The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/919610
The Press-Dispatch Local Wednesday, December 27, 2017 A- 9 AJ CYCLE 30 Indiana St, Jasper (right behind Shoney's) • www.ajcycle.net Make this winter easier by adding a snowplow to your ATV or UTV! Call today for a quote on your snowplow package, 812-482-3366. Hurry! Offer ends 1/31/18 Never Be Snowed In Again! Get a FREE SET of HEATED GRIPS installed with the purchase of an installed snowplow package, starting at $799. • Blade • Mounting Plate • Push Tube • Installation PACKAGE INCLUDES: won its third straight PAC title. Those achievements, however, pale in comparison to Corlett's most recent ac- complishment – helping the Vincennes University cheer team win first place in its di- vision at the National USA Collegiate Championships in Anaheim, Calif. • The Petersburg Com- mon Council voted to par- ticipate in a grant program for owner-occupied housing rehabilitation. The council voted 5 -0 to proceed with a program that could grant as much as $ 350,000 to make improvements to houses in Petersburg, whose owners are low to moderate income. Jenny Dearwater, program manager for the Southern Indiana Development Com- mission located in Loogoo- tee, Petersburg could get up to $ 350,000 and a maximum of $25,000 per house was al- lowed depending on the type of work the house needed. • A Somerville man and a Chandler teen were arrested on child solicitation charges after making contact with a police decoy claiming to be a 13-year-old child. Scott Hart- ley, 56, of Somerville, was arrested after police claim he drove to Petersburg in pa- jama pants to meet who he thought was a 13-year-old he had been talking to on Face- book. Hartley was charged with child solicitation, using computer network and trav- els to meet a child, a level 4 felony, which carries an ad- visory sentence of six years, with a range of two to 12 years. Zachary Alvey, 19, of Chandler, was arrested on a warrant for child solicitation of a child less than 14, a lev- el 5 felony, and child exploi- tation, a level 6 felony. Alvey reported contacted a police decoy on Facebook. Even though Alvey was told the decoy was a 13-year-old sev- enth grade student, he con- tinue to make contact with the decoy. Alvey, according to a probable cause affidavit, asked the decoy numerous time if they had done numer- ous several acts. MAY • A near historic rain storm blasted southern Pike County with about 11 inches of rain. According to the Na- tional Weather Service, the area south of State Road 64 received between 10 to 15 inches of rain, while central Pike County got between five and 10 inches, and the northern third of the coun- ty got three to five inches of rain. Pike County Assistant Highway Superintendent Josh Byrd said that about 80 percent of all the roads in Marion, Monroe and Lock- hart townships were under water during the event as flash flooding washed out large culverts at several lo- cations, leaving roads with holes several feet wide. • The Pike County Coun- cil was told the county's cash balance has grown from just $108,102 in 2015 to $1.5 million in 2017 after the council enacted a Pub- lic Safety local income op- tion tax that generated more than $563,875. County Au- ditor Ron Wilson also listed $117,464 the county EMS received in Medicaid Reim- bursement and $567,790 col- lected for ambulance runs. • Pike Central High School's 3rd Annual Riley Dance Marathon raised $18,171.08 for the Riley Hospital for Children, more than $ 6,000 over the goal of $12,000. • Eighth graders Colt Armstrong, Ijaa Chambers and Ethan Huck placed first in one individual event each as the Pike Central Middle School boys' track and field team won the Pocket Athlet- ic Conference Junior High Championships for the first time since 1988. • Former Otwell Elemen- tary School principal Rick Fears was hired as the direc- tor for a K-5 charter school that organizers are planning to open in August in the east- ern Pike County Communi- ty. Fears' hiring as direc- tor for Otwell Miller Acade- my was formally announced during a public meeting by Friends of Otwell Elemen- tary, Ltd., president Mike Houtsch. • A fter 43 years as the Clay Township Trustee, Jim King announced that he was resigning. King fell while fishing in April and broke his back. "My wife, Inez's health is bad. She couldn't do the boos anymore. So we just decided it was time to give it up." • Pike Central High School freshman Tyler Kir- by placed first in pole vault with a personal record leap of 12 feet, 6 inches during the Pocket Athletic Confer- ence Championships. En- tering the meet tied for the fourth-highest seed in the event with Heritage Hills ju- nior Adam Redmond, Kirby beat his previous personal record leap of 11 feet, 6 inch- es by one foot. • An early morning fire damaged the Fish Hut res- taurant in Winslow, forcing it to close. A fire broke out in the pizza kitchen area of the Winslow establishment, set- ting off an alarm at 4:22 a.m. Owner Joe Henson said the pizza kitchen area was add- ed onto the back of the build- ing. Fire crews were able to limit the fire damage to the added-on portion of the building. However there was significant smoke and heat damage throughout the building. • One week after winning pole vault during the Pocket Athletic Conference Cham- pionships with a personal re- cord leap of 12 feet, 6 inch- es, Pike Central High School freshman Tyler Kirby set an- other personal record while winning the event during the sectional meet with a leap of 13 feet, edging out Vincennes Lincoln junior Noah Batty, who finished second with a leap of 12 feet, 6 inches. • A rural Winslow