IS IT TRUE NOVEMBER 28, 2014

1. Evansville’s Elitist Politicos are nothing less than a lowdown pack of Scoundrels!

   • Gosh, Crash, couldn’t you get a little more angry than this ? “Scoundrels’ ? Far worse than mere scoundrels ??

     • I must admit I did have the definition of “Malfeasance” cross my mind before I used the word
       Scoundrels.
       Websters:–” Scoundrel–a mean, immoral,or wicked person.”

2. Why would we ask the City Controller when we see him? He has quite a track record of twisting the truth and spinning negative outcomes. Some people might even consider him to be a liar.
   Evansville must have a competent, sensible, honest Mayor who will appoint a competent , sensible, honest City Controller to pull us back from the brink of bankruptcy, and we have to elect him/her in 2015. We won’t make it another four years at the rate we’re going. Cashing in our first responders’ pension investments and padding the General Fund with the proceeds is beyond repugnant, and should be illegal if it isn’t.
   As for ONB not paying for their “naming rights” at the Centre, maybe they decided to pay what they are worth instead of what they offered.

3. Is it true that non-essential spending by city government has resemblance of a “drunken sailor”?
   Is it true this spending appears to be on a big upswing since Joe Kiefer, while a siting city representative ten years ago, suggested a take over of county government and it’s assets?

   Could it be true that the city residents should call for the city charter to be voided, along with it’s out of reach boards and commissions?

   • Is that possible to do? void a city’s charter? I like that idea. I always thought that GOP mean CONSERVATIVE and that conservative was a fiscal term that meant to be conservative in spending money. IE thrifty and tight wadded! Is that not true? Conservative as in afraid to try anything new and spontaneous. Conservative as in stick in the mud. I guess Winny is not a Conservative after all. He’s more liberal than most others. How many conservative dressed businessmen do you see out picking up track from the city’s streets.

     • Void a city charter? I don’t see why not. It is not a state organized entity. If it was, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce would had issue a “marching order” to the Indiana republican legislators to change the Evansville’s mayor position from a elected, to a appointed!

       • Moveon and Arms:

         Givemeabreak..it ain’t gonna happen because one, two or ten of you may think it should…as if you could do any better 🙂

         • There was a sitting city representative ten years ago that thought city “should” take over county government and it’s assets. Hundreds of thousands of spent dollars and hundreds of hours wasted by both governments and it was shot down.

           As far as doing better? Can we possible do worst? I can flip sand, do some sort of a chicken dance, ect. But I never could lie, and cover things up like they do!

4. Is it true this poster found these in the recent released 2013 FBI report?

   Out of the reported 553,895 officers;
   49,851 officers were assaulted during their line of duty.
   Of these, 29.2% result in injuries.
   27 were killed by felonious acts, out of the 76 that were killed in their line of duty.
   62.7% of the assaults were a “one officer” vehicle.
   17.3% were of “two officer” vehicle.

   Should this even be tolerated?

   • If this is for a normal 15 to 20 year career this aint bad. A lot of people get hurt injured an even killed on the job. Law enforcement is not very high on the list of dangerous jobs. You an the C&P sure seem to want us to believe it is .

     • I see where I left out “per year”

       Quote: “A lot of people get hurt injured an even killed on the job.”
       Total irrelevant! Does one in eleven get assaulted yearly in whatever your job may be/had been?
       Another 49 was killed a year in what you are twisting to!
       My earlier posts covers assault only! You know, what happened to patrolman Wilson!
       Assault to law enforcement should never happen!

       • It is a tragedy when anyone is killed, especially while doing their job. But people have a choice about what kind of work they choose. Nobody chooses the color of their skin. I believe you will find that more than 49 innocent people of color are killed by police on a yearly basis. The latest of these is 12 year old Tarik Rice in Cleveland. He was killed by a rookie cop who jumped out of a still moving police car and shot him because he was playing with a fake gun in a park. When the officer called for EMS, he reported that the victim was “um, about twenty”. The incident is caught on park security video, and the story told by the officers involved do not match what is on the video.
         Not all victims of racial profiling are killed, though. Do you recall the video of the policeman viciously beating the woman who had a chronic mental illness?
         There are so many people in this country scared to death of “Sharia Law”, yet don’t have any problem with these things happening.
         Bill Moyers did a segment on this story, and I hope you will read it:
         http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/11-ways-the-militarization...

