Home Blog Page 5299

August 22 “READERS FORUM”

37

WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?

“IS IT TRUE” will be posted on this coming Tuesday.

Todays READERS POLL question is: If the election was held today for United States Senator who would you vote for?

Please take time and read our newest feature articles entitled “HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS” posted in our sections.

If you would like to advertise in the CCO please contact us City-County Observer@live.com.

City County Observer has been serving our community for 15 years.

Copyright 2015 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribute.

Getting Better Data on Which Drugs Are Killing People

0

As the opioid epidemic surges, Alabama’s toxicologists are testing more blood samples from overdose victims to determine what drugs were in their bodies.

But the results of those costly and time-consuming tests are not always ending up on death certificates. More often than not, when overdose victims are found to have multiple drugs in their bodies, coroners simply write “multiple drug toxicity” or “drug overdose” on the death certificate, says Alabama’s forensic science chief Michael Sparks.

As a result, public health officials in Alabama and at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can be left in the dark as to which drugs are causing the most deaths. The lack of specificity can hamper states in developing potentially life-saving strategies for preventing overdoses.

Alabama was the least precise state when it came to drug overdose reporting in 2014, according to a CDC analysis of death certificate data from all 50 states.

U.S. opioid overdose deaths, including prescription painkillers and heroin, exceeded 28,000 in 2014, with a one year increase of 14 percent.

Eighty-one percent of all death certificates for a drug overdose listed the drugs involved. That number has grown in the last five years as states have stepped up efforts to include more details about overdoses to help develop strategies for quelling the opioid epidemic.

“We’ve been saying drug overdoses were a problem since 2006, but it wasn’t until it got to much higher levels around 2010 that people started waking up and saying ‘Oh, we need to do something about this,’ ” said Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch of the CDC.

Still, it’s taken some states longer than others to relay the message to the coroners, physicians and medical examiners who fill out death certificates at the local level, he said.

In Alabama, only 48 percent of death certificates mentioned the drugs involved in 2014, followed by Louisiana (49 percent), Indiana, Mississippi and Pennsylvania (all 50 percent), Montana (63 percent), Idaho (64 percent) and Michigan and New Jersey (both 70 percent).

In contrast, nine other states — Utah, New Mexico, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island — listed the drugs involved in fatal overdoses on 98 percent or more of death certificates.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S GOT RELIGION?

3

                                                   THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S GOT RELIGION?

                                                                   By Susan Stamper Brown

Apparently, the Democratic Party’s latest strategy to win the White House in 2016 is “Let’s pretend to be religious.”Now it’s all about Hillary’s faith, according to Democratic Party Vice Presidential hopeful Tim Kaine, who told a group in New Orleans that Hillary Clinton’s faith is at the “root of everything she does.” That’s quite a statement, considering all the years she’s been in the public’s eye.

Most likely, though, Kaine was referring to Hillary’s attachment to the “Social Gospel.” The Social Gospel is a cheap counterfeit for the real thing that liberals conjured up to promote socialism while relieving people from any guilt associated with living life according to their own standards, not God’s. The Social Gospel crowd concentrates on scriptures that instruct us to help the poor and feed the hungry. They ignore the ones where Jesus told those he helped and fed to “go and sin no more.”

But, here’s the rub. If liberals really wanted to do things the right way, they’d do it themselves and not pass personal responsibility off to the government. Jesus never said governments are an acceptable replacement for lazy, no-good followers who refuse to do what he asks.

Obviously, Kaine was trying to paint Hillary in a softer, nicer light, while at the same time courting right-leaning anti-Trump evangelicals. It’s a political ploy. In May, Slate magazine ran a piece by Ruth Graham, “Can the Christian Left Be a Real Political Force?” — suggesting that Donald Trump’s rise in the GOP makes 2016 the perfect opportunity for the Democrat Party to win over anti-Trump evangelicals if they can find a way to lop their horns and replace them with halos to make them look like the “party of God.”

