http://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/recent-booking-records.aspx
Pence’s Empty Office
Pence’s Empty Office
By Rob Kendall of Intoretront
On Saturday, thousands of people from across the state flocked to Downtown Danville for the Mayberry in the Midwest Festival. This was great for Governor Mike Pence. He recently opened a campaign office on the corner where the event was taking place. As a candidate, one could not ask for better free exposure.
There was only one problem…no one was at his office. Even worse, there were no signs in the storefront window. There was not one worker passing out information. No promotion at all. Nothing to identify Pence, other than his name on the door. Unless passersby looked closely, the office resembled just another attorney on the Courthouse Square.
At a time where polling shows the governor in a very tight race, thousands of potential voters walked right past his door. Unfortunately, there was no one to seize the opportunity. I was broadcasting the event. I watched as other campaigns had volunteers walking the streets to promote their candidate.
Mistakes in May do not necessarily make or break a campaign, but a lack of discipline and organization throughout will. Pence’s campaign no-show at his office was just that. The race to elect Indiana’s next governor will be razor thin. Unforced errors will haunt both candidates. Pence has several built-in advantages. He needs to exploit them if he is to be victorious. One is volunteers and infrastructure, which failed on Saturday.
The visual of Pence’s empty office was striking. Many people commented. The fact the governor, who personally attended a grand opening for the office just a week ago (complete with a bus full of people to help celebrate), left it unattended, was inexcusable. I was at that event and interviewed Pence. There were placards and signs set up all over the office. Not only did someone remove them when he left, but did not take the effort to transfer them to the window which faces one of the town’s busiest streets. It also means there has likely been no promotion (completely free mind you) for over a week.
Much of politics is about impressions. Pence’s empty office left an awful one. His campaign’s lack of presence fed a narrative many hold of the governor: A guy more about fanfare and publicity than attention to detail which produces good public policy. At the office’s opening, many staffers were on hand, hours before his arrival. Nothing was out of place. Every detail perfectly attended to. After he left, the office apparently became out of sight, out of mind.
Shoulders Welcomes Selby to Commissioners Race
Ben Shoulders, Democrat candidate for Vanderburgh County Commissioner, District 1, tonight released the following statement regarding the entrance of Sean Selby into the race as the Republican candidate:
“I would like to congratulate Sean Selby on winning the Republican Party caucus tonight, and to welcome him to the race for County Commissioner, District 1. In the coming months, I look forward to the opportunity to exchange ideas about how to build an even stronger and more vibrant Vanderburgh County.â€
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION
Gavel Gamut
By Jim Redwine
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION
Let’s say you and your neighbor have lived next to each other for twenty years. He helped you coach your son’s Little League team. You and he risked your lives cutting down a large oak tree that had blown halfway down across the property line between your backyards. Your wives conspired frequently to make sure the two of you did not spend your weekends playing golf or watching football or doing anything they hadn’t planned. About every other year either you or he or sometimes both of you dutifully attended a play, graduation, wedding or birthday party involving one of your children or his. Then, you decided to build a fence between your houses because your wife saw a picture in a magazine and told you via “female speak†you needed to build such an “improvementâ€.
Because you put the entire fence well on your side of the property line you saw no need to consult your neighbor first. After all, he didn’t check with you before allowing his twelve-year-old son to take a shortcut to school across your back yard.
The first thing that happened was, because his twelve year boy could no longer traipse across the back of your yard to get to school, he and his buddies started climbing over your new white picket fence to keep their shortcut. Your wife, who was unamused by a path through her new flowerbeds by the fence, demanded that you, “Do something!â€
Because you have watched every episode of every television legal show from Perry Mason to Judge Judy you run to the County Clerk’s office and file a lawsuit seeking a million dollars in damages and an injunction against the boy.
Or … You call your best friends and neighbors of twenty years and invite them over for bar-b-q where you agree that you and he will build a gate in your fence and your wives agree to replant the flowers. Then your wives head to the mall together while you and your buddy finally get in a round of golf where he shoots 110 and writes down 88 and after you see his score you also write down 88 instead of the score you quit keeping after you hit a ball out of bounds on the third hole. Everybody’s happy.
