IS IT TRUE April 7, 2014
IS IT TRUE that if one were to believe what is being circulated in the mass media of Evansville one would have to conclude that the wrath of the city is now aimed at Dunn Hospitality and it’s CEO John Dunn?…if it’s not some self serving group that has put up a Facebook page that attempts to make Dunn Hospitality look like the reincarnation of Bernie Madoff who is out to starve 200 (yes that is 200 out of the 117,000 who live in Evansville) union families to death, the local Scripps-Howard affiliate newspaper the Courier and Press doing their best to imitate the state owned Pravda that once spread the propaganda of the USSR?…whether the people of this little burgh like it or not the unacceptable tarring and feathering of John Dunn has its roots in the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and proven to be folly everywhere it has been attempted?…property rights are one of the foundations of the United States of America but in Evansville today we have a Mayor, at least one member of the City Council, and a couple of mass media outlets piling on a man and his company for exercising their rights as property owners and entrepreneurs?…every one of you who holds resentment toward Dunn Hospitality for being good stewards of their employees, crediters and shareholder’s interest should either come out of the closet and join the Communist Party or hang your heads in shame?
IS IT TRUE in an editorial yesterday Tim Etheridge, the editor of the Courier and Press accuses Mr. Dunn of “throwing a wrench into the timetable of the construction projectâ€?…that is not exactly the whole truth Tim, and you know it?…Dunn Hospitality filed the complaint after they were officially notified that a Hilton franchise had been applied for ON MARCH 21, 2014 and being granted until APRIL 4, 2014?…this could have all been over with if HCW had actually applied for the franchise in December when they told Evansville Living Magazine they had already done so?…HCW threw a wrench in the construction schedule by waiting until March to set the application in motion after getting the commitment for local financial assistance 6 months ago?…it is unfair and disingenuous of the Courier Press to lay the blame onto John Dunn?
IS IT TRUE the that CP editor Etheridge goes on to accuse Mr. Dunn of “poor sportsmanship and poor citizenry†before lampooning him again for waiting until the last minute to file a complaint?…that former Courier and Press sports reporter called Tim Etheridge must not understand that UNTIL DUNN HOSPITALITY RECEIVED AN OFFICIAL NOTICE FROM HILTON, THEY COULD NOT HAVE FILED ANYTHING?…as with the Office of the Mayor, the Evansville Redevelopment Commission, and several members of the Evansville City Council it seems as though the powers that be in this little town have no comprehension of the fundamentals of business when it comes to collective rights over individual rights?…any prospective business that is thinking of coming to Evansville or any Evansville business that is thinking of expanding needs to pay very close attention to how Dunn Hospitalities rights are being ridiculed by the local press and leadership of Evansville?…looking from afar the Socialist Pressure Cooker put into place by the Mayor of Evansville and his sycophantic mass media buddies that are attempting to fan these Marxist flames against a private businessman with 5 hotels and a corporate headquarters in place are reason to remove Evansville, Indiana from the list of expansion candidates until this Marxist Posse of Komrads has passed?
IS IT TRUE that as a business owner and a citizen John Dunn has every right and reason to protect his multi-million dollar investment legally?…that is precisely what he is doing and the elected mob in the main stream media know it?…we wonder how the Courier and Press would feel if the City of Evansville and Old National Bank put together a $34 Million incentive package for the City County Observer to compete head to head with them in the printed newspaper business?…we bet the red queen would be howling for the heads of the City officials who okayed a deal that threatened their investments?
IS IT TRUE we should all ask ourselves why anytime the City does not get its way that the insults and obstructions to commerce get personal?…whether it is with the CVB, the EHA, Gage, or several other entities where a Mayor was challenged, the City’s response is always a personal attack and a character assassination campaign?…it seems as though that is all they really know how to do?…one thing is for certain and that is if John Dunn would have been in charge of VETTING for the City of Evansville that there would have been no Earthcare debacle, no McCurdy melt down, and there sure as hell would not have been 4 false starts on a downtown convention hotel?…if Evansville wants to apply tar and feathers for the lack of job opportunities and the failing infrastructure it needs to first look in the mirror?  …we are glad we have the Dunn Hospitality Group in our midst?
By Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS – State tax receipts beat projections in March but a key lawmaker said it’s not enough to clear concerns about the state’s finances.
Revenue topped $1.02 billion last month – about 1.4 percent more than estimates released last December. That’s also 11.6 percent more than in March 2013.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said that sounds like good news. “But it’s actually not,†he said. “Not if you dig deep into the numbers.â€
For the fiscal year – which began July 1 – total tax collections are still about $71 million behind the estimates used to write the current two-year budget. And in March, sales tax collections – the state’s highest single source of revenue – remained behind projections.
“I’m scratching my head,†Kenley said. “The economy is not that bad and the stock market is crazy. But our revenues are just not robust.â€
Kenley pointed to corporate tax receipts – which are 15 percent higher than projected this fiscal year – as the one positive sign. The increase in revenue is despite cuts in that tax rate. Kenley said that could be the result of companies shifting revenue to Indiana from states that have higher tax rates.
Republican Gov. Mike Pence has already ordered agencies to cut back to try to accommodate the lower than expected revenue. And Kenley said Indiana government remains in good fiscal health, thanks to roughly $2 billion the state had in the bank at the end of the last fiscal year.
But to maintain that, state officials must be careful about future spending, he said. That will be important next year as lawmakers write the next two-year budget.
Kenley said he’s already thinking about it. “We can’t let these things slip,†he said. “We have to keep our good position.â€
Lesley Weidenbener is executive editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
By Hannah Troyer
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS – This winter may have been tough with record amounts of snowfall and frigid temperatures, but dealing with the aftermath may be tougher.
As the Indianapolis Department of Public Works fights for more money to combat the large number of potholes on local roads, counties around the state are also struggling to patch up the craters.
“The extreme temps we experienced with the ice and snow for prolonged periods of time†have contributed to more potholes, said Dennis Faulkenberg, president and CEO of Appian, an Indianapolis transportation consulting firm.
“Then you add the spring warm up and the rains which allow moisture to get into the cracks formed – it is a tough problem. But it is eye-opening for public and elected officials to see the problem facing our roads and streets and the amount of money it will take to fix,†Faulkenberg said.
Faulkenberg says there is no way to measure how bad the pothole situation is in Indiana counties. He says the extra $100 million approved for counties for road projects during the 2013 legislative session will help pay to fix the higher number of potholes. But he said the money may have come too late for some counties.
Local governments “will have to stretch every dime, which they’ve already been doing,†Faulkenberg said. “They have done a Band-Aid fix with the money they have. The extra money will help, but several years of neglect are showing with the pothole problems.â€
Officials at the Indiana Department of Transportation seem concerned with a possible financial strain caused by an effort to fix state and US highways. The agency continued to monitor the pothole situation throughout the winter when not plowing snow or undertaking other winter maintenance projects.
“The majority of our funding goes to infrastructure,†said Will Wingfield, a spokesperson for INDOT. “The operational budget – which has the money for pothole fixings – has the ability to move funds to make sure that we are doing expected patch repairs. It was a rough winter. We invested more in snow operations and pothole patch jobs.â€
Because of this increased investment, Wingfield says INDOT may have to postpone some summer projects until the next fiscal year to ensure a proper amount of funding for pothole and road repairs.
Wingfield also said that potholes are not necessarily an easy fix. INDOT and local road repair organizations address potholes within a day or two after a report is filed. But that doesn’t always completely solve the problem.
“We try to educate and tell people that potholes require regular maintenance,†Wingfield said. “One pothole may have to be patched multiple times.â€
For any more permanent relief, Hoosiers may once again be at the mercy of Mother Nature, hoping she will bring warmer temperatures. Plants that produce the asphalt used to pave roads cannot open until temperatures reach 40-50 degrees.
Hannah Troyer is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.Â
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By Hannah Troyer TheStatehouseFile.com
More than 100 dogs facing almost certain death due to overcrowded shelters could finally find loving homes – just not in Indiana.
