Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Records
SPONSORED BY DEFENSE ATTORNEY IVAN ARNAEZ.
DON’T GO TO COURT ALONE. CALL IVAN ARNAEZ @ 812-424-6671.
http://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/recent-booking-records.aspx
The New U.S. 31 Hamilton County Freeway Opens for Business
Governor Mike Pence today celebrated the opening of the new U.S. 31 Hamilton County freeway with Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard, Westfield Mayor Andy Cook, Congresswoman Susan Brooks and Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Brandye Hendrickson, as they joined project personnel, designers and contractors to commend five years of ambitious construction resulting in free-flowing traffic on U.S. 31 in Hamilton County.
“Hamilton County has seen significant growth in recent years and ensuring our infrastructure keeps pace with this part of the state is essential,†said Governor Pence. “The unprecedented progress on the new U.S. 31 in Hamilton County and points north is a tribute to the vision of leaders across Indiana. Hoosiers can be confident that my administration will continue to build on these significant investments and ensure that Indiana remains the Crossroads of America.â€
Last week, northbound and southbound U.S. 31 traffic was shifted onto new bridges over 106th and 116th streets, opening the freeway to three lanes in each direction and effectively removing the final two traffic signals from U.S. 31 through Carmel. All ramps at the I-465 and U.S. 31 interchange, including the new free-flowing ramps from I-465 to northbound U.S. 31, are anticipated to be open to traffic and in their final configurations next week.
“The opening of the new U.S. 31 in Hamilton County is the culmination of a decades-long effort to build a safer, more efficient connection between Indianapolis and South Bend that would be a catalyst for economic development along the entire corridor,†Congresswoman Susan Brooks said. “This highway now moves at the speed of commerce. By completing U.S. 31 earlier than originally planned, Governor Pence and the leadership in Hamilton County are sending a strong message that this corridor, and all of Central Indiana is truly – open for business.â€
“U.S. 31 has always been a vital corridor for Carmel and we were happy to support the upgrade to this highway, not just for our benefit but for the benefit of the State of Indiana,†said Mayor Brainard. “We applaud INDOT for working with local communities throughout the process of improving traffic flow through Carmel and all of Hamilton County. It’s good to see the substantial completion of the highway project and we look forward to next spring when the remaining related projects will be completed.â€
WHAT IF THIS WAS YOUR LAST CHRISTMAS?
What if this was your last Christmas? What if this was your last chance at Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, and Christmas dinner? Would you make the effort to go home for the holidays? Would you make time to take the kiddos to drink hot chocolate and look at the lights?
Would you still go to the mall?
That’s what Mary Kate Campbell did, and she and her shiny new husband had a great time.
“The best Christmas I had, we went to the mall and only had $100. He got a pair of Ray Bans, I got a sweater from J. Crew. We could afford these things, and we enjoyed our time together,†she said.
That was a couple years ago. She’s not sure where she’s going to spend Christmas this year. “That actually depends on whether I get into a clinical trial I got kicked out of last week,†she said from the Seattle hospital where she’s got a real bad case of relapsed, refractory Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. “Or I will go home to Virginia and have a nice quiet little Christmas like I did last year,†she said. “It all depends on whether I get this new drug.â€
The bone marrow registry had two matches, but the doctors found cancer cells after the operation. When I asked if she’d been given a prognosis, she said, “I should be dead already,†and shortly after that she had to get off the phone to have a tube taken out of her chest. She’s 29 and has been married for a year and a half. But when she gets sad this Christmas, don’t assume you know why.
“Christmas is sadder for me now, and it’s for reasons that I think are not the most predictable because I see wonderful, well-intentioned people who love me and care about me and would do anything that they could do to save me, but they cannot save me,†she said. “I see them buying objects for me and for others to distract themselves from the pain for a little while, the pain that they’re going to lose me.â€
And you think your mother is hard to shop for?
From her hospital room, Campbell watches endless commercials for Black Friday, door busters, and 24-hour sales, all screaming at us to buy things that will be forgotten by the New Year. If she had her way—and just this once, maybe she should—we’d handle Christmas more purposefully.
