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Sunday, January 22, 2006

Ind. Courts - LaPorte County Courthouse to undergo renovation

The Michigan City News-Dispatch reports, in a story by Kristin Miller:

LaPORTE - At a brief meeting of the LaPorte County Commissioners on Friday afternoon, Ziolkowski Construction of South Bend was chosen to renovate the courthouse.

After an appropriation by the LaPorte County Council, the $2,906,057 project is scheduled to begin within the next 30 to 60 days. It's expected to take 13 months to complete, Commission President Marlow Harmon said. * * *

The price is about $1 million lower than the bid from Larson-Danielson Construction, LaPorte, the next lowest bidder.

“We're quite satisfied with them,” Harmon said of the contractor chosen for the project. He said Ziolkowski has its own brick masonry specialists and as a result, “they were able to cut their costs tremendously. “We felt by far that this was the best company to go with,” he said.

In October, architect Tim Wall of Herceg and Associates said thin pieces on the face of the exterior stone of the courthouse will be chipped off, cleaned and repaired. At ground level, especially on the north side of the courthouse, years of winter salt use on the sidewalk is evident on the stone facade.

Stones that are too deteriorated to repair will be replaced with original sandstone. Wall said the county has a supply of stone from an outbuilding that was torn down several years ago to make room for the U.S. 35 overpass. Some 100 pieces of sandstone of various sizes, shapes and quality were taken to a Highway Department garage for storage.

Along with exterior repairs, windows will be replaced and an interior skylight will be restored. In addition, the slate roof needs a touch-up, Wall said, and the bell tower will be reroofed.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on Sunday, January 22, 2006
Posted to Indiana Courts

Ind. Law - Still more on: Committee endorses bill to protect e-mail addresses

Updating this ILB entry from Jan. 19th, here from the Kokomo City website are Mayor McKillip's remarks on SB 205.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on Sunday, January 22, 2006
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law

Enviroment - Wood-fueled boilers stoke pollution debate

"Wood-fueled boilers stoke pollution debate" is the headline to a comprehensive story today by Tim Zorn in the Gary Post-Tribune. Some quotes:

As heating costs soar, more people are using wood-fired boilers — an old technology with a new twist — to heat their houses. But some of their neighbors say the cheaper heat has a down side: air pollution.

Unlike a wood-burning stove, a wood-burning boiler sits outside a house in a shed-like structure. Typically, it heats water that circulates around the firebox and then goes into the home’s heating system.

Christopher Furness, who lives in a semi-rural LaPorte County area north of LaPorte, bought an outdoor wood boiler in 2004 to heat his house. “There’s a little bit of independence here,” he said. “Why do I have to be strapped to a natural gas line?”

Roy Horn, whose house sits south of Furness’, said he doesn’t notice the smoke when he’s inside, and he believes Furness has been a good neighbor. But Jim Donnelly, another neighbor, says the boiler’s continual smoke irritates his eyes and throat.

“Fuel bills are high, but that’s no reason to poison your neighbors,” Donnelly said. “I don’t understand how manufacturers can bring out a product that pollutes like that.”

The issue may become more than a neighborhood dispute as environmental agencies are starting to take a closer look at wood boilers. * * *

Wood-fired boilers aren’t for everyone. The first two criteria listed on one manufacturer’s Web site, www.freeheat-machine.com, are access to free or inexpensive wood and living in a rural area. If you have to buy wood for the furnace, one dealer said, outdoor wood boilers aren’t a bargain.

The boiler shuts down when the house’s temperature reaches the desired level; when more heat is needed, a blower starts the fire blazing again. The boiler’s fire smolders when the heating system is inactive. When the fire starts up again, thicker smoke comes out for several minutes. “It’s not a heavy smoke,” Furness said. “It’s not like burning tires.” * * *

The New York attorney general’s report, “Smoke Gets in Your Lungs,” says outdoor wood boilers “may be among the dirtiest and least economical modes of heating, especially when improperly used.”

Even properly used, it said, they emit four times as much fine particulate matter — a lung-damaging form of pollution — as conventional wood stoves and 12 times as much as EPA-certified wood stoves.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set emission standards for new wood stoves. But it has no regulations for outdoor wood boilers. * * *

Indiana is considering its own regulation but hasn’t decided yet what that would be. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is seeking comments until March 3 on a rule for outdoor furnaces and boilers.

Options include requirements that they be located a certain distance from houses, have certain smokestack heights, burn only clean, dry wood — or no requirements at all. After the first comment period ends, residents will have more chances to weigh in with their thoughts before a proposed rule is submitted to the state’s Air Pollution Control Board.

For more ILB entries, type "wood boilers" in the search box.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on Sunday, January 22, 2006
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government

Ind. Gov't. - Matt Tully on redistricting, and legislators' benefits

Indianapolis Star columnist Matthew Tully's column today is headlined: "The me-me-mes could kill districting bill." Some quotes:

The bill [House Speaker Brian] Bosma is pushing would create a bipartisan panel to draw fair boundaries for Statehouse districts. It would end a system in which the legislature draws its own maps -- stretching districts across numerous counties, twisting and turning them to artificially dictate the partisan makeup of each district.

Bosma has a lot to gain, too. Fair districts would boost the GOP's standing in the House, because they would likely result in the election of more Republicans. Democrats for years have kept themselves in power, or close to it, with carefully crafted districts.

So they're fighting the bill, using bad arguments to buck good policy. While the bill came out of committee on a partisan vote, Senate Republicans, who have benefited from drawing their own districts, also have shown little interest.

In the end, good policy or not, the bill might die from a case of me-me-mes.

Rep. Mae Dickenson, D-Indianapolis, is worried about what a fair-minded commission might do to her district. Rep. Craig Fry, D-Mishawaka, fears good maps would keep Republicans in control of the House.

On it went. Me, me, me.

The self-interest made a perfect case for changing the system. Lawmakers shouldn't be able to use the government process to determine their own fortunes.

That'd be like letting them set their own pay, or vote on their own taxpayer-funded health and pension programs.

Oh, I forgot. They get to do that, too.

Indeed they do. The ILB has unearthed a weath of information this weekend about these health and pension programs, and will be putting together a very long entry for tonight or early tomorrow.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on Sunday, January 22, 2006
Posted to Indiana Government