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Good Legislation: A Product of Good Discussion (Part 2)

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The Joint Committee on Judiciary and Public Policy held its first Interim committee meeting this past Tuesday, August 22. 

The topic: Changing the law requiring a permit to carry a handgun in public.

Whether you are supportive of no handgun carry laws or want to leave the law the way it is, in this meeting we got a good insight what arguments will be made going forward.

Representatives of organized law enforcement agencies stood to say “the process works”.  “The law isn’t broken”. Bill Owensby, President of the Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police, said: ”We have 14,000 active police officers that I represent and we are opposed to the legislation that we’re discussing today..”

The legislators wanting change responded: the process really doesn’t work. People who get denials, i.e. shouldn’t have handguns, eventually get permits anyway.

These same legislators wanting change also focused on 2nd Amendment Rights. Their position was that if you make people have a permit you are making it difficult for those who can’t afford the cost; also, you are making it a burden for law abiding citizens.

The “let’s not change” side said we make laws around Constitutional rights that don’t place a burden but give parameters and do not contradict the Constitution. Steve Bushman, Indiana State Police Alliance, gave a good example. He said consider that a permit is needed for a public rally, even though, the right to assemble is guaranteed in the Constitution.

Changing law to “Constitutional Carry”, the slogan, is definitely closer to reality today than when I was in the legislature. Coupled with all the alcohol changes to come in this next session, these interim committees promise a lot of good discussion.

Check the legislative website for the Joint Committee on Judiciary and Public Policy, Sept 7. http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/committees/interim

Check the same website for the Alcohol Code Revision Committee meetings on Sept 11 and 22, Oct 10 and 24, and Nov 14. (There was an afternoon Alcohol meeting on the 22nd of August but I had stared at the screen long enough.)

Preparing this review I have concluded I have got to get a life!  All of the issues on the state level are important and I could spend hours watching the streamed meetings.

So, this is my last review. Thank you to the City-County Observer for being that voice that refuses to compromise integrity for the story. Thank you for allowing me to write with the hope that a few people have found something in these reviews to stir their interest.

Remember, what happens in Indy doesn’t stay in Indy…..

This is just my view from the outside.

Gail Riecken

Former State Representative District 77

What’s Going On At Ellis Park This Weekend: Aug. 25-27

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FRIDAY
Gentlemen’s Day. Gentlemen can enjoy free cigars (courtesy Cigar Cigar) and Four Roses bourbon tasting and register to win prizes after each race (sign up in the north end of the grandstand tunnel, closest to the grassy picnic area). Sponsored by Four Roses bourbon. All afternoon before and during the races. Point person: Damon Bagwell at bagwellmacypr@gmail.com.
Live racing: First post 12:50 p.m. CT.
Meet the Announcer: One lucky fan (or small group) goes to the announcer’s booth to meet race caller Jimmy McNerney, who will discuss how he remembers all those names and race preparation, with the guests watching Jimmy put that into action during a race. Point person: Brianna Vitt at bvitt@ellisparkracing.com
 
