The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1325545
B-2 Wednesday, Januar y 6, 2021 The Press-Dispatch There are two American Red Cross blood drives sched- uled in Pike County during the month of January. The first is set for 2 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 19 in the Winslow Community Center. The sec- ond is set for 2 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 27 at the Otwell Miller Academy. The American Red Cross and National Football League are teaming up this January, during National Blood Donor Month, to urge individuals, especially those who have re- covered from COVID-19 —to give blood and to help tackle the national convalescent plas- ma shortage. Right now, more donors are needed to help hos- pital patients. During this critical time, the Red Cross and NFL are thrilled to offer all those who come to donate an opportunity to receive a special thank you this month. Those who come to donate blood or platelets this January will be automati- cally entered to win two tick- ets to next year's Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles. Individuals can schedule an appointment to give blood today with the American Red Cross by visiting RedCross Blood.org, using the Red- Cross Blood Donor App, or calling 800 RED CROSS. "Blood and Plasma donors who have recovered from COVID-19 may have the pow- er to help critically ill patients currently battling the virus," said Cyndi Dahl, regional do- nor services executive for the Red Cross River Valley Blood Services Region. "With hospi- tal distribution for convales- cent plasma increasing about 250 percent since October, these generous donations are vital in helping to save lives throughout the winter—a time that is often challenging to collect enough blood prod- ucts for those in need." AS COVID-19 cases have risen across the U.S., so has the need for convalescent plasma —leading to a short- age of this potentially lifesav- ing blood product. "Individu- als who have recovered from COVID-19 may have antibod- ies in their plasma that could provide a patient's immune system the boost it needs to beat the virus," stated a re- lease from the Red Cross. COVID-19 survivors can help by giving plasma or whole blood. Blood drives at Winslow, Otwell By Andy Heuring Pike County returned to the red zone for COVID last Wednesday. Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish said Pike County will stay in the red zone for a minimum of another week and probably longer. She said the infection rate probably still qualifies the county for the red zone. If the positivity rate falls below the red zone rate, Pike will remain there until they have been be- low that rate for two weeks. Gladish said Pike County should get their first doses of the COVID vaccine on Janu- ary 11. The first doses will be for longterm care, healthcare workers and front line emer- gency workers. She said the local health dept. has not been given the guidelines on who gets the vaccine yet. She said they won't get a large number of vaccines at first. "We are urg- ing people to be patient. Not everyone is going to get it at once. As more groups are an- nounced and eligible to get it, we will announce through the media on how to sign up and get them," said Gladish. She said registration will take place online. Gladish said, so far, the numbers of new cases are staying pretty steady, with a slight increase. Gladish said they have not seen as big of a spike in new cases following Christmas and New Year's as they did following Thanksgiv- ing. As of Monday, there were 990 confirmed cases in Pike County. That is up from 895 last week. The 95 new cases since last week is 10 more than the number of new cases the week before. As of Monday, there were 104 active cases in Pike Coun- ty. There have been 25 deaths so far in Pike County. The last COVID death was on Decem- ber 24. Statewide, the numbers are starting to trend down after a small spike after Christmas. New cases in a day peaked at 6,450 on December 30. That dropped to 6,296 on Decem- ber 31, and 2,977 on January 2, but went back up to 2,470 on January 4. Deaths for a day peaked at 90 on December 29, and fell to 51 on December 31. They went back up to 60 on January 2 and dropped to 29 on January 4. Hospitalizations are trending down. A record of 3,441 peo- ple were in the hospital on De- cember 1, that fell to 2,932 by December 19 and 2,655 by Jan- uary 1, but went up to 2,907 on January 4. In Indiana, 70 percent of the ventilators are available and 24 percent of the ICU beds are still available. County returns to COVID red zone See REVIEW on page 4 REVIEW Continued