We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?
IS IT TRUEÂ that the newly elected Commissioner of Vanderburgh County was offered free tickets to professional sporting events from someone who does business with the county? …that County Commissioner-elect Jeff Hatfield declined the free ticket offer? …that he also declined an offer by another County vendor to wine and dine him at an expensive restaurant? Â …we are told that Commissioner-elect Jeff Hatfield also said he won’t accept any gifts of any kind from anyone doing business or want to do business with the county?
IS IT TRUEÂ we are told that County Commissioner-elect Jeff Hatfield would like to see road projects, professional services, and construction projects to be put out for competitive bidding?
IS IT TRUE we also hear that Mr. Hatfield will not appoint any members of his immediate family to serve on influential local Boards and Commission? …he is against the practice of nepotism in the public sector?
IS IT TRUE more than 700 case managers left their jobs with the Indiana Department of Child Services last year? …reviews of DCS found it wasn’t uncommon for one case manager to have more than two dozen children under their watch? …the assessment of the DCS found a ‘culture of fear’ among family case managers along with an overload of cases?  …this situation is an insult to the employees of the DCS, children in need of protection and the taxpayers of this great State?
IS IT TRUE it looks like the discussion if we should expand the Vanderburgh County jail is over? Â …that we expect that any day now the State of Indiana will be mandating that our local elected officials finalize the plans on what kind of addition should they build to the current jail? Â …that Vanderburgh County should now have the funds to build the addition to the jail because of the increases in the Wheel Tax and the County Income Option Tax beginning this year? Â …we hope that the committee in charge of designing the new Vanderburgh County jail expansion will build it to accommodate our needs for at least the next 25 years? Â …its time to serve the wine?
IS IT TRUE a group of American veterans who deal with some of the most debilitating mental anguish has called upon the State of Indiana to legalize medicinal marijuana? …some Veterans feel that legalizing medicinal marijuana and decriminalizing small amounts may just cut back on the overcrowding problem at the Vanderburgh County jail and VA hospitals ?…the veterans group also feel that putting someone who possessed a small amount of marijuana in jail at $50,000 per year cost to the taxpayers is bordering on insane?
IS IT TRUE that after over two centuries of statehood the State of Indiana has finally is allowing alcohol sales on Sunday? …last year a panel of experts established by the State of Indiana has concluded that firewater should be available on Sunday just like it is in nearly every other place on the planet?… Hoosiers have always been able to purchase booze on Sunday but only at certain times and only at bars or restaurants where beer and cocktails are marked up by a factor of more than 100% when compared to the cost at a grocery store or liquor store?…we are pleased that Indiana has finally come out of the Stone Age with respect to allow the sale of alcohol on Sunday?
IS IT TRUE that  the IRS documented that there has been massive migration of high earning individuals from high tax states to low tax states?…the big winner has been Florida with the losers being made up of Illinois, New Jersey, and New York?…we doubt that the people running these states with notice until their checks start to bounce?
IS IT TRUEÂ last year we posted that Deaconess Hospital will be offering online doctor visits?…this is a forward-looking action to take and we congratulate the management team at Deaconess for that decision?…telemedicine, as such things are referred to, is a tremendous cost saving activity in addition to offering potentially life-saving diagnostics in an emergency case prior to transporting a patient to a care facility?…it is good to see an Evansville business being an early adopter in such an impactful field like telemedicine? Â …we wonder how successful has this medical venture been since Deaconess launch it?
I strongly feel that the Vanderburgh County Commissioners we have starting in 2019 will be the finest we will see in recent memory, possibly in a generation.
I’ve known Jeff Hatfield for close to 25 years, and know him to be an honorable, ethical, and smart person. I respect him and know that he will do a great job.
I am also proud to say that I have known Cheryl Musgrave even longer and that she has been a mentor as well as a wonderful friend who has inspired me and many others in Indiana with her leadership and intelligence on good governing.
I have been getting to know Ben Shoulders since his election, and I have found him to be responsive and willing to listen and help the community, which makes him a standout as an office holder.
The joint work by Vanderburgh County Commissioners beginning in 2019 will allow Vanderburgh County to be a strong leader in Indiana, and I look forward to great things by these wonderful public servants. We are fortunate to have stewards of the public good by having people like this enter the public arena to serve
Follow-Up: In terms of your article about Jeff and that he will not “accept any gifts of any kind from anyone doing business or want to do business with the county,” Cheryl Musgrave uses the same policy. As a Vanderburgh County Commissioner, she does not accept gifts and plans to continue that policy.
