Home Blog Page 5545

Indiana Federation of Young Republicans Congratulate Nominees

0
State Chair says members are prepared to assist through the entire state
Indianapolis, IN — Today, the Indiana Federation of Young Republicans extended their formal congratulations to the Republican nominees across the state. State Chairwoman, Abby Weingardt, released the following statement:

“On behalf of the State Executive Board and Young Republicans across the Hoosier State, I am pleased to congratulate so many great conservative leaders on their Primary Victories. The Indiana Young Republicans are fully prepared to work tirelessly to ensure that we re-elect Governor Mike Pence, elect Todd Young to the US Senate and elect our Republican candidates to the US Congress. We are confident that Hoosiers will continue to choose strong, conservative, common sense solutions over the failed liberal policies of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Gregg.”

COA: Defense lawyer’s ‘questionable’ conduct not reversible error

0

Dave Stafford for www.theindianalawyer.com

A defense attorney who provided evidence to the state of her client’s involvement in a separate case where he was one of six people charged with brutalizing and sexually assaulting members of an Indianapolis family in their home did not commit reversible error, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

Demetre Brown was among a group of men who targeted a home on East 79th Street in Indianapolis after seeing an open garage door in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2013. A disabled man and his wife lived in the home with their 24-year-old daughter, and all were home at the time the armed men entered the house.

The men broke into the house and over the hours that followed raped and sexually assaulted both women and brutally attacked the man. They ransacked the house, stole jewelry, a laptop and cars. They forced the women to withdraw cash from nearby ATMs.

A jury convicted Brown of four counts of Class A felony rape, two counts of Class A felony attempted criminal deviate conduct, two counts of Class B felony robbery, three counts of Class B felony carjacking, three counts of Class B felony criminal confinement, two counts of Class C felony intimidation, Class B felony aggravated battery, Class A felony robbery, Class C felony battery, and Class A felony burglary. The court sentenced on just 10 counts to avoid double jeopardy, giving Brown 248 years in prison.

In Demetre Brown v. State of Indiana, 49A02-1505-CR-391, the panel affirmed Brown’s convictions but found double jeopardy concerns warranted the reduction of a Class A felony robbery conviction to a Class B conviction. This reduced his sentence to 218 years.

But the panel expressed concern about the role attorney Heather Barton played in this case. Barton represented Brown in another criminal matter but provided police with the laptop that had been stolen from the home after retrieving it from Brown’s mother’s house. Barton also testified about the source of the laptop, which contained Brown’s fingerprint. Brown argued the trial court should have suppressed the evidence and that Barton violated attorney-client privilege.

“We have significant concerns and deep reservations about the events that occurred here and Barton’s questionable conduct. Brown correctly points out that there are attorney professional conduct rules implicated,” Judge Michael Barnes wrote, referencing Professional Conduct Rule 1.6(a). “However, Brown cites no authority for the proposition that an ethical violation should result in the exclusion of evidence in a criminal trial unless it violates the attorney-client privilege statute.

“Despite our concerns about Barton’s conduct, we need not and do not address whether the trial court erred by admitting the evidence at issue because any error was harmless,” Barnes wrote, finding there was ample other evidence at trial pointing to Brown’s guilt.

Brown also failed to persuade the court that convictions should be vacated due to the single larceny rule or that his sentence was inappropriate.

BREAKING NEWS: Settlement Conference Set In Bungled Evansville SWAT Raid

3
 Settlement Conference Set In Bungled Evansville SWAT Raid

BY DAVE STAFFORD of Indian Lawyer

A federal court has scheduled a settlement conference later this month in the case of an Evansville woman who sued the city after her home was violently raided by an armored phalanx of SWAT officers who found no evidence of a crime.

Louise Milan’s case against Evansville, city Police Chief Billy Bolin and others is back before District Judge William T. Lawrence in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Indiana after the U.S. Supreme Court in February rejected the city’s petition to hear its appeal.

