The Press-Dispatch

B-2 Wednesday, Februar y 3, 2021 The Press-Dispatch VALENTiNE'S D CALL 812-354-9259 FOR RESERVATIONS $ 25 each Ribeye Shrimp Cocktail, California Blend Vegetalbes, Baked Potato and Dessert Reservations required AVAILABLE 5PM to 8PM Saturday, February 13 242 SOUTH HWY. 57, PETERSBURG PLUS DRINK & TAX PARTY TIME D E A L S MORE ON THE MENU BBQ Chicken Sandwich ...... $2.99 Cheeseburger .................... $3.99 Corn Dog .......................... $1.79 Crispitos ............................ $1.79 Corn Nuggets (16 pc) ......... $3.99 Egg Roll ............................. $1.79 Jalapeño Poppers (6 pc) ..... $4.99 Mozzarella Sticks (6 pc)...... $4.99 Mushrooms (10 pc) ............ $4.99 Onion Rings (8 pc) ............. $1.99 Okra ................................. $2.99 Mini Tacos (10 pc) .............. $4.99 Pizza Slice ........ $2.99 OR 2 for $5 Pizza (12-inch.) ................. $8.99 D E A L S 907 E. MAIN ST. 812-354-2080 WE'RE OPEN Mon-Thurs 5AM-10PM Friday 5AM-10PM Saturday 6AM-10PM Sunday 7AM-10PM POWER MART PETERSBURG DRIVE-THRU Cajun Tenders Chicken Wings Krispy Krunchy Chicken 8 pc to 25 pc starting at $8.99 5 pc to 40 pc starting at $4.99 8 pc to 25 pc starting at $7.99 Buffalo • Krispy • Cajun Sweet & Sour $3.99 LIVERS OR GIZZARDS BOX Dog park to open soon By Andy Heuring Petersburg issued a paving contract and applied for an- other Crossroads Communi- ty paving grant in their Mon- day night virtual meeting. They also announced the re- cently constructed dog park will open soon. Petersburg awarded a pav- ing contract to Calcar for $59,797.22, who was the low bidder on the project. The oth- er bidder was E&B Paving at $ 67,656.24. "We have used both of these firms in the last few years and both did a good job for us," said Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch. The bid was to pave the Eastwood neighborhood. Pe- tersburg's match of that will be 25 percent of the total proj- ect. Petersburg also announced they would be seeking a 2021 Crossroads Community grant to pave an estimated $482,000 worth of streets. The streets involved in that grant applica- tion are Illinois St., from High- way 57 to City Limit; 18th St., from Highway 57 to Alford Road (Highway 356); Walnut St., from 12th to dead end; Sixth St., from Main to Cherry St.; Cherry St., from Sixth to Seventh St.; Eighth St., from Main to dead end.; Spruce St., from Fifth to Seventh St.; and Fourth St., from Main to Lo- cust St. Kyle Mills told the council Benner Bark Park, a recent- ly constructed dog park, is expected to open as early as two weeks. He said an inter- net connection at the park, lo- cated on First St. across from Somebody's Place, should be in place by opening. He said he, Matt Robinette and Ry- an Benner are going to dig a trench for electric service and then the company Astro will install the computer that oper- ates the check-in system. "I think it will take two or three weeks. The ultimate goal is to have it up and go- ing by warmer weather," said Mills. He said people will need to pick up an application for the park. The application will have a list of required vaccinations for the dogs. Also the fees will be $25 for the first dog and $5 for each dog after that. The owner will get a key fob that allows them to check-in at the gate of the fenced-in park. In an update of numerous major projects underway by Petersburg, Mayor Klipsch said construction on the first phase of the wastewater plant could begin soon. " They have been on-site a couple of times this week, but I really think it will be next week before they actually get started," said City Services Manager Ross El- more. The first phase of that proj- ect includes construction of a equalization lagoon and the headworks. An equalization lagoon acts as a buffer for the treatment plant, holding wastewater in high flow times until the plant can catch up. Klipsch also said they should open bids for the re- location of a main waterline along Highway 61, north of Main St. It will run in conjunc- tion with the Indiana Depart- ment of Transportation's re- habbing of Highway 61. That project will completely rebuild Highway 61 down to the dirt and include new sidewalks and curbs. Elmore said they had in- stalled more than 1,000 new water meters in Petersburg. The new meters have a trans- mitter that will send out da- ta on water flow and usage via the transmitter. Mayor Klipsch said he and Elmore, and other city personnel will be meeting with engineers to figure the location and num- ber of antennas that need to be installed to received the sig- nals from the city's 1,400 wa- ter meters. When the system is installed, Klipsch said they will be able to get the month- ly readings in City Hall. It al- so will allow them to monitor water usage and send alarms to them if a meter has a big in- crease in water usage in real time to help find water leaks quickly. Petersburg's older water meters had a transmit- ter on them as well, but city workers had to drive to them to take a reading from them. The transmitters keep person- nel from having to open the meter wells and take a read- ing. Klipsch said all of those old