The lawsuit would’ve cost you and him enough money to furnish game-day beer for the rest of your lives. It also would’ve languished in court for months or even years before it was settled on about the same terms you four friends worked out by yourselves. Which seems more rational? That is, which reminds you less of the present presidential campaign?
Of course, to resolve matters before suit is resorted to, someone has to swallow their pride and start the talking process. Based on my experience as a judge for thirty-five years I have decided most lawsuits could have been avoided if someone had just picked up the phone and started a conversation. The remaining legal matters may require some help from the legal system. If you are not busy “Mending Walls†between you and your neighbors, maybe we can move to this next stage next week.
USI’s Broughton Claims All-America Honors
BRADENTON, Fla.—University of Southern Indiana junior Chase Broughton (Marengo, Indiana) finished sixth in the finals of the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase Friday evening at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships to claim his first career All-America honor.
Broughton, who earned first-team accolades with his placement, finished the race in nine minutes, 0.01 seconds, less than seven seconds off the winning time of 8:53.29, set by Black Hills State University freshman Jonah Theisen.
After finishing 17th in the steeplechase at the 2015 NCAA II Outdoor Championships, Broughton found himself challenging for the lead throughout the first five laps of the seven-lap competition. He briefly held the lead going into the water jump midway through the race before falling back in the last two laps.
In a race that featured four student athletes from the Midwest Region, Broughton was the top finisher from the region as he edged the GLVC champion, Lewis University junior Michael Leet, who was seventh with a time of 9:00.71.
Broughton’s effort gave the No. 11 Screaming Eagles three more team points, bringing their total to eight. USI, which is in a tie for 12th in the men’s standings and 16th in the women’s standings through two days of action, concludes the NCAA II Outdoor Championships Saturday as seniors Johnnie Guy (Palmyra, Indiana) and Tyler Pence (Springfield, Illinois) compete in the men’s 5,000 meters and sophomore Emily Roberts (Fredericktown, Ohio) competes in the women’s 5,000 meters.
Adopt A Pet
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COA: Court cannot order juvenile to pay restitution as a civil judgment
Scottroberts for www.theindianalwyer.com
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled a trial court may not order a juvenile to pay restitution as a civil judgment after a minor was ordered to pay restitution in two cases where he violated his probation.
J.B. violated his probation in four causes and the trial court held a disposition hearing, ordering him to pay $500 in restitution in each of the two causes. Later, the trial court reduced the orders to civil judgments and added judgment fees of $252.50 and $315.63. Three days later, the court entered a separate judgment ordering $500 in restitution for the same two causes and a $250 civil judgment fee.
J.B. then filed a motion to correct error and rescind order for the civil judgment fee asking for clarification on which order he was supposed to follow and asking to rescind the order in both. The trial court rescinded the first order but not the second. J.B. appealed.
After J.B. appealed, the court rescinded the second order as well, rendering the case moot, but the COA in an opinion written by Judge Melissa May said it would still rule on the merits of a case because of public interest. She also noted that whether a juvenile court may reduce a restitution order to a civil judgment has not been addressed in any published Indiana opinion.
May wrote there is no judgment lien in Ind. Code 31-37-19-5(b)(4) in the juvenile statute and the COA is not going to read into the code a provision not expressly stated. Because of that, the trial court did not have the authority to order J.B. to pay the restitution owed his victims as a civil judgment.
The case is J.B. v. State of Indiana, 49A02-1509-JV-1372.
Allinger and Hair send Aces into Friday afternoon contest
TERRE HAUTE – Facing a morning elimination game for the second consecutive day, Austin Allinger and Trey Hair combined to help extend the season for the University of Evansville baseball team as the Purple Aces handed Southern Illinois a 3-2 loss at Bob Warn Field.
