IndyStar Reports on Stinson Arrest, Recent Penalties To Others

IndyStar reporter, Vic Ryckaert, reported on the weekend arrest of Decatur Schools Superintendent, Don Stinson, in today's paper. Of particular interest was Ryckaert's addition of a list of punishments meted out to other educators for the same offence. He reports:

-- Former Fall Creek Valley Middle School Principal James C. Joiner was arrested twice in 2008 on drunken-driving charges. He resigned and was sentenced to a year on probation.

-- Martinsville Schools Superintendent Ron Furniss was arrested and charged with drunken driving in March 2009 after visiting several Central Indiana restaurants and clubs. Furniss was suspended as superintendent and given other penalties. He was barred from using a district vehicle for 60 days and was ordered to enter an alcohol treatment program at his own expense and submit to random drug and alcohol testing.

-- Carmel Middle School Principal Denise Jacobs was arrested on a drunken-driving charge in January 2009 after a Fishers police officer saw her car weaving on the road. She was suspended without pay for a week and later voluntarily stepped down as principal. Jacobs pleaded guilty and received a $400 fine, had her license suspended for 90 days and received one year's probation.

-- Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson was stopped by police in December 2007 after attending a party at the home of then-Hamilton Southeastern High School Principal Concetta Raimondi. Syverson was charged with drunken driving a few weeks later, and he resigned as principal in February 2008.

Ryckaert notes that Stinson has not been suspended. He also recaps Stinson's changing story from the arresting officer's report:

Stinson smelled of alcohol and initially told the officer he was returning from a Walmart and had consumed a beer. Later he admitted drinking two glasses of wine at one tavern and two more beers at another, the report said.

The Decatur School Board meets at 5:30 pm tonight in Executive Session, which they always schedule. The agenda was created on December 9, before Stinson's arrest. The Board could take this opportunity to actually use an executive session for the legally allowed purpose mentioned in the notice, and discuss Stinson's suspension without pay or his removal. The Regular Meeting of the Board follows at 7:00 pm.

WRTV Reporters On Top Of Stinson Arrest

WRTV, Channel 6, reporters Jack Rinehart and Rick Hightower, filed the most complete reports last night on the drunk driving and public intoxication arrest of MSD Decatur Township Superintendent, Don Stinson. Rinehart reported on the arrest and Hightower had an exclusive interview with Stinson.

Hightower reports that "The Decatur Township School Board meets Tuesday night, but board members told Stinson they won't take any action until his case goes to court and formal charges are filed."

Since Stinson admits to drunk driving, I don't know why the Board is waiting.

More Details on Stinson's Arrest Emerge

Channel 6 has an updated report posted on their website. In part it says:

According to a police report, Stinson was pulled over at 1:45 a.m. after Officer Michael Pigman saw his vehicle swerving on State Road 267.

"I could smell the odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from the driver's person, and his eyes were bloodshot," Pigman said in the police report.

Police said Stinson admitted being at Bubbaz Bar and Grill and another bar earlier in the evening.

Pigman said Stinson failed field sobriety tests and that his blood-alcohol content was 0.12 in a portable breath test.

Stinson told the officer that he had been drinking more frequently since his wife of 39 years left him unexpectedly.

Edited to add: WISH-TV also has a story on their website.

Decatur Superintendent, Don Stinson, Arrested

Don Stinson, Superintendent of MSD Decatur Township, was arrested this weekend for driving under the influence. This according to a WRTV, channel 6 web posting . Stay tuned and check out the 5:00 broadcast.

David Baird Steps Up for Wayne Township Residents

IndyStar reporter, Jon Murray, has an article in today's paper about the proposal for Wayne Township to put $200,000 into the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library's hands, in exchange for keeping the Wayne Township branches open more hours.

Murray frames it this way:

No one disputes the Wayne Township trustee's heart is in the right place with his plan to spend about $200,000 to restore longer hours at four nearby library branches.

But some state lawmakers view the proposal as another example of township excess. And it comes as the General Assembly is gearing up for more debate about reforming local government.

David Baird, who leaves office after this month, said he saw an opportunity to help residents who rely on the ailing Indianapolis library system by tapping the township's rainy-day fund.

While proponents of eliminating Township Government see this as an argument in their favor, I have to say, I see it as simply doing the right thing.

As Baird explains it in Murray's piece:

Baird, a Democrat, says his plan fits within the township's statutory mission of poor relief. The heavily used libraries provide computers and other resources for job-seekers and safe havens for children, and he says residents are reeling from cutbacks in operating hours across nearly all of the library system's branches in October.

"I'm not robbing Peter to pay Paul," Baird said. "It's just very vital that people need to understand that we've got serious unemployment and a lack of resources in Wayne Township."

And, Baird says that the money is actually extra:

But in this case, Baird said, he is tapping a $3.5 million rainy-day fund that was stocked specifically to replace an aging fire station. More county income taxes came in than expected, he said, leaving more than enough for the fire station.

