There's 120 New Laws in Indiana Today

More than 120 new laws take effect July 1 in Indiana, including the sampling below:

HEA 1042 -- Intent to sell sexually explicit products. Requires that anyone intending to sell sexually-explicit materials, products, or services to register and file a statement with the Indiana Secretary of State. NOTE: Some parts of this law are already being tested through lawsuits filed.

SEA 192 -- Truth in music advertising. Prohibits a person from advertising or conducting a live musical performance or production by falsely, deceptively, or misleadingly implying that there is an affiliation between the performing group and the recording group.

SEA 62 -- Posting notice of foreclosure sale. Eliminates the former requirement that a sheriff posts notice of a foreclosure sale in at least three public places where the real estate is located.

SEA 27 -- Cooling off period for domestic battery. Requires a facility having custody of a person arrested for a crime involving domestic violence to keep the person in custody for at least eight hours from the time of the arrest and prohibits that person from being released on bail during that eight-hour period, the "cooling off" period.

SEA 258 -- Discharge of long-term inmates must include access to the Internet for employment matters. Also requires when sex or violent offenders register they include electronic mail address, instant messaging username, electronic chat room username, or social networking web site username that the sex or violent offender uses or intends to use. The offender must also sign consent authorizing the search of the offender's personal computer or any device with Internet capability at any time and installation of hard/software to monitor the offender's Internet usage. Also notes school corporations shall include in curriculum instruction about safe Internet usage. NOTE: Some parts of this law are already being tested through lawsuits filed.
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UPDATE:

Three more examples of regulations effective today:

Breast-feeding mothers will be helped by Senate Bill 219, introduced by Sen. Vi Simpson (D-Bloomington). Under the new law effective today, businesses with more than 25 employees must provide a private, designated area for women to pump milk and a refrigerator for storage of it. Reportedly, Indiana is one of tweleve states to implement such regulations.

House Bill 1052, authored by Rep. Tim Neese (R-Elkhart), obligates the drivers involved to help others at automobile crash scenes, or the passengers to help out if the driver is incapacitated. It stems from an accident, involving three young men, when the driver was trapped in a vehicle while submerged in water, while his two passengers fled.

Bars and taverns may now offer pull tabs and other low-stakes gambling games, such as punchboards and tip boards, as of today. So, you can wager at your favorite watering hole this evening, as long as the owner paid his/her $250 fee and agreed to a 10% excise tax.

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

PURE LUXURY FOR LESS

When talking about bed sheets, it's all about the thread count.

Trust me, if you have been a 150's type of person, your life is about to change. It's about to dramatically change. We're talking skipping-through-fields-of-daisies type of change. We're talking about better sleep and a whole new you.

You, you… well… simply cannot fathom until you experience it.

Let me tell you, there's something magical that happens at the 400 thread count threshold. Scruffy cotton goes to silk-type luxury. I don't know how to exactly explain it, but just trust me and ditch the 150, 200, or even 300's and go with at least a 400 thread count set of bed sheets.
It's something I highly recommend, and that's something you won't regret. After sleeping on 400+ sheets just one night, let me know if I'm wrong…

PS -- This winter buy a bed warmer, which is something like an electric blanket for your mattress. You won't want to get out of bed…

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

The Freedom Fest Hot Dog Eating Contest

Wouldn't the title of "Champion of The Freedom Fest Hot Dog Eating Contest" with your name look great on a plaque sitting on your fireplace mantle?

Well, I spoke with Jared and Byron at The Original Double Dog today, and they have devised a contest to prove once-and-for-all the answer to: Who is Linton's top hotdog eater? They divulged their plans to me earlier today, and here they are in no particular order:

The winner will be determined during the Freedom Festival activities, but more specifically at The Official Hot Dog Eating Table located at the Humphrey's Park Bandstand in Linton at 6:00 PM sharp on Friday, July 4, 2008.

Contestants will be given a 12-minute time frame to see how many hotdogs -- including bun and condiments -- they can eat. Drinks will be provided, if you so choose, but remember to leave plenty of room for the hotdogs.

I'm told along with the title that lots of prizes will be available as well.
To enter, pick up a registration form, sign the liability release, provide your hotdog eating name (e.g. "stage name"), and pay the $5 entry fee at The Original Double Dog at 40 East Vincennes Street in Linton. But hurry up to register! Only the first 30 contestants will be allowed to compete.

Sorry kids, but this contest is for adults only. So, you must be 18 years of age to enter. All of the other rules can be picked up when you register for the contest.

No, I will not be a contestant. Nonetheless, I will see you all there as a spectator!

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

"Opportunity Retreat" is TONIGHT

This evening (Tuesday, June 17th), there will be a Home Town Competitiveness "Opportunity Retreat" from 6PM to 7:30PM at the Greene County 4-H Fairgrounds.

Anyone with an interest in Greene County's future should plan to attend, as there will be information available on four areas of focus, namely:

1. Attracting & Retaining Youth;
2. Supporting Entrepreneurs;
3. Developing Leaders; and,
4. Capturing Community Wealth.

A while back, Greene County residents were asked to fill out surveys, and over 700 community members completed them.

http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathe...

