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News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Can't afford Paris?

If you're looking for a day trip to tell the grandkids about, a mere $55 will let you board a bus in Chicago and travel to beautiful downtown Gary to see all the influences that turned Michael Jackson into the unique human being he was. You can see his boyhood home that, though "modest" has a kitchen and even indoor plumbing. You can see the now-defunct Mr. Lucky's lounge, where the Jackson 5 held one of their first performances. You can see their elementary school -- imagine that, a school building in Indiana. And you wouldn't want to miss:

-- Knights of Columbus Building (333 W. Fifth Ave.). The brothers performed at a variety of venues, including the ballroom of this historic brick structure, considered one of the tallest buildings in Gary. It's now an affordable-housing high-rise.

How can you pass up the chance to say you've been to a place "considered one of the tallest buildings in Gary"? It's probably not on the tour, but maybe the bus driver will also drive you by the landfill, so you can see where the Jacksons' garbage ended up.

Oh, wait. Better not try that one this week:

A private company has been hauling trash in Gary since January. But late last week, that company was ordered to stop its service in the city.

So, as CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports, this week the flies are swarming as angry residents say "no" to a plan to charge many households $12 a month for garbage collection.

This is a story only northwest Indiana government could generate. The mayor -- on his own, without going through City Council or the usual procedures -- decided to privatize garbage collection. He said it was to save money, but he agreed to pay the private company $5.1 million a year, compared with the $3 million the city spent on garbage collection. Now the council won't ratify the contract, and no one is getting paid and no garbage is getting picked up.

Aren't you glad we live in boring old Allen County?

Comments

Bob G.
Tue, 07/14/2009 - 9:08am

Leo:
You had me at "Beautiful Downtown Gary"...ROFL!

(at least here in Allen County...we DO have fewer murders...boring as we are)

Gotta LOVE that!

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