Jeff City Recount

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015
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COMING THURSDAY
Find a list of upcoming Thanksgiving
and Christmas events. Read more about
the story in tomorrows SoIn.
MORE INSIDE
The Clarksville Fire Department
responded to a fire at a multi-family unit
on Monday evening. | Inside A2
n JEFFERSONVILLE
Pay increases
for elected
officials based
on other cities
Council president: Salaries not
based on percentages
BY ELIZABETH BEILMAN
elizabeth.beilman@newsandtribune.com
Stefanie Griffith, of Strandz and Threadz in New Albany, embraces her mother, Betty Lenfert, after One Southern Indiana
representatives announced her as the recipient of the Duke Energy Kevin Hammersmith ONE Award for Community Leader as part of the inaugural ACE Awards at Kyes in Jeffersonville on Tuesday. | STAFF PHOTO BY TYLER STEWART
NEW ALBANY
Fairview, West Haven

cemeteries to get facelifts
Work likely to begin
next year at facilities
JEFFERSONVILLE City Clerk Vicki

Conlin was the only elected official to formally request a pay raise during budget workshops and thats why her
proposed salary jumped by
the highest percentage, City
Council President Lisa Gill
said.
We knew that we had to
revisit [that salary] because
that was basically a new position for a Class Two city, LISA GILL
and we didnt really know
what all that position would entail, Gill said
Tuesday. We put even more responsibilities
on her.
Changes to the citys salary ordinance
presented to the Jeffersonville City Council
SEE RAISE , PAGE A6
Clarksville to
look for town
manager hire
Committee to be seated for a second
time to push search to lead town
BY APRILE RICKERT
aprile.rickert@newsandtribune.com
BY CHRIS MORRIS
chris.morris@newsandtribune.com
NEW ALBANY The new year

may bring much needed repairs to
Fairview and West Haven cemeteries, which are owned by the city.
The New Albany Board of Public
Works and Safety formally approved
a contract for Michell Timperman
Ritz Architects to finalize a study
and make recommendations to the
mayors office on possible repairs.
Phase I of the work will likely cost
about $250,000, according to architect Larry Timperman. Once the final numbers are submitted, the city
will then request bids for the work.
Timperman said the cemeteries are
in need of improvements and repairs.
He said West Haven, which is located off West Street, will have existing
The ornate Fairview Cemetery entranceway from Culbertson Avenue is pictured

in New Albany in July 2013. The city is currently working on restoration plans
for the entranceway. | FILE PHOTO
fencing and gates improved or replaced. He also said the main road
inside the cemetery likely will be
repaved.
The final scope of the work has

not yet been determined, Timperman said.
SEE BOARD, PAGE A6
CLARKSVILLE The
towns on-again, off-again
flirtation with hiring a town
manager is again getting hot.
Republican Councilman
Paul Fetter on Monday night
asked the current council for
permission to move forward
with a committee to find a PAUL FETTER
town manager, based on the
wishes of most of the incoming council.
All district and At-large
council members except one
Democrat David Fisher
to be seated for 2016 indicated during campaigning
that they were supportive of AARON
hiring a town manager.
STONECIPHER
Im very pleased that there
SEE CVILLE, PAGE A6
Recount challenges name of Jeffersonville At-large elect

In his petition, Webb asked
Popp said the amount of time cinct ballots and absentees had
the recounts will take depends been counted, he had moved to that the court enter an executive order excluding the candistill could be more, as the party on when they are processed and fifth place.
started.
These new votes put Ro- date Joshua Rodriquez from the
chairs have until Friday
ballot and invalidating
This is not coun- driquez in third place,
at noon.
his candidacy for failty-wide but Jeff will be with 5,085 or 16.4 perWebb, Jeffersonville
ure to proclaim in cansignificant, she said.
cent.
City Council At-large
didacy under his actual
Popp said the results
After the provisioncandidate and Kevin
name, according to the
of the recounts will need al ballots were counted
Vissing, Democratic Jefpetition for recount. It
to be certified by Dec. Nov. 13, Rodriquezs
fersonville City Council
is my belief that Joshua
20.
count went up to 5,090.
District 3 candidate, have
Rodriquez is not the leIn fourth place was Demfiled for official recounts. JOSHUA
gal and lawful name of
ocrat Ron Ellis with STEVE WEBB
The At-large petition RODRIQUEZ
that candidate, it stated.
AT-LARGE
5,076 or 16.3 percent and
for recount has been filed
Webb asked that his
Webb was in third Webb just four votes behind in
in Clark Circuit Court
place election night and it fifth, with 5,072 or 16.3 percent. legal team be contacted regardNo. 4 and the District 3 recount looked like he had secured one In sixth place was Republican ing questions about the petition.
I just want a recount with it
in Clark Circuit Court No. 1.
of the three At-large seats. But Steve Cooley with 4,730 or 15.2
SEE RECOUNT, PAGE A6
Clark County Clerk Susan Wednesday, when the final pre- percent.
Evening Tribune
Council-elect Joshua Rodriuquez named in petition

BY APRILE RICKERT
AND ELIZABETH BEILMAN
JEFFERSONVILLE Joshua Rodriquez, Democratic Jeffersonville City Council At-large

elect, has been challenged in an
election recount petition filed
by Republican candidate Steve
Webb, which specifically lists
Rodriquez and questions whether or not he used his real name.
Webb was one of only two
candidates that filed for recounts
in Clark County by the noon
Tuesday deadline, although there
/newsandtribune
INDEX
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Obituaries A4 | Opinions A5 | Classifieds B4-B7 | Comics B8 | TV Listings A7
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Rainy and windy, high of
68. Low of 47 tonight.
WAVE 3 NEWS
A6 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
CVILLE: 2012 search ended with committee disbanding

CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1
seems to be, that last night there

appeared to be a unanimous support to move forward with the
committee to reconsider town
manager, Aaron Stonecipher,
Republican District 5-elect, said
Tuesday. Im convinced that
town manager is in the best interest of Clarksville simply
because it has become a best
practice for a lot of municipalities of similar size around the
United States.
I believe it would ultimately
take politics out of future hiring
practices.
Fetters goal Monday was not
for a vote on whether this could
happen, but to get a consensus
from the current council to begin
the new search before January.
No one voiced disagreement.
Outgoing council President
Bob Polston said he had no reason oppose the search beginning
for a second time in the town.
Well, thats been the intent
all along, so I guess theyll go
ahead and do it, he said. I
dont really have a thought on
it either way. I wouldnt want
them to dictate what I did so I
wouldnt dictate what they [will
do].
Democrat John Gilkey, who

was re-elected in District 2,
said during the campaign that
he supports hiring a town manager, but only one with limited
and nonexecutive powers for the
time being.
He said he would like to see an
intermediate step before moving
to town manager.
I think its the direction
Clarksville needs to go, he said.
My personal preference would
have been to do it in stages, to
create what I like to call a chief
of staff and see how that operates, then ultimately move into a
much more powerful town manager. Theres a lot of power and
authority that is inherent in the
town manager position.
I would have preferred to
see a segue to that, but Clarksville is at a stage where we have
evolved to become a very complex community and its time to
move on to full-time management.
The next step will be to reform
the search committee. Jim Kenney, the previous chair, said he
would still be a part of the committee, but its yet to be determined if other original members
will participate.
After that, there will be several
meetings to make sure everyone

has the same goals for this position. Some aspects such as
hiring practices and basic candidate requirements were determined by previous committee.
Kenney said the committee
will need to review that information and the proceed. He said
although he assumes a lot of the
goals will be the same, it will
ultimately be up the committee
to decide together.
Were looking for someone
that has a bachelors or masters in public administration
someone that has maybe 10
years in a leadership position for
a municipality, he said, adding
that a lot of experience with a
municipality may make the committee open to candidates with
other degrees, such as in business administration.
Fetter, who was re-elected to
his At-large post, said they will
likely look for candidates regionally, and likely base the salary
around recommendations given
when the town versus city study
was done.
Three years ago when we
were looking at it, Indiana [Association of] Cities and Towns
back then gave us a basic outline, he said. I think it was
$85,000 to $110,000 [a year] in

2012. They survey your population, current rate of pay for
other managers in the state of
Indiana. They give you a survey
of what you should pay for the
size of your municipality.
Clarksville has about 22,000
people. By comparison, neighboring Jeffersonville has a population of about 46,000. On
Monday, the Jeffersonville City
Council on first reading approved a raise for Mayor Mike
Moore to $94,000 annually.
Polston said he hopes that the
decision will be good for the
town.
We had a town manager
years ago and they relinquished
that, he said. Maybe it will
work for them. I hope it does,
I hope it does for the town because Im still a citizen of
Clarksville.
If it saves money and if it
generates more progress, Im all
for it.
THE BACKSTORY
In 2012, the council appointed a city-town evaluation study
committee to determine the effects of becoming a city versus
RAISE: Clerk says she makes less

than most city department heads
BY THE NUMBERS
during its meeting Monday showed

raises for the clerk, mayor and all
nine council members.
The council changed the mayors
total salary from $89,000 to $94,000
after Councilman Steve Webb pointed out a discrepancy in percentage
increases among officeholders.
While council members salaries increased by 15 percent and the clerks
by 20 percent, changes in the ordinance showed the mayors salary increasing by only 6 percent.
We dont go by [percentages],
Gill said. We just go by whatever
the [Indiana Association of Cities
and Towns] information is.
She said she believed changes to
the salary ordinance would be addressed in December and didnt have
time to fully research salary figures.
I wasnt even thinking percentages, I was just thinking plug something in as a starting point, Gill
said. ... I take ownership of that.
This thing snuck up on me, and I
didnt have the chance to do proper
research on it.
She also said the mayors salary wasnt discussed during budget
workshops.
Salaries for employees of the Jeffersonville are performance-based
and dont exceed 3 percent in a year,
she said. But salaries for elected officials are a bit different.
Basically what we do is we compare to other second-class cities with
Councils proposed salary increases

Mayor $84,000 to $94,000
Council $13,000 to $15,000
Council president $15,000 to $17,000
City clerk $50,000 to $60,000
populations kind of even with ours,

Gill said.
She added that these salaries need
to reflect a rapidly growing population.
Although Conlins responsibilities will diminish slightly when Jeffersonville City Court is eliminated
next year, she will be losing a staff
member.
Our office is constantly busy, so
I dont think you can say that just
because city court is closing, that my
job is declining, Conlin said.
She pointed out that she makes less
money right now, $50,000
than most department heads for the
city.
This position is not just a minute taker, Conlin said, counting off
other responsibilities including managing property and casualty claims,
insurance claims and management of
public documents such as ordinances
and resolutions.
She said her salary is comparable
to clerks in other second class cities,
except I do more duties than some
of the other clerks do.
Among eight second-class cities
with populations closest to Jeffersonville, from Richmond to Terre Haute,

the average clerks salary in 2014
was $53,015. The highest salary was
about $65,000 in Lawrence and the
lowest was $43,677 in New Albany.
Gill said its been a while since the
council received a salary increase,
and she said the average salary of
second class cities ranged from
$15,000 to $20,000.
Basically with the council, I said
lets go with the low end, she said.
The average council members salaries for the same eight second-class
cities in 2014 was $11,213. The
lowest was $6,151 in Richmond and
the highest $14,500 in Lawrence.
Bloomington council members made
$14,600 each in 2014.
Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore
requested a figure higher than the
ordinances suggested $89,000, but
council members wouldnt say what
that figure was. Moore did not return
a call by press time.
The average mayors salary in
2014 among the eight cities most
similar to Jeffersonville was $80,114
less than what Moore makes now.
Monday night, Webb said he
thinks the mayors salary should be
at least $100,000. That would put
Moore just $2,000 short of Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballards $102,000
salary in 2014.
Council members will vote on the
ordinance before the year ends.
BOARD: Request for cab service to

operate within city approved
At Fairview, Timperman said

there are significant issues with
the mausoleum. He said it will need
a new roof, marble columns around
the structure need to be repaired
and doors to the structure need replaced. The main iron sign at the
front of the cemetery, at East Sixth
Street, is pulling away from the
concrete and needs repaired. Some
chain-link fencing also will likely be
replaced.
The final cost will have a lot to do
with the fencing and mausoleum,
Timperman said.
He said his firm has been working
two or three months on the study.
He said he will soon meet with New
Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan and city
officials to discuss the plan.
We are ready to sit down and define the scope of the work, he said.
DOG PARK
Debbie Byrne asked the board
Tuesday what the status was for the
new dog park, which was approved
in December.
Byrne said David Duggins, director of economic development and redevelopment for the city, called her
recently to tell her the park would
be bigger and better. While she
said she appreciates that, she wanted
to know why nothing was done in
2015.
We were told it would be built
this year. We were hoping to break
ground this year. Can someone
please elaborate? she asked the
board.
Byrne said she started the process
in 2012. The park is planned for
Cannon Acres. Late last year, the
New Albany City Council allocated
$125,000 for the project.
Board of Works President Warren
Nash said Duggins, who was in Indianapolis on Tuesday, would need to
answer those questions.
Albanys ordinance. New Albany

Police Department Chief Todd Bailey said he would need a list of all
drivers to make sure they have proper license, and that each taxi would
be subject to a yearly inspection.
The company operates in Louisville but may open a location in New
Albany, depending on the amount
of business it receives. There was
no date given on when the company
would begin providing taxi service.
TAXI OKD
FARMERS MARKET HOURS
The board approved a request for

Gul Inc. to operate cab service in
New Albany, as long as the company follows state guidelines and New
remaining a town.
After several months of meetings, it was beginning to look
pretty obvious that there wasnt
any monetary increase that you
get from being a city, Fetter
said. What it did find however,
with the search was that towns
with the town manager ran more
efficiently and more professionally than towns that did not have
a town manager. And so they
made a recommendation to the
council in 2012 to remain a town
but to hire a professional town
manager.
A committee was then formed
by the council to search for a
town manager. Headed by Kenney, the group laid out basic expectations and hiring practices.
Then it was eventually disbanded.
Polston said one of the main
reasons for this was that he believed he, as president, could do
pretty much the same job that a
town manager could, and that it
wasnt necessarily something the
town needed.
I was able to do most of those
functions being retired and until I left office I made it a point
to do as much as I could that
a town manager would do, he
said.
RECOUNT:
District 3 race
gap closes by
two votes
being that close, I was advised to get a recount and that all I really wish to get, he said.
Whatever the outcome is, Ill respect it.
Webbs lawyer, Larry Wilder, could not be
reached for comment by press time.
Rodriquez declined to comment for this story
because he had no yet seen the recount petition.
Webb also asked for a recount commission
that would be comprised of count teams to
hand-recount all ballots and use the original
absentee ballots not the ones that were rewritten by bipartisan teams after the machine
couldnt read 1,000 of them, and review and accounting for of all total ballots, including ones
that were rejected.
He also asked for a trial by jury if applicable.
DISTRICT 3
Vissing gained two votes with provisional
ballots counted, closing to gap between Republican winner Callie Jahn to 29 votes.
After provisionals votes were counted, Jahn
stood at 1,220 or 50.6 percent and Vissing at
1,191 or 49.4 percent.
Originally unsure whether
he would file for a recount,
Vissing has changed his mind
because he believes his chances are better now.
Im going to give it a shot,
he said. My chances are slim,
but I would never forgive my- CALLIE JAHN
self if I didnt find out how
this actually turned out by doing a manual count.
District 3 had 90 undervotes, or votes that were not
counted by the machine because of unclear markings, he
said.
So Ive got 90 chances
out there to make up some KEVIN VISSING
ground, he said.
A recount would pick up unclear markings
because ballots are hand-counted. An undervote could also mean a voter didnt mark either
choice presumably because they didnt like
either candidate but Vissing doesnt think
thats likely because he said both he and Jahn
put a lot of effort into this race.
Had neither of us worked hard, it would be a
little more understandable, he said.
THOMAS STREET UPDATE

Sidewalks and curbs along Thomas Street, from Market to Beeler,
have been replaced and more than 50
trees planted along the stretch. The
only thing left to do is lay asphalt
and paint lines. That will happen on
the next dry day.
The New Albany Farmers Market will open at 7:45 a.m. Saturday,
Nov. 21, for a special turkey sale at
City Square.
All of Your Insurance Needs
2017 Allison Lane Jeffersonville
812-284-3276
www.niaservices.com
JIM NICHOLSON
Agent/Owner
Drug Case
Ten to Watch
Special prosecutor request

denied by Clark County
judge | INSIDE A4
Providence girls the favorite

in Charlestown Holiday
Tournament | SPORTS B1
News and Tribune

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015
MORE INSIDE
Man involved in November hit and run in
Jeffersonville may have been speeding
and distracted by cellphone | INSIDE A2
Star Wars isnt the only popular story

to be retold, writes Tom May in this
second holiday column | INSIDE A4
Woehrle complexs next phase a step closer

Jeffersonville Parks Authority chooses indoor facility contractor
JEFFERSONVILLE The second

phase of Woehrle Athletic Complex is
coming closer to becoming a reality.
The Jeffersonville Parks Authority
unanimously voted during its meeting
Monday to award the project, subject
to its attorneys satisfaction, to Louisville-based David Construction for
$2.05 million.
The second phase will include an
indoor facility with concessions, locker rooms, restrooms, utility rooms,
coaches rooms and a multi-purpose
room. The project also features a new
Mayor Mike Moore

talks with Woehrle Athletic Complex parents,
players and supporters
of the Jeffersonville
Parks Youth Football
League during the
season opening practice and scrimmage
in August 2014. The
second phase of the
complex will include an
indoor facility with concessions, restrooms,
coaches rooms and a
multi-purpose room. |
parking lot with 120 spaces and an

outdoor plaza.
Board attorney Scott Lewis said he
wasnt comfortable with the authority
outright accepting the bid the same
night it was presented to it. Usually,
boards take bids under advisement and
vote at a subsequent meeting.
Parks Authority President Ed Zastawny said he wanted the board, which
has five members leaving next year, to
be able to vote on the project.
Weve walked this project along
for the last four years, Zastawny said.
My preference would be to go ahead
SEE COMPLEX, PAGE A6
Judge sets
bond, court
date in fatal
hit and run
FILE PHOTO
JEFFERSONVILLE
A grave situation
Attorney says 18-year-old client

turned himself in to police
BY ELIZABETH DEPOMPEI
elizabeth.depompei@newsandtribune.com
JEFFERSONVILLE The 18-year-old

Sellersburg man arrested in connection to
a fatal hit-and-run accident
over the weekend appeared
in court Monday morning.
Jeffersonville police responded to the 1900 block
of Spring Street about 10
p.m. Saturday and found a
64-year-old man who had
been hit by a car. The man BRANDON BAILEY
was taken to University of Louis- VIDEO ONLINE
ville Hospital and See a short video related to this
pronounced dead. story at newsandtribune.com
The man was later
identified by the Jefferson County Coroners
Office as Junior Montgomery, according to
SEE COURT, PAGE A6
n JEFFERSONVILLE
Still no answers
on city council
At-large recount
Clark County Recount Commission
continuing hearing today
JEFFERSONVILLE Despite a full day

in court Monday, the Clark County Recount
Commission didnt resolve which three candidates won the Jeffersonville City Council At-large
race.
Clark County Circuit Court
No. 1 Judge Drew Adams
entered an order to allow a
one-day extension for the
commission to complete its
hearing on the race.
SUSAN POPP
All ballots have been
counted by separate teams,
but tallies were not added at the end of the
day to determine if any results changed. Election night results showed Democrats Nathan
Samuel and Josh Rodriquez and Republican
Matt Owen as the three winners.
/newsandtribune
INDEX
Highland Hills Middle School Principal Bill Krammes is working to balance his time and efforts between the 1,600 student
body in Georgetown and Eastern Cemetery on Graham Street in Jeffersonville. With the role as the cemeterys administrator falling onto his shoulders, Krammes is searching for assistance. | STAFF PHOTOS BY TYLER STEWART
Jeffersonvilles Eastern Cemetery struggles to find employees

