Hanson issues tepid apology for botched political ad on the cover of Harvest Homecoming's guide, but Democrats might think twice before tittering.

This one's been a spellbinder, with most of the egg fragments splattered in the vicinity of News and Tribune publisher Bill Hanson's face.

I'll get back to that in a moment.

Over the years NA Confidential has had much to say about the peculiar local institution known as Harvest Homecoming, not all of it positive.

However, even critics must concede the usefulness of the Harvest Homecoming organization's stance on political neutrality, especially during election cycles. Given the festival's business model, neutrality makes perfect sense. It's better for inclusiveness, and inclusiveness is better for the bottom line.

So it transpired that local Democrats started tittering at having stolen a march on the dreaded GOP by sneaking a blatant "Vote Democrat" campaign ad onto the cover of the Harvest Homecoming guide, as published by the News and Tribune, which didn't think for even a millisecond to consult the festival's leadership before cashing the check -- thus doing something never previously done, and quite visibly breaking faith.

It's worth noting that it was Clark County's Democrats financing the ad for a Floyd County event, which tells us two things: First, though mistaken in this instance, at least Clark County Democrats have a pulse; second, that Floyd County Democrats must still be behind on their office phone bills, and they might even owe their landlord back rent.

Their landlord being Warren Nash, party guru and human rights commission doorstop, it must be hard looking at the stack of greenbacks in the mayor's campaign fund and knowing you'll be recycling aluminium soda cans to keep Duke Energy at bay.

Harvest Homecoming quickly issued a statement reasserting the organization's political neutrality, concisely and correctly throwing the newspaper under the bus.

For many years that space has been purchased by a local car sales company. This year, they opted to not purchase the ad. With the space up for grabs, The Tribune sold the ad to the Democratic party. This is was completely out of our control and I was not aware of the advertisement until it was published.

By the way, the subtle dig is stupendous: it's not the Tribune any longer, after all, but the News and Tribune, a compound name reminding us daily about the way New Albany is routinely shortchanged in coverage by a newspaper doing business in Jeffersonville.

Shamed into public comment, Hanson couldn't even manage to pen a personal apology. Instead, Chris Morris was enlisted to "interview" his own boss (below), which tells you everything you need to know about the shambles overtaking this persistently misdirected enterprise.

Meanwhile, the social media response of most Democrats has been to defend the ad placement and deride Republicans who have complained about it.

Really?

Can you imagine what these same Democrats would be saying if the advertisement looked like this?

The hypocrisy isn't surprising at all, just indicative of the depths we're plumbing.

The point remains: Harvest Homecoming has the right to declare political neutrality, and the News and Tribune has a professional responsibility to honor it. Hanson's masked apology is maladroit, but at least he did what he should have done.

The rest of it is the usual partisan fluff, which should be deposited in history's dustbin prior to the inevitable excursion to Harvest Homecoming to ingest sugar doughnuts and rolled oysters.

And now, the editor who typically asks no questions interviews the publisher who'd rather not answer any.

News and Tribune apologizes for political ad on cover of Harvest Homecoming guide, by Chris Morris

The Harvest Homecoming Festival is preparing for its 51st year in downtown New Albany. It has grown from a few tables set up along Pearl Street to become one of the largest festivals in the state of Indiana. People look forward to it each year.

The Harvest Homecoming means a lot to the people of Southern Indiana.

But throughout its history the volunteers who operate the festival have never endorsed a candidate or one political party over another. The Harvest Homecoming Festival is independent and appreciates support from Democrats, Republicans, independents and others. It has never been thrown into the muck and mud of politics.

This year the News and Tribune published its annual Harvest Homecoming guide on Sept. 28. The tab is full of festival information, including a schedule of events, booth listings and photos of past festivals.

But it’s the cover that has gotten the most attention, and it has nothing to do with the photo of Mr. Pumpkin. The confusion is with the banner advertisement, paid for by the Clark County Democrats, reads “Vote Democrat” and runs along the bottom of the cover.

The ad’s background color is dark brown, the same as the rest of the cover, so it blends in, making it look like the festival is asking readers to vote Democrat or that the guide was produced by the Clark County Democrats. Neither is true.

“The tab is a product of the News and Tribune and reflects in no way the beliefs of the Harvest Homecoming committee or the event itself,” News and Tribune Publisher Bill Hanson said. “The News and Tribune regrets the uproar it has created among some and accepts all blame anyone wishes to assign.”

The cover is prime advertising space, and in the past has been sold to an area car dealer. In the future, no political ads will be sold on publications such as the Harvest Homecoming guide to avoid confusion.

“I want to apologize for our lack of good judgment in allowing a political party to purchase the ad space on the cover of this year’s Harvest Homecoming special edition,” Hanson said. “Given our current political climate, we should have been more discerning. Lesson learned at the News and Tribune.”

— Assistant Editor Chris Morris

Remembering parade day three years ago, when all I wanted to do was walk the parade route, but was not allowed.

When I saw this earlier in the week, it reminded me of the 2015 mayoral campaign. The whole thing got fairly absurd in the end, and in retrospect, I'm happy to have been able to shine a light on a policy that took no account whatever of an independent candidate. I hope it has changed. Will Anna Murray walk with her supporters, or be forced to symbolically abet car-centrism?

I don't know. I do know the street grid is a social justice issue, although few area "progressives" seem capable of acknowledging it.

I'll vote accordingly. Let's rewind.

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October 2, 2015

Me? I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

Me?

