Local MoveOn activists are hosting a rally in Muncie to encourage the passage of health care reform with a public option. I'm planning on being there. If you're in the area, please come by.
WHERE: Downtown Muncie, 300 N. High Street (Outside City Hall), Muncie, IN 47304
Just found this forwarded message in my inbox. I don't have my own vehicle and the meeting location is not on the bus line, so I won't be able to make it. I hope other's out there will be able to.
I [Mike Pence] will be hosting a town hall meeting Tuesday, August 4th. Please join me at this open forum to discuss current issues in the 111th Congress or to voice your opinion on any issue affecting you or your family.
Tuesday August 4
4:00 - 5:00 PM
Westminster Village
5801 W. Bethel Ave
Muncie, IN 47304
The Star Press reports that Delaware County (Muncie, IN) has already surpassed expectations with early voting. The 2008 early vote numbers are larger than the 2005 and 2006 elections combined and there is still a week of early voting to go. Monday morning saw a line an hour long at the City/County building. I can only wonder, what if Republicans had not blocked the second early-vote location on Ball State's campus? Would people still be waiting for over an hour in line?
I would like to invite you to attend the upcoming Division of Family Resources Open House to be held in Muncie on Friday, June 20, from 9am-4:30pm at Ivy Tech State College, 4301 S. Cowan Rd., Room 534 (North Building).
DFR and its coalition partners are offering this Open House to educate and serve clients on the options available to them when they interact with DFR to qualify for benefits. If you know of cash assistance, food stamps or health coverage (Medicaid/Hoosier Healthwise/HIP) applicants or clients who would benefit from a visit with a State or Coalition worker, please make them aware of this opportunity. Staff will be available to answer questions about the new tools or investigate issues with current applications or cases.
Please forward this message to share this announcement with friends or family who may need assistance.
Division of Family Resources Open House
Friday, June 20, 2008
9am - 4:30pm
Ivy Tech State College
Room 534 (North Building)
4301 S. Cowan Rd. (map)
Muncie, IN 47302
For assistance, please call 1-800-403-0864
If you or someone you know needs assistance and cannot visit the open house, please encourage them to call 1-800-403-0864 or visit their local DFR office.
As always, please contact me if I can be of assistance to you.
Delaware County SWAT officers destroyed the back door of local attorney Ron McShurley's Nebo Road rental home when they raided it in a drug bust Feb. 20.
Six weeks later, McShurley's wife, Muncie Mayor Sharon McShurley, arranged for the city to reimburse her husband for $331 in connection with the damages -- although McShurley's rental home is in Yorktown, not Muncie, and the officer that kicked in the door was from the Delaware County sheriff's department, not the Muncie Police Department.
To summarize, a rental home that the McShurley's own is raided for drugs. Mayor McShurley reimburses her husband (and herself) for the damage done during the raid despite the fact that the home is in another city. Nice.
Here's another example of some of Mayor McShurley's leadership since she was selected as Muncie's Mayor:
Mayor Sharon McShurley announced Monday she was considering -- among other things -- privatizing the Muncie Fire Department to help compensate for an expected shortfall of $7 million in tax revenue between 2009 and 2010 combined.
A private fire department, Whited said, would put profits before public safety. Whited doubted that privatization would find support among the general public, pointing to the fact that hundreds of fire department supporters attended Monday's council meeting.
I actually attended the City Council meeting referenced in the above quote for a very brief time. It was standing room only. The Fire Department Union was out in force and were none too happy about Mayor McShurley's proposal.
And here's a good one. McShurley replaced the Superintendent of the City's Animal Shelter, who was a a licensed veterinary technician, with an appointee who had no experience in animal control but had previously managed several karate schools.
McShurley is considering contracting with the Humane Society or another non-profit to operate the animal shelter at a reduced cost to taxpayers. She said she was more comfortable with a businessman leading the shelter through that transition.
Gibson's qualifications came from her experience as a licensed veterinary technician. She left office earlier this month at the request of McShurley who appointed Ron White, a man with business qualifications, including the management of several karate schools, but no experience in animal control.
Gibson was highly regarded among local veterinarians, and some have come to her defense in recent days, criticizing McShurley for the decision.
Indiana is one of only a hand full of states in the country without some form of hate crime statute. Hate crime statute would provide enhanced sentencing for offenders who commit crimes because of a bias the person has towards the victim, such as race, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.