SATURDAY
Making of a Racehorse, 7:30 a.m. CT. The last of Ellis’ weekly free, family-friendly fan education event to give the public an up-close view of what goes on in the mornings to prepare horses for the afternoon races. The public can meet in the southern end of the parking lot by the starting gate. This week, we’ll leave by 8 a.m. to go the paddock – lots of parking right there — where John Hancock will discuss more about timing morning workouts and fans can practice with their smart phones stopwatches. We’ll also learn how a race card is put together, from the “condition book” to entries to the post-position draw and what what goes into determining the races that will be used. Pony rides for the kids on John’s pony in the paddock toward the end of the two-hour session. Point person: Jennie Rees at tracksidejennie@gmail.com.
Inside Track with Joey K and Jimmy Mac: Our weekly Saturday morning handicapping show where paddock analyst Joe Kristufek and announcer Jimmy McNerney analyze Saturday’s races. 10:30-11:30 a.m. Central in the second-floor Gardenia Room, with live streaming via Ellis Park’s Facebook page.
Live racing: First post 12:50 p.m. CT. Please note: This is the last Saturday of the meet for live racing. Ellis Park will not race live, though it will be open for simulcasting, on Sept. 2 to accommodate Kentucky Downs’ opening date.
Wiener Dog Derby: This is it! After four preliminary races, the eight qualifiers square off to determine who is the Top Dog at Ellis Park. This cute li’l critters are always a huge favorite with kids. Schedule post is after fifth race, about 2:50 p.m. Central. Will send out video of race, plus winner’s interview. Point person: Brianna Vitt at bvitt@ellisparkracing.com.
Junior Jockey: One lucky kid is selected to be the Junior Jockey, serving as the honorary paddock judge to call our “Rider’s up” before a race, watching the race on the rail from the winner’s circle and getting his or her photo taken with the winners. Sign up at the group sales table inside the clubhouse entrance. Point person: Brianna Vitt at bvitt@ellisparkracing.com.
SUNDAY
PDJF Day. Ellis Park collaborates with its riders to raise money for and awareness about the Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund, which provides assistance to more than 60 jockeys who have been permanently disabled while riding racehorses. This will provide great visuals, with dunk tanks (jockeys between their scheduled mounts, paddock analyst Joe Kristufek has agreed to participate and maybe we’ll be able to get some trainers). Autograph sessions with jockeys all afternoon and fans can get signed jockey goggles with PDJF donation. Raffles for racing and jockey memorabilia. And more. Dunking booth, autograph sessions and raffles at table set up across from paddock by paddock pavilion. Will send out highlight video and a couple of jockey interview clips. Point persons: Jennie Rees at tracksidejennie@gmail.com and Brianna Vitt at bvitta@ellisparkracing.com
Live racing: First post 12:50 p.m. CT.
Kids on the track: After the last race goes off (around 5 p.m.) kids 12 and under square off in foot races (grouped by ages) on the track, with the winner’s getting pair of jockey goggles and all the fame they can stand.
Story angles to watch: With six days left of live racing, three-time Ellis riding champion (including last year) Corey Lanerie holds a 26-23 lead over 56-year-old Jon Court, the six-time leading rider at the track and only jockey to win the title five straight years.
Sue Martin: They call her the Galloping Grandma, but that doesn’t do Sue Martin justice. She’s a great-grandmother. On Groupie Doll Day Aug. 13, the mother of seven won her second race of the year. She goes for her third win on the year Saturday at Ellis. Her total of two wins is the most since she won four in 1990, after which she was off for 17 years. Sue also is a great interview. And she is tough. I believe she delivered five of her seven kids at home. She has 18 grandkids and four great-grandkids.
Background stories:
Trainer Jack Van Berg: The Hall of Fame trainer is solidly in third at the meet, with nine wins out of 26 starts, plus six seconds. Only Brad Cox (15 for 40) and Steve Asmussen (14 for 88) have more wins. Van Berg, 81, is enjoying a resurgence in a career that started when he was 8 years old working for his dad, Marion Van Berg, also in the Hall of Fame. He has passed $1 million in purse earnings for the first time since 2000. His 6,515 victories rank No. 4 all time. Best known for training 1987 Kentucky Derby and Preakness and 1988 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Alysheba. Note: While Van Berg has horses running the next two days at Ellis, I’ll find out if he will be at the track if you’re interested, maybe encourage him to come over from Louisville, where he is based. His son, Tom, comes every day they race a horse.

Indiana State Police Toll Road Trooper Helps Team Indiana Win Gold in Basketball at 2017 World Police and Fire Games

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Indiana State Trooper, O’Bryan Winfield, recently helped Team Indiana win the gold medal in basketball at the 2017 World Police and Fire Games held in Los Angeles, California.  This event took place from August 8th through the 13th.

