This letter is published without edit, opinion, or bias.

Administration Building
1 NW Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Evansville IN 47708

Dear Councilmen McGinn, Mosby, Brinkerhoff-Riley, Robinson, Friend, Lindsey, O’Daniel, Adams and Weaver,

Gary, Indiana and Richmond, Indiana have defunded their Human Relations/Rights Commissions, and it is time for Evansville (and Vanderburgh County) to likewise defund its Human Relations Commission. The Human Relations Commission (HRC) has been a stain on our community with its incompetence, misuse of tax dollars, introduction of illegal actions, extremism, elitism and divisiveness.

Incompetence: The HRC has pushed for passage of an age discrimination ordinance (in effect in Evansville only) which makes Senior Citizen discounts illegal for apartment complexes, and potentially other situations. The HRC now realizes the mistake, but should have thought through this issue before presenting it to the City Council and County Commission.
Misuse of tax dollars:

Cronyism: The HRC in April handed $500 to one of its fellow Human Relations Commissioners for his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, of which he is a board member. Similarly, in November, the HRC handed $500 to the YWCA at the behest of one of its own commissioners. Astonishingly, this $500 was used to fund an event where participants simply held hands around a building! (The “Stand Against Racism.”)

Immoral/Unethical Favoritism: Just last month the HRC gave $200 to homosexual activists for their homosexual party (“Pride Picnic”) at Burdette Park. These were the same activists who pushed the sexual orientation/gender identity ordinance.

Other examples of such misuse can be cited. Clearly the HRC has no mechanism in place to evaluate community monetary requests on an equitable basis. Indeed, what business does the HRC have handing out tax dollars to private groups?

Illegality: The HRC worked sneakily to push a sexual orientation ordinance which criminalizes Christians and violates freedom of association. Neither the City Council nor County Commission have legal authority to pass such an ordinance. Further, in the past two years, the HRC illegally dragged a faith-based institution, St. Mary’s Medical Center, to court, only to be blocked by the Vanderburgh Superior Court judge.

Extremism: The HRC shamelessly pushed a gender identity ordinance which mandates that men dressed as women be allowed to use women’s restrooms, and other women’s changing rooms.

Elitism: The HRC never once went out into the community to face parents, school teachers, churches, pastors, businesses to defend their pro-homosexual agenda and ordinance.
Divisiveness: The HRC has invited racially divisive speakers, like Cornel West, to address its annual banquet. Its advocacy of programs and funding decisions is virtually oriented toward one race, as evidenced by:
– $3800 for a trip in 2008 to the Social Status of African-American Males Annual Conference
– $1500, $1500, $750 for Family Day in the Park (2009, 2010, 2011), put on by WEOA and Black Women’s Task Force.
– sponsorship of Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program to screen black males for hypertension and diabetes (2011, 2012)
– HRC was the legal applicant for $75,400 of federal funds from Indiana Criminal Justice Institute for the Boom Squad, whose application targets African American juvenile delinquency, which is less than 30% of juvenile delinquency in Evansville.

For these and other reasons, the Human Relations Commission should be immediately defunded. My tax dollars should no longer be wasted on its activities.

Glen Kissel

COMMON CONSTRUCTION WAGE HEARING – Demolition Roberts Stadium

In accordance with Indiana Code 5-16-7-1 et seq., the City of Evansville, Department of Parks & Recreation has scheduled a hearing to determine Common Construction Wage Rates that will be held at the time, date, and location prescribed below:

Levee Authority office
1300 Waterworks Rd.
Evansville, Indiana 47713
Date: Monday, July 30, 2012
Time: 9:00 a.m. CDT

The hearing will be held to determine wage rates to establish wages for public works construction projects in Vanderburgh County covered by the Indiana Common Construction Wage Act and awarded by the following awarding government agency:

City of Evansville, Board of Park Commissioners

Scales of wages adopted in these meetings apply to any public works construction projects covered by the Indiana Common Construction Wage Act for which each awarding government agency awards bids not later than three (3) months after the date the committee adopts a wage scale.

Thanks,

Indiana Department of Labor
Wage and Hour Division

University of Southern Indiana’s Center for Education Services held a pair of week-long Super Summer sessions for children and adolescents on campus, and at Dexter Elementary School in June and July. The programs were available during two sessions for children in PreK—ninth grade.

Two of the programs offered during the second summer session were ¡OLÉ!, a class exploring the Hispanic world through art projects, language, cooking and culture; and Material World, which allowed students to experiment with the physical and chemical properties of the world around them. The student-teacher interaction during these sessions was designed to be both experiential and fun.