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow, because that’s what walkability is all about.

It's about walking.

As of Friday morning, walking the parade route is an option being denied me. I hope this changes.

Before I explain this in greater detail, know that I’m sticking with my 2015 resolution not to re-ignite the annual controversy over Harvest Homecoming, New Albany’s annual autumnal civic festival, best known for its “booth days,” when downtown is given over to a temporary street festival format.

I can compromise on my own two feet, thank you.

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

The usual arguments about Harvest Homecoming, pro and con, have been hashed and rehashed. Revolutions of rising expectations are never easy. In the absence of principled municipal governance, nothing’s going to substantively change any time soon, and yet I’m satisfied that a younger generation of Harvest Homecoming’s management truly grasps the need for evolution and accommodation.

Reform is a process, and while painfully slow, there is movement on some fronts. Let’s accept progress in this process, and celebrate this fact.

As for me, I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

I’m especially grateful to Art Niemeier, who joined the group effort planning tomorrow’s Biers on Parade at the Farmer Market, and has been invaluable. I don’t want to say or do anything that might compromise my gratitude to Art. We’re in possession of an idea (parade day festivities) with significant future promise, one uniting multiple entities. It's a good thing, indeed.

And me?

I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow, because walking is the basic form of human movement.

It comes down to this: As written, Harvest Homecoming’s parade rules do not explicitly acknowledge the possibility that an independent political candidate might participate.

There is a clause restricting the use of convertibles to current office holders, and another confining non-office-holding candidates to their political party’s respective floats.

I hold no office, and I have no party.

Given that I’m probably the foremost local proponent of walkability, I just want to walk the parade route tomorrow.

First I was asked by the committee if it could provide a vehicle, and I said thanks, but no thanks.

The walkability guy in a truck? It doesn’t make sense.

In the beginning, all I wanted to do is walk the parade route tomorrow with a group of supporters. Just walk down the street, nothing more, while making the point that it isn’t unusual to walk.

Because it isn’t.

Except when you’re told it cannot be allowed.

At some point during the past months, it was mentioned that perhaps bicycles could be included, though while it would be nice to have bikes represented, actually riding one in a slow-moving parade doesn't compute, although if the idea helped move the negotiation, I thought it acceptable to at least consider pushing a bike.

Although what I’d like to do is just walk the parade route.

As of yesterday, the committee is holding to its interpretation of rules that aren’t explicit in the first place, and has offered this ruling: I can’t walk, because candidates for office must use a wheeled vehicle, and if I choose to ride a bicycle, which is suitably wheeled, there can be only five bikes total.

Have I mentioned that nowhere in the committee’s rules is this wheeled clause mentioned?

Me?

I just want to walk the parade route.

I’ll walk alone, if that helps.

As the candidate of walkability, all I want to do is walk the Harvest Homecoming parade route.

Granted, irony never plays well here, but note that at a time when walkability is one of downtown’s best hopes for continued regeneration, the Harvest Homecoming theme in 2015 is Hot Rod Harvest.

Please, can I just walk the parade route and illustrate that life in this city can be about people, and not just their cars?

All I want to do is walk the parade route tomorrow, just me alone.

Surely this isn't an imposition.

Thanks for your consideration.

The Top Ten list of most-viewed September 2018 posts at NA Confidential.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany.

The September most-viewed list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1. These statistics are derived from Google's internal accounting.

SEPTEMBER HONORABLE MENTION (10)

436

Death to chains, death to Dunkin Donuts -- and spare me the tired argument that it's a "local" business.

Charle's Marohn's piece at Strong Towns is almost five years old, but no less relevant now than it was in 2014.

Next time you're playing bumper cars and competing for inches of asphalt on State Street, look up past the runoff waterfalls to the plateau called Summit Springs, where the buildings being constructed will house businesses like Dunkin Donuts, the subject of Marohn's focus.

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439

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Nick Vaughn unveils new web site.

Transparency, 21st-century solutions and a potshot at "career politicians"? The Mouse still isn't in possessions of details, but he definitely approves.

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471 (tie)

See, it even happens to Charles Marohn of Strong Towns: "I was constantly accused of being negative, of having nothing positive to say."

In co-founding Strong Towns, Marohn sought "to start raising questions about America’s approach to land use and the financial impracticalities suburban sprawl encourages." And, coming full circle, those benefiting the most from the financial impracticalities sprawl encourages are precisely the ones who can't see the positive nature of Marohn's critique.

Hence the backlash. It's Yogi Berra all over again.

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471 (tie)

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest is on tap, and here's a style primer.

This beer began as a dark lager brewed in spring, and held until harvest festival season in autumn. It changed in step with advancements in malting technique and shifting popular tastes, lightening from dark brown to orange/amber, and nowadays to tawny golden, though with the basic full, malty flavor balance remaining consistent throughout.

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478

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Beer Ed 101 is coming in October to an outstanding pub near you.

Favoring a certain flavor is merely a starting point. Knowing the whys and wherefores helps to place flavors in context. Beer education provides the back story, and helps expand the consumer's savvy. In my experience, it transforms casual adherents into evangelists and spreaders of the better beer gospel.

I believe in it, and so for the first time since 2012, you're invited to Beer Ed 101 at Pints&union.

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482

This Top Ten list of most-viewed August posts at NA Confidential was the hardest one to compile, ever.

New Albany's "brand" is an anchor because we're a ship of fools.

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501

City election in 2019, bridge repairs in 2021. One should be a forum to prepare for the other.

