There's been a Human Rights Commission spotting ...

Actually, New Albany's HRC is meeting across the street as I type these words from the library.

(Full disclosure: The missus is a member of the commission)

No one's happier than me to see a freshly enabled HRC. This blog was advocating such a revival during the Garner administration. But I must admit it seems strange to have such a nice, shiny new car and keep it parked in the garage. For something that's been here for more than a year, there's already an aura of disuse. It seems almost as though the HRC was reconstituted for no other reason than to serve as laudatory sidebar on a metaphorical website.

Seems to me if given a choice between seeming progressive and being progressive, the latter's more important.

I'm not "blaming" anyone, neither the HRC reps nor City Hall. It's just that there's something quite strange about the way this has come down, at least until now.

My favorite News and Tribune reader comment yet.

I'm not a bully. I'm a bluebird.

Battle brewing in New Albany over website photo; Health department subject of tort claim notice from brewery owner

CGP wrote:

No question Baylor is a bully. He would, without so much as a wink, put together some sort of picture just like the one on the Health Dept. site and feature this on his blog. He would do this while sneering and jeering, and he would spout venomous comments with his loyal followers who would gush all over the remarks with similar refrains of their own. Then, he would promote such a picture/blog entry on every website he frequents, Twitter, Facebook, other blogs. And he would guffaw and drink while adding one lie on top of the next in his self-righteous screed.

So much is completely true, and even those who have not been a target of his know it.

However, Roger and his band of merry gossip mongers are not a publicly-funded government entity. And, two wrongs don't make a right.

The Floyd County Health Department needs to cease and desist asap. Whoever is behind all this online defamation of character should understand that this is completely inappropriate and illegal harassment. It simply needs to stop.

2nd Annual Indiefest planned for Sunday, September 15.

Here's the advance notice. There'll be more as we get closer.

New Albany Indiefest

The 2nd Annual Indiefest will be held on Sunday, September 15, from 1:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., at the 400 block of Bank Street, New Albany, Indiana. This year we are excited to offer two beer gardens, two stages and 14 local, original bands. As well as beautiful local art of sale, delicious food and a large area for the kids.

Travel Music 3: Foreigner in a foreign land, 1985.

Kiddies, here's the way it used to work, before personal devices, downloads and YouTube: A song was released, became a hit, was played in endless repetition on a limited number of radio stations, and could not be avoided. You made your peace with it, or you plunged knitting needles into your ears. I've been known to embrace both strategies.

Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" was released as a single at the close of 1984, and proceeded to hit number one in early 1985 in the United States, the UK, Australia, Ireland and several other countries. As I prepared for my first trip abroad in the spring of 1985, the song was everywhere.

When I arrived in Europe in May, it invariably was heard on virtually any radio I encountered at a time when there weren't any satellite stations or iPod playlists. Nowadays, about the only way a song becomes an ear worm is to be used to promote a mass market product. Then, a hit could be painfully ubiquitous.

Much to my surprise, I actually liked "I Want to Know What Love Is." Still do. Go figure.

From inception in the 1970s, Foreigner had been a guitar-oriented, hard rock kind of band -- fodder for the testosterone-laden. Mostly I was bored, because to me, Foreigner generally sounded corporate and derivative. But the sound slowly seemed to mature, and with "I Want to Know What Love Is," the group became the equivalent of the journeyman pitcher who throws a perfect game.

The lyrics are the least of it; basically, the structure is verse/chorus/verse/extended chorus and fade. The guitar is relegated to rhythm status, with layers of keyboards and synthesizers throughout. Vocalist Lou Gramm is in fine fettle, but of course the stars of the show are the gospel choir's singers. Their backing vocals are muted to the point of absence in the first chorus, submerged beneath the ethereal synths. The choir comes to the front of the mix during the first half of the extended second chorus, and then there's a barely noticeable bridge; then the choir sings the lead vocal, and Gramm offers great fills.

It's gorgeous, and utterly inexplicable. How did the band get from "Feels Like the First Time" to this? No matter; the relevance to me is that I cannot think back on 1985 without "I Want to Know What Love Is" bobbing up to the surface.

"Rowan Williams tells 'persecuted' western Christians to grow up."

Never has a monopoly ... the majority ... been so bizarrely paranoid.