David Baird is stepping up for the residents of his Township, because Mayor Ballard and the City-County Council failed to be champions for all of Indy's residents. See my post "Muni Corps Committee To Move Forward on CIB, Library, and IndyGo Budgets" for more detail, but the short story is that during the budget hearings, the Library asked for a $1.8 million shortfall appeal, which would have replaced taxes that were expected, but never collected, due to the lagging property value assessments that we went through for a couple of years. The Council and Mayor ended up raiding $1 million from the Ameriplex TIF, leaving it with little resources, and cutting the Library budget by $800,000.

Mayor Ballard had numerous options presented to him all year long. But, his priorities were demonstrated time after time after time. And, his priorities do not include quality of life improvements for Indy's residents; no priority for Parks, no priority for Libraries, no priority for public transportation.

For example - the Ballard Administration pulled in $5 million of the $35 million owed, from a clawback provision of Navistar abatement agreements (see "Abatements - Scary Loopholes Need Closing"). Instead of using that money for necessities, Ballard sent the money on to the IEDI and the ICVA. The IEDI funds the Mayor's trips abroad, by the way. This was more than ample funds to plug the leak that everyone saw coming in the Library budget, and could have been used to supplement Parks funds.

Another example - the Ballard Administration adamantly took the position that the nearly $100 million in excess funds held in the consolidated downtown TIF could not possibly be tapped to help the Library. But, somehow, the Ameriplex TIF could be. The very same mechanism that 'laundered' the Ameriplex TIF funds, could have been applied to the consolidated downtown TIF funds, and the full $1.8 million, perhaps more, could have been provided to the Library. Let us not forget, that only days before, Mayor Ballard engineered the use of consolidated downtown TIF funds to provide the Pacers organization with an ongoing $8 million per year from the property taxes held by that fund.

And, a last example - the Ballard Administration could have simply said, "Okay, just this one time", to the Library's request for a shortfall appeal. They approved IndyGo's request to file a shortfall appeal for $1.5 million.

So, back to David Baird. At least somebody in this City is stepping up to do the right thing. Kudos to Baird for finding a way to keep services available to his Township's citizens.

My Campaign Website Is Up !

It took a while, but my campaign website is up and fully functional. I also created a facebook page and a twitter feed.

www.AndrewsForThePeople.com

www.facebook.com/PatAndrewsForCouncil

www.twitter.com/Andrews4Council

Suggestions are always welcome.

Proposals Flowing Through Council

The Council is not being idle in the holiday season, by any means. Among the Proposals now flowing through the system, there are some that caught my eye.

Prop 292 would approve the sweetheart deal for the North of South developer, Buckingham Cos., whereby the City and taxpayers would act as banker and Uncle Money-Bags, so that the developer only need invest $6 million of their own money in a $188 m project. No financial institution felt the project warranted their backing. That goes to the Economic Development Committee, which next meets on December 15.

Tonight, the Administration & Finance Committee will hear, among other things, three Proposals of interest. First is Prop 324, which would require all City or County government related websites to be hosted by the Information Services Agency on indy.gov or indygov.biz.

Second is Prop 247, which would approve the refunding of the bonds floated in 1991 for the Harding Street TIF, which amounted to $35 million in principle back then. As seems all too usual, it appears that not much of the principle has been paid down over these nearly two decades. One of the expressed goals of this proposal is to also gain enough added principle to pay Eli Lilly back for a loan it made to the City back in 1991 and related to this TIF. Although the amount is not stated in the Proposal (keep repeating "transparency, transparency, transparency"), other documents suggest a price tag of $14-$15 million for the loan repayment. The bond to be floated, if this proposal is successful, would be for $45 million. The loan repayment is part of the No-So deal and the cash would flow through Lilly, directly to the developer.

Third is Prop 296, which seeks approval of an early retirement plan for City and County government workers, who have put in enough years of service to qualify. The package sets a limit of $45,000 per employee who enters into the early retirement plan. It would seem that the City has enough money to throw $33.5 million at the Pacers and serve as a banker for $93 million for the No-So development, but it needs to cut its own payroll. Yes, I know there are different pots of money that Ballard is turning into his own piggy bank for favored recipients of his largess, but it seems that this Administration's priorities are all messed up. This proposal was tabled at the last Admin & Finance meeting.

Also coming up is Prop 337, which seeks to encourage the Indianapolis International Airport to release TSA from doing security at the airport, and either hire their own workforce, or hire an outside contractor. This has been assigned to the Municipal Corporations Committee, which next meets on December 13.

And last but not least, is this proposal that caught my eye. Prop 377 would create a fund into which folks could donate money to the City at the same time as they pay their property tax bills. I'd be curious if enough money will be donated to cover the expenses of soliciting and administering those donations? This proposal has been assigned to the Rules & Public Policy Committee, which next meets on December 14.