The Press-Dispatch
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ISBA school budgeting/fi- nance seminar on Friday, June 20, at the Indianapolis Marriott North Hotel. n The school board ap- proved, by a 3-1 vote, a re- quest from Blake to attend the Indiana School Boards Association School Law Seminar on Friday, June 13, at the Indianapolis Marriott East Hotel. Board president Jerry Grubb voted no. n The board approved, by a 3-1 vote, a request from Blake to attend the Indiana University School of Edu- cation's Martha McCarthy Law and Policy Summer In- stitute on Thursday, June 12, at IU's Willkie Auditori- um in Bloomington. Grubb voted no. Before the meeting ad- journed, McKinney ex- pressed the school board's appreciation to Dr. Jim Isaa- cs for his service as interim principal at Otwell Elemen- tary School for the 2013-14 school year. H Grade school book rental set Continued from page 1 By Andy Heuring A lightning strike dam- aged a Monroe City home and ignited a fire at the two- story house on Main St. Monroe City Fire Chief Chad Hansen said lightning struck the chimney of a two- story house being renovated by a new owner at the corner of Eighth and Main sts. Chief Hansen said light- ning hit the chimney and caused it to explode a lit- tle before 6 p.m. Sunday as strong storms went through the area. "I have never seen anything like this before," said Hansen. He said the lightning strike caused an explosion that sent part of the chimney debris into the yard and part of it fell into the attic. The lightning strike also caused some arcing in the attic and ignited several small fires in the house. Hansen said they were able to get the fire knocked down quickly. They spent time tearing the insulation out to get to the hot spots. Monroe City was assisted by Petersburg, Vincennes Township and Steen Town- ship. Lightning starts Monroe City house fire By Andy Heuring Swamp Fever Racing and the Winslow Volunteer Fire Department are sponsoring a mud bog competition in Winslow on Saturday, June 7 beginning at 1 p.m. All profits will go to the fire de- partment. Gates open at 10 a.m., with competition in five classes ranging from street legal vehicles to open class. For information, contact Aaron Bolin at 812-582-1366 Truck Classes: 33" street stock class, street legal vehicle with stock engine that came with the vehicle and must be street legal. The classes also include 36, 40 and 44 inch classes with all tires having to be Department of Transporta- tion legal. Then there is the open class, which is just what it says it is, open: any tire, pad- dles, frame, engine, axles and body are allowed. The main restriction is no NOS, alcohol or blowers allowed. The vehicle will attempt to navigate a deep trench filled with water and mud. The competition will be located behind the Winslow Little League park. Mud bog competition Saturday in Winslow Bryant opened the bids. The five contractors to submit bids were: Jasper Lumber $711,082 base, Dan- co Construction $741,000 base, Krempf Lumber $ 699,000 base, Craftsman Construction $705,000 base and Lindsey Lumber and Building $725,000 base. There were six alternative bids they were for asphalt- ing the parking lot ranging from $23,475 to $25,341; a canopy above the front door ranging from $ 6,970 to $15,775; a porch ranging from $14,100 to $20,486; a flagpole ranging from $ 9,700 to $11,738, floor cov- ering ranging from $1,200 to $4,400 and roughed in floor heating ranging from $ 5,822 to $12,500. Commissioners took the bids under advisement with- out comment, then com- mented after the meeting. Last week, John Mel- heiser sent an email to all county commissioners and county councilmen offering to make a "partial trade" of his John's Auto Care build- ing on Main St. next to the County Jail for the one acre lot on Illinois St. The coun- ty purchased the lot earlier this year to build a new EMS Building on. Commissioner Nelson said he was not interested in the building. Commissioner Coleman said he wished Melhiser had been at the meeting Monday morning. Commissioner Da- vis said he was "still try- ing to digest the situation." The EMS has been operat- ing out of the Pike County Jail, leaving their ambulanc- es on the jail parking lot and sleeping in the basement of the jail, since they moved out of the former EMS Build- ing in the Fall of 2012 over mold concerns. In other business, com- missioners voted to contin- ue a second time a hearing on whether or not to close County Road 200 S. between