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?
WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?
IS IT TRUE this is whats on our mind today?  We hope that the individuals involved in styling the new City of Evansville noise ordinance are aware that the Tortious interference liability laws will legally protect those business owners that are financially affected by an overreaching noise ordinance?
Todays “Readers Poll” question is: If the Republicans primary for Vanderburgh County Commission was held today who would you for?
Please take time and read our articles entitled “STATEHOUSE Files, CHANNEL 44 NEWS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, READERS POLL, BIRTHDAYS, HOT JOBS†and “LOCAL SPORTSâ€.  You now are able to subscribe to get the CCO daily.
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Copyright 2015 City-County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 On the second reading of an ordinance that would create three, four-year term limits for the Evansville City Council, Evansville Mayor, and City Clerk, a surprise motion happened.
Justin Elpers was speaking for the ordinance he authored. He says he had been thinking about this since before he even took office. The conservative thinks that politics is by no means a career, but something that is limited. He says that by bringing in new leadership every so often, the city would be better for it and it may help “abysmal voter turnout.â€
He was quickly rebuffed by fellow councilperson Missy Mosby, who believes the process should be left up to the voters. Mosby thinks that the voters set the term limit by voting the members of the council in or out based on merit.
That idea may have sparked councilwoman Connie Robinson to come up with something the council agreed on. She wants to leave the decision on the term limits ordinance up to the people, so she motioned to table the discussion to have city attorney Joshua Claybourn look into putting the ordinance on a referendum, and maybe even the costs should they have to hold a special referendum.
Claybourn says he should have the answers at the next city council meeting.
City-County Observer “Outstanding Community Services Award” Winner For 2018.
Our third “Outstanding Community Services Award” winner for 2018 is the extremely popular and the very personable Evansville attorney, Patrick A. Shoulders.
Mr. Shoulders played a major role in bringing the I U Medical School to Downtown Evansville.  While some of our local political types were attempting to take credit for bringing the I U Medical School to Evansville Mr. Shoulders was quietly lobbying powerful state political and educational leaders in order to convince them to approve the I U Medical School for Evansville. In the end, Mr. Shoulders political connections and due diligence prevailed.
Mr. Shoulders is a partner in the firm who concentrates his practice in Litigation. He received his undergraduate degree in English from Indiana University in 1975, and his law degree from Indiana University in 1978, graduating magna cum laude. Admitted in both Indiana and Kentucky, Pat is an accomplished trial lawyer with sub-specialties in school law and appellate practice.
Pat has been elected to membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has also been elected to the Federation of Insurance & Defense Counsel, Litigation Counsel of America, and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Pat is a co-chair and founder of the Trial Advocacy Skills College held annually by the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum. He is a past chair of the Indiana Bar Association’s Litigation Section and a past council member of the State Bar’s Appellate Advocacy Committee. Pat has been recognized in every edition of Indiana Super Lawyers and has been one of the top 50 lawyers in the state of Indiana. He has achieved an AV certification rating from the Martindale & Hubbell legal directory, an elite peer rating recognizing him as performing at the highest level of professional excellence based on ethical standards and legal ability. He is also a frequent presenter for the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum and he has represented the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation as its General Counsel for more than 25 years.
Mr. Shoulders has served the legal profession as President of the Evansville Bar Association, as Chair of the Litigation and Citizenship Education Committees of the Indiana State Bar Association, as Chair of the Fellows of the Indiana Bar Foundation, and as a member of the State Bar Associations Board of Governors from 1998-2000. He is the recipient of the Evansville Bar Association’s highest honor—the James Bethel Gresham Award, in recognition of his service to the legal profession, and is a distinguished barrister in The Indiana Lawyer publications.
Pat’s volunteer activities in Southwestern Indiana have been numerous. He served as President of the Evansville Parks Foundation, Museum of Arts & Sciences, and the YMCA, Chair of the WNIN Auction, Founder & Director of the Arts Fest 12K River Run, a Member of the Board of Park Commissioners and a member of the Evansville Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. He has served as a Civic Theatre Board Member, Public Defender Commissioner, and Member of the Mayor’s Unification Study Committee. His volunteerism has earned him the Kentucky Colonel, Sagamore of the Wabash and the Indiana Bar’s President’s Awards.