“Buy something you can afford that speaks to you about the person you’re buying it for. Surround yourself with people who don’t expect you to buy them things,†she said. “Every Christmas, we present the people we love with a glut of objects. We don’t necessarily present them with our love, we present them with objects.â€
Life doesn’t have to be so fraught to give Christmas urgency. My cousin George Stanford, a singer-songwriter based in LA, just recorded a song called “Christmas For Twoâ€. The video—it’s up on YouTube—features his lovely and pregnant wife, Nikole, as they prepare for their last Christmas before the baby comes. It is unspeakably adorable.
“Next year, there’ll be three, around our Christmas tree. You and I have just begun to write our legacy/Our gift will be here soon, a little me, a little you, so let’s celebrate our last Christmas for two,†sings George.
For better or worse, we don’t know who is going to be around the Christmas tree next year. So I’ll put it to you again: If you knew that everything would change next year, how would you spend Christmas? Would you judge Christmas on how high the pile of presents under the tree is? Would you worry that everything looked just so? Would you put a plastic toy on a plastic card because Suzy had to open the same number of wrapped boxes as Johnny?
What would you do?
United Methodist Exemplary Teacher Award Presented to UE Economics Professor
University of Evansville assistant professor of economics Omer Bayer received the 2015 United Methodist Exemplary Teacher Award during UE’s Winter Commencement exercise on December 16. The award is given annually by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. It recognizes excellence in teaching at United Methodist Church-related institutions of higher education.
During his time at UE, Bayer has served on many University and Schroeder Family School of Business Administration   committees such as Admissions and Standards, Undergraduate Research, the Student Success Team, and Honors Program. Bayer is very student-centered. He is known as an outstanding professor, often teaching a diverse group of majors in his courses. In addition, in 2014 he led a Contemporary European Business Issues study abroad course to the University’s British campus, Harlaxton College, and his native homeland, Istanbul, Turkey.
Bayer earned his Ph.D. in economics with concentrations in monetary economics, international economics, and applied econometrics from the University of Tennessee where he received the J. Fred and Wilma A. Holly Fellowship. His research focuses on monetary policy adjustment, interaction of the housing market and the macro economy, and the effect of international sporting events on trade. His research has been published in five peer reviewed journal publications, three of which were accepted in top-tier journals.
SWIRCA & More Receives $30,000 Grant from the Glick FUND
SWIRCA & More’s Nutrition Department recently received a $30,000 grant from the Glick Fund, a fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation. This money will be used to serve hot, nutritious lunches to senior citizens and people with disabilities at the Carriage House Apartments here in Evansville.
Annually, SWIRCA serves over a quarter of a million meals, 4,875 of which are served through the Carriage House Apartment meal site. The Nutrition Department’s funding was reduced by $175,000 last year and then another $9,000 in 2015. Because of these cuts, meals are only being served four days a week. For many of these people, this is the only meal they have each day. This grant received by the Glick Fund will cover the cost for the close to 5,000 meals over the next year.
SWIRCA & More serves lunches throughout twenty two congregate meal sites and sixteen home delivered meal routes throughout Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, Perry, Pike and Gibson counties. Meals are served Monday- Thursday. Home delivered clients receive a frozen meal to be heated up and consumed on Friday. For many of the clients, this is the only meal they have each day. For more information on SWIRCA’s Nutrition Department, visit www.swirca.org/nutrition.
SWIRCA & More is a not for profit organization fulfilling a mission of “Enhancing Opportunities for Independent Living.†SWIRCA & More focuses its efforts on empowering individuals of all ages to remain living safely in their own homes by providing information and supportive services to older adults, persons with disabilities, and their caregivers.
Adopt A Pet
Tiny is a 3-year-old female torbie! She’s a little shy, but she gets along great with other cats. Her bright green eyes are gorgeous! Her $30 adoption fee includes her spay, microchip, vaccines, and more. Visit www.vhslifesaver.org or call (812) 426-2563 for adoption details!
Â
Dr. Bucshon Votes to Secure Key Tax Cuts for Hoosiers
Eighth District Congressman Larry Bucshon, M.D. released the following statement regarding key legislation passed through the House last week that permanently extends critical tax cuts for Hoosier families and businesses. The legislation also includes a two year delay of the 2.3 excise tax levied on medical devices to help pay for the Affordable Care Act.
