The Press-Dispatch
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READER GUIDE Subscriptions: Change of address: sub- scribers changing addresses will please give old address as well as new one along with phone number. We can- not guarantee prompt change unless this is done. POSTMASTER: Send ad- dress changes to The Press-Dispatch., P.O. Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 or e-mail to subscribe@press- dispatch.net. Subscription rates: One year: $35 for Pike County and all 475/476 zip codes; $38 in the state of Indiana; $55 elsewhere in the USA. Paid in advance. Subscrip- tions taken after noon on Fri- day will not receive a paper until the second edition af- ter their subscription date. About us: Andy Heuring and John B. Heuring, Publishers Andy Heuring, Editor John B. Heuring, Adv. Mgr. Eric Gogel, Production Mgr. Monica Sinclair, Office Mgr. Cindy Petty, Adv. Sales Pam Lemond, Adv. Sales Brakston Farrar, Adv. Designer Matthew Haycraft, Sports • • • Published every Wednes- day by the Pike County Pub- lishing Co. Phone: 812-354-8500 820 E. Poplar St., P.O. Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 • • • Entered in the Post Office in Petersburg, Indiana for trans- mission through the mails as Periodical Mail, postage paid at Petersburg, Indiana – pub- lished weekly. (USPS 205- 620) Contact us: Phone: ........... 812-354-8500 Fax: ................812-354-2014 Andy Heuring, Editor editor@pressdispatch.net Advertising ads@pressdispatch.net General News news@pressdispatch.net Circulation subscribe@pressdispatch.net REVIEW Continued from page 3 HEATING AND AIR 812-789-3065 jmcdonald@alltradeheatingandair.net or admin@alltradeheatingandair.net WE TEST. SO IT RUNS. Karan Owner 704 E. Haub Street Haubstadt, IN 47639 THACKER TAX 906 Fort 812-615-0071 812-789-3852 kthacker01@gmail.com Monday 8-7 • Tuesday 8-noon • Wednesday 10-7 • Thursday & Friday 8-5 eye exams • dry eye solutions prescription lenses • eye disease treatment Call to book your appointment today for safe in-offi ce treatment. Don't Neglect Your Eye Health. We're Open to See You Now! Dr. Clint Shoultz 715 S. 9th St., Petersburg 812-354-9400 Locally Owned and Operated A-4 Wednesday, Januar y 5, 2022 The Press-Dispatch NEWS BRIEFS Multicultural event at Dubois Co. Museum The Dubois County Museum will host a mul- ticultural event at the mu- seum at 2704 N. Newton Street (U.S. 231 N.) on January 6, 2022, called Dia De Los Reyes or Day of the Kings. Doors will open at 6 p.m. At 6:20 p.m., the History of Day of the Kings and Epiph- any will be given. Begin- ning at 7 p.m., Claudia Juarez will offer a cook- ing class on baking Con- cha Bread. Conchas are a traditional Mexican sweet bread roll, a type of bread also known as pan dulce that is sold at many panaderias (baker- ies). Class size is limited to 100. To participate in the class, RSVP by email- ing epiphany.dcm@gmail. com. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 1-4 p.m. Closed on Monday. Blood drive January 19 at Petersburg Library The Pike County Li- brary is partnering with the American Red Cross to host a blood drive on Wednesday, January 19 at the Petersburg Branch Li- brary, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for ages 16 and up. To make an appoint- ment, call Carly Teg- meyer at 812-354-6257 or make an appointment online at www.redcross- blood.org/give. Time to register for Birthday Club If you haven't submitted your birthday within the last 6 months, please reg- ister again at www.press- dispatch.net/birthday. Entrants have a chance to win monthly prizes from local businesses and a three-month subscription to paper. postponed due to strong storms in the area. It was re- scheduled for September 18. • The 100th Pike County 4- H Fair began with Libby Stone being named Miss Pike Coun- ty. • The Department of Nat- ural Resources confirmed a black bear sighting in Pike County on July 5 and again on July 8. • Pike County School an- nounced they were not going to require masks to attend in-person classes during the 2021-22 school year. • Jack Tagmeyer suffered a possible broken leg when he lost control of his 2001 Ford on CR 300 E. and the truck rolled over. • The murder trial of Ed- ward Fox began. He