OmniSource - Our Fearless Leaders In Hiding?

Where was Dr. John "Smoking Ban" Crawford (R)? Where was Dr. Tom (I know more then you) Hayhurst (D)? Where was Tim "Harrison Square Cheerleader" Pape (D), Where was Sam "I am looking out for my children" Talarico, Jr.(R)? Where was Mayor Graham "Sign Police Chief" Richard (D)? I know where they where and have not been!

This past Friday, about 4:30 P.M. a chemical leak was reported from OmniSource. Fort Wayne 911 dispatchers sent Fire, Police, and Medics to the scene. They responded in a professional way and even risk their own health, as they did not know what they where getting into. Much like the brave men and women in New York on 911, they where there to tend to the public, damn to their own welfare. As a citizen, I have nothing but the utmost admiration and thankfulness to each and everyone of them.

The OmniSource operations had a leak from some chlorine containing tanks, they claimed they had no idea how they got on their property. Chlorine in higher concentration levels is a deadly gas. Even in reduced quantities it can cause permanent damage to the organs. Chlorine gas seeks to lay in the lowest ground levels around it and mixes poorly with the atmosphere. To put it mildly it is bad news!

Crawford, Hayhurst, Pape, Talarico Jr. or Mayor Richard have not said a word to the public. They have not presented themselves to reassure the public this leak would be fully investigated. They have not stated they talked to the OmniSource ownership to make sure this will not happen again. They have not come out and said a thing. Their silence speaks volumes of who they are loyal too.

They claim to represent the people of Fort Wayne but they set on their hands and aren't being seen or heard from in a real time of crisis. Don't try to pass the buck, you failed at being the leaders you tell yourself when you are looking in a mirror every morning.

These elected people want the public not to question their motives, reasoning, or understanding of Southtown Centre, Harrison Square and North River projects. What little credibility some of you may have had slowly drifted away Friday night with the chlorine gas.

Thank goodness Richard, Hayhurst, and Talarico Jr. are leaving office. Now if only Crawford and Pape can be voted out. Then the public may get some leadership that represents ALL THE PEOPLE!

Maybe OmniSource will be the dumping site for some large ammonia tanks that are partially filled. They may get ripped open by OmniSource workers. Maybe the fumes will kill some of their people. Maybe it will kill some fire fighters. Maybe it will kill some medics. Maybe it will kill some police officers. Maybe it will kill some citizens driving by. Maybe it will kill some residents setting in their yards. Then, just maybe, you so called leaders will speak up. I am not HOLDING MY BREATH but I may have to!!!

Don't try telling us about working behind the scenes or you where gathering the facts. The crisis is over and thank goodness THE PEOPLE have some levels of government above you, that WILL LOOK INTO IT!

Fort Wayne Blog "America's Most Dangerous Blogger" did additional research on this issue. Check it out at

http://thefortwayneblog.blogspot.com/

Crawford Breaks Law - Call The Sign Police

My friend up on the northeast side of Fort Wayne sent me a photo of a sign that was turned in a week ago to the Sign Police. Well it is still there and I am shocked!

When I received the photo I told my friend it was hard to tell if it was in the rightaway. He said it was right under some overhead lines. I told him you could not see it on the photo. He agreed but swore it was under the lines.

I looked at the GIS site for Fort Wayne and you can tell the entrance marker was right on the edge of the rightaway. Gosh, do I use the photo or not? Maybe the city had been out and looked and it was not in the rightaway!

So I climbed in the trusty bucket of bolts and headed out to Maplecrest Road. Sure enough there it was just north of Tier Road, on the east side of Maplecrest.

I turned onto Midfield and turned around in a fellow's driveway. I pulled back up the intersection so I could sight down the wires running overhead and a telephone pole. Yepper, the sign was clearly in the rightaway.

I told my friend to call again Monday and complain. Maybe the candidate with the sign has a deal with the Sign Police, that if one leg of a sign is on private property it is legal. Could be, but one would think Dr. Crawford would want to lead by example over exception.

OmniSource - Sorry, I Don't Buy This Either!

An Anon. post stated my size of the tank was too large. I consulted two other people that would know and they agree, depending on the what the firemen ment by calling the tanks 1 ton, they could be smaller.

The tank could be slightly larger then two feet by some 8-11 feet in lenght. The overall size could be larger but that would depend on wall thickness and so forth of the tanks. OmniSource would not allow any media to view the tanks the actual tanks.

The tank will hold nearly 150 gallons of liquid Chlorine. On Friday afternoon two of these size tanks where found leaking. The tanks contained liquid chlorine. Chlorine, when allowed to escape into the atmosphere turns to a deadly gas.

Chlorine is considered a "heavy gas" which means it settles to the ground when it mixes with the normal atmosphere. At very low concentration levels, but still potentially causing lifetime health issues, will result in burning sensations to the eyes, nose & throat, usually accompanied by dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Moderate levels will cause permanent lung damage. High levels will result in instant death!

Sadly, even the people who where quickly transported to Fort Wayne hospitals have no way of knowing if in the coming months or years they may face new health issues. The length of their lives may have been now compromised.

The only thing good about this potential deadly matter is how well our fire, police, and medical units responded. Had they not taken the leadership, along with the knowledge to deal with this, we would today be talking about the number of people who died. A tip of the hat goes to the surrounding volunteer fire departments and medical crews that reported to their stations and stood by to make sure the entire Fort Wayne community had protection.

These tanks should have been marked with large letters that spell the word "CHLORINE", in several locations. If OmniSource accepted unmarked tanks, it is their responsibility to investigate the prior contents of the tanks before accepting them. Under EPA rules, OmniSource had to safely process any contents of tanks they accept into their operation. The rules are clear.

Chlorine gas is so deadly it is outlawed for even use in wars. If any person, during a war, uses chlorine gas is subjected to a war crime trail. If found guilty, the death penalty can be ordered.

The abovementioned is to provide the reader an understanding of the dangers of chlorine gas. OmniSource played with the health and very lives of their employees, average people just driving by their facility, residents setting in their yards for miles down wind, police officers, and firemen.

If one is to believe that Abby Slutsky, writer for The Journal Gazette, wrote her article with even half accuracy then OmniSource is not the good neighbor they keep self promoting. In Slutsky's story she wrote, "Neither cylinder belong to OmniSource, Jacoby said ( District Fire Chief Michael Jacoby), and it was unknown how the cylinders got onto the property."

District Chief Jacoby had to have talked to representatives of OmniSource to form that statement. OmniSource was already attempting to "circle the wagons", as they knew they will be answering to IDEM and the EPA. This will not be a simple case of denial and it will go away. If may disappear from the pages of the newspapers and television screens, but it will not go away.

These two tanks weigh over 550 pounds each, are two plus feet in diameter, and about 8-11 feet long. The tanks did not get dropped off in their plant by some drive by dumper, in a pickup truck. This facility has highly limited access and is locked down, when not in operation.

No human tossed the tanks over the fence onto two different locations.

Nor, did the tanks just drop out of the thin air onto their scarp piles.

For the two tanks to have gotten onto scrap piles, it would have taken machinery to take them off some trailer and lift them. The only machinery located within the confines of the OmniSource property is owned by OmniSource. Trying to deny knowing about the tanks is laughable, if the risk of killing people was not so high.

Abby Slutsky, of The News Sentinel included a very interesting tidbit that most people would not see but has common tie to same OmniSource ownership. It concerns Superior Aluminum Alloys!

Slutsky wrote, " The last chlorine release in Allen County occurred in January 2006 when an unknown amount leaked at Superior Aluminum Alloys east of New Haven, according to the National Response Center, the nation's clearinghouse for chemical releases. Valve failure on a chlorine piping system was blamed. The business melts scrap aluminum into ingots or molten metal for resale."

The Rifkin family has been involved in the ownership of both companies. With a little research, a person can also learn that the EPA has sited Superior Aluminum Alloys on other emissions issues.

While not proven, nor denied by OmniSource was their responsibility for the loud explosions that rattled the neighborhoods on the Northeast side of Fort Wayne a while back. These noisy explosions took place through the night, when the only business operating in the area was OmniSource.

On duty police officers reported hearing the explosions, but the best they could ever find was the noise came from the approximate area of the OmniSource operation. If the explosions where coming from within the fenced area, it would be difficult for any police officer of seeing it.

