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IS IT TRUE October 9, 2014

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IS IT TRUE that Evansville is about to endure yet another two day rainstorm that will most surely activate the combined sewer overflow alarm bells and send raw sewage into the streets and the Ohio River?…even with what seems like a record year for the willful destruction of our precious environment Mayor Winnecke and most of the City Council sit on the banks and avoid the most important and expensive project Evansville has ever known?…they can not wait this out and make it go away and even the dumbest among them know it?…it is as if they are trying to run the clock out on the EPA?…that may indeed be what they are trying to do in hopes that the next President of the United States will relax the regulations for dumping crap into the river?…you can bet your last dime if the EPA had a consent decree for a dog park or a bocce ball court hanging over them these play toy children would be all over it no matter the price?…since all of the princes and princesses do Evansville are worried about identity, one would think that the identity as one of the least compliant polluters in the country would not be at the top of their lists?…it is part of the brand though?…we may have to send the writers of Southpark a “We are Evansville” T-shirt for Mr. Hanky to wear in a future episode if our electeds don’t face the music and get this repair started without the fun and games distractions they cherish?

IS IT TRUE with the recent news of the slaying of the “official” unemployment dragon many Americans are asking “why haven’t we gotten a raise?”…in the past few years, corporate profits have climbed ever higher and Legions of unemployed people are now finding gainful employment?…if you’re anything like the average American worker, your pay has been flat, just barely keeping pace with inflation?…If you are in the very middle of America’s income distribution, in fact, your overall household income is lower today than it was when the recession officially ended more than five years ago and even lower that it was in 2008 when the wheels fell off the bus called the American economy?…job openings are plentiful in many skill areas with really good programming jobs at Google going up filled at $300,000 per year?…this conundrum of high demand with flat wages is just not consistent with a broad recovery?…the reality remains that despite the prosperity of certain high wage jobs there are still at least 15 Million able bodies still sitting on the sidelines that are not being counted among the “official” unemployed?…there are that many more who are working part time or at depressed wages for their primary skill?…it is not yet time to dance the happy dance over the economy unless you happen to have tech skills and live in a place like Silicon Valley where such skills are rewarded?

IS IT TRUEat the other end of the spectrum are minimum wage workers who President Obama and some others have started a movement to nearly double their pay?…while sticking up for the poor is admirable the President has this one backwards as the real efforts should be to double their value?…if one doubles their value it will be rewarded with more pay and usually exceeds any mandated minimum wage?…just this week a Jack in the Box in Palm Springs started piloting an interactive kiosk to eliminate cashiers?…the kiosk does not call in sick, needs no healthcare, and does not make mistakes as fast food workers often make?…another fast food CEO announced a kiosk program that will launch in 2,000 restaurants that will eventually eliminate nearly all of their cashiers?…these innovations in the kiosk world are brought to you courtesy of the threats to raise the minimum wage beyond the value of a cashier?…just the other day for the first time this year this writer went to a drive up window a Popeye’s and ordered the eight piece family dinner and requested all dark meat?…when I got home what I found was 6 pieces of white meat and 2 wings?…I am certain the people involved were making more than $10 an hour because there was a help wanted sign out for $12 an hour?…I am also sure that if there had been a kiosk with voice recognition instead of a microphone I would have gotten what I paid for?…the skills crisis in this country is what is depressing wages and the pride of workmanship problems on top of an entitlement mentality is why kiosks are poised to make the minimum wage irrelevant in the fast food industry?

Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Reports

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

EPD Activity Report October 8, 2014

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EPD Activity Report

Enrollment for Pilot PreK to Begin in November

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The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation is making preparations for enrollment to begin in November for the state’s new Prek pilot program, offered by the Family and Social Services Administration. The EVSC was one of five counties that were selected in June to pilot the new initiative set to begin in January 2015.
The EVSC will offer programming for four year olds and will join other public and private schools, as well as community based programs, licensed centers, registered ministries and licensed programs in homes in the area in this pilot which will bring up to $10 million statewide including state and matching funds from Vanderburgh County. All providers must meet Paths to QUALITY Level 3 or Level 4 standards or other national accreditation standards as identified by the Family and Social Services Administrations. Through the pilot, families will enroll their children through 4C of Southern Indiana, Inc., 600 SE 6th Street, and select one of the pilot sites in which to attend. In the EVSC, three new classrooms are planned, with an additional four to six by Fall 2015.
“Early childhood education lays the groundwork for success later in school by successfully preparing students to enter kindergarten on time and ready to learn,” said EVSC Director of Early Childhood Education Terry Green. “The EVSC is excited to have several locations to pilot this new program. We have offered high-quality PreK programming for several years now and are seeing the benefits.” Green said EVSC focuses on active learning – making learning fun for students, allowing them to explore and providing them new experiences with which to build knowledge.
Currently, the EVSC has fee and non-fee based PreK classrooms at Culver Family Learning Center, Daniel Wertz Elementary, Dexter Elementary, Scott Elementary, and Cedar Hall Community School,
FSSA is working to implement the major design phases of the program, which include devising plans for the longitudinal study for students, monitoring the design and implementation of a new kindergarten readiness assessment and the program accountability system, establishing guidelines and activation of fundraising activities, and making modifications to interagency IT and staffing infrastructure to support the pilot program.

Study group: Legalize, regulate fenced hunting preserves

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By Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Fenced deer hunting preserves would be legalized and regulated in Indiana if the General Assembly implements a recommendation approved Tuesday by a legislative study committee.

The group’s endorsement went beyond simply legalizing the handful of preserves that already exist.

Instead, the Agriculture and Natural Resources Study Committee voted 8-3 for a blanket recommendation that the state regulate preserves, a move that would legalize those already in operation and could allow new ones to open. The recommendation will be considered during the General Assembly’s next session, which begins in January.

Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, said a visit to the Whitetail Bluff hunting preserve in Harrison County helped secure her support for the recommendation. She said she’d previously envisioned a preserve as a small fenced area with six or so deer standing around while a hunter picked out the one with the best antlers to shoot.

“It wasn’t like that at all,” she said. “We rode all over in Rangers for 1-1/2 hours and I saw a total of two deer in all that time. And we went up and down hills in tough terrain.”

Leising said she was “totally impressed” by the operation, which has about 60 deer spread over roughly 120 acres.

Whitetail Bluff is one of a handful of fenced preserves that give customers who pay a fee the opportunity to hunt for farm-raised deer.

If approved by the General Assembly, the panel’s recommendation would end a nine-year standoff between the preserves and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, which said in 2005 that no state law authorized the operations.

After the DNR moved to shut them down, the owner of Whitetail Bluff and other operations filed separate lawsuits, which led to conflicting court rulings. The Indiana Appeals Court is now considering the issue and the preserves have continued to operate under court order.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have considered bills to ban the operations and others to legalize them. Earlier this year, a bill that would have legalized and regulated the existing hunting operations passed the House and died in the Senate when only 25 of the chamber’s 50 senators voted yes. It takes 26 votes to pass a bill.

The fenced preserves are controversial among hunting groups, many of which consider them to be unethical. And on Tuesday, state Sen. Tim Skinner, D-Terre Haute, told the committee, “I can’t imagine anyone I know wanting to participate in this kind of a hunt.”

But supporters say the operations offer people who live in urban areas or those with disabilities opportunities to hunt they might not otherwise have.

DNR Director Cameron Clark told the study committee Tuesday that his agency does nothing to regulate the properties now because the court order doesn’t allow it. But he said conservation officers will occasionally go on the properties to see about a broken fence that can or has allowed a farm-raised deer to escape.

That can be problematic. State officials say those animals should not be allowed to mix with wild deer, in part to prevent the spread of diseases, including tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease. The latter is a neurological disorder that damages neurons, forming holes in the brain tissue of deer and eventually leading to death.

The study committee’s vote Tuesday came after a long discussion about the disease and how to prevent it.

CWD can only be confirmed post-mortem, as there are no current tests available to sample brain tissue from a live deer. The disease is suspected to be transferred through a deer’s saliva, urine and excrement and can survive for long periods of time in soil particles.

Indiana has not had a confirmed case of CWD, but has had deer transferred to farms from out of state where confirmed cases had been recorded. Several states in the Midwest, including Wisconsin and Missouri, have had deer test positive for CWD.

