IS IT TRUE February 16, 2015

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IS IT TRUE the City County Observer intentionally avoided the frantic rush to be first, second, or even third to publish an article about the fire at Marina Point in the wee hours of Saturday morning?             … sometimes articles that have the potential to have political implications need to rest a while until some reality starts to emerge? …that and the fact that it was a Valentine’s Day weekend drove our decision to stay away from this story until now? …one thing that is for sure about the reporting of this fire and the events surrounding it is that Evansville’s MAINSTREAM MEDIA has been engaged in some SUBLIMINAL MESSAGING about the fire at Marina Point?

IS IT TRUE Democrat candidate for Mayor of Evansville Gail Riecken viewed the Marina fire from an adjourning property,  was not detained by the police, and does not own or manage Marina Point but one would never know it by the headlines thrust upon the general public by the mainstream media? …article after article appeared online with the name “Riecken” leading the headline giving the clear impression that Gail Riecken was part of the excitement created by the fire? …while it is true that Representative Riecken’s husband Ron Riecken did travel down to the his daughter business that he helps manage to see what was the ruckus, Gail was never there with him?

IS IT TRUE some of the articles left a bit of uncertainty about whether or not Ron Riecken had alcohol on his breath and even intimated that he was somehow a major threat to the officers of the Evansville Police Department or the Evansville Fire Department?…we know for a fact that Ron Riecken hasn’t had an alcoholic drank in over 30 years …we are sure that there was adrenaline flowing through Mr. Riecken’s body given the direct threat to his daughters business?  …we really wonder if it was necessary for the 71 year old man to be put into handcuffs behind his back and forced to the ground and sit on the wet driveway in sub zero weather for about 45 minutes in yet another Rambo moment in Evansville? …it would had been more reasonable for EPD to sit Mr. Riecken in a warm squad car and allow him to clam down so he provide them with information how to a fight a fire on the water with Inland Marina state-of- the-art Fire Boat? …this all occurred within less than a mile of where Louise Milan’s home was busted into Rambo style by a group of overzealous EPD officers passing judgement over a open source internet router? …the over-reaction of cuffing and forcing a 71 year old man to sit on the cold ground who really doesn’t scare much of anyone is mistake #1 of the evening?

IS IT TRUE Marina Point had and still has a working state -of-the-art Fire Boat which was fully capable of being piloted and operated by Coast Guard Licensed Boat Captain Ron Riecken to take water from the Ohio River and show members of the EFD how to property apply it to the fire on the first boat that was burning? …it is alleged that the ERD fire boat that showed up may had a faulty pump and couldn’t pump water on the burning boat which is typical for capital equipment in the possession of the City of Evansville? …that the alleged faulty pump problem lead the EFD to cut the burning boat loose in hopes that it would drift into the main channel of Ohio River and burn itself out instead of drifting into four other boats and spreading the fire to them? …given the fact that 5 boat owners and Marina Point incurred many millions of dollars worth of damage?  …it is a foregone conclusion that the insurance companies will be spending lots of forensic dollars getting to the bottom of who is at fault for the millions of dollars of property damages? …we hope that the EFD and EPD have clear video recordings of this entire event so the taxpayers won’t be faced with a multi-million dollar law suit liability?

IS IT TRUE the other question that is yet to be resolved is why in the heck three people were on a houseboat supposedly cleaning it up to sell at 1 am on a night when it was below freezing? …it is hard to think of any good reason to be cleaning a boat in 17 degree weather at 1 am in February in Evansville, IN? …time will bring the truth of this story out too? …that whatever Gail Riecken’s daughter and son-in-law did and whether they were drinking is of no consequence to the Evansville Mayoral campaign and the mainstream media knows it?…the City County Observer is relieved that no one was hurt and realizes that property damage has a way of being fixed? …the rush to sensationalize a fire at Inland Marina has lots of the general public misinformed?…we hope this all comes out and the truth prevails, because the fire and the aftermath are a classic exercise in politically motivated malfeasance?

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249 COMMENTS

  1. A re-print of John Blair would paint a better picture of reality for those that missed it. I hope he sends the same letter to the cp though I know they won’t print it

    HOW THIS?
    Editor

    From John Blair’s FB page

    OK, here is the story as best I can report it on the Marina fire. Some of this is based on heresay and some is based on my simple observation.

    At least five boats burned, Bill Marver’s houseboat on the end of B dock was the one that caught fire originally. Instead of allowing Katie and Ed to get down to the docks and putting the Marina Fire Boat into operation, the public safety people I was told, cut Marver’s houseboat loose and it drifted into Mark Rolley’s beautiful Serenity on the end of A dock and set it on fire.

    Apparently Serenity burned completely and sunk where it sat and the Marver boat continued adrift finally drifting to the end of the far northwest dock (near the entrance to the Marina) setting Phil Meyer’s houseboat and Kevin Derr’s sailboat on fire demolishing both, although there is still evidence of both of those boats on the surface. Another boat, a red and white Cruisers Yacht now sitting on the end of B Dock suffered at least exterior damage to its bow.

    The Coast Guard was on hand to oversee any environmental hazards and booms were in place to collect fuel and debris that was floating on the surface.

    What is yet to be explained, at least to my satisfaction, is why Katie and Ed Parker were not allowed to go man the Marina Fire Boat, which is capable of pumping lots of water in an effort to put out the fire on the Marver boat before it was set free to do so much additional damage. Instead, they were arrested and not given access to the very thing that may have saved the other boats.

    The whole thing is exceptionally sad and my thoughts are with all those who lost boats and to the Rieckens and Parkers who ended up in trouble for making an effort to help.

    • Whoa! This comment by ONEMOVER was edited/added to about an two hours after it was originally posted at 6:44am. How is that possible?

        • No no Moveon. It was added to….by Editor, two hours after it was originally posted. I have not seen that kind of manipulation of other’s comments by Editor before.

          • I have seen that on many other web site forums. And what did you see that changed? Spell it out because I read it before you say it was changed and I can’t seen any difference. All he did was quote what John Blair said on his facebook page. I provided a link to what John Blair’s facebook page said. Did you read John Blair’s Facebook page and see any difference there from what was copied and pasted into the CCO IIT today? I can’t. Anyway at least it’s not like the Evansville Courier and press where they delete entire accounts if they don’t like what you post. That’s censor ship.

          • Did it occur to you that John may have edited his Fb post? I’m pretty sure no alteration by the CCO editor is even a possibility. You do, of course, have proof of your allegation. You need to post it.

          • Did you capture any screen shots of the before and after? You are being pretty harsh on the Editor today. What’s up with that ?

          • Onemeover only had those first two lines posted.

            River is correct that “HOW THIS? on down, was added by
            a third party afterwards!

          • Thanks A….there is a witness folks. (ELKAYBEE and Moveon knew that Arm, btw…they are just being feckless.)

          • Shem:
            How can talking about the Marina Fire reflect poorly on someone who’s not involved with the Marina anymore? You do yourself a disservice by trying to drag Gail into this mess. Talk about being Biased.

            OK I see what you mean now. But the CCO post from onemeover has been the same from the very first time I saw it this morning. I probably read it around 7:30 to 8:00 am for the first time today. Maybe the Editor added John’s Comments and just tacked it onto onemeover’s original post instead of as a reply too post. But the Editor just posted what onemeover was asking for. If you look at my other posts ( new post today at around 3:PM you will see that the EC&P has a new article about further investigations of the fire today. You better believe that the insurance companies will want to know how this fire investigation is being done. So will their lawyers.

  2. Is it true it is “Riecken Monday” on CCO today? Two off the wall questions comes to mind.

    Could there been illegal activity going on at that hour which requires a heat source to produce something?

    Was any of Ron Rieken rights violated by a non-white law officer?

    • “Could there been illegal activity going on at that hour which requires a heat source to produce something?” Interesting thought. Meth? I hear there is a local market that has recently opened up.

      But never underestimate the ability of people to do strange things.

      • yea Who cleans a boat on the water at Midnight on a cold February Friday the 13th.

        Do you know the meaning of Friday the 13th? It’s filled with Political BS from the Pope and the King of France in the 1300’s when they rounded up all the Knight’s Templars and killed most of them. Which is why Friday the 13th is considered a bad luck day.

        Ironic that the fire’s main events were started on Friday 13th or on Valentine day the 14 of Feb. I’ve not read the exact time that the fire was started.