If the toll-free bridge closure is inevitable, we might as well kick back and ask this important question, joyfully or otherwise: shouldn't there be a level of local preparation, and shouldn't this be a prime campaign topic during next year's local races?

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532

Democrat David White to announce his candidacy for mayor of New Albany at noon on Monday, October 1.

"David White, local businessman, will announce his bid for Mayor of the City of New Albany! All citizens are welcome to take part in this public announcement. #DW4NA #PeopleFirst"

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545

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Johnny Drum Private Stock is the bourbon, and Civil War drummer boys are the inspiration for a tune.

I'm the beer guy, but I'm also a beer guy who is forever in favor of learning more about spirits --and history. When I saw we'd started carrying a bourbon called Johnny Drum, it intrigued me, so I did a bit of research.

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555

Lamentation aplenty as Joe Huber's Family Farm prepares to be parceled and auctioned.

There's no doubting the level of pure country boy genius behind the idea that city folks would be wiling to drive 35 miles out of their way to do the work themselves and pay the property owner for the privilege.

That's hall-of-fame savvy, and there ought to be a plaque somewhere.

At the same time, it's simultaneously the best and worst component of a family business to be comprised of family members.

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619

ON THE AVENUES: If this is adulting, I’d rather be leaving on a jet plane.

In the context of human history, as hundreds of millions of our species lived and died with very few elective choices apart from doing whatever was necessary to survive long enough to procreate, “adulting” as a concept could only have been recently formulated by youthful residents of the richest impoverished country this planet has yet seen.

SEPTEMBER TOP TEN

655

LIVE TO EAT: Downtown food and drink update: La Tiendita, Cafe 157, Gospel Bird, Double Barrel and Longboard's.

The following survey of downtown New Albany food and drink is not intended to be comprehensive, but merely an overview of past days' browsing.

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688

Holy cow, Joe Sixpack! It turns out your own two eyes were right about Summit Springs stormwater runoff.

We've been conditioned to expect that the newspaper's coverage now will cease, at least until the next rainfall event occurs. Usually it does, and this isn't the responsibility of the reporters. It's about management, which in the News & Tribune's case restricts the bulk of local coverage to feel-good human interest stories and gets investigative only when the target is sufficiently distant to pose no threat to the bottom line.

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700

Nick Vaughn forms exploratory committee, then joins anti-KKK protesters in Madison.

The requisite Indiana form asks the filer to explain why he or or she is forming the committee, and Vaughn answered with "feasibility of a citywide campaign." The Green Mouse is hazarding a guess that it's not a campaign for city clerk, but beyond this, we know little.

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711

How the Williams Plumbing trucks block vision at 9th & Spring -- a pictorial.

I'm not sure if I can illustrate these problems any more clearly than this, although as in the past, I honestly believe it would be helpful for those city officials in charge of such matters to come outside for once and view the scene from the ground, as so many of us do every day.

Perhaps only then will this combination of danger and neglect make the necessary impression.

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778

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: As David White's mayoral campaign begins, let's briefly survey the electoral landscape.

White couldn't be any more clear as to the gist of his coming campaign: Gahan has the city on the wrong course, and he must be "fired."

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893

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: David White addresses citizens and city employees in a News & Tribune insert today, denouncing deception, bullying, non-transparency and debt.

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1,372

Technically, Chick-fil-A was correctly using sandbags in a vain effort to deter Summit Springs stormwater runoff.

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1,427

Bliss Artisan Ice Cream & Handcrafted Pizza is to occupy the long vacant Breakwater retail space.

The retail space in the Breakwater has been blissfully moribund since the luxury housing complex was built, but now there's to be a tenant called Bliss Artisan. The business bills itself as ice cream shop that also sells pizza.

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4,146

Plot twist as Jenna Clem (Huber) takes to Go Fund Me: "Save Joe Huber's Family Farm."

Jenna Clem says there's another side to the story. I have no dogs in this fight, but let's allow the daughter have her say. Click through to read the entire testimonial.

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4,939

BOW reveals Senor Iguana's to occupy the former Dragon King's Daughter space at the corner of Elm and Bank.

Speaking of tacos, Señor Iguanas Restaurantes Mexicanos will be occupying a space just yards away from Taco Steve at Bank Street Brewhouse, just a couple blocks from the new Longboard's Taco & Tiki, with La Tiendita only a block away from Longboard's. That's a Taco Walk in itself, and year-round. Maybe DNA should invest in its own food truck?

Big Four Burgers has been sold and is under new management, and District 22 Pizza is no more, soon to become a "hot chicken" outlet.

The Green Mouse was told some months back that Matt McMahan was looking to sell both of his burger restaurants (New Albany and Jeffersonville) as well as District 22 Pizza, which has been attached to the New Albany Big Four for the past year.

The only constant is change. Stay tuned for updates.

These stickers have been placed throughout downtown New Albany.

Don't worry. I fixed them.

Link to an actual story having nothing to do with anchors.

Scott County's HIV crisis "may reveal a terrifying future for public health in America."

Earlier today:

"State Representative Ed Clere will be a featured guest speaker at the Southern Indiana PRIDE Launch Event next Thursday October 11th, 2018."

Last year:

Mike Pence minced in The New Yorker: "(Ed) Clere remains bitter about Pence."

And a year before that:

Prayer, needles and Pence. Radical Christian extremists, be gone.

