The Press-Dispatch
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Local ........ A1-10 East Gibson .... A9 Sports .........B1-4 Classifi eds .... B5-8 Church ........C1-3 Home Life........C4-8 Obituaries........... C8 Opinion .... B9-10 School........... C11 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 CONSUL on page 4 See JAIL on page 4 See eLEARNING on page 8 Three sections Two inserts 30 pages Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Volume 148 Number 12 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 By Andy Heuring As the primary campaign heads into prime time in Pike County, there are several important dead- lines looming. The last day to register to vote in the primary is Monday, April 9 by the close of business. The Clerk's office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. Early voting begins on Tues- day, April 10. People can vote early in the Clerk's office from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Mon- day through Friday beginning on April 10. The last day to vote ear- ly is noon Monday, May 7. The Clerk's office will also be open for early voting from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, April 28 and May 5. The deadline to file and receive an application for absentee voting by mail is 11:59 p.m. April 30. Along with all the county, state and federal races, there are sev- eral other local races for school board and Town of Winslow. In Winslow, the three town council positions, as well as the Clerk-Treasurer position, will be on the ballot. Winslow candi- dates have to file a petition to file their candidacy. The petitions can be picked up until noon July 2 and they must file the petition before July 16. Those petitions must have the signatures of four registered voters in their district. Election Deputy Jenny Deffendoll said they recommend candidates to get more than four, just in case there is a problem with some of the signatures. School board districts 1 and 2 will be on the ballot this year. School board candidates also have to have a petition of at least 10 sig- natures to file. They can file be- tween July 25 and noon August 24. Voter registration deadline is April 9 By Andy Heuring There are four area Easter egg hunts set for this Saturday and an- other for next Saturday, so kids should have plenty of opportuni- ty for fun and an all-weekend sug- ar high. They start at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 24 at Cup Creek Gener- al Baptist Church. It is located a quarter of a mile off Highway 64 on Highway 257. The Oakland City Kiwanis an- nual hunt is set for 11 a.m. EDT rain or shine. It is for kids pre- school through nine, with three age groups. The Winslow hunt, sponsored by the House of Mercy, is sched- uled for 11 a.m. at the Winslow Lit- tle League Field. They will have three age groups: 0 -4, 5 -8 and 9 - 12. There will be 10 prize eggs in each group. Games and activities will follow the hunt until 1 p.m. A rain date of Saturday, April 7 has been set. Petersburg's hunt, sponsored by the Moose, is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Hornady Park at Shel- terhouse #3. It has a rain date of March 31. There will be five cate- gories: special needs, 0 -2, 3-5, 6 - 8 and 9 -12. Union's hunt is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, March 31. It is for children ages 2 to 12. They will give a grand prize of a new bicy- cle in each age group. The Union Community Church will also pro- vide hot dogs, chips and drinks. Four Easter egg hunts Saturday Twins meet the Easter bunny at Otwell Keena and Tiana Troutman are excited to meet the Easter Bunny (Deb Troutman) and feel her fur at the Otwell Community Center Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. See addtional photos on page A-3. Ito is liason between Japanese and US business interests By Andy Heuring About 20 business leaders and elected officials attended a dinner reception in Petersburg on Mon- day for Consul General of Japan in Chicago Naoki Ito. It was part of a nearly two-day visit with Ito by Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch and John Mandabach, of Bowman Family Holdings. Mayor Klipsch and Manda- bach visited with Ito Sunday eve- ning in Evansville. Monday morn- ing, they toured Solar Sources An- tioch Mine and then arrived at the reception. Following the recep- tion at noon, they toured three lo- cations within the Southwest In- diana Megasite located in Pike County. Ito represents Japan in a 10 -state district in the central United States and is based out of Chicago. This was his first trip to Pike County, but the second trip in recent years for the Consol General. Ito replaced the previous Consol General in the last year. Mandabach presented him with a pair of boots with his name en- graved on them. Mandabach said they wanted to work together to build a relation- ship and Ito needed a pair of work boots so they could build some- thing together. He also present- ed him with a hard hat that had Ito's name on it. Ito told those in attendance this was his 13th trip to Indiana and he was interested in reaching out Consul General visits Petersburg By Ed Cahill Pike County School Corpo- ration schools may have been closed due to inclement weath- er on Monday, March 12, but the learning never stopped. A fter one to three inches of snow blanketed the southern part of the county on Sunday, March 11, and the temperature dropped well below freezing, school officials – already hav- ing extended the school year to Friday, June 1, due to nine snow days – opted to have, instead, the school corporation's first-ever eLearning Day. Through eLearning – or "vir- tual learning" – students use technology to access the edu- cational curriculum outside of the traditional classroom, allow- ing for the continuity of instruc- tion when students cannot safe- ly attend school due to inclem- ent weather or other unexpect- ed events. On Monday, March 12, stu- dents were able to complete school work assigned to them through the Internet. Students were also able to contact their teachers by email or Google classroom with questions be- tween 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Parents of students who did not have Internet access were asked to send a note to their child's teacher to verify. Those students were subsequently given an op- portunity to use the school's In- ternet to complete their assign- ments. "I had six kids sitting there, at my kitchen table yesterday, doing eLearning," Pike Central Middle School Principal Mindy Hill-Keeker told the Pike Coun- ty School Corporation's Board of Trustees during its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 13. "It was interesting, as well as a little bit of a challenge." "But I want to brag on the teachers," Hill-Keeker added. "The kids were sending them emails – 'I don't know the pass- word to get in this' or 'I can't figure this out' – and the teach- ers were right on top of it. They were sending emails right back to the kids. So I think it went re- ally well." In an email dated Monday, March 19, to PCSC Superinten- dent Suzanne Blake, Hill-Keek- er reported that eLearning par- ticipation on Monday, March 12, averaged 90 percent "across the three grade levels." "Students that did not have Internet access or their com- puter was not working that day, etc., brought notes," Hill-Keeker wrote. "Students were given an opportunity to make up this work and have it completed by the end of the week. Given that opportu- nity, 98 percent of our students completed the work." Pike Central High School Prin- School board assesses results of eLearning day By Andy Heuring County commissioners ap- proved Sheriff Jeremy Britton to obtain bids for a new control sys- tem in the Pike County Jail and made appointments to the health board during their Monday night meeting. Sheriff Britton said the control system that locks and unlocks doors, controls lights and utili- ties, video camera monitors and communications in the jail is the original system. The jail opened in 1994. Britton said replacement parts for the system are no longer avail- able, forcing him to cannibalize parts of the system. He said lock- ing mechanisms on doors in se- cure parts of the jail have failed. Since there were no replacement parts available, they have tak- en those parts from doors in the basement, which is not a secure area and used them on doors in secure areas. He said they can't do that any- more. "We have been written up for the past five years on this system being inadequate," said Britton. "If it completely goes down, we Commissioners approve letting bids for new jail control system Consul General of Japan Naoki Ito speaks to a group of business leaders and elected offi- cials at a reception for Ito in Petersburg on Monday afternoon. Ito also toured a local mine and Mega site with Pike County officials. Exclusive interview with MLB's Hit King: PETE ROSE PCMS boys' swim team wins PAC title 2017 Annual PCSC Performance Report CLASSIFIEDS B-6 SPORTS B-1 SPORTS B-1