Milan was 68 in June 2012 when a SWAT team descended on the home she shared with two daughters. Officers were looking for the source of Internet threats against police and tracked the IP address to Milan’s home. However, the unsecured Internet connection allowed people outside her home to use her connection.

Lawrence ruled in January 2015 that Milan could pursue an excessive force claim against the city and that Evansville had no claim of qualified immunity for the action of its police. The city appealed, but to no avail. Judge Richard Posner wrote for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that video of the raid posted online was “disturbing” and “cannot have helped race relations in Evansville.” The appellate ruling likened police action to the Keystone Kops, finding EPD in proceeding with a SWAT raid on skimpy evidence “committed too many mistakes to pass the test of reasonableness.”

The District Court has set a settlement conference in the case for May 25 in Evansville. If the case doesn’t settle, a three-day jury trial is scheduled to begin August 22.

Milan’s attorney, Kyle Biesecker of Biesecker Dutkanych & Macer LLC in Evansville, said four past settlement conferences have failed to produce an offer from the city.

“All indications I’ve gotten to this point indicate I don’t think any settlement is forthcoming,” he said. “That may change at the settlement conference.”

He said Milan “did nothing wrong and is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

An attorney representing the Evansville defendants, Keith Vonderahe of Ziemer Stayman Weitzel & Shoulders, LLP, declined to comment on whether the city has or intends to make a settlement offer.

“The city will most definitely participate in [the settlement] conference in good faith — with the optimistic intent of reaching a settlement and avoiding the trial,” Vonderahe said in an email. “Of course, if settlement is not forthcoming, the city will be prepared to defend the actions of its police officers at trial.”

FOOTNOTE:  This is a developing story and we shall up date you soon as more information becomes available.

Evansville man wanted for Attempted Murder after Thursday night shooting on south side

0

On Thursday at approximately 4:25pm, Evansville Police responded to a shooting near Riverside and Grand. Officers located 20 year old Donovan Thomas in the parking lot of the Zesto’s and began treating him for a gunshot wound to the leg. After officers applied a tourniquet, they were able to get information from him. He told police he knew the man who shot him. He told police it was 21 year old MICHAEL MERRIWEATHER. Thomas did not provide any possible motive for the shooting.
MERRIWEATHER fled the area before officers arrived. He remains at large. He is wanted for Attempted Murder and Criminal Recklessness. He is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information on MERRIWEATHER or this case is asked to call EPD at 812-436-7979 or WeTip at 1-800-78-CRIME.

 

Local Evansville Teachers Association Member and Educator

0

DeLyn Beard 

Selected to Attend the

National Summit on Teacher Diversity 

The United States Department of Education is committed to supporting efforts to increase diversity in the teaching profession so that our teaching force more closely reflects the increasingly diverse student population it serves. As part of this commitment, the Department will host a National Summit on Teacher Diversity on Friday, May 6th at the Department’s Headquarters in Washington, DC.  The Summit’s goal is to support the development of actionable commitments to attracting, preparing, retaining, and supporting educators of color, as well as to spark a national dialogue on this pressing issue.

DeLyn Beard was invited to attend this Summit by Secretary of Education John King.  Ms. Beard was nominated by the National Education Association because of her interests in and abilities to contribute to a nationwide effort to address the lack of diversity in our teaching force.  Ms. Beard’s participation in this summit will expand and deepen her understanding of this issue, as she will exchange ideas with other educational thought leaders around the country regarding how to use her professional position and her sense of agency to affect change in our schools and in our community.

A teacher for 21 years, Ms. Beard currently serves on the Board of Directors for ETA and is an eLearning Coach for EVSC.  Ms. Beard hopes to bring back ideas to share and use to promote increased diversity in our teaching force.

Additional Arrest Made in Animal Cruelty Case

0

On Thursday, May 05, 2016 at 09:30pm the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office arrested Mr. Brandyn Alan Cox on charges related to an ongoing animal cruelty investigation. Deputies located Mr. Cox in Mount Vernon, where he was served with an arrest warrant and taken into custody.

