IS IT TRUE April 13, 2012 Part 2

1. I endorse this opinion

   • hear, hear!

2. I ask the question if the Is It True article was disabled yesterday. The reply tabs were removed. Whats the deal.
   Yes I can stop reading this so called newspaper anytime I want and many days I don’t read it. But when I do want to read it and make a comment, I will. And you calling me out won’t make me stop.
   Awaiting your answer on the article being disabled.
   Jack Waldroup

   • Who effing care you little turd?

     • Did you really think that comment all by yourself? CLASSY
       Jack Waldroup

       • Nobody cares, turd boy.

         • At least your making your making me laugh.
           Are you on your grade school teachers computor.
           Jack

         • I thought it was CCO’s policy to not allow personal attacks?

     • I care about the issue Jack raised. And I was one of the other two commenters who criticized the CCO publisher for soliciting donations to offset Capt. Lindsey’s debt that he incurred for legal fees.

       I also signed the petition that Louise Williams brought to me and asked me to sign asking the current city administration not to terminate Capt. Linsey’s employment as a fireman. I think enough has transpired in the case, and it’s done now. Everyone should move on.

       But I continue to think it shows a lack of journalistic ethics for the CCO publisher to directly solicit donations, even providing his email address to receive the donations, on behalf of an elected politician who advertised in the CCO, and about whom the CCO has aggressively editorialized using hyperbole and superlative adjectives to describe the detractors and witnesses against Mr. Lindsey, including the parties who initiated a legal action regarding Mr. Lindsey’s alleged residency at the property he owns and at which he previously lived and from which he registered to vote, outside the jurisdiction for which he currently is elected to serve.

       Yes, I have the right and the ability to not read the CCO blogs. I also have the right, so long as I am not blocked from doing so, to respond with my opinion regarding what is said in the CCO blogs. And Mr. Lindsey’s detractors and accusors have the right to initiate legal proceedings so long as those actions do not constitute frivolous or harrassing suits.

       And I suppose the CCO publisher has the right to solicit and collect money for Capt. Lindsey’s defense fund. But it still obliterates the CCO publisher’s claim that the City County Observer is a legitimate news outlet exercizing real journalistic integrity, in my opinion.

3. Has anyone in the media ven bothered to ASK the other sh*tbags how they got home after the night of boozing at Curt John’s bar?

   • What’s the point? If there was no accident resulting in loss or damage, what can be done now? Can a person be charged with a crime for admitting they drove home from a tavern after consuming alcohol two months is the past? Where’s the evidence of a blood alcohol level exceeding the legal limit to drive? Beyond that, I assume you are trying to prove somehow they drove drunk. Was Capt. Lindsey charged with drunk driving? You really need to move past all this and get current with the now of reality.

     • You make a stupid argument dude. You would even lose an argument with yourself with that logic. Did any damage get done by Lindsey’s drinking either?

4. my problem is that there is still a huge divide in the Democratic party, caused in large part by the Mosby’s and their kin, and as of this time, Jack McNeeley has proven unable to take any steps towards healing the wounds

   • Good God jbird, how long has he been charge, two months. Going to take time to get this back in order. Jack is a good guy and will work hard to heal the wounds. Never is a easy position to be in but really tough now. Don’t have a clue who you are and don’t care but will you try to help. Jack is going to need all the help he can get.
     Thanks
     Jack Waldroup

5. Still waiting to hear if the site was shutdown yesterday and why. Should be a simple answer. You seem to get upset when people don’t respond to your request for answers.
   Jack Waldroup

   • The website was not shutdown yesterday.

     • Was the article Is it True shut down. Was it disabled by somehow removing the reply tabs. Not the whole website. Nice try

6. Just checked all the Is It True articles from April 3 thru April 13th. Dardest thing, the only reply tabs removed were on yesterdays Is It True. Strange

7. Al has to be grateful when a friend (CCO) stands by him through good times and the bad times.

   But the CCO asking its readers to donate money to Al when he made several significant errors in judgment and was found guilty for having done so, does hurt CCO’s objective credibility. One must remember Al not only hurt himself but also damaged the credibility of the whole fire department in the eyes of the public.

   A bad night for all.

8. I’ve got to say that I find it most gratifying that the feud within the Democratic Party continues to tear itself apart. This is the best real-life soap opera in Indiana, if not the whole country. Keep up the bickering, folks, sooner or later the Republican Party is going to wake up and realize that the Democrats have dropped in their laps an opportunity to take control of local government. No doubt it will be for the betterment of Evansville and Vanderburgh County.

9. $56K government paid firefighter’s job.
   $19K government paid city council job.
   $?? government paid military pension.
   $?? supposedly a private contractor when he is not fighting fires.
   $?? owns a home on harmony way.
   $?? rents an apartment within 6th ward limits.
   $?? Wife’s income.

   Don’t ask me to pay for his mess when he makes double what the average Evansville resident makes and can afford two places to live. If he didn’t lie he would have gotten a slap on the wrist and no lawyer bills. He already got my vote that I want back. I don’t want to also have to ask for my money back. He was paid 8K to not work. He still can’t make ends meet?

