The National Audubon Society is paying attention, though, and this fall formally recognized three specific points in Porter County in its first Important Bird Areas program in Indiana.

 

Beverly Shores, Cowles Bog in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes State Park are the first and so far only designated IBAs in the region, according to James Cole, Indiana Important Bird Areas coordinator.

 

In Indiana, 13 sites have been identified out of a potential list of more than 100. Porter is the only Indiana county with more than one site.

In Wednesday’s filing, the Nevada attorney general asserted that Blaich does indeed reside at the Lake Las Vegas home. The lawsuit alleges that the home’s purchase had “no apparent motive” related to the foundation’s stated purpose of supporting programs that counsel, test and guide children in their career choices.

The lawsuit claims that no rent has been collected on the home. In addition, Blaich has mortgages on two other homes — in Roanoke, Ind., and Ontario, Canada, — while the Lake Las Vegas home was bought with cash. The lawsuit also alleges that the foundation’s administrative and travel expenses increased from 2002 to 2004, even though directors eliminated the philanthropy’s paid staff. The Nevada attorney general’s office will use the spending trends to bolster allegations of financial misappropriation, said Nicole Moon, a spokeswoman with the agency.

The Nevada lawsuit, filed in Clark County District Court, asks for removal of the foundation’s officers and directors, dissolution of Schwab’s Nevada entity and civil damages in excess of $10,000.

The Indiana lawsuit, filed in Allen Superior Court in Marion County, Ind., seeks to undo the asset transfer from Schwab’s Indiana corporation to its Nevada base, and to return those assets to a reinstated and reformed Schwab Foundation in Indiana.

Conner Prairie, the living history museum in Fishers, and its governing trustee Earlham College today prepared to formally sever relations following a years-long dispute over money and control.

 

A final transfer of assets from Earlham to Conner Prairie was scheduled to take place at a State House ceremony this afternoon.

Because the CI was not searched prior to the buy and the CI did not testify about receiving the cocaine from Watson, we must agree with Watson that no reasonable fact_finder, based on this evidence alone, could have found beyond a reasonable doubt he originally possessed the cocaine found on the CI after the buy.

The landlord must provide a tenant with written notice of the damages within forty_five days of the termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession. The tenant must provide the landlord with a mailing address in which to deliver this notice. If the landlord fails to comply the tenant is entitled to return of the entire security deposit and reasonable attorney fees. . .The failure to comply with the notice of damages requirement constitutes an agreement by the landlord that no damages are due.

The foundation had its office in Fort Wayne.  It had a board of directors, staff, ran programs with guidance counselors and gave grants to further its charitable purpose. But since Schwab’s death in 1991, its board had shrunk, its office was moved to the office of a local attorney, Richard Blaich, who Schwab put on the board of directors, and who drew up the governing documents.  The board has been trimmed down.  The staff has been fired. The foundation itself, which started out as an Indiana non-profit, is now a Nevada corporation. And most troubling, the foundation purchased a 1.5 million dollar luxury home in Nevada, and is spending $100K per year to maintain this residence, which is being used by Blaich and his family.

“We believe that the merger was an illegal attempt to evade government oversight in Indiana,” Attorney General Steve Carter told The Journal Gazette.

The suit seeks to have the foundation’s assets returned to Indiana and to remove the foundation’s board members. Additional legal action was expected to be filed in Nevada.

Barbara Sha Cox, a Richmond resident interested in the effect of confined feeding operations on the environment, will give the commissioners an update on water quality in Wayne County.

I don’t know of anything … that triggers an automatic public hearing,” Ralph Booker, county planning director, told the commissioners.

Booker pointed out that there is no ordinance for the county that would require such an operation to request a special exemption.

“Our ordinance says (the facility has to be) a quarter-mile (away from the nearest residence),” Booker said. “There’s no special exemption required for these types of operations.”

Marshall County officials have been discussing for more than two years now the upgrade of the 1974-issued county comprehensive plan. None of the existing ordinances specifically address confined feeding operations, he said.

Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials had notified neighbors of the proposed operation because IDEM is responsible for monitoring water. IDEM has declined to hold a public hearing on the matter, but is receiving public comment, the men said.

[Neighbor Dave] Williams argued that confined feeding operations, in general, have more in common with industrial than agricultural activities, and should be zoned as such.