I've said it before and will say it again: As a lifelong Hoosier, I'm compelled to warn those of you currently existing on an steady diet of "Impeach Trump" that waiting in the wings is someone far worse, primarily because Mike Pence actually believes the religious mumbo-jumbo to which The Donald pays only bored lip service.

Mike Pence Is Still to Blame for an HIV Outbreak in Indiana—but for New Reasons, by Steven W. Thrasher (The Nation)

The avoidable Scott County epidemic may reveal a terrifying future for public health in America.

 ... The disaster in Scott County was not just a failure of clean needles or even just Indiana’s long-time “abstinence stressed” sexual education. It was a disaster born of a total abdication of Indiana’s public-health responsibility—and it’s the kind of health disaster we could see nationally. Pence is now vice president in an administration that is gutting HIV/AIDS resources and further criminalizing drug use—two paths that will increase HIV prevalence across the country. Meanwhile, the twin crises of deindustrialization and rising opioid usage mean that the conditions for localized HIV epidemics are not unique to Scott County. Indeed, Gonsalves and Crawford write that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes there are “220 counties across the USA at risk of outbreaks of HIV” and hepatitis C ...

... Gonsalves and Crawford’s study of Scott County shows that preventable epidemics can happen anywhere where austerity is combined with theocratic, anti-science policies. As public-health approaches are abandoned throughout the United States, that applies to increasingly large swaths of the country.

Fast fact about vehicular speeds that kill: "18 mph is the human tolerance of crash impacts."

I'll keep posting about speed because speed kills. If you wish to ignore all available evidence and retain a sense of automotive entitlement, which allows you to drive 40 mph on city streets that pass through neighborhoods, then I'd submit that your entitlement is anti-social -- and whatever the neighborhood must do to restore safety is justified.

If you can't understand any of what I'm writing here, that's not a deal-killer. But thinking of yourself as a "progressive"? That is.

Pioneering Study Affirms Vision Zero Focus on Speed Management, by Veronica Vanterpool (Vision Zero Network)

... Nationally, speed was recorded as a factor in 27% of fatal crashes resulting in 10,111 crash deaths in 2016, according to the study. Research has shown that the likelihood of pedestrians or bicyclists surviving impact with a vehicle increases significantly with each 5 mph decrease in the speed limit. Further highlighting the importance of lower travel speeds, researcher Eric Dumbaugh notes in a recent Vision Zero Network webinar on Safe Systems that 18mph is the human tolerance of crash impacts.

"State Representative Ed Clere will be a featured guest speaker at the Southern Indiana PRIDE Launch Event next Thursday October 11th, 2018."

Does anyone know if Mayor Gahan will be in attendance?

Evan Stoner previews the advent of Southern Indiana Pride.

Having Ed Clere as a featured guest speaker at Southern Indiana Pride's launch event strikes me as an ideal way to promote unity -- at least among those who wish to be unified.

We are #proud to announce that State Representative Ed Clere will be a featured guest speaker at the Southern Indiana PRIDE Launch Event next Thursday October 11th, 2018. State Rep. Ed Clere has been a longtime supporter of marriage equality, and was the sole Republican legislator who voted against the so-called marriage amendment in 2011. Rep. Clere has repeatedly introduced legislation on gender issues, and this year he authored a successful bill aimed at beginning to de-stigmatize HIV. Rep. Clere is an unwavering supporter of the Southern Indiana LGBT community, and has been a consistent advocate on behalf of LGBT inclusion & equality throughout Southern Indiana and across the Hoosier State. Pic Creds: The News & Tribune.

Selective ethics violations: Dickety Dickety Dock, hypocrisy stills the clock.

When you see an advertisement like this one in the News and Tribune, does it occur to you that when the mayor's face and name are sized larger than every other design element and font, perhaps this arrangement strongly suggests a de facto campaign ad, on an everyday basis, at taxpayer expense?

It should. To be sure, there is nothing innately unethical about this practice, and Jeff Gahan's certainly not the only elected official in irony-free America to use quasi-franking privileges for the advancement of his own personal brand, rather than that of the city.

Granted, we know by now that Gahan views these two brands as one and the same. He believes he personifies the city, or at least those components capable of being grasped without the corporate attorney explaining them to him. Consequently, in seven years at the helm, Gahan's team has failed to so much as attempt to produce a consistent, coherent brand for the city itself.

Just his face, again and again, like the framed portraits of the current Communist Party leader inevitably gracing the indoor spaces of Warsaw Pact satellite countries during the Cold War.

Meanwhile, there's the local Democratic Party, currently outraged by State Senator Ron Grooms' purported use of an improper campaign business card -- so much so that Adam Dickey has filed a formal ethics complaint.

That's just precious.

Recalling the Floyd County Democratic party's delirious, full-throated support of Gahan's hostile public housing takeover, which has in effect been one continuous ethics violation lasting over a year and a half, while impacting hundreds of human lives and rendering null and void the local party's allegedly fundamental commitment to the advancement of society's most vulnerable people ... where was I, exactly?

Wait, I remember.

Adam is upset about a business card.

Let that sink in, then consider this: the newspaper devoted several hundred words to this item.

How do any of them sleep at night?

Floyd County Dems file ethics complaint over Sen. Grooms social media posts

SOUTHERN INDIANA — A state legislator up for re-election is denying he used his government-provided email address for campaign purposes, which is being alleged in an ethics complaint filed by the Floyd County Democratic Party.