EFFERSONVILLE Monday
through Friday, Bill Krammes is the
principal of Highland Hills Middle
School in Georgetown.
On the weekends, Krammes is the entire billing department for a Jeffersonville cemetery desperate for help.
... What happens
if I just decided that YOU CAN HELP
I cant do this and If youd like to fill
I get up and walk any of the vacant
positions, contact
away? he said.
Thats certainly Eastern Cemetery at
not what Krammes 812-903-0774.
wants to do, but hes having an almost
impossible time finding anyone interested in filling vacant administrative and
board positions for Eastern Cemetery
along Graham Street.
Just because there wasnt anyone else
who could do it, the job fell onto his
shoulders when the former secretary/
treasurer, also Krammes sister-in-law,
died in September.
But he said hes not really fit to do the
job.
Im the principal of a 1,600-student
middle school, and thats an all-day
job, Krammes said. ... I just dont
feel that I can do that job to the best of
my ability and then still do this job [for
Eastern Cemetery] to what it needs to
be.
SEE CEMETERY, PAGE A6
@newsandtribune
Tombstones fill a section of Eastern Cemetery. The cemetery still has about
4 acres available for plots.
Evening Tribune
/newsandtribune
Obituaries A4 | Opinions A5 | Classifieds B4-B6 | Comics B7 | TV Listings B8
Joan and
Glenn Pitzer,
Jeffersonville, decorate
planters along
a pathway in
Eastern Cemetery on Thursday in Jeffersonville. We
just thought it
needed something to pretty
it up, said
Joan Pitzer.
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Mostly cloudy with rain
chance. High 65, low 62.
WAVE 3 NEWS
A6 | TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
RECOUNT: Popp says shes opposed to discounting absentee votes

The fourth- and fifth-place

vote-getters, Republican Steve
Webb and Democrat Ron Ellis
respectively, challenged the race
through a recount. Ellis received
14 fewer votes than Rodriquez,
the third place winner. Webb received 18 fewer votes than Rodriquez.
Attorneys representing Rodriquez, Ellis and Webb challenged 225 ballots tallied during
the recount process each one
the commission individually reviewed and decided whether to
accept or throw out in the recount totals during Mondays
hearing.
By 4:30 p.m., the commission
was only one-third of the way
through the citys 30 precincts.
Attorney Larry Wilder, representing Webb, asked the commission to throw out all 3,535
county-wide absentee ballots
because he argued the law in
handling damaged or defective
ballots was broken on election
night.
The commission unanimously
denied Wilders request.
Teams only counted original

absentee ballots during the process instead of duplicates. Recount Commissioner John Perkins argued that Wilders complaint was irrelevant to the results of the recount.
Wilders argument was based
on Indiana law that states all duplicate cards must be clearly
labeled duplicate and bear a serial number that shall be recorded on the damaged or defective
card.
Clark County Clerk Susan
Popp said the bipartisan teams
selected by the party chairs
hand-made duplicates of the 882
absentee ballots that the voting
machines couldnt read. Popp
testified on the witness stand that
duplicates were not marked that
way but were clearly isolated
from the defective ballots unreadable by machines to ensure
the two sets werent mixed.
Wilder said he considers Clark
County Voter Registration
chosen as the central location to
tally absentees as its own precinct.
He asked the commission not
to count votes from this pre-
CHRISTMAS
EVE SERVICES
NEW ALBANY
Sojourn Community Church of New Albany will host its
annual Christmas Eve service during two service times, 4 p.m.
and 11 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 24.
Both services will feature Christmas carol sing-alongs, a short
Christmas message, and free hot cocoa. The church will
provide free childcare for children ages 3 and under during the
4 p.m. service, but children of all ages are welcome in each
service.
For general information about Sojourn Community Church,
visit newalbany.sojournchurch.com.
DePauw Methodist Church, 925 Vincennes Sr., across the
street from New Albany High School, will sponsor a Christmas
Eve service. Music will begin at 10:45 p.m. on Christmas Eve,
and the worship service will begin at 11 p.m. This is a service
of carols, beautiful Christmas music, candlelight, and the
Christmas story. All are welcome. Call 812-945-6537 for more
information.
FLOYDS KNOBS
Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, 2100 U.S. 150,
Floyds Knobs, welcomes all to Christmas Eve candlelight services, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 24, at the church.
Hot chocolate and cookies will be served before service. For
more information about Christmas Eve services or other happenings, visit wesleychapel.org or contact the church office at
812-944-2570.
JEFFERSONVILLE
St Pauls Episcopal Church, corner of East Market and
Walnut streets, Jeffersonville, will host a family friendly Christmas Eve Service, Dec. 24, at the church. This is in addition
to the 9 p.m. Candlelight Christmas Eve service. The family
friendly service offers a childrens chat, the populating of the
Christmas Creche, carols and communion. The Candlelight
service will include the proclamation of the Nativity story,
homily, carols, congregational singing of Silent Night and
communion.
On Sunday, Dec. 27, St Pauls, Jeffersonville, will offer its
Christmas Carol Hymn Sing Service at 10:15 a.m. Verses from
most of the favorite Christmas Carols will be sung during the
service. If you didnt sing your favorite carol join St Pauls on
Sunday as we sing it.
For more information call 812-282-1108.
CLARKSVILLE
Ohio Falls United Methodist Church, 917 South Virginia
Ave., Clarksville, will celebrate the birth of the King of Kings,
the Alpha and the Omega, the God that created the Universe,
you and I, 6 p.m., Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24, at the
church.
Favorite Christmas hymns such as Silent Night and Away in
the Manger will be sung. Lay Leader Bob Liter will tell the
story of the Birth of Jesus and communion will be served.
News and Tribune
COURT: Bailey
to appear in court
again Wednesday
newsgathering partner WAVE 3.

Police later arrested Brandon Bailey and
booked him into the Clark County jail. On
Monday, Clark County Circuit Court No. 1
Judge Andrew Adams kept Baileys bond set
at $50,000 cash-only. Baileys attorney, Frederick Reinecke, said that amount was too high.
Theres no reason at all to assume hes a
flight risk, Reinecke told Adams.
A group of family members was in court
during Baileys hearing. Reinecke said the
family did not want to make a statement. He
would only say that Bailey called police and
turned himself in almost immediately after the
accident. Neither a police report nor probable
cause affidavit was available as of press time.
Bailey is charged with a level 5 felony count
of leaving the scene of an accident causing
death. He is scheduled to appear in court again
Wednesday, Dec. 23.
cinct because the ballot duplicates werent marked properly

a procedure he said is in place
to protect from tampering or
fraud.
Theres no such thing as a
minute diversion from the law,
Wilder said. The law is the
law.
Popp said she was opposed to
discounting all 3,535 absentees.
I think it would be a travesty
to disenfranchise that many voters of Clark County, she said.
Attorney David Mosley, representing Rodriquez, said that
while duplicates didnt have serial numbers, that doesnt show
that the ballots themselves were
a problem.
Attorneys also challenged ballots with distinguishing marks,
such stray marks or votes in the
wrong places, arguing those voters intended to identify those
ballots as their own later.
State laws states the whole
ballot is void if the ballot bears
any distinguishing mark [other
than a voting mark] or a mutilation made by the voter or an
election officer with the intent
to enable a person to determine
overvotes and only counted the

individual votes in those cases.
Some precincts had discrepancies between the number of total
votes on election night and the
number of total votes the recount
teams marked.
Mosley objected to the results
of these precincts one of them
was 54 votes short.
What happened to those
ballots or votes, I dont have a
clue, Perkins said.
Popp said she isnt sure why
count teams didnt resolve these
discrepancies before submitting
results to the recount commission. She was out of town on
Saturday during the recount process.
They should have been reconciled right then and there, she
said.
The recount commission began tallying votes for individual precincts based on numbers
from the recount and not election
night.
Whats in the bag is what
were going by, Recount Commissioner Nick Mobley said.
who cast the marked or mutilated ballot.

The commission voted to accept these ballots.
The voter is never going to
see that ballot again, Perkins
said. Only we are going to see
that ballot.
Perkins cited statute that says
the primary factor to be considered in determining a voters
choice on a ballot is the intent of
the voter.
Im still going to go with voter intent over mutilation, Perkins said.
On ballots accepted, the commission also decided which candidates received votes.
Many ballots had crossover
votes, where people marked the
straight-party ticket option but
deviated on individual votes and
marked a candidate from the opposite party.
For At-large races, state statute stipulates only the individual whose name was marked
is counted because marking all
three At-large candidates of one
party plus another from the opposite party is an overvote. The
commission threw out those
CEMETERY: Krammes was once a board member

Nobody thinks about a
cemetery until they need
it, he said.
Even so, Eastern Cemetery is still an important
part of its neighborhoods
fabric, according to Cherry Hill Neighborhood Association President Sandy
Knott.
Its a need that every
community has, and its
nice, Knott said. Im
close to mom and dad and
my grandparents.
Knott said shes concerned that the cemetery
could become overgrown
with weeds if neglected further. She believes landscaping and maintenance is important to neighbors of the
cemetery and people with
loved ones buried there.
I just think its out of
respect that we need to do
that, she said.
The cemetery has four
to five acres of open space
left. Eastern Cemetery has
a perpetual care fund set up
to take care of maintenance.
But if Krammes walks
away without a replacement, hes not sure what
will happen.
Its going to be around
for another hundred years
of burying people in the
cemetery, I would assume,
he said. So theres got to
be somebody that takes
care of that.
Before assuming this new

role, Krammes was one
of three board of trustees
members. His wife, Lynn,
and another community member are also board
members, though they havent formally convened in
about two years.
The board has dwindled from a group of seven about 20 years ago to
its current handful because
most members became too
elderly or ill, or died.
We just didnt do a
very good job of keeping
that group as a functioning
group, so now what I want
to do is I want to say OK,
lets start again and lets
get a new group of trustees
in, Krammes said.
Jeff Grayson is the cemeterys superintendent who
spots and sells grave sites,
but hes preparing to retire
in about year.
Krammes has reached
out to several groups
around town and has received only casual interest.
This is really kind of
more suited to someone
who is retired or somebody
who is not working a fulltime job and wants something to do a couple days of
the week, Krammes said.
Hed like to find a secretary/treasurer, a future
superintendent and board
Tombstones fill a section of Eastern Cemetery. | STAFF PHOTO BY TYLER STEWART
members.
Id be glad to still serve
in some kind of role at the
cemetery, I just cant be the
cemetery, and right now
thats what it is, he said.
Plenty of people in Jeffersonville treasure Eastern
Cemetery, as loved ones
and ancestors are buried
there.
We get phones calls
probably two or three a
week that are just asking,
Hey can you tell me if
such and such is buried in
that cemetery and where
that grave is, Krammes
said.
But cemeteries perhaps
arent as appreciated these
days as they once were. Its
one reason Krammes thinks
hes having a difficult time
finding successors.
I just think that celebration of death is different to
this generation of people

than what it was prior, he
said.
Don Allen, president of
the Walnut Ridge Cemetery board of trustees, said
he also believes there is less
interest in cemeteries now,
for a few reasons.
Rates of cremation are
rising sharply, in some cases removing the need for a
burial. In 1960, about 3.5
percent of Americans were
cremated after death. That
compares to 40 percent
by 2010, according to the
National Funeral Directors
Association.
Allen also said people are
more mobile now and can
lose a generational sense
of place or family connections. Funeral services
dont have the elaborate
pomp and circumstance
they once did.
COMPLEX: Members to vote on contract next week

and approve this subject to

[stipulations].
A few other board members said they agreed.
We started this project,
this group, Parks Authority member Dennis Julius
said. ... I just think its
something that needs to be
done to further the completion of the this park. I dont
have a problem supporting
it.
Parks Authority member
Matt Owen was the only
one to express hesitance,
partially because he didnt
want to award the bid if the
attorney felt uncomfortable.
Ive always been in favor of the project from the
beginning, before the beginning, Owen said.
Lewis said he felt better
about a vote to award the
bid with certain stipulations
namely, research into
the companys financials
and intended subcontractors. He added the board
still has to vote on a contract for the project to officially move forward.
The parks authority
scheduled a meeting to vote
on a contract Wednesday,
Dec. 30, at 3 p.m.
The board also asked
Matt Gullo, partner with
Kovert Hawkins, Inc., that
designed the project, to research the three lowest bids
in case Lewis finds issues
with David Construction.
All six bids that Gullo
presented listed base prices
and then costs for seven additional components of the
project. Jeffersonville Parks
and Recreation Director
Paul Northam said that allowed the board to pick and

choose which components
it wanted based on cost.
Without the seven additional features three of
them related to parking and
one an elevator the project costs $1.66 million at
the lowest. The parks authority voted to include all
seven features.
The Jeffersonville City
Council, also the same
nine members as the parks
authority, has already allocated $2 million for the
project. Zastawny said the

council will pull money
from the parks department
budget or from economic
development income tax
money.
One component that isnt
part of the bid is a water
feature that may double as
public art.
Zastawny described it
as an art piece thats also
functional as a splash park
or cooling station.
It would look nice by itself but you could turn the
water on or off, he said.
Gullo said he talked

to Jeffersonville Public
Arts Administrator Dawn
Spyker about either installing something at the front
of the site only or in the
front and middle of the site.
The bid includes two water
hook-in locations for this
possible feature.
Money for the art feature
isnt in the public arts budget and Zastawny said the
$100,000 in the contingency budget likely wont be
enough to cover it.
Its a new gift arriving
ALL YEAR LONG

FINAL
FINA
FI
NALL FO
NA
FOUR
This Christmas, give

them a gift that they can
OPEN ALL YEAR LONG!
JEFFERSONVILLE ADVANCES
TO TODAY
WITH A 3-2 WIN OVER CULVER STATE FINAL FOUR
ACADEMY, B2
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NEWS AND TRIBU

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221 Spring Street, Jeffersonville

318 Pearl Street, Ste. 100, New Albany
newsandtribune.com
Holiday Hoops
Pursuit
Local teams compete in

the Charlestown Holiday
Tournament | SPORTS B1
A police chase ended

when the suspects car
ran into a home | INSIDE A2
News and Tribune

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015
FALL BACK IN TIME

The weather has certainly felt more like
fall than December. Visit
newsandtribune.com for foliage photos.
MORE INSIDE
Tom May sheds light on the making of
some holiday classic movies | INSIDE A9
Webb wins Jeffersonville City Council recount

Democrat Rodriquez
plans to file appeal
Nancy McDevitt, Sellersburg, congratulates Josh Rodriquez, Jeffersonville City Council At-large Democratic candidate, as they review results
following his victory in the primary election in May. | FILE PHOTO
FINAL PREPARATIONS
JEFFERSONVILLE Republican Steve Webb regained

a seat on the Jeffersonville City
Council after a recount Tuesday
in the At-large race put him in
third place.
I think the process wasnt accurate on election night and I
dont feel like the count was accurate on election night, but I do
feel like the [recount] commissioners and the counters counted
the tally votes and counted the
correct votes, [and] we came out
The Clark County Recount

Commission certified results
Tuesday at the Clark County
Government Building after a
two-day hearing. Webb received
5,039 of the votes, beating Rodriquez by 73 votes. Democrat
Ron Ellis came in fifth
place of six at-large candidates with 4,955 votes.
Republican Matt Owen and Democrat Nathan
Samuel retained the other two at-large seats.
with the right outcome, he said.

Webbs opponent Josh Rodriquez, who won third place
election night, indicated
his fight for the seat isnt
over yet. His attorney
is filing an appeal next
week.
We congratulated
Webb for winning Tuesday. We appreciate Ron
Ellis participation, Ro- STEVE WEBB
BASIS FOR APPEAL
driquez, Democrat, said.
During the hearing,
Theyre both stand up
commissioners
were tasked with
guys, but we want the count to
be accurate, and its not accurate adding numbers on tally sheets
at this point.
Children decorate ornaments at the New

Albany-Floyd County Public Library
Four arrests
made in New
Albany murder
cutor Keith Henderson
said 24-year-old Charles E.
Fischbach IV was shot and
killed during a marijuana deal set up to be a rip
off. Marcus Threatt, 22,
Jeffersonville, and 21-yearelizabeth.depompei@newsandtribune.com
old Keontez Malone, LouNEW ALBANY
isville, were the
Police have artwo primary susrested four of five
pects arrested in
suspects in the murthe case.
der of a Lanesville
Malone, who
man found dead in
turned himself in
the parking lot of a
Monday afterNew Albany Waffle
noon, is believed
House on Dec. 12. KEONTEZ MALONE
to be the man who
At a Tuesday
pulled the trignews conference,
ger, Henderson
Floyd County Prose SEE ARRESTS, PAGE A6
Prosecutor identifies
gunman, says drug
deal led to death
Leah Clark, 8, left, and Avigayle McKim, 8, both of Georgetown, color paper holiday ornaments in the
childrens department at the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library in downtown New Albany on Monday
afternoon. The holiday ornament and decoration crafts activity will be available for children of all ages at the
library through today. | STAFF PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER FRYER
New library director selected

New Albany-Floyd County
library board selects
Melissa Merida
BY JEROD CLAPP
jerod.clapp@newsandtribune.com
NEW ALBANY A familiar

Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson and New Albany
face in Floyd County will head
Police Chief Todd Bailey address members of the media on
up the local library starting Feb.
Tuesday, following the arrest of a second suspect and three
1, 2016.
warrants issued for others in connection to a murder on
Melissa Merida, the Floyd
Dec. 12. | STAFF PHOTO BY TYLER STEWART
County Purdue Extension director, will return to a career she
had for nearly two decades before taking on her duties in the
county 4-H program.
I was asked to apply for the
n NEW ALBANY
Laurie Hardin reads a book to her daughter Maya Hardin in the
position and just kind of felt like
maybe it was time to go back to childrens area of the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library last
year. The New Albany-Floyd County Public Library board has selected
what my first love was, which
was working in the public li- Melissa Merida as its new director. | FILE PHOTO
brary, Merida said. After care- of the librarys board, said he in an interim capacity.
ful consideration, I just decided thought Merida would have a
Merida said she hopes to make
it was something I needed do ex- good vision for the library and the library something of a cenlooks forward to her ter stage for the community, and
plore.
at Cannon Acres off
Bid could be awarded ed
leadership.
Merida said she had
of Budd Road. Two comWe want to keep the wants to work with the staff on
worked in a library sysat Dec. 29 meeting
panies
specific
ideas
on
how
to
do
that.
library moving forward,
tem in Indianapolis and
submitBY CHRIS MORRIS
She said shell miss the people
Rutherford said. We
then in another one for
ted bids
want it to be progressive shes worked with for the last six
about 18 years before
Upton
NEW
ALBANY
A
and doing what the com- years, but shes looking forward
starting her six-year stint
new dog park for New Al- Pry, Inc.
munity expects from a to her new job.
at the Extension office.
and Dan
bany
is
one
step
closer
to
library. We want it to be
The move comes after
Its been quite an honor to
Cristiani
becoming reality.
the face of the commu- be in this position and to be a
the last library director, MELISSA MERIDA
The Board of Public E x c a v a t - WARREN NASH
nity.
Rose Frost, resigned in
visionary
for
the
Extension
and
ing. Both
Works
and
Safety
opened
He said he thought Fortner did
February. Since then, Sandra
bids Tuesday morning to base bids
Fortner has served as the interim a great job in the interim posi- 4-H program, Merida said. But
construct phase two of the and alternative bids were
tion, doing more than whats sometimes opportunity knocks
director.
park, which will be locatSEE BIDS, PAGE A6
Tonye Rutherford, president sometimes expected of someone and you have to check that out. Evening Tribune
Bids unsealed for

phase 2 of dog park
/newsandtribune
INDEX
@newsandtribune
/newsandtribune
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Thunderstorms, high of
WAVE 3 NEWS
A6 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
ARRESTS: Malone is the accused trigger man

ing in marijuana.
Shaleece Grace, 23, New Alsaid. He and Threatt are charged
bany: assisting a criminal and
with murder, and Threatt is aldealing in marijuana.
so charged with dealing
Sandlin, 27, Lanesmarijuana.
ville: dealing in marijuaThis is a marijuana
na.
deal and marijuana is a
Mills and Grace were
drug, and what we have
arrested Tuesday afteralleged occurred here all
noon. Sandlin was not in
involved drugs, Hendercustody as of press time.
son said, adding that inHenderson said invesvestigators believe Fisch- MARCUS THREATT
tigators believe Malone
bach and 27-year-old Coand Threatt planned to
rey Sandlin, Lanesville,
steal the marijuana from Fischwere the ones attempting to sell bach and Sandlin. There was likemarijuana to Threatt and Malone. ly a struggle inside the car before
Its a drug and people die no dif- Fischbach was shot and left in the
ferent than any other drug, and parking lot.
its dangerous.
As I explained to the families
Three other people now face that are involved, at least on Mr.
charges, though none of them are Fischbachs side, thats what hapaccused of murder. The suspects pened, but he also didnt deserve
and their charges are as follows:
to die, Henderson said.
Vanessa Mills, 22, New AlbaMills and Grace are accused of
ny: assisting a criminal and deal- driving the car used during the
incident and concealing Malone

and the weapon he allegedly used
to shoot Fischbach. Henderson
said the group gathered in a vacant student apartment in Cardinal Towne next to the University of Louisville campus prior
to driving to Waffle House on
Spring Street in New Albany.
The group spent the night in the
apartment following Fischbachs
murder and are believed to have
stayed there in the past. The gun
has not been located.
Henderson said he would seek
$30,000 cash-surety bonds for
Mills and Grace, and a $20,000
cash-surety bond for Sandlin. Malone appeared in court
Monday after his arrest and entered a not guilty plea. Malone
and Threatt remain in the Floyd
County Jail without bond.
New Albany Police Chief Todd
Bailey said the investigation is
ongoing, which Henderson said
Police have arrested four of five suspects in the murder of 24-year-old

