Cell Phones Parked here

To be summoned to court is not a happy event for most folks. And to get to court and find that your cell phone is not allowed can be a real bummer. If you have time you can take it back to your car. But if you are running late, you are going to have to pitch the cellphone or find a unsecured hiding place for the cellphone. It does not take long for folks to learn that court house folks are not your most user friendly kind of people.


But Attorney Sam Bolinger has stepped into help the court goers. He has created a new business for the City of Fort Wayne, according to Dionne Waugh of the Journal Gazette.

Local attorney Sam Bolinger, 48, applied for and received a transient merchant’s permit about two weeks ago from the city. This will allow him to set up a storage cart and charge money for holding cell phones and electronic storage devices outside the Allen County Courthouse

.

This is the entrepreneurial spirit that exist in our town. Bolinger could have taken the concept from a young woman whose earlier attempt at providing such a service for the court goers. when the banning of cell phone was implemented on a cold January day. The woman, Jacqui Dowdell upon learning about the cellphone ban decided to stand outside the court house and offer to hold the cellphones.

I think it's totally outrageous. I think there are other alternatives than a complete ban on cell phones," she said as she watched many people walk into the building only to step out moments later, look around grimacing and wonder what to do with their phones

in an earlier article written by Dionne Waugh.
Two months later, Bolinger went one step further and applied for a license and has a secure holding place for cell phones. Court house official scoff at the service because their perceptive is that only bus riders go to criminal court.

They question whether someone who rides the bus or gets dropped off for court will have the money to pay to store a phone and whether people will walk to Bolinger’s stand rather than just going back to their car.

“It’s not well thought out,” Ulrich said.

. But if Bolinger is successful, (even getting cell phone endorsements, maybe) in the new venture that will prove the not to user friendly people wrong. If not, the venture was good marketing of his other business, as an attorney.

Bruce Gordon Don't Leave Us

With the talented Bruce Gordon leaving the National Advancement of Color People civil right ogranization mean the legendary NAACP is no longer needed? No, it means just what Gordon stated, the two were not on the same page.

Gordon said that while the NAACP is an advocacy organization, it needs to be more focused on service and finding solutions

from

CNN.com

.


It that statement, Gordon wanted a more hands on working with the people. Gordon was seeking ways to meet the needs of the people, by including these folks. By meeting the demands of the people in which the NAACP is representing creates a synergy. The synergy is the services that addresses the inequalities experienced within the communities. This connects the communities to the meaning of the organization, while at the same time grows the membership.

The NAACP has two fabulous assets: a well recognized brand and 2000 operating units across the country. These are assets that can be very powerful, but they are underperforming. There has to be an acceptance, a willingness to change. You can't do the same thing for 98 years and expect that you will succeed…. In business terminology we would argue that organizations that are no longer customer focused, who lose the heart of the customer, who lose the choice of the customer, will ultimately fail. I'm afraid that at this very point that our organization is more internally focused than externally focused,. That keeps us from being great and allows us to only be good. I think that the NAACP has powerful potential, but that potential will never be realized if we go about our work using 20th century approaches,

from the EURweb

Another way to view Gordon departure, is Gordon did not want to simply connect the internal members with hnd handshakes and special perks from movers and the shakers. Gordon wanted the grass root members to be included in the prosperity with business opportunities with the corporation sponsors. The gives more value to the organization rather than being an organization showing up as a savior during a period of crisis in the community.

The NAACP legacy is one of legal justice. A better fit for Gordon would be the Urban League which is about social service to the membership. The Urban League is a self-help organization. Gordon wants the civil organization to motivate the people to find the solution to their problems instead of waiting for the Bush Administration and local government to provide the resources. This would involve the two organizations entering the businesses of real estate, education, and housing. This would involve physical work and dollar investment. Hopefully, Gordon departure has freed him up to find another fit.

