The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/656716
A-2 Front Wednesday, March 23, 2016 The Press-Dispatch CRIME Continued from page 1 BUSINESS Recognition Banquet PIKE COUNTY When: ursday, April 7, 2016 Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Location: IP&L Event Center Cost: $10 per person (Includes meal catered by Log Ends Bed & Breakfast) 2016 BUSINESS RECOGNITION AWARDS • Pike County Footprint Award___ Most notable investment in their physical work envi- ronment • Why Didn't I ink of at… Award___ Business with the best local marketing strategy. • Pencil Sharpener Award___ Best creative, cost cutting, or improvement process. • inking Outside the X-Box Award___ Best youth business engagement. • February 29th Award___ For the business that made the biggest leap forward this year. • Golden Tractor Award___ Community focused farm or agribusiness of the year. • Most Totally Awesome Place to Work Award___ Nominated by employees of the best business to work for. is event is to celebrate the dedication and perseverance of businesses in Pike County! Nominate your favorite business to receive a Business Recognition Award. Get your ticket and nomination form today by contacting Ashley at pikegrowth@frontier.com or Leslie at chamber@frontier.com. SUNDAY, MARCH 27 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. Seating Chicken, Ham, Roast Beef Sides and Desserts $ 11 95 PLUS DRINKS & TAX EASTER BUFFET LEAVE THE COOKING AND CLEAN-UP TO US! RESERVATIONS ARE A MUST. CALL ( 812 ) 354-9259. Village Inn 242 SOUTH HWY. 57, PETERSBURG SPONSORED BY: WOMEN OF THE MOOSE #1740 PETERSBURG MOOSE LODGE #1617 1 PM • MARCH 26 Hornady Park Shelter House #3 12 years old & under (different age groups) and a special needs section. COUNCIL Continued from page 1 ment of the bridge. CLR was awarded the con- tract for the bridge. Plans call for the old steel truss bridge with a wooden floor to be replaced by a concrete beam bridge. In other business, the commissioners: • Renewed a contract with Maximus, a firm that audits and collects fees due the county from child sup- port payments. Maximus announced their fee was increasing from $ 3,300 to $ 3,400. They have contract- ed with the county since 2004. Over the last five years, they have collected varying amounts ranging from $13,675 this year to $58,135 in 2014. County Auditor Ron Wil- son said Maximus has col- lected an average of about $40,000 a year for six years. Jeff Nelson moved to re- new the contract that was approved by a 3-0 vote. • Agreed to have EMS Director Chris Young and Commissioner Assistant Kristi Dischinger review the employee handbook policy on bereavement. Young said the current pol- icy, which provides an em- ployee three days off, one of those being the day of the funeral, didn't really apply to the EMS. He explained some employees work two days a week. He currently has an employee that has a funeral on Wednesday, but isn't scheduled to work un- til the weekend. The commissioners sug- gested Young and Disch- inger review the policy and then make a recommenda- tion to the commissioners. • Jeff Karn, of Air Evac, pitched the commissioners on paying for county em- ployees to become mem- bers of Air Evac. Karn said the group rate of $55 per employee would give them a membership in Air Evac. He said Air Evac did 43 runs in Pike County. "These runs are expensive and insur- ance questions them." He said the $55 a year member- ship would save employees having to use an Air Evac flight between $ 30,000 and $40,000. Karn said a mem- ber isn't charged fees. Commissioner Presi- dent Brian Davis suggest- ed Karn attend the county council meeting before the commissioners requested funding from the council on the matter. The next commissioners' meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, April 4, in the courthouse auditorium. By Ed Cahill The Pike Central High School winter percussion ensemble placed eighth out of 18 teams during the In- diana Percussion Associa- tion's State Prelims at De- catur Central in Indianapo- lis on Saturday, March 19. The 12-member Pike Central winter percussion ensemble scored a season- high 79.6 points – one week after finishing third with 76.9 points at the New Pal- estine Invitational behind Springs Valley (83.3 points) and Heritage Hills (78.1) – to earn one of 13 berths in the IPA's State Finals, which will be held at Indiana State University's Hulman Center in Terre Haute, Ind., on Sat- urday, April 2. "That was great," Pike Central assistant band di- rector Melissa Traylor said. "It's really nice because, with only a week between (competitions), it's really hard to make a lot of chang- es. But they worked really hard and we practiced an extra day before prelims so they could get themselves ready." "They added some cow- boy hats, because it's a western show, so they add- ed some extra fun things," Traylor added. "I