Two cases from Indiana, including the controversial fetal remains disposal law, will be on the agenda when the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court meet for their next conference on Jan. 4, 2019.
The justices are scheduled to consider the petitions for hearing oral arguments in Kristina Box, Commissioner, Indiana Department of Health et al. v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc., et al., 18-483, which centers on the abortion restrictions imposed by House Enrolled Act 1337, and Larry W. Newton, Jr. v. Indiana, 17-1511, which questions the constitutionality of imposing a life sentence on a juvenile. This will be the first time Indiana’s writ of certiorari for its abortion law will be reviewed and the fourth time the
Newton petition has been distributed for conference.
Consideration of Indiana’s abortion law comes less than a month after Justice Clarence Thomas issued a fiery dissent when the majority of the court declined to hear cases from Kansas and Louisiana over whether states could cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. Justices Samuel Alito, Jr., and Neil Gorsuch joined the dissent.
Indiana’s abortion law, signed by then-Gov. Mick Pence in 2016, was immediately challenged by Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky. The law requires fetal remains to either be buried or cremated and bans women from terminating their pregnancies because of certain genetic predispositions such as gender, race, and disability.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana found the law to be unconstitutional https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/43268-federal-judge-blocks-another-indiana-abortion-regulation  and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed.
However, Judge Daniel Manion dissented with ma majority on the fetal remains provision and argued the state has an interest in “recognizing the dignity and humanity of the unborn child.â€
Indiana filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court Oct. 12, 2018, and a reply brief Dec. 18, 2018. Groups that oppose abortion rights, including Americans United for Life, Susan B. Anthony List and Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund, have filed petitions urging the Supreme Court to take the case.
As a 17-year-old, Larry Newton pleaded guilty in 1994 to killing a 19-year-old Ball State University and accepted a sentence of life without parole in exchange for the state dropping the death penalty. In 2013, Newton filed for post-conviction relief, arguing his life sentence imposed when he was a juvenile violates the Eighth Amendments prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment.
He cites Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012) and, his petition asserts the U.S. Supreme Court “imposed a flat prohibition against the mandatory imposition†of life sentences on juvenile offenders. However, Indiana counters the Hoosier state courts had held Millerapplies only when sentencing is mandatory. In Newton, the judge had the discretion to accept or reject the plea agreement and, in fact, held an evidentiary hearing examining the appropriateness of the life without parole sentence.
According to the Supreme Court rules, four of the nine justices must vote to accept a case.
Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch announced Misty Weisensteiner, an experienced tourism executive director, will serve as the director of the Indiana Office of Tourism Development effective Jan. 14, 2019.
Weisensteiner most recently served as the executive director of the Orange County Economic Development Partnership, where she initiated the organization’s restructuring, created and implemented their strategic plan and boosted the economic outlook and vitality for the county.
“Misty’s impressive resume and career made her a front-runner immediately for the position,†Crouch said. “Her experience in the tourism industry and her work invigorating the economic outcome for Orange County will translate well to the tourism industry in our state. She is an excellent choice as director for the tourism department.â€
Crouch said that Weisensteiner has direct experience in understanding Indiana tourism, its potential in the national audience and how it fits within a larger economic development strategy. Her demonstrated and continual improvement in the tourism industry will bring significant recognition and results to Indiana.
“I am excited to be a larger part of Indiana tourism and take the assets Hoosiers know are spectacular and share those with the nation,†Weisensteiner said. “It is important we recognize that tourism has an impact on creating superior quality of place, our ability to retain talent and how we grow businesses. Tourism plays a vital role in our economy, and I am ready to work with our tourism leaders to take it to the Next Level.”
Additionally, the Tourism Task Force, created by the General Assembly in 2017, completed their report last month. The purpose of the task force was to study state tourism offices across the nation to learn how they are structured, how they are funded and the relationship between state funding and economic impact. The report has been submitted to the General Assembly for their review.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Just the mention of Wayne Parke‘s name prompts eye rolls, winces or forced smiles from many Vanderburgh County Republican activists.
