The Press-Dispatch
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A-4 Wednesday, April 26, 2017 The Press-Dispatch LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg NEWS BRIEFS Pike County Health Dept. closed May 1-5 for move to new location The Pike County Health Department will be closed May 1-5, while the office is moving to their new loca- tion. The Health Department will reopen on Monday May 8, and will be located in the Old Petersburg Gym (former School Corporation Offices) at 907 E. Walnut Street, Petersburg. Band Boosters officer election slated for May 9 The Pike Central Band Boosters will be have their annual elections for officers at the Pike Central Band room at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Band parents and any other interested members of the community are needed to lead and support the Boosters for the 2017-2018 school year, with activities to begin at the end of the 2017 school year heading into the summer. The Pike Central Band Boosters have provided crit- ical financial and volunteer support to all 200 + middle and high school band members since reorganizing two years ago. The Band Boosters program has purchased music, instruments, uniform support, assisted with band camp, competitions, fundraising and more dur- ing this time. Under Mr. Ashworth's leadership, the Charger Band program is once again on the rise, but this support cannot be provided without volunteers who want to see this progress in the students continue. In addition to officer positions, volunteers are also needed to work with committees supporting all facets of the band program. Upcoming event? Let us know! If your business or organization is having a public event, The Press-Dispatch wants to know. Help us inform our readers about the happenings right here in Pike County. Email news@pressdispatch.net or call 812-354-8500. 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Box 68 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 or e-mail us at subscribe@pressdispatch.net How to contact us: By Phone: ..................................................................... 812-354-8500 By Fax: ........................................................................... 812-354-2014 By E-mail: General and Church News news@pressdispatch.net Sports Department sports@pressdispatch.net Advertising ads@pressdispatch.net Classified Advertising classifieds@pressdispatch.net Andy Heuring, Editor editor@pressdispatch.net Obituaries obits@pressdispatch.net Subscriptions/Circulation subscribe@pressdispatch.net Legals/Public Notices legals@pressdispatch.net Accounting Department accounting@pressdispatch.net About us: Mr. and Mrs. Frank Heuring, Publishers Andrew G. Heuring, Editor John B. Heuring, Adv. Manager Cindy Petty, Advertising Sales Pam Lemond, Advertising Sales Matt Haycraft, Advertising Sales Ed Cahill, Sports Editor Eric Gogel, Production Manager Monica Sinclair, Office Manager • • • • • • Published every Wednesday by the Pike County Publishing Co. Telephone 812-354-8500 820 Poplar Street, P.O. Box 68, Petersburg, Indiana 47567 • • • • • • Entered at the Post Office in Petersburg, Indiana for transmis- sion through the mails as Periodical Mail, postage paid at Petersburg, Indiana. Published weekly. (USPS 604-340) BobLuegers.com Like us on Facebook SEE OUR ENTIRE INVENTORY AT 1050 WERNSING RD, JASPER • 812-482-5141 HOURS: MON-FRI 9AM-8PM; SAT 8AM-4PM TOLL FREE: 1-800-686-1444 *Sale Pricing does not include taxes and fees, 2016 Encore savings require down payment assistance rebate when financing through GM Financial for well qualified buyers, see dealer for details. 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May 8 —Salisbury steaks, mashed pota- toes, green beans, slaw and desserts. May 9 —Spaghetti, salad, breadsticks, des- serts and Mother's Day bingo. May 15 —Beef and noodles, green beans, slaw, hot rolls and des- serts. May 16 —Barbecue, potato salad, baked beans and desserts. May 22—Spring Fling: Free meal, door prizes, health checks by Good Samari- tan Hospital; honor- ing some special peo- ple and celebrate May birthdays. May 23—Taco Tues- day. Closed on Monday, May 29 and Tuesday, May 30 for Memorial Day. Campaign underway to add K-9 officer to Pike County Sheriff's Department By Andy Heuring The Pike County Sheriff's Depart- ment has started a campaign to get a canine officer. Chief Deputy Sheriff Kent Johnson said a canine officers will largely be a drug dog, but will have numerous us- es beyond those capabilities. Johnson said Deputies Buck Seger and Dallas Killian did about six weeks of research on purchasing, training and keeping a canine officer. "Buck and Dallas did a tremendous amount of leg work and talking to surround- ing sheriffs and handlers and trainers, and then made a presentation to Jere- my (Sheriff Britton) and myself. We talked for about a week and decided to move forward with it," said Johnson. Deputy Seger, when he worked for the Washington Police Department prior to working for the Pike County Sheriff's Department, was the part- ner of an officer who kept and trained Washington's drug dog. "The use of a dog's nose is about 98 percent of what you use a dog for: tracking, ar- ticle searches, making traffic stops. If you have indications there may be drugs in the vehicle, you can run the dog on it and if he hits on it, you can get probable cause for a warrant to search," said Deputy Seger. Other uses include: Deterrent: According to Seger, ma- ny studies have shown the presence of a canine program in the communi- ty relates directly back to a decrease in criminal activity within that com- munity. An active canine program in Pike County will potentially help low- er crime rates. Officer safety: The presence of a canine unit will help prevent some high risk situations in which a deputy typically gets involved. Suspects are less likely to fight with or run from deputies when a canine unit is pres- ent. Officers also said "The ability to deploy a canine unit in unknown sit- uations to alert the deputy of hidden dangers will help to keep our depu- ties safer." Tracking: The ability of a canine unit to track human scent is an asset that cannot be duplicated by any oth- er means. "This ability would great- ly enhance our deputies' capability to track lost or in danger children or adults in situations where time is vi- tal." It would also allow them to track fleeing suspects. Availability: In time-critical sit- uations, having a unit in the coun- ty would allow the department to re- spond quickly and be more effective, according to Seger. Narcotics: Canines smell is up to 40 times greater than humans and the canine program will be utilized to help locate illegal narcotics being trans- ported within the community. Seger said in the last couple of years, they have noticed a decline in anhy- drous meth manufacturing. As it gets harder to get the ingredients to make meth, Seger said people are starting to buy crystal meth from dealers. "There really is no smell to it detectable by hu- mans. However, the dogs can smell it. I can't smell meth from outside a car, but a dog can," said Seger. "We are starting to get stops on the interstate with the very real possibili- ty of that being a drug pipeline." John- son said Deputy Seger is one of the more proficient officers and having a dog would help him combat drugs in the area. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Baumgart also agreed having a ca- nine unit in the county would be a great asset for area police. "Often when we try to get a dog from another county but it is busy or not available. It is going to be an as- set not only to the county, but also to the city. Mainly because I-69 is going to be a draw for drugs." It will help with timeframes. "Be- fore we had to wait until we could get one from Daviess county and it wasn't available if they were busy or off du- ty. By it being here in the county, we can access it 24-7. So it is going to be great," said Baumgart. Johnson said the department is accepting donations from business- es, organizations and individuals to help with cost of the dog. They were approved for a small grant from the Pike County Committee to End Drug Abuse. Johnson said they have to raise a total of $18,000 to purchase the dog. He said they have already received a couple of donations. Another depart- ment has donated a cage for Seger's car to keep the dog in. Deputy Seger and the dog will go through a six-week training program. "It isn't a one-time six-week training program. It is every day training," said Seger of the officer and his rela- tionship with the dog. Their goal is to have the dog purchased and trained by this fall. Pike County Deputy Sheriff Buck Seger is preparing to training to be a K-9 unit handler. He is shown with Chief Deputy Kent Johnson.