Our town

I am told by a source I trust that a rumor spread like wildfire* through the Hispanic community yesterday to the effect that "the government" was going to do a sweep through Fort Wayne to round up Mexicans -- not an unreasonable rumor given the raids nationally over the last several days. People stayed home and called in sick -- one family apparently even hid in their basement. A couple of restaurants had to close over lunch, and several others spent most of the day trying to find people to cover their hours.

Trying a little marrying of old and new technology here. Here is a link to my first draft of the editorial that will be in Friday's paper about the city's attempts to take over Aqua Indiana and keep its legal fees secret. Depending on the comments left at this post, I might update the editorial before publication to reflect some of what you say.

The friend who steered me to this link believes in this stuff and made me promise not to make fun of it. So I'll just say that there are 15 entries about ghosts in Fort Wayne (it's alphabetical, so just scroll down), including these:

Now is the time to get out and enjoy the parks. I stopped off on the way home from work today and snapped some pictures at Foster Park. Here are a few of them.

One of our readers, who has apparently had a bad experience or two with fireworks, called to ask if the city could override the state's recent legalization of them by enacting its own ban. My inclination was to say no -- under Indiana's policy of limited home rule, a local government can regulate things the state has not spoken on; but once the state has issued directives, the state's word is law. But I called the city attorney to make sure, and his office confirmed my understanding.

Yikes. Somehow, the relatively modest amounts being spent on little ole Allen County races seem more startling to me than the millions and millions spend on national campaigns. Incumbent County Commissioenrs Marla Irving and Linda Bloom have raised $158,631 and $109,339 respectively, and Marla's challenger, Bill Brown, has raised $72,231. The most astonishing race of all is for sheriff. Republican Ken Fries has raised $80,295, more than his three competitors combined.

Memo to those still pushing for red-light cameras in Fort Wayne (or pushing for the state to let us do it): Let's keep researching the evidence, OK?

Too bad. No Indiana restaurants in the list of the best 50 in the world. Not being an expert in anything but my own tastes, I'd never attempt to name the "best" restaurants in Fort Wayne. But I always have my current favorites.

Here's coverage of the coming primary election you probably won't see anywhere else. Indiana Pundit grades candidates' yard signs (just keep scrolling down to see them all, and click on the March archives to see a few more, as well as the criteria used to come up with the grades). Only Republicans Ken Fries (sheriff) and John McGauley (recorder) got A's, but signs for several candidates got grades of C+. Tammi McKee, GOP candidate for Wayne Township assessor, had a D sign. Come on, IP, no F's out there?

Don't let the accompanying photo, of County Commissioner Marla Irving and City Council President John Crawford, fool you.