The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/105037
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, January 23, 2013 C-3 Court report Letters to the Editor Criminal Docket Pike Circuit Court In re search warrant. In re: investigation of check deception. Bradley S. Simmons charged with count I, forgery, a class C felony; and count II theft, a class D felony. Civil Docket Pike Circuit Court Hoosier Hills Credit Union sues Vincent A. Shoobridge and Darlene K. Shoobridge on complaint for foreclosure. Vion Holdings LLC sues Randall L. Gist and Casey L. Gist on complaint. Capital One Bank sues Michelle L. Powell on complaint. Capital One Bank sues Taylor K. Thomas on complaint. Stephanie L. Ball sues Steven L. Ball for dissolution of marriage. Susan Hinton sues Morgan Hinton for dissolution of marriage. Fifth Third Mortgage Co. sues Yvonne Burich for complaint on note and to foreclose. Wells Fargo Bank, NA sues Gary R. Hall; Springleaf Financial Services, Inc. fka American Financial Services, Inc. and Capital One Bank on complaint. Todd M. McCann sues Maryann McCann for dissolution of marriage. Onemain Financial Inc. sues Robert Deffendoll for complaint on note. Traffic and misdemeanor Pike Circuit Court Jason M. Sweeney charged with count I, operation of a vehicle with 0.08 percent or more alcohol in blood, a class C misdemeanor; and count II, operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a class C misdemeanor. Scott A. Kirby charged with battery, a class B misdemeanor. Rhonda A. Neukam charged with false reporting, a class B misdemeanor. Small Claims Pike Circuit Court Brenda K. Shutters sues Angela Wells for complaint on claim and possession of real estate. Infractions Pike Circuit Court Samantha S. Drewing charged with speeding, 74 mph in a 55 zone. Delbert R. Goff charged with speeding, 54 mph in a 45 zone. Christopher G. Knapp charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Dakota L. Knieriem charged with driving while suspended and seat belt violation. William R. Mason charged with speeding, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Brian J. Moore charged with no valid drivers license. Jessica M. Myers charged with driving left of center. Jared D. Peach charged with seat belt violation. Jesse C. Randall charged with speeding, 86 mph in a 70 zone. Christi L. Roy charged with speeding, 85 mph in a 70 zone. Adam L. Schneider charged with shooting after hours. Joseph T. Vaal charged with shooting after hours. Wayne R. Wedding charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 40 zone. Branden E. Wirth charged with speeding, 64 mph in a 55 zone. H Freedom on the wane Continued from page 2 billion. Small wonder we're stuck in a "jobless recovery." Yet regulatory freedom is hardly our weakest spot. Indeed, we're above the global average in that category, and all the others—except one: limited government. In short, it's not so limited anymore. The U.S. has the highest effective corporate tax rate in the developed world, and the top individual income tax rate has been raised to 39.6 percent. We're also saddled with a capital gains tax and an excise tax. The overall tax burden is 24.8 percent of total domestic income, meaning that government confiscates nearly $1 out of every $4 earned. Total government spending is another Achilles' heel for the U.S. It amounts to 42 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or what our economy produces in a year. That's unacceptably high. And it shows no signs of abating. Under current policies, government spending is headed in one direction only: up. That's why we have to get serious about cutting government down to size, overhauling our tax system, and transforming costly entitlement programs. Or is this our last year as a top-10 finalist in the Index? H Liberalism vs. blacks Continued from page 2 up with only one parent today. Liberals have pushed affirmative action, supposedly for the benefit of blacks and other minorities. But two recent factual studies show that affirmative action in college admissions has led to black students with every qualification for success being artificially turned into failures by being mismatched with colleges for the sake of racial body count. The two most recent books that show this with hard facts are "Mismatch" by Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor, Jr., and "Wounds That Will Not Heal" by Russell K. Nieli. My own book "Affirmative Action Around the World" shows the same thing with different evidence. In all these cases, and many others, liberals take positions that make them look good and feel good— and show very little interest in the actual consequences for others, even when liberal policies are leaving havoc in their wake. The current liberal crusade for more so-called "gun control" laws is more of the same. Factual studies over the years, both in the United States and in other countries, repeatedly show that "gun control" laws do not in fact reduce crimes committed with guns. Cities with some of the tightest gun control laws in the nation have murder rates far above the national average. In the middle of the 20th century, New York had far more restrictive gun control laws than London, but London had far less gun crime. Yet gun crimes in London skyrocketed after severe gun control laws were imposed over the next several decades. Although gun control is not usually considered a racial issue, a wholly disproportionate number of Americans killed by guns are black. But here, as elsewhere, liberals' devotion to their ideology greatly exceeds their concern about what actually happens to flesh and blood human beings as a result of their ideology. One of the most polarizing and counterproductive liberal crusades of the 20th century has been the decades-long busing crusade to send black children to predominantly white schools. The idea behind this goes back to the pronouncement by Chief Justice Earl Warren that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Yet within walking distance of the Supreme Court where this pronouncement was made was an all-black high school that had scored higher than two-thirds of the city's white high schools taking the same test—way back in 1899! But who cares about facts, when you are on a liberal crusade that makes you feel morally superior? To challenge