There is no proven evidence, but considering no companies in the area, including OmniSource called for fire or medical assistance would indicate these where controlled explosions. OmniSource operates a car crusher and shredding machine at their site. If fuel tanks did not have their contents totally removed the result could well be an explosion when they went into the crusher or shredder.

This is the company that the Mayor of Fort Wayne wants to purchase a large tract of contaminated property from. The proposed property, now being called North River, is the former site of OmniSource's previous scrap metal and junkyard operation.

The City claims that a couple of fuel tanks have been removed and the site around the tanks has been tested for contamination. Which may be true. However, the City has no contractual agreement, as part of the sale agreement, that requires OmniSource to deliver the entire site as environmentally clean.

The City is playing games with the taxpayers in this deal and rewarding a valuable Democratic Party contributor. They get millions of tax dollars and walk away from a contaminated mess! There is not one business in this country that would purchase this property without it being cleaned up and meet the standards set forth by the EPA.

This could be the Mayor's crowning moment of wasting taxpayer money. He very well may have committed the city to spend tens of millions of dollars to clean the site up after he has long left office.

If the Rifkin family wanted to be a good community member then they would clean up their business operations so these leaks will never happen again. They would also clean up the North River property before selling it to the city.

Fort Wayne Blog "America's Most Dangerous Blogger" did additional research that deals with OmniSource. Check it out.
http://thefortwayneblog.blogspot.com/

Mr. Mayor - We Can't Afford Your First SHOWCASE. Please Not A Second One

It was only a couple years ago when Mayor Richard told us when flying we needed to use Fort Wayne International Airport. That Fort Wayne airplane tickets where ALMOST competitively priced with Indianapolis. He went on, how the Fort Wayne Allen County Aviation Authority was working so hard to make sure the prices where as low as possible. Then he said how the airport was our SHOWCASE to the outside business community.

Now we have Harrison Square, which is promised to be the SHOWCASE of our downtown. It will be a focus of downtown. The claim is, everyone will want to go downtown.

I figured the SHOWCASE at Fort Wayne International must be complete, and it is the best it could be. So, the first thing that I wanted to see how much the enplanement (people getting on and off airplanes) count went up from 2005 to 2006.

I decided to use FFA reported numbers. Indianapolis is ranked 45th in the nation, in airport enplanements. They had nearly eight million people flying in and out of their airport. Fort Wayne came in at 155th, with about 575,000. Wait, who is ranked up there at 135th? Oh, it is South Bend with over 720,000 enplanements. How could a little airport like South Bend draw nearly 25% more enplanements then the SHOWCASE? They don't have a showcase!

When compared to 2005, 2006 enplanements where down -12.86% for Fort Wayne. South Bend must have cheated, as they where up 8.11% when comparing year to year figures. How can a small airport go up so much when a SHOWCASE droped?

I bet our airfares are cheaper from Fort Wayne! We have the Air National Guard and Kitty Hawk to help in defraying some of the operational costs. South Bend does not have these other sources to help offset their costs.

For the sake of fun I selected Seattle, Washington for a place to visit. I decided, I would fly out on Wednesday, October 17th and return a week later. From Fort Wayne you could select from any of five airlines and would pay $406 to $506 for a ticket.

South Bend has four airlines and the cost would be $318 across the board. Three of the airlines in South Bend are the same that serve Fort Wayne.

Now if I wanted to go to Indianapolis, I could make the same trip for $319 to $435. Using the same airlines that fly into Fort Wayne.

South Bend beats Fort Wayne by $88 per ticket. Indianapolis beats Fort Wayne by $87.

Thinking it would be only fair to try some other city since all the air carriers out of South Bend. Let us fly to the flashing neon signs of Las Vegas. Fort Wayne to Las Vegas will cost between $233 to $798. Low cost carrier Allegiant was the $233. To use Allegiant we had to change our flight date to Monday, October 15th and return on the 24th. The next lowest fair was $298 from American.

South Bend has five carriers providing service to Las Vegas. Using the same dates as above it would cost a person $304 to $386.

If I wanted to travel to Indianapolis I could make the trip for between $216 to $393. Pretty decent fair.

Fort Wayne wins this one if you want to only fly on these limited days of the week. Fort Wayne and South Bend are within $6, so it is a wash.

The next sample I checked is flying into JFK airport, in New York City. This would be a business destination for many. We used the same dates of October 17th and 24th.

Fort Wayne to JFK will run between $276 and $395. You could pick from five airlines.

South Bend to JFK a ticket price of between $184 and $378. Only four airlines are available but three of them have ticket prices under $200.

Indianapolis to JFK must be off the beaten path as the ticket price scale is $307 to $416.

South Bend beats Fort Wayne by $92 a ticket. Fort Wayne gets a win over Indianapolis by $123. The Fort Wayne wins seems out of line but that is what Yahoo Travel provided.

Overall Fort Wayne finishes third, for the second largest city in the state. The nice thing is Fort Wayne will not slip further down, as there are only three cities in Indiana to provid full time commercial air service.

Maybe the Mayor should think again about his appointments to the Fort Wayne Allen County Aviation Authority. This appointed board has complete control over the airport, including setting tax rates. Average business people and vacationers just cannot afford this SHOWCASE!

The thought is Michael Gouloff and Jerry Henry, Jr, have their plates pretty full owning their own businesses and being board members for Tower Bank. Richard "Barry" Sturges has to be pretty well spread out trying to lease the condo and retail space for the new Harrison Square project, selling parcels of the old City of Fort Wayne Southtown Mall property, and City of Fort Wayne owned Summitt Industrial Park.

Then again, as they relax in their three luxury suites at the Harrison Square ballpark they can kick around some ideas. Like, how they can reduce the landing/take off fees they charge so the airplane ticket prices can be lowered. We may have the SHOWCASE but we do know we have the HIGHTEST PRICES!

Sam Returns To His Roots

No one should be surprised as Sam Talarico Jr. returns to his family roots. His family had been long time Democrats. It was somewhat of a shock to the local political powers when he decided to run as a Republican several years ago.

Now he can slowly slide back to where he came from. Which is fine, and he has every right to do it.

Gosh, I wonder what reward he might get for high profiling his and his buddies being around for media coverage?

There is no doubt we will be hearing from Mr. Talarico again. Time and subject is the only thing that is of any question.

Crawford - Taking Care of Business

Let me see if I understand this.

1- Was it Dr. Crawford who led the City Council to stop smoking in about every place in Fort Wayne, outside one's own home?

2- Was it Dr. Crawford the one that also provided the hospitals SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS to control certain usage of streets, sidewalks, and rightaways within 100 feet of their property lines?

3- Was it not Dr. Crawford who indicated the hospitals needed these special considerations to keep all smoking maggots at a safe distance from the hospital?

4- Doesn't Dr. Crawford have PRIVILEGES at these hospitals?

5- Doesn't "privileges" mean they can also be denied?

6- What hospital would Dr. Crawford work through if he did not have "privileges" at the Fort Wayne hospitals?

The only question I have to add is, "Dr. Crawford, what is the name of the person and which hospital do they work for that asked for this special consideration?"

Dr. Crawford, it may not be meet the true legal definition of conflict of interest, but you sure took care of a special interest group by providing them a special coverage not afforded to everyone!

A tip of the hat to ER nurse who asked me about this and shame on me for not seeing this earlier. I should be beaten with a wet noodle!

I am quickly learning that I have two RIGHTS here in Fort Wayne. The first one is to pay my taxes. The second, according to City Council members Sam Talarico Jr., Tim Pape, and Dr. Tom Hayhurst, is to shut up and do not question them. Gosh, Fort Wayne is a great place to live.

Mayor Richard Claims Goal - Sort Of

The City of Fort Wayne released a press release today stating how the Mayor had reached his goal of seeing Fort Wayne obtain 1 Billion dollars in new investment in Fort Wayne since 2005. The entire press release can be read at Inside Indiana Business at:

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=25682#middle

I will give Mayor Richard a grade of "B-" for his efforts in recruiting new investments in Fort Wayne. Of his five top companies you will find four already doing business in the community. The fifth is even questionable to it even happening?

The lone "new" company in the name of White Lodging has not spent a dime in Fort Wayne and if we are to believe the Mayor's staff, they may walk away any day now. Is White Lodging actually putting up $36.6 million investment at risk? The answer is NO, in the real world!

