Chi Chi – female Chihuahua mix, 4 ½ years old, $130 adoption fee which includes spay, vaccines/tests & nationally registered microchip
AG Curtis Hill reiterates support for maximizing numbers of early-voting centers
AG also announces appeal in Common Cause case, defending state law’s enforceability
Attorney General Curtis Hill today announced he is appealing a federal court’s consent decree setting a minimum number of five early-voting sites specifically in Marion County in perpetuity, which contravenes state law requiring a unanimous vote of the county election board each year to establish satellite offices.
“In filing this appeal, we are defending the ability of the local election board to make these decisions in accordance with state law without a federal court ruling binding the board to a minimum number of locations indefinitely,†Attorney General Hill said.
Further, Attorney General Hill said, his office has a statutory obligation to defend the constitutionality and enforceability of state laws. In this case, a federal court overrode the operation of state law without declaring that enforcement of the law would violate federal law.
While fulfilling his statutory duty, Attorney General Hill also reiterated his own strong support for maximizing the numbers of satellite voting centers in all 92 counties.
“We must — as a matter of civic responsibility — ensure that as many people as possible are able to participate in free and fair elections,†he said. “In every lawful way, we should maximize the convenience and ease with which citizens may cast their ballots. Establishing a plentiful number of early-voting sites is one such strategy. I encourage county election officials across Indiana to operate multiple satellite voting locations in their counties, and I encourage voters to take maximum advantage of these opportunities.â€
Current court proceedings in this matter have no effect on the 2018 election cycle or current numbers of early-voting sites.
CANDIDATE FORUM TONIGHT 6:30 PM
|
|
“READERS FORUM†OCTOBER 25, 2018
We hope that today’s “READERS FORUMâ€Â will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?Â
WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?
Todays“Readers Poll†question is: If the election was held today in District #2 for the Vanderburgh County School Board which two (2) would you vote for?
We would like to thank you for your support and prayers for our Publisher to have a successful heart operation and recovery. Â We are pleased to informed that Ron’s operation this morning went better than expected and he is presently in recovery.
If you would like to advertise on the CCO please contact us City-CountyObserver@live.com
Response To Retired Educator Carolyn Bennett’s Letter To CCO Editor By Anne Ennis
How Are Students Learning and Who Is Leading the Lesson?
by Ann M Ennis
Many are concerned about the Learning Sciences International (LSI) group contracted by EVSC to show our teachers how to help students self-teach.
As explained in the September 10 School Board Meeting by Dr. Smith, “LSI was a seminal point in shift to make sure that each student is responsible for his learning. We are going away from the lecture model …. The way every person in this room was taught was with teacher at front of room lecturing and we as students accepting and taking-in the information from the teacher.” …
Smith continued, “LSI brings content and delivery improvement. LSI is a perfect fit for SEL (social emotional learning model used throughout EVSC). Students have responsibility to work in groups. … We know that success with executive function skills is the most significant indicator of a student’s future success.†Executive functio includes staying on task, critical thinking, listening, collaboration and delegation.
“LSI was brought in (by EVSC) to help shift in approach to educating students,” Dr. Smith said. After the LSI contract ends, with training being provided to teachers through work-day professional development sessions, “we will be able to continue on without LSI and Mass Insight. We can continue and succeed. This is often not the case” after a contracted consultant company departs, said Dr. Smith.
Dr. Smith ended his part of the Sept. 18 meeting, by saying self-teaching and self-regulation “allow all students to develop to their maximum potential.”
In substitute teaching this fall for teachers using the self-instruction method, and in this particular week for teachers who were pulled from class for 2 days of training in the LSI method, I am concerned about the ideal versus reality of students self-teaching and self-regulating. Introducing this method at Kindergarten and taking it through to 12th grade — perhaps. But introducing this concept with 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders does not seem to lead to learning.
I would like more information. I would like to see a well functioning self-regulating, self-teaching, group work classroom with a first or second year teacher in a standard middle school classroom. I hope to get it after the election, no matter the result.
FOOTNOTE: This letter is posted by the CCO without opinion, bias or editing.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: STATE REPRESENTATIVE RON BEACON PRAISED FOR HIS WORK IN COMMUNITY
October 24, 2018
Dear Editor,
This past March, a tragedy occurred in our community of Spencer County. A 17 year old, Jade Yeager was killed in a car accident at a dangerous intersection outside of Rockport on her way to school.
Her father, Mike Yeager had a goal of making that intersection safer so no one else would lose their life. On his behalf, I contacted State Representative Ron Bacon to inquire on the appropriate action required to get the process started.