St. Louis Neighborhood witness gun violence

A Spanish Lake neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri erupts in gun violence when family home was stormed by a crowd of teenagers. Allegedly mother and son were defending home when shots were allegedly fired on February 26, 2007. The incident happened in the 1100 block Prigge Ave. and Bowers in Spanish Lake. Mother is in custody under a $1 million dollar bail.

Bail was set at $1 million for Alma King, 51, who was charged with second-degree murder, assault and two counts of armed criminal action, said St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch

, according to Betsy Taylor of Associated Press

Centlivre feels the heat- again

More woes for Centlivre apartment dwellers. Kathleen Quilliganof the New-Sentinel reports a fire broke out on the third floor. Centlivre was in the news after Wayne Township Trustee found some apartments unfit for certain residents.

Guess who was sleeping with whom?

Jennifer Hudson after receiving her Oscar for supporting actress in the movie, Dreamgirl said, "Look what God can do." Not quite in the same league, but with bible in his hand, Look what Rev. Al Sharpton can do. Sharpton is reported to have gone to the grave site of segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond, South Carolina ancestors. These ancestors held some of Sharpton's kin in bondage Coleman Sharpton was owned by Julia Coleman. Now we understand Rev. Sharpton love of the long flowing hair!

Sharpton appears stunned in learning that family members were enslaved. Hello this is America. Essie Washington, secret African-American daughter felt Al Sharpton was overreacting to the news that he might be kin to the late Senator Thurmond.

And if you go to Black Professor you will find the same type of awe expressed by legal scholars upon meeting the descendants of Dred Scott. It makes me wonder what do folks study about in history in school. Do they even talk to family members.

Or have they brought into the slavery happen long ago, that subject don't have anything to do with now. My daughter has a t-shirt that says I love black people. I don't know where that come from, but I saw it at an early age. Al Sharpton has made it fashionable to love black people who once were enslaved, because they just might be family.

Ron Artest-Forever labeled Outlaw

Sad. More trouble for former Indiana Pacer, Ron Artest.Artest was allegedly arrested for domestic violence. Artest joined the Sacramento Kings after a fight broke out when a fan threw a cup at Artest.

Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest was arrested Monday after a woman called 911 from his home saying she had been assaulted

. read story.

Did you hear what I heard? I didn't but did you hear what I heard?

I read both interview sets and was not impressed. First leading questions supported the blogger's position. You already know your position, built on information from the other side. I would rather ask questions explaining the project which would lead to other questions. Second, I would not take in a laundry list of questions for an hour and half interview.

I would have requested documents, documents and more documents. Documents answers some of the laundry list questions and provide a source for more relevant questions.

Next, I would structure my questions around the individual who would serve as the primary source for information.

Therefore, my questions would materialize from the folks in the room and the available material.

So, two questions, where are certain documents? And the funding sources?

This is my take on Downtown Fort Wayne Baseball interview, Starting with the first leading question,


Harrison Q is a signature project. It is a private and public dollar venture. The investment dollars willbe spent on Harrison Q in hopes of creating more foot traffic, which would in turn support the huge public investments, already in the downtown area.

The venture calls for more investment dollars from the public. What out of town investor does not what support from the locals? Nevertheless, this time public dollars will be combined with private dollars for mixed used project. Mixed use meaning not only a hotel,residential condominiums, street level retail, baseball stadium and a parking garage, but also the commingling of public and private funds.

Local officials controlled community input with planting certain types of projects that would be included in the mixed-use venture. Of course, those volunteering thought at the time of their participation some of these ideas came from their group, but city officials were planted in each group. Nevertheless, city officials and paid consultants compiled these ideas from the meetings and stored the data into three reports, Downtown BluePrint (2002), Downtown BluePrintPlus and Downtown Baseball Plus as marketing tools for private developers.

Because the public dollars are stretched in supporting the big-ticket items, the signature venture is needed to support these big-ticket items. Many of these projects are nonprofits. Moreover, to creatively support these projects they may become branded by the signature project. Branded meaning because their names will be visible. And the parking spaces of smaller nonprofit can collect revenue for charging for parking.


