The Press-Dispatch
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YARD SALE TIME! SPORTS B-1 LOCAL A-3 LADY CHARGERS TOP SOUTHRIDGE 10-1 LADY CHARGERS TOP SOUTHRIDGE 10-1 Wednesday, May 12, 2021 PIKE PUBLISHING VOLUMe 151, nUMBeR 19 NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ����������������� A1-8 Obituaries ���������������A6 School ����������������� A8 East Gibson������������A9 Opinion ���������� A10-11 Sports �����������������B1-3 Church ��������������B4-6 Classifieds �����������B7-9 Legals ���������������������B9 History ����������������� B10 Home Life �������� B11-12 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 24 PaGes TWO seCTIOns TWO InseRTs PeTeRsBURG, In 47567-0068 See COUNCIL on page 2 Deadline is Friday for PC Senior profiles The Press-Dispatch still seeks pro- files from 46 students in the Pike Cen- tral Class of 2021. Responses will be printed in the senior edition on May 26. To fill out the form, visit www.pressdispatch.net/senior. The deadline is Friday, May 14 at 5 p.m. McAtee family escapes serious injury Christopher and Kendra McAtee, and their four children, were all in this Ford F-150 when it col- lided with a utility pole beside Highway 61 Saturday morning. All of them walked away from it with only minor injuries. Indiana State Trooper John Davis said Christoper, 40, was driving east on State Road 64, near Augusta, when he looked down and went left of center and off the road, and hit a utility pole with the front left corner of his truck. The impact broke the utility pole and caused the truck to roll over. Trooper Davis said Chris had a cut on his arm, knee pain and a cut on his leg. His wife, Kendra, had a bump on her head. Their four children, ages four to 12, all suffered only bumps and scrapes. David said Christopher and Kendra were later taken by private vehicle to the hospital. It happened at about 9 a.m. McAtee's truck was a total loss. By Andy Heuring A 13-year-old boy's curiosity led to a Peters- burg dog being rescued from an underground area late Monday afternoon. Stella was rescued when an emergency crew used extrication tools to cut rebar and free her. Ashley Benner Roach said her son, Brayden, was playing in an alley behind her house Mon- day afternoon and noticed a dog in a field across Cherry St. He heard barking and de- cided to check out what was going on. What he found was Stella was trapped in a cavern underneath an old concrete slab. The slab had numerous holes in it, but metal rebar criss- crossed the concrete in small enough sections it didn't allow a hole big enough for Stella to get out. Ashley said Brayden called her on his cell- phone and told her he found a dog that was stuck under the concrete. So she went to the area about a half-block from her residence and could see Stella just under the concrete. Stella would stick her head up through the holes, but she couldn't get out. Ashley talked to the dog and was able to get ahold of her. She called Petersburg Police Officer Scott Arnold. He arrived and assessed the situation. They called the for the fire department to bring their extrication equipment. While waiting for them to arrive, Ashley held, petted and talked to Stella to keep her calm. She said it is a neighbor's dog that knows her so she was comfortable with her. Roach said they don't know how Stella got into the predicament, but someone told her there might be a drain along a nearby ditch. Stella's owners, Jerramy Barfknecht and Christy Lassiter, were cited for letting the dog run loose and for neglect of an animal. Petersburg Police Cpl. Kyle Mills said it was the third time they have been cited and police have been called there six times due to the dog being allowed to run free. He said Stella was probably a boxer/lab mix and very good natured. "She was wet and scared, and shaking, but very good natured even when she was in the back of my truck," said Mills. She was taken to PAWS and the owners relinquished ownership of her. Fire dept. extricates trapped dog from small cavern Return to yellow level possible By Andy Heuring COVID cases in Pike County are on an increase, as there were 18 new cases reported in the last seven days. That number comes after 12 new cases were reported in the prior seven days. In the month of March, there were only 13 cases reported in Pike County. The cases started to rise in April, with 12 new cases in the first 19 days. From April 20 to April 30, there were 23 new cas- es. In the first 10 days of May, there have been 20 new cases reported. The cases seem to be much less severe than a year ago as hospital- izations are down. Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish said last week that getting the vaccine tends to reduce the se- verity of COVID. Indiana's Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said last week the vaccines being given in Indiana are about 90 percent effective in pre- venting COVID and 99 percent ef- fective in preventing serious illness. Pike County is leading the area with the highest numbers of vacci- nations in southwest Indiana. As of Tuesday, there were 4,732 people fully vaccinated and 5,090 have received the first of the two- shot vaccines. The Center for Disease Control is expected to approve vaccines for children ages 12 to 15 as early as Wednesday, May 12. The last reported COVID death in Pike County was March 10. Deaths have declined in surrounding coun- ties as well. The last death in Du- bois County was April 9 and the pre- vious death was March 30. The pre- vious death in Daviess County was March 16. In Gibson County, the last death was on April 30, when they re- corded two deaths. Knox County's last death was April 15 and Warrick County's last death was March 16. Hospitalizations in Indiana have dropped for six consecutive days. On May 4, there were 1,019 hos- pitalized in Indiana. As of May 10, that had dropped to 880. The least amount of people to be hospitalized in Indiana since last April when they started tracking COVID hospitaliza- tions was 548 on March 23. It crest- ed on May 4, which is still down con- siderably from the peak on Novem- ber 30, 2020, of 3,460 people. There have been 10 or less COVID deaths in Indiana since April 13 and no deaths were reported on May 10. New cases per day in Indiana in the last week ranged from 1,149 on May 4 to a peak of 1,237 on May 5, down to 627 on May 9 and 687 on May 10. Gladish said Pike County has 17 active cases, with a seven-day pos- itivity rate of 3.8 percent. She said it will be close on Wednesday on whether Pike County will be moved from the blue level to yellow level. Cumulative cases for Pike County stand at 1,343. Area COVID cases on the rise By Andy Heuring Pike County learned they are getting about $4,000 more than anticipated from the Amer- ican Rescue Act during the county council meeting Tuesday morning. County Auditor Judy Gumbel said Pike County will receive $2,406,418. "The feds released guidance documents yesterday. Not a lot of changes, but explained it a little better," said council president Jon Craig. Gumbel said the funds are supposed to reach the Indiana Finance Authority on Wednesday, but it isn't known how long it will take before the money reaches the local level. Craig said the county commissioners, as the executive body, will have the say on how the money is spent; however, the county coun- cil will have oversight authority on their ap- propriation requests. The council also heard a request for sup- plemental funding from Adult Protective Ser- vices investigator Rob Haseman. Haseman explained Adult Protective Ser- vices works with people who are incapable of taking care of themselves, whether through physical or emotional disabilities or other causes. He said Pike County is in a district with five other counties. The offices are based out of Daviess County. He explained the service is funded by the state; however, he and other area employees are employees of Daviess County. He said the shortfall in funding will be $18,000 this year. He said Daviess County had typically made up the shortfall in previous years, but the short- fall has grown and they are unable to cover all of it. Other counties included are Pike, Du- bois, Martin and Knox. He said Daviess County has not been able to get other counties to subsidize the service. He explained most of the emergency ser- County to receive $2.4 million in rescue funds Ashley Roach holds and comforts Stella, a boxer/lab mix dog, that got trapped in an underground cavern. Roach held the dog until emergency personnel were able to set her free.