Fort Wayne Observed

Bon Appegeek: Other Fort visitors like other Fort cookies

Another blogger visiting Fort Wayne raved about the cookies of this city.  This time, it wasn't the airport cookies that got the rave. 

Read about the culinary delights of Fort Wayne found by a:

... a Korean-American chick going through that awkward foodie-toddler stage where I have just enough knowledge to accidentally kill myself with a dough hook but not quite enough knowledge to save my life with twine and turkey lacers. I try to explore cooking and baking while eating mostly healthy food and the rare (okay, okay, frequent) naughty treat.

She writes at her weblog Bon Appegeek:

So I went back to Indiana to visit friends, I claimed, but in reality I think went back for this iced sugar cookie from The Cookie Cottage. I don’t know what’s in it, and I’m not sure I want to know because it might require the use of powerfully addictive substances currently illegal under multiple state and federal statues. The cookie itself is a perfect combination of crisp and tender. The icing, a thin soft layer spread neatly over the top, has a tangy rich flavor laced, surprisingly, with a slight salty kick. It’s an astonishing combination. I’m glad I left Fort Wayne, because resisting this cookie while trying to lose weight would require a force of willpower that could rip a hole in the fabric of the universe.

She also praises the Munchie Emporium, the Dash In, Ziffles, The Acme, Henry's, Coney Island and an unnamed "government building" where she was served with what she claimed was the best French Toast she had ever eaten.

Can a Fort Wayne Observed reader help us?  Is it the City-County Building cafeteria that is earning the rave review?

Toasted bagel

Fort Wayne Observed will, from time to time, bring you links to folks who have visited Fort Wayne and then decided to blog about it.

Our last link in that regard was to a New Jersey resident who intially wrote that Fort Wayne had "no redeeming qualities."  He even said that one couldn't get a decent bagel in Fort Wayne.  Once some Fort Wayners responded in kind, he followed up with another post.

Well, he just figured out that it was Fort Wayne Observed who exposed his comments to a hometown audience.

He seems good-natured enough.  Since he needs to keep coming back here on business, we're inclined to keep the welcome mat out.

From a comment just sent to the original FWOb post:

AHA! So you're the reason I got toasted alive for my remarks about Ft. Wayne.

Actually it worked out well. I got to meet, via the Internet anyway, some nice folks who reminded me not to be a wise acre (which is what I was being with my "no redeeming qualities" remark) because when all is said and done, Ft. Wayne has nice people, comfortable places to stay and a clean, pleasant airport. Is there really anything else a traveler needs?

Deshaun Thomas likely to attend Luers

Earlier this year, the Journal Gazette's Greg Jones wrote the following about 6-foot-7 eighth-grader Deshaun Thomas:

The question doesn't seem to be if Deshaun Thomas is the next big-time basketball player in Fort Wayne. It is more where will he set the records, score the points and win the championships?

A source with knowledge of the situation tells Fort Wayne Observed it looks like the answer will be Bishop Luers.

"Deshaun Thomas will most likely be attending Luers. James Blackmon, the Luers coach, did a better job of striking up a relationship [than coaches from other schools]."

This news might come as a surprise to another local high school that Thomas had contacted earlier this year about attending. By May, he had enrolled and chosen classes for the upcoming school year.

So why did Thomas change his mind? "This young man has had to listen to recuiters from other high schools, notably Luers and North Side, on a daily basis," said the source.

Libertarian challenger Wise may not end up on ballot

Indiana Daily Insight reported today that the Election Division of the Indiana Secretary of State has notified the Indiana Libertarian Party that it will not certify many of the Libertarian candidates to be placed on the ballot.

That means the addition of Scott Wise to the 3rd Congressional District race may not happen.

The Libertarian Party of Indiana is considering its legal options over the Election Division's failure to certify a slew of its candidates for contests nominated post-convention. The Election Division contends the LPIN failed to file a statutorily required "notice of intent to fill candidate vacancy" - a requirement that only applies to the Libertarians, based on their share of the state vote. The LPIN asserts that it filed the notice via e-mail, although the statute bars such filing via FAX or e-mail, and the Election Division notes that the filing failed to identify any specific office. Division authorities informed the LPIN well ahead of the August 25 deadline for listing all candidates to be voted upon in November "in order that the LPIN may pursue a judicial remedy if they desire to do so."

Secretary of State challenger Mike Kole (L) complains that with the statute, which became effective in late March, "the Legislature passed a law that was designed to trip us up, and succeeded."

