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Letter To The Editor: Email Communication to Representatives Bacon, McNamara and Sullivan From Gary May

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Gary May E-Mail Concerning Ethics and Transparency Of State Representatives  McNamara, Sullivan, and Bacon

Hi, Have you no sense of justice?

Bosma is accused of sexual improprieties, he leads the investigation of the AG who stands accused of sexual harassment, he leads the legislative effort to craft a sexual harassment policy for the House.

In spite of all this, you sign on a letter in full support of him. I’m not suggesting he’s guilty of the charges brought against him, but simple transparency and ethics would suggest that he should have some distance between his issues and the investigation and drafting of legislation addressing sexual behavior boundary violations.

How much more power and riding roughshod over your constituents will be enough?

Time for a change!

Sincerely,

Gary May

Here are The Boilerplate Responses That McNamara And Sullivan Sent To Gary May:

Thank you for contacting me. My staff and I will review your comments and respond to you as soon as possible. If you need immediate assistance, please contact my Legislative Assistant, Victoria Szczechowski, at 317-232-9816.  Thank you for taking the time to share your comments and concerns.

Here’s The Response That Gary got from Bacon:

Thank you for contacting my office. You are receiving this message due to the larger volume of emails my office receives. My staff and I will look over your concerns and, if appropriate, a personal response will follow. If you need immediate assistance please contact my Legislative Assistant Elias Annette at 317-232-9643.

FOOTNOTE: This letter to the Editor was posted without opinion, bias or editing.

Judge Rules For Butler In Suit By Ex-Student Accused Of Sex Assault

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Olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com

A civil lawsuit against Butler University brought by a student who claims he was wrongly expelled after being falsely accused of sexual assault has ended with a judgment in favor of the university and other school personnel involved in the investigation.

Indiana Southern District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt entered summary judgment in favor of Butler and eight individual defendants Friday in Christian Ayala, aka John Doe v. Butler University, et al., 1:16-cv-01266. Christian Ayala filed the lawsuit after he was expelled from Butler at the end of his freshman year following a finding that he had sexually assaulted a female student.

The incident that led to Ayala’s expulsion began late at night on April 18, 2015, when Ayala and his accuser, known as Jane Smith, both attended the same fraternity party and began dancing with and kissing each other. The two left the party together around 2 a.m. on April 19, when Smith promised her friends that she was going back to her dorm and would not be staying with Ayala. According to Pratt’s summary judgment order, Smith’s friends were concerned that she was drunk.

Despite Smith’s assurances, she and Ayala returned to his dorm, where the two had sex. According to the order, Smith, who claimed to have told Ayala twice to stop sexual intercourse because he was hurting her. However, according to the order, Ayala did not stop, so Smith texted her friends for help.

Smith’s friends eventually forced their way into Ayala’s room to retrieve Smith, who later told her friends that she had asked Ayala to stop, but he refused. Smith then reported the incident to the Butler Police Department, and a sexual assault investigation was opened against Ayala.

The investigation began on April 20 and culminated in a grievance panel hearing on May 14. During the hearing, Smith testified “that she never said or did anything to indicate to Ayala, before their physical contact, that she was not consenting to same,” while Ayala testified that “Jane never gave him verbal consent.”

According to an order Friday in the case relating to a dispute between Smith’s insurers, “(t)he overwhelming evidence presented at the hearing was that the sexual activity between Ayala and Jane Smith was consensual.” However, the grievance panel determined Ayala was responsible for non-consensual sexual contact and sexual intercourse and recommended that he be expelled. According to the Oct. 17 order, Smith’s father began placing pressure on the school to expel Ayala immediately after his daughter reported the assault.

After Ayala’s appeal was denied, he was subsequently denied admission at 10 universities despite having a B+ average but was eventually admitted to St. Louis University in January 2016. He sued Smith, the university and school personnel involved in the hearing, alleging breach of contract, a violation of Title IX, a violation of 42 U.S. Code section 1981, defamation, the negligent infliction of emotional distress and other state law claims, though his claims against Smith and her counterclaims were eventually dismissed.

