CENTERVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Centerville had a tough time last week.
On Jan. 25, longtime police officer Lloyd Ritchie died of natural causes at age 50. On Tuesday, a series of water main breaks drained the town’s two water towers. On Friday, a gas leak forced residents from their homes and closed the main thoroughfare through town for several hours.
“In a short week, we’ve had three … disasters,” said Centerville Town Council President Dan Wandersee on Saturday.
Even so, Wandersee’s strongest impression of the week was how the county pulled together to help Centerville in its time of need.
When Ritchie died, Wayne County Sheriff Jeff Cappa showed up to coordinate the Centerville police schedule - assistance much needed, Wandersee said, “because our guys were just devastated.”
Police departments in Richmond, Hagerstown and Cambridge City sent units over to cover shifts. Indiana State Police also offered to step in if necessary.
“That overwhelmed me,” Wandersee told the Palladium-Item (https://pinews.co/1ajHHOs ). “They were right there right now.”
There were similar offerings of assistance when the water mains broke.
When the town went to Meijer looking for bottled water, they were told, “Here are the cases. Just take them,” Wandersee said.
Indiana American Water Co. in Richmond stepped up to do the testing of Centerville’s water samples. “We actually probably saved a day” because of that, said Wandersee. “We were able to get our samples done a lot quicker. That was a big help too.”
Lifelong Centerville resident Jeff Nickell, who was without water for about 16 hours after Tuesday’s breaks, had praise for Wandersee’s administration.
“The town did an awesome job taking care of this,” Nickell said. “The outside contractors, too.”
Wandersee said residents coped well during the break. “We had very few people that were negative,” he said.
“I just want to say thank you,” said Miller.
Students at Centerville-Abington Junior High School were “very cooperative,” said Principal Rick Schauss.
After a winter filled with two-hour weather delays, students are “used to kind of a hectic schedule,” Schauss said. “They’re just kind of rolling with the punches.”
With Friday night’s gas leak, Centerville police, firefighters, utility workers and other employees had the opportunity to put recent gas emergency training to the test.
Vectren Energy Delivery worked through the night to find, control and repair the leak.
Cappa “came with the mobile command,” Wandersee said, setting up a perimeter around the area endangered by the leak.
The Wayne County Emergency Management Agency “went house to house … so (residents) would know what they needed to do,” said Wandersee.
The Wayne/Union County Chapter of the American Red Cross also responded to the scene.
“It just amazed me the pride the community has to pull together,” Wandersee said. “When you need them, they’re there.
“It makes you feel proud of Wayne County that when you hurt, everybody comes.”
“There’s a lot of good people out there who showed sympathy and compassion,” said town utility worker Donnie Miller. Residents brought coffee and hot chocolate to the workers as they repaired the water lines.
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Information from: Palladium-Item, https://www.pal-item.com
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