What the author, Kaine and Democrat Party strategists fail to understand is that anti-Trump conservative Christians would never vote for Hillary. Nor will they be tricked by those bearing faux religion in the name of politics. Graham did her best to make a case for liberal Christianity, writing: “It must first be said that despite the empty pews, there’s reason to believe that liberal Christianity has been dormant, not dead.”

In reality, those empty pews are what happens when we do things our way and cherry-pick the Gospel. Aa Pew poll rolled out last year found that mainline church denominations embracing the Social Gospel, like Hillary Clinton’s Methodist denomination, are in decline across the United States. In sharp contrast, the same Pew poll found that conservative Christian churches are vibrantly alive and growing.

The Slate magazine author accidentally answered why “liberal Christianity” is little more than an oxymoron when she wrote: “There’s a cost associated with membership…churches that ask more from their followers tend to be stronger…Many progressive churches, by contrast barely demand a pinky toe…They don’t pressure me when I skip; the sermons rarely suggest it matters whether I believe the creeds…By contrast, when I visit conservative churches…they feel alive: People are there because they think it matters for their everyday lives and for their eternal souls.”

Those churches “feel alive” because they are…alive. It’s impossible to be truly excited about something that isn’t there. And it’ll never be there if it’s about politics rather than a personal, saving faith. Graham concludes: “If there is to be a resurgent Christian left, it will need to learn a trick or two from the very movement [conservative Christian] that overtook it a generation ago.”

Tricks cannot revive that which never existed in the first place. As C.S. Lewis wrote: “Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means…it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing.”It’s a slippery slope, that road to Hell we’re headed, that American politics has deteriorated to this.

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA FOR AUGUST 22 MEETING

0

ROLL CALL

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

APPROVAL OF MEETING MEMORANDUM

REPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS

CONSENT AGENDA
FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

AGENDA

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA AUGUST 22, 2016 ROOM 301, CIVIC CENTER 5:30 P.M.

ORDINANCE G-2016-25 PUBLIC WORKS MOSBY

An Ordinance Amending Section 8.05.050 (Container Regulations) of the Code of Ordinances

CONSENT AGENDA

SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

ORDINANCE F-2016-22 FINANCE McGINN

An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Evansville Authorizing Additional Appropriations and Transfer of Funds within Various Departments (DMD)

ORDINANCE F-2016-23 FINANCE McGINN

An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Evansville Approving the Annual Community Development Plan and Appropriating Community Development Block Grant, Emergency Solutions Grant and HOME Investment Partnership Program Grant Funds

REGULAR AGENDA

THIRD READING OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

ORDINANCE F-2016-22 FINANCE McGINN

An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Evansville Authorizing Additional Appropriations and Transfer of Funds within Various Departments (DMD)

ORDINANCE F-2016-23 FINANCE McGINN

An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Evansville Approving the Annual Community Development Plan and Appropriating Community Development Block Grant, Emergency Solutions Grant and HOME Investment Partnership Program Grant Funds

RESOLUTION DOCKET

RESOLUTION C-2016-27 DOCKET McGINN

Resolution Authorizing the City of Evansville, Indiana to Execute and Deliver a First Supplemental and Amendatory Loan Agreement in Connection With Its Economic Development Revenue Note, Series 2013 (University of Evansville Project) and Approving and Authorizing Other Actions In Respect Thereto

MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS

The next meeting of the Common Council will be Monday, September 12, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. Committee meetings will begin at 5:25 p.m.

Board & Commission Appointments ADJOURNMENT

Torres Guides Flashy Chelsey to Head Victory In Allowance Feature

0

The 4-year-old Flashy Chelsey showed he’ll be a factor in the Claiming Crown this year, taking a tough $40,000 second-level allowance race by ahead over Chicago invader and nine-time winner Steelman Run in the Ellis Park feature.

