But …

Feb 6 Connersville City Council meeting … Connersville Mayor, Leonard Urban, explains –  ”We also applied for a grant (last year) to completely redo the downtown and we were denied and I didn’t want to ask for it again this year – we probably would have got it this next year but that would have meant that the whole downtown would have been tore up during the bicentennial. So we had to kinda let that go.” 

Towncow will occasionally be featuring new Scavenger hunt riddles for you to enjoy.  Your goal is to find and enter the correct password to unlock the level.  Riddles will consist of many things including Connersville Buinesses, websites and sites around the community.

Get more information by solving this first riddle.

Riddle #1

Don’t look above for the password because the password is below.

Bear in mind – sometimes clues are HARD  and sometimes they are EASY.  Sometimes they may take a lot of thought but sometimes you may be over thinking things a little bit.

Click the COW-KEY and enter your guess as the password.

(Try not to use hints unless you really need them) Have fun …

HINT

An examination of 275 Indiana school superintendent contracts

IBJ.COM … Bill seeks school superintendent contract disclosure

A bill that would require Indiana’s school boards to disclose all financial details of proposed superintendent contracts before voting on them drew only positive comments during a public hearing before a legislative panel.

No one spoke out against the measure during Wednesday’s Senate education committee hearing.

Republican state Rep. Bob Behning of Indianapolis told the committee his bill’s goal is ensuring the public knows “exactly what level of compensation” a superintendent will get before school boards vote on a contract.

An analysis by The Evansville Courier & Press of the contracts of 275 of Indiana’s 289 school superintendents found that some school boards provide superintendents with generous benefits to keep published salaries low.

The newspaper says superintendent compensation is often boosted by increasing pension payouts and additional benefits.

Lincoln County, West Virginia Sheriff Jerry Bowman admitted falsifying absentee ballots in a case stemming from an investigation by federal authorities, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Also pleading guilty to lying to investigators was Lincoln County Clerk Donald Whitten, the U.S. Attorney said.

“I want the case to send a simple message: you cannot steal election in southern West Virginia,” said U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin. “Honest elections are worth fighting for.”

Bowman, 58, admitted falsifying more than 100 absentee ballots, was illegally in the same room as voters marking absentee ballots and sometimes marked the ballots himself, authorities said.

He was running for circuit clerk at the time and concerned about a close election, court documents said.

Bowman appeared to have won the primary but about 200 contested absentee ballots were later thrown out, making incumbent Circuit Clerk Charles Brumfield the victor.

Whitten, 62, admitted to making a false statement about his roll in the conspiracy, in which he provided absentee ballots. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Both men, who are Democrats, also agreed to resign from office and never seek office again.

The pair also agreed to cooperate as the U.S. Attorney’s office and West Virginia Secretary of State continue their investigation into the southern West Virginia elections.

Neither man has been arraigned yet.

Several years ago, Lincoln County’s Circuit Clerk and Assessor were convicted of felonies for vote buying after tampering with the 2004 Democratic primary. That same assessor, Jerry Weaver, is running for sheriff, despite being a felon.

As it turns out, this tree which is growing on City property directly in front of the new sign at Union Savings and Loan, was not trimmed by city employees after all.  According to bank officials the work was done by their personal landscaper, Harold Mathews … also known locally as CTV3′s “the Garden Doctor.”

Click on photos to see full size.

Bank management told towncow, “the tree will be fine.” So … what do you think?

View This Poll

David Ison, 46, could spend his life in prison without parole if he’s found guilty in the Sept. 25 shooting deaths of four members of the Napier family and their Laurel neighbor, Henry X. Smith.

Franklin County Prosecutor Melvin Wilhelm today filed the life-in-prison-without-parole charge in Franklin Circuit Court as the sixth charge against Ison.

Wilhelm had considered filing death penalty charges against Ison and presented the case in October to the Capital Litigation Committee of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council for its evaluation.

A decision also is expected today from Franklin Circuit Court Judge Steven Cox on the location of Ison’s trial. Cox granted a change of venue motion in November for the trial because of the amount of publicity the quintuple murder case had received.

Palladium Item story

1907  -  population 6,836

• Bailey, Chas., McFarlan Bldg.
• Bass, Eli, 417 Central Ave.
• Brown, Chas., 534 Central Ave.
• Harris, Albert, 129 W. Fourth St.
• Hart, Zell, 113 W. Fifth St.
• Morgan, W. H., 603 Central Ave.
• Rose, Cassius, 308 W. Eighth St.
• Turner, A.A., rear F. & M. Trust Co.
• Walker, William, 112W. Fifth St.
• Zeigler, W., E. Fifth St.