Charles E. Fischbach IV. | STAFF PHOTO BY TYLER STEWART
includes talking to witnesses and

reviewing surveillance video. But
both men said they believe they
have identified the right people
connected to Fischbachs murder.
Again, never say never.
There could be something were
not aware of at this point, but at

least where were at, this will
complete as far as suspects
are concerned complete the
investigation, Henderson said.
Theres obviously more work to
be done.
RECOUNT: Some have issue with recount process

night. Those unreadable ballots
were hand-copied on election
prepared by count teams that
night and run through machines.
physically hand-counted ballots.
Clark County Clerk Susan
They also had to decide whether Popp testified Monday that
to accept or void the 225 ballots
teams that night did not
that counters challenged
mark those ballots as
throughout their process.
duplicates or with seriNick Mobley, Tony
al numbers as required
Wadsworth and John
by law. However, she
Perkins were the appointsaid the duplicates were
ed commissioners.
clearly isolated from the
Before the commission
originals so as not to mix
announced the tallies,
the two sets.
Attorney David Mosley, JAMEY NOEL
We found that the
representing Rodriquez,
process was flawed, so
asked members to reconthose remade ballots
sider totals for some of
were not counted, Wadthe precincts. He listed
sworth said of the comseven precincts where
missions decision to exabsentee votes were
clude them.
overlooked, despite bePerkins disagreed.
ing counted by the count
Two of the three
teams.
commissioners felt those
Theyre there, they JOHN PERKINS
were the recreated baljust didnt get counted by
lots, and we didnt count
the commission, he said during the recreated ones, we counted
the hearing. In one instance, the the originals that would not run
oversight would have cost Ro- in the machine, he said.
driquez 43 votes.
Mosley and Rodriquez believe
In response, the commission all absentees should have been
included some absentee ballots counted.
in their totals but excluded abThe 66 percent of that comsentee votes that were unread- mission didnt do what its supable by machines on election posed to do, and it didnt count
ballots that were counted by

the counters, he said, pointing
out two commissioners had ties
to the Republican Party. Mobley works for the Clark County Sheriffs Department, headed
by Jamey Noel who is also the
Clark County Republican Party
chairman. Wadsworth is a Republican city councilman for Jeffersonville.
Perkins has been a Democratic
office holder in Clark County on
and off since 1971.
DIFFERENCE OF NUMBERS
Webb was not initially declared the winner when the three
recount commissioners emerged
from a long recess behind closed
doors at the end of the day.
The totals they read placed
Webb last of the three, making
Rodriquez the winner. Attorneys Larry Wilder, representing
Webb, and Dustin White, representing Ellis, asked the commission to read their tallies individually by precinct for each
candidate so they could add the
totals themselves.
When they did so, Webbs totals increased by 100 votes and
Ellis and Rodriquez stayed
the same.
Perkins said the mistake was
simply clerical.
When we called off one of
the precincts, we must have
called off ... 39 [when] it should
have been 139, he said. Thats
why it ended up off 100 votes in
that race.
Wilder, however, said the mistake demonstrates one reason
why open door law exists.
Mr. Perkins math error
caused an individual who he advocated for throughout that process to be a winner, and he was
not a winner, Wilder said. So
that math error was convenient
in favor of his clear choice because there was no indication
at all that there was anything
but bias throughout when Mr.
Perkins made his decisions, his
statements.
Noel said hes just glad the
correct winner was named.
John Perkins is the most unprofessional person Ive ever
seen in a hearing of this type,
he said.
A FLAWED PROCESS?
Attorneys and candidates
expressed their disapproval of
some parts of the recount or

election processes.
The whole recount was a fiasco, Rodriquez said.
Many counters showed up late
and the role of recount manager switched between two people
in the middle of the process, he
said.
Ellis also found issue with the
way the recount was conducted.
The voting process in Clark
County is so flawed that I dont
know if anybody can get a fair
election right now, Ellis said.
He said no counters were
sworn in or signed in when they
arrived for the recount.
I think the whole process was
unfair, said Ellis, who will not
be appealing the commissions
decision. It was flawed from
the very beginning.
Dawn Elston, an attorney also
representing Ellis, pointed out
that totals for all three candidates
from the recount were below
election night totals. Ellis earned
5,072 votes on election night
121 fewer than he earned in the
recount.
If that doesnt say we have a
horrible problem with our election process in this county, I
dont know what does.
BIDS: Work on dog park expected to begin next year

competitive. Warren Nash, president of the BOW, said the board

hopes to award a bid at the Dec.
29 meeting after the citys legal
department reviews the numbers.
Upton Prys base bid was
$115,000. For alternative bid
No. 1, which includes trails,
$30,300; for alternative bid No.
2, more trails, $102,000; for alternative bid No. 3, disc golf,
$20,800; and for alternative bid

No. 4, pond liner, $41,700.
Dan Cristianis base bid was
$116,790. For alternative bid
No. 1, $21,135; for alternative
bid No. 2, $99,675; for alternative bid No. 3, $19,230; and for
alternative bid No. 4, $41,590.
At a recent New Albany City
Council work session, David
Duggins, director of redevelopment and economic development
for New Albany, said the plan

will expand upon $125,000 that
was approved for phase one of
the project in 2014. The cost for
phase two is $250,000. Work is
expected to begin next year.
The water feature, about 100
feet in diameter, would utilize a
sinkhole to create a small pond
where dogs could play or go
swimming.
Memberships that carry a
Bringing you the best local news and

sports coverage of Southern Indiana
you wont find from any other source
DIRECTLY TO YOUR
SMARTPHONE.
small fee may be a requirement

to be able to use the dog park.
Theresa Stilger, animal care
coordinator for the New Albany-Floyd County Animal Shelter, said dog parks are quite
common in the United States
and said Louisville has several.
ECOTECH UPDATE
Brian Slade, president of Eco-
Tech Waste Logistics, informed

the board Tuesday that the city
council passed a resolution last
week to extend waste services
with his company for another five
years. He said part of the resolution included EcoTech picking up
solid waste items which will free
up four employees with the New
Albany Street Department who
were responsible in the past for
picking up those types of items.
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Charges Filed
ISTEP Woes
Review panel says glitch
had no affect on ISTEP
scoring | INSIDE A7
Jeffersonville teen accused

of reckless homicide
arrested Tuesday | INSIDE A2
News and Tribune

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2015
COMING SATURDAY
Southern Indianas sports stories of

the year. Read more about them in
Saturdays News and Tribune.
MORE INSIDE
Fifth arrest made in New Albany Waffle
house murder case | INSIDE A2
Lt. Gov. eyes job leading Ivy Tech

Jeffersonville mayor says
he would be flattered if
asked to run
BY BRIAN SLODYSKO
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS Indiana
Gov. Mike Pence has raised the
possibility of an unusual split
with his 2012 running mate, suggesting that Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann would be an ideal
candidate to take over the embattled Ivy Tech Community Col-
lege system.
Moore said Wednesday as
That would leave Pence need- long as Ellspermann is still
ing a running mate for
lieutenant governor, he
his 2016 re-election camwould feel awkward
paign.
speaking on filling her
The Republican goverposition. He said he was
nor has visited Southern
aware that she may be
Indiana multiple times
leaving.
and touted its importance
I would be flattered
to the state. He visited
to be considered, but I
Jeffersonville the night SUE ELLSPERMANN havent given it much
before Novembers electhought, Moore, a Retion to rally in support of Mayor publican, said.
Mike Moores re-election, which
He wouldnt comment whether
he won.
hes spoken to Pence about the
n JEFFERSONVILLE
Council At-large
recount results
still not finalized
County Circuit Court No.
1 Judge Andrew Adams.
However, I have reason
to believe that at least one
recount team did not accurately count nor balance
elizabeth.beilman@newsandtribune.com the election returns to deJ E F F E R S O N V I L L E termine the total number of
Clark County Recount votes counted.
Adams said he has not
Commissioner
issued an order to
John Perkins deaccept the results
clined to sign cerand has schedtification of the
uled a hearing for
Jeffersonville City
Monday morning,
Council At-large
Dec. 28, to learn
election recount
the facts. He said
results, despite votif the commissioning at the end of JOHN PERKINS
ers dont certify the
Tuesdays hearing
results, there has to
to approve the final
be a hearing with a judge.
numbers.
Im going to follow the
It was agreed that the
recount commissioners statute, he said.
Recount totals didnt
would have no direct involvement in the count closely match totals from
process itself, Perkins election night, which is
stated in a letter to Clark
Pence, perhaps most notably on

possibility, though.
A spokesperson for Pence did LGBT civil rights, though both
not respond to a request
say differences of opinfor comment.
ion didnt prompt the
Pences proposal for
possible move.
Ellspermann has raised
Ivy Tech, which has
eyebrows among Indiana
drawn scrutiny for low
political observers who
graduation rates and
question why someone
declining enrollment,
would leave a political
recently launched an efposition that has histori- MIKE MOORE
fort to replace outgoing
cally been a springboard
President Tom Snyder,
to higher office. It also brought who has overseen the systems
into focus positions Ellspermann
SEE ELLSPERMANN, PAGE A6
has taken that arent in line with
CHRISTMAS CRAFTS
Children enjoy Day at The Carnegie Center
Commissioner
refuses to sign
certification
New details released

in fatal hit and run
near Magnolia Avenue
where they found Junior
L. Montgomery laying in
a ditch, unresponsive. Witnesses told police a car had
struck Montgomery and
fled.
Brandon Bailey, 18, was
JEFFERSONVILLE
The Sellersburg teen later identified as the driver of the suspected
accused of fatally
car. Bailey called
striking a 64-yeara friend who conold pedestrian with
tacted a family
his car Saturday
friend, a Clarksnight before fleeing
ville police officer,
the scene admitted
soon after the incito his involvement
dent, according to
in the incident, acJeffersonville pocording to newly BRANDON BAILEY
lice Detective Sgt.
released court reIsaac Parker and
cords.
Jeffersonville police re- court records.
SEE BAILEY, PAGE A6
sponded to Spring Street
Teen bonds out

of jail; judge sets
conditions of release
INDEX
n JEFFERSONVILLE
Bipartisan swearing in shows unity

Parties hope for positive
relationship in future
n JEFFERSONVILLE
/newsandtribune
Aqil Contractor, 10, New Albany, hangs a small ornament on a little Christmas tree at A Day at the Museum
at the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany on Wednesday. About 60 children were expected
to attend the event, putting together various crafts and enjoying snacks. | STAFF PHOTO BY JEROD CLAPP
@newsandtribune
JEFFERSONVILLE Elected officials for the city of Jeffersonville hope to enter a new
era of unity, beginning with the
citys first bipartisan swearing-in ceremony in several years
Wednesday at the former Carnegie Library building.
I think more now than ever
we need our city to come together, Mayor Mike Moore
Dustin White, D, raises his right hand as Judge Brad Jacobs swears
said after the ceremony ended.
him in as councilman for Jeffersonvilles District 1 seat during a
Officials are usually sworn
ceremony in former Carnegie Library building at Warder Park on
in at partisan ceremonies, but
Wednesday. | STAFF PHOTO BY TYLER STEWART
Moore said he wanted to show
ginning
and ending in prayer led last years swearing in certhat the mayor, council members and clerk will put party dif- led by pastors from First Trinity emony for a record number of
Baptist
Church
and First Chris- Republicans in the county, said
ferences aside and work handtian Church. Clark County Cir- he thinks the bipartisan event
in-hand.
cuit
Court
No.
2
Judge Brad Ja- Wednesday is great.
The differences that weve
It shows that while somehad in the past, I dont see them cobs swore in elected officials,
anymore, he said. Any time one by one, with loved ones by times we have minor disagreements, we have the same goals
a community is going to grow, their sides.
Clark County Republican Par- for the city of Jeff, Noel said.
youve got to get along.
SEE UNITY, PAGE A6
The ceremony was brief, be- ty Chairman Jamey Noel, who
Evening Tribune
/newsandtribune
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Mostly Cloudy, high of
WAVE 3 NEWS
A6 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2015 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
No Christmas paper
The News and Tribune will not publish a print edition
on Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25. Print production will
resume for the weekend, Dec. 26-27 edition.
Also, the offices in Jeffersonville and New Albany will
be closed Thursday and Friday this week in observance
of the holiday.
Check newsandtribune.com for news updates.
News and Tribune
Republican Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore, left, is sworn in by Clark County Judge Brad Jacobs, right,
alongside his family during the swearing of the new Jeffersonville office holders in the former Carnegie
Library building at Warder Park on Wednesday. | STAFF PHOTOS BY TYLER STEWART
UNITY: Officials take office Jan. 1

Phone calls to Clark County

Democrat Party Chairman Tom
Galligan were not returned by
press time.
District 1 City Councilman
Dustin White, one of just two
Democrats on the Republican-dominated council, said the
bipartisan ceremony is especially important for Democrats because it represents the spirit of
cooperation, he said.
And we appreciate it, White
said.
District 6 City Councilman
Republican Scott Hawkins said
the bipartisan ceremony is a
good gesture of the relationship between council members
and with the mayor. Conversations so far have been genial,
he said.
He hopes all elected officials
will be able to maintain good
communication and compromise
over the next four years.
All signs point to yes, Hawkins said. I think its a happier
place to be than it has been in
quite some time.
Moore and the council clashed
over several issues during his
At-Large Councilman Nathan Samuel, D, and son, Tyler, receive a

certificate after Nathan was sworn in by Judge Brad Jacobs during the
swearing in of new Jeffersonville office holders, both Democratic and
Republican.
first term, including marina reconstruction and the 10th Street

widening project. He hopes tense
relations will change next term.
Ive learned a lot over the last
four years, he said. Ive made
mistakes and I have vowed not
to make them again, and if I do,
I hope someone turns me in the
right direction.
Unity is crucial now, Moore

said, because of Jeffersonvilles
rapidly growing population.
They didnt move to Jeffersonville to deal with petty politics, he said. They came here
to raise their families, to make a
living and enjoy life.
Elected officials take office
Jan. 1.
RECOUNT: Judge to hear case Monday

co-general counsel for the Indiana Election Division.
what gives Perkins pause.
The recount commission
Its just the counters and the
fact that after the first couple unanimously approved totals
during
a hearing Tuesday, placprecincts, it seemed to be that
it was pretty much in sync with ing Republican Steve Webb in
third
place
in the At-large race,
the machine count, but as it
turned out, the machine count therefore gaining him a seat on
the council. He earned 5,039
and the hand count were
votes after the hearing.
pretty far off, Perkins
Democrat Josh Rosaid in a phone interview
driquez came in fourth
Wednesday. I know
place overall with 4,966
that people are more
votes and Democrat
likely to make mistakes
Ron Ellis came in fifth
because God knows Ive
with 4,955 votes.
made them in transposAll three candidates
ing numbers.
received more votes on
I think the hand count ANDREW ADAMS
Election Day. Webb reby persons are more subject to a mistake than by a ma- ceived 37 more votes Nov. 3
than he did after the recount,
chine.
Nick Mobley and Tony Wad- while Rodriquez received 124
sworth were the other appointed more and Ellis received 121
more.
commissioners.
Recount commissioners deIndiana law states when
a recount is completed by a cided to void some ballots
commission appointed under throughout the hearing. Some
this chapter, the commission ballots had marks that some
shall make and sign a certifi- commissioners believed identicate showing the total number fied voters, which is not permitof votes received in the pre- ted by law. Commissioners also
cincts by each candidate for did not accept absentee votes
nomination or election to the that were not readable by machines on election night.
office.
Perkins said that members of
I believe that it refers to all
three members of the commis- a recount team changed fresion, said Matthew Kochevar, quently and perhaps werent
told counting methods and criteria. Notes on some of the tally

sheets were unclear, he said.
He also noted his letter that he
saw one of the counters dozing
off during the recount.
Ive been involved in local
elections in office since 1972,
and I respect the sanctity of the
ballots, and I think the sanctity
of the ballots has to include a
very accurate and agreeable vote
totals ... he said Wednesday.
I think its a disservice to the
voters to certify something that
was unclear.
Angie Nussmeyer, co-director
for the Indiana Election Division, said state law is only clear
on how the recount commissioners are appointed and how a
recount is filed.
Outside of that, the recount
commission adopts its own
rules, she said. There is nothing that is codified in the law
with respect to how a recount
should be conducted.
Nussmeyer said Adams must
issue the final order with the recounts results. The judge gets
to determine how to handle Perkins refusal to sign the certificate.
At this point, the ball is really in the judges court, Nussmeyer said.
BAILEY: Teen admits to leaving scene

Jeffersonville police took Bailey from his home for questioning, during which police say he
was cooperative. He admitted
to hitting Montgomery and fleeing the scene without calling for
help, according to the probable
cause affidavit.
Brandon advised he saw an
image of what he thought was a
person after the initial collision,
the affidavits reads. At which
time he fled the scene due to
being scared.
Officers at the scene attempted to revive Montgomery, but

he was pronounced dead at the
hospital. The Jefferson County Coroners Office attributed
Montgomerys death to blunt
impact trauma.
Bailey is charged with a level 5 felony count of leaving
the scene of an accident causing death. He appeared in Clark
County Circuit Court No. 3
Wednesday morning alongside his attorney, Frederick
Reinecke, and entered a not
guilty plea. Judge Joseph We-
ber reduced Baileys bond from

