The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1442307
B-2 Wednesday, Januar y 12, 2022 The Press-Dispatch By Andy Heuring A Winslow couple was ar- rested after an hallucinating woman called police claiming her husband drugged her. Claudia Applegate, 30, of 7560 S. CR 800 W., Commis- key, Ind., was arrested on charges of neglect of a depen- dent, a level 6 felony, and pos- session of paraphernalia, a class A misdemeanor. A warrant was issued on the same charges for James Adams, 34, of 4366 S. CR 300 E., Winslow. Pike County's 911 dispatch center received a phone call at 9:58 a.m. on January 7 from Applegate stating "Help me." Pike County Deputy Sheriff Cody Jones said Applegate's brother, Samuel Brown, tex- ted central dispatch that Ap- plegate had been drugged by her husband, Adams, and that Adams had threatened to kill Applegate. Jones, in a probable cause affidavit, said he and Deputy Jason McKinney arrived at the CR 300 E. residence at 10 :01 a.m. and Applegate ran out- side and was speaking "very fast and very unclear." She also was having trouble con- trolling her movements and her pupils were very small, and darting back and forth. According to the affidavit, Applegate told police her hus- band gave her an energy drink and she began to feel sick. She claimed Adams had put some type of hallucinatory drug in her drink and that her hus- band was cheating on her. Jones said she invited po- lice into the residence and "there were dirty clothes and toys scattered across the res- idence." Deputies said Apple- gate claimed there were two people inside the residence, but no one else could see them. Police did locate three el- ementary school-aged chil- dren in the residence. Jones said when police checked the residence for other peo- ple, they found a grinder and a glass pipe in an open cab- inet in Adams' and Apple- gate's bedroom. The grind- er had ground up marijuana leaves around it, according to the probable cause. In a bath- room, police found a stopped up toilet with feces in it, and in another room, they found a box heater plugged in and run- ning and it was touching an ar- tificial Christmas tree. According to the affida- vit, when police checked the basement where Applegate claimed there were people, they instead found dog feces "all over the floor" and emp- ty pill bottles. In the kitchen, police said there was mold on the floors and dishes. Jones said the children were removed from the resi- dence by DCS. LOUIE CAMPBELL Sales Professional lcampbell@sfaulknerauto.com CALL OR TEXT 812-899-6267 @LouieYourCarGuy HWY. 64 W. PRINCETON Looking for a Great Deal On Your Next Vehicle? 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® 75 % off SAVE 50 % to 75 % Assorted Holiday and Everyday Items 716 Main St. Petersburg • 812-354-9372 /margeshallmark Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 9-5; Friday 9-6 All 2021 Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments ARRIVING DAILY: Valentine's Day Cards & Gifts 50 % OFF Holiday Gift Wrap & Accessories Weitkamp named new Veteran service officer By James Capozella A Thursday afternoon call to the Pike County Veteran Service office last week was the first call taken by Denny Weitkamp during his initial week in the office. Weitkamp was named to the position by the Pike County Commis- sioners following Tom Dool- ey's resignation due to health reasons. Weitkamp is ready to help with veteran benefits and is in the process of getting trained for the position. Weitkamp, with over four years active in the Air Force and six years in the Air Na- tional Guard, is familiar with veterans affairs and the mili- tary. The postal service retir- ee states, "Service is what I've been doing and to be able to help veterans and their fami- lies is what I want to do. I want to let veterans know what ben- efits they have." Weitkamp plans on learning all the ins and outs of the benefits in the coming weeks. His 26 years of work in the postal service in- cludes 16 years as postmaster in Petersburg. That followed his associate degree in electri- cal engineering from the Uni- versity of Alaska and business associate degree from USI. His service experience in- cludes a year at Lowry AFB, near Denver, and three years at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska, where he did service with the honor guard and also had tem- porary duty at other bases. When Weitkamp was dis- charged, he took his elec- tronic calibration training to civilian life, working for GE, but then got the nod for post- al work and after a few years, became the Petersburg post- master. In 2017, Weitkamp became an HQ Field Account Representative, managing major mailing and shipping accounts located in