government-imposed racial segregation and discrimination is one thing. But to claim that blacks get a better education if they sit next to whites in school is something very different. And it is something that goes counter to the facts. Many liberal ideas about race sound plausible, and it is understandable that these ideas might have been attractive 50 years ago. What is not understandable is how so many liberals can blindly ignore 50 years of evidence to the contrary since then. Thank you for serving our country To all G.I.s that have served in different branches of service in the good old U.S.A... Thanks! I, Kenneth "Tot" Nelson, served in WWII. As a Pike "Ike," I grew up in Ayrshire's one-room schoolhouse, from grade school to Winslow High. Graduating in 1939, things were tough during the depression days. In 1941, I enlisted into the Army Air Corps as an enlisted G.I. private. I entered pilot- ing while at Chanute Field, Illinois. In 1942, I spent one month at Kelley Field, Texas. From there, I went to Muskogee, Oklahoma and began flying in a PT19. After two months, I switched to a BT14 at Brady, Texas, then went to advance flying in Lubbock, Texas, flying an AT9. After graduation, I was assigned to fly bombardiers at Big Spring, Texas, until 1945. My next assignment was a B-24 at Smyrna, Ten- nessee. In 1945, I was assigned to air-sea rescue in the Azores Islands, flying B-17s. We flew in all kinds of weather—GCA was a lifesaver. I returned to the U.S. in 1946, and was discharged December 14, 1946. I finished college in 1948, using the G.I. Bill. I began a teaching and coaching career that lasted 35 years. I taught and coached at Lynnville for six years, Plainville for four years, Newburgh for one year, and Castle Consolidated High School of Chandler and Newburgh for 24 years. As a coach, I had six sectional wins and a record of 288-160. I retired in 1983. I have enjoyed retirement— no aches or pains at a young age of 92. May we as vets also remember those who gave all to keep our flag of freedom flying. May God bless America. Kenneth "Tot" Nelson UMWA members are living our future To the Editor: Many of my very good friends are retired, UMWA coal miners who are now very concerned because their health benefits hitherto underwritten by the government are now in jeopardy. There is considerable discussion and debate among them about what has created this problem. For many decades, dating back to the Presidency of Harry Truman, these benefits were funded by a variety of government mandated private funds, most of which have now ceased to exist. But, most recently, they have been provided by interest earned on "excessive," unused funds collected by the Office of Surface Mining, (OSM), supposedly for the mitigation of the harmful effects of Abandoned Mine Lands, (AML). These funds are comparable to those "excessive" funds that between 1983 and 2008 were collected by the Social Security Administration, (SSA), as the "Social Security Trust Fund." As a matter of federal policy, all such accumulations of funds must be "lent" to the General Treasury each month as "Special Treasury Notes," upon which the government computes charges and credits interest to it- self. And what is not widely enough understood is that these loans constitute the lions share of what we call the more than $16 million "National Debt." But the most significant thing about these accounts is that none of the money that was supposedly collected to serve the purposes for which they were created no longer exists because it has been lent to a very bad credit risk to be spent on things for which there is no money otherwise provided, and no way to ever pay back to these funds what has been "borrowed" from them. What is not very widely realized among UMWA members is that the decision that was made in 1996 to transfer to the UMWA Combined Benefit Fund, (CBF), funds from the "interest" earned upon AML funds was made by the Republican led Congress while Bill Clinton was President. For the next ten years, until 2006, the amount of funds transferable each year from OSM to the CBF was limited by the lesser of the interest earned by the fund or $70 million. By 2006 those funds were no longer adequate to pay CBF's bills so another Republican Congress acting while George W. Bush was President agreed to remove the $70 million cap and even added funding for two additional bankrupt UMWA health care plans. And with the 2006 Amendments not only did OSM become responsible for transferring an annual amount based on the estimated expenses of three UMWA Health Care Plans, but any shortfall between the amount of interest earned by OSM, and amounts up to $490 million required by health care plan trustees would be funded from the General Treasury, (apparently with funds that had been lent it by OSM). (Considering how bitterly the UMWA has always castigated any Republican candidate for anything, I have always thought this was a really remarkable thing for Republicans to have done! ) But thanks to the collapse in interest rates and the Obama led war against coal, these interest based funds became substantially reduced. So, in 2010, Congressman Rahall of West Virginia, who has long been the leader of UMWA causes in Congress, fashioned a bill, (H.R. 5479) that seemed to enjoy enough bipartisan support to pass until none other that Alfred Whitehouse, Chief of Obama's Division of Rec- lamation in OSM testified against it! This virtually killed the bill and created the problems that the CBF now faces. A copy of that testimony is hereto attached as well as linked below at: http://www.osmre.gov/ congress/testimony/2010/ HR5479_062310.pdf It is important to note that Whitehead made it clear that not only does Obama not want to use AML funds for the UMWA's CBF liabilities, he does not even want to use them for the mitigation of abandoned mine lands, the reason for which the funds are actually supposed to be collected! As becomes ever more clear, Obama has plenty of other ideas as to how to use such funds as these. Perhaps the most bitter lesson than anyone should learn from this is the disappointment of broken promises that so many people in this country should begin preparing themselves for if their future security is dependent upon government funded pensions and healthcare benefits, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. UMWA