$50,000 cash-only to $7,500
cash-surety, the typical amount
set for a level 5 felony.
Bailey paid the $750 needed
to be released from the Clark
County jail later in the afternoon. Weber ordered Bailey
to not drive a vehicle and to be
monitored on home incarceration. Reinecke requested his
client be allowed to leave the
home for work, which Weber
granted. Baileys next court date
is scheduled for Feb. 4.
ELLSPERMANN:
Trustees will select
next president of
Ivy Tech system
cent that there is no further
discrimination.
dozens of campuses inRosebrough said the arcluding in Sellersburg ticle accurately portrayed
since 2007. Ellspermann, Ellspermanns comments.
who holds a doctorate in
Pence has refused for
industrial engineering, ran months to say where he
her own consulting firm stands on the issue. He rebefore she was elected to cently signaled that hes
the Indiana House in 2010, unsure religious practices
and was tapped just two can be balanced with stateyears later to join Pences wide protections banning
gubernatorial ticket.
discrimination
Im fully supagainst gay peoportive of it. We
ple in housing,
talked about this
employment and
over the last several
public accommoweeks, Pence said.
dation.
In many ways, I
Clearly there
think shes the ideal
were divisions
candidate to be the MIKE PENCE
over the handling
next president of
of [the religious
Ivy Tech.
objections law] and nonEllspermann wasnt discrimination, and have
available for an interview been for months, said forTuesday, according to her mer Angies List CEO Bill
spokesman, Dennis Rose- Oesterle, who donated to
brough. He acknowledged Pence before the two had a
that Ellspermann and the falling out over the issue of
governor have had dif- LGBT rights. Its obvious
fering opinions, but said something precipitated a
they have a good working separation.
relationship and that any
Republican strategist
suggestion she was being Pete Seat said Ellspermann
forced out was inaccurate.
stepping down could be
A senior elected official mutually beneficial. He
ending up in a university said Ellspermann has been
leadership role is not un- outspoken in her oppousual, said Rosebrough, sition to harsh campaign
who noted that Ellsper- rhetoric, which is likely
mann was first approached in Pences rematch with
about the job this summer.
Democrat John Gregg,
But some believe policy a former Indiana House
differences may be play- speaker.
ing a role, including those
For Pence, its because
that stem from the political there was no guarantee that
firestorm this spring over Ellspermann was on board
the states religious objec- with the contrast campaign
tions law that Pence sup- he will have to run against
ported. Critics said the law John Gregg, Seat said.
could sanction discrimina- For Ellspermann, its a
tion against gay people on great temporary off-ramp
religious grounds, prompt- that allows her to stay ining lawmakers to make volved in a high-profile
changes, though some said statewide role and get back
they didnt go far enough.
on the political highway
In a Sept. 25 article, Ell- when and if she chooses.
spermann told the online
The governor said Tuesnews site StateHouseFile. day that he wouldnt intercom that she supports ef- fere in the selection proforts to protect all Indiana cess, which will be conresidents from discrimi- ducted by the Ivy Techs
nation, including lesbian, 14 trustees, all of whom he
gay, bisexual and transgen- appointed. The school sysdered people, which she tem was expected to award
said was key to repairing a $120,000 contact to a
the states reputation.
firm this week to conduct
She told the publication: the search.
I think what weve heard
is that [people] are proba- Senior Reporter Elizabeth
bly not satisfied yet. They Beilman contributed to this
want to be assured 100 per- report.
Man of Service
10 to Watch
Business owner and politician

Ralph Stemler is remembered
by those he helped | INSIDE A3
We preview the 10 best

local high school games
of the week | SPORTS B1
News and Tribune

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015
A LOOK BACK AT 2015
STORIES OF THE YEAR
MORE INSIDE
A stormwater pipe bursts in New Albany
on the side of Interstate 64 | INSIDE A2
COMING WEDNESDAY
We continue our look back at the most
important stories of 2015.
Special
election
on the way?
Trial would determine if Jeffersonville
At-large race gets a do-over vote
A truck zooms past a sign along Utica-Sellersburg Road, discouraging the passage of Greater Clark County
Schools referendum for upgraded and new schools in November. The referendum was easily defeated, and now
the school system has a less costly renovation plan. | FILE PHOTO
Today, we count
down 10 through 6
JEFFERSONVILLE Totals for the Jeffersonville City Council At-large recount are official, but appeals could still change who sits in the
third seat.
Clark County Circuit Court No. 1 Judge Andrew Adams certified the recount results during a short
hearing Monday morning, confirming Republican Steve Webb
as the third-place winner of
the election. The Jeffersonville
council is comprised of six District and three At-large representatives.
ANDREW ADAMS
But Dustin White attorney
for Democrat Ron Ellis, who
came in fifth place in the six-person race said
he may ask for a special election.
Based on what happened election night, [Ellis] stated his claim that it was impossible to
determine who received the highest vote tallies,
White said, referring to 882 absentee ballots that
could not be read by machines.
He also added recount teams couldnt find
some ballots during the process.
NEWS AND TRIBUNE
newsroom@newsandtribune.com
VOTERS SAY NO TO 2 BIG

SCHOOL REFERENDA
wo school districts took

multimillion dollar construction projects to voters
this year, but both are back
to the drawing board after their defeats.
Greater Clark County Schools
and the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. had
high hopes for projects to renovate or replace aging schools, but
neither referenda passed. New
Albany-Floyds attempt garnered
roughly a 55 percent to 45 percent defeat for its referendum of
about $80 million, while Greater
Clarks was about a 75 percent to
25 percent loss for its $109 million project.
Another district, West Clark
Community Schools, is also working through the process to put a
referendum on the ballot in November 2016. While New Albany-Floyd Countys district is evaluating when it will give its next
shot at a referendum.
The Greater Clark school board
this month passed a five-year, $63
million renovation plan, but only
the first year of funding $15.3
million is assured.
THREE AREA MAYORS

RE-ELECTED
Voters said yes Nov. 3 to four
more years for the mayors of three
cities in Clark and Floyd counties,
and the most narrow of those contests still wasnt very close.
Jeffersonville incumbent Mike
New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan speaks to his supporters and fellow Democrats at the Knights of Columbus after defeating Kevin Zurschmiede in the
New Albany municipal election in November. | FILE PHOTO
Moore, R, bested challenger and

City Councilman Dennis Julius,
D, by more than 800 votes, winning by a 53.6 percent to 46.4 percent margin.
Moore credited positive momentum with his victory and basically asked voters to choose him
if they liked the state of the city
and where it appears to be headed.
He also said he anticipates a better
working relationship with the incoming city council.
I dont want another four years
of bickering with the city council.
I think its counter-productive, he
said the day after the election.
In New Albany, incumbent
Democrat Jeff Gahan won a threeway race by taking 53 percent of
the total vote. Challenger and Republican City Councilman Kevin
Zurschmiede took second with 40
percent and independent Roger
Baylor got about 7 percent of the
vote.
Gahans campaigned on improving the citys housing stock,
citing its efforts to eliminate blight
and to upgrade public facilities.
The mayor resolved to follow
through on that promise.
We want to continue to move
forward and make neighborhoods
as desirable as we possibly can,
Gahan said on election night.
Republican Mayor Bob Hall
was elected Nov. 3 to his fourth
term to lead Charlestown. He took
300 more votes than Democratic
challenger Jeff Shepherd Sr., winning 56 to 44 percent.
Obviously [Im] pleased that
we have an opportunity to serve
for another four years, Hall said

after the election. Im excited about the opportunity to have
members on the council that I
think will serve well and look forward to working with them.
Halls referring to the four elected Republicans and one Democrat
for Charlestown City Council. The
newly elected council is a change
from the majority Democratic
council the city has had for the
past four years. Hall said the difference isnt in the political makeup of the council but in having
council members willing to work
together toward common goals.
INDEX
@newsandtribune
County may still pursue lawsuit against

New Albany over funding dispute
BY JEROD CLAPP
8
NEW ALBANY POOL LEADS
AREA OPENINGS
From swimming to boating to
shopping 2015 was a year for new
amenities in Southern Indiana.
New Albany opened the River
Run Family Waterpark on June
26. Menards cut the ribbon on its
first store in the Louisville area
on Veterans Parkway in Jeffersonville on Sept. 29. Jeffersonville officials christened Fishermans Wharf, the citys redeveloped waterfront, on Oct. 29. A
new roadway slicing into Starlight
SEE STORIES, PAGE A6
/newsandtribune
Floyd auditor
receives animal
shelter financials
Evening Tribune
/newsandtribune
Two dogs await evaluation inside the New Albany-Floyd County Animal Shelters PAWS Unit in
this file photo. Floyd County is looking into the
shelters finances.| FILE PHOTO
NEW ALBANY After months of waiting,

Floyd County officials received information they
requested regarding finances of the New Albany-Floyd County Animal Shelter.
Now, they just have to figure out if its actually
what they asked for.
County Auditor Scott Clark
said his office received the information Wednesday, Dec. 23,
as did county commissioners
and council members. He said
the office will begin a detailed
look at the numbers after the
new year, but a quick look will SCOTT CLARK
help him see if it its the financial information he requested.
I was glad that they finally, after seven
months, gave us the information, he said.
Clark initially made the request to the animal
shelter June 4. Shelter staff told him they didnt
have the records since the office of the city controller, Linda Moeller, was the financial agent
for handling the funds. He followed up with that
request to Moellers office in August.
SEE SHELTER, PAGE A6
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Partly cloudy, high of 49.
Low of 38 tonight.
WAVE 3 NEWS
A6 | TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
STORIES: Pleasant Ridge organizes, Clark Memorial sold

from Ind. 60 Star Valley Way was unveiled

Dec. 12.
SPLISH SPLASH
River Run replaced
the long-vacant Camille
Wright swimming pool
site off Daisy Lane, which
closed in 2008, allowing
New Albany officials to
tout the aquatic center as a
successful redevelopment
project.
From a redevelopment
standpoint, taking a piece
of property that had been
vacant and under-utilized
for a number of years, and
watching the transformation into the aquatic park
has been awe-inspiring A visitor goes down a tube slide at River Run Family Waterpark in July. New Albany offifor me, David Duggins, cials held a grand opening of the park with a ribbon-cutting. | FILE PHOTO
director of economic development and redevelThe facility has seven
opment for the city, said public docks with 15 tranabout the project.
sient boat slips, 500 feet
The projects price tag of greenspace, a stabilized
$7.5 million, which and improved shoreline, a
was part of a $19.6 million pedestrian walkway with
bond floated by the city staircases and a threefooted the construction of tiered limestone and conthe aquatic center, Silver crete fishing ledge.
Street Park and upgrades
This isnt just a marito Binford Park raised na, Mayor Mike Moore
a some eyebrows among said during opening cereresidents and was a cen- monies. This is a family
tral issue in mayoral de- park.
bates. Water slides, splash
The pedway is lit all the Tom Cartwright and fellow residents of the Pleasant
pads and a lazy river await way down to the end of
Ridge protest along Market Street near the town square of
visitors to the park at 224 the road where it reaches
W. Daisy Lane. Adjacent a stretch of public greens- Charlestown as they march their way through downtown
to the aquatic center is a pace that will have picnic toward the Arts and Enrichment Center on Water Street in
December 2014. In March, the new Pleasant Ridge Neighnew fire station.
tables.
borhood Association presented the city council a plan
Making the project a re- aimed at revitalizing the subdivision through fighting crime
ality was no easy task.
SAVE BIG MONEY
and increased property values. | FILE PHOTO
The
Jeffersonville
City
Thats Menards slogan,
While it might re- fairs grant and most of the
and Southern Indiana resi- Council approved a not-todents welcomed the home exceed $2.2 million for the mind motorists of a drive remainder was handled by
through
the Smoky Moun- relinquished funds Clark
project
in
2013,
but
when
improvement megastore
with open arms in Septem- bids came back much tains, Star Valley Way, County received when takhigher, the citys redevel- which spurs off Ind. 60, ing over parts of several
ber.
The big-box retailer at opment commission was is expected to serve as an state highways.
400 Town Center Park- asked to scale back the economic development
way is one of several chain scope of the project. Both tool by easing the trip to
stores, both national and parties landed on a $3 mil- destinations such as Hulocal, that have risen on lion budget with the pos- bers Orchard, Winery &
the newly developed Jef- sibility of multiple phases Vineyards and Joe Hubers
fersonville side of Vet- in years to come that could Family Farm & Restauerans Parkway. The area include a floating pier and rant.
Hubers has created
is now home to Krispy rental docks. MAC ConKreme, Heine Brothers struction and Excavating such a destination, Randy
Coffee, Culvers, Comfy Co. Inc. was tasked with Koetter, CEO of Koetter
PLEASANT RIDGE
Cow and BoomBozz Craft building Fishermans Woodworking in Starlight,
Wharf for $2.5 million, said at the ribbon cutting.
Pizza & Taphouse.
RESIDENTS ORGANIZE
City officials approved a and came in $99,000 under Five, 10, 15 years from
With a new Charlestown
now this is going to pull
10-year tax abatement for budget.
a lot of business into this City Council in place for
Menards last year. At that
area. Its going to tie these 2016, the Pleasant Ridge
time, the company prom- STARLIGHT, STAR BRIGHT
two communities togeth- Neighborhood Association
ised to hire 50 full-time
The trek to Borden and er.
may have to keep fightemployees with a total $2
Starlight became much
The project cost about ing to prevent redevelmillion in salaries.
easier and prettier $13.6 million, with 80 per- opment of the more than
with the opening of Star cent of that coming from 350-home neighborhood.
A FISH TALE
Valley Way in early De- federal funding channeled
Charlestown Mayor Bob
through the Indiana De- Hall advocated for a redeAfter years of planning cember.
Discussed for the better partment of Transporta- velopment plan in 2014
and budgetary revisions,
Jeffersonvilles refur- part of 60 years, officials tion. Of the 20 percent that that would have allowed
bished marina dubbed tout the 2.6-mile stretch of Clark County was respon- the city to demolish most
Fishermans Wharf road as a scenic connector sible for, $1 million was of the neighborhoods
welcomed its first visitors to commerce and oppor- funded by an Office of properties using $150 milin October.
tunity.
Community and Rural Af- lion in state funding. The
RECOUNT: Judge sets

appeal hearing for February
We believe that would be sufficient evidence for a special election,

he said.
A trial would determine whether
that election would be called.
Nov. 3 totals put Ellis in fourth
place by just 14 votes, but the recount
bumped him to fifth place, giving him
84 fewer votes than Webb.
My total changed horrendously
from election night until what they
certified, and I just think its a shame,
Ellis said Monday.
He believes the entire election and
recount process were flawed.
Somebody needs to stand up and
fix what was broken, he said. The
only way to solve the problem now as
to who should be elected is to have a
special election.
Attorneys for Democrat Josh Rodriquez, who came in fourth place,
and for Webb also said they are appealing.
Rodriquezs appeal likely will involve certain precincts for which not
all vote tallies counted by count teams
were totaled or accepted by the recount commission. For example, Jeffersonville Precinct 1 shows 11 absentee votes for Rodriquez that the
commission excluded from its totals,
according to a motion filed with the
court.
Rodriquez, who originally came in
third place, said he just wants all votes
to be tallied even if he isnt the
winner.
The whole point of this is to make
sure the count is right, he said.
Although Webb won the recount,
his attorney, Larry Wilder, said he is
absentee votes from the recount totals.

Duplicates of 882 absentee ballots that
were unreadable by machines on Election Day were not serialized or labeled
as duplicates, as prescribed by Indiana
law.
Wilder also said if his client loses
from a judge throwing out absentee
ballots, he can live with that, because the law was followed and it was
right, he said.
Webb, who appeared to have won
election night before absentees were
counted, said he felt like there were a
lot of discrepancies Nov. 3.
I think there were a lot of problems
with absentee voting, he said.
Webb has already been sworn in to
serve on the city council and will assume the role Jan. 1.
Adams held a hearing Monday
because one recount commissioner,
Democrat John Perkins, submitted a
letter noting that he did not certify
the results. The letter states that Perkins doesnt believe the recount teams
accurately count nor balance the
election returns to determine the total
number of votes counted.
By law, Adams said the commission
does not have to unanimously certify
the results for them to be valid. He also disbanded the three-person recount
commission during the hearing.
I thank them for their duties and
performing in these circumstances,
Adams said during the hearing. I
know after discussing this morning
with several of the commissioners
their opinion about the process.
Attorneys have until Jan. 22 to file
their appeals. Adams set a hearing for
9 a.m. Feb. 11 in anticipation of appeals.
proposal cited unkempt

properties, a transient
occupancy due to a high
number of renters and a
high crime rate as reasons
for redevelopment.
As part of a Blight Elimination Program, the grant
would have given the city
$15,000 per home, with
$6,000 offered to homeowners forced to relocate
and the other $9,000 to be
used for demolition. According to News and Tribune reports, roughly 70
percent of the homes were
on board with the plan and
the remaining would have
been acquired through eminent domain.
But in December 2014,
the plan failed to garner
support from a majority
Democratic city council.
In March, a newly formed
Pleasant Ridge Neighborhood Association led
by resident Josh Craven
presented to the council a
plan aimed at revitalizing
the subdivision. Instead of
demolishing and redeveloping the entire neighborhood, the plan proposed
focusing on increasing
property values and lowering crime.
A steering committee
that included two Democratic council members
was later formed and
tasked with generating
ideas and finalizing a plan.
In November, all of the
incumbent Democratic council members who
opposed Halls redevelopment plan were unseated
and replaced by Republicans. Tina Barnes was the
only Democrat to be elected to Charlestown City
Council. Newly elected
Republicans Ben Ledbetter, Ted Little, Brian Hester and At-large member
Eric Vaughn all previously
voiced support for Halls
2014 redevelopment plan
10
A BUSY YEAR FOR
HOSPITAL NEWS
Southern Indiana hospitals saw some big changes in 2015, with mergers,
closures and liquidation
and planning for the future
changing the local health
care landscape.
REGIONAL HEALTH NETWORK

BUYS CLARK MEMORIAL
In August, Regional
Health Network of Kentucky and Southern Indiana a partnership between Norton Healthcare
and LifePoint Health
purchased Clark Memorial
Hospital for $76 million.
The contract also stipulated that RHN would invest
$80 million in the next decade in infrastructure and
technology, and work to
pay off the hospitals debt.
The new ownership
makes Clark Memorial a
taxpaying business and
news release stated that
the new entity offered employment to all of the hospitals nearly 1,800 employees and would keep
all physician contracts.
FLOYD MEMORIALS FUTURE

Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services,
a independent, county-owned hospital that
opened in 1953, hired a
consultant in the summer
to help make sure the hospital stays on strong footing in the future. Plans
could be to merge with
another hospital or form
another health partnership.
The hospitals interim
CEO Dan Eichenberger
said although FMH was
$2 million ahead of budget
by the time of the article
in July, he wanted to form
these relationships while it
was a good time. However, the hospital lost about
$2.8 million in 2014.
A county-owned independent hospital cant
serve long-term the way
the current health care
environment is going,
Eichenberger said in a July
interview. But if you wait
until you are in dire straits,
you have no negotiating
power at all. Now, we are
in control.
ST. CATHERINES STRUGGLES

St. Catharine Hospital
in Charlestown shuttered
its emergency room in
February, transferred all
patients to other facilities
and informed employees
that this could be their last
paycheck, unless another owner could be found
quickly.
Employees met at the
hospital for a town hall
meeting with Lyen Crews,
the hospitals acting CEO
and Chapter 11 trustee to
discuss the fate of the hospital, which opened nearly
40 years ago and filed for
bankruptcy in 2012. Several bids for purchase fell
though or were rejected as
well.
SHELTER: County cut funding

The request was originally made because Clark

felt the county wasnt getting its share of the animal
shelters revenues. Clarks
office filed a complaint
with the state Public Access Counselor in August
after the city failed to turn
over the records following
a formal request.
In October, the Floyd
County Council and
Clarks office filed suit
against city for violating
the state Access to Public
Records Act.
Clark said now that his
office has some information, theyll figure out
whether to pursue the lawsuit after they determine
what information theyve
been given.
Well have to review
the information and then
discuss with counsel, then
go from there, Clark said.
Chris Lane, attorney for
the Floyd County council,
said its going to take a

some time for the county
to process the information
theyve been given, but a
decision to continue with
the lawsuit or drop it is in
the hands of the council.
Just because they
turned it over doesnt
mean theyre not in violation, Lane said. It will
ultimately be up to the
council and the auditor
whether the want to dismiss the case.
The News and Tribune
requested the same information from Moellers office months ago and has
not yet received it.
A phone call to Shane
Gibson, city attorney, was
not returned at the time of
publication.
THE BACK STORY

