The Press-Dispatch
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75¢ Wednesday, September 10, 2014 Volume 146 Number 42 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) Four sections 34 pages Four inserts Local ..........A1-8 Obituaries ...... A3 Sports ......B1-10 Real Estate B4-10 Classifi eds ....C1-7 Church .......D1-6 Opinion .......D4-5 History ...........D7 WHAT'S INSIDE: CONNECT WITH US: NetEdition .... pressdispatch.net/edition Facebook .... facebook.com/pressdispatch E-Mail .......... news@pressdispatch.net Phone: .................812-354-8500 Fax: .....................812-354-2014 E-Mail . editor@pressdispatch.net NEWS TIPS: PIKE PUBLISHING Continued on page 5 Continued on page 2 By Andy Heuring The Prosperity Mine, sev- en miles west of Petersburg, ap- pears to be closing following its purchase by Sunrise Coal of Terre Haute. The transaction was finalized on August 29. Prosperity Mine employed about 300 people at its peak, ac- cording to Chase Kelley, of Vec- tren, which sold the mine to Sun- rise. "The only thing I can say is that the Prosperity Mine is being idled for now. We are still evaluat- ing all of the resources and assets from the acquisition so we cannot make any long term statements as of right now," stated Suzanne Ja- rorowski, Director of Communi- cations and Government Affairs, Sunrise Coal, LLC, about the fu- ture of the Prosperity Mine. About 120 employees, out of 800 who were employed by Vec- tren, were not rehired. In a prepared statement, Sun- rise Coal LLC states: "On Ju- ly 1, 2014, Hallador Energy an- nounced the impending acquisi- tion of the Oaktown 1 and 2 Mines and the Prosperity Mine, by Sun- rise Coal. Because Sunrise Coal operates its own coal mines, the contracts with the contract min- ers who were operating the Oak- town 1 and 2 Mines and the Pros- perity Mine, were terminated pri- or to the acquisition of the mines by Sunrise. "During a time of transition, considering people's jobs is not Prosperity Mine 'idled' with no date for re-opening By Andy Heuring The annual Day of Caring spon- sored by the United Way of Pike County is scheduled for Wednes- day, September 17. Each year, the United Way of Pike County organizes the event that pairs volunteers with proj- ects for non-profit groups need- ing manpower. The one day blitz provides hundreds of hours of vol- unteer labor each year. "United Way of Pike County hopes to raise the level of aware- ness of the needs, as well as the services, provided by these agen- cies," said Denise Kinney of the United Way. Next Wednesday's event will start with a sponsored break- fast for its volunteers in Kiefer Hall at the Main St. Presbyterian Church. It starts at 7 a.m. Kinney said that most of the volunteers will be working un- til noon. A few will work beyond noon and only a handful might go as long as six hours. Volunteers will receive a T-shirt Day of Caring set for Sept. 17 By Andy Heuring It doesn't get anymore middle of Amer- ica than in one day being able to attend a city-wide yard sale, car show on Main St. and see a demolition derby. But Saturday, you won't have to leave Pike County to at- tend all three. Petersburg City-Wide Yard Sale and Main St. Car Show set for Saturday morning Yard salers looking for bargains and that one thing they have to have, but will only know what it is once they see it, will have a long list of 36 sales to sort through in Pe- tersburg this Saturday morning. A map of the sale can be found on page C-4. The Main St. Car Fest, with more than 25 categories, is scheduled for Saturday morning as well in Petersburg around the courthouse. The show runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with registration from 9 a.m. to noon. Reg- istration is $10. Dash plaques will be presented to the first 50 entries. Those entering more than one vehicle are eligible for a $25 drawing. Concessions will be available and a DJ will play 50s music. The fevent is sponsored by Petersburg Business and Professionals Association. Winslow Fire Department Demo-derby begins at 6 p.m .Saturday, Sept. 13 An old school demolition derby is sched- uled Saturday evening in Winslow behind the baseball park. This year's event will fea- ture a power wheels derby for kids. Bal- loons will be placed around the power wheels and the last person to still have an intact balloon wins. Power wheels will be provided on a first come, first serve basis. It starts at 5 p.m., with the adult derbies fol- lowing at 6 p.m. The adult events will include the "old school" cars, minis and lawn mowers der- by. The old school main event will have a pay out of $1,000 for first place, $500 for second and $ 300 for third. The minis will pay $ 300 plus a 100 percent payback. The lawn mowers will have a 100 percent payback purse. Admission is $ 6 for adults and free for kids under age 6. Monroe City Fall Festival set for for Thursday to Sunday, Sept. 18-21 Monroe City is planning its annual Fall Festival at the Blue Jeans Community Cen- ter on