“Despite disingenuous claims by some who opposed this legislation to fight for tax increases, maintaining current tax policy by renewing these tax breaks, like we do every year, does not increase the deficit,â€Â said Bucshon. “This important legislation has significant policy wins that make life easier for Hoosier families who are trying to plan for the future. It delays the medical device tax that is hampering life-saving innovation and permanently extends a provision that helps farmers and small businesses plan large expenditures on equipment so they can invest in our local communities.  Most importantly, it keeps more money in the pockets of taxpayers and away from bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.â€
BACKGROUND:
Key inclusions:
- Additional child tax credit made permanent.
- Extension of tax-free distributions from individual retirement plans for charitable purposes.
- Extension and modification of research credit.
- Extension and modification of increased expensing limitations and treatment of certain real property as section 179 property. The provision permanently extends the small business expensing limitation and phase-out amounts in effect from 2010 to 2014 ($500,000 and $2 million, respectively). These amounts currently are $25,000 and $200,000, respectively. This allows small businesses and the agriculture industry to plan large expenditures on equipment encourages economic activity in rural areas.
- Extension of above-the-line deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses.
- Extension of mine rescue team training credit. The provision extends through 2016 the mine rescue team training tax credit. Employers may take a credit equal to the lesser of 20 percent of the training program costs incurred, or $10,000.
- Extension of election to expense mine safety equipment.
- Two year delay of the medical device excise tax.The provision provides for a two year moratorium on the 2.3-percent excise tax imposed on the sale of medical devices. The tax will not apply to sales during calendar years 2016 and 2017.
- Prevention of retroactive claims of earned income credit after issuance of social security number.
- Prevention of retroactive claims of child tax credit.
- IRS employees prohibited from using personal email accounts for official business.
- Release of information regarding the status of certain investigations.
- Administrative appeal relating to adverse determinations of tax-exempt status of certain organizations.
- Termination of employment of Internal Revenue Service employees for taking official actions for political purposes.
- Educator Tax Deduction.For the first time, the tax extender package permanently extends the educator tax deduction, indexes the deduction cap to inflation, and includes professional development as a deductible expense. This permanent extension will provide relief to educators across the country that incur out-of-pocket expenses on classroom supplies and professional development. It helps ensure each educator has the resources, mentoring, and support professional needs so they can inspire students’ natural curiosity, imagination, and love of learning.
Judge believes restitution order properly entered
Jennifer Nelson for www.theindianalawyer.com
An Indiana Court of Appeals judge dissented from his colleagues Monday in a case in which the majority reversed the court-ordered $3,600 in restitution for a coin sale that turned out to be fraudulent. The dissenting judge also raised public policy concerns about requiring victims to appear at sentencing hearings.
John Paul Garcia pleaded guilty to Class C felony forgery after he was arrested for allegedly selling fake Morgan dollar coins to Paul Bowman. Bowman gave Garcia $3,600 for 180 coins, but found out shortly after the transaction from a coin seller that the coins were not authentic.
Garcia was sentenced to 66 months in prison and ordered to pay Bowman $3,600. Garcia objected to the restitution order and Bowman did not appear at the sentencing hearing. The only support for the restitution order came from the probable cause affidavit.
Judges Melissa May and Terry Crone reversed the restitution order, declining to accept the probable cause affidavit as a valid basis for upholding the order.
“The State offered no other proof of the amount of Bowman’s loss, Bowman was not present at the sentencing hearing, and no additional evidence or testimony concerning this estimate was presented,†May wrote for the majority. They remanded with instructions to conduct a new hearing at which both the state and Garcia may present additional evidence bearing on the restitution due to Bowman.
Judge Cale Bradford dissented on this issue because the amount of restitution was never disputed and it was reported in documents of sufficient reliability that were made part of the record.
“I am also concerned about the public policy of requiring the sorts of evidence Garcia seems to advocate, i.e., requiring the victim to appear at sentencing or file an affidavit of loss in potentially every restitution case would be an unacceptable burden on crime victims, many of whom have already taken the time and trouble to appear at a trial and/or participate in a police investigation. Depending on the circumstances, appearing at a sentencing hearing may also be very traumatic for the victim. This strikes me as unnecessary and unwarranted re-victimization,†Bradford wrote.
He also believed requiring this additional evidence would be an unacceptable burden on the state’s criminal justice system.
All three judges did uphold Garcia’s 66-month sentence. The case is John Paul Garcia v. State of Indiana, 45A03-1503-CR-86.