Kole adds that "We never had to do this notification before. It was just one more hoop placed in front of the Libertarian Party, and we missed it. Some of the now disqualified candidates were going to supply the only opposition to an otherwise unchallenged incumbent. A real service this bureaucracy provides to the people of Indiana. Can you imagine what it would be like if Coke and Pepsi wrote all the laws regarding the manufacture of soft drinks? That would be called collusion. With our elections, the Republicans and Democrats write the election laws. Why isn't that called what it is? It is collusion. And, what about due process and equal protection under the law? Apparently, if Republicans and Democrats collude to exclude a minor party, those arcane notions can sail right out the window."

Three LPIN legislative candidates selected after the convention - including one key candidate, open-seat SD 41 hopeful Kenn Gividen (L), the party's 2004 gubernatorial nominee - will be certified for the ballot, the Election Division acknowledges, despite the absence of the notice of intent. The Election Division, in what it concedes was probably an error, provided these three hopefuls with a receipt "confirming the acceptance of their filing," and, in the case of at least two of the three, "although we may have erred by accepting these filings, we must recognize that they have already been filed."

[ ... ]

We wouldn't be surprised to see a §1983 federal lawsuit regarding the Indiana Election Code filed next year.

My own view is that the candidates should be allowed on the ballot. Restrictions on third-party candidacies has already been too onerous without reliance on an overly technical reason to bar them.

Indiana Daily Insight is the weekly subscription companion to Indiana Daily Insight and is part of the INGroup family of publications.

INDOT and short public notice

The immediate prior post notes that the Indiana Department of Transportation sends news releases about public meetings to media outlets just days before the meeting date.

Sometimes it is only the day before a public meeting.

FWOb noted this phenomenon when INDOT took public testimony regarding the sound barriers and other proposed construction along I-69.  The news release about the public hearing at Northrop High School was sent the day before the meeting.

WOWO's Pat White made it a topic on his afternoon drive program.  The Journal-Gazette editorialized  and referred to it as a "poorly publicized hearing."

Today, when FWOb inquired of the INDOT Communications Department whether a news release had been sent to media outlets in northeast Indiana about next Wednesday's annual public meeting at the Fort Wayne District office I was told that it had not yet been sent.  However, it was due to be transmitted within two hours. 

INDOT did better than two hours.  It was sent approximately 5 to 10 minutes after the phone conversation.

You might think that transmittal of news releases five days prior to a meeting (albeit on the day before the weekend) is an improvement.  However, just last week, INDOT provided a news releases only two days prior to the event it publicized. The release was regarding construction along I-65.  The public hearing was concerning... sound barriers.

This example is of a one-day release in July.

INDOT public hearing in Fort Wayne next Wednesday, August 2nd

The Indiana Department of Transportation is having a public meeting in Fort Wayne next Wednesday, August 2, 2006.  INDOT has an annual meeting in each state highway district to apprise the public of its plans for the coming year. 

It is also a time for the public to ask questions and have their say about overall INDOT plans in the coming year.

FWOb found this announcement on the INDOT website.  FWOb called the INDOT Communications Office and spoke with Megan Kaderaveck of that office.  When asked whether INDOT had sent out a news release to Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana news media about the meeting, Ms. Kaderaveck said that it would be sent in two hours.

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is pleased to announce it's schedule for the 2006 Annual District Meetings. Every year, each INDOT District, (i.e. Vincennes, Seymour, Crawfordsville, Greenfield, LaPorte, & Fort Wayne) hold a public meeting to invite residents, elected officials, business owners and concerned citizens into our facilities to learn more about our agency and our operation. During this meeting, a variety of topics are presented for discussion and the solicitation of input from the public.

This year, those who choose to attend this meeting will learn about the status of Governor's Daniels and INDOT's Major Moves Plan (a 10 year funded transporation improvement construction schedule), the 2016 Draft Major New Projects, Long Range Planning issues, in addition to meeting the District Director and staff members. Outside of specific presentations, the District Meeting will also feature an Open House area where tables and informational material will be distributed by other sections within the agency such as our Mult-modal areas (rail, air, and transit), the transportation enhancement program section, historic bridge and others.

The annual district meeting is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in transportation improvments [sic] in their area to not only be better informed on the status of current projects, but also to provide input as to what projects should be considered in the future.

The 2006 Fort Wayne District Meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 2 at 2:00pm (local time)at the Fort Wayne District Complex, 5333 Hatfield Road in Fort Wayne, PHONE# (260) 484-9541. Should you have any questions regarding this meeting, please feel free to call the Fort Wayne District Office.

What if Paul Helmke had never been Mayor?

There is one way to return nostagically to the days of Fort Wayne's yesteryears.  One can open up an Indiana state highway map from the Indiana Department of Transportation.

INDOT prints an "official" state highway map every two years. The current one is for 2005-2006.

One thing struck FWOb as we opened up our copy: the city limits for Fort Wayne and New Haven are shown pretty much as they were 18 years ago. That's the year Evan Bayh was elected to his first term as governor.  It's also a year before Paul Helmke was first elected mayor of Fort Wayne.

