The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1269344
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, July 15, 2020 C-7 the Anti-American Court Report FELONY Pike County Circuit Court Melyna Jo Dixon charged with deal- ing in methamphetamine, a level 2 felony. Robert Shutts, Jr. charged with arson, a level 4 felony. Brandon L. Burton charged with count I criminal confinement with bodily injury, a level 5 felony, count II strangulation, a level 6 felony, count III domestic battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, a lev- el 6 felony, count IV resisting law enforce- ment and count V maintaining a common nuisance - controlled substances, a lev- el 6 felony. Nicholas J. Brewster charged with count I operating a vehicle after being an habitual traffic offender, a level 6 fel- ony, count II operating a vehicle with an ACE of .15 or more and count III operat- ing a vehicle while intoxicated, prior, a level 6 felony. Christopher Freyberger charged with count I possession of methamphetamine, a level 6 felony, and count II possession of paraphernalia. Wesley John Ritter charged with count two counts of operating a vehicle while in- toxicated, prior, a level 6 felony. Danielle Jean Dooley charged with count I strangulation, a level 6 felony, and count II battery resulting in moder- ate bodily injury, a level 6 felony. Brian K. Ellis charged with residen- tial entry, breaking and entering, a lev- el 6 felony. Jeremy W. McCandless charged with possession of methamphetamine, a lev- el 6 felony. Randy Eugene Anders charged with domestic battery committed in the pres- ence of a child less than 16 years old, a level 6 felony. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike County Circuit Court Lyndsay R. Alvey charged with count I false informing and count II possession of marijuana. Todd M. McCann charged with count I possession of a controlled substance and count II operating a vehicle with an ACE of at least .08 but less than .15. Luis A. Chevez Cruz charged with op- erating a vehicle while intoxicated. Levi R. Nelson charged with public in- toxication. Ricardo Sanchez charged with operat- ing a motor vehicle without ever receiv- ing a license. Eric R. Inman charged with possession of marijuana. Robert J. Inman charged with posses- sion of marijuana. Ashley J. Sharp charged with count I operating a vehicle with and ACE of at least .08 but less than .15 and count II op- erating a vehicle while intoxicated. CIVIL Pike County Circuit Court Credit Corp Solutions, Inc. sues Patri- cia Hinton on complaint. LVNV Funding, LLC sues Michael Webb on complaint. First Financial Bank, N.A. sues Mar- vin Matherly on complaint. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC sues Robert Swaney on complaint. SMALL CLAIMS Pike County Circuit Court Hoosier Accounts Service sues Lori B. Jones on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Kath- erine M. Barrett on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Roger D. Ham on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Kath- erine M. Hartley on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Ashley A. Haase on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Patrick R. Johnson on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Russell H. Nelson on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Robert L. Forsyth on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Ste- phen L. French on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Dale L. Holesinger, Jr. on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Jason Woodall on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Ed- ward W. Diskey on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike County Circuit Court Gavin D. Boyd charged with light re- striction violation. Kenneth E. Lamell III charged with work zone speeding, workers not present. Dante M. Vincent charged with fishing without a license. Junior B. Altine charged with driving while suspended. Wesley J. Ritter charged with count I driving while suspended and count II driving left of center. Clay H. Davis charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Damaris Espinoza charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Hannelore Nettles charged with work zone speeding, workers not present. Benjamin M. Ranard charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Letters to the Editor Benefits of the proposed solar project in county al] exception." To make its point, the Su- preme Court looked at reli- gious education in the Cath- olic, Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic contexts, as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Sev- enth-day Adventists. Each of these religious communities draws a close connection be- tween "their central purpose and educating the young in the faith." "What matters most," Alito wrote, "is what an em- ployee does …. [E]ducating young people in their faith, inculcating its teachings, and training them to live their faith are responsibili- ties that lie at the very core of the mission of a private re- ligion school." Justice Clarence Thom- as, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, agreed with the majority but wrote a sepa- rate opinion that echoed his position in Hosanna-Tabor. Rather than scrutinize the internal management and academic practices of reli- gious schools, even with the guidance the court was pro- viding, Thomas preferred simply to "defer to religious organizations' good-faith claims that a certain employ- ee's position is 'ministerial'." Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bad- er Ginsburg, dissented and also took the position she did in Hosanna-Tabor. So- tomayor would restrict the First Amendment's protec- tion only to situations in which a religious institution fires a "leader" with formal theological training for "re- ligious reasons." This is a significant deci- sion by the Supreme Court. It reaffirms the key principle that the First Amendment provides real protection for decisions by religious insti- tutions about how to further their religious mission. Building on Hosanna-Ta- bor, the decision provides better guidance about how courts should understand and apply this aspect of re- ligious freedom. And, un- like in Hosanna-Tabor, this time seven justices put their stamp of approval on the en- tire decision. Thomas Jipping is the Deputy Director of the Ed- win Meese III Center for Le- gal and Judicial Studies and a Senior Legal Fellow. PROTECT Continued from page 6 DUNIGAN Continued from page 6 The project proposed by Tenaska and Capital Dynamics is a great project with many great economic benefits for Pike County, and especially right now be- cause of the current climate related to coal-fired power plants. A fter IPL, Pike County's largest employer, was reas- sessed last year, Pike County lost $ 94 million in net assessed value. See what our current fiscal issue is and examples of how it's impacting our families. CURRENT FISCAL ISSUE The county lost $ 94 million of net as- sessed value after IPL's reassessment and redistribution. The county lost $1.2 million in tax rev- enue. An example of this direct impact to our school corporation included a loss of $ 300,000 that serves the nearly 2,000 students and families who deserve a quality education. This results in negative impacts to all our county services, our schools, library, emergency services, fire, etc. The numbers above reflect only the reassessment and do not consider the devastating impact of the retirement of the power plant. If Pike County does not support diverse economic development projects, the fiscal future of our county is very grim and will impact all the ser- vices that we deeply care about. COMPANY AND COUNTY INFORMATION Tenaska and Capital Dynamics are pro- posing to construct a 150 -megawatt so- lar panel array in Jefferson Township. The capital investment into Pike Coun- ty will be $128 million, with an estimat- ed 350 construction jobs, and 4-7 perma- nent jobs. If the proposed project is grant- ed a tax phase-in, the estimated tax reve- nue to the county is $28 million over the 35 -year life of the project. There are a few important facts about the project that need to be highlighted: If the company were not requesting a tax abatement, they would not be re- quired to come to the local Pike County government, and they could begin con- struction as soon as the electric grid gave the green light to proceed. There has been concern over solar pan- els encroaching on residents that live in the area, and local officials and the company are trying to work with resi- dents in the area to request reasonable setbacks with a vegetation buffer. Pike County does not have zoning and as a result, the Pike County government has no way to enforce setback restrictions except through the Economic Develop- ment Agreement; and the proposed set- back agreement is for 200 feet. The county is being asked to approve four agreements. One is the Economic De- velopment Agreement, which is approved by the County Council and Commission- ers; the second is the Road Use Agree- ment, which is approved by the County Commissioners; the third is the Decom- missioning Agreement, which is approved by the County Commissioners; lastly, the resolution is the confirmatory resolution for Economic Revitalization Area. If the 1,200 acres of the project area were to stay as agricultural land over the next 35 years, the tax revenue generated would be $1.2 million. As you can see, if the solar project came to fruition, there would be around a $27 million gain for the county and would be a major assessed value generator that would result in a pos- itive impact for all 12,500 people that re- side in Pike County. The impact for Pike County residents for this project is that it lowers taxes by $ 0.18 per every $100 of assessed value. To summarize, the solar project with Tenaska and Capital Dynamics is a win- win for this county. What some may not realize is that economic development is so competitive that if we do not support this project, we are not just saying no to solar, we are saying no to all economic devel- opment projects in the future. So, for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and the next 20 years, support economic development and industry, so we can at- tract diverse industries that create capital investment and new jobs to support our families and our wonderful community. Thank you for your support. Ashley Polen Willis, MPA, EDFP nor honesty. And if we give them more power, they will certainly destroy our great country. Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renew- al and Education and au- thor of the new book "Nec- essary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture War and Why This is Good News for America." Readers can respond to Star's column by emailing star-parker@ur- bancure.org. BIDEN Continued from page 6 ditional public schools rose 1 percent while enrollment in public charter schools rose 571 percent. Sowell points out that not all charter schools are successful. Failing charter schools can have their char- ters revoked, cutting off ac- cess to public funds. That is in stark contrast to failing and corrupt traditional public schools that continue to dine at the public trough. Success- ful charter schools are the re- al threat to traditional union- ized public schools. No char- ter school in Sowell's study has been more success- ful than Success Academy charter schools in Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx — and none has been more viciously attacked in words and in deeds. New York City Mayor Bill de Bla- sio explicitly campaigned against charter schools say- ing: "I am angry about the privatizers. I am sick and tired of these efforts to pri- vatize a precious thing we need — public education. In another venue, Sowell said: "We keep hearing that "black lives matter," but they seem to matter only when that helps politicians to get votes, or when that slogan helps demagogues demonize the police. The other 99 per- cent of black lives destroyed by people who are not police do not seem to attract near- ly as much attention in the media." At a 2016 meeting, the NA ACP's board of directors ratified a resolution that