“He’s a good horse,” said Churchill Downs-based trainer Rob O’Connor, an Ellis Park training champion in the early 1990s who is 2 for 2 at this meet. “People don’t know how good this horse is.”

Flashy Chelsey last fall won a lucrative allowance race at Kentucky Downs, then was a close fourth in Churchill’s Grade 3 Jefferson Cup for 3-year-olds. Though he was eighth in last year’s Claiming Crown Emerald at Gulfstream Park, he lost by only 5 1/2 lengths in a race taken off the turf.

The Claiming Crown provides a big-money showcase for the blue-collar horses that fill the cards in American racing. They are run under starter-allowance conditions. In fact, O’Connor said his next objective for Flashy Chelsey will be the $75,000 Claiming Crown Emerald Prep Sept. 11 at Kentucky Downs. Like the Claiming Crown, that race is for horses who have started for a claiming price of $25,000 or cheaper since Jan. 1, 2015.

Flashy Chelsey, whom O’Connor claimed for $30,000 two years ago for brother-in-law Bruce McCrea of Louisville, is eligible for the Claiming Crown because he ran — winning — for a $25,000 claiming price in March, 2015.

Flashy Chelsey was making his second start of the year, having finished a good third in a similar Churchill Downs allowance race. The winner that day, Greengrassofyoming, won Arlington’s Grade 3 Stars and Stripes in his next race and finished fourth in the Arlington Million, losing by a total of 1 1/4 lengths.

“We hesitated running him and not than waiting for Kentucky Downs” and a $145,000 allowance race there, O’Connor said. “But he’s eligible for the $25,000 starter, and that gave us a second option. Who knows what will come up at Kentucky Downs (in the allowance race)? So that’s why we ran here.”

Francisco Torres had Flashy Chelsey in a beautiful stalking position from the outside as second-choice King Ptolemy established modest pace over firm turf. Flashy Chelsey went after the leaders leaving the far turn, had a length cushion in mid-stretch and dug in to hold off Steelman Run and jockey Alejandro Contreras. Flashy Chelsey covered 1 1/8 miles in a solid 1:48.85, his last eighth-mile going in 12.02 seconds at a distance that O’Connor thinks might be stretching his limits.

“Beautiful trip, beautiful horse,” Torres said. “It was just a matter of when and how. When I called on him, he quickened up. For this kind of money, it came up a tough race. But he’s a good horse.”

Flashy Chelsey, a chestnut son of Flashy Bull, now is 5-4-2 in 19 starts, earning $184,559. He paid $12.40 to win as the fourth choice in the field of eight.

On the 2-year-old front, owner Woodford Thoroughbreds had to feel good about Awesome Express’ chances against Florida-bred and Florida-sired company after the filly won her debut in open company, taking the seventh race by a head over Dawn the Destroyer after the two battled throughout the race.

Awesome Express, with Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard for trainer Neil Howard, showed a lot to like, including battling back on the inside while covering 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.32. She paid $13 to win as the fourth choice.

“I had never been on her, but Neil seemed to like her quite a bit,” Hernandez said. “She ran real impressive, gutted it out and ran big. It looks like her future is bright. The last two horses I won on first-time out for Neil were (multiple graded-stakes winner) Eagle and Ahh Chocolate.”

If there was a surprise to Awesome Express, it’s that she’s a Florida-bred racing for the Woodford Racing syndicate headed by Will Farish Jr., better-known for the classy Kentucky-breds that come off his family’s Lane’s End Farm in Woodford County.

“Well, we put together a syndicate that was going to be two state-breds, like New  York-bred or Ontario, trying to do it in the $75,000 range,” Farish said. “We couldn’t get any 2-year-olds in that price range. So we ended up doing one filly for $130,000 in the partnership. This is her.”

Awesome Express, a daughter of Awesome of Course, was purchased at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales’ April auction of 2-year-olds in training. She missed out getting another $7,000 in Kentucky-bred purse supplements in the maiden race, but looks like she could be pretty salty in Florida-bred and Florida-sired stakes in Florida.

