The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1449492
NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ��������������� A1-B3 Valentine's Day ���� A6 Sports �����������������B1-2 Obituaries ���������������B5 East Gibson������������B3 Home Life ������������C1-6 School �������������������� C3 Opinion ������������� C4-5 Church �������������� D1-3 Classifieds ���������� D4-5 History �������������������D6 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 24 PAGES Four SECTIoNS ThrEE INSErTS PETErSBurG, IN 47567-0068 Sweetheart Spectacular A6 Season's biggest snowstorm forces many cancellations WEdNESdAy, FEBruAry 9, 2022 PIKE PUBLISHING VoLuME 152, NuMBEr 6 See PRIMARY on page 2 See SNOW on page 4 See SOLAR on page 4 Sledding in the park Neriah Glispie sails off a jump in Hornady Park on Saturday afternoon. From Thursday through Sunday there were about 20 people of all ages sledding in the park. See additional photos on page B-6. Delinquent taxpayers to receive letters to avoid tax sales costs Pike County Treasurer Susan Brittain announced the treasurer's office will send courtesy letters to all taxpayers who are delinquent, and would be eligible for a tax sale at the end of this year. This letter allows the taxpayer to pay the delinquent taxes without having to pay tax sales cost, which would be another $150. This amount will be added in July. "If you moved in the last year, we need your new address as soon as possible. We are beginning the first process of creating new tax bills for this year and need those addresses to insure you receive your taxes in a timely fashion," said Brittain. New filings added Monday By Sherri Sebella The deadline to officially file as a candi- date in the May primary was pushed to Mon- day, February 7, after a winter storm blasted through the area, shutting the courthouse on Thursday and Friday. On a local level, the positions on the ballot this year include courthouse offices of Sher- iff, Auditor, Recorder and Assessor. It also in- cludes the executive position of Commission- er Dist. 2, now held by Mark Flint, who has filed to run again under the Republican party. Five new filings took place on Wednesday, February 2, and one additional filing on Mon- day, February 7. Those new filings include Twyla Flint with- drawing from the ballot as a Democratic Con- vention Delegate and adding her name to the ballot as a Washington 2 Democratic Precinct Committeeman for Pike County. As of today, Mike Goodpaster is on the bal- lot for the Republican party, for Pike Coun- ty Assessor. Judith Kinman Wood Gumbel is seeking to retain her seat as Pike County Auditor for the Republican party. Mark Flint, is running for the Pike Coun- ty Commissioner seat (District 2) for the Re- publican party to retain his seat. Pike County Council Members on the bal- lot for District 1 include Jared L. Furman and Randy Harris for the Republican party. In District 2, Jon W. Craig is on the ballot for the Republican party. District 3 has Max D. Elliott for the Repub- lican party listed, with Jim Johns adding his name to the Republican ticket for Pike Coun- ty Council, to run against Elliott. For District 4, Travis C. Troutman is listed for the Republican party. For the Pike County Recorder seat, Misty Coleman is on the ballot for the Republican party. Pike County Sheriff's Department will be replacing current Sheriff Kent Johnson, who said he will not seek re-election due to health concerns. Only one candidate has filed to run for Pike County Sheriff, which is Jason McK- inney, who is running on the Republican tick- et and currently serves as a School Resource Officer. Pike County Democratic Precinct Commit- teeman seat has added numerous candidates to the ballot this week. Matthew T. Fulk is on the ballot, along with Carolyn Weitkamp listed for the Pike County Monroe Democratic Pre- cinct Committeeman from last week. Terra Knust has been added to the list for the Lockhart Democratic Precinct. Debra Lamb has been added for the Winslow Dem- ocratic Precinct, and Richard Ridao has been Filing deadline reached Monday; primary ballot set By Sherri Sebella According to Pike County Purdue Exten- sion Director, Alex Mahrenholz, who is the 4- H Youth Development/Agriculture and Natu- ral Resources Educator, Pike County received 4.5 inches of snow and .5 inches of ice and sleet, with drifts up to 18 inches in places. Pike County Highway crews worked dili- gently to keep main roads clear and are still working on taking care of ice-covered grav- el roads. "We had the guys come in at 8 p.m. on Thursday and the department worked straight through until Saturday, Josh Byrd, Pike Coun- ty Highway Superintendent, said. "It was a hard storm to contain. Ice kept building up on our headlights and windshields. We had ice under the snow, so when we plowed the snow, we had to go back and spread sand to cover the ice." Top priority for the Highway Department was to make sure to send out trucks for all ambulance calls, accidents and fire calls, so they could get to the scenes safely. "We tried to keep the main roads clear and work our way back as we went," Byrd said. The Highway Department is still working on getting gravel ice-covered roads covered with sand. "We still have ice on the rock roads," Invenergy presents solar plans at County Council meeting By Sherri Sebella Tom Schoder, project manager for Invenergy, gave a presentation to all present at the Pike County Council meeting on Tuesday, February 8, regarding an upcoming solar panel project in Jefferson Township. Schoder did a presentation, show- ing all the benefits of adding the so- lar panel project to Pike County. "This project will provide up to 130 megawatts of capacity, or enough en- ergy for over 27,000 homes, Schod- er said. With roughly 800 acres within the projected fence, Schoder stated that they are looking into interconnect- ing into Vectren 138kV at the Cato substation. They are also planning on planting prairie grasses and Ev- ergreens after numerous field stud- ies are completed. "The general time line is to com- plete all the county agreements by Spring of this year, and construc- tion to take place between late 2023 and late 2024," Schoder said. "We are hoping for operations to start in early 2025. Invenergy is a Mid- west-based company that has tran- sitioned to wind and solar over the past 15 years." Schoder explained that it is a sig- nificant investment that Invenergy is making in Pike County, including a one-time investment of $110 mil- lion, that requires nothing of Pike County. "New taxes and additional revenue add up to roughly $ 30 mil- lion property tax payments to Pike County over 35 years, after the pro- posed tax abatement," Schoder said. During peak construction, Scho- der expects there to be an aver- age of 130 construction jobs creat- Fire destroys log cabin A log cabin near Winslow, believed to date back to the 1800s, was destroyed by fire Friday. The cabin at one time was owned by Oris Black. No one lived in the cabin, located on top of a hill at the intersection of Highway 61 and CR375S (Ayrshire Road). Corey Mabrey lives across Highway 61 from the cabin. He and Kyle Hathaway were sledding with their kids when they noticed smoke. Patoka Township Fire Chief Brandon Truitt said Hathaway and Mabrey went across the road to check on it and saw heavy smoke coming out of the eaves of the cabin. One of them called 911 to report the fire and the other tried to wake a couple in a camper near the cabin. Truitt said Hunter and Sarah Young were asleep in the camper and were in the process of buying the property. Sarah ran into the cabin to retrieve animals and had minor facial burns and a cut on her foot. The cabin was a total loss but firemen from Patoka and Petersburg were able to keep the fire from spreading to a nearby house owned by Jeff Woolsey. Firemen were there for more than two hours.