I applaud all elected and appointed officials who are great stewards of the public by doing business this way. Great transparency!
Michael;
Thanks for your post. Glad to hear that Commissioner Musgrave is doing similar. We have a lot of respect for Commissioner Musgrave because she is smart, ethical, hardworking and demanding. We shall make reference to Cheryl not taking “free gifts” from people doing business with the county. We look forward to Musgrave, Shoulders, and Hatfield (the three (3) Mayors of Vanderburgh County) doing great things for our community.
Editor
Kudos to the Commissioners for not taking any freebies from vendors that do or may receive contracts with the County. If the Commissioners prove to be men and women of honor that stand by their promises, this could be a very special group of public servants that does much future good for their residents. They are certainly off to a fine start.
If you read the police reports on this site you will see the majority of people caught with marijuana are not arrested but issued a citation unless they have outstanding warrants or other issues. So I don’t think that is the reason for overcrowding.
A sad, sad story about the tragic loss of a great American screenwriter:
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“Stormy Daniels says that President Trump “completely destroyed†her porn career.”
“”Daniels, however, appeared to complain specifically about how she no longer has time to “write†porn films, which she says is her “favorite†part of working in the industry.”
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2018/11/19/stormy-daniels-trump-completely-destroyed-my-porn-career/
Let’s watch how the continuing defeat of the radical Islamic terrorists known as ISIS by the US lead military coalition, and the continuing discovery of ISIS atrocities, are reported in the mainstream media, which seems completely obsessed with Trump related issues like the migrant caravan, Stormy, the White House pulling a CNN reporters credentials, the firing of AG Sessions and, of course the Mueller/Russia investigation.
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“Horror of Islamic State revealed as Iraq, Syria reclaim occupied lands”
“Its vaunted “caliphate†is in shambles, but the brutal legacy of the Islamic State is only now coming into clearer focus as rebuilding efforts across Iraq and Syria uncover hundreds of mass graves and fully pull back the curtain on four years of death, destruction and unspeakable atrocities by the radical Islamist terrorist group.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq revealed this month that it has uncovered evidence of more than 200 mass graves containing as many as 12,000 victims in northern and western Iraq, though Iraqi officials say the number could be even higher. The existence of the gruesome sites could only recently be confirmed, as a U.S.-led military coalition pushes the terrorist group — also known as ISIS — out of the territory it once claimed.
U.N. observers and regional specialists also are urging a seemingly reluctant Iraqi government to commit to exhuming all of the mass graves, identifying the dead as best they can, and documenting in detail the carnage that took place.
At the same time, areas across Iraq and Syria ravaged by years of fighting are now discovering that crucial infrastructure such as hospitals and water supplies have been badly damaged. The U.N. and other international groups are trying to rebuild that infrastructure as civilians displaced by war, or who fled to escape the Islamic State’s violent reign, return home.
But it’s the human death toll, specialists say, that will define the Islamic State in history books.
Mass killings of women, children, Christians, Shia Muslims, Yazidis and other groups in areas ruled for years by Islamic State militants are considered by many observers to be an all-out genocide, and anecdotal accounts of the sheer brutality, including beheadings, shootings, and burning and burying victims alive, still have the capacity to shock….
The Islamic State’s campaign of killing continued across Syria and Iraq from 2014 to the end of last year. While there were numerous horrific incidents, one of the most notable was the so-called Camp Speicher Massacre in June 2014, where Islamic State fighters murdered more than 1,700 Shia Iraqi Air Force cadets in Tikrit.
Nearly 30,000 civilians have been killed in areas once controlled by ISIS in Iraq, the U.N. said, though it stressed that “these figures should be considered an absolute minimum†and do not include military personnel such as those slaughtered at Camp Speicher….
“These graves contain the remains of those mercilessly killed for not conforming to [the Islamic State’s] twisted ideology and rule, including ethnic and religious minorities,†said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. “Their families have the right to know what happened to their loved ones. Truth, justice and reparations are critical to ensuring a full reckoning for the atrocities committed by ISIL.â€
Iraqi officials maintain they’re committed to the issue and believe they have a handle on the number of graves and victims.
“I can only say that the number of the victims of the mass graves is much bigger than the numbers in the report,†Dhia Kareem, head of the Mass Graves Directorate in Iraq, told The New York Times this month.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/20/isis-horror-mass-graves-syria-iraq-revealed/
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