   • Incredible amount of knowledge about Lindsey’s income, left out earned a military pension by serving his country, which I’m sure you didn’t have the backbone to do, risks his life as a firefighter a job you wouldn’t have the nerve or guts to do, a private contractor a job that you probably don’t have the intelligence or work ethics to do. Lindsey pays his own way always has as long as I’ve known him and always will. Ask the editor if he asked for help. Keep your money your vote and most of all keep drinking that kool-aid you jerk.

     • Danks waived his legal fees. This argument is moot. Lindsey should have been fired. A first responder arguably drinking on the job and certainly with alcohol in his system. That is an undeniable wrong. Defending it is ridiculous.

       • Lindsey was not on the job. That was inaccurate reporting by the C/P. There was no evidence but testimony from a bartender who never told the same story twice and a group of known drunks and liars. Did Jonathan Weaver ever collect on the reward put forward by the CCO on the sign tampering by the Davis campaign? No, because it was a lie. How many times has Missy Mosby denied that she supported closings of 2 fire stations 1 in her own Ward, too many to count, also a liar. What was Krista Lockyear doing at the Maingate playing footsies with an engineer from Indy? Ted Miller is nothing but a tick who mooches drinks and food and when he gets full falls off of his host until the next free event comes around. These are Lindsey’s accusers, what a great ethical, moral and righteous group to be accusing Lindsey. You are right he should have been fired, not for drinking but for being stupid enough to hang out with these low life dredges of society.

10. You still don’t get it, and that’s ok. It is your website and you are obviously free to publish it however you want. I was actually just trying to give unsolicited advice on why the site isn’t taken seriously as a news publication. I realize now that you weren’t looking for that advice and I should have realized that.

    My point was that you have many open minded, unbiased readers out there. The stances and opinions that you give sometimes are insulting to the intelligence. This was one of them and still is, no matter how hard you stand by your words. Try the self examination yourself and maybe you’ll see how your dislike against the Democratic council and the machine clouds your usual logical views.

    The insult is that you solicit funds and try to paint Mr. Lindsey as a sympathetic victim. You are crying over spilled milk because other democrats didn’t get caught doing anything. Who cares? Tough cookies. I’m sorry that he has “unbudgeted expenses.” Most of us out here have them. But there are a lot more people out there that have them and need help for such things as a sick child or unexpected job loss. They don’t need them because they chose by free will to go to a bar owned by a political rival, worked at by a political rival, drink alcohol while on duty, and then lie about it by publicly commenting in the newspaper the next day. But that is why Al has them. Blame the messenger all you want, I’m not a fan myself. I don’t care if it was a political vendetta, that’s irrelevant. Al is not a victim like you portray him to be. You and I would have known better than to ever step foot in that bar. How come he didn’t?

    And for what its worth, it sounds to me like Danks was wasted money. Lindsey was still found guilty of the charges, they just reduced the punishment. The vote was 5-0 not to terminate, and rightly so. They didn’t terminate him because of his spotless service and this being a first time offense, not because of Danks.

    Anyway, keep up the good work. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself next time. Judging from the fact that the comments were disabled on that article, it would appear that you don’t want them.

    • +1

      • +2. I’m a Democrat from a family made up entirely of Democrats. I don’t, but many of my relatives work for or worked and retired from EPD, EFD or VCSD. I know what it means to serve your city/county with honor and pride and I greatly respect those that do. Al dug this hole for himself and he alone should be responsible for digging himself out of it. I don’t believe that he should have been fired, so I’m glad the punishment was reduced. Nobody should have to help him pay for his errors in judgement regardless of the circumstances around how he was turned in and who was the one that called the Mayor. What goes around comes around and Ms. Mosby will get what she has coming to her someday.

        • Nobody said anyone HAD to help Mr. Lindsey. All it was was an open suggestion; for those like-minded. I have no plans to contribute, but good grief, mind your OWN business!

11. I was one of the “small but vocal number of readers” that criticized CCO efforts to raise money for Mr. Lindsey’s legal bills. For the record, I am a registered Republican, live in Warrick County, and “don’t have a dog in this fight. I JUST CALL ‘EM LIKE I SEE ‘EM. Also turning off the comments on that particular “Is it True” was so Evansville Courier’est.

12. There is legitimate jouralism, and then there is yellow journalism. Publishers and editors of news outlets and Internet blogs have the choice to employ either form.

    Yellow journalism generally is defined as presenting incompletely researched news, and using eye-catching headlines, exaggeration, scandal mongering, and sensationalism to sell more print and advertising.

    Yellow jouralists rely heavily on unnamed sources, blantantly subjective editorializing, and employ unabashed self-promotion and other techniques that generally are considered unprofessional or unethical in the field of legitimate journalism.

    Yellow journalism is rampant on the Internet.

    • We agree with you that yellow journalism is rampant on the internet. As a daily reader of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the LA Times I assure you that these large and often quoted legacy newspapers rely on unnamed sources and publish blatantly subjective editorials every day both online and in print. The Courier does the same thing. Is the CCO guilty from time to time of writing a catchy headline or protecting our sources? Of course we are.

