IS IT TRUE…JANUARY 8, 2014

1. Is it true that the threat was Michelle Mercer? Is that even a threat after 4 losses for Mercer?

   • But, but, but she is on the the pro-fetus control freak board!!!

     • So speaks Beavis.

2. What a fool in Kasha. Only her ego would allow her to think that this was a good idea or that no one would find out. They have killed any opportunity they had to run a successful candidate against Martin.

3. So this is Wayne Parke’s idea for growing the Party? Recruit dem office holders to switch and run unopposed?

   • So even if she did switch parties how can Wayne guarantee the democrats won’t run someone against her? Something collaborative smells here which leads people to think that there is no separation of parties just one “the good ol’ boys” party!

     JMHO

     • Local Democrats are the party of Linda Durham. Republicans are the party of David Nixon. Neither have enough talent on the sidelines to put a full slate of candidates who are worth a shit on a ballot.

       • David Nixon was NOT supported by the republican party. Linda Durham WAS supported by the democrat party and they defended her to the bitter end. Big difference.

         Anyone who is otherwise qualified (registered voter, not a convicted felon, etc.) may file to run. The republican party was in discussions with potential candidates to fill the ballot vacancy after the primary, but BEFORE the general election. David Nixon slipped in and filed, therefore, no longer leaving a vacancy to be filled. One young man stepped up to challenge David Nixon in the primary with the understanding that, if he defeated Nixon, he would withdraw and let the republicans fill the vacancy, as planned. Unfortunately, Nixon won the primary and the rest is history. On a side note, many republicans voted for him because they thought he was the relative or another prominent local republican, which was not the case.

         No one can guarantee anyone an unopposed race. All they can get is an agreement to not actively recruit an opponent. If a qualified person wants to run, no one can stop them.

         As for the party affiliation thing, it is well known that many candidates base their party affiliation on which party dominates in the area where they are running. They run as an X because a Y is unlikely to win. It is not based on a deeply held philosophical belief. Party hopping and shopping by candidates is not unusual.

       • No, Linda Durham is and never was representative of anything other than herself. Nobody wanted to run, but she rode in on “coat-tails.” Remember?

         • I know Linda Durham won because she rode the democrat wave that year, but I also know that the top party brass did everything in their power and then some to keep her in office. She was considered a high risk and couldn’t get bonded. But, the party big wigs finally tracked down a company who would bond her, but at an exorbitant rate. My memory is a little fuzzy as to who actually ended up paying for the bond in the end. I know the cost for hers was WAY above that of her predecessor, Jim Price. I guess those companies who turned her down knew what they were talking about because she ended up taking Knight Township to the cleaners. Regardless of who paid initially, Knight Township taxpayers paid for it in the end.

     • When I said there were no democrats or republicans Wayne told me I didn’t know what I was talking about.

       • You still do not. 😉

         • A 65 year old grown man, republican even, using smiley faces…. sorry I just found that funny.

   • To the Editor,Transparency 911 & Brad Linzy:

     One of the many jobs of the Chairman and Central Committee is to attract people/voters to the Republican Party.There was information past on to me and members of the GOP Central Committee that Knight Township Trustee Kathryn Martin might be interested in switching her Party and run as a Republican.

     A meeting was held to explore with Kathryn Martin to see if she was really still thinking about switching her Political Party. As a incumbent Democrat, Kathryn Martin only won the Knight Trustee position by 2 votes in the last election. Also the Knight Township Trustee position has traditionally been held by a Republican in the past.

     I as Party Chairman cannot prevent anybody from running for a political office if they meet the minimum legal qualifications to run. If a person wants to run for office on the Republican ticket and did not vote Republican in the last primary they voted, they must have my approval to run as a Republican. It is not correct that anybody can guarantee any candidate, they will not have an opponent. I believe Kathryn Martin would have had an opponent if she had of switched her party and run as a Republican.

     If Democrats do not like the way the Democratic Leadership is taking them and believe the Republican positions best match up with their views and want to join the Republican Party or vote Republican, I welcome them aboard.

     Becky Kasha is a smart lady, a good attorney and a good Republican. I am very pleased to have her as Vice Chairman of the Vanderburgh County Republican Party. I encourage her to continue to recruit people to vote Republican no matter what their previous political background has been.

     Ron Cosby–Is it True– you would like to switch your Party and be a Republican? Just kidding.

     The Republican Party is alive and well. 2014 is looking like a good Republican year.

