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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: VOICE YOUR OPINON ON NOVEMBER 3 AND VOTE

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Letter to the Editor by Laura Blackburn

Most years about this time, I start to feel a sense of anticipation and exhilaration. It isn’t because of the crisp fall air. I don’t like cold weather. No, it isn’t because of Halloween. I’ve never been a big fan of costumes and Jack O’Lanterns. My excitement stems from a politics geek’s anticipation of “the most wonderful day of the year” – Election Day. After all, it is the day that we have a chance to celebrate America with something far better than parades and fireworks, we get to VOTE. We have a voice in our future, and all we have to do is cast a ballot.

This year is no exception, but I feel like so much more is at stake for my hometown this time around. Always before, I had the sense that if my candidates won, great. If they didn’t there would always be another chance in four years. This time, I’m not so sure that Evansville will have another chance to “get it right.” Four years ago when Lloyd Winnecke narrowly beat the late Rick Davis, my first thought was that the voters had made a terrible mistake and they would clearly understand it very early-on into the Winnecke administration. Now, four years later, I truly do not believe that our great city can withstand four more years like the last four. I believe we will be on the verge of bankruptcy and we will have lost the great sense of community that has always made Evansville feel like “home.”

We’ve all seen how freely the tax payers’ money has been spent and our children’s futures mortgaged for a “value engineered” downtown hotel to serve phantom conventioneers. There is a medical school planned downtown at a cost of sixty million dollars, although it will not include the Ivy Tech students that would have comprised the bulk of the student body. Like the hotel, the cost stayed the same while the product we bought shrunk significantly. Those things, along with the dire financial straits we find the City in and the disregard those in power treat the struggles of everyday people with are all “old hat.”

Those issues speak to the judgement of the Mayor, but I am also concerned about the integrity of our current mayor. One of the things that alarm me most about the position we find ourselves in is that for the first time in Evansville history, a mayoral candidate has raised more than a million dollars for a campaign. Most of that money comes from outside of the city, and even from throughout the country. Those very generous donations are coming from individuals and businesses that want to do millions of dollars’ worth of business with this administration. It appears that the City of Evansville is on the radar of a lot of businesses that are willing to spend a lot of money to curry favor with our Mayor.

Another,  example of how willing Lloyd Winnecke is willing to compromise the well-being of our city for his own purposes is the way in which he attempting to used the heads of the non-profit organizations that lost public funding because of the financial mess he has created. Does he not understand that by enlisting them to “politic” for him, he is placing their 501 (c) (3) standing? When these people put their organizations into the political arena they stand to have their non-profit status revoked by the IRS. I hope that any CCO readers who find their votes being solicited through non-profits that they support will remind those doing the politicking that they are endangering the very existence of their organizations. I believe that they would make better use of their time looking for alternate sources of funding. The City can no longer afford to support them. The Mayor spent their funds on the hotel and raising his own property values.

I won’t deny that I am especially excited about one other, more positive historical aspect of this election, too. I confess that I am anxious to see if Evansville will elect its first woman mayor. The thing that would make the Gail Riecken’s victory next Tuesday even greater for me is not that a woman won, but a qualified woman of high moral character won. We just can’t give up on Evansville and let it go down into the maelstrom that is the Winnecke administration.

Sincerely

Laura Blackburn

Evansville

FOOTNOTE: This letter was posted without bias, option or editing.

Students in the spotlight for USI’s Live at the Apollo

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The University of Southern Indiana Multicultural Center’s “Live at the Apollo,” a student talent show featuring skits, songs, dance, instrumental numbers, monologues and other creative acts, will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, October 31, in Carter Hall in the University Center. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Guests are invited to view the performances and cheer for their favorite acts. The event is free and open to the public. However, USI students are encouraged to show a student ID.

This year’s show features 13 acts, and students will compete for cash prizes as groups or individuals in four divisions:

  • Songs – Lyrical Interpretation
  • Dance and Instruments – Rhythmic Interpretation
  • Rap and Poetry/Spoken Word – Artistic Performance
  • Monologues, Stand-up Comedy, and Dialogues – Theatrical Interpretation

Cash prizes will be awarded to first, second and third place winners in both individual and group categories.

