By Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller

Boating down the Wabash River near Lafayette on July 16, I witnessed firsthand the broad, winding river’s scenic beauty, but also got a lesson in the environmental challenges the river faces when two Asian carp hurled themselves out of the water and landed in our boat.

The Wabash is Indiana’s iconic river and inspiration for our state song, yet in recent years two species of invasive Asian carp have infested portions of it. These voracious non-native fish consume nutrients in the water, disrupting the food chain and threatening the native fish enjoyed by Hoosier anglers and sportsmen. At the sound of outboard motors, groups of Asian carp will jump out of the water and can injure boaters. The invasion of Asian carp into U.S. waterways and the risk they pose to the Great Lakes sportfishing industry has provoked consternation and litigation among our neighboring states; and as Indiana’s attorney general, I want to make sure the Wabash will be protected from further spread of this aquatic nuisance.

Fortunately we have allies in this effort. First is John Goss, director of the federal government’s Asian carp control efforts. John is a native Hoosier and former director of the Department of Natural Resources, and he accompanied me in a friend’s Zodiac inflatable boat during part of our river tour and inspection down the Wabash. John Goss educated me and people we met in river communities along the way about new approaches being explored to curb the carp population.

In communities along the Wabash, local residents have banded together to preserve the river. In the city of Wabash, Ind., where we launched our boat, we met with Mayor Robert Vanlandingham and some of the Wabash River Defenders, a group of volunteers who sponsor clean-up programs on the banks of the river and advocate for increased use and appreciation of the waterway.

Downriver in Peru, Ind., we met with Mayor Jim Walker and members of the Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission, who support programs that celebrate the natural resource of the river. In Lafayette, we met with Purdue University Professor Reuben Goforth, a renowned expert on invasive species, and we learned about innovative ideas for addressing Asian carp overpopulation. In Terre Haute, largest city on the Wabash, Mayor Duke Bennett and citizens are celebrating 2013 as “The Year of the River” to showcase the waterway with activities to encourage its full use and enjoyment.

Slicing through the river along the Indiana-Illinois border on my friend John Hughes’ Zodiac boat, I spotted five bald eagles and 40 or more blue herons, a testament to the wooded natural ecosystem on the banks of the Wabash. A spectacular view of the river awaited us atop the bluff at Merom, Ind., in Sullivan County, where we had lunch at the Downtown Diner with local folks who exuded Hoosier hospitality. Longtime residents told me that in some areas, the river has never looked cleaner, but in others, they worry about agricultural runoff into the waterway.

The Wabash’s connection to the early development of our state is seen in the city of Vincennes, Indiana’s first territorial capital prior to statehood. There we toured the riverfront and George Rogers Clark Memorial with Mayor Joe Yochum. The final leg of our four-day river journey took us to New Harmony, Ind., in Posey County, site of 19th-century utopian communities and still a peaceful hometown for residents who met us at the Red Geranium restaurant to share their love of the river and discuss Asian carp.

After observing by boat most of a 334-mile stretch of the Wabash before its confluence with the Ohio River, I came away with a new appreciation for maintaining the river’s ecosystem, water quality and heritage, a deeper admiration for those volunteers whose stewardship helps keep the river free of litter and pollution, and a determination to do what I can to help our state control Asian carp. We in Indiana truly are blessed that such a scenic natural waterway flows through our state, and I encourage all

Hoosiers to visit the Wabash by boat, canoe or from the riverbank so they can appreciate why we must protect and preserve it.

Greg Zoeller is attorney general of Indiana and toured the Wabash River by boat from July 15 to 18.

WHAT: “GARY’S RIDE” is a recreational bicycle ride to honor Indiana State Police Lt. Gary Dudley. All proceeds from the ride benefit The Gary Dudley Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which provides college Scholarships to the children of city, county, state and federal law enforcement officers killed in the Line of Duty in Indiana.

