The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/950460
A-4 Local Wednesday, March 7, 2018 The Press-Dispatch SHEARS 117 W. Pike Ave., Petersburg 812-354-6223 We are pleased to welcome... Mackenzie Fair to our staff Call for an appointment or just walk-in! AREA HAPPENINGS Al-Anon meeting – Meetings are each Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., located at 424 W. 7th St. in Jasper. For more information, call 812-887-0349. Celebrate Recovery Program – Meets every Sun- day night from 5 to 7 p.m. at 207 Lafayette St. in Win- slow. For more information, call Krystal Breeding 812- 582-2562. Winslow Alcohol Anonymous – will meet every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Call 812-789 -8535 for location of the meeting. Narcotic Anonymous – Every Monday at 7 p.m. at River of Life Fellowship Church. For more informa- tion, contact 812-380 -1395. Women's Cancer Support Group - The Lange- Fuhs Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center offers a support group for women who have had cancer of any type or are currently undergo- ing cancer treatment. "Women's Support Group" helps women with the journey through cancer and beyond. Sessions are the third Tuesday of each month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center Confer- ence Room, located at Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center's Dorbett Street entrance. For more information about the "Women's Support Group," visit Memorial Hospital's website at www.mh- hcc.org and click on "Classes & Events," or call The Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center at 812-996 -7488. Pre-reg- istration is not necessary. Eternal Vision at Old Friendship Church - Old Friendship Church is having a gospel sing with the group Eternal Vision, from Knoxville, Tenn. The sing- ing will be Saturday, March 17 at 6 p.m. Old Friendship Church is located four miles east of Hwy 61 on Hwy 68 in Lynnville, Ind. Everyone is invit- ed to join us for a night of great gospel music. "Creating Hope" For Cancer Patients - Jasper Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center is offering Creating Hope® sessions on the first and second Tues- day of each month from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. The next ses- sions will be held on Tuesdays, March 6 and 13. These sessions are designed for cancer patients, their fami- lies and caregivers. Art materials and an instruction- al book are available at each session. No previous art experience is needed. Creating Hope® is an Indiana-based non-profit or- ganization that uses creative expression as a coping mechanism for patients with cancer. Sessions are free and will be in the Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center Confer- ence Room located at the Dorbett Street entrance of Memorial Hospital, 800 West 9th Street in Jasper. For more information about this class, visit Memo- rial Hospital's website at www.mhhcc.org and click on "Classes & Events," or call The Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center at 812-996 -7488. Basic Life Support (BLS) - Jasper Memorial Hos- pital and Health Care Center offers an instructor led Basic Life Support (BL S) training class for licensed and certified health care professionals, such as phy- sicians, dentists, nurses, paramedics and EMTs. This American Heart Association course covers CPR for all ages, two-man CPR, bag-valve mask ventilation, relief of responsive and unresponsive FBAO (choking), and use of the AED. Participants must successfully complete a written test and skills evaluation to receive a course comple- tion (credential) card. The next available class is Monday, April 2 from 8 a.m.-noon in the Health and Wellness Classroom at Me- morial Southside Office, 1100 West 12th Avenue in Jas- per. The cost is $ 65. Pre-registration is required and class size is limited. For more information, or to regis- ter, visit Memorial Hospital's website at www.mhhcc. org and click on "Classes & Events," or call the Health and Wellness department at 812-996 -2399. Continued from page 1 CLEARED Tornado Preparedness Week is March 18-24 To focus attention up- on the rapidly approaching tornado and severe weather season, the week of March 18 -24, 2018, is designated Severe Weather Prepared- ness Week throughout the State of Indiana. The pur- pose of this proclamation is to stress the importance of promoting the public's awareness of what actions to take in case of tornadoes and other types of severe weather. In conjunction with this proclamation, and in coop- eration with the National Weather Service, the Indi- ana Department of Home- land Security, the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana State Police, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, has been selected as the date for the Statewide Tornado Exercise which will be initi- ated between 10 a.m.