The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1408154
Labor Day Celebration Girls' soccer puts up a fight with low player numbers SPORTS B1 EAST GIBSON C5 NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ����������������� A1-8 Obituaries ���������������A6 History ������������������� A7 Sports �����������������B1-6 Opinion �������������B4-5 Church �������������� C1-3 Classifieds �����������C4-7 Home Life ������������D1-6 School ���������������� D4-5 East Gibson�������� D3-5 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 28 PAGES Four SECTIoNS Four INSErTS PETErSBurG, IN 47567-0068 WEdNESdAy, SEPT. 8, 2021 PIKE PUBLISHING VoLuME 151, NuMBEr 36 By Andy Heuring Active COVID cases in Pike Coun- ty jumped to 174 last Friday as num- bers of new infections in the coun- ty continued to climb. There were 19 new cases on August 31, 37 new cases on Sept. 1 and 22 on Sept. 2. The 37 new cases is the second high- est one day count recorded in Pike County. The highest was on Sep- tember 30, 2020 when 46 new cas- es were recorded. Over the last seven days there were 124 new cases reported in Pike County, while high, it is 25 less new cases than was reported the previ- ous week. Still it was enough of a jump the Indiana Department of Health has scheduled mobile drive-through testing and vaccination clinics at the Petersburg Little League Park on Friday and Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. Anyone interested in getting ei- ther rapid test or PCR tested can go online to https://scheduling.coro- navirus.in.gov/Home/LocationSe- lection and then enter the zip code 47567 and choose Petersburg Little League as the location. People are asked to drive into the Little League park from the Illinois St. entrance near Fifth St. Those wanting vaccinated can go to ourshot.in.gov and under mobile sites, find Pike County and sched- ule an appointment to be vaccinated. The Indiana Department of Health will then send a text to your cell- phone. If you need assistance you can also dial 211 for help. The Moose Lodge testing site will be closed on Saturday, Sept. 11. Statewide the new case numbers are dropping dramatically over the last few days, but that may be due to the Labor Day holiday. On September 1 the new cases state-wide hit 5,198. By Sept. 3 it dropped to 4,210 and then on Sep- tember 5 it fell to 2,598, then in- creased to 2,863 on September 6. The Indiana Dept. of Health's website said some hospital infor- mation during the holidays has not been reported to the state. Deaths in Indiana took a dramat- ic drop, but that also could be due to lack of reporting over the hol- idays. There were 18 new deaths on August 31, 25 on Sept. 1, 14 on Sept. 2 and three on September 3. None were reported on September 4 to six. Pike County's seven-day all test positivity rate was 20 percent on Monday. If that remains above 15 percent Pike County will likely be moved from the orange advisory lev- el to red. The last death in Pike County was on August 7, the previous death was on March 10, 2021. COVID on rise; mobile testing, vaccination clinic scheduled See FESTIVALS on page 2 See BOMB on page 2 By Andy Heuring The weekend of September 17-18 is go- ing to be busy around the area, especially in Winslow. The annual Winslow Fall Festival is set for Friday and Saturday, but this year the Winslow Alumni Reunion and Clog the Pato- ka will also be the same weekend. Monroe City is having their annual Monroe City Fall Festival and the Holland Fest is set for the same weekend. WINSLOW FALL FEST Festival activities begin early Saturday in Riverside Park with a breakfast served by the Winslow Lions Club. A tractor show is set to run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with kids games. Mu- sic in the park will run much of the day. Low- ell Thomas and Company is set for 10 a.m. with Connor Loveless at 1 p.m. and Two Cent Road at 2 p.m. Also going on at the same time will be ac- tivities at Main and Center Sts. The Flea Market will open at 8 a.m. and run throughout the day. They will have a nine-hole mini golf course and other kids games. A frozen t-shirt contest is scheduled with start time to be announced. There will be line dancing from 6 to 8 p.m. pri- or to the parade. Winslow Light-up parade is set for 9 p.m. start time. Line-up will be near the Winslow American Legion and will run to Main St. and then north on Main to the Winslow Lit- tle League park. Also in the downtown area will be at least five food trucks. WINSLOW ALUMNI REUNION The Winslow Alumni Reunion has activi- ties throughout the weekend. There will be a nine hole reunion golf scramble at Prides Creek on Friday morning. Friday afternoon they will have a cruise/poker run-type rally. Participants will drive around the area to var- ious sites in southern Pike County including the old Stendal School, Winslow Gym, Main St. Winslow, the fire tower in Pike State For- est and Winslow gym. They are asked to take selfies at the various locations instead of re- ceiving poker cards. A chili supper with peanut butter sandwich- es, just like they served at the school is set for Friday night. The alumni banquet will be on Saturday night at the Huntingburg Event Center. Social time prior to the dinner. The featured speaker will be 1962 graduate Vicki Black. Music will be provided by Vinnie and the Moochers of Indianapolis. Joe Dedman with the alumni association said they already have more than 110 reservations. CLOG THE PATOKA The annual gathering of all floating things Next weekend will be fun for festival fans Bizarre bomb threat forces PES evacuation Winslow street paving Paving crews were in Winslow paving several streets as part of their Community Crossings grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation. Above they are paving Walnut St. from North to Lucas Sts. They also paved Center St. from Main to West Sts. and Lucas St. from Walnut to Bluff Sts. and from Oak to DeTar Sts. By Andy Heuring The ugliness of social media and how quick- ly things can get out of control was on full display last week at Petersburg Elementary School. A school employee found a threaten- ing voice mail, notified authorities, and Pe- tersburg Elementary School kids and staff were kept out of the building until it could be checked out. It was a gigantic miscue by the person leav- ing the message. Currently, local authorities believe a man from the St. Louis area became upset about a video he saw on social media. Area officials think it showed an autistic girl in a Kentucky school being beaten up by another girl. They think it was in Pike County, Kentucky, but they aren't sure. "I was told it was Pike Coun- ty Central High School, but I'm not sure if it is Kentucky, Alabama or Ohio," said Blake. Neither was the person who left the mes- sage. He wasn't the only one getting Pike County, Indiana schools mixed up with the school in the video. "He apparently was upset with the way the school and police handled the situation in the video," said Sheriff Kent Johnson. School Resource Officer Jason McKinney said Pike Central High School has been get- ting several angry phone calls and messag- es referencing the viral video. Pike County Schools Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Blake said apparently a TikTok video was posted on August 24 and local schools started getting numerous emails and phone calls about the video on August 25. McKinney said they thought it had died down last week, but then on Friday morning a custodian, who had been sick and off work for a few days came back to work. He saw a voicemail message and listened to it. Sheriff Johnson said the message basically said the person claimed to be a rational per- son, but he was going to "blow the place up". Johnson said they had his name and phone number. He said they notified the FBI, which is investigating the case. Pike County Prosecutor Darrin McDonald said he does not know if it will be federal or local charges. "Federal authorities are much better equipped to handle this than we are, but we will see." Johnson said he was notified of it at about Petersburg Police Chief Kyle Mills holds open a door at the old Petersburg Gym for a cafeteria worker to carry in supplies to feed Petersburg Elementary School students. Students were moved from Petersburg Elementary School to the gym when a bomb threat was found on a school voicemail. They stayed in the gym until the school could searched. Students were able to get on with their normal day after about 10:20 a.m.