        I suspect that we will learn about this in a court room report some day in the future. As this is bound to end up in a court of law at some point in time in the future. That I would be money on.

        • Do you think both Indiana and Kentucky are going to appoint special commissions to investigate the boat and river fires and issue a report? (I’m kidding…but MOVEON, you lit the fire on this over the weekend…and now it is a roaring wildfire….)

          • Actually I didn’t light any fires. The three people cleaning the house boat who kicked over the Kerosene lantern flamed the fires. I just want to know who, what, where about the house boat fire and think it’s ironic at best that it started on Friday the 13th of all days.

            I personally don’t buy the story that they were on the boat around Midnight cleaning it for a sale on Valentines day. That’s some strange story in my book. I think is a sad story.

          • No but the USEPA or the local news media says it’s not a “Criminal Investigation”. I’m not sure how this works. I guess the USEPA is there to protect the Ohio River which is controlled by the Federal Government when it comes to pollution. EPA hired a private environmental clean up firm to help clean up the fuel and debris in the Marina area.

  3. IS THIS TRUE, or IS THIS FALSE
    The City County Observer is an unbiased, uninvolved, third party news reporting institution providing independent, objective analysis of the political news in Evansville.

    1. True

    2. False

    ………..
    “Calm down! Calm down you idiots! Embarrassing crap is being written about the Riecken family name!! It’s embarrassing. Fire! Alcohol! Middle of the Night! Burning boats on the River! Fighting the firefighters! OMG!!”

    “I am the Editor of the City County Observer. And today I need to write a damage control article of behalf of a candidate in the Mayor’s race!! Calm down!!”

    Regardless of your preferences for the Evansville Mayor’s race, today’s IIT is pretty damning evidence that the City County Observer is IN THE TANK with a preference for a Candidate in the Mayor’s Race….surprise, surprise, surprise!!!

    So much for accusing the Courier & Press for being a flagrantly biased news analysis organization. The C&P has company – so is the City County Observer.

    (I’ll vote for Riecken, but can we all at least admit the CCO is at least – more biased – than the Courier & Press? I mean today’s IIT might as well have been written by the Riecken campaign office!)

    • IS THIS TRUE?…or IS THIS FALSE?
      The Editor of the City County Observer is not an “Editor” AT ALL.

      The Editor of the CCO is a POLITICAL HACK.

      1. True

      2. False

      • Sorry to be so harsh Editor. But when you write and publish biased crap like today’s IIT, you put yourself in a position where it is easy to rip the mask off of your face.

        • What’s is harsh is the present intensity in climate migrations , the next few days are going to tough on the whole Nations logistical infrastructure. Ran our program analysis early today, woe, everybody be safe. This is pure hell on any recovery effort at the marina as well. And of course the cost to clear streets and the thermodynamic beating your old water mains will take, even more so when it rewarms some.
          The mainstream did quote Mr. Mounts as saying they are using more caution for the intake water due to all the fuel, oil, and other stuff that went in just upstream.

          Little things like what fire fighters or repair crews have to do when its this nasty out. They should have some extra Patrol’s around the abandoned empty places also, or you’ll have some mainstream reporting to do with the fellows fighting a fire all the while trying to keep the water hoses flowing and themselves on their feet on all the ice and snow. The mid south is getting stomped by the ice along the I-40 for 1200 miles , Heavy snows about got the whole north east shut down.
          Roof’s collapsing ,pileups throughout the county, one wonders what the cost in insurance commerce will be alone.
          The evening lows are going subzero even the snow provides some ground insulation but waterlines in subfloor foundations and empty buildings are going to take some close attention for a few days.

          Read Delta Bravos comments yesterday on why the fire crews didn’t need anyone flapping around on that dock during the fire as well. Believe me, Myself and some of my fly fishing buddies once witnessed a large houseboat fire down south in another state, almost the same thing accept they were fueling when the fire started on that thing , and that was on a summer day. How that ignited who knows, the authorities thought it could have been a static arc from the dock.

          The thing was that boat had some large grill equipment on it with the tall propane tanks the explosion was tremendous anyone nearby likely would of had serious if not fatal injuries. The craft I was on was back at least 200 yards and leaving further, the explosion on that rather large houseboat actually threw burning debris clear past our boat. That’s the thing one never knows what’s burning and how toxic that is either.

      • I Noticed that not one negative poster refuted much of the IIT today. Lot’s of bad words and personal attacks.

        Is it true that some of Winney’s political supporters are not happy when the details of the fire are examined closely?

        Is it true that the EC&P reports were slanted? You better believe it. Editor’s right on the money

        • You have some interesting points, but personally, I wouldn’t stand to close to this fire no matter which side you are on because you’re likely to get burnt. No matter what the truth is, it’s Evansville politics.

          • I wear Asbestos underwear. Have no fear Underwear is here! 🙂 Do you think that someone plays dirty? Remember the pen is mightier than the Sword. I can cross pens with the best of them in here.

            The points I made are based on some knowledge. I could do better if I had more information.

            We would not be talking about this fire if three people had not been on that houseboat last Friday night and caught the boat on fire. I blame those people first. Everything else would not have even happened if not for the first event of starting the fire on the first boat. The fire was flamed by the actions of certain EFD (no one else was allowed on the fire scene). I’m wondering if any PRE FIRE planning had been done by EFD. This fire was more like a WAR zone from what I’m reading these days.

      • 1) I don’t think the Editor put himself forward as a Perry White, but he is more of an editor than Tim Ethridge.

        2) The CCO is a little giddy for Gail, but not in the pail as the CP is for Winnecke.

        3) TRUE/FALSE I no longer beat my wife?

        • …..Ha! Pretty good I-E. But I think the more apt metaphor is: “Yes, the Courier & Press beats his wife. But here at the City County Observer, we just don’t beat our wives as hard, or as often as the C&P does.”

          • I had high hopes that the CCO would be the independent voice that is sorely needed in this community. Unfortunately, that ship has sailed, (or burned).

            The only question is does the CCO shrill for specific candidates based upon political beliefs or is it solely based upon how much advertising the candidate purchases? Seeing the banner of a much younger Gail smiling at me every time I come here makes me think it’s the latter.

          • I think if you are going to be truly informed, then the comments by the editors, contributors and posters, especially the posters, on the CCO is going to be required reading.

        • Now you are acting like the folks on Faux Noise. Did you beat your wife yesterday?
          That not a leading question is it?

          • Silly, I am saying asking true or false questions are somewhat loaded. I saw Brian Williams walking on the river the night of the fire.

      • Anyone can call themselves an “Editor” Just look at Tim Ethridge. LOL talk about a political hack!

        Move on nothing to see here.

        • LKB, You’re talking about a censor, not a political hack. (And trying to change the subject.)

          • So you think that every one should be unbiased. I’m sorry but everyone has a angle to play. Find me an unbiased person. You can’t do it. The IIT today was right on the money on many things.

            It was a holiday weekend and they waited to post comments on the fire. yes the CCO posted some reprints of other news agencies but that was not an article. Read the ITT again.

    • Ridiculous comments. Every point raised raised by the CCO is a legitimate question.

      Please tell us all how the fool Jeb Bush would make a great president.

      • BB…what a sniveling little comment. Look, this is all ok if you agree with Editor for God’s sake. That’ s not the point. The bad guys have the Press in their pocket, and that’s pathetic, right?…this is the refrain you holler about the Courier & Press. My point is the CCO is actually worse. How so? Read the freakin’ IIT today…it was written by the CCO to help with Riecken damage control. SOMEBODY probably needs to take on that task…BUT THE CITY COUNTY OBSERVER? The Editor is a political hack….wearing a mask.

        • How about you picking out one or two statements by the CCO that you believe constitute political hackery and we will discuss.

          • BB, You’re still avoiding the point, and you’re clawing to get the conversation to go away from that point….SO….here you go. BrainsB, what is it about Valentines Day that caused Editor to do this:…. “the fact that it was a Valentine’s Day weekend drove our decision to stay away from this story”…?

          • The fact that is was a weekend and a free comment time sums that up Shem. Not everyone is paid to work on weekends. And keeping up with the news in this town is hard work. I can’t expect the Editor or owners of the CCO to be there on Saturday and Sunday especially if they have family to attend to. After all it was a HOLIDAY Weekend.

