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Gail Riecken responds to Appeals Lawsuit

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gail rieckenUnited States 7th Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner said Evansville police made too many mistakes to reasonably qualify for immunity from liability in the federal lawsuit regarding flash bang use on the wrong Evansville home.  “I don’t think mistakes were made by rank and file officers.  I think the city’s leadership failed,” said Gail Riecken.

Mayor Winnecke stated the following when he ran for office:

Leadership of a quality police and fire department starts with the Mayor. Our administration will promote a culture of excellence that is founded on integrity and discipline.

The police and fire chief will report directly to the Mayor’s office, creating an open, unfiltered flow of information. This direct line of communication will include frequent briefings from both chiefs relating to issues involving community safety.

The Mayor must have total confidence in the police and fire chief. We will reassess the leadership of both departments and make the changes needed to ensure accountability and the highest standard of services and performance.

“It appears the culture of excellence and discipline that is to be promoted by our administration is missing,” said Riecken after reading the judges comments.  Riecken continued, “again, I think the rank and file executed a warrant and adhered to orders they were duty bound to follow.  However, the Mayor and his appointed leadership did not live up to the standards the Mayor promised us.”

Gail Riecken looks forward to providing leadership as Mayor and working to enhance the trust and better communication between law enforcement and the local community.

Gail Riecken is running for Mayor of Evansville and is a former Evansville City Council-woman, Evansville Parks Director, and a current member of the Indiana State House of Representatives.  She is a lifelong Evansville resident, has been married for 46 years, and has 2 children and 3 grandchildren.

ANALYSIS: “UNEVEN COVERAGE OF MAYORAL RACE”

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For the last several months we have been observing the main stream media coverage of the Mayoral race. Until recently State Representative and Mayoral candidate Gail Riecken’s campaign has been lackluster at best. However it looks like a competitive Mayoral race has begun.

On Monday Mrs. Riecken held a press conference on the Civic Center steps. This event was covered by the CCO, Courier and Press and one radio station. Where in the heck was the self proclaimed Tri-State News Leader Channel 25, Channel 14 and Channel 44? This was an important fact filled speech presented by State Representative and Mayoral candidate Gail Riecken. Her speech alone should have encouraged any credible news source to be motivated to go directly to the Mayor and ask him to refute Mrs. Riecken’s statements that he has mismanaged city funds. We would like to congratulate Courier and Press writer John Martin for not only writing an accurate account of Mrs Riecken’s speech, but asking her pointed questions about her speech. However the Courier and Press could do a better job in allowing Mrs. Riecken to make rebuttals on articles they write about the Mayor.

To our surprise, that evening the Dan Rather of local TV News, Brad Byrd had his friend and past employee of Channel 25 Mayor Winnecke on twice. in one evening. One segment had the Mayor talking about his new community blight program that was borrowed from another community and the other segment allowed the Mayor to defended his embattled Chief of Police Billy Bolin. However, Channel 25 was kind enough to make a short statement concering comments Mrs. Riecken’s made ay her news conference, Of course her comments were taken from the press release she sent them earlier in the day.

What is so amazing is that Brad Byrd didn’t invite State Representative and Mayoral Candidate Gail Riecken on his show for any rebuttals to Mayor Winnecke’s in depth interviews. Talking about media bias, it looks like it’s alive and well on Channel 25 located in Henderson Kentucky!

We now have a newly revamped Evansville TV station. TV Channel 44 has announced that they are not only going to focus on local community happenings but will also will be reporting the local news as it happens. We watched Channel 44 News last night. Were extremely impressed by what we saw. Channel 44 has many talented young professionals that seems eager to report the local news without bias. We shall give Channel 44 a pass for missing Mrs. Riecken’s press conference since they are fresh on the local news coverage scene. Since Channel 25 claims that the Courier and Press is their “MEDIA PARTNER” maybe one day Channel 44 will announce that the City County Observer is theirs!

We recommend you visit Channel 44 site for fresh, objective and non biased news! We also like the way Channel 14 handles the local news and are worth watching. Oh, and please continue to read your community “Watchdog” the City County Observer!

