The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1349176
Local students celebrate Dr. Seuss and literacy during Read Across America Read Across Read Across Read Across Read Across week EAST GIBSON A-10 SCHOOL A-8 Wednesday, March 10, 2021 PIKE PUBLISHING VOLUMe 151, nUMBer 10 NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ���������������� A1-12 Obituaries ���������������A5 Opinion ������������� A6-7 School �������������� A8-9 East Gibson���������� A10 History ����������������� A11 Sports �����������������B1-2 Church ��������������B3-5 Classifieds ���������� B6-9 Legal Notices �������B7-9 Home Life �������� B10-12 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 24 PaGes TWO secTIOns FOUr InserTs PeTersBUrG, In 47567-0068 Time to spring forward Sunday Sunday, March 14, don't forget to spring forward for Daylight Saving Time. While technically the changeover begins at 2 a.m., many will set their alarm clocks to the correct time the night before, which will be setting the clock forward one hour. PES robotics teams qualify for worlds COVID numbers continue to decline By Andy Heuring Petersburg Elementary Schools Robotics teams made history on Saturday. All three teams advanced to the 2021 VEX Robotics World Championship, which is set for May 24- 29. It is the first time a team from Pike Coun- ty has advanced to the world championships. Saturday, the three PES teams, Watermel- on Squad ( Jackson Burkhart and Eli Keeker), G.O.A.T. Brains (Kade Benner, Joshua Smith and Llinkyn Knust) and Hogwarts Espresso (Loralei Hoskins, Channing Sorgius and Kei- ra Blaize), were all competing at the Indiana State Championships in the VEX competition. All three teams are made up of Petersburg fifth grade students coached by Terra Knust. Last year, five teams from Pike County at the elementary and middle school level ad- vanced to the state finals at Lucas Oil Stadi- um in Indianapolis. However, this year's com- petitions have all been done remotely due to COVID-19. "Oh yes, it is very exciting," said Knust of the making it to the worlds. She said it would have been great to be able to travel to Dallas for the world competition, but they are still ex- cited to have qualified. Only the top 37 teams in Indiana qualified for the world championships. "I was just wishing for at least one team to make it," said Knust. But she was elated to hear all three had ad- vanced. It was a year of competition that almost didn't happen. Knust said normally they start in August working on their robots and practic- ing. However, this year, due to COVID, she re- ally didn't even decide to have robotics teams until the beginning of December. "I'm so glad I did." This year's competitions are different than last year's because of COVID. The competi- tions have all been remote. Also, in previous years, part of their score was having two teams compete jointly in a competition. This year, be- cause the teams were remote, they didn't do that part of the competition. Still it didn't dampen their excitement of qualifying for the world championships. "I had parents reach out to me after the com- petition about how excited they were," said Knust. Knust said the teams worked hard in their shortened season. She said the month before the state competition, they would have their regular practices and also optional practices. "Most of the kids were there after school at least four times a week." She said they worked really hard on their coding. They write code to help control the robots during their tasks, which involve pick- ing up and stacking objects on a course. She said the coding was extremely challenging be- cause often it would work great one time, then the next it would mess up. But while talking with other teams around the state during competitions, she learned ev- eryone was having the same problem. She said one of the PES team's robot coding crashed in their first two attempts. Then on the third and final attempt, worked perfectly. She said they will keep working and see how they do at the world competition the last week of May. By Andy Heuring Pike County's bad COVID numbers contin- ue to go down and the good numbers continue to go up. "Everything is going well," said Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish. She said the number of active cases has fall- en to seven. "That is phenomenal." On the Indiana Department of Health map, Pike County shows 1,287 cases as of Tuesday. However, Gladish said three of those cases were not from Pike County and she had con- tacted the state to have them moved to the proper counties. Last Tuesday, the total in Pike County was 1,278, so there were only six new cases in Pike County over the last seven days. There were no new deaths in the county. The last death in Pike County was February 11 and prior to that was January 5. Gladish said she expects Pike County to stay in the blue category, which is the lowest for COVID risk. The number of people in Pike County who have received their first vaccine topped 3,000. It was at 3,122 after Monday. However, Gladish said they would be vaccinating about 100 peo- ple on Tuesday afternoon. She said they vac- cinate about 300 people on Sunday, and about 100 each on Tuesday and Thursday. There have been 2,110 people fully vacci- nated in Pike County. Late last week, it was