The Press-Dispatch
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A-8 Local Wednesday, June 27, 2018 The Press-Dispatch MOOSE LODGE Dining Specials 5pm-8pm 115 Pike Ave., Petersburg OR ORDER FROM MENU FRIDAY 06-29-18 SATURDAY 06-30-18 NOW OFFERING PIZZA Open to Members and Qualified Guests Coffee or Tea with special. Wed., Fri. and Sat. • 5pm - 8pm Buffet with Salad Bar, Only $9.95. Hamburger Steak with two sides, $7. Country Fried Steak with two sides, $6.50. Jr. Golf Camp SAVE THE DATE! 2018 July 18-20 • 9 am - 11am Located at Prides Creek Golf Course Open to all boys and girls entering grades 4-8 Sponsored by Petersburg Kiwanis Club Registration forms available at Prides Creek Golf Course For more information, call 812-354-3059 CUB SCOUT CAMP Above: Petersburg Scout Sam Haycraft helps Cub Scout William Osborne, Roman Peter and Jaimus Schilling on the sling shot range. They shot dog food kernels at aluminum pie pans and then let the opossums and birds clean up the spent ammo. Haycraft was one of several area scouts to help with the Cub Scout camp. Left: Petersburg Cub Scout Tyler Mason con- centrates hard on cutting this paper plate just right during the crafts session of Cub Scout Day Camp last week. Right: Jackson Burkhart, Andy Johnson and his father, Mike Johnson, work on crafts during Cub Scout Day Camp last week at the Old Ben Scout Reservation. Cub Scouts from Pike, Du- bois, Spencer and Perry counties attended day camp activities. announced that the school board was still in the pro- cess of negotiating with a candidate to replace Fears – who had originally agreed to take the position with the understanding that he would only serve for one year – as director. "We have had a counter-of- fer, and we are countering the counter-offer for the director's position," Fort said. "We'll have another executive meet- ing to discuss their response to our counter (offer)." Fears welcomed Steve Schoppenhorst to his first meeting as a board member, and said that the Friends of Otwell Elementary, Ltd., was working on filling its remaining two seats on the school board. Fears added that Steve Schoppenhorst's wife, OMA fifth grade teacher Valer- ie Schoppenhorst, had also submitted her resignation as one of the school board's two teacher representatives. "With Steve coming on board, we had the possibil- ity of a conflict of interest, so Valerie has decided to re- sign from the board," Fears said. A motion to accept Valer- ie Schoppenhorst's resig- nation by parent represen- tative Jenny Byrd – which was seconded by Fort – was approved. "So Valerie is officially re- lieved from the board," Fears said. "We want to thank her for her contributions this past year, because it is a lot of time and responsibility ex- tra above teaching." Fears also informed the school board that two Ot- well Miller Academy stu- dents had recently retaken the iRead exam, and that one of them had passed. In addition, Fears said that school officials were in the process of filling out and submitting the necessary pa- perwork that is required to establish a school lunch pro- gram. "It's a lot more detailed than we originally thought, as far as the amount of pa- perwork that has to go in, not only to the (Indiana De- partment of Education), but to the federal government," Fears said. "So, it's going, but it's slow, as far as get- ting all this in and approved." Fears reminded the school board that it had previously voted to advertise for ven- dors to provide school lunch- es. However, he noted, that step cannot be taken until all the paperwork has been sub- mitted and approved. "So we'll be waiting on them, and there's steps af- ter that we have to take," Fears said. "But it's moving and we're very anxious to have it approved as quickly as possible. But until all this is done, we can't go farther. We're still planning on hav- ing a lunch program, hope- fully, at the beginning of next year." At the conclusion of the meeting, Fort issued a re- minder that individuals in- terested in serving a two- year term as a parent repre- sentative for the 2018 -19 and 2019 -20 school years should submit their resumes to Ot- well Miller Academy by Monday, July 2. "I'd also like to make it be known ... that the way that the requirements to be con- sidered for a parent position on the school board are writ- ten, you have to be a parent or legal guardian of a stu- dent currently enrolled in the Academy," Fort said. Fort suggested that indi- viduals