The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1398862
SOCCER CAMP fun summer Final Edition of 2021 SPORTS B-1 HOME LIFE D-3 LOCAL A-7 Wednesday, august 4, 2021 PIKE PUBLISHING VOLuMe 151, nuMBeR 31 NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ����������������� A1-8 Sports �����������������B1-3 Reunions ����������������B5 Church �������������� C1-3 Classifieds �����������C4-7 East Gibson������������ C8 Home Life ������������D1-8 Summer Fun �����������D3 Obituaries ���������������D4 History �������������������D5 Opinion ������������� D6-7 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 32 Pages FOuR seCtIOns thRee InseRts PeteRsBuRg, In 47567-0068 See TRIAL on page 4 See GR ANTS on page 2 See FAIR on page 7 Chair swing royalty Naomi Boyd, fourth runner-up in the Little Miss Pike County pageant, hangs on and smiles during her turn on the chair swings while adorning her tiara. See more fair photos throughout this issue. City reviews grants, deals with alley dispute By Andy Heuring Petersburg applied for three grants totaling more than $2 mil- lion in the last month. The city al- so announced during their Monday night meeting they will enforce two- hour parking zones between Ninth and Fourth Sts., along Main St. Mayor R.C. Klipsch told the city council the grants have similar deadlines. Klipsch said one of the grants happened because a 400 -foot sec- tion of a sewer line collapsed under Highway 61 in a section that was in the process of being rehabilitated by the Indiana Department of Trans- portation. Klipsch said the line has to be replaced. He said it just so hap- pened Indiana had opened a cycle of SWIF T grants. He said the ac- ronym stands for State Water In- frastructure grants. He said Indi- ana has $150 million for wastewa- ter, stormwater and drinking water projects. He stated the collapsed line is near the laundromat on Highway 61. City crews have packed the line hoping to keep it from collapsing further. It is located in Phase II of the Highway 61 rehab project. That work isn't expected to start until October. Estimated cost of the project is $ 698,000, with Petersburg's por- tion being $296,000. He said Petersburg plans to use some of the $523,000 they received from the COVID relief package to pay for the grant matches. One of the eligible uses for the COVID money was water and sewer proj- ects. Klipsch said half of the COVID re- lief money was received last week. A second grant requested is to pay for a new waterline from the new wa- ter plant into Petersburg. "We have the second oldest water plant in the state and the water line from it is the same age. It needs to be replaced as well." The other project is to do a storm water upgrade in the Locust St. ar- ea to replace drains, lines, curbs and sidewalks at a cost of $1.5 million, with Petersburg requesting $1.4 mil- lion in grant funds. "We are trying to take that $500,000 (COVID relief money) and turn it into more than $2 mil- lion," said Klipsch. The other grant they requested was for Community Crossroads pav- ing money. Klipsch said the paving projects add up to about $200,000, with the city's match being $51,000. The streets to be paved, if the grant is approved, are: Locust St., from Third to Ninth Sts.; Maple St., from Third to Ninth Sts.; Sycamore St., from dead-end to Fifth St.; Mc- Coy St., from Fifth to Elementary School; and Tenth St., from Locust to SR 61. "Just because we have applied, doesn't mean we are going to get them (grants), far from it. Every- one wants them and there is a lot of competition," said Klipsch. Police Chief Kyle Mills said the two-hour parking zones are marked and they will begin enforcing them. "We will issue warnings and then on a second offense, we will issue tick- ets," said Mills. Klipsch also said he wanted to remind residents of improvement permits. He said they are similar to building permits, but not as de- tailed. It just asks for information about a permanent improvement, such as an addition to an existing structure, a fence or wall. He said it regulates zoning and to see a per- manent structure isn't being built in the wrong place. The permits are $25. ALLEY USE CAUSES DISPUTE A dispute over the use of an al- ley has erupted. Charles Hyatt pur- chased a house on Ninth St. He made improvements to the house. He also sought permission to rock an alley and use it as access to the house. He said the house's driveway forced occupants to back out onto Ninth St., which is Highway 61. Mayor Klipsch said that was the city's safety concern. However, Don Priest, of Living Faith Church International, said it was creating a safety hazard for them, because the church is on one side of the alley and the lot they use for youth and other activities is on the other side. Priest and several members of the church attended the meeting. "We brought pictures," said Priest. He said his