs. A-4 Wednesday, December 30, 2020 The Press-Dispatch REVIEW Continued from page 1 and Loralei Hoskins. Pike Central Middle School team of Pink Power, consist- ing of Noah Meece, Elia Ar- nold, Parker Knust and Jaco- by Smith, also qualified for the state finals. • Pike Central's senior 138 -pounder Blake Henson was conference champion af- ter entering the Pocket Ath- letic Conference meet seed- ed fifth. • Jason Bottoms resigned as Winslow Fire Chief. Rick Mathias was named interim fire chief. • Petersburg Police Cpl. Scott Wright was sentenced to three weekends in jail and one year on probation after plead- ing guilty to a level 6 felony of official misconduct by a pub- lic servant and three counts of theft. Wright took money from the evidence cage that had been confiscated during arrests. •Indiana Conservation Of- ficer Ken Tincher and Pike County Chief Deputy Sheriff Dallas Killian used a boat to evacuate six people and two dogs from the Dodge City ar- ea. Killian and Tincher made three trips to get the people out. The White River had surged to 25.1 feet, which is nine feet above floodstage and had surround several res- idences. •Adair Kabrick was crowned the 2020 Pike Cen- tral Winter Homecoming Queen. • Pike Central standout basketball player Adrienne (Seitz) Runyan was named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame 2020 Womens' Silver Anniversary Team. Runyan helped lead Pike Central to four sectional and region- al championships and was named to several all-state teams in the early 1990s. Her senior year, she averaged 18.4 points a game and scored 1,480 points in her Pike Cen- tral career. A fter graduation from Pike Central, Seitz played for the University of Southern Indi- ana, helping lead them to na- tional runners-up in the 1997 Division II championships. The Screaming Eagles were 30 -2 that season. • A gun rights advocacy group formed in Pike County after several pieces of legisla- tion were proposed at the state level to restrict gun owners' right. Andrew Porter and Ja- cob Russell helped the group start. It grew to more than 500 members in less than a week. The group attended two Pike County Commissioners' meet- ings asking them to support gun sanctuary zones. The commissioners eventually passed a resolution support- ing gun rights. FEBRUARY • Attendance was normaliz- ing in Pike County Schools fol- lowing being closed down for two days. Dr. Suzanne Blake said the absence rate spiked at nearly 27 percent at the high school and 17.8 percent at the Petersburg Elementary School. By the next week that had dropped to about six per- cent absence. • Jill Hyneman was named the new Pike County Cham- ber of Commerce Executive Director. • Three people were in- jured in a crash at the inter- section of Highways 257 and 64. Richard Dobyn, of Wheat- land, and his wife were driving east on Highway 64 when Rob- ert Marks, 46, of Jasper, drove in front of them from Highway 57 and their vehicles collided. All three were taken to the hospital with non-threaten- ing injuries. • Daniel Wiscaver, 61, of 7449 E. SR 56, Winslow was arrested on a federal warrant as a part of a round-up of 15 people federal marshals claim were involved with the Grim Reapers in distributing meth- amphetamine. •There were no opposed races in the Spring primary in Pike County. •The Town of Winslow Fire Department was gifted a fire truck by the Posey Coun- ty community of Pilot. It was an early 1980s truck with a 700 -gallon water capacity. • Pike Central had sev- en music students advance to the state finals in the Indi- ana State School Music Asso- ciation's Solo and Ensemble. They were soloists Evan Mc- Guire on French horn, Wyatt Luff on baritone saxophone, Hunter Willis on percussion and Amelia Bailey on French horn, and the clarinet trio of Emma Hunt, Izzy Luker and Bailey Rainey. • Sam Henson won a $2,500 scholarship to Vincennes Uni- versity in the Skills USA re- gional competition at Vin- cennes University. Joel Hen- son won a $1,000 scholarship and Alec Frederick won sec- ond place in the CNC division and $1,000 scholarship to Vin- cennes University. • Pike Central basketball standout Tyler Toopes joined the exclusive 1,000 -point club at Oakland City University. Toopes topped the 1,000 -point milestone when he scored 26 points against Salem Universi- ty. He became just one of six people to score 1,000 points at OCU in just two seasons. In his senior year, Toopes av- eraged 24.6 points. • Pike Central diver Jenna Meyer qualified