The study committee made no recommendations specifically about attacking the disease problems.

Lesley Weidenbener is executive editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

Pence, utility leaders plan 1-day mission trip to Toronto

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Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mike Pence and a delegation of business and utility leaders will leave Wednesday for a one-day jobs mission to Toronto, a trip aimed at strengthening the state’s economic ties to Canada.

“Canada is already the destination for billions of dollars’ worth of Hoosier-built products,” Pence said in a statement. “This trip will be dedicated to boosting bonds with existing partners in Toronto and supporting new relationships as we pursue every opportunity to win more Hoosier jobs.”

During the day-long trip, the governor will meet with business and government officials, including a venture capital firm considering investment opportunities in Hoosier companies. Pence will also meet with Ontario Prime Minister Kathleen Wynne, U.S. Consul General Jim Dickmeyer, Canadian Consul General Douglas George and officials at Skjodt-Barrett Foods.

Pence will host a business recruitment event at the season opener of the Toronto Maple Leafs for site selection consultants and companies considering investment in Indiana.

Indiana Secretary of Commerce Victor Smith and other staff from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation will join the trip. So will representatives of the state’s largest utility companies.

First lady Karen Pence will also participate with plans to meet with students and teachers at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute, the first art therapy training program in Canada. In addition, she will tour the Gardiner Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario while in Toronto.

The costs of the governor’s and first lady’s trips are being paid by private donations.

More than 14,800 Hoosiers work for Canadian-owned companies and more than 193,500 jobs in Indiana are dependent on trade and investment with Canada. Indiana is home to more than 90 Canadian firms.

What Women Want

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 Nate Beeler / Columbus Dispatch

Boy, are the folks at the syndicated game show “Jeopardy” in trouble after introducing a new category: “What Do Women Want.”

In one prompt, Alex Trebek gave contestants these clues: “Some help around the house; would it kill you to get out the Bissell bagless canister one of these every once in a while?”

Answer: “What is a vacuum cleaner?”

In another, Trebek said: “Time to exercise perhaps in a class in this discipline named for founder Joseph, who initially called it contrology?”

Answer: “What are Pilates?”

In a third, he said: “A pair of jeans that fit well, like the 535s from this brand.”

Answer: “What are Levi’s?”

It didn’t take long for the grievance community to launch a full assault on the lousy sexists.

“What is equal pay? What is the right to make my own health decisions? What is treated like a human?” tweeted one woman.

“What is to be an equal member of society?” tweeted another woman.

“What is paid sick leave, equal pay, affordable child care, respect?” tweeted a third woman.

Sheesh.

One woman suggested that “Jeopardy” create a “What Do Men Want” category that is “equally belittling and superficial.”

I couldn’t agree more — though the reaction would a little different.

Trebek: “Arms and legs harvested from inhumanely-treated poultry, submersed in hot lard and served with fluids known to cause poor judgment.”

Answer: “What are hot wings and ice-cold beer?”

Trebek: “A private room in a house outfitted with large display monitors, fermented adult beverages and no women.

Answer: What is a man cave?”

Trebek: “The lyrics are: ‘It’s hard to kiss the lips at night that chew my butt off all day long.’”

Answer: “What is a great country song?”

Male tweeters and bloggers would respond with joy and hilarity if “Jeopardy” applied such stereotypes to them.

Unfortunately, we live in a time when we are expected to disregard one truth: that men and women are different. We are supposed to believe that there are zero emotional or mental differences among the sexes.

Why, just as many men as women worry about sweeping the rug and keeping the house spotless — even though humorist P.J. O’Rourke says typical males clean their place about once every girlfriend.

Just as many men as women like to wear stylish, color-matching sweatsuits in Pilates classes — and have a group latte afterward to discuss baby showers, relationships and the spring sale at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Just as many men as women are asking their spouses these days if their Levi jeans are making their backsides look fat.

So it’s no wonder women are so offended by a silly game show.

AOL news sums up their indignation well: “Rather than focus on serious topics like equal rights or significant achievements of women, the new section was filled with stereotypes of housework, fitted jeans and Pilates.”