      Just remember who exposed the Homestead Tax Credit secret meetings, did the valuation analysis for the McCurdy and the downtown hotel that still is not built, exposed the uncleanliness and danger in the city parks, brought attention to the faulty VETTING processes of the City of Evansville and the Redevelopment Commission, and is pushing for a serious analysis to be done on the Johnson Controls contract and the Earthcare Energy loan. That all came to you courtesy of the CCO and has saved millions of taxpayer dollars and hopefully teaches our elected leaders something about due diligence. We have also used unnamed sources to get much of this accurate information. We call them MOLES. ABC, NBC, and CBS call them “unnamed sources”.

      If you consider the CCO to be yellow journalism then you probably consider the writers that exposed Watergate, Iran Contra, and waterboarding to be yellow journalists too. All used unnamed sources and catchy headlines. We assure you that the things that we exposed first would have been neglected by many local mainstream media sources as one very credible story is being suppressed right now.

      • Re: Last paragraph: I did not accuse the CCO of yellow journalism, I only gave definitions of yellow journalism that pretty much coincides with any general definition you might find of the same subject. I left it up to the reader to decide whether any particular news outlet employs yellow journalism.

        Re: first paragraph: When compaired to the mainstream news outlets that you example as publishing blatantly subjective editorials, I think the CCO more frequently is composed largely of opinionated editorials written in hyperbole dotted generously with flowery adjectives describing your heroes, and rather derogatory adjectives describing their detractors. While this may be acceptable to most of your readers, it also encourages them to go several steps further in their follow-up comments with rude and extremely derogatory and personal attacks.

        Re: Your second paragraph: You sure didn’t waste any time deploying unabashed self-promotion.

13. Drama in the little city continues unabated, any sense of sanity has been gone for quite sometime, I sometimes wonder? Am I on the inside of a looney bin called Evansville?

14. If you were not at the hearing you would not have heard this because no one has brought it up. Maybe no one else caught it. But the bartender testified that he had been a server/bartender for around 15 years. His employment at Maingate ceased a few weeks after the Lindsey incident and he said he now works at the Henderson County Detention Center. Does anyone else find it suspicious that someone who has spent a decade and a half in the restaurant industry suddenly lands a government job across the bridge just weeks before he is called to testify in defense of Missy Mosby?

    • Many young people work as servers or bartenders as a second job. Do you know if Shaun was employed solely as a server or bartender for the entire 15 years to which you refer?

      Many young people graduate college or technical school and cannot immediately find a job in their field of major, and work as bartenders or servers until they do. Do you know whether this might apply to Shaun?

      Many young people make quite a good living off tips earned as bartenders or servers when they do their jobs well, and work at it 40 – 50 hours a week. But as they get into their 30s, they also begin to see the value full time employment with full benefits like health insurance and 401Ks.

      If Shaun chose to pursue a career in a field he finds more to his liking than bartending, and with good pay and benefits, can you blame him? Have you asked Shaun regarding his reasons for taking the job in Henderson? Or did you just immediately assume it was “suspicious?”

      • As a matter of fact I know Shaun personally. My wife worked full-time serving jobs for 12 years. She has worked with Shaun. I served/bartended for many years as well. I can personally confirm that everything you say about servers is 100% true. It is a hard and thankless job. There is money to be made but it is by no means easy money. And you are correct about most people “graduate” to careers due to increased expenses and added responsibilities.

        I have not seen Shaun in probably over a year. But I have known him for several years and I think Shaun is a good guy. To answer your questions, to the best of my knowledge Shaun has worked solely as server for most of his adult life. I do not know if Shaun has attended a college or trade school although I don’t remember him ever mentioning it when he and my wife were co-workers. If he did go to school to pursue a career more to his liking with good pay and benefits than I commend him. My wife and I both did it and I have enormous respect for people who work themselves through school.

        Having said all that I am not knocking Shaun in any way, but you cannot deny that the timing of this career change is coincidental at best.

        • Coincidental seems a better description than suspicious.

          • I believe that Shawn works for Evansville Living Magazine.

          • He went to school with one of my daughters, and has always been very cordial and generally a nice guy in my book. I wish him luck with whatever he chooses to do.

          • Editor: these guys are not talking about me (shaun short). I think they are talking about a different shaun who is/was a bartender. You’re right, I work at Evansville Living Magazine and handle the accounting. I probably should have been a bartender. Sounds more interesting. Take care, shaun short.

        • I used to work with Shawn, too, and the guy I worked with, well, let’s just say his own sobriety could have been questionable. I wouldn’t believe a word out of him mouth.

          • *his…the English patrol goofed…

15. EDITOR: No good deed goes unpunished. I agree Al can take care of himself. You did what you thought was a good thing to try to get him some help. Time to chalk it up to experience and move on.

    I find this site entertaining and informational. It’s a tough job filling the space with interesting stuff. You are doing a good job. I encourage you to just smile and keep on doing what you are doing. Don’t make the story about yourself.

    Regarding your thoughts about possibly endorsing candidates: I suggest you put that on the back burner. Don’t be in any hurry to commit yourself on that matter. Better to keep ’em all guessing.

    Good luck and keep up the good work!

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