Concerns over CRC's finances expected to be resolved Monday
By Kevin Kane
Current in Carmel

March 10, 2010


The City Council has repeatedly expressed its concerns over the Carmel Redevelopment Commission's management of its finances. Come Monday those concerns are expected to be resolved.


Financial consultant H.J. Umbaugh and Associates made a presentation at the March 1 council meeting indicating that the CRC will have enough tax increment financing (TIF) revenue to pay for all of its longterm debts through 2023, including those associated with the $150 million Center for the Performing Arts. Council members John Accetturo, Luci Snyder, Eric Seidensticker and president Rick Sharp, however, said too much information regarding the CRC's operating costs was missing from the report. Without it, the council members said they couldn't be completely confident that the CRC would be able to pay for all of its debt without use of residential tax money.


“We're looking for the whole picture,” Accetturo said at the meeting. “I've never seen this sort of piecemeal report. We're looking for a report with everything in it.”


Mayor Jim Brainard said yesterday that the operating expenses will be provided to the council in another presentation at next Monday's council meeting. He said that he was confident that all unanswered questions would be addressed during that presentation.

CFD: Change smoke detector batteries now
Fire Department promotes rule of thumb 'Change your clock, change your battery'
For Current in Carmel

As the time change approaches on Sunday, March 14^th, the Carmel Fire Department wants to remind residents to make another change that could save their lives – changing the batteries in their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

Communities nationwide witness tragic home fire deaths each year.  Approximately every 3 hours a home fire death occurs somewhere in the nation and 80 percent of those occur in homes without working smoke alarms.  Non-working smoke alarms rob residents of the protective benefits home safety devices were designed to provide.  The most commonly cited cause of non-working smoke alarms: worn or missing batteries.

Changing smoke alarm batteries at least once a year is one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce these tragic deaths and injuries.  In fact, working smoke alarms nearly cut in half the risk of dying in a home fire.  Additionally, the International Association of Fire Chiefs recommends replacing our smoke alarms every ten years. 

To save lives and prevent needless injuries in Carmel, the Carmel Fire Department has joined forces with Energizer and the International Association of Fire Chiefs for the 22^nd year of the Change Your Clock Change Your Battery® campaign.  The program urges all Americans to adopt a simple, lifesaving habit: changing smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector batteries when changing clocks back to daylight savings time each spring, this year on March 14^th.  Americans are encouraged again to check the batteries during the fall time change on November 7^th, 2010. 

“The peak time for home fire fatalities is between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when most families are sleeping,” says Chief Keith Smith.  “Smoke alarm maintenance is a simple, effective way to reduce home fire deaths.  Children and senior citizens are most at risk, and a working smoke alarm can give them the extra seconds they need to get out safely.”

In addition, Chief Smith recommends residents to test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors by pushing the test button, planning “two ways out” and practicing escape routes with the entire family. 

Tragically, fire can kill selectively.  Those most at risk include:

·        Children – About 600 individuals under the age of 20 die each year in home fires.  Children under age 5 are at twice the risk of dying in a home fire.  Eighty percent of fatal home fire victims who were children were killed in homes without working smoke alarms.

·        Seniors – Adults over age 75 are three times more likely to die in home fires than the rest of the population; those over 85 are 4.5 times more likely to die in a home fire.  Many seniors are unable to escape quickly.

·        Low-Income Households – Many low-income families are unable to afford batteries for their smoke alarms.  These same households often rely on poorly installed, maintained or misused portable or area heating equipment – a main cause of fatal home fires.

For more information about fire safety, call the Carmel Fire Department at 571-2600 or the Change Your Clock Change Your Battery® hotline 314-727-5700, x108 or e-mail cyccyb@blickandstaff.com or call the International Association of Fire Chiefs at 703-273-0911 or e-mail corpraterelations@iafc.org.

131st St. to be named Main throughout
For Current in Carmel


The City of Carmel announced last week that 131st Street will be renamed Main Street for all residents and businesses with Carmel mailing addresses. Currently, sections of this roadway are referred to as Main Street while, in other areas, it is called 131st Street. According to the city’s release on the renaming, the change is occurring to help alleviate confusion for travelers and new residents as well as create a central reference point for cross-city navigation. 


This name change will officially take effect March 15. Beginning that date, all 131st Street signs will begin to be replaced by Main Street signs. The only area of 131st/Main Street where the change will not occur at this time is on the far west side where mailing addresses carry the Westfield designation because there is already a Main Street in Westfield. If the city name is changed in the addresses of this area, the street would be renamed there as well.


