The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/77772
The Press-Dispatch Charger Brigade escapes OC unscathed School band and the Phone Guyz Store in Oakland City were just two groups or busi- nesses affected by last Tues- day's macroburst storm that hit Oakland City. The National Weather The Pike Central High By Mike Johansen service's Paducah, Ky., of- fice toured hard-hit areas of Oakland City and eastern Gibson County after Tues- day's storm. They conclud- ed the widespread damage was caused by an intense downward-moving gust of wind called a macroburst that the storm unleashed. The July 31 storm also dropped large hail that in- jured four people taking part in a parade kicking off Oakland City's annual Sweet Corn Festival. The weather service Service says a severe thun- derstorm that damaged homes, businesses and trees in Oakland City on July 31 produced a "macro- burst" that swept the com- munity with 110 mph winds. Staff from the weather School marching band es- caped the parade in Oak- land City July 31 without any injuries, with instruments in tact, but with several scary moments. The Charger Brigade was says the storm's high winds snapped or uprooted thou- sands of trees and left about 80 homes and businesses with major damage in Gibson County. Another 250 homes suffered minor damage. The Pike Central High in Oakland City to partici- pate in the Sweet Corn Pa- rade last Tuesday, said As- sistant Director and Middle School Band Director Chris Ashworth. They were getting ready ing at the back of the bus, which was the direction from which the storm was coming and I was convinced the glass wouldn't stand up to the hail. It is incredibly loud being inside a school bus with hail pounding on the roof and windows like it was. As soon as we got word that there was a tor- nado warning (thank good- ness for smart phones!), we managed to get the stu- dents into the IGA grocery store, thanks to the help of the manager there. I had to get off the bus to move shopping cart racks that had blown across the park- ing lot, so we could pull up. We waited there until things calmed down. A couple stu- dents stayed there with Mr. Ashworth and his fiance while parents came to pick them up who were stuck in traffic or behind damage in Oakland City. We load- ed the rest and slowly made our way back to the high school. I have to commend the students for their calm, flexibility, and maturity in the situation. Anything we asked, they did, resulting in the safest possible outcome. One thing I have learned in four years of teaching is that if something can happen, it probably will. The beauty of being a musician is being ready to improvise. I'm just glad the students are safe," said Miller. There was also hail hit- "I must say, I was stand- fore the parade began, but the radar looked like it was going to skirt past us. We had to weigh several options," said Band Director John Mill- er. "The first thing I did was call our bus driver to come back to the parade lineup to at least follow the band. My first thought was to pack the students up and take them home. As we loaded the bus, I realized that we had par- ents waiting to pick students up from the parade. At that point, I made the decision to let the students roll the win- dows down and play the mu- sic we had planned from in- side the bus." "At first, the thought to march in the parade when the storm, that passed over Petersburg with only rain and little damage, although there were some extensive power outages, started to move toward Oakland City from the northwest. The di- rectors, Ashworth and John Miller, saw lightening flash- ing and called for the school bus, that was not far away. The bus and a van came up and the band loaded into the two vehicles to avoid getting wet. They played from in- side the bus as they started up the parade route. "We were concerned be- ting the bus, although it did little damage. There were a couple of dents on top of the bus when they got it back to Pike Central High School. The van suf fered more damage with one door be- ing heavily damaged by the wind blowing it open. The bus pulled into the off the roof they had water coming into the back room. They lost some things, but not the expensive stock in the front. They also had hail dam- age to their two vehicles, one was pretty severely damaged from the hail. "It really rained hard and added. "It was a very scary time, but we were actually lucky. That tree just missed our store and the roof dam- age was limited to our back room. We had some losses, but not nearly what we would have had if the front part of our store lost the roof. It tore that roof off just like you open a tuna can." When the wind ripped Wednesday, August 8, 2012 Help us celebrate, there was a lot of water in Oakland City. Water was so deep just down the block that it floated a car away off the street," said Robin. "That tree fell very near us. It was lucky more people were not hurt during that storm. We saw many peo- ple scrambling for cover, trying to find some place safe when the storm hit. We