The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1458183
WATER RATE Continued from page 1 SOLAR Continued from page 1 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® LOUIE CAMPBELL Sales Professional lcampbell@sfaulknerauto.com CALL OR TEXT 812-899-6267 @LouieYourCarGuy HWY. 64 W. PRINCETON Looking for a Great Deal On Your Next Vehicle? Karan Thacker Owner 704 E. Haub Street Haubstadt, IN 47639 THACKER TAX SERVICE 906 Blackfoot Drive Fort Branch, IN 47648 812-615-0071 (office) 812-789-3852 (cell) kthacker01@gmail.com COVID helped bring Beasley and St. Peters church together By Andy Heuring St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Stendal has a new pastor, who's life was dramatically changed by COVID. John Beasley grew up near Salem in a farm communi- ty. "I believed in God. I just didn't think you needed to go to church." His life growing up was typ- ical of life in a small southern Indiana town. "I was involved in 4-H and farming. I maybe went to Vacation Bible School a couple of times." He gradu- ated from high school, then went into the military, joining the Marines in 1983. Beasley was stationed in North Carolina. He completed his four years, and then after six months decided to return. "The grass is always greener on the other side," said Bea- sley. But getting back in wasn't in the cards for him. "They weren't taking prior service in the Marines. So I went to the Army." He went to the Language In- stitute for German in Monte- rey, California, where he stud- ied for about a year. Then he went to training as an interrogator at Ft. Hua- chuca in Sierra Vista, Arizo- nia. When that was complet- ed, he was sent to Ft. Bragg back in North Carolina and as- signed to a special operations command in psychological op- erations. Beasley was involved in the Panama invasion, and then the first Iraq invasion with front line interrogations attached with the 3rd Armored Divi- sion. "When they blew a tank, the crew would jump out. We grabbed them and interrogat- ed them," said Beasley. He said one of the things they were able to learn about was an ambush awaiting their unit a few miles ahead. Beas- ley and his unit were person- ally thanked for their work by General Tommy Franks. While in Iraq, Beasley had a Muslim interpreter with him. He said the interpreter was teaching him about the Koran. But a Gideon had given him a small copy of the New Testa- ment from the Holy Bible. "I was reading in it. I hadn't re- ally read the Bible before, but I read "beware of wolves in sheep's clothing." He said this Word from the Bible spoke to him that Mu- hammad was a wolf in sheep's clothing. "So I distanced my- self from learning the Muslim religion." When he was finished in Iraq, he came back to the US and then was sent to Turkey, where he was involved in mov- ing the Kurds into Tarsus, as in Paul of Tarsus in the Bible. He then returned home to the United States and got out of the Army. While he was at home, he went to a wedding of a cous- in, with a cousin. When they got home from the wedding, he said a group of his cous- in's friend were going to the races nearby. He deiced to go with them. In that group was his future wife. Beasley said they had known each other in high school and began a rela- tionship that led to them get- ting married. In the process he and his wife went through marriage counseling with the pastor who was marrying them. "He told us there are three Cs in marriage. Number one is Christ, two is communication and three is caring." This hit home with Beasley, who through the counseling sessions accepted Jesus as his Savior and started attending church, eventually becoming a Deacon. Beasley said it went against how he was raised, because his father was anti-church. "I was told the churches are full of stiff necked hypocrites. That was my up brining and my mind set of the church." A fter a few years he signed up for the National Guard. He started working toward being a chaplin, but said he got too old to meet the age require- ment before he could com- plete the Chaplin certification. So he became a bi-vocation- al pastor, working for the VA as a pastor and as a part-time pastor at a local church. He be- came an ordained pastor at the Conway Community Church in South Boston, Indiana. He said he then started studying church history, and migrated toward the Lutheran church and joined the Luther- an Congregation in Missions for Christ. Beasley and his wife Lori have three sons. One passed away in 2019, one graduated from Rose Hulman and the other from USI. Then COVID hit. It hit the Beasley family particularly hard. John, his dad and a brother all three had extended stays in the hospital with COVID, while an aunt and two cousins died from COVID during Christ- mas week of 2020. "It brought me to the point of asking myself what am I do- ing in life? Where am I going, and what am I going to leave behind, and what is import- ant," said Beasley about while he was laying in the hospital with COVID and wondering if he was going to live. "While I was laying there, I saw what I enjoy most is serv- ing the Lord and serving peo- ple," said Beasley. "It just shows you. You lay there, if I die what I have done. You look at some things that you've done, but the most im- portant things are where you have shared the gospel with people, and they have become Christians. You can't take any- thing else with you, except to take people with you to heav- en, so there are other people there with the Lord." Beasley said St. Peters in Stendal was in the same asso- ciation. "They were posting for a full time pastor. I told my wife, and we formed the same conclusion. 