who wish to serve on the school board but who are not the parent or legal guardian of an OMA student should contact the Friends of Otwell Elementa- ry, Ltd., board of directors and express their interest in filling one of its two remain- ing open school board seats. INSURANCE Continued from page 7 Winslow considers sewer line repair funding options, residence clean-up By Andy Heuring Winslow considered how to pay for sewer line fixes and residence clean-up enforce- ment during the Monday morning meeting. Winslow native Deen Rod- gers, of Umbaugh Associates, talked to the council about ways of financing a potential sewer line project in Winslow. Winslow, last year, had an engineering study of waste- water and surface water drainage problems complet- ed. Winslow Councilman Dick Brewster said the study found problems with both and suggested fixes of about $10 million. "There is no way we can afford that. So we asked Midwestern Engineers to scale that back." He said he wants the prior- ity to be on sewer lines that have collapsed due to the ground under them eroding. Brewster said while there are lots of surface water drainage problems in town, it won't do any good to fix the town's drains. He explained they all drain in the state's street drains along Highway 61, which have collapsed and are in need of repair. He said he is hoping the town will have figures from Midwestern Engineers soon on a scaled back plan. Rodgers said Umbaugh could help with a rate study to help pay for the improve- ments and help them secure financing. "If you are doing a rate study, you are already saying we are going to have to raise rates," said Councilman Ter- ry Strobel. "We can't afford a rate increase." Rodgers said he had no idea if the town would need to increase rates. He said Um- baugh would not get involved until the town had relatively firm numbers on a project- ed cost. Amanda Howald, with the Pike County Health Depart- ment, asked Winslow about a residence on Center St. in Winslow. She said their de- partment was getting com- plaints about it. She asked Winslow if they had been fin- ing the resident according to their ordinance. "We need advice," said Stro- bel. He said they were waiting on guidance from their attor- ney Kerry Aldridge. "I don't know why you need to wait for an attorney. They are in violation," said Debbie Lamb, who is on the town's zoning board. "We need to talk to our at- torney," said Strobel. "I don't have any more lee- way. I have to move forward on this. . . I can take him with or without you. I want to work with you," said Howald. She added, "That situation is af- fecting everyone around him." "We are in a little bit of a gray area if that is in viola- tion. If that is a health haz- ard, which it appears to be, I would say proceed with it. But we need legal advice on it. We are in a little bit of a gray ar- ea. Once we have that, we can join with you," said Brewster. Howald was asked about an abandoned residence on Lafayette St. where the base- ment is full of water, several feet deep. She said she found out Vi- nad Gupta owns the house, al- though she said he claimed it was owned by someone else. Howald said the person Gup- ta claimed owned it said he made a couple of payments on it, then changed his mind and stopped paying for it, and didn't accept ownership of the house. She said she has told him she needs to hear from him by Wednesday on the house and he must have it drained by Friday. "I'm finding him to be very untruthful," said Brewster. Councilmen and town res- idents have expressed con- cern about children getting into the flooded basement and drowning. "We will help you any way we can," said Howald. She said if they have health con- cerns, call the Health Depart- ment and they will take a look at it. In other business, Strobel asked street supervisor Dave Gayhart to get a new flag and put it up at the Community Center. He said the current flag is worn and needs to be replaced. Commissioners approved claims of $ 33,959.37 by a 2-0 vote. Councilman Greg Sim- mons was not at the meeting. The next meeting is sched- uled for 7 p.m. Monday, July 9 in the Community Center. Sandy McBeth, of Petersburg, oversaw the Cub Scout balloon races at Day Camp last week. It was one of numerous indoor activities the Cub Scouts had due to heavy rain in the area. They taped balloons to a straw on fishing line strung between two poles. On McBeth's signal, the scouts let the air escape to power them.