Another Gun Story Rebuttal
There was a gun-related article in last week’s News-Sentinel that I wanted to respond to - it was about the dreaded AK-47 and its impact here in Fort Wayne. As typical with any gun article there were a few inaccuracies. Let’s start from the beginning:
The bullets that tore into him March 31 as he pumped gas were the extremely powerful 7.62 x 39 mm slugs from an AK-47-style semiautomatic rifle.
First the 7.62×39 describes the cartridge and not the “slug”. Next, just because it was a 7.62×39 cartridge doesn’t mean it came from an AK-47 as the SKS fires the same round and is half the cost of an AK-47. And guess what else? The SKS wasn’t subject to the original Assault Weapons Ban.
Don’t forget that more people are killed with knives every year than assault rifles, but let’s just continue with more odd quotes from the article:
Movin On Up
I read Kevin Leininger’s piece in today’s News-Sentinel about One Resource Group Corp’s decision to move out of downtown and build a new headquarters by General Motors. Now I think it’s fantastic that a local business is expanding and investing in the community. But if I were an employee I would see their rational for the move as a little odd:
“We’re on three floors in the Murphy Building (at 809 S. Calhoun St.), and we’re just out of space,” said Todd Stewart, president and co-owner of One Resource Group Corp., who said his firm was unable to find a larger suitable space downtown, despite two years of searching.
Change Ft Wayne found them a larger site for half the cost in no time flat. Of course that’s a little simplistic as I’m sure they already saw that site and/or contacted the Downtown Improvement District for help. Each company has their own unique set of needs but I’m surprised they couldn’t find anything to suit them in all of downtown.
To each their own I suppose but I don’t think I’d be very happy if I worked for them and they decided to move out into the middle of nowhere. Gone is central location and ambiance of downtown - hello industrial park! The company brought up the old parking conundrum as well:
In addition to the new site’s proximity to major highways, it will offer one benefit scarce in downtown Fort Wayne: plenty of room for free parking. “We pay for parking for our employees, and it got to a point where we had to draw the line,” Stewart said.
First off, I want to point out that there’s no such thing as “free parking”. You have to buy the land, develop and maintain it and there’s a significant cost associated with that. Parking downtown ranges from $32-$98/month. If I were an employee I might want to consider how my commute cost might increase versus the benefit of “free parking”. I know several people that work in the downtown area, including myself, and I doubt any of them would want to trade their current locale for a “fun” industrial park site.
But like I said, to each their own…
State Law Declares County Responsible For Bridge Maintenance
The county council and commissioners are trying to abdicate their century old responsibility for maintaining bridges in this county by pawning it off on the city. They claim that since they no longer have a cumulative bridge fund, they are no longer responsible for bridge maintenance. But what does state law actually say:
IC 8-16-3-1:
in those counties in which a cumulative bridge fund has been established, the county executive is responsible for providing funds for all bridges, including those in municipalities, within the counties except those bridges on the state highway system.
It doesn’t say exists it says established. The county clearly established a cumulative bridge fund and there’s nothing in that code section that says they are not responsible if they rescind the levy. The city should not be held responsible for the county’s shortsightedness. If they don’t have enough money to pay for bridges (although they seem to have a cool $25 million for the Maplecrest Extension bond) then they can reinstate the cumulative bridge fund…
2nd Amendment Ruled Individual Right, DC Ban Unconstitutional
The Constitution scored a rare victory today when the Supreme Court upheld the “individual right” view of the 2nd amendment and declared the Washington DC ban on handguns unconstitutional. The court however did leave many loose ends involving what constitutes legal regulation which will undoubtedly keep lawyers busy for a generation.
I think I’ll celebrate this historic day by going to the rifle range this weekend. But first I’ll read through the Supreme Court’s majority opinion and post what I think are the most relevant parts:
The Fleecing of Allen County Taxpayers
There are two issues coming from county government that simply don’t add up. First county government has so much money in their major bridge fund that they can afford to squander it on the wasteful $55 million Maplecrest Extension. Why do they have this surplus in the first place? This is our money and if they don’t need it for major bridges then they should give it back. Just like the Jefferson Pointe TIF in the city, the Major Bridge Fund has become the county’s own slush fund.