had no warning, it hit all of a sudden and was very se- vere. The hail started small and just kept getting bigger and bigger. Our cars show it. We saw some of the old time cars get hit pretty hard in that storm and they had a lot of damage from the hail. We were very lucky that something worse did not happen." They have the back of their store covered now and things in Oakland City are slowly starting to get back to normal. The Sweet Corn Festival "Thanks to our previous customers for 28 years of allowing us to be your local home furnishings choice. Local manufacturers have always been a big part of our business and this year, we're also celebrating the many local businesses WE rely on. So along with our huge Anniversary savings, we're giving away $2800 worth of LOCAL merchandise with any pur- chase. Once again, thanks for your business and we hope you can help us celebrate our next 28 years!" A-9 we're 28! very scary time for many of the students and the di- rectors because there were severe winds blowing over trees and causing quite a bit of damage in Oakland City. "We had a lot of scared Phone Guyz parking lot just before a huge tree crashed onto the road where the bus had been. Ashworth said it was a that usually runs through the weekend was cancelled as clean up efforts contin- ued through last weekend and into this week. I-69 ASSISTS EMERGENCY RESPONDERS students and there were a few screams, but they did as directed. We got lucky and no one was injured and there was little damage to the vehicles. It was quite an experience," said Ashworth. The Phone Guyz store did not fair as well as the PCHS Band and its buses. Eric and Robin Smith, operators of The Phone Guyz Stores in Oakland City and at Peters- burg Hardware in Peters- burg, were at the store last Tuesday. Robin said they were wait- seemed silly. However, as we drove down the street, I saw a lot of spectators who seemed to think it was neat, not to mention much safer. We got through about four pieces of music before it started to rain too hard and we had to put the windows up," Miller added. "A couple minutes later, the parade came to a stop, and that's when the storm hit really hard. We managed to pull in- to a parking lot (The Phone Guyz Store) and wait it out. We had all the students hud- dle into the middle of the bus with the directors and staff standing on the ends in case and windows broke as a result of the hail. quickly, we did not even have any warning what was going to happen," said Rob- in. "All of a sudden it was raining very hard and there were big winds hitting the area (110 miles an hour). People were scrambling ev- erywhere from the parade route trying to get inside. It started hailing and the hail just kept getting bigger." A big gust of wind came ing on a customer and un- aware that a serious storm was approaching Oakland City. "This storm came up have a lot back there and most of our expensive inven- tory was up front. An air con- ditioner on the roof prevent- ed the wind from ripping the entire roof off," Robin through the area and felled a large tree that just missed the store. But the worst came next. The back por- tion of the roof of the Oak- land City store was ripped off by the wind. "Fortunately, we did not during the storm's after- math. Indiana State Police the Interstate 69 extension is already assisting emer- gency response in south- west Indiana. I-69 also came in to use It isn't completed yet, but troopers responding to Oak- land City in the immediate aftermath of the recent se- vere storms encountered trees and debris blocking State Road 57 in several lo- cations between SR 168 and SR 64. The I-69 extension is being built to the same stan- dards as other rural inter- states in Indiana, including a clear zone along the out- side shoulders where there are no roadside hazards such as trees that could al- so fall onto the highway. The I-69 project team has been holding on-site meet- ings with ISP staff to help them prepare for the open- ing of 65 new miles of inter- state by the end of this year. As a result of these meet- ings, the second wave of troopers to come north was familiar enough to make the risky trek through the ac- tive I-69 work zone. Over a 20-year period, I- 69 is expected to prevent nearly 40,000 serious inju- ries and provide an addi- tional 37,000 Hoosiers with 30-minute access to major medical facilities. Interstate highways are also built at higher elevations and more likely to remain open during flooding. Sixty-five miles of I-69 Ackerman Oil ..........................................$ 30.00 All Star Sports ..................................... ...$ 30.00 Audio World ............................................$ 30.00 Bettag Corporation ................................$ 30.00 Bettag Plumbing & Heating .................$ 30.00 Blesch Brothers .......................................$ 30.00 Bob Luegers Motors ..............................$ 30.00 Bob's Liquor .............................................$ 30.00 Boehman's Auto Detail..........................