Verizon PICKED Fort Wayne to roll out their fiber optic program. Why? Because of business interest only and had nothing to do with the Mayor's staff recruiting them. Fort Wayne was on Verizon's radar screen even before Mayor Richard started this program. However, everything is fair in politics.

One has to wonder if Lutheran Hospital and Dupont Hospital did not decide to invest $95.4 million, who would have? Let see, if the need was there and the two decided not do it then just maybe Parkview Hospital would have.

The one shining star of the entire list is the Fort Wayne Newspapers new printing press building. There is no doubt this is a good deal for everyone!

What is interesting the one project that is still is at risk is the only one that seems to have everyone possibility connected, in any fashion, with the city having their sticky fingers in it. Strange?

So the final score is three projects that would have mostly likely happened without the Mayor's help, one project the Mayor's helped may have sealed the deal, and one is being reported to be on "life support".

It is nice the Mayor is trying to put on this bright sunny picture of Fort Wayne. So, if it attracts the attention of other out of town businesses then that gets a pass, but with a chuckle.

I just hope new businesses seeking to locate in Fort Wayne, based it on getting the same deal White Lodging is trying to get, don't! I am down to the few nickels and pennies in my pockets to help shore up these PRIVATE INVESTMENTS.

A Letter To The Mayor From A Friend

A little twisted humor

Dear Mayor,

I live in Fort Wayne and maybe you can help me out. I am an illegal alien and I don't work. No, I don't need a job because I live in free housing, get food stamps, and free medical care. So things are pretty good! What I want you to look into is passing some new laws so the decay of this great city does not continue. If you do not address these issues there is no sense in my family to come here.

Friends tell me that you are the one that got a law passed that people could not smoke in bars. That was a great law, as I cannot afford to smoke and having to go into those places really sucks. See, I can only afford to sell off so many food stamps for beer and smokes. The smoking in the bars was killing me! I mean, it just caused me to want to buy some smokes. It is either beer or smokes! Since I have been in this great country, I have never seen officials stand up to help the people out. You are the man!

You should be complimented for getting rid of signs that clutter the streets. It sure cleans things up. The low level maggots who try to run for some elected office are done. I agree, if they cannot afford the $5,000 or more for radio or television ads then they should not be running. If you don't have bunches of money, then you can't serve the people. You are the man!

Those signs where a nightmare for me. I mean staggering down the sidewalk and clipping one of those nasty signs could hurt a person. Besides, if I wan to lay down in the rightaway I don't have to worry about some sign being in "my space." You are the man!

I did hear if a person had a few bucks they could contact the owners of the "bus huts" and put a campaign sign there. You devil! The city gets a percentage of the income and you can control who can post signs. Wow, back in my homeland we don't have people as smart as you! Your are the man!

Speaking of my homeland, it is nice to see how you deal with crime and those dangerous signs. Much like our police, your police can grab the signs and the city will destroy them without telling anyone. That should save you bunches of money. You are the man for thinking about the little person!

I know your time in office is short, but the way you get things done I am sure you can tend to some of my needs. You can pick which one you can get completed and the rest will have to wait for the next great leader.

The first one are lights! I mean, when I walk the streets these bright lights distract me from using the clutter free sidewalks. They shine into my eyes and I often walk off the edge of the sidewalk. The flashing lights scare me and may cause a heart attack. So I would guess you would consider this a life or death matter. I think you should have outlawed them before the signs, but you are the man!

I'm guessing families in those fine S-U-Vs nearly get into car wrecks all the time when they come up on these lights. I just wonder how those big semi trucks, driven by my fellow bro's avoid being in deadly wrecks? This lighting is so out of control!

You can find these lights all over the city but the place I think they are the worst is in residential areas. I mean part of the year you never see them and then all of sudden they are there for weeks or months. Sometimes mixed in with the lights are outlines of humans and animals. I just do not understand but I think you call them CHRISTMAS LIGHTS! I am sure you can figure out how to get them removed because you are the man!

Being without a car gives me a chance to take my time in getting the best view of the city. Well, my second need is to take care of problem that can cause great harm to a person. I mean getting a broken leg could be the least of a person's worries.

If you cannot outlaw them maybe you can require them to have a licence, so the police can give them a ticket. That way, when the police are on the lookout for the sign maggots, they could be looking for these contraptions. I think you call them "BIG WHEELS!" Knowing you are the man this should not be hard to get done!

The next problem is one I am not sure how you fix but I am sure you can fix it. I often find myself walking by a big office building and when the lunch hour comes it is a nightmare. These people come rushing our of the building and rush past me in a hurry to get to the nearby toco stand. They go flying by me on the left and the right. You talk about getting injured, it is sure to happen. No, Mr. Mayor I don't want a speed limit for walking as I am smart enough to know that would be stupid. See my problem is all the women with the short skirts. They distract me, and I could fall and hurt myself. These women are wearing these skirts and dresses on purpose. They are risking my health! I am sure you understand and will have a law passed to protect me. You are the man!

Mr Mayor, I will stop here but I want to share some great news with you. I got a job. Yep, I went an applied at this new ballpark that they are opening here in town. I interviewed and was hired on the spot. My new boss is a great guy!

The new boss told me on the first day that I was doing a good job. He even said I was saving him bunches of money. Having just started, I could not understand how I could be saving him so much money. So I asked him to tell me how? He told me something about having to pay someone $12.00 an hour but I only cost him $8.00. He said because I worked for $8.00 hour he could pay me in cash. I would not have to go to the bank or mess around with something you call taxes. I could not believe it when he said I could still get my free housing, food stamps, and free health care. What more could a person ask for?

Mr. Mayor, America is a great place. I am going to write my five brothers and tell them they have to come here no matter what. This a great city to live in. See, in my country they pretty much don't care what you do but here in America they tell me exactly how to do everything!

Your friend for life

Talarico Jr & Pape Blow Gasket - Need For Special Prosecutor Next?

Following the regular session of the Fort Wayne City Council meeting, on Tuesday evening, several local residents made some honest, heart felt, and even contributed a little humor in the way of comments. This took place near the end of the meeting when there is time provided for the public to speak. Three of the speakers are associated with local blogs on the Internet.

What appeared to get under the skin of two City Council members was the comments these private citizens made regarding the City's 2006 financial audit that was just released. Seldom, after private citizens address the council do any of the council members make any direct comments about what had been stated. Well, Tuesday night was the exception as Sam Talarico and Tom Pape took several people to task.

What was sad is the condescending tone and selection of words used by both of them to address the issue of what the Indiana State Board of Accounts audit report spelled out. While neither councilman of addressed the actual content presented in the audit report they told the people in their own way they didn't know what they where talking about.

Every year the Indiana State Board of Accounts completes an audit of every town and city in the state of Indiana. This is to provide an oversight review of the financial activities of that unit of government. The auditors go through the records and if they find any issues, they are noted. Most of the issues are resolved with clarifications between the auditors and local officials. These items do not even make the audit report.

Issues that appear to be a major breach of acceptable financial accounting practices become part of the final report. The auditors prepare the final report after the audit is complete. The noteworthy issues are listed in the official audit report and sometimes will site Indiana statute that applies to the given problem area.

The final report is then reviewed within the State Board of Accounts operation before being sent to the City. Once the City receives the report they are required to respond in writing. If they disagree with the findings or agree with the findings and provide the corrective action plan to avoid such issues in the future.

You can click on below to view the the last two completed audit reports for Fort Wayne and the replies the City offered.
2005 audit report: http://www.in.gov/sboa/WebReports/B27344.pdf
2006 audit report: http://www.in.gov/sboa/WebReports/B30477.pdf

City Controller Pat Roller was quoted in both local papers that the information provided by the State Board of Accounts was only informational, to show citizens how the city had complied with the exceptions. That is pure bogus! The audit report only denotes exceptions to acceptable standard practices. There is no common sense reason for the State Board of Accounts to raise an issue about something the City was doing right. If anyone doubts this then they should call the State Board of Accounts at 1-317-232-2521 and speak with Mr. Charles W. Pride.

Soon the State Board of Accounts will issue what is called a "Certified" audit report. This will contain the final findings of the audit and official reply from the City. At that point the audit will be sent onto the Indiana Attorney General for review.

It APPEARS the Attorney General is limited in only securing the refund or return of funds that where found to be missing or miss issued. These would be civil actions against people or companies.