OK, fair enough. Here’s what is also fair: This heated overreaction is telling about where we are as a nation and a society.

We are becoming masters at responding with indignation to matters that are small as we lose the ability to distinguish small matters from those that are truly large.

Right now the Middle East is going up in flames, the Ebola virus is running amok in West Africa and looking to expand, ObamaCare is killing any hopes of economic vitality and we are nearing $20 trillion in debt — an amount we can never repay.

But too few are indignant about our very real challenges.

I’ll bet more people would find offense with these “Jeopardy” clues:

Trebek: “Absolutely nothing.”

Answer: “What are men really thinking?”

—–

Unanimous Supreme Court holds death certificates are public records

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Marilyn Odendahl for www.theindianalawyer.com

Taking what it called a “plain reading” of the state statute, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled death certificates which include the cause of death are public records and should be available to anyone who requests access.

The Supreme Court reversed the ruling from the Vanderburgh Circuit Court that limited access to cause of death information. The lower court held that a private citizen with no “direct interest in the matter or the information” could only inspect the “permanent record” at the local health department which does not list the reason for the death.

Disagreeing, the Supreme Court found the certificates of death that doctors, coroners and funeral directors file with county health departments are public records. Justice Mark Massa, writing for a unanimous court, acknowledged the balance between private personal information and the public’s right to know.

“In our society, death is an intimate and personal matter,” Massa wrote in Evansville Courier & Press and Rita Ward v. Vanderburgh County Health Department, 82S04-1401-PL-49. “We recognize that public disclosure of the details of a decedent’s death may cause pain to his family and friends. We are also mindful of the importance of open and transparent government to the health of our body politic. Our General Assembly has considered these competing interests and, insofar as we can determine, concluded that the public interest outweighs the private.”

The dispute began in June 2012 when the Vanderburgh County Health Department denied two requests from Rita Ward and the Evansville Courier & Press to review local death records from May 2012.

Both the trial court and the Indiana Court of Appeals agreed with the Vanderburgh County Health Department that the death certificates are not public records. Specifically, the department cited two statutes, Indiana Code 16-37-1-8 and -10, that it believed declare death certificates confidential.

In reaching the opposite conclusion, the Supreme Court pointed to a substantially similar case from 1975 where the Court of Appeals ruled death certificates were public records.

“We see no reason to reach a different conclusion today,” Massa wrote. “As we read the statute, the General Assembly has drawn a distinction between a certificate of death, which is intended to record cause of death data for use by health officials, and a certification of death registration, which is intended to authenticate the death for the purpose of property disposition. The former is a public record while the latter is confidential.”

For I.C. 16-37-1-10, the Supreme Court said a plain reading of the statute concludes that a member of the public cannot inspect or copy the record and files concerning vital statistics from the Indiana State Department of Health but can view that information at the local county health departments.

“…we cannot say with certainty that this madness has no method,” Massa wrote. “The General Assembly could have intended to distribute the administrative burden of record production among local health departments rather than letting it fall solely upon the State Health Department. Indeed, it has done likewise with regard to other public records; any citizen may obtain criminal records from a county clerk, Ind. Code 10-13-3-32 (2010), but he may not obtain those same records from the State Police unless he meets certain statutory criteria. Ind. Code 10-13-3-27(a) (2010 & Supp. 2013). Accordingly, we decline the Department’s invitation to ignore the plain language of the statute and second-guess the legislature’s judgment.”

The Supreme Court remanded the case for entry of summary judgment in plaintiffs’ favor. It also instructed the trial court to determine whether to award plaintiffs attorney fees.

Catch the Latest Edition of “The Indiana State Police Road Show”

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Catch the latest edition of the “Indiana State Police Road Show” radio program every Monday morning at your convenience.

Download the program from the Network Indiana public website at www.networkindiana.com. Look for the state police logo on the main page and follow the download instructions. The ISP Road Show can also be viewed via YouTube.

Go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu5Bg1KjBd7H1GxgkuV3YJA or visit the Indiana State Police website at http://www.in.gov/isp/ and click on the YouTube link. This 15 minute talk show concentrates on public safety and informational topics with state wide interest.

