IS IT TRUE August 27, 2013

1. At lastnights meeting there was alot of talk about respect. We should expect our leaders to do so by example. President Robinson gave a very poor example by interupting the EPD Chief Bolin and not letting him explain his position and feelings on the subjects at hand. Early in the meeting Robinson told she recently was in Dallas and was embarased for Evansville, as the people in Dallas were commenting on the incident with firefighter Madison. The citizens of Evansville were embarrased lastnight by the poor example that President Robinson set by not having self-control. If she has no more control than that, she should not be on council. Very sad, that she brought race into this meeting, by commenting how when she looked at Bolin she saw a white cop. Bolin tried to tell her that he looked at her as council President. Who was the real racist here? One of the commentators explained very well, that the answer was not to be found, pointing fingers at the EPD, but should be coming from the peole of color themselves. This self proclaimed three time felon made more sense than any of the black leaders driving their luxury cars and acting racist. It is obvious that Chief Bolin had no choice, but to not take this matter to the police merit commission. It is not very obvious that one of the merit commission members could not have been an impartial party.

   • Very well said. You are correct on every comment.

   • Very well said and correct on every point. Add: Robinson jumped Weaver for doing the same thing she was doing to Chief Bolin!!! Not by any means supporting Weaver, but a blind hog finds an acorn now and then.

2. If you think that meeting was anything but a staged circus, you are dilusional. I don’t care if you support one side or the other, the behavior of Robinson was a joke. She played to the crowd like the elections were being held today.
   Did you even listen the claims being made against the police? One guy went as far as to say he was tortured with electric handcuffs. Give me a break.
   Another was telling his sad story about how he viciously attacked an officer half his size and got a good laugh from the crowd when he told them how knocked the officer out. He went to prison, but last night, he went from suspect to victim.
   The behavior displayed by some in the crowd and by Connie was nothing like what you have tried to describe it as. But hey, at least it gave you chance to talk crap about Weaver.
   The good reverened paraded a group of hand picked people to tell a story designed to advance an agenda. Once the ones that were under his control were done, he went as far as to tell the council he accepted no liability for whatever the rest of the crowd said.

   • Does the term “rebel rouser” come to mind?

     • The term “rebel rouser” has never crossed my mind. “Rabble-rouser” has though. 😉

       Sorry, couldn’t resist. It’s a fault, I know.

   • Any electric handcuffs available in size Weaver ?

3. Again very well said. You are correct on every comment.

4. Poor Billy.

   I’ve never seen him look so bad physically. Bags under his eyes – HUGE weight gain. Hair loss.

   Dude, you’d better start taking better care of yourself. Take yourself off Donut Duty (Coffee With A Cop) and put yourself on Bicycle Duty. That or resign because the stress of the job is physically taking a HUGE toll on you and your body. Just admit you’re in way over your head and quit. You’re looking more and more like Tony Soprano every day and that’s NOT a good thing.

5. I watched some of the video clips of this meeting and I cannot understand the rush to claim racism or to focus on race as if that’s the root of the issue. I think this is getting very old. I was ready to be on the firefighter’s side in this one, then he had to go and say some stuff about being Trayvon. From where I stand, the EPD have made a lot of mistakes, but they are a pretty equal opportunity offender, racially. The few bad apples in the EPD don’t have a racism problem so much as they have a power trip problem. It seems to me some cops are being trained, consciously or unconsciously, to believe their badge gives them extrajudicial superpowers, rather than a profound and sacred duty to serve the citizens of the jurisdiction. It is the “service” aspect that gets lost. In their defense, they deal day in and day out with the dregs of society – habitual liars, thieves, and criminals…and other people as well who are not politicians.

   All that said, hearing Councilwoman Robinson shut down Weaver was kinda funny.

   • Your last sentance says it all. You call out other people about their power trip, but then say it is funny when Connie does the same thing. That is ok though. Because when you are on the council, I will think it is funny when she calls you her “B” and the “B” does not stand for “Brad.”

     • You do have a point of sorts. Mrs. Robinson may have gotten on a slight power trip herself; however, Mrs. Robinson is the President, i.e. she PRESIDES, over the council. If Weaver is out of order, she can shut him down. I think Weaver often acts arrogantly. Even when he is not speaking he has a way of staring people down with his evil looks. He was staring me down the last time I spoke at a council meeting. I didn’t get that from anyone else up there, but he looked like he wanted to kill me with an icepick. So, yeah, I got a chuckle out of hearing Mrs. Robinson say “why are you looking at me like that?” He must have been giving her the same homicidal look he gave me.