The court also previously dismissed the Title IX claims against the individual defendants, and Ayala’s counsel agreed that all but the Title IX claim against Butler were subject to summary judgment in the school’s favor. Pratt praised that concession in a footnote, thanking Ayala’s counsel for their “candor and the preservation of judicial resources as well as the preservation of both parties’ resources.”

In arguing against Butler’s motion for summary judgment on the Title IX claim, Ayala claimed one of the grievance panel members, Sally Click, “demonstrated a bias against him and in favor of Jane and the female witnesses through her questions about verbal consent, and through her questioning, Click implied that he was a ‘predatory’ male student who posed a threat to Defendants’ female students.’” He also argued Click’s questioning was evidence of the panel’s gender bias. Finally, Ayala pointed to the fact that another male student who was found guilty of non-consensual sexual activity was not expelled because he was getting ready to graduate, so his punishment was for his diploma to be withheld for a year.

Pratt, however, agreed with Butler that Ayala’s arguments failed to show any evidence of gender bias.

“Ayala’s comparison between his case and the male student’s case in 2014 where the student’s diploma was withheld rather than expulsion, is not helpful to his claim,” Pratt wrote. “The fact that Butler may have treated another male student more favorably than Ayala does not show bias as the students are the same gender.”

“Concerning Click’s questions during the grievance hearing, Ayala acknowledged in his deposition that Click’s questions were reasonable in this case of non-consensual sexual activity, and he acknowledged in his Response Brief that the questions were not improper,” Pratt continued. “Click’s two questions about whether Ayala obtained verbal consent from Jane to engage in sexual activity did not directly show any gender bias nor did they imply any gender bias.”

ONE-ON-ONE WITH COACHELLA VALLEY ECONOMIC LEADER JOE WALLACE

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ONE-ON-ONE WITH COACHELLA VALLEY ECONOMIC LEADER JOE WALLACE

Posted by | Oct 22, 2018, |

Editor’s Note: With the 14th Annual Greater Palm Springs Economic Summit set for Nov. 8 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, Uken Report posed 10 questions to Joe Wallace, CEO of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP).

economicThe questions and Wallace’s responses in their entirety follow:

Uken Report (UR): What can attendees expect different at 2018 Greater Palm Springs Economic Summit?

Wallace: This year we are bringing in three speakers to address some basic opportunities that greater Palm Springs can learn from that have been proven in other locations. We have also adopted the fastpitch format that CVEP teaches our entrepreneurs when they are seeking outside investment.

Last year we opened the Summit with a vision of what 2050 can be from a 10,000-foot perspective.  This year we will extend that vision with a new video featuring two young adults of the future who have come back to tell us what our efforts now have done to the world that they live in.  We have featured the Education and Innovation Hubs at the Cook Street exit in Palm Desert, a clean and well developed Salton Sea, a fully automated logistics center at the Thermal Airport, plus a look back at where it all started, the Palm Springs iHub.

Our speakers with the exception of Dr. Manfred W. Keil will all be covering their topics in roughly 20-minute time frames and I will introduce some calls for action interleaved with recorded messages from our university partners.

The short answer is more directly applicable content with a focused vision and a call for unity in moving forward in a prosperous and responsible way so all of our people have the opportunity to participate as the Coachella Valley Elevates over the next 32 years.

UR: What do you want attendees to take away from this Summit?

Wallace: Greater Palm Springs is an outstanding place to enjoy life and there are some known things we can do that will make us just as outstanding as a place for diverse high paying businesses to thrive. It is only through all of our actions, commitments, and perseverance that this will happen but we are on the verge of transitioning to a higher economic level.

UR: The focus is Elevate! Exactly what does that mean?

 

Wallace: Elevate means improving the skills of the workforce, expanding the educational opportunities that are available to include training for high wage job sectors, upgrading our critical infrastructure including digital infrastructure, encouraging entrepreneurs with aspirations to enter high value technology sectors, and promoting our location to coastal businesses that enjoy the California vibe that we enjoy that are looking for an escape from exorbitant housing prices and mind-numbing commutes.