         • Seen the editorial and took it for what it was. Appears association of felons, drugs and other vices, drew the attention of law enforcement. Are not the parent/parents responsible to not create a situation which may compromise the safety of their children? The toy rifle was suppose to have a yellow ban attached which would indicate a toy. What responsible parent would allow possession of a toy gun like that in a area that could be mistaken for a real one?

           Your post is a diversion from the topic of my original post that one in eleven law enforcement officers are being assaulted each year!

         • The 12 year old’s name was Tamir Rice and he was playing with a fake gun that was supposed to have a florescent orange tip on it but the tip had been modified to make the gun look more real I watched the video a few times and think that the police officer had no choice; when the boy was told to put up his hands he went to draw the gun from his waistband. The officer then made the decision to defend himself.
           You may find this interesting from the recent ProPublica report: Who is killing all those black men and boys? Mostly white officers. But in hundreds of instances, black officers, too. Black officers account for a little more than 10 percent of all fatal police shootings. Of those they kill, though, 78 percent were black.

         • Yet Michael Brown was not innocent. He was a suspected felon fleeing from a Strong Armed Robbery and an assault on a Police Officer and again trying to attack the same police officer at the time he was shot.

   • Appears I left out that this info is “per year”

   • On the question of toleration, I know there are too many assaults, but how do you suggest we go about “not tolerating” it? I think most policemen know the physical risks involved, and the best officers learn how to defuse situations and avoid physical confrontation. There are no figures that show how many of those assaults are started by the officer striking the civilian, but I would guess that many are. The officers themselves know who is a good cop and who isn’t, and they owe it to the people they are sworn to serve and protect to “weed out” the bad ones. That hasn’t been done in the past, but it needs to start.
     Btw, don’t shed too many tears for Darren Wilson. He, like George Zimmerman, has achieved folk hero status. I’m sure his fans will take good care of him, and he’s bound to already have a book deal in the works.

     • Quote; ….assaults are started by the officer striking the civilian.
       EKB, when was the last time a officer came up to you or I and struck us out of the blue? Never!!!!!!
       You know why? “WE RESPECT THE LAW!” The officers are trained, and has experienced, who the good and bad residents are by their actions. The day our population understand the respect for law and order, instead of something to “grind one’s axe on”, is the day healing begins. Our country is ruled by law and order, not mob rule which seems to be given a pass of late!

     • Laura, most “decent” people, and by most accounts Darren Wilson was a decent person, are very affected by taking the life of another, even when it was justified. George Zimmerman has achieved notoriety whether or not it was deserved as has Darren Wilson; I would venture to guess that neither would say that their life was improved by it. I have met a few “Barney Fife” and “Rambo” types in the military and in my dealings with police forces – although I was never a police officer – but these are exceptions to the rule; most are normal, caring, people who just want to do a thankless job the best they can and then go home to their family

     • “There are no figures that show how many of those assaults are started by the officer striking the civilian, but I would guess that many are. ”

       LKB, you do understand that a sworn law enforcement officer is legally allowed to ‘strike a civilian’ in many instances, correct? They are also allowed to do so even if they were not struck first? For example, a LE could use there ASP or other impact weapon to attempt to control a person who is beating up another person, even if that person has not attempted to hit the officer? If the person THEN turned and started attacking the officer, within your limited envelope of acceptable police behavior you would consider the assault on the officer to have been ‘started by the officer’?

       Our society has determined that it is in the best interest of public safety to NOT force an officer to wait until they are personally punched, stabbed, shot, run over, lit on fire, or any other sundry acts of violence before they are allowed to respond. This seems to me to be a reasonable policy.

5. Is taking money from the Police & Firefighters Pension fund even LEGAL ?

   Hard to believe you could take money from a Pension fund for ANY purpose other than (drumroll) paying the pensions of those two groups ?

   Is this Theft ? What say the heads of these Unions about this “unapproved loan” ?

   • I will be calling the Mayor’s Office on Monday, and asking that Russ Lloyd be replaced. Please join me in this effort. If 100 people call, that will leave a mark.

