The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/169641
The Press-Dispatch Court report Criminal Docket Pike Circuit Court Jerry R. Bell charged with theft, receiving stolen property, a class D felony. Wesley S. McLain charged with count I, operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a class A misdemeanor; count II, operating a vehicle while intoxicated, with prior conviction in last five years, a class D felony and enhancement, habitual substance offender. Noah Shane Warren petitions State of Indiana for post conviction relief. Traffic & misdemeanor Pike Circuit Court Patrick S. Graves charged with operating a vehicle with .08 percent or more, a class C misdemeanor, and count II, operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a class C misdemeanor. Cody A. Hicks charged with public intoxication, a class B misdemeanor, and count II, criminal trespassing, a class A misdemeanor. Civil Docket Pike Circuit Court Cavalry SPV I, LLC sues Mary L. Wallace for complaint. Petition to establish a schedule of fees. Springleaf Financial Services of Indiana Inc. sues Robert W. Sapp and Beth A. Sapp for complaint for on note. Small Claims Pike Circuit Court Hoosier Accounts Services sues Mary B. Brittingham for complaint on account. Hoosier Accounts Services sues Ryan Lechner for complaint on account. Hoosier Accounts Servic- es sues Kenneth Manning for complaint on account. Hoosier Accounts Services sues Elden L. McDowell for complaint on account. Mark Sturgeon sues Dustin Willis for complaint on rent and damages. Lisa Bradley sues Britt Wicklein for complaint on personal property. Autumn Apartments sues Kenneth Manning and Marie Manning for complaint on rent, late fees and damages. Infractions Pike Circuit Court Christopher W. Davis charged with seat belt violation. Jason J. Livingston charged with seat belt violation. Robert B. Maxfield charged with expired registration. Eric L. Toon charged with operating a motor vehicle with registration number belonging to different vehicle and seat belt violation. Ryan Wolf charged with operating an off road vehicle on state highway. Rodger W. Calbetzer charged with speeding, 90 mph in a 70 zone. Rebecca M. Jania charged with speeding, 86 mph in a 70 zone. Kole M. Jacobsen charged with speeding, 80 mph in a 70 zone. Joshua S. McCaslin charged with speeding, 90 mph in a 70 zone. Bernard E. Tobe charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Amath Thiam charged with failure of inspection. Jaye D. Wiggins charged with speeding, 64 mph in a 55 zone. In support of Rick Fears school achieved a perfect 100 percent passing grade on the math portion of the ISTEP test. This is a credit to the school's excellent teachers, as well as to Rick as principal. He is an honest and hardworking man, and has gone the extra mile to make Otwell Elementary a place of pride for the community. The superintendent and the school board are wrong in their allegations. Otwell Elementary is one of the best schools in the state, but the superintendent and the board appear to think that is a bad thing! Tim Fears Letter to the Editor The cost of closed door meetings On July 31, 2013, The Press Dispatch announced two events surrounding administrative leaves. The first was that of Mr. Blair. His misconduct and decisions made with poor judgment were well documented and resulted in his voluntary resignation. The second was Mr. Fears, who was placed on administrative leave for undisclosed reasons. This announcement shocked the community. A teacher for 23 years, Otwell principal for eight, Mr. Fears became principal while we still had two children left to go through Otwell. Our first two daughters had begun their school experience overseas as part of the Department of Defense school system. Their teachers held doctorate degrees and field trips included touring Notre Dame in Paris and seeing first-hand the printing press for the first Bible ever printed. It was going to be hard for Otwell, Ind., to measure up to the unique kind of opportunities our first two experienced—but it did and the statistics for the school speak for itself. Otwell received state-wide recognition by the state superintendent as the only school in the state to have 100 percent pass in math for ISTEP. It was named a Four Star school twice. Otwell received national awards in addition to the state awards; receiving National Blue Ribbon status. It capitalized on its achievement by seeking and receiving grants enabling it to outfit the school with technology far above what a school its size would have. These achievements are not in dispute—they were earned honestly. The teachers under Mr. Fears' leadership excelled and the students blossomed. The specifics for Mr. Fears' termination have not been released by the school board and the decision was made during a closed door session. Indiana law says that a teacher or principal may only be terminated for immorality, insubordination (defined as: failure to obey state school laws or rea- sonable rules for the governance of the school building), justifiable decrease in teaching positions, incompetence, neglect of duty, conviction for certain sex crimes or other good or just cause. The local paper stated the school board found insubordination, neglect of duty and other good and just cause. Really? Neglect of duty? Can you imagine how much more Otwell can achieve now that the slacker is gone?! As far as insubordination goes: as Pikers (by birth and by marriage), we can say we enjoy a little insubordination now and again— it's