Pre-planned drug deal ends with one person shot
Evansville Police are investigating a shooting that happened near Green River Rd and Covert Ave at 9:00pm Monday night.
Officers were called to the area for a reported shooting and found a man in a parking lot. He first told officers a random person had shot him and took his car. During follow-up questioning, he told investigators that he had arranged to meet a man in the lot for drug deal.
When the suspect entered the car, he placed a gun to the victim’s neck and demanded the drugs. During the robbery, the suspect shot the victim.
The suspect fled in the victim’s car. Another person who had arrived with the victim was also in the car when shooting happened. Neither he nor the car have been located.
The car is a red 2012 Hyundai Sonata with Indiana plate XLZ509. The suspect is a black male. Anyone with information about the suspect or the location of the car is asked to call EPD.
Evansville Man Arrested for Possessing Handgun and DUI
At approximately 1:20 this morning, Trooper Fox and Evansville Police were in the area of Covert Avenue and Green River Road looking for a suspect involved in an alleged carjacking and shooting that occurred late Monday night. Trooper Fox observed a 2002 Lincoln stop in the middle southbound lane at the traffic light on Green River Road at Covert Avenue. After the traffic light turned green the vehicle suddenly made an improper turn by turning west onto Covert from the incorrect lane. The vehicle then turned into the parking lot at Chuckles. Trooper Fox stopped the vehicle in the parking lot, approached the vehicle and identified the driver as Steven Martin Freels, 25, of Evansville. Fox detected an odor of an alcoholic beverage while talking to Freels. During the traffic stop a male driving a street sweeping truck approached Fox and informed him that a handgun was laying in the roadway on Covert just west of Green River Road. Evansville Police immediately responded and secured the weapon. Trooper Fox had just driven through that area before stopping Freels and did not see the weapon. Fox believes the handgun was thrown out of the vehicle after Freels turned onto Covert Avenue and before turning into Chuckle’s parking lot. The .380 caliber handgun was loaded. Further investigation revealed Freels had a blood alcohol content of .13%. He was arrested and taken to the Vanderburgh County Jail where he is currently being held without bond.
NOTE: Freels has not be arrested or charged with a crime connecting him to the carjacking/shooting that occurred last night in the area of Covert Avenue and Green River Road.
Arrested and Charges:
- Steven Martin Freels, 25, Evansville, IN
- Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon
- Carrying a Handgun without a License
- Driving While Intoxicated
Arresting Officer: Trooper Taylor Fox, Indiana State Police
Assisting Agency: Evansville Police
All criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Grants available for early education providers to help improve quality and increase availability of high-quality early childhood education in Indiana
Indianapolis (December 18, 2017)– Indiana’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning is offering nearly $4 million in grants to Indiana early learning providers to build capacity to serve more children or to increase the quality of early education and child care services provided in Indiana.
This grant opportunity is open to all early childhood education providers as well as county- or community-based early education coalitions within the state of Indiana. These grants will also increase the number of qualified providers for Indiana’s first publicly-funded pre-kindergarten pilot grant program, On My Way Pre-K.
Applications for these capacity-building grants are due January 31, 2018, and should be submitted here. The funding for these grants was provided via House Enrolled Act 1004, approved by the Indiana General Assembly in 2017.
Any licensed child care center, licensed child care home, unlicensed registered child care ministry, public school, charter school or private school program that has achieved, or is trying to achieve, a Level 3 or Level 4 in Paths to QUALITY™ and has achieved, or is trying to achieve, Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) eligibility is eligible to apply. Paths to QUALITY™ is Indiana’s voluntary child care quality rating and improvement system; and CCDF is a federal program that helps low-income families obtain child care.