Second, the county wants you to believe they simply cannot afford to pay for small bridge maintenance any longer despite having that responsibility for over 100 years. Their short-sighted decision to eliminate the cumulative bridge fund a few years back has directly caused this “shortfall” - do you honestly think we won’t be back in this position 10 years from now talking about the Major bridge Fund shortfall due to the Maplecrest Extension?
Having a large enough surplus in one fund to pay for a $25 million bond while having zero money to pay for bridge maintenance just shows you how poor the financial planning has been at the county level…
Complaint Filed Against FWCS For Wrongly Identifying Man As Sex Offender
Dan Jehl’s article in the current Frost Illustrated discusses a complaint filed with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission against Fort Wayne Community Schools by José R. Luera. Luera was the victim of identity theft and to make matters worse for him the thief turned out to be a registered sex offender. He was cleared by Allen County Sheriff’s Department but before that he was banned from Indian Village where his daughters go to school.
The crux of the complaint seems to stem from the allegation that even after he was cleared the school district still treated him differently than everyone else. A list of his grievances are given in the article:
The family’s formal complaint contends that despite the apology, discriminatory treatment by the school occurred against his entire family during the 2007-08 school year—months after the school’s apology.
Luera described some instances. One was a request to meet with the school’s evaluator of special needs children to discuss his special needs daughter. Luera said that the principal refused his request.
“I’ve been bullied by the principal, and even prohibited from picking up my special needs daughter,” he said.
Rose Luera recounted picking up her children and added, “The principal would make us stay out and arrange for an escort.”
The Lueras described these specific charges. The formal complaint includes most of them.
- Being told by the principal that the parents need to “make arrangements” to visit their children’s teachers while other parents did not;
- Being “escorted’ in and out of the school when visiting teachers or picking up the children who were waiting inside;
- Not being allowed to have lunch on Fridays with their children in the school cafeteria, despite doing so in the past and others doing so;
- Not taking appropriate steps when the daughters told their teachers and the principal they were “scared” at school because their fellow students were saying “bad things about my dad being a sex offender;”
- Not offering counseling to the children, sensitivity training for the teachers and damage control efforts for staff, teachers and students.
The remedies sought in the complaint are:
- “Justification” from FWCS on why the ban was imposed;
- Payment for family medical bills incurred for health issues relating to the alleged mistreatment, and
- A formal statement that the family will be treated the same as all other families.
Boondoggle Extension & The Failure of Traditional Media
It’s days like today that make the few-and-far-between victories so sweet. We have a long way to go in this community - the citizenry are still ignored by those elected to power. The Maplecrest Extension project has been fast-tracked from day one to avoid a referendum. Any person that tells you otherwise is a liar - period. Is there anyone out there that really believes that today’s vote, less than one week from the deadline, was coincidence?
Now the county commissioners claim that a referendum wouldn’t be required anyway because they are paying for it with TIF funds. I disagree with this due to the fact that the bond will certainly be backed by property taxes even if they claim the TIF will pay for it. Either way, they aren’t taking any chances by getting it approved before the deadline are they?
But here’s the truly sad part. Not a damn one of our local media ever pressed the commissioners on this - not one. Is this not news? Is the only news fit to print what gets spoon fed to them via press releases and talking points? Did anyone challenge them on this issue? What about challenging the facts behind the bogus economic impact study? Nothing. Traditional media, especially the JG, has become a propaganda outlet for the establishment.
Establishment can be the government, or entrenched developers or other political operatives. They always get the benefit of the doubt while the masses and the outspoken citizenry are marginalized and mainly ignored. This isn’t the so-called “liberal bias” - it’s apolitical. What you read in the papers and watch on television simply promotes the establishment agenda.
