Hoosier lore

Remember Reynolds, Ind.? Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005 touted it as BioTown USA, the state's first project to make a community "produce enough energy to be self-sufficient." It hasn't quite gone as planned:

Former Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke, now president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, is deeply disappointed in his home state:

Helmke's organization recently awarded Indiana just six out of a possible 100 points on its annual state scorecard ratings, which judges each state's gun laws by awarding points for specific categories.

Though I lived only eight years in "The Region," I became very familiar with the kind of "Mom always liked you best" paranoia prevalent in northwest Indiana. Tucked away in a corner of the state, just around Lake Michigan from those mountains of conceit Illinois and Michigan, it was easy to think the rest of Indiana didn't know much or care about us, indeed that we'd get screwed every time we dealt with the downstaters. I knew a lot of people only had never been to Indianapolis and were only vaguely aware of the state capital.

Breaking up is hard to do, Muncie version:

A Muncie man spread his own feces across his girlfriend's apartment and then headbutted the woman in the face, breaking her nose, according to police reports.

Brett Bryan McDonald Sr., 45, 2213 E. Memorial Drive, Apt. 24, faces preliminary charges of burglary, domestic battery, theft and criminal mischief.

Quick, who is the highest-paid state employee in Indiana? Certainly not the governor, who gets a paltry $95,000; he's not even in the top 3,000 when it comes to base salary (4.5 percent or 3,601 of the state's 80,161 employees make $100,000 or more) No, not Purdue University President France Cordova; she makes $450,000 a year. Indiana Supreme Court justices get $151,328 a year. Give up?

Once upon a time, burglars checked out obituaries in the newspaper to find out who would be at funerals so they'd know which houses to break into and when. It's comforting to see that, though technology might change, human nature stays the same:

A New Albany woman claims a man who added her as a friend on Facebook burglarized her home Saturday after she posted a message that she and her fiancee would be out for the evening.

This is more than a little scary:

An East Chicago businesswoman got a hefty tax return this year -- nearly $300,000 -- but federal officials say the money belongs to her clients.

Francesca Foster, 32, and Rosetta Yvonne Buchanan, 35, face charges of stealing information from about 60 clients to file false tax returns, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond.

As noted here earlier, because of Indiana's get-tough-on-crime policies, our state led the nation in the percentage increase in prison population last year, but our legislators won't spend money to add more bed space. That combination (or a judge's order) could lead to the same result here that fiscal problems have brought to the West Coast:

The Goshen College national anthem controversy has made USA TODAY:

"I am not in favor of the college's decision to play the anthem," said Marlys Weaver, 22, a senior from Goshen and editor of the college newspaper. "Images of war run throughout all the verses of the anthem, and Mennonites, as pacifists, work with active and involved non-violent options."

Today's chicken-or-the-egg question: Does being involved in politics make one arrogant, or are arrogant people drawn to politics? Case in point, the Terre Haute city councilman who decided to take the law into his own hands:

Jury selection for 74-year-old Ramon "Turk" Roman is set for March 29 in Greencastle before a special Putnam County judge because a Vigo County judge has recused himself from the case.