Allinger, a freshman, allowed just four hits over eight innings, and Hair made it count, firing a three-run blast to dead center in the fifth to put the Aces (29-26) ahead. It was the ninth homer of the year for the junior out of Firth, Neb., and it secured a fifth win for Allinger.
With the win, UE will return to Bob Warn Field later this afternoon to take on reigning conference champion Dallas Baptist. The Aces will be in an elimination game once again and will need to beat DBU twice in order to punch their ticket to Saturday evening’s championship game.
SIU, meanwhile, finished its season with a 31-25-1 record on the year.
NOTES: UE has homered 49 times this season, which is the most since leaving the park 53 times in 2010 … Korbin Williams and Jonathan Ramon, who is out for the season with an injury, are the first Aces to record double-digit homers this season since the NCAA changed its bat standards prior to the 2011 season … The Aces are 25-34 all-time in the Missouri Valley Tournament … Friday marked the first extra-innings win for the Aces in Missouri Valley Championship history … The Aces last won two MVC tournament games in 2013 … UE’s lone conference tournament trophy was lifted in 2006.
GOING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD
By Susan Stamper Brown
Ah, the “good old days,†the ones that President Obama took a sarcastic swipe at during his recent commencement speech at Rutgers University when he said that America’s “good old days weren’t that great.â€
Certainly he misread his teleprompter.
Sure, we’ve experienced enormous advances in things like technology and medicine, but the “good old days†aren’t so bad, especially compared to what’s happening today.
During the speech Obama said, “…by almost every measure, America is better and the world is better than it was 50 years ago, or 30 years ago, or even eight years ago.â€
Apparently, Hillary Clinton missed the email.
Maybe she accidentally deleted it when she wiped her personal server clean. Before the Kentucky primary, Hillary ran around the state telling voters she wanted to take America back to the good old days when philandering Bill was in the White House. She promised Energizer Bunny Bill would come out of retirement to revitalize Obama’s impotent economy.
The economy’s not the only issue on the brink.
Values matter, right? Certainly high schools back in the “good old days†didn’t allow plays to be performed depicting female-on-female and male-on-male rape like the play recently performed at Houston’s Carnegie Vanguard High School.
How about healthcare? Post-Obamacare, millions of Americans remain uninsured, premiums are higher and people can’t keep their doctors as promised. Americans hate it.
What about the racial tension that’s escalated over the last eight years? And the increased terrorist attacks on our homeland and the birth of ISIS? How about the ever-expanding debt and the contracting job market?
Obviously, perspective effects our worldview.
Obama and a large number of his advisors spent a good portion of their lives abroad. Both Obama and his senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, say their years living in Indonesia and Iran, respectively, helped shaped their worldviews. It’s hard to be truly objective about a particular time in history unless we were there to experience it. That’s the downside of nostalgia. And that’s also the downside of President Obama’s obviously skewed worldview which inspires him to believe America’s “good old days weren’t that great.â€
An awful lot of Americans disagree with him. According to a recent Real Clear Politics poll, 66 percent of those surveyed say they believe America’s going in the wrong direction. A spirit of discouragement and cynicism has overwhelmingly saturated our society like a wet blanket on a cold winter’s night. That’s not progress.
“But I guess,†Mr. Obama said, “it’s part of human nature, especially in times of change and uncertainty, to want to look backwards and long for some imaginary past when everything worked, and the economy hummed, and all politicians were wise, and every kid was well-mannered, and America pretty much did whatever it wanted around the world.â€
It’s a shame Mr. Obama believes Americans are so shallow.
There was a time, however, and it is in no way “imaginary,†when America’s economy did “hum,†politicians had a conscience, families worshiped and prayed together, kids had moms and dads, children understood the meaning of respect, the Constitution was revered, people knew which bathroom to use, America was a superpower, and ISIS did not exist.
By no measure is America better today than eight years ago. Someone much wiser than our president, the prophet Jeremiah, had this to say about the good old days: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’â€
According to Jeremiah, good ways and ancient paths lead us to the “good old days.†We need to go back to move forward. Now that’s the kind of positive change we can and should believe in.
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