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Organization Day charity drive focuses on giving back

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Ron Bacon
Ron Bacon

STATEHOUSE — State Representative Ron Bacon (R-Chandler) joined House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis), legislators, staff and other state office holders in donating sporting equipment and other items to the Special Olympics of Indiana today at the Statehouse.

“Special Olympics Indiana is honored to be chosen by Speaker Bosma for Organization Day.  Research has found that individuals with intellectual disabilities who participate in Special Olympics become more involved in their communities.  Our over 11,000 athletes throughout Indiana live, work and vote in almost every county throughout the state,” said Special Olympics Indiana CEO/President Michael Furnish.

The Special Olympics of Indiana is a nonprofit organization that provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. These athletes represent 74 county and local programs each run by volunteer management teams who recruit participants, conduct sports training, raise money, build awareness and compete at local and state events.

“It is always great to see legislators and staff on both sides of the aisle come together to give back to Hoosier communities. The Special Olympics of Indiana is a great organization, and it was a pleasure to meet with the athletes and hear how the Special Olympics has made a positive impact on their lives,” said Rep. Bacon. “As a youth softball coach for over 20 years, I understand the importance of physical fitness and the camaraderie that comes with teamwork. I appreciate the opportunities that this organization provides to athletes of all ages and was proud to take part in this event.”

Legislators and staff brought in sporting equipment, food, drinks, office supplies, and other items for the Special Olympics of Indiana. Five athletes were present to accept the donations and thank those who participated in the collection efforts.

For more information on the Special Olympics of Indiana, visit www.soindiana.org.

 

 

IS IT TRUE November 20, 2013

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Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics
Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics

IS IT TRUE the City of Evansville may have bitten off more than it will be able to chew and digest with the recent revelation that it is standard practice to allow city employees to accrue compensatory time that exceeds the federal labor law limits of 480 hours for police and fire or 240 hours for other public employees?…the house of cards is likely to be rattled and shaken when the 50+ employees who are carrying excessive comp time learn that the time to collect this time is limited to 2 years and that the statute of limitations for filing a claim is 3 years?…there is a real possibility depending on personal circumstance that many of the hours currently on the books got there through a possible illegal practice and will be forfeited?…it is up to each employee to schedule the comp time off and unless there is a material disruption the employer (City of Evansville) cannot legally prevent them from taking this time off?…the CCO expects there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the EFD and the EPD over the City’s standard practice of  possible violating of federal labor laws?

IS IT TRUE the question remains just how could such a seemly blatant illegal practice go on under the noses of the City Department Heads, the past and present City Controllers, the last three Mayors, and the HR Department?…it is also interesting that the State Board of Accounts seems to have let this issue slip under their noses during the annual audits?…the other question that needs to be asked is why the City of Evansville HR department could allow this to happen?…ignorance of federal labor laws by a city that receives CDBG dollars is not an expectation or a defense for such a lack of oversight?…complacency in allowing supposedly unknowing department heads to habitually violate federal labor laws is not an acceptable defense for the damages done either?…as for Mayor Winnecke, his public statements make it acutely obvious that he knew this when he was interviewed in September regarding the dismissal of EMA Director Sherman Greer partially for allowing an employee to accumulate 1,100 hours of comp time over a period of years?…THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING FEDERAL LAWS AND FOR TRAINING DEPARTMENT HEADS IN HOW TO COMPLY WITH THESE LAWS?…this is yet another  combination of ignorance and arrogance from local government?…we wonder just what would ever possess a department head to make a statement like “I am not losing any sleep over this” when people in executive positions have gone to jail for federal labor law violations?

IS IT TRUE it would be interesting to learn what has been done in the past when people with comp time over the federal limits have retired, resigned, or been fired?…if any former city employees have cashed out excess comp time that may just open the door for everyone to do so?…Evansville may not be in compliance with federal law until no one has any hours that are above the statutory limits?…that may take many millions of tax dollars to achieve this compliance?…this is dollars that we don’t have money in the budget because the facts about the $5 Million of unbudgeted liability were seemly intentionally withheld from the City Council during the budget hearings?…we wonder how many budgets have been passed with excessive  comp time on the books but not listed as a unbudgeted liability?

