Where did you get the idea of bringing roller derby to Evansville?

I played roller derby in Massachusetts where I went to school and then I transferred to USI where the closest roller derby team was in Louisville, which is about two hours away. I didn’t want to drive that far, so I just started one in Evansville. We basically just setup a MySpace site and pretty much harassed whoever looked like they would be interested in Roller Derby.

Where in Evansville do you find the type of person that would be interested in playing roller derby?

We just message a lot of people on MySpace at first, but then it became a word of mouth thing: one person tells their friend who tells their friend. We are planning on having recruitment nights in the future at local bars and other establishments in town where we can just hand out information. It can be kind of intimidating to come to a practice and see what’s going on without any beforehand knowledge. The best thing to do is probably get on YouTube and search for Roller Derby and see what it’s about.

What’s the basic premise of the game?

There are two teams of 5 girls. There is a pivot at the front of the pack, and they set the pace. There are also three blockers whose primary job is to prevent the opposing team’s jammer from getting through. The jammer is the only one who can score points. The jammers have to get through the pack on the first time and then on the second pass through they can score points for each opposing person they pass legally. You can’t pass out of bounds or with an illegal hit for example. We play by the WFTDA [Women’s Flat Track Derby Association] rulebook. They have a full set of rules that define what a legal or illegal hit is.

Continue reading Interview: Molly Hartshorn, Co-Founder of Demolition City Roller Derby…

It’s Easter time, which means painting hard boiled eggs, passing out chocolate and visiting the Easter Bunny. Rumor has it there is also a religious meaning behind Easter. Apparently with the candy parents stick in Easter baskets, they are also including a cute, cuddly bunny as well. I like the way Kate Braser wrote about it:

A fluffy bunny hopping from a basket into a child’s arms on Easter morning might make a perfect Kodak moment, but long after strands of plastic Easter grass are vacuumed away, that rabbit still will be around.

The local Humane Societies want you to know that rabbits don’t disappear the day after Easter and that you must take care of them just like any other pet. Who knew? Additionally, if you do get a rabbit (or any animal for that matter), don’t leave it in a cage at all times. I think the morale to the story is to just eat a chocolate bunny for Easter, rather than bringing home a real-life one to eat your furniture.

We told you this morning about the construction at Freedom Plaza. On the way into the office this morning, I stopped by to snap a few photos of what’s going on.

Continue reading Pics: Freedom Plaza Construction…

It’s Construction Thursday! Here’s what’s going on.

• Freedom plaza is getting a makeover that is entirely funded by donations from local businesses. The new plaza will be finished by Flag Day - June 14.
• A new program to help ininsured Vanderburgh County citizens get prescription drug discount cards is ramping up. Several local pharmacies have pledged support for the card, which could save the cardholder as much as 20% on their drug bill.
• Portions of Weinbach Avenue will be closed for 12 weeks starting Monday to hopefully wrap up construction.
• The pool task force is meeting tonight at the CK Newsome Community Center to discuss where to stick a few new pools on the South and West side of town.
• Missing your 4-year-old? She’s at Wal-Mart.
• The local suicide rate has increased substantially this year with 18 reported incidents. No one is really sure why.
• 27 victims of the tornado will be getting new homes through Habitat For Humanity.

One of the things we are most interested in doing at It’s Evansville is eating. Good food makes a bad day better and a good day great. I’m not much of a cook myself, so I like to rely on others to cook for me. It’s Evansville loves local restaurants and local chefs who give their food a unique flavor of their own. Sure, this town is known for having at least one of every chain restaurant in America, but we’d rather shy away from their bland food and give our patronage to one of our neighbors.

As part of the site, we are wanting to head out to all the new restaurants in town, give them a try and then tell you how it was. Each Wednesday we are going to feature a locally owned restaurnt (read: no chains), their dishes, their service, their decor, etc. We want you to feel like you were there with us enjoying the food.

We have a list of places we are wanting to sample and then write about, but we want your input as well. Where should we go? What should we get there? We’re open to any and all types of food as long as its full of flavor. Whet our appetites!

image courtesy of Schilling 2

We’re all fans of art in some fashion. Whether it be a painting done by Picasso, a photograph you find on Flickr, or the latest fashion from the New York runways everyone has some sort of artistic appreciation. If you’re downtown in the next month, why not visit the Henning Atrium in the Old National building to see what some local artists have been up to lately. The Arts Council Of Southwestern Indiana is putting on it’s annual Arts In The City exhibition. The even puts local painters, photographers and sculptors in the spotlight for all to see.