The dogs will be moved by a four van caravan to their destinations in New Hampshire and Vermont. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com
The pups will travel all the way to New England to be adopted through New Hampshire and Vermont shelters.
The large group of canines is not the first to make the 2,200-mile journey to find adoptive families – but one lawmaker hopes to change Indiana’s law to make it necessary less often.
Since its creation in 2004, the CanINE Express Transport Project has saved 9,300 Indiana dogs from South and Central Indiana from being euthanized.
Cathi Eagan, who collaborates with various individuals and organizations including Indianapolis Animal Care and Control, Indiana Animal Welfare Center, and state Rep. Linda Lawson, founded the project.
It allows states that have an overpopulation of dogs and cats, such as Indiana and other mid-Atlantic states, to give excess strays and shelter animals to states with low animal shelter populations – like New Hampshire and Vermont.
The dogs will dispersed amoung a group of shelters to be adopted. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com
Eagan says the partnership with the 15 New England shelters is a great system.
“That’s where they get placed because (those states) have a need for well-socialized and healthy dogs,†Eagan said. “It absolutely saves the lives of these animals. We knew if they would stay here they would be killed by the shelters because of no space in the kennels. It’s not their fault. There are just too many dogs and cats for the facilities that we have.â€
The transport partnership also has a huge supporter in Lawson, D-Hammond. Since she went on one of the monthly transport trips a few years ago, Lawson has proposed legislation to create the Indiana Companion Animal Sterilization Fund, which would help reduce the state’s pet overpopulation crisis.
The fund would take various amounts of funding from areas across the state to reach the amount needed by spay and neutering organizations. That would allow those facilities to reach more people and the pet population wouldn’t increase at the drastic rate it is now.
But Lawson sad she’s having trouble finding support from fellow legislators to implement the idea, which she’s taken from some of those northeast states that don’t have an animal overpopulation problem. She says it’s the most logical and cheapest way to solve the state’s pet population issue.
The legislation has gone nowhere.
“We spent a lot of time talking to legislators in the Senate and House trying to get them excited or at least listen to us,†Lawson said. “It is really hard because we live in an agriculture state and many people don’t see a difference between a cow, lamb, chicken and a dog.â€
Workers help pack up dogs to be moved to New Hampshire and Vermont. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com
Lawson says the only way to get support for her legislation is to continue talking about the issue. She says she has to convince legislators that this will save state and local government money.
As for the pups, their journey was expected to end happily in the northeast.
“After the quarantine period ends, they fly out†the shelter door, Eagan said. The dogs in states “without quarantine periods – like Vermont – are home before I even get back home again, which is amazing.â€
“It’s such a boost to see these animals are going home,†Eagan said. “We get messages from the adopters saying how they are so in love with these dogs.â€
Hannah Troyer is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.Â
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Among the men participating will be Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams ’89; Evansville Police Department Chief Billy Bolin; and Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nick Hermann. USI men participating include Michael Aakhus, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Tyler Robling, president of the Interfraternity Council, and Zack Mathis, president of the Student Government Association.
Registration for the walk begins at 5 p.m. at the University Center Amphitheatre near the Cone. This year’s speaker is a young man who will discuss the impact of child sexual abuse he experienced.
The walk is sponsored by a number of USI campus organizations, including Fraternity and Sorority Life of USI, Student Government Association, and Student Housing Association. Community sponsors include Holly’s House, Fraternal Order of Police #73, Lampion Center, the YWCA, Boyd Electric, and SouthWest Graphix.
Walk a Mile in Her Shoes recently received a project award in the neighborhood/community division at the Leadership Evansville Celebration of Leadership.
Albion Fellows Bacon Center, a nonprofit agency serving victims of domestic and sexual violence, provided sexual assault services to 938 primary and secondary victims in 2012. Albion provides emergency shelter, a 24-hour crisis line, short-term individual crisis counseling, support groups, and legal and medical advocacy to victims and their friends and family. All services are free of charge. For more information or to arrange an intervie with the speaker, contact Christina Wicks at Albion Fellows Bacon Center, 812-422-9372.
The USI contact is Christine Tolis Johnston, assistant program director in Student Wellness: 812-461-5483.