. . . .

 

After considerable discussion, the commissioners voted unanimously to draft an ordinance requiring a livestock operation requiring an IDEM permit to have to seek a special exemption from the county, as well.

Council voted 4-3 Wednesday night to replace Councilwoman Debbie Hackman on the county plan commission with Councilman Richard Brackemyre, a former Redding Township trustee. Council also voted 5-2 to replace Gene Speaker of Hamilton Township as its representative on the county board of zoning appeals with Charlie Fox of Redding Township.

. . . .

Brackemyre said he opposes Talara Lykins’ 8,000-head hog farm planned in Redding Township, and Fox is a member of FAIR, a community grass-roots organization formed to oppose the Lykins farm. Fox was a primary speaker for FAIR earlier this fall when Lykins’ request came before the BZA. Speaker voted in support of that request, which was approved 3-1 after BZA members first deadlocked 2-2 during a meeting on Oct. 11.

Local officials are confused about the results. A spokesman for the Environmental Health Department in New Castle said he didn’t want to comment until his request to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for an explanation is answered.

Mayor Tom Nipp was also unavailable for comment.

The industry named for releasing the highest amount of toxic emissions is Allegheny Ludlum. Managers of Allegheny also weren’t able to comment.

Town officials remain fearful a large-scale hog operation planned in Owen Township could harm their public water supply.

“I wrote a letter to (the Indiana Department of Environmental Management) about the hog farm operation and our objections,” Melvin Hunsucker said during a meeting of the town council Monday night at the Medora Library. Hunsucker operates the town’s water and sanitary sewer systems.

Hog manure worries Medora officials - Seymour Daily Tribune

Think of the agronomic rate as the number of units of manure per acre per year above which no additional crop yield would be achieved. See: 327 IAC 16-10-1, 2. . . .

 

Application rates exceeding the agronomic rate can be described as a ‘disposal rate’ — that means dumping more manure on the land than the plants can use. For a cautionary tale, consider the unfortunate and unwise history of chronic overloading of manure to sandy regions in the Netherlands.

Lots of news recently in Indiana/CAFO land:

Suits under review - Seymour Daily Tribune:

Jackson County Board of Zoning Appeals will meet in executive session at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the courthouse annex in Brownstown to discuss litigation.

The board will discuss three lawsuits. Executive sessions are closed to the public and press. The first concerns a decision it made in November 2004 to allow Rumpke of Indiana to expand its Medora landfill. That suit was filed by Douglas B. Young and James R. Ault. A decision by Brown Circuit Court Judge Judith Stewart is pending. Stewart agreed to serve as a special judge in the case after Jackson Circuit Court Judge Bill Vance stepped down because of a conflict of interest involving one of Ault’s relatives who works in his office.

The other two lawsuits involve a BZA decision in October to allow an 8,000-hog confined feeding operation on a 10-acre tract near Reddington. They were brought by Jennings Water Inc. and a group of area residents. Both question how the vote to approve the confined feeding operation request was conducted.

The BZA will meet at 7:30 p.m. in public session. The only agenda item is a request from Gary Lemon, 3702 E. 900N, Seymour, for a variance to operate a business from his home. It would involve selling advertising part time.

Under heightened security and in opposition to 150 protesters, the Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeals approved a special exception on Monday night for T & M Limited Partnership to operate a Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) for 4,000 cows in Barkley Township.

In anticipation of a boisterous and unruly crowd, arrangements were made to have three sheriff’s deputies stand guard for the four-hour public hearing.

“How many of these mega-dairies do we need?” asked Jasper County resident Diane Richardson. “We (Jasper County) are developing a reputation for allowing any confined feeding operation at all, but the concentration of so many in such a small area is bound to backfire.”

Their request was unanimously denied by the board Wednesday night. The Lehmans, however, still plan to raise ducks for human consumption.

Although the Lehmans have ample land where they could put the building – which will house up to 11,000 ducks for six weeks at a time – the variance they requested would have put the building closer to their home and made chores more convenient, Ernest Lehman said during the meeting.

Several neighbors of the farm spoke out against the variance application Wednesday.

Many of those, such as Marsha Woorell, whose property sits downhill from the Lehmans, said she already gets significant runoff during heavy rain that turns her backyard into a pond. She expressed concern Wednesday about how the manure from the ducks will be contained.