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WHATS HAPPENING AT CHRIST CHURCH
Former Otters Nunn, Atkinson and Duval experience MLB spring training
Three former Evansville Otters players appeared on Major League Baseball spring training rosters this season as left-handed pitcher Chris Nunn along with right-handed pitchers Ryan Atkinson and Max Duval had the opportunity to suit up for MLB teams.
All three played for the Otters within the last two seasons.
Since Andy McCauley became Evansville’s manager midway through the 2010 season, over 20 players have signed contracts with affiliated organizations.
Nunn appeared in two games for the Houston Astros this spring, pitching 1 2/3 innings and finishing with a 0.00 ERA. He pitched the seventh inning of the Astros’ 8-2 win over the New York Mets Feb. 27.
The Astros took him in the Triple-A phase of MLB’s Rule 5 draft in December after the Chicago Cubs signed him in August from Evansville after making one start for the Otters.
Nunn had a 1.80 ERA with Evansville and he was immediately assigned to the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate.
In his start at Bosse Field Aug. 9, Nunn struck out nine Florence batters as he allowed one earned run off three hits in five innings. After the first two batters he faced reached base, Nunn regrouped to strike out the next seven. Through three innings, he had eight strikeouts.
Nunn was drafted in the 24th round of the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft by the San Diego Padres. He spent four years in the Padres organization and also spent time with the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 2017 prior to arriving in Evansville.
Duval also made a roster after being activated by the Miami Marlins in March, however, he didn’t make an appearance.
The Marlins signed Duval July 28 after he went 12-3 with 155 strikeouts in two seasons with Evansville. Last season, he was 8-2 in earning the Frontier League’s Brian Tollberg Award for being the most valuable pitcher with a 2.28 ERA in 14 starts.
Duval was named the Frontier League Pitcher of the Week June 26 after he made two starts on the mound the week before and went seven innings in both games.
Atkinson appeared in four games with the Arizona Diamondbacks this spring and started one.
In his March 17 start against San Diego, Atkinson went three innings and didn’t allow a run. He struck out four batters and walked three, throwing 47 pitches. He finished the spring with a 12.79 ERA in 6 1/3 innings.
He was signed by the Otters June 22, 2016 and spent eight days in Evansville before being signed by the Diamondbacks. He pitched 5 2/3 innings in two games and finished with a 0.00 ERA.
The most recent MLB organization signee was right-handed pitcher Ryan Etsell, who was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies organization in December.
Two former players have appeared in a regular season MLB game with George Sherrill (1999-00) making 442 career MLB appearances from 2004-12 and Andrew Werner (2009-10) starting eight games for the Padres in 2012.
Evansville will celebrate Bosse Field’s Opening Night May 11 against the Washington Wild Things at 6:35 p.m.
The Evansville Otters are
HOT JOBS IN EVANSVILLE
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UE Softball Looks To Continue Streak At Loyola
Aces and Ramblers tangle Friday and Saturday
Easter weekend will see the University of Evansville softball team head to Chicago for a 3-game series against Loyola. UE opens up the series on Friday with a noon doubleheader before playing a single game on Saturday at 11 a.m.
For the first time in five years, the Purple Aces took the regular season series against UNI, sweeping the Panthers in a doubleheader on Sunday. Entering the series, the Aces dropped 9 of the last 11 meetings. Freshman Eryn Gould went 6-of-7 from the plate while scoring five runs in the doubleheader while Morgan Florey picked up the win in each game. UE took both games by a 6-2 final.
UE freshman Eryn Gould was named the MVC Player and Newcomer of the Week on Monday following her performance against UNI. Gould entered the weekend series against UNI batting .400 on the season before an unbelievable 2-game performance saw her notch six hits in seven at-bats to raise that average to .442, third in the league. She batted an unreal .857 in the series, going 6-7 with five runs scored, two doubles, a home run, walk and an RBI. Through the first five conference outings in 2018, Gould has 11 hits in 16 at-bats and is batting .688 while getting on base 72.2% of the time.
Morgan Florey earned the victory in both wins over UNI last weekend. She started game one, going the distance while allowing two runs, one earned; in game two, she tossed four innings of scoreless relief. Florey is 5th in the NCAA with 10.7 strikeouts per seven innings while ranking seventh in total strikeouts with 155.
Since March 9, freshman Lindsay Renneisen has seen her average rise from .204 to .260. Over her last nine games, Renneisen has gone 10-26 from the plate; she notched a total of 10 hits in her first 17 college games.
Going into the series against the Panthers, senior Brittany Hay was mired in a 3-for-25 slump, but got an important boost against UNI. In the two contests, Hay was 2-7 from the plate, but her hit in game two ended up as the biggest hit of the weekend. With the game knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Hay launched her team-leading fifth homer of the season to help the Aces earn a 6-2 victory. She continues to lead the team with her five home runs and 19 RBI.