For more information, call the Multicultural Center at 812-465-7188.

Daily Off Topic Forum October 29, 2015

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Ivy Tech Hosts Diversity Enrichment Conference

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Ivy Tech Community College in collaboration with Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana’s African American Collaborative, an affinity group within TMMI, will host a Diversity Enrichment Conference at Ivy Tech’s main campus in Evansville on Thursday, October 29 at 5:30 p.m.

 

This event features the dynamic speaker and diversity professional, Eric Ellis, M.A., who has been helping organizations develop diversity solutions for more than 25 years.  He will conduct an interactive session which will emphasize the reasons why diversity is critical for organizations, how it can positively impact each of us and how we can become informed advocates for Diversity and Inclusion.

 

Eric Ellis is President and CEO of Integrity Development Corporation, a Management Consulting Firm in West Chester, Ohio. His firm specializes in developing long-term Diversity and Inclusion solutions for some of the most significant organizations in our nation.

Governor Pence Honors 2016 Indiana Teacher of the Year with Sagamore of the Wabash

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Governor Mike Pence today honored 2016 Indiana Teacher of the Year Jean Russell with a Sagamore of the Wabash. The ceremony was held at Haverhill Elementary School in Fort Wayne, where the Governor also stopped to meet with students, teachers, and staff.

 

“With more than 25 years of experience and numerous awards and recognitions to her credit, Jean Russell has dedicated her career to our kids,” said Governor Pence. “I was pleased to learn that she has been named Indiana’s 2016 Teacher of the Year, and I’m honored today to recognize her further with a Sagamore of the Wabash, a tribute to Hoosiers who have rendered distinguished service to the state and contributed greatly to our Hoosier heritage. Like the many dedicated teachers in our state, Jean Russell does Indiana a great service in the classroom each and every day to ensure that our kids get the education they deserve.”

 

A photo of Governor Pence awarding Jean Russell with a Sagamore of the Wabash can be found below and attached.

 

At Large Council Candidate Roberts Myers Calls For A Vote To End Health Insurance For City Council Members.

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Monday’s Evansville City Council Meeting was probably the most frustrating one for me to watch, all year. I witnessed a handful of outgoing council members manipulate the council meeting process for their own political gain and to fulfill their personal agendas.

What SHOULD have happened:

At the start of the meeting, an immediate vote should have been called. That vote would be to determine whether or not to approve the Mayor’s adjusted budget. That never happened.

What DID happen: Conor O’Daniel quickly started going through his proposed amendments and sweeping cuts to the city’s budget. He quickly asked for votes on amendments and none of the other 8 stopped him. What is most sad is that Mr. O’Daniel (and his “special interest council mates”) waited until Monday’s meeting to spring this proposal onto the group. He failed to reach out to the Mayor’s office, earlier in the week, to try to negotiate. I find his behavior and actions to be very unbecoming of an elected official. Again, he had backing on that council and he did not act alone! Evansville is better off with the “special interest council mates” not being on the board, next year.

What stood out to me the most were these items:

1) Overtime cuts for Fire, Rescue, Police. Hopefully, if our house catches on fire, it doesn’t happen at the end of a payroll period. Natural disaster? Good luck, everyone.
2) Sweeping cuts over over 40% to funding of community non­profits. Voices, UNOE and several others. Very sad.
3) Moving $730,000.00 into the police vehicle budget, bringing it to $1 million. For some reason, the “special interest council mates” felt that leasing was bad and buying was better. I would have to get more detail, but there is hopefully some major financial benefit that I don’t see, otherwise this was a terrible idea.
4) The 9 members of Evansville City Council, though very much part­time, all receive full Health Care Benefits. That cost is nearly $180,000.00 per year to the tax payers (this according to a fine citizen who spoke at city council ­ Conor O’Daniel responded and never attempted to correct the figure, so I am assuming that it is accurate). This makes no sense at all. The members are all retired or practicing doctors/lawyers/CPA’s or they are real estate agents. They don’t NEED the health insurance, do they?
When I am elected, I will do what none of the 9 current members did last night, I will absolutely call for a vote to end paying the health insurance for Evansville City Council Members.