UR: Without giving us the whole report, what are some of the highlights of the economic report? Whet our appetite?

Wallace: I have not seen Dr. Keil’s report yet but I am certain it will recognize the national and state economies as very good.

Hopefully, it will be of more interest than what is happening today will be addressing issues that need to be addressed to assure a prosperous future.  These things include learning the lessons about how Fargo, N.D., became a magnet for millennials by leveraging state-of-the-art bandwidth and a research-based university to toss off the old ways of bison, winter wheat, and cold boring winters.

We will also be hearing from Ankur Gopal who has pioneered his unique program of retraining laid off coal miners in Appalachia to become code developers for tech companies without leaving the holler (that is Appalachian for valley). This will become vital as automation is developed that will eliminate many of our regions existing jobs.

UR: Can you give us a peek into economic forecast?

Wallace: I was fortunate enough to see Dr. Keil’s presentation on this subject in Claremont earlier this year.  At that time he characterized the national, state, and local economies as “on fire.” He meant that in a good way and not in a way that required a tanker plane full of seawater to extinguish.  I do not expect his assessment of the current state of the economies to change.

As for the future, Dr. Keil opined at that time that the punch bowl is not going to be taken away in the near future. I have not seen his report and the economy is always evolving so I will be as interested as you are to see what he is seeing in his crystal ball on Nov. 8.  He did give one tease in an email and I quote, “the R word? Don’t Panic.”

As we have always been told, “all good things must come to an end” and someday there will be another recession.  Will, that comes in 2020, 2025, 2030 or later? No one really knows.  Rome was not built in a day and the housing crises that precipitated the last recession took roughly 30 years to come to a boiling point.  We shall all see what the next negative disruption is when it happens. Until then, enjoy what we have now but plan for the future.

UR: How would you personally characterize the overall economic health of the Inland Empire?

Wallace: The economies of the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley are in the best shape they have been in since before the housing crisis.  The biggest problems have gone from not having enough jobs to having quality employees to fill the openings we have. All of our hospitals still have nursing shortages and nearly every skill based job cluster is struggling to find workers with the skills they seek.

The five to the ten-year horizon is not as bright.  A recent study by McKinsey and Company that identified the industry sectors most likely to be negatively impacted by automation puts the Inland Empire at the top of all metro areas nationwide when it comes to the probability of job losses due to automation.  The top five job classifications in the bulls-eye for being negatively impacted by automation are hospitality and food service, manufacturing, retail, agriculture, and logistics. Four of those sectors are the largest employers in both the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley.  Now that we know this, it is our opportunity as leaders in this valley to do something about it before we are facing as many as 100,000 workers with no jobs and limited skills to offer another employer.

The good news is this will not happen overnight.  The bad news is that once it starts, it will move very fast.  Five years ago there were no fast food kiosks.  Today there is hardly any fast food outlet that has not adopted kiosks.  Automation of the five sectors above will not be any different.

UR: What are the economic trouble spots?

Wallace: The economic trouble spots in the Coachella Valley have changed over the past several years but the fundamental challenge remains the same.  The challenge is that our economy is overly dependent on hospitality, retail, and agriculture all of which are low paying and seasonal.  This dependence on low paying business models has created sort of a bi-modal economy with large numbers of workers earning low to moderate incomes with a high probability of being temporary layoffs in the summer when our population is lower and our temperatures are higher.  This has gotten better in the last few years but it is still an issue for our workforce.

Our tow highest pay sectors are local government and education.  Both of these depend on taxes to make the payrolls. This is a departure from economies that have a more developed broad base of employers that pay middle-class wages.

UR: What is the hottest economic area for growth potential?

