FOOTNOTE: Â EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT Â information was provided by the EPD and posted by the City-County-County Observer without opinion, bias, or editing.
more settle and to be published is it true
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IS IT TRUE that the Evansville City Council passed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Policy back in 2022 by a vote tally of 9 to 0 without it drawing much attention?…this sort of thing happens regularly these days since the pillars of mainstream media have been financially gutted to the point that they can’t provide adequate coverage of what is going on of importance?…this should have been on the front page of the flagship newspaper in Evansville, and it may have been more realistic to take such a game-changing decision to a vote of the people?…every time an elected body ignores the will of the people it comes back to bite them on the backside?
IS IT TRUE that the reality of what happened was that the Evansville City Council approved forming a DEI Council to advocate for DEI initiatives not only in making decisions about who gets jobs at the City of Evansville, but it also extends into private businesses?…DEI started out with reasonable aspirations but has morphed into what some are calling reverse discrimination?…the new DEI advisory council that the City Council approved is just supposed to advise but this is not how things have been going with the early adopters?…in big progressive cities on the coasts, DEI has become a discriminatory set of programs that are already being canceled due to the realization that it is removing merit from the hiring process, resulting in unqualified people being placed in jobs due to appease the vocal proponents of DEI, and further dividing people while fanning the flames of entitlement?
IS IT TRUE the City of Evansville according to the Census Bureau, has been losing population for decades and even with annexation we are down to 115,749 people and dropping by the day?… It appears from looking at the websites for the City of Evansville and its Fire and Police Department websites that about 1,000 people are toiling in the public payroll?…there is no information on these websites about the demographic makeup of the employees so we can’t tell if the goal of promoting diversity REFLECTIVE of the City of Evansville is happening with city staff?…the City of Evansville is made up of 78.4% white people, 13.6% African Americans, 3.5% Hispanics, 1.3% Asians with the balance being mixed race or other?…if the goal of the DEI Gods is to impose a reflective workforce across the city payroll, the numbers employed should reflect those percentages?…it would be very interesting to learn if Evansville is already reflective or not because it may not be an issue at all outside of the world called POLITICAL VIRTUE SIGNALING?
IS IT TRUE that under the duties of the DEI Council, there are indeed three articles that promote quotas and the third one extends to private workforces?…this policy mimicked policies adopted by failing cities on the coast that can’t seem to see reality over ideology?…this whole DEI thing will probably turn out to be a fad as merit is ignored and services are challenging to deliver due to obsessing over DEI before competence?…the nine members who voted for this, should consider repealing it and getting on with the business of governing for prosperity and growth?…we ask what will these leaders do when the John Galts of the Tri-State take their talents elsewhere?
FOOTNOTE: Â “The City-County Observer does not promote or condone discrimination of any kind including preference based on race, religion gender identity, or political preference.”
THUNDERBOLTS BOUNCE BACK, BLAST MAYHEM 8-2
Evansville, In.: After a tough first five minutes, the Thunderbolts achieved ignition, dominating the Mayhem through the game’s majority, and defeating Macon 8-2 in front of almost 5,000 fans at Ford Center on Saturday Night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, February 3rd  against the Fayetteville Marksmen at 7:00pm CT. For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.
Macon’s Rhett Kingston opened the scoring on their first shot only 20 seconds in to begin a 10-1 shot run for Macon, supplemented by two early Mayhem power plays. The Thunderbolts managed to fend off the Macon opportunities, and after the first media timeout they resumed play with instantly renewed purpose. Brendan Harrogate tied the game at 7:28 on the power play, assisted by Aaron Huffnagle and Felix Sasser. Later at 14:37, Kyle Thacker scored from Fredrik Wink and Mathieu Cloutier to give Evansville their first lead, 2-1. Just over a minute later at 15:55, Brett Radford scored from Harrogate and Scott Kirton to make it a 3-1 lead, before Andrew Shewfelt scored from Joseph Leonidas and Wink at 18:36 on the power play to make it a 4-1 Evansville lead through the first period.
In the second period, Cloutier scored at 4:18 from Huffnagle to make it a 5-1 lead, which remained unchanged until 19:23, when Cameron Cook rifled a shot into the net right off a faceoff win from Matthew Hobbs to extend the Thunderbolts lead to 6-1 going into the second intermission. In the third period, Aaron Aragon scored for Macon to trim the Thunderbolts lead to 6-2 at 10:19, before goals from Cloutier at 14:16 from Huffnagle, and Leonidas from Wink and Huffnagle at 17:00 rounded out the scoring in Evansville’s 8-2 victory.