The arrest stems from an incident that occurred on Tuesday, May 03, 2016 in which Mr. Jamie McFarland was alleged to have tied a dog to the tow hitch of a truck later driven by Mr. Cox. The Sheriff’s Office became aware of the incident when multiple 911 callers indicated the driver of a black Ford F-150 pick-up truck had been dragging a dog on a leash behind the vehicle.

One of the 911 callers sped around the truck as it traveled down Pearl Drive and blocked the driver’s path. Mr. Cox is alleged to have exited the truck and then untied the deceased dog, leaving the animal in the roadway. The witness reported being threatened by Mr. Cox after she attempted to take pictures of him. Mr. Cox allegedly tried to take the phone from the witness’s hand and then threatened to run over her with his truck prior to leaving the scene.

Mr. Cox was located and questioned later that day, but released while the investigation continued. The investigation determined that Mr. Cox had driven for just over five (5) miles while dragging the animal.  Mr. McFarland was taken into custody on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, while an arrest warrant for Mr. Cox was obtained earlier today.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office deputies located Mr. Cox inside of an automotive repair business in Mount Vernon. With the assistance of the Posey County Sheriff’s Office and theMount Vernon Police Department, Mr. Cox was taken into custody without incident. Mr. Cox surrendered after a warning was shouted into the building from a Sheriff’s Office K-9 handler, who was preparing to use his canine to search the building.

The Posey County Sheriff’s Office arrested Mr. Matthew Blaine Reed of Mt. Vernon, who had been inside the garage with Mr. Cox. Mr. Reed was found to be in possession of a stolen handgun and is currently lodged at the Posey County Jail.

Sheriff Dave Wedding stated, “Animals obviously cannot speak for themselves, so it is up to us give them a voice whenever they are abused or mistreated.” Sheriff Wedding added, “Our County benefits from the collaborative relationship between the Sheriff’s Office, the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office and Evansville-Vanderburgh Animal Control,who are all members of the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Animal Cruelty Task-Force”. Both the Sheriff’s Office and the Evansville Police Department have assigned representatives to the task force, whose goal is to curb animal cruelty in Vanderburgh County through prevention, protection and prosecution.

Sheriff Wedding added, “I want to thank those members of the public who called 911 to report this crime, especially the woman who risked her personal safety to try and save this animal. We normally encourage citizens to just be good witnesses and not become involved, but I certainly understand why this good samaritan elected to take action.”

ARRESTED:

Pictured above: Brandyn Alan Cox, 24, of Evansville. Intimidation as a Level 5 Felony, Animal Cruelty as a Level 6 Felony, Animal Torture (2 counts) as a Level 6 Felony, Animal Cruelty as a Class A Misdemeanor, Interference with the Reporting of a Crime as a Class A Misdemeanor

Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Records

0

http://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/recent-booking-records.aspx

IS IT TRUE MAY 6, 2016

44

IS IT TRUE that City Council attorney Joshua Claybourn of Newburgh who with considerable media coverage withdrew as an Indiana delegate to the Republican National Convention and in his prepared statement said “he cannot in good conscience attend a convention supporting Donald Trump”, attended Donald Trump’s Evansville rally at the ONB Events Plaza as a backroom VIP guest?  … that Josh Claybourn disdain for Trump didn’t stop him from accepting a backstage pass to the local appearance by the Donald and taking a smiling “thumbs up” picture with him? …it looks like Mr. Claybourn finally got his 15 minutes of fame? …we would like for the real Josh Claybourn to stand up and be counted?

IS IT TRUE that it looks like the video of the last City Council meeting has been altered by someone in authority?  …the segment at the end the meeting has been erased?  …the section that was erased had to do with the discussion between City Councilman Dan McGinn, Dr. Dan Adams and George Lumley?  …could the reason why this video segment was erased was Mr. Lumley took them to task and made both of them look bad?  …it looks like censorship is well and alive at the Civic Center?

