The Press-Dispatch
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75¢ Wednesday, May 18, 2016 Volume 147 Number 20 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) Four sections 34 pages Five inserts See ETHICS on page 2 Local ...........A1-8 Sports .........B1-8 Classifi eds .. B9-11 Church ........C1-3 School.........C4-5 History ........... C6 Opinion .......D1-2 Home Life....D3-8 Obituaries....D7-8 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 See PRE-SCHOOL on page 6 See GHANA on page 4 The Pike County Spring Clean- up is this week from Thursday, May 19 to Saturday, May 21 at Advanced Disposal's Blackfoot Landfill. Winslow is offering a pickup service for their residents. Pike County residents will be allowed to dispose of one pick- up truck load of trash, including disposal of furniture and other bulky items. They will also ac- cept recyclables such as applianc- es, computers, televisions, house- hold paints, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, scrap metal, computers, chemicals and other household hazardous waste. However, they ask that all of these items be sep- arated from the trash. Up to four tires will be accept- ed free of charge; however, each tire more than four will have a $1 charge. The free clean up is for Pike County residents only and a proof of residency will be required. Winslow residents can call Town Hall at 812-789 -2207 and schedule a pickup. Town employ- ees and volunteers will be picking up trash and debris from residents on Thursday and Friday. Clerk- treasurer Beth Bennett said peo- ple can call on Thursday and Fri- day. Also, they can leave a mes- sage on Wednesday. Blackfoot Landfill is located on Highway 64, 2.3 miles east of Highway 61. The Spring Clean- up hours will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Spring Clean-up this weekend By Ed Cahill More than a month after Ball State Uni- versity denied its application for a charter school, Friends of Otwell Elementary is proceeding with plans to open a preschool/ daycare facility in the western Pike Coun- ty community. "We're not putting the charter thing completely behind us and giving up on it," Friends of Otwell Elementary president Mike Houtsch said during a public meet- ing held at Otwell Community Center on Monday, May 16. "But we're definitely fo- cusing a little more on our preschool and daycare." The Friends of Otwell Elementary board of directors has hired Tiffany (Scherle) Nicholson, of Jasper, to work on obtaining a daycare license for Lil HOOsiers Daycare & Preschool. Nicholson reported during Monday night's meeting that she was work- ing on finishing a set of policies that are re- quired for the licensure application. "My goal is to have a rough draft by the beginning of June," Nicholson said. "It's just one of the main things that has to be finished so that we can open." Nicholson added, currently, there are a total of 22 students who have been pre-reg- istered for the preschool program. "I'm working on gathering some items to furnish our daycare and preschool class- rooms," Nicholson said. "If you'd like to know any specifics, I do have a list ... if you guys would like to help out and buy some things for us." Nicholson said copies of the list are avail- able from either her or Rose Rhodes, who serves as chairperson of the Friends of Ot- well Elementary's Childcare/Pre-school/ Tutoring Committee. "I'm also hoping to have a parent letter – a little information letter – sometime mid- June, end of June, to send out to the par- ents, just to let them know what's going on and how the program's going to be ran," Nicholson said. Houtsch added he expected a letter of a different sort will soon be sent to members of the Otwell School Alumni Association. "Since we have a better idea now of the money we're talking about for a building and for equipment and things like that, we're going to send out, as soon as we put it together, another letter to our alum- ni, asking them for money to help us get started with this preschool and daycare, and even the eventual charter school that we plan on getting, for sure, by next year," Friends of OES plan to open preschool/daycare Pike County Commissioners established new ethics policies and decided to reduce the number of times Coleman Cemetery is mowed during their Monday night meeting. The commissioners adopted two ordi- nances and a resolution, all dealing with ethics, that was requested by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. They passed a "materiality threshold" or- dinance. This ordinance sets a requirement that if $500 or more erroneous or irregu- lar material variances, losses, shortages, or thefts of funds or property occurs, the State Board of Accounts must be contact- ed about it. The $500 amount was set for a one-time occurrence and a $25 amount was set for subsequent` losses. Commissioner Assistant Kristi Disch- inger said a lesser amount could be report- ed, but any amount more than $25 or $500 had to be reported. The second ordinance was 10 typed pag- es of an Internal Controls policy that was written by the Indiana State Board of Ac- counts. It established five components with 17 principals. The 17 principals are: • The Board of Commissioners and man- agement demonstrate a commitment to in- tegrity and ethical values. • Commissioners shall oversee Pike County's internal control system. • Management establishes an organi- zational structure, assigns responsibility, and delegates authority to achieve the en- tity's objective. • Management demonstrates a commit- ment to recruit, develop and retain compe- tent individuals. • Management evaluates performance and holds individuals accountable for their internal control responsibilities. • Management defines