An optional informational webinar will be held at 1 PM EST on Tuesday, December 19, 2017. Click here for more information and for details on how to join.  An archived webinar will be available on the website. â€‹
Capacity-building grants may be provided for
- Training and professional development of teaching staff
- Classroom materials that demonstrate increased outcomes for children or increased instructional practices for educators
- Evidence-based curriculum or instructional materials including professional development for teaching staff to utilize the curriculum
- Family engagement activities or materials and/or marketing and communication materials
- Other relevant needs to help expand capacity and improve quality programming to help programs reach Paths to QUALITYâ„¢ level 3 or 4, which is the requirement for a provider to be eligible to be an On My Way Pre-K provider.
Grant applicants are required to demonstrate how the funding from their proposed project will increase capacity through serving more children or adding more high-quality providers within their county.
All applicants are required to secure matching funds from local businesses or other stakeholders who will benefit from the community improvement associated with this grant. This grant match must be at least 5 percent and can be up to 50 percent of the total amount of the total capacity building plan budget submitted. Priority consideration will be given to grant requests from counties currently lacking in high-quality early education providers, counties with demonstrated addiction issues and counties with higher matching funds and letters of support from the community.
Nonprofit applicants struggling to secure the 5 percent grant match minimum may request assistance with the grant match from Early Learning Indiana.
Grants cannot be used for the purchase of land or a building or the construction or expansion of a building. Nonprofit applicants interested in receiving funding for items not allowable have the opportunity to apply for a limited pool of separate grant funding from Early Learning Indiana (ELI). Â
All grants will last for one year starting from the grant’s effective date. At the end of the grant period, grant recipients will have the option to request a no-cost extension if additional activities remain that have not been completed after one year.
On My Way Pre-K is Indiana’s first state-funded prekindergarten grant program, which was established as a five-county pilot by the Indiana General Assembly in 2014. Currently, 20 counties including Allen, Bartholomew, DeKalb, Delaware, Elkhart, Floyd, Grant, Harrison, Howard, Jackson, Kosciusko, Lake, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe, Vanderburgh and Vigo Counties and 8 grandfathered agreement sites are eligible to accept On My Way Pre-K grants for low-income children in high-quality prekindergarten programs.
The Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning is a division of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA). Follow us in Twitter @FSSAIndiana.
Early Learning Indiana provides excellent care and education at its ten Day Early Learning centers; provides referrals to parents and training and other resources to child care providers and schools throughout Indiana; and is a leader, advocate and partner in advancing policies that transform Indiana’s early learning landscape for the better. Find Early Learning Indiana at www.earlylearningindiana.org, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DayEarlyLearning and on Twitter @EarlyLearningIN.
Suspect Captured After Late Night Pursuit
On December 17th at approximately 8:50 pm, deputies with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office located a black Dodge Neon that had been reported stolen to the Henderson (KY) PoliceDepartment. Further information placed the driver as a suspect in a robbery within Henderson City. Deputies along with Evansville Police Department officers attempted to stop the suspect on Highway 41 near Walnut Street, but the suspect fled and led officers on a pursuit that ended on I-69 near Green River Road when the suspect’s car became disabled. After striking a guard rail, the suspect exited the vehicle and fled on foot into a wooded area south of the interstate. An Evansville Police Department canine team located the suspect a short time later where he was arrested for the listed charges.
ARRESTED:Â Sherrell Christopher Brooks, 44, from Evansville is charged with:
Theft receiving stolen property level 6 felony
Resisting law enforcement level 6 felony
Criminal Reckless while driving A misd
Hit and Run w/property damage A misd
Driving while license suspended A misd
Various traffic infractions
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Pictured above is the stolen Dodge Neon used to lead deputies on the chase.
Presumption of Innocence Notice: The fact that a person has been arrested or charged with a crime is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
IS IT TRUE DECEMBER 19, 2017
We hope that todays “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?â€
IS IT TRUE we are told that the search to find a new President/CEO for the Area Chamber of Commerce is becoming a little political?
IS IT TRUE we are hearing that there is a quiet movement a foot to find a way to fund a discount grocery operation on North Main Street?
