The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1440549
NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ����������������� A1-6 Sports �����������������B1-6 East Gibson������������B4 School ��������������������B4 Obituaries ���������������B5 Home Life ������������C1-6 History ������������������� C3 Opinion ������������� C4-5 Church �������������� D1-3 Classifieds ���������� D4-6 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 24 PAGES Four SECTIoNS ThrEE INSErTS PETErSBurG, IN 47567-0068 WEdNESdAy, JANuAry 5, 2022 PIKE PUBLISHING VoLuME 152, NuMBEr 1 This is the second half of the news highlights for 2021. JULY • A housed owned by Chris Robling was destroyed by fire. Josh Hunt and Nina Eiling were renting the house from Robling. • COVID cases continued to be low as on- ly two were reported in Pike County for the week. Statewide, there were only 153 cases on July 5. • The Winslow Town Council voted 3-0 to sell one of their fire trucks to the Patoka Town- ship Fire Department. • River Harbin was named the Grand Mar- shal of the Jefferson Township Ruritan Fourth of July parade. • US Senator Mike Braun visited Randy's Americana and the Elmer Buchta Technolo- gy and Entrepreneur Center, which recently opened near Petersburg. • There were six active cases of COVID in Pike County and only seven new cases report- ed over the last week. • A lightning strike causes fire damage to the Hornady Park Manager's house in the park. • Colton Eugene Mallory, 25, of rural Pe- tersburg, was arrested on charges of burglary, criminal mischief, criminal trespass and theft after police reviewed a video of a smash-and- grab burglary at Winslow Package Liquors. Police were called when a delivery driver no- ticed the front door had been smashed. • A naked intruder was arrested on charges of breaking and entering and possession of meth. Shelia Cash, 24, of 4915 E. SR 64, Winslow, broke into Phillip McCrary's house, which was next door to where Cash was liv- ing. "She was pretty out of it," said Pike Coun- ty Sheriff's Sgt. Jared Simmons. He said af- ter Cash went into the residence, she got into the refrigerator to get a soft drink can, then cut it in half and appeared to be trying to heat meth in the partial can. She also had bitten ink pens in half and were trying to use them to in- hale the meth. • Clog the Patoka scheduled for July 10 was By Andy Heuring Pike County Commissioners reorganized for 2022 on Tuesday morning and discussed road conditions on Blackburn Road. Commissioner Jeff Nelson asked about the status of Blackburn Road. In November 2019, a 120 -foot section of Blackburn Road fell about 18 inches. A fter consulting with mine subsidence experts, the county determined it had fallen as much as it was going to drop, and it was safe for traffic. The Indiana Department of Natural Resourc- es has a program to deal with subsidence mitiga- tion. They were going to fill the drop in the road near the end of the summer and then pave over it. However, IPL officials asked them to postpone it twice because of the large volume of trucks. "What is going on with Blackburn Road? I don't understand. Before it was smoother. There was just a drop, but now there is still a drop and it is rough," said Nelson. DNR did the work recently, removing the blacktop that was on the road surface and put- ting in rock as fill. It was too late in the year for the surface to be paved. Since then, the traffic of 300 loaded semi- trucks a day on the road is causing potholes to form. County Highway Superintendent Josh Byrd said it is going to have to be paved in the future. "It (the rock) isn't going to stay we must continue to grade and patch it all winter long," said Byrd. "I get asked about it every day," said Nelson. Byrd said the actual subsidence from the mine shaft that went under the road is done settling, but now it is the rock that is settling on top of the roadbed. A Pike County Highway Dept. grader smoothes a section of Blackburn Road on Tuesday. The section of road dropped about three feet in November 2019 after a mine shaft collapsed. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources recently re- moved blacktop from the road and filled it in with rock in an attempt to level the road, but it continues to settle. The road had gotten rough due to about 300 loaded semi-trucks on the road a day. County Highway Superintendent Josh Byrd said they are going to try to keep it graded as the rock settles and pave it as soon as they can this spring. Commissioners discuss repair of sunken Blackburn road Schatz escapes submerged vehicle A Vincennes teen escaped a submerged vehicle after it overturned and went upside down into a deep creek at the intersection of Meridian and Division Roads at about noon Sunday. Jordan L. Schatz, 18, of Vincennes, was driving a 1995 Ford Ranger north on Me- ridian Road. Pike County Deputy Sheriff Buck Seger said Schatz told him