Rowan Williams tells 'persecuted' western Christians to grow up; Former archbishop of Canterbury says UK and US Christians exaggerate 'mild discomfort', by Charlotte Higgins (The Guardian)

Christians in Britain and the US who claim that they are persecuted should "grow up" and not exaggerate what amounts to feeling "mildly uncomfortable", according to Rowan Williams, who last year stepped down as archbishop of Canterbury after an often turbulent decade.

"When you've had any contact with real persecuted minorities you learn to use the word very chastely," he said. "Persecution is not being made to feel mildly uncomfortable. 'For goodness sake, grow up,' I want to say."

N and T: "JEERS ... to the Floyd County Health Department ... "

Jerod Clapp's fine piece in the News and Tribune on Thursday, detailing the Floyd County Health Department's photographic misstep, has drawn several supportive comments.

Battle brewing in New Albany over website photo

In the weekend edition, editor Shea Van Hoy issues a timely Jeer. An excerpt is below, but please follow the link and read it all.

CHEERS AND JEERS — For Aug. 17-18

JEERS

... to the Floyd County Health Department for its petty posting of a photo on its website taken in front of a local business.

It wasn’t just any business, you see, and that’s the major problem. The photo, since removed, was of a health department vehicle in front of New Albanian Brewing Co.’s Bank Street Brewhouse ...

... I can’t say who is in the right in the permit battle. What I can say is the health department — a government-funded agency — was flat wrong when it put NABC in this light.

Harris may not like Baylor or his actions, but he has to remember he is merely the owner. There are other livelihoods at stake here, ones far removed from permits and media coverage.

Coming around again: Matters of principle at LEO.

I think it is highly instructive that LEO's Sarah Kelley has chosen to "take a bullet" rather than acquiesce to a directive she cannot abide. Good for her. I recall a similar story back in 2010.

It had to do with my column for LEO, and Sarah Kelley's protectionist view of Budweiser's place therein,as documented at the time in A Tale of Two Columns, followed shortly thereafter by This round goes to the Liteweights, as Mr. Mug Shot is no more.

Recently I was approached by a pleasant LEO advertising sales person and her boss. They pitched the idea of an ongoing, half-page ad/column to be sponsored by NABC, on the topic of cooking with beer and food-beer pairings.

The rate? Reasonable by the standards of the genre.

I asked who'd be providing the actual content, and clarified that it would be NABC (read: me) and not a LEO staffer. After all, isn't the fact that I once wrote a column for LEO sufficient proof that I'm a writer?

Having established that as a writing ad buyer, I'd have control over the content, I told them the story about my experience as a LEO columnist, the tiff over ever-sensitive megabuck monoliths like AB-InBev not abiding insults, and the fact that I encouraged the door to hit me in the ass while exiting.

So, as advertising purchaser, would I still be censored as to anti-Budweiser polemics in the same way as before?

They said they'd get back to me. It's been a few weeks now, and I've heard nothing.

Now it strikes me as ironic. Sarah Kelley's principled departure from LEO, and the uncertainty surrounding the alt weekly's future, perhaps offer an even better reason to be wary of advertising there ... but it wasn't clear that truth-telling would have been allowed even if I paid to place it.

Matters of principle. Funny damned things, indeed.

WFPL: LEO Editor Sarah Kelley leaves rather than cut staffers, by Staff (Insider Louisville)

In late July we told you SouthComm CEO Chris Ferrell was in Louisville to meet with LEO Weekly staffers.

At that time, we asked Ferrell both in phone conversations and in emails about information we had from LEO insiders about pending cuts. He declined to discuss the changes on the record, and, as we say, off the record is off the record.

We also contacted LEO staffers about the cuts, but no one would go on the record.

Today, WFPL’s Gabe Bullard reported LEO Editor Sarah Kelley has chosen to take a bullet rather than to layoff colleagues.

These machines kill fascists, pathogens and bureaucrats.

As of Friday, the Floyd County Health Department's web site has been purged of references to NABC and me, and there are no artlessly staged "stock photo" ops ("eco-lies", we call them), and no images of me purloined from my web site absent my permission. Seems they can take dictation, after all.

Meanwhile, last evening's Bicentennial Park concert gig was the occasion for another cursory inspection by the department, whose representative took little time in offering me the clipboard for signing, along with these words: "There isn't much to see here."

Yep. The foot soldiers keep getting it, while their superiors ...

When pressed by Eater Louisville and N and T, FCHD unable to get its story straight.

Gone, not forgotten.