Because Hardball Capital is using their private dollars in this signature venture, they will be driving the development of the Harrison Q project. It makes sense that these businesspersons know more than the elected official knows or appointed officials.

Of course the Embassy, Grand Wayne Convention, Allen County Public Library are in position to take advantage of some of the decisions by Hardball Capital, but who will locally be a part of the project is in negotiation in the role Hardball Capital will play managing a public park.

The city will benefit from Hardball Capital driving this project from the shared revenue stream. This revenue stream is being hammered out as we speak in a legal document of Memorandum of Understanding in which all involved parties will have to sign.


Other public dollars will be similar to what we did in using the restaurant tax for Memorial Coliseum. Instead, this time we were able to extend the Jefferson Pointe TIF district to two streets downtown, Jefferson and Washington. We were motivated so that Jefferson Pointe Tif dollar could be used in the downtown area. The expansion allows us to use the fund from Jefferson Pointe TIF for public improvement on Harrison to the east, Ewing to the west and Baker to the south to improve traffic flow. Moreover, another use of the TIF fund would be to finance the parking garage.

This would free up income generated from the parking garage to pay for maintenance and operation of the parking garage. In addition, CEDIT dollar can now be lumped into one area instead of going into the separate councilman district and at large districts. This be an additional source of public dollars to commingle with private dollars.

Now if it is a success all the new business sales and income taxes will be limited to under a million dollar, more like $750,000.


The tiny businessperson will have an opportunity depending on Hardball Capital, on the other side of Ewing and Jefferson. However, Hardball may have a potential working partnership with the developers of Jefferson Pointe, RED, focusing on the big names and national chains. This would prevent any stores from competing with the stores or restaurants in Jefferson Pointe. In addition, if the tiny businessperson were allowed they would become renters and no longer owners.

Some local business will benefit, like architectural firm learning from a national firm and becoming part of a team in designing the baseball stadium of this signature venture. Other folks like construction companies, contractors, and homeowners in the West Central Neighborhood. Even the Holiday Hotel could benefit if it was to remodel and use the hotel for office space or apartments, which would sure help the new hotel.

Who Protects the best interest of the Child

Here's another post about children, getting shafted. Years ago, not that long ago, within my life time, a rich man visited Bunch Elementary School, which is now a pre-kindergarten Montessori school. Anyways this rich man was amazed at the intellectual achievement of these students. Students who were African-Americans no less. Guess what? The rich made a promise that he would finance these students college education. Amazing huh? Of course it was. But here's the kicker, do you think those students go the money after they fulfilled their end of the bargain?


No..so where did it go? Disappeared after the man died. But, I know for a fact some of the money went into the Fort Wayne Educational Foundation Funds. I'll repeat this one, I know for a fact that some of the millions went into the Fort Wayne Education Foundation Funds. By the way, one of my professors still owns me a steak, or a cheeseburger. Demands on who's telling the story.

The parents and the children were denied the opportunity of an education. Sounds a little like the Schwab Foundation rip off, you think?

Children Future in the way

Martin Luther King Montessori School is due to move by August, according to an article by Ese Isiorho. MLK was great for my youngest child. It appears that MLK Montessoir is having a little problem locating a new space for its students. Not to worry, Fort Wayne Community Schools have several schools where your little ones can find a new home. Sad to say, but it sounds like scattered seeds..that is the little ones will be separated and will have to move on

By Any other Name-Harrison SQuare Project

I've posted some of my thoughts about the project known at the beginning as the Downtown Stadium, Harrison Street Project. I have since settled on names like Harrison Square Park, Downtown Marriott Hotel, Condominium and National Chain Retail Stores, but will more information some of these titles are subject to change.

The revitalization of the Downtown area has stirred up some heated debate within the local blogosphere.

Councilman Samuel Talarico questioned a local blogger on his qualification in sitting down to take a look at the numbers driving this project. WoW

If Councilman Talarico questioned this budding CPA, can you imagine how he feels about folks who are not number crunchers? I've studied and drafted a state budget with projections. And I'm not even an accountant!!! I've studied the law and represented clients in courts of law and I'm not an attorney !!!