     Wayne Parke
     Chairman VCRP

     • Knight Township’s Trustee’s Office has a history of Republican leadership?
       Hah.
       More like they have a history of losing to New Kids On The Block concert World Wrestling Federation attending thieves! The problem Parke is having is finding enough non-rich Republicans to go to work everyday and earn less than 6 figures. If he can’t find anybody from his own party he has to go to the Democrat Party where they’ll run over each other for a $35,000 job!

       • The office was held for years by Jim Price, a republican. Knight Township is predominantly republican. The only reason Linda Durham won was because she rode a democrat wave that year. A lot of people punching straight party tickets without having a clue who they were really voting for. Kathryn Martin barely won last time and she was the incumbent. It doesn’t bode well for her future.

         • Actually, the Democrats filed a law suit to force election winner Linda Durham into the Knight Township Trustee office since she was initially not able to be bonded due to her financial history. Wonder how that turned out?

           http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/mar/01/would-be-knight-trustee-says-shell-sue-next-week/

           http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/may/12/judge-oks-trustees-return/

           http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jan/28/former-knight-township-trustee-linda-durham-senten/

       • Taken down by editor because this post was extremely insulting.

     • Wayne
       If Martin actually put out feelers that she was interested in switching parties and then pulled this stunt, it speaks of poor character. Then again I’ve always found it beneficial to have a healthy sense of paranoia and be guarded when in the company of liberals. I have to be this way because I’m a conservative working in a field dominated and over populated with liberals or folks with immature brains, I know that’s redundant.

       • To pov: That appears to be what happen. It was thought to be a private conversation exploring what had been said about her switching parties.

         I cannot gaurantee anybody will not have an opponnet. No one can. The Republicans did not go to the media. She did or one of her friends.

         • That is NOT what happened Wayne. Be a stand up person and admit that I have done my job but……see courier press article for a direct quote. I do my job + but you are required to recruit. Sorry but second place is Michelle Mercer based on your party’s actions.

         • Ms. Martin seems to be milking a private lunch for all its worth.

4. Ms. Martin has proven to be an asset to the Voters of Knight Township, and Evansville as a whole, and as such, presents a formidable challenge to anyone thinking of replacing her. With that reality in mind the Republican Central Committee “Game Plan Wisdom” tried an end run to gain the office back into their fold. Result?
   “Sorry Charlie” ain’t going to happen, Now or Election time.
   Ms. Martin remains true to herself,–Bravo!

   • Crash LaRue: See my post above. Knight Township has a strong tendency to be Republican. All three Advisory positions are currently held by Republicans.

     • I realize what you say is true and there are more Republican voters in Knight, 1St ward council seat has the same advantage, but, unlike the large group of Straight ticket voters the Local Democrats depend upon, with Linda Durham’s election being an excellent example, of that mindless goose-stepping for the “Party”, I consider Republicans to lean toward voting for the Person. Just because Knight has more registered Republicans won’t cut it. Ms. Martin will not be a push over.

       • Crash LaRue: She will not be a pushover. But the public has learned some things about Martin they did not know before. Character being one.

         • Said the kettle to the pot. Give me a break Wayne. You dig through garbage and lie like Weinzapfel and then say something like this about someone you yourself endorsed. There are plenty of problems for you to work on without talking bad about this very good person. I am ashamed to be a registered Republican based on your recent nonsense.

         • Crash LaRue: You comment and you do not know all the facts. Remember Republicans followed up on what Kathryn said to people. She stated she might want to switch parties. Republicans did not go to the media. She did.

           Remember there are three highly qualified Knight Township Republican Advisory Board members serving Knight Township.

         • Wayne-Your right. In Politics, and life, it is hard to tell how deep a mud puddle is from the top. We’ve all found our selves in need of boots more than once.

   • An asset with questionable character and honesty. At the rate the local democrat party is imploding it’s possible Martin saw the writing on the wall and decided to ride the republican wave to victory. She just may be a moderate democrat who had an aha moment and felt that being an American was more important than being a democrat.

     • There was NEVER a question of me being a Democrat. I was asked to run as a Republican based on my accomplishments as a Democrat. My character and honesty is not in question. Take the time to meet me and engage in a non-blog conversation.