After the Floyd County Health Department's attorney, Rick Fox, meandered through another round of evasive and tort(uous) verbiage with the News and Tribune's Jerod Clapp, Eater Louisville's Zach Everson succinctly dismissed Fox's "lawyerly things" (underlining is NAC's):

Rick Fox, the attorney for the department's board of directors, told the News and Tribune

that he "received the tort claim on Tuesday and hasn't met with the department's board to discuss it yet.

But he said to make sure there weren't any misconceptions about the photo and the associated post on E. coli, they decided to take it down.

"They removed the photo, not in that the health department had done anything wrong, but we most certainly don't want to give the wrong idea," Fox said. "If they think someone's getting the wrong idea, we don't want to do that. As I understand it, the Floyd County Health Department truck was just showing that they were doing their normal inspections. Those [inspections] are subject to public review, the truck could have been in front of any business."

Fox apparently doesn't understand it well. The truck wasn't in front of any business; it was in front of a business that was appealing a citation from the health department, and whose owner was publicly and repeatedly criticizing the department.

I'll make just one further point: On the day that the FCHD staged its stock-photo-op in front of Bank Street Brewhouse, there was no "normal" inspection of the premises.

Dissembling is a part of the subterfuge, for sure, but can't they at least do it artfully?

Music, beer & a worthless permit: Matt Duncan at Bicentennial Park, tonight.

There will be lovely weather for tonight's penultimate Bicentennial Park concert for 2013. Once again, NABC will be on hand with beer and two permits, one necessary (Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission) and the other entirely superfluous (Floyd County Web Harassment Department). Afterwards, we'll be celebrating the department's ongoing eco-lies at Bank Street Brewhouse with our Aftershow Outdoor Disco.

Tonight at Bicentennial Park, Matt Duncan and the opener, American Authors.

AUGUST 16th - MATT DUNCAN

Matt Duncan – Matt Duncan is an “inventive songwriter who understands how to use retro sounds as a tool, not a crutch (Paste Magazine, May 2012).” Mixtape Maestro described his sound as “smooth textures of its trombone and sax-seasoned arrangements coupled with Duncan’s cotton soft tenor,” and Washington, DC based website All Things Go described Matt as a “master songcrafter.” You will not want to miss Duncan’s perfectly crafted pop tunes on his visit to Bicentennial Park. Brooklyn, New York based group American Authors will open.

Next Friday is the season finale for the Bicentennial Park concert series.

AUGUST 23rd - BOMBADIL

Bombadil – Hailing from Durham, North Carolina, Bombadil is a four-piece group with guitar, bass, piano, and drums best known for their folk-pop music. The band is known for their creative and somewhat elusive lyrics, quirky sound, and upbeat, energetic live show.

At LouisvilleBeer.com: "Returning to the wisdom of the ancients."

Burnout is the perfect platform for rejuvenation. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Baby come back.

THE POTABLE CURMUDGEONAugust 15, 2013

There was a time when I’d make beer lists whenever I traveled, and it dates me considerably to confide that these were compiled using a pen and paper, and perhaps transcribed and typewritten later, long after I was back home. Untappd didn’t even exist then. How on earth did we drink? The list habit started [continued]

ON THE AVENUES: When the whip comes down.

ON THE AVENUES:  The fruitless search for adults in county government.  When the whip comes down.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor. 

See Jerod Clapp's solid News and Tribune piece

---

The cracks rapidly are turning into fissures, and it’s only a matter of time until the baseless edifice begins crumbling.

Neutral observers from here to Ulan Bator agree that the Floyd County Health Department quite clearly is losing ground, and rapidly, as PourGate 2013 enters its third month.

You’re more likely to uncover an atheist in Dave Matthews’s root cellar than find anyone outside of a lone figure on a Floridian grassy knoll who believes this saga hasn’t brought abject disrepute to Floyd County … but why focus on the obvious major themes when seemingly minor details can be so deliciously instructive?

As you may recall, Dr. Thomas Harris was oh-so-lordly-dismissive when quizzed by Eater Louisville’s Zach Everson about a government actor's webiquette.

"I'm pretty sure that was an accident," said Dr. Tom Harris, Floyd County Health Officer, pointing out that the picture was labeled "stock photo." When told that an NABC Bank Street Brewhouse employee witnessed the photo shoot the Wednesday before it was posted, and asked how many restaurant pics the Floyd County Health Department's photo archive contained and that Floyd County is 148 square miles, was it really an accident that its most recent website photo was taken in the 10 feet in front of the NABC Bank Street Brewhouse, Dr. Harris said that it was his department's prerogative to post what it wants on its website.