question about the al- ley was whether it was surveyed. He said it appears the rock that was spread was not where the alley was supposed to be because it didn't align with the alley on the other side of the street. "Not to my knowledge," said Klipsch about whether it had been surveyed. He added, "The city hasn't done it." "I think if someone wanted to im- prove that, it should be surveyed," said Priest. He said since the rock was spread, grass has started growing. He asked if the city was going to maintain that. "It is city property," said Klipsch. Zoar gets kickin' with Mosquito Fest August 6 The 49th Mosquito Fest will get started on Friday, August 6 and con- tinue through Saturday, August 7, with loads of fun and activities for the whole family to enjoy. The fest this year will be located on the Zoar United Methodist Church grounds at the Dubois-Pike County line, west of Stendal, on Old State Road 64. Friday, August 6 will start off with the food stands opening at 4 p.m., featuring 16 flavors of homemade ice cream, homemade pies and lem- onade, as well as hamburgers, fish, corndogs and chicken dinners start- ing at 5 p.m. Opening ceremonies are set for 5:30 p.m., followed by country mu- sician Kirby Stailey at 7 p.m. The Southern Indiana Wiffleball Classic will also begin on Friday night and continue into Saturday. Saturday, August 7 starts early with breakfast available at 7 a.m. in the building. Not forgetting that the Inflatables and food stands will be open all day. A color family run starts at 8 a.m., with registration beginning at 7 a.m. The Stationary Parade and kids' box parade is set for 1 p.m. Old-fashioned games, such as sack races, and balloon and egg toss- es, are set to begin at 2 p.m. Saturday night will feature grilled pork chop dinners and a kids' tractor pull beginning at 4 p.m. Followed by a Gospel concert with Nailprint per- forming at 6:30 p.m. They will have flower, produce and quilt shows on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the Country Store will be open Friday at 4 p.m. and all day Saturday. McConnell escapes injury in Tuesday crash A Tuesday morning single-vehicle crash totaled a 2014 Ram pickup driven by Paul McConnell, of Petersburg. McConnell was not injured when his truck crossed the centerline, went into a ditch and hit a culvert on the south side of SR 56, near CR 850 E. Deputy Cody Jones responded to the accident call around 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Investigators testify at Fox murder trial By Andy Heuring The first week of the Ed Fox mur- der trial has seen prosecutor Darrin McDonald building a case against Fox, who has been charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Sha- ron. On Wednesday, McDonald start- ed the day with Indiana State Po- lice Crime Scene Investigator Mark Green. McDonald spent a couple of hours going over volumes of pic- tures Green took at Sharon's house, Ed's camper and outbuildings at Sharon's house. Some of the first pictures were of the staircase from the kitchen into the basement. It was noted several times that Sharon was afraid of the staircase. It started in the kitchen and went down two steps to a landing, which had an exterior door. The first two steps were normal steps, but then the stairs from the landing into the basement were made of rough wood and were extremely steep. They ap- peared to be only a few inches wide and drop about 12 inches or more to the next step. They ran along an exterior wall of the house and base- ment. The steps reached the base- ment floor in a corner of the base- ment against a sidewall and the bot- tom step was only inches from an- other wall. "They were steps an elderly per- son would have to be careful on," said Green. Most of the pictures were put onto a projector, but photos with Sharon's body in them were handed to jurors to pass among themselves. Investigator Green, who has worked for the State Police Crime Lab, told the court he follows a stan- dard procedure in taking the photos. Fair wraps-up 100th annual festivities This year's 100th Annual 4-H Fair was one to remember, featuring pag- eants, livestock shows and compe- titions, a small parade, horse games, a demo derby, a classic car show, free rides, food and so many more fun family activi- ties. The fair ran from Saturday, July 24, starting with exhibit check-in, and ended on Saturday, July 31, with a closing ceremony and a breathtaking fire- works show. Even though COVID caused the fair to be virtual last year and pro- vided some chal- lenges this year, Pike County 4-H Board president Kara Willis stated, "It was a fantastic fair. We, as a 4-H council, didn't even get to meet in per- son until a few months ago. It was all Fair galore; more next week Next week, you'll find even more coverage, with photos from the livestock shows and results from the exhib- it building and livestock shows.