The Press-Dispatch
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"You were upset because you broke the deal she would take you back if you got a job and that you didn't want to work because you didn't need to." "I thank you for admitting you killed her. It helped our family to not have to go to court. . . I wish the best for you, and I forgive you and love you." Rusty McDonald, Kel- sie's father, also spoke to the court. He said, "The Bible reminds us one of the crim- inals hanging on the cross found the mercy and grace from Jesus, because he did nothing wrong, he was a sac- rifice for us. He is your sav- ior. However, he (criminal) still had to face punishment. He had to pay as you must," said McDonald. "We pray that you will find mercy and grace of the sav- ior," said McDonald. "You were an okay guy when you didn't give into the darkness. Hear me man, Your evil spirits are going to torment you even in prison if you don't put your trust in Je- sus," said McDonald. He said he hoped Morton would allow Jesus to fill the emptiness he had tried to fill with drugs and alcohol. Judge Meier accepted the agreement. "I think it is fair in light of everything considered. The longer I do the job, it is more about, not what someone de- served, but what is best for the victim," said Darrin Mc- Donald. One focus of the agree- ment was to ensure it didn't come back a few years lat- er, like as Helsley case. Part of the agreement was that it was final and there cannot be an appeal or actions to modify the sentence. "Ev- erything in this case was done to prevent the same type of thing that happened with Helsley, where the fam- ilies had to go through this again," said McDonald. "Probably 10 years ago, I wouldn't have thought the same about the plea. But it was done relatively quick, and I consulted with the fam- ily and it was reasonable," said McDonald. He added, "It has been really hard on them and I don't think they wanted to relive anymore of it than they had to." H Morton sentenced to 80 years for McDonald murder Continued from page 1 3:30 p.m., with car riders be- ing released 15 minutes ear- lier, at 3:15 p.m. Pike Central Middle School and Pike Central High School will open their doors to students at 7:45 a.m., with classes starting at 8:20 p.m. All students at both schools will be dis- missed at 3:15 p.m. Blake noted that a home room, directly following third period, has been add- ed for students at the middle and high schools. "We're hoping it will be very helpful in using that time to have teachers con- nect with students, addition- al options for brief meetings with classes, and a good time for announcements so we have less interruptions in classroom instruction time," Blake said. "I know this is something that had been expressed by a large num- ber of the teaching staff. So we do have some scheduling adjustments there." In addition, Blake said that both the middle and high schools will be on the same schedule. "It's been several years since we've been on the same schedule," Blake said. "That helps us with flexibil- ity if we need to share staff between the two sides." Blake said that there will be 11 new classroom teach- ers employed by PCSC at the start of this school year after 19 teachers – includ- ing two last week – either retired or resigned follow- ing the 2013-14 school year. Blake described the start of the school year as "always exciting." "I think when you see the young ones, who are so eager to come back in- to the classroom, it's won- derful," Blake said. "I know the upper grades, they know they're close to finishing up and moving on, and they get excited about that." Teachers will report to Pike Central High School on Thursday, Aug. 7, where they will be treated to a con- tinental breakfast, followed by a presentation on Indi- ana's new academic stan- dards by Dr. Schauna Find- lay Relue, senior consultant for Leaders for Learning. "I actually heard her speak this summer at a meeting at the (Southern Indiana) Education Center," Blake said. "Four of my ad- ministrators were with me and we all felt like what she was presenting, the teachers needed to hear directly from her. There's still lots of ques- tions and that's her training and her background." Afterward, Blake said that the teachers will spend the afternoon at their respective schools. Ryan Coleman, PCSC's newly hired Director of Sup- port Services, said that ev- erything in the transporta- tion department was ready for the first day of school. "We've had our bus in- spections, and they all passed," Coleman said. "Ja- son Edrington had all the buses pretty much ready to go before DOT got there. He inspected all the buses but four, and we'll have four more to inspect in August. I have no doubt that those will pass." H School starts Friday Continued from page 1 wants to tear down the di- lapidated house and clean up the property. The commissioners also approved a transfer of $500 in the Solid Waste District budget to purchase grease for the compactor bins. The next commissioners' meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, August 18. H EMS building Continued from page 1 The Pike County Commu- nity Foundation, a partner of the Community Foundation Alliance, is accepting grant applications for its 2014 Dis- cretionary Grant Cycle. Proposals are request- ed for charitable projects and activities that address needs and opportunities in the county in health, hu- man services, arts and cul- ture, education, community