South- western Indiana and Western Kentucky. He worked that for three and a half years, provid- ing pricing through negotiat- ed contracts. Denny is married to Can- dee and they have five daugh- ters, ages 11 through 27. The Veteran Service officer hours are Monday through Wednes- day from 8 a.m. until 3:30 pm. The office is located next to the Pike County Health De- partment in the Old Peters- burg Gym on Walnut Street. Denny Weitkamp Dyer charged with failure to stop By James Capozella A Velpen woman was charged with failure to stop for a property damage acci- dent at SR 257 and CR 900 E. on Sunday, January 2. Pike County Sheriff Deputy Bryce Manning responded to a Cen- tral Dispatch call from Trev- er Henke, who reported a white Ford Edge had run off the roadway at SR 257 and CR 900 E., hitting two mailboxes. Tamara G. Dyer, 60, of 9027 E. CR 700 S., Velpen, was charged with failure to stop after a property damage ac- cident after Manning and Pe- tersburg Corporal Scott Ar- nold arrived at the 1461 S. CR 900 E. driveway reported to dispatch by Henke. When Manning pulled into the drive- way, he observed a white Ford Edge parked inside a pole barn, with people standing around the SUV. Manning obtained permis- sion to step inside and noticed the SUV was wet from the rain and showed wet tracks lead- ing to it on the ground. When Manning asked who had driv- en the SUV, they advised him no one there had been driving it. He got the same response when he asked who owned the vehicle. According to the re- port, Terry Traylor asked why the officers wanted to know. Manning advised him of the reports from dispatch. Cor- poral Arnold spoke with the property owner, who advised that Dyer had parked the ve- hicle in the barn. When asked if she drove the vehicle to the property, she responded with "yeah." Deputy Manning's report stated that he could smell the strong odor of an alcohol- ic beverage coming from Dy- er's breath. Her balance was unstable and her eyes were bloodshot. When asked, she advised she had a couple. When asked if she had any- thing to drink after arriving at the residence she said no, according to the report. While Manning was try- ing to speak with Dyer, oth- ers in the group were trying to speak to Dyer about drinking after she arrived at the resi- dence. When Manning and Dyer were stepping outside to speak privately, Arnold ad- vised the group to not inter- fere with the investigation. Mr. Traylor started walking towards the door and advised he will if he wants to, accord- ing to the report. Manning advised Tray- lor that if he interfered with the investigation he would be placed under arrest, accord- ing to the report. Traylor then stepped away and stayed in- side. Dyer told Manning that she had an argument with her fiance and did not drink until after she got to the property. She told Manning that she did not realize she hit mailboxes. Dyer was informed that she would be charged with leaving the scene rather than OV WI but needed to take a PBT for jail protocol. She was placed in handcuffs and taken to a patrol car for transport after refusing to take the PBT. She was stumbling and having a hard time keeping her balance so Manning elected to long- form charges and took the handcuffs off. Dyer was told that there would be a filing for a warrant and paperwork to the prosecutor's office. Multiple charges against area couple filed. Incumbent Marie Boyd has filed for re-election as Wash- ington Township Trustee. Others who have filed so far include: Madison Precinct Committeeman Matthew T. Fulk; Republican State Con- vention Delegate Mike Good- paster; Lockhart Township Advisory Board members Wil- liam Caldmeyer and Berniece Luker, both Democrats. Mon- roe Township Advisory Board members Rita Williams and Elaine Barrett, both Demo- crats. Each township adviso- ry boards has three members. The deadline to file a can- didacy for a county office is noon Friday, February 4 in the Pike County Clerk's Office. COVID Strike Team in Petersburg An Indiana National Guard COVID Strike Team was in the Petersburg last week from Wednesday through Sat- urday. People were lined up in their vehicles Wednesday afternoon waiting to be tested for COVID or given a vac- cine. Pam Cosby, of the Pike County Health Department, said the team did 217 COVID tests in the four days. See the Business Box for special services on page B-8 ELECTION Continued from page 1 COUNCIL Continued from page 1 cinated in the county as of Jan- uary 9 are 5,089. During budget talks, a Com- pensation Review Committee was discussed by Craig. He would like a committee made up of various department bookkeepers and officehold- ers involved to begin working on the project. The scope of