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Polls Show A Close Indiana Senate Race

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Polls Show A Close Indiana Senate Race

September 13, 2018  

By James Polston
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Democratic Senate incumbent Joe Donnelly appears to have a slight advantage over Republican Mike Braun in Indiana’s hotly contested Senate race, according to a new NBC News/Marist poll.

The poll shows in a head-to-head race, Donnelly has a six percent advantage over Braun. Donnelly comes in at 49 percent of support from likely voters and Braun with 43 percent. Among all registered voters, there is not much difference. Donnelly has 48 percent and Braun has 42 percent.

Adding Libertarian Lucy Brenton to the mix narrowed the gap between Donnelly and Braun to three percent — Donnelly with 44 percent, Braun with 41 percent and Brenton with eight percent among likely voters.

NBC News/Marist said the margin of error for likely voters in the poll is plus or minus five percent.

The campaign staffs of Donnelly, Braun, and Brenton declined to speak directly with a reporter from TheStatehouseFile.com about the poll.

Instead, both Donnelly and Braun’s spokesmen released statements that did little more than rehashing their campaign themes. Brenton did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

“We don’t need a poll to tell us that Joe’s message of hard work, bipartisanship, and Hoosier common sense is resonating with voters,” said Peter Hanscom, Donnelly’s campaign manager, in a news release. “For the next 60-plus days, we’re continuing to keep our heads down, work hard, and talk to every voter to listen to their concerns and discuss how Joe will fight for Hoosiers in Washington next year.”

“Mike Braun is surging in the polls because Hoosiers are sick of talk from career politicians like Joe Donnelly and are ready for the solutions a job creator like Mike Braun will bring to Washington,” said Josh Kelley, spokesman for Braun’s campaign, in a news release. “Joe Donnelly will tell Hoosiers anything, Mike Braun will get things done: that’s why Hoosier momentum is clearly building behind Braun.”

Although the Senate race is heating up, Donnelly issued a statement saying the campaign plans to halt all activities on Sept. 11 out of respect for the 17thanniversary of 9/11 attacks in New York City, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

“Instead of campaigning, Senator Joe Donnelly and campaign staff will participate in a service project that afternoon assembling trauma kits at the Central Indiana Police Foundation,” Hanscom wrote in a letter to Braun’s campaign manager, Ben Mitchell, inviting Braun’s campaign to do the same and join the Donnelly campaign at the Central Indiana Police Foundation.

FOOTNOTE: James Polston is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

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DCS Making Connections With Instagram

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DCS Making Connections With Instagram

September 13, 2018  

By James Polston
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS— While in times of trouble, the Indiana Department of Child Services has launched an Instagram account aiming to share the daily lives of agency employees, stakeholders, and partners, as well as the children and families helped by the agency.

“DCS touches real families and real communities in every corner of our state,” Director Terry Stigdon said in a news release. “Each person has an important story to tell, and I think it’s crucial that we capture and share their unique and oftentimes poignant snapshots.”

 

As of the middle of Tuesday afternoon, the newly-created account had 88 followers and three posts, including one with a statement from the general manager of the Indianapolis Colts, Chris Ballard.

“Every kid needs a chance in life. Don’t ever let anybody tell you can’t do what you want to do. Sometimes, all it takes is for somebody to inspire you in some way,” Ballard wrote.

The other two posts include a statement from Stigdon and from a former DCS collaborative care case manager who adopted a boy after he was placed in her care.

“The bottom line is DCS is here to help Hoosier children and families,” Stigdon posted. “I’ve witnessed firsthand the incredible dedication and compassion are more than 4,000 employees bring to this hard work on a daily basis.”

The former DCS employee wrote about her experience:

“My son was placed with me when he was 10 months old. I chose to be his mom simply because he needed one, and I was able to do that. It’s by far the best decision I have ever made. Some people say things like ‘He’s so lucky to have you’ and make comments about my decision to adopt. In reality, my son saved me. I don’t know where I would be today if I never held that little boy.”

These DCS posts can be found @voicesofdcs on Instagram.

