Drive-By Prayer Minister's Daughter Murdered

Rev. Malachi Walker has been on the forefront of the Peace In The Streets initiative and conducts neighborhood prayer gatherings in troubled areas of Indianapolis known as Drive By Prayers to discourage youth from taking up crime. Early this morning, his 24-year-old daughter, Chanelle Wells, became the City's latest homicide victim. Someone broke into her home on the City's Far Eastside and shot her multiple times. Police found a handgun, two AK47s and marijuana in her home. Wells leaves behind three children ranging in age from 5 months to 6. She became the 70th homicide victim of the year.

Ivy Tech Wants To Demolish Historic Building

Ivy Tech won state and city approval for a $69 million construction project at the site of its near northside campus in Indianapolis along Fall Creek with the understanding it would preserve the historic former St. Vincent Hospital Building facing Fall Creek as you cross the bridge on Meridian Street. Now, Ivy Tech officials have presented drawings which propose to raze the historic building, along with all the surrounding buildings. This, according to the IBJ's Cory Schouten, has the Indiana Historic Landmarks Foundation in an uproar.

As with anything Ivy Tech does, politics seems to have a role in the project. Schouten notes that Ivy Tech dumped its former architect on the project, Jim Schellinger's CSO Architects, and replaced it with Schmidt Associates, a big contributor to Gov. Mitch Daniels' re-election bid.

From the outside, the old St. Vincent Hospital appears to be a real treasure and certainly a landmark building for the Fall Creek neighborhood. It really is a gateway of sorts as it stands facing the greenway along Fall Creek Parkway. Judging by the comments on Schouten's Property Lines blog, people aren't real cracked up about the proposed replacement building. Some describe it as looking like one of those suburban warehouse buildings.

Stopped While Driving White In A Black Neighborhood

Last February, I attended a Mayor's Night Out at the Jubilee Center on the City's near northside. Public Safety Director Scott Newman told the gathered neighborhood residents to expect stepped up enforcement as a means of getting guns out of the hands of felons. Newman told the gathering that routine traffic stops are an effective and legal means of accomplishing this objective. Let's put this policy to the test.

I spoke tonight to a prominent neighborhood leader and local business owner who was subjected to one of these "routine traffic stops." Shortly after this fine gentleman, who happens to be Caucasian, left a black friend's home in the area of West 29th Street, he was tailed by an IMPD officer. After traveling about five blocks, the officer turned on his lights and pulled him over. The officer approached him and demanded to know why he was "buying crack in a black neighborhood." His efforts to explain to the officer that he had simply been visiting a friend in the neighborhood weren't succeeding. "Why are you shaking," the officer demanded of him. As his nightmare continued, six police officers gathered at the scene. He found himself being patted down with his hands on the hood of the car. Drug sniffing dogs were brought to the scene to search his car. In a particularly embarrassing moment, a client of the businessman drove by among many others, looking on in shock at what he had just witnessed. The officer relentlessly badgered him for answers about his whereabouts. Finally, after nearly an hour, the officer tossed his driver's license, registration and proof of insurance onto the street. "You got lucky today," the officer said as he walked away.

If Scott Newman believes that routine traffic stops such as the one this man encountered at 6:45 a.m. this past Monday is legal, then he better head back to law school. This police officer had absolutely no probable cause for pulling this man over other than his belief that a white man should not be driving in this particular black neighborhood at that time of day. The victim in this case has filed a complaint with the City. If the City is wise, a public apology will be immediately issued to this man for the police officer's gross misconduct. I think we all share a commitment to bringing crime under control in Indianapolis. But this kind of police misconduct cannot be tolerated for a moment. If you want to stop someone for speeding, ignoring a stop sign or driving with a headlight out, that's fine. Profiling drivers based on race in a particular setting, black or white, stopping them and then subjecting them to unreasonable searches and detentions is simply unacceptable.

Campo Wins 7th District Nod

The 7th District GOP committeepersons chose Gabrielle Campo to replace Jon Elrod as the general election congressional candidate to oppose U.S. Rep. Andre Carson. There were 77 eligible voters at tonight's caucus. Campo won it on the second ballot over her five male opponents after falling a few votes short on the first ballot.

