Kwanzaa Kicks Off at Evansville African American Museum
Kwanzaa Kicks Off at Evansville African American Museum
DECEMBER 26TH, 2018 
TYRONE MORRIS EVANSVILLE, INDIANA
It focuses on the qualities of family and community values that community members can carry into the new year.
The Soul Writers Guild says the local Kwanzaa Kick-Off is a great way to experience the unique parts of this annual tradition.
Events are taking place at several locations around Evansville including the Boys and Girls Club and Zion Missionary Baptist Church.
The celebration will run until Saturday, December 29th.
Kwanzaa is from now until January 1st.
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“READERS FORUM” DECEMBER 27, 2018
We hope that today’s “READERS FORUMâ€Â will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?Â
WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?
Todays“Readers Poll†question is: If the Republican primary for the Mayor of Evansville was held today who would you vote for?
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MEET COUNTY COMMISSIONER CHERYL MUSGRAVE
Cheryl Musgrave’s years of service in state and local government have made her a leading voice on Indiana government reform and a capable, recognized administrator and reformer. Over two decades, she has worked to serve taxpayers by cutting public waste, modernizing outdated processes, and building necessary projects. Her executive skills have been tested by crisis and proven by her record of delivering effective change. Always fiercely independent and devoted to the public interest, she has compiled a record of sensible and innovative changes that have resonated across the state. Local Reformer Voters first elected Musgrave to the office of Vanderburgh County Assessor in 1994.
During her ten years in that office, she made one of the most backward parts of county government into one of the most forward-looking. She launched the first website in Indiana that made property assessments and sales information freely available. In October 1998, The Hoosier Farmer, a publication of the Indiana Farm Bureau, highlighted the site, saying, “This voluntary public disclosure by Mrs. Musgrave herself is certainly a welcome way to assure the public that she is confident that the work of her office is fair and uniform.†She also coordinated three levels of government to convert the county’s paper maps to a digital format, a Geographic Information System (GIS). Completed in only four years, the digital mapping system has saved countless taxpayer dollars through time savings and enabled governments and citizens to use their resources more effectively.
Purposeful Executive Musgrave served as Vanderburgh County Commissioner from 2005 to mid-2007. In that office, she initiated the single largest set of road building projects in the county’s history, including expanding University Parkway, Green River Road, the Baseline Road railroad bridge, and Cross Pointe Boulevard. She also created new bike trails on county roads, initiated the construction of the now-beloved USI-Burdette Trail, and expanded and renovated Burdette Park. Following the fatal tornado of November 6, 2005, she developed an innovative approach to the problem of debris removal, clearing the debris from public and private property in less than three weeks and helping families to heal after the disaster.
PAID FOR AND AUTHORIZED BY FRIENDS OF MUSGRAVE Statewide Advocate for Change After more than a decade of experience in Vanderburgh County government, in 2007 Governor Mitch Daniels appointed Musgrave as Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) during the property tax crisis. Throughout the state, public outcry—and protests—showed voters demanded immediate relief from soaring property tax bills. Governor Daniels needed skilled leadership to see the crisis through and recognized that Musgrave’s unique combination of skills and vision meant she could rise to the challenge. Musgrave immediately set to work reforming the state’s antiquated property tax structure. She streamlined the DLGF’s staff, modernized its information technology, and lobbied for major legislative changes. Her efforts helped realize a historic property tax reform that saved Vanderburgh County homeowners an average of 38 percent on their property tax bills.
She cut the cost of school construction by millions of dollars statewide by only approving projects that kept per square foot costs at or below the national average. Even more important, Musgrave led in efforts to improve government in Indiana for generations to come. Before 2008, a whopping 1,001 township officials oversaw property tax assessments, leading to unfair and potentially corrupt assessments. Musgrave championed efforts in the legislature to eliminate the office of township assessor in the smallest townships and to propose a statewide series of referenda on whether to retain the office in larger townships. Her efforts contributed to the elimination of all but a dozen or so township assessing officials.
Split COA Affirms Admission Of Dead Eyewitness’ Video Testimony
KATE STANCOMBE FOR WWW.THEINDIANALAWYER.COM
A split Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a man’s conviction for voluntary manslaughter after he fatally shot his fiancé, finding, among other things, no abuse of discretion in the admission of video testimony from a since-deceased eyewitness.