It's as if annexations by the City of Fort Wayne and the City of New Haven in the 1980's and 1990's had never taken place. It's not just the Aboite annexation FWOb is noting.  There is no graphic representation of the multiple annexations by Fort Wayne in St. Joseph, Washington and Perry Townships. New Haven's annexation into St. Joseph Township is not shown. 

The clock is rolled back to a time before the Adams Center Landfill controversy when Fort Wayne and New Haven each made annexations in Adams Township.

Jacobus says Globe to sell ads on front of sections

Mary Jacobus is the immediate past publisher of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. She left Fort Wayne Newspapers to take the helm of the Boston Globe.

Ms. Jacobus has just announced the Globe plans on selling ads on the front "covers of its Business, Sunday Real Estate, Sports, and Food sections."

Chris Reidy of the Globe reports:

Ad space on the Business and Real Estate sections will be available Aug. 6, and soon afterward on the fronts of the other sections, Jacobus said. ``The front page of the Globe is not under consideration," Jacobus said, nor is the cover of the City & Region section.

The paper is following an industry trend in which the likes of The New York Times have recently launched similar efforts, and The Wall Street Journal just said it would try to sell an ad on its front page. Many newspapers have been struggling with losses in circulation and advertising to the Internet. The result is that the industry has been reappraising policies on where ads may appear. By offering new, prominent locations, newspaper publishers hope to reap premium rates on such sales.

This is really not new.

I thought it was new in 1996 when I traveled to Ireland and saw newspapers there running ads on the front page.  The discrete ads are stripped across the bottom of the page and resemble internet banner ads.  Ten years have gone by, so I am amused it now seems like a grand innovation in the United States.

I hope the Fort Wayne Newspapers might follow the example of their former leader.  In trade, perhaps the Sunday Journal-Gazette could forego the little yellow Post-It® note ad. One can only hope.

One other note: It's been possible to buy a front page ad at the East Allen Courier, based in Grabill, for over thirty years. Who says Grabill is a step back in time?

Post-It is a registered trademark of 3M corporation.

Shine v Loomis figures in newspaper defamation case

The Indiana Supreme Court has let stand an earlier Indiana Court of Appeals decision regarding an adverse judgment against a Clinton (IN) newspaper in a defamation suit brought by the Mayor of Clinton.

An earlier decision in the case of Shine v. Loomis played a role.  There, Steve Shine, the Allen County Republican Chairman, prevailed in a defamation suit brought by former county prosecutor candidate Mike Loomis of Fort Wayne.

See this Indiana Law Blog post for the story.

Knuth scouring for an issue

Allen County Democratic Party Chairman Kevin Knuth may be foreshadowing what sort of campaign the Democrats will run for Sheriff this fall.   

He sent an open records request letter to Allen County Auditor Lisa Blosser last week  asking for pay information and vacation information regarding Kenneth Fries, the Republican candidate for Allen County Sheriff.  A full high resolution PDF of the letter may be viewed here .  The image at right is a lower-resolution jpg.

Chairman Knuth's letter followed by just a few days the news conference held by candidate Ken Fries on the issue of Sheriff's pay.

Mr. Fries had invited State Representative Larry Buell of Marion County to talk about his proposal to limit the Sheriff's pay to that of a County's prosecutor and to eliminate the provision in the Indiana Code which allowed Sheriff's to augment their income by use of fees from collection of unpaid state taxes.  The Prosecutor and the Coroner are the two other elected criminal justice officials in a county.  Tying it to the Prosecutor's salary would serve as a cap on Sheriff's compensation. 

Mr. Buell praised Mr. Fries for being a long-time advocate of the change.

Ms. Taviano, in an Indiana's NewsCenter report, had said in response that counties should be able to negotiate Sheriff's pay without tying it to the Prosecutor's salary. 

From the Indiana's NewsCenter report:

Important to note, most sheriffs earn extra income from other sources.

Buell's bill would do away with all that, fine by Ken Fries.

Republican Candidate for Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries says, "I'm not in it for the money, never have been. Anybody that gets into police work, you're not doing it for the money."

Democrat Tina Taviano also believes the sheriff should have a set salary, but thinks each individual county should get to negotiate the amount based on the demands of the job in that county, and the qualifications of the particular sheriff.

UPDATE: FWOb called the Auditor's Office this morning to determine whether the Auditor had yet complied with Mr. Knuth's request. FWOb was informed that they had and would email FWOb a copy of the reply. A reply was emailed at 6:50 P.M. by Auditor Lisa Blosser. FWOb has posted the Auditor's response at 8:15 P.M. on June 27th. You may read the reply on the continuation page.