The World Police and Fire Games is a biennial event that is open to active and retired law enforcement and fire personnel from around the world.  This event attracts close to 10,000 entrants.

Team Indiana was made up of Trooper O’Bryan Winfield of the Indiana State Police as well as officers from Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Greenfield Police Department, Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, Gary Police Department and Evansville Police Department.

Throughout the tournament, Team Indiana did not lose a single game and were the number one seed. They won the gold medal by defeating Washington, D.C. with a score of 50-42.  They have been invited back to defend their gold medal at the 2019 World Police and Fire Games to be held in Chengdu, China.

Winfield said that prior to leaving for the competition he was often asked if he thought his team could win against larger states and teams from other countries.  He said his response was based off 2 Corinthians 5:7, For we walk by faith, not by sight.

 Winfield has been a state trooper for nine and a half years.  He lives in East Chicago and patrols the Indiana Toll Road in Lake and Porter Counties.

Vanderburgh County Food Inspection Report

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Food Inspection Report 2017

AUGUST-2017 BIRTHDAYS

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LANE C. SIESKY

RANDY MELTON

RANDY DILLBACK

LAUIE ROSENBAUM

STEVE ELLIOTT

KATHERINE FELDMEIER 

DAVID BOTHAST

TIM DENSLEY

MARC HOEPPNER

LISA CAMBRON CONWAY

SHEL KIRK

STEVE CONNON 

DEBBIE SMITH

STACY SHOURD

JEAN BLANTON

CHARLOTTE NIXON

JASON DICKEN

DIANE CSUKA

ERICKNELLER

PAUL NEIDIG

NICK JOHNSON

BARB WOODRUFF

JEREMEY HEALTH

ARON MAUCK

CHRISTOPHER GRIFFITH

TODD BARSUMIAN

DAVID BOTHAST

LAURIE ROSENBAUM

KARTHERINE FELDMEIER

STEVE ELLIOTT

ERIC KNELLER

MATT DILLOW

MISSY MOSBY

KATHY WILSON

TIM TURPIN

RICHARD MOSS

CHRIS WILLOUGHBY

MARK HARRMON

TRACY RENEE MERCER

MIKE SHOULDERS

CRYSTAL CHITTENDEN

JOHN LUTZ

TINA GUIDRY

DSANJOHNSON

USI tabbed third in GLVC preseason poll

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The University of Southern Indiana men’s soccer team is projected to place third in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2017 in a vote by the league’s 15 head coaches. USI, the all-time leader with 10 GLVC titles, is coming off a tie for third in the league tournament and a tie for second in the conference’s regular season in 2016 after posting a 13-4-4 overall mark, 10-2-3 GLVC.

The predicted third place finish and 153 points is the highest by the Screaming Eagles since a preseason fourth in 2003.

The Rockhurst University men’s soccer team was tabbed by the league coaches to win the 2017 Championship for a second-straight year.  The Hawks received 14 first-place votes and 196 points in the preseason poll. The University of Indianapolis garnered second with 169 point, while Missouri University of Science & Technology picked up the final first place vote and was fourth with 150 points. Drury University rounded out the top five with 143 points.

The 2017 USI squad is comprised of 33 players – 24 returning players and redshirts and nine newcomers. The Eagles have nine seniors on the team this season, compared to one a year ago.

The top returning scorer for USI is sophomore forward Eric Ramirez, who set a USI freshman scoring record and was named the GLVC Freshman of the Year with 21 points on 10 goals and one assist in 15 matches. Ramirez, who missed six matches due to injury last year, also tied for first with three game-winning goals.

Tying for second on the team in scoring was senior midfielder Kyle Richardville and sophomore midfielder Sean Rickey with 19 points each. Richardville, who tied Ramirez with three game-winning goals, posted his 19 points on seven goals and five assists, while Rickey made his collegiate debut with 19 points on six goals and a team-high seven assists.

