The City-County Observer Annual Awards Luncheon Is a Sell Out 

The final winners of the 2018 CCO Annual “Outstanding Community Service Awards” winners for 2018 are EPD Police Chief Billy Bolin and EPD Lieutenant Paul Kirby. They are well-known creators of the present Kids Kingdom playground structure located at Sunset Park. was built in 2002 as a community project originated by Evansville Police Department officers Paul Kirby and Billy Bolin, before Bolin was appointed Chief of Police. Together the officers oversaw the design and construction of the structure and spearheaded fundraising efforts. The structure was built in only six days with the help of more than 1,300 volunteers. The project received over $130,000 in private and corporate sponsorships, plus in-kind donations including materials. Bolin said the total value of the project exceeded $300,000.

Chief of Police Billy Bolin has served on the Evansville Police Department since 1998.  He has been assigned to various positions in the department during his career, including Patrol, Juvenile Detective Office, Crime Prevention Officer and Patrol Sergeant.  He started his Policing Career at the Henderson Kentucky Police Department in 1995.  Chief Bolin graduated from the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training in February 1996.  He is also a graduate of the Police Executive Leadership Academy.  Chief Bolin won the National 2005 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Outstanding Public Service and was the 2009 Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police, Police Officer of the Year.

Lieutenant Kirby has worked in patrol, been a crime prevention officer, crime scene technician, a sergeant in the detective office, lieutenant over patrol, detective office and is currently the lieutenant over the Special Operations Unit.

Then Officers Bolin and Kirby worked together to organize the annual Culver School Christmas Party for several years, where all 400+ kids received a Christmas bucket with sock hats, small toys, fruit, and candy.  Officer Bolin then mentioned to Officer Kirby that Evansville needed a large scale playground on the riverfront and the two received approval from the Parks Board to raise the funds and after two years work, Kids Kingdom was built in Sunrise Park.

The two then partnered with Officer Pat Phernetton to start GUNS & HOSES, which is currently gearing up for its eleventh year.  The annual boxing event between police officers and firefighters draws around 8,000 spectators and raises over $100,000 a year for local charities that benefit children and people with special needs.

As a result of GUNS & HOSES, 911 Gives Hope was born and Billy and Paul were founding members.  Along with GUNS & HOSES, 911 Gives Hope also hosts the yearly 911 Gives Hope for the Holidays Toy Drive.  The group just held their 9th toy drive in December which provides toys to all the local hospitals which are given out to kids year round while in the hospitals.

With the news of the original Kids Kingdom being torn down as part of the water utility project, Billy and Paul are both onboard the Kids Kingdom-2 committee. The new committee will oversee the building of a larger, better playground along our downtown riverfront this fall.

For more than a decade it has been one of the most often used playgrounds in Evansville but the days of Kids Kingdom are numbered because of an upcoming Evansville Water and Sewer Utility project. Despite this, the founders of the park, Police Chief Billy Bolin, and Lieutenant Paul Kirby, are beyond hope that the Kids Kingdom-2 will be bigger and better.

Bolin and Kirby’s names read first on the plaque commemorating the construction. The two men often downplay their involvement in the playground coming to fruition, crediting the work of the hundreds of volunteers, corporate sponsors, and private donors. The impending demolition of the park is bittersweet, Bolin said, but planning is almost complete for the next version of Kids Kingdom. “It’s more than hope,” Bolin said. “I’ve been included in a lot of the early meetings and they’re getting public input. I know for certain we’re going to have aN outstanding replacement.”

The design for “KIDS KINGDOM -2 project is almost is complete. The new playground will be near the Evansville Museum.  “If [the playground] was just going away I would say that it’s not good for the community,” Kirby said. “Now, we can have something to look forward to. Maybe a bigger and better [playground] built by the community. It will still instill that pride again maybe for another 20 years.”

This year’s winners are Ted and Clare Ziemer, Honorable Posey County Superior Cout Judge Jim Redwine, Local Attorney Pat Shoulders, Honorable Chief Superior Court Judge -Les Shively, and Lieutenant Paul Kirby and EPD Chief od police Billy Bolin.

This year’s awards luncheon will be held at Tropicana-Evansville Walnut rooms A and B. The registration begins at 11:30 am, the event officially starts at 12 noon on March 19, 2018? …this event is sold out.  If you have any questions about this event please call the Event Coordinator, Karen Selzer at 812-430-9304 or 812-909-2361?

For the first time since prohibition Hoosiers can legally buy booze and beer on Sundays from noon to 8 p.m.  Though if you’re shopping at a convenience store of a grocery store folks still can’t buy cold beer that measure died in committee.

Lawmakers also worked on clarifying the state’s CBD oil laws.  CBD is made from the cannabis plant but does not contain the same psychoactive effect that THC contains.  It’s believed to have medical benefits, and the Senate bill that was authored by local state Senator Jim Tomes is expected to be voted on Wednesday.

The other CBD oil bill from the house has drawn the ire and curiosity of many Hoosiers.  That bill which passed both the Senate and house early in the session had a rare amendment added on known as strip and insert to make the bill about gun legislation and not CBD oil.

If passed the bill would eliminate gun permit fees and approve those permits for life.  The legislature passed some major stopgap funding for Indiana schools after a higher than expected attendance year.  The say’s firefly became the official insect of the Hoosier state.

Some other unusual bills made it through too — Indiana is now the second state to ban scleral tattoos which are tattoos on the eyeballs.

Also, a bill that allows students to carry sunscreen on school property without a doctor’s note passed with ease.  On the flip side of the 2018 Indiana legislative session — bills that have been tried in the past were again shot down.  Those include a hate crime bill, raising the minimum wage and requiring cursive to be taught in schools.

The Governor says he will look at all sides of the bills as he signs many that are expected to pass in these waning hours of the session.

As of Wednesday, the Senate cleared the bill 67 to zero. The bill moved to the House and was cleared 97 to zero legalizing the sale and usage of CBD oil.