Tapped for the party chairmanship by GOP precinct committee members in 2010, Parke was the target of a pre-election campaign to force his resignation. Parke had tried to enforce a party loyalty rule against Evansville Deputy Mayor Steve Schaefer, who publicly expressed support for a Democratic candidate. Both efforts ultimately fizzled.
Their acquaintance predates Parke’s elevation to the party chairmanship by two months, when then-Chairman Nick Hermann dismissed him as party treasurer over fundraising issues the two men wouldn’t discuss.
Marshaling arguments in his favor, the 74-year-old Parke pointed out that he has presided over tremendous successes for the GOP in local elections. Republicans in presidential and statewide races typically carry Vanderburgh County.
Parke, a retired executive of Peabody Energy Co. and Black Beauty Coal Co., also is a major funder of local GOP operations. A party fundraising report shows he had already pumped $23,550 in direct and in-kind contributions into the GOP this year by June 5.
But Parke also has conducted himself in ways guaranteed to make enemies.
A formal complaint seeking the party chief’s removal bore six signatures — Steve Hammer, Vanderburgh County coordinator for Sen.-elect Mike Braun’s 2018 campaign; Kirk Byram, the GOP’s 2014 nominee for sheriff; Chad Howard, a precinct committeeman; County Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave; Alfonso Vidal, a Warrick County-based GOP activist; and local party secretary Hobart Scales.
But multiple Republicans said those six names represent just a fraction of the opposition to Parke within the GOP.
It’s not just the half-dozen or more precinct committee members he has removed or his habit of supporting one Republican against another in primary elections. Parke’s involvement in primaries — often seeing his preferred candidate lose — is contrary to the wishes of prominent Republicans who have asked him to stop.
You can still hear bitterness in the voice of Sean Selby, the party’s nominee for a County Commissioners seat in 2016. Selby hasn’t forgotten that Parke vocally supported former Libertarian Party officer Robb Myers against him in a caucus of precinct committee members.
“It was the first caucus that anybody had ever seen a party chairman get involved in,” said Selby, who narrowly lost the November election to Democrat Ben Shoulders.
Selby had publicly criticized Parke two years earlier. He didn’t dispute the formal complaint’s assertion that Parke “shunned” him and “offered no support in any way” to him against Democrat Shoulders.
Parke’s disputes with Musgrave — a Republican politician so successful that the national GOP once entreated her to run for Congress — are the stuff of legend.
Calling her divisive, Parke unsuccessfully worked for Musgrave’s defeat in a 2016 GOP primary and predicted she would lose that year’s election. Months after she won, he sought her resignation and had her removed from a party position. Parke once even asked Musgrave to leave a GOP dinner. Musgrave calls him out of touch with Republican rank and file.
Musgrave supported Democrat Jeff Hatfield in this year’s County Commissioners race, calling him a “solid conservative.” It was heresy in Parke’s eyes, but he couldn’t leave it at that.
In a Nov. 13 email to local GOP activists, Parke included a stinging “Chairman’s Note” meant to rebuke Musgrave for supporting Hatfield. “I encourage all voters to remember her Party disloyalty if she ever runs for another political office. I know — I will not forget,” Parke wrote.
City Councilman Dan McGinn left the Republican Party in 2017 over Parke’s criticisms of him for voting in favor of a tax increase and establishing an independent council that could redraw political districts to curb gerrymandering. The two men had a history. In April 2009, Parke ran unsuccessfully in a GOP caucus to choose a successor for departed First Ward City Council member Jeff Kniese. The seat went to McGinn, former head of Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden.
When the two old foes went at it again in 2017, McGinn said he wouldn’t buckle to Parke’s demands for “adherence to political dogma.” Parke demanded McGinn step aside so voters could be “represented by a Republican.”
It was vintage Parke. Asked about his war with Musgrave, he said he will put his differences with her aside “if she demonstrates she’s acting in the best interests of the people.”
