The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-8 Sports .........B1-4 Classifi eds .... B5-6 Church ........C1-3 History ........... C4 Opinion .......C5-6 Home Life....D1-7 Obituaries....... D8 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 OTWELL on page 5 $ 1 Three sections Four inserts 26 pages Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Volume 148 Number 25 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) See FESTS on page 2w See CHARGING on page 2 See BRIDGE on page 2 By Andy Heuring Area police started a death in- vestigation Monday morning after police and probation found a ru- ral Winslow man dead at his home when they went to the residence to do a probation check. Roger Harper, 61, of 497 E. 375 S., Winslow, was found at his home at about 10 :22 a.m. Pike County Sheriff Chief Deputy Kent Johnson said, "due to the condi- tions at the scene, we decided to have the State Police do a death in- vestigation. We believe it will be an accidental death, but we just wanted to make sure we dotted all the "i"s and crossed all the "t"s," said Johnson. Trooper John Davis, who is heading up the investigation, al- so said he believes it will be deter- mined to be natural causes. "We won't know anything for sure until the autopsy is completed. We just want to make sure he doesn't have any wounds or wasn't poisoned," said Davis. He said Harper was found in the corner of the living room behind an end table. "It just looked a little unusual where they found him," said Davis about why an investi- gation was requested. Harper's last known contact with anyone was on Sunday. His mother lived at the residence with him, but had recently been hospi- talized. Winslow man found dead at home prompts investigation Alternative meals to be served to students over policy charging limit By Ed Cahill An alternative lunch consisting of a cheese sandwich, fruit and milk could be served to Pike County students who have a longstanding unpaid bill under a meal charging policy that is being considered by the Pike County School Corporation's Board of Trustees. During its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 13, the school board held the first reading of the meal charging pol- icy, which allows elementary students to charge up to $15 to his/her account and al- lows high school students to charge up to $10 to his/her account. A fter the limit has been reached, the proposed policy states the student will re- ceive the alternative meal until the charge amount has been paid. According to the proposed policy, the school corporation's Food and Nutrition Department will send letters home with elementary students who have reached their limit. A fter 10 days, attempts to con- tact parents by telephone will be made. If there is no response after 30 days, the de- linquent lunch bill will be turned over to small claims court. In addition, the proposed policy states that all negative balances from the previous school year have to be paid in full, or the student will not be able to receive a regular meal tray. However, that provision will not be enforced until the 2018 -19 school year. As of Sunday, May 18, a total of $5,858.65 in meal charges from the 2016 -17 school year are still owed. At Petersburg Elemen- tary School, a total of $2,372.42 in meal charges remain unpaid. At Winslow El- ementary School, a total of $1,514.47 in meal charges remain unpaid. At Pike Cen- tral Middle School, a total of $799.87 in meal charges remain unpaid. At Pike Cen- tral High School, a total of $1,171.89 in meal charges remain unpaid. Pike County Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Blake – who said that no alterna- tive meals were served during the 2016 -17 school year – told the board that the US - DA is requiring school officials to develop a written policy by July 1 to address cases when children can not pay for a hot meal at the time they are served. "The guidelines note that all sponsors – or, basically, our school corporation – must have a charging policy in place for children who are participating at the reduced price or paid rates but do not have the money in their account, or in hand, to cover the cost of the meal," Blake said. "Procedures may allow students to charge available reim- bursable meals, offer alternate meals, im- pose a limit on charges, or disallow meal charges and alternate meals." "Additionally, procedures may be con- sistent for all students or varied based on grade levels," Blake continued. "The spe- cific procedure is at the discretion of the sponsor, but it must contain the following – how schools will collect delinquent meal charge debt, and when a student's account is considered delinquent." Upon final approval by the school board, a copy of the meal charging policy will be provided – in writing – to all households and to anyone who transfers into the school corporation during the school year. In ad- dition, the meal charge policy will be pro- vided to all school-level staff responsible for the policy's enforcement. School board member Ron Sharp, while noting that the school corporation was be- ing forced to adopt a meal charging pol- USDA requiring schools to write stiffer meal charging policies Tree planted at PCMS in memory of Caleb Poehlein Lindsey Lundy, with help from family and friends, planted a Rose of Sharon tree in front of the Pike Central Middle School at 4 p.m. on Saturday in memory and honor of her 14-year- old son, Caleb Poehlein. Helping Lindsey is Caleb's brother, Gavin Smith, and cousin, Baylee Lundy. The eighth grader was killed in an ATV accident on Tuesday, March 21 in Pike Coun- ty. There was a huge community turnout for a March 24 candlelight vigil in front of the school and then a benefit dinner/silent auction at Hornady Park on May 6. Caleb's Rose of Sharon tree is in the same lawn and near the one planted in memory of middle school teacher and counselor Pat Waddle. James Capozella photo By Andy Heuring County commissioners gave an update on Patoka River Bridge 147 near Winslow and approved changes in a new phone sys- tem during their Monday night meeting. Commissioner Ryan Coleman said he went to the site of the bridge, which is locat- ed on CR 350 E. about a mile south of Win- slow over the Patoka River, and also talk- ed to the engineering firm DLZ about the project. He said it is supposed to be com- pleted by late July. The bridge has been closed for