development, and other ar- eas that would improve Pike County. More than $ 39,000 was awarded by the PCCF from its unrestricted funds and Corn Trust to applicable agencies in 2013. The Foundation welcomes requests from tax-exempt organizations under sec- tions 501(c)3 and 509(a) of the Internal Revenue Ser- vice Code and from govern- mental agencies serving the county. Application deadline in September 3, 2014. Grants applications may be obtained by logging on to the Foundation website at www.pikecommunity- foundation.org. Address questions to Cin- dy Gaskins at 812-354-8506 or 812-766 -0550 or e-mail director@pikecommunity- foundation.org. Foundation accepting grant applications Steps and music The Pike Central High School Charger Brigade practices marching under the watchful eyes of assistant director Chris Ashworth (foreground, left) on Thursday, July 31, as they prepare for the marching sea- son this fall. Ed Cahill photo By Ed Cahill The extension of a sewer line to the area of the Inter- state 69 interchange is al- ready more than one month behind schedule as Peters- burg officials await an ease- ment from Shopko. During a meeting of the city's Board of Public Works and Safety on Monday, Aug. 4, Mayor Frank Coleman announced that 11 of the 12 easements needed for the project were "signed and in hand." City Attorney Brian Ma- honey interjected that the city's engineer, Brian Bull- ock, of Midwestern Engi- neering, Inc., was supposed to contact Shopko this week. "But he said that would not stop our progress going forward," Coleman said. "We'll go ahead and do the IDEM permits and we'll get all that." Codes Enforcement Offi- cer R.C. Klipsch said that IDEM had raised some questions about the permit request originally submit- ted by Midwestern Engi- neering, Inc., and that the request has since been re- submitted. "IDEM has a question whether we had settled on a six-inch line going out there because we don't know what's going to be there," Coleman said. "If you put a four-inch line in there and development really grows, then you would have to put a six-inch line in. A four-inch line may not be able to han- dle it. "The problem with put- ting a six-inch line in is there'll have to be some scheduled maintenance on that line," Coleman added. "If there's a few business- es on it, then we'll have to flush that line to make sure that no waste is building up in the line." "Is it an annual mainte- nance? " board member John Melhiser asked. "It would be our guys going out there and flush- ing the lines, starting the pumps, running both pumps at the same time and flush- ing water through it," Cole- man replied. "So it's not a big dollar amount," Melhiser said. "No," Coleman answered. "But if you put a four-inch line in and it really develops out there, and it requires a six-inch pipe, it'd double the cost of what we're doing." "That's the whole reason for the pipe in the first place, is development," Klipsch said. "But he had to re-sub- mit that. So that's where that's at." "Yeah," Coleman said. "They had a question about that, since it's not developed, why would you do a six-inch line? So he re-submitted that and it shouldn't be a prob- lem, he didn't think." (The project's original time schedule called for easement acquisition to be completed by the end of June, and set July 21 as the date the city council would open bids, with the construc- tion contracts scheduled to be awarded on Aug. 4.) During a meeting of the Petersburg Water Compa- ny, Coleman announced that Layne Christensen Co., of Orleans, Ind., would begin construction of a cover over the external water tank in approximately three weeks. "The contractor's been in contact with IDEM to make sure that they're going to meet all the IDEM require- ments," Coleman said. "Ap- parently, they do. So we'll fi- nally get that covered." Coleman also announced that the city still had not received signed copies of modified contracts from its wholesale water customers, Otwell Water Company and Pike-Gibson Water. "I spoke with Paul Bastin, who's on the Otwell board, and apparently they said they mailed them back," Coleman said. "We never got them." Coleman said that an- other copy of the modified contract had been hand-de- livered to the Otwell Water Company, whose board was scheduled to meet on Tues- day, Aug. 5. "I don't know when Pike- Gibson meets," Coleman said. "Most of those just meet once a month, so we should be hearing back any- time on the wholesale con- tracts, but there should not be any problems. I do not foresee any." Once the city receives the modified water contracts, Petersburg can begin the process of opting out of be- ing regulated by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commis- sion, Coleman noted. During a meeting of the city council, a public hearing was held on Ordinance 2014- 4, titled Ordinance for Ap- propriation and Tax Rates. Following the conclusion of the public hearing, a motion by council president Fran Lewis, seconded by council member Gary Leavitt, to ap- prove the first reading was approved unanimously. According to City Clerk Tammy Selby, the final read- ing for Ordinance 2014-4 will be on Monday, Oct. 6. In addition, the council, on a motion by Lewis, sec- onded by Leavitt, approved the first, second and third readings of Ordinance 2014- 5, titled Ordinance to Adopt 2015 Salaries for Elected Of- ficials. Shopko easement delays sewer extension A-2 Wednesday, August 6, 2014 The Press-Dispatch