            Which reminds me that a lot of arson fires are started on Holiday and weekends. I read that somewhere some time ago. I think it was given to me by the EFD staff many years ago. Yea I think a former EFD Fire Chief told me and others that very thing.

    • Shem, I think the ITT was written by Move On. It sounds a lot like his ramblings from yesterday.

      • Ha Cowboy! Move On was on fire yesterday.

        MOVEON DESERVES A PULITZER for his writing over the weekend. It was so entertaining, he drove the conspiracy and the fire of the story.

        • It’s still going. But it’s a shame you can’t do as good. Cowgirls is nothing but a troll and she knows it.

        • Funny stuff but the fire is not a criminal investigation and the the area is now a crime scene. I call it as I see it. This one was pretty fishy from the start. I mean the story of the three people who claim to have been cleaning the boat at midnight.

    • Shem:
      Was it not true that there was a fire at the Marina? You forgot to ask how and possibly why the fire was started? That should be your very first question. It matter not what Gail was doing. Nothing that the CCO editor wrote was disputed by your questions.

      Someone has to present the rest of the facts that were conveniently left out by the Courier and Press. Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that has true meaning. And the Courier and Press left out a lot. In fact they went to a paid ( write a check and use a credit card and Identify your self) subscription so that not everyone could comment on their stories. At least you are free to lambaste the CCO till your hearts content for FREE and with an assumed name.

    • Shem,– So you don’t like the CCO,–one might think your a masochist the way you abuse your self by coming to this site . Most of your haughty remarks reek like you have been lunching at Bee Slough, while admiring your self in the puddles there. Go Away little Boy.

  4. agree 110% with river……….nobody has a right to assault police officers or firefighters……..the riecken family showed total disrespect for authority……..yes indeed the mask has officially been removed from the cco…….without a doubt cco is nothing more nothing less than a political hack…….sad but true……

  5. But….it was Valentine’s Day weekend…LOL

    and the fact that it was a Valentine’s Day weekend drove our decision to stay away from this story until now?

  7. The arrests seemed unnecessary to me on first read. They still do.

    ☆ Gail Riecken for Mayor ☆

    • Drunk, pushing firemem, kicking cops, blocking the only access to the fire scene. Yep. No need for arrests on this one.

      • So, how could the two managers have been arrested for public intoxication if they were on private property? I am assuming they were in the parking lot just above the ramp.

      • IC 7.1-5-1-3:
        ‘… it is a Class B misdemeanor for a person to be in a public place or a place of public resort in a state of intoxication caused by the person’s use of alcohol … ‘.

    • I think being ☆Giddy for Gail☆ taints one’s objectivity. The EFD and EPD are professionals and should not have interference in their professionalism. Setting a burning boat free and uncontrolled to drift into others boats is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. We weren’t there to see it, but as emotional as it is the Rieckens and Parkers needed to stand down. I would think they were insured and they certainly deserve a day in court to recognize the professional actions of the night. But, a free night of lodging by the city does seem a bit over done. Wonder if Bolin cooked them a nice breakfast?

      I hear Gail observed the fire from another property, an Urbana hotel room. Now was that nice of me? I’m a bad bad man.

        • Please, you’re busy enough being embarrassed for yourself. Read again looking for sarcasm and what I wrote will make sense. e. g. Would professions set a burning boat adrift without maintaining some control? They made the fire worse.

        • SNL!!! I seen where Palin has her calling!
          Doing tidbits for 40th Anniversary Saturday Night Live!

          As Gail looks out over the river from her house,
          I can see “Spottsville” from here!

  8. There isn’t even a story here. People who see their property burning always want to help. Their emotions kick in and they try to go back inside and stop the fire. Its called being a human. Ask any firefighter and they will tell you that.
    If this incident regarding the adult relatives of Gail Riecken is going to be Winnecke and his supporters “ace in the hole” then his campaign is even more inept that previously thought. Get a grip people. It was a tragic fire and emotions run high. This fire had nothing to do with Gail Riecken and it certainly doesn’t make all of Winneckes EarthScam, HotelScam, WatermeterScam, BudgetScam, FlashBangGrenadeFiasco, HandcuffAFirefighterforWavingFiasco and Winneckes many other failures disappear.
    That fire and the families emotional response have no bearing on my life and Gail Riecken had ZERO direct involvement in it. On the other hand everything I mentioned regarding the city does involve Winnecke and does affect me direct. People can’t choose or control how their family members act but everyone in Winneckes Administration was purposely CHOSEN by Winnecke. Whats even worse is that none of those hand selected Winnecke leaders have had any punishment for their bad actions. That 100% on Winnecke. Period.

    • True. It’s easily predictable how people will react when they see their house and other property going up in a blasé. This happens ever day.

      How hard would it be to wait until you know some one is out partying and drinking to then set fire to their property in a big way and then arrest them when they come running to save their house? Some may call that a crazy story but other’s call it POLITICS…..

      A couple of things to avoid if you are running for office. Wild Women and Booze. But then again the people running for office were not at this fire. But the way the EC&P wrote the story one might tend to think that one Riecken is the same as the others. But that would not be true. Any one with eyes can see the slant that EC&P puts on this story. They emphasis the arrests and don’t pay much attention to the fact that the boat was cut loose and allowed to spread the fire and cause 2 million dollars or more in damage.

      From the reactions to this IIT it’s pretty easy to see who’s lining up to support Winney and who’s not.

      The GOP political attacks are just starting. The first shots were fired the other day when they disciplined democrat City Council Member Al Lindsey who’s a Capt on the EFD and also on the city council. They told him that he has to get permission before talking to the media. Funny I didn’t know the GOP could muzzle a City Council Member? That was taken care of pretty easily. Written reprimand was changed to a verbal reprimand. But this is not the first time that the GOP appointed EFD Chief and AL have gone at each other. That’s how politics works in this town. Al got into trouble for talking about the EFD before getting permission. He was talking about some fire houses not having the room or the equipment to exercise the firemen property. A item that he could help provide as a member of the city council. And idea that the EFD Chief Connelly agrees with as he is in favor of the firemen keeping in shape. So why discipline Al for being in favor of expanding the exercise areas and exercise equipment for the firemen? Politics maybe?

      • Whatever the outcome of the investigation of the cause of the fire, the net impact of this incident on the Mayoral election will be a big, fat “0” at best for Winnie. It will likely backfire and wind up as a “+” for Gail.
        There is going to be a fuss on EFD, and Ed Parker may well lose his job. That will get tiresome to hear about, but it will be played to the hilt by the local rag. They will probably have Ella Johnson write and Winnie approve their copy on that story.
        Those things being said, there seems to me to be far more “coincidence” here than makes any sense, and there are numerous theories about who is at fault. The one thing that I think we can be pretty sure of is that the Parkers and/or Rieckens did NOT set the fire.

        • It is a long time to election day. I don’t think her relatives having problems will be a factor.

        • I’m not trying to defend the C&P ELKAYBEE….

          But exactly WHO is the LOCAL RAG today? You can’t be serious…..unless you’re one of the people here who adopt the attitude that “Yes, the City County Observer beats his wife, but not as hard as the C&P does.”

          • At least I see better where you are coming from. You are right that two wrongs don’t make a right. But someone has to tell the other side of the story. That’s where the CCO does it best. They give us the news that the rags failed to report.

            If not for some of the comments about the fire many would not know a lot of the details about the fire.

            And you must admit that the fire was started on or very close to Friday the 13. That day is historically a bad day. And Everyone knows that Friday the 13th is bad luck day. They may not know why but they know is a bad luck day. Setting a fire on that day can send a message.

            As did Bin Laden when he chose to attack us on September 11th. Do you think he didn’t know that when we need help we dial 911. Choosing to attack the towers on 911 was symbolic and no one can dispute that.

            Politics is dirty and all you have to do is look at the events of Watergate to see how dirty things get.

