IS IT TRUE that Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke told the Courier and Press on Tuesday that the objection within the Hilton organization could cause a delay in final approval of private financing for the downtown convention hotel for HCW of Branson, Missouri?…Mayor Winnecke went on to say that loan approval for the developer is required to obtain a franchise license with Hilton?…that this pair of statements proves that the golden shovel moment when the executives of HCW pointed to an alleged group of bankers and said “they are financing the hotel”, may not be true?…that event happened well before Dunn Hospitality filed a complaint with the Hilton organization?…Mayor Winnecke, HCW management, ONB officials, and possibly the whole cast of golden shovel boys and girls staged a photo-op and claimed they were ready to go which implied both loan approval and a franchise agreement were in place when they knew full well that this may not be true?…what goes around just came around in the never ending web of delusion surrounding the downtown convention hotel?

IS IT TRUE to make matters worse the development agreement between the City of Evansville and HCW clearly states that loan approval had to be shown by March 31, 2014?…the reality in downtown Evansville is that there may not be a legally binding agreement in place for a hotel as of midnight last night?…all of this comes on the heels of alleged insider bullying of some City Council members to keep the Earthcare Energy loan approval alive until after Indiana University announces where the medical school will be going?…the powers that be in this little village were either bold enough to bluff the City Council into thinking that extending a loan to an unproven and untrustworthy non-entity could negatively affect the decision process of the University of Indiana Board of Regents or they are delusional enough to believe it themselves?…what these IU decision makers may well have second thought about is a City Administration that held a dog and pony show about the status of a downtown hotel that a medical school may well benefit from that sent a message that may not be accurate?…the fruits of the dog and pony show has come home to roost and it may be legally necessary for the Evansville Redevelopment Commission and/or some other alter ego of the Office of the Mayor to hold a public meeting and a vote to extend the agreement because ONCE AGAIN THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS TO MOVE FORWARD DID NOT HAPPEN ON TIME?

IS IT TRUE this is not the first time a photo op driven dog and pony show was held to transmit something that turned out not to be true to the voting public about a downtown convention hotel?…in the summer of 2008 former Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel held a press conference in the brand new media room at Innovation Pointe to do the same thing and stated that “if we build an arena Browning Investments will build a 4-Star hotel with their own money and without public subsidy?

IS IT TRUE that yesterday, rumors were floating around town that the City County Observer would be shutting down due to loss of advertising dollars caused by the political boycott set into motion in a Vanderburgh County Republican Central Committee meeting last Thursday because of an article we posted about Marsha Abell?…several people called and emailed us to confirm and we just went along with the story?…THAT WAS ONE BIG APRIL FOOL JOKE ON THE FOLKS WHO PERPETRATE NONSENSE ON A FEW PEOPLE OF THIS CITY WHO WERE CELEBRATING OUR DEMISE?…the truth of the matter is we have a very well placed MOLE that tells us that the great muzzler of freedom of speech and choice (Wayne Parke) has had a muzzle put on him by political higher ups?…if you haven’t seen Wayne posting comments on the CCO our Mole tells us it may because he has been told to cease doing so?…we have also replaced every ad that was yanked and some of the yanked ads have changed their mind?…since the Vanderburgh County Republican Central Committee had their tantrum, our readership traffic has increased?…we want to take this opportunity to thank Wayne Parke  and all of the other people in the meeting who decided to pull a political  advertising boycott on the CCO because of the article on Marsha Abell?  …we also would like to give special thanks to a couple of downtown historical district buddies of ours for pushing for our demise?…if any business thinks that they can affect our editorial positions by purchasing advertising with us we suggest they spend they’re advertising dollars elsewhere?

IS IT TRUE yesterday we were given the entire written transcript taken from the audio recording made during a recent speech Marsha Abell made to GOP Women’s Club?  …after reading this transcript all we can say is “WOW”?  …we believe Ms. Abells  comments had to be non thinking remarks or mis-statements?  …we still invite Ms Abell to send us  an  e-mail that clarifies her statements to the GOP gathering.  …we shall post her response without opinion, editing or editing?