–10 :30 a.m. (EDT). Should actual severe weather be a threat that day, the exercise will be held on March 21. There will not be an evening exercise this year. Your assistance and par- ticipation in this annual ex- ercise will help to improve our tornado preparedness and severe storms aware- ness programs and plans. Our goal is to prevent, if pos- sible, or at least reduce the potential number of deaths and injuries from tornadoes and other severe storms this season. For more information, contact Tammy Humbert or Gary Fritz at Dubois Coun- ty Emergency Management at 812-482-2202. A: Medicare pays for many preven- tive services when the services are offered by a doctor or other quali- fied health care provider who accepts Medicare assignment. You can get a "Welcome to Medi- care" visit during the first 12 months that you have Medicare. This includes a review of your medical and social his- tory related to your health and educa- tion and counseling about preventive services, including certain screenings, shots, and referrals for other care if needed. Medicare also covers a yearly "Wellness" visit. You can get this vis- it if you've had Part B for longer than 12 months, and it's covered every 12 months. Be sure to tell your health care of- fice exactly what type of visit you are scheduling when you make the ap- pointment. A very valuable tool for Medicare beneficiaries is www.mymedicare. gov. On this website, you can check when your last preventive service was provided. The following are preventive servic- es typically covered by Medicare at no cost to you: • Welcome to Medicare Visit • Yearly Wellness Visit • Pap Test and Pelvic Exams • Pneumococcal Shot • Flu Shots • Alcohol Misuse Screening and Counseling • Hepatitis B Shots • Tobacco Use Cessation • Counseling • Diabetes Screenings • Mammogram Screening • Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm • Screening • Sexually Transmitted Diseases • Infections Screening • HIV Screenings • Bone Mass Measurements CARDIOVASCULAR SCREENINGS tests covered for cholesterol, lipid, and triglyceride levels every 5 years. CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (BEHAVIORAL THERAPY) one visit per year with your primary care doctor covered to help lower your risk for cardiovascular disease. COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENINGS If you're 50 or older, or are at high risk for colorectal cancer, one or more of these tests covered: fecal oc- cult blood test, flexible sigmoidosco- py, screening colonoscopy, and bari- um enema. MEDICAL NUTRITION THERAPY SERVICES covered along with certain related services if you have diabetes or kid- ney disease, or you have had a kidney transplant in the last 36 months, and you're referred by your medical pro- vider. The following are preventive servic- es are typically covered by Medicare but will require coinsurance and/or de- ductible: • Prostate Cancer Screenings • Glaucoma Tests • Depression Screenings DIABETES SELF- MANAGEMENT TRAINING covered for people with diabetes with a written order from a doctor or other medical qualified health care provider. If you have questions about Medi- care, call SHIP at 800 -452-4800, 866 - 846 -0139 TDD or online at www.medi- care.in.gov. Q: I know Medicare pays for an annual health check, however, I don't always know when I've last had my wellness check-up. Is it always free? Ask SHIP beating on her. The re- port states that when po- lice arrived, Jennifer could be heard through Myers' phone, while he was still talking with central dis- patch, saying frantically, "He's coming in the door," before Myers tells her it is the police. Police located Brian White sitting slumped over in a doorway separating the office room from a bed- room. He was still breath- ing, but otherwise non-re- sponsive. According to Mc- Donald's report, he was "no more than a few feet from where White said the shoot- ing occurred." He was pronounced dead at the scene a few minutes later. Jennifer was then inter- viewed for five hours by Indiana State Police De- tectives Tobias Odom and Brad Chandler. Much of the investigation centered around corroborating Jen- nifer's statements during the investigation. The report states she told police Brian had been phys- ically and emotionally abu- sive to her over the course of their relationship and marriage. She also said he would physically punish her if she displeased him. Investigators found a "dinner bell" next to his re- cliner in the living room. Jennifer said she was ex- pected to respond to the bell or she would be struck. On the weekend of Janu- ary 21, Jennifer said Brian had been "even more angri- er than normal recently be- cause he had been strug- gling with health problems." Investigators found text messages from him on Jen- nifer's phone about his uri- nary tract problems and "it is apparent he blames Jenni- fer for not being able to find him a physician who can cure his condition." She said he made the ranting threat to her while they were driving to pick up his 12-year-old child, from a previous relationship, for a visit. She feared he would kill her after they dropped the child off. Because of this, she post- ed a social media message saying, "If I die today, would anyone care? Would anyone notice? " She also had mes- saged an internet friend, Channin Malle, who lived in Jacksonville, Fla., with instructions to take care of her dogs if Brian killed her. The report stated they became friends because of their mutual love for dogs. Police found that Chan- nin, whose boyfriend is a policeman in Florida, had called the Pike County cen- tral dispatch and tried to do a welfare check on Jennifer, but they were unable to lo- cate her. McDonald's report states, "The State considered whether or not it was plau- sible that Jennifer would have posted the blog as a cover for an intentional mur- der, however, in light of the totality of the mass of oth- er corroborating evidence, the State