for the Indi- ana State Finals in diving as she placed 10th in Blooming- ton South swim regional. • Pike Central's Lauren Vaughn was named to the girls' basketball All Pocket Athletic Conference team. • Pike County School teach- er Ivan Mason was mourned by a crowd of more than 1,500 people. Mason, who was in his 40th year of teaching in Winslow and Pike Central Middle School, didn't show up for school on Thursday, Feb- ruary 20. Pike Central Mid- dle School principal Mindy Keeker said Mason was usu- ally the first teacher at school. They called to check on him and couldn't make contact with him. So they called fam- ily members, who went to his house and found he had died. Mason had kept the score book to Pike Central's bas- ketball team for decades. He had kept score just two days before. • Nine people escaped a fast moving fire that destroyed the house they lived in. Stan- ley and Trisha Smith owned the house located on CR 300 E., near Scottsburg. The fire broke out at about 3 a.m. • A major water line break at the intersection of Highway 57 and Lakeview Drive caused a boil order to be put in place. Water from the broken line broke through the black road surface and sprayed high into the air. Due to cold tempera- tures, the spray froze, causing slick and hazardous road con- ditions. • A Petersburg man and his four-year-old daughter es- caped serious injury when the van they were in ran off the Highway 356 overpass, above I-69. The van plummeted onto I-69 below. The girl suffered a facial laceration and Gabriel Postin had a broken arm. He was also arrested on a charge of operating a vehicle while in- toxicated. • Abbi Knepp was crowned the USA National Miss Indi- ana Princess in Zionsville and represented Indiana in the na- tional pageant. • Blake Henson, at 138 pounds, and Brandon Goep- pner, at 132 pounds, were both named to the Academic All- State wrestling team. • Pike Central graduate and standout swimmer Na- talie Bohnert was named to All-Northern Sun Intercolle- giate Conference swim team. Bohnert, who swims for South- west Minnesota State Uni- versity, finished third in the 100 -yard backstroke and sec- ond in the 200 backstroke in the conference championships. MARCH • The 2020 Polar Plunge raised more than $ 87,000 as 211 people made the plunge in- to the frigged waters of Prides Creek. The Polar Plunge rais- es money for Indiana Special Olympics. • Petersburg City Coun- cil vote to adopt an ordinance closing Trafzer St. at High- way 61. The Indiana Dept. of Transportation is doing a complete rebuild of Highway 61 from Main St., Petersburg to White River. In their new design, they asked Peters- burg to close the Trafzer St. intersection due to poor vis- ibility. "I think we are doing the residents of Trafzer St. a favor," said Councilman Gary Leavitt. Mayor R.C. Klipsch said when he talked with residents who live on the west side of the hill crest of Trafzer, they said they cannot see vehicles driv- ing west on Trafzer St. when they are trying to pull from their driveways onto Tafzer. • The Petersburg Lions Club celebrated their 50th Anniversary with a get to- gether at Smokehouse BBQ. The original officers for the group were: president Carl Swift, first vice-president Jewell Malone, treasurer Al Rund, secretary Don Becker, Tail Twister Stanley Nelson and Lion Tamer Don South- wood. Current officers are president Lowell Thomas, first vice-president Cal Biddle, sec- retary Keith Thomas and trea- surer Don Southwood. The Lions Club original- ly met at the Shamrock Cafe when they started in 1970. • Rick Mathias was sworn in as Fire Chief of the Winslow Fire Department at the Town Council meeting. • Dan Caudill and his two sons, Daniel and Michael, were displaced from their home when the house they lived in was destroyed by a fire. Caudill said he was work- ing in his unattached garage when he heard someone bang- ing on the door of his house yelling the house was on fire. Caudill said he ran out of the garage to see smoke and flames coming from the house. Caudill rented it from Benny Thomas, who owned the house. Caudill's two sons were not at home. Caudill said the fire was too far advanced to retrieve any- thing from it. •An Oklahoma man was ar- rested for driving 120 mph on I-69 after he passed a Depu- ty Sheriff, whose emergency lights were on. "I guess I got a little car- ried away with it," said Dustin Rhodes, of Springer, Okla., when Deputy Sheriff Jared Simmons approached him. Simmons said he was driv- ing south