IS IT TRUE February 17, 2015

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IS IT TRUE it looks like the Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development is coming out of a 7 year coma under it’s new leader Kelley Coures, with respect to the McCurdy Hotel?…the City of Evansville is now saber rattling about enforcing fines and code violations unless the current owners (the Kunkel Group) follow through on their promises to start the refurbishment process?…we must all be reminded that the problem that is now in Kunkel’s lap got there through a contorted series of events started by a starry eyed Mayor of Evansville who recruited an out of town developer to take on this task with an oversized public incentive of $800,000 and another $603,000 gift of a parking lot?…let it also be etched in stone that this out of town developer never missed a chance to donate to the campaign fund of that former mayor while missing property tax payments on the McCurdy Hotel?…the historic building after the march of the octogenarians to their new quarters has fallen further and further into disrepair from neglect and vandalism that it may just be that this ship has sailed and it is time to swing the wrecking ball?

IS IT TRUE the same economic forces that have made the financing of the Phantom Convention Hotel impossible thus far are the same forces that have plagued every effort to refurbish the McCurdy Hotel?  .. .the sad reality is that both projects cost more to build than they are worth and private financiers will not touch these projects with a ten foot pole even with a substantial subsidy?  …in the case of the $24 Million Phantom Hotel that is now targeted to cost $36 Million the sad story has played itself out 4 times and is about to have a 5th go around with a dramatically lesser design?  …the McCurdy does not have the luxury of being dumbed down to save money on construction with it’s structural needs, infrastructure requirements, and mold mitigation?  …the reality is that the McCurdy will cost north of $12 Million to refurbish and when it is finished it will only have a value of a fraction of that?  …the only certainty with the McCurdy is that a delusional few years of city governance will be costing the taxpayers of Evansville at least $1,403,000 plus the cost to demolish it should it come to that?  …the McCurdy is a prime example of rubbish for public policy?

IS IT TRUE now that the dust has settled and the fires are out down at Marina Point there are many answers being sought about how the fire got started and who is responsible for all of the property losses that the alleged kicking over of a kerosene heater started?  …the one thing that the taxpayers of Evansville can be certain of that will happen is that lawsuits will be filed and insurance investigators will be on the scene?  …let the truth unfold should be the mantra surrounding this unfortunate occurrence?  …it has been reported that the fire that started the rest of the fires is now the subject of a criminal investigation?  …with investigators, police, and lawyers getting into the mix, we hope some truths come out soon?

IS IT TRUE we wonder if the EFD fireman assigned to operate the Fire Boat at Inland Marina fire had  a certified boat operator license?  …the Inland Marina Jon Boat and Fire Boat water nozzles not only can pump many of gallons of water per minutes but also has a 100 foot range?  …we wonder how many gallons water can the EFD Fire Boat pump per minute? …we wonder how many yards can the EFD Fire Boat pump? …if the EFD would had allowed Coast Guard Licensed Boat Captain Ron Riecken to use the Inland Marina Fire Boat and Jon Boat to help fight the boat fires the overall damages would had been substantially less?

IS IT TRUE there is much celebration among some circles about the reduction in the federal budget deficit this year?  …while it is a fact that the federal deficit has been reduced to half of its high of over $1 Trillion per year, the reality is that we as a country are still borrowing money to make ends meet?  …we dare our readers to try this for an extended period of time?  …we also would like to see the amazement on an audience’s faces if a financial planner advised them to borrow money to overspend by 30% and then congratulated them the next year for borrowing half as much to make ends meet?

IS IT TRUE charter high schools like Evansville’s Signature School and Bowling Green’s Gatton Academy routinely send their graduates to elite universities with two years of college credits already earned?  …lower ranked high schools that do not have the luxury of choosing their students routinely graduate students who need two years of remediation to be ready to take for credit freshman classes?  …it is disturbing that such a mental capacity differential can exist between graduates of public schools? …graduating seniors that can’t fill out a job application because of abysmal reading skills, show up for appointments on time, or balance a check book are prepared to do nothing but be a drain on society for the rest of their lives unless they right their own course?  …Morton Marcus was right in his weekly column that the best place to invest in training is at the high school level and that should extend to young adults who graduated from high school with no life skills whatsoever?

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148 COMMENTS

  1. I had to chuckle this morning as I read the the last paragraph of today’s IIT. What came to mind were two (2) things:
    1.) Yep, look at what we have elected for Evansville and Vanderburgh County officials. And,
    2.) Yep, all you have to do is read some of the unintelligible babble that is posted on IIT.

    • PCD,
      Thanks for that observation and a truly sad one it is. Many of the posters on the CCO site and others cannot seem to get the correct verb tense to save their soul. It may be that this was presented correctly in school and these folks listened intently and passed exams but by living in this area and listening to speech patterns, they are doomed to regress.

      • Martha Crosley:

        You unnecessarily used the word “that” in your last sentence.

        It is a redundant use, common for “those living in this area, but doomed to regress,” as you so ineloquently stated.

        • Rampant mistakes in comma usage in Martha’s post as well.

          Grammar thuggin’ ain’t easy…

        • ” … others cannot seem to get the correct verb tense to save their soul.”

          Martha, Martha, Martha. Now you know “their” is plural and “soul” is singular.

          • “Others” is plural, last I checked, and verb tenses are different from the subject verb agreement rule.

  2. Is it true, city of Evansville has a $800,000-1,000,000 lien on that McCurdy property?
    That the building was occupied before being evicted long before a solid plan (still lacking) was in place?