  9. This IIT is a joke. From beginning to end. All on behalf of their choice for Mayor. You claim you did not cover the story, but you DID in fact cover this story because you posted the EPD press release just like the other news outlets did. Why are you acting like you stayed out of it? Because the rumors don’t match the police statements? This blog does rely heavily on rumor and speculation. I guess you don’t want to lose your fan base by acknowledging that you posted the official press release.
    To blame the EFD and EPD for this shows how desperate Gail is and it will backfire big time. Every firefighter and cop is watching how she has allowed this to unfold. And so are their families and friends. And they all vote.
    This story is so slanted it even failed to mention that the cops were dealing with a Riecken family member who was .196% on a breath test. That might be important when deciding who was making better choices that night. If a cop showed up at an incident at .196%, this blog would be all over him. Imagine a drunk cop showing up at a standoff and saying his rifle was better than the on duty, SOBER cop, so he should be allowed to get involved. How would Joe, LKB, and the other regulars on here react?
    This fire was not set to sink Gail’s political career, but the reponse by her supporters, including the CCO, has all but capsized her run for Mayor. Her silence on the issue speaks loudly and every public safety worker and reasonable person knows she has left the true heroes of the Inland Marina fire to walk the plank. All so her family members can look like the victims of a political conspiracy that is so far fetched, it is laughable.

    • ” If a cop showed up at an incident at .196%, this blog would be all over him. Imagine a drunk cop showing up at a standoff and saying his rifle was better than the on duty, SOBER cop, so he should be allowed to get involved. How would Joe, LKB, and the other regulars on here react?”

      That is a magnificent analogy, and I think we all know EXACTLY how The Editor and others would respond.

        • There you go. Who was in the boat “cleaning”? Who called the EFD? Wouldn’t it have been useful information to the fire dept to know there was a water pumper that would’ve saved so much property? Why didn’t the EFD know of it prior to this, as there was a terrible fire at Marina Pointe Restaurant years back-I’m sure there is a Search/Rescue boat, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it were not docked there, for practice/training.
          Very drunk people might have knowledge of what it would take to extinguish this fire, but could’ve perished in the effort, since very drunk people don’t exercise the best judgment. Thank God no one was harmed.

          Gail Reicken has nothing to do with this. It is ugly of anyone to plaster her name all over the incident, she wasn’t present.

          Who were the three people on the firestarter?
          This stinks, start to finish.

      • A bit off subject
        I remember a while back a police officer ran his police car into a fence atop w.franklin hill in the wee hours of the night ,unsure if he was or wasn’t intoxicated but he left the car unlocked and his service revolver loaded in the front seat,,,this happened about the same time billy Bolin was appointed police chief

        • Yep, and the cops didn’t go talk to him until the next day once he was sobered up. Anyone else they’d be coming to your house to haul you to jail that very night and don’t even try to tell me otherwise.

          • That’s the same thing that happened when VP Cheney said he had been drinking the afternoon that he “accidentally” shot his attorney hunting friend in the face with a 12 Gage Shotgun while hunting birds out west. Cheney was not interviewed by the local Sheriff until the next day when he had sobered up and gotten rid of the alcohol in his blood.

            But we diverge. But hey that’s ok. Funny how a fire on a house boat might start conversations that deal with local and national politics. And those discussion might effect who’s the next Mayor and which people will still be Fire Chief and Police Chief in a few more months.

      • There will be a third party candidate, and he won’t get close. I’m not saying that is a good thing or a bad thing. It is just reality.

        • We can only hope that steve wozniak is able to run for mayor. If not win the race will definitely give these boneheads in charge a run for their money

          Im going to do everything in my power to get him elected! If i have to rent busses to get everyone in the city to the polls im in !

    • This CCO tells the OTHER SIDE of the Story that you don’t get to see on the other local Media Outlets. Don’t they say what Winney tells them to say? They didn’t tell about the 71 year old Ron Riecken being put in hand cuffs and forced to sit on the cold ground watching the Marina burn up. No they just said he was detained. I’m sorry but if you are detained then you are being put under arrest for all practical purposes. The only difference is that he was detained on the scene and not detained in the county jail. Semantics at best.

      The news papers didn’t tell you that EFD cut the burning boat loose. They didn’t tell you that the Rieckens have a modern fire boat that worked. They didn’t tell us about the EFD pump on their boat not working. Probably just a portable water pump that was put on the EFD small modified john boat. No the EC&P left a lot of details out about this fire. And they slanted what details the published to have a negative effect on Gail. Gail was not even there and can’t be held responsible for what he son in law does. I know a few EFD guys that also drink Alcohol when they are off duty. And I know that they too would be upset if their were out drinking and were told that their house was on fire and their family’s business might be in danger.

      Timing is EVERY THING in politics.

      The real test of this story is what where three people doing on that houseboat at Midnight when the fire started? And why were we the public not informed that a flammable liquid was involved in the fire on the first houseboat. Who cleans a houseboat in the middle of the night with a Kerosene lantern? I can’t wait until of the CCO’s Nay Sayers today can answer that question with a straight face. This is the root cause of this fire and it’s the most important question to ask and get answered.

      • Who were these 3 boat cleaners? That’s the big missing piece. Also who is the owner of the first boat? I know it was said but that person doesn’t sound familiar.

        • C’mon Cowboy. Please….! Please make this even more fun by asking if the boat cleaners were illegals….!

          • It’s cowgirl not cowboy. And Cowgirl in not ghost. Ghost I don’t think Shem was directing that to you. He was trying to get Cowgirl to response. It’s hard to follow the threads in here unless people say who they are directing their comments to.

      • Move, There was a house fire with fatality Saturday morning. Have you investigated that ? That is way more serious than a couple drunks interfering with the Fire and Police .

        • I’m not interested in that house fire. I did read about it but we were discussing the Marina fire as it’s much more interesting.

    • Oh please. This blog is either relevant or it’s not. You can’t have it both ways. The 300 people who read this on a daily basis, and then come back repeatedly to argue, won’t determine the election. Likewise, the 5000 city residents who subscribe to the Courier won’t decide it either. And the police and firemen, who largely live in the county or other counties can’t make a difference. And what’s to decide anyway? Everyone running for office in this cycle will vote for all the same crap. There’s no discernible difference between any of them. They all support the downtown hotel, a downtown medical school, and throwing 5 or 10 or 57 million at just about any idea that may increase economic activity. Not one of them have any damn idea about how to truly grow this economy or create jobs. If it was easy, it would be done.
      The Democrats abandoned their base decades ago; local labor unions have zero organizing projects; and Republicans have just about maxed out the City’s credit card for the enrichment of friends and family. Evansville is categorized as a dying City. It never found its place in the new economy. The number of jobs here peaked around 2002. It’s just scrambling for anything now, and anything is largely $10 an hour jobs that they hide by only citing the employer’s average wage. Everyone who can leave here does. There’s nothing to see in this election except more worship at the corporate alter and more despair by the majority of citizens.
      And yes, it’s an absolute mistake by Riecken not to delicately stand with law enforcement while also noting that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. This story is more about her personal and public reaction than the actions of her family members. She needs to do something and do something fast.

      • “Not one of them have any damn idea about how to truly grow this economy or create jobs. If it was easy, it would be done.”
        Maybe depends on what load “o” local cronies gets fueled up by the effort’s . Randomly thinking that is.

        We’ve created an answer, it took work and stills requires scientific diligence, however using the Evansville models really helped us determine the Parametrization we needed to address the solutions. Some are worse case, some are not ,however the modeling worked great and now we can move forward into more logistically progressive areas with the solutions. Thanks!

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parametrization

    • I guess if it’s not approve by the Mayor it’s called speculation? We all know who butters the Mayors toast in here.

  10. Paragraph #3…

    This publication never fails to take an opportunity to bash on EPD, does it?

    Detaining the folks involved in a scuffle is standard and appropriate. It is beyond absurd to think that an older person should be exempt from being properly secured until things can get sorted out, and even more absurd to blame on-scene officers for not tucking said person into a cozy squad car until he ‘calmed down’ (implying that he was in fact causing a problem on-scene?) and saw fit to begin his tutelage on how to properly address the blaze.

    Honest to god, an entire 25% of this article is devoted to basically blaming EPD for the actions of the Riecken clan. You have totally jumped the shark, Editor.

    I’m intensely interested in the specifications of this ‘state of the art’ fire boat owned by the Marina, btw. Any information on this piece of equipment would be genuinely appreciated.

    • We’d also wonder if according to some of the mainstream stuff the EFD boat not being in operational order is a tad concern to the Casino boat employees? Seriously, you guys need a better fire boat if not for nothing else that. That’s something their TiF input should fund big time!