Also making an impact over the weekend were Bailee Porter and McKenzie Johnson, who each posted two hits in six at-bats, finishing at .333.
Loyola stands at 15-12 overall and are tied with the Aces in the league, sitting with a 2-3 mark. Shannon McGee leads the offense with a .448 average and a team-high 18 RBIs. Kiley Jones has earned 12 wins in the circle and has a 1.97 ERA.
Evansville has won five of the last six games against Loyola, including a series sweep last season. Morgan Florey has notched a 3-1 mark vs. Loyola with a 1.25 ERA in 28 innings of work; she has fanned 38 batters in that time.
VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES
 Below are the felony cases to be filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office today.
Kenneth Edward Myers: Unlawful possession or use of a legend drug (Level 6 Felony), Attempt Obstruction of justice (Level 6 Felony), Resisting law enforcement (Class A misdemeanor)
Percy Alexander Porter Jr.: Possession of a narcotic drug (Level 6 Felony), Possession of a controlled substance (Class A misdemeanor)
Lydia Nashae White: Possession of a narcotic drug (Level 6 Felony), Failure to appear (Level 6 Felony), Possession of marijuana (Class A misdemeanor), Possession of paraphernalia (Class C misdemeanor)
Roger Lee Scott II: Causing serious bodily injury when operating a vehicle while intoxicated (Level 6 Felony), Possession of a synthetic drug or synthetic drug lookalike substance (Level 6 Felony), Reckless driving (Class A misdemeanor), Reckless driving (Class B misdemeanor)
Brian Michael Pope: Dealing in methamphetamine (Level 2 Felony), Dealing in a schedule II controlled substance (Level 4 Felony), Unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon (Level 4 Felony), Dealing in a schedule IV controlled substance (Level 5 Felony), Unlawful possession of syringe (Level 6 Felony), Driving while suspended (Class A misdemeanor), Possession of marijuana (Class B misdemeanor)
Julien Eugene Ford: Criminal trespass (Level 6 Felony)
Shelby Lynn Stidham: Neglect of a dependent (Level 6 Felony), Neglect of a dependent (Level 6 Felony), Domestic battery on a person less than 14 years old (Level 6 Felony)
Jerry Louis Lipson: Domestic battery (Level 5 Felony)
David Alan Kifer: Criminal trespass (Level 6 Felony), Criminal mischief (Class B misdemeanor)
Tonya Leah Cusic: Theft (Level 6 Felony)
Harcourt Lee Alton: Domestic battery (Level 6 Felony)
James Larry Kellems: Unlawful possession of syringe (Level 6 Felony), Maintaining a common nuisance – controlled substances (Level 6 Felony), Resisting law enforcement (Class A misdemeanor)
Billy Ray Travis: Criminal trespass (Level 6 Felony)
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Fogle files, loses constitutional challenge
olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com
Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle has lost yet another challenge to his 15-year sentence for child pornography charges, with the Indiana Southern District Court this time upholding the constitutionality of a statute through which Fogle has been permitted to seek relief.
After initially filing a motion to withdraw his guilty plea — which Judge Tanya Walton Pratt treated as a motion to vacate, set aside or correct sentence — on Feb. 26, Pratt gave the Indianapolis native until April 6 to supplement the motion “with a complete statement and grounds on which he could and does challenge his conviction and/or sentence.†Alternatively, Fogle was given the opportunity to withdraw his motion, or notify the court that the motion already contains a complete statement of his claims and grounds for relief.
If Fogle does not take one of those three actions by April 6, his motion will be treated as one under 18 U.S.C. 2255, and his case will proceed. But rather than taking one of those actions, Fogle filed a constitutional challenge to section 2255(f)(1-4), alleging the one-year statute of limitations for section 2255 motions unconstitutionally denies a party habeas relief by setting a time limit. He also maintained Civil Procedure Rule 5.1 requires the court to notify the U.S. Attorney General of his constitutional challenge.
But Pratt found no constitutional defect with section 2255, writing in a Wednesday order that the statute of limitations merely “imposes a congressionally-intended limitation in order to further the well-established goal of finality in criminal convictions.†Further, because the statute is not unconstitutional, Pratt declined to certify the constitutional question to the attorney general.
The judge also determined Fogle’s constitutional challenge was actually a motion to withdraw his section 2255 motion and directed the clerk to modify the docket accordingly. However, she withheld judgment on the motion to withdraw considering the April 6 deadline has not yet passed, then extended Fogle’s deadline to supplement the motion by one week.
Fogle’s original motion to vacate, set aside or correct sentence stems from his convictions of traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and distribution and receipt of child pornography. He claims his guilty pleas to those charges were not voluntary because he erroneously pleaded guilty to a “conspiracy†charge, referencing conspiracy language included in the child porn charge.