work for the committee will include: • Review hire tiers to look for uniformity in payroll and fringe benefits across the board • Some are locked in, while some are broken out–the county may benefit from uni- formity •Review of overtime and compensation time for all items not covered by union contracts • Review of wages and sal- ary structure–a committee would make recommenda- tions to the council at budget time. Three current county coun- cil members were appointed to the committee and Craig asked if anyone was interest- ed. Members Troutman, Har- ris and Craig expressed inter- est in the project. Vice-presi- dent Willis also added if there was anyone who felt like some other officeholder or book- keeper needed to be on the committee, to let them know. Pike County Chief Deputy Sheriff Dallas Killian spoke to the council about the cur- rent CAD system. Killian said it is in desperate need of an upgrade. With arrival times and dispatch times off, he said they have called custom- er service, who says they will fix the issues at hand, but the company has not, and even if they did, the system would still be outdated. The cur- rent system was purchased about four or five years ago and there have been no up- dates and support for the out- dated system. The Sheriff's Department has been looking at three dif- ferent options for new equip- ment and said all of the sys- tems were comparable in price, but that the Central Square system would offer better customer support and updated hardware every five years, which is included in the price. Killian stated a low dol- lar provider was selected be- cause they thought it would work and then went to a web- based deal during COVID, and that is where it all went bad. A formal quote process will be done and then sub- mitted to the commission- ers, who will then make an appropriation request from the County Council. Craig and Willis then dis- cussed receiving reports for county-supported funds from groups such as the Economic Development, Parks and Rec- reation, 4-H Council, PAWS and many others. The cur- rent process is semi-annual reports and Pike County Au- ditor Judith Gumbel said, "My suggestion is we ask the coun- ty to draw up a simple agree- ment and then we don't have to approve if they purchase a bar of soap. There is a way to do this, just not the way we have been doing it. We need to hire an attorney," Gumbel said. She added the county need- ed to get the simple agree- ment to protect the council. "If someone decides they want to take a trip to Reno, you are protected and you can reclaim your money," said Gumbel. Josh Byrd, Pike County Highway Superintendent, spoke to the council about be- ing short $45,000 in their bud- get, due to the price increase of materials over the past year. "We will have to make that difference up, because everything went up," said Byrd. "I think we will be able to carry some of this over, but I don't know how short, until I know what is approved here." Willis commented that he was in full support of getting what he could as far as budgets go. The next Pike County Council meeting will be at 8:30 a.m. February 8 in the Pike County Courthouse Au- ditorium. King charged with disorderly conduct By James Capozella A Winslow man was arrest- ed for disorderly conduct by Pike County Sheriff Deputy Kane Osgatharp following a late night fight at the Ameri- can Legion around 3:55 a.m. January 1. Levi Jacob King, 23, of 2223 S. State Road 61, Winslow, was arrested follow- ing a fight with Tristan Ken- ley. Deputy Osgatharp reports that upon arriving at the scene, following a 911 dis- patch, he witnessed Erica Kenley on the ground, unable to speak and needing immedi- ate medical attention. Tristan Kenley was also on the ground inside the door of the Ameri- can Legion, according to the report. Petersburg Officers Loveless and Taylor Deffen- doll, and Deputy Bryce Man- ning arrived before Deputy Osgatharp and cleared the scene for Pike County EMS. Erica Kenley was given medi- cation to calm her down after she was able to talk. She said someone threw Tristan down and then threw her down, and she then got kicked in the head, according to the report. Deputy Osgatharp report- ed that bartender Kacia Cun- ningham was stocking when the fight started and there was no video from the cam- eras showing where the fight started. Cordale Kenley stated that after King threw Tristan Kenley down several times and then threw Erica Kenley down, he then grabbed King by the throat and pinned him down until people drug them apart, according to the report. Officers went to King's resi- dence and were told that it was a "brotherly brawl" that in- cluded getting bit on the arm and hit in the face by Tristan.