The Press-Dispatch
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A-8 Local Wednesday, March 23, 2016 The Press-Dispatch The Press-Dispatch Join the new 812-354-8500 | www.pressdispatch.net *By enrolling in the Birthday Club, you agree to have your name, town and birth- day, or the person's name and town and birthday of whom you are enrolling, printed in e Press-Dispatch on the week in which the birthday occurs. Joining is easy! Send your: Full name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number and birthdate to birthdayclub@pressdispatch.net.* One winner is drawn at the end of each month. Each week, a list of birthdays will be published in the paper! You could win a FREE PRIZE from area businesses and a three-month subscription to e Press-Dispatch. By Andy Heuring Three of the four state legislators repre- senting Indiana attended the Pike County Ag Day Breakfast on Saturday at Otwell. The Cracker Barrel session, with the legislators reporting on the latest Indiana General As- sembly, followed a $2 breakfast of eggs, sau- sage, pancakes, locally-made maple syrup, coffee and juice. District 64 State Representative Tom Washburne told the group, largely interested in agriculture related issues, that for assess- ment values, farm ground would be assessed based on the same soil productivity rates as it was in 2007. "This is the kind of event our founders were hoping for," said Washburne of the meeting. District 48 State Senator Mark Messmer told the group about $430 million of road fund was approved and it would be distributed on the same basis as existing local option in- come taxes. Messmer said Pike County will get an ad- ditional $ 320,000, while Petersburg will re- ceive $ 36,905, Winslow $ 6,700 and Spurgeon $771. The formula is based on how much in- come tax is paid by those living in the coun- ty or an incorporated municipality. He also talked about Indiana ISTEP test- ing. Messmer said the legislature put a "pause" on the ISTEP results to prevent teacher's merit pay being based on this year's results. It was the first year for a new test and results were considerably lower state- wide than in years past. Messmer said this would allow a new base- line to be set. Also, he said they repealed use of the ISTEP. "Pretty much everyone agrees that it has run its course and it was time to let it go." Messmer said it is expected either the Io- wa Basic Skills test or something like it will be used in Indiana. It is a much less expen- sive test that tests nearly the same things as the ISTEP test. The other change Messmer talked about was moving regulation of deer farming from the DNR to the Indian Board of Health. State Representative Ron Bacon of District 75, who also represents several townships in Pike County, talked about a new law affecting implementation of utility services. Bacon said House Bill 1075 affected the mandated hook-up to a municipal sewer sys- tem. He said prior to House Bill 1075, if a city ran a sewer line within a certain distance of your residence, you had to hook up to it and begin paying a sewer bill. Bacon said now, with House Bill 1075, if the residence has an operating septic system, they aren't re- quired to tap in to the sewer line for 20 years. He said the average life of a septic system is about 20 years. Bacon explained House Bill 1053. He said some communities were getting ready to pass laws banning the use of plastic grocery bags, Styrofoam® cups and certain types of pack- ing and insulation. However, House Bill 1053 prevents communities from enacting laws that go beyond the state requirements. "We are keeping the local governments from put- ting more regulation on you." He also said a law combating the produc- tion of meth was passed. Bacon said it allows pharmacist to sell cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in the production of meth, to their regu- lar customers. But it also requires them to sell a "tamper proof" ver- sion of the cold medicine to cus- tomers whom they are not familiar. Bacon said this version of cold medicine makes it very hard to use as an ingredient for meth. Max Carlisle talked about the school voucher program, saying it seemed, "The governor has de- clared war on public schools." Washburne explained school funding had changed due to a state being sued and being required by court order to have a statewide common school system. Washburne said now school funds are based per child instead of on school corporations. He said the money follows children as a way for the state to comply with that court ruling. "The rate per child is going up dramatically. But we have a prob- lem in some of our counties where the popu- lation is dropping." Washburne said less than two percent of students in Indiana participate in the voucher program. "Most of the vouchers are operating in Gary and Indianapolis, where the schools have collapsed and they are trying to get out of those school corporations." Representative Bacon said Pike County is getting more per student, but the number of students are dropping. They were also asked about gambling. "It seems like years ago when they started gam- bling, it was going to take care of property taxes and the schools." Senator Messmer said the gambling firms always claim they will be the silver bullet to financial questions, but the amount of fund- ing in reality is minuscule. He said Indiana spends $2 billion a year on roads and $ 9.5 billion on education, but the total revenue to Indiana from gambling was only $ 600 million. "Every penny of that ($ 600 million) is going into those accounts, but in reality, it is just a drop in the bucket. They were also asked about the Highway 257 bridge over the White River. Messmer said they had met with local of- ficials from both counties and got INDOT to agree to put out barricades that couldn't be driven around or moved. But people literally got out of their cars and moved them. He said they are supposed to be locked in- to place and filled so they can't be moved. "All you can try to do is protect people the best you can, but you can't protect people from stupid," said Messmer. He was asked why a bridge couldn't be built that wouldn't flood. Messmer said the cost to do that would be 10s of millions and the traffic count wouldn't justify the expenditure. Three legislators on hand for Pike County Ag Day Breakfast Max Carlisle, of the Pike County Young Farmers, emceed much of the event Satur- day morning. Kristy Willcut flips a perfectly golden brown pancake during the Ag Day Breakfast in Otwell on Saturday. Kaylee Inman, 5, takes a big bite of sausage at the Ag Day Breakfast as friend Dessie Forman, 3, looks on. Nurse Cathy Lindsay, with Good Samaritan Hospital, conducts a hand strength test with Brenda Strohmeyer during the Ag Day Breakfast. It was one of many health tests available at the breakfast. VIDEO NetEdition Exclusive