Evansville Police Officer Nathan Schroer Passes Away

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24013483_BG3Evansville Police Detective Nathan Schroer’s courageous fight with Leukemia has come to an end today. Nathan has been with The EPD for 11 years serving as a motor patrol officer, part of the Crime Prevention Unit and most recently Nathan was assigned to Holly’s House, investigating Domestic and Sexual Violence Crimes.

 

Nathan was an invaluable member of the Police Department, his Church and his Community. Nathan served as the interim pastor for Northwoods Church where he shared his faith with the community. Nathan also led a weekly bible study for Law Enforcement known as Code3 Ministries.

 

Nathan has overcome adversity and done the unthinkable since first being diagnosed with Leukemia 9 years ago. When Nathan needed a perfect match for a bone marrow transplant, he found a donor in a brother from whom he was separated from at birth and never knew he had. When Nathan was told he would not be able to have children of his own, he and his wife, Lindsay adopted. A few years later, Nathan and Lindsay again beat the odds by having two children of their own. When Nathan was diagnosed with a second round of Leukemia, he beat it, again.

 

The community support for Nathan has been immense and thousands of dollars have been raised in his name. Donations will continue to be accepted on behalf of Nathan on the EPD Foundation website. www.epdfoundation.org/schroer.html

 

 

Employee goes on wild ride when fleeing shoplifters hit her with their car. Suspects arrested after fleeing the scene

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Evansville Police arrested two women on multiple charges after they shoplifted at a toy store and injured an employee during their get-away.
Investigators believe 26 year old Tiffani Lowe and 25 year old Kayla Jackson stole over $700 worth of toys from Toys-R-Us. When they left the store without paying for the items, an employee tried to stop them on the parking lot. The employee told Lowe and Jackson that the police had been called and that they needed to wait for the police to arrive.
The employee told investigators that the two women placed the items in their car. Lowe got into the driver’s seat and backed out of the parking spot. The employee was standing at the front left side of the car. When Lowe backed out of the spot, she turned the wheel causing the side of the car to strike the employee. When the car hit her, the employee fell onto the hood of the car. Lowe put the car in drive and began to flee with the employee on the hood. When Lowe made a quick turn to leave the lot, the employee fell off the car. The employee was injured and was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment.
An off-duty Vanderburgh County Central dispatch supervisor witnessed the events and was able to follow Lowe and Jackson as they fled. He updated the location of the suspects and officers were able to catch up with them on the campus of St. Mary’s Hospital. During the arrests, Lowe resisted and was taken into custody after a brief struggle.
Lowe and Jackson were charged with Strong Armed Robbery with Injury, Shoplifting, and Criminal Recklessness. Lowe is also charged with Resisting Law Enforcement.

EPD Activity Report: November 18, 2013

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EPD PATCH 2012

EPD Activity Report: November 18, 2013

IS IT TRUE November 19, 2013

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Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics
Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics

IS IT TRUE that last week the City County Observer was the first to publish the fact that the City of Evansville is sitting on a $5 Million liability for “comp time” on the books for city employees?…the City of Evansville’s practice of giving out “comp time” instead of paying employees overtime as is customary and required by federal labor laws?…the federal government limits the number of “comp time” hours to 480 for any given employee to have on the books at any given time yet it has been revealed that one City employee has 2,400 hours worth more than $50,000 on the books in comp time and that 51 city employees are currently above the Department of Labor limit of 480 hours on the books?…Mayor Winnecke has had two responses to this comp time revelation during the last two months?…when he was all about firing former EMA Director Sherman Greer Winnecke’s response was “The amassing of 1,100 hours, equating to almost $18,000 in comp time for a single individual without justification, is extremely troubling,”?…when confronted by WFIE over the story broken by the CCO about the $5 Million liability the City is facing Mayor Winnecke sounded more like President Obama trying to distance himself from the ObamaCare disaster by saying “I did not know that there were numbers that high?”