is ac- cused of murdering his es- tranged wife, Sharon. Police found her dead at the bottom of her basement stairs after Edward had called police and asked them to do a welfare check on her. • The house of Craig and Nicole Weathers in the White Oak area was destroyed by fire. The Weathers were in St. Louis to see the Cardi- nals play. A neighbor noticed smoke and flames coming out of the eves of the house. • COVID cases in Indiana and Pike County took a big jump. A fter the number of cas- es in Pike County for several weeks had been in single dig- its and as low as two new cas- es, they jumped to 13. State- wide, the new cases hit 1,085 on Monday, July 26, They had been running between 150 and 350 during much of July. AUGUST • Testimony in the Ed- ward Fox murder trial contin- ued as the prosecution talked with the lead detective, played back tapes of the police inter- viewing Fox. The taped inter- viewed included a series of ad- missions by Fox that included he had been on the property, that he knew his wife, Sharon, was dead before he asked po- lice to call on her and eventu- ally that he had been in the house on the days before he asked police to check on her. It also included testimony from an FBI agent explaining how they track people through cell- phones interaction with wifi servers and that Fox's phone had been at Sharon's resi- dence for several hours. • The 100th Pike County 4- H Fair was deemed a success "It was a fantastic fair. We, as a 4-H council, didn't even get to meet in person until a few months ago. It was all Zoom meetings. We faced COVID is- sues, weather and curveballs, but with generous sponsors, volunteers with positive out- looks and Pike County grit, we all got to celebrate the largest and long-running fair in the county," said 4-H Fair Board President Kara Willis. • Ray Breidenbaugh was honored for more than 60 years of service to Twin Oaks Church. He had served on the church board and in numer- ous capacities since 1958. • AES Indiana, announced plans to acquire and construct a 250 MW solar farm and build a 180MWh energy storage fa- cility in Pike County. "The Petersburg Solar Project is a win-win solution that adds new technologies to our gen- eration fleet, while also keep- ing economic benefits right here in Indiana," said Kris- tian Lund, AES Indiana Pres- ident and CEO. •Edward Fox was found guilty of killing his wife on charges of first degree mur- der, felony burglary and felo- ny burglary causing a bodily injury by a Pike County jury. • A $1.5 million dollar proj- ect to build and improve CR 350 N. to serve a proposed in- dustrial park hit a snag. Pike County had received a grant for the project, but the design rant into several costly chang- es to make it meet federal re- quirements. • The Pike Central Char- ger cheer team was award- ed a blue superior ribbon and 11 girls were nominated for All-American by the NCA Cheer camp. • The first COVID death in five months was recorded on Aug. 6. The previous COVID death was on March 10. • A crash at the intersection of Goodlet and Highway 61 at the south edge of Petersburg, when a vehicle hit a house, led to the arrest of a Winslow man. Michael C. Garber, 27, pulled from Goodlet St. into the side of China Durst, 27, of Petersburg, who was driving north on Highway 61. The im- pact cause Durst to go to the right, through a yard and into a bush and the side of a house. Garber then hit a tree. Garber tested above the legal limit for blood alcohol and was arrest- ed. • Numerous local busi- nesses received from $1,000 to $10,000 from a total of $243,000 from a Community Block Grant for COVID relief. • Pike County Schools opened on Wednesday, Au- gust 11 for the 2021-22 school year. • There were 51 new cas- es of COVID reported in Pike County in the last seven days. It was nearly double the 26 cases reported in the previ- ous seven day period. • US Senator Mike Brown, of Jasper, attended the Pike County Republicans' golf out- ing. • Pike Central Middle and High Schools, just two weeks into classes, moved to virtu- al learning for one week af- ter 546 students and 21 staff members in the two schools were on quarantine. A total of 56 people, students and staff, have tested positive for