     • Why not call for Winnecke resign, after all, Rusty is just doing his bidding for him. Rusty has no power or authority. If he acted responsibly, he would be out of a job and would probably be replaced with someone less ethical. I wonder if Jenny Collins would accept the position again?

       • Russ isn’t the problem. He’s taking orders. Wish he was back giving the orders.

     • I thought that once, too. The crosses on the riverfront drew more than 100 calls, and they were only minimally courteous to callers. The Mayor and his crew don’t give a crap about public opinion because they know we don’t have any real choice. The parties have become so corrupt that even when one party is voted out, it’s still in. The names may change, but the crimes against the public stay the same. We’re the hosts, they’re the blood-sucking parasites.

6. Looks like the City is raiding other funds (Pension, Healthcare) to cover payroll. There has been previous reporting that the City borrowed $ 8 Million from ONB to alleviate a cash crunch. Does anyone know if these things are all related/ how bad is it ?

   What next: ” Hello, Tropicana: $ 500,000 on Red 17″. ” Sorry, Mr. Lloyd: Black 44″.

7. Is it true from that same report as mention by another poster the other day?

   That on average, 450 lives are lost yearly by law enforcement and their weapons?.Of these, on the average, 96 are blacks killed by white cops. This is 21.3%
   78.7% is by the other three combinations of black/white and possible other ethnic groups.

8. Editor,

   If what you are printing today about a mad scramble for cash to cover payroll is true, you might want to send a memo to City Administration and suggest that they IMMEDIATELY SUSPEND all work on the Johnson Controls smart meter program, until such time as there is adequate cash flow to continue. Also need to shutter all money-losing programs, including the Zoo, The Centre, METS buses, etc. Belt tightening time has arrived.

   • Why not call for Winnecke resign, after all, Rusty is just doing his bidding for him. Rusty has no power or authority. If he acted responsibly, he would be out of a job and would probably be replaced with someone less ethical. I wonder if Jenny Collins would accept the position again?

   • Money losing programs such as fire, police, etc? Ii disagree!
     Government should suspend ALL projects that the populace CANNOT do for themselves such as front door pride, Haynies Corner, North Main Street, etc.

9. That peaceful protest may not wind up so peaceful. Rambo Bolin will get the guardian out there, and have the K9s, Swat team and helicopters there to. If anybody gets loud, he’ll use the plastic grenades and rubber bullets on them. Look what he did to an elderly woman. I hear he’s got a monster tank hidden, so we will see it if he really has one. If anybody loses their pension, it should be him.

10. Is it true that the gang at the civic center are mere handmaidens? That they are required to do the dance, but they do not get to call the tune? That if they fail to comprehend that fact, their political career is very brief?

    You might want to expand your “protest” to some additional locations. Including some of the so called media, who’s failure to do their job has cost this city dearly.

11. Check this out, The hoosier lottery last year returned to Vanderburgh Co police and firemens pension fund 1,604,944.00.. To the teachers retirement fund 655,355.00 .. Vanderburgh build Ind. fund 4,538,558.00 .. To Gibson Co P&F pension find 65,034.00 .. Teachers pension fund 135,729.00 and build Ind 966,746.00 State wide the lottery gave Police & Firemens pension fund 30,000,003.00 .. Teachers retirement 30,000,000.00 and 164,500,000.00 build Ind fund. Don’t we wish our retirement funds were so casually helped?? most of our (regular folks) retirements are funded by us and our employers and most have taken pretty hard licks… The system is a total shipwreck and the time is near for a crash. And as to Armstrongers, comment about the city goverment spending like drunken sailors, As A former drunken sailor, ladies of the night partaker while in port I take offense at being characterized with these vile scoundrels.

    • Beg your pardon if you once sailed for our government military! It is a saying from the past when people in position had a conscious! How is this then!

      Resemblance of a spouse maxing out all of the credit cards on the eve of filing for divorce!

    • Seems like a great deal to have lottery proceeds go towards pension payments. People playing the lottery are voluntarily giving their money, said money goes to help defray costs which would otherwise be borne by taxpayers for these programs.

