The Press-Dispatch

December 29, 2021

The Press-Dispatch

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B-2 Wednesday, December 29, 2021 The Press-Dispatch yeah, it's that fast! net edition Z M www.PressDispatch.net/Subscribe The Press-Dispatch. No matter where you live. STURGEONS Continued from page 1 HEATING AND AIR 812-789-3065 jmcdonald@alltradeheatingandair.net or admin@alltradeheatingandair.net THE INDUSTRY LEADER IN CLEAN AIR, BUT DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America recognizes CleanEffects® as asthma & allergy friendly® Dunigan Family Dentistry 717 South 9th Street • Petersburg 812-354-8300 QUALITY EYEWEAR • Quality eyewear by Karen Memering, Optician • Professional eyecare by Dr. Steve Gregory • Most insurance plans accepted WE FILL ALL DOCTOR'S PRESCRIPTIONS Complete Contact Lens Care & Service *In most cases **Some restrictions apply. Call for details. 812-254-6594 Corner of Hwy. 50 & 57, Washington, IN VALLEY OPTICAL 812-254-6594 By Andy Heuring A rural Winslow woman was arrested after she made a false complaint, claiming to be another person who was being threatened and in need of immediate help. Peggy Price, 59, of 4729 S. CR 450 E., Winslow, was ar- rested on a charge of false informing, a Class A misde- meanor, on December 22. Pike County Chief Deputy Sheriff Dallas Killian said the sheriff's tip line received a call from a person claiming to be a Jennifer Nicholson. The caller claimed her boyfriend, John Brown, was threatening her and stated, "help me, please help." Killian, in a probable cause affidavit, said there were mul- tiple calls made to the tip line about Brown and Nicholson, mostly accusing them of drug use, but this was the only one that seemed "urgent." Deputy Killian and Deputy Cody Jones went to Brown's residence and knocked on the front door multiple times, but no one answered. Kil- lian said there were two ve- hicles parked at the proper- ty. A license check showed they returned to Nicholson and Brown. Killian, in the affidavit, said he listened to the call himself and "could hear the female, who sounded panicked, stat- ing she needed help." He add- ed, "I felt there was too much information provided that we could not just leave the house without ensuring the safety of Jennifer." He contacted the prose- cutor's office and obtained a search warrant, and contact- ed four more deputies to help with the search. Killian then attempted to get the occu- pants to come outside by turn- ing on his siren and giving or- ders to come outside over his PA system, but no one re- sponded. The affidavit states "We forced entry into the front door and stayed outside. Dep- uty Adam Thompson called again over the PA from my patrol vehicle. We could hear a male voice inside talking to us." Brown and Nicholson even- tually came outside. Killian said both Brown and Nich- olson denied any domestic dispute and neither had any marks on them that would in- dicate an altercation. Killian said he played the call that came into the tip line to both Nicholson and Brown in separate locations and both immediately identified the voice as Price, an ex-girl- friend of Brown's. Nicholson told police they knew police were outside, but Brown told her they would eventually go away. Killian said he explained they wouldn't have made forced entry to the house if he would have answered the door. Killian said Brown stat- ed, "You guys did it right. I should have answered the door." Police then went to Price's residence and talked with her. The affidavit states Price ad- mitted she had called the tip line and made reports about drug use, but she denied making the report about the threats. Killian said he then warned her he had copies of the calls to the tip line. Price then said she made the calls about the drug tips, but didn't remem- ber making the call about threats and needing help. Killian said when she was placed into handcuffs, Price said, "Okay, I did it." In the affidavit, Killian states the false report led to the search warrant causing damage to Brown's residence and required multiple officers to be pulled away from their other duties and called in from home, and another emergen- cy call had to be handled by the Petersburg City officer be- cause all the deputies were at the Brown residence. Winslow woman arrested for making false complaint Pike County residents Mark and Cassandra Sturgeon traveled to Dawson Springs, Ky., to cook for resi- dents affected by the historic tornado. The pair cooked and served more than 300 cheeseburgers and an equal amount of hot dogs as of Tuesday. They will be serving meals until they run out of food sometime tomorrow. With the donations, they were able to feed 1,200 people. "In times like this, Americans always shine through and remind each other that good does still exist," said Cassandra Sturgeon. scratch compared to this. Sev- enty-five percent of Dawson Springs was just leveled. This tornado was on the ground for 200 miles," he said. He stated once they got started at 9:30 a.m., they went as fast as they could un- til about 8 p.m. at night, after the curfew was put in place. In the first two days, they handed out about 1,000 ham- burgers, more than 600 hot dogs, several gallons of beef stew and eight gallons of gou- lash. "These people were hungry. A lot them were cold and shak- ing so bad they couldn't hardly eat. It is bad," said Sturgeon. He said the only other place people could get hot food was set up at the local school, but he said it was outside of town and many of the people didn't have cars because they were destroyed in the tornado. "It was hard work. We were going all day long." Sturgeon said a group from Tennessee showed up and gave them a couple hours of break. "That was a big help." Tuesday night, they ran out of food and returned to Pike County. They loaded up again and went back down. This time, Mark's son, Jason, went with them and took a Gator®. Sturgeon said they had a lot more food donated to them for the second trip. They set up and served people from the church parking lot. Jason loaded up his Gator and took food around to people through the different neighborhoods. Sturgeon said the theft and looting were so bad, many peo- ple wouldn't leave their homes because they were afraid they would be robbed. "They had lots of onlookers. A