This week marked the first week of school for students at IPS’ John Marshall Middle School on the city’s east side. Unfortunately some parents forgot; about half of them. Out of about 800 students, nearly half of them have not shown up for class.
Lawrence Township Trustee Mike Hobbes is announcing today that his office will withhold poor relief for any family whose children have not attended school. I like the idea, why should the taxpayers fork over their hard earned money so a bunch of people can sit around and watch television all day?
But the fact that these children are missing school is symptomatic of a bigger problem.
Part of the reason we have a crime problem is because the only people who don’t seem to think it’s a problem are the people most impacted by it. They don’t cooperate with the police, they don’t send their kids to school, but somehow a good chunk of them have found the route to the public troth.
I’m not saying build a fence and leave them to their own devices, but until the people in these crime-ridden communities decide that they’ve had enough, crime will never get under control.
Although the headlines have been pretty full lately, there are some things that have been under the surface that I think are worth mentioning.
If you were wondering how a prominent pastor’s daughter ended up being a victim of violent crime, my police sources say her husband was allegedly mixed up with some bad actors and the motive for the killing was to send him a message.
If you were wondering how police caught the guy who allegedly shot a TV photographer and and a freelance photographer at a house fire last week, it’s easy. They traced the bullet and found the shot came directly from the man’s home.
If you were wondering what the vote total was that got Gabrielle Campo her party’s nomination to take on Andre Carson it was Campo - 40, Patrick O’Connor - 18, Ray Irwin - 15, Kevin Green - 2.
And if you were wondering why the second Saturday night of Indiana Black Expo had fewer problems than last year, in addition to good police work and faith-based patrols, here’s another one, $4 gas.
I now have a new tradition. The second Saturday night of Indiana Black Expo, I work the door at Nicki Blaine’s Cigar and Martini bar.
I do it to get a feel for the atmosphere and to see what problems occur when thousands of teenagers are unleashed on downtown Indianapolis and what the impact would be. I was pretty harsh in my critique last year, this year was a little different.
First of all, every IMPD officer who worked the event deserves a giant raise in pay. They kept the pedestrian traffic moving, which I think went a long way to keeping the silliness down to a bear minimum. There were some arrests for curfew violation. But there were no shots fired last night to the best of my knowledge and I was out until 2 a.m. Also with the way this week has gone, IMPD exercised great restraint and managed to keep a good sense of humor about the whole evening.
The worst criminal offense I saw was a person (an adult) picked up for weapons possession. There was one incident I saw where a cop told an 11-12 year-old to keep moving and the 4?8” kid tried to get in the 6?4” officer’s face. His little friends held him back and took him away. The Officer just gave the kid that “you are not worth the paperwork of me smacking you so get somewhere!” look.
Now with that said, I do think Expo should do a seminar for teenage girls about self-respect. I saw a lot of girls wearing clothes too sizes too small. I have seen more loin cloth on Indonesian tribal garb. There is no way my 14-year old daughter would be allowed to leave the house looking like she worked in a Vietnamese brothel. But apparently, somebody did. Either that, or the kids left the house with a change of clothes. What’s even worse were how the more “full-figured” gals looked like two pounds of rump roast in a one-pound bag. I agree last night was warm, but walking around half-naked was not the right way to beat the heat.
I think Expo officially has a new mission next year. It’s to end the “clothing optional” portion of that second Saturday night.
I woke up this morning with a few thoughts on my mind, most of them were random but there was one that stuck out with me.
I was thinking how nice it would be if as many people in this town got as worked up over the murder rate as they do free tickets to tour a stadium that leaks.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson had some strong words for incumbent Governor Mitch Daniels and his fellow Republicans.
Shortly after speaking to a Veterans group on Saturday, Thompson said Indiana needs to do more for veterans in the areas of education and health care. She also attacked Governor Mitch Daniels, saying that during his time with the Bush administration the Governor oversaw the privatization of Walter Reed which she says was responsible for the hospitals many problems.
In addition, she equated Indiana’s Voter ID law with Communist nations forcing their citzens to carry idenitfication. She said citizens should not have to carry a government-issued ID in order to vote. She said citizens should be able to use a utility bill or credit card in statement to vote.
JLT says she will roll out more specifics as the campaign moves forward. She also told me her campaign met its fundraising goal. Those numbers are slated to be released later this week.
She also dismissed a poll showing Daniels with a double-digit lead; pointing to polls that show a much tighter race.
As I observed yesterday’s prayer vigil for IMPD Officer Jason Fishburn, I noticed the elected officials. I saw the Mayor, City-County Council members Paul Bateman, Susie Day and Ben Hunter. I even saw State Representative David Orentlichter.
I will admit that in the crowd of hundreds I might have missed a few. But I didn’t see a lot of other people, particularly the ones who spend a lot of time talking.
It would have been nice if some of the people who purport to be leaders of this community would have showed up.
Maybe they had other commitments or were out of town or just couldn’t be bothered.
Jesse Jackson has done it again. While waiting to be interviewed on the Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” Jackson said made some rather derogatory remarks about Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama.
