Having just paid $4 a gallon to put premium in my car last week, I have dreams of being able to get around town on a bicycle for relatively short trips. Living in Newburgh, the luxury of public transportation is nonexistent. Risking my life trying to pedal on Newburgh’s narrow roads is not worth lowering my carbon footprint and padding my wallet.

Face it. The Evansville area seems to be one of the most bike unfriendly cities. Just last night was another story of a cyclist being smashed by a car.

An Evansville bicyclist suffered a possible back injury Sunday night when he collided with an oncoming vehicle at a four-way stop
…
[Jon] Hyneman was traveling south on Main Street through Louisiana Street when he hit an eastbound Dodge Stratus, according to an Evansville Police Department accident report. Hyneman reportedly rolled over the hood of the car, breaking its windshield, and then hit his back on the pavement.

It would be great if many major public thoroughfares offered a bicycle lane rather than forcing cyclists to attempt to share the road with a car. In the eternal struggle of cycle versus vehicle I am pretty sure the vehicle is undefeated.

A year and a half ago we a cyclist was actually killed in the area after being hit by a car during an organized ride. When I was at Purdue, there was a dedicated lane for cyclists and rarely did I hear of an accident involving motorist and cyclist and there were far more bikes on a college campus than in our fair town.

Maybe someday I can park my car for the majority of my day, but until then, I’ll keep bitching about the price of gas like it’s the 70’s all over again.

photo courtesy of Simon Davison

Well, that woke me up. All the news sources are claiming it was 10 seconds, but it felt like it was at least 20 out here in Newburgh. Definitely an offsetting feeling.

Courier’s on it

Follow the quake chatter via Tweetscan

Thanks for all the well wishes both publicly and privately last week. Let’s pick up where we left off.

• Baby Clinton is coming to USI on Tuesday at 9:45PM. I wonder if she will be reading her thesis? My main hope is that dude with the Adultery Enabler sign shows up to protest again.

• Speaking of the primaries, today is your last day to register to vote. I’m registered. Are you?

• No, those people in the neon green shirts picking up trash over the weekend weren’t prisoners. They were USI students!

• Get ready for more construction on the Lloyd this summer. This time, we’re targeting the east side!

• The Purdue team won the annual Rube Goldberg contest by building a 156-step hamburger builder. Was there any doubt? Boiler up!

• You can now have Charlton Heston’s gun.

photo courtesy of Kate Sherrill

• Hillary was in town last night. Around 4000 people showed up (including the above protester) for the rally where Clinton gave a standard stump speech. The C&P has some video of the event. [C&P]

• Obama is planning a trip to Evansville as well it looks like. He is also setting up his regional headquarters in the old Rogers Jewelers on Main St. [ABC25]

• Proceeds from memorabilia sales at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis were to go towards The Colts Foundation and Indiana Sports Corporation, two local nonprofits, but won’t be after an Indianapolis-based law firm filed suit against the Dome stating that the proceeds should go to taxpayers. Ah lawyers. [WFIE]

• The city of Evansville has decided to outsource management of the Wesselman nature preserve to the Wesselman Nature Society for the next 3 years. The city also plans to give up to $850,000 for a renovation of the area. [C&P]

photo courtesy of gibbie69

• An Evansville man has been arrested for an illegal performance in front of a group of kids on Evansville’s southeast side last week. He would lure people to his show by pointing a laser pen at them to draw their attention. (C&P)

• Obama was in the area this weekend. He put on a townhall meeting outside of Indianapolis. Clinton is now making her way to Terra Haute. (WFIE and ABC25)

• Indiana has an impressive representation in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament: IU, Purdue, Butler and Notre Dame are in. Former USI coach Bruce Pearl’s Tennessee team has a 2 seed and is my pick to win it all. (Sign up for our bracket challenge)

photo courtesy of SierraK

More over at the Courier & Press.

Thanks to Cody for the tip

Let’s wrap up some of the news from the past week.

Evansville Mayor Weinzapfel has rejected the option of converting parts of Wesselman’s Park into a new baseball complex. The Mayor still wants to pursue the project, but will find a different location to accomplish it. I personally applaud this. There are plenty of other places in town to build such a complex that won’t impact the the good things happening at Wesselmans.

If you’re looking for a new place to stash your pot, might I suggest a diaper bag? Joshua Adam Wormald of Evansville was pulled over Wednesday night and police found his stash mixed in with the pampers.

IU basketball coach Kelvin Sampson: cheater. Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter: genius.

Courier & Press did a story on the drag queens down at Someplace Else. Not surprisingly, the comments turned into another religious debate. Way to break the midwestern values stereotype.

Got some acting chops? Our friends at the Evansville Civic Theatre are holding auditions on March 3 & 4.

photo courtesy of Hillyard Farm

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt heard about Don Mattingly filing a protective order against his wife. While the story itself isn’t that interesting, her mugshot is fantastic.

Andrew Rogers, the 20 year old that was charged with killing another kid over a pair of shoes, has been found guilty of murder. He now faces 45-65 years in prison.

A Francois langur monkey was born Saturday at Mesker Park. Only about 300 of the monkeys are left in their natural habitat in China and Vietnam.

Need a job? That giant AT&T call center needs a few more people.

Indiana State Police made a big marijuana bust. They found 15 plants in a bedroom last Thursday that had a street value of $15,000.

It’s been a few days since we did a wrapup of the local Evansville news, so let’s see what’s been happening.

Evansville’s Democratic Party chair, Larry Aiken, has announced he will be stepping down on February 16. Aiken cited health reasons as his reason for stepping down. Perhaps he was sick of the same six people in the Courier & Press’ comment section running his name through the mud?

It’s Evansville’s readership may be growing a small bit soon. Mayjor Weinzapfel reveals plans to annex Knight Township into the city limits. The plan still needs approval from city council.

We told you a few weeks ago that the Duck Inn was closing down as the owner was tired of keeping the place afloat. A new owner has been found, so we don’t have to worry about that no more. Mia Kneer, a food services worker at USI, bought the place and will hopefully keep it running for a long time to come.

In Newburgh, Schnucks is all over the news. First, they tore down six shops in the Bell Oaks shopping center to make way for their new store. Second, the principal of Castle Junior High School has been suspended for allegedly stealing from the store.

And finally, our friends at the Courier have started a new site called EvansvilleMoms.com. If you’re into that having kids thing, check it out.

photo courtesy of jdaniels of evansville

It’s now looking like the best idea for Roberts Stadium is to build a new one. Whether or not it would pass a vote by the people of Evansville remains to be seen. [ABC25]

A former WUEV DJ was arrested after making a trip up to Indianapolis to meet a 14 year old he was chatting with online. The only problem was that the 14 year old was really a 36 year old guy. [C&P]

Speaking of our local predator, he has also served as an EVSC substitute teacher. Oops. [ABC25]

And to end on a happier note, Turonis is opening a pizzeria in Newburgh! [C&P]

photo courtesy of flickr.evpl