Issues between the county and the animal shelter
have remained in the spotlight since the county was
ordered by the Department
of Local Government Finance to cut its budget by

more than $1 million. Of
that, about half of the annual $150,000 in funding
from the county for the
shelter was cut.
The Animal Control Authority argued that by cutting the budget, the county
would violate the interlocal agreement between the
county and the city, which
requires the county to pay
51 percent of the funding
for the shelter, a figure
based on population.
Since that funding was
cut, the authority voted to
cut services to the county
Nov. 19, but restored services a week later, with
one member after that
meeting citing the welfare
of animals as its primary
responsibility.
The county has stated it
needs the financials from
New Albany because it believes it should only pay
for what the shelter spends,
not what is budgeted.
SoIn Section
H.S. Swimming
A look at upcoming
MLK events in Southern
Indiana | SOIN
On the spot feature with

New Albany senior
Reagan Thom | SPORTS B1
News and Tribune
MORE INSIDE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2016
Clarksville firefighter reinstated after

pleading guilty to battery | INSIDE A2
LOOKING AHEAD
A new series on mentoring in Southern
Indiana. Read the second story in
Fridays News and Tribune.
Councilman asking for special election trial

Webb wants ruling on election legality question
JEFFERSONVILLE
Even though he won a recount, Jeffersonville City
Councilman Steve Webb
is challenging the lawful-
STEVE WEBB
ness of Novembers general

election, requesting a trial
that could result in a special
election.
Republican Webbs attorney Larry Wilder said
he plans to file an appeal
of a recount commissions
results, too.
Both call into question a
procedure on election night
for counting 882 absentee
ballots that couldnt be read
by machines.
Mr. Webb, regardless
of what the result may or
may not be relative to who

is serving as the city council At-large elected office
holder, he wants to pursue
all the legal remedies necessary to ensure the law was
followed during that election, Wilder said.
Wilder doesnt believe the
Clark County Clerks Office followed the law that

night because bipartisan
teams that filled out exact
copies of ballots by hand
did not mark the duplicates
with serial numbers.
Those duplicates were
SEE TRIAL, PAGE A6
NEW ALBANY
SEEING IN COLOR
Flames and smoke had engulfed a maintenance and shelter building when crews
arrived. | PHOTO BY WAVE3 NEWS
Feds looking
into Wildlife
in Need fire
More than 40 animals died
The Floyd Central High School Choir sings during the 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Dinner for the
New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. on Tuesday. The theme of the event focused on diversity and its
importance in several aspects of life. | STAFF PHOTOS BY JEROD CLAPP
Martin Luther King Jr. event focuses on diversity, recognizing differences

BY JEROD CLAPP
CHARLESTOWN The federal agency

tasked with upholding the Animal Welfare
Act is looking into a Tuesday fire that killed
41 animals at the Wildlife in Need facility in
Charlestown.
The fire engulfed a 40 to 60-foot barn
structure at the shelter for exotic and endangered species around noon Tuesday, according to reports from newsgathering partner
WAVE3 NEWS. In a Facebook post confirming the fire, Wildlife in Need officials
said all animals were accounted for and
that there was never any security risk or
concern.
But in a follow-up post that has garnered
over 650 comments and nearly 1,000 shares,
Wildlife in Need officials said the facility
SEE FIRE, PAGE A6
Amber Finley, deputy attorney general and former student at Lillian Emery Elementary School, speaks at the 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative
Dinner on Tuesday. She was the keynote speaker for the event.
MORE INSIDE
For a full list of area Martin Luther King Jr. Day events, look inside todays edition of SoIn.
/newsandtribune
INDEX
@newsandtribune
EW ALBANY While
representing a defendant
in court, a bailiff stopped
Amber Finley and asked
the court who she was and why she
was with the defendant.
She talked about the incident
at the 21st annual Martin Luther
King Commemorative Dinner for
the New Albany-Floyd County
Consolidated School Corp. on
Tuesday at Northside Christian
Church. She said she felt like it
was an instance where the color
of her skin had an effect on how
she was perceived.
Sometimes, it doesnt matter
how youre dressed, whether it
be in a suit or a hoodie, Finley
said. It doesnt matter what your
title is, whether it be attorney or
criminal defendant, people will
judge you solely on the color of
your skin.
Finley, now the state deputy
attorney general and formerly a
SEE MLK, PAGE A6
Evening Tribune
/newsandtribune
n FLOYD COUNTY
Court program
fate in question
Hancock says funding will come by
mandate if a solution is not found
BY CHRIS MORRIS
NEW ALBANY The Floyd County

Council may be forced to come up with
an additional $150,000 unless a solution is
found to fund the drug and alcohol program
for Superior Court No. 2.
The program was $870 short of making
payroll recently, a sum that was covered
by other county funds. However, that is not
something that can continue, Superior Court
No. 2 Judge James Hancock said Tuesday
night.
SEE PROGRAM, PAGE A6
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Warmer temps and partly
cloudy. High 52, low 43.
WAVE 3 NEWS
A6 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2016 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
TRIAL: Special election date could fall on primary election day

made because of a formatting

issue on some absentee ballots
that caused voting machines to
spit them back out. A paragraph
explaining straight-party voting
was removed from some ballots,
shifting vote columns up.
He said the Clark County GOP
doesnt operate by a win at all
costs philosophy but rather a
follow the law philosophy.
Its up to Clark County Circuit
Court No. 1 Judge Andrew Adams whether to order a special
election.
WHAT THE CANDIDATES THINK

Democrat Ron Ellis, who
came in fifth place after the recount, said he isnt yet asking a
judge to consider a special election, though he said earlier he
thought it was the best solution.
We are just kind of sitting
back waiting to see whats going
to happen with the suits thats
already been filed, Ellis said.
The thing that Im considering
doing is filing a federal lawsuit.
His lawsuit would also be

based on the clerks office handling of ballots on election night
as well as the recount process,
which he doesnt think was conducted properly.
Wilder said he isnt sure
whether a special election could
drastically change the results of
the race.
Thats not even a thought on
anyones radar right now, he
said.
Its on the radar for Democrat
Josh Rodriquez, who won third
place election night but fourth
place after the recount. His attorney David Mosley, who filed
an appeal of the recount, doesnt
think a special election could go
well for Republicans.
Mosley said he believes the
Greater Clark County Schools
referendum, which would have
raised taxes if passed, brought
out more Republicans to the
polls this past November than an
election usually would.
Wilder also represents Republican At-large Councilman
Matt Owen in a candidacy challenge related to his involvement
FIRE: Facility
already under
criticism by PETA
lost 41 animals, mostly birds and reptiles,

in the fire. Facility owner Tim Stark was
reached by phone Wednesday but said he
did not have time to answer questions and
did not when he would have time. According to the follow-up post, Stark and a park
manager bravely went into the fire to rescue animals and are fortunate to have had
multiple lives saved due to their quick efforts.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Charlestown Volunteer Fire
Department Chief John Heal did not return
multiple messages for comment.
Tanya Espinosa, a spokesperson for the
United States Department of Agricultures
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, said the agency is aware
of the fire and will be investigating whether
any noncompliances contributed to the fire.
... However, to our knowledge, there
were no regulated animals that were
harmed during this tragic incident, Espinosa said in an email. Reptiles are not regulated by the Animal Welfare Act and there
are no standards in place for birds.
FACILITY IN QUESTION
Wildlife in Need came under criticism
in November after the USDA released two
inspection reports inspired by a complaint
filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA. The inspection
reports detail concerns over the safety of
visitors to the facilitys well-known Tiger
Baby Playtime where visitors can pay to interact with tiger cubs. At least two members
were bitten during the inspection visit and
cubs were swatted with riding whips that
was sometimes excessive in severity, according to the September inspection report.
An October report details issues with animal housing in disrepair and fencing that
was too low to contain lions and tigers.
Stark was ordered to comply with the inspectors recommendations, but Espinosa
previously told the News and Tribune there
are no immediate consequences to noncompliance. A particularly grievous noncompliance or repeat noncompliances could,
however, result in a USDA investigation
that can lead to monetary penalties or a
facilitys license being suspend or revoked.
Stark is already facing a formal USDA
investigation connected to Stark pleading
guilty in U.S. District Court to selling an
ocelot to a woman in Texas and in turn
violating the Endangered Species Act.
The USDA claims that the guilty plea is
grounds for terminating Starks license. The
case is pending with the USDA Office of
Administrative Law Judges.
In response to the fire that killed 41 animals at Wildlife in Need on Tuesday, PETA Foundation Deputy Director Brittany
Peet said in a news release that the organization hopes to see a new investigation handled swiftly. The organization also said it
hopes the facilitys license is revoked and
that all animals are relocated to reputable
sanctuaries.
as a volunteer firefighter, which

hasnt yet moved forward in
court.
I think [a special election]
would be hilarious. Im surprised that Mr. Wilders other
client [Owen] would stand still
for that, Mosley said. I think
the whole race has to be subject
to a special election ... So I think
youd have less Republicans
come out, and I think it could
jeopardize Mr. Owens position
severely severely.
Although he believes Rodriquez would come out in the
top three if residents voted again,
Mosley believes an appeal of the
recount is the more proper avenue.
Once you drill down into
those tally sheets and see whats
happening, its plain as day the
recount commission did not
count Josh Rodriquez recount
votes, and its more than enough
to fare in Joshs favor, he said.
A hearing is scheduled for
Feb. 11 at 9 a.m. in Clark County Circuit Court No. 1.
Judge Adams said there are
three results that could come of
the hearing keep the recount

results, order another recount or
order a special election.
HOW WOULD IT WORK?

According to Indiana law, if a
judge orders a special election as
the result of an election contest,
the special election should be
held on the ninth Tuesday after
the judges order. If the timing
is right, that date could fall on
primary election day.
Angie Nussmeyer, co-director
of the Indiana Election Division,
said the county would decide on
the methods for the election.
The judge could outline specific instructions to the county election board but generally
speaking, the special election
would be just for the office being contested and that would be
in the precincts of the district
being contested, she said.
Nussmeyer confirmed Mosleys belief that all six at-large
candidates must appear on the
ballot.
She added that the county
would be expected to allow ear-
ly and absentee voting, too.

Clark County Auditor R.
Monty Snelling said the cost of
a special election would likely be close to the amount the
county billed Jeffersonville for
the November general election,
since an at-large race involves
all citywide precincts.
That amount was about
$36,450.
I know it would cause quite
a burden on the county to put on
another election, Snelling said.
Clark County Commissioner
Jack Coffman said he doesnt
know how much a special election would cost.
If it did come down to a special election, there would probably be a good possibility that
we would ask the city of Jeff to
assist in some way, Coffman
said.
Nussmeyer said voter turnout
in special elections tend to be
low, based on her experience in
Marion County.
I think it just really depends
on the race and how much local
awareness there is about it, she
said.
MLK: NAHS choir director recognized at event

student of the school district, said instances like

that still happen. But as
society moves away from
stereotypes and prejudice, she said some people claim to not see color
when talking to people,
though she doesnt think
recognizing the color of
someones skin isnt an
act that, in itself, is offensive.
I dont believe them
and its perfectly acceptable to recognize color,
Finley said. I think people are hesitant to recognize race or color because
theyre afraid it will make
them racist or prejudiced.
Thats not the case, its
what you do when you see
color that matters.
Sharon Jones, director
of student programs and
cultural responsiveness for
the school district, helps
organize the event. She
said she was glad to have
a former student talk about
the importance of diversity
in life, whether that means
the workplace or personal
relationships. She said she
was on the same page as
Finley.
I love how she talked
about when people are
afraid to say they see color, thats exactly right,
Jones said. I think thats
changed some and I think
some people were scared
to talk about it. But in this
Linda DeRungs, director of choral music at New Albany High School, speaks after accepting the Anna Kathryn Hickerson Award at the 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Dinner on Monday. The award goes to people who promote human dignity, civil
rights and equity for all ethnic groups. | STAFF PHOTO BY JEROD CLAPP
day and time, its certainly

appropriate.
Jones said shes been
a principal in elementary schools and has seen
how children treat race.
She said its a learned behavior and when theyre
young, they largely dont
care about skin color, even
though they see it.
Its interesting that
children at that stage, they
dont see any of that,
Jones said. They just see
their friend and they just
want to play with them.
Sometimes, they pick up
these ideas from other

friends or experiences and
it starts to change some.
Its just isolated incidents
here and there.
Every year, the event
recognizes someone in
the community who has
contributed to the ideas of
King with the Anna Kathryn Hickerson Award.
This year, Linda DeRungs,
director of choral music at
New Albany High School,
was selected the winner.
Robert Wells, a member
of the board of directors
for the Friends of Division
Street School, said part of

that was from her annual
Gospelfest event, which
celebrates gospel music
with students of all kinds.
Finley said regardless of
race, people are more similar than they are different.
She said recognizing that
only makes life better for
everyone.
We can look for similarities in others while
embracing the differences, Finley said. We may
look, speak or worship differently, but we all have
unique desires and fears.
PROGRAM: Exact figures on funding coming

With Floyd County SuCONTINUED FROM PAGE A1
perior Court No. 1 Judge
The problem began sevSusan Orth to his left, and
eral years ago when the Circuit Court Judge Terstate legislature allowed rence Cody to his right,
diversion funds to go Hancock said he would
through the prosecutors
have to manoffice, instead of
date the council
directly to the drug
fund the program
and alcohol proas early as next
gram. Prior to that,
month if a soluthe program was
tion is not found.
self-funded, but
A committee
that is no longer
of three council
the case. Instead
members along
of having four full- JAMES HANCOCK
with the judgtime employees,
es and Prosecuthe current program
tor Keith Henderson are
only has two and a part- expected to meet soon
time receptionist. This is to discuss the issue. The
all happening when drug problem is the money once
and alcohol arrests in the used for the drug and alcocounty continue to in- hol program is now used
crease.
by the prosecutor and not
This is really an emer- allowed to be transferred
gency situation, said Han- to the Superior Court No.
cock, whose court handles 2 program, the three judgmany of the drug and alco- es said.
hol offenders. I am asking
The drug problem
for an additional appropri- in this county and other
ation to pay salaries and counties has quadrupled,
Hancock said. This is
get back an evaluator.
critical. Something has to

be done.
Orth said she refers
someone to the program
once a week. She said programs like this need to be
expanded.
If an offender complies
to the diversion program,
their drug charges can be
dismissed a year later. Better yet, with the help of the
program, they may be drug
free.
Hancock said at the Feb.
9 meeting he will bring exact figures on how much
funding is needed for the

program.
I hope we can all get
together and come up with
a solution, he said.
Council President Brad
Striegel said a workshop
or meeting needed to be
held instead of trading
emails back and forth.
Our backs are against
the wall, Hancock said.
If we dont have the program, we could end up
with the same problems
facing Scott County. We
could have an epidemic.
29
January 15 & 16, 2016

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812.293.3118
$4.00
Our Parts Man is Back!
Boys Hoops
20 Felonies
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back in action against
Evansville | SPORTS B1
Charges filed involving

Palmyra case of incest
with a minor | INSIDE A3
News and Tribune

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016
MORE INSIDE
Guidelines approved for use of New
Albany city properties | INSIDE A3
NO MORE HE, HIS?

House of Representatives measure
would gender-neutralize pages of state
code | INSIDE A4
n JEFFERSONVILLE CITY COUNCIL AT-LARGE
Recount sheets show disparities

Appeal hearing set for
Thursday in Jeffersonville
At-large council race
JEFFERSONVILLE Inconsistencies and bad math riddle

the results from the Jeffersonville City Council At-large recount, set for an appeal hearing
Thursday.
The recount commission,
Tally sheets that count teams

made up of three people one
marked show inconsisvoter from each political
tent methods of markparty and one voting maing votes, too.
chine mechanic was
I thought [the retasked with adding talcount] was absolutely
lies and certifying totals.
a travesty of injustice,
However, eight preClark County Democrat
cincts of 30 involved in
Party Chairman Tom
the race had significant
Galligan said. I dont
discrepancies between STEVE WEBB
think anything was right
the total number of votes
about it, I dont think
tallied by the recount
teams and the total number of anything was fair about it.
votes certified by the recount
commission.
THE DISCREPANCIES
Fund zeroed out by Auditor Scott

Clark to shore up general fund
Election Day vote totals:

Steve Webb 5,072
Ron Ellis 5,076
Josh Rodriquez 5,090
Recount totals:
Webb 5,039
Ellis 4,955
Rodriquez 4,966
It appears the commission did

not add absentee votes into totals
in a few precincts, apparently
by mistake. Such differences are
the basis for an appeal filed by

Democrat Josh Rodriquez, who
appeared to win a seat on Election Day, but finished out of the
top three vote-getters upon recount.
For example, in Jeffersonville
Precinct 4, the recount commission gave Republican Steve
Webb, winner of the recount,
106 votes, Democrat Ron Ellis
148 votes and Rodriquez 157
votes.
Webbs tally marks add up
JEFFERSONVILLE
n FLOYD COUNTY COUNCIL
Reassessment
levy reinstated
BY THE NUMBERS
Lining Their Purr-ses
BY CHRIS MORRIS
NEW ALBANY The Floyd County

Council unanimously approved Assessor Patricia Badger-Byrds request to reinstate the
reassessment levy of $348,498 Tuesday night.
But not without some discussion.
The fund was zeroed out for the second year
in a row by Auditor Scott Clark to help shore
up the general fund, he said. However, in
order for reassessment to take place this year,
the entire amount is needed, according to Badger-Byrd.
While Clark did nothing wrong, some council
members criticized his lack of communication
that he planned to zero out the levy again this
year. Councilman Matt Oakley said its a pattern of behavior that needs to be addressed.
This council relies on you for accurate
information, Oakley said. I knew nothing
SEE FLOYD COUNTY, PAGE A6
n NA-FC SCHOOLS
Board may take

elementary
sports to parents
Starting clubs led by families may
be future of K-4 athletics
BY JEROD CLAPP
NEW ALBANY A lot of demand mixed

with a shortage of cash make elementary
sports a difficult proposition
for schools, but the NA-FC
school board may look to
parents to take up the task.
Lee Ann Wiseheart, a
board member with the
New Albany-Floyd County
Consolidated School Corp.,
LEE ANN WISEHEART said childrens sports programs with the New Albany
Parks Department and with
local churches are overflowing, which left her
wondering if the district could fill in for the
SEE ELEMENTARY SPORTS, PAGE A6
/newsandtribune
INDEX
Callie looks of a window at the Animal Protection Association shelter where she is currently awaiting adoption. Once
under the care of the shelter, Callie, along with more than 70 other cats in the shelter, are spayed/neutered, given all shots
and vaccinations, and also receive a microchip before being available for adoption. | STAFF PHOTOS BY TYLER STEWART
Annual fundraiser supports no-kill shelter in Jeffersonville