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. New addition to the CCO is the Cause of Death reports generated by the Vanderburgh County Health Department.Copyright 2015 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Reversal: Insurer’s acceptance of payment reinstated policy

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Dave Stafford for www.theindianalawyer.com

A Porter County man won his argument that his insurer’s acceptance of a late payment kept his homeowners coverage in force, after which a garage fire caused damage exceeding $80,000. Now, the insurer also may have to pay bad-faith and punitive damages.

A Court of Appeals panel reversed Porter Superior Judge Roger Bradford’s judgment in favor of the insurer Tuesday in Richard Zeller, Jr. v. AAA Insurance Company,  64A05-1502-CT-84. “On appeal, Zeller argues that the trial court’s ruling is erroneous because the policy was reinstated when AAA accepted his payment. We agree. Therefore, we reverse and remand for further proceedings,” Judge Terry Crone wrote for the panel.

Zeller had coverage with AAA since 2006, but the company sent a notice saying that without a payment the policy would expire Nov. 30, 2011. Zeller mailed AAA a payment stub with his credit card information on Nov. 25, and the payment was posted to his credit card account on Dec. 7, according to the record.

Zeller’s garage caught fire on Dec. 9, but AAA denied coverage and attempted later that month to return Zeller’s premium in the form of a check with the notation, “This check is issued for the following reason – policy cancelled.” Zeller didn’t cash the check and sued instead, but the trial court ruled against him after a bench trial. The trial court found the day payment was “received” was Dec. 7, after the cancellation deadline, and that there was no evidence the insurer had reinstated the policy.

Crone wrote for the panel that Zeller’s policy specifically allows for reinstatement of a cancelled policy upon receipt of adequate payment, as was the case here.

“AAA could have protected itself by drafting more specific deadlines and requirements for reinstatement in its policy or by refusing to accept Zeller’s payment, which it had every right to do. AAA did neither of these things, however, so we must reverse the trial court’s judgment in its favor,” Crone wrote.

“We remand for the trial court to consider Zeller’s bad faith claim and his request for compensatory and punitive damages, which are issues that the court did not address in its judgment.”

Rep. Bacon responds to the EPA’s final rule on carbon emissions

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STATEHOUSE – “Last year, coal-fired power plants provided 85 percent of Indiana’s net electricity generation. The EPA’s unprecedented nationwide regulations on existing power plants, will undoubtedly cause countless Hoosiers to lose their livelihood while also increasing prices for rate payers who rely on coal as a low-cost, reliable energy source.

“Only a few regions in the country stand to feel the impact of these regulations as much as southwest Indiana, and no one understands the importance of coal quite like we do. That is why I applaud the governor’s effort to continue to challenge the legality of this rule and not comply with these unreasonable and harmful emission standards.”

 

Pets of the Week

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This sweet female brown tabby is Peppa! She was adopted from VHS, but then returned for sudden “allergies.” She’s a little over 2 years old. Peppa is litter-trained, and even rides quietly & patiently in her carrier in the car! Her $30 fee includes her spay, microchip, vaccines, & more. www.vhslifesaver.org or (812) 426-2563. She can go home TODAY!

 

Daily Off Topic Forum August 5, 2015

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IS IT TRUE AUGUST 5, 2015

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IS IT TRUE the Mayor’s Blight Removal plan is just a cut and paste  job from the Center for Community Progress program Systemic Approaches to Vacancy and Abandonment? …the presentation was of just one small component of a complex approach that included prevention and other forms of abatement?

IS IT TRUE the Mayor’s cut and paste Bright Removal program focused only on the Land Bank idea? …that the Land Bank Idea was designed to bail out the Evansville Brownfield? …the Brownfields program is already a Land Bank program? …that the County is a Land Bank and has been for over 100 years?

IS IT TRUE that the DMD had a public meeting on March 30 2015? …that it was billed as a way to get input from the public? …that this meeting was really an orchestrated dog and pony show promoting the Brownfield’s bailout?

IS IT TRUE that the public was led to believe their input was valuable, but the decision had already been made by the Mayor and his puppets? …this meeting turned out to be much the same as the Committee to re-purpose Roberts Stadium?

IS IT TRUE at the public meeting the only option given to the Brownfields reorganization plan was Land Banking? …at the public meeting many ideas were introduced but nothing is in the Mayor’s plan except what was on the agenda at the meeting? …and that at this meeting the City only targeted 30 blighted houses that should be auctioned?