“That was a gutsy race,” Farish said. “Being down on the inside, little like she is, it was a double tall order for her first time out. But she really dug in. We are thrilled she did this first time out. This is not the old Ellis Park. These races are tough, so it’s fun to pull one off.”

Agreed the Louisville-based Howard: “You can look at the program and see how these races are coming up down here. This is a different meet. It might say Ellis Park, but it’s a whole different ballgame now.”

Corey Lanerie won two races to take a 19-17 edge in the jockeys’ race over Hernandez and Miguel Mena. Jockey Jon Court continued to stay hot, winning two races for the fourth consecutive racing day to give him 12.

Wiener-Dog championship field set  Scenics-ELP-Wiener Dog Races-Heat 1-Colby-082116-003

The field has been set for this coming Saturday’s Wiener-Dog grand championship, with the top two finishers from Sunday’s two heats filling out the eight-dog bracket.

You wouldn’t have bet Colby to win Sunday’s first qualifying heat off the post parade. The No. 7 dog, the 27-pound Colby, with his short legs making it look like his belly was on the ground, kept stopping on the way to the starting gate and had to be urged to continue. One wondered if he would make the course.

But it turns out that Colby is a wily veteran of dachshund dashes. When the gate sprung open, Colby barreled to a clear lead and made a steady beeline to the wire, withstanding the late charge by No. 6 O-Lee, who nipped No. 4 Tucker for the second qualifying spot. Time for about 50 yards was 8.9 seconds, off the course record of 6.91 set Saturday by Mini Corndog with Ketchup.

“He’s not fat, he’s a standard,” Scott Keach of Henderson, who owns Colby with his wife, Jennifer. “He’s not a miniature. He’s just stout, let’s say that.”

The Keaches said Colby never wants to go to the post. And in fact, Colby didn’t want to go into the winner’s circle until Jennifer was on the scene.

“He’s a rescue, and he’s very much a mama’s boy,” Jennifer said. “He loves his mommy… (But) he’s a born racer.”

The Keaches said Colby made last year’s championship field, though he did not win. They said they won the first Wiener-Dog competition held at Ellis 12 years ago with another rescue dog, named Penny.

In the second heat, No. 8 Turbo Dutch took what appeared an insurmountable lead, but then stopped to chase his closest rival and make a couple more detours before straightening out to take second in a photo. Meanwhile No. 1 Minnie, who took a left-hand turn out of the gate, rallied late after overcoming her own mid-stretch distractions and jumping a rival to win in 12.84 seconds.

“They are distracted, but it’s a great opportunities for families to come out to race their dogs,” said Rhonda Kircher, Minnie’s owner from Beaver Dam, Ky., who because of a massive traffic jam caused by construction on the U.S. 41 North bridge barely made it for the race. “It’s a great event; we do it every year. Two years ago, Minnie was the runner-up. The year before that, one of our dachshunds won it all.”

“He wanted to know where his buddies were,” owner Chuck Capshaw of Evansville said of Turbo Dutch. “He was way ahead, then he was wondering where his friends were, so he had to turn around a little bit. But we managed to pull out a decent finish so hopefully we’ll improve next week and win the championship.”

HOW TO GET AMERICANS TO WATCH THE OLYMPICS

0

                                                     HOW TO GET AMERICANS TO WATCH THE OLYMPICS

                                               By Tom Purcell

Fewer Americans are watching the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro than they did prior Games. I offer a solution.

According to The Christian Science Monitor, only 26.5 million Americans watched the Olympics opening ceremony —- “a 35 percent drop in viewership from London’s ceremony four years ago and the lowest rating for the event since 1992.”

Why the low ratings?

For starters, fewer people are watching TV. Anyone under 30 is too busy snapchatting and Facebooking to sit in front of something as outmoded as a television set.

America’s waning interest in the Olympics could also be because too many events have been added by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which may be diluting the Olympics brand.

