The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-9 Sports .........B1-5 Classifi eds .... B6-8 Church ........C1-3 School............ C4 History ........... C6 Home Life....D1-5 Obituaries....... D6 Opinion .......C7-8 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 FESTIVALS on page 2 $ 1 Four sections Three inserts 32 pages Wednesday, August 23, 2017 Volume 148 Number 34 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) See HIRES on page 3 See STREETSCAPE on page See ACADEMY on page 5 By Andy Heuring The first ever Winslow Fire Department Summer Festival kicks off Friday night for the first time. It is one of four festivals over the next three weeks. The other are Peters- burg Buffalo Trace Festival on September 15 and 16 and the Winslow Fall Festival on Saturday, September 16. WINSLOW FIRE DEPARTMENT FESTIVAL SET FOR AUGUST 25-26 The first Winslow Fire Department Sum- mer Fest will start at 5 p.m. on Friday, Au- gust 25 with the National Anthem being played. Also starting at 5 p.m. will be a flea market, carnival rides, a softball tourney, karaoke and a disc jockey lineup. Kale Shelton will perform from 7 to 8:30 p.m. followed by the Mariners from 8:45 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday starts at 8 a.m. with the softball tourney and flea market resuming. There will be more karaoke at 10 a.m. fol- lowed by a karaoke contest from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with the winners being announced at 1:30 p.m. Zeff West will perform at 2 p.m., which is also the starting time for a senior pageant. Uprising will perform from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and the Mariners will return from 6 to 7:30 p.m. A cornhole tourney is scheduled for 4 p.m. with outhouse races at 5 p.m. The light parade starts at 9 p.m., with lineup beginning at 8 p.m. near the Fire Department on Collins St. The parade will proceed north on Main St. to the Sports League fields, where public seating will be available. BUFFALO TRACE FESTIVAL IS SEPT. 15-16 Petersburg's Buffalo Trace Festival will celebrate Petersburg's 200th year as a city. It will feature free carnival rides, musical entertainment, bed races, a parade and fire- works all on Main St., Petersburg. Activities will start at 5 p.m. and feature bicentennial re-enactments on the court- house lawn and food and vendor booths will open at 5 p.m. as well. A parade is set for 6 p.m., with opening ceremonies set to follow at 6:30 p.m. The line-up of musical performances for Friday night will include: Kyilindi Pipes and Drums Band, Pike Central Jazz Band, and Cochren and Company. Saturday activities will start with the Farmers Market opening at 9 a.m. More re-enactments will begin at 9 a.m. as will the FFA Pedal Tractor pull. Tony Rothrock, Jerry Willis and Albert Swain will perform on the bicentennial stage beginning at 10 a.m. Little Miss Petersburg, Junior Miss Pe- tersburg and Miss Petersburg pageants will begin at 11 a.m. Stacy's Studio of Dance will perform at 1:30 p.m. The free carnival rides will open at 1 p.m. and run through 10 :30 p.m. Tony Rothrock will return to the stage at 2 p.m., this time with Shelby Lynn, Henry Area festivals continue as summer winds down Four Star gazers Several Four Star Fabricators employees donned their welding masks and took time to watch the solar eclipse on Monday after- noon. A cloudless afternoon allowed everyone to view the entire event without interruption. See additional photos on page A-8. United Way of Pike County will kick off its campaign with a com- munity Day of Caring on Wednes- day, September 20, 2017. This event involves recruiting volun- teers to help with projects for lo- cal not-for-profit agencies or orga- nizations for a one-day work blitz. The event will start with a spon- sored breakfast for its volunteers. They will receive a T-shirt to wear on the job and lunch will be pro- vided. The day will start at 7 a.m. with a breakfast at Cakes and Cof- fee on Main St. in Petersburg. De- nise Kinney, executive director of the United Way of Pike County, said volunteers will go to the proj- ect sites at about 8 a.m. and work until 11 a.m., when lunch will be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. United Way of Pike County hopes to raise the level of aware- ness of the needs, as well as the services, provided by these agen- cies. If you would like to volunteer or are an agency that would like to submit a project, contact the United Way of Pike County office at 812-789 -2557 or 812-789 -3774. This event is partially funded by Pike County Community Foun- dation and Amber Manor. Volunteers sought for Day of Caring By Andy Heuring Pike County Commissioners hired a consulting engineer, en- dorsed hiring a third part-time person in the health department to help with inspections and ap- pointed a new Emergency Man- agement Director during their Monday night