The Press-Dispatch
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NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ����������������� A1-6 Obituaries ��������������� A7 Sports �����������������B1-6 History �������������������B7 School �������������������� C5 Home Life ������������C1-6 Opinion ������������� C4-5 Church �������������� D1-7 Classifieds �����������D4-7 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 32 PAGES Four SECTIoNS ThrEE INSErTS PETErSBurG, IN 47567-0068 WEdNESdAy, JANuAry 19, 2022 PIKE PUBLISHING VoLuME 152, NuMBEr 3 SPORTS B1 CHARGERS SMASH HOMECOMING WEEK Petersburg Fire Dept. recruiting The Petersburg Fire Dept. is recruiting new members. Saturday, they had an open house at the fire station on Illinois St. As- sistant Fire Chief Jon Craig talks with Austin Loveless about equipment on the Rescue 4 truck. It was part of a tour depart- ment prospects were given Saturday. Loveless said he had some friends on the fire department. "I'd like to be able to help people," said Loveless about why he was interested in joining the fire department. Wyatt Majors, a member of the Cadet Program, which is for those 18 and under, said he got involved in the program be- cause he knew some people on the fire department. "I just decided I wanted to do something that matters. It gives you some purpose," said Majors. Petersburg recently got a SAFER grant. The grant, along with paying for two firemen to be on most shifts of the week, also included money to recruit new members. Craig said the average age of a Petersburg Fire Department member is more than 40. So they have an emphasis on getting younger members. With the grant funding, their goal is to recruit 12 new members. There is another open house tonight (Wednesday) from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Petersburg Fire Station on Illinois St. Anyone in- terested is encouraged to stop by and learn more about the department. By Andy Heuring A blown ambulance engine is causing stress for the Pike Coun- ty Emergency Medical Service. On Friday night, an ambulance that is scheduled to be in the county rota- tion until 2025 blew an engine. EMS Director Chris Young said there was about a one inch hole in the engine block of the 6.0 liter die- sel engine. He told the commission- ers that leaves the county with three ambulances in service. In the last 18 months, the county had one am- bulance destroyed by fire. It has been replaced with a new ambu- lance. Another ambulance was in- volved in an accident. A new ambu- lance was ordered in December to replace it. However, Young said the lead time on that ambulance being delivered is 360 to 420 days due to supply chain problems. Young said there weren't many options available to the county. He said a Jasper Engines rebuild was priced at $25,000. He said the ambu- lance was probably too old to invest that much money into, but their oth- er options were worse. Young said he looked at the used market for am- bulances and there is one that has 300,000 miles on it and the trans- mission is going out. "We don't know what other problems it might have," said Young. He said a new am- bulance would be at least $ 325,000 and it would be near the end of the year before they could order it. Commissioner Jeff Nelson asked if they could lease an ambulance short term. Young said currently there are no ambulances to lease. "I talked to a vendor yesterday and he said there are no parts to build them available." When those parts become available, they might have some demo units that could be leased. Commissioner Mark Flint asked how long the ambulance would be expected to last if they put a rebuilt engine in it. "I would expect it to last until we are done with it in 2025," said Young. Pike County currently has two ambulance crews on 24-7 and a third crew that does a 10 -hour shift every- day, with a priority of making trans- fer runs, and are available for emer- gency runs if they are on station. He said if they back off the transfer runs, which are generating revenue to help offset the cost of the EMS, then they won't have that revenue. "I'm not thrilled about it, but we don't have many options," said Young. "I don't think we have any choice," said Flint. Young said he would have to bring transfers to the next commis- sioners' meeting to start the pro- cess of getting a new engine for the out-of-commission ambulance. He added it would probably be Valen- tine's Day before they would get the ambulance back in service if they go with the rebuilt engine. County down to three ambulances until blown engine is replaced Homecoming halftime games Jayla Harris, dressed in a western outfit with a mustache in the spirit of Homecoming, dives down to pick up an eraser, as Eloise Elliott behind her goes to get another one, after the halftime game E- Race for a Cure, during the Charger boys' varsity game against Wood Memorial on Saturday, Janu- ary 15 at Pike Central. See additional Homecoming photos on pages B1-B3. By Andy Heuring Pike County Schools tweaked their COVID policy after about an hour of discussion on the topic during their January 11 school board meeting. The new policy reduces the quarantine for someone testing positive from 10 days to five days if they are asymptomatic. It also allow someone who tested positive and is asymp- tomatic to return to school on day 6 without a mask. Also, the distance to trip a mandatory quar- antine for students in the cafeteria was re- duced from six feet to three feet. The new policy eliminates quarantines for those on the bus sitting behind someone who tests positive for COVID, unless the person behind was standing up and talking to the per- son in front of them. Most of the board's discussion was on whether or not to make a mask mandatory for those who had tested positive and returned to school on days 6 to 10. "I don't see why any child should have to wear a mask if they have been out for quaran- tine and not showed any signs or symptoms," said school board member Chris McKinney. "So currently in our policy about no masks, do we want to keep that status quo as is now? Or do we want to mandate the mask after the School tweaks COVID policy See COVID on page 2 See SCHOOL on page 3 See ENGINE on page 2 The Press Dispatch welcomes Sherri Sebella to our newspaper as a news reporter. Sebella brings with her almost 20 years ex- perience in the newspaper industry. She be- gan as a photographer in 2003 and worked her way up to a highly-re- spected, feature news- paper reporter and guest columnist in Northwest Indiana, with numerous awards from The Hoo- sier Press Association. Sebella moved to Southern Indiana in 2020 and looks forward to getting to know the people of Pike County. "I have always had a passion to write local stories that are relevant to the community. I look forward to working with the people of Pike County and building great relationships along the way." In her spare time, Sebella likes to explore the area with her husband and spend time with her six-month-old triplet grandchildren and family. She can be reached at 219 -296 - 8959 or by email at sherri@pressdispatch.net. Sherri Sebella joins staff as news reporter Sherri Sebella By Andy Heuring Pike County is being hit hard by COVID, as there were 209 new cases that have been reported in the last seven days. Pike County Schools went to two days of eLearning from home. Dr. Suzanne Blake, Superintendent of Pike County Schools, said it wasn't so much the students. "More of a staffing concern. We have a few areas we are short on subs and we reached a point we couldn't function. The caf- eteria wasn't going to be able to operate ef- ficiently. We need a couple of days to get to where people can return." She added, "We might have been able to put together sandwiches for them, but even that would have been a challenge." "We are being told we are in for a tough next three or four weeks," said County Health Nurse Amy Gladish. Gladish said Pike County has 211 active cas- es and a seven-day, all-test positivity rate of 24 percent. The number of active cases is nearly double the 124 active cases in Pike County last week, which was double the week before. Of the 209 new cases reported in the last seven days, there was a peak of 49 new cases reported on January 12. The number of new cases on the other six days ranged between 33 and 14. There have been no COVID deaths in Pike County since November 27, 2021. Statewide, the number of new cases peak- ed at 17,394 on January 12. That is the highest number ever recorded in Indiana. It fell only about 1,500 a day for the next four days, when it got to 10,026 on January 16, but then jumped back to 12,002 on January 17, which is the last day the Indiana Health Department has fig- ures on. The statewide positivity number for Indiana is 31 percent. All but nine counties in County COVID numbers doubling each week