considers such a scenario highly implausi- ble. The great weight of the evidence points to the con- clusion that the blog was a cry for help from a desper- ate woman who believed her husband intended to harm her and no one could help her." The report states Brian had controlled her to the point she feared calling police about his abuse be- cause it "only made things worse." She had audio re- cordings of Brian yelling at her about police doing wel- fare checks on her. Jennifer told police she didn't think she could get away from him. She said Brian would not allow her to have contact with her daughter or grandchild, and she hadn't seen her daugh- ter in four or five years. Police interviewed Jenni- fer's daughter. She told po- lice she had seen her once in four years at a chance meet- ing at Walmart in Washing- ton. She said while she was liv- ing in Tennessee, her moth- er was living in Owensboro, Ky., and called her to say she had left Brian and needed a place to live. The daughter said she agreed to let Jen- nifer stay with her; howev- er, before Jennifer arrived at her house, Brian had called the daughter and threat- ened to kill her if she let Jen- nifer stay with her. The daughter said she avoided all contact with her mother out of fear of what Brian would do. State Police were able to locate a report from the Ow- ensboro Police Department dated September 17, 2013, which documented that po- lice had assisted Jennifer in leaving Brian and she was taken to a shelter. The nar- rative of the Owensboro Po- lice report stated Jennifer told police Brian was "very controlling and that there had been a pattern of abuse for about three years." Jennifer also told police she had pictures on her computer at home of bruis- ing and injuries from past abuse. Police found this computer and located the pictures, which corroborat- ed her statements. Jennifer was examined af- ter the shooting and found to have suffered a broken rib. Police also did an exam- ination of the scene and compared it to Jennifer's recounting of the shooting. McDonald's report states Jennifer told police when they got back to Peters- burg after dropping off Bri- an's child, that Brian re- fused to eat anything she cooked "because it made him sick and he ordered her to go get Chinese food. She said while she as at Chi- na Wok, she got a Facebook message from her friend in Florida asking her to call. She did, but told them, 'she had to go because Brian was timing her.'" She told police she had placed her .38 revolver on a tray on her desk, "because she did not want to forget and leave it in her purse." She said Brian had a court date in Evansville for child support coming up and she didn't want to get caught at the metal detectors with the gun. She said Brian became angry as he talked about his child confronting him and began hitting the wall hard enough to cause boots to fall off a shelf. He then approached her in their of- fice and flipped over the of- fice chair, turned over sev- eral other items and tried to pull the computer out of the docking station. He then said he was en- raged and kept repeating, " You ruined my life. I am go- ing to end you. If you think that you have had it bad be- fore, you haven't seen noth- ing yet." She told police as Brian approached the desk, he reached for the .38 revolv- er, but she grabbed it by the butt end while he grabbed the barrel end and he said, "Bi$ #@, give me that . . ." She said after a brief struggle for the gun, she fired into his chest and he said, "You shot me — @# $ #@, you are going to die," then he turned and started toward his bed- room, where he kept a Tau- rus Judge pistol, that fires 45 Colt and .410 shotgun rounds. According to the report, Jennifer said as he turned towards the bed- room, she kept firing until the five shot revolver was empty. McDonald's report states Brian was found lumped ad- jacent to the doorway be- tween the office and the bedroom. He had two shots in the chest and three in the back. The "order of gun- shots is difficult to deter- mine from the autopsy; how- ever, nothing about the gun- shots or location of the body upon arrival of officers dis- proves the order of events described by Jennifer White. Jennifer described still being in fear for her life as Brian turned toward the bedroom where he kept the 'Judge,' which prompted her to keep firing." McDonald's report noted even police officers trained in shooting have been found to empty their weapons when confronted with a life or death threat. The report also found the state of the office, where Jennifer said the struggle took place, to be consistent with her statement. They found boots on the floor, nu- merous items knocked off a shelf and an overturned chair. The conclusion of Mc- Donald's report states the complete history of severe domestic violence and effect on Jennifer's state of mind is pertinent to whether Jen- nifer was justified in con- tinuing to shoot after Brian turned his back and stepped toward the bedroom where he kept the 'Judge' pistol. "The State believes Jen- nifer's decision to keep fir- ing was motivated by her fear for her life and there- fore is likewise justified un- der Indiana's self-defense statute," wrote McDonald in his report. McDonald said the report was basically a wrap-up and explanation of their investi- gation into the fatal shoot- ing and how he reached his decision to not file charges against Jennifer.