The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-8 Sports .........B1-3 Classifi eds ........ B4 Church ........C1-3 Home Life........C4-8 School............. C9 History ......... C10 Opinion .. C11-12 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 ARREST on page 2 See REPEAL on page 2 See HEARTS on page 2 See REVIEW on page 3 See JETRO on page 6 $ 1 Three sections Two inserts 24 pages Wednesday, January 3, 2018 Volume 148 Number 1 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) By Janice Barniak For four area men and their families, this Christmas and every day represents a gift from the people who literally gave their hearts to let them live. Stephen McCain said heart disease caused the first attack in November of 2005, which led to open heart surgery. He went through three defibrillators, and was told everything had been done for him, that he wasn't strong enough for a transplant, when his physician suggested a second opinion from a different hospital might get him on the transplant list. "My father died of heart disease; I got it from him," McCain said. Terry Graham's first sign of trouble was during a normal day; he'd worked in the family restaurant smoking meat before coming home to cut hay. Then, he said it felt like someone hit him with a sledgeham- mer in the chest—he was having a heart at- tack. He was Life Flighted to Gateway, and had a double bypass. Doctors told his wife, Lola, to make arrangements; he had a one percent chance to live. "Every day, I had to ask, is today going to be the day I go home without him? " Lo- la remembered. "I came home twice in the first five months." Jeff Barrett was on a weight-loss program with his daughter, and had lost 28 pounds in three weeks, but suddenly, even though he was eating less, he gained 10 pounds in less than a week. His doctor said that was wa- ter retention, and when they tried to bring his fluids down, they discovered his heart wasn't working right. They thought with- out intervention he'd have approximately six months left. Dave Will blames himself for ignoring his own high blood pressure and symptoms. Fi- nally, he went to the doctor for his trouble sleeping, and the doctor took a look at his heart. Once they saw the damage, they said he couldn't leave the hospital. His wife Lucy, a teacher, dropped her teaching schedule and rushed to his side. You could call it the New Hearts Club — four men who bonded over their need for Following is the second part of news highlights from an eventful year: 2017. JULY • John Davidson was appointed Clay Township Trustee by a 3-0 vote of coun- ty commissioners. Davidson replaces Jim King, who resigned as trustee of Clay Town- ship for more than 30 years. • Pike County Commissioners agreed to give the Pike County Chamber of Com- merce $2,500 and allow them to use office space in the courthouse rent free. Cham- ber of Commerce officials told commission- ers they were suffering a financial crisis, partially because their old building was ex- pensive to heat and cool and they had lost renters. • Jordan King, 27, of rural Winslow, suf- fered severe burns when something in a burn barrel exploded, sending a burning liquid onto him. • Maria Restrepo-Turner was honored with a reception. Restrepo-Turner served as the Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator in Pike County for 12 years be- fore taking a job in Illinois. • Four light poles on Main St. toppled af- ter a delivery truck's trailer got caught on a decorative flag, pulling them over. One of the poles landed on top of Tamara Ev- ans' Pontiac Grand Prix, breaking her rear windshield and causing damage to the top and back of the car. • Petersburg Mayor R. C. Klipsch an- nounced city officials would take action against people living in RVs within the city limits. "You are not allowed to live in an RV in a residential zone. It seems there is some of that going on. . . It is a direct violation of our zoning ordinance," said Klipsch. • Lloyd Demotte, 87, of Otwell, was in- jured on Sunday, July 16, when the van he was riding in ran off the road and over- turned on the shoulder of I-69, near the 39 -mile marker. • About 340 people from at least four states participated in the first Clog the Pa- toka event, organized by the Kayak Mafia. People were able to canoe, kayak, raft or tube their way downstream from the Old Iron Bridge near Survant, about a six-mile trip, and from McCord's Ford, about a 1.5 mile trip. Participants ranged from avid kayakers to Annette Sharp, who is awaiting a lung transplant. She climbed into a tube with her oxygen tank and floated down. "I have seven grandkids and I want to make all the memories I can with them. You nev- er know how long you are going to have. I can't wait until next year," said Sharp. • Aleshia Kuebler, 25, of Petersburg, was seriously injured on Friday, July 7, when she ran off of Highway 356 and was eject- ed from her Honda Civic, which began flip- ping end over end. Her two small children were strapped in car seats and escaped se- rious injury. • Kelly Freeland, 47, of Petersburg, was arrested on a warrant for disorderly con- duct and intimidation after he became en- raged when the lid came off from coffee he bought at the McDonald's drive-through. Police said Freeland stopped his car and went into the restaurant, slammed his cof- fee on the counter and screamed, "The next time you hand me a coffee with the lid not on it, I'm going to put it on your head and burn this place down! " He then threw the coffee off the counter, splashing it through the front of the restaurant. • Keyla Martinez was named Little Miss Pike County. • Xavery Weisman was named Jr. Miss Pike