transmitters had now quit working. Consequently, the city is having to read them manually. "At one point, we thought we might never get to the 1,000 mark," said Klipsch. He add- ed, "Now it looks like they will be able to finish that project by the end of the year." Elmore said they have had two crews dedicated to install- ing the new meters. One crew was making repairs to the me- ter pits, which allows the crew installing the meters to work much faster. He said they in- stalled 41 meters in a sev- en-day period recently. In other business, Klipsch said the city's general fund ended the year in the black, up $238,632 from the previ- ous year, which allowed them to put about $ 89,000 into the Rainy Day Fund, which now has a balance of $ 300,000. The next meeting is sched- ule for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 16. It was moved to Tuesday instead of Monday be- cause of Presidents Day. Klipsch said if Pike Coun- ty's COVID rating has dropped into the orange cat- egory by then, they will have the meeting in person. If Pike is still in the red range, it will be a virtual meeting on Zoom. City awards paving contract, applies for another grant Dejarnett charged with OVWI, possession and contributing A call to dispatch reporting a wrecked Ford Ranger being driven on a rim on Meridian, towards SR 64, ended up with Colton Michael Dejarnett, of 619 N. SR 61, Petersburg, be- ing charged with OV WI, pos- session of marijuana, posses- sion of paraphernalia and con- tributing to the delinquency of a minor. State Trooper John Davis responded to the call and dis- covered roadway damage, which led him to the vehi- cle and a subsequent traffic stop. Dejarnett and an Oak- land City juvenile passen- ger were in the Ford Ranger, which appeared to have a bro- ken frame, a missing tire and extensive damage, according to the report. When Davis asked De- jarnett about the lack of a li- cense plate and no rear tire, Dejarnett said the tire blew out a few miles back and that he was trying to get the vehi- cle home to scrap it. Davis re- ported there was an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle and Dejarnett stated there was some marijuana and a pipe in the glove box. Trooper Davis waited until Sheriff's Deputy Buck Seger arrived to examine sever- al smoking pipes, marijuana and other paraphernalia con- tained in the truck. Dejarnett failed field sobriety tests and was transported to Daviess Community Hospital, where tests indicated Dejarnett was under the influence. The juve- nile was remanded to his par- ents. Robinette child has medical needs By James Capozella A GoFundMe account has been set up for six month-old Riglee Joe Robinette, who is set to have heart surgery at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital in Indianapolis on February 16. Born July 2020 to Heather and Jake Robi- nette, Riglee was being moni- tored closely for his heart con- dition since the first 18 weeks of Heather's pregnancy, ac- cording to his father. Jake said that Riglee has met the milestones neces- sary prior to the surgical re- pair. The surgeon, Doctor Kumbar at St. Vincent, said Riglee must be 20 pounds and six months old for the surgery to be performed. Echocardiograms have been used to monitor the hole that Riglee has in his heart, which is known as an atrioven- tricular defect (AVSD) with a tricuspid leak. Only one par- ent will be permitted in the hospital due to COVID restric- tions. The procedure will re- quire hotel stays in Indianap- olis while Riglee recovers. Jake said besides the Go- FundMe account, there will be a T-shirt sale, with profits going toward surgery and re- covery expenses. The soon- to-be seven-month-old Riglee has two half-brothers, Austin and Hunter Loveless. Jake's mother, Rhonda Rob- inette, remarked about the child that "he is a cute, sweet little boy and he is in God's hands now." Riglee Joe Robinette thought and brainstorm," said Young. "I agree with you. I want to get us six feet apart. But what I'm hearing is it isn't possible," said McKinney. McKinney added they were given some eye-opening in- formation prior to the public meeting. The school board had an executive session prior to the 8 p.m. public meeting. He said he wanted that in- formation to be made public in the near future. He added he wanted them to look into the temperature checks as well. Potter and McKinney said there are new guidelines com- ing out soon, and they needed to sit down, go through them and make updates to their cur- rent policies. In other business, the school board voted to award a contract to Midwest Transit Equipment of Whitestown to lease 15 buses for five years at a price of $13,851 per bus per year, plus three 66 -pas- senger buses for five years at a price of $14,486. The bus- es are to be delivered on Ju- ly 1, 2021, for a total amount of $1,670,883 to be paid over five years. The matter was tabled at their previous meeting be- cause a written letter said the lease was for up to 12,000 miles a year instead of the un- derstood 15,000 miles a year. A new contract stated 15,000 and was approved by a 5 -0 vote. Heacock home destroyed by fire