IS IT TRUE? Part 2 – August 12, 2011: Crimes, Credit, and Hockey

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IS IT TRUE? August 12, 2011

IS IT TRUE that a case of rape is being investigated by the Evansville Police Department?…that this alleged crime has been reported to have taken place in the 800 block of Southeast 2nd Street?…that it has furthermore been reported in the neighborhood that access to the victim was made by climbing to the 2nd floor and forcing entry through a window?…that this crime has the neighborhood association of the Historic District on high alert making sure that all of the residents of this unique and valuable area of Evansville are aware and on the lookout for the perpetrator?…that anyone who has any information that may lead to the arrest of a suspect should call (812) 435-6072?

IS IT TRUE that the census tract immediately to the south of the Arena that includes the forthcoming downtown convention hotel has the worst violent crime rating of any census tract in all of Vanderburgh County?…that the rating for this census tract is 3 on a scale of 100 meaning that 97% of all census tracts in America have better rates of violent crime?…that if there is not a targeted effort to improve that ranking that fear of the Arena will continue?…that to really make the downtown a destination that it not only needs to have at least a 50 ranking on violent crime but that the perception of safety at all times needs to be pervasive?…that statistics do not lie, that this 3 ranking is what it is, and that this is something that needs to be dramatically improved?

IS IT TRUE that Mole #40 tells us that the Evansville IceMen along with their owner Ron Geary were in a celebratory mood last night on the upper level of the Maingate bar just across from the new Arena?…that there were some well dressed gentlemen making a presentation to the IceMen and their families?…that Mole #40 was not close enough to see the presentation but that the IceMen and Mr. Geary seemed to be pleased?…that a positive demeanor from the IceMen and Mr. Geary may just be a good sign with respect to the discussions that have drug on with the City of Evansville’s legendary negotiating team?…that maybe today we will be treated to a deal that will assure the people of Evansville that there will actually be hockey in their hockey Arena this year after all?…the we along with many others have our fingers crossed?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer would like to seek permission from both Prime Lodging LLC or Verville Construction and the Kunkel Group to publish their current Dun and Bradstreet reports?…that according to Dun and Bradstreet their reports include things like “Likelihood this company will experience financial stress in the next 12 months”, “Likelihood this company will not pay on time over the next 12 months”, “Timeliness of historical payments for this company”, “Payment performance trend over the past 90 days”, and any public findings with respect to pending legal issues?…that this is the kind of information that has been available all along and should have been accessed and utilized by the Evansville Redevelopment Commission as a sort of pre-vetting condition?…that we will not be publishing any D&B report on any business without prior written permission to do so from a corporate officer?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

17 COMMENTS

  1. Anybody notice how the C+P didnt post the downtown rape story until more than 24h after it happened (it occured around 3am YESTERDAY)? And they disabled comments on the article? I guess they dont want people talking about how dangerous the area near the arena is.

  2. In reference to the alleged rape: The C&P is running the story (a day late) with the comments feature disabled. This seems irresponsible and not customary to me. Not only can folks not contribute valuable information pertaining to the apprehension of the alleged rapist, they cannot discuss the relative safety of the Downtown District as it might relate to the Downtown Arena etc.
    Just sayin’ …

    • The C&P always disables comments on stories about any crime of a sexual nature. Not sure about the delay in reporting. I saw a headline about it somewhere yesterday, maybe it was ch. 14??

  3. With the “den of thieves” residing in the civic center you would expect the crime rate around that area of town to be off the chart. So will it require a police escort for all the patrons leaving the new (yet unnamed) arena?, and everyone who has said that walking is good for the body might what to rethink that idea if they are going to stray very far from the bright lights heading for the back 40.

  4. IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer just the other day ranted and raved that a person on the ERC who has access to Dun and Bradstreet reports thru their work was excoriated for not “publishing” them?

    IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer is now appearing to back-peddle and say that corporate permission is required?

    IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer seems to be hypocritical in this instance?

    Sorry, CCO, you cannot have it both ways!

  5. Hey truth you need to review the previous article. We called for Ms Miller to get the DB and make it available to the ERC. We never called on her to publish any part of it.

