IS IT TRUE August 1, 2012

18

The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE August 1, 2012

IS IT TRUE that the following good news about the City of Evansville cemeteries was brought to you very much through the efforts of Mr. Jordan Baer who took it upon himself to write “a grave injustice” that was published by the CCO and on his personal blog?…that young people with the heart and intellect to take on problems instead of joining the bandwagon like Jordan does are the key to the future of Evansville?…that some well meaning young people seem to be “good old boys” in training but that is not Jordan at all?

IS IT TRUE several City County Observer Moles have told us that Mayor Winnecke has stated that he is going to appropriate $25,000 to each of the City of Evansville cemeteries over the next year to start getting the headstones into presentable condition?…we are pleased to hear that the Mayor made this decision so quickly after the state of the cemeteries were exposed by the CCO and several members of the Evansville City Council?…we would also like to commend Councilmen Friend and Lindsey for their positions on this issue from day one, and Councilwoman Robinson for taking the time to go to the Oak Hill cemetery and see for herself what neglect has done to it?…if there is one thing that Mayor Winnecke and this City Council seem to converge on it is keeping up appearances?…that Mayor Winnecke and several members of the Council dutifully continue to pick up garbage in some Evansville neighborhood nearly every week?…these kinds of things take time and it is commendable that this activity is becoming a part of the routine?…it is also disturbing that it is necessary for groups to continually have to clean up the same darn neighborhoods over and over?…for every Mayor Winnecke or Missy Mosby in this world who really will pick up garbage every week there are 1,000 slop hogs who toss their refuse into the streets as if it were their private garbage can?…that only when Evansville is mostly made up of those who will never litter can diligent public servants make a sustainable visual difference?

IS IT TRUE after the recent fallout over the state of two of Evansville’s oldest graveyards that the City Council seems poised to do something about the problem of broken and leaning headstones? …that if the wrong thing is done out of political expedience it could create more problems from a preservation perspective? …that the New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association, an entity dedicated to, “promot[ing] correct methods of identifying, recording, maintaining and preserving…old graveyards” has on its website very clear guidelines for preserving broken headstones and repairing leaning ones? …that one of the recommended methods for headstones with vertical or multiple fractures is to lie the stone prostrate on a bed of gravel encased by landscaping timbers? …that this solution does no more harm to the stone, protects it from mowing equipment, and provides the best drainage which is essential to preventing further cracking and erosion? …that one of the acknowledged drawbacks to such a solution is that the timbers will eventually rot away? …that an Evansville company, Green Tree Plastics, creates a landscaping timber made from completely recycled plastic that will not rot or fade? …that the Council would do well to consider the New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association’s recommendations when implementing any solutions for broken and leaning headstones as well as the inclusion of Green Tree products?

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nhoga/preservation.htm#Repair

IS IT TRUE the City of Evansville has met the first deadline of producing a report for the EPA proposing exactly what, when, how, and hopefully how much it will cost to eliminate the mandated separation of the toilet sourced contents of the sewer and rainwater runoff?…this report is rumored to be quite large and should be uploaded to the City of Evansville website as early as today?…in the interest of saving some trees, the CCO encourages our interested readers to read this document electronically and avoid printing a document that may take two reams of paper?

IS IT TRUE the Financial Forecast Center is on the record as predicting that the unemployment rate will remain unchanged at 8.2% through August but will then start increasing to 8.6% by the end of the year?…they project that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will finish the year at 11,410, down 12% from where it closed yesterday?…they also project that the average 30 year mortgage will bottom in August and start rising until ending the year at 3.82%?…that a combination of rising unemployment and interest rates accompanied by an across the board contraction in stock prices is not a combination that will make for an economic recovery of any kind?

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Joe Wallace you forgot to praise Jordon Beard for doing an outstanding job exposing the horrible state of city owned grave yards.

    In fact I would like to personally submit Jordons name to be consider as a “2012 City County Observer Mole Award” winner.

    It would be a “grave injustice” if you don’t consider him.

    • I second that.

      Jordon has done a lot o good by standing for what he believes is best for Evansville. He made some people mad and some not. Bottom line, this young man did a great thing of help correcting and addressing the major problems at our city cementeries.

      Two votes and counting for Jordon as “CCO Mole Award” winner for 2012.

    • Thank you. It was indeed Jordan Baer who drew the most attention to the situation at Roberts’s grave. Jordan had a big win on this issue.

