The Press-Dispatch
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NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ����������������� A1-8 Police Week ������ A4-7 Sports �����������������B1-5 Home Life ������������C1-2 School ���������������� C3-4 Opinion ������������� C4-5 History ������������������� C6 Classifieds �����������C7-8 Church �������������� C1-3 Obituaries ��������������� C4 USPS 604-34012 $1.00 28 PAGES Four SECTIoNS Two INSErTS PETErSBurG, IN 47567-0068 Chargers place ninth at PAC SPORTS B1 LOCAL A4 Weisman breaks own school record at girls' PAC Championship wEdNESdAy, MAy 18, 2022 PIKE PUBLISHING VoLuME 152, NuMBEr 20 Boy Scout camp to become Jellystone Park New camp features to be available to Scouts and public By Sherri Sebella There was some exciting news at the lat- est Pike County Commissioner's meeting as Clint Swisher, owner/operator of the Bloom- ington area Jellystone Park, said he was in the process of buying the Old Ben Boy Scout Reservation. This camp, located off Highway 56 in the Cato/Winslow area, will be redeveloped as the Old Ben Aqua Park and Campground ac- cording to Swisher. Swisher talked of his future plans for the camp and said it will include a large inflatable aqua park on the lake, with canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, and more with camp sites for tents and campers. He also plans to keep the name Old Ben and name it the Old Ben Jelly- stone Park. "I'm excited," Swisher said to the Commis- sioners. "I went to summer camp as a kid, and now I own one. This is a win-win situation for everyone. We are going to make it bigger and better. We will be putting in a new Jellystone Park there in the next few years. The aqua park will be Phase One, which we hope to in- stall the inflatable water park and open be- fore July 4 this summer. Day passes will al- so be available for the park. Phase Two will be a wedding venue, with gondolas and pad- dle boats. I'm thinking of an Italian theme. I want to do something different." Swisher said the area will be similar to his location in Bloomington, but will offer things the Bloomington location does not, such as zip lining, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boats, an escape room and archery tag with marsh- mallows. "I'm going to try to keep the prices down," Swisher said. "I don't like price gouging. There hasn't been a Jellystone park out here in awhile. The Boy Scouts will still have room to camp also. I'm hoping to create jobs and keep high school kids closer to home for em- ployment." The Commissioners were all pleased with the plans Swisher has for the area. "We wel- come you to Pike County," said Mark Flint, Commissioner president. "I am excited that the Old Ben Scout Res- ervation will be redeveloped into the Old Ben AquaPark and hopefully receive a Jellystone Park designation in a year or two," Ashley Wil- lis, Pike County Economic Development Di- rector, said. "The charm of Pike County is the outdoor recreational assets, and this is a prime exam- See SIDE-BY-SIDES on page 2 See GREENPOWER on page 8 See JELLYSTONE on page 2 By Andy Heuring An Illinois man was killed in a sin- gle motorcycle accident on Thurs- day at the west edge of Union. Rex B. McCoy, 75, of Sumner, Il- linois was riding a 2008 Suzuki VL 800 motorcycle north on Highway 65, when he went straight through a 90 degree turn at the west edge of Union. When he left the road, he hit a ditch and embankment, and he was thrown from the motorcy- cle, according to Pike County Dep- uty Sheriff Buck Seger. Deputy Seger said there were no witnesses, but a motorist driving by the scene saw the motorcycle and McCoy and called 911. Seger said when he arrived they found a pulse and CPR was started, but McCoy died at the scene. Seger said McCoy had visible face and neck injuries. The accident was reported at 1:40 p.m. Motorcycle crash claims Illinois man By Andy Heuring Petersburg agreed to look in- to making side-by-sides legal on streets, and updates on status of nu- merous construction projects now underway in the city during the Monday night city council meeting. Keith Willis, who lives on Pike Ave., asked the council if it was le- gal to operate a side-by-side on the streets of Petersburg. Petersburg Police Chief Kyle Mills told him it was not at this time. He said golf carts can be registered with the city and after they are inspected and have proper safety features, such at brake lights and turn signals, they can be permitted, allowed and legal to operate on city streets. However, he said the ordinance for golf carts does not include side- by-sides. County Councilman John Mel- hiser said he would not be against looking into an ordinance on side- by-sides. "Actually, it would be help- ful to police if we did have an