IS IT TRUE in all fairness to Mayor Winnecke, it has not been disclosed how many of the 110,000 hours of comp time on the books were there when he took office?…comp time has been used by the City of Evansville for many years in lieu of overtime to kick the compensation can down the road to future administrations to deal with?…the practice of compensation using comp time is so ingrained that an EMS class that the Fire Chief made every firefighter on the department go to cost the city over 2800 comp hours which is roughly $70,000.00 at the time they were accrued?…when these hours are cashed out they will be worth much more than they were when they are accrued?…the way this works is if one earns 100 hours of comp time say 10 years ago when they were making $15 per hour but keep them on the books until retirement the hours grow in value to the most recent hourly rate?…one could have gotten comp time at a new hire rate yet cash that same comp time out as a Department Head at a much higher rate?…this is pretty much a Madoff style scheme used to keep the City from having to fork over the cash but allowing the employees to bank the hours which pay a better interest rate than most banks do nowadays?…Mayor Winnecke fired a department head partially for allowing his employee to accumulate 1100 hours at an hourly rate well below a firefighter’?… the EMS class could have easily been taught in house since an instruction department and an EMS coordinator are on staff?…it will be interesting to see this play out as it will be learned if Mayor Winnecke chooses to be selective in how he distributes his punishments?…in a sane city the obvious first step is to cease the accrual of comp time above the federal limit of 480 hours AND make an immediate provision to buy the accrued time down over the next several years even if it means cutting something else from the budget?…the fact that this was known but withheld repeatedly during the budget processes undergone by the City of Evansville over a number of years is a federal violation and should be treated as such?…withholding material information in the real world of public company management is a prosecutable offense?

IS IT TRUE the CCO has learned that Evansville-Vanderburgh School Board President Sally Becker has disclosed that she will be resigning from this position at the end of the year to accommodate her relocation to another location?…this is the right thing to do and will leave a vacancy on the school board?…we hope to see some well qualified people who are not already on the payroll of the City or County seek this elected position?  … the CCO was the first to report  in a recent IS IT TRUE article that she sold her condo in Evansville and plans to move to Chicago.

IS IT TRUE the City of Evansville is having to resort to using the long arm of the lawsuit to attempt to recover the $350,000 overpayment issued to a Kansas City firm that did some work on the Ford Center?…while $350,000 is a small amount compared to the total cost of the Ford Center it is another symptom that the financial management of the City of Evansville has a history of incompetence?…between a failed accounting software integration (sound familiar to DC?), an inability to reconcile, three budgets ratified without a clean audit, $5 Million in illegal comp time, and other sloppiness coming home to roost, Evansville is beginning to look like a City that can’t count?…the worst part is that only a few city council members seems to care?…one has to ask, “how can a group that can’t count handle a Billion Dollars worth of infrastructure repairs?”

Glad To See City Wanting To Fight The Blight By Jordan Baer

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JB 8-7-12 362

Like the battle to improve our city cemeteries, the battle of eradicating city blight is both a quality of life issue as well as an ethical issue that I take personally and want to help this city fix. And like with the cemeteries, the main goal I would like to achieve is to bring respect and funding to those organizations who are trying to fix this problem but are being placed on starvation diets while having their departments swept under the media attention rug so that the city can focus on shiny new toys that bring with them a false sense of progress towards correcting the city’s main problems.

Last February, 2013 I started the blog FightTheBlight.Blogspot.Com. I also had an article published in the City-CountyObserver detailing the mission behind this blog. Inspired by the Courier&Press’ recent articles, I humbly request that the CCO, republish this article which originally appeared on the CCO on February 5th (http://citycountyobserver.com/2013/02/05/24799/).  As a way of thanking the Building Commission for their work on correcting the problem of the Old Frontier Liquor Building’s roof, I also request that the CCO either republish separately or publish as a footnote the follow up article that appeared on April 22  (https://city-countyobserver.com/2013/04/22/fight-the-blight-outlaw-the-sprawl/) which shows the fixed roof.

