The Press-Dispatch
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75¢ Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Volume 146 Number 36 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) Three sections 30 pages Four inserts FINAL 2 DAYS! Save $4 off subscriptions thru Aug. 1 Continued on page 2 Registration at Pike Central High School and Pike Central Middle School starts Thursday, July 31, while all schools in the Pike County School Corporation will be open for registration the following week. The 2014-15 school year begins on Friday, Aug. 8, with the first full day of classes for students. Teachers will report one day ear- lier, Thursday, Aug. 7, for a work day. Pike Central High School and Pike Central Middle School will be open on Thursday, July 31, from noon to 6 p.m., Monday, Aug. 4 and Tuesday, Aug. 5, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., for registration, and payment of book rental and material fees. The county's three elementary schools – Otwell, Petersburg and Winslow – will be open on Mon- day, Aug. 4 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 5 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 6 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursday, Aug. 7 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., for regis- tration, and payment of book rent- al and material fees. In addition, Winslow Elementa- ry School will host an open house on Tuesday, Aug. 5 at 6 p.m., dur- ing which parents can register their children for school, as well as pay book rental and material fees. School registration begins Thursday 42nd Zoar Mosquito Fest begins Friday By Andy Heuring A Huntingburg man was ar- rested on a charge of arson Mon- day after an early morning fire destroyed his girlfriend's trailer near Velpen. Dameon Ray Harmon, 36, of 218 N. Van Buren St., Hunting- burg, was arrested at about 7 a.m. by Indiana State Fire Marshal Matt Wells on a charge of arson. Wells said the fire was first re- ported at 1:27 a.m. and the Jeffer- son Township Fire Department responded to a call of a fully en- gulfed house trailer on CR 900 E., near the intersection of CR 250 S., just north and east of Velpen. The trailer was owned by Ra- chel Jones Borman, who lived there with her daughter. Neither were at home at the time of the fire. Fire Marshal Wells said Har- mon also had access to the trailer. Jefferson Township Fire Chief Roger Young said Harmon ran to a neighbor's house and asked them to call 911 to report the fire. Wells said the Jefferson Town- ship Fire Department requested the Fire Marshal's assistance at the fire. Wells said he arrived at 3 a.m. and found evidence the fire had been set. He said the investigation is still ongoing and he could not talk about the cause of the fire. Fire Chief Young said when firemen arrived, the roof of the trailer was already on the ground. "The trees above it were burned, so it had been pretty hot." He said little, if any- thing, was saved from the fire. Har- mon was on bond, stem- ming from an intimida- tion arrest earlier this year, when he was tak- en into cus- tody Monday morning. Wells said arson is a level 4 fel- ony in Indiana. Dameon Harmon Fire in Velpen leads to arson arrest By Andy Heuring Storms blew threw the area Sat- urday night causing power outag- es in the Petersburg area to an es- timated 1,500 customers and in an isolated area of Winslow. It also dropped trees or limbs on sever- al county roads. Duke Energy said about 1,500 of their customers in Petersburg were without power Saturday. It went off at about 9 p.m. and came back on about midnight. Downed transmission lines near the Snaky Point area, near the Pike-Gibson County line, was blamed for the outage in Peters- burg. In Winslow, Deputy Marshal Steve Nelson said a tree hit a transformer on Lafayette St. and caused an outage for residents in that immediate area. He said the fire department assisted a woman on oxygen with a generator from about 11 p.m. until about 3 a.m. when the power in that area was restored. The storm dropped about an inch of rain on the area as well. Pike County Highway Depart- ment Superintendent Roger Ham said they had about six or eight limbs or trees down on county roads. He said there were three on CR 125 S., one down near Ayr- shire, and another on CR 100 S. Storms cause moderate damage, cut power for three hours Hemmers involved with Mosquito Fest over five decades By Andy Heuring For more than 40 years, the Zoar Mos- quito Fest has been rolling along, having their own unique brand of fun. For every- one of those years, Ralph and Delores Hem- mer have been right in the thick of the plan- ning and running of the festival. The Hemmers have been publicity direc- tors each year, including the first year when Ralph had his daughter's picture taken for the newspaper in a Mosquito Fest T-shirt. The festival has continued to be as zany as its name. "That name has been good to us," said Deloris. "People will call us and ask, 'do you have that many mosquitoes? '" said Ralph. Ralph said the name was Mark Luff's idea. "He said, 'They have all kinds festi- vals, but nobody has a mosquito festival.'" "It was the first Mosquito