Pat has also served Indiana University with distinction. Pat has been a Trustee of IU since January 1, 2002. He is a past national President of the Indiana University Alumni Association and the IU College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Association. He also currently serves as a Director of the IU Foundation and is a past member of the Board of Governors of the IU Center on Philanthropy and the Indiana Public Policy Institute.
Mr. Shoulders co-hosted an extremely popular weekly television show on PBS affiliate WNIN entitled “Shively & Shoulders†with fellow attorney and personal friend, Chief Superior Court Judge, Les Shilvey. On this show, they interviewed local and state public officials engaged in vigorous discussions on current issues and events.
He and his Wife, Lisa; a daughter and son-in-law in Newburgh, Indiana, and a son and his partner in New York City, and three granddaughters.
FOOTNOTE: This year’s awards luncheon will be held at Tropicana-Evansville Walnut rooms A and B on March 19, 2018. The registration begins at 11:30 am, the event officially starts at 12 noon on March 19, 2018. Reservations for this event may be obtained by calling 812-774-8011.  We have only one (1) tables left to sell.  Deadline for registration is March 17, 2018. Last year’s event was a sellout.
On June 28th, 1981 in Portland, Oregon after the Cascade Run Off 15K, I made a decision that changed my life and the lives of hundreds of Track and Field athletes around the world and future Olympians from all sports.
I was 25 years old and had arrived in the USA from my native New Zealand a few months prior, to try my luck racing on the newly formed USA road racing circuit.
My first 10 years as a competitive runner had been spent as an amateur, belonging to a local athletic club, finishing high school, going to teachers college, and teaching elementary school for 4 years.
During those years I was very competitive in my sport representing New Zealand at World Cross Country Championships (5 times), Commonwealth Games (1974), and Olympic Games (qualified in 1972, 1976, and 1980, but only went to Montreal in ’76). I was a multiple New Zealand Champion and record holder.
The hardships came as an amateur trying to combine the training with school, college, and eventually being a school teacher (at age 20 years!). I caught all sorts of bugs from the kids, didn’t have a car, and rode buses to school each day! I would get up at 5:00am to run a few miles and then do a hard training session at the club track after school. If I was lucky, folks with cars would drive me to and from the bus station which was 2 miles from my home. Otherwise I walked.
In 1980, after the USA boycott of the Moscow Olympics, supported by New Zealand and other allies, I quit the sport entirely, got out of shape and overweight.
After some months, I was encouraged to start again and joined my second coach John Davies
In early 1981, I made my 5th New Zealand cross country team to Madrid, Spain. While there, I heard about the USA road racing scene and how women were being allowed to race the longer distances. At this time the 800m and 1500m were the longest distances in the Olympic Games for women.
I told my parents I would not be coming home but had decided to try my luck in the USA. I arrived in New Orleans, from London, in March of 1981 and raced the first 10K of my life finishing 3rd. Many people involved in the circuit were extremely supportive, letting me stay in their homes, paying me a few dollars (against all the amateur rules) to speak in running stores so I could support myself a little. After New Orleans, I raced in Eugene, Spokane, Boulder, New York, Denver, and Colorado Springs with so much success! I was born again!
There was a great deal of excitement surrounding this “new world†of road racing and it brought us all to Portland, OR in June to compete in the Cascade Runoff, a 15K sponsored by Nike.
Start of the 1981 Cascade Run Off 15K
Phil Knight, Nike’s founder, wanted the sport to be professional, as did many of the race directors. Nike put up $50,000 as prize money to be equally distributed between the male and female top ten finishers. First place was $10,000. The night before, all the athletes were assembled and told of the risks of accepting the money (i.e., being banned from the sport!). I was confident that if I finished in the top six I would have enough money to stay a little longer in USA. I had no doubt about my decision, as I had witnessed so many male athletes on the European track circuit being paid “under the tableâ€! I wanted the opportunity to pursue a professional career and to see how good I could be!