COVID. • Volunteers from the Ot- well, Algiers and Petersburg United Methodist Churches and Amber Manor, sponsored a benefit for Adam Houchins, who suffered a severe spinal injury on July 4, when he dove into a swimming pool at a fam- ily get together. • The Howard Briscoe Me- morial Golf Scramble hon- ored the life of Briscoe, who died in late December 2020. But due to COVID, the fam- ily wasn't able to have a fu- neral. They decided to honor Briscoe by naming the yearly golf scramble to raise money for Prides Creek Golf Course after Briscoe. It also doubled as a celebration of life service for Briscoe. SEPTEMBER • Averon Energy and Te- naska had an open house at the Elmer Buchta Technolo- gy and Entrepreneur Center to answer area residents' ques- tions on the Ratts 1 solar farm. • Edward Fox is sentenced to 55 years for the murder of his estranged wife, Sharon. • A large group attended the school board meeting ask- ing for improvements to Pike County Schools' COVID pol- icies. A parent asked for in- struction to be better while kids are on quarantine and for ways to reduce the num- ber and length of quarantines. A fter just one month of class- es, Pike County Schools had more than 600 quarantines and already were at half the number of positive cases for the whole first semester the previous year. • United Way's annual Day of Caring in Pike County was cancelled due to COVID. • Jayla Harris placed sec- ond in the 13- to 20 -year-olds division Indiana State Fair Tal- ent Show. She sang Mamma Mia. • A bizarre bomb threat closed Petersburg Elemen- tary School for a couple of hours. Apparently, a man in the St. Louis area saw a so- cial media posting about how a school in Pike County, Ky., handled a bullying situation. So he called the Petersburg Elementary School. Instead of leaving the message on the main message line, he went to a janitor's individual voice mail and left a threatening message. That janitor was off work due to an illness. Sever- al days later, when the janitor returned to work, they heard the voicemail. Pike County Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Blake said the corporation had started getting angry mes- sages when the social media post first went up. But none of them had been as specif- ic or as threatening. PES stu- dents were dropped off at the Old Petersburg Gym on Wal- nut Street. Then after a search of the school, they were re- turned to PES at about 10 :20 that morning. • COVID cases continued to increase as there were 37 new cases reported on Sep- tember 1 and 124 new cases in a seven-day period. • Pike Central freshman Xavery Weisman won the freshman and sophomore cross country race with a time of 19:39 at the Alan Hopewell Invitational hosted by Gibson Southern. • Carl Benner spent four days in California helping with organization of California's fire fighting effort against a series of large wild fires that erupted across the state. Pike Central's Marching Band competed at Evansville Central's marching band com- petition. It was the first time in 686 days the band had compet- ed due to COVID. • Pike County's 7-day, all- test positivity rate hit 22.9 per- cent, which was the highest in Indiana. There were three deaths recorded in Pike Coun- ty in an eight-day period. • Pike County Schools vot- ed 4-0 to change their COVID policies. Their new policy came after 90 minutes of dis- cussion and calls for masks in school to be optional and to only quarantine for contact of less than three feet. It also re- quired livestreaming instruc- tion for students on quaran- tine. • Pike Central's varsity Chair swing royalty August 4 — Naomi Boyd, fourth runner-up in the Little Miss Pike County pag- eant, hangs on and smiles during her turn on the chair swings while adorning her tiara Highway 61 project August 25 — Work on Highway 61, from Main St., Petersburg, north to Mona St. continues. All of the pavement has been removed down to the dirt on the stretch. The project is installing new storm drains, sidewalks and repaving the section. A second separate project, running in conjunction with the road project, is putting a new wa- ter line along the section. It was scheduled to be done by mid-October, but took well into December. Continued on page 5