BY APRILE RICKERT
EFFERSONVILLE Volunteers at the Animal Protection Association say they kind of thought
Tilly would always be around.
The 3 1/2-year-old cat, who has
Cerebellar Hypoplasia, went to live at
the Jeffersonville no-kill shelter when
she was just a kitten. Recently, she
found her forever home with a family
in Indianapolis through an online pet
finder website.
I think there were a lot of tears
happy tears and looking at the
pictures of her in her new home is the
most heartwarming thing you would
imagine to see, shelter volunteer Denise Koenig said. You look at her in
the pictures and you dont even see
that she has any limitations.
SEE APA, PAGE A6
@newsandtribune
Cats enjoy the many levels of the housing area within the Animal Protection Association building in Jeffersonville. The APA, a no-kill shelter, currently houses
more than 70 cats, with about 11 others in foster care.
Evening Tribune
/newsandtribune
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Cloudy today, high of
WAVE 3 NEWS
A6 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
RECOUNT: All three candidates had fewer votes than election night
perfectly to 106 its even

the same number he received
on election night. However, Ellis and Rodriquez are off by 35
and 42 votes respectively, the
same number of votes that are
clustered in a separated group of
tally marks. Thirty-five and 42
are the number of absentee votes
those candidates received election night, according to a precinct
report from the Clark County
Clerks office.
In Jeffersonville Precinct 1,
the same two candidates also appear to be missing absentee votes
in the commissions certified
results. Absentees for all three
candidates werent included in
Jeffersonville Precinct 5, and the
commission didnt add the second page of tallies for Webb in
Jeffersonville Precinct 2.
In Jeffersonville Precinct 10,
the count team wrote down two
sets of 16 marks in the absentee
section. However, the handwritten total is 107, which is 16 fewer
tally marks made on the counting
sheet. The recount commission
gave Webb a total of 123 votes.
According to a court document,
Rodriquez argues the commission erroneously doubled Webbs
absentee ballots, misled by the
count teams mistake.
... Rodriquez believes that
the [recount team] repeated their
count on these ballots. They
knew it, so did not record it in
their totals. However, the [recount commission] did, the document states.
None of the three recount commissioners Democrat John
Perkins, Republican Tony Wadsworth and voting machine mechanic Nick Mobley agreed or
responded to interview requests.
Perkins said he was subpoenaed to testify during the appeal
and needed to check with his attorney before an interview, but
never followed up. He voted in
favor of the commissions certified results, but later wrote in
a letter to Clark County Circuit
Court No. 1 Judge Andrew Adams that he did not support the
results because of irregularities.
Webb would just as well have
all absentee votes thrown out. He
filed an appeal of the commissions denial to void absentees and
requested an election contest trial. His reasoning is based on the
method for counting 882 absentee ballots that voting machines
couldnt read on election night.
Remade ballots were not
marked with serial numbers as
required by law.
The recount commission decided to discount absentee ballots
in Jeffersonville Precinct 1 that
could not be read by machines
because the law wasnt followed.
However, no other precincts separate defective absentees from
regular absentees and count
teams for only 12 of 30 precincts
separated absentees from their
totals at all. The other 18 tally
sheets just show one homogeneous group of votes.
Chairman Jamey Noel said election night activities regarding absentee ballots were just a mess.
He said he understands both arguments for throwing out absentees and keeping them.
... I get it, we want to make
sure the vote counts, but is it the
fruit of the poisonous tree because they werent handled correctly? Noel asked.
OTHER ISSUES
In three precincts, it appears
count teams simply didnt count
the number of tally marks correctly.
For most of the precincts
the first two were tallied on scrap
paper counters marked votes
in group of five tally marks, each
with a multiple of five above
that group signifying the total so
far. However, some counters added stray tally marks to the wrong
total, resulting in an extra five
votes for some candidates.
Rodriquezs appeal points out
a slew of other inconsistencies
or issues present during the recount process or made by the

recount commission. One of the
most significant of these is the
count teams refusal to recount a
few precincts after stopping the
process when they realized they
werent all counting straight-party ticket votes the same way.
How can those be good when
the whole reason we blew it up
on Saturday [in December] was
because the teams were counting
incorrectly? David Mosley, Rodriquezs attorney, said.
Republican Brian Lenfert
who counted two or three precincts with a Democrat volunteer
said he feels like the process
could have been better.
It didnt seem everyone was
100 percent clear on what the
true intention of the voters were,
he said, specifically referencing
how to read straight-party ballots
where voters also marked less
than three candidates in the city
council At-large race.
Rodriquez also takes issue with
the commissions decision to void
some individual ballots based
on stray marks that voters could
use to identify their own ballots,
which is against Indiana law.
Lenfert said attorneys gave his
count team instructions based on
their individual clients interests.
Once I sat down with the
Democrat, the attorneys came
over and kind of told us which issues they were concerned about,
he said. Both attorneys came over
and said, Heres what were
looking for, if you see anything
like this, put an exhibit sticker on
it and put it off to the side.
These challenged ballots were
the ones the recount commission
decided whether or not to throw
out and how to interpret them.
Perkins and Ellis have said
they believe the recount process
itself was inconsistent. Based on
signatures of tally sheets for all
30 precincts, it appears more than
15 people were involved in the
recount process, none of whom
counted every single precinct. The
recount manager position changed
midway through the process.

Perkins stated in his letter to
Judge Adams that one of the
counters appeared to doze off
during the process.
Many tally sheets also note
missing ballots, but no one
seems to know how to account
for the missing ballots and where
they could be, including Clark
County Clerk Susan Popp, who
said she doesnt know how ballots could be missing at all considering their secured storage.
Bubby Vissing, recount manager for most of the process, declined an interview request.
WHAT THE CLERK THINKS

Popp doesnt think parts of the
recount were conducted properly namely, the discrepancies
between election night totals and
the commissions results.
What we want to make sure is
that every vote is counted, Popp
said.
Popp ran a report that shows
the vote total differences per precinct. All three candidates lost
votes after the recount Webb
lost 33, Ellis lost 121 and Rodriquez lost 124.
She said the commission
should have worked to resolve
such significant discrepancies before certifying results.
As clerk, when theyre losing
40-plus votes [in one precinct],
what would be the reason behind
that? Popp said.
Jeremy Burton, Indiana manager of Election Systems and Software the voting machine company Clark County uses said
recount results should closely
mirror election night results because of the accuracy of the machines. The ballots that couldnt
be read on election night by the
machines were not a machine issue but rather a ballot formatting
issue, he said.
The wide variances in the
hand recount should be explained
by the commission so everyone
understands under Indiana code
why ballots were thrown out,
Burton said.
WHAT THE PARTY CHAIRS THINK

Noel said this recount was pretty typical of the average recount.
Its political in nature, so you
have political motivations, no
matter how hard you try to keep
them out, he said. But then you
also have the lack of training and
a lack of knowledge of people
who are doing the recount themselves, where theyll make honest
mistakes.
People on both sides believe
the recount commissioners were
biased. Bubby Vissing was supposed to be the third commissioner but declined because hes related to Kevin Vissing, a candidate
involved in a different recount.
Noel said Mobley, who works
under him at the Clark County
Sheriffs Department, was the
only other voting machine mechanic that could fill in Vissings
place.
Noel said theres always going
to be that perception out there
that people are biased, no matter
who it is.
Thats just part of the political
process, he said.
Noel wouldnt comment much
on whether he believes Perkins
remained objective, referencing
previous comments he made that
Perkins was unprofessional.
Galligan, on the other hand,
said he believes Wadsworth and
Mobley left a lot to be desired.
If I was them, I would be
ashamed to say I was even a part
of it, he said.
He doesnt agree with the commissions decision to throw some
ballots out.
I think they voted and their
votes need to be counted, Galligan said. Now people will think
if you vote absentee, your vote
doesnt count, and thats absolutely wrong.
Issues from both sides will be
heard in court. The appeal hearing begins at 9 a.m. Thursday,
Feb. 11, in Clark County Circuit
Court No. 1.
APA: Annual event raises 30 percent of organizations yearly budget

This weekend, community

members will have the chance
to support an organization that
strives to give cats like Tilly and
others those who are healthy,
have illnesses or special needs
a chance at happiness at the
15th annual Paws for a Cold Wet
Nose Gala. The event is one of
the three main annual fundraisers for APA, which runs solely
on donations, volunteers and
proceeds from the organizations
thrift store, Purr-fect Treasures, at
146 Spring St. in Jeffersonville.
Jan Baird, APA president, said
out of the three main fundraisers
the Holidays Pet Picks with
St. Nick events in December and
the golf tournament in September the Paws for a Cold Wet
Nose Gala contributes the most to
the years operating budget, about
30 percent. The organization has

about 80 cats right now, between
the shelter at 702 E. 11th St. in
Jeffersonville and foster homes.
Baird said last year, the shelter
spent about $100,000 on veterinarian bills alone.
We take care of them, she
said. Whatever they need,
theyre going to get.
Baird said she mostly handles
the medical needs of the cats
administering medication or antibiotics or minor health care needs
like upper respiratory infections
and helps transport them to the
vet for more serious procedures.
She also handles all of the ordering of medical supplies.
Since it is a no-kill shelter, cats
who might not be given a chance
due to illness or space limitations
are free to roam happily until they
find a permanent home. Baird
SO YOU KNOW
WHAT: Paws for a Cold Wet Nose Gala
annual fundraiser for the Animal Protection
Association in Jeffersonville
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 13, from 7 to 11
p.m.; doors at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Mellwood Arts Center, 1860
Mellwood Ave., Louisville
ADMISSION: Tickets are $45 per person
and include dinner catered by Orange Clover, dancing and music by the Tymes Band,
a silent auction and cash bar. They may be
bought online at pawsforacoldwetnose.com
or by calling 502-905-1147. For dancing,
music, silent auction and cash bar without
dinner, tickets are $20 and may be bought
at the door no earlier than 8 p.m. Proceeds
said unless they are new or have

an illness, they have free run of
the 11th Street location and its
two outdoor enclosures.
Ive always had a passion for
cats and most of my life I thought
it would be good to volunteer at
benefit APA.
AUCTION: There will be a silent auction
with items posted daily to preview on the
Paws for a Cold Wet Nose Facebook page
a sewing machine, restaurant gift cards
and a football signed by Bobby Petrino are
just a few.
WEBSITE: For more information, visit the
Paws for a Cold Wet Nose Facebook page,
the Animal Protection Association Facebook
page at pawsforacoldwetnose.com.
TO DONATE IN OTHER WAYS: The
APA shelter is located at 702 E. 11th St.,
Jeffersonville; the APA thrift store, Purr-fect
Treasures, is located at 146 Spring St.,
Jeffersonville; Mail: APA, P.O Box 4276,
Jeffersonville, 47130
a shelter, but I was always afraid

that it would be too sad, she
said. But being at APA, it isnt
a sad place its a happy place
and its fun. I feel like we get a
lot out of it.
Koenig said events like Satur-
days fundraiser and other donations keep APA going.

We would not exist without
the generosity of people who
support us through events like
Paws for a Cold Wet Nose and
the golf tournament and the Santa
pictures, she said. We just depend on their support so much to
be able to take care of the cats and
to keep them in a safe and healthy
environment and get them into
their new homes.
Between the volunteers and the
events, thats what runs this place.
Its the donations that people make
not only of money and items
we can sell but its donating
their own time and their energy
and their love that keeps us afloat.
The gala will be held from 7
to 11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at
the Mellwood Arts Center, 1860
Mellwood Ave., Louisville.
ELEMENTARY SPORTS: Many kids not getting opportunity to play

kids who cant get in.

I just wanted to have
the conversation to see if
the board would entertain
the thought of potentially
bringing back one or two
elementary sports because
of the high demand,
Wiseheart said. The Parks
Department cannot keep
up, one of the other local
programs cannot keep up,
we have a lot of kids that
are not getting to play.
However, the costs associated with district-led
elementary athletics are a
problem, Chief Business

Officer Fred McWhorter
said. With any coaches,
they have to negotiate salaries like they would with
teachers. His financial report showed an estimated
ending cash balance in the
corporations general fund
for the year of just more
than $9,000.
Board member D.J. Hines
said with the costs of coaches, referees and others, that
money wont go far.
Jessica Knable, board
vice president, said schools
like Scribner Middle
School have parent-led

teams; in their case, a soccer club. Its not directly
tied to the school and the
parents handle the fundraising, but they compete
and do well. She said the
key to launching elementary sports is to get families who want the sports
for their kids on board with
that sort of idea.
I think theres a way to
tap into some of the community leaders, Knable
said. Theres just different
resources that maybe arent
tapped into.
the fifth- and sixth-graders

in this corporation its at
an all-time high right now.
Wiseheart said part of
her concerns stem from a
lack of physical activity
in schools and the health
of children. Hines said he
agrees, but he hopes parents can step up to help.
I think if we can partner with the parents that
want to do this by making
the facilities we have available, I think were doing
our part, Hines said. It
hurts me that physical education isnt in the schools
Assistant Superintendent Bill Briscoe said its

also important to note that
since moving fifth- and
sixth-graders to middle
school, theyve got more
options of sports to participate in than they did years
ago.
Our fifth-graders and
current sixth-graders actually have more opportunities now than they used
to, Briscoe said. They
can now be on the tennis
team, the swim team, the
golf team. Weve actually
increased our offerings for
during the academic day,

but theres only so much
you can do. If we want
our kids to be competitive
academically, we need to
spend more time.
I think the results that
were getting now show
us the benefit at that, but
perhaps at the detriment of
their physical activities. We
cant be responsible for everything.
Wiseheart said the discussion on parent involvement could be brought up
at the boards next community meeting with parents.
FLOYD COUNTY: Council approves $10,000 for ATOD task force

about this until tonight.

Councilman Jim Wathen
said while Clark did not
have to tell the council he
was going to zero out the
levy, he should have just
out of courtesy.
The problem that is unfolding here is a lack of
communication, Wathen
said. It doesnt make
sense that you would take
it out without discussing it
with us, or that we would
put it back without discussing it with you. We can talk
and come to a better conclusion. I am frustrated to
see this happen.
Clark said he discussed
his action with Wathen.
We sat down three
weeks ago and discussed
it, Clark said. There was
a shortage in the general
fund so I chose to recapture

these funds.
Wathen said he remembers the conversation with
Clark, but does not remember being told the levy
would be zeroed out.
Badger-Byrd said without a certified reassessment, the state wont set a
tax rate. She said she was
first made aware that her
assessment levy had been
zeroed out last Thursday.
JAIL MAY GET NEW PROVIDER

Floyd County Sheriff
Frank Loop wanted the
councils blessing to move
forward to secure the services of Advanced Correctional Health Care to provide mental and other medical needs to jail inmates.
The council voted 7-0 for
Loop to have a contract
drawn up for the services.

The contract is for
$480,901. Last year Loop
said he spent $526,553 on
mental and medical health
services in the jail. He told
the council he would no
longer have to employ two
nurses, a doctor and psychiatrist, that Advanced
Correctional Health Care
would provide all of the
health care workers.
We would save $45,000
off the top annually, he
said.
The company currently
provides services to 45 jails
in Indiana including Harrison and Scott counties, and
22 in Kentucky.
A contract will have to be
approved by both the council
and Floyd County Commissioners. Loop said Dr. Dan
Eichenberger, the current jail
doctor, was all for it.
ATOD TASK FORCE FUNDS

The council approved a
measure to provide $10,000
to the Floyd County ATOD
Task Force, which helps
come up with and implement a plan to address
substance abuse in Floyd
County. The program is
mandated by the state.
Director Amy Schneidau had requested $21,559

to last through September. However, the council approved $10,000 and
Schneidau will have to return in the summer for additional funds.
The money will be taken out of the sheriffs
correctional officers fund
which had a surplus in re-
All of Your Insurance Needs
2017 Allison Lane Jeffersonville
812-284-3276
www.niaservices.com
JIM NICHOLSON
Agent/Owner
cent years.
I think we have a drug
problem, and we fund
things much less important
than this. We have got to do
what we can, Oakley said.
Take the
paper with you
ANY PLACE,
ANY TIME with
reTHINK
Missing gun
Program helps students

turn waste into art with
useful twist | INSIDE A8
Judge hears new info in

Jeremy Swank homicide
case | INSIDE A2
DIGITAL ACCESS.
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Judge: Redo Jeffersonville council recount

Adams appoints new recount commissioners
JEFFERSONVILLE A
new set of commissioners will
redo the election recount for the
Jeffersonville City Council Atlarge seats, a judge ruled in a
hearing Monday.
Clark County Circuit Court
No. 1 Judge Andrew Adams has
appointed Republican Abe Navarro, Democrat John Grannan
and voting machine mechanic
Bubby Vissing to hand-count
ballots and certify new totals, replacing results of a recount certified in December that Adams
said is flawed.
The judge said he chose three
people I trust to follow the law
and make on unbiased opinion
on each ballot.
I think theyll probably get
in and do whats right, Adams
said.
The top three winners of the
recount, which will begin at the
end of this week or the weekend, will fill the three At-large
Community
mourns lives
lost in crash
David Mosley, Rodriquez atseats on the city council. While

all three seats are technically in torney, argued his client should
jeopardy, the nature of
fill the seat because he
the recount surrounds the
won on election night.
third place vote-getter.
... Once we see its
Right now, Republithe result of a defective
process, it would undercan Steve Webb fills that
seat, after winning the
mine [Webbs] authority
original recount in Deto fill that seat, Moscember. He beat Demoley told the judge Moncrat Josh Rodriquez, who ANDREW ADAMS
day. So were back to
won on election night by
square one on that is14 votes.
sue.
The remaining question beHowever, Webbs attorney
tween now and the new recount Larry Wilder said he will request
who will serve on the council the court freeze the results of the
recount until the new one deterin the mean time.
mines a winner.
Mr. Webb is the certified
holder of the office ... so pending the disposition of any appeal,
Mr. Webb would hold office,
Wilder said in a phone interview.
After litigation appealing the
first recount commissions results, which spread over multiple days earlier this year, Adams
granted an appeal alleging that
the recount commissions process was defective and in error,
so much so that the outcome of
SOUTHERN INDIANA
Bridge tests on deck
Three in Owens family killed in

Saturday accident in Louisville
BY JEROD CLAPP
CLARKSVILLE While taking roll

in a fourth-grade class Monday morning,
Kim Knott said one of the
fourth-graders at Clarksville
Elementary School said they
didnt like that one of their
classmates, Lauren Owens,
wouldnt be marked present
anymore.
But Knott, superintenLAUREN OWENS
dent, said counselors were
on hand to remind staff and
children that she would always be present in one way
or another.
Those are just some of
the things that have to go on
today. Its a real raw, emotional day for them, Knott
SAMANTHA OWENS said. You never know how
students are going to process
this and thats why we have all this support in
all of the buildings.
On Saturday night, Lauren, her older sister
SEE MOURNING, PAGE A6
UPPER LEFT: The Blackiston Mill Road bridge that spans Silver Creek is pictured in New Albany. Major repairs on the
bridge are planned to start in 2017. UPPER RIGHT: The Browns Station Way bridge that is located above Silver Creek is
pictured on the New Albany and Clarksville city limits. The Clark County bridge has been prioritized for repairs. BOTTOM
LEFT: The Scottsville Road bridge that spans Indian Creek near the intersection of Fertig Creek Road is pictured in Floyd
County. The bridge is slated for repairs, including deck work. BOTTOM RIGHT: The Salem Noble Road bridge that spans
Pleasant Run is pictured in Clark County. The county plans to widen the bridge to accommodate current and future traffic.
| STAFF PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER FRYER
Indiana GOP
divided over
gay marriage
Clark, Floyd County officials eyeing repairs

BY MAUREEN HAYDEN
CNHI State Reporter
NDIANAPOLIS Mark Bacon likes Indianas brand as the

crossroads of America, but in
his rural community, there are
some places where school buses, farm
equipment and firetrucks cant get

across a creek.
Bacon is a corn farmer and county commissioner in Rush County,
where nearly three-dozen bridges
are closed or severely restricted with
weight limits.
Another two-dozen are considered
Party to ratify updated platform

in June after gathering input
Warren Schimpff,
fourth-generation owner
of Schimpffs
Confectionery,
celebrates the
unveiling of a
vintage 1950s
Coca-Cola sign
outside of the
businesss new
building expansion. The confectionery honored
its 125th birthday
and offered its
signature Red
Hots for 2 cents
their 1891
cost. | STAFF
NEW ALBANY The Indiana Republican Party is faced with the decision whether
to change its official platform on same-sex
marriage, amid divisive stances from members within.
The platform committee is
inviting input from Republicans across the state on its
identifying document, as it
does every two years, and
the marriage debate seems
to be dominating the conversation.
ED CLERE
Its a stance national Republicans are divided on,
now that same-sex marriage is legal in every
state.
SEE GOP, PAGE A6
/newsandtribune
INDEX
structurally deficient.
In Rush County, a long detour has
become a way of life.
Its something weve learned to
live with, he said.
Bacon and other local leaders
SEE BRIDGES, PAGE A6
SCHIMPFFS CELEBRATION
Confectionery marks anniversary with vintage sign
PHOTOS BY
CLAIRE MUNN
Evening Tribune
@newsandtribune
/newsandtribune
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Sunny today, high of 60.
Low of 36 tonight.
WAVE 3 NEWS
A6 | TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
MOURNING: GoFundMe account set up to help family

Samantha and her young nephew,

Liam, died in a car crash on Interstate 64 in Louisville. Monday,
the school community joined the
family in mourning the losses.
According to the Jefferson
County Coroners office, all three
were pronounced dead at the
scene. All three suffered bluntforce trauma to the head, with the
younger children suffering burns.
The accident occurred at the 13.8
mile-marker on I-64 West before
11 p.m. Saturday night.
A news release issued Monday
came from Paul and Tammy Fetter in Clarksville on behalf of the
Owens family. It said along with
some other losses in the family,
its been a difficult time.
I cannot describe the depth of
pain and sadness caused by the

recent untimely deaths of these
three young family members, sisters Samantha and Lauren Owens
and Samanthas new son Liam,
the release states. Only God
knows the answers and now only
God can provide the relief needed
for our family, so please continue to keep us in your thoughts
and prayers. We are thankful and
deeply moved by the outpouring
of community support.
The community has come out
for the Owens in a big way, too.
A GoFundMe.com page was set
up to help offset the costs the
family faces. As of about 9 p.m.
Monday, more than $20,000 had
been raised.
Samantha Owens was a 2012
graduate of Clarksville High
School. Her eighth-grade social

studies teacher, Todd Read, said
she was well-liked by her peers
and had a good attitude.
She was just kind and humble, Read said. She always
had a smile on her face and
aimed to please, but she was
humble about it. She wasnt always trying to be the center of
attention of anything, she was
just a good student who was
nice to other people.
Knott said Nikki Bullington,
the schools principal, reflected
on Samanthas time at the middle
school. She said she got out of
cheerleading and into basketball
because there was too much drama.
Sometimes, we forget about
our middle schools, Knott said.
HOW TO HELP
A fund to help pay funeral expenses has
been set up at Centra Credit Union, 2125
Veterans Parkway, Jeffersonville. Ask to
deposit donations to the Owens Fund. To
donate to the familys Go Fund Me page,
visit gofundme.com/wpyeneus.
This has affected all of our

buildings, but our middle school
teachers really remembered Samantha They were reflecting
on that today. Nikki had her as
a cheerleader and she was her
coach. She was a great student
who had a great personality, very
bright, happy-go-lucky. Nikki said she was a great kid to be
around.
She said Lauren was also wellliked at Clarksville Elementary.
She said counselors were dedicat-
ed to talking about the loss with

anyone who needed to in a room
on campus.
Lauren was just a student
that the kids liked to be around,
Knott said. The students are
talking about it with the counselors. We set up a special room
where the kids can go with counselors in there and there are a lot
of emotions going around.
Visitation for the family is from
noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, and
from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at
Colgate Baptist Church, 125 E.
Montgomery Ave., Clarksville.
The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the church.
Chapman Funeral Home in
Clarksville is handling the arrangements.
RECOUNT: Webb lawyer asking for ruling on absentee ballots

the recount was affected.