not always good to follow the establishment's orders. We like to question authority and make our own decisions about orders given by our "superiors." When told to jump, we don't say "how high," we often ask "why?" However, neither the details on this supposed insubordination of the superintendent's orders nor why the school board believed it should terminate Mr. Fears' contract matter was made known—it just makes good gossip. Yes, we like Mr. Fears and respect him and his ability a great deal—but that is not what has us writing this letter—it's the money. A trial award average for wrongful termination of a teacher is $1.8 million according to the Council on Education in Management. If the school board is lucky enough not to go to trial, the board will rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees (tax dollars that should be better spent on my children's education) and waste time trying to fight a battle that did not need to happen. The school board will still settle with Mr. Fears over the matter because it will be cheaper to settle than to keep fighting. As a tenured teacher, Mr. Fears' severance or settlement package is worth a pretty penny. Expensive settlements are attorneys' best friends because both sides fight until the fees outweigh the costs. Mr. Fears' case will cost the school board in direct at- torneys' fees that will eventually lead to a settlement, costing the taxpayers at least $500,000 without a trial. (This is a very conservative estimate that relies heavily upon the hope that local attorneys will handle the negotiations at $150 - $200 per hour and not the $500 plus hourly fee charged by Evansville or Indianapolis attorneys with the $100/hour paralegal costs.) This cost is in addition to the time and distraction of the situation, the cost of Mr. Fears' reputation, the damage to Otwell's reputation, the loss of Pike County schools' reputation, the distraction of the teachers, the distrust created between the superintendent, the school board and all of the teachers and principals in Pike County who have to wonder who will be next. If the school board or the superintendent wished to remove Mr. Fears from Otwell, an early retirement would have been a lot cheaper, easier and faster. Principals are rarely fired because it simply costs too much. Teachers are rarely fired because it costs too much. They are union employees. The union protects its own. Other unions often stand in solidarity when a member of another union is treated unfairly. Rather than risk this solidarity, teachers are given severance packages—paid to leave quietly when the grounds for termination are not black and white— such as attending and being arrested at an underage drinking party. A previous school board learned that closed door hearings prior to terminating a teacher makes for a bad re-election strategy unless the teacher was obviously in the wrong. Perhaps the next school board may learn this lesson when it is voted in to replace the current. Maybe, the Pike County School Board will learn that what happens behind closed doors in this county comes out eventually at a cost far greater than estimated. Mark and Elisabeth Luff Letter to the Editor Donate to Buck Ashby Memorial Recently, Winslow lost a business owner, a councilman and a leader in Buck Ashby. He has done so much for the Town of Winslow and many others. Several years ago when the old Winslow High School Gym was about to go before the wrecking bar, Buck got behind us and helped to get grants. He volunteered his time and made many contacts to get many needed items to make it into a Community Center. When the fire destroyed much of our town, he was there to see what he could do. When Marvin Snyder gave his store building to the town, Buck immediately went to work to get a grocery store, which was needed badly to serve the local people, he made many contacts and got items to help the C-3 H Consequences Letter to the Editor Rick Fears is a good person and principal. This letter is to show my support for Mr. Rick Fears, former principal at Otwell Elementary. Rick was very good at his job as principal. He helped lead Otwell Elementary to become a Four Star school and a National Blue Ribbon school. In 2010, the Wednesday, September 11, 2013 grocery set up. It is impossible to name all of the things he has done, along with helping many individuals as well. After the fire, he wanted the town to come back and be a thriving town that of which people would be proud. He purchased the Old Neal Brown Grocery Store and opened a Carhartt Store and his wife Mousie opened a gift shop with many items that people could purchase rather than travel out-of-town. As a small token of his dedication to the Town Of Winslow, The Winslow Beautification Committee is setting up a fund to make the site of the old Pontiac garage down near the deck by the river a place to be proud of and to be a memorial to Buck Ashby. We are plan- ning to put a gazebo there and also do landscaping on the lot. Since we decided to do this, we have heard Buck was wanting to find a location to put a gazebo somewhere around town. The amount of money we collect will determine the size of the gazebo. Help us build one that the Ashby family will be proud of and also that can be used for concerts and entertainment where our families and friends can gather and enjoy. We appreciate your donations. They may be sent to The Beautification Committee, 601 North Collins St., Winslow, IN 47598. Barbara Mitchell The Winslow Beautification Committee Continued from page 2 