There is another blogger out conducting interviews and posting the interviews along with editorials and other stuff. I don't find the interviews to objective. The questions tend to be leading questions, too general and not getting to the meat of the subject.

I think both bloggers are finding out that answers are not readily available.

NAACP Chief Calls it Quit

Associated Press reports that NAACP President Bruce Gordon is stepping down.

NAACP President Bruce S. Gordon is quitting the civil rights organization, leaving after just 19 months at the helm, he told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Gordon cited growing strain with board members over the group's management style and future operations.

I'm used to a CEO running an organization, with the board approving strategy and policy," Gordon said. "But the NAACP board is very much involved.

Sound familiar nonprofits in Fort Wayne, Board Members need to get the h OUT OF THE WAY.

Hat tip/African American Political Pundit

Cherokee Indians says race matters

A reader informed me about all those wanting to benefit from the free labor of slavery. That it included African-Americans and Indians. I believed I've blogged on some of the reasons for African-American involvement in slavery. Here, I point out the decision by Cherokee to kick out of descendant of Freedmen before slavery was abolished in the United States.

From the New York Times:

At issue is a group barely known outside of Indian country, the Freedmen. These are the descendants of black slaves owned by Cherokees, free blacks who were married to Cherokees and the children of mixed-race families known as black Cherokees, all of whom joined the Cherokee migration to Oklahoma in 1838.

The Freedmen became full citizens of the Cherokee Nation after emancipation, as part of the Treaty of 1866 with the United States. But in 1983, by tribal decree, the Freedmen were denied the right to vote in tribal elections on the ground they were not “Cherokee by blood.”

It appears that the Cherokee Nation is growing, and their is preference in who can be a citizen and who can vote !

Officially, the election will ask voters whether to amend the Cherokee Nation Constitution. Overriding the 1866 treaty, it would limit citizenship to those who can trace their heritage to “Cherokee by blood” rolls, part of a census known as the Dawes Rolls of 1906. The Freedmen would automatically be denied citizenship because the Dawes Rolls, a census commissioned by Congress to distribute land to tribal members, put the Freedmen on a separate roll that made no mention of Indian blood.

Proponents of the amendment say it is about drawing a line, a blood line. The Cherokee Nation, the second-largest tribe in the country after the Navajo, is also one of the fastest growing, with 270,000 members and 1,000 new citizens enrolled every month. Members are entitled to federal benefits and tribal services , including medical and housing aid and scholarships.

It appears that the Freedman was between a rock and hard place, slavery in the United State and a non citizen in the Indian nation under the Dawes Rolls. The Rolls were used to give land to members of the Indian Nation. The issue did that mean could a Freedman marry or have children by a Cherokee and become a Cherokee or would the fact that it was not full blooded denied him or her citizenship. But this did not applied to Cherokee with raced white children or marriages!

Cherokee blacks will have to prove they are not passing! Read more on Alas, a blog for background. Read more here

Where y'all at

Wynton Marsalis appeared on ABC Sunday's This Week Person of the Week with George Stephanopoulos. Marsalis is releasing a new album called From the "Plantation to the Penitentiary". One song called "Where y'all at" has a political message Marsalia a jazz genius focus attention on the apathy of grown folks. Folks not holding officials accountable, like checking where there taxes are going:

Feb. 25, 2007 — Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis is about to release his most political album yet. "From the Plantation to the Penitentiary" condemns complacency and calls on citizens to act.

Wynton Marsalis: Apathy is the enemy. Participate. … With the song, "Where Y'All At," I'm just asking the question. It's really, "Where are we at?" Because I know with the generations, we always want to blame a younger generation. … What are we giving the younger generation? So the question of "Where Y'All At" started with all you '60s radicals, world beaters, liberal students.

Song lyrics: Liberal students, equal rights pleaders, What's goin' on now that y'all are the leaders. …Where y'all at?

