The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/60778
A-2 Wednesday, April 4, 2012 The Press-Dispatch Truck breaks down during theft Man calls mom for a 'jump start' when truck stalls By Andy Heuring was arrested on a charge of theft, a class D felony, on Tuesday, March 27, and by Friday had already begun serving his sentence. A se- ries of misfortunes includ- ing a flat tire and dead bat- tery forcing him to have to call his mother for a jump start while stealing a pile of scrap metal led to his arrest. David L. Gray, Jr., 24, of A rural Winslow man VIDEO CLICK TO SEE THE provements. Each drawing had an explanation of the proposed project. They were on display for review at a public forum last Thursday in Kiefer Hall at the Main St. Presbyterian Church. More than 70 people attended the meet- ings on Thursday evening. Vance Hays looks examines an artist's rendering of proposed Main St. im- Public views Stellar Grant proposals on Petersburg's application for the Stellar Communities program last Thursday night at the Main St. Presbyterian Church's Kei- ffer Hall. Mayor Jon Craig announced Good Sa- About 60 people attended a public forum By Andy Heuring Integra Bank building to be renovated to house a business incubator, focusing on young entrepreneurs, specifically Pike Cen- tral's Project Lead the Way successes. • Downtown mixed use development: • Stellar Technology Center: calls for maritan has committed to being an anchor tenant of a new building on Main St. that would include retail space on the ground lev- el and apartments above. It would be locat- ed between Sixth and Seventh Streets. The building would will be a turn-of-the-century style with a modern look. Craig said Good Samaritan plans to expand on Dr. Honesto Fenol's current building services. It calls for an urgent care facility with weekend and ex- tended hours, manned by two doctors and a nurse practitioner as well as housing a men- tal health facility. Another part of that block would include 40 senior housing apartments, and the for- mer Silver Dollar Saloon would be replaced with a new retail building. One of the projects that changed and then New buildings between Somewhere In Time and Sweet Stuff, a new medical clinic, senior housing and razing and rebuilding the for- mer Silver Dollar Saloon building. • Fire Station relocation from its current location on Walnut St. to Illinois St. • Eighth St. Plaza: closing Eighth St. to a bypass from Hornady Park to Illinois St. • Petersburg City Hall relocation from current location to the old Library Building. • Demolition of buildings: Targeted build- ings include Double Play, Old Fire Station, N-Style Boutique and Pike Co. Museum. • Facade program: Will allow Main St. reverted to the original was the truck by- pass. It originally was to be from Horna- dy Park to Illinois St. An alternative under consideration until Tuesday morning was to cross Highway 57 from Pike Ave. and con- nect with Illinois St. near John's Auto Care and First St. However that changed back to a new terrain route that Mayor Craig said is actually less expensive than the more direct route, and provides more benefits. He said the city already has right-of-way truck traffic can be diverted around down- town, they will go back to angle parking along Main St. Thursday night, Craig spent about 30 minutes explaining the various aspects of the nine different projects that make up Pe- tersburg Stellar application. Then people were allowed to view artist renderings of the various projects and talk with experts on the specific projects. Those nine projects are: • Downtown infrastructure which in- cludes: sidewalks, lighting, waterlines and angle parking. building owners to receive up to $25,000 grant per building with a match of $5,000 to make improvements to their buildings. "I was very pleased with the turnout, create a green space and center point for downtown community activities. • State Road 56/57 truck route: create 4833 S. CR100E, Winslow, was arrested last Tuesday at 11:55 a.m. by Chief Dep- uty Sheriff Todd Meadors on charge of theft, a class D fel- ony. Gray appeared in court on Friday and accepted a plea agreement and was sen- tenced to 30 months work re- lease at Wabash Valley Cor- rections Work Release Cen- ter. "It's not unheard of," said Tuesday morning, when Deputy Meadors said he re- ceived a call from Rob Weit- kamp telling him at about Pike County Deputy Prose- cutor Noah Shafer. "We will make a plea offer as soon as someone says they want one," said Shafer. The investigation began 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning someone had stolen scrap metal from his farm. Weit- kamp told Meadors a neigh- bor said they saw a blue Ford truck parked on Weit- kamp's property. Meadors talked with the neighbor, who said they had stepped outside at about 7:30 a.m. to smoke a cigarette and no- ticed a blue truck and ma- roon Blazer in Weitkamp's field. The neighbor said they