The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1433624
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, December 1, 2021 B-7 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 Patoka receives $49k in Community Crossings Patoka, in Gibson County, received $49,269 in roadwork through the Community Cross- ings program, the only local of 218 Indiana cities, towns, and counties who received a com- bined $101.9 million in state matching funds for local road projects through Community Crossings, a component of the Governor's Next Level Roads program. "Community Crossings con- tinues to have a transformative effect on communities across In- diana" Governor Holcomb said. "The partnership between the state and local governments is empowering Hoosier cities, towns and counties to invest more and take on bigger proj- ects than ever before to modern- ize their local transportation sys- tems to meet the demand of our growing economy." The Community Crossings ini- tiative has provided more than $1 billion in state matching funds for local construction projects since 2016. Communities sub- mitted applications for funding during a highly competitive call for projects held in January. Ap- plications were evaluated based on need and current conditions and impacts to safety and eco- nomic development. Funding for Community Crossings comes from the state's local road and bridge matching grant fund. "Community Crossings is one of the most important tools avail- able to our local partners to sup- port their efforts to improve local roads and bridges," INDOT Com- missioner Joe McGuinness said. "Rebuilding and improving local roads, while also addressing safe- ty needs, promotes growth and enhances the business environ- ment and quality of place across Indiana." To qualify for funding, local governments must provide lo- cal matching funds, 50 percent for larger communities or 25 per- cent for smaller communities, from a funding source approved for road and bridge construc- tion. They must also submit an INDOT-approved asset manage- ment plan for maintaining exist- ing roads and bridges. State law requires annually that 50 percent of the available matching funds be awarded to communities with- in counties with a population of 50,000 or fewer. State lawmakers identified long-term funding for Community Crossings as part of House Enrolled Act 1002, passed by the legislature and signed in- to law by Gov. Holcomb in April 2017. the Chargers ready to battle to victory. Even though they fought hard and made some good points through the quar- ter, they were unable to make a dent in the deficit. The quar- ter ended with the score 46 - 34, and the Chargers would really have to make a show of it in order to win against the Jeeps. During the fourth quar- ter of the game, the Char- gers pulled in points, but not nearly enough. Between missed shots, turnovers and free throws, the Chargers on- ly gained two points, losing the opening game by a score of 60 -50. According to Coach Hunter Elliott, junior Kendric Sorgius played a solid game with eight points and nine rebounds. "We need to get him more shots. Sophomores Julian Gish and Quade Morton both had 12 points, but I think both of them are capable of quite a bit more. Senior Alex Clark scored 11 points and really did some great things offensively, but struggled at times on the other end," said Elliott. "This is one of those games we are going to wish we had back, because we are the bet- ter basketball team. Credit to Northeast Dubois for com- ing out and playing hard and aggressive, they simply out- worked us. We missed a lot of easy layups, especially in the first quarter and first half that could have really put us in the driver's seat. We did not do a great job of attacking and getting to the free throw line, and they killed us on the offensive boards. Hopefully this is a lesson that we learn from and get better because of it. There were some bright moments, but overall a disap- pointing first game. This is one that we will learn from and fix those mistakes. Being out- worked is not acceptable and we need to make sure it does not happen again." SCOREBOARD Pike Central (50) Kendric Sorgius 3 1-0 3 8, Peyton Howald 2 2-1 4 5, Bra- den Howald 1 0 -0 2 2, Quade Morton 4 2-1 4 12, Chase Rid- ao 0 0 -0 5 0, Julian Gish 5 0 -0 1 12, Alex Clark 3 4-3 1 11. To- tals 18 9 -5 20 50 Three-pointers: 9 (Sorgius 2, Morton 3, Gish 2, Clark 2) Northeast Dubois (60) P. Betz 2 6 -3 3 7, Kalb 1 0 -0 1 3, N. Betz 5 0 -0 1 15, Goller 8 4-3 1 21, Lockard 0 2-2 1 2, Schepers 3 7-4 4 10, Stevens 0 2-2 1 2. Totals 19 21-14 12 60 Three-pointers: 8 (Kalb 1, N. Betz 5, Goller 2) Score by quarters PC 13 11 10 16 ND 12 21 13 14 Council plans dilapidated property demo By Janice Barniak The dilapidated Drennan property in Fort Branch will come down, said owner Nelson Drennan, but county contractors are very busy and cannot get to it until January of next year, he told the Fort Branch Town Council. "I talked to Gene Kiesel, he and ev- ery contractor in the county is busy," Drennan said. He has things in the home he wants to auction off, but said he lost three weeks due to health issues. "I'm kicking it down the road as fast as I can," he said. The council told Drennan he will still be required to make his court date, and set a March 1 deadline to have the building completely torn down. "All I can do is my best," Drennan said. The council also discussed other property complaints. The Charles Heuring property was put in the man's young son's name, restarting the legal processes, and the council's counsel will file that Heuring cannot allow the property to change hands again until the court makes a deci- sion on the town's case. A Red