               Cloutier finished with two goals and one assist, Harrogate and Leonidas each finished with one goal and one assist, while Shewfelt, Cook, Thacker and Radford each scored one goal. Aaron Huffnagle tied a franchise record with his four assists, while Wink tallied three assists.  Zane Steeves stopped 43 of 45 shots faced in net for his 11th win of the season.  The Thunderbolts and Mayhem do not meet again this regular season.
Eagles Split Opening Day of 2022-23 Spring Season
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Tennis split their opening matches for the 2022-23 spring season on Saturday. The Screaming Eagles were victorious over West Liberty University, 5-2, but fell to Bellarmine University, 7-0. The Eagles move to 2-1 on the season.
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USI vs West Liberty
Doubles: Freshman Omah ElSamahy (Cairo, Egypt) and senior Lucas Sakamaki (Louisville, Kentucky) took the first match of the day for the Eagles in number one doubles, winning 6-1. West Liberty took the next two doubles matches to earn the point.
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Singles: The Eagles were dominate in singles, winning five of the six matches and taking the first four. Sakamaki got things started by taking the number three singles, 6-3 6-2. Freshman Alfrendo Vogelaar (Den Haag, Netherlands) took the number one singles, 4-6 6-3 6-3. ElSamahy would then take the number two singles in a third set tiebreaker, 6-3 2-6 7-6 (7-3). Senior Yahor Bahdanovich (Minsk, Belarus) would secure the victory for the Eagles, taking the number six singles handedly, 6-1 6-2. West Liberty would then take the number four singles before junior Ruben Emmerson-Hiini (Auckland, New Zealand) would take the number five singles, 6-2 7-6 (7-4).
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USI vs Bellarmine
Doubles:Â USI wasn’t able to secure a match victory over the Knights as they took the number two and three doubles while the number one doubles went unfinished.
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Singles:Â The Eagles weren’t as lucky in singles as earlier in the day. Bellarmine was able to take every match to secure the 7-0 victory.
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UP NEXT FOR USI
The Eagles return to Evansville on February 5 when they host the University of Dayton at the Evansville Tennis Center at 1:30 p.m.
Bobe’s career game not enough against Beacons
Aces drop road game at Valparaiso
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VALPARAISO, Ind. – Continuing his inspiring journey from a walk-on to a starter, Gage Bobe paced the University of Evansville men’s basketball team in Saturday evening’s 81-69 loss to Valparaiso inside Athletics-Recreation Center.
Bobe recorded a career-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting versus the Beacons. He drained six of Evansville’s nine 3-point makes in the game. Yacine Toumi finished with 12 points while Marvin Coleman II added 10. Ben Krikke paced Valpo with a game-high 30 points. He fell one rebound shy of a double-double completing the game with nine.
“We came off a game where we had a great start and hoped that would carry over to tonight. I felt like the way we prepared would give us a really good chance tonight,†Purple Aces head coach David Ragland said. “They came out and punched us in the mouth and it is hard to come back from that.â€
Five of the first six attempts from the field found the bottom of the net to put Valparaiso up 12-0 in the opening three minutes of the contest. Kenny Strawbridge Jr. took a feed from Yacine Toumi to get Evansville’s first basket at the 16:30 mark.
Up by a 15-8 score, the Beacons tacked on the next eight to push the lead to 23-8. Valpo’s largest advantage of the half came with 7:26 remaining when a free throw by Kobe King made it a 31-12 game. Over the next four minutes, Evansville rallied with a 14-2 run to make it a 33-24 score. Bobe highlighted the stretch with a pair of 3-pointers.
Capping off the half with a basket at the buzzer, Valparaiso took a 43-28 lead into the break. The Beacons shot 51.7% in the half and connected on 10 of their 11 tries from the free throw line. Ben Krikke had 17 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Evansville cut into the deficit in the first six minutes of the final period with Bobe converting his third triple of the evening to cut the gap to 54-42 at the 14:07 mark. On the ensuing Valpo possession, Evansville’s defense came close to forcing a turnover but the Beacons were able to call a time out. That play was the start of a 7-0 run that saw Valpo tie its largest lead at 19.
Playing the top game of his career, Bobe hit consecutive triples to chop six tallies off the Beacon lead. Preston Phillips hit both ends of a one-and-one to make it a 65-54 game as the Aces fought to get back within single digits. As the game went through its final minutes, UE could not get over the hump with the Beacons completing the night with the 81-69 triumph.