The audit reports for 2005 and 2006 do not show any missing funds. The Attorney General will most likely not have an interest in the contents of the audit reports within his department based on the current understanding.

The two audit reports DO indicate issues that may be subject to the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney to review. This would be for consideration of criminal law violations. The reports note the City's failure to obtain and maintain forms regarding conflicts of interest. These conflict of interests forms apply to all city employees, contractors, elected officials and appointed officials. It should be noted that the 2006 audit report took issue with the City for failure to comply with a 2005 audit demand on this very subject.

With only few conflict of interest statements available to the State Board of Accounts they where to site only one case in the 2006 audit that the City was not in compliance. There could be dozens or more of conflicts of interest violations but without the documents the State Board of Accounts could not review them.

If one reads the City's response in 2005 and then 2006 they offered nearly the same corrective action. One can detect the auditors took the City to task for not doing what was asked to be completed as noted in the 2005 audit.

It would be up to the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney to seek a full and complete investigation into the conflicts of interest issues. People found violating the conflicts of interest statute are subject to being charged with a class "D" felony. Every time they violated the statute is open to an additional charge.


In fairness to the local Prosecuting Attorney, she should seek a Special Prosecutor and bring in the Indiana State Police for the investigative part of the investigation. The Indiana State Police have specially trained forensic audit investigators that would be needed.


For those that believe this would stop the Harrison Square project from going forward, it appears the chances are doubtful. Even if the majority of the community opposes part or the entire project it is unsure if the courts would or could stop it.

If the hope is to clean up the "good old boys" club and return accountability to the tax payers then this may well do it. Everyone is accountable to the taxpayers!

It appears things are totally run a muck. However, the taxpayers are not the ones that made the conscientious decisions to trample on the law.

It is time for the Prosecuting Attorney to prove the City operated correctly, regarding conflicts of interests, or the few chastised citizens where right! There is no turning back or hiding, as the public records and information is out there. There is only two questions to answer. Is it true and if so, how wide spread is it?

Is City Council Ready To Use Rubber Stamp Again???

Tuesday evening will prove if our City Council RUBBER STAMPS one more Harrison Square agreement. The Council, on behalf of all voters, has the chance to tell the Mayor and his staff that the state has raised some very serious legal issues concerning Harrison Square. Until such issues are cleared up, they are not prepared to approve any more agreements regarding Harrison Square.

The city will attempt to offer their standard line, "If this does not get approved tonight, then we will be faced with possible higher costs for interest and materials!" If I was setting on council I would say, "You should have thought of this before you did what you did! The only person to blame is yourself!"

The actions of some people within local government may have violated Indiana law regarding the statues on CONFLICTS OF INTEREST. The only way to find out is if Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Karen Richards investigates this mess. Sadly, it will not be a short investigation as there are dozens of people that will need to provide statements and mountains of paperwork to be reviewed. In fairness, Richards will need to use a Special Prosecutor and the Indiana State Police to avoid any appearance of local political influence.

The City has known for well over two months the state took issue with these legal matters. Yet, the City failed publicly to disclose them or offer a plan to correct them.

GM Strike May Hold The Future Of American Health Care

Indiana NewsCenter is reporting the local General Motors plant went on strike today over job security issues. One has to ask is this the real reason that the United Auto Workers and GM have reached an impasse? The real issue maybe the cost of runaway health care.

Health care costs are out of control in this country. While who is the blame can be debated, the issue of cost run up cannot be.

Companies are being forced to cancel employees health care insurance, move their companies out of the United States or close. It is no longer a threat, but a fact happening every day here in the great Untied States.

Anyone who can say General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler can continue to provide the same level of health care to current and retired employees is just missing a fact of life. Companies and powerful unions have to figure it out, as they will lead to what happens most other Americans.

The three AMERICAN auto builders can no longer compete with JAPANESE builders in sale price of their cars. Toyota and Honda build many of their cars sold in the United States right here in the USA. The JAPANESE plant are nonunion but only a few dollars an hour difference in actual hourly pay earned. The biggest differences is in fringe benefits, which includes health care costs.

Today the UAW has more then five times as many people retired as working in the auto plants. A little over 85,000 working UAW members must produce enough additional income for the health insurance coverage of 432,000 retirees. Currently the three automakers, as a fringe benefit, provide one of the best health care packages to all retired union employees.

In round numbers the big three are paying the working UAW workers a little over $25.00 an hour to just cover health care for the workers and retirees. This alone nearly removes the American automakers from competing price wise with any other car manufacturer in the world.

The other day I was talking to a friend and learned he had been laid off. Part of the reason he believes he was laid off is the business became aware of the fact his wife was on one medicine that costs over $90,000 a year. She is required to take one pill a day to try to keep her healthy. The company supposedly also knew that when the medicine no longer worked that her last chance at life would be a Bone Marrow Transplant. Her chances of even surviving the transplant procedure is less then 50% and cost around $150,000 - $200,000.

This friend has mixed emotions about being laid off. The company was an average size local company that provided health care to the employees. The employees contributed, from what he told me, about $50.00 a week for health care. He knew that the health care rate for the 30-40 some employees would go through the roof under current methods of setting health care rates. So, he feels bad for the former coworkers as they had their rates already jacked up, even though his family was no longer on the company policy.

The rest of his story is for some other time and it is not a pretty picture of what goes on in our country. It is real, and very saddening.

So what do the three American auto manufactures do to stay in business? While there is some places that they could cut costs within their operations there is nothing close to offset this health care financial drain. If there is, I am sure they would love to hear it.

The UAW has every right and the responsibility to seek the best contract for both their current workers and retirees. Nevertheless, there comes the time when everyone has to be honest. Just like in death, there is a time you have to let go. The UAW and the automakers must be honest with each other and reach a true compromise.

If the American automakers and the UAW cannot figure out the health care mess then the results will be ugly. First, the automakers will be forced consider bankruptcy to unload the union contract. Second, some of the auto manufacturing process will be forced to move off shore resulting in even fewer jobs for the UAW. Third, entire manufacturing lines will be moved off shore with only a small percentage of present UAW work force having a job.

The UAW members have to understand that we may not like the global economic issues today but they are out of our hands. The automakers also have to be keen on not trying to take too much away from the UAW. If a long strike results General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, UAW, and millions of other workers in the United States will loose. There will be economic carnage of such size the United States of America may never recover form.

The hope is the automakers and the UAW can deal in a manner that serves both well for the long run. While one may win this battle they both could end up loosing the war.

Why The SHADOW?

In an on again off again issue some Fort Wayne bloggers have raised the issue of a few blogs being run by "shadows!" These are the ones that the person(s) running the blog does not post who they are. A person can only explain why their blog operates as such. Hence, here are the reasons this blog is carried out by a "Shadow."

The foremost reason is to get people to think on their own. By not associating a name or a face to a post forces the reader to think about the content, and not who said it. Once a post is read the person doesn't care, agrees, disagrees, wonders, or is even more confused then before. Everyone is allowed to post their comments while they abide by the simple rules listed at the top of this blog.


Comments in response to the posts appear when they are sent. Comments are not reviewed, edited, or denied. Two comments have been removed since this blog started. One was a post trying to sell something on the Internet and the other was an attack on the current Mayor that lacked any facts or honest meaning.


When new comments are posted they are read by the host and at times responded to. The opinion of the blog is not the final say on anything, but of offering information for people to think about. Posts are sometimes written to ask people, who should know, for answers.


This blog attempts to use FACTS as much as it can. At times facts are not easily available so opinions are offered. When using other then facts it is noted as such, and if numbers are used they are highly conservative.


When it was kicked around about starting this blog one of the issues was not to become a tool for one of the three Allen County political parties. The effort was to make to hold the people in government and dealing with our government to do so above aboard, and in a responsible way. Regardless to their party affiliation!


At one time, local media outlets across our nation held local government accountable to the public. They dug out the facts and reported them, regardless to whose toes got stepped on!" Sadly, this country has lost this check and balance in accountability to the public.


We have reporters of all types across our great nation reporting only on issues if they effect one party or provide them their own 15 minutes of fame. Some reporters are clueless as to what they are covering because they fail to ask the difficult questions. They do not challenge the people they interview to provide facts to back up their statements nor do they verify the so called facts.


Be it the print, radio, or television media they are now controlled by ratings. It makes no difference if someone spouts the truth or facts, just while the ratings turn into profits.


