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State Police Plan “DWI” Check Point

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Floyd County-The Indiana State Police Post at Sellersburg will conduct a
Driving Under the Influence Enforcement Check Point in Floyd County beginning
in the evening hours of August 28th, 2013 and ending in the early morning hours
of August 29th, 2013.

Motorists that are not impaired can expect only short delays of 2-3 minutes
while passing through the check point.

BAIRD’S FARM AWARDED AT STATE FAIR

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Kevin and Linda Baird, owners and operators of Cornucopia Farms near Little York, received one of 46 River Friendly Farmer awards at the Indiana State Fair yesterday.

Bairds award

The Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts handed out the 2013 River Friendly Farmer Awards at the Indiana State Fair Wednesday.

Since 2000, key conservation and agricultural organizations have sponsored the River Friendly Farmer Program. The statewide initiative recognizes farmers, who through good production management practices helps keep Indiana’s rivers, lakes and streams clean.

“This is always a rewarding day to thank these men and women for the job they are doing to protect our environment,” said Jeff Meinders, IASWCD president.

Forty-six Hoosier farmers won the award this year.

“ We’re honored to be a recipient of this award,” said Kevin Baird. “Conservation and stewardship of the land are very important to us because we want to leave it in better shape for those that follow behind us.”

The Bairds are pictured with Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann and Indiana Farm Bureau President Don Villwock.

Tip Leads Troopers to Wanted Subjects

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Earlier this afternoon, while on regular patrol, troopers received
information that two wanted subjects were at the Casey’s Gas Mart on South U.S. #31 in Scottsburg.

When troopers arrived at the location they located Eric Sizemore, 30, from Scottsburg and Norman Adams Jr., 29, from Austin at thestore. Eric Sizemore had a warrant out of Clark County, IN for Possession of Stolen Property and Norman Adams Jr., had a warrant out of Scott County for Battery. They were both arrested and transported to the Scott County Jail.

At the jail, a syringe and suspected Methamphetamine were located on Eric
Sizemore. He was then additionally charged with Possession of a Syringe, D
Felony; Possession of Methamphetamine, D Felony; Maintaining a Common Nuisance, D Felony, and Trafficking with an Inmate, C Felony.

Female Arrested For Battery on Trooper

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Shortly before midnight last night, a trooper from the Indiana
State Police Post at Sellersburg observed a female standing near the roadway at U.S. Highway #31 near Court Avenue in Jeffersonville. The female was holding a sign panhandling for money. As the trooper approached her he recognized her as a person he had advised earlier in the evening to move away from the road for safety concerns.

As the trooper began speaking with the female from his vehicle, she refused to identify herself. She then ran around to the driver’s side of the police car
and attempted to shut the trooper’s car door as he was exiting the car. As he
continued out of his car the female fled.

As the trooper got closer to her, she turned around and battered the trooper. The trooper took her into custody,identified her as Jennifer Renea Trew, 32, of Jeffersonville, and transported her to the Clark County Jail on charges of Battery and Resisting Law Enforcement, both Misdemeanors.

No one was injured during the incident.

Fatal 4-Wheeler Accident in Washington County

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Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating a fatal ATV accident that occurred outside of Salem Tuesday evening in the 5000 block of Old State Road 56 East.

A 911 was placed to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office reporting an unresponsive male near an overturned ATV.

Steven Raisor, 20, Salem, was pronounced dead at approximately 9:31 p.m. According to the preliminary investigation, Raisor was eastbound on a Honda ATV before he lost control and was thrown from the ATV, striking the roadway surface.

Washington County Coroner Rondale Brishaber will determine the official cause of death.

Assisting agencies were the Sheriff’s Department, Gibson Township Volunteer Fire Department and Washington County Ambulance Service.

Raisor was not wearing a helmet or any safety equipment at the time of the accident.

Indiana Conservation officers strongly encourage riders to always wear a helmet and necessary safety equipment when operating an ATV.

Stay tuned to WSLM for more on this and other stories.

Stutzman will vote against Obamacare

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An Indiana congressman is at the center of a conservative push to kill the federal health care law by cutting off funding.

Third District Republican Marlin Stutzman was the first House member to declare he‘ll vote against any budget or stopgap spending bill that includes funding for the health care law.

About 80 Republicans have signed on, including Sixth District Representative Luke Messer.  Other Republicans argue President Obama will veto any defunding attempt. They warn it‘s the G-O-P that will pay the political price if a budget stalemate forces a government shutdown.

Stutzman argues President Obama is the only one talking about a shutdown. He says it‘s a “false choice” to contend defunding would automatically torpedo budget talks.  Stutzman argues Obama‘s decision to delay implementation for businesses proves the law “isn‘t ready for prime time.”

Fifth District Republican Susan Brooks agrees the law is hamstringing the economy, but says the more effective way to stop the law is to strip it piece by piece, zeroing in on specific provisions like the I-R-S’s administration of the law’s financial penalties.