Both teams shot well with Valpo finishing at 50.9% and UE shooting 43.3%. The Beacons recorded a 38-28 advantage on the boards.
UE returns home on Wednesday to face Indiana State in a 7 p.m. game at the Ford Center.
Trailblazer Track and Field has big weekend at Bill Clinger Classic
ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams continued their great start to the 2023 Indoor season this weekend by taking part in the Bill Clinger Classic at Grand Valley State University Friday and Saturday.
The Trailblazers Men’s Track and Field team checked in this week at No. 16 in the first USTFCCCA National Rankings and did not disappoint this weekend.
Vincennes had a really good weekend from their throwers including sophomore Mason Harmes (Borden, Ind.) taking the top spot in the men’s weight throw with a final distance of 16.33 meters.
Harmes would also finish sixth in the shot put with a throw of 12.78 meters.
Harmes was joined in both events by fellow sophomore David Beadle (Jamaica) who placed fourth in the weight throw at 14.35 meters and fifth in the shot put at 13.19 meters.
Freshman Olegs Kozjakovs (Riga, Latvia) competed in his first heptathlon of the season and looked strong as well, placing fourth after coming away with 4,210 points.
“We had an outstanding weekend,†VU Head Track and Field Coach Marty Rogier said. “Almost everyone we took had a Personal Best or performed above expectations. The throws were led by Mason Harmes who had a huge PR in the weight throw, winning the event and qualifying for Nationals. His throw of 16.33 meters places him sixth on the NJCAA National Rankings. Mason really had a couple of big throws and I believe he has much more coming in the weeks ahead. David also made the finals in both the shot and weight and also had another very good meet.â€
The VU men’s runners also picked up some scoring finishes this weekend, led by freshman Isaac Stanford (Flora, Ill.) who placed sixth in the 800-meter race with a final time of 1:54.06.
Sophomore Mathew Keitany placed seventh in the 3000-meter race, crossing the line with a time of 8:48.95.
Freshman Desroy Jordan (Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) rounds out the VU scorers with an eighth place finish this weekend in the 400-meter race. Finishing with a time of 49.40 seconds.
“We had a couple of new performers in the sprints this weekend and competed against a field of very fast sprinters,†Rogier added. “Justin Emmanuel ran a couple of quick times in the 60m and 200m and finished 14th in the 200. Desroy Jordan ran a very fast 49.40 in the 400 to finish 8th overall. These were both very good performances considering they just got on campus a couple of weeks ago and we approached this meet as a practice to see how they looked before trying to race.â€
“Griffin Worzella, Ernest Momodu and Reed Lawless all got PRs in their races this weekend,†VU Assistant Track and Field Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “In a very competitive field of the 800 meter, Isaac placed sixth and ran a new PR, placing fourth on the VU All-Time list. Not long after that, Trent won his heat with a big kick in the last 200 meters to win by two seconds and place 11h overall and setting a new PR at 1:56.56. Both of those times are National Qualifying marks and Trent’s first individual National qualifier.â€
“The last event for the distance runners went off at 9:30 p.m., where Mathew Keitany ran just off his PR to place seventh in the open 3000 meters,†Steigenga added. “Ian ran a half-second PR in the next heat and was joined by Ernest in his 3000 meter debut, running 9:20 in his second race of the day.â€
The VU women’s team battled some tough competition all weekend as well, with freshman Julia Do Amaral Salvi (Sao Paulo, Brazil) leading the way for the team with an eighth-place finish in the pole vault after a jump of 3.58 meters.
“IS IT TRUE” APRIL 29 2024
We hope today’s “IS IT TRUE†will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address rationally and responsibly.
City-County Observer Comment Policy: Be kind to people. No personal attacks or harassment will be tolerated and will be removed from our site.â€
We understand that sometimes people don’t always agree and discussions may become a little heated. The use of offensive language and/or insults against commenters will not be tolerated and will be removed from our site.
IS IT TRUE that we are told that many long-time and loyal Vanderburgh County Republicans are extremely perplexed why GOP Chairman Mike Duckworth fired the highly respected and ethical President of the Vanderburgh County election Commission, Joe Harrison, without explaining to the public or Mr Harrison the reason he fired him? …many people are waiting for Chairman Duckworth to make a public statement about why he fired Joe Harrison from the Vanderburgh County election board.
