The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/891772
A-2 Front Wednesday, October 25, 2017 The Press-Dispatch We're not afraid to shed some light on the truth. 812-354-8500 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! ACTIVITIES Continued from page 1 OTWELL Continued from page 1 For the peace of mind that comes with quiet, dependable cooling and energy efficiency that can save you money, discover Comfortmaker ® systems. Comfort with confidence. Air Conditioning & Heating © 2014 International Comfort Products LIMITED ™ S ee w a rr an t y ce rti ca t e f o r de t a il s . 10 Timely registration required. See warranty certicate for details and restrictions. 303 Breckinridge Rd, MonRoe City Box 35 Phone: 812-743-2382 Fax: 812-743-2169 Email: perryshvac@gmail.com HEATING & AIR-CONDITIONING Craig Perry Vance Perry Perry ' s LLC Serving the area since 1950. Perry ' s Complete Line of: Air Conditioning, Gas Furnaces, Heat Pumps, Whole-Home Air Cleaners, Humidifiers, Water Heaters and Water Conditioners CITY OF PETERSBURG LARGE ITEM Disposal Day Fri., October 27 • 9am-3pm Sat., October 28 • 9am-Noon this is for RESIDENTS LIVING WITHIN PETERSBURG CITY LIMITS Please bring proof of residency. Tires, Computers, TVs, Hazardous Materials (Paint, etc.) ITEMS NOT ACCEPTED LARGE ITEM DROP-OFF NEW LOCATION: Petersburg City Garage on Cherry Street If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact City Hall, 812-354-8511 SENIOR CITIZENS: Pick-up for large items available. Please call to make arrangements by Wednesday, Oct. 25. Douglas arrested for OVWI By Andy Heuring An Otwell man was ar- rested on a drunken driving charge after he was stopped for speeding on Main St. in Petersburg at about 2 a.m. Sunday. It was one of two OV WI arrests in Pike Coun- ty last week. Gage Douglas Fiscus, 21, of 2018 Dewey St., Otwell, was arrested by Petersburg Cpl. Jared Simmons. Simmons said he saw a gray Ford Mustang driving 31 mph in a 20 zone, north on Highway 57. While talking with Fis- cus, Cpl. Simmons said he noticed the odor of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle and the odor of alco- hol from Fiscus, as well beer cans in the back floorboard. Fiscus failed field sobri- ety tests, including a porta- ble breath test. He was transported to the Pike County Jail, where he refused the tests. Cpl. Sim- mons said during a search of Fiscus' vehicle, police found two burnt marijuana blunt roaches in a package of ciga- rettes in the center console. Fiscus was preliminari- ly charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated (refusal) and possession of marijuana. A Petersburg teen was arrested late Friday after an off-duty state trooper no- tified central dispatch of a minivan that had gone left of center several times while going north on Highway 61, approaching Winslow. Jacquelyn Kay Jones, 19, of 202 N. White River Ave., Petersburg, was arrested by Deputy Jason McKinney. State Trooper Hunter Manning, who was off-duty, said the green minivan had turned into the liquor store parking lot in Winslow and then drove south on High- way 61. McKinney said he located the vehicle near CR 375 S. and noticed it go left of center and off the right side of the road. He stopped the van at County Road 400 S. near the Trading Post. When he approached Jones, she told him she was "messing with her lip pierc- ings and was not paying at- tention." Deputy McKinney said Jones continued laughing the entire time she was do- ing field sobriety tests and claimed she was just ner- vous. He said she eventually told police she had smoked marijuana after she got off work a few hours earlier. She also told police she had hid marijuana in a Dr. Pepper can. A search of the vehicle located the can with marijuana in it and a glass smoking pipe. She refused a chemical test and was preliminari- ly charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated (refusal) and possession of marijuana. FALLOWEEN JESUS FALL FESTIVAL AT MT. OLIVE GB CHURCH SATURDAY The Mt. Olive General Baptist Church, located on Highway 56, near Cato, will have a family Fall Festival from 2 to 6 p.m. on Satur- day, October 28. It will fea- ture free games and priz- es, pumpkin painting and a trunk or treat, with conces- sions available. IMMANUEL BAPTIST TRUNK OR TREAT 6 TO 8 P.M. SATURDAY The Immanuel Baptist Church in Petersburg, next the Jay C Store, will have a Trunk or Treat from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 28. GLEZEN GB TRUNK OR TREAT The Glezen General Bap- tist Church is having a trunk or treat at 5 p.m. Sat- urday, October 28. They are located at the corner of Center and Sycamore Sts. in Glezen. PETERSBURG FIRST CHURCH OF GOD TRUNK OR TREAT Petersburg First Church of God will have a trunk or treat on their parking lot from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 28. They are locat- ed on north Highway 57. PETERSBURG NAZARENE FALL FESTIVAL OCT. 29 Petersburg Church of the Nazarene will have a Fall Festival from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. that will include inflat- ables and games. They will also have hotdogs, chips and cookies. They are located at 118 W. Pike Ave. know, a month and a half, so then I contact Mike. I sent him a text message, 'When am I going to get paid? ' He sent me back, 'Here's who you need to contact'." (In August, Houtsch stepped down as Friends of Otwell Elementary, Ltd., president to serve as chair of the Otwell Miller Acade- my Board of Directors' Op- erations and Facilities Sub- committee. He was succeed- ed as FoOE president by the group's former vice-presi- dent, Bob Rhodes.) "So I contact Bob, and Bob basically tells me, 'Hey, the money's good. The money's there. We're getting dona- tions,'" Gehlhausen contin- ued. "This, that