Ron was a valuable asset from the beginning. He has worked with INDOT over the years & contacted them immediately to see if the wreck had been reported. Ron let me know the steps to take soon after he spoke with INDOT. I stayed in regular contact with Ron until the meeting with INDOT was held at Spencer County Courthouse this past July. Â
I have come to know Ron through his involvement with Spencer & Warrick Counties. He is a man of true character that cares about people as a whole – even down to a person he never met until a tragedy occurred – he was there for Mike. Ron’s involvement to communities with his reputation has carried positive results throughout Southern Indiana even all the way to the Statehouse. Â
I hope that anyone who knows Ron or has heard of him will take the time out to thank him for the amazing job that he does representing the people of Southern Indiana.
Sincerely,
Mysti DeMarco
Rockport, INÂ
FOOTNOTE: This letter was posted by the CCO without opinion, bias or editing.
State Police Collecting Old, Unused Medicines Saturday
State Police Collecting Old, Unused Medicines Saturday
Staff Report
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—Indiana State Police are partnering with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration on Saturday in another prescription drug take back the initiative.
Collection sites will be set up across Indiana at state police locations as well as at sites across the nation for the public to dispose of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs. The program is aimed at preventing prescription drug abuse and theft and to get rid of the drugs safely.
This program, free and anonymous, is for liquid and pill medications. Needles, new or used, will not be accepted for disposal.
Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses. The DEA reports that studies show a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.
Disposing of unused medicines by flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash pose potential safety and health hazards.Â
As in the past, the drugs may be dropped off at any state police post, except the post at the Indiana Toll Road. Collections times Saturday will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Also, the state police will host a drop off site from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday inside the Indiana Government Center North public entrance off of Robert Orr Plaza in Indianapolis. This is between the government north and south buildings, immediately west of the State Capitol building.
To locate the state police post closest to your home or business, click this link for Indiana State Police on the Map. To find other locations in Indiana or across the U.S. that are participating in the drug take-back initiative, click this link to the DEA.
FOOTNOTE: TheStatehouseFile.com is a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Reversal: Claim of 165 Texts In 24 Hours Doesn’t Prove Stalking
Reversal: Claim of 165 Texts In 24 Hours Doesn’t Prove Stalking
October 24, 2018
The Indiana Court of Appeals revoked a man’s protective order against the mother of his child when it found that her excessive messaging in a 24-hour period did not constitute stalking.
M.A. and S.H. were previously involved in an intimate relationship and have one daughter together, but they remained out of contact with each other until September 2017.
Three months later, M.A. filed a petition for an order of protection, alleging that S.H. committed stalking against him by sending him 165 text messages in one day. The texts allegedly expressed anger at M.A.’s decision to have another child with someone else and at his performance as a father.
During a February 2018 hearing, M.A. only offered five text messages of the alleged 165 sent by S.H. into evidence. S.H. admitted to sending M.A. numerous messages that day, but he said that the messages in evidence did not properly reflect that they were part of a larger conversation between the two of them.
Despite S.H.’s offer to admit the entire 46-page conversation between her and M.A., the trial court sustained M.A.’s objection to its admittance. However, it did say that S.H. could submit a clean copy, but would not allow her to rip off the notated margins and submit it during that hearing.
The trial court ultimately found M.A. had shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the protective order was justified and issued the protective order.
On appeal, S.H. argued that M.A. did not present sufficient evidence to support the issuance of a protective order in his admitted text messages, and the appellate court agreed in a memorandum decision Tuesday, S.H. v. M.A. (mem. dec.), 18A-PO-526.
“Although S.H. is undoubtedly emotional in the text messages, the five messages, by themselves, do not establish ‘repeated or continuing impermissible contact’ with M.A.,†Chief Judge Nancy Vaidik wrote. “Rather, they reflect that S.H. was angry with M.A. about his parenting (or lack thereof).â€
The appellate court also found that because the admitted text messages were in fact a part of a “much larger conversation†between M.A. and S.H., and M.A. objected to the admission of the 46-page conversation, he therefore could not rely on the unadmitted text messages to prove S.H. was stalking him.
“… (H)ad Exhibit 2 been admitted, it would have been clear that the messages in Exhibit A were part of a much larger conversation between M.A. and S.H,†Vaidik continued. “As this Court has stated before, ‘mutual communication between two parties [does not qualify] as harassment within the meaning of the stalking statute.’â€
The appellate court therefore reversed the trial court’s issuance of the protective order and remanded with instructions to vacate it.