Wallace: Cybersecurity, IOT (internet of things), 5G, and Blockchain are my answers to this question because these are the hottest areas nationwide and they all pay very high wages, enjoy current demand and are expected to grow even more in the near future.  Cybersecurity for instance currently has about 360,000 openings nationwide with starting salaries near $100,000 per year.  Mid-career professionals in this field can earn nearly $400,000.  It has been projected that by 2021 there will be 3.5 million additional openings by Cyberventures that makes equity investments in cybersecurity.

IOT jobs are in a similar situation with wages and 4.5 million new openings are projected.  These two sectors alone are expected to create 7 million jobs by 2021.  That is the total number of advertised job openings in the entire United States right now and six times the number at the beginning of the last recession.

For every employee today working in Blockchain technology there are 14 openings.

None of these careers require a bachelor’s degree at this point in time. Someone who is skilled in programming or even in logic based businesses can take online or in-class training in roughly 6 months to elevate their skills to enter these professions.

CVEP has an employee who has a sister studying cybersecurity at CSUSB. As an intern in New York City, she has already earned $37 per hour and should she decide after graduation to accept full-time employment the starting pay is $60 per hour. That is $124,800 per year which is more than double the average wage for the highest paying employment sector in the Coachella Valley which is incidentally working for local government.

Finding ways to offer this kind of training is the kind of activity that will truly transform the wage distribution of the Coachella Valley from today’s bi-modal nature to an economy that has real upper middle-class opportunities for those who choose to take advantage of the opportunities.

UR: What role does the cannabis industry play in the Inland Empire’s economic outlook?

Wallace: Cannabis is certainly on the minds of most people and is highly visible with all of the growing facilities and dispensaries being permitted and built.  Cannabis is really two very different business models with growers being a cross between manufacturing and agriculture and dispensaries being traditional retail.

Today many construction people are employed in building the grow facilities and with the tens of millions of square footage permitted this will continue for at least 3 years. Once these grow facilities are completed the employment prospects will not be as bright as it was once thought to be.  Automation is already available that separates the buds from the stalks and trims the buds in preparation for packaging.  The packaging also has already been automated as have substantially all of the security features, lighting control, and distribution of nutrients.  In the near future, a growing facility will not need very many people on the payroll.  The opportunity for good jobs in growing cannabis will be from developing and servicing the lighting, air handling equipment, robotics, and distribution technology for nutrients and water. We have one company at the Palm Springs iHub that is developing a unique LED lighting solution that is optimized to emit light at wavelengths known to promote healthy growth in cannabis plants.

Dispensaries are essentially specialized retail outlets with exclusive regulations and tax protocols.  Before cannabis was legalized for recreational use there were less than 10 legal dispensaries in the Coachella Valley.  Today “Weedmaps” has nearly 200 dispensaries listed serving the Coachella Valley.  During the first six months of legalized recreational use, the demand has been estimated to have grown by only 25 percent as compared to before legalization.  This does not bode well for all of the aspiring ganjapreneurs. The Coachella Valley does not have a market that is sufficient to keep 200 dispensaries open.  There will be a big shake out and when that is over we will probably have fewer than 50 thriving dispensaries.  The law of supply and demand will balance out in the long run.  Retail in the cannabis industry will not pay high salaries because the skill of operating a store is not much different than it is in other specialized retail.

Privately, dispensary owners are open about the struggles to maintain a profitable business.  The regulations imposed by the California Cannabis Regulatory Commission have been reported to cost $530 per pound of product.  When the cost of leasing a space, paying the utilities and staff, plus collecting the relatively high sales taxes are considered the dispensaries need to be able to sell their products for roughly $300 per ounce just to earn a moderate profit.  The website “priceofweed.com” currently quotes the prices paid for high-quality product at $250 per ounce which really doesn’t provide sufficient margin to be both profitable and compliant.  The toughest competition, of course, is from street cannabis that has been reported to sell for less than $100 per ounce throughout Southern California.  The reality is that if dispensaries must be able to sell their products for $300 per ounce and an illegal market exists at $100 per ounce, illegal operators will exist perpetually. With numbers like this, if the products were provided free to the dispensaries but the regulations remain intact it would still be impossible to compete with street dealers on price.