IS IT TRUE we are extremely taken aback by the results of the primary race for County Commissioner District #3?  … Cheryl Musgrave political machine flexed its muscle by helping her win her race with 50% of the votes?  … one of our most favorite conservative people, Brenda Bergwitz ran a very positive and aggressive campaign?  …we hope Brenda will continue to stay engaged in politics?  ….Alex Schmitt would had been better off if he would had ran for a position like County Council? ..it seems like Alex is a reasonably nice person that received bad political advise?

IS IT TRUE we would like to congratulate District 77 State Representative candidates for providing us with positive, aggressive and an issue driven campaign?  …who ever did the marketing  campaign for Brandon Lee Ferguson did a masterful job? … Mr. Ferguson is extremely likable and we predict  that we haven’t seen the last of him?  …Lori Sherman almost became the first black female attorney to ever win District 77 State Representative Democratic primary election?  …you can bet that the voters hasn’t seen the last of Ms. Sherman name placed on a ballot?  …we predict that Lori Sherman will be a political force to deal with in the future?…election day belong to young and well liked attorney Ryan Hatfield?  …Ryan’s comes from a well known and established political family which proved to be the difference that put him over the top in this extremely competitive race?  …his Republican  opponent better beware because Ryan Hatfield has shown that he is one hell of a campaigner?

IS IT TRUE that Zachary Heronemus and Elliot Howard both run an extremely positive campaigns?  …they attended every political gathering and conducted impressive door to door campaigns?  …we congratulate both young men for providing the voters with the closest race of the day?  …we predict that the general election race for Clerk Of The Circuit Court is going to be an ole fashion political barn burner?

IS IT TRUE that Ann Ennis give District 64 State Representative Thomas W  Washburn more than he wanted and much more?  …if Mrs. Ennis would had focus on Mr. Washburn know-it- all attitude she could had sent him packing?  …we predict that there shall be something positive in the Ann Ennis political horizon?

IS IT TRUE that Republican State Representative candidate for District 78 Johnny Kincaid ran one hell of a race? …the votes he received was truly impressive?  …having a well known campaign manager by the name of Phillip Davis didn’t hurt him either?  …we also give three cheers to William Billy Garrett and Henrietta Jenkins for running an aggressive and issue based campaigns?  …you can bet we shall be seeing the names of William Billy Garrett and Henrietta Jenkins on future ballots?  ….both individuals are very nice people?

IS IT TRUE its hard to believe that Republican Dale McCuiston a withdrawn candidate for County Commissioner District #1 race received a whooping 18,460 complimentary vote?  …unopposed Democratic District #1 candidate Ben Shoulders received an impressive 13,235 votes in his race?  …we predict that Ben Shoulders name may one day appear on the ballot as a candidate for Mayor of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE the Republican race for Clerk of The Circuit Court was extremely interesting?  …its sad that two extremely well respected ladies had to run against each other?  …Carla Hayden ruled the day by handily defeating Connie Carrier ?  …it looks like local GOP party Chairman Wayne Parkes endorsement help Mrs. Hayden to win this extremely competitive race?  …we also know that the endorsement of former Clerk of The Circuit Court and County Commissioner Marsha Abell proved to be extremely valuable to the primary election win for Mrs. Hayden?

IS IT TRUE the most effective and hard working District #78 State Representative Holli Sullivan received an impressive 7,325 complimentary votes from the people of her District?  …Holli is becoming to be known as the “go to gal” in the House of Representative side to get things done?

IS IT TRUE County Commissioner Steve Melcher votes shows that he still enjoy strong support among Democrats?  …County Coroner candidate Steve Lockyear complimentary votes tell us that if any Republican are considering to take him on in the general election they better be ready for an uphill political battle?

IS IT TRUE next Monday we shall do some additional IS IT TRUE primary election recaps?

FOOTNOTE: todays “Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that Joshua Claybourn should had withdrawn as an Indiana delegate to the Republican National Convention?

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

Did Donald Trump Violate Palm Beach Ordinances

1

Did Donald Trump Violate Palm Beach Ordinances By Putting Up Outsized Flag And Pole

by David Mikkelson

Did Donald Trump violate Palm Beach ordinances by putting up an outsized U.S. flag and pole, then donating the money he was fined to veterans’ organizations?