I’m  thankful for the CCO and C&P’s blight articles they both are currently running, I am also thankful for the following actions that have taken place in the past few months…

* While debating whether to construct the downtown hotel or not, Third Ward Councilmember Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley raised the question of using these funds towards addressing dilapidated structures instead (Point 3: https://city-countyobserver.com/2013/09/18/breaking-news-stephanie-brinkerhoff-riley-to-vote-no-on-hotel-proposal/ )

* According to the mayor’s post budget press conference, approximately $500,000 is included in the coming year’s budget for addressing blighted properties. Although this is down from the $650,000 requested last year, it is still a great step in the right direction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsuxEzaHDS0

* Last Saturday, Phyllip Davis invited me out to a project he had set up with the help of Community One and Grace & Faith Community Church. The project involved putting a new roof on the garage for an elderly couple that would otherwise be unable to undertake such a project.

This project, which is aimed at helping those who can’t maintain their homes due to poor health or finances, was completed in just half of a day and all of us who participated got more out of the project than even the recipient themselves. Thanks to citizens like Phyllip, we can keep blight in check and unable to strike those in our community who are less fortunate.

Obviously, one city facing this same problem to the exponential power is the city of Detroit, which I have been following closely in the past few months. Urban sprawl has completely obliterated the city of Detroit. It has gotten so bad that San Francisco, Manhattan, and Boston could ALL fit within the city of Detroit’s boundaries (http://membracid.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/1215_landdetroit.jpg). As a result, the city has failed miserably at maintaining its never ending infrastructure.

After decades of sprawl and decay, the city of Detroit has finally begun to bring a lot of energy and excitement to their crusade to eliminate urban blight. Not only has the federal government and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder committed $52 million dollars in funds to demolish nearly 4,000 homes (http://www.freep.com/article/20130826/NEWS01/308260115/), Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert has pledged to tear down every single blighted house in Detroit. He has also reportedly considered erecting a countdown board to track the city’s progress (http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/6587/dan_gilbert_is_planning_to_demolish_every_last_abandoned_building_in_detroit#.UosPatKsiSo). With the formation of a blight task force, Detroit is proving that both government and private business owners can come together to solve what once was considered Mission Impossible.

Moving forward, I would like to reiterate that I hope the city of Evansville continues to handle this issue delicately by treating each house individually and personally. While most blighted homes may indeed be in a state of disrepair, there are still some that aren’t and have great architecture. The two houses that come to mind first are the ones at 210 and 214 W. Michigan. In fact, 214 W. Michigan was featured this week by the C&P (http://www.courierpress.com/photos/galleries/2013/nov/16/vacant-homes-gallery-no-1/40114/).

Although, I am thoroughly excited about the passion Mr. Gilbert has brought to Detroit’s efforts to fight the blight, I also want to stress that if such fight the blight fever were ever brought to Evansville it should be accompanied by a respect for those structures that have architecture uniqueness and can possibly serve our community better by being restored instead of demolished. For other such structures, let’s fire up the countdown board.

The most important thing I would like to stress to city officials and city residents is that we must continue to keep the battle of fighting the blight as a top priority. As I said previously, this is one issue that is bringing all of us together. Whether you are with the C&P or CCO, we can all fight the blight and we all have shown we can come together to accomplish this. And that, is what I want to see here in Evansville.

THIS LETTER TO THE EDITOR BY JORDAN BAER WAS POSTED BY CITY COUNTY OBSERVER  WITHOUT OPINION, BAIS OR EDITING.

Tuesday November 19, 2013, 7:00 AM Evansville City / Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch 9-1-1

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user24636-1363096490-13330_ffffff_62_88_PrsMe_Evansville/Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch will be conducting fire communications training this week with new employees. Portions of this training will be conducted on closed talkgroups of the radio system in cooperation with local public safety responders. However, we are aware that our local media partners and scanner enthusiasts often open scan the frequencies of our system and may hear transmission fragments and mistake these transmissions for real-world incidents.

The majority of this radio training will occur during the following times:
• 7am-3pm – Wednesday, November 20, 2013
• 9am-3pm – Thursday, November 21, 2013

For those that monitor scanner traffic, training will be conducted on the following talkgroup IDs. These ID’s are being provided so that you may identify the radio traffic occurring on these groups is in fact training related. Furthermore, you may also properly program your scanner in EDACS trunking mode and lock out these talkgroups to avoid any confusion.