IS IT TRUE if you want to see what the CCO readers think about the GOP advertising boycott please read the results in todays “Readers Poll” and you shall get your answer?

IS IT TRUE the saga of the vanishing advertisers has completely abated yesterday as no more inquiries for cancellation were received from anyone?…there is even some back peddling going on with some of the advertisers who had made such inquiries last week right after the Republican Central Committee adjourned it’s emergency meeting?…on top of that there have been enough inquiries for new ads to make up for any losses that may or may not occur due to the follies of last Thursday?…as our avatar indicated yesterday we at the CCO shall “Keep Calm and Rage Against the Machine”?…the machine in Evansville may hide within the blue teams and red teams but the reality is that “the machine” is comprised of both and we continue to smoke them out at every opportunity?

IS IT TRUE the whispers among the few supporters of the alleged political boycott are spinning a message that Marsha Abell’s speech was taken out of context?…given the utter idiocy of what was said we must say that we hope that is true as Marsha has been in an elected position for many years and should know better?…that we along with others have carefully reviewed the recording of Commissioner Abell’s speech to the Vanderburgh Federated Republican Women last week and there is no hiding from the words she chose regarding “high tech computer people not producing one dime” and “retired people take more than the put in”?…these statements were clearly the two strongest bullet points in her pitch and there is no hiding from the recorded word?…the CCO formally offers our publication to Commissioner Abell to publish a statement on what she really meant to say if she indeed was taken out of context and will publish her position paper on technology jobs, retirees, and anything else she wishes to contribute without edit, opinion, or bias?

IS IT TRUE that the downtown convention hotel has gotten another stumbling block thrown in its path and this time it came from Dunn Hospitality that filed a complaint with the Hilton organization regarding their sale of a competing franchise into the Evansville market only a short time after their Hilton Garden Inn was opened?…depending on the terms of the franchise agreement that Dunn Hospitality has with Hilton this may or may not have legs to stand on?…with some franchises a franchisee is sold a “location” and subject to another exact franchise opening across the street?…with others a franchisee is sold a territory, and with others the terms are more complicated?…we will keep an eye on this as it plays out and are curious as to what the response from Hilton may be?…in spite of that it does not yet look like construction has begun and there is no news of any permits being approved?…it has also not been disclosed exactly where and what the terms of the HCW financing are?

IS IT TRUE Mayor Winnecke and City Controller Russ Lloyd have taken the bull by the horns and made recommendations to the City Council on what should be done to reign the City Budget in by the $2 Million shortfall in tax collections that was magically discovered just a few weeks ago?…the EPD will not be cashing out accumulated comp time, the METS gas budget was cut, and a few other “non-essential” things are being tapped for cuts?…one bright spot in the revenue stream is apparently the city cemeteries that have supposedly brought in more than they were expected to?…the reward the dilapidated cemeteries are getting is that their surplus is being taken and the work needed to be done on them will be delayed again?…the cemeteries are now a profit center even when the perpetual care sold to their customers is falling well short of contractual obligations?

IS IT TRUE last night’s City Council meeting came and went without so much as a word from any elected official about rescinding the loan approved under duress to Earthcare Energy LLC?…our City Council must have bought into the senseless assertions floating around the Civic Center that IU may not put the med school in downtown Evansville if they do the right thing and rescind this loan approval?…politics is often way more about manipulation and perception than it is about substance and the failure to rescind this loan was simply cowering in the face of a mindless threat to blame?…in two weeks there will be another meeting of the city council and the IU decision will have been announced?…if the City Council fails to address this issue on April 14, 2014 we can all assume that they are as supportive of handing Earthcare $4.8 Million as Mayor Winnecke and Debbie Dewey are?…this debacle makes Commissioner Abell’s speech seem like progressive rocket science?