then saw them both leave in a hurry and the blue truck was making a noise because of a flat tire and the rim on the pavement. Weitkamp said it dam- aged the road. Meadors said he talked with Pike County Highway Superintendent Bobby Joe Morton about the damage and Morton told him he fol- lowed the marks on the road from Weitkamp's property to David Gray's residence, which was about four miles from Weitkamp's property. Meadors said he was able to follow the marks on the road to Gray's residence where he found a blue Ford truck with a flat tire and loaded with scrap metal as well as a maroon Blazer. He knocked on the door sever- al times before Elsie Jones fi- nally came to the door. Deputy Meadors. According to Meadors' re- She had Gray speak to port, Gray claimed he had gone to Jack Parks' house that morning and picked up the scrap metal. Meadors had Weitkamp come to Gray's residence too see if he could identify the scrap. Weitkamp was able to identify the scrap as his. Meadors also questioned Jones about the burgun- dy Blazer that was also re- ported being seen on Weit- kamp's property. Jones said she went there because Gray had called her and said he was broke down and needed help. She said she gave him a jump start, but didn't know what he was doing there. Meadors said Gray was fer said Gray indicated he wanted a plea so at his ini- tial hearing he was offered a plea agreement and was sen- tenced. Gray was charged with a class D felony of theft. It carries a maximum sentence of three years. The plea agreement called for a three years sentence, with six months suspended and 30 months to be served in work release. arrested and taken into cus- tody. Deputy Prosecutor Sha- Man arrested after fleeing, crashing ATV was arrested on alcohol and resisting charges after he led police on a 15-min- ute chase that ended when he crashed his ATV on the I-69 road bed early Sunday. Bradley S. Smith, 36, of A rural Petersburg man By Andy Heuring not only those affected on Main St, but the community as a whole," said Craig about the more than 60 people who attended the forum Thursday. "Overall the reaction has been incredibly in place for an extension of Illinois St. across Highway 57 to Whitelock Ave. Craig said if they are successful and the positive. Most people had their questions answered. We have been flooded with pos- itive response to downtown development, senior housing and the clinic," said Craig. He said the second-most commented proj- ect was the Eighth St. plaza. Petersburg will submit its application to the Stellar Committee on April 9. Peters- burg will be the first of the seven finalist cit- ies the selection committee will visit. They will be here on April 11. Craig said in an effort to give the com- 7094 W. McAtee Ln. Peters- burg, was arrested by Indi- ana State Trooper Paul Stolz on preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement, a class D felony; driving while intoxicated, endangerment, a class A misdemeanor; op- erating an off-road vehicle while under the influence, a class B misdemeanor and reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor. The chase began in Win- slow, at about 12:20 a.m. when Winslow Deputy Town Marshal Steve Nel- son and Spurgeon Depu- ty Town Marshal Tyler De- nu were sitting at the River- mittee a partial view of the Eighth St. pla- za, they are going to close Eighth St. be- tween Main and Walnut Sts. for the Pike County Agencies for Kids Luncheon Fund- raiser. They will host the event that will in- clude a picnic featuring hamburgers as well as chicken salad sandwiches with a drink for $5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. H County commissioners it would be a yearly appoint- ment by the commissioners and have to be renewed each year. Some were afraid they would be in jeopardy if the commissioners changed." Property tax bills can be e-mailed in the future County commissioners Continued from page 1 ty property owners should be receiving property tax bills in the mail in about two weeks. Included on their bills will be an expla- nation how people can opt to receive their bills by e-mail. She said they can already voted 3-0 to approve County Treasurer Nyla Dooley's of- fice using SRI Inc. Consult- ing Services to e-mail prop- erty tax bills. Dooley said Pike Coun- pay their property taxes on- line. Dooley said the two ben- efits will be reducing the county's postage bill and re- ducing the long line of peo- ple paying their property taxes in person in the Trea- surer's office. In other business the commissioners voted 3-0 to approve Ryan Coleman's bid for mowing the Old Town Cemetery and Coleman tant Melissa Bryant said the Highway Department will be removing the bush- es from around the exterior of the courthouse for securi- ty purposes. Security Depu- ty Kent Johnson said having the large bushes removed from the around the court- house was a security recom- mendation by the FBI. • Commissioner Presi- Cemetery. Coleman