IS IT TRUE that many people are saying it’s a good time to run as a Democrat in Vanderburgh County? …it looks like some of the backroom shenanigans of a couple of Republican movers and Shakers have finally taken a toll on the once proud and powerful Republican Party of Vanderburgh County?
IS IT TRUE that over the years people living in the JIMTOWN area of Evansville say when there is a change of the political guard at the Civic Center the “Names Have Changed but The Political Games Remind the Same”?…this phenomenon is not exclusive to Evansville and was memorialized by Cinderella in their song the more things change, the more they stay the same?2
IS IT TRUE that members of the “Mole Nation” asked the question, why would salt of the earth working class people believe positive change will ever happen within the local government9 when political patronage and pork Barrel shenanigans like this are commonplace in local politics?
IS IT TRUE that it has been rumored that a locally elected official attended an official meeting because of health concerns but he did attend a political fundraising event on his behalf that evening?
IS IT TRUE that several elected city officials took advantage of taxpayers last year by not attending meetings and still receiving full pay?
Today’s Readers Poll question is: HOW DO YOU RATE THE JOB THE MAYOR TERRYS TRANSITION TEAM IS DOING?
Please take time and read our feature articles entitled “OBITUARIES, BIRTHDAYS, AND HOT JOBS†posted in today’s City-County Observer.
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“IS IT TRUE” MARCH 27, 2024 xxxx
We hope today IT TRUE will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address rationally and responsibly.
City-County Observer Comment Policy: Be kind to people. No personal attacks or harassment will be tolerated and will be removed from our site.
We understand that sometimes people don’t always agree and discussions may become a little heated. The use of offensive language and insults against commenters will not be tolerated and will be removed from our site.
IS IT TRUE that it’s time for Mayor Terry to acknowledge that the Ford Center is a prime candidate for a forensic audit so she can find out how to make it at least cover expenses or maybe eke out a small profit?
IS IT TRUE that the City of Evansville Employee Health insurance program has been hundreds of thousands of dollars in the red each year for many years? …that it’s time for Mayor Terry to put the City Employees Healthcare package out for a formal competitive bid in hopes that it will be more affordable for City employees?
IS IT TRUE that it’s obvious that the newly appointed Evansville City Controller and members of the Evansville City Council should spend more time analyzing the massive financial debt that the former Mayor of Evansville left Mayor Terry to address?
IS IT TRUE when a responsible Business Executive in the private sector finds out that he is spending more money than he is bringing in he quickly reduces his operating budget? …what is good for the private sector should be good for the public sector?
IS IT TRUE that we are told that many taxpayers are extremely upset that the Evansville City Parks Board has not properly maintained our City Parks over the last several years?
IS IT TRUE that we have been told by reliable sources that the Helfrich Park swimming pool will soon be permanently closed?
IS IT TRUE that we wonder if you would build a new home and had no clear-cut idea of what the final costs would be? …we also wonder if you wanted to purchase a new car and didn’t have any concrete idea of the total costs of the car would you buy it? …we also wonder how members of the Evansville Parks and Recreation Department Board can decide to build “24 Pickleball Courts” at Wesselman Park without having detailed financial costs of phases 1 and 2?
IS IT TRUE that the word gentrification is being bantered about like a weapon?…what gentrification refers to is the mass change in the rental units in a certain area being converted from government-subsidized housing to housing that the new residents pay for themselves?…gentrification is something that cities hope for but sometimes it strikes fear into the hearts and minds of the people who are being displaced?
IS IT TRUE the only problem with gentrification is that it displaces people who have been getting subsidies and who may not have the ability to get by without a housing subsidy?…gentrification has been known to grow homelessness?…in some cases like East Palo Alto, CA gentrification has been an overwhelming success in uplifting the area?…in the liberal bastion of Santa Monica it leads to the city using its laws to round up the homeless and put them on Greyhound busses and give them a one-way ticket to Phoenix, therefore exporting their problem to another state?
IS IT TRUE that we would like to give five (5) cheers to Vanderburgh County Coroner Steven W. Lockyear for doing an incredible job for the taxpayers of this community?
IS IT TRUE It is common knowledge that City Councilwoman Missy Mosby is known for being excellent at serving the needs of her constituents?
IS IT TRUE that the City-County Observer newspaper is a proud supporter of our law enforcement?
IS IT TRUE that everyone has a right to their opinions even if they are wrong?
IS IT TRUE when the people fear the Government we have Tyranny? …when the Government fears the people we have liberty?
IS IT TRUE our “READERS POLLS” are non-scientific but trendy?