This blog was started because of too many who, what, when, and where questions that needed answers. In talking to others they had the same or additional questions on issues.


Being a "shadow" is the natural fallout if you are going to hit difficult subjects. If you worked for a newspaper, radio station, or television station the company had attorneys to fight the battles if you where challenged or harassed. It is amazing how far some of us will go if we feel we are being embarrassed!


Regardless to what others may think there is not an axe to grind against any one person or political party. The axe is being ground against what appears to be wrong or unfair happenings. Any person has the right and is welcomed to respond to any post that appears on this blog to take exception to what is posted.


At the outset it was known there would be an effort to find out who is behind this blog. In part one would guess out of human nature. While others may seek to find out so the blog can be silenced by whatever means they feel should be taken. That is what is so sad.

The only way that this blog can be considered a special interest group is if you consider that open, fair, and honest government makes for such. If someone wants to attach special interest group to this blog then go ahead but please be kind to tell us which one?


What you believe, don't believe, wonder, or even question after reading this blog is up to you. It is hoped to open eyes and to ask questions. Nothing more and nothing less! Never has been and never will be.

Political Donations - Leasing Suites Mean Nothing

Donating to a political campaign is not against the law. While some may raise the issue that by a person donating to Mayor Richard's political campaign and then doing business with the city is questionable is wrong. This alone does not amount to anything illegal or even underhanded.

Years ago laws where passed making campaign donations reportable and be disclosed to the public by various filing procedures. Since they are disclosed, and do not apparently exceed any legally set financial maximum amounts then, there is nothing to say.

If you reviewed the political donations made to former Mayor Helmke, the odds are very high, people and companies listed did business with the city while he was the Mayor. It is also not that odd to find people or companies donating to both candidates for running for the same office. If the donations are disclosed and meet all other legal requirements the issue is mute.

A number of Mayors Richard's previous donators, via their companies, have leased suites at the pending ballpark is not an issue. The simple argument could be made they are supporting the project. There is nothing illegal and additionally becomes mute.

A stand alone issue, regardless if it is Harrison Square or any other business the city has conducted, are conflicts of interest and/or preferential treatment. This could arise from having obtained information before it being made public or other potential bidders. Assisting, writing, or voting on an issue that provided one company with an undue advantage over others, when legally not necessary. Finally, anyone elected or appointed to a unit of government that promotes, discusses, or votes in a meeting that said person has a potential conflict of interest without proper disclosure or recuse themself is at least morally wrong, if not legally wrong.

I will defend any person, company, or political action committee the right to donate any amount of money they wish to a candidate's campaign while it conforms to the law. The mere action of donating to a given candidate does not, cannot, and should not take their right a way of the donators from attempting to do business with some government entity. If people do not like the law then it needs to be changed. Until then, "These are the rules the game is played by!"

In closing, I am not the sharpest tack in the box nor am I an attorney. It is just what I perceive as common sense in my simple mind.

Sam - Calling Sam, The Free Speech Man!

Fort Wayne City Councilman Sam Talarico, Jr. has decided to cross party lines and support Democrat Tom Henry for mayor. Interesting, but I will defend his right to do so until they toss the great Indiana clay onto my casket.

Republican Talarico has placed a "Republican For Henry" bumper sticker right in the middle, of the back, of his large S-U-V. He decided to place it where everyone WILL SEE IT! See, that is a right when you live in the United States of America.

Talarico said he had to think about the future for his three children over being loyal to the Republican Party. He believed his support of Henry would aid in his children having a better place to live. Great belief and there is no problem with it!

Here comes the famous "BUT"

Mr. Talarico is an attorney, who I would guess is considered darn good at what he does. Nowhere in his legal profile does it state he is a constitutional lawyer. He does not practice in the area of protecting the rights of the people, when dealing with our constitution.

Freedom of the speech is a well guarded right that our Supreme Court has ruled on many many many times. The courts have ruled that government cannot seize the right of freedom of speech because they happen not to like something.

Mr. Talarico, along with fellow attorney Councilman Tim Pape, could not resist stripping your right of free speech. However, that freedom would be fully restored if you are willing to pay for it. See, free speech does come at a price!

Mr. Talarico and Mr. Pape could have asked or required the City Attorney to get an opinion from the Indiana Attorney General before the passage of the sign ordinance. So simple, but just not enough time!

Read the exemptions that in the law they passed. Read sub part "B"

§ 99.026 EXEMPTIONS
The following are exempt from the provisions of this section:
A. Signs authorized through any federal or state statute;
B. Signs on otherwise Public Land placed by persons with authority to do so under encroachment agreements, waivers or licenses
authorized through the City’s Department of Public Works.

It simply means THE GOVERNMENT WILL DECIDE where you can place a sign, what that sign says, and how much you will pay for it. Right on Your Public Land!

The City also included text that they can grab signs, destroy them and not even have to tell you they did it. Gosh, is the United States or what? Then again if they grab a sign of some political person they don't like they can't be held accountable. Is this the American Way?

I cannot believe that Talarico believes this has a snowball's chance in ?ell of surviving a federal court challenge. My guess is, if the ACLU filed a suit the city would agree before trail to remove this from the law. Hence, the law they wasted hundreds on hours on discussing and so forth would become mute.

Mr. Talarico, tell me I am wrong and base it on fact. Have the city attorney find the court case that backs this law up, so people like me shut up. Tell me how the City of Fort Wayne can take a right from me but I can have it back if I pay someone and/or get permission from government.

I will be waiting, but not holding my breath!

This is the link to the new sign ordinance:
http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/images/stories/clerk/files/ordinances/Signs%20in%20Right-of-Way%20Ordinance.pdf

This Aalco is for you!

Frankly, I'm ticked off that some people in the Fort Wayne community that think they have some given right to abuse our system of government.

Aalco Distributor Company is the local beer distributor that has exclusive rights to sale certain brands of beer in this area. If you want, say Budwiser you will by it from Aalco. Period! No discussion or debate!

Ms. Deb Niezer is the Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer of Aalco Distributor here in Fort Wayne. She has held this position for some period of time.

Mr. Barney Niezer is the husband to Deb. His full time employment is with Parkview Hospital. He also serves on the Fort Wayne Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. He voted on numerous issues regarding the Harrison Square Project. All supporting the Mayor's position!

Mr. Niezer knew, or should have known, that Aalco would be the exclusive supplier of beer to the new ballpark if Hardball wants a selected brand. In fact, White Lodging has to purchase their Budwiser from Aalco. This also applies to select wines. They have no option under Indiana law! This formed Mr. Niezer's conflcit of interest.

The Niezer's own political donations show they have supported the current Mayor. This is totally legal and the donations are not questioned. The only thing of note, is that the chances are very good they will support the Mayor and his policies.

Aalco Distributors just inked a deal with Hardball Capitol that they would rent one of the suites at the new ballpark for several years to come. One has to wonder, would they have done that if a non Aalco beer was going to be sold?

Mr. Niezer has failed the citizens of Fort Wayne. I cannot say he broke the law but if he did not, then he seriously bruised it. My guess is he did!

What is sad, Mr. Niezer has now had his character questioned because of actions he took. Then again, his wife will be packing the dollar bills into the cash register!

On opening night go to the concession stand and buy yourself a $5 to $6 beer. Then, as you make your way back to the cheap seats glance up to the Aalco Suite. Give the Niezers a wave! They will wave and smile back as they know they just made a buck out of your pocket. Keep in mind, "IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!"

Harrison Square - Ripped Off By The Embassy

If someone tells me White Leasing Services (WLS) was driving force for the walkway through the Embassy (via the Indiana Hotel) I am going to laugh. It just does not add up to timing, need, or being a development stopper!

So who does it make a show stopper for? The Embassy, is the who!


It was sated this walkway request came as a shocker and that WLS demanded it at the last minute! A first year architect will tell you that getting into, and out of building is one of the first concerns with a new building design. WLS has a crack group of people who would have put the walkway out front if it had been an issue. It served them no good to hide or delay letting the city know it was a "deal breaker!"

Visit their site and see if you think this is a company that would miss a "show stopping" walkway? Would they risk the the entire deal over a walkway that would be nice, but in the real world, only add a frill?

http://www.whitelodging.com/



It looks like the Embassy has a shopping list of things they want to "allow" the walkway to be attached to their building. The list includes parking area for semi trailers, a second stairway in the Indiana Hotel, new elevator shafts, build storage rooms for the Embassy, add security and maintenance upkeep. These Embassy board claims they are only seeking something fair for use of run down portion of a building they have failed to use for twenty plus years. I don't think so!