Perhaps the biggest challenges will come when (not if) the federal government decriminalizes cannabis which will open the market to out of state competition. Opening the cannabis markets nationwide will expose California growers to competition from locations that have electric rates that are less than half of what ours are and agricultural land that sells for less than $5,000 per acres.  This will cause a grower shake-out.

Finally, recreational cannabis is subject to California state excise taxes and medicinal is not.  During the first half of 2018, the total excise taxes collected were about $85 million. That is only a little over $2 per Californian.  At this rate of collecting excise taxes, in about two years the State of California can afford to buy us all a Happy Meal. There is no data available on the cost to operate the CCRC but it is entirely possible that the state is spending more to collect the excise taxes that they actually collect. In that case, forget the opportunity for a free Happy Meal.

The cannabis business is in transition and while there will be much construction and many attempts to start retail outlets it is highly unlikely that the fountainhead of prosperity that has been forecasted will ever materialize as once believed.

UR: How does the Coachella Valley expand its economy?

Wallace: The Coachella Valley can expand its economy in the same way that other locations that have been successful have.  Concentrating on entrepreneurship as CVEP has done with its iHub program is a large driver of future expansion and growth of good jobs.  It is not widely known that the Kaufmann Foundation published a study on job growth and concluded that 100% of net job growth in the United States since 1980 have come from companies that are less than 5 years old.

Our second area of concentration has to be in continually updating our business critical infrastructure so that leading edge businesses can actually do their jobs here.  These needs are the bandwidth of over 1Gbps in sufficient locations to meet the needs of new businesses, continuous cellular service across the valley, embracing 5G as it begins to roll out, and expanding our educational offerings for students and adults alike into the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) career paths.

EDITORS FOOTNOTE: Joe Wallace was the CEO of GAGE for several years and was extremely well thought of by members of the area business community. 

Affordable Housing Project Unveiled

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Affordable Housing Project Unveiled

OCTOBER 23RD, 2018 JOYLYN BUKOVAC EVANSVILLE

Community and business leaders gathered to celebrate the new Carpenter Court Apartments, which is aimed to help families in need. The complex was previously the old St. Joseph Catholic School building and it brought back memories to some people involved in this project.

“We heard a couple people that were here today talk about, you know, they played volleyball here in the gymnasium and the gymnasium is now two floors of apartments so it’s kind of a cool transformation,” says Mike Harbaugh, Old National Bank Investment Specialist.

This 45-unit apartment complex is only available for people earning 30%-60% percent of Area Median Income (AMI) with rent prices ranging from $298 to $720 a month. The affordable units include some amenities with several services at residents’ fingertips.

“We will provide support services. We have a total family support network from childcare all the way up to seniors, and we’ll offer those services and make sure that the support that the families need, we will provide for them,” says David Wagner, Executive Director of Carver Community Organization.

Many local organizations came together to ensure each residents’ needs are met.

“It’s impressive so everything from Head Start Programming; you name it, it’s available to the residents here, so I think if you look at the success Evansville is having. Throughout the city now, you’ll look at one word, and it’s collaboration, and it’s really evident in this facility today,” says Mayor Lloyd Winnecke.

Old National Bank provided the construction and the permanent loans for the project. Through its subsidiary ONB Community Equity, Old National Bank also provided a $6.7 million Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) direct equity investment.

“Old National is very proud to be able to provide some affordable housing which continues to be a need not just in Evansville but across the country really,” says Harbaugh.

USI, NSWC Crane Sign Agreement To Conduct Research On Chemical Reactions

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Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) and the University of Southern Indiana are strengthening their research and development (R&D) partnership through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). NSWC Crane and USI will use the CRADA to study chemical reactions. A formal CRADA signing ceremony took place October 22 at Crane.

The CRADA between NSWC Crane and USI allows both entities to leverage each other’s subject matter experts, laboratory space, and high-tech equipment.