    • You should have allowed Mr. Ron Riecken to show you guys that boat when the fire was still burning and destroying the other boats. The problem is that the focus has been put too much on what the Rieckens did or didn’t do and instead the focus should be put on who started this fire and WHY?

      • State of The ART Fire Boat

        Have any of you operated a boat at the Marina for that past couple of years ? There is nothing at the Riecken facility that is State of the Art !!!! One exception to this is if it is possibly owned by someone else.

          • Sure is, and one doesn’t have to live in Evansville to instantly observe it either. And we do mean exactly, instantly.

          • So you have an account with a Satellite Image company in real time. Cool. Maybe you have the film recording of the guys on the boat. Do you have infared capability? That would show the heat of the fire and maybe where is started and when. It’s called thermal imaging and it’s pretty much available in small format to the general public these days. Small hand held unit and thermo scopes are being used to hunt at night these days.

    • Delta everyone understands securing people for safety’s sake but if your 70+ year old dad were watching a life long work burn and was understandably trying to go and help…would you support police officers placing him in handcuffs and sitting him down on cold pavement? Or…for their safety and out of human dignity and respect would you prefer the more appropriate thing and place him in the climate controled back seat of a squad car. This is why police are battling a image crisis. People like you always justify bad police policy by pulling out the “standard protocol” booklet. It might be standard for a violent criminal but a grandfather who is emotional? Its almost like police are robots and unable to use their own common sense without someone like you pointing out they should follow “protocol”. When you take common sense and human dignity out of law enforcement and only have “manuals” to follow you end up with people being herded into trains and the officers saying things like “just doing my job”. I know it seems like a stretch but its happened before and those unwilling to remember history are doomed to repeat it. None of this has any bearing on the election of what’s best for Evansville’s future but this conversation shows the great divide among the thoughts of average law abiding citizens and our nations police force.

      • Who is reporting that he was left out in the cold? The CCO? I have not seen a statement from any of the people who were arrested or detained that supports the claims being made by this blog or the Riecken supporters.
        If the cops were dealing with Ron and had to stop what they were doing to deal with the drunks, then the delay in dealing with Ron is on his own family, not the cops. I don’t know the answer to that, and I don’t think anyone on here does.
        They may claim they do, but they don’t. People keep refering to John Blair’s post and saying it explains things. Fills in the blanks. But he began his post by saying the info was hearsay. HELLO!!! That means he posted the info without any idea if the stuff was true. Never let a good rumor get in the way of the facts, right?

        • I was referring to DeltaBravos post. It was in his post and I was using that posts language about people being kept out in the cold versus being put in a squad car.

          • Saul, I’ve personally been on numerous scenes where folks were given shelter in fire trucks, ambulances, squad cars, fire stations, neighbors houses, etc. I’ve seen firefighters and police officers standing unprotected in a cold drizzle because they gave up their coat to a person in need at an emergency scene. It is common, and I don’t know anybody in uniform who doesn’t think it’s the decent thing to do. Not only that, it’s better for public safety to have effected folks in a safe, secure environment. Nobody benefits by having a hypothermic, upset person stumbling around a scene.

            I say all of this because (I believe unlike you), in the absence of specific evidence to the contrary I start with the presumption that public safety personnel tend to NOT act in arbitrarily cruel ways. I wasn’t on scene and don’t know the specifics (the place was swarming with police body cams, though, so no doubt footage is out there). Based on my experience, and barring exceptional circumstances, if an upset elderly man was simply expressing concern for his property and family members, even if he was borderline hysterical about it, he would NOT have been handcuffed and sat on a curb in the elements. He would have been talked to and taken to a sheltered place and an officer or firefighter or medic would have sat with him and explained what was going on and offered to contact a relative or otherwise help him in any possible way. I have seen this exact thing happen literally dozens of time in my career.

            That makes me think that there WERE exceptional circumstances, and those circumstances could have been many. Maybe the cops were so busy with other stuff they simply weren’t concentrating on the person who was sitting cooperatively and quietly. Maybe Mr. Riecken was repeatedly asked if he was ok and he stated he was. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I could be wrong. It could be that a large group of heartless, cruel, power-tripping police officers and firefighters were all standing around, pointing and laughing at the upset man shivering on the ground who was watching his property burn, justifying their nearly inhuman lack of compassion with the brown coat mantra “we were just going by the book!”

            That seems to be your take on the situation.

            It isn’t mine.

          • Delta your reply to my post here has a much different tone than your earlier post. Perhaps your first post is more of the attitude we law abiding citizens see? Let me remind you of the condescending nature you presented earlier.

            “Detaining the folks involved in a scuffle is standard and appropriate. It is beyond absurd to think that an older person should be exempt from being properly secured until things can get sorted out, and even more absurd to blame on-scene officers for not tucking said person into a cozy squad car until he ‘calmed down’ (implying that he was in fact causing a problem on-scene?) and saw fit to begin his tutelage on how to properly address the blaze.” – DeltaBravo @ 9:03 am.

            While your 11:51 am post is vastly more professional and dignified the 9:03 am post is the one I was referring to. I agree that people must control themselves at any police scene but that rule of thumb should apply to everyone. Compassion for people in these instances usually diffuses them faster than cuffs.

      • No he didn’t. He’s referring to the current climate where police can do ANYTHING with impunity and the sheepish bootlickers like you will do some mental gymnastics to justify it. See messy mosby’a true blue rally or whatever it was called.

      • You are killing me Smalls. Read it again. The EPD is not mentioned once. I was referring to the entire national debate on our law enforcement. What is most disturbing is that I didn’t even mention the mayor or his opponent and yet you immediately turned it into that. You took the topic of treatment of citizens by law enforcement and made it into your own self serving thing about politics. Goodness. Perhaps you should try decaf.

      • I wasn’t anywhere near the marina and have no idea of what went on. I do know that any firefighter with any training at all knows that a man of Ron’s age, and who was likely in a very agitated emotional state, should not have been handcuffed and made to sit on concrete in weather like that. That shouldn’t be any sort of policy or protocol. It is pure, sheer HUMAN DECENCY.
        The fact is that seeing the marina in flames probably had a stronger impact on Ron than it would most people. You probably don’t know that, as a teenager, he suffered severe burns in the furnace explosion that took his father’s life. My parents knew his parents before I was born. My aunt lived about a block-and-a-half from George and Fanny, Ron’s parents. My mother and I were at her house for a game night when we heard a loud explosion and sirens. I think it was about this time of year, and it was very cold. My uncle went to see what the commotion was about, and came back visibly shaken. He told us that George had Ron helping him work on their furnace, that had gone out. He said it exploded and George was dead and he thought Ron was too badly burned to recover. As it turned out, Ron recovered and has been very successful in life.
        I can’t defend what Ed and Katie did. I wasn’t there and don’t know what happened, but I think it is possible that some antagonism between co-workers and alcohol really escalated the problems.
        Perhaps if Ron had been more humanely dealt with, you’d know all about the Riecken’s fireboat, DB. It seems to me that it was irresponsible of EFD and EPD not to seek help from the family and their equipment.

      • Better, To your first question. Yes I would rather they do that than him get down there and fall in the river or otherwise hurt himself. His rear and his pride would recover.

    • The marina should have some type of ‘fire prevention/fighting plan, that has been reviewed
      with local (state) authorities on its implication if needed.

      The fire boat should had regular inspection per code.

    • The Courier is no different. Their loyalty is for sale to the highest corporate bidder except in one area. They fancy themselves activist when it comes to judging our local prosecutor and police. The Courier consistently reports poorly on the Hermann and Bolin administrations through Mark Wilson and various editorials. It’s there only area of consistent criticism, and that’s because it’s a national trend that they don’t want to be left out. The other new area of criticism, also chasing more progressive news outlets who have been doing it for years, is to criticize infrastructure. They probably are quite proud of their Mark Wilson and Jay Young, except that the rest of country sees it as Monkey-See-Monkey-Do. That paper has never had an original thought. They wouldn’t be losing money every month and considering more layoffs if there was anything progressive about them. It’s really unfortunate. The death of a newspaper is never an encouraging sign. It’s really based on the tension between corporate advertisers and pointing out when those corporate gods are screwing us. Their hands are tied. Not that Ethridge is any rocket scientist. He’s far from it. However, they recognize that their ability to criticize is directly proportional to the their ability to sell ads.

