The Press-Dispatch
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75¢ Wednesday, August 19, 2015 Volume 147 Number 33 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) Four sections 42 pages Five inserts Local ........ A1-10 Obituaries....... A3 Reunions ........ A4 Sports .........B1-5 Classifi eds .. B8-12 Church ........C1-3 Opinion .......C4-5 History ........... C7 Fall Sports D1-12 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 2 Continued on page 2 Continued on page 4 SPORTS PREVIEW Special Section Inside FALL 2015 By Andy Heuring There is a long list of festivals and activi- ties planned for September in Pike County. The Labor Day Celebration returns to Pe- tersburg's Hornady Park on Friday, Sep- tember 4. Spurgeon is having their com- munity festival on Saturday, September 12, which is the same day Petersburg is hav- ing their annual Main St. Car Fest and City- wide Yard Sale. Then the following week, Winslow has the annual Winslow Commu- nity Fest on Saturday, September 19. LABOR DAY CELEBRATION The Labor Day Celebration grounds will open Friday night, September 4. The Queen pageant is set for 7 p.m. and open karaoke night runs from 5 to 10 p.m. There are numerous events on Satur- day, including a talent show at 10 a.m. with carnival rides opening at 10 :30 a.m., kids' games at noon, washer pitch at 1 p.m. and motocross races that evening. A demolition derby at 5 p.m. highlights Sunday events, which also will include a car show, poker run and horseshoe pitch. The parade is set for a 9 a.m. start and will run from downtown Petersburg to Hor- nady Park. MAIN ST. CAR FEST AND CITY-WIDE YARD SALE, SEPTEMBER 12 The Annual Main St. Car Fest and City- wide Yard Sale is scheduled for Saturday, September 12 in Petersburg. The Carfest will be on Eighth and Wal- nut streets near the courthouse. The show runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with registra- tion from 9 a.m. to noon. At least 25 tro- phies will be given in various categories. Pre-registration is $ 8 for the first vehicle and $5 for each additional vehicle. Day of event registration is $10 per vehicle. Street rods, antiques, trucks and classics are wel- come. The first 50 entries will receive dash plaques. Call Marge Leavitt at 812-354- 9372 or Carla Brown at 812-354-8541 to register or for more information. The City-Wide Yard Sale will also be on Saturday, September 12. Anyone listing their yard sale in The Press-Dispatch will appear on a map of the various yard sales in town. Call 812-354-8500 to include a yard sale in that week's newspaper. SPURGEON COMMUNITY FESTIVAL The Spurgeon Community Festival is set for Saturday, September 12. It will start ear- ly with a breakfast of biscuits and gravy be- ing served at 7 a.m. The car and cycle show registration is set for 8 to 10 a.m., with judging at 11 a.m. and awards at 3 p.m. Lunch will begin being served at 11 a.m. Entertainment will begin at noon, and there will be a karaoke and lip sync con- test. A poker run is scheduled to begin at 10 :30 a.m. Country musician DeWayne Spaw will Community festivals, city-wide yard sales set for September Otwell Flea Market Chris Hoefelin, Darell Abbott and Stella Abbott look through jewelry and knives for sale at the Otwell Community Center Flea Market on Saturday. By Ed Cahill In a classic case of having to spend money to make money, the Petersburg Common Council vot- ed Monday, Aug. 17, to purchase an updated version of an automat- ed mobile meter reading system – along with all-new hardware – it has been using since 2002. On a motion by Brian Van Me- ter, which was seconded by Gary Leavitt, the council voted 4-0 to accept recommendations from the Petersburg Water Company's board of directors and the city's Public Works & Safety Board to purchase the latest version of the ORION Mobile Reading System –pre-installed onto a Panasonic Toughbook laptop computer – for $24,334.70 from Waller's Meter, Inc., of Madison, Ind. Mayor R.C. Klipsch told the council that the city's water and sewer departments would split the expense. "It'd be $12,167 each, because they both equally share it and bill- ing is based upon that reading," Klipsch said. According to Petersburg Fire Chief Rich Coan, who also serves, unofficially, as a computer techni- cian for the city, problems with the original laptop computer recently made it necessary to transfer its hard drive into a different laptop computer that was the same age, make and model as the original. "It's still 13 years old," Coan said. "Everything's working fine, and I think it will continue to work fine – until it quits. It could quit to- morrow. It could last another six years. I mean, it's working right now is all I can tell you." "The only way I made it work City to update meter reading system By Andy Heuring Police are seeking two men who scammed a Petersburg couple out of $200 claiming to be meat sales- men late Tuesday afternoon. Petersburg Police Cpl. Scott Wright said two men driving a black regular cab pickup truck with a large cooler in the bed vis- ited at least two residences on south Ninth St., in Petersburg. According to Cpl. Wright, both men were about six feet tall with a slender build wearing blue t- shirts with a logo on them. The men gave a sales pitch that they had just made a delivery to a nursing home and had meat left over and they were willing to sell it cheaply. Cpl Wright said the first resi- dence they went to declined, but the elderly couple agreed to it and went to get $200. They returned and gave the money to the men, who went out to their truck. How- ever, instead of delivering the meat, they drove away. The el- derly man tried to get outside but was unable to get there before the truck left. Officer Wright and other police searched the Petersburg area and were unable to locate them. "I'm sure after doing this they left the area instead of continuing to go door-to-door," said Wright. He said he would be checking to see if there are any other simi- lar reports in area towns and cit- ies. Anyone who saw these men or talked to them are asked to call the Pike County Sheriff's Depart- ment at 812-354-6024. Couple scammed by meat salesmen Hearing on road closures turns contentious By Andy Heuring A public hearing on a proposed vacation of roads in the former Old Ben 2 area dom- inated the Pike County Commissioners meeting on Monday night. Solar Sources is requesting 15.5 miles of roads that no longer exist in the area, stretching from Highway 56 to the south, Highway 61 to west and Highway 356 to the north. Attorney John Chappell spoke about the agreement, followed by John Stachura, Manager of Solar Sources Underground Mining and representatives of the Indiana Department of Transportation. Jim Johns then talked about the proposed agreement with several diversions onto other topics. Eventually, Commissioners Brian Davis and Jeff Nelson voted to table the measure until the next meeting. Commissioner Ry- an Coleman did not attend the meeting be- cause of a death in his family. A summary of the agreement states the county will close 15.519 miles of county roads with all of the permanent road clo- sures and roads to remain closed. Howev- er, 6.153 miles of roads would eventually be reopened at a future date,. In exchange for that, Solar Sources agreed to: • pay Pike County $200,000 in equal quarterly installments; Pipe replacement closes 356 Crews work Tuesday to replace a large pipe culvert across State Road 356 near Otwell. Larry Fitzgerald smooths a dump truck load of rock in place to cover the culvert. The crew said they hoped to have the project done by Wednes- day, but it was dependent on weather and other factors. They said an Gradall broke down on Monday and slowed prog- ress on the project. Commuters had to find an alternative route as the project has kept the road closed since Monday morning.