Attorney Charlie Berger represents former City of Evansville employee Mike Winters in his suit against the City. The official filings are on the link. This is a developing story.

Petition_for_Approval_of_Cost_Bond_and_Order

By: Victor Hanson

In Sam Cooke’s classic 1959 hit “Wonderful World,” the lyrics downplayed formal learning with lines like, “Don’t know much about history … Don’t know much about geography.”

Over a half-century after Cooke wrote that lighthearted song, such ignorance is now all too real. Even our best and brightest — or rather our elites especially — are not too familiar with history or geography.

Both disciplines are the building blocks of learning. Without awareness of natural and human geography, we are reduced to a sort of self-contained void without accurate awareness of the space around us. An ignorance of history also creates the same sort of self-imposed exile, leaving us ignorant of both what came before us and what is likely to follow.

In the case of geography, Harvard Law School graduate Barack Obama recently lectured that, “If we don’t deepen our ports all along the Gulf — places like Charleston, South Carolina; or Savannah, Georgia; or Jacksonville, Florida …” The problem is that all the examples he cited are cities on the East Coast, not the Gulf of Mexico. If Obama does not know where these ports are, how can he deepen them?

Obama’s geographical confusion has become habitual. He once claimed that he had been to all “57 states.” He also assumed that Kentucky was closer to Arkansas than it was to his adjacent home state of Illinois.

In reference to the Falkland Islands, President Obama called them the Maldives — islands southwest of India — apparently in a botched effort to use the Argentine-preferred Malvinas. The two island groups may sound somewhat alike, but they are continents apart. Again, without basic geographical knowledge, the president’s commentary on the Falklands is rendered superficial.

When in the state of Hawaii, Obama announced that he was in “Asia.” He lamented that the U.S. Army’s Arabic-language translators assigned to Iraq could better be used in Afghanistan, failing to recognize that Arabic isn’t the language of Afghanistan. And for that matter, he apparently thought Austrians speak a language other than German.

The president’s geographical illiteracy is a symptom of the nation’s growing ignorance of once-essential subjects like geography and history. The former is often not taught any more as a required subject in our schools and colleges. The latter has often been redefined as race, class and gender oppression to score melodramatic points in the present rather than to learn from the tragedy of the past.

The president in his 2009 Cairo speech credited the European Renaissance and Enlightenment to Islam’s “light of learning” — an exaggeration if not an outright untruth on both counts.

Closer to home, the president claimed in 2011 that the Texas had historically been Republican — while in reality it was a mostly Jim Crow Democratic state for over a century. Republicans only started consistently carrying Texas after 1980.

Recently, Obama claimed that 20th century communist strongman Ho Chi Minh “was actually inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the words of Thomas Jefferson.” That pop assertion is improbable, given that Ho systematically liquidated his opponents, slaughtered thousands in land-redistribution schemes, and brooked no dissent.

Even more ahistorical was Vice President Joe Biden’s suggestion that George W. Bush should have gone on television in 2008 to address the nation as President Roosevelt had done in 1929 — a time when there was neither a President Roosevelt nor televisions available for purchase. In 2011, a White House press kit confused Wyoming with Colorado — apparently because they’re both rectangular-shaped states out West.

Our geographically and historically challenged leaders are emblematic of disturbing trends in American education that include a similar erosion in grammar, English composition and basic math skills.

The controversial Lois Lerner, a senior official at the IRS — an agency whose stock and trade are numbers — claimed that she was “not good at math” when she admitted that she did not know that one-fourth of 300 is 75.

In the zero-sum game of the education curriculum, each newly added therapeutic discipline eliminated an old classical one. The result is that if Americans emote more and have more politically correct thoughts on the environment, race, class and gender, they are less able to advance their beliefs through fact-based knowledge.

Despite supposedly tough new standards and vast investments, about 56 percent of students in recent California public school tests did not perform up to their grade levels in English. Only about half met their grade levels in math.

A degree from our most prestigious American university is no guarantee that such a graduate will know the number of states or the location of Savannah. If we wonder why the Ivy League-trained Obama seems confused about where cities, countries and continents are, we might remember that all but one Ivy League university eliminated their geography departments years ago.

As a rule now, when our leaders allude to a place or an event in the past, just assume their references are dead wrong.