The absence of such laws put Hoosiers at risk. Nearly a year ago, Aaron Hall was murdered in rural Indiana because someone believed he was gay. In what some believe to be comparable to Matthew Shepard, it was one of the most gruesome murders based on sexual orientation. Although Aaron Hall was not gay, his attackers believed his was and that they were doing the world justice by disposing of someone who had less worth than their own.
Hate Crime legislation has been suggested in Indiana but nothing has made a serious advance toward making a real difference. Every time a bill is proposed, the Christian Right spreads lies that put Hoosiers into a panic for what could "hurt" the heterosexual majority. Instead of helping protect minorities the Right feel as if their way of life will be threatened by properly prosecuting those who break the law.
I bring this up because nearly two weeks ago I, along with a handful of others, was attacked in Muncie, Indiana based on sexual orientation. Within walking distance from Ball State University, two college-aged students attacked two students and I in what can only describe as a hate crime.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Okay. I'm a little torn about this because I believe it involves a member of this very community. I wanted to spread the information and to offer my support of this community member, but I'm also concerned about bringing attention to an event this member may prefer not to have brought up. Ultimately, I decided I'll post something because it has been in the news and because I'd really like him to know that he is supported - both on Blue Indiana and by another resident of Muncie.
The Brooke mailer, dated April 10, included an official application for an absentee voter ballot, along with a return envelope pre-addressed to the Delaware County clerk's office, and a cover letter explaining step-by-step how to fill out the application......
The mailer came in an envelope that said "Application for Absentee Ballot, OFFICIAL DOCUMENT ENCLOSED."
After the GOP attempted to disenfranchise half of Whitely, a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Muncie, over alledged absentee ballot fraud this is the last thing that needs to be in the news.
In a brief, cryptic story posted on its website on Sunday afternoon the Muncie Star Press reported that the Delaware County Election Board will be meeting today to discuss a "voter registration issue." The meeting will occur at 3:30 PM in room 211 of the County building downtown.
Phil Nichols, the board president was reported as saying that the meeting was over a "voter registration issue." I wonder what this is about.
This is a unique public education campaign sponsored by Planned Parenthood of Indiana:
Every woman deserves the chance to prevent an unintended pregnancy!
Between February 26 and April 8, Planned Parenthood of Indiana will be celebrating increased access to Emergency Contraception (EC) with a Free EC Day at select health centers across the state. (See below for a complete list of participating health centers and dates).
Approved for over-the-counter use for women 18 and older in November 2006, EC can prevent an unintended pregnancy if taken within 5 days of unprotected sex. But the sooner it is taken, the more effective it will be.
EC is a woman's best chance to prevent an unintended pregnancy after unprotected sex.
Free EC Day Calendar
* Tuesday, February 26 - Evansville, Mishawaka and Valparaiso health centers
* Tuesday, March 4 - Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Hammond, Lafayette, Muncie and Terre Haute health centers
* Tuesday, April 8 - Madison health center
Here's the link to their web page if you need address information for a local health center: http://www.ppin.org/
I'm going to try to make it to this. However, I'm still really uninformed about state politics. Anybody who can't be there have some questions they'd like asked? I'm sure property taxes will be discussed but I have never owned property and will likely never own any property so I haven't paid a lot of interest to the topic.
I'm thinking of borrowing my roommate's digital camera and may report about the meeting here on the site sometime this weekend.
Area legislators invite you to attend public forum in Muncie this weekend.
State Senator Sue Errington, Representative Dennis Tyler, Representative Bill Davis, and Representative Jack Lutz encourage you to attend a Third House Meeting to discuss legislation before the Indiana General Assembly.
We welcome your questions and comments.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Muncie City Hall
300 N. High Street
Muncie, Indiana
Sponsored by:
Muncie/Delaware Chamber of Commerce
League of Women Voters Muncie-Delaware County
The recount commission's official certification this morning reversed the earlier results of the Muncie mayoral race, declaring Republican Sharon McShurley the official winner.
About 20 absentee votes for Democrat James Mansfield - originally declared the winner by nine votes - were not endorsed with the initials of representatives from both political parties. Indiana law requires that political appointees, working in the county election room, endorse the absentee ballot cards with their initials before mailing them out to voters.
This is the fourth in a series of diaries about Republican post election "ballot security" measures in my hometown, Muncie, IN. You can see the first, second, and third by clicking on the links.