Marsalis: American people means something to me. I've been around this country. I've been in people's homes, all kinds of people, taught people's kids for many years. Our country, we always had so much problems; we still have. … Instead of asking, "What can we do about it?" we have to be spurred to action — collective action. … Jump in there. Find out where the tax money is going. Find out why something's happening. Write to people. Just be a participant. Go down to your school and see what people are doing. Do your thing, you know.

(italics and bold added by me)

Marsalis from New Orleans could not have not been impacted by the apathy shown by the government of addressing New Orleans families devastation from Katrina. With the slang Marsalis goes street and drops a challenge to hip-hop rappers to create some meaningful lyrics. Marsalis subtle title can be interpreted to mean that plantation may no longer exist, but the streets serve the same purpose. On the plantation African-Americans struggled against being lynched, and on the street African-American struggle to survive by dealing and killing going straight to jail..from the plantation(street) to the Penitentiary(modern day lynching)

From Mr. Greg's Musing

The title track on this begins with periodically discordant, almost avant-garde instrumentation (from pianist Dan Nimmer and drummer Ali Jackson Jr. especially) and singing (from Jennifer Sanon) and I think Marsalis' first trumpet solo has kind of a Lester Bowie thing going. (He switches to Don Cherry later.) I still hear the blues, New Orleans and Duke Ellington in sections. It is a Wynton Marsalis CD, after all. But it's got hard edges I haven't heard a lot from him since "Black Codes (From the Underground)" or "Live at Blues Alley" or maybe his Jazz Messengers days.

Also reminds me of his Pulitzer-winning opus on slavery, segregation and racism "Blood on the Fields," and the songs with lyrics generally have a political or social message; the disproportionate number of black men in prison, the homeless, the unfulfilling nature of consumerism (in the form of a frenetic Sanon scat on "Doin' (Y)Our Thing"). I think he's going to get some flak for "These Are Those Soulful Days," which takes a poke at the gangster end of hip-hop. But the message is worth considering and the music the message is wrapped around is wonderful. It's followed by "Where Y'all At?," on which Marsalis bends rap, second line style, to his own purposes.

Not every song is overtly message driven. "Find Me" is a pretty, bluesy ballad. "Supercapitalism" had me thinking of children's songs, Freddie Hubbard's '70s stuff and Gershwin. Go figure?

Some nice sax playing by Walter Blanding (tenor and soprano, where I can hear some Coltrane in his playing) as well, both solo and in the ensemble.

Maybe a tad too much singing for my tastes, but very interesting all the way through. Music writer at work loaned me a review copy of this. (Comes out in March.) I will buy it.

Everyone is not so arts guardian is not so kind.

The Sunday Funnies-Property Reassessment by your local government

Amanda Iacone reports on Fort Wayne.Com about reassessment. Iacone reports:

All of the property updates – about 130,000 – will have been mailed by Monday. About 20,000 properties had no change in their value and will not receive the forms, said Ryan Keuneke, chief deputy assessor.

I posted here:

The assessors offices are mailing out form 11 R/A. I know many of you want to believe that your leaders are honest people !!! But be warned because your new tax bill will increase and it has nothing to do with Fort Wayne Community School but greed from your local officials to build Harrison Square.

This notification form 11 R/A is an important part of the reassessment because it starts the second phase of the reassessment process. The second phase involves a review process by the property owners on the accuracy of the assessors assessment. Any property owner wanting to challenge the accuracy of the assessment must file an appeal in writing for review of the assessment on form 130 or form 133 within 45 days of the notification.

The mailing is not an update. This statement that your property has been assessed at a certain values based on faulty record keeping in the assessor office from years and years of abuse in assessing property is a notice. This abuse of power from assessors caused Judge Thomas Fisher to determine that it was so widespread that Fisher promulgated rulings governing a uniformed way of assessing property and a way to measure whether or not these assessors were playing by the rules.