Fest in the country," said Ralph proudly. The first one was in 1973. It advertised footlong hot dogs, a Gospel Sing and a dunking booth. "We couldn't find any foot- long hot dogs, so we went to Merkley's and got them to make up some special. I don't know where we got the buns for them, but I guess we had them," said Hemmer. The first Mosquito Fest was on a Satur- day afternoon. It was a fundraiser and more of a picnic. Proceeds from it went into the Zoar United Methodist Church's missions fund. It is used mostly for local missions, helping people in crisis. "We will probably help that family who had the fire this morn- ing," said Delores of a fire in Holland. The Mosquito Fest has had a lot of firsts or near-firsts, often because they are will- ing to try almost anything once. "It is amazing some of the things we tried," said Deloris. "We try to have gim- micks no one else tries," said Ralph. Continued on page 2 By Andy Heuring A plea hearing for Chris Morton is sched- uled for 10 a.m. Thursday, July 31 in War- rick Superior Court. Morton, 32, is charged with the death of his ex-girlfriend Kelsie McDonald. McDonald was 24 years old at the time of her death. Morton is accused of shooting her dur- ing an argument at her 104 S. Bluff St., Win- slow home on October 29, 2013. He was arrested after an intense standoff with Winslow Town Marshal Steve English. A murder charge in Indiana carries a sen- tence of 45 to 65 years. Morton's murder trial had been sched- uled to start on July 29, but recently he waived his right to a speedy trial on the date in lieu of the plea hearing. Plea hearing Thursday for Chris Morton Packin' pork at the 4-H Fair The Stinker Belles celebrate after getting their pig onto the tire in 11.8 seconds during hog wrestling competition at the Pike County 4-H Fair on Thursday, July 24. See additional fair photos on pages A6-A8. Ed Cahill photo The 42nd Zoar Mosquito Fest will kick- off Friday and Saturday, Aug. 1-2 at the Zo- ar Picnic Grounds, with chicken dinners, homemade ice cream and country music. The little festival, known for their unique fun such as the stationary parade, un- marching band and wiffleball tourney, is now well into their fifth decade at the Pike- Dubois County line west of Stendal. The opening ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and will be followed by the country band Iron Mountain. The South- ern Indiana Wiffleball Tourney kicks off at the same time. A double elimination tour- ney, each team will play at least one game Friday evening. To enter a team or for more information, call 812-631-2059. Breakfast will be served outdoors un- der the tent beginning at 6:30 a.m. Sat- urday morning. Pancakes and sausage or biscuits and gravy will be available. Wif- fleball begins early and continues through Saturday until champions are crowned. The Saturday lineup includes the Flower, Quilt and Produce Shows, these will be in the church basement. Anyone is welcome to participate in these shows. Entry times are 10 a.m.-noon. Judging will follow when the entry time is closed. Additional information can be obtained by calling 812-536 -2920 for the Flower and Produce Show and 812-536 - 5262 for the Quilt Show. The Stationary Parade begins at 1 p.m. and will feature floats, vintage vehicles, po- lice cars, fire engines, and some surprises. This parade lines up and spectators walk around it instead of the participants parad- ing by the spectators. Entries are still being accepted. To enter a unit or for more information, call 812-893- 1290. Since Zoar is located in both Dubois and Pike counties, the parade will reach from one county into the other—thus the saying "it takes two counties to hold our parade." The games, on Saturday, begin at 2 p.m. for young and old, featuring all the favor- ites, the bale toss, sack and 3-legged races, balloon toss, the egg toss, hula hoop con- test and a kids' tractor pull. A Cornhole Tournament is also planned. Other attractions of the two-day event in- clude a Country Store in the old one room schoolhouse, selling garden produce, jams and jellies, and baked goods, including Zo- ar's famous cinnamon strip coffee cakes and much more. Mosquito Fest T-shirts will be available at the Country Store. A Flea Market and a Coke Pitch will be both days. As always, the Saturday evening pro- gram features gospel music. The groups for this year's Festival are The Montgom- ery Family and The Bridges. The concert begins at 7 p.m. There will be a drawing each evening for a gift basket. No purchase is necessary to win, but you must be present when the drawing takes place at the end of the eve- ning. There will be plenty of good food, includ- ing fried and barbecued chicken with all the trimmings, many flavors of homemade ice cream (they tell us there will be a new surprise flavor), elephant toes, sandwich- es, pie, lemonade and soft drinks. Serving of the chicken dinners will begin at 5 p.m. A Jefferson Township fireman sprays water on what is left of Rachel Jones' trailer near Vel- pen early Monday morning. The fire was reported at 1:27 a.m. Jones' boyfriend Dameon Har- mon, 36, was arrested on a charge of arson in connection with the fire.