ordi- nance for side-by-sides," said Mills. Mayor R. C. Klipsch asked Mills if he would get an ordinance from an- other city that allows side-by-sides for the city to review. City Attorney Brian Mahoney said it would probably be just like the golf cart ordinance. "We can look into that," said Klipsch. Petersburg's water line problems seemed to slow down for the time being. City Services Manager Ross Elmore said he had installed four pressure senors in the lines that give him data every 15 seconds, so they can monitor what is going on inside the lines. He also said they have purchased a check valve and a frequency con- trol motor for one of the water plants main pumps. He said this was done City considers legalizing side-by-sides Evansville woman injured in rollover An Evansville woman was injured in a Friday morning crash, about a mile west of Petersburg on Highway 56. Pike County Deputy Sheriff Cody Jones said Madelynne Whittler, 19, of Evansville was driving a 2007 GMC Envoy west on Highway 56, when she ran off the right side of the road in a curve and over corrected. Deputy Jones said she then went across the centerline and into a ditch and over- turned in a field on the left side of the road. It happened at about 10 a.m. Whittler was taken by Pike County EMS to the hospital for her injuries. The vehicle owned by Jowyn Johnson, of Princeton, had an estimated $2,500 to $5,000 damage. The Pike Central Greenpower racing team members are from (l to r): Hannah Mosby, Emily Herrera, Rya Graves, Josh Amacher, Clay Galloway, Logan Cummins, Jayden Clark, Erik King, Matt Hayes, Konner Simmons, Adam Vaal, and Mark Scott. Not pictured is Brad Lamey. By Andy Heuring Pike Central is sending a team of eight STEM students and three teachers to race at the world famous Talladega Superspeedway. The group has built an electric motor, battery powered race car and will compete this week- end in the 2022 Greenpower USA National Fi- nals. Greenpower USA expects as many as 700 teams to be at the competition. Pike Central will compete in the modified stock high school division. Pike Central STEM students and Precision Machining instructor Mark Scott built the car back in 2017. They competed with it at the In- dianapolis Motor Speedway in a similar com- petition. However, they haven't raced it since, due to COVID and other complications. STEM instructors Brad Lamey and Adam Vaal along with Scott sponsor and mentor the Charger team that consists of Hannah Mos- by, Emily Herrera, Rya Graves, Josh Amach- er, Clay Galloway, Logan Cummins, Jayden Clark, Erik King, Matt Hayes and Konner Sim- mons. STEM stands for Science, Technology, En- gineering and Math. The Pike Central team is applies all of those disciplines in hopes mak- ing their race car go faster than all the oth- er teams. The group will drive to Birmingham ear- ly Friday, where Talladega is located. They will practice on the road course that is inside the high-banked oval NASCAR races on. Then Saturday they will get to run in two 90 -min- ute races. Lamey explained the competition is to go as far as you can in 90 minutes. He said the car is a kit car, and teams can make minor modifications to the chassis, but they have to use the supplied batteries and electric motor. They can do modify their wheels and gear- ing and drivetrain other than the motor and battery. "They give you a 35 amp battery. The goal is to have the battery die at the 90 minute mark," said Lamey. He said the math of that means they can run at about 22 amps for 90 minutes. Since 2017, there have been several up- grades and modifications to the race car. Josh Amacher designed one of the modifications. Through their research, the group learned they want to keep their battery hot and their motor cool. So Amacher designed a series of air scoop panels for the side of the car so it will pull air over the motor. He did the designs on a CAD program and then printed out the panels on a 3D printer. They also developed an aluminum heat sink fin system to help cool the electric motor, built by the precision machining class. The machining class also built custom hubs with ceramic bearings to help reduce friction and rolling resistance. In the cockpit, they added telemetry to dis- play the voltage and amperage so they can tell when they are being the most efficient. He said they will typically run between 20 and 22 mph. They have three drivers: Emily Herrera, Clay Galloway and Hanna Mosby. Herrera said while driving she has learned not to make corners too wide and, "don't touch the brakes." Recently they went to Lafayette to partici- pate in a mileage event at Purdue University. However, Lamey said it was really just an exhi- bition and practice for them. "It was a gas-pow- PC Greenpower team to compete at Talladega