> SOUTHERN INDIANA — CHEERS

... to the long-overdue passage and signing of a bill that is meant to reduce conflict-of-interest at the local government level.

The law — which came from a recommendation in the Kernan-Shepard report meant to help reform local government — will prohibit employees of local government units from serving as elected officials on the councils that govern those units. It also will not allow office-holders to directly supervise their relatives.

There will be obvious benefits to taxpayers when this law takes effect in January. A basic example is currently, a firefighter or parks employee is not prohibited from voting on budgets for their departments if they are a council member. That person’s decisions on such matters as a council person could easily be clouded by loyalty to their department.

The guesswork in that will be removed with this law.

The nepotism provision as it pertains to supervising should also be cheered. Those conflict of interest temptations should be obvious to the public. And now there’s a law to curtail that practice.

Still, there’s a part of this law-in-waiting that doesn’t sit well with me — and that’s the act of the state again exerting more and more control over local government. I wish one or more of our local governments would have made a similar move in reducing conflict of interest and nepotism before this bill was ever passed.

Since that probably never would have happened, I guess the state’s move is better than nothing.

— Editor Shea Van Hoy



CHEERS

... to the Indiana University men’s basketball team on a truly great season.

I read some chirping and complaining after the Sweet 16 loss to UK, but I think most fans of the Hoosiers realize two wins against Kentucky in one season was unlikely. The game was entertaining and Indiana certainly played well. After this weekend and Monday, it might show to have been the toughest test the Wildcats faced in the tourney.

A lot of IU fans were hoping for a .500 record this year and maybe a trip to the NIT. Coach Tom Crean and the scrappy team gave the fans 27 wins, including two in the NCAA tourney.

Just like when the program went south, how quickly things seem to change, even if it really took four years.

— Editor Shea Van Hoy



JEERS

... to Commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball for quietly having the season debut overseas in Japan.

Not only was the game not on TV — it was streamed live on MLB.com — but it featured two teams with paltry records in 2011. I understand hosting a regular season game in Japan to connect with the country’s passionate fan-base, but not to the detriment of the majority of fans that will be buying tickets to games the rest of the year.

If the MLB season opener isn’t going to be held in Cincinnati — as I feel it should be, but I'm also a Reds fan — at least give the first game to the World Series Champion.

— Staff Writer Braden Lammers



CHEERS

... to Major League Baseball “officially” starting this week.

— Staff Writer Braden Lammers



JEERS

... to Amazon.com for offering very little information about plans for its fulfillment center after poorly keeping a lid on the “secret” for months.

One would think the company would want to talk about bringing more than 1,000 jobs to the region. I hope this is not the kind of communication the company will continue to offer to area residents.

— Staff Writer Braden Lammers



READER CHEERS

... to the attentive co-worker who checked on the woman police say was held at gunpoint by Antonio Moore on March 22 at a home on Graybrook Lane in New Albany.

Had that co-worker not been concerned enough to investigate, the woman and her two children, allegedly bound with duct tape and threatened with a gun, may not be alive. That caring co-worker is a true hero.  

— Joyce Vallance, Floyds Knobs



READER CHEERS

... to Kye Hoehn for donating space at Kye’s for a prom clothing and accessory giveaway last Saturday for Henryville High School students.

Cheers to Kathy Tavares, Kelly McZoy, Kim Waller and Amy Fischmer for coordinating it. Cheers also to Annie’s Corner for the racks and hangers and to many local businesses who offered certificates for free hair styling, manicures, dry cleaning and alterations as well as tuxes for the young men.

Excited students selected from a large selection of beautiful dresses, jewelry, shoes, purses etc. It brought a ray of sunshine to all who participated to help dispel the mist of the dark clouds of the past few weeks.

— Carolyn A. King, Jeffersonville



READER CHEERS

... to New Albany Mayor Gahan and code enforcement and building and housing employees who are diligently maintaining the east side of Graybook Lane, between Daisy Lane and the Bono-Pearl intersection.

We drive that stretch daily, and it was such an embarrassment. Cheers to all responsible for the change.

— William Longest, New Albany



READER CHEERS

... to Clark County REMC and their support system. After the devastating tornadoes, our electricity was off only 24 hours instead of the two weeks I was expecting.

— Janice Furnish, Henryville



— Do you have someone or something to cheer or jeer? Submissions should be sent to Editor Shea Van Hoy at shea.vanhoy@newsandtribune.com or by mail at 221 Spring St., Jeffersonville, IN, 47130.