Claim: Donald Trump violated Palm Beach ordinances by putting up an outsized U.S. flag and pole, then donating the money he was fined to veterans’ organizations.

I’ve seen a couple of articles about Donald Trump and a 50 foot flag pole and a city ordinance placing a $1000 fine per day until he made it a 30 foot flag pole. Here’s what is being said and would like to know whether this is true or not:

When Trump purchased and rebuilt Mar-A-Lago the Grand mansion and estate in Palm beach, Florida he got into a dispute with the city, who are well known for being strict on zoning regulations. Trump put up a 50 foot flag pole even though 30 foot is the maximum allowed. The city imposed a 1,000 dollar fine per day. While Trump and the city argued back and forth, finally when the fine had reached 120,000 dollars Trump proposed a solution. He would donate that amount to veterans organizations, would move the flag and pole to a different location in front of the mansion and would only use a 30 foot flag pole. The city agreed. So Trump brought in the company who does Golf course construction had them build a 20 foot high grassy hill and put a 30 foot flag pole on top of it.

Origins: This anecdote about Donald Trump and his outsized U.S. flag and pole neatly encapsulates what so many people find either most appealing or most distasteful about the business magnate and 2016 Republican presidential candidate: to some he’s the no-nonsense take-charge type who has the power and influence to thwart those who would insist on allowing the enforcement of petty rules or “political correctness” impede the progress of business and the course of “making America great again”; to others he’s a wealthy blowhard who thinks the rules don’t apply to him and habitually bullies others into submission to feed his lust for self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment.

The basic facts are these: In 1985, Donald Trump paid $10 million for Mar-A-Lago, the name of the Marjorie Merriweather Post estate in Palm Beach, Florida. On 3 October 2006, Trump had an outsized American flag (variously described as being either 15×25 feet or 20×30 feet) installed on an 80-foot-high flagpole at Mar-a-Lago, in violation of local zoning regulations that established a maximum size of 4×6 feet for flags and a maximum height of 42 feet for flagpoles. Trump put up his regulation-violating flag and pole without obtaining either a building permit permit or a variance from local authorities, and the Palm Beach town council accordingly fined him $1,250 (or, in some accounts, $250) for every day the flag remained in place (apparently citing him only for the pole but not the flag itself). Trump in turn filed a $25 million lawsuit against Palm Beach, claiming that the town was selectively enforcing its rules (by not fining other properties that were flying flags in violation of town ordinances) and infringing his constitutional right to free speech.

Six months later the two sides finally reached an agreement during “secret, court-ordered negotiations,” with the town agreeing to waive all fines against Trump for his code-busting flagpole and to “review its ordinances and codes dealing with flagpoles and flags during the next zoning season,” and Trump agreeing to drop his lawsuit, lower the height of his flagpole from 80 to 70 feet, obtain a permit for the pole and move it farther inland, and donate $100,000 “to charities dealing with Iraq War Veterans, [the] American Flag, or the local VA hospital.”

So, the example reproduced above is true in its broad strokes, although all of the numbers it cites (dollar amounts and dimensions) are inaccurate, the issue was resolved via court-ordered mediation (not by Trump’s “proposing a solution”), and the money Trump agreed to donate to settle the matter went to organizations selected by both sides (although Trump had previously stated that if he won his 15×25 feet or $25 million lawsuit, the proceeds would go to military members returning from Iraq). We also haven’t been able to verify whether Trump connived to maintain (or even exceed) the height of the original pole by installing a 10-foot-shorter pole on a 20-foot-high hill — pictures of the estate show the flagpole rising from a mound, but the height of the mound is difficult to estimate from photographs:

Trump’s lawsuit maintained that he couldn’t bring his flag and pole into compliance with regulations because “A smaller flag and pole on Mar-A-Lago’s property would be lost given its massive size, look silly instead of make a statement, and most importantly would fail to appropriately express the magnitude of Donald J. Trump’s and the Club’s members’ patriotism.” In his statements to the news media at the time he typically framed the issue as being one of his standing up to anti-American, anti-flag, anti-patriotic forces, while acknowledging that he hadn’t even bothered applying for a permit first (because he didn’t think he’d get one) and stating that he didn’t believe rules should apply to the American flag (and therefore to him in this instance):

“Well, I put up an American flag on the front of the Mar-a-Lago Club, which is a great house, probably the greatest house in America that I turned into a private club very successfully in Palm Beach, Florida. And the flag is very proudly waving, and the town wants me to take it down. Because they say I put it up without a permit and, frankly, had I gone to the town for a permit they wouldn’t have given it to me, probably. But more importantly, I say that you don’t need a permit to put up the American flag.

I don’t think they know what their beef is. I’m not sure they really understand what their beef is. They don’t talk about the flag. They only talk about the flagpole because they’re afraid politically to mention the word flag and the American flag and take it down.

And I’ll say it’s probably one of the most popular things I’ve ever done because we’ve had hundreds and hundreds of letters and thousands of requests for everything supporting the flag. Everybody wants it. Everybody wants it up. But the town wants me to take down the American flag, and I told them I’m not doing that.

This is probably the wealthiest town — it is the wealthiest town in America, in the United States, and frankly it’s a town that wants me to take down a flag and they shouldn’t be asking for that.

So it’s been a very, very problematic situation. I’ll be responding to them very shortly. And you know, I’m a big — I’m a very patriotic guy. I’m very proud of the country, and I don’t want to take down the American flag. And I don’t believe you need permits to put up the American flag.”

Long-time Palm Beach Post correspondent Frank Cerabino opined that the Palm Beach flag brouhaha had little or nothing to do with patriotism, but rather was part of a pattern of Trump’s using lawsuits to bend local authorities to his will — dredging up excuses to sue them for exorbitant amounts of money, then offering to drop the suits in exchange for agreements that provide him with significant business advantages:

Oh, he knew what he was doing. Trump, after all, had been fighting with the town poohbahs from the very moment he’d crashed into the complacent, clubby world of Palm Beach to buy Mar-a-Lago, which turned out to be one of those great deals he couldn’t afford.

Trump knew from experience that Palm Beach was a stickler for adherence to its ordinances. He had once paid a $5,000 fine to the town for replacing a section of dead hedges with replacements that weren’t quite tall enough.

But Trump had bigger changes in mind than merely out-flagging his neighbors. He was plainly inviting a lawsuit. The town council took the bait, citing the oversized pole and flag as violations of the town code, and fining Trump $250 a day for every day they remained on the estate.

Tucked into his patriotic posturing was a completely unrelated legal matter that he made part of his multi-million lawsuit: a complaint about the town code that requires large commercial enterprises to be “town serving.” The town requires proof from local businesses that at least 50 percent of their business comes from town residents. So, for example, when Neiman Marcus opened on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, it was allowed to do so by promising that it would only advertise in the town’s newspaper, and not in publications that circulated to shoppers who don’t live on the island.

For Trump, eliminating the “town serving” requirement would mean that he could offer more memberships to his Mar-a-Lago social club to people who had no connection to Palm Beach, making it easier for him to keep his club full. Softening up the town on the flag issue to pursue some other angle was a classic Trump move. Though he has yet to get this particular exemption waived, Palm Beach has learned from experience that Trump’s lawsuits are never settled, just dormant. One of his Palm Beach lawyers said recently that the “town serving” issue is still unresolved and ripe for more litigation.

Trump [initially] couldn’t afford [to maintain] Mar-a-Lago as a single family home. His proposed solution was to chop his National Historic Landmark into something he called Mansions of Mar-a-Lago, a development that would put a public road through the middle of the estate, which would lead to the 10 mini-mansions he would build on the property, including one on the front lawn.

