The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-8 Sports .........B1-5 East Gibson .... B6 Classifi eds .... B7-9 Opinion .. B10-12 Church ........C1-3 Home Life........C4-8 Obituaries........... C8 School........... C10 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 CLEARED on page 4 See OMA on page 5 Three sections Two inserts 32 pages Wednesday, March 7, 2018 Volume 148 Number 10 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Sting nets multiple charges, including Level 2 felonies By Andy Heuring Three Oakland City residents were arrested for dealing meth Sunday night in Winslow after police conducted a controlled buy. George E. Brown, 21, of 12298 E. Harrison St, Oakland City, was charged with dealing in meth at least 10 grams, a Lev- el 2 felony; dealing in meth, at least five grams, a Level 4 felony; possession of at least 10 grams, a Level 6 felony; possession of a narcotic drug; maintaining a common nuisance; and posses- sion of paraphernalia. Robert A. Piper, 30, of Oak- land City, and Brianna Dawn Lance, 19, of Oakland City, were both arrested on Level 2 felony charge of dealing meth more than 10 grams, but less than 28 grams. They were also charged with maintaining a common nuisance, possession of meth at least 10 grams. According to a probable cause affidavit, Petersburg Cpl. Jared Simmons said police set up a controlled buy through an un- dercover person late Sunday night to take place at the former German American bank parking lot in Winslow. Cpl. Simmons stated, in the af- fidavit, a gold Buick arrived at the parking lot and a man match- ing Brown's description got out of the car and went over to the undercover person as police watched. A fter a few minutes, Brown got out of that vehicle and went back to the car he arrived in and it drove away. Cpl. Simmons said the informant signaled the transaction had taken place. Pike County Deputies Mike Willis and Jason McKinney, and Winslow Deputy Town Marshal Steve Nelson, pulled the gold Buick over near CR 300 E. (Ha- thaway Station). Brown was the front seat pas- senger in the car driven by Piper, and Lance was in the backseat. Simmons said he got the white powder from the informant. It weighed 6.1 grams. Deputy McKinney ap- proached Piper and said Piper had extremely shaky hands. Police had all three get out of the vehicle, one at a time start- ing with Piper. They said when Lance got out of the vehicle, a black pill bottle fell out of a fan- ny pack. They also said when Brown got out of the vehicle, he was be- ing belligerent and several items fell to the ground, and he start- ed yelling and saying "It's all my stuff, everything in the vehicle and on me was mine." All three were placed in dif- ferent police vehicles. Dur- ing a search of them, Cpl. Sim- mons stated, in the affidavit, they found a small ziplock bag with a corner baggie containing a crystal-like substance weigh- ing about one gram. It field test- ed positive for meth. In the front passenger seat and on Brown's person, Sim- mons said they found 4.1 grams of a crystal-like substance that field tested positive for meth. In a small red leather pouch Brown was wearing, they found anoth- er 1.1 grams of a crystal-like sub- stance and digital scales with power residue on it. In an orange glasses case, they found a glass smoking device. They also found $1,020, in- cluding $500 which was identi- fied as the cash from the con- trolled buy. Simmons' affidavit stated when police asked Brown what he was doing in Winslow, he said they were just out cruis- ing around and hadn't made any stops. But when he was asked about stopping at the bank park- ing lot, he said, "You already know what I was doing there. You guys just got me on a con- trolled buy." He then claimed it was all his and said, "I'm ready for my three hots and a cot. Let's get this - - - - rolling." Piper told police Brown had of- fered to fill his gas tank up if he would drive Brown to Winslow. According to the affidavit, Lance told police Brown had told her he was going to Winslow to sell drugs. All three were taken into cus- tody. A Level 2 felony carries a pen- alty of 10 to 30 years. It is the second week in a row someone in Pike County has been arrested on Level 2 felony meth charges. Three arrested in Winslow on meth charges Time changes this weekend The time changes this weekend and peo- ple will need to move their clocks forward one hour when they go to bed on Saturday night. It officially happens at 2 a.m., as all of In- diana will observe Daylight Saving Time. If you were hoping to catch up on your sleep this weekend, that might be difficult be- cause you will lose one hour between Sat- urday night and Sunday morning. By Ed Cahill Otwell Miller Academy officials will be making their own decision to close or de- lay