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Parks Board Agenda

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BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS

REGULAR MEETING

KEVIN WINTERNHEIMER CHAMBERS

ROOM 301, CIVIC CENTER COMPLEX

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2018

12:00 NOON

AGENDA

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. MEETING MEMORANDUM   August 1, 2018

3. CONSENT AGENDA

              

             a.  Request Re: Permission to declare Five cash registers surplus at pools. – Holtz

             b.  Request Re: Approve and Execute Park Use Permit with the YMCA for the Half Marathon

                  Race on October 13, 2018. – Holtz

             c.  Request Re: Approve and Execute Park Use Permit with the YMCA for a 15 K Race on

                  September 8, 2018. – Holtz

             d.  Request Re: Approve and Execute Rental Agreement for Lloyd Pool with Mater Dei. -Holtz

e.  Request Re: Permission to reduce admission on Tuesdays and Thursdays during September

                  at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden. – Beck

             f.  Request Re: Permission for reduced Boo At The Zoo admission with early purchase. – Beck

*Recommendation from Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden Advisory Board                                                                                 

               

4.        OLD BUSINESS    N/A

 

5.         NEW BUSINESS    

            a.  Request Re: Permission for Evansville Youth Football League to place a non-permanent         

                 safety fence at Kleymeyer Field. – Ronald Woosley

            b.  Request Re: Permission to offer the average of two appraisals regarding property at 1720 

                 Read Street. -Holtz

            c.  Request Re: Open Bid Quotes for Zoo Painting Projects. – Beck                     

            d.  Request Re: Any Other Business the Board Wishes to Consider and Public Comment

6.        REPORTS

           Brian Holtz, Executive Director

7.        ACCEPTANCE OF PAYROLL AND VENDOR CLAIMS

 

8.        ADJOURN

ADOPT A PET

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Cholula is a female orange tabby kitten. She’s about 4 months old, and the last remaining of the “hot sauce” litter. She’s currently adoptable at River Kitty Cat Café in downtown Evansville! Her $60 fee includes her spay, first shots & deworming, and microchip. Contact Vanderburgh Humane at (812) 426-2563 for adoption details!

 

August Youth of the Month Makes Everybody Feel “Like a Somebody” Memorial senior Grace Martin leads by example

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Whether she is mentoring teammates on the lacrosse field, encouraging campers at TEENPOWER, or guiding the creation of the yearbook at Memorial High School, 17-year-old Grace Martin has a way of making those around her feel important and valued. She makes a conscious effort to do the little things that make people smile — like saying “hi” in the hallway, offering a compliment or extending an invitation.

“Keith Hawkins (a TEENPOWER speaker) once said, ‘Make everybody feel like a somebody.’ When I heard Keith talk about this concept, it really resonated with me, and it became my goal in everyday life,” explained Grace. “I think it is important to go out of my way to make another person’s day because you never truly know what they are going through, or what is heavy on their heart, but by just being present in their life you make them ‘feel like a somebody’.” 

Those small but significant actions (like getting an entire restaurant to sing “Happy Birthday” to her) prompted fellow student Lily Koch to nominate Grace for August Youth of the Month honors. 

“Grace is incredible and deserves to be recognized for her positive attitude and love. She cheers others on in whatever they may pursue. She is positive, amazing, and silly… we all need a Grace Martin,” Lily wrote in her nomination. 

As a senior at Memorial, Grace is involved in many clubs and activities, several of them in a leadership role. She is co-president of Snowflake (which encourages a drug-free lifestyle), the treasurer of her class, editor of the yearbook, an executive committee member of Dance Marathon and captain of the lacrosse team.

Her lacrosse coach, Tracy Martin, recalls how Grace stepped up while playing on the varsity team as a sophomore. 

“Grace is calm under pressure, doesn’t get hung up in drama, and puts the last play behind her so she can focus on the next. She cheers on her teammates, encouraging them in both wins and loss.  We knew by the end of that season that she would be a captain the next year. Grace puts the good of the team above herself, which is rare in today’s high school society,” Coach Martin said.

Grace also showcases her leadership skills through Youth Resources’ programs. She is a Vanderburgh County Teen Court volunteer and was a TEENPOWER Youth Staff member as a sophomore and junior (after attending the summer leadership conference for five years). She sees herself as someone who leads by example, but says that it is “impossible to lead if you don’t know how to follow” as well.

“YR has shaped who I am by not only breaking me out of my shell, but also connecting me with a web of friendships I never thought I would have. It has given me friends and role models that I can always count on to love and support me. Through my position on Youth Staff I have increased my leadership skills, communication skills, and confidence,” Grace said. 

“I think lacrosse and YR have shown Grace what she can do, and they are just stepping stones to the great things she will do next. Grace’s drive and confidence combined with the compassion she has for others and the desire to simply make things better will take her a very long way, and I am certain the world will be a better place for it,” added Coach Martin.

Though she hasn’t decided yet where she will attend college, Grace plans to study elementary education and hopes to continue playing lacrosse. She wants to keep living out Keith Hawkins’ challenge by one day making her students “feel like somebodies”.  