'I'm no lon- ger straddling that fence.' that is what I did, and that is why I'm here." Pastor John Beasley and his wife Lori started at the St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Stendal earlier this month. Commissioners discuss damages from road detour in Petersburg By Sherri Sebella Pike County Commission- ers met on Monday for a quick meeting at the Pike Coun- ty Courthouse, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Commissioners decided to table their discussion on in- surance quotes they received from German American Insur- ance for their Commercial Pol- icy renewal, due to the steep rate increase they were of- fered. Josh Byrd, Pike Coun- ty Highway Superintendent, discussed the non-stop issues they are having with the cur- rent detour off State Road 61. This detour, which is unoffi- cial according to the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), is necessary while work is underway on State Road 61, between 61/56/57 to 1.10 mile North on State Road 61. "They will not change the route," Byrd said. "They will fix what is damaged at the end of construction. This is for the people who live there and what they have had to put up with." According to INDOT, State Road 61 will be closed for ap- proximately 180 days. IN- DOT will set up and maintain the necessary traffic control for the Official Detour route or arrange with others to fur- nish the necessary items. According to a letter re- ceived by INDOT, addressed to commissioner president Mark Flint, INDOT has agreed to reimburse Pike County for costs related to damage repair on the listed unofficial detour. Reimbursable work must be pre-approved by INDOT. All reimbursable expenses must be documented. Once the Dis- trict has agreed to the docu- mented expenses, INDOT and Pike County must exe- cute an agreement that indi- cates those expenses. This will be done once the INDOT Official Detour is eliminated. The Commissioners ap- proved signing the Memoran- dum of Understanding unan- imously between themselves and INDOT. In other business, Sara Worstell, Executive Director of Grow SW Indiana, spoke to Commissioners and asked to renew their agreement between Grow SW Indiana and Local Elected Officials (LEOs) in Pike County. The agreement outlines LEOs and their responsibilities and ac- tions pursuant to the provi- sions of the Workforce Inno- vation & Opportunity Act. Worstell said they have someone at the Elmer Buch- ta Technology Center ev- ery Tuesday who helps with re-employment services, re- sume writing, and job search tips. "We help individuals overcome any issues they may have with getting a job." The Commissioners approved the agreement unanimously. In COVID updates, Pike County Health Department Nurse Amy Gladish told Com- missioners there are only five active cases of COVID cur- rently in Pike County, which is the lowest ever. "We are in a happy place," Gladish said. "This is a good place to be right now. They are consider- ing going from a pandemic to an endemic." As COVID 19 began spread- ing in Wuhan, China, it be- came an epidemic. Because the disease then spread across several countries and affect- ed a large number of people, it was classified as a pandem- ic. However, as many experts believe the virus that caus- es COVID 19 will never be eradicated, the world must at some point transition away from "pandemic" and toward an "endemic" phase. The next Pike County Com- missioner meeting will be Monday, April 4, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Pike Coun- ty Courthouse. totally vaccinated in Pike County. "This is good news for us here," Gladish said. A committee was estab- lished to review the current status of the County Com- pensation schedule regarding tiers, longevity, wages to set an agenda for the committee. Craig said the group of elected officials met in February and will meet again at the end of the month. Pike County Sheriff Kent Johnson spoke to the Council about purchasing two Tahoes for the department. Johnson the previous order had been cancelled due to lack of inven- tory. Johnson said the Tahoes are $5000 more than what was budgeted for the Durangos, but the difference could come from the Commissary Funds, and the Tahoes are more valu- able at trade-in than the Du- rangos. Johnson said that the Council does not