The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/662482
A-2 Front Wednesday, April 6, 2016 The Press-Dispatch LILLY Continued from page 1 WINSLOW Continued from page 1 cafe & cakes cof fee cafe 618 E MAIN, PETERSBURG 812-354-2004 M-F 8am-5pm SAT 8am-2pm Friday Lunch Special Beef Manhattan $ 7 99 Only INCLUDES: Green Beans, Drink and Cookie Available from 11am-2pm /CakesAndCoffeeCafe OPEN Pike County Chamber of Commerce Azalea Blossom Festival MAY 6 7 Downtown Petersburg ( 8th & Walnut Streets ) Vendor Applications are available to print from the Chamber website at www.PikeCountyIN.org, by calling 812-354-8155 or by emailing chamber@frontier.com Be a part of the fun! Vendor booths available on a "first come, first serve" basis Local Artisan spaces available Saturday, May 7 only from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Color 5K Fun Run/Walk Saturday, May 7 at 9:30 a.m. Start at Tri-Cap office APRIL 16 • 10:30 A.M. TO ? PRESENTS Pike County Optimist at DO IT BEST - PETERSBURG HARDWARE STORE FOR QUESTIONS, PLEASE CALL 812-582-1565 Dinners are $11 and include pork chop, baked beans and potato salad. (Hot dogs and drinks also available) We will be popping Original Kettle Corn or White Caramel Kettle Corn $5 Med. or $8 Lg. Meier one of six arrested on federal drug charges By Andy Heuring A Pike County man was one of six people arrest- ed on federal drug charges last week. He was also part of 13 other people being ar- rested in Gibson County on local charges. Clint Meier, 53, of rural Hazleton, was arrested on a federal warrant for conspir- acy to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphet- amine. The five other peo- ple arrested on the same federal charge are: Jeff Rob- bins, 55, of Oakland City, Ry- an Lindauer, 31, homeless with a last known address of Francisco; Rigoberto Guti- errez, 27, from Alabama, but a native of Mexico who is was not in the United States legally; Lazaro Correa, 49, from Evansville area, orig- inally from Mexico; Norma Casillas, 45, of Evansville. All six are being housed in the Henderson County, Ky., Detention Center. Early Friday morning, In- diana State Police, Gibson County Sheriff's Depart- ment, United States Mar- shals Service, Drug En- forcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms conducted an early morning raid. They ar- rested the six above individ- uals on federal warrants and 13 Gibson County residents. Taylor Cates, 18, of 724 Em- erson St., Princeton; Louis Short, 35, of Third St., Princ- eton; Melissa Thompson, 40, of 724 W. Emerson St., Princeton; Tim Woods, 52, 557 Meadowlark St., Princ- eton; Kari Fourthman, 41, of 3212 W. Birch St., Princ- eton; Antwan Littiz, 40, 724 W. Emerson St., Princ- eton; Scott Moore, 44, 320 W. Em- erson St., Princeton; Dale Mor- ris, 53, 320 W. Emerson St., Prince- ton; Gary Sutton, 37, 705 W. Fifth St., Mt. Carmel, Ill.; Lacy Sutton 29, of 705 W. Fifth St., Mt. Carmel, Ill.; Kennan Hardiman, Sr., of 1372 Old Highway 41, Princ- eton; Barbra Luke, 35, of 4020 W. Split Rail Ln., Princ- eton; and Dawnella Bailey, 35, of 606 Main St., Patoka, were all arrested on warrant for conspiracy to deal meth- amphetamine. According to the Indiana State Police, an investiga- tion began in September of 2015, between the State Po- lice and Princeton Police after they received informa- tion about crystal meth be- ing transported to south- west Indiana from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Wheatley said the federal charges were for the most serious offenders. "Truth be told, anytime we get involved, we try to go up the ladder. That is why I took seven people and left the rest to the state," said Wheatley. She said typical- ly the two triggers for the federal charges are if more than 500 grams of meth is involved and they are trans- porting into the United States. "Gutierrez is alleged to be one of the sources of meth and we allege he was getting it from Mexico," said Wheatley. She said he was resid- ing in Alabama, but was from Mexico and was not in the United States legal- ly. Wheatley said Correa al- so was from Mexico and was illegally in Evansville. It is the second time Mei- er, who has a Hazleton ad- dress but lives in Pike Coun- ty, has been arrested on sim- ilar charges in the last five weeks. He was arrested on similar state charges. Mei- er was arrested on February 27 after police stopped him on I-69 and confiscated 450 grams of crystal meth from his vehicle. He was arrest- ed on a charge of dealing in meth, more than 10 grams, a level 2 felony, which carries a penalty