FOOTNOTE: James Polston is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

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Website Launched To Help Crime Victims

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Website Launched To Help Crime Victims

SEPTEMBER 12TH, 2018 JOYLYN BUKOVAC EVANSVILLE, INDIANA

Vanderburgh County Crime Victim Resources is a new website that creates an online resource for victims of crime across Vanderburgh County. The idea is to give people a place to go to get help from some resources. It was a team effort between the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s office, the County Prosecutor, Evansville Police, and EXTEND GROUP.

“It’s going to give victims knowledge and confidence, and so that’s going to help them want to come forward and ask for help and the more people that we have come forward and ask for help obviously the more help we can provide,” says Prosecutor Nick Hermann.

Officials say help is already available for crime victims, but this website will bring them all together.

“There’s various resources. What this does is it kind of pulls all of those resources together under one umbrella and that’s what I like about it because there are so many groups out there, but you have to go into each individual group to find answers where here you go to one website, and it gives you about 12 to 15 agencies that do different work for victims,” says Sheriff Dave Wedding.

The website helps victims who are navigating through the criminal justice system, needing support, or needing emergency assistance. It also helps link people to support groups, organizations, counseling, and even shelters.

“It’s a very difficult process going through the criminal justice system and like I said earlier, it’s not built around victims, it’s built around the rights of defendants,” says Hermann.

Click here if you or a loved one is a victim of a crime and needs assistance.

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Conservation Officer Receives National Recognition

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Indiana Conservation Officer Sgt. Guy Wendorf was recognized yesterday by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) as its North Region Boating Enforcement Officer of the Year (representing 21 states) and as the NASBLA President’s Award recipient.

The awards were presented as part of the annual NASBLA conference in Indianapolis, Sept. 9-12.

Wendorf was recognized for his efforts to educate officers on safe and effective boat handling, enhancement of his agency’s (DNR Law Enforcement) effectiveness and efficiency in addressing threats on the waterways, and effective boating-law enforcement.

Wendorf is assigned to District 10, located on Lake Michigan in Michigan City. He served as a reservist with the United States Coast Guard for eight years before becoming an Indiana conservation officer in 1996.

Wendorf has saved the state thousands of dollars through his active role in writing Port Security Grants. He was instrumental in implementing the Radiological Nuclear Detection (RND) program to further protect the state’s critical assets and infrastructure on Indiana waterways.

Wendorf is a certified NASBLA Boat Crew Member instructor and has certified many Indiana conservation officers to be prepared for state and national deployments during natural disasters. He has been instrumental in the enhancement of DNR Law Enforcement’s underwater search capabilities.

Scam/Fraud Alert

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The EPD wants to make area citizens aware of an attempt to defraud individuals and attempt to get access to personal identifiers.

Citizens are receiving a phone call where the caller states that they are from the Social Security Administration. The fake caller then tells the individual that they must confirm their name and social security number for their records or their benefits will be discontinued.

A similar scam has occurred where the thief asks the person that they called if they have received their new Medicaid card and then tries to get the person to provide their personal identifiers that the thief would use to set up fake accounts.

If anyone receives any unsolicited calls of this nature, requesting some form of payment for a product or a service, or a request to provide names, birthdates, and/or Social Security numbers they should hang up and not engage in any conversation.

Legitimate government agencies will not place a call to a citizen requesting personal identifiers.

St. Vincent Evansville Birth Announcements For September 12, 2018

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Kellie and Dustin Roxbury, Evansville, IN, son, Connor Creed, Aug. 24

Sumer Merritt and Zachary Jackson, Evansville, IN, son, Jasper Lee, September 3

Brenna Robbins and Stephen Dearing, Fort Branch, IN, son, Bentley Alexander-Wayne, September 4

Ella Handley and Diarantiae Green, Evansville, IN, son, Damian Wayne, September 4

Emiley and Darryl Chamberlain II, Mount Vernon, IN, daughter, Claire Ann, September 5

Hanna and Jesus Rios Cortez, Rockport, IN, son, Gabriel Anthony, September 5

Jessica and Beau Moore, Mount Carmel, IL, daughter, Kathryn Dawn, September 5

Katy and Eric Cate, Evansville, IN, son, Asher James, September 5

Sarah and Derek Rollins, Boonville, IN, son, Tucker Allen, September 6

Sharon and Solomon Mhango, Evansville, IN, daughter, Dehlu Grace, September 6

Buehler’s IGA in Darmstadt Announces Closure

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Buehler’s IGA in Darmstadt Announces Closure

SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2018 MITCH ANGLE INDIANA

The Buehler’s IGA in Darmstadt has announced it is closing its doors for goods.