have to do anything, he was just keep- ing them informed. Craig said the Pike Coun- ty Park and Recreation Board appointment needed to be dis- cussed and that Donnie Poe- hlein had agreed to being re- appointed. Council members approved the appointment 7-0. Additional appropriation re- quests were presented to the council from the Pike County Highway Department toward the purchase of a new tractor. The Highway Department sold trash metal and revenue was requested for that fund in the amount of $24,502.87. The Council approved the addition- al appropriations 7-0. County Highway also re- quested a transfer of funds for the final invoice for Bridge 150 rehab, in the amount of $520,378.60. The request was approved, 7-0. The Health Department re- quested a transfer of funds from Miscellaneous Expens- es to Project Manager for $ 97 because her paycheck would have gone into the red with- out approval. The Council ap- proved the transfer but Craig said that this was not good business and asked if Glad- ish could explain. Gladish said she knew nothing about it and she did not know why the Proj- ect Manager was not at the meeting to explain herself. All other appropriations were approved by the Council unanimously. The next meeting will be April 12 at 8:30 a.m. in the Pike County Courthouse. are not even bidding projects. Inflation that has already hit the country hard and is ex- pected to continue as the price of oil reached more than $120 a barrel on Tuesday, March 8, which is the highest it has been since 2008. Many an- alysts are predicting with Tuesday's announcement of the United States halting the purchase of Russian oil, prices may top $200 a barrel. Petersburg hired BakerTil- ley to do a water rate study to determine what the rates needed to be to fund the $18 million project. The rates Petersburg in- cluded in their ordinance will raise the current rate by 85 percent for those in Peters- burg. The minimum monthly charge has been $15.68, and with passage of the new rate ordinance it will increase 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 in- side the city and $11.38 out- side. 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 above that will increase from $2.17 to $3.17. Klipsch said even with the increases, the average costs for 4,000 gallons a month will still be below $40 a month for water, which he said is below the national average. David Waltz, a resident of Petersburg and a member of the Pike County School Board said an increase of 85 percent was going to be a shock for people, especially those on fixed or limited incomes. He also asked if the city had tried to get any grants. Klipsch said Petersburg was not able to get a grant from the Office of Rural and Community Affairs or Rural Development because their current water rates were so much lower than the nation- al average. But they did get a $4.28 million grant from the US Department of Commerce to help pay for the new water line and water tower as part of adversely affected coal com- munity funding. Wilbur Ross, the US Sec- retary of Commerce traveled to Pike County in October of 2020 to deliver the grant per- sonally. Jim Gaskins said Peters- burg was looking at doing an incremental increase to the rates, but when the bids came back so high "it blew every- thing out of the water." Klipsch said Petersburg has to replace the water plant. "This isn't just for ex- panded water capacity. This is just to keep us running," said Klipsch about the 1932 plant he has described in the past as being "held together with bailing wire." He also said having water and sewer capacity is vital to economic development. Ashley Willis, Executive Director of the Pike Coun- ty Economic Development Corp. said they currently have seven active prospects looking at Pike County and all of them require more wa- ter capacity than Petersburg's current plant can handle. Klipsch said the new plant will double Petersburg water production capacity and it is being designed so it can be doubled again at a later date if needed. He also said any large in- dustrial water customers would help lower the cost of water bills for residents, be- cause their large bills would pay a significant portion of the costs for production of water. When the water rate ordi- nance came to a vote it was passed by a 4-0 vote with Councilman Scott Jenkins not present. Klipsch said the new rates will probably be on the June water bills. In other business, Mayor Klipsch warned the Street- scape Project, which is be- ing bid later this week will probably run into delays. He said they are sure they have no reason to believe the bids won't come back much high- er than the estimated costs. Klipsch said he is not sure what will happen if the bids are high. The next Petersburg City Council meeting is schedule for 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 21. The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, March 9, 2022 A-3 LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg