The Press-Dispatch
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Malcolm Baldrige N a t i o n a l Q u a l i t y Awa rd 2018 Award Recipient The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, May 5, 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-Gibson to flush hydrants in May Pike-Gibson will begin flushing hydrants in May. The scheduled time for various parts of the Pike-Gibson service ar- ea is: May 3-7–from Pike Central High School to Arthur Jct., including all side roads; May 10 -14–Arthur Jct. east on St Rd 64 to Augus- ta, South to Spurgeon and Scottsburg area, West on St Rd 64 to Oakland City and all side roads; May 17-28 –Oakland City area, south down St Rd 57 and all side roads. These dates can be in- terrupted with any emer- gencies PGW may en- counter. Customers may expe- rience low pressure for short period of times during this process and discoloration in water. Pike Gibson urges cus- tomers to check the wa- ter before processing any laundry. PGW ap- preciates your patience. Should you have any questions, always con- tact PGW Office at 812- 749 -4916. Time to register for Birthday Club If you haven't submit- ted your birthday with- in the last 6 months, please register again at www.pressdispatch.net/ birthday. Entrants have a chance to win month- ly prizes from local busi- nesses and a three-month subscription to The Press-Dispatch. Upcoming event? We want to know! Do you have an up- coming event? Send it to news@pressdispatch.net. Petersburg increases parking fines effective today By Andy Heuring Petersburg increased park- ing fines in an ordinance they passed Monday night during their bi-monthly meeting. They also issued the first pay- ment on a waterline relocation project and discussed recent water well improvements. A parking fine will now cost you $20 and a $25 ad- ministrative fee. The previous fine was $ 3. Their new ordi- nance, which passed by a 5 -0 vote Monday night, states: the fines for violating parking des- ignations and markings have not been raised or updated for some time; and the City needs to update said amounts for bet- ter deterrence in the name of safety and commerce. A fine of $20, coupled with a $25 administrative fee, will be assessed for: double parking, parking in a no parking zone and violating two-hour park- ing. It will become effective to- day, Wednesday, May 5. During discussion of the or- dinance, John Melhiser asked if those amounts were similar to surrounding cities. "I think if anything, they are probably low," said May- or R.C. Klipsch. "Last time I got a parking ticket in Bloom- ington, I don't remember the amount, but it was pretty rough." Melhiser added, "I don't want anyone to interpret my question as I think that amount was too low." The first payment of $ 88,844 to Love Excavation, which is doing the water line relocation project along High- way 61, was approved. Klipsch said Petersburg would be re- imbursed by the Indiana De- partment of Transportation for that amount. He said he hoped it was reimbursed inside of 30 days. "It doesn't have to be on past projects. It typically is within 30 days," said Klipsch. Water Board member Jim Gaskins asked if Love was staying on time with the proj- ect. The project is on a tight time constraint because the Highway 61 rehab project scheduled to start in early May will follow it. "They are right on the line," said City Services Manager Ross Elmore. He said he has a status meeting with Love ev- ery two weeks. He said they are working on the parts of the project that take a lot of time now and will transition into parts that don't take as long. Gaskins also asked if the ar- ea around Cedar St. had fire protection while the project is underway. Elmore said the fire hy- drant at that intersection isn't working, but will be replaced, as will several along Highway 61 as part of the project. Elmore also gave the coun- cil an update of water well im- provements. "We have spent some money out there work- ing on the wells and made some improvements, but we still need to do some more, but I think we will probably wait until this summer," said Elmore. Klipsch said their pumping capacity had dropped 1.3 mil- lion gallons a day, but that has been improved to 1.7 million gallons a day. He said, last summer, they were having to run the pumps nearly 24-7 to keep up with de- mand. "We were very nervous about it last summer," said Klipsch. He said that was down to about 16 hours a day now. Elmore said they think there has been some pump degradation in well four. It is designed to pump 1,400 gal- lons a minute, but is down to 875. He said wells one and two are even worse. One is de- signed for 800 gallons a min- ute, but is only pumping 125 gallons a minute, while well two is designed