think they enjoyed that part of it as well." The group's western- themed performance – which the students have ti- tled "Along for the Ride" – features "Hoe-Down" by Aaron Copland from the ballet "Rodeo," which pre- miered in 1942. While it may be assumed that few Hoosiers have seen or even heard of the ballet, "Hoe-Down" is more famil- iarly known as the theme music for television adver- tisements by America's Beef Producers featuring the slo- gan, "Beef. It's What for Din- ner." "It's a contemporary piece," Traylor said. "Aaron Copeland, he's still a classi- cal composer, but yet from a contemporary era. It's still from the 1900s, so that's kind of cool, but we're try- ing to make it still current for kids today." Traylor said that "Hoe- Down" also plays to the win- ter percussion ensemble's strengths. "Our strengths this year are definitely our mallets, so we have a ton of soloistic features for our mallet play- ers, which is, basically, our entire front row ensemble," Traylor said. "Those are our more experienced kids, but we still have a ton of solo- istic opportunities for our back row players as well. I'm really proud of the back row kids. Most of them are new, but they've really tak- en to it well." The winter percussion en- semble opened its competi- tion season with a fourth- place finish – out of 12 groups – on Saturday, Feb. 20, in the Franklin Cen- tral Invitational and placed second out of six groups a week later in the Pendleton Heights Invitational, then took a week off before the New Palestine Invitational on Saturday, March 12. "I think that they've learned to play together," Traylor said. "In a small en- semble like that, it really shows if they don't all mesh well. I think them learning to grow together, to play together, to sound togeth- er as one group, just takes time, and I think that's what they've really gotten better at throughout the season." "Their scores have gone up nearly every week," Tray- lor added. "You have differ- ent judges every week, so it's hard to predict what that judge is going to think of your show. But, every week, they've made leaps and bounds. We've had goals every week as far as what we want to improve and are just making more of the mu- sic every week. They've just learned to play together and emphasize everything out of the piece of music, to make it that much more memora- ble." Pike Central has won the state finals twice in three years, and Traylor said this year's group wants to re- claim the first-place trophy. "That's definitely a goal," Traylor said. "We had to take the state trophy back last weekend, so we were a little bit sad, because it's a traveling trophy that goes around from year to year. So, yeah, we'd like to bring that home again sometime soon." Members of the PCHS winter percussion ensem- ble are senior Kailee Russell on the marimba, junior Ab- by Hess on the vibraphone, junior Jon Kroeger on the synthesizer, junior Amelia Woolery on the vibraphone, sophomore Chelsea Fidler (auxiliary), sophomore Taia Hinton on the marimba, sophomore Andrew Parker on the xylophone, sopho- more Payton Simmons (aux- iliary), freshman Luke Har- ris on drums, freshman So- phia Woodall on the timpa- ni, eighth grader Klayton Kixmiller on the synthesiz- er, and eighth grader Hunt- er Willis (auxiliary). PCHS percussion ensemble qualifies for state finals By Andy Heuring A pregnant Petersburg woman was taken to the hos- pital following a two-vehicle accident Tuesday. Keeja Corlett, 25, of 401 E. Walnut St., Petersburg, who is eight months preg- nant, complained of abdom- inal pain following the 12:03 p.m. crash on Oatsville Road (CR 125 S.). Indiana Master Trooper Paul Bastin said Michael K. Hammel, 56, of Princeton, pulled from a private drive- way onto Oatsville Road, just east of the I-69 overpass, in- to the path of Corlett. The accident caused the air bag to deploy in the 2006 White Dodge Charger Corlett was driving. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Hammel was cited for fail- ure to yield right-of-way, op- erating a vehicle without fi- nancial responsibility and driving while suspended. Corlett was cited for driv- ing while suspended (prior). Petersburg woman injured in crash on Oatsville Road By Ed Cahill Petersburg's Public Works and Safety Commit- tee voted Monday, March 21, to recommend a 150 per- cent fee increase for septic tank services to dump waste into the city's wastewater treatment system. A motion by Mayor R.C. Klipsch, seconded by John Melhiser, recommends that the fee – which is currently $40 per load – be increased to $100. Klipsch noted that the City of Vincennes charges $140. "I don't know what Oak- land (City) was," Klipsch said. " $ 65," City Clerk Tammy Selby replied. "But they're talking about an increase," City Services Manager Brian Davis added. "They feel the same way, that they need to be charg- ing more," Klipsch told