Race day turned out better than I thought and I won! I was presented with the check for $10,000 and was immediately in a lot of trouble. I received a telegram – yes a telegram – from the New Zealand Federation banning me from the sport. I was only in the USA on a visitor’s visa, so accepting the money was illegal too. My parents just wanted me to get on a plane and come home!
The telegram I received from the New Zealand Federation declaring me ineligible
Fast forward
After so much support from so many, Nike, my coach, race directors, immigration lawyers, and fellow athletes, I was able to continue racing on the road circuit and went on a 20-race win streak, which took me into 1983! During that time I broke the World Record for the 5000m and won the Gold Medal in the Commonwealth Games 3000m in Brisbane, Australia (1982).
I was reinstated to race on the track one week before winning the Commonwealth Gold Medal and retroactively awarded the World Record.
Track & Field News reporting on my 5000m World Record
There is obviously so much more to this story, but simply said, the Cascade Run Off 15K win changed my life! I became a full time professional runner which enabled me to completely control my environment to enable success. I retired in 1992, having been named the most successful road racer, male or female, in the 80’s!
I often say that if it wasn’t for that small group of runners in June of 81, Michael Jordan and the Dream Team would never have competed in the Olympics, as no professional athletes were allowed prior to that.
It was scary at the time but the risk was SO worth it!
INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Eric J. Holcomb awarded the 2018 Sachem Award today to Vietnam veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. 1st Class Sammy L. Davis of Freedom, Indiana at the Indiana War Memorial. Attached are the governor’s remarks, and below are photos from the event. Learn more about the life of Sgt. Davis and the history of the Sachem award on the governor’s webpage.Â
Pictured left to right: Maj. Gen. Erika Steuterman, Pastor Terry Webster, Indiana War Memorial Executive Director Brig. Gen. (ret) Stewart Goodwin, Former Indy 500 Broadcaster Paul Page and  Gov. Eric Holcomb applaud  the 2018 Sachem award recipient,  Sgt. 1st Class Sammy L. Davis  of Freedom, Indiana.
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Gov. Holcomb and Sgt. Davis with the 2018 Sachem award.
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Following the official ceremony, Sachem recipient Sammy L. Davis played “Shenandoah†for friends, family and guests. See video of his performance at www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3_CWebul1U.
University of Southern Indiana senior forward Morgan Dahlstrom (Grayslake, Illinois) and senior guard/forward Kaydie Grooms (Marshall, Illinois) have been named to the Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association Women’s Basketball All-Midwest Region second team in a vote by the region’s sports information directors.
Dahlstrom had a career year for the Eagles as she averaged 16.5 points and a Great Lakes Valley Conference-best 9.9 rebounds per contest. She was named first-team All-GLVC, first-team Academic All-District and was twice named GLVC Player of the Week.
The two-time All-GLVC honoree finished her four-year career at USI ranked fifth all-time in program history with 749 career rebounds, tied for fifth in games played (115), 10th in blocks (65) and 15th in scoring (1,069).
Grooms, who was a unanimous first-team All-GLVC honoree, also had a career year for the Eagles as she was fourth in the conference with a team-best 17.8 points per contest. She also earned GLVC Player of the Year honors during the regular-season.
Like Dahlstrom, Grooms also was a two-time All-GLVC honoree. She finished her career at USI ranked first all-time in games started (119); second in games played (119); fourth in free throws made (364); fifth in scoring (1,567), three-point field goals attempted (376) and field goals made (530); sixth in three-point field goals made (143), free throws attempted (454) and steals (185); tied for seventh in blocks (69); 10th in assists (239); and 13th in rebounds (530).
Along with senior guard Randa Harshbarger (Philo, Illinois), who was a third-team All-GLVC selection, Dahlstrom and Grooms helped lead the Eagles to an 89-30 overall record and a 54-18 mark in GLVC play during the last four years. They played in a combined 338 games, recording 3,164 career points, 1,547 rebounds, 701 assists, 141 blocks and 472 steals.