So, out of the office and on to the streets, assessors had to learn how to assess property and record property. Time was of the essence. Going door to door many homeowners were not letting folks in or were not at home. So assessor birth a way to get the job done in the mandated time period.

The updates reflect changes in assessed property values. Many properties increased in value because the last time properties were assessed, local assessors used sales and market data from 1999

.

Nope, it was made up. Hired new inexperience computer techies and manipulated the system. And that's what they did. Many homes were sold to capture the over assessment creating sales disclosures that were based on misinformation. Homes were not worth the values and the unsuspecting buyers were duped. And these sale disclosures are what the assessor offices is using to duped the public in this year current assessment. That is if homeowners do not appeal.


Of course some property was assessed in the proper fashion but many inconsistency existed and still do to this day. The State was outraged at the greed of the local government. So the State legislators to protect homeowners from the greedy locals increased the homestead deduction, place a circuit breaker on the taxing amount, and required annual assessment.
From the State:

The circuit breaker became law in 2006 with the passage of House Enrolled Act 1001. It is aimed at helping Hoosiers by ensuring they don’t pay more than 2 percent of their property value in taxes. The goal is to provide predictability in tax bills and equity among Hoosier taxpayers.

The Circuit Breaker is slated to become mandatory statewide for residential property in 2007. Homeowners will not see the potential Circuit Breaker impact until their 2008 tax bill. The circuit breaker expands to include all property types in 2009. Taxpayers will not see the impact of the expansion until their 2010 tax bill.

State law now requires that properties be reassessed each year so that property tax bills increase bit by bit instead of a large increase every several years, County Treasurer Bob Lee said.

The quote by the Treasure Bob Lee, here's another take on it, from the state.

Under the old system, real estate was generally only reassessed every 10 years. That left taxpayers with a large change in their assessments every decade. Annual adjustments curb that large lump sum change in assessments by annually adjusting values based on sales

.
The annual assessment would prevent sticker shock to homeowners. And homeowners would be better able to prove their property values did not triple in value every year. This placed the inexperienced staff back into their offices researching sales disclosure form to increase their knowledge and record keeping in trying to make money for the city. Rather than truly assess property value to meet the budget.



The willy-nilly reassessment caused sticker shock and many high end tax payers were outraged and threaten to go to court. Deals were made. The squeaky wheels property owners assessment were reconfigured undocumented, just a number change in the system. The unsuspected just bite the bullet of the egregious increase. The number of appeals were reduced and unknown to the public. The meme-journalists only reports those folks that would not go away. The number of folks who demanded immediate reduction to the proper values of their homes and was cut a deal are missing in the informal appeal process.


Oh the heading,

Tax growth to hit 14.5%; past delays fuel increase

The tax growth is more than 14.5% and it's has nothing to do with delays. More from the state

Hoosier taxpayers could see an increase or a decrease in their tax bills after the annual adjustment of their assessment based on their location and the expenditures by local government.

In essence, the assessment represents a property owner’s share of the overall tax burden for a specific area.

Tell that to those who work for city government, as they over assess and collect field of revenue to pay for a hotel, baseball stadium......

In the newspaper

Rep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, ranking minority member on the House Ways and Means Committee, said about 7 percent of that is a direct result of trending.

.That suggest that of the disclosed 14.5 per cent in property value increase is too high. But the real increase is hidden in the details.

A picture speaks a thousand words

Kevin Leininger knows a lot of his newspaper readers will never go into Hanna-Creighton Neighborhood. But, I wanted to share a picture that sits right across from Zion.

The library is a small library that is used by Zion Lutheran School, which belongs to the church. The few students who go there. The church is beautiful but failure to earlier integrate has left the church badly in need of members. St. Peters did much better than Zion. St. Peters has brought up lots of land and property close to it's church. St. Peters has paved almost a whole city block for parking, not houses but parking. St. Peters school is long closed, it has been turned into a senior housing. The senior apartment had to offer a basement discount to get any takers. There are no amenities close by except the tiny library with few books, and the Urban League. You can't buy grocery or pay your bill or go out to socialize with friends.

