The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/912793
A-2 Front Wednesday, December 6, 2017 The Press-Dispatch See DUTY on page 3 CARTS Continued from page 1 ••• 2 01 7 ••• Main Street, Petersburg Saturday, Dec. 9, 11am-3pm MORE INFORMATION: Call Marge's Hallmark: 812-354-9372 Event sponsored by HOLLY WALK • Free Carriage Rides 11am-3pm • Carmel Corn at 7th & Main • Santa From 11am-3pm at 702 E. Main St. • Christmas Tree Ornament Project • Candy Canes and Balloons at 702 E. Main Sponsored by Main Street Presbyterian Church • Free large cookie with either Saturday Special at Cakes & Coffee Café • Good Eats at Fish Hut Pizza and China Wok • Sales and Bargains at Petersburg Hardware, Mikel's Graphics, Silk Designs, Ole Flower Shoppe, Make Me Unique and Daugherity Auction Service • Marge's Hallmark Sales, Refreshments and Drawings. Free Ornament with $25 purchase. • Model Train Show, Noon-4 pm at Gospel Center Church Community Center - 420 E. Illinois St. Sponsored by Pike Collision Marge's Shop 716 Main St. 812-354-9372 Petersburg Regular Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 9-5; Fri. 9-6; Sat. 9-6 Free Carriage Rides 11am - 3pm Sat., December 9 Holly Walk 2017 O p en Hous e 9am - 5pm Drawings • Sales Bargains • Refreshments • Precious Moments • Willow Tree • Jim Shore • Libs Candy FREE GIFT WITH PURCHASE $25 Snowman 8th in series 706 E. Main • Petersburg 812-354-2410 BUY HALF PRICE GET ONE ONE All clothing storewide! THURSDAY - SATURDAY DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 9 Purchase any clothing item, get second item of equal or lesser value at half price. Hollywalk SpecialS Toy Train Show Saturday, December 9 Noon to 4 p.m. EST Gospel Center Church Community Center 420 East Illinois Street, Petersburg, Indiana Sponsored by: Pike Collision Contact: Don Richardson • 812-582-2021 • pikecollisiontrainshow@gmail.com Facebook Page: Indiana Southern Model Railroaders FREE TO THE PUBLIC Looking for people with Train Layouts, RR Memorabilia, and Train Collections that would like to share them at our upcoming 5th Annual Toy Train Show. NO FEE TO DISPLAY. The Salvation Army needs bell ringing volunteers for this weekend at both loca- tions in Petersburg. On Friday, December 8 volunteers are needed from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Dollar General Store. On Saturday, volunteers are needed from 5 to 7 p.m. at Petersburg Hardware. At the Dollar General Store they are needed at 9 a.m. and then from 11 a.m. until the end of the day. Volunteers can call Biddle at 812-582-2385. Weekend bell ringers needed there is a fine," said Klipsch. The complete ordinance can be read on page B-8. In other business, Peters- burg accepted a bid from Rich Coan to purchase its old fire department build- ing located at 10th and Wal- nut streets. Petersburg had advertised for bids and re- ceived two bids. One bid was for $5,000 the other was Coan's for $48,100. Mayor Klipsch explained the city had to get two ap- praisals of the property. He said the minimum bid they could accept was the aver- age of the two appraisals. He said Coan's bid met that requirement. Klipsch also told the coun- cil he had proposals from Duke on the light poles. Two options were to use ei- ther wooden or aluminum poles. Wood poles would be $1,667.19 a month and aluminum poles would be $2,122.96 for a three-year lease. Klipsch said the Streetscape federal grant project to redo Main St., in- cluding light poles, is sched- uled for 2020 -2021. So the three-year lease would have the poles paid off by the time the Streetscape proj- ect starts. He said if there is a delay, the city would just have to pay for the electric- ity and maintenance of the poles until they were re- placed. Klipsch said he wasn't a fan of the wood poles on Main St., but he just couldn't see paying the extra money to get aluminum poles that would be replaced in three years anyway. He said the other advan- tage is Duke has the wood poles in stock and they should be installed quicker than aluminum poles they would have to order. Councilman Gary Leavitt said he thought they should get the wood poles in place as soon as possible. He said now with the short days, it is dark when most business- es on