In a letter dated Oct. 1 to the Senate Legislative Ethics Committee, Floyd County Democratic Party chair Adam Dickey complains that state Sen. Ron Grooms, R-Jeffersonville, committed a violation of ethics after two social media posts contained a photograph of Grooms' campaign business card, which lists his Senate email address, in addition to his personal email address.

Harvest Homecoming explains: "The Tribune sold the ad to the Democratic party. This is was completely out of our control."

The newspaper profits from City Hall advertisements, and City Hall profits from a free ride in editorial terms.

Insert graphic of vigorous mutual backscratching. Too bad that Harvest Homecoming gets stuck in the middle of crassness coming from both sides.

Just another day in paradise -- so why wouldn't the Democratic Party join in the fun? It's probably the mayor's campaign finance money, anyway.

To whom it may concern,

As current president of Harvest Homecoming, it is important for me to address the advertisement on the front of our annual HHC tabloid. The News and Tribune has full control over selling the advertisements and the front of the tabloid always has an advertisement. The ads make the circulation to the community possible. For many years that space has been purchased by a local car sales company. This year, they opted to not purchase the ad. With the space up for grabs, The Tribune sold the ad to the Democratic party. This is was completely out of our control and I was not aware of the advertisement until it was published.

For 50 years, HHC has been a non-partisan organization supporting all facets of our community. It is important that we continue this tradition of celebrating our great festival and the wonderful diversity of the New Albany-Floyd County community. I ask that we put politics aside, join together as a HHC family, and show this community an outstanding festival.

Regards,

Art Niemeier
President – Harvest Homecoming

"The “Toilet Paper Test” is a litmus test for walkability. Does your home pass?"

As a handy proxy, yes. But there are many details yet to be negotiated ... if only it were possible.

The “Toilet Paper Test” is a litmus test for walkability. Does your home pass? by Dan Malouff (Greater Greater Washington)

The Toilet Paper Test is simple: If you're at home and you need to buy toilet paper, can you do so conveniently without using a vehicle?

If you can, odds are you live in an area that's walkable enough for many of your daily needs to be handled on foot. If you can't, you probably have to rely a lot on something with wheels to get around.

An imperfect test, but a handy proxy ...

Bait and switch: Empathy on empty as Jeff Gahan asks you to think about an embryonic rails-to-trails fantasy rather than the resident killed by a driver while riding his bicycle downtown.

Rest assured, it remains my goal to phase out the strident polemics -- I am, and I will, but as H. L. Mencken is my witness, I simply refuse to allow both City Hall and the News and Tribune to cooperate on shameless diversions when people literally are dying on city streets owing to Jeff Gahan's casual indifference. 

Progressives, where are you? "What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own." 

Article Synopsis: Mayor Jeff Gahan's announcement of a future rails-to-trails pathway from New Albany to Bedford is all hat, no cattle. For one thing, when's the last time he's been spotted walking? Most of the right-of-way lies outside of New Albany; the path should be multi-modal and not only for walkers; and all of the work (if any occurs) will take place over a period of decades. This breathless announcement is another politically-motivated diversion, intended to impress casual observers with surface sheen, even as the mayor refuses to undertake common-sense traffic-calming measures to render his own city's street grid safe for non-automotive users. 

Grade: D ... partial credit awarded for artfully stealing ideas from others

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A guy riding a bicycle is struck by another guy driving a truck. The bicyclist dies, the driver says it wasn't his fault, civil authorities breathe a sigh of relief because they needn't give a damn (yet again), and life goes on.

Except, of course, for the bicyclist -- who never once had the chance to tell his side of the story.

How many bicyclists, skateboarders and pedestrians have to die before Jeff Gahan gives a flying fuck?

The News and Tribune scarcely notices any of it, burying news of the bicyclist's death beneath a sculpture installation and Democratic Party chairman Adam Dickey's most recent petty, formal complaint about behavior on the part of the opposing political party, to whom Dickey routinely loses elections but somehow manages to retain his position.

And, in a marvel of poor timing, Jeff Gahan chooses to occasion of another death on his city's streets to take full credit for seizing an opportunity to create a rails-to-trails project that doesn't yet exist in any tangible form, will require decades for construction and untold millions of dollars to achieve, the bulk of responsibility to be shouldered by entities other than Gahan's own TIFFed-out New Albany municipal government.

It gets even worse. Bob Caesar, himself a slobbering mayoral aspirant, gets downright servile.

“I think it’s an exciting thing,” New Albany City Councilman Bob Caesar said at Monday’s council meeting. “It’s a big deal for New Albany. This can be a big shot in the arm.”

In short, it's another day in Jeff Gahan's luxury-driven, quality-of-life (for people with money) paradise, and instead of asking myriad questions about why normal folks who haven't taken the precaution of arming themselves with automobiles keep losing their lives in downtown New Albany, the newspaper goes all in on adoration for Gahan's pastoral fantasies about building this rails-to-trails connection to Bedford, a city that the mayor tells Chris Morris might as well be Bloomington, even though a whole 25 miles separate the two cities.

The city's triumphant video about a non-existent trail system that apparently won't even touch downtown New Albany or link with the Greenway (itself 30 years in the making) was released on the same day that our car-centric street grid claimed another victim, and also at roughly the same hour as David White announced his candidacy for mayor in opposition to Gahan.

Think there might have been a connection?

As we've observed so many times in the past, whenever the cognitive dissonance becomes too much for Bud Light to handle, the mayor pops up to hoist a pleasant artist's rendition of the latest bright shiny object:

No, not that one. Maybe this one:

As for the video itself, Gahan wants us to believe he's in possession of critical knowledge of the sort that only he knows and can deploy for health and recreational benefits.

