The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1394777
B-2 Wednesday, July 21, 2021 The Press-Dispatch FIREWORKS OUTDOOR MOVIE Food • Kids' Games • Cornhole Saturday, July 24 • Starts at 7 p.m. Community Outdoor Fun Night LIVING FAITH CHURCH INTERNATIONAL 601 S. 9th St., Petersburg FREE 709 MAIN STREET, PETERSBURG SALON PHONE: 812-380-2320 Open House/Retirement Celebration honoring Pam Jerrell for 51 years service FRIDAY, July 30 • 9a.m. - 4P.M. Please JOIN US! One injured in two-vehicle crash By James Capozella Mary A. Ashby, 83, of 503 N Mill St., Winslow, received contusions and bruises when she struck a vehicle driven by Lucas A Herman, 23, of 480 W. 400 N., Jasper, from behind while his truck was stopped on SR 61 S., at CR 300 E., this past Sunday afternoon. Pike County Sheriff Deputy Paul Collier reports that Ash- by saw Herman was stopped to turn onto CR 300 E., but was unable to stop in time to avoid the crash. Herman and his passenger were uninjured, but his 2015 Dodge Ram was damaged in the rear. Ashby's 2007 Lexus sustained front end damage and was towed. Tagmeyer injured in one-vehicle crash By James Capozella Jack C. Tagmeyer, 16, of 797 S. CR 75 E., Winslow, sustained possible fractures or dislocation to his lower leg when his 2001 Ford Ranger left CR 300 E. northbound, on the east side of the road, and then overcorrected and end- ed up rolling over an multiple times on the west side, accord- ing to a report by Sheriff Dep- uty Buck Seger. Tagmeyer was transport- ed to the hospital for a pos- sible leg fracture. The 11:33 p.m. Friday one-vehicle crash caused an estimated $5,001 to $10,000 damage to the truck, according to Seger's report. One injured in I-69 crash Alfred Grissom, 64, of Lexington, Tenn., suffered a possible broken arm in a two-vehicle accident on I-69 around 9 p.m. Saturday. A 2017 Jeep Cherokee, driven by Susan Clark, 51, of Owensville, lost control and struck Grissom's 2008 Dodge Ram, sending it into the bridge railing near mile marker 40. Pike County Sher- iff's Deputy Buck Seger reported that the vehicles sustained between $10,000 and $25,000 in damages. Gris- som's Ram struck both the east and west side bridge railings and Clark's Jeep struck the east railing, accord- ing to the report. woods from a few days prior." Westrich said the July 8 sighting occurred just a few miles east of Winslow. There have been no further confirmed sightings since then. Habitats in this portion of the state are forested and have lower human population densities; which makes it easy for a bear to be a bear. Westrich says that when bears discover food around people's homes, they can dam- age personal property trying to get at it and begin to lose their natural fear of humans, which can put both in danger. In these situations, DNR must then implement a technique called aversive conditioning to correct this behavior. Aversive conditioning methods, such as spotlights and airhorns, are stressful for the bear. Once a bear regularly seeks food sources near humans, these techniques can become neces- sary for the safety of the bear and people. Residents can help DNR avoid needing to use these methods by removing potential food sources. DNR's last confirmed report of the bear was in Pike County on July 8; however, bears can travel up to 20 miles a day. For that reason, residents in Pike and its surrounding counties should: • Store garbage cans and recycling containers inside a garage or shed. • Put garbage cans and re- cycling containers on the curb the morning of pick-up rather than on the night before. • Avoid putting meats, sweets, bones, or grease in compost piles. • Remove or secure oth- er potential food sources for bears, such as livestock feed or pet food. Other potential food sourc- es such as beehives, grills, and vegetable gardens can also attract bears. Securing them is quick and easy. Tips are at wildlife.IN.gov/wild- life-resources/animals/black- bear. If you see a bear, report it to the DNR at on.IN.gov/large- mammal. Biologists use these reports to monitor bear activ- ity and provide recommenda- tions to local residents. Indiana was once home to black bears. Bear populations in neighboring states are ex- panding, and southern Indi- ana's forests and hills are ex- cellent habitat for black bears, so more are likely coming. Hoosiers need to work togeth- er now and into the future to protect bears. For tips on co- existing with bears, visit bear- wise.org/six-bearwise-ba- sics/food-garbage/. To view more DNR news re- leases, see