lot of people were just walk- ing around to see it," said Stur- geon. But he said there were no big organizations there feeding anyone in the Daw- son Springs area. He said the Amish, from about 10 miles away, were bringing pre-cooked meals. "They would load them up on their tractors and bring them in at night. They did it every night but Sunday. They handed out more than 10,000 meals. They were doing a fan- tastic job," said Sturgeon. He said on the second trip, they cooked more than 4,000 hamburgers and about 800 hot dogs. They also did eight or nine gallons of gravy. "It was tough. You had peo- ple coming in hungry and they had lost everything. Little old ladies were breaking down and crying." While they were feeding people, they also heard many people's stories about their losses and experiences during the tornado. At night, after the curfew, some of the police and linemen from the power com- panies would come over to eat after long days. "Those guys were doing an amazing job," said Sturgeon. "We heard a lot of stories about people who were blown out of their houses into the woods." He added there just isn't anything left down there. "All you see is foundations and piles of rubble." "We hadn't intended to stay so long, but people just kept bringing us more food and hungry people just kept com- ing," said Sturgeon. Cooper charged with criminal trespass By James Capozella Pike County Sheriff's Dep- uty Buck Seger and State Trooper Hunter Manning in- vestigated an attempted res- idential entry, criminal tres- pass and theft report from Joseph Hill, at 1572 E. Ar- thur Church Road, at approx- imately 7 a.m. on December 27. John Jasper Cooper, 46, of 4294 S. SR 61, Winslow, was arrested by Deputy Seger when Cooper was located by Trooper Manning at the Coun- try Junction gas station after the homeowner advised Pike County Dispatch of the sub- ject's location. Seger was told by Hill that he heard noises and found a man messing with the door of the residence. Hill said the man told him he thought he heard someone say "come in," according to the report. Hill said everyone was asleep and that he could not have heard anyone. Cooper gave Hill his name and then was told to get off the property, according to the probable cause affidavit. Hill advised there were two open cans of beer on the rear steps, the trash had been gone through and the rear door of his Jeep had been opened. Although Cooper had never appeared distressed and nev- er complained of a medical issue, once in handcuffs, he wanted medical help. Trooper Manning stopped at PC1 and had EMS requested. Cooper was then released from cus- tody. At Memorial Hospital, he complained of a breathing issue. Charges requested for Cooper were attempted resi- dential entry, criminal tres- pass and theft less than $750. Michigan driver cited for 110 mph By James Capozella Indiana State Trooper John Davis clocked a north- bound driver traveling 110 mph at mile-marker 50 on I- 69 this past Tuesday. Maring T. Tischler, 28, of 1704 Eden- borough Drive, Rochester, Mich., was first clocked by Trooper Davis when Davis was traveling southbound. While turning and catching up to the vehicle, Tischler was again clocked at around 110 after coming up too close on another vehicle, according to the report. When asked if there was a reason for driving so fast, Tischler said it just got away from him. He was given a summons to appear in court on January 18, according to the report. "Educating our children is the best thing we can do," said Harding Harding said Boy Scouts of America offered to pay $ 850 million to the victims' fund. In that offer, the local Scout councils, like the Buffalo Trace Council, collectively are going to cough up $ 600 mil- lion, while the national BSA will pay $250 million. There are about 250 local councils across the United States. Harding said a formula that includes several factors was used to determine each council's portion. The Buffa- lo Trace Council's amount is $500,000. "The Buffalo Trace Council decided to participate because of the importance of it. We be- lieve the victims. We don't challenge what took place. We support them," said Harding. He said the leaders in the Buffalo Trace Council, after a series of meetings and discus- sions, decided the best way to come up with the $500,000 was to sell the Old Ben Scout Reservation."When the deci- sion was made, it was chal- lenging to everyone. There are council leaders who were active when the camp started. It is a challenging decision to make, very emotional, but a decision that had to be made," said Harding. He added that while BSA has made the offer of $ 850 million, it has not been "con- firmed by the court." Locally, former Scouts and volunteers with the Scouts, as well as elected officials, have said selling the Buffalo Trace Council's new Eykamp Scout Center headquarters, off the Lloyd Expressway, would be a better option for the council. Harding said the Eykamp Scout Center was donated to the council and has a restrict- ed deed that doesn't allow them to sell it. He said Old Ben Scout Reservation hasn't had a full summer season in 15 years. He added it has a couple of things going against it. "It was a constant challenge to recruit staff and to be able to get attendance to populate the camp." Harding also said there are other available re- sources nearby. He said area Scouts have been going to camps in Cin- cinnati, Louisville and Nash- ville areas. "It has been draining. It has been challenging trying to re- duce the impact," said Hard- ing. He said, at the same, they have been trying to deal with the impact of COVID, which he claims has reduced their membership by 30 percent. Harding said they are cur- rently planning to use the camp until it is sold and they are working on a plan for that transition. He said they aren't sure yet how they will handle the sale, whether they will sell it at an auction or have a broker. He added there is no timeline on its sale. He said they had a phone call that morning ex- pressing interest in the camp and that person had read about the proposed sale in The Press-Dispatch. "When we get further along and have more details about it, we will be letting the pub- lic know," said Harding. SCOUTS Continued from page 1

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