The grocery has been seeing competition since 2015 when a Schnucks opened across from IGA on U.S. 41.

“I’ve been here 3 times this week,” says IGA shopper Charles Calvin.

“So I am stocked up, my freezer is full.”

Buehler’s IGA customers at the Northfield plaza on us 41 in Darmstadt only have about a month left to shop the grocer.

The store announced it is closing giving customers 20 to almost 90 percent off items.

“Soft drinks are gone, two or three aisles of stuff is gone. Can foods and frozen foods, there is still a good selection,” says Calvin.

For long-time IGA shoppers, some say the closure isn’t a shock.

“When ace hardware came in the kind of lost their selection,” says shopper Jenny Egli.

“They only have like one brand of something or the other. And they just didn’t have the variety that they had before. And when Schnucks moved in we all knew what was going to happen. There is no way they can compete with Schnucks.”

Others disagree.

“These stores like Aldi’s and Rulers are hurting them in my opinion,” says Calvin.

Either way, the IGA was an anchor store at the Northfield plaza.

Now some businesses are questioning if expanding their business in the plaza is the right decision.

“I am kind of taking that into consideration now that IGA is going away I am a little disappointed that they are closing,” says the Katelyn Watson the owner of Kateyln’s Alterations & Designs.

“I would run over there and grab something from ace hardware for business, and grab something for lunch. It was just quick and convenient and they are just so friendly,” says Watson.

With groceries selling at discounted prices, some shoppers are wondering if big chain stores or online shopping is hurting smaller grocers and the community.

“The smaller businesses are the ones that take care of our schools and what not so this is going to be bad,” says Egli.

“You know the older folks love to come here, they are not going to shop at…. You’ll wear yourself out going from one end of Schnucks to the other.”

According to a post made by the Darmstadt, Indiana Facebook page, the store is closing in about a week or two.

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7th Circuit: Attempted Robbery Not Violent Crime In Indiana

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Dave Stafford for www.theindianalawyer.com

A juvenile accused of robbing a pharmacy might not be tried in federal criminal court because attempted robbery is not considered a violent crime in Indiana, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, vacating the teen’s waiver to be tried as an adult.

D.D.B. was arrested with an adult accomplice shortly after an Indianapolis pharmacy robbery, after which the government moved in May 2017 to waive him to federal criminal court. Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson of the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis, granted the waiver about two months later, based on D.D.B.’s first juvenile delinquency adjudication, for what would have been attempted robbery if committed by an adult.

“The district court held that (attempted robbery) is indeed a crime of violence,” one of the requirements for a juvenile waiver to criminal court, Judge Ilana Rovner wrote for the panel in the United States of America v. D.D.B., 17-2563.

“At first blush, it seems like the answer to the question ‘is Indiana attempted robbery a violent crime?’ has been unequivocally answered by two recent decisions from this court, United States v. Duncan, 833 F.3d 751 (7th Cir. 2016), and Hill v. the United States, 877 F.3d 717 (7th Cir. 2017). In Duncan, we held that robbery under Indiana law qualifies as a violent felony. Duncan, 833 F.3d at 758. And in Hill, we held that ‘[w]hen a substantive offense would be a violent felony under § 924(e) and similar statutes, an attempt to commit that offense also is a violent felony.’”

But in vacating D.D.B.’s waiver from juvenile court, the panel noted Indiana’s armed robbery statute lacks an intent element, “and so a conviction by itself does not establish that the defendant had intent. He could simply knowingly take a substantial step toward the taking of property through force or fear. One would have to look behind the conviction to the underlying facts to know if he had the intent to commit the crime, and this we cannot do,” Rovner continued.