If this week’s bumbling deletions are any indication, Dr. Tom was mistaken.

On Monday, the FCHD was notified of NABC’s cease and desist demand, with accompanying tort claim notice. By Tuesday afternoon, the department had gotten the message, and it began somewhat belatedly exploring the esoteric nuances of a Word Press blog platform. It was time for the good doctor to put away the leeches and make a date for the modern world, except that it wasn’t quite so easy to be weaned from the patent medicine.

Having resolved to substitute a photo of me for the previous actionable view of the departmental truck parked illegally on the street adjacent to Bank Street Brewhouse, and to drop the E.coli incitement text in favor of dated and disingenuous agitprop, whomever was handed the site keys and password could do no better than add the new photo beneath the old, swap texts, and fail to discern how the heading might be replaced. It was a muddle, even by the department’s messy standards.

A few hours later, the riddle of removing the old photograph finally was solved, with the comic result that the health department now claimed to be protecting the integrity of county-wide food safety from the wiles of that nasty green-clad Communist with the beads in his beard.

---

In the end, it took two legal documents, three days, multiple web site makeovers and a friendly note from me to the FCHD's web site host/admin on Wednesday, and the malicious and defamatory photo of the FCHD's photo finally disappeared. So did the photo of me, one deployed weekly here on my blog as the face of my column.

Actually, I hated bothering the site administrator about it, but after all, as rigorous sticklers for the rule of law and common savior’s etiquette, the FCHD never actually asked my permission to use the photo it cribbed from NAC. I appreciate the admin’s prompt and professional attention to niggling detail.

All that's left now on the front page of the FCHD web site is the corrected header and the new text, and while it isn’t E.coli, it's vastly misleading in terms of the department's creative depiction of its Keystone Kops-like public access "compliance," which in fact was a masterpiece of sneering evasion, but I guess we need to let them score a point every now and then -- just to keep the game interesting. 

---

With more dust settled, and smoke clearing, let's be clear about where we stand. 

As county government vacantly wheezed, merrily whistled, rolled puffy eyes and scratched butts in a pre-Camm III stupor, its health department ineptly staged a defamatory "stock photo" and posted it, leaving the photo and E.coli text on a government web site for two full weeks, clearly causing damage to my business, and making just about any rational person ask:

Is anyone in charge here?

In short: Your tax dollars at dork, as opposed to work.

Now the photo finally has been deleted, and yet we've yet to the see the apology mandated in NABC's legal action, although it might constitute a welcome start toward rehabilitating the department's oft-self-shot feet.

As of yesterday, it's been two months since the health department operative first appeared in the alley by Bicentennial Park to cite NABC for failure to possess a temporary food service permit that we don't need to have. Insofar as this error of the department's judgment is concerned, I'm reasonably confident of it being sorted out sooner rather than later, at higher Indiana state pay grades than either mine or Dr. Harris's.

So be it. Too much time already has been lost to this foolishness, but perhaps the time has arrived to view the situation in broader focus.

What have we learned about Floyd County government, overall?

Healthblogger may need to instigate a mass narcoleptic prescription before we’re able to tackle that one, although these latest returns … well, they’re not at all encouraging, are they?

Solid News and Tribune story places spotlight on the Health Department's chronic disingenuousness.

Chalk up another local media hit, as Jerod Clapp does a great job with difficult material.

If there is a soul alive who believes the department's staged photo was some sort of coincidence,. indly refer him to me.

I have an ORBP to sell to him.

Battle brewing in New Albany over website photo; Health department subject of tort claim notice from brewery owner, by Jerod Clapp (News and Tribune)

... Rick Fox, the attorney for the department’s board of directors, said he just received the tort claim on Tuesday and hasn’t met with the department’s board to discuss it yet.

But he said to make sure there weren’t any misconceptions about the photo and the associated post on E. coli, they decided to take it down.

“They removed the photo, not in that the health department had done anything wrong, but we most certainly don’t want to give the wrong idea,” Fox said. “If they think someone’s getting the wrong idea, we don’t want to do that. As I understand it, the Floyd County Health Department truck was just showing that they were doing their normal inspections. Those [inspections] are subject to public review, the truck could have been in front of any business.”

Tom Harris, Floyd County health officer, did not return phone calls for this story as of press time.

Amanda Beam's "NEW ALBANY BICENTENNIAL — The history of brewing."

