Indianapolis (October 14, 2024) – Lauren Jones, an accomplished paralegal and firm
administrator at Jones Wallace LLC, has been appointed as the new Chair of the Indiana
State Bar Association’s (ISBA) Affiliate Membership Committee. Jones has a remarkable
track record of leadership and dedication within the legal community, both locally and
statewide.
With over 30 years of experience, Lauren Jones is well-known for her role as Chief of Staff
for the Vanderburgh County Law Department and her previous tenure as Chief of Staff for
the City of Evansville Law Department. Throughout her career, Jones has been instrumental
in advancing the professionalism of paralegals in Indiana. She collaborated with ISBA
leaders to help establish the state’s registered paralegal program, which was approved by
the Indiana Supreme Court in 2014.
Jones holds a Bachelor of Science in Paralegal Studies and is both a PACE Registered
Paralegal and an Indiana Registered Paralegal, showcasing her commitment to continuous
professional development and legal expertise.
Lauren’s exceptional contributions to the legal profession have earned her several
prestigious awards, including the ISBA Affiliate Committee Award (2012), the Indiana
Paralegal Association’s Outstanding Paralegal of the Year Award (2010), and the Evansville
Bar Association’s Outstanding Paralegal Award (2010).
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Jones has been an active contributor to
her community. She serves as a volunteer for several organizations, including the
Vanderburgh County Teen Court Program and the Evansville Volunteer Lawyer Program,
where she provides legal assistance to underserved populations. She has also offered pro
bono paralegal services to military reservists called to active duty, highlighting her
commitment to supporting both her community and those in need. Jones is a longstanding
member of the Board of Directors of A Network of Evansville Women (ANEW), where she
has chaired multiple committees, including the Orientation and Women’s Equality Day
Committees.
As Chair of the ISBA Affiliate Membership Committee, Jones aims to foster greater
collaboration among paralegals and attorneys across Indiana, ensuring that affiliate
members have the resources they need to continue excelling in their careers.

MLK, the Forgotten and the Forgetting

By John Krull, TheStatehouseFile.com

MEMPHIS, Tennessee—The wreath of mourning is still there, hanging on the rail in front of the spot where his body fell.

I’m just outside the National Civil Rights Museum, contemplating the place where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. died. Other museumgoers stand with me, trying to absorb a moment that altered the arc of American history, their eyes aimed at the wreath marking the spot, the rail, the preserved motel room doors, the nearly 60-year-old cars parked below.

I first came here more than 40 years ago, when I was still a young buck trying to make my way in the world. I rode my motorcycle down from St. Louis, where I attended graduate school, for a conference.

There was no museum here then. The building was still the Lorraine Motel, a local business straining to keep its doors open surrounded by a neighborhood straining to get back on its feet.

King had come to Memphis in the spring of 1968 to help the city’s sanitation workers with a strike. He also was in the midst of organizing a massive poor people’s march in the nation’s capital.

As was usually the case, he was trying to help those forgotten in American society by prodding those doing the forgetting to pay attention.

He stayed at the Lorraine because it historically, even during the worst days of racial segregation, had provided accommodations for Black Americans.

When the assassin’s shot that killed him rang out, King had been wrestling his way through a bout of depression. The battle to secure equal rights for all Americans had consumed more than a third of his life and there seemed to be no end in sight.

He was 39, and he was exhausted.

On that first visit here all those years ago, I stopped inside the motel office to chat with the people working there. They said that someone stopped by almost every day to pay his or her respects, but the mourners didn’t help the motel keep its doors open.

It was a hint, so I left a couple of dollars—all I could afford at the time—and headed out, pondering how such an ordinary place could be home to such an extraordinary turning point in history.

Now, the museum on the same site is far from shabby. Elegantly designed and beautifully curated, it walks visitors through our nation’s tortured history of racial bigotry and oppression.

We see the artifacts from and the evidence of the slave trade and the infamous Middle Passage, the centuries-long exploitation and degradation of other human beings, the rebellions launched by enslaved human beings to secure their freedom in a land that was already supposed to be a haven of human freedom, the Civil War that almost split the nation apart, the long campaign waged against institutionalized and legally sanctioned segregation, the ongoing attempts to end more subtle and yet insidious forms of prejudice and oppression.

It can be overwhelming just to contemplate, much less contend with.

The museum tour ends outside the rooms where King and his aides stayed on the April day that he died in 1968. The rooms have been restored to the way they looked when King stepped out onto the balcony where tragedy awaited him.

The sound system plays Mahalia Jackson singing a stunning version of “Precious Lord,” the hymn she would sing at King’s memorial service in Atlanta a few days after he died.

As she sings in an endless loop, museum goers move slowly past the place where an American hero—an American martyr—spent his last moments alive, their heads bowed, more than a few of them in tears.

Outside, as I leave the museum, I stop once more to contemplate the wreath on the railing and the way a single moment can affect all eternity.

Two Black women stop beside me to look at the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. fell. They, too, have just left the museum.

“So much struggle,” one woman says to the other.

She pauses, and then shakes her head.

“And it’s still going on,” she says to her companion.

Sad.

But true.

John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College.

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
ROOM 301, CIVIC CENTER COMPLEX
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2024

NOON
AGENDA

1. CALL TO ORDER
2. MEETING MEMORANDUM OCTOBER 2, 2024.
3. CONSENT AGENDA
a. Request Re: Approve and Execute Memorandum of Understanding between City of
Evansville and Department of Parks and Recreation for Fulton Park.- Bouseman
4. OLD BUSINESS
N/A
5. NEW BUSINESS
a. Request Re: Permission to add a solar charging station to 11 th Avenue Park. -Mulfinger
b. Request Re: Permission to seek bids for Swonder Ice Arena Fitness Center mold
remediation. -Lord
c. Request Re: Permission to seek quotes for paving Stockwell parking lot.-Bouseman
d. Request Re: Public hearing on proposed park bond.
e. Request Re: Any Other Business the Board Wishes to Consider and Public Comment.
6. REPORTS
N/A
7. ACCEPTANCE OF PAYROLL AND VENDOR CLAIMS
8. ADJOURN