What was the solution and how could these cuts have been prevented?

The solution wasn’t waiting until the end of their 4 year term to slap these insane cuts onto the City of Evansville. The solution was to work harder to increase revenues coming into the City of Evansville. The board should have found ways to add more homes with values of over $200k in order to increase the overall tax revenue income. The board should have found ways to attract more businesses to bring in more tax revenue. The board should have worked with the revenue generating entities, such as the pools and golf courses, to help them increase revenues. That makes them self­ sufficient and lessens the burden on the budget. The majority of this current Evansville City Council has shown their failure of doing any of these things, over the past 4 years. Many of them have spent the last 4 years causing the ship to begin sinking. Now, several are jumping off of the ship but not before poking major holes into the hull and ripping the sails just before jumping into their life boats.

It is time to add a member to Evansville City Council that understands business, budgets and has a plan to increase tax revenues without increasing tax burdens to the businesses and citizens of our fine city! It is time to have someone who knows how to work with the Mayor, department heads and fellow city council representatives in a way that brings prosperity. It is time to stop the childish bickering during city council meetings by unqualified and immature representatives.

Robert Myers

Candidate for At- Large City Council City Council

7th Circuit affirms man’s sentence for molesting baby

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Jennifer Nelson for www.theindianalawyer.com

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a man’s sentence, supervised release conditions and restitution order after he pleaded guilty to raping, molesting and creating pornographic videos of an infant with the mother’s permission.

Christopher Bour paid a woman referred to as Natisha for permission to molest her baby; he also took explicit photographs of Natisha’s four-year-old daughter. He pleaded guilty to purchasing a child for the production of child pornography; three counts of producing child pornography; and one count of possessing child pornography. He was sentenced to life for purchasing the child and 1,020 consecutive months on the remaining counts. The judge imposed lifetime supervised release conditions for each count and then ordered him to pay $75,000 in restitution.

Bour argued that the court erred in considering the sentencing-memorandum discussion of videos that show him masturbating on a bedspread that is identical to one seen in a video with the baby. He argued because the conduct in the videos is not unlawful, it should have been excluded. But his conduct was relevant to the sentencing decision because the videos show Bour took pleasure in producing the graphic films, Judge Daniel Manion wrote.

The judges found the imposition consecutive terms was a procedural error because the District judge declared it was imposing a sentence within the guidelines but then imposed an out-of-guidelines sentence. But, this is legally harmless because Bour was also sentenced to serve life in prison on one count. Even though the judge should have explained why he imposed consecutive sentences on top of the life sentence, the result is the same either way, Manion continued.

The 7th Circuit declined to remand Bour’s conditions of supervised release for resentencing and affirmed the restitution order. The judge had the authority to announce he would impose restitution within 90 days of sentencing but defer his decision on the amount until a later time.

The case is United States of America v. Christopher Bour, 14-2211, 15-1090.

IS IT TRUE OCTOBER 29, 2015

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IS IT TRUE that a long time supporter of EPD has continued to encouraged us to post links concerning the Milan verses EPD Chief Billy Bolin Federal lawsuit for the 3 months?  …we finally gave into his requests?  …we encourage you to review the attached questions and links provided to us by him?

IS IT TRUE that on June 21, 2012, a SWAT team from the Evansville Police Department executed a raid of Louise Milan’s home? …the raid occurred as police were investigating threats made on an Internet posting website? …questions have been raised as to why the department felt it necessary to use a military style raid, multiple flash bangs, and a ram to enter the home?

IS IT TRUE the only connection to the address was the IP address of the unsecured router? …EPD detectives drove by the home prior to the raid and determined that the router was unsecured and accessible from the street? …surveillance of the home observed only one young, teenage female leave and return to the residence?