IS IT TRUE that Courier and Press columnist Jon Webb just wrote an article entitled “Lets Talk About The Pig” that is not only very funny but also an accurate read?  … Mr. Webb’ wrote; “that’s two-grand of public money being used to finance a holiday gathering with a main dish that looks like it was plucked from Louis XVI’s opium hallucinations” is just down right funny?  …that Jon Webb “Let’s Talk About the PiG” article was masterfully written?  …we highly recommend that you go to the Courier and Press and read his “Let’s Talk About the PiG” article?
IS IT TRUE we are told that we will find it extremely interesting to learn who has purchased the Evansville Courier and Press current Corporate office building located on Walnut at the beginning of the new year? Â …we expect that the Courier and Press will also announce a new direction for it’s publication in order that they will become more productive and profitable? Â …that the City County Observer wishes the good people at the Courier and Press many more successful years in the publishing business?
IS IT TRUE we’ve been told that Steve Hammer, Republican primary candidate for the Vanderburgh County Commission campaign war-chest is now over $50,000? Â …when we received information about the financial condition of the other candidates running for this seat we shall also publish it?
IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation has embarked on a mission to sue any and all families that owe them money for school lunches and book rentals?…it has been reported that over $50,000 is owed in total for lunches and book rentals?…that there are over 2,000 parents that are getting sued by the EVSC for the food that their children have eaten and the book rentals that their children hopefully read to further their education?…that the real tragedy with respect to this whole lawsuit thing is that each lawsuit filed generates roughly $200 in legal fees and court costs that is added to the overdue bill?…this means that some people who are being sued for overdue meals of under $100 and getting stuck with judgements of nearly $300 turning a $50,000 problem into a $150,000 problem for the families who owe this money?
IS IT TRUE that we have it on good authority that the EVSC tried everything possible to get paid the easy way?…the EVSC was even offering settlements that could be paid off at a rate of $1 per week and a number of the parents either ignored or availed themselves of the opportunity to get these debts settled for a single dollar per week?…this is one of those stories that we wish never had to be told and the kids are literally just stuck in the middle between the EVSC that has a legitimate need to collect and their parents who have failed to pay for their children’s lunches?…we hope this whole sordid episode leads to constructive changes that allow for children to be fed at school and gives the EVSC some other way to collect what is due to them without taking indigent parents to court?
IS IT TRUE that when it comes to the usury text book rentals that Indiana imposes on its public school students, this should have never been put into law?…public education requires books and a public education in the United States of America is assumed to be free?…some of the book rentals in the public schools in Indiana can run upwards of $200 per child per year and Indiana is a poor state?…the City County Observer understands that food is costly and is not an assumed part of public education but the books are another story?…it is time for Indiana as a state to absorb the costs of text books or their equivalents and to do this as quick as it can be done?…this is part of building a quality workforce and to fail to provide these materials undermines the ability of the State of Indiana to grow a decent future workforce?
IS IT TRUE back in 2016 ProPublica and NPR did an investigative article on the  forgiveness of debts practices and the lawsuits filed against poor patients of Heartland Regional Medical Center (now called Mosaic Life Care) hospital located in the small city of St. Joseph, Mo?  …while ProPublica and NPR were doing the research for this article they discovered that the not-for-profit Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind. filed more than 20,000 collection lawsuits against patients from 2010 through 2015, according to ProPublica’s analysis of state court data? …after questioning by ProPublica, Deaconess officials said it was reconsidering its financial assistance policies and would be making changes.
IS IT TRUE we wonder how many people have received summons to appear at the Warrick, Posey and Vanderburgh County Superior Court-Small Claims Division to dispute the validity of a medical debt allegedly owed for medical services at Deaconess Hospital, Inc. during the last two years?
IS IT TRUEÂ that ProPublica claims that medical bills are often riddled with errors? …that they also suggests that you should ask your medical provider if they have a financial assistance policy, which could result in a sliding scale discount?
Todays “Readers Poll” question is:Â Which local tax increase or reduction did you dislike the most?
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.
If you would like to advertise in the CCO please contact us City-County Observer@live.com
EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City County Observer or our advertisers
Commentary: One More Casualty In The War On Knowledge
By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.comÂ
INDIANAPOLIS – That whirring sound you hear is the founding fathers spinning in their graves.