classes due to inclement weather rather than automatically following the lead of the Pike County School Corporation. During the regular monthly meeting of the charter school's board on Monday, March 5, board member Lou Fort raised the issue after Otwell Miller Academy remained open – on a two-hour delay – on Thursday, Feb. 8, when Pike County schools were closed. "That threw me into a situation," Fort said. "I got the Pike notification at, like, 9 o'clock at night, and I had to rapidly make child care arrangements the next day for my kids – because I've got a Pike student and I've got OMA students – only to find out that OMA was open." "Basically, it's confusion," Fort added. "I thought we had decided that we were going to follow, basically, Pike Central – if they close, we close; if they delay, we delay. Are we going to follow Pike, or are we doing our own thing? We need to know." OMA director Rick Fears replied that the board's policy regarding closing or delaying school due to inclement weath- er was that it would follow the Pike Coun- ty School Corporation "pretty much" for weather days. "The board can do whatever the major- ity of the board wants to do," Fears said. "The only thing I would say is I don't know OMA to decide on weather closings independently Flood waters finally receding These pictures show flooding last Wednesday, above in the Winslow Riverside Park, and below at the Moose Field in Peters- burg along the White River. Both rivers crested well above flood stage last week. The Patoka River was back in its banks over the weekend. White River crested at 25.2 feet on Saturday morning. It was still at 23.4 feet on Tuesday and not predicted to fall be- low 20 feet until Friday and not below its flood stage of 16 feet until Sunday. Highway 257 remained closed Tuesday. It is expected to re- main closed until Thursday, when the White River is predicted to be at 21.6 feet. Pike County Homeland Security Interim Di- rector Denny Eversole said residents are encouraged to report flooding damage at http://bit.ly/2018rainfall. By Andy Heuring A Petersburg woman has been cleared in the shooting of her husband, which oc- curred on Sunday, January 21, by the Pike County Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutor Darin McDonald issued a 14-page report detailing the investigation of White's shooting of her husband. "In con- clusion, the Pike County Prosecutor's of- fice finds Jennifer White's claim of self-de- fense in the shooting of Brian White, her husband, on January 21, 2018, is support- ed by the great weight of the evidence here- in. No charges will be filed by this office," said McDonald. McDonald stressed he wanted it known the shooting was not taken lightly and that a thorough investigation into the matter was made. Part of that report was a cellphone re- port by Jennifer of her husband's threat to her. His threat came after his biologi- cal child from another relationship had visited them and noticed bruises on Jenni- fer. The child confronted White about the bruises. "If you use that smart tongue (in front of child) against me while (the child is) there, knowing you can get away with it while (the child) is there, when (the child) leaves . . . I am going to # $@% you up. Are we clear? Do you understand? I will liter- ally tear you apart while I can. I will leave bruises on you in places you didn't know you had. . . I swear. I will get you down and I will show you what the true meaning of pain is and you will suffer . . ." According to the prosecutor's report, this threat was made two days prior to the shooting. The shooting on Sunday, January 21 took place at about 11 p.m. Pike County's central dispatch received a 911 call from Jim My- ers at the Petersburg Lighthouse Recovery Center, which is a residential rehab and re- covery center located immediately behind where the White's lived. Myers said Jennifer had knocked on the door of the Lighthouse and presented him with a handgun and told him she had just shot her husband five times. He also said Jennifer told him her husband had been White cleared in fatal shooting of her husband Virtual field trip Petersburg Elementary second grade students in Mrs. Terra Knust's class went on a virtual field trip to China's Great Wall. Ellie Arnold snaps her cellphone into a pair of VR glasses. This allowed students to view 360 photography to see the Great Wall in 3D virtual reality, while Mrs. Knust read information and history about the wall to them. She could put a pointer on specific parts of the wall that each of the students could see in their VR glasses, so they would know exactly what part of the wall she was talking about. Phil Clauss, Director of Technology for Pike County Schools helped the students get set up to use the glasses. PIKE COUNTY NEWSLETTER INSIDE