The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1420652
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Join the One WINNER is drawn at the end of each month BARTON TOWNSHIP HONOR ROLL Mrs. Jane Reed, princi- pal of Barton Township Ele- mentary School, would like to announce the Honor Roll for the first grading period. FOURTH GRADE All "A" Ava Doerner "A-B" Izzy Barker Addalie Fryman Maci Harrison Kenzi Sandifar Chloe Schoonover Laynie Stoffel FIFTH GRADE All "A" Lexi Sandifar "A-B" Haley Deisher Harper Gray Presley Heichelbech Christian Tkacz SIXTH GRADE "All A" Carly Schoonover Gavin Strickland "A-B" Gavin Ball Savannah Craney Dylan Deppe Roxi Heichelbech Cirra Lemeron Josh Lin Emma Pierce FRANCISCO ELEMENTARY HONOR ROLLS Mrs. Jane Reed, princi- pal of Francisco Elemen- tary School, would like to announce the Honor Roll student awards for the first grading period. We are proud of the students' hard work and look forward to their continued success. FOURTH GRADE A Honor Roll Alexa Pharris A-B Honor Roll Micheal Clark Emerey Ferguson Aubree Reed Kolten Stewart-Green Dean Wentworth FIFTH GRADE A-B Honor Roll Jordan Humphrey Bryson Schatz SIXTH GRADE A-B Honor Roll Abby Weber Vivienne Young Biance Young-Nimrick Trinitee Young-Nimrick The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, October 20, 2021 C-5 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 Gibson County remains in orange advisory By Janice Barniak The Gibson County adviso- ry level is in the orange, with a seven-day positivity rate of 11.93 percent, continuing a downward trend, according to numbers from the Indiana Dept. of Health website as of this printing. Gibson County has had 6,480 cases since the begin- ning of the pandemic, with 113 deaths to date. Last week, the county's Health Dept. Director Diane Hornby told Gibson Coun- ty Commissioners the coun- ty saw the Delta variant had been prevalent in schools last month. According to the In- diana State Dept. of Health, so far this school year, Ow- ensville has 18 students and 10 staff COVID cases, Gib- son Southern has had 38 stu- dent cases. Fort Branch has had 31 student cases and less than five staff and teacher cas- es, and Haubstadt has had 15 student cases and less than five staff. As far as local parochial schools, Sts. Peter and Paul reported 15 student cases and St. James reported 12 stu- dent cases and less than five staff, and Holy Cross reports no cases. Jail project approved for energy incentive Owners Representative George Ballard updated the Gibson County Council on the jail project Oct. 12. Ballard said the county's application with Duke Ener- gy for their incentive program was approved, which they be- lieve will save the county from $10,000 to $40,000. "Our goal is to stay within the amount you suggested in 2019," Ballard told the coun- cil. He said that the first thing they need to order as soon as the design phase is over is roofing material because there's a six-month delay get- ting it in. Councilman Jeremy Over- ton asked Ballard to let the council know how much to ap- propriate for each phase. "When do you need that? " asked Ballard. "When do you want paid? " joked McGraw. The jail steering committee will meet at 4 p.m. Oct. 19 at the North Annex in a meeting that is open to public. Local EMS suffers overtime, burnout By Janice Barniak EMS Director David Pond requested Gibson County Council move money out of the regular pay line and in- to overtime this week, citing that the service has had 450 runs over what it had last year, has had employees out with COVID and is currently one worker short. "We've been hit hard this year," he said. Councilman Craig Pflug looked at the numbers. "There's a couple of employ- ees whose hours are off the charts," said Pflug. "Are they not burned out? " Pond said they are. "A lot are so tired. They're beat. I don't know how they're doing it," he said. Some are working several extra 24-hour shifts each week. Pond has asked the Gibson County Council to increase pay for EMS staff in the up- coming budget. EMS mem- bers get 16 hours of their 24-hour shift paid, unless they go out for a significant portion of what would be their sleep- ing time. Pond would like to have all 24 hours paid, a move Councilman Jeremy Overton has previously said would ab- sorb basically all the funds that the Dept. of Local Gov- ernment Finance has told the county that they can increase the budget this year. Pond has also had a hard time filling his open position and getting overtime volun- teers, and the council told him they did not believe the pay in- crease would help that. While Pond believes in- creased pay would motivate part-timers to go full-time, which would reduce overtime, the council said paying a per- son more to work their regu- lar shift wouldn't increase vol- unteers for overtime, because the incentive would be less. The reason the EMS is