Firemen battle a fire at the house of Larry and Edra Heacock during a snowstorm last Wednesday night. Patoka Township Deputy Chief Daniel Shelton said the fire investigators believe the fire started in a bedroom near the front of the home. In a news release, Shelton said when the "homeowner discovered the fire, she at- tempted to remove an electric blanket, that was involved in the fire, out a front entrance of the residence, but was unsuccessful." Central Dispatch was notified of the fire at 8 p.m. and firemen arrived at the house at 8:10 p.m., which by then, Shelton said the fire was about "50 percent involved." It was located at 7877 S. State Road 61, Oakland City. Even though the address is Oakland City, it is locat- ed in Pike County on Highway 61, about two miles north of Spurgeon. Patoka Township, Spurgeon and Lockhart assisted with the fire, and Columbia Township and Lynnville fire departments helped transport water to the scene. Shelton said crews were on scene until just after midnight. lic safety official, a level 6 fel- ony; possession of parapher- nalia; possession of meth, less than five grams, a level 6 fel- ony; and maintaining a com- mon nuisance, a level 6 felony. Last week, The Press-Dis- patch reported Sara told po- lice the sawed off shotgun belonged to her son, Danton Willis, which is incorrect. He is not her son. The Press-Dis- patch also reported Danton had been arrested on a charge of obliterating identification marks on a handgun, a level 5 felony. That was also incor- rect. Danton instead had been charged, but not arrested. Since then, two counts of burglary, a level 5 felony, and theft, a level 6 felony, have been filed against Danton stemming from the televisions they found in the Deffendall residence. Also, Gibson County has filed a charge of arson against Danton. That charge stems from Colton Head's vehicle being set on fire on January 18 in Oakland City. FIRE Continued from page 1 more than willing to help us with snow routes. We need to let them know if we are going to run snow routes and what they are," said McKinney. "When we ran them in the past, did we just have a set point everyone was supposed to get their kids to? " asked school board president Steve Potter. Byrd said they had a book with all the snow routes in it. He added, "they are more than willing to work with the school," but they need to com- municate with each other. Byrd said he often got out in the past at 3:30 a.m. and ran the roads to help with making a decision on the roads. He said, one time, they took the snow plows with sand spread- ers in them and drove them in front of the school buses. "If there were snow routes, we would come in and start running those routes first thing. It was always simpler that way. I'm constantly on the phone with OMA (Otwell Mill- er Academy)," said Byrd. "Does anyone know why they did away with the snow routes? " asked school board member Howard Knight. "As far as snow routes, we had drivers get in touch with families and make contact with them. If they couldn't make it (to a house), they just let them know." Byrd said if and he Hark- er can start communicating more, they could help get cer- tain roads open and even help pull buses out if they get stuck. "I would like to see more communication," said McK- inney. At the end of the school board meeting, Potter said, "I want to own a few things. The cancellation of the meet- ings on Thursday. I had made a recommendation that we stay consistent when we can on school and the ECAs," said Potter about recommending the school board meetings and athletic events be can- celled that night. "I made that comment not knowing we still had kids traveling for the swim PAC prelims. Looking back, prob- ably shouldn't have done that. I was trying to be consistent with that in a year with a lot of chaos." "I stuck my nose in there more. Same thing with school closing on Friday." He said, on Thursday, he strongly recommended they err on the side of caution. "Us not going to school Fri- day and my recommendation, I want to make sure you know I meant no disrespect to the county garage or the employ- ees. There is a lot of miles of road out there. You do a good job. We need to work togeth- er and have some communica- tions. We will sit down." Potter added, "Nothing we did or said was meant to be disrespectful, but at the end of the day, that decision fell on us and school buses running, and making sure nothing hap- pened." "Maybe we jumped the gun. That was my recommendation. If I crossed the line and put un- due pressure on them, I didn't mean to. It is just the thought process I was going through," said Potter. "I appreciate it. We are on the roads all day long. I had the commissioners out driving the roads when that all came out. It was taken the wrong way," said Byrd. Byrd added he and the highway department are out on the roads all the time. "We are willing to help if you guys want to start communicating." "I'll own that too and try to communicate better the next go around," said Potter. COMMUNICATE Continued from page 1 SCHOOL Continued from page 1

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