The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, June 7, 2017 A-3 LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg NEWS BRIEFS Friday night community gathering There will be a Friday night community gathering this Friday, June 9 at 7 p.m. at the Gathering Place, 207 Lafayette Street in Winslow, The speaker this month will be Tim Overbey and Charlie McCracken will lead the praise and worship service. Everyone is welcome. Petersburg Alumni banquet set for June 10 The Petersburg Alumni Association will be celebrat- ing 145 years since the Petersburg Public School was built in 1872 on Walnut St., near where the Old Peters- burg Gym is now located. Petersburg's annual banquet is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on June 10 at the Petersburg Elementary School. Tickets can be purchased at Ger- man American Bank and Home Building Savings Bank in Petersburg. They must be purchased by June 2. For more information, call Marsha Shawhan at 812- 354-4912. NARFE meeting slated for June 14 The National Active and Retired Federal Employ- ees (NARFE) Patoka Valley Chapter #1847 will meet at noon on Wednesday, June 14 at the Schnitzelbank Restaurant in Jasper. The speaker will be Phillip Ad- kins. His topic will be the Buffalo Creek Flood of 1972 in Logan County, W.V. All active and retired federal employees and/or their spouses are encouraged to attend. Call Rita at 812-604- 5089 for more information. Oakland City Little Miss Sweet Corn contestants sought Gamma Omega Chapter of Tri Kappa is seeking con- testants for the Oakland City Little Miss Sweet Corn Contest, which will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 28 in the Oakland City School Cafetorium. Contestants must be the ages of 5 to 8 (at the time of the contest). A spon- sor's fee is $40. Contestants must perform a talent or theme attire in addition to a short interview question. Number of en- trants is limited, so call soon. Practices start in June/ July. For more information, call Tammy Schroeder at 812-664-6648. Guidelines: Parade entries must be received by June 24. Those after June 24 will be late entries. All late parade entries will be placed at the end of the parade line-up. No parade entries will be allowed after 9:30 a.m. on July 4. Enter parade line-up by turning on Grant Street off Hwy. 257 to former Otwell Elementary School. Parade entrants MUST be in line by 9 a.m. to be judged. No vehicles, other than parade entries, will be allowed past the check-in point. Hosted By: The Jefferson TWP Ruritan and Jefferson TWP Fire Dept. 2017 Theme: "TOGETHER WE CAN AFFECT CHANGE" Contact: Roger Young at ( 812 ) 354-4622 PH: 812-683-3243 duboiscountygaragedoors.com f SALES • INSTALLATION • REPAIR Big City Selection and Hometown Service Shriners collect for Children's Hospital The Pike County Shrine Club collected donations at the intersection of Highways 61 and 57 on Saturday. Shriner Gerald Anderson receives a donation from Daniel Grubb as he drives through the intersection. Scott sentenced to 10 years in IDOC after pleading guilty to child molesting By Andy Heuring An Evansville man was sentenced to 10 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections last Wednesday in Pike Circuit Court after pleading guilty to molesting an eight-year-old girl. Gregory Hill Scott, of Evansville, pleaded guilty to fondling the girl while they were laying on a couch watching a movie at her mother's house in No- vember 2015. Scott entered his guilty plea in Pike Circuit Court on May 2, 2017. Howev- er, later when being interviewed by the Pike County Probation Department for a pre-sentencing report being pre- pared for the sentencing hearing, Scott claimed he had not molested the girl. Wednesday in court, Scott's attor- ney claimed in recent years it has be- come common practice for jails to en- courage prisoners to make a request for their pre-sentence report so they can be intercepted and read by other prisoners. He said because child mo- lesters aren't treated well by fellow in- mates, he feared they would find out, so he claimed he wasn't guilty. Wednesday in court when asked to clarify, Scott said he definitely mo- lested the girl and he wanted to plead guilty. Scott's father, William, and his sis- ter, Tasha, both testified as character witnesses. They both told the court they had a great relationship with Scott and both said "he always worked." Scott's attorney claimed his crimi- nal history was minor and that he had no felony convictions. He produced a filing from the Vanderburgh Coun- ty Court showing a felony conviction against Scott had been reduced by a judge's motion that morning to a mis- demeanor. He also claimed the eight-year-old girl was not in Scott's charge when the offense took place. "Child molesting is never good, but this isn't the worst of the worst cases to go through this court," said Scott's attorney. Prosecutor Darrin McDonald had a much different view of Scott. McDonald said Scott had violated probation in 2013 when a revocation warrant was issued and he admitted alcohol use while on probation. McDonald continued, "He says Scott wasn't in control. He was laying on the couch with her watching a movie. It that isn't being in control, I don't know what is. The little girl was 8 years old." McDonald also said Scott's candor was less than to be desired, pointing out after he entered a guilty plea, he told Pike County Probation he wasn't guilty and today in court he is saying he is guilty. "He (Scott) has not shown remorse. He has prolonged this and delayed this little girl's ability to move on with her life," said McDonald. He said Scott deserved the maxi- mum sentence of 12 years. A fter a short recess, Pike Circuit Court Judge Jeff Biesterveld returned and issued his opinion on the sentence. He found the aggravating circumstanc- es of Scott was in a position of trust. He said prior leniency with Scott had not been successful, he had violated proba- tion, the victim was less than 12 years old and "there is a very high risk of re- peat offenses." He then announced a sentence of 10 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with no time suspended for probation and gave Scott credit for 183 days of time served. net edition yeah, it's that fast! Z M www.PressDispatch.net/Subscribe It's The Press-Dispatch. No matter where you live. Delivered every Wednesday morning! Add it for $5 to your current print subscription or stand-alone for $35/year.