announced they were expanding eligibility for the vaccine to those age 50 and older. Statewide, the numbers continue to trend down as well. There were 588 new cases re- ported on March 8, which is down from 1,197 on February 8 and 5,991 new cases on Janu- ary 8. There were three new deaths reported on March 8, which is down from 25 new deaths on February 8 and 66 on January 8. Hospitalizations have fallen to 628 statewide on March 8. That is down from 1,265 on Feb- ruary 8 and 2,769 on January 8. Registering for a vaccine can be done on- line at ourshot.in.gov. Petersburg Elementary's three robotics teams have all qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championships. From left to right, they are: Team Hogwarts Espresso: Keira Blaize, Channing Sorgius and Loralei Hoskins; Team Watermelon Squad: Jackson Burkhart and Eli Keeker; and Team G.O.A.T. Brains: Joshua Smith, Kade Benner and Llinkyn Knust. The three teams all finished in the top 37 at the VEX state finals on Saturday. They will compete in the VEX Worlds from May 24 to 29. It will also be a remote competition. Kindergarten and preschool round-up for Pike County schools continues for the 2021- 22 school year. Below are the dates and requirements for the preschool and kindergarten. Kindergarten: A child must be five years old by August 1, 2021, to be eligible for kindergar- ten next school year. Preschool: A child must be four years old by August 1, 2021, to be eligible for preschool next school year. Petersburg Elementary School: Call 812- 354-6876 to schedule an appointment. Kindergarten round-up is Thursday, April 8 and Friday, April 9, with screenings from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Old Petersburg Gym. Preschool is set for Friday, April 16, with screenings from 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m. at Peters- burg Elementary School. Call 812-789 -2209 to schedule an appoint- ment for Winslow Elementary preschool screenings set for Friday, March 12. Pre-K, kindergarten screenings begin March 12 By Andy Heuring Petersburg awarded the contract to re- locate a water line that is now under High- way 61 to the side of the roadbed. They vot- ed 5 -0 in a special virtual meeting Monday night to award the contract to Love Excavat- ing, of Huntingburg. Love was the low bidder with a bid of $ 610,694. The bids ranged up to $1,056,531 from Deig Bros., of Evansville. At their previous meeting on March 1, Petersburg voted to table the bids. Mayor Klipsch recommended the delay awarding the contract on two grounds. One, the bid was $25,000 higher than the estimated cost of the project. Petersburg is receiving a grant based on their ability to pay. The Indiana De- partment of Transportation had agreed to re- imburse Petersburg $472,888 of the estimat- ed $585,000 project, leaving Petersburg with a cost of $112,112 to pay. However, on Monday, March 1, when the bids were opened, they ranged from $ 610,694 to $1.05 million. Klipsch said it has not been determined if Petersburg's cost will increase proportionally or if it will stay at the $112,000. "Our ability to pay is still the same as it was when the cost of the project was $585,000," City awards water line contract By Andy Heuring Winslow appointed a new park board mem- ber and discussed a noise ordinance, kids gathering and new water meters during their meeting Monday night. Jacob Hildenbrand was appointed to the Winslow Park and Recreation Board. He was appointed to replace Dee Fiscus, who was re- cently appointed to manage the Winslow Com- munity Center. Fiscus said things are pick- ing up there and it is spreading her thinner than she thought it would. So she decided she would resign from the park board. Hildenbrand had earlier expressed inter- est in a previous opening on the park board. Councilmen voted 3-0 to appoint Hildenbrand. Councilman Dick Brewster said he was con- cerned about kids gathering outside the Com- munity Center. "We are having some young punks, I said punks, I don't know if they are or not, but they have some mischievous actions," said Brew- ster. He said they are hanging around the Community Center at night where there are no lights and they are smoking. Debra Lamb said there are a couple of chairs under the awning on a back entrance Winslow addresses meters, kids and noise See CONTR ACT on page 2 See WINSLOW on page 2 Lynn uninjured when hit by trash truck Rural Winslow resident James Lynn escaped injury when a garbage truck smashed into the back of his Chevrolet Cruze and knocked it about 70 feet into a swamp near the Pike-Gibson county line on Highway 64. Indiana State Trooper Brayden Angermeier said Lynn was driving east on High- way 64, near the Pike-Gibson county line at about 4:15 p.m. on Friday when a tanker truck in front of him stopped for a railroad crossing. Trooper Angermei- er said Brent Miller, of Petersburg, was driving a trash truck and didn't notice Lynn had slowed in front of him until it was too late to get stopped. The large truck slammed into the back of Lynn's car and knocked it about 70 ft. forward and off the south side of Highway 64 into a swampy area. Lynn's Chevrolet Cruze was believed to be a total loss. Angermeier said the Patoka Fire Department assisted cleanup of the antifreeze spill from the garbage truck's damaged radiator.