Ballard Has Plan To Clean Up Police Department

Public Safety Director Scott Newman announced a plan to get tough on bad cops in the wake of more than a half dozen police officers being arrested since the first of the year for a variety of crimes. "Nothing can substitute for honest men and women who understand thattheir career as police is a sacred trust they hold for the public," Newman said. "Still, it is incumbent on us to make sure that every safeguard is put inplace to channel those men and women in the right direction, and to helpus find out quickly when they have gone the wrong direction." "We are ashamed of the actions of the few, but we are proud of the actions of the many, and we won't hesitate to use these measures that we announce today and others to make sure the bad apples are plucked out and tossed aside." Here are the steps Newman outlined at yesterday's press conference:

• More intensive supervision of officers in the field.
• Tighter accounting and inventory controls of search warrants and seizures of drugs and money.
• Bringing back the previous practice of polygraph tests for officers assigned to narcotics enforcement, vice, intelligence and property room.
• Creating the position of recruiter in order to ensure the departmentattracts the best, high quality candidates, including establishing apresence on college campuses.
• Establishing a staffed Office of Career Development with the task of guiding officers toward more directed career goals, cultivating management and leadership skills, and providing more consistent evaluations and training.
• Requiring performance evaluations on a regular basis.

Photographers Shot At Eastside Fire

A WISH-TV photographer and a freelance photographer were shot early this morning while firefighters fought a blaze at an abandoned house in the 800 block of N. Tacoma Street. A firefighter's air tank was also hit. Both shooting victims were taken to Methodist Hospital according to the Star's Tom Spalding. WISH-TV's Kevin Hankins has been released. "I was just gathering shots around the scene and then all of sudden heard a pop and felt something on my left back," said Hankins. Fox59 News is reporting a fire at a second abandoned house. You may recall that Indianapolis suffered a rash of fires at abandoned homes on the City's southeast side last year. Also, Fox News reports that a shooting outside Club Industry this morning led to a high speed chase by police ending with a rollover of the fleeing SUV on Keystone Avenue. Just another night in the City.

Obama Influence Peddler Cashing In Early

For the Obama folks, the election in November is a mere formality. In their minds, the race is already over and Obama is simply taking a five-month long victory lap to the White House. This is particularly true with the sleazy influence peddlers who surround Obama. Long-time Obama friend, former staffer and political advisor Dan Shomon offers us a taste of that "Change" Obama promises to bring to Washington in this pitch for his government affairs practice:

“Should ‘CHANGE’ occur in November as polls indicate, we should see a lot of people from Illinois moving to Washington, D.C., and taking key spots in an Obama administration. Now is the time to anticipate these changes."

“We will be in Washington, D.C., August 4, 5, and 6, and we’re interested in scheduling a meeting with your government affairs team to discuss the changing political landscapes and our services and capabilities.”

“Dan is mentioned in every book about Sen. Obama and is profiled in Sen. Obama’s book, ‘The Audacity of Hope.’ Dan has been interviewed in recent months by Time magazine, the Washington Post, ABC’s ‘20/20,’ CNN, the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune and many other publications about Sen. Obama.”

Of course, the Obama campaign professed shock and disappointment at Shomon's solicitation. “As Mr. Shomon acknowledges, this e-mail was poorly conceived and inappropriate in both tone or content," Obama's campaign said. "He has also committed, and we fully expect, that his firm will take the utmost care to avoid in the future actions or any appearances such as that raised by this e-mail.” Yeah, right. This guy figures with Tony Rezko headed to prison for a long sentence, the field is wide open for him. Note that Shomon's solicitation describes him as "Obama’s longest serving campaign adviser and strategist."

Obama, while in Indiana yesterday, took time out for a lofty interview with Jake Query and Terri Stacy, morning show folks at WIBC. It was in keeping with the dumbing down of America approach to American politics. The questions were about on this level:

Terri: Do you wear boxers or briefs? HaHaHaHaHeHeHe

Jake: Are you a Mountain Dew Man? Hey, Put It Right There.

Terri: Can I keep one of your used soda cans as a keep-sake?

Jake: Is it true how big it is, you can tell me, good buddy?

Terri: Can I hold it? HeHeHeHe?

Jake: Oh yeah, our boss wanted us to ask you if Evan Bayh is going to be your choice for Vice President?

Terri: Oh, boo! Jeff Smulyan is a party pooper. He cut our pay!