Tonight, you'll hear the findings from those surveys and have a chance to provide your additional input, as well as your opinion on the prioritization of the goals discussed.
See you there!
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A sneak peek of the report can be seen on the Greene County Foundation's website at:
http://www.greenecountyfoundation.org/ne...

If you're unable to attend, please use the "Contact Us" tab on the Foundation's website to send your comments about this draft report:
http://www.greenecountyfoundation.org/contact_us.php

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

Take as Directed -- OR NOT

The rising cost of healthcare is a common discussion topic these days -- about as common as rising gasoline prices or the weather.

Some interesting notes from George Paz, the CEO of Express Scripts, a company that processes more than a million prescriptions a day, puts a different spin on a large part of the medical cost crisis though. He recently spoke on patients taking their medications as prescribed, something that many people may think is simple enough. But maybe it isn't.

In the medical field, it's referred to as "medication adherence," but to you and I this simply means, "Do you take the prescriptions as your doctor ordered, if at all?" Mr. Paz, says that of all the patients who get a prescription, a surprising 24% either (1.) do not pick it up, or (2.) don't begin using it. For those who do pick it up and begin taking their medication:

*4 out of 10 patients comply less than 80% of the time for those with diabetes;
*3 out of 10 patients comply less than 80% of the time for those with high blood pressure; and similarly,
*3 out of 10 patients comply less than 80% of the time for those with high cholesterol.

The funny (or sad) thing is that at a subsequent doctors visit, the physician observes the same (or even worse) symptoms, falsely assumes that the dosage s/he prescribed is the issue, and then writes another prescription for the same drug only at a higher dose -- or even adds a second drug -- all because the patient isn't doing what was first prescribed.

Obviously, this ties up the physician's time, as well as his/her staff's time and attention. It leads to an amazing amount of prescriptions just flat-out wasted, as well as far worse cases of these medical conditions, which could have been controlled or helped if properly treated earlier. And generally, it puts a strain on the entire medical community for nothing… all because the prescriptions weren't taken or taken as prescribed.

As the old adage goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink… in this case, though, we're all paying for that drink, whether the horse decides to drink or not.
So, please "take as directed."

For more information from a different resource than discussed above, take a look at this link from the American Pharmacists Association:

http://www.pharmacist.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Login1&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=16020

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

Kids in Jail: Indiana Ranks 6th in Nation

What if I told you that there are more kids in Indiana locked up than the entire population of Jasonville? Similarly, what if more children were in jail in this state than the population of Bloomfield? Or, the equivalent of half of Linton was incarcerated?

Well, what I'd be telling you would be the truth. An estimated 2,616 youths were in custody in Indiana on any given day in 2006, the latest year data was available.

This makes Indiana ranked sixth among all of the states with the most juveniles locked up, an alarming situation that should prompt the state to re-examine its youth justice system, a report released on June 12th said.

This state-by-state comparison report, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation the other day, showed Indiana's rate of detained and committed youths was 183 per 100,000 youths, which is above the national rate of 125 per 100,000 youths.

So, what's the problem causing this?

It's a social issue, as well as an economic one. Having this many kids in the system is not cheap, nor is it productive.

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

Truly Going Global

An Arab investment group, The Abu Dhabi Investment Council, is bidding approximately $800 million to purchase a 75% ownership stake in the Chrysler Building, a building said to be the Art Deco-style treasure of New York City.

The oil-rich "sovereign funds," such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, have large sums of cash that they're looking for a place to invest. It should be noted that the other 25% of the Chrysler Building is owned by Tishman Speyer Properties, which is trying to sell part of its interests to the Abu Dhabi group too. Along with majority ownership in this iconic building, it's been reported that other famous buildings in the U.S. have also been eyed as well.

But before you get too upset that this piece of American culture may fall into the hands of Arabs, please know that the stake they are wanting to buy is already owned by "foreigners," namely a German investment firm.

Much of the U.S. in now "owned" by foreign investors. Free trade has sent billions of dollars to foreign counties from the U.S. in exchange for cheap -- and not so cheap -- goods. Aside from the obvious oil imports from foreign countries, Wal-Mart has become the largest importer of Chinese goods, and American's seem to love it.

With cash piling up in these countries, what are they to do with it?

Of course, Hawaii became largely owned by the Japanese in the 1970's & 1980's.

In banking, Citigroup recently received large Chinese investments. It has had its largest block of stock owned by a Saudi prince for several years.

Also in the banking realm, investment banker Lehman Brothers is currently looking at a $6 billion equity injection due to the American credit crisis. Suitors so far have been two large Korean banks.

Our economy is turning to be truly global in scope.

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

The "Beer Cooler-Mobile"

Well, it's Friday, so I thought I'd address something a little less serious today, namely something from a news story coming out of Bloomfield.

