The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1412732
B-2 Wednesday, September 22, 2021 The Press-Dispatch Beacon of Light Cafe celebrated their opening with a ribbon cutting by the Pike County Chamber of Com- merce last week. Above are (l to r) Emily McGuire, Krista Robinette, owners Alex Powers and Tara Baham and Winslow Town Council member Josh Popp. COVID Continued from page 1 COUNCIL Continued from page 1 SERVICES Now buying grain at 605 S. Oak St., Winslow (Formerly ADM Growmark) For hours and prices, call: Tom Anson 812-890-6105 or Nathan Andrews 812-309-0178 Is it TIME for your next eye exam? 8–7 . Mon. 8–noon . Tues. 10–7 . Wed. 8–5 . Thur. 8–5 . Fri. Locally Owned and Operated Dr. Clint Shoultz 715 S. 9th Street, Petersburg 812-354-9400 Beacon of Light restaurant opens in Winslow Sisters Alex Powers and Tara Baham opened Beacon of Light Cafe on Main St., Winslow. They offer tradition- al breakfast, with sandwiches, salads and maybe soups for lunch, as well as coffee, pas- tries, and specialty cakes for weddings, birthdays and oth- er special occasions. Powers said they will also feature "good" coffee, some- thing her sister, Baham, knows a little about. She is a former manager at Starbucks. Beacon of Light is located at 316 N. Main St. in the same location as restaurants have been located since the early 1900s. "I have always want- ed to do my own bakery and restaurant. It (the building) was given to me. So it made sense," said Powers. She add- ed, "I really don't want to go to college." Baham was a business man- agement major in college and has worked as a manager at Starbucks. They had talked about opening a coffee shop and when the building was available, they decided to take the plunge. Powers said the name came from a woman who was pray- ing with them about it. During a walk-through, she told them it would be a Beacon of Light to the community. "We said, 'That is the name.'" They will be open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Sat- urday. By Andy Heuring A rural Petersburg man was arrested early Saturday morn- ing on meth charges after he was stopped for bright light- ing a policeman. Todd McCann, 48, of 3917 W. River Road, Petersburg, was arrested on charges of possession of meth, less than five grams, a level 6 felony, and possession of parapher- nalia. Pike County Deputy Jared Simmons said he was driving south on Highway 57 when he met a truck that didn't dim its lights. Simmons said he stopped the truck and talked to McCann, who didn't have a driver's license with him. Simmons said he then talk- ed with the passenger, Ashley Maxfield, and asked both to get out of the vehicle. During a search of McCann's vehi- cle, Simmons said he found a zipper pouch in the backseat with a meth smoking device inside it. According to Simmons' re- port, when he talked with Maxfield, she said they had used meth together the previ- ous day. Then when he talked with MaCann, he took respon- sibility for the meth pipe and said he had a small amount of meth wrapped in tissue paper in his pocket. He was taken into custody and Maxfield was released. McCann on meth-related charges A rural Winslow man was arrested Sunday evening af- ter an accident at the inter- section of Highways 356 and 257, near Otwell. Kevin Mundy, 56, of 7798 E. CR 250 N., Winslow, was ar- rested on charges of operat- ing a vehicle while intoxicated and driving while suspended. Pike County Deputy Sher- iff Bryce Manning and Depu- ty Cody Jones responded to a report of an accident at about 5:30 p.m. Deputy Manning said when they arrived, they talked to the vehicles' drivers and while talking with Mundy, noticed he was slurring his speech and they could smell the odor of alcohol. Mundy also told police his driver's license was suspend- ed because he failed to pay child support. Mundy failed field sobri- ety tests and was taken to the Pike County Jail, where he tested 0.25 percent for blood alcohol content, which is more than three times the legal lim- it for driving in Indiana. Deputy Manning said he had to take Mundy to Da- viess Community Hospital to be cleared before he could be admitted to the jail because of his high level of blood alcohol content. Mundy charged with OVWI By Andy Heuring Petersburg resident David Henson was one of five people reappointed by Indiana Gover- nor Eric Holcomb to the Fire Prevention and Building Safe- ty Commission. Henson, who is owner of Ar- chitectural Design Concepts, LLC, was appointed to the board until August 31, 2025. Others appointed to the board by Gov. Holcomb in- clude Joseph Heinsman, of Mooresville, a structural en- gineer; James Murua, of Fort Wayne, an asst. fire chief and fire marshal; Scott Pannicke, of Indianapolis, an architect; and Michael Popich, of India- napolis, who is manager of the Bureau of Construction of Ser- vices for the City of Indianapo- lis. A new appointment to the committee is John Watson, of Indianapolis, who is VP of op- erations for Mid-American El- evator Co. Henson re-appointed to state commission ing. Between 200 and 300 feet, there could be roads, fences and underground structures," said Councilman Greg Willis. He added, "Both law firms and everyone at the table were in agreement. Obviously there was a reason 200 and 300 -foot ranges were put in there. It sounds like the 200 -foot range you want to change. Why do you think there was a 200, as well as 300 -feet range? " "This is something, this plan will help us out financial- ly, instead of trying to figure out how do we go around this with topography levels," said Jeffers. Craig asked if