Parke said he’ll continue to criticize other Republicans — no matter how high-ranking, popular or successful — “when I believe they are wrong.” He said his habit of choosing sides in intra-party contests is meant to encourage people to cast ballots when they might not otherwise. It’s leadership.
“I am the party chairman. I am the leader. People who lead, lead!” Parke said, his voice rising, in a conference room at GOP headquarters. “You don’t lead from the rear. You lead from the front. And this city and county at one time was considered a Democrat city and a Democrat county. Well, it’s not anymore.”
Parke wouldn’t rule out running for another four-year term as chairman in a party caucus when his current term expires in March 2021.
That may be an opportunity for his critics — or it may be a big nothing.
It’s one thing to grouse about Parke and quite another to get rid of him. The job is unpaid, thankless and demanding. Candidates get hosannas when they win. When they lose, party chairmen get the blame.
Selby has a ready response when other Republicans complain about Parke.
“My thing always to them is, ‘Well, who are you going to replace him with?’ And then at that juncture almost always everybody says, ‘Well, we don’t know,'” he said. “People would ask if I was interested, and I would tell them I’m not necessarily interested in something like that.
“And that would pretty much be the end of the conversation.”
We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE â€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?
IS IT TRUE that Deaconess Hospital and Henderson Community Methodist Hospital have formed a group called an “ACO?”  …its legend that “ACO” is where referrals are preferably kept within the group and only certain doctors at Deaconess and Methodist are invited to be a part of that group?  …we wonder if a “ACO” referral group created by Deaconess Hospital and Henderson Community Methodist Hospital could be considered discriminatory?
IS IT TRUE  that it been alleged that the paychecks of the “Hospitalists” have been paid by Union County Methodist for at least a year?  …we wonder how this could happen because the “Hospitalists” are being paid their salaries are not working at Union County Methodist Hospital? ..if this comment is correct wouldn’t officials at Union County Methodist and Henderson Community Methodist Hospital have some explaining to do about this check paying policy with the Kenturcky Tax Collection officials?
IS IT TRUE we wonder if the Henderson Community Methodist Hospital officials have explored all the possible avenues to find a suitable hospital to merge or buy them out?  …we wonder if the Henderson Community Methodist Hospital officials really did their due diligence of looking for ways to stop the economic bleeding at their hospital?  …on March 1, 2018, the Owensboro Health System President and Chief Executive  Officer, Greg R. Strahan sent a certified letter of interest to Methodist Hospital Chairman of the Board, Dane Shields?…attached below is a certified letter we received from an anonymous source yesterday for your review?
IS IT TRUE it been alleged that the head of the Union County Hospital Advisory Board asked the Henderson Community Methodist Hospital administration for a line-item documentation regarding a $23 million dollar cash advancement to Henderson County Methodist Hospital by Union County Hospital?  … it’s been alleged that as of today that the head of the Union County Hospital Advisory Board hasn’t received an answer to his question?
IS IT TRUE that an investigation by ProPublica and NPR found that not-for-profit Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind. filed more than 20,000 collection lawsuits against patients from 2010 through 2015, according to ProPublica’s analysis of state court data?  … after questioning by ProPublica, Deaconess said it was reconsidering its financial assistance policies and would be making changes?” …we hope that Deaconess Hospital, Evansville has made some major adjustments in their collections practices before closing the business agreement with Henderson Community Methodist Hospital?
IS IT TRUE that the NPR/ProPublica published an article on June 2, 2016, that stated Deaconess Hospital’s aggressiveness has come despite its very robust finances? …this article also stated that in 2015, the last publicly available report, the hospital disclosed a profit of $150 million? Â …we told that this figure could be around the $200 million?
Todays “Readers Poll†question is: Are you surprised that Methodist Hospital called off the public meeting scheduled for Thursday at 5:00 PM on the campus of Methodist Hospital?
Please take time and read our articles entitled “STATEHOUSE Files, CHANNEL 44 NEWS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, READERS POLL, BIRTHDAYS, HOT JOBS†and “LOCAL SPORTSâ€.  You now are able to subscribe to get the CCO daily.