As YR’s August Youth of the Month, Grace becomes a Youth of the Year nominee. Youth Resources will name its Youth of the Year at its annual Hall of Fame Celebration in April.

VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES

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 Below are the felony cases to be filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office today.

Jamie Orian Massie: Theft (Level 6 Felony)

Community: EPD Fall session Citizen’s Academy set to get under way.

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The Evansville Police Department will host the Fall session of the Citizen’s Academy beginning September 4. The Citizen’s Academy is a 10 week program that gives citizens an up close look at their local law enforcement to give better insight on how and why law enforcement functions the way that it does. The Citizen’s Academy is absolutely free! All you have to do is enroll, sit back, and enjoy the ride! Please contact Debbie Hildebrandt at 436-4948 or email her at dhildebrandt@evansvillepolice.com

Jury awards $289M to man who blames Roundup for cancer

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IL doe www.theindianalawyer.com

A San Francisco jury’s $289 million award to a former school groundskeeper who said Monsanto’s Roundup left him dying of cancer will bolster thousands of pending cases and open the door for countless people who blame their suffering on the weed killer, the man’s lawyers said.

“I’m glad to be here to be able to help in a cause that’s way bigger than me,” Dewayne Johnson said at a news conference Friday after the verdict was announced.

Johnson, 46, alleges that heavy contact with the herbicide caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The state Superior Court jury agreed that Roundup contributed to Johnson’s cancer and Monsanto should have provided a label warning of the potential health hazard.

Johnson thanked jurors “from the bottom of my heart” for their work, along with his lawyers and his family.

His was the first case filed by a cancer patient against the agribusiness giant to reach trial. It was expedited because court filings indicated that Johnson was dying. His victory may set the precedent for many others.

“A unanimous jury in San Francisco has told Monsanto: ‘Enough. You did something wrong and now you have to pay,’” said Brent Wisner, Johnson’s lead trial lawyer. “There’s 4,000 other cases filed around the United States and there are countless thousand other people out there who are suffering from cancer because Monsanto didn’t give them a choice … We now have a way forward.”

Monsanto has denied a link between the active ingredient in Roundup — glyphosate — and cancer, saying hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe.

Monsanto spokesman Scott Partridge said the company will appeal. Partridge said scientific studies and two government agencies have concluded that Roundup does not cause cancer.

“We are sympathetic to Mr. Johnson and his family,” Partridge said. “We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective, and safe tool for farmers and others.”

story continues below

Johnson used Roundup and a similar product, Ranger Pro, as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, his lawyers said. He sprayed large quantities from a 50-gallon tank attached to a truck, and during gusty winds, the product would cover his face, said Brent Wisner, one of his attorneys.

Once, when a hose broke, the weed killer soaked his entire body.

Johnson read the label and even contacted the company after developing a rash but was never warned it could cause cancer, Wisner said. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014.

“The simple fact is he is going to die. It’s just a matter of time,” Wisner told the jury in his opening statement last month.

But George Lombardi, an attorney for Monsanto, said non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma takes years to develop, so Johnson’s cancer must have started well before he began working at the school district.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Roundup’s active ingredient is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions.

However, the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified it as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015. California added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer.

Johnson’s attorneys sought and won $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million of the $373 million they wanted in punitive damages.

EPD ACTIVITY REPORT

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EPD REPORT

Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Records

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http://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/jail-recent-booking-records.aspx

Politicians, Media Unfairly Single Out Football’s Concussion Risk

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Politicians, Media Unfairly Single Out Football’s Concussion

John R. Lott, Jr. for TownHall News
Aug 08, 2018 9:20 AM

With the pro-football season starting this coming week for most teams, media outlets have returned to their steady drumbeat about concussions. Despite the excitement of kickoff returns, college football has bowed to pressure with a new rule this year to discourage kickoff returns.

But if the media really cares about concussions, they shouldn’t be singling out this uniquely American sport.

Women’s soccer players suffer a higher concussion rate than do male football players. A woman’s soccer player who plays 10,000 games or practices would on average suffer 6.3 concussions. Compare that to 6.1 for men’s football. But men’s wrestling and hockey have even much higher concussion rates of 12.4 and 8.4, respectively.

Concussions aren’t the only problem. Both men’s and women’s soccer exceed men’s football in total injuries. The injury rate is 11.14 per 10,000 athletic exposures for men’s soccer and 9.7 for women’s soccer. For football, it is 9.5 per 10,000.

College athletes suffer about twice the frequency of concussions as high school athletes. In high school, football is riskier than soccer. But girls’ and boys’ soccer are still the second and third most dangerous sports for concussions, followed closely by girls’ basketball.
But evidence also shows that soccer is responsible for more of the serious concussions among high school athletes. Soccer concussions are about twice as likely as football concussions to require 22 or more days of recovery.