objectives clear- ly to enable the identification of risks and risk tolerances. • Management identifies, analyzes and responds to risks related to achieving the defined objectives. • Management considers the potential of fraud when identifying, analyzing and re- sponding to risks. • Management identifies, analyzes and responds to significant changes that could impact the internal control system. • Management designs control activities to achieve objectives and respond to risks. • Adopts specific internal control poli- cies for: payroll activities, disbursement ac- tivities, cash and revenue, and credit cards. • Management designs the political sub- division's information, system and related control activities to achieve objectives and respond to risks. • Management implements control ac- tivities through policies. • Management uses quality information to achieve objectives. • Management internally communicates Commissioners adopt new ethics ordinances A Winslow woman was injured when she hit semi-truck Tuesday afternoon on Highway 64, Darrian Nowark, 20, of Win- slow was driving east on Highway 64 near CR 100 W., when she went left of center and hit the drive wheels of a 2010 Kenworth semi- tractor trailer that was eastbound, according to Master Trooper Paul Bastin. Trooper Bastin said Nowark's vehicle sideswiped the drive wheels of the tractor, then hit the trailer wheels and spun around before sliding off the north side of Highway 64. Debris from Nowark's car went into the air and hit a 2008 Dodge pickup driv- en by Richard Waxler, 64, of Oak- land City. Waxler was following Nowark. He and the semi-truck driver Richard Gries, 68, of Evans- ville, were both uninjured. Bastin said Nowark refused treatment by the Pike County EMS, but complained of shoul- der and hip pain and was taken to Deaconess Hospital by her father. The accident was reported at 12:32 p.m. Winslow woman injured in crash with semi Tuesday morning Davis crashes into Brookfield apartments A Petersburg man was uninjured when he lost control of his pickup truck and crashed into the Brookfield Apartments across the street from McDonalds in Petersburg on Monday afternoon. Donald Davis, 76, of Petersburg, was attempting to pull out of the McDonald's restaurant parking lot onto Pike Ave., when he apparently got his foot on the accelerator instead of the brake. Petersburg Police Cpl. Jared Simmons said Da- vis went across Pike Ave. and slammed into the exterior wall of Brookfield Apartments. Davis refused medical treat- ment. His Ford pickup truck was estimated to be a total loss in the 2:30 p.m. accident. By Andy Heuring A Petersburg mother and daughter spent their Spring Break in a warm sunny place. However, it was anything but the traditional Spring Break. Instead of heading south for a hedonistic binge, Teri and Shelby Waltz traveled half way around the world to south- ern A frica on a mission trip to help combat human trafficking of children. Teri works at Petersburg Ele- mentary School and Shelby is a junior at Pike Central. On March 17, they climbed on a plane and flew to Accra, A fri- ca. A fter nearly a full day on the plane, they arrived to a world un- like anything they had seen be- fore. They were two of 13 women traveling to Ghana with the Mi- cah 6:8 project. The verse from the Holy Bible states: "He ha- th shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD re- quire of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? " The Micah 6:8 Project was founded by Christy Farhar in 2011 with the theme of "Get out of the Boat," referring to Jesus' disciple Peter getting out of the boat to walk toward Jesus on water. It also references the main symptom of the problems in Sey- na, A frica, where a large percent- age of the childhood population is being sold into slavery to work in the fishing industry. Children from ages three to 12 are being sold, often by parents who have numerous children and can't afford to feed them. Teri said often the parents are out of alter- natives or are tricked into selling the children. She said they are told the children will be fed and sent to school. Instead, they work 12 to 18 hour days in the danger- ous occupation of fishing in preda- tor-filled waters. She said the chil- dren often are used for the worst tasks, like swimming under the boat to untangle the nets. Along with long hours, they typically on- ly get one meal a day and aren't given shelter. The Micah 6:8 Project works two ways to combat the child traf- ficking. First, they have people who work to rescue the children from the slave owners. Once the children are freed, they are tak- Mother, daughter spend Spring Break in Ghana Two Petersburg boys were in- jured in an AT V crash at 8:49 p.m. Saturday. Remington Gideon, 12, of Pe- tersburg, and Jesse Catt, 10, of Petersburg, were injured when they were driving the AT V down- hill and lost control in the grav- el, according to an investigation by Indiana Conservation Officer Johnathan Watkins. Watkins' investigation found Catt was operating the AT V when it slid off the road and struck a tree. A fter the crash, one of the boys walked to a nearby house, but no one was home. Eventually, they were able to flag down a pass- ing motorist who called for help. Both were taken to the hospi- tal by ambulance, after an air am- bulance was originally called for but waved off. Catt suffered some fractures. Their conditions are unknown. The accident happened near the Willis Cemetery. Boys injured in ATV crash Saturday Pike Central junior Shelby Waltz and her mother, Teri Waltz, with their volunteer who works for the Micah 6:8 Project in Ghana, Africa. The Waltzes traveled to Ghana for mission work with the Micah 6:8 Project, which works to combat human trafficking.