The Palm Beach Town Council shot down all of Trump’s proposed changes to the property, even when he reduced his mini-mansion plans from 10 to seven. Instead, they encouraged him to find a buyer if he couldn’t afford to keep the estate intact. When the town’s government refused to bend to his demands, Trump sued. The lawsuit against the Town of Palm Beach, which would prove to be not his last, would eventually cause his neighbors to lawyer up against him.

After his Mansions of Mar-a-Lago plan was rejected, Trump found another way to salvage his stake in Mar-a-Lago. He offered to drop his lawsuit if council members allowed him to convert his estate into a new private club on the island. The Mar-a-Lago Club.

While Trump was playing defense against the town’s constant attempt to rein him in, he went on the attack against the county and its airport. Airlines routinely used a flight path in and out of Palm Beach International Airport in nearby West Palm Beach that brought the planes directly over Mar-a-Lago.

This didn’t sit well with Trump, who argued that the noise and fumes were ruining his investment, and that the decent thing for the county to do was to move the airport farther west. Trump had been arguing this for years, to no avail, while calling the airport director Bruce Pelly, among other things, a “moron” and “the worst airport director in the country.”

It turned out to be a useful gripe for Trump, one that he could turn into a new business opportunity, because just south of the airport was 214 acres of vacant scrub land owned by Palm Beach County, land he wanted. So Trump sued the county for $75 million over the airport noise, then negotiated to drop that lawsuit in exchange for the county giving him a 75-year lease on the nearby property for $438,000 a year.

That land became the Trump International Golf Club, a $40 million, 18-hole, Jim Fazio-designed course that imported nearly 2 million cubic yards of dirt to transform the flat scrub land into hilly terrain with waterfalls, rock formations, and a clubhouse four stories above sea level.

This wasn’t the only instance of flagpole bickering in Trump’s past. He also reached a (non-court) settlement with local government in 2014 after having raised Old Glory on a 70-foot flagpole at the Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, without obtaining a permit first:

Signaling a possible resolution to Donald Trump’s running flag feud, the California Coastal Commission said the mogul’s oversized Old Glory can stay — as long as Rancho Palos Verdes revises its municipal height rules.

While not the victory city officials had hoped for, the decision allows for a way forward to legally allow the 70-foot-tall flagpole, which was hoisted without a permit nearly 10 years ago.

Having gained the support of much of the coastal city — as well as two City Councils through the years — the flag now likely can get formal state approval provided the city amends its Local Coastal Program that currently limits structure heights to 26 feet.

“I’m disappointed at the Trump Organization for putting up that flag without adhering to the rule of law,” said Coastal Commissioner Wendy Mitchell.

Commission staff members had recommended that the flagpole be reduced in height to 26 feet and moved closer to the clubhouse on the 240-acre Trump National Golf Course property.

Military Moms Conference Offers Connection and Support

0

The TVCA will host our first Military Moms Conference on Saturday, May 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the American Red Cross Conference Center, 2111 Dana Avenue.

The event is free for mothers of children who have served or are currently serving in the military, as well as spouses of those serving. You can register at www.tristatevca.org. The first 150 who register will receive two free Cincinnati Reds tickets for the May 21st Military Appreciation Day game against the Seattle Mariners. All attendees will receive free gift bags and resource guides from participating sponsors including Kroger, P&G, PNC, the USO, the Cincinnati Reds, the VA, and the Red Cross.

A keynote address by Elaine Brye, author of Be Safe, Love Mom, will share her personal experience with 4 children in the military – one each in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.  The event will include educational presentations and panel discussions with experts in the field, as well provide information about resources available in the Tristate to help moms and spouses cope with the stress of family members as they transition from the military or return from deployments. It will also connect participants with other local military families.

“As a mother or spouse of someone who has served in the military, it can be frustrating not knowing what to expect, how to respond, or whom to ask for advice when they return,” said Dan Knowles of TVCA. “This is a opportunity for moms and spouses to hear what resources are available right here in Cincinnati.”
1...5,5445,5455,546...7,249Page 5,545 of 7,249