Rodriquez evidence at the appeal hearing was more than sufficient to prove that a procedural
error occurred when the recount
commission calculated the votes
for each candidate in each precinct, Adams wrote in his order.
He also noted that the commission only totaled results for three
of the six candidates, which is in
conflict with Indiana statute.
The new recount commissioners will be responsible for setting
rules and regulations for the process ahead, Adams said, as well
as hiring a recount manager to
oversee the process.
They may just choose to do it
all themselves, he said. I would

think they would need somebody
to help with the transfer of the
bags [containing ballots] and
stuff.
Navarro is a former circuit
court judge and former election
board member. Grannan is a local
attorney. Vissing, who works in
the Clark County Sheriffs Department under county Republican party chair and Sheriff Jamey
Noel, has volunteered to work
voting machines during elections
for several years.
Rodriquez believes ordering
another recount is a fair decision. However, he takes issue
with Webb remaining on the
council.
Government workers and
elected politicians are supposed

to be placed by the people, for the
people. Ive said this all along,
he said. Its a ... shame in my
opinion that you knew that process was flawed but still yet you
wanted to be seated.
Wilder and Webb have additional questions for the court that
theyd like cleared up.
During Mondays hearing, Adams denied a previous request
from Wilder to void all absentee
ballots. Clark County Clerk Susan Popp testified at the end of
last year that duplicates of ballots
that machines could not read on
election night were not serialized
in the manner that state statute
directs.
Because all absentee ballots
were collected at the clerks office, Wilder argued all votes to

this central precinct should be excluded from the recount.
Hes asking the Indiana Court of
Appeals or Indiana Supreme Court
to issue its official opinion on the
matter. Absentee ballots will be a
part of the new recount, too.
We may as well use this opportunity to answer that question
now, rather than later, he said.
Wilder will also appeal Adams
decision to grant the appeal, thus
allowing him to order a recount.
We do not believe that there
were errors such that it made it
impossible for the recount commission to tally the votes, he said.
Webb directed most questions
to Wilder, but said his team is try-
ing to understand the legal precedent for Adams decision.

Weve done everything by the
book, Webb said. Were just
trying to follow the law.
Adams wasnt sure how long
the recount process could take,
adding it depends on how many
requests each party makes.
An answer from the Indiana
Court of Appeals, however, could
take a bit longer.
In 2014, the Clark County Republican Party asked the court of
appeals to weigh in on a recount
between Popp and opponent Kelly Harrod, who has since died.
The case reached its legal ending this February, when the supreme court denied hearing the
case.
BRIDGES: Clark and Floyd counties compare well to others

BRIDGE BASICS
around the state are looking for

a better way. They hope a new
method for testing a bridges
integrity will help them make
smarter choices about spending
scarce money on thousands of
small spans throughout the state.
The method, developed by
Iowa State Universitys bridge
engineering center, will be replicated by engineers at Purdue
University this summer. Theyll
focus at first on a handful of
county bridges, with more likely
to follow.
Known as a weight-load test,
the method involves attaching
sensors to strategic points on a
bridge. As increasingly heavy
trucks cross, sensors detect when
the bridge starts to shake or sway.
Its like a stress test on your
heart, said Pat Conner, research
manager for Purdues local technical assistance program, which
works with highway and road departments across the state.
Overall, Clark and Floyd counties fare well compared to other
Indiana counties when it comes
to bridges ratings. According to
the 2015 Statewide Bridge Sufficiency Report, on a scale of 0 to
100, with a lower value indicating a lower degree of sufficiency,
Clark County had an 85.93 rating
and Floyds was 85.45.
Of Clark Countys 141 bridg-
Ratings for bridges in Clark and Floyd

counties, based on the 2015 Statewide
Bridge Sufficiency Report.
The sufficiency ratings vary from 0 to 100,
with a lower value indicating a lower degree
of sufficiency, but a higher degree of need
for either repair or replacement.
CLARK COUNTY
Average sufficiency rating: 85.93
Number of county bridges: 141
Average age: 33.9
Structurally deficient: 3
Posted, closed or restricted: 1
FLOYD COUNTY
Average sufficiency rating: 85.45
Number of county bridges: 87
Average age: 43.3
Structurally deficient: 6
Posted, closed or restricted: 5
es, three are listed as structurally

deficient.
A few years ago we had about
12 that were in really poor condition and we repaired a lot of
them, Clark County Commissioners President Jack Coffman
said.
A recently completed transportation plan for Clark County
outlines county roads and bridges projects since 2012, current
projects and those planned for the
next five years.
According to the plan, six

bridges have been replaced in the
last three and a half years, and
Coffman said the plan will help
to further needed improvements.
That gives a pretty good indication of where were going and
what we have to take care of,
Coffman said. Id say generally
weve got a really good plan and
were addressing those bridges. I
think our bridges are really starting to turn around and be in pretty good shape.
He said the Browns Station Way overpass is a priority
for repair in Clark County, and
the county is also working to fix
drainage issues with bridges and
widen those that are undersized
for the amount of current and future traffic, such as the bridges on
Salem Noble and Bethany Roads.
Floyd County has a total of 118
bridges, 104 in the county and
14 in the city, all of which are
open, according to county officials. There are two bridges with
weight limit restrictions, Atkins
Road and Pamela Drive.
There are two major bridge
projects in the future Blackiston Mill Road bridge and the
bridge on Scottsville Road near
Paoli Pike. Don Lopp, director of
county operations, said both are
five year projects. Atkins Road
Bridge work will likely begin in
2017. Right of way acquisition is
currently underway for the Pamela Drive rehab project.

There are 14 bridges on the rehabilitation schedule.
Our major issues are with the
roads, Lopp said. Roads are our
biggest need. We probably have
$9 million in paving projects we
could do.
The new technology could replace the way bridges are now inspected visually. County-hired
engineers visit all bridges over
20 feet every two years to look
for cracks or other indicators of
stress.
Conner says sight inspections
may miss hidden flaws. Or they
may overstate a bridges problems and lead to unnecessary closures or restrictions.
After Purdue engineers tested three rural bridges in Benton
County last year, for example,
weight restrictions were lifted.
Efforts to better evaluate bridges comes at a critical time. More
than 1,500 of about 13,000 county-maintained bridges are closed
or have weight restrictions.
Bridges maintained by the state
are generally not as old and in
better shape.
For many of the old county
bridges, original blueprints are
lost to time, leaving inspectors to
do more guesswork, Conner said.
Weve got a lot of rural bridges that are over 100 years old, he
said. They were built at a time

when there wasnt much emphasis on maintaining those plans.
Lawmakers set aside about
$580 million over the next two
years for repairs to local bridges
and roads about half of what
is needed, according to infrastructure experts at Purdue. To
tap into that fund, counties must
submit their priorities for state
approval.
The stress-test technology comes with a cost up to
$10,000 a bridge. But a coalition
of agriculture groups including the Indiana Soybean Alliance
and Indiana Corn Marketing
Council are working with Purdue to reduce the price.
For those groups, better bridge
inspections mean getting the
most out of limited dollars for
roads and bridges that farmers
need to deliver commodities to
grain elevators and processors.
For county officials like Bacon,
the up-front cost of testing could
save dollars in the long run.
If weve got a better test that
helps us know better what that
bridge can stand, well be a lot
better off, he said.
Staff writers Chris Morris and Aprile
Rickert contributed to this report.
Maureen Hayden covers the Indiana
Statehouse for CNHIs newspapers and
websites. Reach her at mhayden@cnhi.
com.
GOP: Some members ask that divisive language be removed

In Indiana, the debate

rides the coattails of last
years Religious Freedom
Restoration Act, a law that
gave extra protections on
the basis of religion that
drew criticism from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists.
The platform committee
held a hearing at Indiana
University Southeast in
New Albany on Monday
evening, its second of three
public meetings that allow
Republicans across the
state to voice their opinions
on what should stay and
what should change in the
partys platform.
The platform ratified in
2014 states, We believe
that strong families, based
on marriage between a man
and a woman, are the foundation of society.
Almost every person
who spoke Monday mentioned this clause, with
most asking it be removed.
Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, said many speakers at
the first hearing in Greenwood focused on the topic,
on both sides of that issue.
The 32-person committee whose members are
appointed by state party
chairman Jeff Cardwell

will gather all comments
from hearings and any that
are sent via email and discuss any changes to the
platform. Then, the group
will draft an updated version of the platform, which
will either be passed or
amended by almost 1,800
delegates at the state convention June 11.
Koch emphasized the
conversational tone of the
hearings, wherein speakers
answered questions from
committee members.
Its the kind of discussion that a family has when
theres a disagreement
within a family, Koch said
in an interview. You usually sit at a kitchen table
around a living room and
talk through it, and thats
what this process is about.
Rep. Ed Clere, R-New
Albany, who has vocally
supported LGBT rights,
asked the committee at the
very least to remove language referring to marriage
as between a man and a
woman.
My preference would be
for full civil rights protection, Clere said. I think
we have an opportunity to
show that we are an inclusive, that we are a big tent
party and that we want everyone to have an opportunity to be part of the Indiana Republican Party and
all that it stands for. The
more we can stay away
from issues that divide us
and focus instead on issues
that unite us, the better and
stronger we can be.
Committee member
James Bob, an attorney,
asked how civil rights for
LGBT people without exclusions, as Clere suggested, would affect religious
rights outside of the walls of
a place of worship. Would
a religious wedding photographer, for example, be
bound by law to photograph
a same-sex wedding despite
his or her moral oppositions?
My question would
be if thats your position,
where is the acceptance
and welcoming and inclusion of people of faith in
our platform when were
telling them that even
though their religion requires them to live their
life, not just how they
worship in a church ... but
youre going to have the
state attack them on that?
Bob said, adding the state
would be free to trample
all over religious views.
Clere suggested substi-
tuting any other currently

protected class in these
kinds of scenarios as a litmus test. If the law would
protect that class, it should
also protect LGBT people,
he argued.
New Albany City Councilman Dave Barksdale also asked that the divisive
language regarding marriage be removed.
On a personal note,
I have a sister that is gay
which I love and I respect
very deeply, Barksdale said. Just last year,
she and her partner were
married. Both individuals
contribute greatly to our
community. Between them,
they have four wonderful
children that are very much
loved in this quote-unquote
nontraditional family.
Some discussion involved divorce rates of
same-sex and heterosexual
marriages as well as stability of single-parent families.
New Albany City Councilman Al Knable said
some of Americas strongest unions are between
two people of the same sex.
Bob suggested that the
first sentence involving
marriage between a man
and a woman is aspirational, and the next sentence
that recognizes and supports

more diverse and blended families is inclusive of
same-sex couples.
Monroe County resident
William Ellis, however, told
the committee the platform
on marriage should remain.
When you have people
upset that marriage should
be between one man and
one woman, I really have
to question what theyre
upset about, Ellis said.
He argued the majority of
people against RFRA are
the same group using the
same threats to change the
Republican Partys platform and stance.
Clark County and 9th
District Republican Party
Chairman Jamey Noel, al-
Pick up a copy of
the News and Tribune
at the Silver Fox Cafe, today.
Pekin, Indiana
so a platform committee
member, said he believes
marriage is between a man
and a woman, but I also think the government
should not be sticking their
nose in marriage, period.
Views on marriage in
Clark County are changing,
he added.
I think its a good thing,
Noel said. At the same
time, I just want to make
sure that we do include everybody but that also I dont
want to get back to the days
when people were persecuted for their religious beliefs,
either.
Any Indiana Republican
can email his or her views
on the party platform to
stateplatform@indiana.gop.
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Scammers prey on tax sale victims

State attorney general
reminds homeowners
of their rights
BY JEROD CLAPP
JEFFERSONVILLE Scammers attempting to capitalize on

those whose homes were sold at tax
sales face retribution from local and
state-level authorities.
Greg Zoeller, state attorney general, made a statement Friday in the
Clark County Commissioners meeting room in Jeffersonville, alongside Clark County Auditor Monty
Snelling. Zoeller said his office has
worked with auditors in every county to see if the practice has spread
since his office noticed the practice

in Allen, Marion and Johnson counties.
He said when a house is sold at
auction in a tax sale because of delinquent taxes, any money above and
beyond what was owed to the municipality the surplus can go
back to the homeowner, which can
amount to tens of thousands of dollars. Instead, scammers track down
these people and try to get them to
sign a quit claim deed for around
$450, which they think can help in
the short-term.
We try to raise public attention
to the vulnerability of people who
go through a tax sale [and help by]
trying to get them a little better understanding of whats involved, Zoeller said. If you think about peo-
ple who lose a home in a tax sale

theyre probably under all sorts of
other financial distress. Theyre vulnerable because they may have other
bills hanging out or close to a bankruptcy.
On March 24, the State Senate
passed Senate Enrolled Act 355,
which protects homeowners from
third-parties that can leave the original owner without the equivalent
of the surplus, according to a press
release from the attorney generals
office.
Snelling said he hasnt had reports
of quit-claim deed defrauding like
that in Clark County, but he has
heard about attorneys trying to call
up recent tax-sale homeowners and
informing them of the surplus, but
SEE SCAMMERS, PAGE A3
Monty Snelling, Clark County auditor, and Greg Zoeller,

state attorney general, speak during a press conference
about tax sale surplus fraud at the Clark County Government Building on Friday. Zoeller said homeowners who face
tax sales have a lot of resources available to them. | STAFF
PHOTO BY JEROD CLAPP
HOUSING CRUNCH
n JEFFERSONVILLE
Rodriquez sworn
in as councilman
Republican opponent says he will
appeal judges decision
BY APRILE RICKERT
JEFFERSONVILLE Josh Rodriquez has

been sworn in and will be seated on this Mondays Jeffersonville City Council meeting.
In a hearing Friday, Clark County Circuit
Court Judge No. 1 Andrew Adams ordered
Rodriquez to be seated and Steve Webb to be
removed, after Adams ruled in March that the
recount process had been flawed.
Rodriquez, a Democrat, won the At-large
SEE RODRIQUEZ, PAGE A3
OFF THE TOP

Workers prepare for new steeple
New Albany Housing Authority maintenance technicians Dennis Flispart, New Albany, right, and Mike Hardin, Jeffersonville, work on outdoor renovations and repairs at the Parkview Terrace apartments along the 1600 block of Bono Road on
Friday afternoon. Many of New Albanys public housing facilities are more than 60 years old, and city officials are working
on solutions to improve the condition of the properties. | STAFF PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER FRYER
New Albany, with third most public housing units in state, faces challenges
BY CHRIS MORRIS
EW ALBANY Its
sometimes hard for people
to grasp, but New Albany
is ranked in the top three in
the state on a list that has nothing to do
with basketball.
It has to do with public housing.
Behind only Indianapolis and
Gary, New Albany has the third
most public housing units in the
state, with 1,082, despite not being
among Indianas 20 most populated
cities.
The majority of New Albanys facilities were built more than 60 years
ago, and many resemble more of
an Army barracks than apartments.
How to upgrade the facilities, on
limited income, is the question New
SEE SPOTLIGHT, PAGE A3
/newsandtribune
INDEX
A sign for Broadmeade Terrace is pictured at an entrance to the New Albany

Housing Authority apartments located at the intersection of Graybrook Lane and
Minton Drive on Friday afternoon.
Sunday Tribune
@newsandtribune
/newsandtribune
Crews with D&M Masonry and Padgett Inc.

work to remove the steeple from the clock tower of the Second Baptist Church in downtown
New Albany on Friday morning. The structure
was removed to place steel bracing in preparation for a new steeple that will be installed late
next month. | STAFF PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER
FRYER
TODAYS WEATHER A7
Sunny today, high of 80.
Low of 51 tonight.
WAVE 3 NEWS
NEWS AND TRIBUNE | SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, APRIL 16-17, 2016 | A3
SPOTLIGHT: Tax credits key for large projects

Albany Housing Authority Director Bob Lane, his board and

Mayor Jeff Gahan are trying to
figure out.
As part of his plan to improve
housing and safety of rental units in the city, Gahan said
he wants to see improvements
made to public housing especially with the Broadmeade/
Parkview complex off Bono
Road and Graybrook Lane. He
has challenged the housing authority board to come up with a
10-year plan to better the facility.
Public housing is an important asset we have in the city,
Gahan said. I want to see an
improvement in the housing
stock. And we know our capital
improvement budget is not getting any better, so we have to
have a plan.
We are all in agreement that
we are not happy with the physical condition of public housing.
In 2015, the NAHA operations
budget was $3,914,410. Residents either pay a flat rate or 30
percent of all household income.
The average rent is $192.75 a
month for NAHA units.
There is $138 million in need
within housing authority properties, according to Lane and Gahan, and the majority of funding
is public. The federal government supplies 67 percent of the
NAHA budget while 33 percent
is generated through rent. In
2015, the capital improvement
fund was $1,432,913 million
a far cry $138 million needed.
Of the nine properties, eight
are listed on the NAHA maintenance cost sheet dated Sept. 16,
2015, for needing some kind of
work. The biggest project on the
sheet would be the replacement
of Parkview, which would include 364 units and cost $73.5
million.
To replace 116 units at Beechwood, the cost is $22.7 million
and $12.5 million is needed to
replace Parkview Towers. The
only property listed as not needing work was Crystal Court,

which recently was rehabbed.
FINDING THE MONEY

The only way to come close
to having enough money to do
large projects is through tax
credits, which are awarded by
the state. While Lane and his
staff have worked wonders with
the limited cash they have for
improvements, all they are able
to do without tax credits is maintain property.
Lane said he will ask the housing authority board at Mondays
meeting to consider hiring a
national consultant to help put
a capital improvement plan together.
The consultant will work
with the housing authority and
the city and put a plan together, Lane said. These people
are experts. They will look at
our strengths and challenges and
help us finalize a plan for the
future.
Lane said his units are at 98
percent capacity. In order to
reduce the number of units at
Broadmeade/Parkview, displaced residents would have to
be housed elsewhere, according
to federal guidelines. And at 98
percent occupancy, there are not
many open spots.
Lane said there is a plan in
place to knock down 44 units
behind the Brown Starks Building, to create green space, which
will eliminate some of the density on the Broadmeade/Parkview
site.
Tax credits are very competitive and are on a complicated
point system. Lane said three
years ago, NAHA lost by 1.5
points; two years ago, the agency fell short in a tie breaker; and
in 2015, the agency didnt have
enough points to quality.
Its the only way to improve
public housing, he said. The
city helps us approve a plan and
then signs off on it. Its the only
way now to get enough mon-
NAHA FACT SHEET

