IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Regional Airport got a shot in the arm yesterday with a grant of $500,000?…that this grant is reportedly going to be used to subsidize direct flights to the Washington DC area?…that this is a decision with potential to impress Southwest Airlines that is scheduled to acquire the little known carrier that will be experimenting with the Evansville to DC route?…that if we the people of Evansville keep these flights filled to reasonable capacity that Southwest will take note of this and we may actually have just found a back door way to get a discount carrier to try out EVV?…that this writer has been to Washington DC on many occasions but my wife has never seen our nation’s capital?…that during this period of subsidy we will be scheduling a trip to DC and we will be using the EVV – DC connection?…that this is our way of supporting our local airport and that we encourage our readers, friends, school field trip planners etc. to do the same?

IS IT TRUE that in the game of growing or attracting corporate headquarters that the business friendliness of flight schedules is at or near the top of the list for decision makers?…that in today’s Wall Street Journal that the decline in flights and the high cost of flights to and from the Cincinnati airport (that is in KY) is cited as responsible for the corporate headquarters of Chiquita Brands to consider moving to a city with a more accommodating flight schedule?…that the Cincinnati airports excessive pricing is cited as the reason that Toyota’s team members opt to drive the 520 mile round trip to their engineering offices in Ann Arbor, MI?…that the Cincinnati airport at its high point had 600 flights per day and is now down to 190?

IS IT TRUE that making EVV a headquarters friendly airport will not be easy but if the efforts are strategic, the fares are cost effective, and the schedules work for business it is a worthy effort?…that the $500,000 in free money is a drop in the bucket but it does buy us a lottery ticket that may just earn us some success on the direct flight to DC map?…that the technology transfer program at GAGE that was established 3 years ago in 2008 was patterned after the highly successful program at TEDCO that is between Baltimore and Washington?…that the area in and around DC is ripe with Federal Labs with current and available patents that are open season for GAGE?…that if Republican Mayoral candidate Lloyd Winnecke who is a vocal supporter of the GAGE technology transfer program as a platform to transform the local economy just hit the lottery with subsidized direct flights to DC?…that anyone and everyone who is in the business of furthering technology transfer as a solution in Evansville should realize the window of opportunity that this flight will offer?…that if we do not take advantage of this opportunity that the window shall surely close within a year or so?

IS IT TRUE that if we can just get moving on those 4 Jetways that we can make these flying experiences even more business friendly?…that it will be more tourist friendly too?
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IS IT TRUE that the events are starting to stack up at the Ford Center and that a little browsing of the ticketmaster website is a good place to learn about prices and availability?…that there are still good seats in the lower part of the lower bowl are still available for the Bob Seger concert?…that of a more athletic interest that on October 4th that Evansville Icemen tickets will be going on sale?…that single game tickets including fees are from $14.40 to $47.05 per game?…that season tickets for adults are available for price ranges from $343 to $917 per seat for the entire season?…that you should be able to save some money by using the VenuWorks ticket booth or the Icemen website?…that we wish all of the events great success?

IS IT TRUE that gasoline in Henderson tonight was $3.06 or about 30 cents less than Evansville stations?…that this guy was across the river anyway and filled up with 15 gallons saving $4.50 over what the cost would have been over here?…that a nickel of that 30 cents is taxes but the rest is something else?…that the difference in gas prices between Kentucky and Indiana really should not be more than 7 cents to 10 cents?…that as much as Henderson seems to be prone to gas wars that Evansville is becoming the land of price fixing?

IS IT TRUE that a disturbed man deliberately set his own house on fire in North Evansville yesterday?…that it was the foregone conclusion with many people that this fire was meth related?…that we have every reason to be predisposed to believe that when a house explodes in Evansville that it is meth related?…that this time it was not meth but it was a disturbed person?…that it remains to be seen if this explosion and this persons demise will be classified as an accident or as suicide?…that either way another exploding home is not a statistic that we are pleased to see?

IS IT TRUE that the fact that the Firefighters Union has chosen to endorse Rick Davis and that the Policemen’s Union chose Lloyd Winnecke is proof of the closeness of the upcoming election for Mayor of Evansville?…that the Mole Nation is pretty sure that if the election were held today that the Evansville City Council will contain 6 Democrats and 3 Republicans but that there is disagreement over which 2 Republicans will prevail in the contested races?…that the Mole Nation is a clustercoinflip on the Mayor’s race with a bevy of opinions on why Mr. Davis will prevail and a similar amount who are betting on Mr. Winnecke?…that perhaps as many as a third of the moles have not yet made their choice?