called for a moratorium on charter schools. Among the NA ACP's reasons for this were that it wanted charter schools to refrain from "ex- pelling students that public schools have a duty to edu- cate" and "cease to perpet- uate de facto segregation of the highest performing chil- dren from those whose as- pirations may be high but whose talents are not yet as obvious." That is a vision suggesting that no black children receive decent ed- ucations until all black chil- dren receive decent educa- tions. Black people cannot afford to entertain such a vi- sion and other attacks on ed- ucational success. Walter E. Williams is a pro- fessor of economics at George Mason University. CHARTER Continued from page 6 life, the Ten Commandments remained part of the founda- tion to ensure law and order, while at the same time the elements of grace and for- giveness accompanied any- one sentenced for a lawless crime [i.e extenuating cir- cumstances]. The church maintains that all of God's people have committed lawless acts, and they fundamentally are for- given by God. Paul wrote to the church at Rome, "Bless- ed are those whose law- less deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." Therefore, we must wres- tle with "How do we maintain a witness for Christ while daily life is permeated with sin and evil that cannot be al- lowed to run amuck." Think about it as I leave you with your conscience. WRESTLING Continued from page 6 ue your plans to show up now and then to help out your son. It can shock your system if you feel like the passion you had for 60 years is sudden- ly ended. I felt a little like that too. So, I'm glad you have another passion, which is continuing your hobby and your love for cars, tractors and other col- lectibles. I saw your amazing collections when you invited me to visit your pride and joy. As the saying goes, "I've nev- er seen anything like it." I brought a relative visiting from California that time. He was once an automobile me- chanic and he was speech- less. He said the same thing, "I've never in my life seen anything like this." So, to Dr. Dunigan and Grace and your wonderful staff, thank you and good luck! Wisdom of the week: Fol- low and do what you are pas- sionate about. You won't feel like you have work to do ev- ery day. Humor of the week: In light of the social distancing mandated, all contact sports will be done via written tests or e-learning. Have a great week! Forced to wear mask and gloves To the Editor: Welcome to America, land of the free and home of the brave. What a beautiful standard to live by. Yet, day by day it be- comes less and less a reality. My family runs an open-air vendor stand at the local farmer's market on Saturday mornings. We sell homegrown produce and fresh baked goods. It has always been a joy to meet our fellow Pike County natives by the courthouse lawn and chat while we sell our goods. This past week, we received a call from the market master informing us that the mayor and his constituents, including the local health department, have mandated that we must wear face masks and gloves to operate our stands or we will be shut down. Amazing! I make all of my baked goods in my clean home without wearing a mask and gloves. I package them with bare hands, washed, of course. We crawl around in the heat picking green beans, cucum- bers, tomatoes, etc. without wearing any kind of protective COVID gear. We load it all into our vehicles on Satur- day mornings and drive to the courthouse where we make our goods available. Then, we must don masks and gloves in order to sell these goods to the public. Those who come to the market are not forced to be there. The things they buy are not neces- sary to sustain life. Our customers come because they want to. Many have worn masks, many have not. We pass no judgments upon our cus- tomers because they come as they wish, masked or unmasked, gloved or ungloved. They are Americans. They are free to make that choice. It is no different than going to JayC. We can walk in the doors with- out wearing masks. We can handle all the fresh produce without wearing gloves. We are "free" to do so because we are Ameri- cans. But now we, as vendors, must stand in the heat and yell through our masks to communicate with our customers because we will be forced to shut down if we do not. Land of the free? Where's the freedom in that? If there were any evidence that wear- ing a mask stops the spread of COVID-19, I could see the point. But there is no evi- dence that any mask other than the N-95 mask actually protects one from spreading or contracting the virus. And gloves? Unless we are to change gloves between each customer. How in the world is that protecting anyone? Handling money, produce, etc. in gloved hands from person to person is no different than han- dling it with bare hands. At least barehand- ed, we can easily use antibacterial gel be- tween customers. Home of the brave? COVID-19 has changed all of that! Those who have al- lowed themselves to be sucked into the media swamp cower in fear that the next unprotected breath they take will be con- taminated. And since "everyone else is do- ing it," we must put on masks, too. I feel more and more like I'm living in a page of Dr. Seuss' Sneetches book, where the only way to be accepted in society now is to be wearing a mask (the equivalent of having stars on our bellies). I respect the choices that my fellow Americans make, to wear a mask if they feel the need. But to be forced, that is just another link in the chains of bondage so sneakily being tightened around us. It seems to me that freedom is very se- lective these days. I can choose to drink myself into an alcoholic stupor, but I can- not run a market stand without wearing a mask and gloves. I can choose to kill an in- nocent baby that I helped to create, but I cannot run a market stand without wear- ing a mask and gloves. I can choose what gender I wish to be, regardless of how I was created, but I cannot run a market stand without wearing a mask and gloves. Welcome to socialist America. Land of the not-so-free and home of the not-so- brave. Valerie Searls