Main St. close. "It is dark when Marge (his wife, owner of Marge's Hallmark) closes up. She is concerned just about walking from the front of the store to her car in the dark," said Leavitt. Klispch agreed it is a safe- ty issue not having lights. Councilman John Melhis- er asked if the city would own the poles after the lease is completed. He said if the city would own them, it might be possible to move the poles to areas not lit. Klipsch said on Tuesday he checked and Petersburg would not own the poles. In other business, the city voted to seek a grant to pay 80 percent of updating the Petersburg Comprehensive Plan. He said the five-year plan expires in 2018. In separate tidbits, Coun- cilman Gary Leavitt com- plained about a "junkyard" that was starting up at the corner of Seventh and Mc- Coy streets. "There are two very unhappy neighbors," said Leavitt. "It just looks like a little junkyard." Police Chief Chuck Baumgart asked about a standing water problem on Highway 61 between Good- let and McCoy streets. He said it is a safety issue. "I have been in contact with them as recent as our last rain about it and I haven't had a response yet," said Mayor Klipsch. The next city council meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Decem- ber 18 in City Hall. By Andy Heuring Bleck the drug dog is re- porting for duty in Pike County. Bleck, is a Czecho- slovakian Shepherd, with a nose and temperament ex- traordinaire, to accompany Pike County Deputy Sher- iff Buck Seger. He started working shifts for the Sher- iff's Department on Novem- ber 16. It was more than an eight-month journey for Bleck to be an official Pike County K-9 officer. "We started fundraising in Feb- ruary. By late July, we had enough funding to purchase the dog," said Chief Deputy Kent Johnson. A big chunk of it came from Felson Bow- man, owner of Bowman Family Holdings. Bowman was a canine officer in a for- mer career. Bowman Family Holdings gave the Sheriff's Department a $10,000 check to help fund purchasing and training the dog. "We were able to pay for this with donations and didn't use any tax money," said Johnson. Another key donation was from the City of Washington Police Department. They do- nated a used car cage. Bleck was brought from Czechoslovakia to the Unit- ed States on September 14 and started training imme- diately. Deputy Seger start- ed a six-week training pro- gram with Bleck on October 9. Seger previously worked with a K-9 officer when he was an officer in Washing- ton. Chief Deputy Johnson was a K-9 assistant and lat- er handler during his mili- tary career. Seger said Johnson's ex- perience was huge for him during the training. "If I was having trouble in close with the dog, I would call Kent to ask him about it." Seger and Bleck went through the John Haller Top Dogs Academy. "We selected it because it is the toughest standard. If we get challenged in court on our dog, we can say our dog was trained to the high- est standards," said Seger. One of the things Seger had to learn is Bleck's com- mands in the language in which Bleck was original- ly taught basic commands. "He knows some English commands, but most are in his language." While it was a long jour- ney to get from fundrais- ing and through the train- ing until Bleck was on pa- trol in Pike County, it didn't take long for him to have an impact. "On his very first shift, he made a drug arrest," said Seger. Besides the numerous drug arrests Bleck has as- sisted in, he also helped re- trieve a pair of suspects who had fled on foot. Seger said a father and son had fled into the woods from an accident scene. He said when officers warned the remaining suspect they were going to release the dog, he immediately sur- rendered. This saved offi- cers from having to go into a dark woods to try and lo- cate him. Seger said in his previous experience at Washington, when suspects knew the K- 9 officer was on duty, they often just volunteered their drugs. K9 Bleck reports for duty Pike County Deputy Sheriff Buck Seger and K- 9 officer Bleck officially started patrolling on No- vember 16. John Mandabach of Bowman Family Holdings presents a check to Pike County Deputy Jason McKinney for $10,000 to help purchase and train a drug dog.