from page 1 Karan Thacker, AFSP Owner 704 E. Haub Street Haubstadt, IN 47639 THACKER TAX SERVICE 906 Blackfoot Drive Fort Branch, IN 47648 812-615-0071 (offi ce) 812-789-3852 (cell) kthacker01@gmail.com Pregnant... or think you are? Call:1-877-257-1084 or Locally Call: 1-812-354-2814 • Free pregnancy testing • Free counseling and info. on pregnancy options. • Confi dential counseling for women & men who are suff ering from post-abortion syndrome. • Residential Care • Health and assistance referrals. • Training and education. • Assistance in getting baby and maternity clothes washpcc@sbcglobal.net www.washingtonpregnancycenter.com Is it TIME for your next eye exam? 8–7 . Mon. 8–noon . Tues. 10–7 . Wed. 8–5 . Thur. 8–5 . Fri. Locally Owned and Operated Dr. Clint Shoultz 715 S. 9th Street, Petersburg 812-354-9400 STUDENTS Continued from page 1 still on. However, that could change quickly. "We gave it (cancelling sports) a lot of consideration. We have some teams already hit with quaran- tines through the holidays. If we had stopped it or restrict- ed ECAs (extra curricular activities), then when they came back, they couldn't im- mediately start up again. They would have to get practices in and that would have delayed them another week. We have a lot of teams that have end of season tournaments and con- ference meets in the next few weeks. A fter looking at who had already been quarantined, we thought we could go ahead. That, combined with the in- tent to be back in school on the 14th, we decided to leave events as is." Blake added, "Other schools are leaving their ECAS in place. You don't al- ways want to do what others are doing, but it would have hurt our kids with their com- petitiveness." Pike County School Board is having a special meet- ing "work session" at 6 p.m. Thursday, January 7 at Pike Central High School gym, in the pool area. Agenda items include review of the pool proj- ect and other CPF items. Blake said work sessions are board discussions, which are open to the public, but no comments are accepted and no board action or votes are taken. COUNCIL Continued from page 1 first two phases will include taking the highway down to the dirt and replacing storm drain, curbs and sidewalks, as well as the road base and surface. Petersburg will have to pay for the project originally, but will be reimbursed. Klipsch said because the City is go- ing to have several other proj- ects going on in the next two years, they are going to have to be careful how the projects are scheduled in order to have enough funds on hand. Fire chief Ross Elmore said on Monday they were notified members of their fire depart- ment who were medical re- sponders and on the front lines of dealing with people could sign up for the COVID vaccine. He said Assistant Chief Jon Craig was sched- uled to get the vaccine on Tuesday at Good Samaritan in Vincennes. Councilman voted to write off $1,845.42 in old sewer bills and $241.56 in old water bills. "We are going to continue to try and collect these, we just can't carry them forward as assets," said Klipsch. He added, considering the year many people have had with COVID, those amounts are better than he expected. Police Chief Chuck Baumgart said a temporary re- pair to the police station roof was holding. But they needed to get someone to get in the at- tic and see what, if any, repairs needed to be made. Councilman Jody Hoover asked what was going on with a mobile home at the south edge of town on Highway 57. She said she thought it had been condemned, but it looked like someone was working on it. Code Enforcement Officer Kyle Mills said he and Fire Chief Elmore had inspect- ed it and condemned it. But the owner asked if he could have some time to try and make improvements to re- pair it and make it meet code. They agreed to give 30 days. Mills said they would be rein- specting it sometime in mid- to late-January. The Pike County United Way distributed $ 35,000 in Deployment Grants in 2020 to nine local organizations. "Together, united, we can in- spire hope and create opportu- nities for a better tomorrow," said Krista Robinette, director of Pike County United Way. The $ 35,000 was given to the following organizations: *Boy Scouts-Buffalo Trace Council- $2,500 *Bread of Life Minis- try- $4,000 *Generations (Meals on Wheels) - $ 3,000 *Jefferson Township Fire- $1,500 *Junior Achieve- ment- $2,000 *Pike Co. Christian Assis- tance- $15,000 *Senior and Family Ser- vices- $2,000 *TRI-CAP- $4,000 *T TR Haven Over the Hill- top- $1,000 Pike County United Way distributes $35,000 in grants Fire destroys Hadley's truck A New Year's Eve fire destroyed Brad Hadley's