ligentsia could misconstrue it — and only ideologues could devote themselves to crusading against people's efforts to live and associate with other people who share their values and habits. Quite aside from the question of whose values and habits may be better is the question of the effects of people living cheek by jowl with other people who put very different values on noise, politeness, education and other things that make for good or bad relations between neighbors. People with children to protect are especially concerned about who lives next door or down the street. But such mundane matters often get brushed aside by ideological crusaders out to change the world to fit their own vision. When the world fails to conform to their vision, then it seems obvious to the ideologues that it is the world that is wrong, not that their vision is uninformed or unrealistic. One of the political consequences of such attitudes is the current crusade of Attorney General Eric Holder to force various communities to become more "inclusive" in terms of which races and classes of people they contain. Undaunted by a long history of disasters when third parties try to mix and match people, or prescribe what kind of housing is best, they act as if this time it has to work. It doesn't matter how many government housing projects that began with lofty rhetoric and heady visions have ended with these ex- pensive projects being demolished with explosives, in the wake of social catastrophes that made these places unlivable. To those with the crusading mentality, failure only means that they should try, try again — at other people's expense, including not only the taxpayers but also those who lives have been disrupted, or even made miserable and dangerous, by previous bright ideas of third parties who pay no price for being wrong. This headstrong dogmatism and grab for power is not confined to housing. Attorney General Holder is also taking legal action against the state of Louisiana for having so many charter schools, on grounds that these schools do not mix and match the races the way that public schools are supposed to. The fact that those charter schools which are successful in educating low-income and minority students that the public schools fail to educate are giving these youngsters a shot at a decent life that they are not likely to get elsewhere does not deter the ideological crusaders. Nor does it deter the politicians who are serving the interests of the teachers' unions, who see public schools as places to provide jobs for their members, even if that means a poor education and poor prospects in life for generations of minority students. All this ideological self-indulgence and cynical political activity is washed down with lofty rhetoric about "compassion," "inclusion" and the like. H Tools at the pool Continued from page 2 I had laced the cake with LSD. Happy first birthday, kid. I've had quite a trip. And now it's your turn! This barrage of pool tools wouldn't have bothered me so much if the incredibly abundant staff members also were engaging in important jobs. Half the lifeguard stands were empty. Kid swim was delayed until a pool tool—busy flirting with a patron—strung dividers. And the very adorable, very baby-friendly kiddie pool remained closed during our party. When I asked what it would take to open it, I was simply told a staff member had to man the station. No matter how many pool tools I asked, they clearly had more important jobs to do—such as checking for diapers on potty-trained kids. The closed kiddie pool became altogether enraging when I learned that no flotation devices were allowed in the main pool. I never had heard of such a thing. I would understand this rule if it meant you were not allowed to have a child assisted by flotation devices in the pool unsupervised. But that's not what the many pool tools—who repeatedly ran over to yell at us— meant. They were adamant that despite babies needing to be held by their parents, no wings or floaties could be on the babies. No offense to my overstaffed community pool, but a flotation device on a kid who cannot swim is the only kind of pool tool I can get behind. H Sexualizing children Continued from page 2 closest thing to terrorism I have ever experienced. I miss Hannah Montana." Another post suggests a more ominous take: "dressed and styled to look like a bratty child, jumping around with giant teddy bears, Miley's performance was all about getting a negative reaction from the public while continuing the ongoing agenda of sexualizing everything that is related to childhood." But why should anyone be surprised? Her father, country star Billy Ray Cyrus, allowed Miley to do a risqué photo shoot at age 15 for Vanity Fair with him in it, and since that time, she has been edging closer to the abyss of unfettered adulthood. Undeniably, by breaking the shackles of Hannah Montana and morphing overnight into a disembodied pole dancer strips away the innocence of childhood. This is not a child star emerging as a butterfly with her own wings; it is a nightmare where Hannah awakes from her sleeping sexuality into what she really is. Try to explain that to an impressionable tween. Whether Cyrus's fall from innocence was programmed or simply the desire for her to go over the top is irrelevant. Cyrus, Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Brittany Spears have been promoted as the sex symbols of music, with a devilish twist to entice our children to worship sex. How could it get any worse (it can)? Think about it!