It appear that for the moment the GOP has been successful in overturning the results of the Muncie Mayor's race on the basis of a technical error made by a Republican appointee.
The commission had voted 3-0 Wednesday morning to disqualify one absentee ballot in Precinct 2 that contained the initial of only one political party official.
Indiana law requires a representative of both parties to endorse every absentee ballot card with their own initials before mailing them to voters.
The Wednesday morning decision cut Mansfield's overall lead to seven votes.
On Wednesday night, the commission voted the same in regards to 19 challenged absentee ballots in Precinct 46 bearing only one initial. Among the 19 challenged ballots that were disqualified, 18 votes were for Mansfield.
Curious how only the Democratic 95% of the ballots disqualified were Democratic votes, while the error that allowed this to occur was made by a Republican appointee, huh?
Nice to know that my vote didn't count. Democracy (little d) died a little tonight.
(Bumped from the user diaries. Thanks to MfM for his great coverage of this. - promoted by Thomas)
This is the third in a series of diaries about Republican post election "ballot security" measures in my hometown, Muncie, IN. You can see the first and second by clicking on the links.
First, a little background.
In this year's mayoral election, the margin of victory was razor thin. 9 votes of more than 12,000 cast. Less than 1/10th of 1% divided the winner, Democratic candidate Jim Mansfield, from the loser, Republican candidate Sharon McShurley. After absentee and provisional ballots where counted, Mansfield's margin of victory rose to 11 votes.
In challenging the election, the primary target of the Republican's wrath has been precinct 18, a predominantly black precinct on the city's northeast side. Today, the GOP is arguing that the results from that precinct need to be thrown out, shredding 361 votes and giving the mayor's office to the GOP.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
This diary is a followup to one I wrote last night about the mayor's election in my hometown, Muncie, Indiana. The only thing that's positive about this update is that at least the precinct being targeted isn't majority-minority. It's just poor white folks. First, some background.
In this year's mayoral election, the margin of victory was razor thin. 9 votes of more than 12,000 cast. Less than 1/10th of 1% divided the winner, Democratic candidate Jim Mansfield, from the loser, Republican candidate Sharon McShurley. After absentee and provisional ballots where counted, Mansfield's margin of victory rose to 11 votes.
I want to believe that we live in a country where what matters is not the color of one's skin, nor the class they were born in, but instead the content of their character. Let's set the record straight before we start with the story I have to tell. I'm white as the snow, but what I know is that the things going on back home aren't right. Unless we stand together, we'll fall apart.
Those were the words of Hurley Goodall on Friday night as he gathered with about 100 other local residents, most of them black, to speak out against what they say is an unnecessary and unfair Republican investigation of voting in Precinct 18, a predominantly black precinct.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
It looks like there's going to be a recount in Muncie. Mansfield (D) is up by 9 votes, and there are 13 provisional ballots to be counted. Ironically, the BSU Daily News scooped the Muncie Star on this.
"It's not over yet," McShurley said in an interview. "I'm not conceding. When you have nine votes, every vote needs to be looked at closely."
Mansfield is the first Democrat elected Muncie mayor since Jim Carey won reelection to his second term in 1987.
Muncie has always been an intense town when it comes to politics, and I imagine that this is going to be an interesting couple of days. I do have to say that this result really makes me feel like my vote counted. We'll see if I feel that way come next week.
Maybe Indiana and Iraq aren't that different after all.
MUNCIE -- Vacant houses continue to burn throughout Muncie, with a Tuesday-night blaze along South Liberty Street requiring every Muncie firefighter on duty to respond.
"We have a lot of vacant houses, and it is obviously a concern," said Fire Chief Al Richards, who was on the scene of a fire that began at 1810 S. Liberty St., then damaged two other vacant houses next to it.....
City firefighters have battled at least a half dozen fires in vacant houses in recent months, some in the McKinley neighborhood east of Central High School and Industry neighborhood.
"I don't think there is reason for panic that there is an arsonist loose," Miller said, while acknowledging there had been a rash of vacant house fires.
In the McKinley neighborhood, there have been reports of youth smoking in vacant houses, setting them ablaze. In Industry, some neighbors reported crack cocaine users were frequenting a vacant house that burned last summer.
Huh. I can't imagine why these vacant houses keep burning down. They make such great neighbors.
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