The radio program was titled “Signal-10” in the early sixties when it was first started by two troopers in northern Indiana. The name was later changed to the “Indiana State Police Road Show” and is the longest continuously aired state police public service program in Indiana.

Radio stations across Indiana and the nation are invited to download and air for FREE this public service program sponsored by the Indiana State Police Alliance and Cops for Kids, a subsidiary of the Indiana State Police Alliance.

This week’s show features Indiana State Police Indianapolis Regional Dispatch Center Manager, Jill Schmidt. Schmidt discusses the Indiana State Police dispatch centers and the responsibilities of an ISP radio operator.

IS IT TRUE October 8, 2014

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IS IT TRUE the City County Observer web site design was under construction during the last several weeks? … we have encountered many technical problems with our old website over the last five months? …because of those issues we were forced to abandoned the old site and build a brand new user friendly website that’s better than ever?  …we are excited to be back on line with our same great content with a new modern user friendly layout?  …we want to thank  Jeremiah Claybrooks- Web Designer and WordPress Expert and Marilyn Cosby for the outstanding work they did in making this new theme design a reality?  …we still have some additional tweaking to be done to our new site over the next couple of weeks so please accept our apologies for any short interruptions?  …we want to thank the CCO “MOLE NATION” for your kind words and strong support during this most challenging time of transition?

IS IT TRUE that Tuesday’s meeting of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission came and went and there was no motion to extend the agreement to develop a downtown convention hotel and associated accessories with HCW of Branson, Missouri that had expired on September 30, 2014?…it is odd that the agreement was not extended as that technically means that the City of Evansville is now asserting that a $71.3 Million deal is going to start in a few weeks on a word of mouth agreement?…Mayoral Chief of Staff Steve Schaefer was very assertive that an agreement would be in place between HCW and Hunt Construction within weeks and that construction will start a few weeks after that?…that would put the first real work commencing after the election and before Thanksgiving which is not exactly a good time to start a big construction project in the Midwest?…in another odd statement Mr. Schaefer is also attributed with saying that “if the project does not start by winter, it is worth taking another look at things?”…we wonder if Mr. Schaefer realizes that the first day of Winter is only 73 days from now and only 30 days after his optimistic estimate of a real golden shovel event?…perhaps the City has finally gotten pragmatic about developer estimates after 2,300 days of waiting since the first overly optimistic announcement?…the Mole Nation thinks if this cat was really in the bag that the ERC would have worked like the dickens to get a new agreement in place yesterday?

IS IT TRUE Evansville City Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley introduced a very good point when she asked the question about whether or not the $20 Million handout was still needed as an incentive to get a hotel since the IU Medical School has announced a downtown location?…in a carefully worded and intentionally misleading response the attorney for the ERC opined that “the infrastructure needs have not lessened due to the IU Medical School’s announcement?”…the reality of the situation is that only part of the $20 Million handout is for infrastructure and that the IU Medical School should absolutely bring more business to the downtown hotel?…these things being true then the project should be worth more today than it was last year when the incentive was approved?…if the project is worth more, then the taxpayers of Evansville should be able to reduce the handout without compromising the projects financing?

IS IT TRUE since the word financing has been brought up, it goes without saying that there is still no tangible list of approvals of the financing and equity investments that are to finance this venture?…it is nearly a year since Mr. Huffman of HCW gave an interview to Evansville Living Magazine where he claimed to have a franchise agreement and all financing in place?…he even pointed to some bankers at the “false start golden shovel” event in March and claimed to have had the financing before he even had a franchise agreement or a design?…the probability that history will repeat itself grows by the day?…in all reality starting a building in November is not a very prudent step?…we are sure if the stars align this time that Mayor Winnecke will once again do his tomcat imitation and turn over some sand but the real construction effort will be delayed until March or April to accommodate the weather just as the weather was accommodated by postponing last January’s golden shovel even?

IS IT TRUE that the people of Evansville got some good news yesterday when Vectren announced that its expectation for gas bills for heating this Winter will be at about the same level as last year?…the cost of electricity to push that warm air into the house has of course risen slightly so expect bills that are just a touch more than last year?…we hope you all got a good raise to cover the rising expenses in energy, food, and other common expenses?

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