$ 30.00 Buffalo Wings & Rings ..........................$ 30.00 Bungalow Bar ..........................................$ 30.00 Buschkoetter's Landscaping .................$ 30.00 Chateau Restaurant................................$ 30.00 Combined Talents (Paul Wehr) ...........$ 30.00 Corbin's Drapery ....................................$ 30.00 Deb's Truck Stop ....................................$ 30.00 Drew's Fantasy Landscaping ................$ 30.00 Fairweather Indoor Golf .......................$ 30.00 Ferdinand Car Wash ..............................$ 30.00 Ferdy Flyer ...............................................$ 30.00 Fleig's Café ...............................................$ 30.00 Green Thumb Nursery ..........................$ 30.00 Grounded .................................................$ 30.00 Hasenour Motor Company ..................$ 30.00 Heidet Hardware ....................................$ 30.00 Holiday Foods .........................................$ 30.00 Homestead Pizza ....................................$ 30.00 Hopf Outdoor Power .............................$ 30.00 Jasper Vac-n-Sew ....................................$ 30.00 Krempp Lumber .....................................$ 30.00 Millhouse Restaurant ............................$ 30.00 Muller True Value ..................................$ 30.00 New Boston Tavern ...............................$ 30.00 Norm's Market ........................................$ 30.00 Oasis ........................................................$ 30.00 Obermeyer Yamaha ...............................$ 30.00 Olinger Diamond Center ......................$ 30.00 Ruxer Ford ...............................................$ 30.00 Schnellville Mill ......................................$ 30.00 Schnitzelbank Restaurant .....................$ 30.00 Senninger Tractor ..................................$ 30.00 Shamrock Cafe ........................................$ 30.00 Siebert's ....................................................$ 30.00 Sternberg's Chrysler ..............................$ 30.00 Tom's Appliance Center ........................$ 30.00 Uebelhor Chevrolet-Toyota .................$ 30.00 Uebelhor Oil ............................................$ 30.00 Uebelhor TV ...........................................$ 30.00 Videotech .................................................$ 30.00 Wright & Stemle .....................................$ 30.00 That's $2800.00 of FREE local merchandise!!! + $1300.00 Sub Total ....................................... $1500.00 Bargain Barn between Evansville and the Crane Naval Warfare Cen- ter are anticipated to open by the end of this year. Un- til then, the new interstate is an active work zone and closed to motorists under penalty of law. Mathies arrested on preliminarily charges after Saturday night break-in 33, of 5027 S. CR 1000E, Velpen was arrested on Aug. 4 at 8:50 p.m. when police found him walking down the road. Pike County Sheriff 's ed Saturday night when po- lice responded to a report of an active break-in at a resi- dence near Velpen. Nathan Scott Mathies, A Velpen man was arrest- By Andy Heuring Sgt. Adam Thompson said he and Deputy Brad Jenkins responded to the break-in after Don Wilson called 911. Mr. Wilson re- ported he received a text from his wife Angela telling him to call police because her son, Mathies, was try- ing to break into her house. he arrived at Mathies ad- dress, he was told by cen- tral dispatch that Mathies had f led into the woods north of the residence. Sgt. Thompson said Deputy Jen- kins was on his way to the scene, driving on CR1000E about 400 yards from the residence, and found Ma- thies walking near the road. Mathies identified himself and was taken into custo- dy. According to Jenkins, Mathies said, "I know I'm going to jail" and added he didn't want police to "have to chase him." Thompson said after Ma- Thompson said just after thies was taken into custo- dy, he returned to the res- idence and spoke with kicked the front door in and came into the house because he was wanting to use the Dodge pickup at the house. Sgt. Thomp- son said there were pieces of the front door in the liv- ing room floor and the door handle and casing were both broken. Mathies was preliminari- ly charged with residential entry, invasion of privacy and criminal mischief. Mathies' mother, Ange- la Wilson. She told him a protective order had been issued for her son to not have contact with her. The protective order had been served to Mathies by Dep- uty John Palmer on July 31. She said Mathies had chuckwagon supper and Barndance Supper starts at 7 p.m. Plus join us Saturday for our Big Tent savings Begin wedneday!!! Tent opens Wednesday at Noon 8537 S. State Road 162 Special Anniversary Hours Wednesday Noon - 8 PM Thursday 4 PM – 8 PM Friday 4 PM – 8 PM Saturday 9 AM – Midnight BARGAIN BARN Ferdinand Southgate Shopping Center Special Anniversary Hours Jasper Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 10 AM - 8 PM 10 PM – 8 PM 10 PM – 8 PM 9 AM – 7 PM $2,800 of free local merchandise given away!