  2. Thank you, Jordan Baer-you were the only one whom had enough confidence in their writing skills-I have been upset for years about the condition of Oak Hill cemetary. A great many people have been upset about vandalism, headless statues, the unobserved gatelocking policy, and the just lazy butt neglect in general. I have no difficulty picturing Chris Cooke playing games on his computer, while “his employees” took care of the greiving families that came to make interment arrangements-and I’d bet he IS in hiding! He played “Let’s Make a Deal” with Lloyd Winnecke in the election (playing Democrat saboteur and spy-along with several others who ought to be ashamed, but they don’t have sense) and is embarrassing everyone who paid off the Judas.

    • I’m not sure locking the gates at night would help much, in fact it might actually hurt more than it helps.

      As I’ve pointed out before, the walls at Oak Hill are not exactly fortress-like. Any teenager worth his muster could scale that wall. A fat, aging police officer on the other hand… He might need to drive through the gate. If the gate is locked, it ensures the entire cemetery will not be policed that night. Vandals could take that as a cue to rum amok.

      • vandals would at least break a bone scaling the wall-and police in that area have Fare’s red light district to contend with, they dont have time to cruise the cemetary at night.

        • Not calling BS on your statement but the Fares problem is much smaller and contained compared to years ago, it’s just a small corridor between Maxwell and Diamond and the cops have it well under control, as to patrolling Oak Hill…no reason it can’t be done, the cops do extra patrols all the time, it’s just a matter of making it a minor priority on 2nd and third shifts for the beat car in that sector to do so. Heck even the deputy sheriffs can make a few passes since they like to patrol the city providing their own coverage.

          What would be nice to know is the frequency of the vandalism, if it’s older damage or an on going problem, I’d think Mr Cooke would have that info.

          Again it’s JMHO

          • Have you ever set by the prescription counter of CVS on Morgan ave on Friday night and watched the tweakers come in to pick up their weekly allotment of sudafed? Fares ave and the hotels in the area are stilll wide open

  3. I also vote for Jordan Baer as cco mole of the year , I believe in the very near future this young man shall be able to accomplish anything he attempts , and he won’t need puppets to do his work either

  4. Thanks to the Editor for taking the time to discuss cemetery preservation.

    It’s hard to argue with $25k being spent on a cemetery in disrepair if the preservation is done correctly. This could be a real win for everyone – the citizen advocates and the politicians…IF done correctly.

    The problem could quickly get worse if they just send a few hacks in with pressure washers to whitewash the stones, which removes natural patination and promotes erosion, or if they go in and just encase broken stones in concrete, which promotes more cracking.

    The real danger here is if ham-fisted “repairs” are performed with an eye only to making the cemetery “presentable”, we run a real risk of destroying this valuable record and resource.

  5. From the many citizens of this community, I want to congratulate Jordon Baer for what you did to make us aware of the bad shape that OAK Hill is in.

    Also thanks to city council members John Friend, Al Linsey and Connie Robinson pushing for additional money to repair the major problems at our city owned grave yards. Also would like to thank the Mayor for putting money in the new budget to start making repairs to our grave yards.

    Shame on you Mr. Cooke for allowing them to get into kind of shape. It’s time you stop plying “political boss” and begin act as a manager so you can start correcting the mess at Oak Hill and Locust Hill.

    • The money used to be there for city owned cemeteries but I believe weinzapfel was the one who cut it from 25k to10k

  6. Well- well well looks like the political types just can’t keep a good man down. Job well done Jordan Baer!

    CCO please consider this young man as one(1) of your sixth (6) “MOLE OF THE YEAR” award winners.

    Thanks CCO for help to increase the funding to repair our cemeteries.

    OF couse, thanks to John Friend, Al Lindsey anf Connie Robinson for the worh you did with lobbing the Mayor to increase the funding to make repairs at our cemeteries.

  7. Would someone please post a link to Jordon Baer”s article entitled “Grave Injustice” so I can read it.

    Sorry I just over looked it.

  8. The editor and others are correct. The city must research carefully the ways to properly repair headstones of various ages and materials. As we all know some “information on the internet is not valid, so time must be taken to prevent more damage in the long run.

    Thanks Jordan! Glad to see you didn’t give up on Evansville. When you run for a political office in the future, you will have my vote. However I have always believed that one can drive change more forcefully outside of public office than inside government. So wait a good while to seek election.

    We all need to take this young man’s actions as an example for our own behavior. Please note that he does not just complain about problems. Jordan takes action.

  9. No word from Missy on the gravesites? Does she even know she lost on this issue? Nice try though!

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