      For our Indiana pension fund (PERF), employees in the system have 6% of their base pay auto deducted and put into the fund, so it is in fact funded by ‘us’.

      And cops and firefighters are ‘regular folks’ too, Dallas.

      As far as your last sentence, I wholeheartedly agree. A pack of drunken sailors and Marines would do a FAR better job in many instances than the batch of folks we currently have on the job at the Civic Center!

      • Question

        Is these pensions only funded out of the employee check? I would think that the local government has some matching money as well. Is it a fact that all deposits are being made to these pensions, or are they being skimmed for other expense, underfunding these pension that we all hear about? May be the reason lottery money is going into these pensions? Why should money come back to local government to spend as please? Was not the lottery suppose to help the school system as it was sold to us on? At least the state of Kentucky is doing one thing correct with their money. They created “KEES” money for high school students based off of each semester grades, that can be used for in-state and border colleges. When one renew their auto plates, thank your Indiana lottery for paying half of the excise tax. That’s if you can own a fairly new set of wheels!

        • Yep, local jurisdiction kicks in 19.7% of base pay as part of the funding. Cops and firefighters are not eligible for social security based on their FD/PD salary, so the city does NOT contribute to social security for that employee.

          This is actually a big deal, especially from the city’s point when it comes to salary. Anytime there is a salary increase, they are also on the hook for additional contributions to the pension fund. So, for every $1 pay raise given to a firefighter, the city is actually has to budget $1.20. Adds up rather quickly, and is something that has to be taken into consideration by both sides during contract negotiations.

          Current PD/FD PERF for Indiana is considered ‘fully funded’ from an accounting standpoint, from what I understand, but I certainly am not privy to how money is slushed around from one pile to another to make that happen. It’s totally possible that the city’s statutory portion of the pension has been shuttled to pet projects, and the lottery funds are being used to make up for that shuttling.

          More information on the Indiana PERF (Public Employees Retirement Fund) at this link:

          http://www.in.gov/inprs/

          I was also under the impression that lottery funds were supposed to go at least mostly towards education as well. That said, all those rules are subject to change at the stroke of a pen, so things might have been … adjusted … by our state officials.

12. Paul Joyce says his agency doesn’t have enough auditors or funding to be effective, says the SBOA isn’t meeting its responsibilities under state law. He then continues to cheerlead for a law criminalizing doing as SBR did and shining light on their ineptitude.

    What SBR did wasn’t a ‘loophole’ as the loopy Joyce now maintains (after first saying it was illegal), it was a ray of light. If they ever clean up that crew and get some good people in there he should be the first to go.

    http://www.courierpress.com/news/local-news/state-examiner-seeks-legislative-approval-for-higher-audit-fees-for-local-governments_10164535

    • There are comments on the C&P site stating that what she did was illegal. The paper really brainwashed the hand full of readers they still have. I’m kind of surprised that the people on that site can read and write. I think SBR should sue the rag into bankruptcy, that would be a great publc service.

      • I think ‘brainwashed’ might be presuming too much. Like a brain.

13. The “furrier and suppressed” is not observed to be a good mainstream news entity for the people there. 14 schmoose, or the other Tristate home site are clearly bought, laid out and endeared for the rants, as well. Clearly seen and recorded, from afar. Our global analytical group actually “has” the numbers, and for a while now. Its getting worse.

    How NBC as a network can continue to support That 14 schmooze is beyond any
    educated American citizens comprehension. Nationally they (NBC network news)
    balance the reports pretty well, per the facts and working balanced science, as presented.

    That 14 schmooze “mess” seems kind of connected to the power bases locally generated false propaganda ranting’s to fill the puny local social clubs mechanically driven accounts in that unfortunate region, as recorded. Bad stuff, needs work.

    Conclusion; Do that at the polls next time around, in the “mean time” keep an /”EYE”\ on them to extend your citizens revenue balance for the positive.

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

14. After hearing about all the misused funds I can see why SBR decided to not run for reelection. Winnie needs to move on. we can’t let him dig that hole any deeper.

15. Why is Russ asking for over FOUR million in additional money for 2014 ????? Maybe it is to make up for all the thefts that have happen this year. Just guess’en

16. Carpetbaggers comes to mind

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