  11. It was 1:00 am and resulted in a big fire. Could it be there was a floating meth lab in the harbor? Were any of the boats called the SS Heisenburg?

    • So far the story is that three people were cleaning the houseboat and preparing it for sale the next day. We can forget selling the boat now. And first is was reported that they claimed that they smelled smoke on the boat and got off saying it was electrical in nature. Then later the press reported that they were using a kerosene lantern and it got knocked over and started the fire which spread quickly. Then someone was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. I guess they were slow getting off the boat and inhaled too much smoke. Nothing has been reported about vagrants or meth so far. But you never know what the press will tell us next time.

      • I’d think if those people’s presence on the boat was not authorized by the owner, that would have been reported by now. Whether or not their activities while on the boat were authorized by the owner is an entirely different matter, and the facts in that matter may never be known. I do hope the boat was properly insured.

        • I read on another site (facebook) that the owner of the first boat was in financial difficulty but that’s just a rumor. But if it’s true it might be pertinent to the fire. But the report said he was a business man. And the media was reporting that the boat was getting cleaned and ready for sale the next day.

  12. I say it’s an insurance scam went awry that both sides will politicize to the hilt. Same players, same game, new day.

    However, the Rieken’s/Parker’s should sue the city for incompetence. I would for one would not hold it against them.

    • I see civil suits for damages against the three people who started the fire according to press releases. I may see a civil suit against EFD or the City for allowing the first boat to be cut loose and allowing it to drift into the other boats. Fire Departments are suppose to protect the exposures if they can’t put of the fire.

      This cutting the boat loose is akin to setting a row house on fire and then dragging it into the other houses in the neighborhood. Hello does anyone think that they can control the wind speed and direction? One was hoping that the boat would drift out into the Ohio River and sink. That would help hide all the evidence of how the boat caught on fire in the first place. I don’t know why they cut the boat loose and let it drift into the other boats but that didn’t turn out too well.

    • “A caption on the five-minute video read: “The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church.” Before the killings, one of the militants stood with a knife in his hand and said: “Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for.”

      Crusades? Thank you Obama. Good job Mr. President on making the world a safer place for all.

      • Careful Indiana-Enoch. You’re making yourself vulnerable to accusations that while Obama is cleaning up this mess, George W Bush (on a mistake, granted) invaded Iraq and deposed the Sunni ruler, Sadaam Hussien, and replaced him with a Shiite ruler to govern Iraq. That started the Sunni insurgency and turned the Sunni army backing their old Sunni ruler into Sunni rebels, Sunni Al Queda and Sunni ISIL/ISIS. Blaming the people who have to clean this up….is a pretty big leap.

      • Bush has been gone several years now, and the problem is worse. Let’s allow Obama to be president. His crusades comments fed the fervor of these extremist and was uncalled for. Perhaps he was trying to be reasonable, but we are not dealing with reasonable minds with ISIS. Obama is inept.

          • Look quit being ridiculous. man stop it just makes no sense.
            ridiculous {rəˈdikyələs/}
            adjective
            deserving or inviting derision or mockery; absurd.
            “when you realize how ridiculous these scenarios are, you will have to laugh”
            synonyms: laughable, absurd, comical, funny, hilarious, risible, droll, amusing, farcical, silly, ludicrous.

            My e-mail from the White house.

            THE WHITE HOUSE

            Here’s what the President sent Congress yesterday:

            Yesterday, President Obama transmitted to Congress a proposed authorization for the use of military force, or AUMF, against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIL.

            ISIL poses a threat to U.S. national security, which is why U.S. armed forces are already working with some 60 other nations and partners to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL. The President has said that we are strongest as a nation when the President and Congress work together, and enacting a bipartisan AUMF against ISIL would provide a clear and powerful signal that the United States stands united behind the efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL.

            Take a look at the text of the letter he sent to Congress.

            You might try that they have your back, as well as every American out there.

  14. IIT…”IS IT TRUE Democrat candidate for Mayor of Evansville Gail Riecken viewed the Marina fire from an adjourning property, was not detained by the police, and does not own or manage Marina Point but one would never know it by the headlines thrust upon the general public by the mainstream media?” (CCO)

    * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    If that is a true statement then why does the Indiana Secretary of State website show the business entity address for Inland Marina Inc. as Gail Riecken’s home on Knight Drive in Lant Manor? Her daughter Katherine is listed as owning two homes on SE Second Street in Evansville, and as having a homestead exemption on the home at 814 SE Second Street.

    • Good question. But a better question is who started the fire and who do they work for and where do they live?

      • They know where the fire started and who was there at the time. One is to assume they will get to the bottom of it. Whether we get to the bottom of who really owns Inland Marina Inc. seems to be another issue.

        • Question of a portable fire extinguisher availability would be another?
          It is always said the priority is to get out of harms way, but there is
          that split second decision to fight that infant fire with a portable while
          you are between the fire and your exit point!

          • They would have maybe had to fight the fire by kerosene light as they claim that the circuit breaker tripped and they smelled smoke at first. Maybe there was a fire extinguisher on the house boat and maybe not? I keep a fire extinguisher on my boat and two in my house. And they are all rated ABC type.

          • Personally Arms, do you have any feelings about the guy banned from the property who keeps spying on the property and trying to harm their business?

          • onemeover, Not following your question? Please rephrase that
            to your old township raised citizen.

        • This fiasco reminds me of when The Barge Restaurant near the Marina burned down due to lack of water to put out the fire.

        • naw. It’s pretty clear that Gail’s Daughter is the President of the Marina now. It doesn’t matter where she lives. It matters who has title to the Marina. Lot’s of folks own property but don’t live on the property. I think it’s pretty clear that the Rieckens have money but they are not the only people with money.

      • What I do know is that Inland Marina’s articles of incorporation were last amended on 06/23/1976 and restated on the same 06/23/1976.

      • Move, I think the goofy city council requires them to be city residents. No out of the city cleaning crews.

    • Wow. That is good work PAK. And it deflates some angry people….wishin’, and hopin’, and thinkin’, and prayin’ ….that that there is no connection to the Riecken marina, and this fire will go out, go away and/or please make somebody else look bad who’s name is not Riecken.

      The City County Observer is frittering away credibility today by looking foolish (“We needed to stay away from this story because it was Valentines Day!!”). The CCO will need that credibility to get Riecken elected….down the road, and it is losing it with today’s IIT.

      …wishin’, and hopin’, and thinkin’, and prayin’ …plannin’ and dreamin’…each night of his charms…..

      • One word: blog. Stop getting your panties in a bind. It’s a blog. It has zero standards to uphold. You people on here are crazy with the need to control its content. Again, blog.

      • I am not “working” on anything. I am simply providing information that is available to any member of the public. You can use the information to make up your own mind about future media coverage of the event.

    • It’s a for profit corporation. It files its own tax returns. It has shareholders. The address listed for the President and Registered Agent is Ron and Gail’s address. It doesn’t logically follow that they therefore must be the only shareholders or that they run the business. The President is listed as their daughter. What difference does it make anyway? I own stock in General Electric. Am I responsible for every one of its screw ups? Should I be held responsible for the fact they don’t pay any federal taxes? It’s a corporation. Entitled to all the beauty and bullshit that corporations get, which includes limited liability. It’s the American way.

    • Great sleuthing, PAK. I know that if I was expecting any sort of important business-related mail or checks, I’d be more comfortable with it being delivered to the Knight Drive location than to SE Second St.. There could be any number of explanations for the mailing address, none of which are any of the reader’s business.

      • Why not a P.O. Box at the downtown post office if you were worried about people stealing your mail? Makes more sense to me.

  15. Has anyone review their water and sewer bill this month? Seems a bit high for my taste. $181.47 for water and sewer for a 3000sq/ft home.

    • It’s EvansHell, home of obesity, suicide, and the highest utility rates in the country. It’s such a great place to raise kids!

    • Yep and the next 10 days weather will reek further havoc on their abilities to repair the old stuff.
      Zombie infrastructures , and being where it is located logistically its not worth much as an valuation asset driver either. Old stuff and it all needs work due to neglect for past and future fluff projects.
      Part and parcel to human climate migrations. If you could build your 3000sq foot living space business or other facility 15 minutes down the road for half the monthly utilities costing what would be at the garage end of your drive way? And where would that be? “No brainer” as some like to pop off.