LET THE FIRST SHOE DROP:


If the Embassy Internet site is correct the Board of Directors presents some interesting names and the connection to Harrison Square.

Jan Wilheim is the Board President and works at 1st Source Bank. Being the Embassy Board President and Harrison Square being built across the street, one would think she would be on top of the project. Apparently not!


Pat Murphy is the Board Vice President and works at Barrett & McNagny law firm. Barrett & McNagny does a great deal of legal work for the City of Fort Wayne. Again being a leader for the Embassy and Harrison Square being build across the street that Murphy would be on top of the project. Apparently not!

Keitha J. Wesner is a board member and appears to be married to Steve Wesner. Is this is the same Steve Wesner that works for Martin/Goldstine/Knapke real estate? The very real estate company trying to market parts of Harrison Square. In doing so they wold know what is going on and pass it on to his wife. I guess not!

NOW THE OTHER SHOE:

We have one Mr. Greg Leathermen. The name Leathermen should be known by most people within the redevelopment arena of Fort Wayne. He is the city's Director of Redevelopment. Oh, he is also the city's lead person on Harrison Square. Oh, I almost forgot, is he the same active member of The Embassy Board of Directors? Interesting!

Now what does The Embassy Board get?

Allowing for the connection to the Indiana Hotel the people attending the events at the Embassy will have a new closed passage way to additional enclosed parking. Which makes the Embassy more appealing to people to attend events when it is raining, snowing, or just plain cold.


The Embassy receives both elevators and a stairway to use as their own. Their Embassy patrons get to use the elevators from the first floor up to the walkway. They can also use the stairways, if they wish. The Embassy additionally gains nice new elevators to move items they wish to store on the upper floors.

The Embassy has a shortage of storage rooms. They currently use old run down rooms of the now empty Indiana Hotel for storage. Many of theses so called storage rooms have no working lights, electrical outlets, or HVAC.


The city is offering to build them new storage rooms with lights, outlets, and one would guess hooked to a decent heating and cooling system. Of course they would need to meet building code. Hardly any of the unused portion of the building comes close to meeting any code. The cost of this could skyrocket.

With the added feature of the city paying for the security for the walkway and part of the building will result in higher daily operational costs for Harrison Square. The Embassy gets a windfall of additional free security and free cleaning to parts of the building forever.


The Embassy has never had downtown parking for the semi trucks that bring in the gear for concerts and shows. The trucks would block part of Jefferson and unload. After unloading, the truck drivers would have to fine some lot to park.

The city is proposing to rip up a nice little park to the east of the Embassy building to provide them truck parking space. Of course the city will maintain the parking lot for them.

Now I am not the sharpest tack in the box, but I know when I am being had. This is MAJOR LEAGUE CON GAME, IN A MINOR LEAGUE CITY!

Piling On

This would have been an acceptable deal if was closer to 50-50. However, going behind the backs of the general public and piling on a project that is already a potential financial nightmare is wrong. I do not look at one of you, or your companies as good corporate citizens.

For the people from the Embassy to try to pull this on the very people, other foundations, and companies that have donated millions of dollars to you it is a shame!

Sex Offenders Get TV Time

I would like to thank Indiana News Center for their piece they did on the sex offenders living on Northcreat Drive. If it saves one child the reward is worth millions. You can click below to view the video report.

http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/9859226.html

I received an email a day or so after I published my post on the 6th of September. I told the concerned grandfather to take his concern to the media. If he did, and it worked, then that is great. If they did it because of someone else then that is great also. The thing is more people living near these offenders have been warned.

Redevelopment Commission Member Conflict - Possible

On Monday, the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission dealt with some funding issues regarding the Harrison Square project. Near the end of the meeting, Commission president Christopher Guerin issued a statement in response to Republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty who said he would review and audit all city commissions and boards and remove all conflicts of interest.


The following is Guerin's quote per Kathleen Quilligan, of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. You can link to the full article by clicking below;


http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070918/NEWS/709180318&SearchID=73293753611784


..."I think it's clear that Kelty's statement is meant to refer to the Redevelopment Commission, at least in part. … It's also clear that this statement implies impropriety if not corruption on the part of volunteers who work without compensation for the good of the city. I think Mr. Kelty owes this commission and all of the other appointed boards in this city, an apology."

People who accept the honor of being selected to a commission or board do so to execute their duties without any perceived or actual conflict of interest. They serve for the betterment of the entire group that they represent. Anything less would compromise that trust.

Commission President Christopher Guerin is employed by Sweetwater Sound and formally the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. It appears, he has no conflict of interest in carrying out his duties on the Redevelopment Commission. Likewise, local attorney David Wright and IUPU Professor Quinton Dixie appear to have no conflicts of interest regarding issues that come before the board.

Commission member Karen Goldner is employed by Fourth Wave for nearly four years. When she left her employment with the City Of Fort Wayne she was the Director of Economic Development. Currently she is running for the Fort Wayne City Council from the second district.

Commission member Steven McElhoe is employed by Tower Bank. He holds a position in the mortgage department. The question of possible conflict of interest can be raised in this case.

By his potion on the Redevelopment Commission McElhoe could well learn of pending redevelopment activities before it becomes general knowledge. This could allow him to advise others within Tower Bank with information that would give them a business advantage over competing banks.

Likewise, his vote on an issue before the commission could be questioned if the business coming before it has any business relationship with Tower Bank. Be it current or pending.

No one is accusing McElhoe of any wrong doing. It is by his very position with Tower Bank that a conflict could become a perception. By this perception, McElhoe's ability to do the very best for all of the people of Fort Wayne could be questioned.

Fort Wayne Sign Police - Get This Removed!

Here is one more sign for the SIGN POLICE to remove! We sure don't need these around. Councilman Crawford, don't you drive by this one several times a week? It is right across from Snider High School! Bring the tow truck.

OmniSource - Good Community Neighbors???

OmniSource is owned by Leonard Rifkin, Daniel Rifkin and other members of the Rifkin family. They, as group, own the 3rd largest privately held Indiana company with annual sales well exceeding $2 billion dollars a year. They should be commended for doing so well.

What can not be understood is the selling of original site of OmniSource on North Calhoun Street? They know that the site is contaminated with oils, other chemicals, and likely heavy metals. Now they wish to unload this property on the city and asking nearly top end price. They provided no discount to the very city that worked with them over the years as they grew their business and wealth.

The North River Task Force has several members that have direct ties to the Rifkin family. One has to wonder if this was by accident or design? Either way, it afforded a way of steering the entire group in pursuit of a desired goal. When areas of real concern where presented within the group, they where quickly danced around. In the end, the goal was reached that the future of Fort Wayne could not be made without buying this property.

Had the Rifkin family cleaned up the site and then donated it to the City of Fort Wayne many would look at this entire project a little differently. However, it appears the Rifkin family is seeking a way to unload a piece of contaminated useless property and make a big buck off doing so. The taxpayers of Fort Wayne will end cleaning up this site and spending millions of tax dollars to have it done.

The Rifkin family, in part, is the blame for the condition of the neighborhood to the immediate west of the old junkyard site. Those homes where nice middle class homes until the Rifkin family started expanding their operations on North Calhoun. Families fled from the dirt, dust, truck rumblings, operation's noise, and occasional fires to seek a more peaceful living.

The values of the homes fell as owners where faced with selling them for less value or turn them into apartments. While there was other businesses in the area, none of them played a more adverse roll on values of homes then OmniSource.

The Rifkin family has every right to do what they want with their wealth and property. Fort Wayne residents just do not have to think much of them as good community neighbors!

Sign Police - Here Is A Violation

When the Sign Police start ripping signs out here is one more they will get to remove. This one will be easy, as it sets right next to the Fort Wayne Fire Department station off of Spring Street.

Once again the City Council should think before they vote for something. Of course City Council has proven thinking is not required to vote on some issue!

Sticking Their Heads In The River Bottom - St. Mary's River

There are community leaders who want to say the Saint Mary's River is just fine to develop for recreational use and damn the facts! Some people may jump in a boat and take to the river when the water is above normal water level and say how great it is. Others may decide to paddle around part of the river in a canoe and say things are fine. They are wrong and risk the very health of the people of Fort Wayne by encouraging them to use the river.

