The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1445871
B-2 Wednesday, Januar y 26, 2022 The Press-Dispatch We're not afraid to shed some light on the truth. 812-354-8500 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! WINSLOW Continued from page 1 w w w . C o l l e c t o r s C a r n i v a l S h o w s . c o m • 812-471-9419 GIBSON CO. FAIRGROUNDS • 709 N. EMBREE ST. PRINCETON, IN COLLECTORS CARNIVAL ANTIQUE & FLEA MARKETS Sat 9am-4pm $2 • Sat Early Bird 7-9am $5 • Fri Setup Shopper 1-4pm $15 SINCE 1992 Saturday, January 29th 100 Booths in 2 Heated Buildings 30th Year! Petersburg man threatens to kill himself following domestic disturbance By Sherri Sebella A Petersburg man was charged with two felony counts of domestic battery with moderate bodily injury, and battery resulting in bodi- ly injury. On Friday, January 21, po- lice were called to the resi- dence of Jeremiah Hinsey, 39, of Petersburg, for a domestic disturbance, in which a victim stated her boyfriend had been drinking all day and started hitting her. Just before arriving, officers had been advised that the fe- male victim had been locked out and the male subject was inside with knives, threaten- ing to kill himself. According to a probable cause affidavit, Petersburg Police Chief Kyle Mills and Officer Chad McClellan ar- rived on the scene to find two female subjects standing out- side of the residence. Anoth- er female stepped outside the door and stated that Hinsey was inside. Police entered the resi- dence with the female and that is when Hinsey approached police. He was wearing jeans, no shirt and a winter coat. Police observed the handle of a large steak knife stick- ing out of Hinsey's right coat pocket and before police had the opportunity to stop him, he reached his hands into his pockets. Police secured Hinsey and removed the knife from his pocket. A fter handcuffing Hinsey for officer safety, police patted him down and found another pocket knife in his pants. Hinsey was identified by his Indiana ID card. While speak- ing to him, police noticed the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath. Hinsey stated that he had done nothing wrong. He was brought outside the residence and stood by the police car, where the police spoke to him about what happened, while another police officer spoke with the females. Written statements were taken from the females, along with photos of their injuries. The first victim stated that she lived with Hinsey and that he had started yelling at her and hit her with a controller, caus- ing her to fall to the ground. She said Hinsey had then lunged at a second victim, so the second victim hit Hinsey in the head, and he grabbed her and threw her into the T V, and punched her in the head. A witness at the scene stat- ed Hinsey was in a bad mood and she saw him yelling and hitting the female victims. Both victims had scratches and redness on their bodies. Hinsey denied hitting the victims and stated that one of the victims had hit him, but police saw no evidence of marks or injury. Hinsey was placed under ar- rest for domestic battery and battery, and he was transport- ed to the jail. He then advised he could not go back to pris- on and stated he would slit his own throat first. Jail staff was advised of his suicidal comments upon ar- riving at the jail. Shortly after arriving, Hinsey began trying to injure himself by slamming his face into the glass in the booking area. He was physi- cally restrained and placed in isolation, where he began re- peatedly slamming himself into the walls, so staff had to place him in a restraint chair for his safety. Bond was set at $15,000, with 10 percent permitted and Hinsey was ordered to have no contact, direct or indirect with the alleged victims. A No- tice of Intent To Seek Habit- ual Offender Status was also filed with the court on Mon- day, January 24. Contractor hits gas line on State Road 61 State Road 61 in Petersburg was shut down last week due to a contractor hitting a gas line while working on road improvements. Each side of State Road 61 was blocked and shut down by local police for over two hours. "No evacuations were necessary since it was on the easement. No one was in danger," Petersburg Police Chief Kyle Mills said. "We had an officer blocking the road while it was being fixed. It took two to three hours to fix the broken line." Work continues on the road project, with it expected to be completed by late summer. ground equipment and pric- es she had found, to Brew- ster, who was not in agree- ment to purchase additional playground