The Press-Dispatch
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$1.00 20 PAGES FOUR SECTIONS ONE INSERT PETERSBURG, IN 47567-0068 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2022 PIKE PUBLISHING VOLUME 152, NUMBER 25 Several trees were downed on the property of David and Dana Rhodes, 613 N. Fifth Street, Petersburg during Friday morning's storm. A large limb landed on their vehicle, and a tree caused extensive damage to their garage and shed. The Rhodeses were still in the process of moving into the home, formerly owned by Jeree Slavens. Due to downed power lines from the storm, the neighborhood remained without power through Saturday evening. Friday fi re destroys Laswell house A fi re triggered by Friday morn- ing's storm destroyed Dave and Dee Laswell's house on Meridian Road. Dee said she and Dave were in their vehicle and had stopped at the end of their driveway to get their mail, when the fast-moving storm hit. They saw several trees blow down and fall into the power lines along Meridian Road. When the trees fell into the power lines the transformer on a pole just above them exploded. She said they backed up in their driveway for a little bit until the storm settled down. Then they started to leave again, but as they were going down their driveway they noticed smoke and sparks coming from their house. They called 911 to report it, but the fi re spread quickly and fi re- men's response was slowed by the storm and by trees that had fallen across Meridian Road. Patoka Township Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Shelton said there were numerous trees down on Meridian Road and fi remen were forced to coming into the fi re from Highway 64 instead of from the north. When fi remen arrived, fl ames were already showing. Strong winds helped fan the fl ames. Shelton said the fi re took hours for them to extinguish, and they didn't leave the scene until about 6 p.m. They were assisted by Peters- burg Fire Department. A fi refi ghter works in vain to control the blaze triggered by an exploding transformer on Friday morning that destroyed the home of David and Dee Laswell. Firemen were hampered by storm- downed trees in the road, forcing them to re-route to the scene. Violent storm crashes through area Friday morning County council reviews employee compensation By Sherri Sebella News Editor sherri@pressdispatch.net Pike County councilmen ap- pointed a Compensation Review Committee to look at the current wage pay system to make it better for employees, and released their recommendations during the, July 14 meeting. Though no action was taken, council president Jon Craig spoke about the committee's fi ndings and recommendations. They recommended eliminating the tiered hiring system. The rec- ommendation would move all em- ployees covered by the tier system to a single (formerly top) tier, effec- tive January 1, 2023. Their rationale: •Public Safety and Courthouse positions have different tier sys- tems. •The competitive wage for the position is the top tier. •Offi ce holders have had diffi - culty hiring tier 1 employees with- out requesting credit for previous experience. •Eliminates offi cer holder re- quests for onboarding new per- sonnel at higher tier. Bringing in a new employee at a high tier creates disparity against an experienced employee that did not request or negotiate an advanced tier. The action required to imple- ment this includes the adoption of the 2023 Wage and Salary Ordi- nance and budgeting for 2023 ap- propriations. The second recommendation was to modify the Incentive Program (Length of Service Program). The committee recommended main- taining the current fi ve-year incen- tive program and adding additional 1.5 percent benchmarks for each fi ve-year block of service, with those who have 21 years of service or more receiving an 8.5 percent incentive. The committee said the Incen- tive Programs are meant to reduce turnover, reward experience, and retain institutional knowledge. There is currently no incentive for longevity beyond fi ve years, so a 30 -year employee earns the same as a fi ve-year employee. It was also recommended to ad- just public safety wages for jailers and dispatchers. "These are the hardest (positions)to fi ll in the county and have the highest turn- over," Craig said. Emergency Man- agement Agency Director, Ryan Benner, said the county will still pay less than other counties, even with the new system. The committee also recommend- ed that Commissioners (and Coun- cil, as appropriate), investigate and consider policy changes. Emergency Medical Services Di- rector Chris Young said his employ- ees are getting great offers from other counties to leave Pike County and go work for them. Young will bring an independent recommen- dation to the council as part of the budget process. Craig said the information pro- vided by the committee was some- thing to consider as they move into By Andy Heuring Editor, editor@pressdispatch.net A storm with winds estimated at 80 mph blasted Petersburg and much of Pike County on Friday morning. The storm felled trees on houses throughout the county, including one on a fi ve-year-old's bedroom, and another on a