USI finished the year with a 26-5 overall record and advanced to the GLVC Championship game and NCAA II Midwest Region Tournament for the second time in four years. The Eagles finished the year with a 16-2 GLVC mark to earn their second straight GLVC East Division title.
Chloe is a 14-year-old female longhaired calico. Her previous family suddenly developed “allergies†after having her for her entire 14 years of life. She desperately wants a quiet retirement home to snuggle up in! Chloe’s $40 adoption fee includes her spay, microchip, vaccines, and more. Contact Vanderburgh Humane at (812) 426-2563 or adoptions@vhslifesaver.org for details!
The Indiana Supreme Court will hear the state’s challenge of an Indiana Court of Appeals order to enter a not guilty by reason of insanity judgment for a woman who shot and killed a Southport pastor.
Lori Barcroft was previously found guilty but mentally ill for the 2012 shooting of Bethel Community Church Pastor Jama Iseminger. Barcroft shot Iseminger after her son, Jordan Asbury, had confided in the pastor about Barcroft’s deteriorating mental state.
According to the record in Lori Barcroft v. the State of Indiana, 18S-CR-135, Barcroft admitted to police that she shot Iseminger. She later was diagnosed with schizophrenia, paranoid type, or delusional disorder, persecutory type. For example, she told officers that Iseminger had ordered her father to be smothered to death, while Jeb Bush had killed her grandmother and the Bush family and Iseminger together caused her grandson to become infected with a disease. She also claimed that she was a member of the Colombian mafia and that Iseminger had plans to kill her entire family.
Barcroft was found guilty but mentally ill after a bench trial in 2014, but the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case for a new trial in 2015. The case then proceeded to a second bench trial in 2017, when Barcroft once again asserted an insanity defense against charges of murder and a sentencing enhancement for the use of a firearm.
Despite three expert witnesses who determined Barcroft was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness at the time of the shooting, Marion Superior Court once again found Barcroft guilty but mentally ill by relying on demeanor evidence. Specifically, the court determined Barcroft had a motivation for the shooting because Iseminger had advised her son to move her out of his home and that her decision to hide after the shooting showed she appreciated the wrongfulness of her conduct.
Barcroft’s conviction was overturned a second time in December, with the Court of Appeals majority of judges Edward Najam and James Kirsch remanding to the trial for entry of a judgment of not guilty by reason of insanity. Judge Elaine Brown dissented and would have affirmed Barcroft’s conviction of guilty but mentally ill.
The case is one of 22 transfer petitions decided last week by the Indiana Supreme Court, and the only transfer petition granted. Transfer dispositions may be viewed here.
My name is Jaimie Sheth and I am the President/CEO/Founder of the JD Sheth Foundation. I’m writing to introduce myself and our foundation to you in order to possibly work in conjunction to aid the homeless veteran population of Evansville. Our foundation is a 501(c)3 US recognized nonprofit incorporated in Indiana. We are a project to project foundation, meaning we are presented with projects from other foundations/organizations/individuals and we review them to see if they fit our mission. If they do, we gather all necessary information to see if we can successfully complete the project and what we have committed to do.
At the end of 2017, ECHO, an Evansville based nonprofit who focuses on housing and assist- ing homeless veterans, approached us to help fund part of their Gresham House project. The Gresham House will be used in 2018 by homeless veterans as transitional housing prior to integrating into the Evansville community. We accepted. We will be throwing a fundraiser on May 12, 2018, to support this project and would like you to consider supporting us in whatever way you see possible. Some things that we need to make our fundraiser a success include, but aren’t limited to, donated gift cards, donated items for a silent auction, and donated services from local businesses.
I encourage you to look at our website (www.jdshethfoundation.org) when able to get a better understand of the type of work we do. Because we are an Indiana based foundation and have a high affiliation with Evansville, we love supporting our local community, especially our veterans and would appreciate your support in this process.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email at jaimie@jdsheth.org. Thank you kindly for your time.
To changing lives,
Jaimie D Sheth, President/CEO
JD Sheth Foundation: EIN #47-4129062