After accusing his fiancé of unfaithfulness, an intoxicated Andrew McWhorter shot Amanda Deweese in the head with a shotgun in December 2005, killing her. His grandmother, Barbara Gibbs, witnessed the shooting.
McWhorter was charged with murder but convicted of Class A felony voluntary manslaughter, enhanced as a habitual offender, and initially received an aggregate 75-year sentence. He was later granted post-conviction relief by the Indiana Court of Appeals and Supreme Court upon a reversal of his denied petition but ultimately received the same conviction and sentence following a second jury trial.
During the second trial in January 2017 – when the charging information was amended to include Class A felony voluntary manslaughter – the videotape of Gibbs’ previous trial testimony was played for the jury, as she had died prior to the second trial. In his second appeal, McWhorter contended the Henry Circuit Court abused its discretion in admitting Gibbs’ testimony from the first trial.
Though he conceded that Gibbs was unavailable at his second trial due to her death and that he had the opportunity to cross-examine her during his first trial, McWhorter argued he lacked a similar motive to develop Gibbs’ testimony during the first trial because his defense was one of accident and he did not interject the issue of sudden heat. But a majority of the Indiana Court of Appeals panel found that despite his contention, McWhorter was highly incentivized at his first trial to highlight any problem with Gibbs’ perception and recollection and to elicit from her any evidence that tended to negate or lessen his criminal culpability.
“The plain language of Rule 804(b)(1) requires only that the opponent has had a ‘similar’ motive to develop the former testimony,†Judge Cale Bradford wrote for the majority. “…(W)e conclude that McWhorter had a similar motive in both his first and second trials. As such, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting Gibbs’ former testimony.â€
The majority further found that McWhorter’s due process rights were not violated and then the prohibition against double jeopardy did not bar his retrial for voluntary manslaughter in light of his previously acquitted murder conviction.
But in a separate dissenting opinion, Judge Mark L. Bailey, relying on Brantley v. State, 91 N.E.3d 566 (Ind. 2018), said voluntary manslaughter, as a standalone charge, is not a lesser included offense of murder. He also noted that Brantley held that “(t)he crime to be alleged and prove in a standalone charge of voluntary manslaughter is murder, albeit a mitigated murder… .â€
“When the State pursued its standalone charge, McWhorter was again required to defend against the elements of murder,†Bailey wrote. “This is a classic example of double jeopardy.â€
Bailey further noted that the Brantley framework makes “sudden heat†not an element of murder, but “something in addition to murder.†In this case, the record was devoid of “sudden heat†based on DeWeese’s silence leading up to McWhorter’s act of shooting her, Bailey said.
“Here, the conduct which Deweese apparently admitted was long past. Too, sudden heat is not shown by anger alone or by mere words,†Bailey wrote. “…In my view, Deweese’s mere silence cannot conceivably be considered a provocation.â€
The dissenting judge thus argued that the conviction should be reversed and remanded for entry of judgment for criminal recklessness and for a new sentencing hearing.
10,000 Thousand Turkeys Die in Washington Barn Fire
10,000 Thousand Turkeys Die in Washington Barn Fire
DECEMBER 27TH, 2018 MITCH ANGLE INDIANA
An investigation is underway after 10,000 turkeys died in a barn fire in Washington, Indiana.
Officials say the barn caught fire in the morning hours of December 26th and was fully engulfed in flames when crews arrived.
Veale Township and Steen Township Fire Departments were on hand to assist with the fire.
No injuries were reported and a cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
Free Yellow Cab Rides on New Year’s Eve
Free Yellow Cab Rides on New Year’s Eve
DECEMBER 26TH, 2018 TYRONE MORRIS EVANSVILLE, INDIANA
Logan’s Promise urges drivers to have a plan if they choose to drink and not get behind the wheel.
The organization honors late Reitz football player Logan Brown who was killed in a head-on crash by a drunk driver in March of 2015.
With New Year’s Eve coming up those behind Logan’s Promise encourage everyone to take advantage of the safe option.
Parent Charles Brown says, “The goal is just to keep people off the street and allow people to make good choices and those people that are out on the streets to have a safe path home.â€
The service is for residents of Vanderburgh, Posey, Warrick and Gibson Counties.
People wanting to use the service will have to call Yellow Cab or use the Nextaxi app.