Source: RCP

Reps Bucshon and Young

Tax Reform discussion

Friday, August 16

Southwest Indiana Chamber of Commerce – 318 Main Street, Suite 401 Evansville, IN

As the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee prepare to roll out reforms to the U.S. tax code, Ways and Means Committee member and Indiana Congressman Todd Young (IN-9) announced on Friday that he will embark on a statewide tour to talk about proposed changes with local businesses.  The events are being hosted by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and local Chambers of Commerce in each area, and other members of the Indiana Congressional delegation will be on hand at some of the events.

“We haven’t fundamentally overhauled our tax system in a quarter of a century, and since the 1986 reforms our code has been larded up with provisions that only benefit narrow interests,” said Young.  “The net effect is a tax code that is confusing, complex and difficult for individuals and small businesses to comply with.  As we try to spur our economy, making the code simpler, fairer and flatter is key.”

While the events will be closed to the press to promote candid discussions, a media availability will be held at 1 PM local time after each roundtable.  Local media will have the chance to talk with Rep. Young, other members of the delegation, and local businesses about what was discussed.

The 2013/2014 school year has started for most of Indiana’s school children. The start of school brings increased bus traffic and children waiting or walking near roadways. The Indiana State Police would like to remind motorists to watch for children in school zones and waiting to board busses, especially in the early morning hours. Remember, whenever the school bus stop arm is extended you are required by Indiana law to stop. Disregarding a school bus stop arm is a class B misdemeanor punishable with up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Troopers will have zero tolerance for anyone disregarding a school bus stop arm or speeding in a school zone.

Parents, most school bus-related accidents involve children who dash in front of a car or school bus to retrieve papers or other dropped articles. You should emphasize the danger zone immediately surrounding the school bus. The area, approximately ten feet around the bus, is where most children are injured. The bus driver has limited visibility in this area. Parents should encourage children to carry articles in a back pack or book bag and never chase after dropped items.

Parents should also remind children of these school bus safety tips:

•Wait for the bus in a safe place away from traffic.
•No horseplay at the bus stop.
•Wait until the bus and other traffic comes to a complete stop before approaching the bus.
•ALWAYS CROSS IN FRONT OF THE BUS, THE DRIVER SHOULD ALWAYS BE ABLE TO SEE YOU.
•When on the bus remain seated and talk quietly so the driver will not be distracted.

It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure our children are able to safely travel to school. Citizens are encouraged to report anyone observed disregarding a school bus stop arm by calling their local law enforcement agency.

Below is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday, August 14, 2013.

Stephon Allen Operating a Motor Vehicle after Forfeiture of License for Life-

Class C Felony

James Doss Sr. Burglary-Class C Felony

Attempted Theft-Class D Felony

(Habitual Offender Enhancement)

Anthony Hamilton Strangulation-Class D Felony

Theft-Class D Felony

Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury-Class A Misdemeanor

Interference with the Reporting of a Crime-

Class A Misdemeanor

Virgil Neal Burglary-Class C Felony

Attempted Theft-Class D Felony

Rachel Redmon Theft-Class D Felonies (Two Counts)

Neglect of Dependent-Class D Felony

Vincent Vandyke Jr Carrying a Handgun without a License-Class A Misdemeanor

(Enhanced to D Felony Due to Prior Convictions)

Dillon Williams Receiving Stolen Property-Class D Felony

Criminal Mischief-Class A Misdemeanor

Zachary Beckman Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury to a Pregnant Woman-

Class C Felony

Residential Entry-Class D Felony

Antwan Burton Strangulation-Class D Felony

Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury-Class D Felony

Resisting Law Enforcement-Class D Felonies (Two Counts)

Zachary Clark Unlawful Possession or Use of a Legend Drug-Class D Felony

Public Intoxication-Class B Misdemeanor

Illegal Possession of an Alcoholic Beverage-Class C Misdmeanor

Carly Potter Escape-Class C Felony

Forgery-Class C Felony

False Informing-Class A Misdemeanor

Conversion-Class A Misdemeanor

Leonard Schnitzler Jr Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated Endangering a Person

with a Passenger Less than 18 Years of Age-Class D Felony

Melissa Spradley Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury-Class D Felony

Resisting Law Enforcement-Class D Felony

Disorderly Conduct-Class B Misdemeanor

Battery-Class B Misdemeanor

Yongtae Kang Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury-Class D Felony

For further information on the cases listed above, or any pending case, please contact Kyle Phernetton at 812.435.5688 or via e-mail at KPhernetton@vanderburghgov.org

Under Indiana law, all criminal defendants are considered to be innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

EPD Activity Report: August 15, 2013