“We are excited to embark on this latest chapter of our partnership with NSWC Crane,” said Dr. Ronald Rochon, USI president. “It’s this kind of research and project that showcases the breadth of knowledge and talent that our faculty and students have to offer here at USI. We are honored to be part of a project that not only has a regional impact, but the potential to impact the well-being of individuals on a global scale.”

Dr. Jonathan Dilger, the Director of Research for NSWC Crane and the Principle Investigator for this CRADA, says this research comes from a military need to study the chemical outputs of special munitions and pyrotechnic reactions.

“We noticed there was research surrounding the sustainable reformulation of special munition and pyrotechnic compositions,” says Dilger, “But there wasn’t much understanding about the toxic chemical reaction byproducts those devices create. We wanted to research the potential harmful effects these chemical reactions could have on the environment and Warfighters themselves.”

Dilger says the experts and capabilities at USI were complimentary to conducting this research. “With their expertise, we are able to relate data from rigorous testing performed at the laboratory-scale to large-scale munition assessments. The partnership is a great fit for both USI and Crane that gets us one step closer to understanding the potential toxicity of these chemical reactions.”

“The safe, small-scale characterization of chemical emissions from pyrotechnics should greatly aid in the formulation of next-generation devices that are more environmentally-friendly and sustainable,” said Dr. Brian Bohrer, USI assistant professor of chemistry. “I’m excited for the opportunities this collaboration provides for the USI community, including faculty and students, to contribute to this critical field of research.”

Brooke Pyne, the Technology Transfer and Small Business Innovation Research Manager at NSWC Crane, says the ongoing partnership with USI continues to grow and impact the region. “This CRADA further expands the R&D climate within the regional ecosystem. Not only do USI and Crane directly benefit by partnering on a critical tech area, the region gains expertise and technology advances that could have a lasting economic impact.”

The CRADA is the latest collaboration between USI and NSWC Crane and is part of a relationship that has grown over the last decade. One effort includes the creation of the Innovation Discovery Events (IDE) process that has been adopted by the Department of Defense (DoD) as an Intellectual Property (IP) extraction best practice. This process led to the creation of the USI Technology Commercialization Academy which allows USI students the opportunity to take Crane intellectual property through an exploratory commercialization process.

NSWC Crane’s Technology Transfer (T2) Program helps link federal research and development to academic institutions and businesses in the private sector. A CRADA provides the formal mechanism between the federal laboratory and partner collaborator. The NSWC Crane T2 program has partnerships with more than 100 businesses, individuals and universities. Currently, there are 64 active CRADAs and 192 active agreements.

NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi- spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today’s Warfighter.

St. Vincent Evansville Birth Announcements For The Week Of October 22, 2018

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Melanie Moore and Jeremy Crane, Mount Carmel IL, daughter, Harley May, Oct. 14

Abigail and Lee Garrett, Newburgh, daughter, Georgia Katherine, Oct. 15

Christina Haleman and Jonathan Mitchell, Henerson, KY, daughter, Lillyan Linda Marie, Oct. 15