Bank Road property had the grass mowed by the town again. "We can have it mowed one last time, then it's going to get weedkill- er," said Clerk-Treasurer Stacy Elp- ers, who added a lien on the property will be placed before Thanksgiving. As for the American Auto Sales properties, the council is still look- ing into that, and meanwhile, the Ra- cine property the council previous- ly discussed shows no improvement, but the council agreed with the own- er he had until the first of the year. "They're playing us. They're play- ing us," said Councilman Bob Re- inhart, who suggested the coun- cil institute new fines for dilapidat- ed buildings. "Scare 'em up front. They're just playing us for fools. It's been going on 12 years, (are) we go- ing to give them another 12? I won't be around." To do a fine for the bad building maintenance, the council would need to have their attorney draft an ordi- nance amendment; Attorney Jim McDonald wasn't present Wednes- day night. Bidding for jail expected in February By Janice Barniak In a 2-1 split vote, Gibson Coun- ty Commissioners approved signing a contract, not to exceed $ 60,000, with construction manager Garmong during their November meeting Tues- day. They tabled the creation of a non-profit corporation that will take on the debt for the county and vote for the ability to use property taxes as a backup funding method. Indiana has a limit for counties that they cannot take on debt of more than one-third of two percent of their net as- sessed value, what that means is that although the county council created a special financing tax to fund the jail project, the county itself cannot take on the roughly $26 million debt they'll pay back over 20 years, which is what is required to build the jail. To get the best possible rate, the county's property taxes would be used as a backup mechanism should, for some reason, the revenue on the special jail tax fall short of predictions, (although it's not required the proper- ty taxes be used. The council could de- cide to pull from, for example, a build- ing or rainy day fund, should the need arise). They won't contract on the debt until after bids come back in late February to early March, because the debt will be based on a not-to-exceed amount guaranteed in the contract. Commissioner Mary Key voted against the Garmong contract. Charger junior varsity wins opening game by one By Matthew Haycraft The Pike Central boys' ju- nior varsity team faced off with Northeast Dubois in their first game of the season on Wednesday, November 24 at Northeast Dubois. The Chargers came out ready to play and get the sea- son started off right. In the first half of the game, they bat- tled with the Jeeps in a very tight game, but were down six points by the end of the half. A fter halftime, the Charger JV came out more determined and were able to catch up to the Jeeps with three two-point- ers and four free throws, all made by freshmen Albert Whitehead, Drew Dawson and junior Jagar Dent. By the end of the quarter, the teams were tied at 30. The Chargers and the Jeeps were not about to give in to one or the other and the bat- tle raged on, leaving the score at 42-42, after Dawson scored the game-tying basket off a pass from Dent, sending the game into overtime. The clock was then reset for overtime and the Char- gers hunkered down ready to take the Jeeps by storm. The crowd was hot as every basket sent a roar through the stands. However, the Chargers ended up taking the 45 -44 win with free throws. The Chargers were lead in scoring by sophomore Zane Gelhausen, Dent and Daw- son. However, freshman Al- bert Whitehead did a great job running the point and get- ting the team in spots to suc- ceed, according to Coach Ja- cob Western. Western also commented that along with Whitehead, contributing to the success were sophomore Zack Miller, and freshmen Matthew Meadows, Barrett Cooper and Brenton Fryrear. Coach Western said, "A big overtime win to start the sea- son for the JV. First game of the year, it was sloppy at times, which was to be expected. We won in overtime by one point, it was an exciting way to start the season. The guys battled hard all game and showed a lot of positives. If we execute like we did and play that hard on the defensive end, it's go- ing to be a fun season. We just need to keep working and get- ting better." SCOREBOARD Pike Central (45) Albert Whitehead 1 5 -4 4 6, Zack Miller 0 0 -0 1 0, Drew Dawson 4 4-3 4 11, Jagar Dent 6 3-1 2 13, Zane Gehlhausen 2 8 -7 4 11, Matthew Meadows 0 0 -0 2 0, Brenton Fryrear 1 0 -0 2 2, Barrett Cooper 0 2-2 0 2. Totals 14 22-17 19 45 Northeast Dubois (44) Merkel 0 0 -0 2 0, Schnell 1 2-21 4 4, Bachman 1 4-2 2 4, Schroering 3 4-2 1 11, Hughes 3 2-1 2 8, Sheetz 1 0 -0 3 2, Ste- vens 2 2-2 1 6, Hembree 2 8 -5 3 9. Totals 13 22-14 18 44 Three-pointers: 4 (Schroer- ing 3, Hughes 1) Score by quarters PC 10 10 10 12 3 ND 12 14 4 12 2 DUBOIS Continued from page 1 Pike Central cheerleader Michaela Gray dismounts a lift, with Abigail Skelton, Jillian Bailey and Alli Har- din ready to catch her, during the Pike Central boys' basketball game at Northeast Dubois on Wednesday, November 24. Charger junior Jagar Dent jumps up to shoot the ball over a Jeeps player during the Charger junior varsity boys' basketball game at Northeast Dubois on Wednesday, November 24. Quade Morton, Charger sophomore, jumps to shoot in the basket over one Jeeps player and away from another during the Charger varsity boys' bas- ketball game at Northeast Dubois on Wednesday, No- vember 24. Julian Gish, Charger sophomore, jumps up to block the ball from going in the basket during the Charger varsity boys' basketball game at Northeast Dubois on Wednesday, November 24.