The Press-Dispatch

September 1, 2021

The Press-Dispatch

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B-2 Wednesday, September 1, 2021 The Press-Dispatch COVID Continued from page 1 See the Business Box for special services Page B-9 SCHOOL Continued from page 1 FOX Continued from page 1 Delivery and Setup Available! NEW MODELS NOW IN STOCK! Home Comfort Centers 650 Division Rd. Jasper (US 231 S. next to Jasper Engines) 812-482-2246 Mon,Tues, Thur 9-5:30, Wed & Fri 9-7, Sat 9-3 PLUSH INCLUDING Harry Potter, Star Wars, Toy Story and more Harry Potter Good selection of plush figures 50%-75% on select Holiday and Everyday Items save Sidewalk Sept. 4 BUY ONE, GET 1 FREE 716 Main St. Petersburg • 812-354-9372 /margeshallmark Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 9-5; Friday 9-6 HALLOWEEN DECOR Peek-A-Boo Black Cat Singing Stuffed Animal WITH MOTION (15.5" TALL) $ 19 99 with purchase of 3 cards Sale Wow! TABLE OF ITEMS up to $20 value $ 2 EACH SATURDAY ONLY LOUIE CAMPBELL Sales Professional lcampbell@sfaulknerauto.com CALL OR TEXT 812-899-6267 @LouieYourCarGuy HWY. 64 W. PRINCETON Looking for a Great Deal On Your Next Vehicle? Howard Briscoe remembered Family members and friends of Howard Briscoe participated in the Howard Briscoe Memorial Golf Tourna- ment at Prides Creek on Saturday, Aug. 28. The tournament was named in honor of Dr. Briscoe for his contri- butions to the Pike County communities during his lifetime. Participants in the tournament included, from left, Dr. Briscoe's grandaughter, Meagan Davis; his daughter, Teresa Davis; Meagan's friend, Jake Perry and his son, Brick Briscoe. Pike County's Jayla Harris placed second at the Indiana State Fair Talent Show. Harris, a freshmen at Pike Central this year, sang Ma- ma Mia in the talent show in the 13 to 20 -year-old divi- sion. She was one of 21 contes- tants. Harris said it was a pres- sure-packed performance, not because of the number of peo- ple at the show, but because the competition was so good. The contestants all had to win at the local level to get to the State Fair. It was won by Molly Knight, of Marion County, who sang an Italian song. Harris was second and Laci Winn, of Van- derburgh County, placed third singing When We Were Young. "There wasn't a single per- formance that you thought, 'they aren't very good,' ev- eryone was very talented," said Harris, who is a veteran of numerous talent competi- tions. She has participated in about 10 official competitions and numerous other events, as well as eight musicals and numerous community theatre productions. "It is what I love to do. It feels right and natural when I'm on stage and performing. It feels like everything clicks. It is what I love to do. I love being on stage. It makes me happy. Some kids like to do sports, this is my thing," said Harris. She is the daughter of Ran- dy and Denise Harris, of Pe- tersburg. Jayla Harris places second in Indiana State Fair Talent Show New Hope Development Services launches more affordable housing Petersburg will be getting five duplexes that will house 10 families. On August 20, 2021, Indiana Housing and Community Development Au- thority (IHCDA) announced $ 3.9 million in funding for two new affordable housing devel- opments for New Hope Devel- opment Services. One will be in Petersburg and the other one in Rockport. Both developments will con- sist of multi-family duplex- es with three bedrooms, two baths and one car garages, all green-building certified for energy efficiency. Funding for the two proj- ects consists of $ 3 million in HOME funds, and $ 900,600 in other funding. Both are being developed by New Hope De- velopment Services, Inc., the Housing & Community Devel- opment corporation related to New Hope Services, Inc. Once completed, the two projects will add 20 units of multi-family housing to the corporation's portfolio for a to- tal of 496 units, which includes single family, multi-family and senior affordable housing, in 12 current locations and two new locations in nine counties. Construction is due to start in January 2022 and should take about eight months to complete. New Hope CEO James Bos- ley said, "We are pleased that these developments were ap- proved for funding, and we're happy for the two Southern In- diana communities of Rock- port and Petersburg. The de- mand for affordable housing for both families and seniors is increasing, and these two major projects will help meet that need." "It is fantastic. We are going to get five new structures in an area where there is nothing now," said Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch. He said the five duplexes will be located where the for- mer Mallott trailer court was located at 308 N. White Riv- er Ave. deployed to Turkey after 9/11, and twice to Kuwait. Walton said the last is that the sentence would be an un- due hardship on Fox or his family. He said all of Fox's children are grown, but "even the minimum sentence will likely be a death sentence." He asked the court to order Fox to serve 10 years of the sentence and then upon suc- cessful completion of those years, to be put on probation. Pike County Prosecutor Darrin McDonald said he agreed with Walton about the sentence length, "45 to 65 years is likely the same re- sult," but added, "Murder is murder. You don't take anoth- er person's life. That is the law we all have to live by." McDonald said he dis- agreed with Walton about be- ing a threat to the community. He said early on, they thought he had killed her because of just an acrimonious relation- ship and divorce proceedings that had dragged on due to COVID. But they learned the real motivator was money. McDonald said Fox had purchased numerous insur- ance policies and was going to inherit the house. "This is a case where Mr. Fox is a dan- ger to anyone where he can thinks he can make money off of them." McDonald added Fox was one of the most motivated in- dividuals he had ever encoun- tered. "He was so blinded by trying to get his hands on a death certificate, he couldn't wait and that was his ultimate downfall." "Every time something went wrong, he didn't give up, he doubled down. He got his truck hung up in the ditch. Most of us would have said 'this is embarrassing, I'm too old for this.' When the first lock pick set didn't come in, he ordered another one." McDonald recommended a sentence of 45 years and a fine of $10,000. He said he rarely recommends a fine in sentenc- es. But "because money is so much of a motivator for him. Money was the impetus for all the evil of Mr. Fox to kill his wife." Fox then took the opportu- nity to speak on his own be- half. "Mr. McDonald here thinks all I care