on I-69 when he no- ticed a vehicle approaching him at 114 mph. So he turned on his emergency lights, but the Nissan Rogue just blew by him and accelerated up to 120 mph, continuing for sev- eral miles before pulling over. •Pike County Schools closed due to COVID-19, with their last day of in-per- son classes on Friday, March 13. The would not return the rest of the school year. The In- diana state basketball tourney was cancelled for the first time since it began in 1911. All restaurants and bars were ordered closed, as well as beauty salons and barber shops. • The Pike County Court- house was closed to all but es- sential traffic. Staff in the var- ious offices staggered days to limit exposure to COVID-19. Petersburg City Hall was closed to the public. Area parks, Prides Creek and Hor- nady Park, remained open for walking and fishing, but the playgrounds were closed. • Indiana's primary was moved from their normal first Tuesday after a Monday in May date to June 2. • Petersburg and Winslow's Little League baseball pro- grams both delayed their starts indefinitely due to COVID-19. APRIL • Six people were arrest- ed after a weekend vandalism spree. Vandals using mostly a black can of spray paint, dam- aged numerous places, includ- ing: Petersburg Elementary School, multiple buildings at the Old Petersburg Gym, the soccer field, a school bus and sign, Eric Pollock's house at 1601 E. Locust St., and a ga- rage on Highway 356. They also spray painted the brick wall at the Petersburg General Baptist Church and smashed a glass pane out of their sign, spray painted three vehicles, ripped up a mailbox and threw it in the road, and cut tires on two vehicles. Sarah Hammock, 24, of Fifth St., Petersburg, was charged with two counts of aiding, inducing or causing in- stitutional criminal mischief, greater than $750 ; and aiding criminal mischief, both level 6 felonies. Five juveniles were also taken into custody. Petersburg Police Cpl. Kyle Mills said the group got to- gether "and just decided to wreak havoc." • Pike County was one of only 11 counties in Indiana to not have a confirmed case of COVID-19. • Pike County Schools an- SAME DAY SERVICE • Complete plastic lab on premises • Quality eyewear by Karen Memering, Optician • Professional eyecare by Dr. Steve Gregory • Most insurance plans accepted WE FILL ALL DOCTOR'S PRESCRIPTIONS Complete Contact Lens Care & Service *In most cases **Some restrictions apply. Call for details. 812-254-6594 Corner of Hwy. 50 & 57, Washington, IN VALLEY OPTICAL 812-254-6594 Jan. 22 — An emergency medical call in a flooded area led to the Pike County Sheriff's Department and Conservation Officers evacuating several people from the Dodge City community along the White River last Wednesday. Chief Deputy Sheriff Dallas Killian said they got a 911 call about a woman who had fallen and couldn't get back on her feet. "That was the original call." Killian said he and Conservation Officer Ken Tincher used a boat launched from a public access area near Highway 61 into the White River. They went to a residence for the emergency call. He said the residents said when the river reached a level of 25 feet it would start coming into their house. So they decided to be evacuat- ed. He said others in the area saw them and asked if they could be evacuated as well. They ended up making three trips and bringing out six people and two dogs. The White River was predicted to hit 25.1 feet at Petersburg. Floodstage is 16 feet. It crested on Friday at 24.7 just below the predicted crest. Above, Deputy Killian and CO Ken Tincher bring out Timothy Thompson and Crystal Young. March 11 — Pike Central will perform "Newsies" this weekend at 7 p.m. on Fri- day and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday in the Vance Hays Auditorium. Tickets can be purchased from any cast member or by calling 812-354-8478. The show won two Tony Awards. Based on true events, "Newsies" tells the captivating sto- ry of a band of underdogs who become unlikely heroes when they stand up to the most powerful men in New York. It is directed by Melissa Traylor. Above: Dalton Williams as Oscar Delancey, Evan Brackney as Wiesel, A J Hill as Morris Delancey, Colin Craig as Davey and Jerzey Reibold as Les, play crew mem- bers. Wiesel and his crew are selling "papes" to the Newsies. Feb. 12 — Haiden Cook, in his jean jacket and shades, is big time cool during the annual 50's Day Twist Contest last Friday at Winslow Elementary School. Continued on page 5