If you would like to advertise on the CCO please contact us CityCountyObserver@live.com.
Scott Anderson of Evansville, left, and Dave Cassell of Cincinnati, Ohio, right, work with other volunteers to hang a canopy over a deck on the USS LST-325 in Evansville, Ind., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. About 50 volunteer workers from all over the country will board the ship on Thursday for a month long sailing trip to Dubuque and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Chester, Ill., to educate the public about LST ships. SAM OWENS/ COURIER & PRESS
USS LST-325 prepares for month long sailing trip
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A large crowd of USS LST 325 supporters and veterans crowded along the walls of the City Council meeting Monday night waiting for the board’s approval to relocate the 75-year-old warship.
Many supporters were directed to wait in the hallway due to overcrowding.
After a large number of speakers gave their support to relocate the LST from Marina Pointe to Downtown Evansville, the council voted 8-1 to do so at a cost of $2.76 million.
Supporters smiled and cheered when the final vote was announced.
This will kick-off the “engineering and construction of the LST new dock and visitors center at Tropicana Riverfront Plaza,” according to city documents.
Darren Moore Morley, vice president of architecture for Morley and Associates, said advertising for construction bids would go out twice within the first two weeks of September. All bids would be due around October 1. After a bid is approved, construction would begin in October, he said.
If the project wraps up in late spring or early summer, then LST would officially relocate during the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Moore-Morley said.
While most Council members said yes to the relocation, one opposed the idea.
2nd Ward City Councilwoman Missy Mosby, the lone opposing vote, requested the Council hold off voting for the relocation until more information was presented.
“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Mosby said during the meeting. “I just feel like we have some unanswered questions that need to get answered.”
Mosby is concerned with funding a large project so quickly without adequate funding details pertaining to the old dock and other upcoming projects, stating, “We also have to look at what can we afford.”
“There’s a lot of things that we need and use that Riverboat money for,” Mosby said. “For me, I just felt like I was going in with blinders on and an open checkbook, and that’s not how I feel my constituents want me to run the day-to-day business operations of our city.”
Prior to the vote, Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said the LST draws about 10,000 visitors annually.
Winnecke said to Council, “It’s pretty easy to anticipate that attendance figure will easily double in year one. They have a shared parking agreement that will be in place between Tropicana and LST so we suspect that many of the same patrons who would come to visit the LST might also visit the casino — which would make a definite win-win for everybody involved.”
City administration filed a finance ordinance on July 18 to transfer nearly $2.76 million from the City’s Riverboat Fund to the Port Authority-Riverboat entity, which works on river projects for the city.
The nearly $2.8 million fund appropriation would come from the Riverboat fund, which consists of Tropicana’s one-time lease advancement deal and riverboat revenues. The Riverboat fund is used to fund capital projects around the city and purchase large items, city officials confirmed.
Deputy Mayor Steve Schaefer said riverboat funds paid for a new fire truck, snow plow, parks’ mowers, weather sirens, police cars and safety vests in 2018 alone.Â
“The city is fortunate to have many sources of funding for various projects, programs and services,” Schaefer said.Â
According to the mayor’s presentation, the total cost to relocate LST is nearly $3.9 million. With $1.1 million in diverse funding, the remaining cost is $2.76 million.
The Courier and Press reported in February that the Convention & Visitors Bureau endorsed a $175,000 grant for the relocation. Tropicana also contributed $1 million toward the relocation in 2015, according to City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr. The LST board is also contributing $175,000.
While some in the community have said allocating nearly $2.8 million to relocate a ship seems steep, the city spent about $3 million in 2005 on LST’s dock and barge set-up at Marina Pointe. Schaefer said the city also pays $40,000 in rent annually to the Riecken family, the owners of the site.
LST board member Chris Donahue was pleased with the Council’s decision and hopes to relocate LST by July 2019.
“I’ve been on the board for about six years,” he said. “I started working on this with the mayor in July 2012. I was just hoping, ‘Please make this happen, somebody.’ I don’t want this ship to go anywhere else.”