equipment at this time. "I'd like to see what we have already at the park com- ing in, and see what that is like, that the Park Board has going in, and what is included in it," Brewster said. "My issue is, that is there, and we are talking about the other side of town," Lamb said. Popp added that it was a completely different compa- ny they were looking into for additional playground equip- ment and different equipment itself, along with a complete- ly different location. Brew- ster said until he sees the new equipment the town has been waiting for, that was supposed to be delivered weeks ago. A discussion was then held about replacing lights in the Winslow Community Center basement, closets and storage areas, along with safety lights and emergency lighting, with LED lighting. The cost to re- place all the necessary lights at the Community Center to- taled $ 6,200. The council ap- proved that purchase unani- mously. Lights will also be re- placed at the utility shop with new LEDs for $1,390. Popp then discussed the poor light- ing inside the fire department and that motion died for lack of support. A motion to replace the outside mercury vapor lights at the fire department, with a total cost of $1,967.20, was approved unanimously. A lengthy discussion took place regarding a proposal by Popp to draft a policy for those who ask for payment arrangements for their wa- ter and sewer bills. Popp sug- gested that those asking for payment arrangements be re- quired to pay 25 percent of their delinquent bill and have the rest paid within a three to six month period. "I feel a responsibility to the people in this town who do pay their bills," Brewster said. "There needs to be some questions asked and proof pro- vided. This isn't a Santa Claus grab bag that you get to pick out of three times a year. Very few of the hardships you see on the list are really hard- ships. These people are pay- ing their cable bills, phone bills and going to Florida. We are not in a 'feeling sorry' po- sition. We are here to run this town." Popp said terms of pay- ment arrangements needed to be clearly defined and stated that he is going to come up with a couple models for the council to view. The discussion was tabled until the next meeting so the council could find out in de- tail what options are available through the Keystone pro- gram that they invested in. The last topic of discus- sion was a piece of property that has been offered to the town at no charge on DeTar Street. Popp is in favor of ac- cepting the property and us- ing it to bring in economic development of some kind, since the home on the prop- erty has been condemned by the Health Department. A heated discussion ensued due to some issues regarding a mobile home that should not be setting on the proper- ty. Popp does not want to keep this property long-term, and feels that the council needs to follow ordinances estab- lished to handle the housing situation of the mobile home on the property. Popp states that the owners of the mobile home have been given notice and have until March to cor- rect issues with the location and state the property is cur- rently in. According to Popp and Brewster, nothing has been done in three years to correct the problems with the mo- bile home. "We are obligated to enforce ordinances" Brew- ster said. "We are left with this hard decision," Popp said. It was moved to accept the property at no cost to the town and while Popp and Brewster approved the motion to accept the property, Lamb abstained from voting. The next meeting will be Monday, February 14 at the Town Hall Building, begin- ning at 6 p.m. PROJECTS Continued from page 1 6) Streetscape project. 7) Three new traffic signals will be installed at the inter- sections of Highways 356 and 57, 61 and 57, and Pike Ave. and 57. 8) INDOT is going to cut down the hill on Highway 61 just south of the Elmer Buchta Technology Center to improve the sight distance for the I-69 interchange. Norman Dillon, Pike County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) Chair- man, shakes hands with Tom Rudolph, who accepted his third term as SWCD su- pervisor. "I was born into this, it's all I know," Rudolph said. He is following in the steps of his father and grandfather, who also served as supervisors for SWCD. Chris Burkhardt was elected to replace outgo- ing Pike County Purdue Extension President Mi- chael Wilson during the Purdue Extension Busi- ness Meeting. Pike Co. SWCD conducts 75th Annual Meeting and Dinner By Sherri Sebella On Tuesday, January 18, Pike County Soil and Wa- ter