Main Street from Thursday, Septem- ber 18 through Sunday, September 21. On Thursday, Sept. 18, from 5 to 7 p.m. a fish fry will be served by Ryan Johannings- meier and Nichole Like. At 6:30 p.m., the queen and little mister contests will begin. City-wide yard sale, car show, demo derby Saturday Continued on page 2 Continued on page 5 Winslow income surveys required for HUD grant; ADM truck route built up By Andy Heuring Winslow found out they will have to do an income survey to qualify for a planning grant they were seeking since new num- bers were released in July by the Housing and Urban Development Agency. According to their fig- ures, Winslow is no longer low-to- moderate income. Councilmen in the their Monday night meeting praised the help they were getting from the County Highway Depart- ment with paving the streets. Nathan Held, of Indiana Region 15, told councilmen they were nearly ready to submit the town's application for planning grants on waste water and storm water im- provements needed by the town. But in July, HUD released new in- come numbers for Winslow claim- ing the town is no longer low or moderate income. "In the past, Winslow had qual- ified automatically. But in July, HUD released new numbers," said Held. He said the town's only re- course now is to do an income sur- vey, which will cost the town $550. "OCR A (Indiana's Office of Community and Rural Affairs) understands the numbers are ac- curate," said Held. He said they are working with Winslow, but the income survey will have to be completed, and if people fill out and return the sur- veys, they should qualify for the grants. "I know there is always some apprehension by people on filling out income surveys. But they are completely anonymous." Held said the forms are num- bered, but they go directly to the Region 15 offices and not to Win- slow officials so they do not know who has turned in the forms. Held said there is a minimum number of surveys that have to be returned for Winslow to be eligi- ble for the grants. ADM contributes paving for truck route Council president Richard Brewster sang the praises of the county commissioners, highway department and ADM for paving work on Winslow streets. Last week, the county highway department built up Union St. near its intersection with High- way 61. The area had been tough for semi-trucks to use. But the county crews have built the ar- ea up making it a less steep drop from the highway and easier for trucks to negotiate. Brewster said the County High- way Department did the work and ADM paid for the materials. "We haven't paid for anything yet in the paving work on Union St. or Oak St., and from Beardsley al- most to the ADM entrance," said Brewster. "I am so proud of the county. Brian Davis has done everything we have asked for. They have bent over backwards and done more," said Brewster. "He just blew me apart. Any- thing we asked about, they have done for us. They say 'we know what you've got and Winslow is part of the county.' Josh Byrd and Roger Ham have done any- By Andy Heuring Labor Day is unofficially the start of campaign season. In Pike County, the election signs popped up in mass over the last week. The November 3 election is roughly two months away. The Democrats Jefferson-Jack- son Dinner is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, September 13 at the Petersburg VFW. The featured speaker will be 8th District Con- gressional candidate Tom Span- gler, as well as retiring State Sen- ator Lindel Hume, State Sen- ate candidate Larry Vollmer and House candidate Steve Spinks. The Republican annual dinner is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sep- tember 23 at the IPL Communi- cation Building. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the dinner at 7 p.m. The featured speaker will be Lt. Governor Sue Ellsperman and 8th District Congressman Larry Buc- shon. There is a long list of contest- ed races heating up for the No- vember general election in Pike Ballot set for general election Continued on page 5 Spurgeon Community Fest Dave Gayhart handled grilling duties Saturday at the Spurgeon Community Festival. It in- cluded a concert by DeWayne Spaw, a poker run, live music, kids' games and a flea market. See more pictures on page A-6. Trees removed from Main St. A crew from GE Tree Services cut a tree limb away due to a power line that the tree had grown around. RC Klipsch said the city was removing this and several other Bradford Pear trees on Main St. because they had become overgrown and were causing problems with the sidewalks and looked out of place. Klipsch said five years ago, in the city's plan, it called for the trees to be removed. He said they plan to replace the trees with smaller, "more appropriate" trees and coordinate them for all of Main St. with the new First Federal Bank Building and the mixed development build- ing under construction. Petersburg City-Wide yard sale Saturday, September 13 • See page C4 36 yard sales MaiN street Car Fest