I first noticed one of the residents of Evansville on Twitter asking why Evansville stunk.  Figured it had something to do with his specific location.  Unfortunately as soon as I walked outside I smelled what seemed like a pile of rotting wet rags.

Since then there have been 2 others mention the stench that seems to be moving all over the city.  Of course there hasn't been an official response or comment in the media, Hoyt of Channel 14 WFIE made an observation.

Likely farming. We did a story out of Gibson Co. about using turkey litter which has strong smell when it gets wet and warmer.

So, if you are outside today and wondering what's crawling up your nose, it's probably fertilizer.  The warmer temperatures bring out more than greenery and wild life, it also brings out the squiggly stink lines.

*Update

According to Jeff Lyons we are experiencing a weather condition called Inversion.  This conditions normally causes conditions for smog, but in our case can intensify the stench of the city dump and fertilizers being used on nearby farms.

Also, added this to the weather category.

It's a biased opinion, but I think our current public servants are dropping the ball big time.  Not all of them, all the time, but enough to make an embarrassment of our fine city.  There has been a lawsuit filed against the city of Evansville for excessive pollution of the Ohio River.  I say excessive because the state permits a small amount of pollution, it's alleged that we've over stepped those boundaries.

What this means for the city of Evansville are extremely steep fines.  According to the Courier and Press these fines can reach up to $37,500, per day!  Weinzapfel replied in a statement that this was bullying by the federal government to exert control.  Sounds familiar.

My opinion is that there have been way too many pet projects over the past 10 years, spending money that should have been put toward sewer and drainage upgrades.  The huge downpour in Evansville on Sept 5th, 2009 is cited as one example of how our sewers lack the volume to handle a lot of rain, thus dumping sewage into the Ohio.  I know the residents of the South Side of Evansville know a little something about down pours and no where for the water to go.

I really don't know if the money being spent on the stadium comes from the same purse as what's used for our Sewers, but it should.  There should be some way to dip into allotted budgets to take care of emergencies, like our sewer problems, to keep Evansville homes and businesses from flooding.

Here is some free advice for local car lots looking to capitalize on the popularity of Evansville Craigslist.  Yes it's free to list and there are not printed rules to follow, however there is netiquette that should be followed if you don't want to piss potential buyers off.  Let's get started.

1. Always advertise the price, don't  make me call you.  Town and Country Ford is the latest offender of this and frankly I'll never shop there again, that's how much it pisses me off.

2. Provide plenty of pictures, at least 4, don't tease me with the perfect exterior picture when the interior is rotted.

3. Remove the damn listing if you've sold it off your lot.  Internet shoppers don't like to hear about great sales after the fact.

4. Don't Spam!  Filling up Craigslist with listings from your car lot is the equivalent of filling my email inbox with Viagra ads and then coming to the grocery store with me and pushing my cart over when it's full.  Don't do it, you are ruining the free service for everyone else and it makes you look like a dick.

5. Don't list crap.  Only list things on Craigslist that are of value or a special deal.  This means if you have a special edition car or truck you want to sell, list it, or if you have a bargain basement price, list it.  Everything else you can keep to yourself and try to sell off of your lot.

Had the opportunity to play a little golf last night with my brother over at Tee Time on the Eastside of Evansville.  Seemed like it would be an ideal evening, considering the weather was beautiful and for $5 for 9 holes you almost can't go wrong...right?

Unfortunately, Tee Time has let their little course go south, fast.  Earlier on in the year their greens were beautiful, course neatly mowed, and everything just looked real professional.  However, last night all the greens had terrible divots, big patches of the course weren't mowed, and sections were just a muddy mess with no walk way.  Making matters worse was the Geese shit that was absolutely everywhere.

In all honesty, until they get things cleaned up out there, the course out at Howell Park is much nicer.  Believe it or not I'd pass on this executive course that's just not cutting it anymore.

I'm becoming increasingly infuriated every time I see news that Weinzapfel is blaiming the homestead exemption credit reinstatement on why he must slash all these jobs and issue cuts in other places.  It's a cop out, a justification for him stealing from the residents of Vanderburgh County, salt in the wound.  It's especially frustrating considering that of the $217 million budget the loss of funds from the homestead exemption was only $5 million, less than 2% of the total budget.

My thoughts are that if the jobs and items being funded relied on 2% of the budget, that never before existed, they didn't need to be there in the first place.  Why should I be guilted on a daily basis for wanting my homestead exemption?  No one will have pity on me for losing my job due to cut backs in the recession, why should a government employees job be protected?

I'd be real interested in finding out all the items listed on the 2010 budget.  I refuse to believe that hot words like Ambulance would need to be cut first.  But I digress, whatever it takes to help you sleep at night Mr. Weinzapfel.

Often times I enjoy reading comments more than I enjoy reading actual news articles.  Today was no different with the persuasive article from The Courier Press.  Unfortunately this article focuses on guilting the reader into providing all the info the Census asks so that the city can get more funding from the government and hovers around political motivation for low population numbers.  Whatever the case, the comments are already being fired back about not wanting to provide personal information to the government.

A sample of comments:

The problem with the census is that Obama has illegally taken over the census. Plus our public funding is going to ACORN/COI to perform the counts. Tis was the group that registered Mickey Mouse

Never fear,C&P. MJR Inc. has been hired to get all the illegals in Evansville to fill out census forms. The population count will surely go up.

The only thing the government needs to know is the number of people living in my house. That is the all the law requires and that is all that they are getting.