she thought she had her foot on the brake while she was shifting gears. Schatz attempted to turn onto Division but went wide and off the side of a large culvert overturning and land- ed upside down in the ditch. Emergency responders said the cab of her truck was sub- merged in the water. Area residents said she is lucky it happened on Sunday instead of Saturday, because during the heavy rains, the ditch was full. Schatz complained of neck pain and was taken to the hospital by Pike County EMS. By Andy Heuring A COVID strike team will be set- ting up shop in Pike County today at noon at the Petersburg Little League park on Illinois St. The strike team will be operated by the National Guard. They will offer testing and vac- cines with no appointments. Just show up between noon and 8 p.m. Wednes- day, January 5 through Saturday, Jan- uary 9. They will have both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Also, anyone who was scheduled to get a vaccine or booster at the Pike County Health Dept. this week can go to the Strike team to get those shots. The vaccine clinic at the health dept. was cancelled due to illness. The local testing site at the Peters- burg Moose will be closed this week while the Strike team is in town. The Strike team arrives as COVID numbers exploded in Indiana and are on the rise in Pike County. The most new cases in one day ever was record- ed on December 29, when there were 11,834. The four highest days ever in Indiana have been recorded in the last six days. Prior to December 29, 2021, the most ever in one day was 8,437 on December 12, 2020. Along with December 29, the next three highest numbers were 11,525 new cases on December 30, another 9,852 new cas- es on December 31 and then 8,529 on January 3. In Pike County, there were 55 new cases in the last seven days, from De- cember 28 to January 3. In the pre- vious seven days, there were only 35 new cases. There were 36 new cases from December 28 to December 30, as 12, 14 and 10 were recorded. Since then, the new cases have been in sin- gle digits. As of Tuesday, the 7-day, all-test positivity rate was 14 percent in Pike County. There were no new deaths in Pike County. The last COVID death in Pike County was on November 27. State- wide, deaths ranged from a high of 52 on December 29 to a low of 31 on Janu- ary 1. There were only 12 new deaths COVID strike team begins testing today See REVIEW on page 4 See BLACKBURN on page 2 See COVID on page 2 Year in review: a recap of top stories in 2021 By Andy Heuring We may have just turned our calenders to 2022 and probably aren't used to writing or typ- ing 2022, but the election begins today. Wednes- day, January 5 is the first day for a candidate to be able to officially file as a candidate. The list of positions on the ballot is a long one in Indiana and Pike County this year. Locally, the positions on the ballot this year include the courthouse offices of Sheriff, Audi- tor, Recorder and Assessor. It also includes the executive position of Commissioner Dist. 2, now held by Mark Flint, and all four Council Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, held by Randy Harris, Jon Craig, Max Elliott and Travis Troutman. Also on the ballot at the county level are the Township Advisory Board seats, Township Trust- ees, State Convention Delegates and Democrat Precinct Committeemen. There are two school board positions, Districts 1 and 2. District 1 is now held by Howard Knight and District 2 is Dave Waltz. The Town of Winslow is also having their elec- tion. There is no primary in the Winslow election. So the deadline to file is later in the year. The po- sitions on the ballot are Winslow-Clerk Treasur- er, held by Corbin Dixon, and the three Council Wards. The current Winslow Council members are: Josh Popp, Debra Lamb and Richard Brew- ster. However, they were not elected to a Ward. Four years ago, they were elected in an at-large election because the ward district's certification had not been updated. There are numerous positions on the statewide ballot, including: Secretary of State, Auditor of State, Treasurer of State, State Senate District 48, held by Mark Messmer, State Representa- tive Dist. 63, held by Shane Lindauer, State Rep- resentative Dist. 64, held by Matt Hostettler, and State Representative 75, held by Cindy Ledbetter. On the federal level, the position of US Sena- tor, now held by Mike Braun, and US Represen- tative for District 8, held by Larry Bucshon, are on the ballot. The deadline in Indiana for a candidate to file for a county or state office is noon, Friday, Feb- ruary 4 in the County Clerk's office. The deadline for a school board candidate is noon Friday, August 26. Voter registration for the 2022 primary elec- tion is Monday, April 4. The primary election is scheduled for Tues- day, May 3, with the general election Tuesday, November 8. Candidate filing begins today for 2022 election