IS IT TRUE? May 31, 2011

IS IT TRUE that the last three days have been a welcome break from the daily routine of people’s lives all across the country?…that we learned this weekend that outdoor music festivals in Louisville have now banned smoking?…that this was the first time that the City of Louisville that enacted a comprehensive smoking ban several years ago had moved the ban outdoors?…that event organizers report that this was the highest year for attendance?…that the City of Evansville needs to learn a lesson or two from Louisville in the public smoking department?…that Louisville’s Brown and Williamson Club is non-smoking?…that being last is better than never and that the time has come for the City of Evansville to promote public health with a comprehensive smoking ban?…that even all indoor areas of Churchill Downs are non-smoking and that after many bad years the track is doing okay again?…that Churchill Downs fought smoking restrictions like a cat fights a bath only to have their paranoia disproven?

IS IT TRUE that if you believe the mainstream media that one neighborhood in Evansville acted as if the moon was full last weekend?…that three young men took the life of a pizza delivery guy into their hands and pistol whipped him for the change that he carried and maybe a pizza or two?…that the thought process that enables one to rationalize committing such a crime for such a paltry payoff is mind boggling?…that we doubt very seriously that this act of cowardice can be blamed on the economy?…that these three knuckleheads should have learned better by this stage of their life?…that statistically speaking that they will all three find a cell to live in at some point in their lives?…that there were two more crimes of violence one involving a knife and another involving a gun in the same area?…that the good people of this neighborhood need to take the bull by the horns and start turning these criminals in?…that someone saw these things happen and either through fear or apathy has not come forward?…that the words “I DIDN’T SEE NOTHIN” are the words that drove Evansville’s crime rate up and that an attitude of not being willing to turn in perpetrators costs us all a degree of safety and some property value?

IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Police report included what sounds very much like a gang rumble that started in a Westside club and ended on the streets of the Southside on Washington Avenue between Kentucky Ave. and Highway 41?…that guns, knives, and injury were involved and that several of the partiers ended up in the emergency room?…that of course the cooperation level of the witness pool was “I DIDN’T SEE NOTHIN”?…that good people that happen to live in bad neighborhoods have the power to reduce crime in these neighborhoods by being willing to provide witness to the police?…that to refuse to do so enables the decline of the neighborhoods?…that this summer is not starting out well in the violent crime department and that we hope that cooler and more diligent minds prevail?…that we do not want to see the violent crime in Evansville increase by another 14% in 2011?

IS IT TRUE that the end of May brings with it the requirement that some financial milestone be achieved by Woodruff Hospitality LLC with respect to the new Downtown Evansville Convention Hotel?…that to date even though Arena Project Manager John Kish made a statement to that effect that he has not enlightened the public as to what that contractual requirement happens to be?…that the City County Observer should be finding out on or before June 16th as a result of our Freedom of Information Act request of May 19th?…that Mr. Kish should in the interest of transparency willingly inform the public of the end of May and end of June milestones and of the status of achieving them?…that the taxpayers of Evansville who are already subsidizing the hotel have a right to know the status of the project?

IS IT TRUE that on the riverfront in Louisville’s Belvedere Park there are engraved pavers with the cities along the Ohio River?…that Evansville is among these cities?…that beneath the Evansville paver that someone with some sidewalk chalk had written the words “Fattest City in America”?…that a little bit of water removes sidewalk chalk?…that water will not remove the distinction of being the fattest city in America but that discipline and willpower will?…that the City County Observer encourages all of our readers to eat healthy this week and walk a mile or so each day?…that if everyone does this Evansville will lose its dubious title of “Le Ville de Gras” in a couple of years?