Little-known? Maybe to Gahan, until someone like Scott Wood told him.

Of course, there have been hundreds of Rails to Trails projects in America over the past 30-odd years.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors to build healthier places for healthier people.

The single best way to prove that "rails-to-trails" is a familiar concept nationwide is that lawyers often litigate it.

People Love (to Sue) Rails-to-Trails Projects, by Eric Jaffe (CityLab)

The federal government has paid $49 million in claims in the past year alone.

Rails-to-trails projects — old railroad corridors re-purposed for hiking and biking — have exploded in popularity in recent years. Many of the 1,800 rail-trails that now exist across the United States run through remote areas, but there are lots that go through cities, too. The Elliot Bay Trail reaches downtown Seattle; the Katy Trail winds through cities in Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri; and a whole bunch of rail-trails pepper the D.C. Beltway.

Lately, these projects have come under heavy assault from adjacent landowners. Jenna Greene of the National Law Journal recently reported that the federal government has paid $49 million to property owners who filed just compensation claims against rail-trails this year alone. With 8,000 claims pending, according to Greene, the ultimate taxpayer liability could top half a billion dollars.

What went wrong? The answer goes back to a 1983 law that made it easier to convert old rail corridors into recreational trails. Before that time, potential trail managers often backed out of projects for fear of being drawn into a legal morass of land-ownership disputes.

A few of the questions the faithful stenographer Morris might have asked, but of course didn't, include these.

Given that these negotiations with CSX date back at least to February 2018, why the timing, and why wait until now to let us know?

How much of the trail actually will be located inside city limits -- a few hundred yards?

Considering the fact that almost all of the heavy lifting will be borne by governmental entities outside New Albany, who can the mayor express confidence in success when he won't speak publicly about making his own city safe for non-automotive users of the street grid?

Isn't it just as important for this proposed trail to link with the Greenway by extending south as well as north?

Why isn’t Gahan equally "fascinated" by making downtown safe for walkers?

Wait -- is this trail intended for walkers only?

That's insane. What about bicycles -- why isn't it a multi-modal trail connecting Bedford to the Ohio River Greenway?

If the trail covers only a small portion of New Albany and Floyd County, isn't it true that our actual role in building it is equally small?

Really, $40 million?

Isn't this announcement just another in a long series of feel-good diversions from real issues like Gahan's captive NAHA's neglect of human beings in Riverview Towers?

Why use Gahan’s photo at all when the article ostensibly is about a walking trail?

Doesn't the use of Gahan's photo amount to a free campaign ad?

As for the later, we already know the answer, as George Monbiot surveys in The Guardian. For heaven's sake, News and Tribune, can you please do your damn job?

Our cult of personality is leaving real life in the shade

... The task of all journalists is to turn off the spotlight, roll up the blinds and see what’s lurking at the back of the room. There are some magnificent examples of how this can be done, such as the Windrush scandal reporting, by the Guardian’s Amelia Gentleman and others. This told the story of people who live far from where the spotlight falls. The articles were accompanied by pictures of victims rather than of the politicians who had treated them so badly: their tragedies were not supplanted by someone else’s drama. Yet these stories were told with such power that they forced even those within the spotlight to respond.

The task of all citizens is to understand what we are seeing. The world as portrayed is not the world as it is. The personification of complex issues confuses and misdirects us, ensuring that we struggle to comprehend and respond to our predicaments. This, it seems, is often the point.

How many bicyclists, skateboarders and pedestrians have to die before Jeff Gahan gives a flying fuck?

The newspaper is complicit, too.
If only they could blame Trump.

I'm trying really hard to be nice ... but another "accident," another "driver not to blame," another instance where we know all about the victim and nothing at all about the driver, and another prospective round of Jeff Gahan's political appointees aciting "decisively" only when ducking responsibility and blaming the victim.

As with Chloe Allen, Matt Brewer and Richard Bennett, James Broy Jr.'s name probably will not be acknowledged at the next Board of Public Works and ... Safety? As I noted on Facebook, the only account we have of this and too many accidents like it is that of the driver.

That's because the non-driver usually doesn't survive; police and prosecutor assure us no crime was committed, and there it ends.

How do you people even sleep at night? Are your cars really more important than human life, or are you just that corrupt?

Speaking of which, I'm reprinting the whole article from the News and Tribune, from whom I've stolen it from behind their paywall. The newspaper can't be bothered to take note of the carnage, although it will send a reporter for the unveiling of the next bright shiny object.

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Bicyclist struck in New Albany dies, by Aprile Rickert

James Lee Broy Jr. died as a result of injuries

NEW ALBANY — A cyclist struck by a pickup truck in New Albany on Monday has died.

The Jefferson County Coroner determined 59-year-old James Lee Broy Jr. died as a result of the collision, according to a news release from New Albany Police Department Chief Todd Bailey.

Officers were dispatched to the alley behind Bottles Unlimited at 427 State Street around 9:30 a.m. Monday. A preliminary investigation indicated that Broy rode his bicycle into the path of a pickup truck traveling north in the alley. Police say the bicyclist entered the alley from a blind spot in the Bottles Unlimited parking lot.

Broy was taken to University of Louisville hospital for treatment and later died.

Bailey said Tuesday that the investigation shows no criminal activity on the part of the driver, however the case remains open. The driver of the pickup truck has not been identified.

