The Press-Dispatch
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NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ��������������� A1-D3 Sports �����������������B1-6 School ���������������� B4-5 Obituaries ���������������B5 East Gibson������������B6 Home Life ������������C1-6 History ������������������� C3 Opinion ������������� C4-5 Church �������������� D1-3 Classifieds ���������� D4-6 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 24 PAGES Four SECTIoNS Two INSErTS PETErSBurG, IN 47567-0068 SPORTS B1 LOCAL A5 Hard-fought game with South Knox PES robotics team qualifies for state competition wEdNESdAy, MArCh 2, 2022 PIKE PUBLISHING VoLuME 152, NuMBEr 9 Brothers escape serious injury Two Pike County brothers escaped serious injury when the car they were riding, crashed head-on into a large tree in Campbelltown, at about 5:50 p.m. Friday. In- diana State Trooper Dustin Stein said Corey Goeppner was driving south on High- way 61 when he went off the right side of the road, crossed a driveway and then slammed head-on into a large tree. Goeppner's brother, Parker, was ridding with him. Neither suffered serious injuries. Trooper Stein said the ground was soft from all the rain and once Goeppner got off the road he couldn't get back on the road. "Fortunately he wasn't driving very fast," said Stein. Goeppner was driving a Chevrolet Cruise which had significant damage. City proposes 85% water rate increase By James Capozella An 85 percent water rate increase is be- ing proposed by the Petersburg City Coun- cil. On Tuesday, February 22, the City Coun- cil was told the water rate needs to increase 85 percent to pay for more than $17 million of improvements to their water system, which will have a total bill of more than $20 million. Letters and legal advertisements were sent out this past week to Petersburg water cus- tomers informing them of the proposed rate increase. The City Council proposed, in an ordinance at the February 22 meeting, to ad- vertise a new rate schedule based upon the paying off of 2019 bonds and issuance of new bonds for water system improvements. Those improvements include installing two new water wells, a new water main down Main St., rehabbing two water towers, a new wa- ter tower on Half-Mile Hill, work on Alford and Riverwood Drive water lines, building a 20 -inch raw water main and building a new water plant. Petersburg has one of the oldest water treatment plants in Indiana. A public hearing is scheduled for March 7, by the Petersburg common council, on the rate ordinance at 6:30 pm, and will be followed by the council convening and con- sidering the adoption of the rate ordinance. The closing on the new water bonds will be on March 11, according to Petersburg Clerk Treasurer Tammy Selby. Mayor R.C. Klipsch said the council want- ed to keep the increase as low as possible, but also needed to include a replacements and improvements figure that would take care of needs as they came up in the future. The minimum monthly charge has been $15.68, and with the improvements, will in- crease to $29.02 inside the city and $32.50 outside. The present rate for the first 5,000 gallons is $5.49. The new proposed rate, if approved, will increase to $10.16 per 1,000 gallons inside the city and $11.38 outside. The next 10,000 gallons would increase from $4.95 to $ 9.16 in the city and $10.26 outside. Tap fees will go from $ 675 to $1,200. The wholesale rate will increase from $347 for the first 100,000 gallons to $506.91. Every 1,000 gallons over that will increase from $2.17 to $3.17. These increases will be for the water rate. Petersburg water customers, who are also on the city sewer system get a water/sewer bill on one statement. The sewer rate is sep- arate and is not affected by this proposed in- crease. Retiring the 2019 bonds and securing the new bonds lowers the interest rate from 2.5 percent to 1.25 percent. The ordinance to secure bonds for the wa- ter system project was read for a third time with rules suspended. Council member John Melhiser made the final motion for Alterna- tive II in the rate schedule and Councilman Jody Hoover seconded the motion which was passed. Petersburg City Council President Scott Jenkins made a motion for a first reading of the 2022-4 ordinance establishing rates and charges, seconded by Melhiser and passed by By Andy Heuring COVID numbers in Pike County and state- wide continue to drop quickly. Pike County had only eight new cases reported in the