of 10 to 30 years in prison. Wheatley said all of those arrested on federal charges face a penalty of a mandato- ry sentence of 10 years to life in prison. Clint Meier Applicants were inter- viewed for verbal communi- cation skills, civic pride and interest. A fter the scholar- ship committee completed its evaluation, names were submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana, Inc. (ICI) for final selection of the recipient and an alter- nate. ICI is a nonprofit corpora- tion that represents accred- ited degree granting, non- profit, private colleges and universities in the state. COMMUNITY FOUNDATION Founded in 1998, Pike County Community Foun- dation is a charitable re- source devoted to the com- munity. A partner of the Community Foundation Al- liance with oversight by a 15 -member advisory board, the foundation is made up of a collection of 45 permanent funds. Gifts to the Founda- tion leave a permanent lega- cy through the power of en- dowment, where earnings are used to make grants and scholarships that ben- efit the community forever. Each year, the Foundation collaborates with Pike Cen- tral High School and Inde- pendent Colleges of Indiana to nominate a student for the Lilly Endowment Communi- ty Scholar award. Visit the foundation's web- site at www.communityfoun- dationalliance.org/pike or call Cindy Gaskins at 812- 380 -3161 or 812-766 -0550. By Andy Heuring The man who is accused killing three people while driving under the influence of meth has filed a notice with Pike Circuit Court that he intends to use a defense of mental disease. It was one of four motions recently filed in relation to the upcoming trial for Brian Paquette. His attorney Tim Demotte also filed a motion request- ing a change of venue for Pa- quette. His motions states: The defendant is unable to receive a fair trial in Pike County because of: a) pub- lic hostility against him, b) public outrage of the of- fense, c) prejudicial news reporting or editorializing which castigates the defen- dant, 3) speculative opin- ions, e) disclosures of inad- missible evidence, or f ) the existence and contents of confessions, or prior crim- inal records. A hearing regarding two motions on the bond for Pa- quette was set for Wednes- day, March 30. Paquette had filed a motion to have his bond reduced, while Pike County Prosecutor Darrin McDonald had filed a mo- tion to increase the bond to $750,000 cash only. Paquette has been held in the Pike County Jail on an initial bond of $750,000, 10 percent cash since February 20. Paquette was involved in a head-on collision on I-69 near the 49.5 mile marker on Friday, February 12. According to police re- ports: Paquette was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe south in the northbound lane and hit Stephanie Molinet, 22, of Elberfeld head-on. Molinet was driving a Ford Focus. The impact killed Molinet and her pregnant passen- ger Autumn Kaperman, 21, of Boonville. Paquette's SUV then collided with a GMC Terrain being driven by Ja- son Lowe, 44, of Fishers. He was also killed. Lowe's wife Samantha Lowe, 46, was in- jured. Paquette suffered multi- ple injuries. He was arrested and taken into custody upon his release from the hospi- tal on Sunday, February 20. The hearing on Wednes- day in Pike Circuit Court lasted on four minutes. The hearing was attended by more than 20 family mem- bers and friend of the vic- tims. Pike Circuit Court Judge Jeff Biesterveld, at the be- ginning of the hearing, an- nounced the attorneys met in his chambers prior to the hearing and Paquette's at- torney said he wanted to withdraw his motion to re- duce the bond. He also said he would agree to McDon- ald's motion to increase the bond to $750,000 cash only. A pre-trial date of 1 p.m. on May 19 was scheduled. A second pre-trial date at 9 a.m. on June 27 is also sched- uled. The trial is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on July 11 in Pike Circuit Court, pend- ing Paquette's motion for a change of venue. The trial is scheduled for five days. Paquette is facing 12 charges. They are: three counts of resisting law en- forcement-vehicle causing death, a level 3 felony; three counts of operating a vehi- cle while intoxicated caus- ing death-perpetrator over 21 (methamphetamine), a level 4 felony; three counts of reckless homicide, a level 5 felony; one count of invol- untary manslaughter, OV WI causing death of a fetus; one count of operating a vehi- cle while intoxicated (con- trolled substance), causing serious bodily injury, a lev- el 6 felony; and possession of