       That’s far removed from being on a power trip or suggesting she or anyone else violate Mr. Weaver’s rights or throw concussion grenades in his living room.

       • For your information BLO, she wasn’t talking to weaver about a “LOOK”. She was referring to someone (tax payer) in the audience.
         But hey, if you can flip off a policeman, a clergyman, a child or a rhino. Its freedom of speech. Knock yourself out! Go for it.
         But don’t you dare give “ME” the LOOK. That’s just plain wrong! Really Connie, you are a racist disgrace!

         • My mistake on “the look”. I’m glad we agree flipping an officer off is neither a crime nor probable cause.

6. Billy Bolin and Connie Robinson are the biggest embarrassment to our town ever. And that’s saying a lot considering Weaver and Mosby still live here.

   Only the MAYOR can fix ONE of these problems. He can FIRE BILLY BOLIN.

   Unfortunately, he can’t do anything about Connie Robinson, because she’s elected. Unless of course she wasn’t living in the ward she represents.

7. If you want to see segregation, take a look at the meeting last night regarding the EPD’s handling of Mr. Madison. The meeting wasn’t about a CITIZEN being wrongly handled by the EPD – it was about a BLACK citizen that happened to. Typical protest… leaders in front frantically fanning the fires, causing an uproar and discontent. I hope the EPD holds their ground on this one!

8. I totally agree. Billy Bolin should not only be removed as Police Chief – he should be fired from the force due to his poor leadership. Our crime rate is higher than ever; this is not political fun and games we are talking about. He’s putting innocent lives at risk with his sophomoric, uneducated and flat-out poor and reckless leadership. If only we had a mayor who cared about the well-being of our community. He’s fiddling while Evansville is burning with racism and crime.

9. A couple of comments. First, the Executive Inn was a legit “cabaret” at one time. At one time Bob Green had his own House Band of professional musicians, a very good combination show and dining room, and the staff in the kitchen served excellent food.

   I can remember when Green brought Mel Torme to Evansville. Mel brought one musician with him, his long time drummer Donnie Osborne, and a briefcase full of hot charts. The house band loved it, and together they put on one hell of a performance while we dined on steaks and wine. So yes, the Big E did house a cabaret at one point in its history, and it was a good one.

   As for the transfer of wealth from one generation to another I would suggest that everyone take a look at the the years in which the various bonds listed in the financial statement of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission are slated for retirement. I say “slated” to retire because these bonds have a bad habit of getting refinanced down the road when they start having trouble meeting the bond payments.

   __

10. Bolin is an idiot and so is Robinson. That is all.

11. I don’t think Chief Bolin acted out of line at this meeting. I appreciated his comments about training his officers to “be nice”. This will defuse more situations than all the tasers puffed chests in the world. Sometimes that’s all it takes, some soft skills, some customer service skills.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQnVZ_LL4CE

    That said, I do think he has acted out of line in the past whenever one of his officers’ actions were called int question, and especially during that infamous SWAT Team raid, which luckily didn’t end in tragedy like so many other botched SWAT raids around the country.

    The Robert Evidon situation – a white guy, by the way – is another good example of a situation that could have been handled differently. Rather than circling wagons and ridiculing the alleged victim, which he did publicly, Chief Bolin could have listened to eyewitness complaints a little more and shown a willingness to investigate. It would have gone a long way to restoring neighborhood confidence in the police force and the Chief himself.

    As it stands, I think many neighborhoods feel their relationship with police is one of “us versus them”. That is an unhealthy situation however you slice it. It signals poor public relations. I don’t think it’s too late to pull it back, but it will take some work and some better communication.

    • Mr. Linzy:

      Could Chief Bolin take some citizens out for a donut now and again, maybe pick them up in the Meth Tank ?

      • I sense a tinge of sarcasm in that reply. If I’m reading you right, what you’re saying is the Chief shouldn’t try to extend an olive branch to people in the community because anyone who complains is a meth head?

        In all seriousness, my point is this… The Chief admits he has a few problems in the Dept. I’m suggesting PR is one of them. Good soft skills/customer service skills require more than just being nice. Although being nice is a great start, it requires assurances that any problems will be investigated and rectified. People have no such assurances because every time police come under fire the Chief hold a press conference defending the officers and ignoring people in the community saying there is a problem. Then the EPD Facebook page shuts down opposition by deleting comments and ridiculing anyone who asks for a proper investigation.

        To put this another way, try to recall any time you’ve ever had to phone customer service or tech support for any reason… Remember how frustrating it is to be given a runaround, to have your call routed to someone who didn’t address your problem, who perhaps made it seem impossible to have your problem addressed. Dealing with the public is all about those same soft skills that make great customer service reps – the ability to empathize, to be nice, to communicate that you understand the issue, the ability to admit that if you don’t know the answer to a problem you will find the answer in a timely manner and get to the bottom of it, the acknowledgement that the customer’s input and feedback is valuable.