Most concussions in soccer occur for the same reason as in football — collisions with other players. But heading the ball is another huge cause of concussions in soccer. In high school, contact with “equipment” is about nine times more likely to cause concussions in boys’ soccer as in football. Heading is even more dangerous for w

College athletes suffer about twice the frequency of concussions as high school athletes. In high school, football is riskier than soccer. But girls’ and boys’ soccer are still the second and third most dangerous sports for concussions, followed closely by girls’ basketball.

But evidence also shows that soccer is responsible for more of the serious concussions among high school athletes. Soccer concussions are about twice as likely as football concussions to require 22 or more days of recovery.

Most concussions in soccer occur for the same reason as in football — collisions with other players. But heading the ball is another huge cause of concussions in soccer. In high school, contact with “equipment” is about nine times more likely to cause concussions in boys’ soccer as in football. Heading is even more dangerous for women.

Unfortunately, soccer players are much less likely than football players to recognize that they have suffered a concussion. So, they are less likely to take the time to rest and get treatment. Perhaps players aren’t aware of the dangers because the media only fixates on concussions from football.

College football mandated helmets in 1939, and the NFL followed suit in 1943. Since then, the gear has undergone regular improvements. But despite new research showing that soccer helmets can reduce the rate of concussions by up to 70%, soccer remains resistant to any change. There is still no media drumbeat against the sport.

Still, even staying away from sports won’t guarantee protection from concussions. A new study this year in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that even theater isn’t a safe extra curricular choice for students.  The study found a “stunning” rate of “concussion-related symptoms”: 77 percent had a least one head injury and 39 percent had at least five.  Unfortunately, 70 percent continued working even after having concussion-related symptoms.

Politicians have helped create the perception that football is particularly risky. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), the second-ranking Democrat, has introduced legislation mandating research on concussions in football, hockey, basketball, and baseball.   But there is no mention of soccer.   Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) want to pass stricter safety standards for high school football helmets.  Former President Obama went so far as to say in 2014, “I would not let my son play pro football.”

If football is such a scourge, where is the concern over even riskier sports such as soccier, hockey, and wrestling?

Soccer might currently be the “in” politically-correct sport that is played by supposedly culturally superior Europeans, but parents who push their children into playing it for safety reasons are in for an unpleasant surprise.

“IS IT TRUE” AUGUST 14, 2018

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We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE” 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 at last nights City Council meeting 8 out of 9 members voted to relocate the LST next to Tropicana-Evansville? …that 2nd Ward City Councilwoman Missy Mosby requested that Council hold off voting for the relocation of the LST until she receives more information because she has some unanswered questions about this multi-million dollar project?  …we commended Ms. Mosby for displaying good common business sense in opposing voting for this issue at last nights City Council meeting?

IS IT TRUE that City Councilwoman Missy Mosby would like to know who will pay for the $3 million dollar bill to dismantle the boat dock located at Marina Pointe once the LST moves down the river?

IS IT TRUE that City Councilwoman Missy Mosby would like to know why all of the LST Board Of Directors members live out of the area?  …could this be considered a “Taxation Without Representation” issue?

IS IT TRUE that there is a fly in the ointment that just popped up with the Houston based company that is on track to acquire Vectren?…CenterPoint Energy just recorded a quarterly loss of $75 Million?…Vectren is a consistently profitable utility that seemly enjoys a favorable treatment from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC)?  … perhaps CenterPoint Energy needs to put some of the gilded management team at Vectren in charge of teaching them how to become a more profitable electrical provider in the State of Texas?

IS IT TRUE Texas is, of course, a state where their deregulation is the rule of law so there are no protected legislated monopolies?… some of our readers wonder if Vectren is being acquired to de-emphasize competition in the energy marketplace?

IS IT TRUE CenterPoint Energy $75M loss may not be much in the big picture but there is one thing that the Vectren people do not have experience with and that is operating a utility in a de-regulated state so they probably won’t be heading for Texas any time soon?…we are told that the cost of electricity in Texas is on the order of half of what it is in the greater Evansville area?

IS IT TRUE after spending two years in Evansville, The Small College Basketball Hall Of Fame has found new a new home?  ..yesterday it was announced that the 2018 Small College Basketball of Fame Induction Ceremony and Hall of Fame Classic will move to St. Joseph, Missouri, in conjunction with Missouri Western State and the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau?  …that the Ford Center and the Evansville Sports Corporation jointly sponsored the Small College Basketball Hall Of Fame for the last two years?  …this situation is not only embarrassing to the Vanderburgh/Evansville Vistors and Convention Bureau but also to the Evansville Sports Corporation?  …we wonder how many thousands of dollars of taxpayers money was spent on this failed venture?

Todays“Readers Poll” question is: Should City Council have known who are paying the $3 million dollar costs to dismantle the dock at Marina Pointe before approving the move of the LST to the Tropicana area?

Please take time and read our articles entitled “STATEHOUSE Files, CHANNEL 44 NEWS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, READERS POLL, BIRTHDAYS, HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS”.  You now are able to subscribe to get the CCO daily.

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