“One way to view the reasoning in Hill is to say that under the definition of attempted robbery in Illinois, once a person intends to attempt to commit robbery, that person has made a decision that she is ‘all in’ on all aspects of the crime, including the violence.

“… We can logically say, therefore, that the ‘attempt to commit the crime necessarily includes an attempt to use or to threaten the use of physical force against the person or property of another,’” Rovner concluded. “But we cannot say the same about the person who is attempting robbery in Indiana. We do not know what the Indiana robber’s intent was if the crime has been interrupted and has merely been attempted, but not completed, as a conviction for attempt does not require proof of intent.”

The panel also concluded D.D.B.’s appeal was timely, as it was an appeal from a juvenile proceeding, a civil matter in which 60 days are allowed for filing appeals.

On remand, the panel noted, the district court may consider either of D.D.B.’s two other predicate delinquency adjudications — burglary and conspiracy to commit robbery — to see if they meet the legal threshold of violent crimes that would allow the government to try him as an adult.

Board of Public Safety Agenda

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Business with Representatives:

Departmental Reports:

 

A. Police Department – Captain Stephanie Cox

  1. Request approval for permission to purchase nine (9) Ford SUV Interceptors using the State QPA.
  2. Request approval of donation of equipment and supplies from the Evansville Police Department Foundation to EPD for use and benefit. (see list of items provided)
  3. Request approval of the purchase agreement between the Chandler Police Department and the Evansville Police Department for the purchase and sale of K-9 “Rizzo”. (Attorney, Mike Luttrull)
  4. Approval of K-9 Ownership Transfer Agreement Form. (Attorney, Mike Luttrull)

B. FireDepartment–ChiefMain

1. Request approval of the Fire Extinguisher Training Program Letter and Waiver/Release of Liability Forms.

2. Request approval for the Fire Watch Agreement Form.

Board of Public Safety Evansville, Indiana

Michael Retter, President Kayce Zeller, Vice President Richard Hubbard, Member Mike Luttrull, Counsel Attorney

VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES

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Gary W. Bentley Jr.: Possession of methamphetamine (Level 6 Felony), Attempt Obstruction of justice (Level 6 Felony), Dealing in marijuana (Level 6 Felony), Driving while suspended (Class A misdemeanor), Possession of marijuana (Class B misdemeanor)

Jeffrey Robert Burkett: Possession of a narcotic drug (Level 6 Felony), Unlawful possession of syringe (Level 6 Felony), Possession of paraphernalia (Class C misdemeanor)

Uriah Lee Wright: Operating a vehicle with an ACE of 0.15 or more (Level 6 Felony), Operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license (Class C misdemeanor)

Tyler Neal Johnson: Conspiracy Dealing in methamphetamine (Level 2 Felony), Carrying a handgun without a license (Level 5 Felony), Driving while suspended (Class A misdemeanor)

Kimberly Sue Shull: Conspiracy Dealing in methamphetamine (Level 2 Felony), Dealing in methamphetamine (Level 2 Felony), Dealing in methamphetamine (Level 2 Felony), Possession of methamphetamine (Level 4 Felony), Carrying a handgun without a license (Class A misdemeanor), Possession of marijuana (Class B misdemeanor), Possession of paraphernalia (Class C misdemeanor)

Joey Wayne Boyle: Possession of a narcotic drug (Level 6 Felony), Unlawful possession of syringe (Level 6 Felony), Operating a vehicle with a schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in the body (Class C misdemeanor), Operating a vehicle while intoxicated (Class C misdemeanor)

Jeremiah S. Hinsey: Operating a vehicle as an habitual traffic violator (Level 6 Felony), Leaving the scene of an accident (Class B misdemeanor)

Alvin Ramono Love: Operating a motor vehicle after forfeiture of license for life (Level 5 Felony), Operating a vehicle as an habitual traffic violator (Level 6 Felony)

Eric Allen Richardson: Operating a vehicle as an habitual traffic violator (Level 6 Felony)

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