       • Kathryn, I don’t know you, but I do know some of your friends. They have been saying for awhile that you were considering switching parties, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that you had a meeting with one or more members of the republican party about doing just that. Maybe you should be more careful about who you talk to. I don’t know if you got cold feet, or couldn’t strike the deal you wanted, or what, but don’t pretend that this came out of the blue. I think you are doing a fine job, especially considering the mess you inherited. However, there are a lot of elected officials on both sides who do a good job. Parties don’t try to recruit from the other side unless there has been some hint of interest in switching.

         • seabreeze: You are 100 % correct.

       • Kathryn: You express an interest of switching parties to various people. You were approach by Republicans to discuss the matter. Then you and/or your friends went to the press/media and attempted to imply the Republicans did something wrong by talking about what you said to others. One Character problem you have is you can not be trusted to keep discussions private. I do not understand why you went to the media. Doing so has hurt your creditability.

5. The CCO MUST be exaggerating about the possible soil problems at the site of the proposed hotel/debacle! The Courier says that the groundbreaking is “postponed” because of the weather. Surely the local print daily wouldn’t publish lies about the reason for the delay! Right??
   I bet the Mayor is having problems getting soil samples from his top-secret Med School sites without drawing attention. Maybe he isn’t smart enough to even make the connection, though.

   • elkay, I had sort of the same thought:

     1) If the groundbreaking was scheduled Monday, Tuesday or today: man up, Administration. Long underwear and a pair of rubbers, turn over a couple of shovel fulls and snap a picture, and head to one of the 45-50 bar/restaurants which have sprung up since the Fraud Center came into being and call it a day; or

     2) If the groundbreaking was scheduled sometime in the future, are we saying that former weatherman LW can accurately predict the weather ? If he can, the Weather Channel wants to hire him ? Is the ace City Councilman and former weatherman Weaver a part of this ability to prognosticate ? Could Weaver join LW as they move down to Atlanta to join TWC (Please !).

     • The litter box that is the Courier has buried this story better than my cat buried this morn’s turd.

6. We need to get rid of Trustees, which the Republicans have tried to accomplish. It cost more to run a trustee office than is given to the needy. Churches do more for the needy than the Trustees and they do it better with more compassion and understanding. They also do it free.

   • Trustees don’t push religion and political stances on people, though.

   • Actually the effort to consolidate and/or eliminate the township trustees was stopped by red state/rural state reps and senators twice in the last 4-6 years.

     It seem the repubs like their local government escpecially when its on of their own!

7. Let me extend my sincere apologies to all the citizens of Knight Township for letting my over-inflated ego and my self-destructive sense of political importance override my common sense. Pete Swaim, I’m sorry I involved you as a go-between, and force you to choose between friendship and political servitude. Wayne Parke, I apologize for overstepping your authority and making you look like an impotent recruiter of candidates. Now I will go crawl back into my spider hole and try to think up some way to torpedo Bruce Ungethiem.

   • Funny.

     • Dark light: This is funny,dark energy,matter and the universe. Dark energy makes up about 68% of the known universe,dark matter is said to be around 27%,what wee call “normal”matter makes up less than 5%. Now ponder why we call that normal?
       Your local politics, just for fun look up,(bing)the observations from NASA/science on a cluster called [Abell 2744 pandora’s cluster revealed]Or

       (www.youtube.com abell 2744 pandoras cluster revealed) 🙂

       Into the darkness,he,he, “Well,the analogy is pretty far fetched,however any good retriever should be able to hunt it up.”
       In the mean time if one is in an area there where the water service has been affected by a loss or repair of the incoming lines,take into account that your laundry should be carefully checked for residual stains from contaminations introduced,by main line repairs,cloudy water means cloudy laundry as well.

       If you do loose water pressure,be sure and check the next few ice maker cycles also,lingering contaminates can come through as kind of a delayed surprise with those,some refrigerators and commercial Ice machines,sometimes are equipped with water filtration,thats real good but a MAIN water break could plug those up with particulates in a hurry,if your waterline has some supply repairs done its a good practice to change the filter,for a balance and sustainability* in the water/ice as supplied, moved forward.

8. Jarboe would lose bigtime!

9. Is this not the same soil the FORD stadium is built on?

   • The answer is a big yes! What can we do now? Tear down the Ford Center and dig up soil the toxic or let the patrons of the Ford Center attend events on toxic soil.

10. “IS IT TRUE that the proposed downtown Convention Hotel project groundbreaking event has been cancelled because of alleged underground mooring issues?”

    What is “underground mooring?”

    Does this have to do with driving pilings into unstable subsoils or installing structure tie downs for hurricane protection?

