The Press-Dispatch
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SECTIONAL SPECTACLE $1.00 24 PAGES Four SECTIoNS oNE INSErT PETErSBurG, IN 47567-0068 WEdNESdAy, JuNE 1, 2022 PIKE PUBLISHING VoLuME 152, NuMBEr 22 Lady Chargers blank Gibson Southern in 4-0 shutout Weisman, Howald place at track regional SPORTS B1 SPORTS B1 See FESTIVALS on page 6 See SAFETY on page 2 Color Guard bugler Petersburg VFW Color Guard member Mike Higdon plays Taps at the closing of the Memorial Day Observance at Walnut Hills Cemetery on Monday. See additional photos on page A-2. Summer festival schedules set By Andy Heuring As things get closer to normal in a post-pan- demic world, area festivals are returning to their traditional dates and activities. Here is a list of festivals and events set for the rest of the summer in Pike County. TIN FEST AUTO SHOW IN STENDAL, JUNE 11 The Tin Fest Auto Show is set for Satur- day, June 11 at Lockhart Township Communi- ty Center in Stendal. It is a car show and com- munity gathering. They will give awards for the top three vehicles in the following class- es based on model year: 1900 to 1948, 1949 to 1960, 1961 to 1972, 1973 to 1987, 1988 to 2008 and 2009 to 2020 ,as well as tractors and mo- torcycles. Pre-registration is $12 or $15 day of show, starting at 9 a.m. and running until noon EST. It will be ran or shine with awards being giv- en at 2 p.m. The first 30 entries will receive dash plaques. There will be door prizes, food and drink available. To pre-register call William Caldemeyer at 812-536 -3522. CHRISTMAS IN THE PARK AT PRIDES CREEK, SAT. JUNE 11 A new festival this year is Prides Creek's Christmas in the Park. Santa will make an ear- ly visit to Pike County to talk with children at Prides Creek. Activities will be based at Shel- ter #1 located near the beach. There will be kids' crafts from 10 a.m. to noon. Santa will lead a golf cart parade through the park. Line-up will be at the beach house at 1:30 p.m. Following the parade there will be milk and cookies and a chance for children to get their picture taken with Santa. Campgrounds throughout the park are en- couraged to decorate for Christmas. It is open to everyone at no charge, but do- nations will be accepted. JEFFERSON TWP. RURITAN FOURTH OF JULY ACTIVITIES FROM JUNE 26 TO JULY 4 This year's Fourth of July celebration at the Jefferson Township Ruritan Club will stretch over a week. Activities will begin Sunday, June 26 with a Community-wide church service, free will offering lunch and Little Miss and Junior Miss Firecracker Contest. Activities will resume on Friday, July 1 and run contin- uously through Monday, July 4. Sunday, June 26 Little Miss and Junior Miss Firecracker contests for girls ages 5 to 8 and 9 to 12 will be at 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 26. A free will offering lunch is set for noon and community church services begin at 11 a.m. in the com- Pike Central Class of 2022 graduates Pike Central Salutatorian Amellia Bailey smiles holding her confetti cannon as the confetti floats to the ground immediate- ly following the Class of 2022 being introduced as graduates and moving their tassels. Pike Central's graduation ceremonies were Friday night. See additional photos on page 5. Photo by Harting Studio Photograpy Free electronics and hazardous waste disposal on June 4 Pike County's Solid Waste District is sponsoring a Hazard- ous Waste and Electronics Day for residents to dispose of these items on Saturday, June 4. It is not for debris, household trash, bulky trash items or tires. It will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Pike Central High School. There will be signs set up in the parking lot directing peo- ple where to go. A long list of acceptable items are on page A-3. It is for Pike County residents only. By Andy Heuring As parents of school children watched in horror as details of the Uvalde, Texas shooting unfolded, Pike County School officials want area residents to know there are nu- merous safety measures in place to prevent that from happening in here. "We have invested about $2 mil- lion for our facilities in specific ex- penditures for safety," said Pike County Schools Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Blake. "We have been fortunate, when we got Safe Haven or the Secured School Safety grants. Those two over the last two years have helped supplement some of the costs for the SROS," said Blake. Pike County has School Resource Officers in each of the county's four school buildings everyday. Blake said Jason McKinney is a sheriff's deputy, but is also the liai- son between the Pike County Sher- iff's Department and Pike County Schools SROs. She said McKinney is a county employee and the other SROs are paid by the school, which receives 50 percent matching funds for their salaries. Blake said back in 2018 Pike Coun- ty Schools started investing in safer school measures. Some of those in- cluded installing bullet-proof exteri- or windows throughout all the corpo- ration buildings, cameras and better communications systems between each of the classrooms to the front offices in the buildings, as well as di- rect connection to the Pike County Central Dispatch system. They also have a series of sophisticated "count- er measures" in the schools. "At the time those were consid- ered the leading measures in the country," said Blake. She said as far back as 2004 she started taking part in School safe- ty seminars and training when she was at Southwest Shelby School Cor- poration. Since then, Pike County Schools have been able to send se- lected personnel to these training seminars. McKinney said they have several policies in place that also help pro- tect the schools. In Texas it is believed a teen, who had shot his grandmother, was be- ing pursued by police, crashed near a school. He then got out of the vehi- cle and fled into the school through a door that had been propped open. McKinney said Pike County Schools keep not only all of their exterior doors closed and locked, they also keep all of the classroom doors locked during the school day. "Throughout the day we (SROs) are always making sure the class- room doors are shut. That is a huge thing. We make sure all the doors are locked when kids are in the classroom." "We have had incidents in the past when a door was propped open, but those were dealt with," said Blake. "A basic day is we (SROs) are al- ways standing outside by the doors, when the buses are there and kids are coming in, watching for any- thing that doesn't look right," said McKinney. This happens at all four schools. "Once we get everyone in the building I go through and check all the doors. I make rounds to insure doors are shut and secured." McKinney said the police agen- cies in Pike County also have proto- cols in place to prevent a Uvalde situ- ation. He said if anyone suspicious is identified in the area of a school they immediately lock the school down. A few weeks ago there was a suspi- cious person reported, possibly with a gun near a cemetery. "We put the school on lockdown immediately un- til we were able to check it out," said McKinney. "I just thank the school board and our superintendent for putting the effort they did into school safety. I saw a report that Indiana is one of the leaders in school safety. I be- lieve that. We are head-and-shoul- ders above other areas of the coun- try," said McKinney. "I not saying that nothing will hap- pen, but we are more prepared than most," said McKinney. 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