Home Blog Page 6870

USI’s 42nd Annual Juried Student Art Show on display through April

0

The University of Southern Indiana’s 42nd Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition is on display in the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries through April 29.

An opening reception and awards ceremony was held April 1. Over $7800 in merit awards, scholarships, and purchase awards donated by area businesses and individuals was awarded.

The Best of Show Award was presented to Norman Knorr IV for his sculpture Passion Burns from Within (pictured).

Other award recipients are listed here.

The juror, John Begley, director of the Hite Institute Galleries at the University of Louisville, selected 181 works of art from over 425 works created by students in the past year and submitted for inclusion in the show. Read his juror’s statement.

The McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries is open to the public. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 812/228-5006.

Source: USI.edu

Greenway Passage Receives $1.35 Million Grant

0

Mayor Lloyd Winnecke announces the City of Evansville, Department of Parks &
Recreation has received $1,350,000 for the Greenway Passage – Garvin/Governor Stringtown Bike
Lane project. The grant is from Congested Mitigation Air Quality funds from the Federal Highway
Administration. The funds will be to install bike lanes south on Stringtown Road from Pigeon Creek and
connect with Garvin Street and Governor Street to Sweetser Boulevard.

“The Greenway Passage will become a new transportation route for citizens to utilize to travel to work
and for recreation,” Mayor Winnecke said. “The Garvin/Governor Stringtown Bike Lanes will be a new
artery for people to utilize their bikes and leave their vehicles at home, thereby reducing pollution and
improving our air quality.”

The Garvin/Governor Stringtown Bike Lanes is one of five different new projects being design. The plan
is to complete a four-teen (14) mile loop within the city and another eight (8) miles of trail to extend to
the Angel Mounds State Historic Site. The Garvin/Governor Stringtown Bike Lanes will be designed for
construction in 2013 and planned to be completed in 2014.

IS IT TRUE April 12, 2012

12
The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE April 12, 2012

IS IT TRUE

that in today’s activity report of the Evansville Police Department there is an incident that happened is a neighborhood that just 5 years ago was a decent neighborhood that sounds like Fort Apache the Bronx or a barrio in Buenos Aires?…that one human being chopped another on with a machete on East Riverside Drive not far from the Zesto?…that this area is populated with children but has turned into a place full of prostitutes, drug trafficking, and violence in the last 5 years?…that if local government wants a clue as to why housing values and the assessments are dropping like rocks and robbing the local government of the tax revenue needed to run the town they can look no further than the degradation of some neighborhoods from okay to unacceptable?…that this is why Front Door Pride failed?…that rebranding will do nothing for these kinds of problems?

IS IT TRUE that City Councilman and Evansville Fire Captain Al Lindsey will get to keep his job but will be punished for grudgingly admitting to drinking alcohol at the Maingate with 5 other members of the Evansville City Council after a January City Council meeting and then returning to the firehouse?…that the CCO commends the Evansville Fire Merit Commission for taking the time to do the discovery required and to reach a FAIR and JUST punishment for Captain Lindsey’s lapse of judgment and then lying to cover it up?…that we wish Councilman Lindsey good fortune in taking his licks and getting on with life as an Evansville City Councilman and Evansville Fire Captain?…that the Fire Merit Commission’s judgment gives us some faith that everything is Evansville is not driven by political vendetta’s and sneakiness?

IS IT TRUE that if Councilwoman Missy Mosby who has an ongoing Hatfield and McCoys style feud going with Councilman Lindsey had not decided three days later to run to Mayor Winnecke and tell on Lindsey that this whole situation would have never happened?…that the three days that she took to do that tattling sort of negates the whole “I was just trying to protect my peeps” argument?…that Councilwoman Mosby did not take it upon herself to tattle on herself and her fellow members of the City Council and friends for knocking back over 40 drinks the very same night at the expense of an Indianapolis consultant?…that it was not important enough in the zenith of the BoozeFest to call the police on what was most certainly some driving under the influence by some of our esteemed elected officials and their friends?…that we are sure there have been other times when someone staggered to their car from the Maingate that the EPD was alerted but not that night?…that if not for the feud and the political rancidness between Councilwoman Mosby and Captain Lindsey that Mayor Winnecke’s office would have never been tattled to like a yard duty teacher?…that this incident should serve to all to put petty elementary school bickering and backbiting aside and see if our City Council can actually deliberate on the complicated decisions that it has been entrusted to pass judgment on?…that can start with reading and thinking before voting and eliminating the pettiness?