    • Dear Editor

      We will agree to disagree on this. How is “making it available to the ERC” any different from “publishing” it? You know darn well that making it available to the ERC under anything but executive session would then make it available to the public under a FOIA request, and CCO would be first in line to grab it and turn it into a PDF file!!!!!

      I stand by my original post. Your stance is hypocritical, and you are “splitting hairs” in trying to say you only “called for Ms Miller to get the DB and make it available to the ERC”. You know darn well what is a public record and what is not, and once the “genie was out of the bottle” by her giving it to the ERC then the cork cannot go back in.

      Not only that, you are calling for her to take advantage of her position and her membership benefits of the Dun & Bradstreet reporting! Her employers pays a LOT of money for that reporting service, and it is outrageous that you are asking her to basically commit a theft of a reporting service in per personal employment. How can you gripe about all the unfair advantage supposed “insider information” at City Hall when you call upon a person who was APPOINTED, NOT ELECTED to take advantage of her employer.

      I think you owe the readership and Ms. Miller an apology for even suggesting she commit such an act. Either stay on the moral high ground or get off the fence.

      IMHO

  6. “IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer would like to seek permission from both Prime Lodging LLC or Verville Construction and the Kunkel Group to publish their current Dun and Bradstreet reports?” (CCO)

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

    Evidently this is the way you work yourself to the top of the preferred contractor list:

    http://in-vanderburgh-treasurer.governmax.com/svc/default.asp?sid=F61966BAC1444CD995E68B5161B99AF8

    Pay particular attention to the bottom of the page where the taxes paid for the spring and the fall of 2010 are shown. No spring payment, and no fall payment. No property tax payments for the year 2010.

    —

  7. Dear Editor

    Did a quick look over at Dun & Bradstreet, and a reporting package like the one Ms. Miller probably has access to is clearly worth over $10,000 PER YEAR! Just because she is appointed to the ERC does not mean she does not have a fiduciary and ethical duty to her employer NOT to take advantage of her position to obtain the report you suggested!

    If you or the ERC or ANYONE else wants the D&B report, then you should ethically be obligated to pay for it! Calling on a person who is employed by a private business (and especially one regulated as much as her employer) is frankly an embarrassment for you to do.

    Shame on you for asking someone to take advantage of their employer on behalf of city government just so you can “publish” it. If the knowledge is that available to the “public” why do you SUDDENLY need “prior approval” to print it.

    IS IT TRUE we are waiting for an ethical answer?

    Yes, it is!

    • A non member of D & B can order a report for a whopping $69. As non members the ERC or any of the members could have easily reimbursed ONB for the use of the
      D & B report. We stand by our assertion that this should have been done. We also stand by our commitment not to publish anyone or any companies credit history without a signed waiver to do so. We do not need “prior approval” to publish such things but we have chosen not to publish without it. We could easily buy this for $138 for both reports but without approval of the respondents we will not publish.

      http://creditreports.dnb.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ReportSelectionCmd?dunsNumber=0&busName=KUNKEL%20GROUP%2C%20INC.%2C%20THE&storeId=11154&catalogId=71154&productId=0&address=510%20MAIN%20ST&city=EVANSVILLE&state=IN&zip=477081616&country=US

      • Dear Editor

        1. Thank you for the clarification. It is YOUR choice not to publish
        2. How do you know that the ERC has not go the report?

        Per your response, I “stand by my assertion” that your earlier article asking a private employee of a firm to utilize company assets and resources for a service paid for by the private employer is an ethical lapse on your part.

        Can you deny FOR A SINGLE SECOND that if the tables were reversed and a governmental employee used governmental resources to get this report for a private employer you would make it a banner article and be screaming for police charges and resignations and firings?

        IS IT TRUE that we all await an apology from the CCO for asking for an ethically and morally questionable action on the part of an appointed private citizen

        • Truth, what is your problem, man ? Sara Miller’s employer, ONB, charged the City $100,000 dead presidents to prepare a 3-page Insurance Analysis. That’s $ 33,333 a page. And you are worried that it is unethical to ask Ms. Miller to use $ 69 of bank resources to run a D&B Report to help find out if $ 8 Million of City money will get flushed down “The John” ???? I bet ONB is ” LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK”.
          Wait a minute . . . they ARE the Bank !!

