May 2009 Entries
Friday May 22, 2009
In which I mull the groups that seek donations at the busy intersection
The set up: I’m driving down Jackson Boulevard in Elkhart, approaching Johnson Street, when I spot the orange and white barriers, placed between the lanes on all four approaches to the crossing.
It’s that time of year, I quickly realize, when all manner of charitable group congregates at the intersection, generally on Saturdays, looking for donations. The money seekers put up the barriers to warn drivers of their presence and, when the traffic lights on their side of the road are red,...
Thursday May 14, 2009
Here are a few things you missed if you didn’t make it to the Elkhart County “budget summit” Tuesday, held to discuss efforts to craft a county spending plan for 2010:
With county revenue dipping and the need to cut costs ever more important — the major theme Tuesday — Jim Miller, speaking tongue in cheek, said he had come up with a creative means to make do. He’s head of the county’s building and grounds department.
“I’m putting in pay toilets,” he said.
“That’s thinking outside the box,” answered Dave Foutz, a member of the...
Friday May, 1, 2009
Many have had their Indiana Toll Road moment. Or moments.
For Bob Burgh, who lives in Mishawaka and works at a Bristol recreational vehicle manufacturer, it came on April 10.
He was entering the toll road at the Bristol exchange, headed for lunch. After taking his ticket at the gate, the crossing arm rose to let him onto the roadway, as it’s supposed to. But as he edged past, the arm unexpectedly came down on his red truck’s hood, scuffing it. The arm bounced up and, again, came down on his hood, this time breaking off.
The...
Friday May 1, 2009
MySmartGov.com, which wants to axe township government (look here), singled out numerous Indiana townships for apparent misdeeds, sloppiness and questionable practices in a report it prepared earlier this year to bolster its case. In Elkhart County, the group cited Jackson Township, overseen by Trustee Tom Lantz and home to New Paris.
Below are the things MySmartGov.com noted — culled from 2007 and 2008 state audits — and Lantz’s take. None involve criminal activity and they hardly seem the stuff of outrageous excess. But here goes:
The issue: The township donated $22,000 in taxpayer money in 2006...