I think it's a fine essay, so go read it ... even if it's somehow too early for a beer.

NEW ALBANY BICENTENNIAL — The history of brewing, by Amanda Beam (N and T)

From revolutionary patriots to drunken frat boys, beer has been the alcoholic beverage of choice for most Americans since before the concept of America even existed.

Like folks today, residents living in New Albany in the early 1800s were no different in their love of cool and frothy ales.

Looking to quench this thirst, breweries sprouted up along the Ohio River to provide locally produced beer to the masses. After more than 170 years and countless attempts to shut down these businesses, some of which were successful, the art of creating beer has returned to New Albany, and with it a history of those who also brewed in the town so long ago.

Newspaper reports plea deal in accident that killed Hammersmith.

Perhaps this constitutes the only semblance of "closure" we might expect to achieve, but it remains a tough pill to swallow. I report it here for the record. It feels heavier than all that.

Plea deal reached in fatal New Albany crash; Man under the influence in wreck that killed Kevin Hammersmith, by Chris Morris (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — Wesley S. Bradshaw will spend the next 12 years in state prison for driving under the influence and causing the automobile accident that killed Kevin Hammersmith on Nov. 19, 2011, on Ind. 111, just south of Budd Road in New Albany.

Previously at NAC:

ON THE AVENUES: Rest in peace, Kevin.

One year later, Indiana 111 is no less dangerous than before.

Kevin Hammersmith's richly deserved amphitheater plaque.

Citizen to FCHD: "I will not stand for our public officials and public departments to promote ... public bullying."

Katy is a friend of NABC and a blog reader. She made these comments in a Facebook link share, and I suspect they echo the thoughts of many. As Katy has done, please consider your own comments to the Floyd County Commissioners and the Floyd County Health Department. The photo may be gone, but the abuse of power lingers on.

---

I am writing this in complete disbelief and heavy disappointment. I am writing this as someone you are meant to represent, a taxpayer, a member of the community. A community that should be embarrassed at the misuse of your power and public forum.

Regarding the Floyd County Health Department website (front page):

Your 'battle' with local businessmen should be a private matter, regardless of the information -- who's in the right/wrong, etc. You represent our community, and yet you allow childlike mudslinging and passive/aggressive attacks to be promoted on public domain, a domain that tax payers provide, and a domain that represents our city and county.

I raise two children in this community. I will not stand for our public officials and public departments to promote inappropriate slander/libel/defamation of character in the form of public bullying. This is a horrid example you are setting. Sugar coat it as you wish, I am an unbiased party and easily see it for what it is (as do many others).

I am planning on spreading this contact information so that other members in this community, who have the same or similar concerns, can contact you and let their voices be heard. I feel that if this matter is not taken care of responsibly, there will be more 'coverage' and communication by the population of Floyd County. If you will not take the appropriate path of communication, do not think the members of New Albany/ Floyd County will stand by silently and be so misrepresented in the public realm. We simply will not.

Thank you for your time,

Katy Traughber

Your Wednesday PourGate Update: Health department spins the web site wheel twice on Tuesday.

Well, THAT was fun ... and there's more to come, so let's review.

From about July 29, the following image (with banner and text) was displayed at the health department's web site.

At daybreak on Tuesday, it had been a full day since NABC's legal team utilized the usual certified channels to inform Floyd County's commissioners and the county health department of our cease and desist demand and tort claim notice, both pertaining to the infamously staged and defamatory tableau above.

We decided to combat county government's traditionaly stubborn opaqueness by letting the community know exactly what was coming down, as summarized here:

A cease and desist, a tort claim notice, and Dr. Tom at large.

While the record-setting hit count blog turnstile spun, apparently the health department's elephantine gears were beginning to show signs of nudging ever so inefficiently, with the result that by 3:30 p.m., there was a departmental website alteration, which was described here: Floyd County Health Department adds photo of handsome devil to its web site, but retains actionable photo.

The "stock photo" that wasn't remained, as did the banner, but a smaller headline was appended with new text detailing public access news reported here at NAC roughly three weeks ago. Timely they're not. And yet the cleverness wasn't over. Around 10:00 p.m. yesterday, the web site underwent a second change. Now the Floyd County Health Department is working to keep food safe from Roger -- not E coli.

As Typhoid Roger, a veritable human pathogen, my legend as anti-hero now is cemented -- seared into the memory of all those gazing at the health department's web site, and thinking to themselves: Is this REALLY local government at work?