R.I.P. Dean Hammersmith, who got a whole lot done in 88 years.

Growing up in Georgetown, Dean was my second mom. Our families socialized on a weekly basis; the adults would gossip about current events and politics while the kids played. Very laid back, very small town; sweet tea and German chocolate cake.

Dean wasn't afraid to mix it up with the menfolk when it came to conversation. She was a doer, highly organized, and exuding a natural sense of being in command. Children can sense when an adult is bluffing. She wasn't and didn't, although at the same time remained loving toward the kids and listened to them. This always struck me as textbook parenting, honest and respectful on all sides.

Much to my regret, I've been unable to make it to the funeral home. As a force of nature who got things done, Dean herself probably would understand and forgive.

In closing, allow me to add that I'm happy she lived to see the fruition of the park and baseball diamond complex named in honor of her son. To be perfectly truthful, the name Hammersmith and the notion of service to the community are synonymous.

Tammy's now the matriarch -- and the tradition lives on. Condolences and best wishes to her family.

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Margaret "Dean" Hammersmith
August 20, 1930 - September 29, 2018

Georgetown, Indiana

Margaret "Dean" Hammersmith, 88, passed away peacefully at Diversicare-Providence in New Albany, IN on Saturday, September 29, 2018. Dean was a lifelong resident of Georgetown, and very active in the community, serving on several boards and committees. She was a member of Christ United Methodist Church in Georgetown. Dean retired from the New Albany-Floyd County Schools in 1995 after 20 years at Georgetown Elementary tutoring children in reading. Dean will be remembered for her wicked sense of humor and sharp tongue, but most of all love of her family, friends and community. Dean was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 46 years, Kenneth Hammersmith, her son Kevin Hammersmith, daughter, Debra Kay Hammersmith and brother, Edward Bailey. Dean is survived by her daughter, Tammy Persinger (Lloyd), her grandchildren, Gretchen Krammes (Kellen), Jacob Cunningham, Jessica Persinger, and her great grandsons, Luke, Koen and Aden Krammes. A celebration of her life will be at 2:00 PM Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at Gehlbach & Royse Funeral Home in Georgetown, IN. Pastor Jason Saylor will officiate. Burial will be in Wolfe Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM Monday, October 1, 2018 and from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM Tuesday. The family requests that expressions of sympathy go to the Floyd County Parks Foundation and Christ United Methodist Church.

Jail construction, jail taxes and a point usually missed: "Our jail overcrowding issue is largely based on the inability of people to pay bail."

We can trust Jeff Gillenwater always to cut straight to the chase.

Amid bountiful controversy over jail expansion and jail taxes, hardly anyone including the local chain newspaper has asked why we're jailing so many people.

Our jail overcrowding issue is largely based on the inability of people to pay bail. Sheriff Loop recently mentioned that typically over half the Floyd County inmates at any given time are there not because they’ve been convicted but because they are awaiting trial and can’t make bail. That 50-60% statistic holds up nationally. Those with financial means await trial at home while continuing to work jobs, go to school, tend children, or whatever it is they normally do. Those without enough money to pay bail lose jobs, struggle with childcare or have children taken away, etc., often while charged with the same or similar crimes. We have a prosecutorial problem, not a jail problem.

Yep.

In addition, after months of trench warfare, suddenly City Hall has become amenable to the jail project. This might be because the mayor got what he wanted in terms of a new luxury City Hall and can afford to play nice.

It might also be the approach of a 2019 campaign season during which the irrational hostility of ranking municipal Democrats toward Republican-dominated county government is likely to become a campaign issue damaging to the Democrats, hence a low-grade charm offensive to keep us off-balance.

Pro tip: keep your eye on the anchor, and never stop following the money.

Agreement reached on jail construction permits in Floyd County, by Chris Morris (That Tom May Show)

MEW ALBANY — The city of New Albany and Floyd County government have reached an agreement for the $15 million jail renovation project to move forward.

There had been some disagreement as to which entity had control over permitting for the work. However, city attorney Shane Gibson said Friday the city had issued work permits for the contractor. The city will also inspect the work once it is completed.

Floyd County attorney Rick Fox said both sides got together with "all the players" and went through the process. Now the project can move forward.

LET THE FACTS SPEAK: To be too busy or to not be too busy.

 

LET THE FACTS SPEAK is a new spin-free feature at NA Confidential.

Gahan quote: David White announces plans to run for New Albany mayor, by Chris Morris at the News and Tribune (on-line post of 1 October 2018).

Committee to Elect Gahan CFA-4 report, 13 January 2018, courtesy of the Floyd County Clerk's office.

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: Ordering beer, watching movies, dreaming of Bavaria and oiling our hops.

Back into a routine.

Monday mornings surveying the empty spaces on cooler shelves, lifting kegs, making space for reinforcements and placing pen to paper. It's all very old school, right up to the point when I text my orders to wholesaler reps.

I've missed this sort of work.

It's been at least ten years since I was actively involved with a beer program like the one at Pints&union now; once Bank Street Brewhouse began construction in 2008, it was all about selling NABC's beer, which proved to be multitudinous Groundhog Days of frustration for me.

That's in the past. We depleted the better part of two kegs of Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest in five days last week, and also tapped a quarter barrel of Founders Harvest Ale (it will be pouring when the pub opens for business Tuesday).

Draft sales have been gratifyingly brisk so far, and within the next two weeks, both Fuller's London Pride and Anchor Porter should be back at their stations.