WHEN: Saturday, August 17, 2013 Registration: 7:00 – 11:00 a.m.
It is an OPEN start to the Ride

WHERE: Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield, IN

WHO: Bicyclists of all ages and experience levels are welcome. Routes range from a “Family Fun Ride” (0-10 miles) up to a Century (100 miles). Six distance levels are available. You can ride as little or as much as you want. Helmets are required.

NOTES: On-line registration at: www.getmeregistered.com/garysride

For more information about this event, please go to www.garysride.com .

Please direct any questions to Carolyn Dudley at: bikecentury@comcast.net

EVENTS: In addition to the ride, there will be activities for kids of all ages to enjoy at ILEA, including a large display of Police, Fire, and Department of Natural Resource vehicles and equipment. The displays are FREE and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 12 noon

Mayor Lloyd Winnecke will join representatives from the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville and the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana at a news conference tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. at Innovation Pointe (318 Main Street). The purpose of the news conference is to announce the startup of a new company, which will result in new jobs.

There will be a special meeting of the Common Council of the City of Evansville, Indiana on Monday, July 29, 2013, at 4:00 p.m. in Room 301 of the Civic Center.

The purpose of this meeting is to review and discuss the McGladrey Report.

The Evansville Police Department will be hosting a Coffee With a Cop workshop this afternoon at the Old National Bank building at 1 Main St. The workshop begins at 1:30pm in the Schlottman Auditorium.

This workshop will have over 30 attendees from agencies in Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. The presenter will be Officer Chris Cognac from the Hawthorne California Police Department. Officer Cognac is the founder of the Coffee with a Cop program.

This 4 hour-workshop will review the philosophy of community policing, explain how Coffee with a Cop aids in problem solving and relationship building, and provide helpful tools and strategies for implementing a successful Coffee with a Cop program.

The media is invited to attend the workshop.

Tomorrow morning, there will be a Coffee with a Cop event at the Donut Bank at Hwy 41 and Lincoln Ave from 8:00-10:00. There will be a 2^nd Coffee with a Cop event at the Downtown Diner at 122 First St in Henderson Kentucky from 10:30-12:30. The media is invited to attend one or both of these events.

Preliminary design concepts for the new Roberts Park will be on display at two open house meetings this month. The first meeting is tonight from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Swonder Ice Arena, 209 N. Boeke Rd. The second concept meeting will take place at the Traveling City Hall meeting set for Wednesday, July 31, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 918 W. Mill Rd. The preliminary designs will also be posted on the City of Evansville website www.evansville.in.gov later this week, and residents will have the ability to submit feedback electronically.

The City of Evansville’s Department of Sustainability, Energy and Environmental Quality (SEEQ) is pleased to announce the Sustainable Evansville Awards 2013.

The Sustainable Evansville Awards recognize important contributions to sustainability during the last two years, celebrating the greater Evansville area’s environmental enrichment, economic progress, and vibrant community. Projects located in Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties are eligible to apply. Awards will be presented for achievements in these categories:

1) Air or Water Quality, 2) Resource Enhancement or Conservation, 3) Greening the Community 4) Green Building, and 5) Education. Each entry will be scored by a panel of independent judges for innovation, impact and leadership in promoting sustainability in the region.

The application deadline is August 30, 2013.

Mayor Lloyd Winnecke will recognize the winners during the Sustainable Evansville Awards Ceremony at the Downtown Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013, at noon at Tropicana Evansville.

Additional information and entry forms are available on the Sustainable Evansville Awards

Program website:http://www.evansville.in.gov/index.aspx?page=2994

If you have questions, please feel free to contact Dona Bergman @ seeq@evansville.in.gov or 812/435-6145.

My ancestors helped build Detroit. The Fourniers were fur-trappers and farmers living hard by the Detroit River until the fledgling auto industry beckoned in the early 1900s with a better deal: $5 a day and a pension.