And then of course there are comments firing back claiming all doom and gloom for not filling out the extra personal information.  Apologists, just wanting to give this administration anything they want, of course just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

From what I found there are fines associated with not completing a Census form, however I could not find where jail time was involved.  In the 2000 Census an individual could be fined up to $100 for not completing the form or up to $500 for providing false information.  However, I've seen reports from bloggers on the web that claim the maximum fine has been raised to $5,000 for not completing the form.  I've not found any proof or official documents verifying this.

As far as the US Constitution is involved it was only a way to keep a head count for legal residents within the United States.  The Census was not developed and written into the Constitution to keep track of any Social, Economic, or Housing Characteristics, which is exactly what the 2010 Census is designed to do.  According to the official Census website, 1 in 6 households will randomly be given a 2010 Census long form, which will contain a lot more specific and personal questions.

The 2010 Census Long Form is really what has people up in arms, at least those who value their privacy.  Questions pertaining to age of your home, amount of vehicles owned, type of kitchen facilities, and even fertility status are hardly any of the governments business.

So, will you be completing the long form if you are one of the lucky 1 in 6 choose?  Remember, the law requires you to fill out the Census as pertains to number of people living in your house, nothing more.

It was brought to my attention yesterday that the Evansville Courier and Press website was not allowing comments on the article about the Police officer charged with forcing a women to perform oral sex.  Thanks to @brianwolf on Twitter for the heads up and I agree, of all the articles on the Courier and Press, why not allow comments on this one?

As of this posting there are no posting comments allowed in the original breaking article or on the updated court appearance article.  So what reasons would explain CourierPress.com shutting down feedback?

• Flood of comments overloading the websites server?
• CourierPress.com is playing favorites with the officer and/or family involved?
• Direct request from the Evansville Police Department, expecting special treatment for a police officer?

It just seems peculiar, with so many controversial stories on the Courier Press website, why block this one?  Please discuss or chime in here with your responses, guesses, or inside scoop.

*Update 9:26 am

Received an explanation from Ryan Reynolds via email, which states that CourierPress.com has a standing policy that news articles containing any sort of sexual crime will not have comments enabled.  In the case that they are enabled by default, once it is brought to their attention all comments will be removed and then closed.  Below is a short excerpt from the email.

For generations, the journalism community has sought to try to keep a delicate and difficult situation from becoming worse for victims of sex crimes. The Courier and Press has had a standing, long-term policy not to name the victims of a sex crime in news accounts to help protect that individual, be they child or adult, from the ugly stain of the public embarrassment that is associated with a rape, molestation, etc.

Because we cannot guarantee that someone in the community could undo that policy, whether deliberately or unintentionally, by naming the victim in comments, we have decided comments will not be allowed on sex crime stories.

Seems like a completely acceptable policy to me, but they should indicate their intent somewhere in the footer of the article.  Or instead of just having people guess as to why comments are closed, have a footer that explains exactly what is said in this email.  It's a decision I can respect.

Turns out I will be hauling a Mustang up to Joliet for a friend of mine.  For the past few years his car has been stored in my garage and now he has the room for it to have a permanent home.  So all I needed was a car hauler to make the 6 hour drive.

My buddy contacted the Evansville U-Haul to setup a pickup time, make payment, etc.  Basically it was supposed to have been setup where I show up, they hook up the trailer, and I drive off.  At most I figured UHaul would want a copy of my drivers license or insurance card, unfortunately this was not the case.  Apparently U-Haul is incapable of taking credit cards over the phone and claimed that it was against US Privacy laws.  I accept credit cards over the phone every day, knowing that this is not the case, they are not interested in working with me.

Just a small annoyance is all, since I was able to pay for it myself.  However, for  such a large moving company they sure have their laws/rules confused.  Even more frustrating was listening to them cut a deal for the guy next to me, but unwilling to waver on the price for my one way car hauler trip.  Oh well, it's a convenience, and like all we'll have to pay for this one.

I'm so tired of seeing the city of Evansville rely on focus groups to decide how what's best for our city.  This becomes especially true with the way we are running our events and how they refuse to change a business model that worked in a booming economy.  It's time to start looking at what makes surrounding festivals and events so successful and less at paid surveys.

Just to start, consider the Blues Festival in Henderson, BBQ Festival in Owensboro and other similar events that are taking place right across the river.  They are wildly successful in terms of attendance and the profit follows.  I strongly believe it's because to attend these events it's free.  Families don't have to worry about spending X amount of dollars just to get through the door and instead they can visit and leave freely and spend their shrinking expendable income accordingly.

There was no way I was going to spend the money necessary to take my wife and daughter down town, especially so close to Thunder weekend or whatever they were calling it.  It's poor planning all around and I truly feel sorry for the nonprofits that were affected by the poor attendance.  It's time Evansville starts looking at alternatives and run an event much like the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival and others that don't cost an arm and a leg, just to get in and spend another arm and a leg on a greasy meal.

14WFIE News - Freedom Fest Falls $290,000 Short

Just a quick thank you to our elected officials for screwing the residents of Evansville over in regards to this years property taxes.  Since myself, or anyone else in Evansville got a Homestead exemption, I had to cut a check to the bank for the difference in my Escrow.  Now, it's not a huge amount, but it's enough to royally piss me off.

Vanderburgh County is the only county within Indiana that did not get the Home Stead Exemption option on their taxes.  Our mayor is claiming over sight, but I'm saying it was a corrupt move to pad the pockets of the city.  An additional $5 million is now being used to half ass fund pet projects to nowhere.

Yeah, I'm pissed.