CR 375 W. and CR 500 W. Conservation Partners LLC petitioned to close the road to create a hunting and conservation area. Jim Shoultz protested the road being closed. He talk- ed for more than 20 min- utes about how he grew up in that area and hunted, fished, walked to school, got paid $40 for a mink he trapped. He said since his stroke he is no longer able to hunt but still enjoys fishing from the road off his four-wheeler on a portion of the road that would be closed. Shoultz agreed about half of the road should be closed but he argued about 2,700 feet are still passable and should be left open. Evan Beck, of Conserva- tion Partners, argued hav- ing a cul de sac at the end of a dead end road in the mid- dle of the ground they were trying to turn into a preser- vation and hunting area did not serve their long turn pur- poses. He eventually asked if he and Shoultz could go outside the meeting and work out an arrangement. About 30 minutes later, they returned and Shoultz said he was not ready to accept the offer. Beck said he wanted it on record he had made a gener- ous offer to Shoultz. The commissioners told the parties they would con- tinue the hearing to the next meeting in hopes they could work something out. Commissioners voted to hire a clerical worker at the Highway Department to work "about 30 days a year." Highway Superinten- dent Roger Ham said they needed someone to answer the phone when bookkeeper Mike Goodpaster was on va- cation or not at work. Continude from page 1 H EMS bids higher than expected By Ed Cahill Officials with Pike-Gib- son Water, Inc., have ex- pressed an interest in pur- chasing up to a million gal- lons of water per day from the Petersburg Water Com- pany, according to Mayor Frank Coleman. The question is, however, whether the water company would be able to provide it. "They are expanding their business and they are needing additional water," Coleman said during a meet- ing of the Petersburg Water Company on Monday, June 2. "Right now, I think they're buying about 500,000 gal- lons a day. The contract calls for 867,000 and they wanted to know if we could produce that much." City Services manag- er Gary McCandless con- firmed that the city's pumps can produce up to 1,300 gallons per minute "when they're running." Coleman calculated that, based on that figure, it was possible that the city could produce up to 1,872,000 gal- lons of water per day. "It's my understanding that we're sitting on one of the best aquifers in the State of Indiana," Coleman said. "So I think the water's there. The question is, could we treat that much water a day? " "We never have," Mc- Candless said. "That's 1,300 gallons a minute running 24 hours a day. We wouldn't have any breaks for the pumps." City engineer Brian Bull- ock, of Loogootee-based Midwestern Engineering, Inc., was unsure if the city's pumps could maintain a 24-hour-a-day pace on a dai- ly basis. "Normally, people don't run 24/7 for multiple days," Bullock said. "So the answer is, yes, we can produce it," Cole- man said. "And that's what I told them, too, that we would have to run them 24/7 to be able to produce that many gallons a day." "What do you do when stuff breaks down and you can't meet that? " city attor- ney Brian Mahoney asked. "Well, you just couldn't meet their demand until you fix the pump," Coleman re- plied. "We've had breaks and have had to shut it off for something in the past," Mc- Candless said. "But, knock on wood, it's sure been a long time since we've had to. Used to, these old lines would blow up and there wasn't any way to get ahold of and fixing it without shut- ting something down." City Council member Gary Leavitt asked Coleman if the Pike-Gibson, Inc., offi- cials had indicated why they needed the additional water. "That seems like an aw- ful lot of water for them," Leavitt said. "Well, I think they're look- ing at the future develop- ment of the I-69 corridor, the three interchanges that are in Gibson County, that they would probably be the main water supplier," Coleman re- plied. "But, anyway, we need the wholesale business, and if we can produce that much water, then I guess we'll pro- duce it." Coleman added that the Pike-Gibson, Inc., officials understood that there might be a rate increase involved. "And they weren't real- ly objectionable to that," he said. Water board member Jon Welch said that any new or modified contract with Pike-Gibson, Inc., should require them to purchase a minimum amount of water per day to protect