To me, the big challenge so far has been to make the best use of limited space for bottles and cans, and assembling a great classicist "short list" of 40 to 45 choices. It's a work in progress, but comments like this one from Monnik's skilled brewer Scott Hand really help my morale.

Interestingly, another friend said he'd invited a few notable beer geek enthusiasts to come to the pub, and they begged off because the beer at Pints&union isn't interesting enough.

Come to think of it, this might be the highest praise of all. 

Now, for a few links.

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Last Friday we attended a 4:00 p.m. screening of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9 at Baxter Avenue Theatres Filmworks in Louisville. It's a measure of how seldom I watch movies that Friday's visit was my first to BATF since the cinema remodeled back in 2016, an investment that included the debut of a bar with real adult beverages.

Consequently I was delighted to find this bar situated at the entrance to our chosen screen, and even happier to note the presence of local beers on tap. Moore's documentary might be his finest yet, and my outraged enjoyment was facilitated by delicious draft Gravely Hefeweizen and Vienna Lager.

As a caveat, stadium seats implies stadium pricing, but as I noted, it's a rare splurge for me, anyway.

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For the photo alone.

10 of the best brewery tap rooms in Europe: readers’ tips (The Guardian)

Our tipsters try everything from a Peak District brewpub crawl to a beer in Ukraine named in ‘honour’ of Vladimir Putin

This brewery on the banks of a glacier-carved Alpine lake is in a monastery with tables that reach to the water’s edge, and for a price that vanished long ago in Britain … This is the Tegernsee brewery tap in southern Bavaria. It serves its own Helles, a crisp golden beer, Dunkle, which is darker and malty, and Wiessbier, a refreshing wheat beer. It also sells one of the most satisfying low-alcohol Helles I know. The interior of this brewery tap is a cathedral to beer.

• Open daily 9am-11pm, braustuberl.de

For me, this image is heavenly.

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Finally, from my friend Stan, a deep dive into distilled hop oils in brewing. The rumination is particularly relevant given the prospective arrival of the Our Lady of Perpetual Hops brewery up the hill in Floyds Knobs.

Just the Essentials — How Distilled Oils are Expanding the Impact of Hops, by Stan Hieronymus (Good Beer Hunting)

The process of extracting desirable odor compounds from plant matter—think: roses, lavender, or other prefered fragrances—is rather basic. It produces the results it does because compounds can be distilled at temperatures below that of the boiling points of individual constituents, preserving their characteristics. Steam is pumped through the matter under pressure, softening the cells, freeing essential oil and turning it into vapor. After cooling, the steam condenses into water and the vapor into essential oil. Because the oil is most often lighter than water, the two may be easily separated.

Avicenna, a Persian polymath who lived from 980 to 1037 A.D., is credited with being the first to use steam distillation for isolating essential oils from flowers, starting with rose water. Although the process now has multiple other industrial uses, it remains the most common method for producing aromatherapy-grade essential oils.

This is where hops come in.

Incumbent Steve Burks seeks re-election as New Albany Township Trustee, with building commissioner David Brewer opposing him.

Steve Burks, a Republican, was elected to the office of New Albany Township Trustee in 2014. Burks is running for re-election this year.

A township trustee is an elected official in the local government of the U.S. state of Indiana. A township trustee administers a township, which in Indiana is the primary political subdivision of a county, and in common with most other state officials serves a term of four years.

Here's the skinny from 2014.

County Councilman Burks wins New Albany trustee’s seat (Theoretically Local Chain Newspaper)

FLOYD COUNTY — Republican Steve Burks will be trading one seat for another after scoring a victory over an incumbent Tuesday night.

Burks received 5,540 votes, or 52.9 percent, while Democrat Jeannie Freiberger received 4,926 votes, or 4,926 votes, in the New Albany Township Trustee race.

Burks is a pastor and also an at-large Floyd County councilman, so he will have to resign his seat

“I do benevolence all the time. That is what I do,” he said of his new post, which is largely tasked with helping the less fortunate. “I will try to be more efficient in that department. I want to give people a hand up instead of a hand out. I want people to be accountable."

Burks' opponent on November 6th is David Brewer, a Democrat and the city's Building Commissioner. Brewer also is locally renowned as an assistant basketball coach at New Albany High School.

Historically, NA Confidential has enjoyed good relations with Brewer, and we believe he does a good job as the building commissioner. It's an appointed position, not an elected one.

Re-reading the newspaper article linked above, I recalled a conversation I once had over coffee with Burks, who said he knew going into the 2014 election cycle that a person can't simultaneously hold two elected offices. If victorious in the trustee's race, he'd be compelled to resign as a county councilman.

Burks also discussed the possibility with his church, which accepted the idea of him being both pastor and trustee, given that trustees have a responsibility to those in need similar to that embraced by the church.

As an aside, here are the yearly rates of pay for the government jobs mentioned in this post.

Floyd County council representative: $10,000
Township trustee: $40,000
Building commissioner: $54,000

There does not appear to be a rule governing the simultaneous occupancy of an elected and an appointed office.

Currently the New Albany Township Trustee's office is located at the City-County Building on Hauss Square, which also is the headquarters of the Building Commission. It seems likely that if Burks is re-elected, he'll remain at his current office. If Brewer is the winner, is not known whether he's remain on duty as building commissioner, or move the office to the new City Hall being remodeled on Main Street.

The election is on November 6, and early voting at the county clerk's office begins on October 10.