1941  -  population 14,519

© indicates that the owner is “Colored”

• Adams H B 229 w 19th
• Alexander Eulice © 102 W Court
• Arcade Barber Shop 3 Remedial Bldg
• Basement Barber Shop bsmt Fayette Loan Bldg
• Cam’s Barber Shop 704 W 22nd
• Community Barber Shop 633 N Central
• Day Light Barber Shop © 121 W 5th
• Jeffries Barber Shop 1708 Western
• Murphy J F 106 E 5th
• Petes Barber Shop 109 W 5th
• Reds Barber Shop 422 W 22nd
• Rose C C 213 W 8th
• Smiths Barber Shop 123 E 5th
• Stewart perry 128 E 5th
• Stewarts Barber Shop 520 N Central
• Underwood & Flint 308 W 8th
• Walker M H 519 West 22nd
• Ward H E 1825 N Grand

1960  -  population 17,698

• Adam’s Barber Shop 229 W 19th
• Alexander’s Barber Shop 216 E 11th
• Conrad Barber Shop 631 N Central av R3
• Day Light Barber Shop 121 W 5th
• Frank’s Barber Shop 729 W 23d
• Likins Camden 3218 Beeson av
• Loyalty Barber Shop 1708 Western av
• Midway Barber Shop 213 W 8th
• Osborne Barber Shop 519 W 22d
• Pete’s Barber Shop 109 W 5th
• Smith’s Barber Shop 104 E 5th
• Sportsman’s Barber Shop 328 W 30th
• Stewart P Barber Shop 126 E 5th
• Stewart’s Barber Shop 520 N Central av
• Underwood’s Barber Shop 306 W 8th
• Ward’s Barber Shop 1825 N Grand av
• Wyatt Herschell C 1006 Lincoln av
  Beauty Shops
• American Beauty Shoppe 118 E 7th
• Art-Mode Beauty Salon 6001/2 N Central av
• Beauty Boxe 205 W 30th
• Betty Lou Beauty Shop 1824 Virginia av
• Betty’s Offutt Park Beauty Mart
• Booker Aldine Beauty Shop 1322 N Grand av
• Charm Beauty Shop 845 Western av
• Cinderella Beauty Salon 3225 Beeson av
• Cleo’s Beauty Shop 518 1/2 N Central av
• Coates Beauty Shoppe 428 W 7th
• Drema’s Beauty Shop 416 E 13th
• Glamourette Beauty Salon 316 W 21st
• Helen’s Beauty Shop rear 1808 N Central av
• Joy Beauty Shop 2336 Virginia av
• Kurl & Kolor Beauty Salon 1218 N Grand av
• Lov-Lee Beauty Salon 804 Scott
• Mari-Dean Beauty Shop 324 N Central av
• Marva’s Beauty Salon 2164 Virginia av
• Modern Beauty Salon 521 W 21st
• Mollie Marr Beauty Shop 528 1/2 N Central av
• Nan’s Styl-Ette Beauty Salon 410 W 21st
• Nora’s Beauty Shop 512 1/2 N Central av
• Pauline’s Beauty Shop 802 Scott
• Pink Poodle Beauty Salon 416 Western av
• Pollyanna Beauty Shop 1512 N Grand av
• Powell Floretta Beauty Shop 1504 N Grand av
• Rita’s Beauty Shop rear 601 W 8th
• Ruth’s Beauty Salon 410 1/2 N Central av
• Vogue Beauty Salon 606 1/2 N Central av
• Walk In Beauty Salon 118 E 12th
• Will-Ette Beauty Shop 418 W 5th
• Wilson Beauty Shop rear 1707 Indiana av

Police said there was forced entry into the home of David R. Brandon, 52, of 1390 Oak Park Place. The items reported missing included miscellaneous jewelry, TV, cash and an iPad 2, with a total value of $23,151.

According to Area Plan Director, Bill MacDaniel, the responsibility to force the property owner to fix the problem lies with the City of Connersville -not the APC.  Even though the City has been very active in spending money to raze numerous residential properties over the past four years, this business property is reportedly not on their radar. “As far as I know, the city isn’t doing anything with it,”  MacDaniel said.

With the new Walmart now open in Connersville and hundreds of vehicles -many from outside of Connersville traveling by that building, what does it do to the cities image?

When Carbon Motors first announced the purpose-built E7 police car in 2008, the Atlanta-based company created quite a stir. The sleek, diesel-powered cruiser was designed with integrated law enforcement equipment, including “weapons of mass destruction sensors” and then cutting-edge automated license plate readers. A wireless network would connect each E7 to a central police command station and other vehicles.