County. • Bailey Sutt was crowned Miss Pike County. Area men grateful members of 'New Hearts Club' 2017: Year in Review, July through December By Andy Heuring Driving 34 mph in a 50 zone led to a Pa- toka man being arrested for dealing meth after police confiscated more than $ 6,000 in cash and 80 grams of meth. Brandon Gene Sollman, 36, of 5399 N. CR 400 E., Patoka, was arrested on charg- es of dealing in methamphetamine, at least 10 grams, a level 2 felony; operating a vehi- cle while intoxicated; dealing in marijuana, a level 3 felony; possession of meth, at least 28 grams; possession of marijuana, a level 6 felony; possession of paraphernalia; and maintaining a common nuisance. Petersburg Police Cpl. Jared Simmons said at 3 a.m. New Year's Eve, he noticed a black Chevrolet Tahoe driving 34 mph in a 50 zone on Highway 57, north of Peters- burg. As he followed the vehicle south in- to Petersburg, it stopped at Huck's, then drove west on Pike Ave. Cpl. Simmons said Sollman drove over the fog line and off the road three times while weaving back and forth in his lane. Simmons said he stopped Sollman near CR 250 W. and the vehicle pulled complete- ly into the grass. Cpl. Simmons said when he talked with Sollman, he noticed bloodshot eyes and his pupils were unresponsive to light. He also noticed rapid and slurred speed, and poor manual dexterity. Sollman told Cpl. Simmons he didn't have any identification because he had left it in his other truck. He failed three sobriety tests and passed a portable breath test. According to Sim- mons' report, Sollman originally agreed to take a chemical test, but after he was Traffic stop leads to felony meth arrest Steve McCain enjoys family he quite possibly wouldn't have had, if it weren't for a successful heart transplant oper- ation. Steve is one of four area men who received new hearts this year. By Andy Heuring Pike County Commissioners repealed the county building ordinance that was put in place following the 1990 tornado. They also reappointed all the county employees without changes during the first meeting of 2018 on Tuesday morning. Assessor Mike Goodpaster told the com- missioners he had checked with several counties in southwestern Indiana and only one of them had a county-wide building or- dinance. Goodpasture said after checking with Dubois, Martin, Organge, Daviess, Lawrence, Knox and Gibson counties, he was surprised to find only Daviess County had a county-wide building ordinance. He said Daviess contracted the inspection out to the City of Washington. Goodpaster said some of the larger cit- ies in those counties had building ordinanc- es. He said Dubois County had a system of when they have any building requiring a septic system, they included a question- naire about the building, which was for- warded to the assessor's office. "The overall general consensus was I found no county-wide building permits in any county other than Daviess County." Commissioner Jeff Nelson said they con- sidered repealing the building ordinance when long-time building inspector Jim Sims died. "It all comes down to, when there is a lender involved, they aren't going to let you build junk," said Nelson. He added, "But how are we going to get this (improvements and new buildings) on the tax roles? " Goodpaster said Knox County uses a software called Pictometry. It takes aerial photos of the county once a year from four different directions. The software com- pares them to previous years and finds new buildings and or buildings that have been County building ordinance repealed by commissioners Area officials continue to build relationships with Japanese representatives By Andy Heuring Pike County and Petersburg continued to build international relationships. Officials with the Japan External Trade Organiza- tion in Chicago visited with local represen- tatives and toured the I-69 development ar- ea and mega-site on December 21. Petersburg Mayor R. C. Klipsch, Pike Economic Development Council execu- tive director Ashley Willis, Bowman Fam- ily Holdings, Business Development exec- utive John Mandabach and Paul Wheatley, of the Wheatley Group, met with Ralph In- forzato, director of Business Development of JETRO at Chicago, and Tsubasa Hasimo- to, director of Public A ffairs for JETRO of Chicago. "What they are doing is spending time with us building relationships with Japa- nese companies," said Mayor Klipsch. "It was a very good meeting. We talked about everything we had to offer. Mr. Inforzato indicated he was excited and surprised at what we have done with the Master Plan and shovel ready sites. He was surprised how far we have come in the last three years. I think pleasantly surprised," said Klipsch. "It is really about relationship building with them," said Willis. She said JETRO is an organization that tries to pair U.S. companies interested in in- JETRO officials tour local I-69 mega-site Extreme cold creates problems Extreme cold weather created problems around Pike County. Tempera- tures reached minus 5 on Tuesday morning. Above: a water leak in an alley near Goodlet and Highway 61 caused water to pool on Highway 61. Most of it froze, but vehicles driving through the big puddle, spraying the water and causing Highway 61, the sidewalks and yards nearby to be ice covered. City Services Manager Ross Elmore said crews worked from about 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to fix the leak. Another water leak was reported in Glezen. Two power lines also fell due to the cold causing the lines to constrict. One fell near the Village Inn, along CR 50 S. and Highway 57, and another fell near Iva. Both caused short elec- trical outages for nearby residents.