IS IT TRUE that we received many questions about the statistical salary for attorneys and paralegals in Evansville so we did some research on Salary.com?…that the median salary for an attorney is reported to be $80,080 per year?…that a paralegal in Evansville is reported to command a median salary of $42,800?…that it seems as though we shall stand beside yesterdays analysis that hiring an attorney and a paralegal to work directly for the City of Evansville as opposed to farming this out at $150 and $95 per hour is a vastly better deal for the taxpayers?…that we agree with some of our posters and those who sent us emails that these pay levels in the national scheme of things are pretty insulting?

IS IT TRUE that Mole #5 tells us that several City of Evansville employees that serve at the pleasure of the Mayor are bidding on jobs in other departments?…that while this is understandable that some of these people may be well served to stay where they are and to serve the next Mayor?…that Evansville is not like Washington DC during a change of administrations and that it should be no stigma upon anyone for doing a good job during the reign of Mayor Weinzapfel?

IS IT TRUE? September 27, 2011 Special Mid Morning Edition

IS IT TRUE that the last 24 hours in Evansville have been a period of significant learning and a time to start to truly start considering the ramifications of the 2012 election when the Pontious Pilate Resolution (consolidation) will go to referendum?…that a perfect opportunity to do something differently to save a significant sum of money was exposed last night when City Councilman Dan McGinn and City Controller Jenny Collins struggled to admit that it was essentially impossible to estimate the amount of legal services with sufficient accuracy to make this a line item in the budget?…that the services of interest that are difficult to predict are billable hours for an attorney at $150 per hour and to a paralegal at $95 per hour?…that it was stated by Councilman McGinn that the billings under this contract seem to amount to $30,000 per month?

IS IT TRUE that at those hourly rates that it would take 122.5 hours per month to run up a bill for $30,000?…that an entire month at 40 hours per week averages 173.3 hours?…that an attorney and a paralegal are already utilized through an hourly arrangement at 71% of all time available?…that the City of Evansville should consider just hiring another attorney and a paralegal at the going rates in Evansville of about $65,000 for the attorney (as per a line item in the city budget) and $40,000 for a paralegal?…that these two salaries even burdened with a 35% premium for benefits would only cost the taxpayers $141,750?…that at $30,000 per month we are currently paying $360,000 per year for these same services and may be held over a barrel for additional money if the work load increases?…that hiring two people into full time jobs to handle the liability and workers comp claims would save the City of Evansville 61% ($218,250) just on labor and benefits?…that the City may also save additionally in the office rent and support staff contracts but that we will go with 61% as an adequate amount?

IS IT TRUE that doing the analysis of what is best to be hired and what is best to be contracted should have been one of the things that the consolidation committee did?…that if the consolidation committee would have identified 61% savings in multiple line items that last night’s vote would not be heading to a referendum with organized opposition?…that we could not wait to vote for consolidation if real and tangible value would have been shown to us?

IS IT TRUE that the City of Evansville routinely has line items in the budget for gas electricity bills that are literally as difficult to predict as the weather?…that the City of Evansville routinely has line items in the budget for overtime pay for public safety employees?…that being able to predict the amount of overtime needed for public safety employees is about as difficult as predicting the crimes and fires along with their locations 18 months in advance?…that the CCO would expect that there are plenty more line items that are variable by more than the variation in worker’s comp claims and legal liability needs?…that just rolling over and accepting the fact that you can’t predict whether a lawyer will bill you for 1,500 hours or 2,000 hours a year while pretending to predict utility bills and crime is quite disingenuous?…that the best way to save money and make this a line item is to hire two people as described above because even if the load increases there is a 50 hour per month margin left to fill?…that if the City of Evansville does this that this will be predictable and an appropriate line item in the budget?

IS IT TRUE that there is a classic lawyer joke about billable hours that we would like to share?…that a 65 year old attorney died suddenly of a heart attack and found himself standing before St. Peter for his judgment?…that this attorney was welcomed into the pearly gates and was taken on his orientation tour?…that he saw a small ramshackle house and asked St. Peter who lived there?…that the resident was Gandhi?…that they continued walking and came upon a home in a typical working class neighborhood?…that St. Peter told the attorney that this was the home of Mother Theresa?…that the attorney was beginning to worry about the kind of box that he may be living in with Gandhi in a scrap house and Mother Theresa in a modest home?…that they rounded a corner and saw a shining mansion on a hill and that the attorney asked if that was God’s house?…that St. Peter advised the attorney that the mansion was prepared for him and that he is special as the oldest man to ever walk the earth?…that the attorney realizing that heaven is not the place for lies corrected St. Peter and told him he was only 65 when he died?…that St. Peter responded that the Heaven Housing Authority had only used the attorneys billing records to determine that he had lived to be 1,000 years old?…that is why in Heaven they hire their attorneys as opposed to giving them a blank purchase order for billing to?