IS IT TRUE prior to the raid, a detective was asked to associate Louise Milan’s address with suspects? …in response, the detective determined that Marc Milan had been known to associate with Derrick Murray, who was suspected of making the threats? …the only association of Marc Milan to the address of Louise Milan was that he shared the same last name as Anthony Milan Jr. who was listed as once living at the address? …Marc Milan has never been identified as living at Louise Milan’s address? …the only known association of Derrick Murray to the address was that he was identified on the porch of the house down the street from Ms. Milan’s address?

IS IT TRUE after the Swat Team raid was executed, an effort was made to associate Anthony Milan  Jr. as living at Louise Milan’s home? …an entry was made to EPD’s RMS system showing Anthony living at Ms. Milan’s address? …that RMS entry was made by Chief Bolin?

IS IT TRUE here’s a  LINK  of a copy of Evansville Police Chief  apology letter of July 2, 2012 to Edna Milan regarding the flash bang grenade incident at Ms. Milan’s home on June 21, 2012.   ,,,the apology letter from Police Chief Billy Bolin sent to Edna Milan  makes reference to the address of Anthony Milan Jr.?

Chief Billy Bolin Apology Letter
IS IT TRUE that the other link provided to us by is the U S Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit-Planintiff-Appellee, Louise Milan’s  36 page “Response Brief” for the Milan EPD Swat Team raid case that we find  extremely interesting.   …that the footnote located on bottom of page 5 states that EPD Chief Billy Bolin on June 28, 2012 (1 week after the raid on Milan’s home) changed the address of Anthony Milan Jr from the EPD system.

Plaintiff-Appellee, Louise Milan’s Response Brief

 IS IT TRUE we ask Gail Riecken how she cut the 2016 City budget?  …Mrs. Riecken stated “My intent is to look at contracts for legal, IT, and accounting, which total millions, and to look for efficiencies in city departments.” “I can’t comment on the cuts made by CC because I was not a part of the budget hearing process. I know the Mayor failed to provide leadership to set the budget in the right direction.” “I don’t remember a budget committee meeting when I was on City Council, the department heads weren’t there to answer questions.”   Mrs. Riecken also stated if she’s “elected,  she will not take a pay raise in any year of her term.”?

Please take time and vote in today’s “Readers Poll”. Don’t miss reading today’s Feature articles because they are always an interesting read. Please scroll at the bottom of our paper so you can enjoy our creative political cartoons. Copyright 2015 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without our permission.

Governor Pence to Keynote Indiana Medical Device Manufacture Conference

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Governor Mike Pence will deliver the keynote address at the Indiana Medical Device Manufacturers Conference. Details below.

 

Thursday, October 29:

 

9:30 a.m. EDT – Governor Pence to keynote the Indiana Medical Device Manufacturers Conference

*Media are welcome to attend.

The Montage, 8580 Allison Pointe Blvd, Indianapolis, IN

Eagles’ season ends with 2-0 loss

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University of Southern Indiana Women’s Soccer concluded the 2015 campaign with a 2-0 loss to 18th-ranked Bellarmine University Wednesday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky. USI puts the 2015 season in the books with a 5-10-2 overall mark, 4-10-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while Bellarmine heads into the post-season with a 15-1-2 overall mark, 12-1-2 GLVC.

The Screaming Eagles battled the nationally-ranked Knights to a scoreless tie through most of the first half until Bellarmine posted its first tally with 24 seconds left before halftime. The Knights took the 1-0 lead in to the intermission after outshooting the Eagles, 7-1.

In the second half, Bellarmine increased the margin to 2-0 with a goal at 70-38.The 2-0 margin would be the eventual final score and end USI’s fall.

Individually for USI in 2015, freshman forward Ryley Hancock was the Eagles’ season-leader in scoring with nine points on two goals and a team-high five assists. Hancock was followed by the eight-point season-performances of senior forward Madi Vellky, who had three goals and two assists, and junior defender Kelsey Smith, who had a team four goals.

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