On the defensive side of the field, the Eagles bring back All-GLVC and All-Midwest Region goalkeeper senior Adam Zehme. Zehme posted career-highs in wins (13), saves (74) and shutouts (7) last fall and had a .763 save percentage and 1.04 goals against average.

The 15 GLVC men’s soccer teams will compete in a 14-game round-robin schedule during the regular season with the top eight teams earning a berth to the GLVC Championship Tournament. The top four seeds will host quarterfinal matches on campus on October 29 with the four remaining teams heading to Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana for the semifinals and final on November 3 and 5.

USI opens the 2017 regular season campaign at home when the Eagles host Kentucky Wesleyan College August 31 for a 7 p.m. showdown of Midwest Region teams.

2017 Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Rockhurst 196 (14)
2. Indianapolis 169
3. Southern Indiana 153
4. Missouri S&T 150 (1)
5. Drury 143
6. Quincy 141
7. Missouri-St. Louis 117
8. Maryville 116
9. Bellarmine 87
10. Illinois Springfield 75
11. Lewis 63
      McKendree 63
13. Truman State 50
14. UW-Parkside* 36
15. William Jewell 16

NAACP suit says Indiana’s voting law violates federal protections

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Marilyn Odendahl for www.theindianalawyer.com

The NAACP announced Thursday it has filed a second lawsuit against Indiana, challenging the state’s newly enacted voting law that allows for the removal of voters from the registration rolls without giving them notice or an opportunity to respond.

In the suit filed Aug. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP and the League of Women Voters of Indiana are seeking to stop the state from canceling the registration of voters without following the procedures established in the National Voter Registration Act of 1933. The federal procedure includes providing written notice to the voter to confirm his or her address and giving ample time for the voter to reply before purging the registration rolls.

The plaintiffs assert Senate Enrolled Act 442 discards the protections provided by federal law and enables the immediate removal of a voter based solely on the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck system, which leads to unreliable and discriminatory results.

“No Hoosier should be silenced on Election Day,” said Barbara Bolling-Williams, president of the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP. “Yet, under this new law, that will happen. It’s vital that Indiana follow federal law and ensure that voters are not wrongfully removed from the rolls.”

According to the lawsuit, Indiana has been sending its voter registration list to the Kansas Secretary of State, who would then compare it to the registration data from other states that were participating in the Kansas-administered Crosscheck system. Any Indiana voter who had the same first and last name and date of birth of another voter out-of-state would be flagged and county voter registration officials would then determine whether the voters in question were the same or different people.

However, the lawsuit contends, SEA 442 allows for a registration to be cancelled without the election official doing any kind of inquiry to confirm the information or even notifying the voter of he or she is being removed from the rolls.

The NAACP and the League of Women Voters say the Crosscheck system “provides inaccurate results, false positives and leads to the discriminatory disenfranchisement of many legally registered voters.” The plaintiffs pointed to one study that found that for every single voter identified as registered in two jurisdictions, the registrations of about 200 unique, legitimate voters would be eliminated.

“The disingenuous act of using the idea of voter fraud as a means to disenfranchise communities violates the core ideals of our democracy,” said Derrick Johnson, interim president and CEO of the NAACP. “The NAACP will fight tooth and nail against any attempt to suppress the vote of communities of color.”
The case is Indiana State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and League of Women Voters of Indiana v. Connie Lawson, in her official capacity as Secretary of State for the State of Indiana; J. Bradley King, in his officias capacity as Co-Director, Indiana Election Division; Angela M. Nussmeyer, in her official capacity as Co-Director, Indiana Election Division, 1:17-cv-02897.

Earlier in August, the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the state of Indiana, the General Assembly and various election officials, asserting Indiana SEA 220 violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The law requires Lake County to consolidate polling locations that had 600 or fewer active voters. The NAACP argues precincts with heavily black and Latino populations would be disproportionately affected by requiring these voters to put more time and effort in finding their new polling location and in traveling to the new venue.