man was injured in a motorcy- cle crash when he crashed into a ditch. Greg Helson, 61, was riding his 2010 Ka- wasaki motorcycle north on Highway 61 and lost con- trol, running off the side of the road. Pike County Dep- uty Sheriff Paul Collier said Helson went into a ditch and continued to ride about 20 to 30 feet down the ditch before he crashed and came to a stop. Collier said Helson complained of a back injury, saying he didn't have any feeling below his chest. Hel- son was taken by Air Evac to Deaconesss Hospital in Evansville. • Stephen Daniel Haug, 60, of 212 E. 24th St., Fer- dinand, was arrested by Pe- tersburg Police Cpl. Jared Simmons after he allegedly traveled from Ferdinand to Hornady Park, where he had asked a police decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl to meet and have sex with him. Ac- cording to a probable cause affidavit, Haug sent a friend request to Petersburg Police Sgt. Chad McClellan, who was posing as a 13-year-old girl. McClellan, in a prob- able cause affidavit, said despite repeatedly telling Haug she was 13 years old, Haug sent messages to the decoy telling her he wanted to take her some place they could be alone. As the con- versation progressed, he be- gan describing sexual acts he wanted to have with the decoy. A fter he eventually suggested they meet, the de- coy asked him to bring a can- dy bar and agreed to meet him in Hornady Park. Police subsequently watched Haug drive into Hornady Park and start messaging the decoy, asking where she was locat- ed. When Simmons drove in- to the park, Haug left, driv- ing west on Highway 56, where he was pulled over by Simmons. Along with a cell- phone with containing mes- sages from the decoy, po- lice found four condoms and two packs of Kit Kat bars in Haug's vehicle. JUNE • A rural Petersburg man escaped serious injury when he suffered a medical emer- gency and drove through a front porch on Highway 57 north of Petersburg. John White, 72, of 7551 N. CR 350 E., Petersburg, was driving north on Highway 57 in his Chevrolet S10 Blazer when he experienced a medical condition, which caused him to run off the right side of the road. He went up an embankment, trav - eled about 100 yards, then drove through and under Wilda Bostick's front porch. White's vehicle was pinned under the elevated porch that had latticing around the base of it. When White drove through the elevated porch, a 2x8 support beam went through his windshield and struck the head rest of his driver's side seat, just missing his head. White complained of back pain and was extricated from the ve- hicle, then transported to the hospital by Pike Coun- ty EMS. • The Petersburg Com- mon Council approved the first reading of an ordinance that proposes raising sewer rates by 18 percent by De- cember 2018. The proposed sewer rate increase would be implemented in three phases, starting with a six percent across-the-board rate increase that would go into effect the first full bill- ing cycle following adop- tion, followed by a six per- cent across-the-board rate increase that would go in- to effect on April 1, 2018, and a five percent across- the-board rate increase that would go into effect on De- cember 1, 2018. Accord- ing to an analysis issued by Deen Rogers, of H.J. Um- baugh and Associates, the proposed sewer rate in- creases would leave the Pe- tersburg Municipal Sewage Works with net receipts of minus- $19,200 at the end of 2017, net receipts of a pos- itive $18,400 at the end of 2018, and net receipts of a positive $57,800 at the end of 2019. • A sublease agreement that would allow students from a proposed charter school to use the Otwell Community Center's din - ing and gymnasium facili- ties could be in jeopardy af- ter it was discovered that the community center's own lease had expired in 2012. In May 2016, Dorothy Traylor, then president of the Jeffer- son Township Community Center, Inc., signed a "com- mercial lease agreement" between Otwell Commu- nity Center and Friends of Otwell Elementary, Ltd., to sublet the facility – "specif- ically the gymnasium and cafeteria" – at a rent of $200 per month for a one-year term starting August 1, 2016, which would automat- ically renew for an addition- al year on August 1, 2017. However, according to a let- ter hand-delivered by Jeffer- son Township Trustee Cin- dy Ridao to John Gray, the current president of Jeffer- son Township Community Center, Inc., a lease exten- sion agreement between the township and the communi- ty center – signed on May 7, 2002 – actually expired in August 2012 and was never renewed. • Area police started a death investigation after police and probation found Roger Harper, 61, of 497 MARCH 15, 2017 – These are real spring chicks, not the kind you typi- cally think of during Spring Break. Ellen Worley, Jeresey Vickers and Joseph Worley hold young chickens the Worleys are raising in Winslow. They were out playing on the sunny, 70 degree day Monday, which was the first day of Spring Break for Pike County Schools. MAY 2, 2017 – Te'Marion Fields and Emily Halderman were in costume at Pike Central's Prom on Saturday night at the high school in their formal wear and masks. The theme of the prom was Masquerade. The After Prom followed with a Hawaiian theme. Jeff Harting photo APRIL 5, 2017 – Eager egg hunters at the Winslow Easter Egg Hunt race away from the starting line as the horn blows Saturday morning to signal the start of the hunt. The Winslow hunt, sponsored by the House of Mercy church, was one of three hunts in Pike County on Saturday. The other two were the Peters- burg Moose hunt at Hornady Park and the Union Church hunt. See REVIEW on 10