          • beernuts

            First, the City commissioned and paid for an “insurance analysis” that cost $100,000, then I am guessing a lot went into that report. They did not pull the info out of their ass

            Second, and let me be clear: IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW SMALL THE D&B REPORT, IT WOULD STILL BE THEFT OF A BUSINESS RESOURCE!.

            Your analogy is basically “well, what a small cost, nobody will notice”, which is plain unethical. Are you one of those type people who take stuff from a company supply room because “well, it is only a box of paper-clips, no big harm”? If so, then YOU are the reason people have to pay higher prices. It is called THEFT!

            Finally, if Evansville or the ERC or anybody else in the process thinks the D&B report is necessary, then they can darn well pay for it! Evansville has an overall budget of over $200 million dollars, and the cost you mention in your silliness states that $8 million is at stake here. Then either require the applicants to provide the D&B report, pay for the D&B report as part of the RFP application process, or the ERC should obtain the report LEGALLY.

            It is people like you that want private employees and employers to foot the bill for something in this fashion that would scream the loudest if a government employee were to obtain info while “on the job” at the Civic Center and use this report for private use.

            My advice to you?

            Grow Up & Take An Ethics Class

        • Governments are different than private businesses. They have access to more information. For instance per an earlier discussion with you regarding what can be done to locate posters through an IP address, we would not want to see the powers of investigation of the police, sheriff, or FBI utilized to dig up information on people and then publish it. Now a standard background check is a different story using private investigative techniques to assemble public information.

          A D&B is essentially a compilation of publicly available information and gathered information from all sources that are submitted by a companies customers and suppliers.

          Ms. Miller is a highly compensated professional whose employer (ONB) is willing to donate her time to serve on the ERC and other boards during normal business hours. ONB is known for being a good corporate citizen. We assume that ONB would have no problem with a senior employee whose service on a public commission is encouraged and supported utilizing minor resources to carry out that service. To the extent that our assumption is not correct then we offer our apologies.

          • Editor

            You know what? This is a great moment where I have LOADS more respect for you than I do for any other news outlet locally. I have seen other local news outlets make victims out of people, and to the best of my knowledge I have never seen an apology.

            THANK YOU! Your willingness to take a stand on local items and your ability to see an alternative point is GREATLY appreciated. This clarity will not be forgotten, and I will tell others that you took a moment to see the point I was trying to make and recognized it.

            Your points are probably very valid about Ms. Miller and her employer, but we all know the “assume” tidbit, right?

            Again, my hat is tipped in your direction, and I appreciate your candor. Thank you

  8. @evansvilletruth on August 13, 2011 at 2:15 PM:

    ET: you seem to have a high opinion of yourself. I think both the editor and beerguy had it right, and you’ve got it wrong:

    1) In point of fact, ONB did get paid $ 100,000 for an Insurance Consulting study which was nothing more than three pages of quotes received from carriers. If ONB spent $ 5 K on that effort it would be a miracle;

    2) I am guessing that you’ve never worked in a large corporation before. The editor said it correctly, the notion that an executive of a large bank would run a simple D & B report to assist them in carrying out volunteer civic work would never be questioned. Not to mention, when you buy D & B in bulk, your unit costs goes way down (probably around $ 20 or less I’m guessing). I guess I would look at it more directly: if I went to the CEO of ONB and asked if the bank would spend $ 20 to support a financial analysis which was essential to protecting the downtown investment the City has committed to, he would scoff at such a low number and approve it 100 fold ;

    3) Your idea that there are any ethics problems with this is laughable. I believe you equated this to the theft of office supplies ? I know you can do better than that, buddy. I’ve owned businesses, and if you told me that all of my employees walked off with handfuls of highlighters and post-it notes, let me tell you they would have to have the defib paddles ready for me at Deaconess (not !);

    Admit that outrageous profits on an insurance “study” means that running some D & B reports is OK, an expenditure which would have been approved out of hand if someone thought it was worth the trouble of even bringing up , and that you have made a mountain out of a molehill. In the meantime, I will drive over to my business to count all the paperclips and make sure I have ethical employees !!!!

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