was the low bidder on both cemeter- ies. He bid $80 per week for Coleman Cemetery and $90 per week for Old Town. • Commissioners Assis- lation to undo a law passed last year that would allow commissioner Mark Flint, who moved from their dis- trict because they govern- ment purchased their prop- erty to serve out their cur- rent term even if they don't live in their district. Commissioner President Flint repeatedly said he wasn't going to allow Clar- idge to talk about that top- ic but Claridge continued to shout over Flint until Clar- idge was removed. He initially told Deputy dent Flint asked the other commissioners to be think- ing about how much money they should request for pav- ing this year from the Coun- ty Economic Development Income Tax. He said there is a balance of $1.4 million with about $300,000 com- mitted if Petersburg is se- lected as a Stellar Commu- nity. • Clayton Claridge was removed from the meeting only minutes after it started. He had written on his appli- cation to speak at the meet- ing he wanted to talk about discrimination. He started talking about pending legis- Johnson he was not going to leave. "I'm a taxpayer," said Claridge. Claridge also said he was Josh Byrd was removed from the meeting after he called Claridge an idiot and they shouted at each other. After the meeting was ad- journed Byrd came back in- to the auditorium. The next commissioner going file a discrimination suit. He said it was unfair he was removed and couldn't come back in the meeting. At a previous meeting meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, April 16 in the courthouse auditorium. Heating & Cooling 812-354-4273 Myers Same as Cash Financing 24-HOUR ACCESS TO FITN T ESS CENTE side Grill at Main and Cen- ter Sts. when they saw two ATVs go north on Main St. at a high rate of speed. "They came out of the Bob Inn and were hitting it pretty hard on Main St.," said Dep- uty Nelson. He and Denu pursued the ued on CR125S (Oatsville Road) past Knight's Cha- pel Church and then onto other county roads before Smith crashed as he contin- ued on CR50S past where it was closed for I-69 construc- tion. He crashed on the new ATVs north on Highway 61. Deputy Nelson said Toby Nelson pulled over just north of Winslow and Deputy De- nu stopped with him. Smith continued on and turned on the Sugar Ridge Road. Nel- son said they continued west running between 50 and 60 mph. The pursuit contin- Stolz's report, Smith told officers he didn't see them because his ATV didn't have mirrors. Deputy Nelson said he had his flashing lights and siren on and was direct- ing his spotlight on Smith, and saw him repeatedly look back at pursuing police. Trooper Stolz said he no- drove left of center numer- ous times during the chase. An ambulance was called to check out Smith, but he refused medical treatment following the crash. Deputy Nelson said Smith had a cut on his jaw. According to Trooper road bed. Trooper Stoltz said Smith ticed the odor of alcohol while talking with Smith. He was taken to the Pike County Jail, where he failed field sobriety tests and test- ed 0.11 percent for blood al- cohol content. Trial date set for robbery suspect 26, is charged with armed robbery, a Class B felony; conspiracy to commit armed robbery, a Class B felony; two counts of intimidation, a Class D felony; and theft, a Class D felony. The robbery occurred in week, Davis entered a not guilty plea. the early morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 29, at the Blue Beacon Truck Wash, which is located on U.S. 41 at the Interstate 64 exchange. In a court hearing last set for a Pike County man charged in connection with the armed robbery of a truck washing business located just south of Haubstadt on U.S. 41 in Gibson County. Larry Nathaniel Davis, A July trial date has been or Court Judge Earl G. Pen- rod set the trial for 9 a.m. CDT/10 a.m. EDT, Wednes- day, July 11. A pre-trial hear- ing is set for 9 a.m. CDT/10 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, June 20. Gibson County Superi- Gibson County Jail on a $200,000 surety/$20,000 cash bond. In February, Judge Pen- Davis remains in the den Joe Walburn, 26, is al- so pending in Gibson Cir- cuit Court. Indiana State Police de- rod appointed Princeton at- torney Michael R. Cochren to represent Davis. The case against Bran- determine Walburn drove his vehicle to the business and waited in the car while Davis entered the office. During the robbery, the led them to Davis and Wal- burn. Detectives were able to business's two employees were "instructed to empty the cash registers and then lie on the floor while the sus- pect exited the office with an undetermined amount of cash," according to state police. Court documents also tectives received several anonymous tips soon after the armed robbery, which show that both men had ap- plied for a job at the truck wash back in December. 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