Consider: During the very first Olympics in 1896, there were only nine sports. The Rio Olympics are featuring 28, two of which were newly added: golf and rugby sevens.

Now I played rugby at Penn State. In my book, its toughness qualifies it as a genuine Olympics sport.

But golf? Sure, golf requires precision and smarts. But that’s about it. The better golfers don’t carry their own clubs or even walk. Their caddies do most of the work.

Besides, if you can smoke a cigar, sip gin and flirt with your mistress on your smartphone while in the throes of competition, I don’t think that qualifies as an “Olympics-level” event.

Nonetheless, the IOC, eager to appeal to younger audiences, keeps expanding its list of sports. In fact, the IOC just announced that it will add five events to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. In addition to the return of baseball/softball, there will be karate, rock climbing, skateboarding and surfing —- to which I respond”Cowabunga, dude!”

It seems to me that if the IOC wants to draw in American viewers in bigger numbers, maybe it should add other key “sports” that appeal to our national sensibilities —- “sports” that have long been trying to make the Olympics lineup, such as bowling and ballroom dancing.

Sure, bowling doesn’t require the speed and physical stamina long associated with Olympics sports. But it does require a stamina of sorts: Only a true professional can drink three pitchers of lager and still roll a perfect 300.

Keeping track of the “athletes” will be a lot easier, too —- since bowling is the only “sport” in which each competitor has his name stitched onto his shirt pocket.

Proponents of ballroom dancing have been trying like mad to have their “sport” added to the Olympics event list and I say why not.

Such dancing does require the finesse of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. And I don’t care how difficult traditional sports, such as swimming and track, may be. Only ballroom dancers run the risk of blowing out a knee by tripping on a buffet table.

That brings us to pole dancing. Its proponents are hoping that this “sport,” made popular by ladies who shed their clothes in dark, smoky bars, should join the esteemed list of Olympic Games, and I couldn’t agree more!

Now I know that the games are —- or are supposed to be —- about excellence, sacrifice and commitment. I know they’re supposed to be about athletes pushing themselves beyond their physical limits.

But Americans have gone soft over the years. We’re no longer as interested in “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” as we are about instant gratification, junk food, adult beverages and figuring out new schemes by which we can get “the rich” to fund more “free” government goodies.

If the IOC wants Americans to tune back in, it needs to include more “sports” that appeal to what we have become.

Which is why the IOC should add Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest to the Olympics lineup.

Adopt A Pet

0

Toad is a 4-month-old male albino rat. He’s friendly & used to being handled! His brother Yoshi is available too. Rats make very loving, intelligent pets and can be great starter pets for kids! Rat adoption fees are $5 each. Call (812) 426-2563 or visit www.vhslifesaver.org for adoption information!

 

The Public Education Foundation’s 30th Birthday

0

 The Public Education Foundation of Evansville, Inc. will celebrate their 30th year of supporting public education in our community at the Otters baseball game on Wednesday, August 24, 2016.  Game time at historic Bosse Field is 6:35 p.m.

In keeping with the birthday theme, cupcakes and small party favors will be available to the first 800 attendees. There is also a birthday game the crowd can play, with a prize.

For 30 years, from an office at 100 NW Second St, Evansville, the PEF board of directors has provided thousands of students with professional-level, hands-on experience via direct support for its signature projects such as the House Building Project, Summer Musical, Missoula Children’s Theatre and academic team competitions.  Last year, PEF provided over $440,000 in program support, and direct teacher grants and student scholarships.

The Public Education Foundation is a private not-for-profit agency with a mission of “inspiring and rewarding student-centered innovation in public education,”  The PEF Board, supporters and staff believe that high quality public education is fundamental to the economic, cultural and civic health of our society.

Follow PEF on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Public-Education-Foundation-of-Evansville-Inc/), Twitter (PEFEVV), and at www.pefevansville.org

Game ticket information is available on the Otters website at www.evansvilleotters.com.