Let them prove me wrong by hiring an outside testing lab to take samples of the Saint Mary's River at the Ohio line, US 27 north of Decatur, Baer Field Thruway, Foster Park, and at Clinton Street. Six sampling points is all that is needed. To keep the costs low they can have the samples only checked for E-Coli. Forget the heavy metals and other chemicals that may be in the water.

Better yet, if Mayor Richards is the leader he claims to be, he would have the people from the water treatment plant conduct the test. It would require less then a day for a person to run all the samples. I ask them to prove me wrong, shut me up, and knock me off the soapbox!

The results will come back this water is not safe to be in. By EPA standards people should avoid contact with this water. It will not even be a borderline call!

A fellow local blogger took to the Saint Mary's this past Saturday. Mitch Harper, of the Fort Wayne Observed posted both photos and text on his trip. You can check it out by clicking below:

http://indiana.typepad.com/fwob/2007/09/impassable.html#comments

Harper complained about the log jam at the Clinton Street bridge. He wrote about the water flow being impeded by a log jam, that spans the entire width of the river. Then mentioned the smell of the river when they approached the log jam.

The log jam is to be removed in the next few weeks by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). When they looked at the problem a couple of weeks ago the river was only partially blocked by the log jam. In the mean time more trees have floated into the pile and hung up.

Harper smelled the sewage and the other chemicals in the water. It is more pronounced at the log jam because of the evaporation process. As the water drops, the trees that have soaked up the river water start drying out. The water evaporates and the remaining vapor gases are that of sewage. Yes, it will smell nearly like what one would guess a dead animal smells like as it rots in the open.

I beg the Mayor, or local newspapers, or local TV stations, or anyone else who feel the Saint Mary's River is safe for recreational use is to prove me wrong. Show that you care and want to reassure the public of how safe the river is!

My guess is they will stick their heads in the river bottom!

Angry White Boy Got Conned

AWB got tested and he proved himself to be self serving and a WANNABE. I have not found one Republican who supports him or even wants his support. One commented, "With friends like him, why would I need Democrats running!"

Check out his post and read the my posted comments:
http://www.angrywhiteboy.org/index.php/2007/09/15/a-peek-into-henrys-campaign-contributions/#comments

I decided I would test him myself to see if he was for the better good. He opened the door and I sent off a piece of information he was looking for. Then I followed up with a question, several hours later, in providing me some information he may have. However, to respond on the quiet side. So what does he go and do? He posts both comments to the public.

The thing I ask him for was for the Henry financial report on donations. Unknown to him, I already had a copy! I had gone in and obtained it from the Election Board.

I guess the difference between him and me is pretty simple. I want the best for the area. I am a middle of the road Republican. I travel unknown, as I seek no fame, be it good or bad.

SIGN POLICE Assigned & Grab Sign

Read the entire story about our new SIGN POLICE. The ending twist is real!

Mayor Richards (D) appointed himself as the new Chief of Fort Wayne Sign Police. He made the following appointments and assignments, noting they where nonpolitical in an effort to make sure the law was enforced equally. The department would have one Assistant Chief, two Lieutenants, and four Patrol Officers.

Assistant Chief - Don Schmidt (R)

Lieutenant - John Crawford (R)
Patrol Officers - Tom Smith (R) and Sam Talarico (R)

Lieutenant - Tom Hayhurst (D)
Parole Officers - Glynn Hines (D) and Tim Pape (D)

The briefing, before the media, continued with the Mayor showing off the new and fully equipped Sign Police cars. The department was able to save money by leasing these cars under the REAL POLICE master lease agreement. He noted the cars cost the city about $21,000 each and required $12,000 in special equipment. The total cost was a little over $220,000. The salaries would total about $324,000, not including fringes. He continued, he was not accepting a car or salary as he was already provided such, by being Mayor.

A local member of the media asked the Mayor had the city set up a support department to process all the reports, tickets issued, and fines collected for sign violations. The Mayor said, they had and it was being covered by the Jefferson Pointe TIF funds.

As the briefing was winding down an unknown lady handed the Mayor a paper. The Mayor looked at it and smiled. He walked back to the mike and said, "Ladies and gentlemen we have our first complaint!"

He requested Assistant Chief Schmidt to assign this complaint to Lieutenant Crawford. His reasoning was he did not want to show any political favoritism by assigning it to fellow Democrat Lieutenant Hayhurst.

The Mayor handed the complaint to Assistant Chief Schmidt, who had already heard what the Mayor had stated on how to handel this complaint. Schmidt read it over and nodded his head.

Schmidt handed the paper to Lt. Crawford. Crawford, slowly read it over. He looked to the sky, as if in deep thought. He pulled a map from his back pocket and retrieved some color markers from his briefcase. He drew some lines on the map and then looked up with a smile.

Lt. Crawford walked over to table where his two assigned officers where setting. He laid the map on the table and pulled out his pointer. He pointed the direction he believed the two patrol officers should take to the scene of this serious breech of local law.

Officers Smith and Talarico followed along with Lt. Crawford's presentation. They nodded their heads in understanding. They stood up in their smart new uniforms with the bright little "Sign Police" badges reflecting the lights of the room.

Smith and Talarico walked toward the door as Lt. Crawford asked them, "Is it OK the media tag along in their cars? It sure will send a message to the local criminals. We are not messing around!" Both officers nodded that they where alright with the request.

The two officers went to their cars and waited until the media had lined up behind them. There was WPTA, WANE, and five unmarked cars. In the unmarked cars their where radio reporters, writers, and photographers for the two local papers. The group headed out from the basement of City-County Building. When they got to the top of the ramp Officers Smith and Talarico flipped on their overhead lights. Immediately, traffic came to a stop and the procession of cars moved out onto Calhoun Street.

They headed south and then turned onto Main Street. With lights flashing they headed west for a short distance. They made a U-turn at an intersection so they would be on the south side of the street. Officers Smith and Talarico positioned their cars far enough up the street so the procession of cars could all park on Main St.

The two officers exited their cars and started looking for the illegal signs that was reportly violating community standards. Nearly everyday these two officers had walked this part of Main Street and never had seen the violation.

One of the local TV media people walked up to Officer Smith, whispered in his ear and pointed down the street about twenty feet. Officer Smith looked in that direction and then motioned for Officer Talarico to look that way.

They talked to each other in a quiet level before Officer Talarico reached up to his label mike and called for a tow truck. He requested a "incident number" from the 911 dispatcher and was given one. The dispatcher radioed back that it would be about 10 minutes before the tow truck would be there.

While waiting on the tow truck the two talked to the local media. They told them several times that the Chief and Assistant Chief of the Sign Police had made it very clear that everyone was going to be treated the same. Political, church, or commercial signs where all going to go if they violated the law. Everyone was going to be treated as equals!

Officer Smith pulled a bright new report from his car and started filling it out. He wrote down the address of its location and who the signs may belong to. As part of the investigation they went into one store and talked to a young cook. They where informed by the cook, the signs had been there since he started working there, six or seven months.

About this time, a shorter gentleman came walking up to nearby business, unlocked the door and went in. The officers followed in and ask the man if he knew how long the signs had been out front. The man said they showed up three days after he had moved in years ago. He went on and said people using his building never complained about the signs. The officers told him that it made no difference. The law was the law!

About this time the tow truck showed up. He flipped on his lights to warn traffic and jumped from the truck. He looked around, went up to the officers and told them his truck could lift up the signs but he would need a flatbed to carry them. They told him to get a flatbed there ASAP. He called his company and they told him one would be there in about five minutes.

While waiting on the flatbed, all the media where talking into microphones for video reports, taking photographs, taking notes, and the rest where on their cell phones breaking the news to their radio station. By now traffic had nearly come to a halt on Main Street and people where slowing down. There had been nearly three wrecks from people trying to see what was going on.

Finally the flatbed truck arrived and within about ten minutes the signs had been moved to the flatbed. They where secured to the flatbed with chains for safe transportation. The driver quickly pulled away and the signs where on their way to city property on Wallace Street. They would be destroyed by officials and a $25 violation ticket would be sent to the owners.