    That the $600,000 parking lot started out as a $128,000 insider buy, and flipped for a 300% profit in a
    extreme short time? The remaining $80,000 for demolition? Did the Hadi Shriners even had a chance on that
    property at the original $128,000 before the hog slop at the trough?

    • Arm, I’m sure the Dunn Group is going to give back about $400,000 of the $600,000 sales price.

  3. Why do you think the Republicans have waged war on education? Keep ’em dumb and voting republican. Rick Santorum exposed this plan in an interview.

    • Poor people have been voting Democrat for years and they are still poor. Give free stuff and they will vote for you forever.

      • There are droves of trailer dwelling, pall mall smoking, schlitz swilling racist republicans who are 100% DEPENDENT ON THE GOVERNMENT. They need it and the blacks are just lazy is the way they see it. I’m white so stop it.

        • From where do you obtain your statistics to support your hollow suppositions and conjecture? Statistics please ?

        • Wow Howler ! I have never seen such a response from the “Collective” before ! Good Job !!!! Two thumbs up !!!!

      • A lot of class-envying, bigoted, ignorant poor people have been voting Republican for years, too. They’re still poor and getting the same “free stuff” the Democrats get. The difference is that they don’t consider it “free stuff”. They claim they earned it, because they worked and they’re white.

        • We need to do a better job convincing low income republicans that these benefits are for everyone and there’s no stigma attached to grabbing all you can. We need to get them to lower their pride and get all they can. There’s more than enough to go and if we get enough republicans getting entitlements we can raise the tax on those rich liberal democrats. A few extra bucks from their billions would hardly be noticed, they’re just greedy.

      • The poorest counties in KY, many of them some of the poorest in the nation, voted 2:1 some 3:1 for Mitch McConnell over Alison Grimes. Thousands of them had just signed up for health care coverage via the KYnect because Kynect is “just a website” Just this January more coal plants and mines were shut down, because well you know the black guy made natural gas cheaper and cleaner.

        You’re an a misinformed racist ass.

        • The black guy is getting credit for the shale natural gas extraction program the White guy set in motion. India and China are using all the coal we can produce and ship. Do the research on that. The mines in Ky are shutting down because it’s a strategic move. Shut the mines down, sell them and re open them as non union, double your output with better workers. Kentucky has a democrat governor, what’s he doing for hardworking people? You are very simply a misinformed racist with low cranial activity. A one trick fraud, sort of like Obama’s aca.

          • If China is buying all the coal we can ship why is KY shutting down the coal mining operations? You really don’t know even after you did your so called research? Ha.

            Maybe China is buying up all the Natural Gas they can get their hands on too?

            POV nuttier than a fruit cake.

    • Both Kentucky and Indiana have higher rated education systems than California and California has one of the highest tax rates in the country. California is also one of the most liberal states. Indiana and Kentucky probably have a larger number of children going to Sunday school and vacation bible school in the summer, this could account for the higher rankings. Ever notice that children who go to faith based schools always seem to do better. Do your research.

  4. I disagree, highschool is way too late to worry about being a functioning member of society. A student entering school already has an idea of the way life works, right from wrong, and should be reading simple words. Some may be more advanced, but that’s because the parents care. You can bet the students from the honor schools who get all the scholarships didn’t have to take remedial reading and math classes to graduate/ get their ged. Like any dish, what you put in it will determine the taste of the resultant meal.

  5. What is not being said:

    That the trade deficit has a direct impact to that national debt. That 56-58% of past year $500 Billion trade deficit equates to about $285 Billion? That In 1976-77 senior year for this poster, the national total debt was around $250 billion (18 trillion today)? We had just got out of a 10 year Viet Nam War? We only imported raw material that we then process and consumed stateside? That when a refrigerator built locally cost $700 at the store, that same unit is sold for same price that was built overseas?

    That deregulation of the Wall Street sector these past 30 years have cost the Federal Treasure?
    That continuous tax cuts since the year we had our last balance budget may be adding another $250 billion
    a year?

  6. What was not said from Morton Marcus article.

    Restore skill training in the junior/senior high schools (shop classes)

    Skills desired by business should be taught at the EXPENSE of business. Drop the idea that government, through community colleges, ought to subsidies business when the benefits are to be shared by the employer and the trainees.

    Let’s support education at the community level, but not to further the empires of statewide INSTITUTIONAL BUREAUCRATS and the careers of their POLITICAL BACKERS.

  7. LATEST NEWS ON THE FIRE AT INLAND MARINA (February 17, 2015) :

    New developments on the fire at Inland Marina on Saturday. Four boats were destroyed over the weekend after one of them caught fire. Flames spread to nearby boats and the dock. The fire left some $2 million in damages.
    Investigators with the Evansville Fire Department will be interviewing witnesses Tuesday. They also hope to recover a boat still at the bottom of the river. Officials say they need to examine the boat before determining an exact cause for the original fire.

    Inland Marina President Katie Riecken-Parker, and her husband Edward Parker, who is an Evansville firefighter, arrived at the scene while the fire was spreading. An Evansville Police Department incident report shows the couple was arguing with officers. According to the affidavit, one officer was kicked in the face during the scuffle. The couple was arrested and jailed, but both have bonded out of jail on a number of charges including public intoxication and resisting law enforcement. Last week, Inland Marina was issued a number of violations related to “boat dock issues” from the Evansville Building Commission.

    • ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENTS (February 17, 2015)
      The City County Observer on its website blog, for some reason, continues to try to imply that the Evansville Fire Department was grossly negligent in the performance of their duties at the site of the fire at the Inland Marina. In what can only be described as a panic, the political blog the CCO continues to try to import a narrative into the news of the story that Ron Riecken, the husband of Democrat Mayoral candidate Gail Riecken, and the Father (and Father-in-law) of the couple arrested by the Police for kicking Police in the face and intoxication, showed up at the site to help support the intoxicated couple interfere with the Evansville Fire Department. For some reason, the CCO feels it is important to show that the Evansville Fire Department Firefighters were negligent in the performance of their duties.

      • Probably because the rumor mill suggested that the EFD cut the burning boat loose inside the harbor and caused the fire to spread to 4 other boats in the Harbor. Every boat was burned and the flames were spread by this act.

        BTW: It’s pretty easy to see who’s one which side in these comments just by observing which details they emphasis in their posts and which details of the story they leave out. The facts that are excluded from their posts says almost as much about their viewpoint as what they do say in their posts. IE I put more emphasis one who started this fire and why or how. Other’s like Shem want to emphasis the arrests of the Mayoral Candidate’s relatives, knowing full well that Gail Riecken was not involved in the fire or is involved with the Marina’s operations anymore. So some reported like to emphasis the arrests and use guilt by association to cast shadows on a potential next new Mayor of Evansville, IN.

        Did you know when you cross state lines to commit a crime or escape justice that the FBI can get involved in the investigation.

        It’s already reported that the area is a potential crime scene. The fire started either Friday night or very early on Saturday Morning and the EFD investigator is just know sitting down to interview the three people who reportedly were on the boat when it was on fire. One even having to receive medical treatment for injuries related to the fire. Yet the names of these three people are not being released for some reason. Why is that?

        • Mr. Marver’s houseboat was being cleaned late at night by 3 people. Can we assume some or all of the cleaners had a cell phone. Mr. Marver’s home is in Harbor Estate, next to the marina. Was he at the marina after his houseboat caught on fire?

    • Was the officer on the ground or is Mr Parker really Jackie Chan in disguise?

    • A man sober enough to roundhouse kick somebody in the face can’t drive a boat 100 ft and flip on a pump?

      • Never, never let your guard down when you’re around democrats, they are unpredictable. This is a simple case of one of our, mind you, one of OUR police officers being blindsided by one of his comrade in arms, disgraceful. Tom, you’re the only one who cannot see the ignorance of this whole deal. Fireman and police officers work together for public safety and sure don’t expect this type of behavior from each other. Only those who view police as the enemy, usually criminals, think the way you do.

        • ♪ I got this feelin’… somebody’s watching me.

          When I come home at night
          I bolt the door real tight
          People call me on the phone I’m trying to avoid
          Well, can the people on TV see me
          Or am I just paranoid?

          When I’m in the shower
          I’m afraid to wash my hair
          ‘Cause I might open my eyes
          And find someone standing there
          People say I’m crazy
          Just a little touched
          But maybe showers remind me of
          “Psycho” too much
          That’s why

          I got this feeling….. somebody’s watchin’ me ♫

  8. It is probably NOT true that letting COAST GUARD LICENSED FIRRE BOAT CAPTAIN RON RIECKEN M

  9. PALIN FAMILY INVOLVED IN AN INTOXICATED STREET BRAWL (October 10, 2014)
    Police have released a detailed report describing the drunken family brawl that involved the son, daughter and husband of Sarah Palin, the former Governor of Alaska. According to the Anchorage Police Department report, Palin’s husband Todd and her two children, Track and Bristol, were involved in a street fight at a birthday party on September 6th.

    Police were called after a report of a brawl between around 20 people. Witness statements indicate the arrival of the Palin family at around 11pm in a limousine. The husband of former Governor Palin, Todd Palin, and son Track, 26, ended up in an altercation with a group of men on the street outside the residence. Meanwhile Bristol Palin, 23, fought with the host of the party. Track Palin, who was described as bloodied, “belligerent” and “heavily intoxicated” in the report, said that the fight had been sparked after the group of men spoke rudely to his sister.

    Former Governor Sarah Palin was at the scene but was not involved in the brawl herself, according to the report.

  10. I can see both sides of the issue on fighting the fire at the marina. On one hand, it was torture for the Riecken family to see their business on fire. On the other, it is understandable that the EFD could not allow them to go into harm’s way. It is a shame that there was not an agreement in place for such a situation, that would have allowed for the best equipment at the scene to be used to fight the fire.
    I don’t agree with the treatment Ron got, and I think the Parkers were probably dealt with more harshly than they would have been if Ed was not a member of EFD and Katie’s mother wasn’t running for mayor.

    • +1

      However, I wonder about a few things:

      How did the Parkers’ get to Inland Marina? With Ron, or did they drive themselves?

      Did any of the police have their body cams recording?

      Don’t know much about mooring a houseboat. But I would assume it had to be tied at more than one spot. How and when do you get close enough to cut loose a boat that is fully engulfed?

      Why hasn’t the owner of the houseboat come forth with any explanation of the situation yet?

      Finally, glad Gail had the foresight to stay away!

      • I thought the same thing. If they could get close enough to cut it loose and let it drift, why couldn’t they attach a line/chain/cable and tow it away from everything?

        • If they got that close why didn’t they just put water on the fire and extinguish it right then and there.

          • Doing armchair quarterbacking? It’s easy to criticize the hardworking folks in the arena. Seems like you’re taking things that shem writes as the gospel. It’s always wise to use water to put out a fuel fire, not. We know why you’re not a fireman. Were you the one trying to weld those 2×4’s together? I think our firemen are professionals and they made a decision they thought was best at that time. I swear you give fruitcakes a bad name.