meeting. Health Officer Dr. Mark Luff told the commissioners the Health Board met last week and developed three options. Howev- er, their favorite option was to cre- ate a new position for 21 hours a week that will earn about $18,000 a year. Luff explained after Sanitation Officer Al Foust retired, they ad- vertised the position, which was 14 hours a week, but they re- ceived no interest in the position. Eventually, he said Tom Dooley, the Veteran's Service Officer for Pike County, heard about the posi- tion. He was hired, but after a few weeks, he told them there were too many responsibilities for a 14-hour-a-week job. Luff said their inspector from the State Department of Health was in the county helping do in- spections, and also said there was too much to do for 14 hours a week. Commissioners appoint Bryant new EMA Director By Andy Heuring Petersburg City Council hired Cross- roads Engineers to design their Streetscape project on Main St. for $ 359,300 during their Monday night meeting. Mayor R.C. Klipsch said the project, which has a total estimated cost of about $2.5 million, will "be an extension of the two blocks we have already done." He said it would make the rest of Main St. look like the blocks near the Downtown Terrace. He said this will also include meeting ADA requirements. Klipsch said Petersburg will be reim- bursed 80 percent of the costs for the proj- ects. "Most of the work will be done in 2021 or 2022." He added they are trying to co- ordinate waterline mains along Main St. to be done at the same time. He said it was de- termined to do this as a federal aid project instead of a state project, because as a fed- eral project, the city would be reimbursed for engineering costs. As a state project, there was no funding for engineering costs. "I think we should enter into this with Crossroads. I have looked it over pretty ex- tensively," said Councilman John Melhiser. Klipsch said by the project not being un- der construction until 2021, he hoped to be getting Tax Increment Financing from the Downtown Terrace to help pay for the proj- ect. It was approved by a 5 -0 vote. The council had the first reading of their 2018 budget ordinance, which amounted to them stating the title of the 2018 budget, known as ordinance 2017-7, and set it for another reading in their 6:30 p.m. Monday, September 18 meeting. The proposed esti- mated budget is $1.864 million. Councilmen also announced wastewa- ter customers will see a rate increase on their September bills, which will be for wa- ter used in the month of August. It will be a six percent increase, which is the first of three phases that will result in an 18 per- cent cumulative increase. The next six per- cent increase will be effective on April 1, 2018 and another on December 1, 2018. Mayor Klipsch said the City of Peters- burg demolished an abandoned house at 1854 E. Main St. "We are just about fin- ished with that," said Klipsch. He said city employee William Rainey is an excellent equipment operator so they rented a track- hoe and dumpsters and got the project do- ne for about $2,500. He said they had put liens on properties before and had very lit- tle success. "Usually we tear something up when we try to tear something down, but this time we didn't," said Klipsch. He said they decided to rent a trackhoe so they wouldn't damage the city's back- hoe. In other announcements, Klipsch said a review of the sewer plant found an outflow meter was not operating properly. He said Petersburg hires firm for Main Street Streetscape design Scavenger hunt at PES Open House Petersburg Elementary School kindergarten teacher Melanie Kavanaugh (left) explains the rules for a scavenger hunt to one of her students, Verity Johnson, during an open house held at the school on Thursday, Aug. 17. See additional photos on page A-6.Ed Cahill photo By Ed Cahill Otwell Miller Academy stu- dents are continuing to attend classes at two local churches as workers begin to apply the fin- ishing touches on the charter school's building. Since the first day of classes on Monday, Aug. 14, students in kin- dergarten through second grade have been housed at the Otwell Wesleyan Church, while students in third through fifth grades have been housed at the Otwell United Methodist Church. In addition, the Lil Hoosiers Preschool is being housed at the Otwell United Methodist Church's parsonage, where it was located during the 2016 -17 school year. School officials were hoping that they would be able to move into their new building on Mon- day, Aug. 21, but what Friends of Otwell Elementary president Bob Rhodes called "whims of fate" have forced classes to be held at least one more week at the churches. "There are a couple of key in- gredients that have to come to- gether," Rhodes said during the group's monthly communi- ty meeting on Monday, Aug. 21. Academy students may be in new building by Monday