they were wanting to go inside the 200 -foot buffer with some items. Jeffers said they were in a few specific spots with chal- lenging topography. She claimed they would be less than half an acre. "We had an agreement we were all happy with. I'm proba- bly not real comfortable doing anything with it until I make sure all the landowners are content with it," said Council- man Max Elliott. "I second that, we spent a lot of time negotiating this. We were happy with it. We spent more than 100 hours on this," said Councilman Travis Trout- man. "If the contract is confus- ing to the lawyers, they are the one who wrote the thing. I don't have a problem with them clarifying the language, but changing the parameters and clarifying the language are two different things," said Councilman Willis. County Highway Superin- tendent Josh Byrd said, "We have experienced the same thing. We have worked togeth- er through the whole thing. We had an agreement set, then I started getting phone calls from the contractors. They are supposed to be com- ing in off 356 and come down Dutchtown Road. I have a con- tractor wanting to come in off of 57 and she ( Jeffers) had a contractor wanting to haul 1,000 loads of dirt. I want to clarify myself, I want all the contractor road question to go through Nikki ( Jeffers). Val (Fleig, county attorney) said he wants one agreement." Byrd said he didn't want ev- ery contractor wanting differ- ent agreements. We are try- ing to look out for the peo- ple in that community. She is working on that now to get it lined out." Craig then asked if anyone attending the meeting had questions about the agree- ment. Darrin McDonald said he lived in the Dutchtown area and the project was causing a lot of dissension in the com- munity and even amongst fam- ily members. McDonald said he went to the open house for the solar farm and asked where they could go to see a similar proj- ect that had been around for 15 years. He said he was told in Nevada. "That is fine, but lizards live in Nevada. We have people who live here. "We feel a little like a guin- ea pig," said McDonald about the project. He said he understood there were a lot of people who stood to gain from this project. But he added, most of the people in the area had invested their life savings in their houses and Pike County, and it was putting those at risk. McDonald said what hap- pens if President Biden's new green deal goes away and the incentives for solar disappear, and they become economical- ly unfeasible. The residents in the area are left with the mess. "My point is if you were promised something and you give up this quickly on this, what is to say you won't later," said McDonald. "I would say you share that with Val. This agreement is al- ready signed. But the others aren't signed yet," said Craig. There are at least three more proposed solar farm projects being developed in Pike County. Shawn Wilson, who lives in the area of Ratts 1 Solar Farm, said, "I live by my work. This is a document." He said two at- torneys worked it out and put it on paper. "I don't see how this is an issue," said Wilson. He added, "Everyone knows we are going to lose the value of our house and we are going to have a hard time selling it." Wilson also said he, through the county, was giv- ing away too much to Averon. "They keep doing scare tac- tics. Everything they need is there. Hold your ground. That is all I have to say." David Dawson said he heard one homeowner was not being given the 300 -foot buffer zone. Craig said at one residence, there was going to be an ac- cess road with a turnaround inside the 200 -foot zone, but the panels were going to be outside the 300 -foot buffer. Jeffers said that would be in- side 200 feet and there were actually going to be some pan- els less than half an acre in- side the 300 -foot buffer. Dawson also said he heard CR 575 didn't have a bond placed on it. Byrd said that was correct, but it was because it is not go- ing to be used during the con- struction of the project. Elliott moved to table the requested amendments. It was seconded by Troutman and passed by 7-0 to table the matter. In other business, the coun- cil: • approved a $40,000 ad- ditional appropriation to pur- chase culverts. Byrd said he was notified by the county's suppliers that the price of cul- verts was going to increase by 40 to 50 percent next year. He said they normally put $50,000 a year in the budget for culverts. So he was asking for $40,000 this year to pur- chase them at this year's pric- es before the increase. Then in the budget for 2022, they would reduce their request. • approved a $25,000 trans- fer from rock to bituminous to pay for paving materials on Il- linois St. • announced the $ 35,000 Baker Tilly Financial Advi- sory Report, which is to help them plan for the future im- pacts of various shifts in as- sessment and tax rates, has been delayed and will not be ready in time for them to use in their budgeting for 2022. The next county council meeting will be at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, October 12 in the courthouse auditorium. in recent days. "I think we have 45 people scheduled for today," said Gladish on Tuesday at the county council meeting. Pike County's testing site at the Moose Lodge parking lot in Petersburg is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays; 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays. Also, anyone having diffi- culty scheduling or register- ing for COVID testing or a vac- cine can contact the staff at the Petersburg branch of the Pike County Library for assistance.