IS IT TRUE that one thing that came through loud and clear in this proceeding is that Scott Danks is one extremely good attorney?…that Danks left no stone unturned in defending his client from what started out as a political vendetta?…that the Evansville community owes Mr. Danks a bit of gratitude for keeping a well trained fire Captain on the job, for bringing justice and fairness to a situation that was ripe for political tampering, and for making our city look just at a time that it seems to be continuing the slide into the way of the old boy network?…that Councilman Lindsey will now be saddled with many thousands of dollars to pay for Danks’s brilliant defense work?…that this is money that Lindsey would have never had to spend were it not for politically driven tattling?…that the CCO would like to encourage each of our readers to consider making a donation to help Al deal with the unbudgeted expenses that he will have to bear from this overly publicize lapse of judgment on his part?…that we do not condone what Councilman Lindsey did and certainly do not condone his cover-up but we also realize that to get on with life he needs some financial help?…that if you would like to help please contact the CCO Publisher Tim Eckels by email at timeckels@gmail.com?

Academic Language Bowl brings high school students to USI campus

0

More than 30 teams of students from at least 18 area high schools will participate in the 22nd annual Academic High School Language Bowl at the University of Southern Indiana on Monday, April 16. Check-in is from 9 to 9:30 a.m., language rounds are from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., and a song competition starts at 11 a.m. in Carter Hall in the University Center.

The USI Department of Modern and Classical Languages hosts the annual event in which students test their skills in French, German, Latin, and Spanish. Dr. Silvia Anna Rode, chair of the department, said, “Students have great fun participating in the language bowl. It gives them an opportunity to use the language and gain confidence while interacting with students from other high schools. The event also provides an opportunity for USI language faculty to connect with high school language teachers to better understand and support their professional needs.”

High schools may bring teams of five students to compete. Question and answer rounds consist of 20 questions plus five tie-breakers. Questions may be based on language or culture-specific knowledge. In addition, students may compete in a song competition that inspires creativity and that demonstrates language skills in an artistic context. Student groups of no more than eight and no less than four sing in the language they are studying.

While the high school teams are on campus, they meet and talk to USI faculty and students. Foreign language faculty act as facilitators and USI students assist with registration, contests, and refreshments.

The awards ceremony is sponsored by the USI foundation.

Source: USI.edu

Property Tax Bills Will Be Delivered In Vanderburgh County On April 12

2

Vanderburgh County property owners will begin receiving their property tax bills in the mail on Thursday, April 12. Vanderburgh County Treasurer Rick Davis said the bills were postmarked April 11 – 30 days before the spring payment due date. The additional 15 days’ notice is a 67% average increase in the amount of notice taxpayers receive in order to pay their bills when compared to the years 2003 through 2009.

“This effort was a direct result of a lot of dedicated employees who work in the assessor’s office, the auditor’s office, and the treasurer’s office working together for mutual benefit of the taxpayer,” said Davis, who is in his fourth year as County Treasurer. Davis noted that between the years 2003 and 2009, Vanderburgh County taxpayers were given a notice of an average of 18 days between the postmark date on the tax bills’ envelopes and the spring due date.

Since that time, the average has increased to about 33 days in 2010, 2011 and 2012, an 83 percent increase in advanced notice for taxpayers. In 2011, taxpayers received 41 days’ notice – partially due to shorter session at the Indiana Statehouse, sasid Davis.