          • POV You lie. No one is criticizing the EFD.

            Asking a couple of questions is OK right.

            POV have you ever heard of foam used to fight fires? The EFD should have foam to use for barge fires and oil fires. That might be some thing to think about for the future maybe.

            A fire extinguisher can be used to put out a flammable liquid type fire. Did they people cleaning the boat just flee the scene or did any of them try to find a fire extinguisher and put the fire out? I have no information as to what they did that night but would be curious to find out what happened. I hope you don’t think that is basing the EFD. Silly boy.

            And it’s clear in many of the photographs of the fire scene that the EFD used water to put the fires out. POV that makes you look really smart now doesn’t it!

            This fire is not your typical fire and the EFD does not fight these type of fires on a daily basis like they do house fires on land.

    • +1 EFD should have some Pre-Fire Plan for the Marina which would have included meeting with the fire inspection team and the owners to discuss plans in case of a fire at the facility. Every major building in town should have a pre fire plan with the EFD and the owners. That’s a pretty big job but it’s something that needs to be done on all the major facilities in town. It’s too bad that the fire spread like it did before it could be contained properly. A lot of damage could have possibly been avoided.

  11. Just a couple of points. Having a Captain’s License prepares one to fight a fire almost as well as sleeping at a Holiday Inn Express. The EFD fire boat is more than likely too small to require a Captain’s License to pilot–key point PILOT– not fight fires. The Incident Commander was spot on refusing intoxicated individuals access to the scene, who also appear to be combative. However, cutting the boat from the dock with no control–if no attempt was made to control the vessel– was imprudent if not incompetent. I hope that it was an accident that released the boat. I can’t imagine a circumstance that would make scuttling a houseboat in the shipping lanes of the Ohio River a good idea. I think this has all been an unfortunate accident. My thoughts are with those who lost property. One last thing, I have not read an account that states Gail was there, and don’t see how this incident should tarnish her.

    • Perhaps the Incident Commander is a Viking funeral officiant and needed to brush up.

      The EF&PDs should have worked with the Rieckens, it couldn’t have been any worse than the result they got by exercising their authority over those good citizens and their property.

      • So EFD ia to consult every homeowner before they attempt to fight a fire at the home? That makes no sense. Also everyone assumes this boat they had is a state of the art firefighting machine. Have you seen this boat or maintenance records for said boat? The internet seems to make experts out of people who have no knowledge of the field they are commenting on. EFD did not start thia fire they did what they could to stop the fire. Who is to say if the boat was not cut free that the entire marina would have burnt.

        • That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. I just want to point out it’s all your scribbling, I didn’t write a word of it.

          • I was trying to be nice. It was the typical “Civilians are just too stupid to comprehend what we professionals know, and they have NO RIGHT to criticize us” rant that comes all too often from EFD and EPD “professionals.” Delta Bravo got some “back up” from Mr. Tooley on this one.

          • EKB, I don’t always agree with Delta Bravo, but the person does
            give us insight into police/fire that we do not have.

          • @Arm: I agree that DB does give us some good insight, but the attitude he displays toward the public, especially those who live in the center of the city, is distressing. I hope he doesn’t represent the attitudes of his colleagues, but Mr. Tooley doesn’t give me much hope. The whole “Why don’t YOU do my job and see how inadequate you are and how great I am attitude” that DB exudes doesn’t do his stances any good. He should be glad that not many people want to do what he does for a living. It have kept him from getting on EFD.

          • LKB, if I ‘exude attitude’ that’s certainly not my intent. I get VERY frustrated at the Monday-morning quarterbacking which goes on when it comes to public safety. It is rampant, and so much of it stems from simply not knowing the ins and outs of how the modern fire service (or policing agencies) work at the ground level.

            Your background is in (among other things) social work. I know nothing about social workers, don’t have any education on the issues, don’t know anybody who is in that field. As such, it would simply not occur to me to leap into a fray and start bad-mouthing a social worker for how they handled their job, or second-guess their decisions. I would have to wait to hear all sides of a story, because my initial supposition would be that the social worker acted in good faith, professionally and in accordance with their training.

            Accordingly, It seems reasonable that if a group of social workers (or electricians, or plumbers, or phsyicians) were addressing a problem, and a drunk colleague or ‘some dude’ showed up and started to get involved, they would think that was not maybe such a good idea. Does that not seem reasonable to you? It further seems reasonable that if said colleague started to get violent and aggressive with their other colleagues, something would have to be done about them, perhaps involving restraining them until things could get sorted out.

            I’ve been doing the FD/EMT thing for 15 years. I consider myself at least as knowledgable about my profession as any other tradesman would with 15 years experience. Civilians aren’t ‘just too stupid’ to comprehend what I do. It’s basically heavy physical labor with some fancy gears and tools. Criticize away. But don’t be mindless. Criticize in an informed manner, and after you know what actually happened.

            Want to know why something might have been done on a fireground or other emergency scene? I’m happy to try and answer that if I can. You often don’t seem interested in getting a WHY something might have been done, because you have your preconcieved notions. Those notions tend to lean towards “PD/FD did that because they are cruel/incompetent/cocky/mindless robots/thugs/racist/hateful/bullies/etc.”

            Am I completely in left field on this?

