IS IT TRUE FEBRUARY 16, 2017
IS IT TRUE after noticing that the familiar president of The Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville (GAGE), Chris Kinnett was not in attendance at the ribbon cutting of the new downtown Doubletree Hotel, the City County Observer became curious about his absence?…what we have learned is that the revolving door at GAGE has swung again and Mr. Kinnett is no longer working there? Â …would love for him to contact us to explain his reasons for leaving GAGE? Â …the 5th person to hold the leadership position at GAGE in its less than 10 year history is listed on the website as Thom Endress?…Mr. Endress is listed as interim president so we guess there will be a 6th leader of this organization soon?…we wonder why the departure of Kris Kinnett was not covered by the local media as other departures have been?…it will be interesting who the next person to enter the meat grinder will turn out to be?
IS IT TRUE it will be interesting to see what kind of job description the GAGE governing group will publish when looking for leader #6?…we wonder if some of the bullet points will be to serve as a sycophant for the Mayor of Evansville and provide photo-ops for him on a regular basis?
IS IT TRUE that in the spring of 2010 the City County Observer uncovered the fact that GAGE had been used by then Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel to illegally funnel $40,000 per year to DMD Director Tom Barnett because the salary schedules for the City of Evansville were not sufficient to attract Barnett to town?…we also discovered and exposed that GAGE founding President and CEO Joe Wallace never signed Mr. Barnett bogus employment contract but then Gage Chairman of the Board and Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel did?. Â …after Wallace refused to sign the bogus employment contract Mayor Weinzapfel then took the pay request to Gages Executive Committee for approval? Â …they approved his request? Â …one of the members of the Gage Executive Committee was none other than Mayor Winnecke?
IS IT TRUE not long after bogus employment contract issue Mr. Wallace was forced out as CEO and  President of Gage by Mayor Weinzapfel and went on to a very successful career in Palm Springs, CA ?  …its also common knowledge that Mr. Wallace was highly respected and did an outstanding President and CEO of Gage before he was forced? …he is a contributing author with the CCO and other publications?
IS IT TRUE a couple people on the Gage Board, in local Government, past Gage clients and ordinary citizens urged Mr. Wallace to sue GAGE Board Chairman Mayor Weinzapfel for wrongful dismissal, interference with daily work activities and defamation of his character? …he decided not to sue and went on down to road to bigger and better things? …we hope one day that Mr. Wallace will come forward to tell us and our readers why he was really fired as the CEO of Gage?
IS IT TRUE we are also curious about the silence of former Mayor turned Community College Chancellor Jonathan Weinzapfel regarding the non-relocation of the IVY Tech Nursing Tech students to the new downtown IU Medical School? Â This decision happened at the same time when the taxpayers of Evansville were seemly being shaken down to support a $51 million bond issue that would help pay for the construction for the downtown IU Medical School?…it was portrayed to be a downtown success story with 1,500 Nursing Tech students moving downtown and now there will only be a small fraction of that in the expensive building?…if this was the plan all along they should have just sent the IU Medical and University of Evansville students to the campus of Southern Indiana University since it has new state of the art medical classroom facility too?. Â …it looks like another bait and switch backroom political was just pulled off by our local and state elected officials? Â …we wonder if the IU Medical School may turn out to be a bigger boondoggle than the Ford Center if nothing more than a couple of a hundred medical students use the building?…boondoggles in Evansville always seem to have the same set of fingerprints on them?
IS IT TRUE it was stated during a Channel 25 TV news story that room rates will be  $139 to $250 a room at the new downtown Doubletree Hotel?  …looks like the owners are of the new downtown Hotel are about to find out what competition is all about?…equivalent rooms can be bought all over town in better locations for $89 or less?…we foresee some serious discounting on the horizon for the downtown Doubletree Hotel if they hope to have an occupancy rate of 65% like they said they would?
FOOTNOTE:  Todays “READERS POLLS” question is: Do you feel that the new  downtown Doubletree Hotel will be successful?
CHANNEL 44 NEWS: Hayne’s Corner Pub to Change Ownership After 41 Years
Haynie’s Corner Pub to Change Ownership After 41 Years
After more than 41 years of business the Haynie’s Corner Pub is about to have a new owner. Danny Baumgart has owned the bar since 1976 and wasn’t looking to sell the place but says the opportunity just fell into his lap. Moriah Hobgood will be…
Silver Medal Highlights Indiana’s First Night at Big Ten Championships
Lilly King Had An Unbelievable 50 Breaststroke Time For The Hoosiers
The Indiana University women’s swimming and diving team got off to a great start at the 2017 Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships on Wednesday night at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center in West Lafayette, Ind.
After the first two events of the Big Ten Championships, Indiana sits in fourth place with a total of 108 points. Minnesota leads with a total of 118, while Michigan is second with 114 and Wisconsin is third with 110.
In the 200 medley relay, the IU team of Kennedy Goss, Lilly King, Gia Dalesandro and Ali Rockett took home the silver medal with a NCAA A cut time of 1:35.74 – just .01 seconds off the school record. The Hoosiers were right there at the end, but got out-touched by Minnesota at the wall, who won with a Big Ten record time of 1:35.55.
