The Press-Dispatch
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Local ........ A1-10 Sports .........B1-4 Opinion .......B5-7 Classifi eds .... B8-9 Church ........C1-3 Home Life........C4-8 Obituaries........... C9 East Gibson .. C10 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 CHEESECAKE on page 2 See WINSLOW on page 2 Three sections Four inserts 32 pages Wednesday, March 28, 2018 Volume 148 Number 13 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 By James Capozella Even though Pike County K-9 Depu- ty Bleck has been on the job for several months now, his interaction with people, other than his handler, Buck Seger, must be guarded. Bleck, a Czech Shepard breed, noted for high energy, is not accustomed to crowds and therefore, Seger must control him by keeping his head away from young- sters who so desperately want to pet him. Last week was his first time in that type of setting and he did very well, controlled by leash, Czech commands, rather than Eng- lish, and the use of a Kong. Seger said, "The Kong is what keeps Bleck's attention and that is what he wants all the time." The black rubber "toy" is kept high on Seger's body and that keeps Bleck's attention on him and the Kong. Bleck has been in service now for nearly five months and has been involved in more than 40 arrests, most of which involve peo- ple under the influence of or in possession of drugs. Thus far, he has not been ordered to take down any suspect. Although just weighing in at a little over 60 pounds, and about two feet high, the sa- ble-colored K-9 comes into his own by tack- ling protected "decoys" that outweigh him many times over. The training for both handler and K-9 has been somewhat eased since the Pike County Chief Deputy had experience as a dog handler in the U.S. military. This par- ticular breed of K-9 is noted for high ener- gy, as well as versatility. They are fast ma- turing, responsive working dogs that can detect drugs and also take down suspects. They are known to bond strongly to just one person and become highly devoted. During the time Bleck was in front of the cub scouts at the First United Meth- odist Church in Petersburg, he took down adversaries, cleared tall barriers and suc- cessfully detected drugs several times. To those small fries in attendance and for most adults, it was the best show in town. By Andy Heuring It may not be winter, but it certainly isn't what you think of when you think of Spring. Rain continues to fall and is predicted four of the next five days. Last weekend, area Easter egg hunts were postponed by a com- plete washout on Saturday. (See related sto- ry for those rain dates.) Last week might have been foretelling us what this Spring is going to be like. It started with snow on Tuesday, the first day of Spring. By Wednes- day morning, a couple of inches of snow had accumulated. Temperatures have at least moderated, but it is still raining. About three inches of rain has fallen in the last seven days and more is predicted. So much more, the National Weather Service is pre- dicting the White River at Petersburg will crest at 21.1 on the morning of Wednesday, April 4. That is five feet above floodstage. A spokesman for the National Weather Service said two factors are playing into those river predictions. Snow melt from the several inches central Indiana received last week, combined with predicted rainfall. He added, "If the rain is less than predict- ed, those crest predictions would be backed off a little. Or if we get more rain than pre- dicted, they could go up." The White River hit a several year high on March 2 when it crested at 25 feet. Flooding expected as rain predicted for next four days By Andy Heuring Due to a rainout last Saturday, area Eas- ter Egg hunts were postponed. The Petersburg Moose hunt is now scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Hornady Park. There will be five categories: special needs, 0 -2, 3-5, 6 -8 and 9 -12. Prizes will be passed out at the shelterhouse following the hunt. Union's hunt is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sat- urday, March 31. It is for children ages 2 to 12, divided into two groups. They will give a grand prize of a new bicycle in each age group. The Union Community Church will also provide hot dogs, chips and drinks. The Petersburg Immanuel Baptist Church will also be having an Easter Egg hunt at 1 p.m. at the church, located next to the Jay C Store on Highway 57. Winslow hunt set for Sat., April 7 The Winslow hunt, sponsored by the House of Mercy, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, March 24 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 activ- ities will follow the hunt until 1 p.m. Deputy K9 Bleck performs for Cub Scouts Area Easter egg hunts rained out, rescheduled One skill that K-9 Bleck performed for the cub scouts was jumping over obstacles, which was quite easy for him de- spite a slick floor to land on at the First United Methodist Church. Bleck's take off was from a rug, but the landing was more of a challenge. See additional photos on page A-3. James Capozella photo By Andy Heuring The Winslow Town Council was asked by an attorney to reconsid- er their disbanding the town's park board and they voted to up- date their ordinance of manufac- tured homes during their Monday morning meeting. Attorney Jason Spindler attend- ed the meeting, representing Dee Fiscus, who had been appointed to the Winslow Park Board prior to it being disbanded. "If the town council's position is Dee and the other park board members are terminated, I would ask you to re- consider it. If you have not termi- nated them, I would ask you not to do that," said Spindler. "We terminated the whole park board," said Council President Greg Simmons. Spindler asked when and Sim- mons said, "I think in Novem- ber." He added we have terminat- ed them twice since them. Spindler asked if the coun- cil was considering appointing a new board? "I'm not, I don't know about these guys," said Simmons. "There seems to be at least in my mind a misunderstanding of the IC (Indiana Code). It is very clear how you establish and ap- point members to the board. It is very clear how you discharge a park board," said Brewster. Brewster said "There has to be cause for us as a board to disband the whole board. We would have to discharge each of the mem- bers," said Brewster. "That would be Dee's position. I agree with your summation of the law," said Spindler. Spindler said it was his opinion a hearing officer should be ap- pointed and hear the case against each member, with both sides able to present evidence. That decision could be appealed to the Circuit Court and beyond. Spindler asked for the minutes of the meeting when the park board was disbanded. The coun- cil voted 3-0 to get him a copy of those minutes. Zoning board chair Stacy Rus- sell told the board their zoning or- dinance on manufactured hous- ing and mobile homes stated the homes had to be manufactured af- ter 1983. However, she said that ordinance was adopted in 1995 and hadn't been updated. She asked the board to change the or- dinance to state those homes must be manufactured since 2000. She said the new ordinance also gives the zoning board some leeway. "If someone has an immaculate 1999 trailer, then we would probably ap- prove it." The board voted 3-0 to make that change to the ordinance. Councilmen also approved spending $ 995 on having the in- side of their water tower inspected by video. Gary McCandless had talked to them about it at the pre- vious meeting and said they need- ed to get the inspection. Street Supervisor Dave Gayhart said they needed to do something on Lafayette St., near East St. "I got about a million calls this week- end," said Gayhart. He said on Lafayette St., the water was just running down the street. "We have to do something Winslow council requested to consider reinstating Park Board By Andy Heuring For a little more than a year, Tony Mann has been the cheese- cake man at Cakes and Coffee. He's the guy who makes those wonder- ful combinations of your favorites like Oreo, Turtle, Key Lime and a long list of other cheesecakes. He made his 400th cheesecake recently. But it isn't anything he thought he would be doing two years ago. "I think it mostly started with me hassling my wife for a Kitch- en Aid mixer. She finally gave in, and one of the first things I made was a banana cheese cake. I took it to one of Randy's (Harris) par- ties," said Mann. A few weeks later he and his wife Kristine were in Nashville and he got a phone call. It was Randy asking Mann if he want- ed to make cheesecakes for the restaurant. "I said, 'I don't know, I have never worked in a restaurant. Cheesecake Mann never planned to be baker Tony Mann, who makes the cheesecakes for Cakes & Coffee Café, scrapes the cheesecake filling into one of six pans he has prepared with crumb crusts.