Conservation District (SWCD) conducted their 75th Annual Meeting and Dinner at the Otwell Community Cen- ter. With members of the com- munity, Purdue Extension, USDA Farm Service Agen- cy, Future Farmers of Amer- ica, local farmers and more, the evening was full of useful information. The evening be- gan with Future Farmers of America President Logan Dil- lon giving a recap of the activ- ities the group has participat- ed in the past year and talking of upcoming competitions the team will have. Norman Dillion, SWCD Chairman, welcomed every- one and spoke of the active participants in SWCD. He ex- plained the voting process to take place later in the evening for the position of SWCD su- pervisor, before a delicious dinner, catered by Sanders Catering, was served. The SWCD was thrilled to have booked entertainer, Sil- ver Creek Water Corporation Manager and former Chair of the Indiana State Soil Conser- vation Board, Scott Ham. Ham shared a high energy and en- tertaining look at soil and wa- ter conservation. His hope is that through using people's experiences, they will initiate change where needed, and support those already doing outstanding works. Ham looked at creative ways to motivate landowners and leadership in having a pos- itive approach to the best man- agement practices and good relationships within the Pike County SWCD. "Where does your water go? " Ham asked the audience. He then explained how local water travels from smaller riv- ers in the area to large bodies of water throughout the coun- try. "We want to minimize sed- iment and erosion because it is killing fish. Do not dump oil. Do not litter. We have to take care of our water or it will dis- appear." Ham has seen first-hand places where there is little to no water due to it disappear- ing or the water being con- taminated. "My mission work takes me to other countries. I work with 26 different com- panies building homes and fil- ters for safe drinking water," said Ham. He then did a slide show of his experiences in A f- ghanistan and Iran, creating ways for the people of those countries to have safe drink- ing water during his more than 27 years in the military. It was then time for voting for the SWCD open supervisor position. Dillon explained the rules regarding voting. "The seat up is an elected position, Tom Rudolph has been placed on the ballot by the commit- tee," Dillon said. "He (Ru- dolph) looks forward to serv- ing as a supervisor, just like his father and grandfather." Dillon then asked for a nom- ination from the floor for Ru- dolph. "Does anyone want to be a nominee? " Dillon asked. "If not, I ask for a motion to close nominations." A mo- tion to close nominations was made and Rudolph will remain as the SWCD ongoing super- visor by unanimous vote. On- ly those at least 18 years of age and owning or renting land in Pike County were eligible to vote. "I would like to raise aware- ness on all of our issues in the county," Randolph said. "I was born into this. It's all I know. I want to also encourage peo- ple who farm to have a living root year round and do not farm naked," referring to the SWCD campaign of using cov- er crops during the off-season of farming. Following the SWCD meet- ing, Pike County Purdue Ex- tension hosted a brief busi- ness meeting where they dis- cussed what they have been busy doing the past year and the exciting programs they are planning for 2022. During the meeting, outgoing Exten- sion Board President, Michael Wilson was replaced by nom- inated member Chris Bur- khardt in a unanimous vote. Dixon sentenced to 17 years for dealing By James Capozella Melyna Jo Dixon, 31, of 11233 Millersburg Rd., Chan- dler, was sentenced to 17 years on January 12 for a charge on June 10, 2020, of dealing in methamphetamine in Pike County. Dixon plead guilty in an agreement through public defender Counselor Faye He- dinger in September 2021. Pike County Judge Jeffrey Biesterveld handed down a 17-year sentence for Dixon that required her to serve the first seven years in the custo- dy of the Department of Cor- rections and the last 10 years in the Wabash Valley Regional Community Corrections Work Release Program. Dixon had 162 days of good time credit and 486 days of jail credit, according to the sen- tencing. Pike County Sher- iff's Department was directed to transport Dixon from IDOC to Wabash Work Release upon completion of the first part of her sentence. Her arrest came as a re- sult of a joint investigation be- tween several police agencies, including Washington Police Department, Indiana State Po- lice, JPD and DEA.