methamphetamine, a lev- el 6 felony. A level 3 felony carries a sentence range of three to 16 years; a level 4 felony has a sentence range of two to 12 years and a level 5 felony is one to six years. Change of venue requested for Paquette Gil Hodges Day chat Rosemary Weathers, who was in Gil Hodges' class of 1941 at Petersburg High School, and her sister Carolyn Garland visit with former "Evansville Courier" Sports editor Dave Johnson at Coffee and Cakes on Gil Hodges Day. Monday was Gil Hodges' birthday. Weathers and Johnson visited and talked about Hodg- es, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and managed the New York Mets to a World Series championship in 1969. Coffee and Cakes owner Randy Harris had a special Gil Hodges Day promotion Monday. They agree to pay her $50 a week until she completes her training and is certified. It was expected this would take three years before she could be licensed, even if she passes the tests prior to that. Councilmen agreed to pay for her training, licens- ing fees, permit fees and mileage when she goes for training. Gayhart said she would like to get an agreement with the town that she would be paid the rate of a waste water operator once she is li- censed. "I want to be able to go ahead and do the job, and you want an agreement say- ing I'm going to stay here," said Gayhart. In other business at the special meeting, Dick Brew- ster said he was told Animal Control Officer Melvin De- Cisto had approached Pe- tersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch about impounding dogs that Petersburg catches. "They have a major dog problem over there," said Brewster. Councilman Terry Stro- bel said DeCisto had talked to Klipsch about their dog problem. He said Petersburg would like to pay Winslow to figure out how to house the dogs. He said it would only in- volve Winslow impounding the dogs, not catching them. "I can tell you right now you had better plan on build- ing a bigger holding facility. We will run out of room in our facility in one day. We would have to have four times what we have now," said Strobel. Gayhart said the neigh- bors of the current facili- ty are upset. He said a dog impounded there barked straight time for days. Strobel suggested if they are going to take more dogs, they should move the facility out to near the sewer plant's lagoons, which is in a remote area outside of town. Councilmen said they were open to talking with Petersburg, but only if Pe- tersburg was willing to pay their way on handling the problem. Councilmen said they needed to get hot or cold mix to fix numerous pot- holes in the town's streets. Dave Gayhart said the blacktop plants weren't open yet, but should be open in the next few weeks. "We need to get some cold mix in here soon," said Council president Greg Sim- mons. By Andy Heuring Four people from Vin- cennes and Washington were arrested on metham- phetamine charges after a drug transaction with a po- lice informant last Tuesday evening. Carla R. White, 38, and James K. White, 39, both of 614 W. Van Trees St., Washington, Joseph V. Haas, 39, of 913 N. 14th St., Vincennes, and Danielle M. Wheatley, 32, of 1318 E. Scott St., Vincennes, were arrested last Tuesday night on a charge of possession of methamphetamine less than five grams, a level 6 felony. Pike County Deputy Sheriff Dallas Killian said he was told by an infor- mant that White had called and wanted to sell the infor- mant methamphetamine. So Deputy Killian set up a con- trolled buy and nearby po- lice watched the transac- tion take place at the Huck's parking lot late last Tuesday. Police then stopped the van that had the Whites, Haas and Wheatley, as well as a three-year-old child in it. Deputy Killian said they claimed they came to Peters- burg to collect money from a person who owed James White money. According to Deputy Killian, police found marked bills they gave to the infor- mant to make the drug pur- chase in White's articles. Police also found a small corner baggie with a white residue in it in the front pas- senger floor board, two crys- tal-like rocks "that appeared to be meth" and a smoking pipe in the back floorboard, a spoon with residue in it un- der the passenger seat, and a digital scale in the center console of the van. Deputy Killian said Carla White also took a package of "K2," which is synthetic marijuana, out of her pants and gave it to police, after she was told she would be searched at the jail. All four were taken into custody and transported to the Pike County Jail. Four arrested on methamphetamine charges