The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1331323
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Januar y 20, 2021 A-3 LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg NEWS BRIEFS Pike County Library hosts winter reading challenge From January 1-31, Pike County Public Library will participate in Beanstack's Fourth annual Winter Read- ing Challenge, "Books Like Us," sponsored by Simon and Schuster. The challenge is to read at least 15 books during the month of January and keep track of the reading on the Beanstack site at pikeco.beanstack.org. Thousands of li- braries across the nation will encourage their communi- ties to read a target number of 15 books. Prizes will in- clude book collections and virtual author visits. Ten win- ning libraries will each get a collection of fifty books from the "Books Like Us" collection. Pike County Public Library to host blood drive The Pike County Public Library will be hosting an American Red Cross Blood Drive on Tuesday, Feb. 23, from 1-6 p.m. at the Petersburg Branch, 1008 E. Maple Street, Petersburg. For more information, call 812-354- 6257 or email ctegmeyer@pikeco.lib.in.us. Apply for Donna Gentry Memorial Scholarship Daviess County Right to Life announced they are offer- ing a $500 Scholarship in honor of Donna Gentry to a Da- viess or Pike County High School Senior who presents the best essay to the theme "What is happening to America because of abortion? " Donna Gentry leaves a long list of accomplishments, not only in the Right to Life Movement and the Pregnan- cy Care Center, but also in other community organiza- tions. Donna Gentry, founder of the Pregnancy Care Cen- ter, touched many lives. This Scholarship is one way the local Right to Life Organization would like to see her leg- acy carried on. This Scholarship is open to all high school seniors in Da- viess and Pike counties, and they must also be a resident of Daviess or Pike County, and will need to verify the col- lege of their choice for the Fall of 2021. Applications must be postmarked no later than Friday, April 9, 2021. Contestants are to research, write, and present an origi- nal pro-life essay developed from the theme: "What is hap- pening to America because of Abortion? " The essay must be at least 500 words in length and not more than 550. Applications are available from your local high school guidance counselor or from the Daviess County Right to Life web site www.daviesscountyrtl.com. When applica- tions are completed they can be mailed to Daviess County Right to Life, P.O. Box 41, Washington, IN 47501. OCU offering Good Neighbor Scholarship The Oakland City University is offering incoming first- time students the opportunity to apply for the Good Neigh- bor Scholarship. The scholarship is open to first-time com- muting students within a 60 -mile radius of campus. To re- quest additional information regarding the scholarship, visit: https://apply.oak.edu/register/goodneighbor or con- tact the Oakland City University Office of Admissions at ocuadmit@oak.edu or call 800 -737-5125. SOLUTIONS Industry-leading office equipment at affordable prices Hoosier Business Machines, Inc. proudly sells and services the industry's most elite o ce hardware, including an array of Kyocera's best color and monochrome copiers, printers, multifunction printers (MFPs), and wide format machines, as well as industry-leading business duplicators and shredders. Reliable solutions to drive your business forward from our family to yours With a deep understanding of the intricacies of work ow, collaboration, and integration, Hoosier Business Machines is prepared to help you optimize the people, processes, and technology that drive your business forward. 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Behind them are Somebody's Place board members Dr. Honesto Fenol, Pastor D.J. Bryant and Nelda Garland, and IPL representatives Adrienne Runyan and Mark Flint. County's COVID numbers improve, vaccines being administered By Andy Heuring In Pike County, the COVID numbers are getting better. The number of people being vaccinated is going up and the number of cases is going down. "I've finally got some good news," said Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish to the county commissioners Tuesday morning. "We are better on our num- bers," said Gladish. She said the number of to- tal cases was at 1,141, but the active cases was down to 82. "That is much better than they have been in the last couple of weeks." She said active cas- es were well over 100 in pri- or weeks. Gladish said Pike County only had 25 new cases in the last four days of last week. She said, in the previous weeks, from Thursday to Sunday, they had 35 new cases. On Tuesday, after Gladish talked to the Commissioners, only two new cases for the day were added, but the first death since December 24 was added, making Pike County's death count 26 due to COVID. Pike County's Health De- partment started giving vac- cines last Monday. "Our roll- out went about as smooth as it could," said Gladish. She said they gave 100 vaccines at the Pike County Health Depart- ment last week and have got- ten 200 this week. Gladish said, next week they should have addition- al help hired to help give the vaccinations. She said people do not have to be from Pike County to get the vaccine from the Pike County Health Department. She said they have appoint- ments filled up for all 200 vac- cines. But she said they can only keep the vaccine for six hours after they thaw them out. So if they have vaccines left over near the end of the day, they start calling people on a waiting list to immediate- ly come to the health depart- ment and get the vaccine. Gladish said anyone living or working in Indiana can get the shot. She said Pike County peo- ple can also get the shot out- side of Pike County. So far, 711 Pike County residents have been vaccinated, accord- ing to Indiana's vaccine dash- board. Statewide, there have been 317,461 people get the first dose of the vaccine and 71,891 complete the two-shot regimen. Gladish said most of the 711 were given vac- cines outside of Pike County to health care professionals and emergency personnel or long-term care patients. Pam Cosby, with the Pike County Health Department, said, starting next week, any- one having trouble register- ing can go to the Petersburg branch of the Pike County Li- brary and receive help regis- tering. People can register for a vaccine appointment online at ourshot.in.gov. Statewide, Indiana's num- bers continue to trend low- er. Hospitalizations fell be- low 2,500 in Indiana on Janu- ary 12. That is the first time since November 9, 2020, hos- pitalizations have been below 2,500. They peaked at 3,460 on November 30, 2020. They have been on a downward trend since and fell to 2,332 on January 18. In 2021, the number of deaths per day has also fallen. On January 4, there were 92 deaths reported. A week lat- er, on January 11, that num- ber was 51 and on January 18, it was 13 new deaths. On January 5, there were 6,167 new cases reported, that number has fallen to 2,756 on January 18.