The NAACP and Common Cause also sued Marion County earlier this year, claiming its failure to offer more than one location for early voting is discriminatory and constitutes voter suppression.

 

Volleyball to open 2017 season at Leatherneck Invitational

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Aces to play on Friday and Saturday

A new season is here as the Purple Aces open up the 2017 campaign with a trip to Macomb, Ill. for the Leatherneck Invitational.  Evansville will take on Chicago State, Manhattan and Western Illinois to begin the season.

The season opens against the Cougars of CSU on Friday at 3 p.m. before two matches are slated for Saturday.  UE faces Manhattan at 10 a.m. before wrapping up against the host Leathernecks at 7 p.m.

“It is definitely exciting to work with this mix of young and veteran players. They have been all-in since day one, and I can see the hunger for program’s betterment in their deliberate/effective repetitions throughout pre-season camp,” Aces head coach Manolo Concepcion said.  “We see these next 12 matches as an opportunity to use our depth in our favor, by moving pieces around and giving us a chance to find the right combination of people that would provide us with the most added value to conference play.”

After playing the opening two tournaments on the road, UE will return home on Sept. 8 to officially open up Lois D. Patton Court at Meeks Family Fieldhouse.  The Aces kick off their remodeled facility against Indiana University before taking on UAB and UT Martin a day later.

Evansville returns all six starters from last season and 10 letterwinners overall.  Six newcomers also join the mix.

Junior Mildrelis Rodriguez has established herself as one of the top players in the Missouri Valley Conference.  She led the way for UE in kills, attempts and total digs.  She ranked in the top 20 in the league in three categories last year including kills (18th-2.73 per set), digs (17th-2.88 per set) and points (20th-2.95 per set).

Jelena Merseli is coming off of a solid campaign in 2016.  As a junior last season, Merseli ranked 6th in the Valley with an average of 6.60 assists per frame.

Establishing herself at the libero position in 2016 was Olivia Goldstein.  She paced Evansville with 3.15 digs per set, finishing in 15th in the conference.

Another solid offensive weapon for the Aces has been Rocio Fortuny.  The junior registered 232 kills last year, second on the squad.  Her average checked in at 2.25 per game.    Fortuny posted a career mark of 19 last season against Bradley.

Chicago State posted a 3-26 record in 2016 but look to rebound in 2017 as they welcome eight newcomers and five JUCO transfers.  The Cougars lost their top two offensive weapons from last season – Juma Armando and Dzeni Hadzisehovic – but Paige Eyring looks to take that spot as she notched 1.49 kills per set last year.

Manhattan went 12-20 last year, but have a recent history of success.  From 2013-2015, the Jaspers won 20 games each season.  They will also be undergoing a transition this season after losing their top two offensive players from last year while also welcoming a new coach – Lora Sarich.  Olyvia Chaltas looks to up her kill tally of 242 from 2016, which translated to an average of 2.28 per frame.

Hosting this weekend’s tournament is Western Illinois.  The Leathernecks finished the 2016 campaign with a 4-28 mark while going 1-15 in Summit League play.  They return 12 players from last year, including five starters.  Leading the way is Shalyn Greenhaw, who posted 291 kills last year, 2.97 per set.

“We feel that our ball control has improved, and that it will have a long term impact in our offensive phase,” Concepcion added.  “That, combined with the strong leadership that we have in the locker room, will help us achieve the individual and team benchmarks that we have in place.”

 

TRUMP TOTALITY

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ADOPT A PET

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This sweeties are Dozer and Minnie! They are a bonded pair of dogs who must go home together. For that reason, $25 has been taken off the adoption fee! Dozer is a 6-yr-old male Basset Hound and the female Border Collie mix  is Minnie. The adoption fee is $175 for both and includes their spay & neuter surgeries, microchips, vaccines, heartworm tests, and more! Contact Vanderburgh Humane at (812) 426-2563 for adoption details!

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