The "beer cooler-mobile" made a big splash when one was ridden into the Bloomfield Town Council meeting by one of the councilmen. It was said to be a political statement by the gentleman to indicate that a beer cooler could be driven around town, so why not golf carts? But let's skip the politics for now and talk about the cooler-mobile itself. After all, you can search this newspaper's archives and find talk about allowing golf cars on town streets for the past five years, but a the beer cooler-mobile is something fresh and new to talk about.

This is a really ingenious product, one that makes you say, "Why didn't I think of that?!" If you had, you would probably be drinking Mai Tai's on a beach somewhere right now, basking in the glow of the sunset, your success, and ever-growing bank account.

That's what is so great about America -- or bad -- that one great idea like this can trump the annual salaries of thousands of your hard-working neighbors. I guess you decide if it's good or bad based on if you are the inventor or just the neighbor.

The "official" company website for the Cruzin Cooler, as it is known, is located at http://www.cruzincooler.com/ It says the contraption boasts a 13 mph top speed, disc brakes, and aluminum rims, among other features. It is also available in gasoline and electric versions. The electric versions are 300 watt, 500 watt, and now 750 watt (but in limited number) motor configurations. I didn't see any miles per gallon info for the gas version.

There's also seats and various "after market" accessories available, as well as the Coolagon, which is another cooler on wheels set up to be a pull-behind wagon. Since the motor appears to take up most of the cooler space under the lid of the Cruzin Cooler itself, the wagon add-on may be a necessity to appease some people's level of thirst.

They're available at Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, and other fine outdoor retailers nationwide.
There's info available on the website about becoming a dealer. With local outdoor recreation opportunities all around us, several college campuses nearby, and a seemingly never-ending list of DUI's in the news, made up of those who will need other means of transportation soon, someone locally should just do that... start a dealership.

Business should be good, if not great!

Only in America!

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

Musical Chairs. Who Will Be Out Next?

Americans who are no longer able to use their home as an ATM machine via home equity loans have went to credit cards to cover the increasing costs of gas, groceries, utilities, and other expenses. In May, the Federal Reserve reported that Americans' credit card debt jumped 6.7% in the first quarter of this year to $957.2 billion.

Delinquencies on debt are also on the rise across the board.

In fact, according to an AP story today:

"The latest snapshot of the mortgage market showed that the proportion of mortgages that fell into foreclosure soared to 0.99 percent in the January-through-March period. That surpassed the previous high of 0.83 percent over the last three months in 2007."

So, we have a new record!

It goes on to say, "The report by the Mortgage Bankers Association also found that more homeowners slipped behind on their monthly payments. The delinquency rate jumped to 6.35 percent in the first quarter, compared with 5.82 percent for the three months earlier. Payments are considered delinquent if they are 30 or more days past due." Of course, delinquency is always the first step to foreclosure, although diversion from that path is still possible... and hopefully the case.

Even Johnny Carson's long-time sidekick, Ed McMahon, is reportedly losing his multi-million dollar home in foreclosure proceedings. In an ironic twist of fate, the Publishers Clearing House endorser, who has showed up on the doorsteps of many American homes to award millions in prizes, may no longer have a doorstep to call his own due to his delinquency with Countrywide Financial Corp.

Countrywide, itself, has had huge collection issues on its mostly high-risk loan portfolio. Most recently, it also received bad PR from an e-mail snafu.

According to a story by CNNMoney, "The chairman of beleaguered Countrywide Financial Corp. raised eyebrows and tempers with his snippy reply to an e-mail plea from a man who said he was in danger of losing his home. 'Disgusting,' Angelo Mozilo wrote in his inadvertent reply to an e-mail from Daniel Bailey Jr. who had asked the company to modify terms of his adjustable-rate mortgage."

It's starting to look like a big game of musical chairs with more and more losing out. Global banker Citigroup announced it will shed $500 billion dollars in assets, which is banker-speak for "those assets were never really worth $500 billion dollars". So, another big company is without a chair, and the music starts again.

It kind of makes you wonder how long this game will last -- and if we're going to go down to the last chair. If we do, perhaps the last chair will be for the bankruptcy judge, while the rest of us stand in the courtroom.

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.

From Birth to Bankruptcy in Indiana

It's no secret that Indiana ranks fourth among the states in the U.S. for bankruptcy. Accordingly, it has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the nation as well.

With these recent statistics in mind, it's not surprising that a number of teen students did not pass a financial literacy test issued by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. In fact, 60% failed this basic money skills test.

To read more about the details of this test, including ideas for adults educating children by age group, see the Indiana Youth Institute's (IYI) Spring 2008 issue, entitled "From Birth to Bankruptcy: Teaching Dollars and Sense to Hoosier Kids" at:
http://www.iyi.org/resources/doc/Issue-A...

They even suggest resources, such as board games, books, programs, and websites. (Yes, the board game known as Monopoly is one!)

On the IYI's website, you may find these statistics on kids in Greene County interesting too: http://www.iyi.org/resources/pdf/greene.pdf

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.