The Press-Dispatch
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Something newsworthy? EMAIL eastgibson@pressdispatch.net East Gibson School Corporation announces Kindergarten registration James Wilson, Super- intendent of East Gibson Schools, announces Kin- dergarten Registration. Children who are five years old on or before Au- gust 1, 2022 are eligible to enter. Parents must bring either their child's certi- fied birth certificate, ob- tained from the health de- partment in the county of the child's birth, or their Hospital birth certificate to show proof of date of birth. Children will register at their prospective schools. School teachers and staff members will be testing all students, so you must call the school your child will attend for an appoint- ment. Children will be al- lowed two adults, no sib- lings. Masks are required to be worn at all times by the child and parent. Social distancing is required. Par- ents must also bring a copy of their child's immuniza- tion record. Minimum im- munization requirements by law must be met prior to entering school. The requirements are: • 5 doses of DTaP; • 4 doses of Polio: • 2 doses of MMR; • 2 doses of Hepatitis A; • 3 doses of Hepatitis B; • 2 doses of Chicken Pox Vaccine/Varicella or physician's documenta- tion of the disease Immunizations are avail- able by appointment at the Gibson County Health De- partment. For more infor- mation, call 812-385 -3831. Immunization records will be accepted from your family physician or a public health clinic. The dates and times for Kindergarten registration are as follows: • Francisco Elementary: Friday, March 11, 9 to 10 :50 a.m. and 12:45 - 1:50 p.m. • Oakland City Elemen- tary: Monday, March 14 and Tuesday, March 15, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. • Barton Township School: Thursday, March 10 from 9 to 10 :50 a.m. and 12:45 to 1:50 p.m. Please call the school your child will attend for an appointment. • FES: 812-782-3207 • OCE: 812-749 -6133 • BTS: 812-795 -2292 B-6 Wednesday, Feburar y 23, 2022 The Press-Dispatch Submit East Gibson news items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: egnews@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg EAST GIBSON One Book, One County OWENSVILLE March 15 @ 6:30 pm Visit your library Borrow the book Join the discusson 1. 2. 3. Funding for this project was made possible by the Gibson County Community Foundation through Lilly Endowment's Gift VII Community Leadership Implementation Grant Initiative A book offering practical and implementable steps that can be taken to bring a dated and struggling community back to life. FORT BRANCH March 17 @ 6:00 pm PRINCETON March 9 @ 5:00 pm OAKLAND CITY March 8 @ 6:00 pm 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® The Press-Dispatch 812-354-8500 | www.pressdispatch.net *By enrolling in the Birthday Club, you agree to have your name, town and birth- day, or the person's name and town and birthday of whom you are enrolling, printed in e Press-Dispatch on the week in which the birthday occurs. Joining is easy! Visit pressdispatch.net/birthday or send your full name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number and birthdate to birthdayclub@pressdispatch.net.* Each week, a list of birthdays will be published in the paper! You could win a FREE PRIZE from area businesses and a three-month subscription to e Press-Dispatch. MUST RE-ENROLL EVERY YEAR! Join the One WINNER is drawn at the end of each month County will wait for investors to develop near I-69 By Janice Barniak It's a case of competing mentali- ties — "if you build it they will come" versus "build it when they come." While commissioners say that in- vestors have shown interest in the Ind. 64 and I-69 interchange, they will wait to run sewer lines to the ar- ea until they have a confirmed proj- ect, they decided in a split 2-1 vote Feb. 15. A project to explore sewer develop- ment ended approximately $200,000 under budget, and redevelopment asked commissioners to clarify whether to move forward using that money to invest in getting the sew- er going, or whether to put it back in the general funds. Engineer Matt Holden suggested doing soil borings with approximate- ly $15,000 of the extra funds, which commissioners approved, because the soil type, or the presence of bed- rock, would determine how expen- sive it would be to run sewer lines. Commissioner Mary Key, the dis- senting vote on the project, said the original intention was that the coun- ty would move forward with develop- ing that area, and she was in favor of using extra funds on that project for that purpose. "We need the expansion of that. It's been discussed since the very be- ginning of it that to make it viable for the I-69 corridor, we need to get a line under Ind. 64," Key said. The Redevelopment Commission approved spending economic de- velopment funds to look at running lines before two of the current com- missioners, Warren Fleetwood and Kenneth Montgomery, were in of- fice. Those commissioners voted to do soil borings only. "If someone comes along and ex- presses interest, we'll look at it, but I don't want to invest taxpayer dol- lars on something that won't mate- rialize," said Fleetwood. He said if a significant investor, like a truck stop, wanted to build there, the coun- ty could ask them to "throw a little money at the project" of putting in the sewer. "Until we have someone who wants to do something out there, let's quit spending money out there," he said. Key said she didn't see anyone committing to building until a sew- er line was in place. She said she per- sonally knows of interest expressed by a couple of people who want to build on the south side of it. She said it isn't something the county can do in a hurry when an investor appears, considering they have to go through the state for per- mission on the state roads. She said, to her mind, the infrastructure would help bring the investors. Fleetwood said an investor con- tacted him about developing the northwest corner, and he told him he wanted to see proof of purchase before he'd vote to spend taxpayer dollars. That was a month ago and he hasn't heard anything since. "If we have a developer willing to come, are we willing to run the sew- er line out there, or do we ask the de- veloper to do it? " he said, adding he preferred to spend the economic de- velopment dollars on quality-of-life projects. The TIF that provides those special project dollars will expire in 2025. EMS loses another paramedic By Janice Barniak Gibson County EMS Director Da- vid Pond told Gibson County Com- missioners they lost another para- medic who left for a better paying job elsewhere last week. "I am unable to fill this spot," he said. "I have flat out refusals." Pond has asked for a new pay structure for EMS employees, who are currently paid 16 of their 24-hour shifts. He said he has trouble fill- ing shifts, and at a meeting with the county council this month, one employee discussed working seven 24-hour shifts in a row. He's asked for them to be paid for all 24 hours, but Gibson Coun- ty Council previously denied the re- quest because it would absorb all the money the county was allowed to grow, budget-wise, for the year, leaving no raises for other employ- ees and rising expenses. In their February meeting, how- ever, the council discussed passing a local income tax to support emer- gency services. A similar tax yield- ed $12 million for Warrick County, though that county has a bigger tax base. If passed, however, it will be a few months between hearings and the council vote. "We could be looking at a melt- down in our service...This is not a joke," Pond said. He said he's al- ready lost other paramedics. "I don't want to see this go down," he said. Innkeepers tax recovering By Janice Barniak Gibson County Visitor's and Tour- ism shared that the innkeepers tax, which was heavily affected by a lack of tourism during coronavirus, is up 20.5 percent from last year, even as the GCV T encourages delinquent hotels to pay their back taxes. Board members Mayor Greg Wright, Stanley Madison, and Eric Heidenreich visited the Holiday Inn Express, which is under new man- agement, to let them know the hotel was behind on the innkeeper's tax. They received word, however, that the Indiana Department of Revenue is also going to be looking at the tourism taxes and ways to hold busi- nesses accountable. TROJANS FALL TO TITANS, 61-45 Kaden Newton (12) sinks this two point basket for Wood Memorial in Friday's game against Gibson Southern in Fort Branch. Newton scored seven points in a losing effort, as the Trojans fell to the Titans 61-45 in a non-conference contest. Reese Morton (13) fires in two of his four points for Wood Memorial against Gib- son Southern in Friday's game at Fort Branch in Titan Arena. The host Titans beat the visiting Trojans 61-45 in the non-conference event.