Mel- hiser. "And those charges would just be passed on to the con- sumer," Melhiser replied. "I don't see anything wrong with doing $100, $125." In addition, Klipsch's mo- tion recommends that the city double the $25 it cur- rently charges for sewer line inspections to $50. "It's usually two guys and they spend at least an hour out there with the camera and everything that's in- volved," Klipsch said. "The idea is not to take advantage of anybody, but we've got to cover our costs, because then it just costs everybody." Klipsch's motion also rec- ommends the city increase the fee to clean out clogged sewer lines on private prop- erty using the city's sew- er jetter from $25 to $100, along with a $50 inspection fee for a total of $150. "Brian (Davis) had a sug- gestion that we should put the camera in there and identify what the problem is, so they can show them exactly where the problem occurs, where it needs to be corrected," Klipsch said. "Otherwise, we just keep go- ing back and doing the same thing time and time again." "If it's tree roots or what- ever, that'd help identify that, and maybe in the pro- cess stop some infiltration problems we're getting," Da- vis added. "Most of the time it's attributed to tree roots ... busting open old clay lines." Klipsch said increasing the amount the city charges to unclog sewer lines on pri- vate property would hopeful- ly encourage the property's owner to hire a private con- tractor to fix the issues iden- tified during the inspection. "I think the idea is, quite honestly, at $25, why cor- rect it? " Klipsch added. "We don't want to keep do- ing that. That's the idea, to deter that, and get the prob- lem solved correctly." Davis agreed. "The whole idea is to see if there are problems," Da- vis said. "So when they have a blockage, we know there's a problem. Instead of just cleaning out the line, let's identify the problem and en- courage them to fix it." City Attorney Brian Ma- honey told Klipsch and Mel- hiser – a third board mem- ber, Fran Lewis, was not present – that the board's recommendation would be presented to the city's com- mon council at its next meet- ing on Monday, April 4. "The council would ask me to probably prepare an amendment to the current ordinance," Mahoney said. "I don't consider these rates, so I don't think we'd have to go through all that. I looked for the dumping charge and I didn't even see one in our current ordinance. I don't think the sewer jet is there, as a charge." "These are just things that we do, and that's what we've been charging," Klipsch re- plied. "I'll draft something up then for the council to look at next meeting," Mahoney said. In other action, the board also voted to accept a recom- mendation from the fire ter- ritory board to add Heath Abell to the Petersburg Fire Department as a probation- ary firefighter. Raise in sewer-related service fees recommended to city council blocking their parking lot. Walker then called Chief Baumgart and said he had OnStar®, so Walker was in- structed to contact OnStar and they deactivated the truck. Baumgart explained On- Star® won't immediate- ly shut down a vehicle un- less it is a chase. Instead, they start warning the driv- er the vehicle is going to be shut down. OnStar® also was able to give the Martin County central dispatch the location of the truck. Mitch- ell Police Chief Kelly Rayhill located the truck driving in- to Loogootee and saw it turn into the Martin County Co- Op. Rayhill then saw a man in a green shirt get out of the truck and go into the Co-Op. Rayhill went into the Co-Op to locate him and couldn't find him. Officers with a tracking dog were called to the ar- ea, but they couldn't locate the man. The at about 2 p.m., em- ployees of the Co-Op called police and said they saw a man in a Co-Op jacket crawl out from under a trailer and head toward the highway. Loogootee police picked the man up. Chief Rayhi- ll then arrived and recog- nized him as the person he saw get out of the truck. He was identified as Riley. Riley was transported to Petersburg, where he was questioned by police and taken into custody on numerous charges. Chief Baumgart said Riley denied stealing the truck. He said a man he knew only by Aar- on (whom he claims stole the truck) picked him up at the Guest House Motel and told him to drive to Evans- ville. He was instructed pick up another person and bring him back to Petersburg to meet with another person. "He was adamant that he did not steal the truck," said Chief Baumgart. Baumgart said Riley claimed he got turned around on I-69 and ended up in Mitchell. River Road repair The Pike County Highway Department worked Tuesday afternoon on River Road. The crews needed to replace sections of the river bank after recent flooding washed away the ground where the road's guard- rail was anchored. The guard rail protects motorists from a high drop-off when the river is low.