        What I’m suggesting is the Facebook page should be used as a community forum, not a cheerleading forum for officers and their families, that the Chief should go out and personally visit people who have alleged misconduct against an officer. People should have a place to air grievances and some expectation their issues will be addressed. What’s happening now is the polar opposite. The minute there is a question leveled against an officer’s conduct the Dept. shuts down, circles the wagons, assumes the complainant is a criminal, and seems more interested in defending the officer than getting to the bottom of what happened.

        Officers have a hard job and there will always be false complaints leveled against them. The role of a Chief in addressing those complaints is a delicate tightrope, I realize. You don’t want to alienate the people working with you and lower morale, yet you also don’t want to make their jobs even harder by pitting the community against them. No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. Bad apples exist in any pursuit where a large team is involved. This is why training and communication is important.

12. Saw Rumplebeancounter burning the midnight oil last night which only means one thing. The State Board is on the job!

    • Todd Manning,

      If R. Lloyd Jr. submits his hours of overtime worked for payment, and Winnecke is his boss; shouldn’t Winnecke get fired, ala Sherman Greer ?

      • Salaried people do not get overtime pay.

        • The city still issues “comp time”. No one salaried works for free on city payroll. They usually keep it quiet and bank their hours to take off a different day. Supervisors and department heads then adjust the time report.

13. Anyone see these State Board women working in the basement? It can be summed up in one word. Moo!

    • Cesar,

      Is Moo an acronym ? Municipal Organization Overdraft ?

14. Bolin meant to strike fear into the public with his SWAT little old lady stunt. He should be removed immediately but Winnecke is too inept.

15. Police Chief Billy Bolin did an excellent at the City Council meeting Monday making many good points and holding his cool. Council President Connie Robinson did a terrible job both as the person in charge of the meeting and her comments. Her comments show she is has a huge racial bias problem. She for sure needs to seek help for her bias problem. The very things she was being critical about with the police department, she was doing it herself in front of God and the whole world. What is scary is she did not recognize she was doing it or did not care. Some of the people who spoke was not believable. Even Reverend Brooks did not want to be associated with them and said so. It was a sad night.

    What many people seem to fail to realize or forget was the police did not know who Madison (the bicyclist and fireman) was, he refused to follow police instructions and kept trying to use his phone. The police did not know who he was calling. So they pulled their tasser gun and took him down and put cuffs on him. If face with the same situation, what would you have done if you was the police officer?

16. Can anyone show me a state law or city ordinance that says you cannot use your cell phone if you’re pulled over?

    Can you call your attorney?

    • Oh they’ll say they felt threatened that you were reaching for a gun or roofing hatchet or something. Let’s be honest here.

    • To Truthsquad: What part of “You are to follow the police officers directions” do you not understand? Not following directions is what escalated this situation to a near disaster. Such statements like yours here,is what gets people in jail or killed.

17. “City Council President Connie Robinson and Reverend Adrian Brooks provided passion, leadership, and wise guidance to both the members of this community that expressed discontentment with the treatment of African Americans by the EPD and to the EPD itself on how to show respect and conduct civil discourse?…”

    Is there more than one Connie Robinson in Evansville? Describing the city council member as “…providing leadership and wise guidance…” could not be further from the truth. That applies not only to this article but to many other situations.

    I believe it was only last week that she declared the council session over because it was 8:30 pm. Does this sound like a leader? Does this sound like a leader who wants to accomplish something? Does this sound like a leader who just wants to put her time in?

    I have noticed in other instances that she doesn’t know how to use her microphone. Well, yes she does. But how does she use it. If she wants her position to dominate, she has the mike on and she speaks directly into it with a loud voice.

    If she doesn’t want to be understood, she leaves her mike off, and speaks with very low volume.

    I would like to see true leadership on the council, but there are only about three members of council who appear to me to be capable. Of those three, two are retired and one runs an active business.

    But because there are only three that I consider capable is the fault of the political parties and the voters. Let’s DEMAND better and more candidates.

18. That expression ” I had a bad day ” fits Connie Robinson very well for her behavior and comments at Monday’s City Council meeting. It is hard to imagine how it could have been worse.

    Connie is a smart lady. Hopefully she will learn from it and become a better person.

19. I heard a rumor that Madison got banned from Guns and Hoses because he’s a dirty fighter and he couldn’t follow the rules. Can anyone confirm or deny?

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