Monserrate Shirley Wants Seperate Trial

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One of the suspects accused of setting an explosion at an Indianapolis home last year that killed two people may be ready to implicate her boyfriend. Monserrate Shirley has filed court documents to have a separate trial.

The filings suggest that she will tell a judge that her boyfriend Mark Leonard gave her no control over her life. Shirley, Leonard, and Leonard‘s brother Bob Jr. are charged with two counts of murder and over 50 counts of arson. Shirley‘s lawyer James Voyles filed a lengthy narrative to the court that stated Shirley was trapped in an emotionally abusive relationship.

The documents indicate Shirley was naive and controlled by Leonard. In other documents filed to the court, Voyles cited the criminal histories of Mark and Bob Leonard. Several witnesses claimed they were duped by Leonard in insurance scams. A court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

IUPUI Game at Gen Con

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When Gen Con opens tomorrow, (Thurs) visitors will have the chance to visit an alternate reality created by students at IUPUI, and win prizes at the same time.  The multi-player game “Return of Aetheria” was designed by students and an instructor with the Media Arts and Sciences Program at IU‘s School of Informatics and Computing. “Gen Con contacted us about a year ago and wanted us to become the flagship school of their educational initiaive,” said IUPUI‘s Matthew Powers, who lectures at the school and lead the development of the game.  “We have together several classes to have students design, create, program and finish a real-world game.”
“Return of Aetheria” will be a three-day interactive game, open to anyone attending, using video mapping and projectors to create a large crystalline display.  “Players pay $2, and they will help return magic – or Aetheria – to the real world.  The more they play, the more the crystals will crack and return magic to the real world,” said Powers, adding that players will be guided through the game via an app they can download.  Winners will split $4,000 in prizes, donated by sponsors recruited by the school.  Since Gen Con partnered with IUPUI last year, the Media Arts and Science program has added two classes, one on pre-production and another on the production of games.  Powers says “Aetheria”, in addition to being fun to play, will help students get a job in the industry.  “We need to blur the line, so that when students go out in the real world, they are prepared for the type of chaos and type of pressure that comes with making a game,” said Powers.  “In the industry, if you can make just one game, game makers will look at your portfolio.”
Powers plans to have students add on to the game each year, creating new versions for display at other conventions.

More Motorcycle Accident: Hoosier Report

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New research shows the number of motorcycle collision fatalities are up in Indiana.  The Indiana University survey shows motorcycle crash fatalities were up 28 percent in 2012.

Also, the number of motorcycles or mopeds involved in collisions was up 15.6 percent in 2012 over 2011. There were 158 alcohol impaired driving fatalities, up almost 13 percent from 2011 and 2,112 injuries in 2012.

Despite that, the survey says Indiana seatbelt usage is seven points higher than the national average at 93.6 percent.  Finally, the number of young drivers involved in collisions continued on a downward trend in 2012.

Young driver involvement dropped 5.6 percent in 2012.  The information was compiled by the IU Public Policy Institute‘s Center for Criminal Justice Research.

ISTA Responds to Settlement

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Indiana‘s largest teachers‘ union says it wants to move on from the scandal over an insurance trust that led to a $14 million dollar settlement deal with the state.

The Indiana State Teachers Union agreed to the settlement with Secretary of State Connie Lawson‘s office during talks last month.  The tentative deal was announced today and will likely be approved by a federal judge if the 27 school districts who lost 27 (m) million dollars that were paid into health plans also approve the settlement.

The state sued the ISTA and its parent, the National Education Association, in 2009.  The lawsuit said money paid into the health plans was shifted without the knowledge of the schools into the ISTA‘s long-term disability fund.  When the disability fund subsequently lost money, the state says the union placed much of the remaining health trust fund into high-risk investments in an effort to recoup their losses.  Warren Williams lost his job as ISTA executive director in part because of the trust and other financial problems with the union, and the NEA bailed out the ISTA months before the lawsuit was filed.

Secretary of State Connie Lawson referred to the insurance trust as a “Ponzi scheme,” unfortunate language according to ISTA spokesman Mark Shoup (SHOOP).  “It‘s not a good time to send verbal bric-a-back (sic) back and forth between the folks who came together to make this settlement happen,” said Shoup.

The settlement allows schools and perhaps teachers to recover just over half the money that was lost.  “We‘ve been transparent with that.  We‘ve been true to our word over the last four years,” said Shoup, even though the ISTA and NEA tried to have the lawsuit dismissed in 2010 and asked for a summary judgement in its favor last year.  The union‘s trustee overseeing the trust, Ed Sullivan, also offered school districts lump sum payments of 25 cents on the dollar lost in October 2009 – two months before the state‘s lawsuit – in an effort to quell claims against the union.

If the school districts agree to the settlement, the union has ten days to pay the state, which Shoup says will come from a settlement fund created from the ISTA‘s lawsuits against Williams and others who had a hand in the scheme.  “No ISTA or NEA dollars, dues dollars or otherwise, will be used for this settlement,” said Shoup.