Training talkgroup ID#’s 1194, 1188, 1189, 1190, 1191, 1192, 1184, 1185, 1186, 1187

This radio training is the best and most realistic experience that can be conducted without putting responders at risk and is a necessary step in ensuring our Telecommunicators are equipped to perform at a level of professionalism that Vanderburgh County deserves.

The operations shift supervisor on duty may be called at 812.426.7331 regarding any questions about radio traffic you might be hearing.

Zoo offers special holiday event for kids; Breakfast at the Zoo with Santa and Mrs. Claus now taking reservations

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mesker zooOn December 7th and 8th, the zoo is hosting a festive morning for children to bring their wish list to Santa and take a photo or two (don’t forget to bring your camera!).  Attendees will enjoy a hot breakfast buffet in the Rainforest Grill, sweet treats from Mrs. Claus and talking with Santa.  After breakfast, visit Santa’s Elves in the Amazonia Research Station to make a holiday craft and experience up close animal encounters.   Registration is required and a sell-out crowd is anticipated.

Registration is now open for one of the four offered sessions at www.meskerparkzoo.com.  Each session is limited to 60 participants.   Cost and session details are listed below and attached.

 

Zoo Members: $10

Non-Members: $12

Children 2 & Under: $5

Available Sessions:

Saturday, December 7th

Session A: 8:00 – 9:00 AM

Session B: 9:30 – 10:30 AM

Sunday, December 8th

Session C: 8:00 – 9:00 AM

Session D: 9:30 – 10:30 AM

 

Breakfast at the Zoo with Santa and Mrs. Claus is made possible with support from Romain Subaru.  Special events help the zoo meet its mission by connecting people to the natural world through a unique and quality experience.  Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden’s mission is to foster the preservation of the Earth’s diverse species and living systems through an active role in education

Zoeller announces $17M multistate settlement with Google

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Greg Zoeller
Greg Zoeller

Popular search engine to pay Indiana more than $354,570

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced a multistate settlement agreement today with Google Inc. for allegedly overriding Safari’s internet browser security settings to collect valuable user information.

Through its DoubleClick advertising platform, Google generates revenue by facilitating the transmission of third-party cookies — small files set in Internet users’ Web browsers that allow third-party advertisers to gather information about those users, including, depending on the type of cookie, their Web surfing habits.

Zoeller along with the Attorneys General of 36 States and the District of Columbia accused Google of circumventing the privacy settings which would have blocked all third party cookies. Zoeller said the company’s actions were in violation of state consumer protection and related computer privacy laws.

“Google allegedly circumvented Safari’s default privacy settings – without consumers’ consent – to allow third-party advertisers to set cookies in order to better target advertisements to consumers,” Zoeller said. “Unsuspecting Safari users continued to believe that cookies were automatically blocked. Today’s settlement underscores the continuing need for states to ensure consumers’ privacy remains protected.”

Apple’s Safari Web browser generally blocks third-party cookies in its default privacy settings, including cookies used by DoubleClick to track a consumer’s browsing history. From June 1, 2011 until Feb. 15, 2012, Google altered its DoubleClick coding to circumvent the Safari default privacy settings, without consumers’ knowledge or consent, enabling advertisers to set third-party cookies on consumers’ Safari browsers. Google disabled this coding method in February 2012 after the practice was widely reported on the Internet and in media.

In order to resolve the allegations, Google agreed to pay the attorneys general $17 million and Indiana’s share is $354,573. Google also agreed to injunctive relief that requires it to do the following:

  • Not to override a browser’s cookie blocking settings without the consumer’s consent or unless it is necessary to so in order to detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues.
  • Not misrepresent or omit material information to consumers about how Google serves advertisements to their browsers.
  • Improve the information it provides to consumers regarding cookies, their purposes, and how they can be managed by consumers using Google’s products or services.
  • Maintain systems designed to ensure the expiration of the third-party cookies placed on Safari browsers while their default settings had been circumvented.
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