With a BMW-supplied engine boasting 300 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque, a top speed of 150MPH and up to 30 MPG on the highway, the E7 shows great potential as a police pursuit vehicle – even if there is just one existing prototype.

But now it looks like the startup is on the verge of becoming another victim of the state of the economy.

In an open letter addressed to President Obama’s cabinet members that was released last December, Carbon Motors CEO William Santana Li made a plea for them to support the approval of a $300 million loan it applied for two years ago from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program to help put the E7 into production. So far, there has been no response.

“We spent 28 months in due diligence working with the Obama administration and Department of Energy officials,” says Santana Li, speaking to FoxNews.com. “This is not a vehicle designed to take you to the grocery store, or a police car that’s the same as the one from six or seven decades ago. This will have a material impact on law enforcement and be environmentally more responsible.”

See: The New Police Car Posse

Santana Li explained that the E7 is a completely new design for US law enforcement. He believes basing a law enforcement vehicle on an existing car is like asking the Air Force to take a Cessna airplane and modify it for military engagements. The money from the loan would help Carbon Motors build a factory in Connersville, Indiana, an area that has suffered from high unemployment rates and economic downturns in recent years.

Li notes that most police cars today are imported from Canada, while the E7 will be American-made. There’s a fundamental role of government to protect and serve, he argues, and that federal agencies and state police should be obligated to purchase only American-made police vehicles.

And one automotive expert agrees – at least in part.

“I like the product because it is purpose built as a police cruiser,” says Thilo Koslowski, an automotive analyst at Gartner, a technology research and consulting firm. “But good product alone is only half of the required success in the automotive business, because production, maintenance and service requires substantial resources.”

Koslowski says Carbon Motors faces the same uphill climb that led to the recent demise of Aptera Motors, a California electric car startup that went belly-up a few weeks ago after failing to secure its own loan from the ATVM program. In the wake of the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a cleantech company that received a $535 million loan from the Department of Energy in 2010, seed money programs like these have come under increasing public scrutiny.

Read: Electric Vehicle Maker Aptera Motors Pulls the Plug

That means, for Carbon Motors, securing a federal loan might be difficult. Santana Li would not answer questions about whether Carbon Motors will have to fold if it does not acquire the ATVM loan. He said, as a privately held company, he cannot comment on its financial situation.

To date, Carbon has booked about 20,000 reservations for the E7. Santana Li says about 3,500 members of law enforcement were involved in the development of the car, including 500 state agencies. However, the reservations are what Santana Li equated to “raising your hand” as a show of support. Carbon Motors has not collected any deposits on these “pre-orders” of the E7.

Daniel Sperling, a director at the Institute of Transportation Studies and a professor of Transportation Engineering and Environmental Policy at the University of California, Davis, told FoxNews.com that he can’t figure out what Carbon Motors is up to.

FoxNews.com Autos is on Twitter.Click here to follow us @FoxCarReport

“It makes no sense to start from scratch with a vehicle, given the massive scale economies and expertise of the big original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) [like Chevrolet and Ford],” says Sperling. “Frankly, nothing I read convinces me this is a compelling investment of taxpayer dollars.”

Sperling also questioned why there should be only one police car model, since there are many needs for city patrols, highway cruisers and even rugged all-terrain vehicles. He says the trend today is for the U.S. government to use existing consumer-grade products and modify them.

Dana Hammer, the manager of law enforcement vehicles at GM, says the Chevy Impala and Caprice-based police cars, modified for law enforcement, go through rigorous tests to conform to standards set by law enforcement agencies. Two annual testing sessions in Michigan and Los Angeles County test braking, high-speed driving and other performance parameters. (Carbon Motors has consulted with the testing agencies, but the E7 prototype has not been tested.)

Hammer says there are 15 full-time advisors who work at GM, and a field staff of 25. He says GM has worked directly with just about every police force and law enforcement agency in the U.S. over the past 50 years. The Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle, which is imported from Australia, has a base price of just over $30,000, before the addition of specialized law enforcement equipment, which varies agency to agency, while the Canadian-built Impala goes for around $27,000. Carbon Motors has not yet specified how much the E7 will cost, but says that it will be competitive with existing vehicles.

“We do a dramatic amount of engineering and testing to meet specific needs of the police market,” says Hammer. “Government agencies are on strict budgets. We mass produce these vehicles and keep the economies of scale as affordable for them as possible. These are moderately priced vehicles.”

Santana Li would not state how many police cars Carbon Motors expects to produce each month if the ATVM loan is approved. For now, it looks like the $300M would mostly fund construction of the manufacturing facility.

“The federal loan will accelerate the production of the E7,” he says. “We are not going to predict the behavior of the federal government, but we are expecting a favorable response.”