Blazer 91.1 WVUB FM HD 1 -- Local Info

Wednesday, March 10th

Mayor to Hold Press Conference

Vincennes Mayor Al Baldwin has scheduled a press conference for tomorrow afternoon at City Hall.
Baldwin will present information regarding the Vincennes Storm Water Utility. A question and answer period will immediately follow the press conference.
The press conferece will start at 4:15 pm in the City Council Chambers.
Following the press conference, The Vincennes City Council will meet as a committee of the whole to continue it's discussion of the Storm Water Utility Legislation.

Joe Holscher Blood Drives

A Knox County Family is looking to "pay it forward" by hosting two blood drives--after what some may say is a miraculous recovery for Joe Holscher.
Holscher was involved in a serious motorcycle accident on February 26th on State Road 550.
He was lifelined to St. Mary's Hospital in Evansville with a one-tenth of a percent chance of survival.
A team of 22 doctors, nurses and staff worked during an emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding and remove his spleen.
During the surgery--Holscher received 18 units of blood...and has received more since then.
Holscher is being called a Miracle Man by his medical team--as he is now in a rehabilitation facility where he is walking on his own.
Family friend Cindy Gilmore says they don't know when Holscher will be released--but he's already making plans to help make a difference.
The "pay it forward" blood drives will be held on April 6th from 8am to 1pm at the Knights of Columbus in Vincennes...and on April 12th from 2 until 7pm at the Blue jean center in Monroe City.

BI-State extends VU's Lease

Members of the Bi-State Airport Authority extended it's lease agreement with Vincennes University for another year.
The University's flight aviation program operates out of the Mid-America Air Center.
Airport Manager Kurt Schwartz says the board renewed V-U's lease agreement to run through June 3oth, 2011.
Schwartz says there were no increases in rent charged to the University for renting space at the airport.
Schwartz also reported that Lawrence County E-911 has installed new street signs at the airport for emergency purposes.

Washington Utilities

Washington Municipal Utilities are trying to make it more convenient for you to pay your bill.
According to Utility Office Manager Anita Ash, a drop-box has been installed at the eastside business office at 2100 Memorial Drive for after hours payments. The drop-box is located on the south side of the building near the front door.
Unlike the City Hall drop box-- the eastside box is not handicap accessible. Payments placed in either box after 8:30-am will not be credited to the customer's account until the next day.

Police seeking Armed Robber

Police in Jasper continue to look for a man who allegedly robbed a cash advance store at gunpoint Monday evening.
According to police, the robbery happened around 5:45 p.m. at the Advance America in the Jasper Wal-Mart Shopping Center. Police say an employee reported a white male in his 50's or 60's walked into the store and robbed her at gunpoint. The suspect was about five-ten with a medium build, and had gray hair. Police report the suspect was seen wearing a black jacket with "Jasper Wildcats" on it and large black sunglasses.
If you have any information that can help find the robber, call the Jasper Police department at (812) 482-2255.

Police Seraching for Counterfeiters

Police are on the lookout for a couple caught on a video surveillance camera trying to pass a counterfeit bill to an alert cashier who spotted the fake.
Greene County Sheriff's Detective George Dallaire is warning cashiers and merchants to pay attention to their bills coming in and be aware the suspects might try to use the bills in other locations.
Saturday morning around 8:30 a Greene County Deputy was sent to Hasler's Junction at the intersection of US 231 and State Road 58 south of Bloomfield. A white male, accompanied by a white female, attempted to make a purchase with a counterfeit 20-dollar bill. The clerk reported that the bill did not feel right and when she turned to have it examined by another person the man and worman left the store and drove away in a car described as a white Grand Prix type vehicle.

Knox County Arrest Log

Vincennes Police arrested 70-year-old Leroy Williams on Tuesday.
Officers saw a truck fail to use a turn signal at 4th and Broadway and stopped the vehicle. The officer smelled alcohol and tested Williams who had a point-one-two blood alcohol content. Williams was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and lodged in the Knox County Jail.