          • I believe that EFD usually does a really good job. I expect that there are some who are not so good, but haven’t seen them. They seem really compassionate about rescuing pets. Last summer a neighbor’s relative appeared to have drowned in their pool, although later it was learned he had died of a heart attack. I was on the scene by the time EFD arrived and was very impressed by the way they did their jobs. I have a nursing background as well as social work, so I speak with some knowledge of the situation and the Firemen were great in the way they did their job and helped to deal with the victim’s very frail mother as well.
            I also have a great deal of respect for many of the members of EPD, but there are some blatantly “bad apples” on the force and I am frustrated by the zeal you show when you argue in their behalf. It seems that there is a nation-wide plague of officers who display bad judgment and take lives in the process. I do have some hands-on experience in dealing with some fairly dangerous people from a position of authority, so I do know more about the work than you may think. Try telling somebody that you’re removing their children from their home, or that they’re going to be committed to a mental institution if you think social work is a “piece of cake.” I’ve had my life threatened more than once, and would never have considered shooting anyone even if I had a gun, which I didn’t. It just seems to me that you are always trying to justify the LE person’s actions no matter what they are. I can’t help but think you dismiss a lot of reasonable people and their thoughts as “Monday Morning Quarterbacks” because you believe LE personnel is infallible.
            In the matter of the marina fire, I think it was an exceptional situation that involved some personality conflicts and a rare instance of having to fight a type of fire that a lot of firefighters were not experienced at.

        • There is a big hole in your reasoning here. This wasn’t a house fire. The unusual circumstances of fighting a fire on the river may have been eased by any information they can get from people who have some knowledge of those circumstances. Judging from the damage done by cutting the boat loose, I expect that this is an attempt to “cover” the person who made the decision to do so.

          • I would venture to say that years of EBK’s living experience, not limiting to one source for news information, information from interacting with others in the know, would scare
            the less informed.

            EBK and I bump heads at times, but 99% of the time it is civil. Never hurts to
            pause and look at the other side. This does not apply to the one string banjo’s!

          • Yea Casual you must be jealous of a woman being smarter than you. I bet you think that Obama thinks he is the king too. You are all alike.

          • “It just seems to me that you are always trying to justify the LE person’s actions no matter what they are. I can’t help but think you dismiss a lot of reasonable people and their thoughts as “Monday Morning Quarterbacks” because you believe LE personnel is infallible.”

            I self admittedly side with LE on MOST issues. This largely stems from personally knowing many officers (and knowing they’re good guys and gals trying their best to do a pretty tough job), as well as knowing that decisions made under stress, even good decisions, rarely look perfect when viewed in hindsight.

            I do not, however, think LEOs are infallible. I’ve run into some real boneheads, both personally and professionally. As a supporter of LE, I think it’s extremely important to get ‘the bad ones’ so ‘the good ones’ don’t get smeared by their actions.

        • Mike Tooley:
          Every Major Business should have a Pre Fire Plan and inspected once every few years at min. So yes EFD should consult with the owners of these properties before hand. That’s Standard Operating Procedures.

          You exaggerate when you say EVERY HOMEOWNER, but this was more than just a ordinary shotgun house. This is a multi-million dollar facility with millions of dollars worth of property docked there. There is a huge difference in the two. Somehow I think you know that deep inside your soul.

          It’s pretty easy to see where you are coming from! You are right …. You make no sense.

          Maintenance records? Whens the last time they changed the oil on the EPD vehicles? I know a little bit about keeping maintenance records and I didn’t learn that over the internet kiddo.

          The boat was more likely than cut free from it’s moorings. There is photographic evidence of the fire scene that can easily be reviewed and should be reviewed. Evidence of burn patterns and cut cables is easily observed after the fire is over. And Insurance people receive the same fire investigation classes that EFD personal received. Not all is learned over the internet.

          I’d bet that radio traffic at the fire was also monitored by a lot of people with scanners. Even the secured channels can be monitored with the proper equipment.

          • I expect we’re going to see a round of finger-pointing about who is legally liable for all of the damage. I think the EFD knows that cutting the moorings of Bill Marver’s boat is going to bite them in the backside and Mr. Tooley is trying to do a little ham-handed damage control.

          • “multi-million dollar facility with millions of dollars worth of property docked there”? Wow, talk about delusional. That entire site, including the gasoline station/cigarette joint and constantly failing bar and the big ditch can’t be worth more than $100,000. And the property docked there, “millions of dollars”? Get real.

          • Late summer of 1987, Marina Point was a hopping place on
            Fri/Sat nights. Kicking outdoor band out on the patio area. Felt
            like a beer garden/ Lamey’s Grove / Kramers Lake / Funky’s, with
            the river as a background!

      • Very true. The results speak volumes. 2 Million in damages. Hard to call that good results.

    • It won’t tarnish Gail. This incident is just grist for the gossip mill, and everybody’s “takeaway” will be whatever they brought to the discussion. (That means YOU, Shem!)
      The one thing I do think we might have been alerted to is the danger of a fire on the Tropicana boat. This seems to me a good reason to make land-based gaming a top priority in this Legislature.

      • ELKAYBEE,

        It won’t tarnish her.

        But the CCO is creating fires at the EFD and the EPD….that is stupid.

        There WASN’T a story here. The CCO is the one who didn’t realize that from the beginning. But EDITOR screwed up. He pulled his guns too fast, and now he’s started something that should have been left to burn out.

        The City County Observer Editor is the one who decided to jump in and dedicate an entire IIT to the story and give life to conspiracy theories and to start questioning the professional integrity of TWO ENORMOUS CONSTITUENCIES Gail Riecken will need in the upcoming election: The Evansville Fire Department and The Evansville Police Department.

        Thanks a padoad Chet…..I’m sure Gail Riecken is real happy the CCO Editor decided to pick embarrassing, public fights with the EFD and the EPD for Gail.