On Sunday, Jackson accused Obama of “talkng down to Black people” and said (watch out for tough language here) “I want to cut his nuts off.” He made these comments off air, but the microphone was on.
Jackson apologized for his remarks, but there is a bigger picture here.
First, he will be here in Indianapolis today. He’s may stop and speak at a youth non-violence rally at noon at City Market and later this evening at “Light of the World Church.” It’s a little ironic that you will be preaching non-violence shortly after saying you want to cut off someone’s manhood.
Secondly, and more importantly, Jackson is typical of a civil rights leadership that has outlived its usefulness. Jackson, Shaprton and the rest of their lot need to go retire to the old civil rights activists’ home. 2008 is not 1968.
In the 21st Century the old civil rights struggle has given way to economic empowerment and personal responsibility. Jackson and his ilk can’t quite seem to grasp that concept. To make matters worse, they denegrate the new breed of Blacks who don’t play the race card at every other turn and actually try to get ahead based on merit.
We are accused of “not being true to the struggle” or “forgetting where we came from.” My personal favorite attack line is “you been hanging around white folks too long!” Meanwhile, Jackson and his ilk continue to line their pockets by exploiting every opportunity to make white people and corporations feel guility about things they had nothing to do with.
Black folks are never going to move forward as long as these guys continue to try to drive the bus. Times have changed. Maybe the Jackson-Sharpton maffia should go sit in the back for a while.
For those of you who dislike me, you may dispense with the “Uncle Toms” now.
Last year more than 400 people showed up to protest their property taxes in front of the Governor’s residence on north Meridian. This year it was 50.
Some of the organizers blame the weather. I think the climate had something to do with it, but not the one outside. I think for some people what the state legislature did was enough for them to believe the problem was solved.
But for others, I think the revolution has changed. Instead of protesting with signs, the masses are protesting with their pens and appealing their tax bills, much to the detriment of the Marion County Assessor’s office.
However the greatest “shot” in the revolution may have yet to be fired. I’m hearing because of the assessments were so out of whack, including the reassessments, that there is a class action litigation out there just waiting to be filed.
I’m of the mindset that paper is a much more effective weapon than a placard.
There is another story of another IMPD officer getting in story. This story is on the heals of another IMPD officer who got in trouble and three other IMPD officers who got in trouble. And they are not to be confused with the former Public Safety Advisor turned Marion County Sheriff employee who is also in trouble.
While it is important to know that these handful of bad apples are not representative of the other 2,000 or so men and women of law enforcement who go to work everyday to protect us and keep our streets safe, they do give cops a bad name. Of course it doesn’t help that all this bad news comes at one time.
While the officers are ultimately responsible for their actions, you can’t ignore another individual who also bears some responsibility for this, Sheriff Frank Anderson. When Anderson ran IMPD, the department ended its polygraph practices, which some top officials in the department tell me could have been a deterrent to some of this behavior. Anderson was also in charge when another one of these officers was reportedly kicked out of the Police Academy and rehired under IMPD. And it was Anderson who hired Jerry McCorry.
It was Anderson’s leadership that set the atomosphere that allowed this type of bahavior to grow and now Mayor Greg Ballard is cleaning up his mess and cleansing the air he left behind.
I’ve been spending some time going over the recent lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Indiana over the state’s Voter ID law. Although the law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the League argues it violates the State Constitution.
The League says Voter ID violates Article 2, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution which reads in part…
A citizen of the United States who is at least eighteen (18) years of age and who has been a resident of a precinct thirty (30) days immediately preceding an election may vote in that precinct at the election.
By imposing a voter show ID, the League says the Legislature is adding an additional qualification to voting not listed in the Constitution and therefore it should be thrown out. I agree, the Voter ID law does violate the Constitution, but not in the way the League says it does.
The Constitution says to be qualified to vote you need to meet the age, citizenship and residency requirements. However, under Indiana law all your ID has to show is your photo, name (which does not have to be identical) an expiration date and be issued by the State of Indiana or the federal government. It does not have to show your age or your address. So if the government is going to ask you for your ID in order to vote, shouldn’t the ID have to show your age, residency and proof of citizenship?
States have always had the power to regulate the time, place and manner of their elections and as long as they don’t do it in a discriminatory manner, they are usually free to do as they please. So I argue the Voter ID law should be changed to meet the standards outlined in the Constitution.
And by the way, there is an interesting bit of irony in the League’s Voter ID lawsuit. The League cites the case of Board of Election Commissioners of City of Indianapolis v. Knight to make it’s point that any modification of voting not consistent with the Constitution is illegal. Well guess what, the point of the case was to deny women the right to vote.
Indiana had passed the Partial Suffrage Act in 1917 in order to give women the right to vote for non-constitutional created offices. However, a suit was filed to throw the law out, saying the constitution did not grant women the right to vote and the State did not have the power to give women the right to vote without amending the Constitution.
I think its rather odd that the League of Women Voters would try to advance the cause of voting by using a case that was used to deny women the right to vote.