several years waiting on a federal aid project that was approved. Construction began last year and most of the bridge was complet- ed. However, its elevation was raised sev- eral feet. This caused large approaches to have to be constructed. Because it is a fed- eral aid project, there are strict regulations on the dirt to be used on the approaches. Due to the extremely wet winter and spring, they waited on the dirt to dry, ac- cording to Coleman. "They are starting to make progress. They hope to have it open by late July," said Coleman. Highway Superintendent Roger Ham said he was told their target date is July 15. Ham also warned there may be some more expense on the bridge, because the road bed on the north side of the bridge collapsed while they were hauling heavy loads of dirt into the bridge approaches. Ham said they had to dig down about six feet and fill it in with number two rock to stabilize. In other business, the commissioners al- so approved a contract with AME to install a new phone system in the courthouse. The system was put on a temporary hold after Commissioner Assistant Kristi Dischinger noticed several changes in the invoice from AME from the contract they had signed. Dischinger pointed out those changes to the commissioners, which included a more expensive handset, a different computer hard drive, less memory and few licensed phone lines, at their previous meeting and the commissioners put the system on hold until they could talk with AME about the invoice changes. AME representatives explained the var- ious changes. They said they changed the handset model number because the specs for the original one that was quot- ed for the system last September was be- ing phased out. The new one was $40 more expensive and there are 70 needed for the courthouse system. The representative said they changed from the M700 proces- Bridge 147 near Winslow to be opened in July By Andy Heuring Otwell's 60th Annual Jefferson Township Ruritan Fourth of July Festival is just a week from Satur- day. A week later, the Pike County 4-H will begin on Sunday, July 9. Otwell's Fourth of July runs from Saturday, July 1 through Tuesday, July 4. SATURDAY, JULY 1 The festival begins with a gi- ant cook-off and cornhole tour- ney on Saturday. Sign-in and set- up for the cook-off begins at 6 a.m. President assures patrons that school should start on time By Ed Cahill Unexpected delays are raising questions whether or not Otwell Miller Academy's building will be ready for the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 9. As of Monday, June 19, it appeared that little progress had been made on the ap- proximately 11,000 -square-foot structure – which is being constructed by Morton Buildings of Jasper on a 2-1/4 acre site lo- cated at the intersection of South High- way 257 and East County Road 150 North – since footers were dug and poured on or about Tuesday, June 6, after Friends of Ot- well Elementary received approval from the state to proceed. During a public meeting held Monday, June 19, Friends of Otwell Elementary pres- ident Mike Houtsch said that the next step for the charter school – the pouring of con- crete for the building's foundation – was being held up by a subcontractor who had not yet started installing the structure's plumbing. "They were supposed to get started on the plumbing today," said Houtsch, who is serving, along with Morton, as the project's general contractor. "I absolutely hope they get started on it tomorrow, so that we can get the foundation in by the end of the week, so that we can start getting the structure of the building up starting next week." "If that all happens, it won't take very long to get the building up," Houtsch add- ed. "Morton is bringing in two if not three crews to get on the building, so that won't take very long to get it up." Houtsch's frustration with the build- ing's progress surfaced briefly during an exchange with the group's publicity chair- person, Emily Willis, regarding the Friends of Otwell Elementary's Facebook page. "We are putting pictures of the construc- tion (on the Facebook page), which would be fantastic if something was happening," Houtsch said. Houtsch was subsequently asked if he thought the building would be ready for the first day of school, which is less than sev- en weeks away. "It will not be completely done, but it will be to where we can have students in it," Houtsch replied. "What's been the hold up? " Houtsch was asked. "The hold up has been the bank," Houtsch replied. "The hold up has been Morton, at times. The hold up has been the subcontractors at times." "There's just a lot of things that go in- to putting a building up, and, you know, sometimes they don't go the way they're supposed to go," Houtsch added. Earlier in the meeting, Otwell Elemen- tary vice-president Bob Rhodes had re- ported that the final approval of the entire $700,000 loan from Old National Bank in Jasper – which is being collateralized with private property pledged by supporters of the charter school – was also being delayed. "I just had a brief conversation last week, on Monday, with our loan officer," Rhodes said. "He was still anticipating the arrival of the land appraisals. I'm having trouble processing all that. I don't know who the appraisers are, but they're taking a lot lon- ger (than expected)." "As you're aware, we've got more pay- ments coming, and I'm not putting it on you," Houtsch replied. "But we're working with them to get closed on the rest of the loan." All of the building's plans – with the ex- ception of the electrical drawings – have been approved by the state, Houtsch said. He added that he, Rhodes and the group's legal counsel, Elisabeth Luff, were in the process of contacting various area electri- cal contractors to get prices to do the work. In addition, Houtsch said that a price quote on providing internet service to the school had been submitted by PSC, but that Frontier would be contacted to get a price quote from them as well. Construction delays concern Friends of Otwell Fourth of July Festival opens Saturday A building permit from the Pike County Building Department, dated June 6, is posted at a two-and-a-half acre site located at the intersection of South Highway 257 and East County Road 150 North in Otwell, where the Friends of Ot- well Elementary have begun construction of a building to house Otwell Miller Academy. Ed Cahill photo