The New Albany Housing Authority was
established in 1937.
NAHA properties include: Beechwood,
opened in 1942, 116 apartments; Crystal
Court, opened August 1942, 23 homes;
Parkview Terrace, opened August 1952,
350 homes; Parkview Tower, opened
March 1964, 70 homes; William O. Vance,
opened in 1952, 47 homes; Riverview Tower, opened 1976, 164 homes; Broadmeade
Terrace, opened 1979, 70 apartments;
Riverside, 120 apartments, opened in
October 1982; and Mark Elrod, opened
1983, 101 homes;
Only Mark Elrod is limited to residents 62
and older
ey to make all the changes you

want to make.
Lane said when the old units
were built, the streets within the
public housing complex were
constructed as dead-ends. He
said he would like to see streets
extended out to match up with
public streets in the future, as
well as to update facilities.
The NAHA is responsible for
all streets on its property. He
said the future of public housing
is to integrate it in with private
development, which has been
done in Louisville and other cities.
Gahan said he met with HUD
officials in September and one
of the topics included no increases in federal funds.
They informed us that capital
improvement budgets will not
be getting any better, the mayor
said. We need upgrades and a
solid 10-year plan. What is our
strategy? We need to come up
with a plan to make units better
for residents.
Its not a problem that is easily solved. We are conscious of
that.
SECTION 8 AND SUCCESS

The NAHA receives 408
section 8 vouchers from the
federal government, totaling
$2,476,621. Of the 408, 200 are
designated for people with disabilities.
For landlords, providing sec-
tion 8 housing guarantees that

all of the rent, or the majority,
will be paid on the first of each
month. And many times, the residents are happy and proud to be
in a home of their own.
Donnie Coakley has more than
30 properties used for section 8
housing, more than anyone in
New Albany, he said. Coakley
said while his rental properties
are open to anyone, he appreciates the section 8 program.
Its nice to have a middle
man, he said.
He also said with section 8,
a third-party inspection is done
yearly on his properties and is
signed off on by the federal government.
I think you either love it or
hate it, he said of being a section 8 landlord. I dont see any
negatives. You are always going to have some problems [with
renters].
Section 8 is one way to lower
the demand of public housing
units.
Finding homes for residents
and getting families back on
their feet are viewed as victories.
Those in public housing usually
fall into four categories families who do not make enough
money to live on; people with
disabilities; senior citizens who
have outlived their money; and
single moms with limited skills
and education.
But there are many public
housing programs designed to
help residents find employment
and improve job skills. Lane said
through the Family Self Sufficiency program, 30 families
now own their own homes and
there has been zero defaults. The
NAHA has received $702,000
from the Housing Urban Development agency for Family Self
Sufficiency programs.
We have had a lot of success, Lane said.
Gahan said the employees of
the NAHA do great work.
We are fortunate to have the
leadership and the staff we have
at the New Albany Housing Au-
thority, he said.
According to HUD, the NAHA scored a 90 on its physical
needs assessment, proving the
agency gets the biggest bang for
the buck.
Our staff does a great job
keeping our facilities up to HUD
standards, Lane said.
HELPING THE HOMELESS

Gahan said he is sensitive to
the subject of homelessness in
the area, and said New Albany
helps those in need daily. He also said his city has more public
housing units than Jeffersonville
and Clarksville combined, so
when critics say New Albany
needs a homeless shelter or do
more for the homeless, he said
with 1,082 public housing units,
the city does help those in need.
We do our fair share and I
think we do a good job, he said.
In 2015, 246 families moved
into NAHA property. There
were 102 homeless people, certified by local referring partners,
that also were housed by the
NAHA last year. The majority
of residents, 45.8 percent, are
children up to age 17.
While funds are limited, NAHA is helped by more than 40
local community agencies who
provide services to residents in
partnerships. The goal, Lane
said, is for people to eventually
find solid financial footing and
move into their own home. He
said the average for people living on NAHA properties is four
years.
Funding will dictate the future
of public housing in New Albany, and if the NAHA can get its
first-ever tax credit, the look and
feel of many of the properties
likely will be changing.
You cant have a conversation about improving housing
in the city without talking about
public housing, Gahan said.
We just need to come up with
a plan, improve the situation and
make them better for our residents.
RODRIQUEZ: Judge ruled that recount was flawed

seat on election night, after the

remade ballots were figured in,
but a recount filed by Webb, the
Republican candidate, found he
had won the seat in December.
He has been in the seat since
January.
Ive said through this whole
process and I watched all of
it, this is just one step of it the
recount was flawed, Rodriquez
said. And I think the judge did
a good job in his decision that
the recount was flawed. It was
very biased and it was one-sided.
I think that the decision that
Election Day results be finalized
is a good decision. The voters
in Clark County and in Jeffersonville in particular wanted
that all along and Im sure Steve
Webbs supporters wanted him
to be seated.
After Adams ruled in March
that he found the recount to be
flawed, a new recount commission, named by the judge, was
scheduled to start the process tomorrow.
According to the minutes regarding motions of the Friday
hearing, Adams canceled the
recount commission scheduled for Saturday. He denied a
request from Webbs attorney,
Larry Wilder, for an interlocutory appeal and denied a motion
Josh Rodriquez was sworn in Friday as a Jeffersonville City Council

member. | SUBMITTED PHOTO
for stay proceedings. Webb and

Wilder requested a change of
venue, which was granted. The
parties have 10 days to agree upon a special judge. Adams has
30 days to file his Finding of
Facts and Conclusions of Law
regarding this case.
Clerk records show that Rodriquez was certified as the
council member Friday.
Since the recount had been
set aside, whatever was going
on, there needed to be a council
person filling that seat, David
Mosley, Rodriquezs attorney,
said. And the only legitimate
vote count was the one from
election night that Rodriquez
won. The judge granted the motion and found that Rodriquez
should be seated because there
was no valid certificate or vote
tabulation making Webb the
councilman.
Wilder had sought to bring the
case to appellate court, questioning whether the second recount
would be the right solution for
the case. Mosley said this, to
him, was the reason the second
recount had been canceled.
He argued that the court of
appeals should describe not only whether or not Judge Adams
was correct or not in his decision making, but if he was correct, whether having a recount
should be a correct remedy, he

said. The judge suspended that
recount, my understanding is
so that Mr. Wilder can have the
court of appeals review those issues and make a decision. First,
was Judge Adams right in the
way he called that decision, and
second, if it was defective, what
do you do? Because the statute
doesnt tell you what you do if
theres a defective recount.
Mosley said he was involved
in a recount in November regarding the Jeffersonville City
Council between Kevin Vissing
and Callie Jahn.
And that result was so accurate ... when a recount is properly done, there was no significant difference between election
night results and what the recount results were, he said.
Webb issued a statement regarding the judges rulings Friday via text message.
It seems that the judge decided that since we wanted to
have the Indiana Supreme Court
decide whether or not he was
correct in his ruling, he punished us by seating my opponent. The judge said that when
he made the decision to unseat
me. Its not speculation on our
part but a fact that came from
the bench, Webb said, in the
text message. We will be filing
a lawsuit on Monday morning
SCAMMERS: Attorney general says home

owners have right to tax sale surplus
sometimes charging as much as a

third of that value when legal assistance isnt needed to claim the
surplus.
Its a sad part of society that when
a person is down, they try to take
advantage of them, Snelling said.
Were trying, even though youre
down, to help you get back on your
feet and get whats rightfully yours.
Snelling said Clark County tries
to inform people whose homes were
sold in tax sales about their options,
including getting the surplus or sell-
ing the home on their own. He also

said if someone stops by his office
who gets notice of a tax sale, he tries
to offer a payment plan to knock out
the back taxes owed.
In the news release, several steps
are outlined for people to guard
themselves against this kind of fraud:
If ones property is sold at a tax
sale, that person is entitled to the surplus.
Multiple notices will come from
the county auditors office by mail
about the sale and availability of surplus. Check them and visit the auditors office.
No third parties are required to

claim the surplus, the original owner
is entitled to it.
If a third party contacts the homeowner, check the company or person
and verify their information with the
auditors office.
If signing a quit claim deed, get
legal help for free from the Indiana
Foreclosure Prevention Network at
www.877gethope.com or from Indiana Legal Services.
If you think youve been defrauded, contact the state attorney generals office at 1-800-382-5516 or at
www.indianaconcumer.com.
seeking relief from the judges

ruling to disregard the recount
commissions certification of
their recount. We hope that we
will have a fair and impartial
judge decide whether this decision was justified. We had hope
that this would not become a
partisan case. We were wrong.
This decision just came down to
politics. Us versus them politics.
Its sad that the people of Jeffersonville have to deal with this on
going process.
Chairman Jamey Noel said he
expects the case to go to the court
of appeals and then ultimately to
the Indiana Supreme Court.
Hes the judge so I respect
his ruling until a higher court reviews it, he said. I respect it,
but I dont have to like it. Obviously there are people that feel
that Rodriquez was improperly
seated.
As for now, Rodriquez said
hes ready to take his seat on the
council.
Im excited, my campaign
team is excited, and my supporters are excited, he said. We
have missed some trainings
[the council] had and I will try
to catch up on those. Thats not
going to happen before Monday
but Im a quick learner. Were
determined to do the right thing
for the City of Jeff.
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A2 | FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE
RECAP: 60 Days In gets shakedown

Watch expert panel online
later today
JEFFERSONVILLE Rashes and

shakedowns dominate the latest episode of 60 Days In, giving viewers
a look at the harder-to-see woes of
inmate life at the Clark County jail.
Appropriately titled Shakedown,
episode eight of the series calls in
the jails Corrections Emergency Response Team, or CERT. In the episode, Clark County Sheriffs Office
Capt. Scottie Maples says hes worried about the tensions in D-pod, the
section of the jail that reportedly has
the most problems.
Isaiah and Zac, two of the seven
people who volunteered to stay at the
jail for 60 days last fall, were recently
moved to the D-pod to gather intel for
Sheriff Jamey Noel. Zac has already
noted that he suspects criminal activity in the pod.
I do know there are drugs in this
pod, Zac said. I was already asked,
Hey do you get high?
Dressed in riot gear, a team of about
10 CERT officers burst through the
door in D-pod and yelled for everyone to get down. Inmates, real and
volunteer, dropped from bunks and
standing positions to the floor. Several inmates suspected of illegal activity
were taken out in handcuffs. The rest,
including Zac and Isaiah, were taken
to a hallway and ordered to sit and
face the wall.
Inside the pod, officers took apart
an overhead light where they suspected a cellphone was being hidden.
What they found, shocked Maples: a
MORE INFORMATION
Check newsandtribune.com later today and every
Friday to watch Inside 60 Days, an after show
featuring local experts and viewer questions.
If youre following along, send questions and
comments to elizabeth.depompei@newsandtribune.com or tweet @newsandtribune using
#Inside60Days.
jail-made shank.
Thats scary, Maples said.
Maples later told Noel about the
find who called it disturbing. Maples said he never saw anything like
it in all his years at the Clark County
jail.
After the shank was found, D- and
C-pods got a full shakedown. Officers
searched through bunks and belongings, but dont turn up any other illegal items.
DIRT AND GERMS

In the F-pod, where undercover volunteers Maryum Ali, Barbra and Tami are housed, mold and rashes bring
light to the dirty side of jail. Maryum
worried that black mold in the bathroom is unhealthy for the inmates,
calling the pod a cesspool of dirt and
germs.
Overnight, one inmate woke up the
pod with her incessant scratching. Her
body is covered in hives, but since its
the weekend, Maryum said no nurse
was available to give the inmate medical attention. The inmates are left to
speculate if the rash is from bed bugs
or scabies.
Its so severe I thought they would
at least take her out and put her in isolation, Maryum said. But they didnt
even do that.
Eventually, the inmate is seen by a
nurse and the rash is determined to be
PET OF THE DAY
from an allergic reaction.

Meanwhile, Tami, a veteran police
officer who has had confrontations
with her podmates, tries to make
amends with Barbra and other inmates. Tami received a visit from her
wife last week and said she would try
to shake things off.
Im trying to make my time here
run smoother, she said. Im tired of
battling. Im tired of fighting to the
point of it almost getting physical.
When Tami needs Boston aka
Nurse Chow an inmate she confronted several weeks ago in the series to look at hives on her back,
Tami take the opportunity to apologize. Boston apologizes back and the
two are later seen joking around and
laughing.
JEFF RETURNS
Jeff, who dropped out of the show
early, returns for an exit interview. He
tells Maples and Noel that he feared
for his safety in jail, but didnt see
how he could have avoided getting
punched by one of the inmates.
Maples agreed, but said Jeff didnt
make things easier for himself by
giving away commissary. Jeff said
one reason he considered trading
commissary was so he could use the
bathroom. Like many of the real inmates, Jeff was bunked in a common
area and did not have a designated
bathroom. When Jeff tried to use the
bathrooms in the cells, inmates would
deny him access. Noel previously has
said that the jail was not aware of the
bathroom issue and that there are now
designated bathrooms for inmates in
the common area.
The next episode of 60 Days in
airs Thursday at 10 p.m. on A&E.
NAME: Lil B
OWNER: Joel Stinnett
AGE: 5 years old
BREED: Cat
This is Lil B, aka Bonita, aka, Beezie, aka The Notorious
Beeze. She is 5 years old and was adopted from the Humane
Society. She mostly likes to watch squirrels from her window
and chase leaves. She also knows how to use a human toilet.
To submit a photo for our Pet of the Day, email them to
newsroom@newsandtribune.com. Submissions need to
include the owners name, city of residence, pets name, pets
age, type or breed and few sentences on what makes your pet
special. Images must be 200dpi resolution, 4-5 inches wide
and in .jpg format.
Candidate asks judge for Jeffersonville City Council seat back

Steve Webbs lawsuit
asks for emergency
hearing
JEFFERSONVILLE
Former Jeffersonville City
Councilman Steve Webb
and the Clark County
Republicans are asking
a judge to immediately
remove Josh Rodriquez
from the council, following his recent appointment.
The lawsuit claims
Judge Andrew Adams had
no authority to give Rodriquez the At-large seat,
formerly filled by Webb,
at a hearing Friday, April
15.
We feel strongly that
Steve Webb is the true
and lawful elected person for that seat, Clark
County Republican Party Chairman Jamey Noel
said.
The lawsuit also claims
because of Adams decision, Rodriquez has
usurped, intruded upon, ordered a second recount

[and] unlawfully holds last week, he canceled it
in response to
and exercises
Webbs desire
the public office
for an opinion
of Jeffersonville
from the Indiana
City Council AtCourt of Appeals
Large.
on whether the
I disagree with
first recount was
that proposal, and
sound. The judge
I think well test
then removed
that motion in the
himself from the
courts as we move STEVE WEBB
case.
forward, DaLarry Wilder,
vid Mosley, RoWebbs attorney,
driquezs attorney,
has since filed the
said.
appeal.
The most recent
I think what it
action is just anboils down to is
other step in the
Steve Webb was
ongoing fight for
the only one that
the council seat JOSH RODRIQUEZ
actually got a cersince Webb asked
for a recount in
tificate from elecNovember, followtion results, which
was certified by
ing a narrow loss
the recount comafter the election.
Noel pointed out
mission, Noel
the drawn-out resaid. Mr. Rocount process has
driquez never was
already changed
the quote-unquote
Indiana law, as JAMEY NOEL
certified winner in
voters will no lonany recount comger be able to vote straight mission.
party in At-large races.
Noel claims Rodriquez
Just days after Adams was never certified by the
election board following

the election, but Clark
County Clerk Susan Popp
said that isnt true. After
provisional votes were
counted, the board sent
its official results with
Rodriquez as the winner
to the state.
A document signed by
Popp, as election board
secretary, and Rodriquez
on April 15 certifies him
as winner.
A request for an emergency hearing states

Webb, the Republican
Party and the citizens of
Jeffersonville will suffer
irreparable harm if Rodriquez is allowed to stay
on the council.
I think the Republicans feel they will suffer
irreparable harm, Mosley
said, and I dont think
the citizens will suffer
anything other than hav-
ing [Rodriquez] seated.

The will of the people will
be executed.
Mosley also called out
Noel for remaining Republican Party chair, despite claiming he would
step down once elected
sheriff in late 2014.
No hearing had been
scheduled as of Thursday
evening. Rodriquez and
his attorney did not return
calls by press time.
:2:
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contains more than
59
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Jeff City Recount

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Inside Today

A look back at the journeys

News and Tribune

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015

LEADERS OF THE PACK

One Southern Indiana hosts ACE Awards | A3

Fairview, West Haven

JEFFERSONVILLE City Clerk Vicki

NEW ALBANY The new year

The ornate Fairview Cemetery entranceway from Culbertson Avenue is pictured

The final scope of the work has

Recount challenges name of Jeffersonville At-large elect

Council-elect Joshua Rodriuquez named in petition

JEFFERSONVILLE Joshua Rodriquez, Democratic Jeffersonville City Council At-large

Obituaries A4 | Opinions A5 | Classifieds B4-B7 | Comics B8 | TV Listings A7

A6 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

CVILLE: 2012 search ended with committee disbanding

seems to be, that last night there

Democrat John Gilkey, who

meetings to make sure everyone

$85,000 to $110,000 [a year] in

RAISE: Clerk says she makes less

during its meeting Monday showed

Councils proposed salary increases

populations kind of even with ours,

with populations closest to Jeffersonville, from Richmond to Terre Haute,

BOARD: Request for cab service to

At Fairview, Timperman said

Albanys ordinance. New Albany

FARMERS MARKET HOURS

The board approved a request for

THOMAS STREET UPDATE

All of Your Insurance Needs

2017 Allison Lane Jeffersonville

Special prosecutor request

Providence girls the favorite

News and Tribune

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015

Star Wars isnt the only popular story

Woehrle complexs next phase a step closer

JEFFERSONVILLE The second

Mayor Mike Moore

parking lot with 120 spaces and an

Attorney says 18-year-old client

JEFFERSONVILLE The 18-year-old

JEFFERSONVILLE Despite a full day

Jeffersonvilles Eastern Cemetery struggles to find employees

Obituaries A4 | Opinions A5 | Classifieds B4-B6 | Comics B7 | TV Listings B8

A6 | TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

RECOUNT: Popp says shes opposed to discounting absentee votes

The fourth- and fifth-place

Teams only counted original

News and Tribune

newsgathering partner WAVE 3.

cinct because the ballot duplicates werent marked properly

overvotes and only counted the

who cast the marked or mutilated ballot.

CEMETERY: Krammes was once a board member

CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1

Before assuming this new

Tombstones fill a section of Eastern Cemetery. | STAFF PHOTO BY TYLER STEWART

this generation of people

COMPLEX: Members to vote on contract next week

and approve this subject to