        There wasn’t a story until the CCO decided to inject life into it.

        • Shem you do realize that this fire in not a CRIMINAL investigation at this point in time. And you call that a non story. The CCO was brave and reported on this fire as it should have. This IS a big story and it’s not over yet. It’s got all that a big story needs to be of interest to people.

        • Where is a bash? The closest they came was to ask about the condition of the EFD fire boat and whether or not a licensed captain was driving the boat. Those are pretty reasonable questions to ask given the history the EFD has of taking parts from one fire engine to keep another one running and the oil change ban by the EPD.

        • You mean like the EC&P bashing all the Riecken family members in their paper? Including naming people that were not even involved in the fire or business like Gail Riecken?

        • Move, My edition of the C&P didn’t bash the R’s. Now, if you dig into the story deep enough and twist some things you can find a negative.

  12. –The McCurdy is Toast, and The Public Treasury takes the “Hit” for at least $1,403,000.
    Just another legacy from the reign of King “Weinzapfel the Worst”
    I believe a company named Browning made off with around a $1,000,000 from the 1st failed hotel
    fiasco.—- Just another legacy from the reign of “King Weinzapfel the Worst”
    –and We all know all too well the financial drain on the Community’s resources “The John” represents for the next 30yrs–Just another legacy of “King Weinzapfel the Worst”.
    No way to determine or list the losses from neglect and under maintenance issues, but stark evidence of it is exampled by Mesker amphitheater,–
    This is just the tip of the “Legacy” iceberg from the reign of “Weinzapfel the Worst”,
    — that has the Good Ship Evansville sinking…

    • Crash, the historic McCurdy Hotel fiasco started with the former Mayor but the Mesker Amphitheater fiasco started with the current Mayor.

    • I think the CCO may be giving KC too much credit. I expect that the sight of the beloved landmark standing in a state of terrible disrepair and decay is simply an inconvenience in the campaign, and he does serve “at the pleasure of the Mayor.” It is a living memorial to this and the prior administration’s lack of ability to deliver any REAL results. There isn’t much that can be done about the vacant lot where the phantom hotel for phantom conventions sits, except to have a “plan in place”, but the McCurdy can be gone by May. There may even be plans for a state-of-the-art land based casino on the site announced a few weeks before the election.
      As for Mesker, the current administration doesn’t give a rip about it, because it isn’t part of old downtown. The Mayor may even have it demolished just because he can and it would show the Democrats on the Westside who’s in charge.

      • Anyone notice in today’s C&P the story about the Med. School funding. A committee has restored the funding to the amount originally requested. Good news.

        • Yep, and putting that in your depleted valuation downtown is flapping in the breeze. Maybe they want a campus in the southern end of the state.
          Keeping the funding somewhat doesn’t exactly mean they’re that stupid about the value given the locations with climbing locational valuation. The downtown in Evansville location can’t even sport the sites sewer influx without being in violation of the clean water act as it is now. Downtowns siting is dead in the water until the truth, and the work comes to be with some affordable upgrades.

          This is 2015, there is no room for an further environmental incursion from that zombie infrastructure in your less in logistic valuation downtown’s mess. Zero valuation compared to the other RFP’s.

          • Then the EPA puts a freeze on new construction untill the cso situation is handled… problem solved. They’re not that cruel are they?

  13. IS IT TRUE?

    DOUBT wether the damage would have been lessened to any extent if the EFD and EPD had let Coast Guard Licensed Fire Boat Captain “assist” in fighting the marina fire. After all he showed up ONE HOUR after the kerosene assiisted fire began, and in an overwrought state of mind. By then, most of the damage had been done, and we read that he had NO ownership in the facility.

    Was he concerned about his (0.19 BAC) son-in-law, his daughter, his personal liability, his insurance liability, and other matters AND the safety of the first responders?

    Does the general public believe Ron has no ownership in Inland Marina, INC?

    This was a very poorly thought out article, not worthy of space in CCO.

    Foot Note: This was a double post and we took the other one down.
    Editor.

    • This post wasn’t worthy of a double-post, either.

      “Was he concerned about his (0.19 BAC) son-in-law, his daughter, his personal liability, his insurance liability, and other matters AND the safety of the first responders?”

      Most people realize that in a state of crisis, most people do not do their best reasoning. Ron was clearly near hysteria, which would make agitated behavior very understandable.

      “Does the general public believe Ron has no ownership in Inland Marina, INC?”

      I doubt the general public gives the “real” ownership of the Marina a thought, but it is understandable that a parent at age 71 has handed over the ownership of the family business to the next generation.

  14. Quite the little shindig the Drunkencrat Party threw last weekend–probably just a warm-up for this year’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, which the Marina hosted last year. You know, that annual Drunkencrat event where members of Duh Party swear on a stack of broken Indian treaties, a Old Hickory brand slave whip, and a barrel of whiskey that they have NO idea whom the “Jackson” they are commemorating is, while the Drunkencrat Deadbeat Choir sings dirges in the dark for the indigenous peoples harmed by the Keystone Pipeline. Special guest, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth “Crockajewea” Warren, a bona fide member of the Paleface Band of the Faux Indians could not make it last year, but perhaps will come this year.