Lorenna Boyle, a teacher at Evansville Day School, and Betsy Dailey, a local artist and teacher at Evansville Day School, teamed up for ¡OLÉ!. During the program, students in grades three through five created albrijes, clay sculptures painted in vibrant colors, after the Hispanic tradition started by Pedro Linares in the 1900s. The students also practiced Spanish language while cooking meals and learning about Hispanic traditions.

“The students were very excited to hear stories about Mexican art and culture,” said Boyle. “They were beaming with pride when they showcased their albrijes.”

Boyle is a native of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and has taught English as a second language for several years. One of her favorite parts of the program was helping students cook Mexican dishes.

Jeff Seyler, chair of the Chemistry Department at USI, taught the Material World program. Students examined the flow of energy in melting and boiling processes, density and chemical interactions in liquids, and reactivity of metals and molecules. Seyler also assisted the students with safely-conducted experiments using non-toxic detergents, and cleaning agents that can be found in the everyday household.

“It’s great to see kids so enthusiastic about learning,” said Seyler. “We do our best to make the classes as fun and interactive as we can. The kids seemed to enjoy mixing chemicals together.”

Super Summer is an educational program through USI’s Center for Education Services and Partnerships, a division of Outreach and Engagement. The Center for Education Services and Partnerships works with schools and community partners to provide quality educational opportunities to students, teachers, and parents. Super Summer has occurred annually since 1981 and involves faculty from several schools in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation

Source: USI.edu

David Bothast has been hired as director of corporate and foundation relations at the University of Evansville. Bothast also serves as an adjunct instructor in UE’s Master of Science in Public Service Administration program, and he comes to UE from the Goodwill Family Center, where he served as director for the last two years.

“I consider myself an agent of change,” Bothast said. “My experience in development and grant writing, coupled with dedication to our community and passion for education, will assist in increasing opportunities for learning and development at the University of Evansville.”

Bothast will be responsible for working with local and national corporations and foundations to research potential funding sources, develop proposals, and create grant reports for secured gifts. He will also serve as a resource for UE administrators, faculty members, and students seeking external funding for University projects and programs.

Prior to leading Evansville’s Goodwill Family Center, Bothast held positions as the executive director of the American Red Cross in Princeton, Indiana; a third- through fifth-grade teacher at Evansville’s Joshua Academy, and a corpsman in the U.S. Navy.

He holds a Master of Science in public service administration from UE and a Bachelor of Science in elementary education from the University of Southern Indiana.

Source: Evansville.edu

EVANSVILLE, IN – Members of Evansville Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 73 have voted to ratify a new
three-year contract with the City of Evansville. The tentative agreement, if approved by Evansville City
Council, would be effective January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2015.

FOP Lodge 73 President Larry Nelson said the tentative contract was “overwhelmingly approved” during
voting that began Sunday and continued through Monday evening during roll calls at the Evansville
Police Department headquarters and at the FOP lodge. Nelson commended Evansville Mayor Lloyd
Winnecke and the negotiating teams for the City and FOP for reaching a quick settlement.

“Mayor Winnecke not only responded quickly to our request to begin negotiations but he started the
talks before budget hearings began. This was unheard of in the past,” Nelson said. “He put together a
team from the city that sat down and discussed the particulars of the contract in a professional manner,
as did the FOP. With both sides working together and understanding the economic concerns facing
Evansville, we were able to resolve our issues quickly. I appreciate the hard work of both the FOP and
the city negotiating teams in what we believe to be a fair contract for the membership of the FOP and
the citizens of Evansville.”

Assistant Police Chief Chris Pugh said both the FOP and city administration agreed from the beginning
that negotiations did not have to be contentious. “During the entire process both sides were focused on
reaching an agreement that benefited the FOP membership as well as the citizens of Evansville. With
this three-year contract the men and women of the Evansville Police Department can focus solely on
providing the finest law enforcement possible to the citizens we serve.”

The contract calls for a 3% wage increase the first year and 2% wage increases for 2014 and 2015, with
no increase in health insurance premiums. There is a one-year extension that allows the contract to be
opened for talks on wages, overtime and health insurance.

Mayor Winnecke said he is pleased negotiations went smoothly and a contract was settled quickly.
“Both sides met in good faith to review all issues on the table to reach an agreement that FOP
membership could support overwhelmingly and the city could afford,” Winnecke said. “I’d like to take
this opportunity to praise the work of the men and women on the Evansville police force. Now they can
focus on serving and protecting our citizens instead of worrying about their paycheck.”

Dr. Ray Nicholson spoke before the Vanderburgh County Commissioners tonight to report that the entire support staff for the free dental clinic resigned in mass today. No reason has been released for the resignations from the clinic that is one of the humanitarian legacies of Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and former County Council member Royce Sutton.

This is a developing story