King had an unbelievable 50 breaststroke time for the Hoosiers, as she was the only swimmer to break 26 second with her split of 25.55. The Evansville, Ind. native’s time is the fastest in the country so far this season.
In the 800 freestyle relay, the Indiana team of Stephanie Marchuk, Goss, Delaney Barnard and Dalesandro finished fourth overall with a season-best and NCAA A cut time of 7:04.50.
Marchuk’s leadoff time of 1:46.81 was a NCAA B cut mark and was the fastest time this season for any Hoosier in the 200 freestyle.
The Hoosiers will continue at the 2017 Big Ten Championships on Thursday morning with the prelims of the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle and 1-meter dive. The action gets underway at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center in West Lafayette at 11:00 a.m. ET.
Be sure to keep up with all the latest news on the Indiana men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams on social media – Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
200 Medley Relay
- Goss, King, Dalesandro, Rockett – 1:35.74 (NCAA A cut)
800 Freestyle Relay
- Marchuk, Goss, Barnard, Dalesandro – 7:04.50 (NCAA A cut)
COA: Dirty Pictures Allowed By Legislature
COA: Dirty pictures allowed by Legislature
Marilyn Odendahl
Revisiting the question of whether sending sexually explicit photographs to a 16- or 17-year-old is permitted under state law, the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld its earlier ruling by finding the Legislature’s inaction to amend the statute implies dirty pictures are suitable for these teens.
Sameer Girish Thakar was charged with a Class D felony for dissemination of matter harmful to minors after he allegedly sent an electronic photo of his genitals to a 16-year-old girl in Oregon. He successfully moved to get the charging information dismissed on the grounds that the statute criminalizing dissemination of matter harmful to minors is unconstitutionally vague.
Key to Thakar’s argument was the decision by the Court of Appeals in a nearly identical case, Salter v. State, 906 N.E.2d 212 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009).
Salter split the appellate panel with the majority asserting the Legislature has made no distinction between Indiana’s age of consent at 16 years of age and dissemination of harmful material.
According to the majority’s opinion in Salter, “the Indiana legislature has made an implied policy choice that in-person viewing of another person’s genitals is ‘suitable matter’ for a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old child. … [I]f such images are harmful to sixteen- and seventeen-year-old children, then why would our legislature allow those children to view the same matter in-person, in the course of sexual activity?â€
Judge Nancy Vaidik, now chief judge, dissented, in Salter. She argued even though the Legislature has not criminalized sex between adults and 16- and 17-year-olds, that does not mean that sending sexually suggestive pictures to a minor is suitable.
In State of Indiana v. Sameer Girish Thakar, 29A02-1606-CR-1265, the Court of Appeals was not swayed by the dissent in Salter.
The unanimous appellate panel noted the state made no attempt to show that Thakar is different from Salter. Instead, the state contended it is logical to distinguish between an adult have sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old and an adult sending suggestive material to a 16-year-old.
The Court of Appeals disagreed and, again, pointed to the inaction by the Legislature to make any distinction.
“Regardless of whether the legislature could choose to make such a distinction as the State claims should exist, the fact remains, that it did not expressly do so. And without clearly stating such a distinction, we believe the dissemination of harmful matter statute is vague, ambiguous, and must be construed against the State,†Judge Michael Barnes wrote. “Without some clear statement by the legislature to the contrary, we conclude reasonable persons would find it confusing for the State to permit actual sexual activity between adults and sixteen year olds while criminalizing the transmission of sexual images from an adult to a sixteen-year-old.â€
YESTERYEAR: Tex Justus and the Texas Cowboys by Pat Sides
Olus “Tex†Justus entertained Tri-Staters for more than three decades as host of “T. J. Time,†a morning program featuring “old time†country music on Boonville’s WBNL radio station. A native of Texas, Justus made his singing debut in 1936 in Louisville. A few years later, he organized a dance band named the Texas Cowboys and settled in Owensboro. Justus joined the WGBF radio staff in Evansville in the late 1940s before he started broadcasting in Boonville four years later. Wearing his trademark cowboy hat, he appeared at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and was inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1988, three years after his death in Evansville.