dnr.IN.gov. ing replaced by bottle filling stations. The plan also urged stu- dents and staff to stay home if they are sick. The last line states: "Virtu- al Learning, as offered during the 2020 -2021 school year, is not available for the 2021-2022 school year." Deffendoll added, the Indi- ana Department of Education "has given us permission to re- main in person even if we are under red conditions. I was glad to see them provide us with that. If there is a winter spike, we will stay in person and do more distancing." Pike County's first day of school is scheduled for Wednesday, August 11. The low bid for a water sys- tem improvement was ap- proved by a 5 -0 vote. Pike School Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Blake said the water system improvements plan scope has been reduced. She said they originally start- ed looking at replacing or re- pairing Pike Central's original water tower. However, as they did more investigation, they found they could just replace a water line since Pike-Gibson has a nearby water tower and Petersburg is building a new water tower nearby. The bids for the system were: $ 82,000 by Koberstein Contracting, Inc., of Evans- ville; $107,200 by Freuden- berg Contraction LLC, of Oakland City; $115,000 by Love Excavating, of Hunting- burg; and $116,300 by Vanhoy and Sons Contracting Inc., of Washington. "Why is there such a big dif- ference? " asked board mem- ber Chris Satterfield. "I think part of it is covering their butts on materials," said board president Steve Potter. Construction material prices have seen big increases re- cently. An engineer attending the meeting told board members he had talked with Koberstein and they didn't understand the difference either, and they were comfortable with their bids. "I think it was volatility of material costs and contrac- tors are busy, so a couple of the higher bids padded their numbers," said an engineer reviewing the project for the school corp. "That was the only question I had. I move we approve the bids," said Satterfield. They also voted to approve the low bidder on making im- provements to the baseball field, which included redoing the infield. Turfdogs, of Zi- onsville, was the low bidder at $44,400. The other bidders were Tenbarge, of Haubstadt, at $ 69,458.85 and Advanced Turf Solution at $58,491. Chris McKinney moved to accept Turfdogs bid and it was approved by a 5 -0 vote. PERSONNEL CHANGES • Brad Lamey was hired as the CTE engineering and math classes teacher at Pike Central. In other teacher hires, Em- ily Hudson was hired as a kin- dergarten teacher, Brooklyn Aldridge as a second grade teacher, Madison Jones as a first grade teacher and Aman- da Brown as a special educa- tion teacher. All four are at Winslow Elementary School. • Jenny Vaughn was hired as a math specialist and Da- na Blackwell as reading spe- cialist, both at Petersburg Elementary School. Brandi Chestnut was hired as a read- ing interventionist to work with and assist Blackwell. Amber Ashley was hired as the PES music teacher and Taylor Small was hired to a teaching position. Kinzee Warner, Hallie King and Angela Evans were hired as teaching assistants at PES. In other personnel moves, Caleb Cherry resigned as spe- cial education teacher and high school wrestling coach. Mariah Poteet resigned as Business Professionals of America sponsor. Julie Berk- house was hired to replace her as BPA sponsor. The next school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 10. See the Business Box for special services on page B-11 see if she had a pulse. He also admitted he had a $110,000 in- surance policy on Sharon. The investigation went high tech as police issued a search warrant for Fox's CPAP breathing machine records and his cell phone for loca- tion data recorded by Google. Fox was eventually arrest- ed on the murder charge in October. The trial is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. Monday, July 26. Pike County Prosecutor Dar- rin McDonald said it is sched- uled for four weeks; howev- er, he hopes it can be done in two weeks. He said he believes they will have 21 witnesses. Fox's defense attorney Doug Walton has filed a mo- tion for a change of ven- ue. A fter hearing oral argu- ments on the change of ven- ue motion, the court issued this statement. "Court notes a change of venue is general- ly warranted only when the trial court determines in its sound discretion that, due to the existence of community bias or prejudice, the defen- dant could not otherwise ob- tain a fair trial. The