The Press-Dispatch
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Chesser grew up in the Brownstown neighborhood and on the State Forest road, south of Winslow. He graduated from Winslow in 1960 and went to work for the Tri- State Motorcycle Shop in Evans- ville. His natural affinity to motorcy- cles led to a racing career. He raced the high-speed dirt flat tracks, T T scrambles and drag racing. He was a big fan of Triumph and BSA motorcycles. "I could run circles around the Harleys," said Chesser. He often did. He won nu- merous races in the Midwest, rac- ing in Muncie, Terre Haute, Olney, Ill., and Princeton, just to name a few. "I won a lot of races. I lost a lot, too," said Chesser. He said he was nearly banned after winning a race in Olney. "A fter I won, when I was going down the back straightaway, I stood up on the seat and put my hands over my head. The crowd loved it." The race officials did not. "They really got on me and told me if I did that again, I would be banned.' Chesser said he had one high speed crash. "I went over the han- dlebars at about 100 mph." He said he was passing someone on the out- side and the rider slid up into Chess- er, throwing him over the handle- bars. "When I hit, I thought, 'man this dirt is hard.' I was at the far end of the track. I told the rescue guys, 'how did you get here so fast? ' They said, 'You've been lying there for a while.'" Chesser said he made it to work on Monday and didn't really have any serious complications from the crash. His racing career came to an end in 1963, when he was drafted. Chesser went to Louisville and took his physical, and then was sent to Fort Knox, where he did his basic training. A fter basic training, he was sent to Fort Carson in Colora- do to do operations training. "It was good duty," said Chesser. He also said getting to see the Rocky Moun- tains was special. He then was sent to California, where he participated in Desert Strike. At the time, they were doing nu- clear bomb testing in that part of the country. "I was never there when they set off a bomb, but I saw the flash in the sky," said Chesser. He said they trained in Califor- nia, Arizona and New Mexico. One of the things they trained with was chlorine gas. Part of the time, he drove a "Deuce and a half." He said often the cargo was "things I wasn't allowed to see." He said during the training, they had released chlorine gas and it "got away from us." It killed a local sheep herd. "There was a picture of a bunch of dead sheep in the local newspaper." Chesser said in California he was part of a "strike force." He said their goal was to be able to strike any- where in the world within 72 hours. "It was dangerous training. We had 37 people killed just in the training," said Chesser. A fter four months in California, Chesser was one of 300 from that group who was selected to go to Germany and work border patrol. It was an 11-day trip over to Eu- rope and he ended up being on bor- der patrol between East and West Germany near Bad Hersfeld. "I spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's on border patrol." "Our border was right here and theirs was right over there. They had a fence, we didn't." He said the Communist side also had a mine field. A deer got into the mine field one night, and flares went up to see what was in the area. The deer got into the mines that were set close enough to each other to go off in a chain reaction. "It was unrecogniz- able," he stated. "When they set off the flares, I didn't move the whole time." He said there were mines exploding and he was worried about snipers on the other side. Chesser said the whole time he Chesser served on East/West German border By Andy Heuring One of two men sought by police for the baseball bat beating and rob- bery of a Winslow man has been ar- rested. Bradley Woods, 41, of 508 E. SR 57, Washington, was arrested last Thursday at about noon in Winslow. He was wanted on charges of bur- glary with serious bodily injury, a level 2 felony; burglary resulting in bodily injury, a level 3 felony; and battery by means of a deadly weap- on, a level 5 felony. Pike County Sheriff Kent Johnson said Woods was located at the resi- dence of his girlfriend, Tamara Wil- hite, in Winslow. The charges stem from an inci- dent at Dennis Clark's residence in Winslow on Wednesday, Novem- ber 3. Clark told police Woods and David Padgett came into his resi- dence, beat him with a baseball bat, kicked him in the face and stole a gun. Padgett had severe head inju- ries requiring staples to close the wounds, according to police reports. Police are still looking for David Padgett, 27, of 905 E. Lafayette St., Winslow, on the same charges as Woods. Anyone with information about Padgett's whereabouts are asked to call the Pike County Sher- iff's Department at 812-354-6024. Woods arrested for ball bat attack on Winslow man By Andy Heuring The Christmas activities are starting to fill the calendar in Pike County. The Christmas parades in Winslow and Petersburg are set for Saturday, December 4. Winslow is set for 10 a.m., with Petersburg starting at 3 p.m. WINSLOW In Winslow, there will be a Mouse House at the Nazarene Church on Saturday, December 4, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. They will have gifts avail- able for children to purchase, rang- ing in price from $1 to $5 on Satur- day morning. Santa will be at the Winter Won- derland in Town Hall to visit with children from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on December 11, from 4 to 7 p.m. There will also be a Coat Wrap in Winslow. Nice, clean, winter coats will be wrapped on light posts Holiday activities filling up calendar By Andy Heuring Petersburg's Fire Department will have two people on duty start- ing Friday, December 2. Peters- burg Fire Chief Ross Elmore said the plan is that during the week- days, two firefighters will be at the fire station from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., then on weekends, they will have two 12-hours shifts, with two fire- men on duty 24 hours. Petersburg received a SAFER grant of more than $489,256 re- cently from the Federal Emergen- cy Management Agency. It provides funding to pay the volunteers $75 a shift to be on duty. It also pays for recruitment and training, as well as turnout gear for 12 new firefighters, among other things. Elmore recommended Brant Yo- chum to be hired as the grant ad- ministrator. He said Yochum is a full-time firefighter with the Vin- cennes Fire Department. The Board of Public Works voted 3-0 to approve Yochum's hire. Mayor Klipsch said in addition to being a Vincennes full- time firefighter, Yochum is also the mayor's son. Elmore also recommended the Board of Public Works approve Doug Mounts and Yochum as mem- bers of the Petersburg Fire Depart- ment. He said they both want to be able to help with the fire duty. Elmore said Noah McFarland is in the fire department's cadet pro- gram, but when he turns 18, he will be one of the 12 new trainees. Much of the Petersburg City Council meeting was spent updating the status of the upcoming Streets- cape project and a Main St. water line replacement project. The new water line project is part of a larger water project that includes a new water plant and wa- ter tower. The water main that runs down Main St. is going to be re- placed. Part of the project is to con- nect service lines to all the business- es along Main St. This project is go- ing to be bid on December 8. The Streetscape project will re- place curbs, sidewalks and light poles along Main St. Consequently, they wanted to have the water lines installed before they put in new sidewalks and curbs in front of the businesses, instead of having to dig them up later to put in water lines. Mark Beck, of Crossroad En- gineers, who is working with the Streetscape project, and Clint Roos, of Midwestern Engineers, who is working with the waterline project, were at the meeting to discuss their coordination. Klipsch said the Streetscape proj- ect came about several years ago when numerous street lights fell over during a windstorm. Councilman John Melhiser asked about what would happen if there were cost overruns, if the bids are much higher than estimated due to material cost increases. Roos said the project will be re- viewed and they would probably share the cost increases on an 80 - 20 basis. It has been delayed several times and is now scheduled to be bid in March 2022. Klipsch said that is the Petersburg Fire Dept. to have two on duty daily See CHESSER on page 7 See ACTIVITIES on page 2 See CITY COUNCIL on page 2 How to fold a flag Students Jada Beasley and Carter Bennett, with help from Reno Richardson, of the VFW 3587 Post Honor Guard, fold a flag during the Winslow Elementary Veterans Day program on Thursday, November 11, while Post Commander Chris Kinman reads what each fold of the flag symbolizes. See additional photos on pages 6 and 7. Photo by Matt Haycraft