There’s two problems really - first the traditional media interviews the proactive politicians/developers and doesn’t come close to giving equal time to dissenters. Second, the traditional media requires access to those they cover and upsetting these entrenched powers hinders their ability to do their job - or at least the cushy way they’re used to doing it. That’s really why bloggers are effective - we’re giving a voice to those in the community that have been kept outside the “inner circle” for years.
Yes today’s vote was disappointing on many levels but we have to continue to fight the good fight and challenge those in power. When the traditional media fails to properly inform the citizenry then we must pick up the slack. I will do whatever I can to get this thing sent to a referendum. I have not been able to keep up my usual level of citizen oversight lately but there will come a day in the near future when that will change. And when that day arrives there will be a whirlwind of investigations, public information requests, etc. If local government wants to play these games then I will be forced to meet their tenacity.
Mr Nice Blogger will be going away soon enough…
Boondoggle Road Slips In Before Referendum
$55 million Maplecrest extension approved ( News-Sentinel)
“Less than a week after a majority of members expressed serious doubts about the project, Allen County Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the extension of Maplecrest Road from Lake Avenue south to Adams Center Road
The 6-1 vote in favor of a $25 million construction bond should allow work on the 1.5-mile, $55 million project to begin next year, said County Commissioner Nelson Peters, acknowledging that “we worked hard to sell the project.””
Mark GiaQuinta’s Behavior Labeled “Unprofessional” & “Slanderous”
Sunday the JG had a piece on outgoing FWCS board member Carol Coen’s career. At the end there was a quote from board president Mark GiaQuinta that made me chuckle:
“Seven Mark GiaQuintas on the Fort Wayne Community Schools board would be a recipe for disaster,” GiaQuinta said.
Hey, he said it. Soon after, I read Democratic county treasurer nominee, and Wayne Township Advisory Board member, Maria Parra’s (via FWoB) post on GiaQuinta’s unprofessional behavior at the last meeting:
The denigrating comments from Mark Giaquinta were unprofessional, uncalled for and slanderous. He is attempting to intimidate me and paint me as incompetent to discredit any financial analysis conducted by me to inform the board and ultimately the taxpayers of Wayne Township. What is the Trustee and Mark Giaquinta hiding that would require browbeating a woman trying to do her job?
The denigrating comments from Mark Giaquinta were unprofessional, uncalled for and slanderous. He is attempting to intimidate me and paint me as incompetent to discredit any financial analysis conducted by me to inform the board and ultimately the taxpayers of Wayne Township. What is the Trustee and Mark Giaquinta hiding that would require browbeating a woman trying to do her job?
Hey, she said it…
Sylvia Smith’s First Amendment Fallacy
The JG’s Washington DC correspondent, Sylvia Smith, penned a column Sunday defending her decision to allow Larry Sinclair speak at the National Press Club. Smith was shocked, shocked I tell you, that people were upset that the NPC would lend Sinclair its credibility. In defending her decision she made a few statements that I think were wildly off the mark and I want to respond.
And therein lies the difference between most journalists and some bloggers: Professional journalists don’t print or air startling allegations without first investigating their credibility.
That’s quite a generalization isn’t it? Judith Miller comes to mind. In fact the entire DC press corps rolled over and played dead for the Bush administration leading up to the Iraq war. I guess Smith conveniently forgot that. And don’t forget her own reporting on NAFTA was extremely suspect as I demonstrated in a previous post.
The underlying message I got from the callers and e-mailers was that the First Amendment and free speech are an impediment to the way they think things ought to be. Or that while some people are free to speak, others should not be.
The first amendment applies to the government - the NPC is not bound by it. I can understand her position - everyone is welcome to speak there - but invoking the first amendment is not a basis for her argument. I think the NPC would be justified to not to allow the KKK, Nazis or other slandering opportunists use of their facility.
Between hosting Rev Wright, renting to Larry Sinclair and allowing fake/disgraced Whitehouse reporter Jeff Gannon to run an NPC blog, I’d say the NPC is rapidly losing credibility…