Officers Smith and Talarico said goodbye to all the media and returned to their cars. They called the 911 dispatcher and reported they where available for their next call. The streets of Fort Wayne where now cleaner and free from the trash of unwanted signs. The city could sleep better tonight!

Here is a picture taken on September 15, 2007, a little after noon. It clearly shows the sign violation.

If you have not figured this out it is right outside the door to the Allen County Republican Headquarters. Where four members of the SIGN POLICE visit weekly. See based on their law the newspaper boxes promote a company (N-S, The Journal, USA Today) and they are gone!!!! Of course Fort Wayne has had a law for scores of years you could not block a sidewalk but no one knew how to enforce it. Thank goodness we have the Sign Police

Paddle Fort Wayne's Cesspool

I am so livid right now. I want to scream. I want to go downtown and yell at the Mayor. I want to find whoever thinks they are in charge of Economic Development and fire them. I want to tell both Mayoral candidates they have no clue what they are talking about either. Yes, I am damn mad!

I was greeted with the "USE THE RIVER" headline on the front of today's News-Sentinel. If you have not read the article about the upstart company called Fort Wayne Outfitters and Bike Depot then click below. Go, read the story and then come on back.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070914/NEWS/709140327

I am sure owners Matt and Sara Machall, Cara and Tim Hall, and Will Rollings have put a ton of money into their business. The pre 1900 Cass Street Depot looks great. The chances are they had a good business plan and received help from all the great departments within from the City.

The question is, did they tell the city they figured on renting kayaks and canoes to be used on the Saint Mary's? My guess is they did, and even discussed with the city the clearing of a path down the bank to reach the river.

It is no secret that the Saint Mary's river is packed with the highest e-coli level of any river in Northeast Indiana. The e-coli can give you a sore throat, or upset your tummy, or put you in the hospital. Get dumped out of a canoe and you are asking for trouble. Accidentally swallow a mouthful of the stuff and you have improved your odds greatly of getting real ill. An open sore and you may be seeing your doctor in the next four to eight days.

So you ask how bad is the water? Try 20 times higher then the maximum level for full water contact swimming per Purdue. By EPA standards it is ten times higher then contact levels should be.

I am sure your are asking just where did I get my information and how old is it? Two good questions and I can direct you to one place for the answers. Try the city of Fort Wayne's own web site..... Check the date of the most recent report and what the CITY OF FORT WAYNE says is a safe level.....

http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=352&Itemid=451

The Purdue Report Is At: https://engineering.purdue.edu/SafeWater/watershed/ecoli.html#safe

Richards, Henry, Kelty, and the rest of you falling all over yourselves on promoting our rivers. Clean them up enough so they are safe to be near, then develop them.


I still don't feel any better!

Running For Mayor - Not

1- City would turn over police/fire dispatch to the Sheriff, provided the following was met:

A- City-County HR representatives would survey other similar dispatch centers, with similar traffic load, regarding pay and fringe benefits. With the adjustment for the cost of living the establishment for the pay for the dispatching department would be set. However, the pay and fringe benefits could not be lowered from what is being paid by Allen County.

B- Any reduction of supervisors within the dispatch center would have to be done based on a fair evaluation. This may require the hiring of an outside firm to make sure the best person remained a supervisor. Any reduction in head count would be based purely on skill level.

C- Annually Fort Wayne Police Chief and the Sheriff would be required to report to joint meeting with Allen County Commissioners and the City Council.


The reasoning is simple on many fronts. Everyone in Allen County pays for the operation of the Sheriff dispatch center. Every voter in Allen County votes for the Sheriff. All county voters vote for the Commissioners.

With one dispatch center the manpower, equipment and technology can be best used. If a terrorist attack comes, a manufacturing plant explodes, or a tanker truck blows up the citizens could careless where the aid comes from, time is the only factor.

If a Fort Wayne Police Officer or Allen County Deputy Sheriff gets shot or has a problem with criminal there should not be even a ten second delay in getting them help. The glass wall between the city and county dispatch centers should not be a reason an officer to die.


2- Economic Development

A- Only full time members of this department would be appointed to any other economic boards within the county, region, or state.

B- An employee would be assigned to verify companies receiving tax incentives for equipment, buildings, and employees. This would be done twice annually by CPA certified statements, prepared at the companies cost, to be delivered to the city.

C- Annually, the verifying person would make site visits to review pertinent data to make sure the company is still in compliance.

D- Adjust taxes due for companies failing to meet what they agreed to when receiving the tax incentives.

E- Seek out the top Economic Development person in the country. Pay them a fair price for their talent but provide them with financial incentives for bringing new companies to Fort Wayne. Incentives would be based on number of employees, annual payroll, tax dollars generated, and the number of local residents are employed. The employed residents would be based on percentage of total payroll.

3- Public Safety

A- All patrol sergeants would carry tassers.

B- All undercover agents would be equipped with the new personal tassers that are available.

C- Seek corporate support to expand the PAL program.

D- Hire a full time psychiatrist to work with officers and be part of the swat team.

E- Teach all patrol officers how to recover fingerprints. Equip each patrol officer with the equipment to perform such.

F- School resource officers would seek to learn the identify of people hosting underage drinking parties and have the police raid such parties.

G- Have an existing Deputy Chief to include reviewing with the Allen County Prosecutor office all felony cases where charges where reduced or plea bargained down.

H- Train and with working exercises, volunteer civilians to perform search operations for missing or lost people. A small group of these trained volunteers would be assigned to an officer so a large area could be quickly searched. An example would be having six volunteers to each officer. Say there was five officers assigned to the search. It would result in 30 people carrying out an organized controlled search.

I- If Indiana law allows, have the city issue claims against people and their insurance companies for services the city extends if the person is the cause of accident on a locally controlled street. This would apply only to people living outside the city limits of Fort Wayne.


4- 311 Service

A- Continue to expand it

B- Develop FAQ that the various departments face daily and to compile the information into a computer database. It would allow call takers to provide much of information to the public without forwarding the call to the department. This database would also be available to the public via the Internet.

5- General

A- During the first year have every person in city government write there own job description based on what they actually do. This could lead to reduction in the need of temporary/part time help. People could be moved from one department to another during sick leave, vacations, or work overload.

B- Review standardizing software used by the various departments. Curtailing the use of software that requires update contracts be part of the purchase agreement. Hire an Information Technology officer that would oversee all computer software, hardware, and networking within city government. This would lead to standardization, lower cost of hardware, and the need of custom software.

C- Review the use of outside consultants. It appears nearly any task the city undertakes it hires outside consultants. If the city needs to add some professional people to city payroll to save over paying outside consultants then it needs to be done. If outside consultants are needed, then companies based in Fort Wayne and the work will be done by Fort Wayne residents should be allowed to be over the minimum bid by some percentage.

D- If Fort Wayne is going to extend sewer and water service to a new development, the developer will need to have the area annexed before the development receives the utilities. The effective day of the annexation could be set for five years or so down the road.

E- The City look into including in any new contract with other cities or towns the service cost equal to what other large private commercial customer pays. New contracts would need to provide the city to recover all capitol costs if the contract is terminated before said costs are recovered.

F- Form a drug and gang task force of officers. They would work with effected local community leaders. Both sides would learn from one another and help in cleaning up our community. Twice a year the Mayor would meet with these two groups.

Of course I am not running for Mayor.

Sign Police - Bring Your Tow Truck - Update

In an EFFORT to help our great City Leaders, which includes Mayor Richard's and Council person John Crawford, this site is going to prepare a list of signs that should be removed by the SIGN POLICE. At some date in the future the list will be hand delivered to city officials for them to have said signs removed.

The SIGN POLICE will need to call out some heavy wreckers to remove the signs on this list. The SIGN POLICE will also have to worry about getting electrocuted, as there is electricity running to some of these signs. But if they are illegal they are going to be removed when found.

In five minutes of driving four subdivision signs where found to be directly located under power lines which makes then clearly in the utility right-a-way. The fifth was a bank's illumined sign planted right under the utility power lines.

There are bus huts that set on public right-a-way. The city receives payment from the hut owners for allowing them to use the right-a-way. The hut owner then in turn sale advertising space on the walls of the hut.

Is the city controlling the rights of others, to their freedom of free speech? If you are willing to pay money, you can use the city right-a-way to express your thoughts. If not, your freedom of speech is hence cancelled!

Please someone call the ACLU!

The SIGN POLICE will be working overtime and the tax payers will get to pay for it.