Brian Canady, President of New Day Kiwanis Club and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller share a moment during his visit to Cambridge City Friday morning.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller Shares Views With New Day Kiwanis Club

By Janis Buhl

   Our Indiana Attorney General (AG) is serving his first term in that position which is an elected office. He previously had worked for Dan Quayle (1981) . He is the first AG to have worked in that office and during that time had worked with Ted Kennedy on Education. He feels the mark of a good elected official is to put party lines aside when you go to work. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat or Republican you work for the people. He was Chief Deputy for eight years under Steve Carter. There are 144 lawyers working in the office in this state.
    Due to the economy, the consumer complaints have tripled since last year. He has plans and things in mind he wants to accomplish, but for the time being, the office will be more aggressive toward scammers as people in trouble because of the economy are more vulnerable. One of the most common is the mortgage problems. When folks get a notice of foreclosure scammers call these people and say they can help, but they make off with the money people pay for their help. So far this year they have sued eight of those companies.
    Telemarketing calls - electronic calls - need to be stopped. He got one on his cell phone and it was a message about extended warranties. He tracked the number down and the/company has three aliases, Mike Money Maker was one of them. They have no way of knowing how many calls have been made.
    In eight years the AG’s office has not had an increase and this year the budget has had 4% cut. They are having to do more with less. (This has a familiar ring to all those in local government).
    His goal is to come to more of the people and let them know what his office can do for them, not to wait for complaints to come to his office.
    The AG’s office represents the state for purposes of convictions. When a defendant is convicted, he has an automatic right to appeal. In the appellate stage they represent every aspect of criminal justice. They have a 94% success rate on the appeals. When the prosecutor puts someone in jail, it is their job to keep them in jail.
    Zoeller fielded questions from those present and was asked by Rom Schroeder, "Is there any impact from the federal government as it seems the new Attorney General has different views from the State?"
   Zoeller responded he had met with Attorney General Holder two weeks ago. His approach has been somewhat cooperative. The topic was robo-calls. "People can’t just blast out thousands of calls. The federal model is what every state has to live under. Indiana has stricter laws. People should look to their own resources."
    Brian Canady cited the Right to Carry laws. For more of the above story, please subscribe!

Jessica Weesner Named 2009 Canal Days Queen Junior Queen and King Contestants (L-R) Mindi Furst, 2008 Canal Days Queen, Megan Drew, Jessica Adams, 1st Runner Up, Jessica Weesner, Queen, Michelle Flannery, 2nd Runner Up and Melinda Alvarez. All contestants were beautiful. More next issue. (L-R) In front - Jr. Queen Ray Lynn Caldwell and Jr. King Holdyn Mays. 2nd row - Wyatt Dutkiewicz, Brooke Duitkiewicz, Kennedy Baker, Tearin Moore, Kaylee Gabbard, Aigail Dalrymple and Miranda Harris-Arnold. In back - Tori Rihm, Bethany Morgan, Cristian Blair, Olivia Todish, Imagen Sourbeer, Sheila Dalrymple, Hannah Berry, Lauren Miles, Kassandra Sharp, Katrina Sharp.

Western Wayne Elementary receives $900 from Whitewater Valley REMC Community Trust, Inc.    The Western Wayne Elementary received $900 during the trustee meeting held July 27, 2009. Whitewater Valley Community Trust, Inc. Board Members Kevin Smith, J.B Cain and Dee Harding along with Mary Jo Thomas, Director of Administrative Services & Corporate Development of Whitewater Valley REMC presented the checks to Special Needs Educators Diana Bell and Gena Sweet.     A $500 grant will be used for spelling curriculum software and $400 for a reading intervention program for Kindergarten through grade 4. Western Wayne Schools was also awarded three separate grants in 2008 for a total of $2,259.00.     The next application deadline is October 5, 2009. Applications and information regarding the program can be found at www.wwvremc.com.