St. Mary’s Hospital for Women & Children Birth Records
Jennifer and Benjamin Schmitt, Newburgh, Ind., son, Weston Lee, Feb. 4
Kristy and Josh Lancaster, Slaughters, Ky., son, Dax Martin, Feb. 4
Chrystal and Vincent Cox, Evansville, daughter, Tilley Reese, Feb. 4
Brooklynn and Luke Spaetti, Evansville, daughter, Edna Rose, Feb. 5
Stephanie and James Stewart, Newburgh, Ind., daughter, Lucille Faith, Feb. 5
Kimberly Jensen and Brayden Powers, Evansville, daughter, Alaina Ann, Feb. 6
Ashley Childers and Roy Morrow, Evansville, daughter, Londyn Grace, Feb. 7
Maggie Clardy and Clint Hoehn, New Harmony, Ind., son, Jordan Paul, Feb. 7
Brittany Abernathy and Antonio Lopez, Evansville, daughter, Lila Rosemarie, Feb. 8
Amy and Aaron Schuetter, Evansville, daughter, Nora Elizabeth, Feb. 8
Kendra and Michael Ray, Evansville, daughter, McKinley Kate, Feb. 9
Leah and Andrew DiMaggio, Evansville, son, Sebastian Joseph, Feb. 9
Kathleen and Adam Barker, Newburgh, Ind., son, Garrett Lee William, Feb. 9
Latoya Lewis and Erick Tandy, Evansville, daughter, Eriyah Ny’Jae, Feb. 10
Courtney and Jacob Hish, Ridgway, Ill., daughter, Johannah Claire, Feb. 10
Shantay and Bryan Blackman, Evansville, daughter, Camille Victoria Renee, Feb. 11
Summer Goebel, Evansville, son, Winter Willow Louis, Feb. 11
Emily and Joseph Weil, Evansville, son, Lucas Alan, Feb. 12
Timia and Matthew Wilhite, Evansville, son, Jaxon Doyle, Feb. 12
Justices impose 3-Year Suspension On Lawyer Who Took Guardianship funds
Do you feel that the new Doubletree Hotel will be successful?
Olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com
A Warrick County attorney who was already suspended from the practice of law for failure to comply with court orders has been disciplined with an additional three-year suspension after he converted an elderly woman’s guardianship funds to himself.
As a court-appointed guardian of an incapacitated 88-year-old woman living in a Warrick County nursing home, Gene Emmons, a Booneville attorney, became a signatory on the woman’s PTSB and PNC bank accounts. The PTSB account was an attorney fiduciary account subject to overdraft reporting to the Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.
Without authorization, Emmons wrote three checks to himself totaling $20,000 from the PTSB account, noting in the subject line that they checks were for “legal fees.†The court ordered Emmons to prepare a biennial accounting of his guardianship over the woman in 2015, which he failed to do, prompting his removal as her guardian. Emmons was then ordered to file a final accounting, which he also did not complete.
Emmons then failed to appear at a court-ordered hearing for his failure to comply with the accountings, and he did not respond to an investigation into his actions by the Disciplinary Commission. Subsequent show cause proceedings resulted in Emmons’ indefinite suspension due to his noncooperation in 2016 in Matter of Emmons, 52 N.E.3d 797 (Ind. 2016).
Emmons was found to have violated Indiana Professional Conduct Rules 1.15(a), 3.4(c), 8.1(b) and 8.4(b), (c) and (d) as well as Rule 4(A)(2) of the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission Rules Governing Attorney Trust Account Overdraft Reporting. The commission recommended that Emmons be suspended for at least three years without credit for his previous noncooperation suspension, and the Indiana Supreme Court agreed in the case of In the Matter of: Gene D. Emmons, 87S00-1604-DI-190.
In a per curiam opinion handed down Tuesday, the justices wrote that Emmons’ conversion of the guardianship funds and his attempts to conceal his actions were “among the most serious types of misconduct.†While the American Bar Association’s Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions recommend disbarment for such conduct, the court noted that the commission had found Emmons’ inexperience as an attorney and lack of prior disciplinary actions as mitigating factors. Emmons was admitted to practice in 2008.
The court agreed to the recommendation of a three-year suspension without automatic reinstatement. If Emmons chooses to petition for reinstatement after the three-year period has expired, he will have to “prove his professional rehabilitation by clear and convincing evidence.†The costs of the proceedings were also assessed against him.
Justice Steven David voted to reject the conditional agreement proposed by the Disciplinary Commission and Emmons.
Air Quality Forecast For Vanderburgh County
Air quality forecasts for Evansville and Vanderburgh County are provided as a public service. They are best estimates of predicted pollution levels that can be used as a guide so people can modify their activities and reduce their exposure to air quality conditions that may affect their health. The forecasts are routinely made available at least a day in advance, and are posted by 10:30 AM Evansville time on Monday (for Tuesday through Thursday) and Thursday (for Friday through Monday). When atmospheric conditions are uncertain or favor pollution levels above the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, forecasts are made on a daily basis.
Ozone forecasts are available from mid-April through September 30th. Fine particulate (PM2.5) forecasts are available year round.
| Tuesday February 14 |
Wednesday February 15 |
Thursday February 16 |
Friday February 17 |
Saturday February 18 |
|
| Fine Particulate (0-23Â CST avg) Air Quality Index |
good | good | good | moderate | NA* |
| Ozone Air Quality Index |
NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* |
| Ozone (peak 8-hr avg) (expected) |
NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* |
* Not Available and/or Conditions Uncertain.
Air Quality Action Days
Ozone Alerts are issued by the Evansville EPA when maximum ozone readings averaged over a period of eight hours are forecasted to reach 71 parts per billion (ppb), or unhealthy for sensitive groups on the USEPA Air Quality Index scale.
Particulate Alerts are issued by the Evansville EPA when PM2.5 readings averaged over the period of midnight to midnight are forecasted to reach 35 micrograms per meter cubed (µg/m3).
Current conditions of OZONE and FINE PARTICULATE MATTER are available in near real-time on the Indiana Department of Environment Management’s website.
National and regional maps of current conditions are available through USEPA AIRNow.