last seven days, including two days with no cases. A free COVID testing and vaccination clin- ic is being offered at the Petersburg Branch of the Pike County Library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2. The Pfizer pediatric vaccine for children five to 11 will be available. Those wishing to participate in this event may walk-in during those hours. To save time you can make an appointment on OurShot.in.gov Both deaths and new cases fell statewide. Less than a month ago the number of new cases ranged from 12,000 to more than 16,000 in a day. Over the last seven days the number of new cases ranged from a high of 774 on Feb. 22 down to 550 on Feb. 25 then dropped dra- matically to 242 on the 26th, 150 on the 27th and 92 on the 28th. The number of deaths also dropped with the high over the last seven days being 18 on Feb. 22. Over the next three days it was 13, 15 and 13 then dropped to seven or less the next three days. Hospitalizations started the week at 1,090 on Feb. 22. That number fell to 792 reported on Feb. 28. Those numbers fell each day during that period. It is the first time since July 29, 2021 there have been less than 800 people in Indiana hospitals with COVID. Pike County's seven-day all test positivity rate is at 10.3 percent as of Tuesday. COVID numbers see steep decline Winslow seeks to upgrade ordinances By Sherri Sebella Winslow Town Council President Josh Popp wants to clear up many gray areas regarding issues facing the town, by going back to the basics: town ordinances. Popp has worked on updating and clearing up any areas that are unclear for the people of Winslow. "I feel like we have a lot of questions that need to be addressed, and it's been here all along in the ordinances. Every problem we face, have been problems for a long time," Popp said. The council discussed updating ordinanc- es with regard to animals, weight limits for roads, (since the town has invested between $150 -200,000 in road improvements0), and also making minor changes to an ordinance for fire lanes and an ordinance amending Winslow Code 6.09 Burning on Private Prop- erty. "We are getting ready to do ratings where the town is scored with ordinances, so these See WINSLOW on page 2 See WATER on page 2 Polar Plungers Members of the Bearded Villains, of Southern Indiana carry Allison Werne into the water so she could participate in Satur- day's Polar Plunge at Pride's Creek. Werne raised $5,200 for the event. As a team, the Bearded Villains raised $2,985 and participate every year in the event. There were 159 plungers Saturday, who raised $79,880.58 for Special Olympics. By Andy Heuring A 12-vehicle pile-up in the southbound lanes of I-69 over the Patoka River blocked traffic for about three hours last Wednesday night. The bridges froze due to rain and rapidly dropping temperatures. Indiana State Trooper Ryan Angermeier, who worked the accidents, said it started at about 7:30 p.m. when one vehicle lost control on the ice, hit the railing and spun into the lanes of traffic partially blocking both lanes. It was hit by two other vehicles. "While I was still on my way I was told by dispatch it was up to 11," said Angermeier. Before it was all over, there were 12 crashes and the most serious was someone who had stopped to help. Angermeier said an unidentified man had driven through the carnage and pulled over. Apparently he went back to check on those in- volved in the wrecks and a vehicle lost control. He is believed to have either jumped over the side of the bridge or climbed up on it and fell to avoid being hit by another vehicle. Daniel and Carrie Shelton with Patoka Fire Department were told about someone being below the bridge. They went to a county road and drove as far as they could, then started walking. They found the man on dry ground between floodwater and the Patoka River. Pike Co. Emergency Management Director Ryan Benner was able to drive a truck to him. Benner said he talked with him a lot, but said they couldn't really determine how he got below the bridge. "He couldn't remember what happened," said Benner. "He is lucky to be alive." Benner said where they found him, it was about 30 to 35 feet below the bridge. Trooper Angermeier said out of all the crashes on the bridge only two people were taken to the hospital. The others were trans- ported by emergency vehicles to Denny's Restaurant parking lot where they could be picked up by family members. Two injured in 12-vehicle crash on Wednesday