      Ædificate Climatico*

      • Yes, indeed. I don’t know how many people here have been out today, but I had need to travel a few blocks this morning on a designated “snow route”, N. Green River Rd. It is shameful. I have spent most of my life living within a few blocks of Green River Rd. and I have never seen it in such bad shape as it is today.

        • Once the storm passes by late this afternoon they’ll probably be out and clear the stuff. Right now really they’re just wasting O.T. funding. One of our groups people records down along the river In the Arkansas I-40 near the Mississippi, they’ve really got problems. The snow that’s grazing Evansville out of this thing is hardly anything in compared conditions. Lots of freezing rain on ’em this morning.

          Its going to be a cold night for a lot of people due power line problems from the freezing rain.
          There’s a few more bands of the heavy stuff skirting the Ohio, the one just southwest might dump on you there in Evansville again, right now its hugging the river you might luck out.

          • The River has an effect on the weather around here. Or the Valley. Both are actually one in the same I guess. But it’s obvious that it has an effect on the weather here. River water takes a while to heat up and cool down which helps moderate the air temperature around the river a bit.

          • Our look in is from extreme overhead “moved,” its really excellent all the way to the ground and beyond. The global increase in water vapor energy and that’s affect through thermodynamic law is what’s pounding the hell out of everybody anywhere ,anytime on the planet right now. Its climate migration, or change if that’s the term one prefers. That planet is a closed unit inside its atmospheric elemental balances. Your in a planets geomagnetic atmospheric bubble. Everybody knows that. The funny commercial answer………… Wu’ll yeah, but how does glacial melting increase water vapor energy , ok got it but, but, where else would it go? Gets literal but then…………………………….. 😉

            People sweat more when its humid and warm, so do planets!

          • V I understand thermal dynamics or movement of heat energy around the planet. I did take Hydrology at one time and Oceanography too along with Ecology. But other’s may not know what you or I know. They are the one’s making fun of Big Al. But they are the stupid ones. they just have not figured it out yet. I doubt that some of them ever will.

          • They’ll just cronies push and whine while more stuff keeps clobbering them. Evansville’s a sad place on the face of mother earth. The place has the technology,and the methodology to work out the problems. The worst part of all that from what we’ve observed they have some of the most professional skilled trades people left in the United States. And our group knows those people are the only ones that will do the actual engineered work to place the solution in place. Why might another area not compete? Its the model we’ve worked but darn on the present fluff project course in that town it just cannot work , only because the stinking politics. Sad, real sad. That’s exactly why we’re taking our game changing solutions to a more positive regions. The planet isn’t going to slow down the change now. Really mankind needs to start the adjustments right now, the very minute this is written is somewhat too late.

            You actually in our analysis have posted and clarified the fact that you do know Lab standard science. We would guess you know what we’re saying. This takes real work, BS just doesn’t cut it.

  16. IS IT JUST ME . . . .

    or does anyone else find it objectionable that the City of Evansville’ s outsourced IT Dept. head, Mark Rolley, owns one of the yachts which was burned ? Weinzapfel gave Rolley a 5-year contract in late 2011–right before he left office. Think we’re paying old Mark a wee bit much ???

  17. Wow, Ron. You really jumped the shark with this IIT. No need to try to pretend that you’re unbiased, huh. Then you’ll complain that you aren’t getting news releases and being treated like a journalist. This IIT reads as if it were written by Gail Riecken herself. You wanted to show constraint and not jump in too soon? When have you ever done that?

    • ….the same thought occurred to me. “Mayor’s office won’t send News Releases to the media outlet, the City County Observer…” ?

      What media outlet? The CCO? Give me a break.

      Today, as much as I’ve ever seen (other than perhaps the CCO endorsing Ungetheim simply because his an opposing campaign pulled their ads from the CCO web site), the CCO showed this is not “a media outlet at all.”

      The CCO is a political campaign blog, the backing of which is open to the highest bid. Today’s IIT is trying to help preserve the candidacy of Gail Riecken for Mayor.

      LKB, BrainsB, Moveon…all make good points here…..but their blog champion is openly showing it is available to the highest bidder today. You guys can stop the crap about the CCO being a high and mighty defender of truth in Evansville politics. That’s been shown to be BS today.

      • You just made the Phoenix’s day! He aspires to be a “right hand hack” for the administration, but he has too much trouble controlling his more base impulses. They’d prefer he wasn’t identified with them at all, but they just can’t get him to go away.

      • Any time that you want to step from behind that keyboard, I’ll take you up on it. Ron & Joe know how to reach me. You put it out there and I accepted. Now, let’s make it happen.

        • You need to work, the old cemetery a whole lot more fellow, walking and talking. You couldn’t deal with what would happen right now. Work on it with your old coaches and work on it steady. Knew we’ve got Ya, now can you sport your BS. You see your toast right now and you know it, your just too slow and too
          fat, so we’ll give you about three months to work and meet. Really man this would be good for your fat ass and maybe you’d have a damned chance. Breath do that steady you know how that goes …. Coming at cha fat ass and your slug buddies and there mainstream live ins , as well.
          You’ll still get your simple ass clock cleaned , cause you haven’t ever seen any thing like what will destroy you in the ring from our balance. He, heh the bird flops .

          http://www.ewallpaperhub.com/wp-content/gallery/phoenix-bird/phoenix-bird_hd-wallpaper.jpg

          • Like I said, you put it out there, I accepted and now you’re backing down out of concern for my safety. Just like the internet troll that I know you to be. A coward that hides behind a keyboard. Run and analyze that with your consortium.

          • You ever wonder why I use my real name instead of hiding behind a pseudonym like you? It’s because I want you to know who I am. I want to draw all of you cowards out of hiding. I went to your luncheon in the hopes that one of you could have the balls to say something to me face-to-face. I know that you was in the same room as me and could not find the courage to say anything to me. Ron told me that you were there. Come at me. You have the advantage. You know what I look like.

  18. This entire thread/conversation regarding the marina fire has turned into one giant Rorschach test as people as are seeing what they want to see and projecting their own issues, prejudices and beliefs onto the storyline/narrative.

    For me there are two unanswered questions:

    What were three people doing on a boat at 1:00am Saturday morning Cleaning? Really???

    Why did the EFD decide to play Sir Francis Drake and cut the Marver boat loose to play flaming pinball with the rest of the Evansville Armada??? Strange very strange.

    Regardless we won’t know the answers to those questions for several months, pending investigations.

    Until then, this story is dry, very dry, road to nowheresville.

    I find the republicans desire to show themselves as weak on national security via the defunding of DHS much more interesting. Forget the American people, sticking it in the eye of the black guy is what is really important!

    • BB, why not just say, “I wish people would stop talking about the fire, fights and alcohol incidents at the Riecken marina because I’m worried it will reflect poorly on Gail Riecken for Mayor” ? It’s much more honest writing from you. All this other stuff you threw in there to change the subject…looks desperate.

      • I’m not worried about this reflecting poorly on Gail, but it appears you think it does, so tell us all how
        this reflects on Gail?

        • You think differently BrainsB?

          I think the better question is why is Editor so concerned about the Riecken campaign today that he invests an entire IIT exclusively……questioning if MEDIA are”engaged in some SUBLIMINAL MESSAGING about the fire at Marina Point?”

          THAT is what caught my and everybody else’s attention…and THAT is a problem for the CCO ostensibly engaged in objective analysis (which is pure BS…)

      • Shem Shemery wants us all to write from genuine places(like you know accusing the editor’s of being political hacks and playing favorites) not disingenuous passive aggressive places.

        SO…… tighty righties here is your chance, just say it out loud and proud!

        The marina fire reflects poorly on Gail Rieckens’s character and chances to become Mayor of Evansville because:

    • This thread may say whether people are protecting their own preferred candidate and that’s fine. I’m used to that in this comment section. What I find most interesting is the number of different stories about where Gail Riecken was during the fire. I’ve heard that she was detained, I heard that she was not there, I heard that she watched from an adjacent property and I’ve heard that she drove her intoxicated daughter and son-in-law down there. These are all from sources that are pro-Riecken. Any time that there’s that many different stories, there’s something worth covering up.

        • The Phoenix is having trouble with the truth again today. He’s steamed because he didn’t get the call to come here this morning and support Winnecke like the 2nd tier toadies did. So he came all on his own. Anybody believe ‘pro-Riecken sources’ would tell him anything at all?

