The Indiana Publisher

Page 2 March 2020 HSPA scholarships. We want to make it clear that what the students are majoring in is no longer a factor," said Miller who serves as vice-president and opinion page editor of the News-Banner (Bluffton). These new Legacy Scholarships debuted in 2018. Since then, the recipients have pursued a range of interests. In 2018, Kathryn R. Gertin and Parker Marshall received the award. Gertin was accepted to Oakland City University where she planed to study environ- mental biology. Marshall headed to the University of Cincinnati to major in mechanical engineering. Last year's recipients were Emily Hoffman and Benjamin Lynk. Lynk was a four-year var- sity letterman in football and a member of the National Honor Society in high school. He was accepted at DePauw University and was interested in studying computer science. Hoffman, a graduate of Columbus North High School, was named Student of the Year for her graduating high school class. She headed to Indiana University in the fall as a pre- nursing major. As part of the application, students are asked to write an essay talking about themselves, their interests, background and "dream job." In his essay, Lynk talked about his grandparents: "My family has always lived a news- paper life, and I feel that earning this scholarship would be a trib- ute to my grandfather and my grandmother," Lynk wrote. Lynk is the grandson of Mary Jo Harney who has been the owner and publisher of the Parke County Sentinel, moving into that position after the death of her husband Richard in 1999. See pages 12-14 for this year's application. Page 2 January 2020 Deb Patterson named editor of The Papers Incorporated Staff reports The Papers Incorporated A native of the Milford- New Paris area, Deb Patter- son, has accepted the position of editor-in-chief of The Papers Incorporated, accord- ing to an announcement by Publisher Ron Baumgartner. She moved into the position Monday, Jan. 20. Patterson was named interim editor-in-chief filling the vacancy left by the death in November 2019 of Jeri Seely, long-time editor-in-chief. Patterson has been employed full time at the company since May 22, 1978. She began her tenure with the company during her senior year at Fairfield High School through an intern program, working half-days. "Deb grew up in this business and has the solid support of her co-workers in our editorial department as she takes on this new challenge. Through years of honing her reporting and photographic skills under the tutelage of Jeri and my father, Arch, I have every confidence she will continue to carry our standard forward for solid coverage of local news and events," said Ron Baumgartner, publisher. Over the years, Patterson has covered all aspects in the reporting field from sports photography, to town council/school board meetings and general news not only in Syracuse, Milford and North Webster, but throughout Kosciusko and Elkhart counties. She has spent most of her years with the company covering police, fire, courts, political and specialty organizations. "I am grateful to have the support, encouragement and backing of the staff and publisher," she said. "I had great mentoring from former publisher Arch Baumgartner and gained invaluable knowl- edge from Jeri working under her for all the years at the company. "The staff at The Papers is unbelievable and fun to work with. Being in their shoes for over 40 years, I know some of the difficulties they face when doing stories and hope to help them maneuver around those in their endeavors to bring local news to our readers. "The entire staff takes pride in their work and the news they want to share with readers. I want to help them in any way I can," she added. Patterson does not plan any changes in the operations of the editorial department and will continue to provide needed support. "My goal is to continue bringing hometown news and local issues to our readers through our print publications and online through Ink- FreeNews." Over the years Patterson has won a number of awards in photography and reporting through the Hoosier State Press Association. She was editor of the four northern Indiana Senior Life publications from their inceptions until taking on a position as editor of Ink- FreeNews. She returned to various duties in the main office editorial department. Patterson Legacy Continued from Page 1 The Hoosier Times up to the school district leadership to determine what would constitute a summary. During the Raatz-Jordan meeting, one of the policy staffers suggested for consis- tency that the two legislators look at summary language for the financial report. Raatz and Jordan agreed to do so. Key said neither apparently considered that the financial report was completely different from the performance report. "Every local government unit publishes a financial report every year. The performance report is a unique report for school districts and charter schools," said Key. The new language modifying I.C. 5-3-1-3 was never introduced or considered by a House or Senate committee. The public, nor HSPA, had any opportunity to object. Neither Raatz nor Jordan mentioned the addition of the financial report summary language during presentation of the H.B. 1003 conference committee report to their respective House or Senate Rules Committees. This prevented any committee member from raising a question as to whether the addition violated House or Senate Rules on accepting language that had not been passed by either chamber. During the House Rules Committee, Rep. Terri Austin, R-Anderson raised a question about the new section, but thought it was the language for the annual school performance report. Rep. Jordan didn't correct her misconception. HSPA didn't learn of the addition until after the Senate Rules Committee hearing, when Key was talking to Raatz. That was when Raatz credited staffers for mentioning a second report that could be included in the conference committee. HSPA was unable to bring the issue to the attention of House and Senate chiefs of staff Tyler Campbell and Jeff Papa before H.B. 1003 was brought to the Senate floor and passed 40-9. Key said at that point there wasn't going to be any stopping of the bill because Republicans strongly favored Jordan's "Educational Freedom Bill," which will allow school districts to seek waivers of legislatively passed mandates to improve school performance. The House passed H.B. 1003 with a 95-0 vote. The section changing publication requirements for the financial report goes into effect in July, which means this August's report will be the summary, not full financial report. "This is particularly frustrating because HSPA never had the opportunity to make its case for greater transparency through publication rather than posting on the DOE website," Key said. "This also will open the door for every other local government unit to argue its financial report publication should be reduced to a summary. I expect they'll be lined up to make that request before the 2021 General Assembly." "What's good for the goose is good for the gander, they'll cry," Key said. "For Hoosiers, opacity replaces transparency. Rather than have the information placed into their hands, they'll have to follow up with a search on government websites for the information now delivered on their doorstep." The other significant bill concerning public notices died early in the session. H.B. 1310, authored by Rep. David Wolkins, R-Warsaw, would have placed a $300 cap on what local government units could pay for the publication of a public notice. If a newspaper tried to charge more, the unit could replace the publication with posting on its website. HSPA pointed out to Rep. Wolkins that the proposal did not take into account that public notices may be two or three inches in one column or may take up multiple pages of space in a newspaper. After the discussion with HSPA, Wolkins said he would not fight a decision by the bill's committee chair not to give it a hearing. Rep. Dennis Zent, R-Angola, who is chair of the House Local Committee did make that decision. Rep. Wolkins said he filed the bill for Rep. Wendy McNamara, R-Evansville, who was the co-author of H.B. 1130. McNa- mara testified during the 2019 session that one of her goals was to eliminate all publication of public notices in Indiana Code. Update Continued from Page 1 "For Hoosiers, opacity replaces transparency. Rather than have the information placed into their hands, they'll have to follow up with a search on government websites for the information now delivered on their doorstep." Steve Key, HSPA executive director, general counsel "This also will open the door for every other local government unit to argue its financial report publication should be reduced to a summary. I expect they'll be lined up to make that request before the 2021 General Assembly." Steve Key, HSPA executive director, general counsel President: Bevery Joyce, CNHI Vice President: Larry Hensley, The Hoosier Times

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