11. You need to ask the Mayor and his Chief of Staff because they are the ones spinning this information in the media. Looks like the CCO is the only media that doesn’t buy their story.

12. Those mooring that were under the parking garage were the third excuse offered yesterday for the ‘postponement’ of the groundbreaking. The first two were so canned (scheduling) and weak (the weather) that they had to fire another one out there later in the day. Seems someone should have known about the moorings before yesterday. I guess you can’t have too many delay excuses in your back pocket, to deal out as necessary.

    Has anybody put up even a nickel towards the construction of a hotel to go with the Ford Center?

    • I think you nailed it. Most successful investors don’t back projects that have “fail” written all over them.
      Toxic soil may be a problem downtown, though. They need to keep that in mind with the Med School proposal.

      • This whole damn town is TOXIC.

        • You can thank unchecked capitalism and lack of regulation.

          • Yea because all those places that have all those regulations and promise such egalitarian standards do so well..like where..Canada or maybe Western Europe who can’t defend themselves from a cold.

          • Detroit is an excellent example of what happens when capitalism is checked.

        • Close estimate,sometimes,however many other towns are feeling those issues,as well.

          First things first,get the CSO problem reigned in,I mean look at what your sewer and water utilities are going to be.”as projected now”.
          Do allow for the fact that might even be topped going forward. What if the project to capture and control the CSO events,doesn’t actually achieve the balance needed to meet the EPA mandated compliance due to future climate change related conditionals?
          Like they have said in metro development science “in this,there be dragons”,and when wall street observes,”in this,there be enterprize”,things will begin to move forward at an blistering pace,any community thats on the starting line already and if they planned and anchored for the sustainable relay,that team will take the gold,and silver,as well.

          Build for a carbon sequestered and balanced future,with sustainability*,build for climate change,its not going away,”the recent weather systems knocking/beating on the door” is just a planet wide climate change introduction,so to speak. Are we as a nation anchored for it? “not in as,so much”.

13. I have heard from several people that there is a lost city underneath where the hotel lot sits. The lost city was from the pre-Civil War days, was named “Evansville Negro Cemetery” and was sadly very poorly kept up due to racial discrimination from the time period.

    If that is true, I don’t know how they couldn’t have found it when they built the Exec’s parking garage but they need to make sure they know what’s down there. I’ve also heard Hugh McGary’s daughter is buried underneath the old Jail’s parking lot.

    As for the soil tests, the same thing happened to Roberts in 86.

    http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=931099

    Ironically, the leaders back then had the vision of adding trade shows and expo events back then in a free standing expo hall. I’m perfectly fine with the final design but leaving the original structure above the water table with expanded concourses for an expo hall may have not been a bad idea either.

    • Edit: First line should say lost cemetery. The lost city is above ground.

14. Say it ain’t so that we have more backroom deals exposed by Republicans just days after what they did to that young man Selby who ran for state rep. When are the Republicans going to get tired of the mess Wayne Parke is leaving that they have got to clean up?

    • Travis Moore: You do not know what you are talking about. No Republican did did anything bad to Selby. Selby ran a good race. Ne came in 2nd to Holli Sullivan who was elected. To my knowledge Selby is a good young man who has a bright political future if that is his wish.

      What mess I am I leaving? There are more Republicans holding office in SW Indiana than there ever has been.

15. Take it as a compliment Kathryn they know they can’t beat you. Your record will speak for itself and the voters will reward you for a great job. Good luck in your bid for re-election, you won’t need it. As for Jarboe I wish he would run so I could vote against him and see the look on his face when he had his a## handed to him on election night.

    • Westsider, after you folks voted Linda Durham into her position as trustee your voting habits are suspect.

      • pov: That was a bad day for everyone.

16. Went to Owensboro on business last week and was, without exaggeration, amazed at what they are making of their downtown and riverfront. It is very clear, after seeing the progress they are making, Evansville must replace the barrier at MLK separating Downtown from the rest of the city and outside world.
    I don’t know if a viable riverfront is possible without the city acquiring the property from Fulton to Pigeon Creek (perhaps, even beyond), but all the hotels and centers jammed into such a suffocatingly tight area will never attract the desired conventions over Owensboro.

    • Just take a look at their mayor, Ron Payne is absolutely awesome. We do not, nor have we had such a quality leader in Evansville for the past 40 years. The guy is honest and above board and people know it. With that kind of leadership you get a lot of followership.

    • Owensboro is fixing up there City with a lot of goverment and public support. But we are a better City and have more to offer today and in the future.