about is money. My insurance policy on children and grandchildren are for their benefit. My son has no one to take care of him. I have a policy on him, so I can take care of him if he passes or who ever is living can take care of him." "My daughter, she was in between marriages so I had some on her." "My grandchildren, I have the Gerber policy on. When they turn 18, it doubles. A fter they get married, they will have a policy so they wouldn't have to get high price policies. When they get older, they can be turned over to them." "They can take care of their own finances. Nothing to ben- efit me. I'm not the money grabber. My wife was." "I'm not the money grab- ber. I spent my money try- ing to make my family happy. My wife wouldn't pay for any- thing." "My son, when he needed something, he would come me and wanted me to loan him money. I didn't loan it to him. I would give it to him. She wouldn't give him anything. I'm not the money grabber." "He (McDonald) is trying to say I wanted money. You are wrong, son. That is all I have to say, I wouldn't hurt my wife for nothing." Judge Jeff Biesterveld then pronounced the sentence. He said after listening to the evi- dence, he found the case to be a matter of domestic violence. He said the court had con- sidered Walton's arguments on mitigating factors. He then listed the aggravat- ing factors he found. Biesterveld said Fox "had violated his protective order not once, but on numerous oc- casions." He also cited Fox had given it much thought, even ordering two lock pick kits. Biesterveld also cited the victim was at least 65 years of age. He cited no criminal histo- ry was a mitigating factor, but said Fox's "behavior factor in this case substantially out- weighs the mitigating factors. A reduced sentence would de- preciate the seriousness of the offense." Biesterveld then pro- nounced the sentence of 55 years on count I murder and 30 years on count II burglary, with the two sentences to run concurrently or at the same time. Fox was given credit for the 330 actual days served prior to the sentencing hearing and 11 good credit days. Walton told the court Fox planned to appeal his convic- tion. The court appointed Steve Ripstra as the lead attorney and Walton to assist Ripstra on the appeal. ty testing site. It is located at the Moose Lodge parking lot in Petersburg. Officials are requesting people enter the parking lot from Highway 57 and stay in their cars. Testing site hours are ex- panded to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays; 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thurs- days and Saturdays. Make an appointment online at sched- uling.coronavirus.in.gov/ Home/LocationSelection. The vaccine clinic in Pike County is open on Tuesdays from 1 to 5:30 p.m. and on Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Appointments can be made online. The number of people be- ing hospitalized in Indiana is still on the rise. On Tuesday, there were 2,300 people hos- pitalized. On July 30, 2020, there were only 819. Despite the jump in COVID numbers, ICU beds and ventilators are still available in Indiana. Ac- cording to the Indiana Depart- ment of Health, 22.3 percent of the ICU beds are still available and 72.6 percent of the ventila- tors are available. See SCHOOL on page 4 big. But I think the one that's really, really most disturbing to me is the one bigger per- centage of positives. . . As of this afternoon, and this is only as as long as the ink is on the paper because almost before it can dry, there's updates. We have 56 positive cases. That's school people. That's not just students." "Last year in December, at the end of the first semes- ter, we had 99 positive cas- es, we're already halfway to where we were in a whole se- mester," said Blake. "Our quarantines are turn- ing up positive this year, that did not happen last year." Blake said she didn't know the details of the differenc- es in the variants, "but I can tell you that we're ranging be- tween 8 and 10 percent of our quarantines are coming back positive." "I understand we're going to have to do something for these quarantines. That's ob- vious that we're going to have to do something, but I think that there's more than just worrying about the positive of the quarantines and making a plan, and trying to change something with this. As far as when these kids come off of quarantine, and we're gonna go down to three feet at the end of the quarantine. When they come back, the way that it states now, is if they come back there, how long is it gon- na be? 10 days? Still 14 days for the quarantine? " Blake said the kids have op- tions to do any of those. Board member Chris McK- inney also stated concern about kids not being able to ride the bus when they re- turn from quarantine. "Some of these kids want to get back into the school room and we aren't letting them. Because some kids simply don't have a way to and from school, or to tell a child they they've got to go sit by themselves to eat lunch. I don't know if that's the right thing." Blake said, "Okay this was, again, I know things are hap- pening rapidly. But this is also where I asked for information. So I could have the principals and nurses review it because they're the ones who are go- ing to have to implement it." Parent Christina Hoskins told the school board her sixth grade student was intelligent but was struggling. She said she works in the healthcare field and can't take off now to be at home with her chil- dren. So her husband is trying to work from home and some days has to take care of a four- year-old. "This is a struggle," said Hoskins. She said Jasper uses a pro- gram called Canvas for virtu- al learning. She said the stu- dents and the teacher can see each other, and students can raise their hands and ask questions. "We have been doing this for a year and a half. I am ask- ing you to please, please, if you get these kids on quaran- tine, please give him instruc- tions, because the teachers, they are not there for the stu- dents to ask questions. They need to be able to participate in their class. Because these 15 minute Google lessons are not enough," said Hoskins. McKinney said he want- ed to make sure the kids on quarantine are getting live instruction, "Just not logging in the morning and getting their assignments and doing homework for 10 days or 14." He said he wanted kids to be able to ask questions of the teacher. Trent Whitehead asked the board if it was possible for each teacher in every class to have kids log in and the teacher teach the class just like she would every day. "Is that possible? It would be just

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