In the 1960s, my father opted out of the family business to be a police officer. He served Detroit for 25 years as part of the elite motorcycle unit that doubled as the riot squad. One of my earlier memories is of my parents, dressed in church clothes, leaving our house to attend the 1967 funeral of a riot cop.

Mom and dad raised four children at 15285 Coram in the city’s northeast corner, the same block upon which they were raised. All this to say: I love my hometown. And I hate what Detroit’s demise might bode for our country.

Wrenching economic change … income inequality … political corruption … ineffective government … rigid institutions … chronic debt and racism — these are the things that bankrupted Detroit, morally and fiscally, and they’re an exaggerated reflection of the nation’s challenges.

Economy: Detroit failed to adapt to the global economy and to diversify for the postindustrial era. “Sometimes the losers from economic change are individuals whose skills have become redundant; sometimes they’re companies, serving a market niche that no longer exists; and sometimes they’re whole cities that lose their place in the economic ecosystem,” wrote economic columnist Paul Krugman in today’s New York Times. Sometimes, the victims are whole countries, a fact that seems lost on Washington, where the leadership is polarized and smart ideas go to die.

Income inequality: The unemployment rate in Detroit is more than 18 percent. Per capita income is pathetically low, near $15,000. Life is much better for suburban residents. In Grosse Pointe, Mich., separated from Detroit by the aptly named Alter Road, the median family income is more than $100,000, and unemployment is not a problem.

Bad government: “The city’s operations have become dysfunctional and wasteful after years of budgetary restrictions, mismanagement, crippling operational practices and, in some cases, indifferences or corruption,” Detroit’s emergency manager Kevyn Orr wrote in May. “Outdated policies, work practices, procedures, and systems must be improved consistent with best practices of 21st-century government.” It would not be a stretch to apply Orr’s words to the federal government.

Broken promises: The group most at risk in Detroit’s bankruptcy may be the city’s 20,000 retirees (including my father and many friends and family members). Of Detroit’s overall debt, about half represents pension and health benefits promised to retirees, according to The Washington Post. This is because city leaders borrowed against pension funds and mortgaged the future—not unlike what Washington’s leadership is doing to Social Security and Medicare.

Rigid institutions: Government agencies, businesses, schools, churches, the media, and virtually every other city institution failed to help residents weather the tumult of the last four decades of the 20th century. In particular, big labor never managed a second act after anchoring the rise of the American middle class in Detroit. Union membership and influence has declined in Detroit and elsewhere, considered by many to be more of an obstacle than a solution.

Racial tensions: Racism and racial polarization have a long and an ugly history in Detroit. The 1967 riots caused many whites to leave the city. White flight increased in the 1970s, when school busing and a ban on real-estate “red lining” threatened the nasty traditions of segregation. Craven real estate agents hired black women to push baby strollers through white neighborhoods, then knocked on doors urging residents to sell “before it’s too late.”

The fallout from George Zimmerman’s trial struck a chord with this Detroit native, particularly President Obama’s eloquent remarks about Trayvon Martin and black Americans. As a kid, I was told to lock my car doors in “black neighborhoods.” The owner of Detroit store where I worked ordered me to follow young black men into the aisles “to keep an eye on them.”

On race and other issues, Detroit should be a warning to the country. It was—and in many ways, still is—a great city, but poor leadership and an ambivalent citizenry allowed Detroit’s problems to fester, grow, and eventually overwhelm it. A nation can make the same mistake.

Coincidentally, when Detroit declared bankruptcy, I was wrapping up a Michigan vacation. The highlight was my daughter’s wedding. She lives and works in the city, and got married in a church not far from where the Fourniers once trapped beavers and farmed. Her family drove in from the suburbs to a city they had abandoned (and that had abandoned them). The wedding reception was at the Detroit Historical Museum, where the Fourniers danced to Motown music in the brick-and-cobblestone streets of “Old Detroit.” We toasted the future.