for 600 gallons a minute, but is only pumping 240 gallons a minute. He suggested they work on those pumps later this sum- mer. In other business, Klipsch and Elmore said they received a $5,000 donation from Tenas- ka/Capital Dynamics to help outfit the fire department's new brush truck. In other donations, Peters- burg Fire Department and the Pike County Technology Cen- ter each were given an AED (Automated External Defibril- lator) from Memorial Hospital in Jasper. The next Petersburg City Council meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 17. AREA VACCINATION RATES County Total Age 18+ Age 65+ Daviess 17.9 25.3 58.5 Dubois 29.7 39.2 83.0 Greene 21.0 26.8 55.9 Knox 31.4 39.9 76.5 Martin 25.3 32.5 63.2 Pike 32.8 41.8 83.7 Pike County leads SW Indiana in vaccine numbers By Andy Heuring Pike County is leading the way in southwest Indiana on vaccine numbers, with 32.8 percent of the county's resi- dents having been vaccinat- ed; 41.8 percent of those are 18 and older, and 83.7 percent of those are age 65 or older. Pike County has a higher per- centage of vaccinations in ev- ery age category than Da- viess, Dubois, Green, Knox or Martin counties. Those counties ranged from 17.9 percent of the total population in Daviess Coun- ty to 31.4 percent in Knox County. (See related chart for more details). "Vaccinations are con- tinuing to go well, although we have seen a decrease in numbers of individuals sign- ing up for vaccination, as has been the trend across the state. Pike looks pretty good on the map for vaccination rates. Pike has always had a tendency to do well with vac- cination rates. If you recall during H1N1, Pike had high- er H1N1 vaccination rates as well," said Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish. She added, "We try to ac- commodate individuals to make it as easy as possible for them to receive their vaccina- tions, and have evening and Sunday hours available. I feel this has helped to decrease barriers to vaccination, not only for our residents, but for residents of surrounding counties as well." There were 4,466 people fully vaccinated in Pike Coun- ty as of Tuesday, May 3 and 5,004 had the first shot of a two-shot vaccination. Last week, at Indiana De- partment of Health's week- ly update, State Health Com- missioner Dr. Kris Box put out a plea for Hoosiers to be vaccinated. "We're see- ing such amazing results from the vaccine," said Box. "Studies show that fully im- munized (people) have a 90 percent decrease in getting infected with COVID-19 and that the vaccine is 99 percent effective at preventing severe illness." In Pike County, there were 12 new cases reported in the last seven days, as six were reported on April 28, four on April 29 and two on April 30. There have been no new cas- es reported in the first three days of May. The last death in Pike County was on March 10. Currently, there are nine active cases. "We continue to see both individuals and multiple members from households testing positive as has been the case throughout the pan- demic. Sometimes positive individuals know where they contracted the virus, and oth- ers have no idea where they were exposed. That is why it is still important to mask and socially distance," said Glad- ish. Statewide, the numbers are running fairly steady after a slight uptick in early to mid- April. In March, the number of new cases each day in In- diana was running between the low 400s to about 900. But in mid-April, that took a tick up to range from about 700 to 1,300. In the first three days of May, the new cases have been 1,051, 798 and 851. Deaths each day have been in the single digits since 12 were reported on April 16. So far in the first three days of May, there have been four new deaths each day. Hospitalizations have been running slightly high- er in April and May than they were in March as well. In March, statewide hospi- talizations ranged from just under 600 to about 750. That has ticked up to 909 on April 11 and ranged from about 750 to 967 on May 4. Parent-sponsored middle school dance May 15 A parent-sponsored end of the year middle school dance has been scheduled for Satur- day, May 15. It will run from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Otwell Com- munity Center. It is $ 3 per student and open only to current Pike Central sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. There will be drinks, snacks, dancing and a photo booth. Jennifer Houchins said kids do not have to wear a formal or dress up. They are asked to wear school dress code attire. "This isn't the typical Spring Fling dance, which was can- celled. We just want the kids to have a fun end-of-the-year event," said Houchins. Proceeds will go to the Pike Central Middle School Stu- dent Council.