The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-8 Sports .........B1-5 Opinion .......B6-8 Classifi eds .. B9-12 Church ........C1-3 Home Life........C4-8 Obituaries........... C8 School......C10-11 History ......... C12 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 METH BUST on page 2 Three sections Five inserts 32 pages Wednesday, February 28, 2018 Volume 148 Number 9 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 See SCHOOLS on page 3 By Andy Heuring Two area men were arrested on charges of dealing meth and possession of heroin after po- lice stopped them for speeding in Otwell early Saturday. During a search, police said they found about $14,000 of meth in the car the men were driving. "This is a pretty big hit for us. The most I have seen in quite a few years," said Pike County Deputy Prose- cutor Tom Dysert. John Paul Allen, 33, of Peters- burg, and Edward Lee Simison, 40, of Washington, were both ar- rested on charges of dealing meth- amphetamine at least 10 grams, a Level 2 felony; possession of meth at least 28 grams, a Level 6 felony; maintaining a common nuisance, a Level 6 felony; possession of a narcotic drug; and unlawful pos- session of a syringe. Indiana State Trooper C. J. Boeckman said he was patrolling on Highway 257, near the Circle A Convenience Store, when he met a car going 44 mph in the 30 zone. He said the vehicle immediately pulled into the Circle A parking lot after he turned on his emer- gency lights. According to Trooper Boeck- man's report, Allen was driving and told Boeckman he had been at a friend's house in Velpen and was driving to Washington. While Boeckman was talking to Allen, he noticed Allen was shaking and started to sweat, and began to breath faster. Pike County Deputy Sheriff Ja- Area men arrested on felony meth, heroin charges By Andy Heuring The 2018 Polar Plunge was by far the big- gest and raised the most money of any of the four that have been hosted in Peters- burg. A total of 176 plungers took part, rais- ing $58,219, and combined with the A fter Splash Bash, totaled $ 60,924. "Those numbers are great. Way to go Pe- tersburg. We are really excited about it," said Francie Smith, South Regional Manag- er for the Special Olympics Indiana. Both the number of participants and the amount collected were records. In 2017, the totals were 126 plungers and it raised about $48,000. The Kayak Mafia, from Pike County, was the second biggest group, with 16 plung- ers taking part. The biggest group was the team Gibson County, which had 18 plungers. Another large group was a contingent of State Troopers from District 34, which in- cludes Dubois and Daviess counties. Temperatures were much milder this year, hovering around 50 degrees. In some years, they had to use a backhoe to break through the ice so plungers could get to the water. It didn't mean the water wasn't cold. "Go- ing in, it was cold," said Prides Creek Park Manager Brandon Schultheis, who has plunged all four years the event has been at Prides Creek. "But it wasn't as bad when you came out of the water. The wind wasn't blowing as hard and it wasn't as cold, so you adapted quicker," said Schultheis. Smith said the 2019 version of the event is already penciled in for Saturday, Febru- ary 23, 2019, at Prides Creek. Polar Plunge raises nearly $61,000 County roads, culverts suffer heavy damage By Andy Heuring About five inches of rain on Sat- urday caused flash flooding and is pushing the White and Pato- ka rivers both well above flood- stage. Many secondary roads in Pike County and at least two state highways were under water Sat- urday evening. Josh Byrd, Assis- tant Superintendent at the Pike County Highway Department, said the flooding from head wa- ters Saturday damaged between 12 to 15 culverts. He said the rush- ing water had "sucked holes into the road," causing the county to have to replace or repair those cul- verts. He said 11 to 15 roads are now underwater from backwaters rising out of streams and rivers. Highway 257 at the Pike-Da- viess County line was closed over the weekend and it is expected it will remain closed until March 6 or 7, depending on future rains. The White River is predicted to crest at 25.6 at Petersburg, which would be the 16th highest crest re- corded, according to the Nation- al Weather Service. Highway 257 at the Pike-Daviess line is over the East Fork of the White River. The river gauge at Petersburg is on the combined East and West Forks of the White River. So ex- actly what level causes it to close Highway 257 is hard to determine, but at about 22 feet is where it will close 257. The Patoka River is also well above floodstage. It has filled Riv- erside Park south of Winslow and was completely over Jefferson St. in Winslow. Saturday