But Leininger see this as a community that the folks who are spending $50,000 to $100,000 to ripoff artists should be appreciative. Do you think we'll see any of Leinginer's children moving into this neighborhood anytime soon? A neighborhood with potential but the city helped pilfer out millions and millions with a smile and a handshake. Folks who are now trying to pay their mortgages but their payments are sent back. Folks trying to call the agency's number but it is disconnected. What city allows such mistreatment of its citizens? Fort Wayne.

If anyone gets any credit for home ownership in the Hanna Creighton neighborhood, look up a guy by the name of Ian Rolland. Rolland tried to do what the local government would not do. And when the city had a chance they ripped off the people, the very people Rolland was trying to help. Some folks need to go to prison.

If the city couldn't build housing for it's citizen how in heaven's name is the city going to be fiscal steward in building a hotel or stadium?

Election at the Allen County Republican Headquarter

Steve Shine ran unopposed for chairman of the Allen County Republican Headquarter. The countywide election was held at the Fort Wayne Allen County Republican Headquarter at 9:00 a.m.

From the Allen County Republican Party website:

Current Allen County Republican Chairman Steve Shine is seeking re-election and will ask precinct officials to elect Candice Fries as Vice Chairwoman, and to re-elect Secretary Jerry Zuber and Treasurer Al Rodriquez to their respective positions. If elected, Fries will replace Cathy Hawks who has decided not to seek a third term, allowing her to instead work on the campaigns of specific individuals.

So only two position changed hands.

You say Hotel I say Baseball =Shell Game

In an guest column in the newspaper, Ron Reinking cites the pitfalls of local government attempting to commingle tax dollars with private dollars for economic development. The commingling of tax dollars with private dollars could becomes like the shell game pea. How do you determine where is which? The tax payers don't want to have to guess. Reinking provides an examples of a private investor's decision to do business in Muncie over Bowling Green.

Here is an early editorial by Reinking concerning the downtown parking garage renamed the Plaza Garage. Ron Reinking wrote this article about tax dollars used for public relation events for promoting government venturing into the private business using tax dollars. Reinking cites, the failed downtown parking garage that was created from the spectre of fear that was spread about the downtown area. The garage was built for protection for the government workers believing that the expense would be recouped from the use by citizens needing parking downtown? For what, they find that out as the garage lost money.

I called it hiding the baseball.

Running as a Woman for President in Selma Alabama

Senator Hillary Clinton is going to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in commemoration of the right to vote in Selma Alabama. The bridge that showed the world, the anonymity southern raced whites had toward African-Americans. John Lewis and others marching got a beat down, by Alabama state troopers. Lewis on the Early Morning Show stated, that on the highest point of the bridge, marchers found themselves facing a sea of blue, state troopers. Sheriff Jim Clark was instrumental in the movement to prevent African-American from registering to vote. Later, even the great Dr. Martin King, Jr. and fellow marchers were turned around and forbidden to cross the bridge. But King, Jr. eventually crossed the bridge, and Selma would be known as the landmark that changed America.

Senator Clinton attending such an emotional historical event sends a message to Senator Barack Obama that she ain't skeert. Yep, she is going to show Senator Obama she may not be black, but she is bringing along an authentic black man. Her husband, the one and only President Bill Clinton is gonna help her get the African-American vote. Now go tell that to your MaMa Obama! It's all about heart for the African-American vote. Or is it? No there is something else byeond loving Bill.

Perhaps after Senator Clinton crosses the bridge, Clinton may hear the echos of one of Dr. King, Jr. speeches, How Long, Not Long. It took hundreds of years for African-Americans to get the right to vote, with a constitution amendment in 1870. But many African-Americans were not allowed to vote until the passing of Voting Rights Act of 1965. When will an African-American male be qualified to sit in the President seat? How long, Not Long.