“This year, the statehouse was in session for a longer period of time and lawmakers tinkered with the idea of passing legislation that would have affected this year’s property taxes, so counties throughout the state had to hold off on the very complicated, tedious task of calculating the bills,” Davis said. “As a result, it affected our ability to begin printing sooner.

“But once we started printing the bills in-house, it only took the Treasurer’s Office about 5 full days to print, fold, and insert bills into more than 68,000 envelopes,” Davis added. “My co-workers did a tremendous job of getting taxpayers this important information in a timely manner. And that’s important, because giving homeowners and business owners these bills with a month’s notice is a top priority. There are folks living on a fixed income who need to be able to budget their expenses in order to pay their property taxes, so this is a big achievement for local property owners.”

Davis also reminds taxpayers that the Civic Center “back 40” parking lot is undergoing major construction and stressed that in order to avoid parking problems or enhanced Civic Center Security measures to utilize the county’s drop box in front of the Civic Center or to visit one of 20 local Old National Bank locations that accept property tax payments. Old National has branches in Evansville, Newburgh, Boonville, Fort Branch, Hatfield, Princeton and Mount Vernon in Indiana as well as two branches in Henderson, Ky., that accept Vanderburgh County property tax payments. All of the branch locations are listed with the property tax bills.

Property owners will receive both the spring and fall property tax bills in the same envelope in order to cut down on postage costs. The Spring Installment due date is May 10 and the Fall Installment due date is Nov. 13.

Davis mentioned that if anyone has questions about their property tax bills to contact the appropriate office immediately rather than waiting until the deadline day.

“If you feel your property is assessed too high, meaning you do not feel your property is worth what the assessor has given for a value of your property, contact the Assessor at (812) 435-5260 as soon as possible,” said Davis. “If you discover that you have lost or deserve an exemption or a credit on your taxes, contact the Auditor’s Office at (812) 435-5293 as soon as possible. The sooner you contact these offices to discuss these issues, the sooner your issue will be resolved.”

Davis noted there are several ways for property tax owners to pay for their bills.

In addition to visiting Old National Bank, taxpayers can also pay online at www.VanderburghTreasurer.org for a 2.75% convenience fee using a debit or credit card. Online users may also pay their bills for a $3 fee by using an E-Check. Property taxes may also be paid via phone by calling 1-800-2PAY-TAX with the jurisdiction code of 2405, also for a 2.75% user fee.

Tax bills can also be mailed to the Treasurer at PO Box 77, Evansville, IN 47701-0077, or they can be paid in person at the Treasurer’s Office, Room 210, Civic Center, during working hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To avoid potential long lines in the Treasurer’s Office, or to avoid going through Civic Center security, taxpayers may use the drop box located in front of the Civic Center. Please enclose a self-addressed envelope if you’d like a receipt from drop box payments or payments submitted by mail.

For questions concerning property tax bills or payments, taxpayers may call the Treasurer’s Office at 435-5248.

Property tax billing information has been online since March 29, giving taxpayers 43 days advance notice of their billing amounts.

Pigeon Creek Greenway Groundbreaking

0

Please join Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, members of the Evansville Board of Park
Commissioners and the Greenway Advisory Board for a groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow, April
12, at 2 p.m. in the 1500 block of North Grove Street near the entrance to Henry Fligeltaub Company,
a recycling recovering center. The ceremony will be held to mark the beginning of construction on the
final phase of the Pigeon Creek Greenway.

Summer Lifeguard Training – Register by April 16th

0

Are you a sun worshipper? Do you like the water? How about kids
and the smell of chlorine? If you answered “yes” to these questions do we have a deal for
you! The Department of Parks and Recreation is offering a Lifeguard Certification class
at Lloyd Pool, 6101 N. First Avenue. The class schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, April 18 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 21 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Monday, April 23 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Wednesday, April 25 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 28 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Monday, April 30 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Wednesday, May 2 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Lifeguards candidates must be at least 15 years old. The cost for the class is $128.
Call Lloyd Pool at 435-6085 by April 16, 2012 to register and pick up required forms.
Attendance is required at all classes.