    Now, I must congratulate the liberal moms’-basement-dwellers for their nearly instantaneous discernment of Duh Truth: yes, indeed, the Rieckenstag Fire is the Reichstag Fire of the 2015 mayoral campaign. The vast right wing conspiracy has finally noticed Evansville and is pulling out the stops to re-elect nominal Republican Mayor Winneckezapfel and Mayor-in-Lurking Jonathan Weinzippy. The central committee of The Conspiracy (members: the Koch Brothers, Mitt Romney, Bristol Palin, the Ghost of Richard Nixon, and a partridge in a pear tree) personally ordered the deployment of their secret weapon, Duh Drone, equipped with fearsome Kerosene Kannons, which use a secret extra-gravity ray affecting only certain petroleum products to tip over and set on fire certain devices. At the same time, Dubya Bush, infiltrated the Riecken compound and beamed a bottle of Everclear directly into the bloodstreams of some family members. The vast right wing conspiracy had thought that the transdrunkporter was still top secret, but its exposure by the local Drunkencrat brain trust has now thwarted their diabolical plan to employ it against Duh Party’s candidates.

    Now, in all seriousness, I have to admire the accomplishments of the CCO and its liberal posters: you have done the impossible and made me feel sorry BOTH for Mayor Winneckezapfel and Representative Riecken. No one deserves opponents as obviously venal or supporters as dumb, respectively.

      • I don’t know why he posts anything. We’re all drunk, high, illiterate, subterranean dwelling welfare recipients who are incapable of understanding his high-flown intellectual musings.

        • Typical of the Romney IMBREDS who think that they own the world.

          I don’t even read their crap Laura. Brains is right .. ignore the losers.

    • I was going to reaad your post but after 2 lines the ignorance overwehlmed me… you need help.

      • onemeover. You are right he needs some help. But he is beyond regular therapy type ofhelp. A lobotomy may be necessary.

  15. I got a real howl out of the liberal loon who wrote multiple dissertations over the weekend on kerosene lanterns when the diabolical device in question was a kerosene heater. Priceless!

    • Same fuel, same heat source, different type of devise, same results. Chicago 1871 fire comes to mind!

    • Oh boy you got me now. Good job Loser! I knew it was not an electrical fire and said so before anyone else. And question the electrical fire from the get go. I was right on the money. You are the loon loser.

    • Funny that modern electrical heaters are made to shut off if they are turned over. The news media reported it was a Kerosene lantern not me. People were reporting what the media said so if you got a beef I suggest that you take it up with Tim Ethridge at the EC&P and Channel 14 News.

      I love it when Right Wing-nuts get in here and make a fool out of themselves with their stupidity. Now that’s priceless. You should hook up with Sarah Paliin. She’s as much of a “tool” as you are. Can you see Alaska from your house too? 🙂

  17. Isn’t it a little strange that an ultra-liberal Democrat has been involved in a biz that services expensive leisure craft that pollute a major river and burn huge amounts of fossil fuels? I can’t recall seeing the dug-out canoes of subsistence fisherman tied up in great numbers at the Marina recently.

    File under the “Do-as-we-say, not-as-we-do” subsection of “Hypocrisy, Democrat.”

  19. Oh, dear God, I love it…a little loon plays the Russia card!

    Of course, not even liberal Snopes buys it.

    http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/russia.asp

    Sarah may not be able to see Russia from her back yard, but our liberal moms’-basement-dwellers CAN see the kerosene lanterns and electrical heaters in boat bottoms at the Marina from their dank loony lairs!

  20. Kos Kidz Komix regrets to announce that “How We Exposed The Koch Kerosene Kannon Kaper and The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy’s Plan to Re-Elect a RINOcrat Mayor by Doing Something Somehow at a Marina No Longer Even Owned by Duh Party’s Candidate and Her Husband” by the Progressive Credulous Collective has been withdrawn from publication.

    In its place, KKK will run a reprint of “The End of Snow” (New York Times, 2/9/2014), and an original story by the Evansville Ecological Activist Association, “Dr. Strangeboat: or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Defend Great Big Gas-Guzzling Boats As Long As They Are Driven By Drunkencrat Councilmen and/or Dock At a Progressive Marina Owned By Duh Right People.”

  21. Delta/Brave said:

    LKB, if I ‘exude attitude’ that’s certainly not my intent. I get VERY frustrated at the Monday-morning quarterbacking which goes on when it comes to public safety. It is rampant, and so much of it stems from simply not knowing the ins and outs of how the modern fire service (or policing agencies) work at the ground level.

    Your background is in (among other things) social work. I know nothing about social workers, don’t have any education on the issues, don’t know anybody who is in that field. As such, it would simply not occur to me to leap into a fray and start bad-mouthing a social worker for how they handled their job, or second-guess their decisions. I would have to wait to hear all sides of a story, because my initial supposition would be that the social worker acted in good faith, professionally and in accordance with their training.

    Accordingly, It seems reasonable that if a group of social workers (or electricians, or plumbers, or phsyicians) were addressing a problem, and a drunk colleague or ‘some dude’ showed up and started to get involved, they would think that was not maybe such a good idea. Does that not seem reasonable to you? It further seems reasonable that if said colleague started to get violent and aggressive with their other colleagues, something would have to be done about them, perhaps involving restraining them until things could get sorted out.

    I’ve been doing the FD/EMT thing for 15 years. I consider myself at least as knowledgable about my profession as any other tradesman would with 15 years experience. Civilians aren’t ‘just too stupid’ to comprehend what I do. It’s basically heavy physical labor with some fancy gears and tools. Criticize away. But don’t be mindless. Criticize in an informed manner, and after you know what actually happened.

    Want to know why something might have been done on a fireground or other emergency scene? I’m happy to try and answer that if I can. You often don’t seem interested in getting a WHY something might have been done, because you have your preconcieved notions. Those notions tend to lean towards “PD/FD did that because they are cruel/incompetent/cocky/mindless robots/thugs/racist/hateful/bullies/etc.”