evening, head wa- ters were over Highway 56 west of Petersburg. At about 9 p.m., a car driven by Tana Mabrey hit the water in Highway 56 and hy- droplaned into the ditch about a mile west of Petersburg at a turn known as "The Tanks." Peters- burg Assistant Fire Chief Jon Craig said Mabrey was uninjured. However, the passenger side of the car was submerged. Heavy rains push rivers out of their banks By Andy Heuring Apparently there are several people interested in being the Win- slow Town Clerk-Treasurer. The Winslow Town Council has sched- uled three executive sessions starting at 9 a.m. for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week to interview prospective candidates to replace Clerk-Treasurer Beth Bennett. Bennett left a letter of resignation for the Town Council on Tuesday, February 20. Bennett had requested a pay raise of $1.78 per hour, which would have raised her to $15 an hour. When council- man Dick Brewster said he didn't think Winslow could afford it, Ben- nett replied, "That is a shame. You do what you think you need to do." Councilmen set the special Feb- ruary 20 meeting to discuss Ben- nett's pay raise and insurance. Bennett did not attend the meet- ing, but left a letter of resignation. Jeff Bolin, a former town council member, who was a part-time as- sistant to Bennett, also submitted his resignation. Councilman Brewster said they have six or seven candidates to be interviewed during the executive sessions. The Clerk-Treasurer is an elect- ed position. The Clerk-Treasurer is not an employee of the town coun- cil. However, the town council sets the salary of the position. A special meeting is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Febru- ary 28 at the Winslow Communi- ty Center. Interviews for new Winslow clerk-treasurer to begin Wednesday New system could make PC schools 'safest in the nation' By Andy Heuring Pike County Schools voted to spend $1 million in an effort to become the "Safest School in America" last Friday during a spe- cially called meeting. The school board voted unanimously to purchase a security system from NetTal- on that is heralded as the safest, most ad- vanced system in the country. It will provide all the schools with the ca- pability to have immediate and continuous contact with 911, make classrooms protect- ed spaces, implement actional intelligence systems and have the ability to implement counter measures. In laymen's terms, all of the schools will have fortified doors on both the exterior and to each classroom. Each classroom will have a black box to directly connect to the 911 dispatch center. It also has a switch that indicates which room is safe or not safe. Al- so, each teacher will have a panic button that gives them immediate communication to the 911 center. The system will include a series of cameras allowing an intruder to be tracked. It also adds a vision line on the classroom floor so people in the room can know where they need to be so someone outside the room cannot see them. Then there are what they call counter- measures. Superintendent Blake would not go into details about all of theses features. How- ever, she said if you saw it in the video of Southwestern High School in Shelby Coun- ty near Indianapolis, then it is probably in our system. Some of those included doors that could be remotely locked to close off hallways and areas of the school. There are also numerous cannisters that release smoke and a loud alarm designed to be dis- orienting. Steve Luce, Executive Director of the In- diana Sheriff's Association was at Friday's meeting to show his support for Pike Coun- ty implementing the new system. The Indi- ana Sheriff's Association has endorsed the NetTalon system. "We were looking for a The Kayak Mafia's Polar Plunge team stampedes into the chilly waters of Prides Creek to raise money for Special Olympics of Indiana. They were the second-largest team with 16 members for the counties of Pike, Gibson, Knox, Da- viess and Dubois. The event raised more than $60,000 as 174 people made the plunge. See additional photos on page 6. Flood waters from the White River rush across County Road 250 W. It was one of several roads under water this week. The White River is supposed to crest at 25.6 feet on Friday, and stay above 25 feet through Sunday. It was at 23.8 feet on Tuesday. Highway 257 was closed over the weekend and is expected to be closed until March 6 or 7. Sheriff candidates discuss school shootings With school safety on every- one's minds since the shooting in Florida on Valentine's Day, we invited all five of the candi- dates for Pike County Sheriff to write a Letter to the Editor discussing their ideas on the shootings and how to prevent them. You can read their letters on page B-7.