A woman was charged after allegedly stealing from the Huck's store on Washington Avenue.
At 2-am today (Wednesday), 29-year-old Crystal O'Hara was charged after an employee said she hid items in her clothing. She was arrested for theft and taken to the Knox County Jail on a five thousand dollar bond.

An Edwardsport man was arrested Tuesday at the Knox County Courthouse. 36-yer-old Mickeal E. Cummings was found to be wanted on a warrant and taken to the Knox County Jail.

Texting and Driving

A new campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of texting and driving was unveiled at the statehouse Tuesday.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, AT&T President George Fleetwood and Senator Thomas Wyss (weese) say the campaign will be aimed at all Indiana drivers with a special focus on teens.
The public awareness campaign will consist of true stories and the final text messages sent before a driver was killed.
The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation in 2009 prohibiting drivers under the age of 18 from texting and driving. The message emphasizes that any motorist can be distracted by texting, not just teens.
Research has found that nearly 6 thousand people die annually in crashes involving distracted drivers.

School Funding

State lawmakers are close to reaching a deal on a bill that would provide schools with more funding flexibility in the wake of $300 million budget cuts.
Key negotiators on both sides of the aisle have apparently agreed on the major parts of the legislation, including a provision that would prompt education officials to create a program to improve elementary students‘ reading skills.

The bill will likely include language to allow a school district to transfer 5 percent of the amount it taxes each year for building projects to its general fund as long as the additional money is spent on classroom expenses. Districts also would be allowed to transfer up to 10 percent if workers give up pay raises that aren‘t tied to experience or additional degrees.

Nearly 80 residences were without power after an accident on South Sixth Street Road at 11:20 Monday night.
According to reports...a vehicle hit a power pole and flipped over five miles south of Vincennes. The car caught fire after the accident.
Jefferey Campbell was a passenger in the vehicle and suffered head and chest injuries and was transported to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, while the driver, Fallon Nyhof was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital with minor injuries.
Power was restored early this morning by Duke Energy workers.

Parents and Teachers alike asked members of the Vincennes School Board last night that whatever budget cuts they plan to make, that they do so with the least amount of impact on students.
The School Board held a second public hearing last night to give individuals a chance to speak out on some of the options presented at a meeting presented three weeks ago.
Many remain opposed to the elementary school reconfiguration plan put forth by school officials.
School Board Member Brian Thais says they've held several meetings with teachers and building principals.
He says whatever plan they come up with will still need to be tweaked and added to as time goes on. The School Corporation is looking to cut it's budget by nearly 790-thousand dollars due to a shortfall in state revenue.

The South Knox School corporation is still awaiting it's final 2010 Budget from the Department of Local Government and Finance--but is expecting a 200-thousand dollar loss when compared to 2009. Superintendent Brad Case says he expects to find out by the end of the month what the exact dollar amount will be--but says that it is definitely "workable." Case says they've had six retirements this year--the latest being accepted is High School Principal Harry Nolting. Case says the retirements bring a savings to the corporation but may not be enough.

Case says they will be looking into the possiblity of using capital project funds to pay for utilities this summer--something the legislature is currently considering to allow. The concern over the budget also has the school corporation looking to transfer money from the debt service and transportation funds to the rainy day fund to pay for the current construction projects at the elementary school.
A special meeting tentatively set for March 30th concern the tranferring and appropriation of almost 500-thousand dollars to pay for the relocation of the Kindergarten playground and the construction of two new special ed classrooms. The playground relocation project is underway--but is running a little behind due to weather. It was set to be complete by the end of this month.The two new classrooms are scheduled to be ready for use by the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.

The Vincennes City council will hold a special meeting on Thursday to continue it's discussion of proposed Storm Water Utility Legislation.
The meeting will be held at 5pm in the City Council Chambers.
The proposed ordinance remained tabled during Monday night's Council meeting.
If approved, the ordinance would impose a four, eight or ten dollar monthly utility fee to homeowners in the city limits. Businesses would be assessed a monthly rate of about 8 dollars per 28-hundred square feet of impervious area on the property.
There is concern in the community of what the added monthly bill will mean for businesses and homeowners. But Mayor Al Baldwin says its necessary to fund work that needs to be done on the city's aging storm water system--along with work that the city is expecting to be federally mandated by the Army Corp of Engineers concerning the levee system. If such work is mandated--but isn't completed--the Vincennes Levee System could lose it's certification and residents and businesses would be forced to buy flood insurance for protection.
Council Members have said that they want to be sure they have studied the subject at length before voting on the legislation.
Again--a special meeting concerning the propsed storm water utility will be held on Thursday at 5pm at City hall.