In addition to the street name change, a limited number of residences will undergo house numbering changes simultaneously. As Carmel grew west of Meridian, where the 131st Street name was used, the house numbering began again with Meridian as the zero hundred block, where previously, Range Line Road was used. Therefore, changing the street name to Main Street in this area would create duplicate addresses.

City Attorney explains secrecy in CHS investigation
For Current in Carmel


City Attorney Douglas Haney released the following information in order to help the community and media understand why the City of Carmel is sharing only general information about the alleged incidents involving Carmel High School students at this time. Haney has given an overview of what can happen if too much information is shared about the specifics of the alleged incidents during the investigation.


The City of Carmel Police Department is in the midst of a criminal investigation into serious allegations of abuse involving Carmel High School students. This investigation is being conducted by five veteran police investigators and involves the interview of more than 60 potential witnesses. The City is doing all it can to ensure that this investigation is carried out in a careful, thorough, and professional manner. The City is very concerned however, that its investigation could be unintentionally compromised, and future criminal convictions imperiled, by undue witness influence caused by rumors, blogs, and news reports.

Studies have shown that the memories of witnesses, and especially those of children, can be influenced and tainted by post-event information. This can occur in several ways. If witnesses observe an incident and then read or view additional information about the incident, they often integrate this latter information into their memory of the event. Once this integration occurs, it is often impossible to disengage the after-acquired information from the initial memory. In fact, studies show that up to 25% of witnesses “remember” post-event information as if they had actually observed it as part of the event.

 
Moreover, if a witness is unsure about a fact, after-acquired information can artificially increase the witness’s “confidence factor” about that questionable fact, causing the witness to give it more weight than is warranted. After-acquired information can also create an inference in a witness’ mind that the inferred fact “probably was the case,” even when the actual observations of the witness would not lead to that conclusion.

 
Finally, after-acquired erroneous information can often weaken a witness’s resolve about actually observed facts. Studies have shown that even erroneous post-incident information with a low level of credibility can later be “remembered” and considered as equally valid as highly credible facts. (See, e.g., Fruzzetti, A.E., Toland, K., Teller, S.A. and Loftus, E.F. (1992). Post event information and retention of details. In Aspects of Memory: The Practical Aspects (2d ed.). Gruneberg, M. & Morris, P. (Eds.), pp. 26-34. New York, NY: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Inc.; Loftus, E.F. (1989). Distortions in eyewitness memory from post event information: Part 3: Eyewitness testimony. In Criminal Behavior and the Justice System: Psychological Perspectives. Wegener, H., et al. (Eds.). New York, NY: Springer-Verlag; Manning, C.G. & Loftus, E.F. (2009). Expert testimony and memory distortion. Japanese Psychological Research, 38(1), pp. 5-13, and the studies, reports and articles cited therein).

 
In addition to the risk of tainting witness memories, explicit post-incident information about the alleged assaults now under investigation can severely hamper our investigation. This can occur in two ways. First, in order to test the veracity of witness statements, a police investigator often withholds key incident information during a witness interview. If the witness can remember this withheld information on his or her own, this greatly increases the reliability of the testimony. Of course, this time-tested method of getting to the truth is thwarted if a witness already knows explicit incident facts through secondary sources. Second, although the City is taking great pains to respect the privacy of the victims of, and the witnesses to, this incident, the mere possibility of detailed media coverage of police interviews will-- and already has -- caused witnesses to reconsider stepping forward with information that is vital to this investigation and to a later successful prosecution.

 
Moreover, it is important to follow a process for determining guilt that does not pre-judge a suspect. Our judicial system is one of the traditions that make the United States different than most other countries. We do not try cases in the media. We do not convict on the basis of rumor, unsubstantiated statements and innuendo. We convict only upon proof of guilt as the result of a trial process that protects the rights of the accused. That is our history and our tradition. We should not disregard it, particularly in a case that involves our most important asset: our children.

 
The City understands the desire of the media to learn the facts surrounding these incidents as quickly as possible. However, it asks the media to also consider the need of the Carmel Police Department to conduct its investigation without witness influence, intimidation or interference. Rumors, sensationalism and misinformation only hamper this process, and provide a good defense attorney with arguments that credible witness testimony has been unduly influenced by post-incident information. As serious as these allegations are, it would be absolutely tragic if any perpetrators proved to have committed these crimes were to escape justice due to the inadmissibility or unavailability of vital eyewitness evidence.

 
The Carmel Police Department is well-trained and professional. Our officers will carefully and thoroughly investigate the allegations in this matter and, when their investigation is complete, turn over their findings to the Hamilton County prosecutor. The prosecutor will then determine whether criminal charges will be filed. We ask for the cooperation of the community and the media in allowing this process to proceed in an orderly and proper fashion so that the truth can be revealed and justice served.