CCO Traffic Regarding Articles on Vetting of the Earthcare Deal Passes Previous Traffic Records

3

Stand alone articles that have been published by the City County Observer on the topic of how the VETTING of the Earthcare Energy deal was handled have now passed 25,000 unique readers. This total excludes visits to the daily column IS IT TRUE that has typically addressed several different topics each day but has recently become a forum to advise CCO readership about new information regarding this deal which seems to grow by the day.

The rush to vote and the allegedly sparse job of vetting that is accented by the failure to even check the management team’s credit because they are not being required to guarantee the loan has sparked interest and outcry from the readership. The Earthcare Energy Vetting Farce has now attracted more unique readers than the Executive Inn Dilemma, the McCurdy Fiasco, the Homestead Credit Tax Grab, FloatGate, Al Lindsey’s Mountain Dew, the Democrats didn’t pay for the ChickenGate, Barnett’s Double Paychecks, or even the Opus One party did.

Reader comments have been running roughly 10 to 1 against going forward with the Earthcare Energy deal until a real professional job of qualification of the technology and fully vetting a to be written business plan with verification of claims has been completed. A small group of our readers are from the Councilman Al Lindsey school of thought that local government has no business doing this no matter what.

IS IT TRUE: April 11, 2012, Part 2

21

IS IT TRUE that we were just wondering about the status of a few projects from the past that have gone largely unnoticed during the pothole blitz, the litter eradication, and the 3rd Strike on the City of Evansville and its surrogates for inept VETTING that have taken place this spring?

IS IT TRUE that going back to the days of the downtown Convention Hotel, the demolition of the Executive Inn hotel, and the Mayors Memorial Rock Pile we do not seem to remember hearing about whether the local demolition company was ever paid the $385,000 or so that they were owed for the hard work they did?…that we wonder if they were paid if that cost was allocated to the Ford Center as it should have been or swept under some other well hidden rug?…that we surely hope that the City of Evansville under the Weinzapfel Administration did not really find a way to stiff a local business while spending $125 Million on the Ford Center?

IS IT TRUE that we are also curious about the timeline for the new privately funded effort down at the convalescent home for bats, pigeons, snakes, and rats formerly known as the McCurdy?…that as of today the public record still shows the McCurdy to be owned by City Centre Properties of Carmel, IN and that delinquent taxes of about $13,000 including penalties are still due?…that we wish the private partners who have announced the intention to assume this project and move forward the best of fortune as the limp hand of local government has proven that it is not capable of brokering a realizable project either with the McCurdy or with the convention hotel that isn’t?

IS IT TRUE that despite all of these shortcomings that VenuWorks is very open that the Ford Center is exceeding all expectations and already profitable?…that this very fact if it is sustainable going forward would cause one to question whether a dime of public money should ever be put into a downtown Convention Hotel?…that with the Ford Center doing better without a hotel than it was projected to do with one that Mayor Winnecke is doing the right thing by sitting on that pot of money as opposed to rushing to start slinging hammers that may not be needed at all?

IS IT TRUE that we hear from Moles on the Ground that some of the witnesses that were quick to point fingers at City Councilman Al Lindsey and to turn his life upside down are squirming on the witness stand under subpoena while their own lives and judgments are being examined for all to see?…that we have faith in due process and hope to see justice done with respect to Councilman Lindsey’s dilemma whatever it may be?…that in all fairness the Evansville City Council should be held up to the same behavioral standards as Captain Lindsey as they are the stewards over a $230 Million budget?

IS IT TRUE that it has taken longer for Captain Lindsey to face his fate that it took for GAGE and Ms. Debbie Dewey to come to the conclusion that the whole Earthcare Energy deal was worthy of a $4.8 Million loan?…that is because the Evansville Fire Department actually went through a process of vetting and discovery as opposed to the Ready, Fire, Aim or just Ready, Fire decision process that went into the vetting of the whole Earthcare deal?…that the EFD did their job right?