IS IT TRUE that there are quite a few misconceptions that led some of our elected officials to support this plan?

IS IT TRUE the misconceptions  are listed below?

IS IT TRUE that there are different types of land deeds?
IS IT TRUE the State has a new law regarding land deeds that reduces cost? (if chosen)
IS IT TRUE you do not need an elaborate and expensive title search to land bank or idle a property?
IS IT TRUE the county can hold these properties with little of the exaggerated costs?
IS IT TRUE a simple quitclaim deed can transfer title?
IS IT TRUE that a vacant lot can have a lien forever and not cause any problems?
IS IT TRUE a lien holder is not likely to claim a vacant lot used for a yard or drive?
IS IT TRUE If someone with a lien shows up wanting a property the City could tell them to just take the property and that would not be a problem?
IS IT TRUE it would be better to give the property away to someone who will mow it than for the city to do the mowing?
IS IT TRUE County Officials will not pull properties from the tax sale if the Brownfield Land Bank program is not used?

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. New addition to the CCO is the Cause of Death reports generated by the Vanderburgh County Health Department.Copyright 2015 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

HUCKABEE COMMENTS

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ILLINOIS MANUFACTURING LEAVES

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A REPUBLICAN SWEET SIXTEEN… PLUS ONE

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Raging Moderate by Will Durst

Get to high ground everybody. Our nation is in danger of being inundated by a candidate tsunami of 17 Republicans. The Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Kissed Plus One. Seventeen Shades of Grey. If they used a designated pitcher they could split up into two teams and play softball against each other. No hardball allowed.

In an attempt to winnow the enormous aggregate down to a manageable number, Fox News, host of the big first GOP presidential nomination debate, has declared only the top ten in an average of recent polls will be allowed to participate. Welcome to the Big Boys Table.

They also announced another earlier debate with everybody else. The little kids table. The consolation debate. The also-rans. The B-sides. Most at 3 percent or less in polls with margin of errors of plus or minus 3 percent.

Accustomed to their constant whining about the media treating elections as horse races, we think this is the perfect time to fuel their paranoia by handicapping the voluminous number of contending plugs. So here’s the morning Line on the 17 dark horses of the apocalypse. And down the stretch they come!

PROBABLY MAKES THE BIG BOYS DEBATE

Jeb Bush. 4-1. Deserving favorite. Best chance is to convince America he’s adopted.

Donald Trump. 6-1. Race would be over if his feet ran half as fast as his mouth.

Scott Walker. 8-1. Strong finisher but may be carrying too much weight with both Koch Brothers clinging to his saddle.

Marco Rubio. 10-1. The guy voted against a bill he co-sponsored. Could be own worst enemy.

Ted Cruz. 12-1. Likes to lead. Likes to lead loud. Also likes to box other horses right into rail.

Rand Paul. 30-1. Keeps spitting out bit in order to bite other horses. Comes from stable comfortable with losing.

Chris Christie. 40-1. Enjoys the run but does it with all the grace of a tumbling dumpster.

Rick Perry. 80-1. Lost some zip after donning blinders. New shoes don’t seem to help either.

Mike Huckabee. 100-1.  Tends to sag the more we see of him.

Ben Carson. 300-1. A black guy running for GOP nomination. Has about the same chance as a black guy would of running for the GOP nomination.

PROBABLY AT THE KIDS TABLE

Rick Santorum. 500-1. Not old fashioned as much as he is Old Testament. His idea of progress is smelting a lighter alloy for the buckle on his hat.

Piyush “Bobby” Jindal. 500-1. Tends to shy away when bright lights switch on. Needs at least three pile-ups on early turns to become a leader.

John Kasich. 500-1. Late entrant may have timed it perfectly. Or won’t make it onto track for post time. One or the other.

Lindsey Graham. 500-1. Always runs risk of disqualification for barking at officials. Still uses an abacus.

Carly Fiorina. 1000-1. Only filly GOP interested in is Barbara Bush. Not as a contestant, as a brood mare.

George Pataki. 1000-1. This grisly warhorse was put out to stud years ago. If he wins, be prepared for a stewards’ inquiry.

Jim Gilmore. 6000-1. Longest shot in a field of longish long shots. If he wins, be prepared for stewards to be shot.

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