Back in 1994 Roland Brinker and Jeanette Brinker, founders of Brinker’s Jewelers, helped form a real estate development company called BSH Development (Brinker, Schutz, Hertweck). After several years the development company hired Bob Lohmann, ASGCA, founder, president, and principal architect of Lohmann Quitno Golf Course Architects to design and develop Eagle Valley Golf Course. In 2000, the original partnership was dissolved and the Brinker and Hertweck family formed a new company called Eagle Valley Inc. which owned and operated Eagle Valley Golf Couse for 16 years. In 2016, Roland and Jeanette Brinker retired and sold Eagle Valley Golf Course to two of their sons Dean Brinker and Dirk Brinker, President and Vice President of Brinker’s Jewelers.
As many of you are aware the EVSC (Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation) started construction of McCutchanville Elementary School in 2017 which opened for the new school year in August 2018. One hundred and thirty-five acres (+/-) in the heart of McCutchanville zoned for residential use, with city utilities and infrastructure already in place made the land a prime location for residential development. When contacted, the EVSC showed interest in purchasing the ground for a future middle school. An agreement was reached between the Brinker family and the EVSC in 2017 for the purchase of the land that Eagle Valley Golf Course sits on over a 3 year time period.
It was the Brinker family’s optimism that the local golf industry would turn around and be a viable business until the EVSC wanted the land for the construction of a new middle school. Unfortunately, after 3 years and major capital improvements in infrastructure and equipment, the Brinker family has come to difficult decision to close Eagle Valley Golf Course effective January 1, 2019. In January 2019, the EVSC will make their final installment payment and own the land that Eagle Valley Golf Course resides on. The EVSC and Brinker family hope that Eagle Valley Golf Course could remain in place until the EVSC is ready for the construction of the new middle school. However, if Eagle Valley Golf Course re-opens it will not be run or operated by the Brinker family.
We have created many memories since the purchase and development of this land back in 1994. We want to thank all of our loyal customers and neighbors for their business over the years, many of whom we consider close friends and family. Without your support and trust, we would not have been able to have realized Roland Brinker’s original dream of a golf course and residential community.
Eagle Valley Golf Course, its owners, and principals will liquidate the remaining infrastructure in early 2019. Some of the assets have been sold. If you would like to inquire about a piece of equipment or the infrastructure please contact us at 812-867-7888 or email Kyle Brinker at kbrinker@brinkersjewelers.com.
MONDAY
“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.â€â€
â€Luke â€2:15 â€NIVâ€
TUESDAY
“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.â€
â€Luke â€2:16 â€NIVâ€
WEDNESDAY
“When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,â€
â€Luke â€2:17 â€NIVâ€
THURSDAY
“and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.â€
â€Luke â€2:18-19 â€NIVâ€
FRIDAY
“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they hadheard and seen, which were just as they had been told.â€
â€Luke â€2:20 â€NIVâ€
SATURDAY
“On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was namedJesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.â€
â€Luke â€2:21 â€NIVâ€
SUNDAY
“When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses,Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it iswritten in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to theLordâ€),â€
â€Luke â€2:22-23 â€NIVâ€
Submitted to the City-County Observer by Karen Seltzer
Family New Year’s Eve Indiana State Museum Dec. 31, 6 to 9 p.m.
Welcome 2019 with face painting, magic, music, dancing and a balloon drop (8 p.m.) at this family-friendly New Year’s Eve party! Reserve your spot now so you don’t miss out. This is an alcohol-free event.
Cost:Â $10/members, $16/non-members, free for children younger than age 3. Tickets can be purchased in advance or at the door.
IS IT TRUE it been alleged that the head of the Union County Hospital Advisory Board asked the Henderson Community Methodist Hospital administration for a line-item documentation regarding a $23 million dollar cash advancement to Henderson County Methodist Hospital by Union County Hospital?  … it’s been alleged that as of today that the head of the Union County Hospital Advisory Board hasn’t received an answer to his question?