Amid the health department's renewed efforts to make this summer's seminar into something personal, permit me to point out yet again what it's really all about:

The New Albanian Brewing Company’s (NABC) is in a bit of a tiff with the Floyd County Health Department (FCHD). The spat was prompted by the FCHD, and it’s all about Indiana law, and whether the law considers beer to be food.

As much as I'd like to spend the day monitoring the health department's web site to see what sort of Animal House throwbacks are posted next, it's time to drive to Indianapolis for a Brewers of Indiana Guild quarterly meeting, during which there'll be the chance to receive updates as to our progress on the state front.

In the meantime, you are encouraged to let the principle players in this melodrama know what you think. Is character assassination on a govenrment agency's web site really the best use of tax dollars? Is this really the style of county government we need?

Write the commissioners here: commissioners@floydcounty.in.gov ... and write the FCHD’s Dr. Tom Harris here: tharris@floydcounty.in.gov

It's highly doubtful that any of them will reply, but please let them know where you stand.

GAW News: "Pride of the Dipshits (UPDATE) Floyd County Health Department."

In which the fraternal brotherhood of local grassroots news agencies promotes a clear and concise view of dipshitedness.

Pride of the Dipshits (UPDATE) Floyd County Health Department

... What Elevates this otherwise ‘man fights city hall’ story to the honor and splendor of being included for recognition on Gawnews “PRIDE OF THE DIPSHITS” (See this wonderful list of prior winners: http://gawnews.com/pride-of-the-dipshits/#comment-1775) is the amazing dipshittedness of the FLOYD COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT for taking a photo of one of their Air Polluting and GAS GUZZLING pick up trucks parked in front of Roger’s joint as if to suggest his joint is likely serving food that’s a health risk!!!

Now the Floyd County Health Department is working to keep food safe from Roger -- not E coli.

Earlier today, I posted this:

A cease and desist, a tort claim notice, and Dr. Tom at large.

It is clocking somewhere around 1,500 unique hits as of 9:45 p.m. Note that this is an all-time, one-day record for this blog.

Then, there was this:

Floyd County Health Department adds photo of handsome devil to its web site, but retains actionable photo. 

It is pushing 800 hits. The total of unique hits scattered among six postings at NAC today and one last evening is in excess of 3,500. Verily, quite a few people are reading.

We now know that at roughly 3:00 p.m. today (Tuesday, August 13), whichever web wizard is deployed by the Floyd County Health Department, and paid with ice cream from Zesto, had altered the approximate surroundings of the photographic image that prompted NABC's cease and desist demand and accompanying tort claim notice. The title and actionable photo remained, only to be removed somewhere around 9:00 p.m. tonight.

Well, that's half the cease and desist demand. We as yet await Dr. Tom's heartfelt apology. The hilarious part about it is that now, my devilishly handsome and beaded mug remains attached to the same old banner headline about food safety.

Dude, how many times does it take to get it right?

Here's how the FCHD's page looked for the past two weeks:

And here's what it is was for about six hours today:

Reminder redux: THIS IS YOUR FLOYD COUNTY GOVERNMENT AT WORK.

I believe I hear pathogens dancing in the streets.

Floyd County Health Department adds photo of handsome devil to its web site, but retains actionable photo.

Earlier today, I posted this: A cease and desist, a tort claim notice, and Dr. Tom at large. As of 3:30 p.m., it has attracted 1,200 unique hits, four times the norm. Thanks for reading, and thanks to A for pointing out a new twist.

As of roughly 3:00 p.m. today (Tuesday, August 13), it would appear that the Floyd County Health Department has altered the surroundings of the photographic image that prompted NABC's cease and desist demand and accompanying tort claim notice.

The title and actionable photo remain.

The leering, junior highscapades reference to E. coli is gone, replaced by a strange press release telling the public what was reported here at NA Confidential several weeks ago: When the FCHD complied at the 11th hour in late July with the terms of NABC's Indiana Public Access records request, the complaint we filed as an inducement to observe legalities was no longer in play.

Duh.

Here's how the FCHD's page looked for the past two weeks:

And here's what it is now:

Hmm. With no photo removal and no apology, me thinks this "change" constitutes a rejection of the cease and desist, although considering the ongoing absence of adults on the FCHD campus premises, it's really hard to say, isn't it?

Given the "juvenile" nature of the FCHD's website hijinks, perhaps it bears reminding readers: This is a government agency at "work."

Really.