          • Heck he’s a fat over weight feathered bird dude ta boot, We’ve looked down from the overhead when the dude was wailing with that political affiliation , and ,switching too the Jabba the fat ass Chris -The Cooke, oh by the way that’s his walking buddie. In case anybody didn’t score that . we did we never miss , we are the overhead , you stupid dumbasses. The really bad thing is they did that shit in one of the most historical places in your city. Assholes . Take those Messy ,Weaved pieces down with them. That political garbage does absolutely nothing to sport your cities actual valuation into this century. Period.
            We pretty much own”em now, just don’t elect one of those junk political bums back into your real balances .
            Do that it and stuff will probably go better for that god for sacking county.
            In Indiana my goodness , in Indiana. Nuff said.

    • Brains, a rare moment of clarity from you. Often a barge is towed away from others when on fire. The pinball analogy was quite accurate. Are you on meds? You actually made alot of sense.

    • Wait a minute.

      Is the Kevin Derr….

      ….quoted in the C&P article who “said he has questions about how police treated Riecken-Parker and Parker at the scene.”

      ….the same Kevin Derr who is a Dem candidate running as a Democrat for the Indiana State Representative District 75?

      Is that a legitimate source with no conflicts of interest?

      • Kevin Derr was one of the boat owners that lost his boat due to the fire. And I think he is from Chandler, IN not Boonville, IN but I could be wrong on that. I saw him commenting on a facebook site yesterday. I’m not sure if he is running for any office but that does not mean he’s not or that he is. I just don’t know one way or the other. At least the EC&P is interviewing the boat owners to give another perspective to the fire.

        I still want to know what the cause and origin of the fire was. And who are the three people who were on the boat at the time of the fire and who they work for.

      • Here is Kevin Derr’s Facebook page

        https://www.facebook.com/kevin.derr

        He owned a sail boat that was burned in the fire. But you might be right that he is running for political office but what does that have to do with the fire? People who dock their boats at the Marina don’t have an opinion that counts because they are from a different political party than you?

        • It’s beginning to look somewhat dubious from the over head valuations or recovered elementals Moved. Now that can mean a million things in todays world . Our advice let the professionals in fire investigation deal with this. From outside some of the stuff scored and listed in the water could be absolutely
          rough on the whole estimate.
          But ok. who was really on the boat at that time, who were they, and what in the hell happened to crank up such a fire. Right now our overhead is showing some things that are really “not so good.” We have people in Evansville we actually know how all that crap politics seems to create things. Its not so good. However under certain conditions what was seen by the overhead could actually be balanced by simple timing and reasoning per. That’s kind of clever if one falls into the political dirge that hold s Vanderburgh county into its fails.
          We are going all in on our analysis it will not miss, we’ll get to the cause soon, actually one of our EU people has actually picked it out. We are working to see if that is the right sporting. Damn it we still have good people there. we really do.
          Something’s got to give.

        • A quick look at his facebook page confirms he is the same. The Warrick County Demo’s take slime to a whole new level. For example, his ticket mate and pal, Sherry Smith. Smith was a failed candidate for judge this last fall. Shortly before the election, her camp mailed out flyers bringing up the personal, and rather old bankruptcy of her opponent. As it turned out, the bankruptcy, which had nothing to do with the race or qualifications, was due to excessive medical bills for a special needs child..ouch. Smith deservedly lost in a landslide.

          Gail certainly needs to distance herself from the Warrick clowns. They can’t even generate votes in Newburgh.

      • Saturday was Valentines day But where they out and about going to the boat on Friday night the 13th? This was going on around Midnight from what I’ve read. No matter is still happened on a holiday weekend which is a sign that should not be missed.

        • A woman named Brenda Harris was the person treated for smoke inhalation. This is what she posted on Facebook, and I’m wondering how 3 people were celebrating Valentine’s Day together…..
          Well so much for a Happy Valentines Day ); Especially for my friend William Howard Marver his boat caught fire and they could not save it ); it sank to the bottom.Also 4/5 other boats were lost to the fire but…. there is good news…Noone got hurt and everyone is still alive.Hurt my back and inhaled too much smoke and cried watching my friends pride n joy burn but Thankful. I hated to leave him bein so upset but just had to get home an rest my back.Think strained it bad pulling on the firehose the fireman told me to grab and run to the boat ); I was in such shock I grabbed it and ran til it got hooked on something then he yelled at me and told me get it loose ); I dropped it and said I can”t go on..I couldn”t even hardly breathe ); So I jus got back to house and in an epson bath ); I am sorry Bill
          — feeling exhausted.

          • The firemen had her dragging a hose??? I have to wonder about Ms. Harris’ veracity on that one. This may get really, really interesting.

  20. The scattered format doesn’t help my weak attempts at humor. The Valentines Day remark was a tongue in cheek to Moveon’s comment about it would have been nice if the C&P had been more investigative in the original reports.

    • Oh I get it now. Sorry it took me a while to switch modes. The Valentine comment went right over my head at the time. I forgot about editor’s remarks about valentine day and not publishing the story this past weekend until today.

  21. Randy Moore of TV news just announced that the Marina fire is a Crime scene and there is a criminal investigation now

      • What you all need to do is ,simply just go in for what’s been said done and executed .
        It’s not right , Anybody sporting real stuff can see that. Hell if that’s what it takes; get a frigging life. And do sport those honed values too hell . That’s exactly here they belong.

    • Good, as it should.

      My gut tells me it is a lot less political, and a lot more insurance.

      • You may be right about the insurance part. The fallout has taken a political image of it’s own thought. This entire incident always seems suspicious to me from the very start. People are not that smart when they lie and try to get out of trouble. I went to a couple of new facebook pages today after checking out Evansville Transparency’s Face Book page. I found the facebook page of the guy who complained to the city about the Marina. He’s quite a character on his facebook site. He was very interested in the fire.

        Also think I saw a picture of the houseboat on another of the facebooks sites. It was a lot bigger than I first thought when looking at the remains of the boat sticking out from the surface of the water. Most of the remains of the houseboat are under water. Just the bow is sticking out of the water from what I’ve seen in photos of the fire scene in the press.

        • Looks like he was posting photos of the inspection report a couple of hours before the fire started. Why would anyone do that?

          • Graybill is not sane. His own mother says he is bipolar and doesn’t take his meds. He is absolutely delusional on this issue. He has tied the boat fire to his complaints and wants some kind of community medal for sounding the alert. The issues listed in the Building Commission Report don’t appear to have anything to do with what happened. They obviously didn’t excite the Commission, as the marina was given 2 months to fix the issues. He is obsessed with the Rieckens, the marina and Evansville Transparency. Between Graybill, his bat-shit crazy girlfriend and the Phoenix, this is just the craziest perfect storm of delusional f*cks. They all just want the community to be safer though. Sometimes safety requires some bare knuckled boxing, but it’s safety people- totally worth it.

    • Why haven’t the names of the three “cleaners” been released? This whole thing stinks. EPD is crooked as could be and should not be allowed to handle the investigation.

      • Ghost, finally a comment that was not bat shit wacko crazy. I’d like that answer also.

  22. I responded to this incident when the second alarm was pulled. I saw Mr. Reicken’s actions….he’s very lucky to not be in jail. For the incident Commander of the scene to have allowed a civilian into an emergency scene to “Help” would be career suicide, no matter how skilled or knowledgeable that civilian is. Something happens to said civilian, and the City has it’s A@@ sued off. Maybe the Marina should have had some type of Mutual Aid plan worked out so they would be able to use their “State of the art Marine firefighting apparatus” along side 1 Water 3 legally…hmm …. btw, it appeared to me that 1W3’s pump was working fine, but the windy conditions and positioning and size of the fire were the problems. At least that’s how it appeared from 40- 50 feet away from the burning vessel…..

    • Thanks for the information. This clears up whether the marina could somehow be liable for the fire suppression. With the fire originating from a kerosene lamp on Marver’s boat, it appears that Marver will bear responsibility for all damages.

    • Thank you for bringing some facts to this party, and more importantly, the job you do trying to protect our community.

    • The Duke Boys and Evansville with them, peaked in the late 80’s early ’90’s

  25. 246 commits in one day, must be a record! Why do I have the urge to watch a few
    Steinfeld shows to top off the day?

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