    Am I completely in left field on this?

    =======================================================================

    All of this is good information to know.

    We don’t mean to be second guessers as you folks have to make on the spot decisions, right then and there.

    However, one of the central questions is why did the EFD or EPD cut loose the Marver boat and let it drift away? AFLAME!?

    You haven’t answered this, and perhaps you shouldn’t as this is now a criminal investigation, however it has us amateurs scratching our heads in puzzlement.

    Perhaps there is a perfectly good reason for what they did….. an perhaps there isn’t.

    • Brains, this is an active investigation so I would be remiss if I spilled any beans, but it turns out I don’t have any insider information – – it was not my shift which responded, and my activity at the scene was very limited. I can personally attest to the quality of the resonding personnel, however – – there were solid guys/gals and some very experienced and respected suppression Chief officers working the Inalnd Marina fire, and the same can be said for those who responded on the PD side of things. Mistakes can always happen on an emergency scene, but some of the regulars on this site seem hell-bent on painting the first responders as idiots or bullies (or both), which is not fair in the least and certainly not backed up by my experience with them.

      To your question: As far as I know the folks on this board have basically convinced themselves that the boat was cut loose by public safety personnel. Is there any proof that it was? Consider: I have personally been on fire scenes where the radiant heat given off by burning buildings was setting cars on fire across the street, and causing trees in neighbors yards to light up. It does not seem to be beyond the realm of possibility that a 1/2″ or 3/4″ nylon mooring rope might have melted in a case like that, even if it did not experience direct flame impingement. Suddenly you have an unsecured boat, and it has inadvertantly been pushed away from the dock by the hose streams being directed on it. Away it goes…

      The above is just conjecture. Might it seem reasonable to intentionally cut a burning boat loose in certain instances? An honest person would probably conclude “maybe…” A boat is on fire, other boats are threatened, and we know we can’t get enough water on the exposures quick enough to prevent additional damage and possibly catastrophic fire spread. Might you consider cutting the boat loose if the other option (not cutting it loose) GUARANTEES additional destruction? I probably would at least consider it.

      Does the above make sense?

      • Cutting it loose and using the water pressure to push it out and away from the marina would be my first thought. Having the emotional guy jump in to help would NEVER be given a second thought. Nor would I waste valuable time trying to reason with anyone not cooperating to gain permission of use to their fire boat.

  23. What are laws or regulations for EFD jumping on a private owned fireboat? Does anyone know the EFD did not listen to the three people interfering? How do we know they didn’t advise the firefighters to cut the boat loose? How do we know they were not running to the boat yelling to cut it loose? How do we know that dad didn’t show up, see his daughter in cuffs and go ape shit? Did he keep running towards the fire? A civilian’s safety is important during a fire. EPD and EFD would and have stopped people from running into burning buildings. When the pressure is on and time is crucial fire fighters have no time to have a meeting with the owners on how to work the boat or stop a fire. If they let dad on the fire boat and he died as a result would we all complain that he was allowed on that boat? We do not know anything but what was released by media. I agree with the above comment. The other boat and who and why they were on it is the actual concern.

  25. Theyre coming up with 2-3 million from the serenity sinking. That boat alone was worth well over a million dollars easily.

  26. onemeover
    Feb 17, 2015 at 7:54 pm

    Then the EPA puts a freeze on new construction untill the cso situation is handled… problem solved. They’re not that cruel are they

    ===========================================================

    They should be! That would certainly get the Poop’s attention wouldn’t it.

    A legal and environmental 2X4 right up side the head.

  27. Nope sorry, we’re two different people, ask editor if you doubt it.

    BTW if you ever want to know what conners are up to, all you have to do is see what they accuse Dems of doing.

    The hey we do it, so they must too, projection thingy.

    • Above was in reply to:
      MainStreetDemo
      Feb 17, 2015 at 9:01 pm

      Moveon posts as Brains. Likes to slap himself on the back, alot that ones.

    • Brains is this in response to one of the posters above who thinks that I am you? Mainstreetdemo is out of the loop big time.

      • Yes. But you already know that since you’re me, and I’m you.

        Demo will come riding into town a ready to put a whoop on us but he’ll be destroying the fake Rock Ridge, which he thinks is the real Rock Ridge!

  29. If we look at the three little pigs story one could have to conclude that the Conservatives were stick in the mud and lived in the straw house and the liberals being smarter built their house out of bricks and mortar. 🙂

    No matter how much Monkey Breath and his friends huff and puff they still can’t blow hard enough to knock down the Liberal House. 🙂

    Just in case the conservatives in here were too lazy to read the link that Brains posted above explaining the difference between a conservative and a liberal. I figured I’d make it easier for the Repunuts (conservatives with low IQ’s_) to read and understand.

    • Metaphorically speaking, not so bad.
      metaphor
      [met-uh-fawr, -fer]
      noun
      r.1 a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance,
      Compare mixed metaphor, simile (def 1).
      r/2. something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.

    • American style conservatism is nearly universally rejected in the rest of the developed world, it is only seen in, well the US.

      Our deadly gun culture shocks the world, the libertarian fantasies we hold onto, the religious nuttiness, the rampant anti-intellectualism and rejection of science, is all seen as madness.

      I’ve always said that if American conservatives ran for office in Western Europe they would be pelted with rotten vegetables. Scotty Walker conservative hero recently went to London, and was asked about evolution, He tried to dodge the question. The audience LITERALLY laughed in his face.

      SMH.

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