vehicle being driven by a pregnant woman. It is also being blamed for a fi re that destroyed Dave and Dee Las- well's house on Meridian Road just south of Number 7 Road. (See relat- ed story this section.) "It was a doosey," said Pike coun- ty Highway Department Superin- tendent Josh Byrd. He estimated there were at least 150 areas where trees and or limbs fell across county roads. A large tree fell on the house of Jordan and Stevie Overbey on North St., dropping the ceiling in their fi ve-year-old's bedroom. "It shook the whole house. We were hysterical! " said Stevie about her- self and her son, who was still in bed when the tree fell on his bed- room. Petersburg Police Chief Kyle Mills said Overbey's son was lucky he was in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed, which protected him from the debris. "We immediately got 10 to 12 calls for assistance as the storm hit," said Mills. City-wide, there was hardly a block in town that didn't have a tree or big limbs blown down. Power was out in parts of Petersburg un- til about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Some parts of Petersburg had power as early as early as 12:30 p.m. on Fri- day. Numerous trees fell on the prop- erty of David and Dana Rhodes on Fifth St in Petersburg, damaging their vehicle and their garage-stor- age building. Pike County Sheriff's Deputy Briar Meadors said he respond- ed to a report of a tree falling on a pregnant woman's SUV. Meadors said he could only drive about 40 or 45 mph while responding because the wind was so strong. He talked with the woman, who said she was driving on Highway 61 in Campbelltown area when a large tree limb fell on her vehicle, dam- aging the front end and windshield. Meadors said a neighbor saw it and got his tractor and pulled the limb off the vehicle and she was able to drive her vehicle off the highway into a driveway. She was checked out by EMS and was not injured. Several people reported seeing a funnel cloud near Pike Central High School, but David Blanchard, Forecaster with the National Weather Service at Paducah, Ken- tucky said there were no confi rmed tornadoes reported. Blanchard said from the damage reported in Petersburg and much of Pike County, the winds were probably 70 to 90 mph. Byrd said there were pockets of damage throughout the county, but the storm appeared to focus on Pe- tersburg and the northern half of Pike County. Chief Deputy Dallas Killian said he threw a chainsaw in his vehicle when he saw the storm hitting. "I cut probably 10 trees off of county roads . Several of them were on CR475S as workers attempted to clear the way for fi remen to get to the fi re. The Laswell house fi re was near the intersection of CR475S and Meridian Road. Byrd said three of the four roads to their house was blocked by trees. Firemen were only able to access it from Highway 64 and then drive north on Merid- ian. Chief Deputy Killian said the sheriff's department called in an off-duty deputy, Jason McKinney and Adam Thompson, who is as- signed to courthouse security after the courthouse closed. Both were used to help with calls, and direct traffi c in areas with downed power lines. Killian said offi cers were at CR200E and Highway 356 for more Dan Gaffney PCHS Principal Dan Gaffney hired as new PCHS principal By Andy Heuring Editor editor@pressdispatch.net Pike Central hired a new high school principal at their meeting last Tuesday. They hired Dan Gaff- ney of Evansville to replace Brian Holland, who resigned to take the principal's position at Washington. The school board also hired a new girls basket- ball coach and boys soccer coach and accepted the resignation of the wrestling coach during their monthly meeting last Tuesday. Gaffney has a diverse background. He worked in law enforcement as a detective with Posey County Sheriff's De- partment for 10 years. He owns a wealth management business and martial arts studio. He worked for the US State Department in Iraq, has coached wrestling and worked as an administrator in the Evans- ville School Corporation. "I'm a pretty traditional guy. I was raised in a military family, so I'm a God, family country kind of guy," said Gaffney. "I'm open-minded to certain things, but I hold my children ac- countable, my people who work for me accountable and I hold myself accountable fi rst," said Gaffney. He was an adjunct instructor at Oakland City University after getting an MBA. He also coached wrestling in the St. Phillips and Washington middle schools in EVSC. He then was persuaded to get his principal's license to work in the EVSC as a behavioral intervention- ist with inner city kids. When fi rst asked to be an inter- ventionist, Gaffney said, "Let me think about it." See COUNCIL on page 2 See PRINCIPAL on page 3 See STORM on page 2 NEWS TIPS Phone: .....................812-354-8500 Email ..... editor@pressdispatch.net INSIDE Local ................. A1-6 Sports ....................B3 Home Life ............... C1 Opinion ............. C2-3 History ................... C4 Classifi eds .......... C5-6 Legals ................ C5-6 Church .............. D1-3 School ................ D4-5 Obituaries ...............D4 USPS 604-34012