Tracing that family tree-Senator Barack Obama

Who would have of thunk it. Senator Barack Obama may have some "black" cousins born in the Midwest. Senator Obama even has a connection to Indiana. A few of Sen. Obama's family members migrated to Tipton,Indiana.

According to a Baltimore Sun exclusive, a worker, William Addams Reitwiesner, in the Library of Congress, who on the side does genealogy. And in his spare time he has drafted a family tree report on Sen.Obama, and some other famous folks. And the worker did all this part time. Any one spending anytime in Allen County Public Library Genealogy Department, researching microfilm must be going wow. Not because he found planters in Sen. Obama 's family, but all the Reitwiesner's finds on political figures and others that he researched only part time.


We want to see the paper trail..documents, documents. Anyways. Sen. Obama's family on his mama side may have been planters. Translation, A few of Obama's mama family were slave masters or owners of indentured servants who were African-Americans.

In a reference to his American ancestry, Senator Obama writes "while one of my great-great-grandfathers, Christopher Columbus Clark, had been a decorated Union soldier, his wife's mother was rumored to have been a second cousin of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy."

Clark was actually Obama's great-great-great-grandfather, according to Reitwiesner's research and census data available at ancestry.com. A 1930 census document lists Clark, 84, living in the same El Dorado City, Kan., household as a 12-year-old great-grandson, Stanley A. Dunham. Dunham was Obama's grandfather.

From wargs website:

Christopher Columbus Clark, b. ... , Mo., ... 1846, d. ... [living 1930]
m. Nelson Co., Ky., 6 Jan. 1870

Susan C ... Overall, b. Nelson Co., Ky., ... 1849, d. ... [by 1920]

Clark being a descendant of Maureen Duvall a major land owner

The research traces the Duvalls to Mareen Duvall, a major land owner in Anne Arundel County in the 1600s. The inventory of his estate in 1694 names 18 slaves, according to a family history published in 1952.

Who is Mareen Duvall ?

From Notable Descendants of Maureen Duvall website:

Mareen Duvall was born about 1625, in the Kingdom of France and settled on the south side of the South River in Anne Arundel County, Province of Maryland circa 1655. The first tract of land patented to him in 1659 by Lord Baltimore was called "Laval," the name of an ancient town, the capital of the present Department of Mayenne in France. He was a planter and merchant, and a public spirited citizen of the Province until his death in 1694. He resided at the time of his death at his estate, Middle Plantation, located on South River, and patented to him in 1664 by the Lord Proprietary. His public service consisted in part, with leadership in the Jacobite Party, and the Provincial Archives show his appointment to the Provincial Commission in 1683 by the Proprietary and Assembly, to lay out town sites and ports of entry for the encouragement of trade. He was the patentee of numerous tracts of land, and the purchaser of many others containing several thousand acres, as evidenced by the Public Land Records and his Will dated, and probated in August, 1694

And

Mareen Duvall(1652-1694)came to America from Nantes, France with William Burgess. He is one of the founders of the Colony that became the State of Maryland and a direct descendant of King William the Conqueror of England. If you are a direct descendant of Mareen Duvall, you may want to seek membership in the Society of Descendants of Mareen Duvall (See link on this page). A book, originally published in 1952 by Harry Wright Newman, entitled "Mareen Duvall of Middle Plantation: A Genealogical History", is available from the Society of which I am a LIFE Member (#956L). Other famous direct-line cousins to me by way of Mareen Duvall are President Harry S. Truman and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Hmm is it saying Vice President Dick Cheney, the Bushes side kick might be kin to Sen. Obama? Let's hear the rest of the story about Sen. Obama's mama's planter family members. Now see what Rev. Al Sharpton has started. Who next President George Bush, Jr.?

March Winds

Jennifer Hudson may have song the h double ll out of I am telling you I ain't going. But Hudson is a no contest to the March wind that is a blowing this wintry day. It is a shaking and rattling things around this old house. the chilly wind is saying Winter is right here to stay! I sure hope that cold wind did not blow that little red robin away, because I was hoping that see that little birdie was a sign of Spring soon on its way.