Excerpts:

“One in seven of all Americans is now on food stamps, but that’s not enough for the bureaucrats at the Department of Agriculture. They’re determined to increase that number, and to do that they must eliminate the “mountain pride” of certain Americans, who value personal responsibility and independence above all else, and get them on the government dole. It’s something like ethnic cleansing, or would be, if the feds mocked the pride and culture of any other ethnic group, whether in the mountains, valleys, flatlands or somewhere else.”

” A vigorous breed, hardy, assertive, individualistic, thrifty, trained in the democracy of the Scottish kirk, they were the material out of which Jacksonian democracy was to be fashioned, the creators of that western type that in politics and industry became ultimately the American type.” Just the sort of material, you might say, to frustrate a community organizer with illusions of hauteur.”

“SNAP has put out a brochure it calls a “tool kit,” which is shamelessly insensitive, since a tool kit suggests “work,” and this goes athwart the pride of the dole, which the feds are attempting to substitute for pride in the mountains. A section of the tool kit called “Common SNAP Myths” tells how important the feds think it is to reach people who have “beliefs” and subscribe to “myths” that make them reluctant to live on relief with charity from strangers.”

“The Daily Caller reports that the food-stamp agency has dispatched agents to overcome mountain pride with parties and games, and CNN reports that over the past four months, the agency has spent nearly $3 million on radio commercials soliciting Americans to sign up.”

““I think it’s a deep problem,” he tells the Daily Caller, “when [federal] officials think it is their duty to overcome ‘mountain pride’ or the American sense of independence and individual responsibility.”

“Neither the senator or anyone else begrudges helping the hungry or helpless; indeed, it’s a Christian’s duty, as a Scots-Irishman would readily concede. But destroying the culture that tamed the frontier and shaped America will be beyond the power and ability of a messiah from Chicago.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/6/pruden-putting-us-all-on-the-dole/?page=all#pagebreak

Excerpts:

“Three years ago, financial-services entrepreneur John Hantz proposed converting as much as 10,000 acres of vacant private and city-owned property here into the world’s largest for-profit urban farm, restoring swaths of land to the tax rolls and changing the face of Detroit’s blighted East Side.”

“Separately, the city approved last week a Michigan State University initiative to explore the viability of a $100 million urban-agriculture research center in Detroit that could span as many as 100 acres.”

“Large-scale farming in Detroit still faces a number of legal, political and logistical challenges, including concerns about soil quality, the price of the land and the impact on neighbors. The land sale also needs formal approval from the mayor and the city council.”

“Detroit has more than 200,000 vacant parcels—almost half of them residential plots—that generate no significant tax revenue and would cost more to maintain than the city can afford. Finding new uses for this land has become one of the most pressing challenges for a city that lost a quarter of its population in the past decade.”

“Mr. Hantz proposes to ease that burden by buying about 2,300 parcels and planting oak trees, then maybe fruit orchards and hydroponic vegetables. The hardwoods could be harvested and sold within a decade to customers looking for young trees, according to Hantz Farms.”

Detroit “cannot create value until we create scarcity,” Mr. Hantz says. “Large-scale farming could begin to take land out of circulation in a positive way.”

“Hantz is offering only $300 a parcel, one-tenth of what city officials wanted. It has agreed to clear the land and demolish as many as 200 structures—at an estimated cost of more than $2 million, offset in part by tax credits and state assistance—before beginning to pay roughly $60,000 a year in taxes on the land.”

LINK to Article

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304898704577479090390757800.html?KEYWORDS=detroit

Contact: Abby Elpers MEDIA RELEASE
Marketing Communications Manager July 6, 2012
Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville
Ph: (812) 401-4243

Mayor Winnecke Visits the Market
Vanderburgh County Farm Bureau Farmers’ Market

EVANSVILLE, IN (July 6, 2012) – At 10:00 a.m. Mayor Lloyd Winnecke will visit the Vanderburgh County Farm Bureau Farmers’ Market in Downtown Evansville – Located between Second and Sycamore Streets. With record high temperatures forecasted again today Mayor Winnecke will visit with market participants selling fresh produce, flowers, herbs, handmade crafts, and baked goods.

The Vanderburgh County Farm Bureau Farmers’ Market takes place every Friday in Downtown Evansville from 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. through September 28th.

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS

REGULAR MEETING
KEVIN WINTERNHEIMER CHAMBERS
ROOM 301, CIVIC CENTER COMPLEX
WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2012
12:00 NOON

AGENDA

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. MINUTES June 20, 2012

3. CONSENT AGENDA
a. Request Re: Execute Agreement with J.H. Rudolph & Co. Inc. for Parking Lot
Improvements to Helfrich Park, State Hospital and McDonald Golf Course. – Boberg
b. Request Re: Approve and Execute Landscape Maintenance License with John Matzen for
NE Corner of Vann Park. – Boberg
c. Request Re: Approve and Execute Landscape Maintenance License with Madeleine Schmitt
and Sharon Burke for Median at Corner of Alvord Blvd. and Washington Ave. – Boberg
d. Request Re: Execute Agreement with Eco Logic, LLC for Invasive Species Mapping and
Management Plan for Wesselman Woods and Howell Wetlands. – Boberg
e. Request Re: Approve Participation by Swonder Ice Arena with the Easter Seals
Rehabilitation Center Safe Halloween Coupon Book. – Crook
f. Request Re: Approve and Execute Independent Personal Trainer Agreement with Jenny
Madden for Swonder Fitness Center. – Crook

4. OLD BUSINESS
a. Request Re: Approve and Execute Certificate Regarding Disbursements for Costs of Issuance
for the Parks Refunding Bonds. – Johnson
b. Request Re: Approve and Execute Supplemental Easement Agreement with Fligeltaub for
Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage. – Boberg
c. Request Re: Approve and Execute Agreement with Blankenberger Brothers Inc. for
Additional Work for the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage. – Boberg

5. NEW BUSINESS
a. Request Re: Approve Budget Transfers and CIP Reprioritizations. – Boberg
b. Request Re: Any Other Business the Board Wishes to Consider and Public Comments.

6. REPORTS
a. Denise Johnson, Executive Director

7. ACCEPTANCE OF PAYROLL AND VENDOR CLAIMS

8. ADJOURN

Greenway Advisory Board

July 9, 2012
4:00 p.m.
C. K. Newsome Community Center
100 E. Walnut Street
Evansville, IN 47713
ROOM 118 A & B

Agenda

Call to Order

Minutes – June 11, 2012
.
Old Business – Greenway Update
a.
Industrial Corridor – Boberg
b.
Phase 4
b)
Report on Trailhead Sign – Boberg
c)
Update on Lights at Shirley James Gateway Plaza – Boberg
.
ETC Report – Roberta Heiman

New Business
a)
Approval for Cleaning Graffiti at the Sunset Park and Four Freedoms Monument – Boberg
b)
Approval to Purchase New Lights for Riverfront Corridor. Boberg
c)
Schedule Annual Greenway Inspection Tour. – Boberg
d)
Review Quotes to Install New Gate at the Entrance to the Heidelbach Canoe Launch. – Boberg
e)
Discuss Repairing Landscape Flower Beds Along the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage – Boberg
f)
Any Other Business the Advisory Board Wishes to Discuss

.
Adjourn