The Arts Council covers artists in Gibson, Knox, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick county, so if you’re a budding local artist, becoming a member of their organization is a great way to get your work out for all to see. The council recently announced they are planning to open a gallery in downtown Evansville towards the end of the summer.

Arts In The City starts tomorrow and runs through May 4 from 7:30AM - 5:30PM Monday through Friday at the Old National Bank headquarters on Main Street in their Henning Atrium. If you’re interested in finding out more, call 812-422-2111 or just stop by the atrium and check out the artwork.

Inside Indiana Business is reporting that the Evansville Regional Airport has had it’s deadline to find an operator for daily flights to Indianapolis extended from this Sunday to September 24. The airport received a $1 million grant from the US Department of Transportation for the project, and got the extension by promising to have an airline in place for the daily flights.

Evansville officials say they have been in discussions with Big Sky Airlines. Big Sky partners with US Airways, Delta and Northwest Airlines to provide service to smaller cities such as ours. Not having to drive to Louisville to catch to catch a flight to Indianapolis will be a good thing for our small airport; especially since I-69 isn’t here yet to make that 3-hour drive more peaceful.

Now if only they could make flights out of Evansville as affordable as Louisville or other regional airports…

• We told you Monday that the county commissioners were meeting to discuss local pavement projects. The County Commissioners met and realized they are about $2 million short of what they need to address all the paving issues in town.
• As part of the continued revitalization of downtown, the redevelopment commission met Tuesday to discuss the Front Door Pride project which aims to rehabilitate housing units and other buildings in the downtown area. The commission mapped out the first area for revitalization: the blocks bordered on the north by Washington Avenue, on the east by Judson Street, on the south by Madison Avenue and on the west by Second Street. They even gave the first area a great name: Goosetown 1.
• It’s cold out, but you already knew that.
• The Evansville police officer arrested yesterday on theft charges will be in court today.

EPD Chief Brad Hill reported to ABC25 that Officer Gerald Rainey allegedly stole $1,000 from a crime scene last week. Rainey, a 9 year veteran of the south side sector of the EPD was put on administrative leave without pay.

Rainey was inovlved in a local drug bust that included as evidence a backpack with $20,000 inside. When the bag made it back to the station, it was $1000 short. This is the third offense on the officer’s record. He had displinary actions against him for not reporting his location to dispatch and for breaking a department search policy.

Rainey turned himself in this afternoon and was booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail.

Update 1: Story updated with photo of Officer Rainey. Fox7 is also reporting that Rainey will be in court tomorrow morning.

On slow news days, I find myself trying to find other outlets for content to share with you fine readers. Sure, I could talk about national subjects like the NCAA Championship Game last night, discuss the Britain/Iran situation or maybe talk tech, but there’s far better sources for that kind of information on the Web. We want to keep this site local, and cover subjects that are of interest to the people of Evansville. Instead of covering those topics, we’d rather help you out.

Craigslist is a centralized network of online community classifieds, job postings, personals and more started by a guy named Craig (on the right). Evansville has had its own Craigslist site for a few years now and one of it’s most useful features is missed connections.

Sometimes you are out at a local bar or restaurant, and catch the eye of something across the room. You might even pick up a conversation with the person and hit it off. Unfortunately, the night ends without you getting contact information: sometimes not even a name. That’s where craigslist comes in and It’s Evansville come in. To help you out, we’re going to periodically spot some of the missed connections that are posted locally, and hopefully help some poor guy or gal out in their attempts to find true love.

USI Jun at Ri Ra St. Patty’s night

It was my birthday. You thought I was sexy. You were so adorable! You told my boyfriend you’d come right back, but you never did, and now I can’t stop thinking about you. I’d love to get a massage or say hi and see how you are doing.

I don’t know about you, but in my world there’s a big difference between just saying hello and getting a massage. How do you know he is even a decent masseuse?

GL…from AE

Yep, I think you screwed up, and I guess I really really wish you had never called on Valentine’s Day…Karma is a bitch aint it?

It certainly is.

Metaphors and other spiritual mistakes

It was 3 years this morning that our first long talk happened and started us up again. I guess you didn’t have any Behringers last night. That’s a good thing.
Do miss your voice and knowing you.

I’m guessing you were dealing with a bingeing alcoholic and had to leave because your head told you to. Unfortunately your heart is still with Mr. Behringer. So tragic.