A Vincennes Man was killed in a single vehicle accident in Steep Township Sunday morning.
Knox County Coroner Donnie Halter says 52-year-old Randy Lancaster was traveling driving on Nimnicht Road when he apparently suffered a heart attack causing him to lose control of his vehicle and run off the roadway striking a utility pole.
Halter pronounced Lancaster dead at the scene. An autopsy was performed at Good Samaritan Hospital.
Halter says they are waiting to get the test results back before listing the official cause of death.

The Knox County Commissioners have hired a supervisor to oversee the county's reassessment process.
Virginia Whipple with G & A Assessment Professionals was the unanimous choice and in fact was the only firm to submit a bid for the work.
Commission member Kevin Meyers says he wasn't sure if the this was the right direction the county should go. But after meeting with Whipple and reading her resume feels confident that she's the right person for the job.

Whipple has been involved with reassessment at the local level as Deputy Assessor in Deacatur, Indiana and is a level 3 certified reassessor.
Knox County would pay her 400-dollars a day, plus expenses including mileage and lodging.
Whipple's hiring is stil contingent on getting approval from the Knox County Council.
The Commissioners is expected to have a company in place to do the general reassessing by April 15th.

th District Congressman Brad Ellsworth continues his campaign to become the Democrat nominee for Indiana Senate.
The Evansvillle Democrat put his hat into the Senate ring just four days after Senator Evan Bayh announced he would not run again. Bayh had repeatedly said that his reason for not seeking re-election is due to increased partisan ship in the US House and Senate and the lack of action on issues.
Ellsworth says he agrees that political differences are at an all time high...

Ellsworth says the increased paristisanship is likely due in part to modern media's constant coverage of national issues making issues more visable and enhanced to the American public.

The fallout over an Indiana senator‘s decision to leave the statehouse to attend a political event continues. House speaker Pat Bauer says he decided to pull the plug on his plans to bring the legislative session to an early close after Senator Brandt Hershman left talks on the unemployment insurance bill to attend the Boone County Lincoln Day Dinner.

GOP leaders say Bauer is pulling a political stunt. Senate President Pro Tem David Long is even asking for an apology.

Long says the senate will continue to meet this week prior to the house reconvening on Wednesday afternoon.

VPD Arrests

A Vincennes man was arrested by city police on a charge of battery Friday night following an incident in the 1400 block of Perry Street.
Police say 26-year-old Joseph Eakins ran after a car and struck the driver with a nail as he was leaving the area. Eakins was later arrested at his Perry Street home in connection with the incident. He is charged with one count of battery and criminal recklessness.
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Vincennes Police arrested 36-year-old Torrance Johnson on a probation violation Friday afternoon. The Knox County Probation Department contacted police that Johnson was at the Knox County Courthouse. Officers arrived and took Johnson into custody without incident.

C-S-X railroad will be closing two more railroad crossings in Vincennes this week for repair.
Officials say the crossings at Washington Avenue and Wabash Avenue will closed starting today (Monday) and are expected to reopen on Thursday.

Another statewide blitz on impaired and dangerous driving has been put into place. Operation Pull Over Blitz 62 is underway--and that means more than 250 state and local law enforcement agencies will conduct sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols and other high-visibility patrols to detect impaired motorists.
Last year, 157 people were killed in traffic collisions with a driver that had been drinking alcohol. 82-percent of these collisions involved a driver who was legally intoxicated. from the quest for college basketball glory to neighborhood St. Patrick’s day celebrations this month-hoosiers are reminded of some sobering statistics; 41 fatalities occurred on Indiana roadways during the month of march alone in 2009. 24-percent of these deaths involved a driver that was legally intoxicated.