truck. Hadley said he was driving on CR 300 N. and noticed smoke coming from the front of his Dodge Ram pickup at about 10 a.m. He said he had been having trouble with it overheating. He thought it was a faulty thermostat. When he saw the smoke, he pulled over and opened the hood. "There was one flame. Instead of pouring my glass of tea on it, I took a towel and tried to put it out with that," said Hadley. It didn't work. Flames had engulfed the cab and engine department of the truck by the time the fire department arrived. Petersburg firemen extinguished the fire, but not before it destroyed the truck. By Andy Heuring Volunteer bell ringers and Pike County area donors had a record year for the Salvation Army in Pike County. The red kettle campaign in 2020 raised $7,429.42 from the two loca- tions in Pike County. Cal Biddle, bell ringing chairman for Pike County, said it is the most ever raised in Pike County. It topped the previous best of $ 6,679.68 col- lected in 2003 by about $750. Biddle said in 2003 they rang at three locations: Voyles IGA, Jay C Store and Pamida. This year, they rang at Dollar Gen- eral in Petersburg and Peters- burg Hardware. Money collected locally goes to the Pike-Gibson chap- ter of the Salvation Army to help people in those counties. Below is a list of volunteers who rang bells this year: Fred Cook, Don Southwood, Chuck Fraley, Janet Shoultz, Charles Gray, Cal Biddle, Betsy Trav- elsted, Ayden Young, Hope Barnett, Erica Thomas, Brad Smith and family, John Burns, Elizabeth Heath, Kay Benja- min, Pike Central National Honor Society, Pike Central Key Club, Andy Heuring, Gin- ni and Buddy Robling, Linda Carey, Jim Ooley, Lois Corn, Jim Loveless, Jim Johns, Del- mas Culbertson, Judy Beck, Tom Fisher, Larry Seymour, Krystal Armstrong, Tere- sa Houtch, Kathy Freeland, Lowell Thomas, Nola Gartin, Gene and Judy Keepes, Gary Leavitt, Sandy Houchins, Rhonda and Tim Robinette, and Sue Ann Burns. Bell ringers raise record $7,429 for Salvation Army dy Igel. Some filled the back of pickup trucks with fam- ily and friends. Senior Dai- sy Ivers was driven in the pa- rade by fellow National Guard members in a giant armored Humvee. • The sixth case of COVID was recorded on May 23. • The Pike County School board voted to move $1 million in the Rainy Day fund. In pre- vious years, they had been us- ing the Rainy Day fund to stay in the black. JUNE • A seven-page report from the Pike County Prosecutor's office about their investiga- tion of the fatal shooting of Mi- chael Faires exonerated Pike County Deputy Paul Collier. "The reports, interviews, pho- tos, transcripts and body cam- era footage were diligently re- viewed and support a finding that Deputy Paul Collier acted reasonably and within his du- ties as law enforcement." • A 38 -year-old Bicknell man was arrested on a charge of child solicitation, a level 4 felony. Jeremy Westfall chat- ted with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl asking if she did sexual things and saying, "you sure you're not going to turn me in if we do stuff," ac- cording to Petersburg Sgt. Chad McCLellan. Westfall was arrested when he texted Sgt. McClellan, who was posing as the 13-year-old girl, a picture of the Gil Hodg- es mural from the Sunoco sta- tion in Petersburg, notifying her he was in Petersburg. • Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch placed a wreath be- side the 1990 Tornado Me- morial, honoring the victims of the June 2 tornado on the 30th anniversary of it. • The Pike County Fair Board announced all pub- lic events during the 4-H Fair would be cancelled due to COVID. "Basically every- thing in person is cancelled. No rides, no amphitheater events," said Fair Board pres- ident Kara Willis. The majority of the 4-H proj- ects were done virtually. • "Red underwear and one white sock," was the descrip- tion of the clothing a man flee- ing police was wearing. The chase started at about 2 p.m. when OnStar contacted the Pike County Sheriff's Dept. telling them a black Buick was driving towards Petersburg on Highway 61 from Vincennes that had been stolen from the Casey's in Vincennes. Petersburg Officer Kyle Mills located it driving south on Highway 57. Mills and State Trooper John Davis chased it into the Patoka Riv- er bottoms, just south of the Pike-Gibson line. The driver fled into the woods, jumped a ditch and got away. A few min- utes later, a man called police about a man that came out of a farm pond wearing red under- wear and one white sock and stole a pickup truck from that residence. • It had been 23 days since the last case of COVID was re- corded in Pike County. • Pike Central began the