Kayla Nation and Paul Montgomery, Evansville, son, Kason Michael, Oct. 15

Kenadee and Ian Gorman, Mount Vernon, IN, son, Mavrick Wade, Oct. 15

Kenadee and Ian Gorman, Mount Vernon, IN, daughter, Mackenzie Ann, Oct. 15

Sierra and Jared Zwilling, Evansville, daughter, Emersyn Reagan, Oct. 15

Caitlyn and John Williams, Chandler, IN, daughter, Becca Everlee Ann, Oct. 16

Cassandra and Edwin David, Newburgh, son, Lucas Patrick, Oct. 16

Cassandra and Edwin David, Newburgh, daughter, Lena Sue, Oct. 16

Hayley Wood and Tyler Bell, Mount Carmel IL, son, Parker Dean, Oct. 16

Jessica Arvin and John Martin, Evansville, daughter, Willow Jean, Oct. 16

Martyna Resta, Evansville, daughter, Tokiko, Oct. 16

Sarah Nunley and Larz Case, Evansville, daughter, Mayzie Ann, Oct. 16

Heaven Shadrick and Austin Wells, Evansville, daughter, Kinsley Jae, Oct. 17

Jessica and Todd Marvell, Princeton, IN, daughter, Maci Maelynn, Oct. 17

Darci Lynne & Friends – Fresh Out Of The Box

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TICKETS GO ON SALE
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26
AT 10AM!
Winning NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” at just 12-years old by the most votes for a final performance in the history of the show, singer/ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer impresses audiences across the country with her sweetheart disposition and undeniable, show-stopping talent beyond her years. Accompanied by her musical friends including a divaesque rabbit: Petunia, a shy and soulful mouse: Oscar and a sarcastic old woman: Edna. Singing through her friends helped the young entertainer find a voice inside she didn’t know she had, and helped her overcome a lifelong struggle with shyness.
Watch for your exclusive password, as a
“Keep Me Posted Insiders Club Member,
to get your tickets before they go on sale!
Purchase tickets online at ticketmaster,com,
1-800-745-3000 or at our Box Office.
Get Tickets Friday!

Steve Fritz to Receive 2018 Champion of Youth First Award

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Youth First, Inc. will honor former EVSC educator and administrator Steve Fritz at its 11th Annual Breakfast of Champions event on Tuesday, October 23rd, at 7:00 am at St. Vincent Manor in Evansville.  Fritz will receive the Dr. William Wooten Champion of Youth First Award.

 

Steve’s tireless passion for helping young people thrive has made him a distinguished educator and community leader. He impacted thousands of lives during his 35-year career with the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation. The students he taught, the players he coached, and the teachers he mentored all credit him with contributing to their success.

 

Steve became involved with Youth First in its earliest days, partnering with the organization to strengthen youth and families and eventually joining the Board of Directors. In 2007, Steve became the first leader to follow in founder Dr. William Wooten’s footsteps as Chair of the Board. He continues to volunteer and advocate for Youth First’s mission.

 

Proud to have been born and raised in Evansville, Steve is a graduate of North High School, the University of Evansville and Indiana State University. In addition to his involvement with Youth First, Steve was also profoundly impacted by his involvement with YMCA’s Camp Carson, where he served as a camp counselor and continues today as a Board member.

 

The media is invited to attend the Breakfast of Champions and is asked to RSVP to Jana Pritchett (jpritchett@youthfirstinc.org) by 5:00 pm Monday, October

LOCAL STACEY ABRAMS MEGA MILLIONS

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Ramirez, Faas sweep GLVC weekly awards

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University of Southern Indiana men’s soccer junior forward Eric Ramirez (Vincennes, Indiana) and sophomore goalkeeper Justin Faas (Carmel, Indiana) swept the Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week awards for their efforts in the Screaming Eagles’ wins over Rockhurst University and William Jewell College last week.

Ramirez earned the GLVC Offensive Player of the Week honor after posting six points on three goals in the two matches. He started the week with the goal that tied the match and set the stage for USI’s overtime win over Rockhurst. The junior finished the week with both goals in the win over William Jewell that clinched the GLVC regular season crown.

For the season, Ramirez is second on the Eagles with 16 points on seven goals and two assists. The two-time All-GLVC selection also is second on the team with three game-winning goals. The Offensive Player of the Week award is the first of Ramirez’s career and the second of the year for the Eagles

Faas earned the Defensive Player of the Week award after allowing one goal in 184 minutes of action, posting a 0.49 goals against average (GAA) in the two matches. The Defensive Player of the Week award is the second of the year for Faas.

This fall, Faas has a 0.74 GAA and allowed 11 goals in 15 matches and 1339 minutes of action. He also has a career-high 53 total saves and seven shutouts this year.

Ramirez, Faas, and the Eagles conclude the 2018 regular season Wednesday when they visit Lewis University for a noon match. USI starts the 2018 post-season Sunday when it hosts a GLVC Tournament first round match at Strassweg Field (opponent and game time are still to be determined).

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