      • What do we have to offer Owensboro doesnt? They will be building a 5k-6k arena soon downtown and word is they will also build a baseball stadium/outdoor music venue and are working to lure a affiliated Class A team.

        Evansville does have premium natural gas and better electricity pumped through the lines by Vectren. That is why ours is 4x more right? Who want low class generic Kenergy?

        • I heard about that planned growth Owensboro is projecting,and I did a few years back,seems things are turning out well for sustained and balanced* downtown development on the river there,
          Your focus point on the energy supplies probably are explored by new developmental business ventures,as well.
          Overall Vectren is making some progress forward through its natural gas applications,geez theses extreme weather conditionals drive some financial balancing,if not anything else just from transportation infrastructure access due to service areas by compared incrementals.
          This is why finding and sequestering the carbon foot print drives efficient processes.
          Balanced customer carbons usage as supplied is likely going to be an energy suppliers best cost application with that.

          Science, and now new venture capitol companies are poised offer extremely accurate methodology that can,if offered,and with an planning purchase, suggest to the energy customer base,certified carbon balance planning to adapt,or improve and thus reduce individual customer costings.
          Balanced Sustainable energy,and healthy home/work/schools/daycare and such environment planning/per customer planning forward.this adds costing savings with a less overall carbon foot printing incrementally.
          “Real results,real fast.”

          This system can/does also offer a analized look in at “anyones market listed property”, (on) the available GIS grids nationwide.
          The program looks in isolates and specifies poor environmentally sustainable locations per listing by using historical data accesses,and actual incremental observations.

          This shows the cost viabilities involved in each property beyond what the realtor or developer,power company,might forecast.
          Practically all the the information needed per location is already listed by GIS currently, what isn’t, can be found easily through I/T and other advancing technologies This type plan puts the viable,achievable numbers on to the sales claims,as well.

          Kinda like, “pick,a realtor”,look at their listings find the ones you want to view,apply the program plan,and viola,best cost and healthy environmental related properties are listed for your applied purchase requirements,(cloud based) from your device anywhere 24/7*, with more viable “bang for your buck”

          Where to buy,what to buy for each individual plan requirement,environmental conditionals,and projected cost to sustain,or improve the listing per location.

          In your area most of the political floaters are also off session realtors.
          I would imagine right now they might “fight like the dickens” to sequester such a plan,so I guess, your location might offer some resistance to a viable matter of the facts and numbers/per location application,as such. However, in more forward technically advancing and adapted growth regions the plan could be seen as a customer benefit for sustainable balanced incremental carbon footprint.
          This could be a plan for adaptation to address Climate Change actions as a customer,commercial,or home,rentals, owned,mortgaged,public, I/T benefit,as well.

          Like Zillow* with an effective incremental carbon sequestration plan. good thing right?

          “sub sole nihi novi est”

          theres nothing new under the sun

    • The only thing Evansville could do to truly improve the riverfront would be to get rid of Riverside Drive between the Museum and the boat. That should all be a park with sod, playgrounds, water features, street vending, bike/walking paths, TREES (you know…for SHADE!), and a small events amphitheater for live entertainment, summer movie nights, etc. this would do more to revitalize downtown than 10 convention hotels. Stick a decent sized parking lot at each end and you’ve created a real destination downtown destination.

      No one wants to attend downtown events in the heat trap that is the present riverfront.

17. Still wondering what heck an “underground mooring” is. Is that something Charon the Ferryman used to tie his boat up to the Dock of Hades after crossing the underground River of Stix?

    • Those particular moorings currently keep the river Styx from breaching its banks and engulfing the area. If they are disturbed it could cause a disruption in the plans for the new hotel, thank God HCW discovered them when they did. Let’s keep the hotel plan running smoothly, let Charon do the driving, let the city’s brain trust keep doing the braining.

18. Was Martin not given Durham’s position before the election? Then she ran to keep the spot? Are some of you that want a fresh start and new faces forgetting things? Was she also the one that claimed she personally found the discrepancies just days after walking on even though a group of auditors were the real source? Somehow she does not meet your “puppet” status.

19. If you judge a person upon their own merits and actions and not the party flag they fly under, then Knight Township has already lost (and by extension Evansville). Kathryn Martin has performed her job at 100% satisfaction (in my opinion) and then some. No matter which party she belongs to, she deserves and will receive my vote.

    Brent

20. I meant Wayne Parke, I apologize. KM

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