Fogle also alleged in his criminal case — United States of America v. Jared S. Fogle, 1:15-cr-00159 — that he is a sovereign citizen not subject to the court’s jurisdiction,  but Pratt rejected that argument in November 2017. When he continued to challenge the court’s jurisdiction and filed the motion to withdraw his guilty plea, Pratt re-docketed the motion to the instant civil case, Jared S. Fogle v. United States of America, 1:18-cv-00571.
IS IT TRUE MARCH 29, 2018
We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUEâ€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?
IS IT TRUE that Echo Housing is finally starting to attempt to shed some light on the workings of the organization?…that newly appointed acting head of the organization Chris Metz has been appearing on the TV cameras with Evansville DMD Director Kelly Coures explaining that the alleged criminal activity at Echo will not impact the programs delivered to the people who depend on Echo Housing for a place to live?…its also obvious that no one will be losing a roof over their head as the Evansville City Council delays paying any funds to Echo until the police investigation and forensic audit is completed?… The City Council is doing exactly the right thing by holding back on the funding of ECHO Housing until the police investigation and forensic audit are completed?
IS IT TRUE the last thing that should not be done by City Council is to fund an expansion of a dysfunctional (ECHO Housing) organization that is not on top of where some the money has been going?…another thing that needs to be a part of the police investigation and the forensic audit is that everyone associated with Echo Housing should be cleared of wrongdoing?…that anyone who is accused that is eventually convicted or plea bargains regarding the alleged theft of taxpayer dollars should be gone?
IS IT TRUE we wonder why the management of Echo Housing isn’t releasing the names of the Board of Directors, this is just unfathomable? …the bottom line is that the Board Of Directors is responsible for the losses associated with failing to provide fiduciary oversight and keeping their names to the public is not acceptable?
IS IT TRUE we have been contacted by several readers asking us what is the educational and professional background that qualifies one to be hired as the Executive Director of ECHO Housing?  …this seems like a very reasonable question and should be answered by the Chairmen of the Board of ECHO Housing Corporation?  …while he is providing us the answer to this question we would like for him to tell us who appoints members to serve on the ECHO board and for how long?
IS IT TRUE that the City-County Observer has been made aware that there are numerous aquifers in greater Evansville that could be tapped to feed the new water treatment plant?…doing so would get the residents of Evansville out of the business of drinking from the polluted Ohio River?…this is a developing story and the powers that be would be well served to consider groundwater sources for future use as opposed to continuing to lap from the most polluted river in America?
IS IT TRUE that the City of Evansville has moved forward with a property lien against the owner of the former McCurdy Hotel for a water bill of nearly $1.5 Million?…this is for the water and sewer charge for the 93 apartments for roughly one year?…this water bill amounts to $1,344 per apartment per month for the first year of operation and the apartments aren’t full of residents yet?…adding in another $878 per month to service the debt and other operating expenses like maintenance, management, electricity, taxes, etc. and it becomes obvious that the break even for any single apartment is going to be at least $2,500 per month?
IS IT TRUE when using an 85% occupancy assumption the reality is that the McCurdy Apartments are going to need to charge around $3,000 per month to be a profitable enterprise?…there is no market for $3,000 per month apartments of these sizes in downtown Evansville?…given these truths one can only reach the conclusion that the McCurdy has been killed by government for the second time since former Mayor Weinzapfel marched the residents (senior citizens) of the place up the street to make way for a campaign supporter from Indianapolis to purchase the building?…that idiocy costs the City of Evansville taxpayers about $1.4 million?…if something isn’t done concerning the current water and sewer bill issue it may be the death knell of this historical building?
IS IT TRUE that the City of Fishers, Ind has renewed a $240,000-per-year legal services contract with Jennifer Messer, who will again work from Washington, D.C.
…Jennifer Messer is the wife of Congressmen Luke Messer, R Shelbyville and serves as the city’s general legal counsel with a focus on development?  … this is the eighth year she has been hired by the City of Fishers.
IS IT TRUE that the hiring of the wife of Congressmen Luke Messer, RÂ Shelbyville caused controversy last year when it was revealed she no longer lived in Indiana and was performing her job from the D.C. area, where she resides with her husband, U.S. Rep. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate?
IS IT TRUE that United States candidate Mike Braun has publically stated that if elected he shall do the following things?  …Mr. Braun pledges if elected he will vote to enact strict term limits; pass a lifetime lobbying ban for members of Congress; eliminate the Congressional pension; make Congress follow the same laws as everyone else and ban pork barrel spending?  …as of today, we haven’t heard a word from Mr. Brauns opponents what they pledge to do if they are elected to the United States Senate?
IS IT TRUE that our current “Readers Poll” is stating in large numbers that the current ECHO Housing Board Of Director must go?  …with the taxpayers donating around $500,000 to help funds the activities of ECHO it would make good sense that at least one Council member should be appointed to this board?
Todays “Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that the current ECHO Housing board members were not good stewards of the public trust and should be immediately replaced?
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