members are probably merely prematurely living the future of us all. Al Foust Response to Russo letter To the Editor: This letter is in response to the letter last week of Glenna Russo criticizing the Prosecutor for what Ms. Russo says is a lack of "community corrections", which probably could be better phrased "community service" at PAWS and Somebody's Place in Petersburg. Ms. Russo says that she has "heard that the Prosecutor does not like the program" which she alleges accounts for the lack of workers at these two places which, in turn, costs our taxpayers money to pay employees for these services. The issues are more complex than simply saying "the Prosecutor does not like the program." Ms. Russo's concern for the well-being of our community service program is commendable. I agree that to get maximum benefit out of this resource we are going to have to get our "community" better involved in our community service program. Sometimes people commit crimes, learn from their mistakes and move on to continue productive lives. These people generally have jobs and full schedules which make them productive members of society. In these cases, community service often is a term of probation. Frequently, because of their schedules and overtime, these folks ask if they can make a donation to a charity (most often they choose PAWS or Somebody's Place) at a rate of $10 for every hour of community service. This has happened many times when the work schedule of the person will make community service extremely difficult. Yet another portion of people who commit crimes do not work, under any circumstance, even though they are able-bodied and appear to be good candidates for community service. History has shown that when we sentence these folks to community service, they fail to do it, we file a Motion to Revoke their probation, they request a court-appointed lawyer, and the County taxpayer ends up paying $85 an hour to try to make someone do $10 per hour work. Often times the person who refuses to work does not mind going to jail, which makes the threat of incarceration practically meaningless. Add to this that the Pike County community service program has limited means of supervising those doing community service. As an example, the road crews that you may see in other counties do not happen here because we have no means for supervision and accountability of the work. In order to attempt to get around this problem, we have had people assigned to work directly for the Mayor, a group of kids with minor offenses assigned to clean up the park in Velpen (and did a good job), with other examples such as sending people to work under the maintenance director of Sugar Ridge. Typically, the county areas outside of Petersburg have no means of receiving community service under the current program, even when we can get the workers, because the program doesn't allow for supervision. This means that Otwell, Winslow, Union, Spurgeon, Stendal and all of the areas in between in our county get neglected. Not because they do not have need, but, rather because the program can't reach out to these areas. This is all to say that Ms. Russo's complaint speaks to a broader problem than just work being done at two locations in Petersburg. Our society doesn't seem to place the same value on work that it used to. I recall one young man whose probation was revoked because he had not done any community service, paid any fees or done anything else required on probation. His attorney and I informed him that he could go to a work release program in Vincennes (where people are confined except for work and passes for good behavior). He responded "I don't have a job." His attorney told him "they will help you find one." He responded "I won't have transportation." We told him that "they have a community corrections van that they transport people to factories." We encouraged him that the work release program was a chance to get a job, earn self respect and change his life. When I talked to the director at the Wabash Valley Vincennes work release program last week, he told me that this young man was on the verge of getting revoked again because he wouldn't work. Even when we increase the level of punishment from probation and community service to work release instead of jail, the issue of getting people to work remains a problem. The number of people that we have sentenced to work release who get revoked because they can't, or won't, hold down a job for even a few months, would knock you over. We had a person this past week sentenced to serve the remainder of his sentence in prison because he failed to hold down a job, that Wabash Valley work release helped him find, for even a month. After that, he lied to the director about finding another job and was revoked. He asked to be sent to a "therapeutic community" in prison, which the Judge denied. If the public came to court to see the number of people that refuse to contribute anything meaningful to society, which we all end up paying for, they would be astounded. As it turns out, there were no taxpaying citizens in court to see this hearing last week. They were probably all at work. Darrin McDonald, Prosecutor Your Opinion Matters Complete the Community Health Needs Survey A community-wide health needs survey is now underway in our area. The survey focuses on strengths, household challenges and issues, and perception of needs in Daviess and surrounding counties. Your input is valuable. In an effort to plan for future health needs, the survey is being offered on-line and in printed form, in order to assure a variety of perspectives will be obtained. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and is now available at www.dchosp.org Please be assured you cannot be identified by responding to this survey. Any personal information will be included only in aggregate numbers in order to establish group trends. In about 3 months, Daviess Community Hospital will publish the results of the survey along with anticipated responses to identified needs. It will be available for free to any interested individual. The deadline for completing the survey is February 28, 2013. If you have questions or for printed copies of the survey, please contact Daviess Community Hospital at 254-2760, Extension 1111. Thank you for your input.