The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1408154
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, September 8, 2021 D-3 EAST GIBSON Submit East Gibson news items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: egnews@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Lathan Maikranz returns a serve during the Wood Memorial boys' tennis match at Pike Central on Thurs- day, Sept. 2. Anthony Gress jumps to hit the ball during the Wood Memorial boys' tennis match at Pike Central on Thursday, Sept. 2. Carter Lee slides right to return the ball to the op- posing player during the Wood Memorial boys' tennis match at Pike Central on Thursday, Sept. 2. Lucas Gress smacks the ball back across the net during the Wood Memorial boys' tennis match at Pike Central on Thursday, Sept. 2. Alton Falls jumps to hit his serve during the Wood Memorial boys' tennis match at Pike Central on Thursday, Sept. 2. WOOD MEMORIAL TENNIS Oakland City Library gets gardening grant Oakland City Colum- bia Township Public Li- brary recent- ly received a grant in the amount of $1,317 to in- stall an in- door/out- door vertical garden that will grow fresh greens, year-round. The project is designed to introduce a soil-free gar- dening tech- nique called aeroponics. In addition to teaching and sharing the science behind the garden, produce will be used in programming allow- ing patrons to taste different types of greens. Leftover produce will be donated to various organizations. Li- brary Director, Julie Elmore is excited to bring this proj- ect to the community stat- ing "the project not only is incredibly cool to watch, but the opportunity to let kids taste the different varieties of fresh greens is exciting. Since the tower can grow over 20 plants at a time, we antici- pate being able to donate ex- cess produce to the commu- nity and that is just another win for the commu- nity." This proj- ect is support- ed by the Insti- tute of Muse- um and Library Services un- der the provi- sions of the Li- brary Services and Technology Act, admin- istered by the Indiana State Library. The Institute of Mu- seum and Library Services is the primary source of feder- al support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Their mission has been to inspire libraries and museums to advance innova- tion, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engage- ment. Ind. 57 bridge closed The Indiana Department of Transportation announc- es a complete closure on Ind. 57 for a bridge deck overlay project. Beginning on or around Wednesday Sept. 8, con- tractors will close the Ind. 57 bridge spanning Pigeon Creek, north of Ind. 68 and just south of County Road 650 near Buckskin. Workers will apply a new driving sur- face to the bridge at this lo- cation. During the project, the bridge will be closed around the clock. Work is expected to last for about five days de- pending upon weather condi- tions. Local traffic will have access up to the point of clo- sure, but all through traffic should use the official de- tour following Ind. 68, I-69 and Ind. 64. INDOT urges drivers to slow down and stay alert near crews. District 10 ICU Bed Usage Holcomb's COVID orders trickle down into school settings South Gibson Schools re- turned to masking last week after Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Exec- utive Order 21-24, outlin- ing directives for handling COVID-19, even as Gib- son Coun- ty's positivi- ty rate fell to 14.9 percent this week, compared to last week's 21.11 per- cent positiv- ity rate. The county is still considered at the "red" ad- visory level because the drop has to be maintained for two weeks at under 15 percent be- fore the coun- ty enters the orange level of advisory. The county is at 102 deaths total over the course of the pandemic, and 5649 cases. According to the gover- nor, the recent surge of cas- es due to the infectious Delta Variant has created a strain on the hospital system. The Executive Order asked health care systems to use evidence-based decisions to monitor patient capacity and staffing levels to assess whether non-emergent pro- cedures should be delayed or reprioritized. It also re- quired hospitals to report di- version information to the In- diana Department of Health (IDOH) to assist with moni- toring resources and capaci- ty statewide. The Indiana Department of Insurance (IDOI) will be issued bulletins extend- ing prior authorizations for non-emergent procedures that are postponed due to ca- pacity or staffing issues be- cause of COVID-19 and di- recting insurers to enable hospitals to expedite the process of transporting pa- tients out of hospital care to the next ap- propriate setting. IDOH allowed schools and day cares to modi- fy quaran- tine provi- sions if the facilities adhere to the follow- ing orders and guid- ance set by IDOH: •Schools and day cares that have mask require- ments that are con- sistent- ly followed through- out the day do not have to quaran- tine stu- dents, teachers and staff who are close contacts and aren't showing symptoms of COVID-19; •Schools and day cares must continue to contact trace by notifying their local health department as well as parents, teachers and staff who were in close contact. The executive order ex- pires Sept. 30. While South Gibson Cath- olic Schools had returned to masking the week before, due to Gibson County being in the red zone for spread, South Gibson Schools re- turned to masking in con- junction with the governor's executive order, adding that students will not have to be quarantined as close con- tacts in school or on buses, though parents will still be asked to monitor children for symptoms. Vaccinated students and staff will also not be required to quarantine unless they are close contacts.