the city "in case they want to go buy water from someplace else." Coleman said that he had made the same point to Pike-Gibson, Inc., board president Jim Shoultz, ear- lier the same day. "I told him I wanted some type of protection for the city," Coleman said. "If something would happen, I wanted to make sure that Pe- tersburg had enough water. He said, 'well, as long as you don't shut us off completely.' I told him everybody needs water, but I think we need to protect Petersburg." Coleman called the de- velopment "positive news" for the city's water com- pany, which is facing a po- tential shortfall of receipts of approximately $140,000 in 2014 and approximately $160,000 in 2015. "We need to either get more customers or sell more wholesale water, and if we can sell more wholesale water, then we're in better shape," Coleman said. Coleman also informed the water board that Pike- Gibson, Inc., officials he had spoken with had no is- sues with the Petersburg Water Company withdraw- ing from oversight by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. "They have no objections, tentatively," said Coleman. "Their entire board wasn't there, so they couldn't say 100 percent." Coleman announced that he was going to meet with the Otwell Water Company's board of directors on Tues- day, June 3, to see if they had any objections. "They've already dropped out of it, too, haven't they? " Welch asked. "They have," Coleman re- plied. Petersburg, Pike-Gibson discuss possible water volume increase By Andy Heuring The Pike County Chap- ter of the Center for Wom- en's Ministries celebrated their new home in Camp- belltown on Saturday morn- ing with an open house and visit from the organizations founder and Executive Di- rector Reova Meredith. Kathy Mathias, director of the local chapter, said they had been looking for a building to house the cen- ter and this building became available for them. She said it was a blessing in many ways because it meets their specific needs as a building, as well as being a central lo- cation for all of the county. Meredith said she had no idea the organization would turn into what it has. There are now 35 chapters in eight states, as well as China, Si- erra Leone, Nigeria, Rwan- da and Honduras. "The Lord said I want you to open a center and I want you to use it to pull togeth- er the church and the com- munity. . . I want to show the Christian Community what I can do. If you will do this I will provide people, knowl- edge, materials and financ- es to get the job done. If you need anything, just come and ask me," said Meredith. "God has been faithful," said Meredith of the inter- national organization that started in Bloomington, Ind. Mathias said it has been a long journey to the point for the Pike County Chap- ter. "God is faithful, you can trust him to do what he says he will do." She added she has learned patience because things didn't always happen when she wanted them to. "I have had to let it be his time. I think that is harder than be- ing obedient," said Mathais. She said the new cen- ter building is an example of that. She said they have sought a building for 18 months and had several of- fers, but nothing seemed right until this building and it has worked out great for them, better than many of the early options that were available for them. The international mission statement is: Our mission is to equip the volunteer staff across the world by prayer support, consultation servic- es and resource materials so that they may establish and sustain centers to provide crisis intervention with a spiritual emphasis and im- prove the quality of life for hurting women. Mathias said during the open house on Saturday they had two women sign up for counseling. "One woman was here to see it and just said, 'I need to be here.'" The center is locat- ed on Highway 61 about a mile south of Pike Central School. Center for Women's Ministry opens The Pike County Chapter of the Center for Women's Ministries celebrated their new home in Campbelltown on Saturday with a ribbon cutting and open house. Above are: Local Director Kathy Mathias, Regional Director JoAnne Rodes, Founder and Executive Director Reova Meredith, Chamber of Com- merce Executive Director Alycia Church, Luzell Carter and Sandy Arnholt; middle row: Javona Miller, Sue Ann Burns, Arbutus Horn, Diana Fowler and Amy Barber; back row: Rose Matteson, Brenda Seger, Peggy Church, Sandra Radcliff and Beth Coleman. Subscribe Today! 354-8500 WAY more than a chew toy