mere pos- sibility of prejudice or bias is not sufficient to entitle a de- fendant to a change of venue. In order for a defendant to es- tablish good cause for a dis- cretionary change of venue, he must produce evidence of community bias or prejudice sufficient to convince the tri- al court that he cannot obtain a fair trial in that county. The fact that potential jurors have heard information about the defendant does not require a change of venue. The question is not whether potential jurors had heard of the crime or Ap- pellant's identification with it, but whether those potential ju- rors had a preconceived no- tion of a defendant's guilt and whether they were able to set aside that notion and render a verdict based upon the evi- dence. Court now denies said motion preliminarily." Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Monday, July 26. If a jury is seated, it is expected opening arguments will begin on Tuesday, July 27. TRIAL Continued from page 1 SCHOOL Continued from page 1 BEAR Continued from page 1 Lehman charged with possession and OVWI By James Capozella An Oakland City woman was arrested for OV WI, pos- session of methamphetamine, driving while suspended and trafficking with an inmate (Controlled substance) after a traffic stop on W 250 (Riv- er Road) last Wednesday eve- ning. Pike County Sheriff Depu- ty Jared Simmons stopped Ja- mie Nicole Lehman, 29, of 634 Division St., Oakland City, for driving with bright lights on and one headlight out. During the traffic stop, Simmons re- ported he could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage com- ing from her person, that her speech was slurred, her eyes bloodshot and glassy, and her manual dexterity was poor. Lehman failed four field sobriety tests and had a .139 BAC. Lehman refused a chemical test and was trans- ported to the jail, where she continued to say she didn't have anything on her per- son, according to the report. A corner baggie fell out of her jeans while changing into jail clothes and it contained a sub- stance that tested positive for methamphetamine. Traffic stop leads to drug, alcohol charges By James Capozella A traffic stop by Indiana State Trooper C.J. Boeckman for a speeding vehicle on SR 57 this past Wednesday evening resulted in several charges for one adult and four juve- nile occupants. Klayton Mar- cus Kixmiller, 19, of 6208 S. SR 61, Winslow, was charged with possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, possession of a schedule I con- trolled substance and posses- sion of alcohol by a minor, ac- cording to the probable cause affidavit. While talking to Kixmill- er after the stop, Boeckman recognized the odor of mari- juana and began an investiga- tion, which eventually uncov- ered marijuana, parapherna- lia, moonshine in a Mason jar, whiskey, beer, wine and other sorts of hard spirits, and what was believed to be mushrooms, according to the report. Boeckman was assisted by Trooper Angermeier, Peters- burg officers Bryce Manning and Zack Loveless, Deputies Jared Simmons and Cody Jones, after Boeckman saw there were five young people in the vehicle, and that mari- juana and alcohol was present. All of the juveniles were cit- ed for possession of marijua- na, paraphernalia and posses- sion of an alcoholic beverage by a minor. They were then released to their parents, ac- cording to the report. Kixmill- er's vehicle was turned over to his parents and he was trans- ported to the Pike County Jail with a bond. By Andy Heuring COVID numbers are see- ing an increase in Pike Coun- ty, but as of Tuesday, only 1.6 percent of ventilators in Indi- ana were in use for COVID and only 4.8 percent of the state's ICU beds were in use for COVID patients. In the last seven days, Pike County had 12 new cases of COVID reported, after sev- eral weeks of single digits of new cases. Statewide, the number of new cases on Monday jumped to 713, up from only 284 on Sunday. Over the last seven days, numbers hovered above 550 from July 13 to July 16, be- fore dropping to 369 and 284 over the weekend. Despite the jump in new cases, the number of deaths remains low. As there were a total of nine new deaths in In- diana over the last seven days. Hospitalizations have gone up by about 25 percent in the last week. They rose from 415 on July 13 by about 30 a day to 510 on Monday. In Pike Coun- ty, there have been no new deaths since March 10. Statewide, there have been 2.9 million people vaccinated and 5,581 fully vaccinated in Pike County. County sees increase in COVID cases