in the red on overtime is shift shortages, said Councilman Derek McGraw, who is also the Princeton Police Chief, and said it's a familiar problem for emergency fields. He said he doesn't see paying for all the hours will fix shift short- ages, of which the service av- erages three per week. "There's still $2 million in overtime. If we raise the sala- ry, it raises the overtime rate." Pond said two EMS mem- bers are considering leaving, and he worries the EMS will have to reduce the number of trucks they can run, some- thing that's already happened in Posey County, he said. Pond said the real fix for EMS services everywhere would be to get higher reim- bursements from Medicare and Medicaid. "With no training, they can go to a factory and make more money than this," Pond said, adding that people who will spend money to train for a job will pick fields that are less stressful, where they can make more. "All we care about is the money at this point though. We understand the need. I just don't see what you've offered as a solution makes anything better," Overton said. One individual has worked 550 hours of overtime this year. Pond said the problem wakes him up at night. "All we can do is money though," said Overton. GIBSON COUNTY HAUNTED HAPPENINGS Monster Mashed Musical opens A murder mystery dinner show, "The Monster Mashed Musical" will be at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 22-23 at Princeton Com- munity Theater. Doors open at 6 p.m.; tickets sales support the non-profit. Reserve a seat at 812-635 -9185. Kick-or-Treat planned A free kick-or-treat event is set for 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 25 at Integrity Martial Arts in Princeton. The martial arts class will be free and Halloween themed for ages 5 -12. IMA is located inside Red Dawn Armory. Kids are invited to come in costume. OCU trick-or-treat Oakland City University will host a Halloween Spooktac- ular on Lucretia Street from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 28 with inflatables, haunted trails and more! Main Street Trick-or-Treat returns The annual Haubstadt Main Street Trick-or-Treat is back from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 29. Many local businesses and Town Hall will be open for a safe, fun and friendly trick-or- treat event. Family Fall Bash set Owensville Community Planners will host a Family Fall Bash with a chili cookoff, costume contest, pumpkin carving contest, trunk or treat, cake walk, games, prizes, hayride, face painting and more at 5 p.m. Oct. 30 on the Owensville Library Square. Carve pumpkins prior to fest to compete. Fort Branch Halloween set Fort Branch's fifth annual Community Pride Halloween Festival will be from noon to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 30 on North Mc- Creary Street, with a rain date of Oct. 31. Lyles Station corn maze open each weekend The Lyles Station Historic School and Museum in Princ- eton will host their annual corn maze each weekend in Oc- tober. Hours are: 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays, 1 to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Hay rides and petting zoo are always included in the admission price. For more information, visit www.lylesstation.org. Butcher of the Branch haunts Halloween Sinister Cellar returns to haunt Fort Branch Community Park this Halloween weekend, with a no-scare hour from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and scaring to begin at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 -Oct. 31. Actors are still needed. To be an actor, contact Sinister Cellar on Facebook. Mackey plans Trunk-or-Treat Mackey Church of the Nazarene will host a trunk-or-treat from 4 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. Oct. 31, with candy, games, hay rides and more at their church campus. Car club hosts classic car trunk-or-treat Oct. 31, Southern Indiana Car Club will host their annu- al Trunk-or-Treat. The show opens at 11 a.m., with awards at 2 p.m. Cars entering bring candy for trick-or-treaters. UMC plans Halloween fest Patoka United Methodist Church will have a Halloween event from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 31 at the church. DAR met at Princeton Train Depot The General John Gibson Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution met at the Princeton Train Depot on Oct. 2 for their regular monthly meeting. Those in attendance and pictured in front of the caboose included: Debbie Tomassetti, Susan Franklin, Sha- ron Richeson, Ann Garrett, Andrea Schwiersch, Patty Knowles, Andrea and Kyle DeVoy, Sherry Michel, Becky Richeson and Kyle Ellis. Their next event will be the Laying of the Wreath at the DAR monument on the south side of the Gibson Coun- ty Courthouse in Princeton at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 11, which will be followed by the County Veterans Day pro- gram at 11 a.m.