and the oth- er." Gehlhausen said that, a few days later, he received a fly- er advertising a benefit golf scramble that was hosted by Friend of Otwell Elementary, Ltd., on Saturday, Oct. 14, in Jasper. "That just kind of real- ly made me mad, that they would have the nerve to send me that, when they owe me money," Gehlhausen said. Shortly thereafter, Gehl- hausen said that he again at- tempted to make contact with Houtsch regarding the mon- ey he was owed. "I sent Mike another text message saying, 'You bugged me about making sure I get the job done, and I got it done, on time, when I was supposed to, and you told me I would be paid within 30 days, and now, when I contact you, you have no answers,'" Gehlhausen re- called. "And he said, 'Sorry. Not my responsibility.' I've got it all on text." "Then I called Bob and I'm, like, 'Bob, you know that kind of makes me mad, that this guy calls me, asks me to do a job, and then when it's time to get paid, he's pointing me in other directions,'" Gehlhau- sen continued. "And I kind of see the writing on the wall, because there's bigger fish in this operation. I'm a small company. I'm not Weir Elec- tric. I'm not Gudorf Supply. They have a lot more money invested in it than me." Gehlhausen said that he had recently tried to warn a fellow contractor who told him that he was going to be doing work at Otwell Miller Academy not to do it. "It sounds bad, because I know it's for kids, but, you know what? My kids go to a public school. I pay taxes," he said. "If they had come to me and said, 'Hey, how much of this can you donate? ' that's different." "Will my company survive without it? " Gehlhausen add- ed. "Yeah. But it kind of just irritates me how it was all do- ne. Be up front. If you don't have money, be up front about it, and then let people make the decision about whether or not they want to donate it or not." Gehlhausen said that he decided to file the mechan- ic's lien after consulting with his attorney. "I didn't want to get burned, so I talked to my lawyer out of Santa Claus, and, because it was getting onto 60 days, she was, like, well, with commer- cial jobs, you have 90 days," Gehlhausen said. "So I said, 'Well, let's just go ahead and do it.'" Gehlhausen added, howev- er, that it was unclear wheth- er or not he would be able to foreclose on the property to collect the money he's owed. That's because the pur- chase agreement executed between Whitehead Bros. Inc., and Friends of Otwell El- ementary, Ltd., contains a re- version clause that states that should the property cease to be used for educational or childcare purposes for more than one year, the property would revert back to White- head Bros., Inc. "They might keep that land and building in the fam- ily for the rest of their lives, and then it's never an issue," Gehlhausen said. Rhodes, interviewed by phone on Wednesday, Oct. 18, said that he was not yet aware that Gehlhausen had filed a notice of intention to hold a mechanic's lien. "I will tell you, the last time that the subject of liens came up, I got a real education," Rhodes said. "There are a lot of construction projects that go on. Now, I don't know a percentage, I don't have any definite numbers, but the bottom line is, is that's not uncommon. I hope he didn't spend a lot of money doing that." "Everybody's going to get paid, and they're all going to get paid quicker than what they think they are," Rhodes added. "That's about all I can say at this point and time." Rhodes said that he under- stood why Gehlhausen had filed his intent to hold a me- chanic's lien on the Friends of Otwell Elementary, Ltd., property. "The bottom line is, those people have people that they're trying to feed, Christ- mas is coming, they're want- ing to get paid and we know that," Rhodes said. "I cannot go into a lot of details about why those people are waiting. Those are for me to know and nobody else. But the long and short of it is, I hold no prob- lem with anybody who feels like that's the thing for them to do." "I personally and profes- sionally will tell them they really ought to talk to us be- fore they do that because we can save them some mon- ey and court costs," Rhodes added. "There are things that we can do to make them feel better. But the bottom line is that we're not holding on- to any money that we're not giving out. There has been a change in administration, and we are doing some things dif- ferently and, we hope, better." Fall Clean-up this weekend The City of Petersburg Fall Clean-up is set for this Friday and Saturday. It will be at a new location. In- stead of being at the Amer- ican Legion Little League Park, as in the past, it will be located at the City Ga- rage on Cherry St., behind Casey's General Store. The clean-up will of- fer free disposal of large items. However, the fol- lowing will not be accept- ed: tires, computers, tele- visions, computer screens, hazardous materials and paint. It is available only to residents of Petersburg and proof of residence, such as a driver's license, is required. Hours for the clean-up are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fri- day and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The city is also offering pick-up for senior citizens. Arrangements for this service must be made by Wednesday. Questions can be directed to City Hall at 812-354-8511. Paving in White Oak area The Pike County Highway Department paves on County Road 650E in the White Oak area last Friday. They will were also scheduled to pave CR50S in the same area. The paving is part of a $566,000 paving grant the county received from INDOT. Assistant Highway Superintendent Josh Byrd said they expect to get all of the paving related to the grant completed this Fall, but it will be weather dependent.