John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com
The news that sent Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Ben Franklin and George Washington all awhirl came from President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services.
The Washington Post reports that HHS doesn’t want to see seven words – diversity, fetus, transgender, vulnerable, entitlement, science-based and evidence-based – in budget proposals from the Centers for Disease Control.
HHS spokesman Matt Lloyd, who earlier in his career carried water for both former Indiana Gov. and current Vice President Mike Pence and the Koch brothers, tried to thread a needle in framing his response to the Post’s story.
“HHS will continue to use the best scientific evidence available to improve the health of all Americans. HHS also strongly encourages the use of outcome and evidence data in program evaluations and budget decisions,†he said.
Translation: CDC researchers are free to use those seven words in budget proposals if they want to, but they won’t get any money and they’ll be wasting their time if they do.
The suppression of the last two words on the list – science-based and evidence-based – would send Jefferson, Franklin and the other founders into a non-stop spin cycle.
They were products of the Age of Enlightenment. Their faith was in reason. They believed that the closest approximations to absolute truth and justice human beings could achieve would come through the gathering and close analysis of facts and information.
They sought to create in our government an arena in which truth and falsehood could joust. Their conviction was that, over the long haul, truth always would prevail.
Jefferson, often called the apostle of liberty, gave voice to this credo:
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
Such a statement is anathema to much of Donald Trump’s America, which is at war with history, with logic, with reality, with facts.
When the president rails about any revelation that casts doubt upon his claims of near-omnipotence by calling such things “fake news,†most people have assumed it is the “fake†part that bothers him.
We now must consider the possibility that it is the “news†part that really upsets him.
He doesn’t want any pesky facts popping up to undermine, contradict or otherwise weaken the elaborate fantasies he’s conjured up.
President Trump’s opponents love to dismiss him as nothing more than a con man. Maybe so, but it’s likely that he is a con man who has fallen in love with and believes his own con.
That’s why he reacts with such vehemence to the work of fact-gathering.
He’s not alone in that.
For years, the CDC has worked in handcuffs, crafted and locked into place by the National Rifle Association and the gun manufacturers. By law, the CDC is prevented from researching the causes and consequences of gun violence in America.
Every time there is some firearms-related horror in our land, the NRA and its foot soldiers always scream that they want to have a “factual†discussion about guns, while at the same time they do everything they can to prevent the collection of facts that would make such a discussion possible.
Their reasoning, such as it is, is the same as the president’s.
Because their fantasy is that every gun owner, however untrained or unhinged, is a potential John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, they can’t tolerate unruly or contradictory facts to intrude.
Fantasies are fragile things that can’t bear close inspection.
Reality, on the other hand, has staying power. That was a large part of the reason the founders were so hard-headed about acknowledging human beings’ imperfections and setting up a system of government that welcomed, rather than suppressed, the free exchange of ideas and information.
They knew that facts were not something to be feared.
Rather, facts – knowledge – could be our salvation, could sustain us as a nation and as a people of widely varied interests.
It’s a pity that the faith of the founders in reason and the ultimate wisdom of the people has become yet another casualty in this current war on knowledge.
FOOTNOTE: John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits†WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
911 Gives Hope Volunteers Celebrate Successful Toy Drive
DECEMBER 19TH, 2017Â 
BRITNEY TAYLORÂ EVANSVILLE, INDIANA
After a long effort to collect toys, officials finally delivered the toys to hospitals throughout the area.
People working on the project say they really enjoy brightening a child’s day, and say the program seems to get larger every year.
Natalie Wilzbacher said, “Last year they had a really good, really good year, probably their best year. They’ve been doing this for nine years now, and I know this year they exceeded that, they didn’t double it, but they came close. It exceeded the number of boxes and so we have gotten a lot of toys for sure.â€
The toys went to kids at Gateway, St. Vincent, and the Ronald McDonald House, as well as the Evansville Children’s Psychiatric Center and ECHO.
