The reason the county has these signs is because it is home of the Newport Chemical Depot which HS has determined to be a potential terrorist threat. The signs were erected to inform drivers about disasters, like an attack on a chemical plant or other natural catastrophes.

But the county administrators say the signs work good for advertising community events, like the fire department’s fish fries, spaghetti dinners and school carnivals. Recent results have shown that the signs work because fund raising has been greater than normal.

Homeland Security has ordered the county to stop using the signs for fish fries, etc. and the county has obeyed the order but not without opposition.

The president of the County Commissioners said Homeland Security is interfering with local governing.

“We run the county,” Commissioner Tim Wilson said. “We make decisions to run the county on what’s best for us. Did we misuse (the signs)? Or did we just run the county as we saw fit?”

Local officials say residents enjoyed the advertisements.

Well, he does have a point as does Homeland Security.

Using them for ads violates federal rules and could dull the public’s attentiveness to the boards, said Eric Dietz, executive director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Maybe Vermillion County residents can quickly do some fundraising using HS signs to raise another $300,000 and put up their own signs and give those back to HS. They could use the signs some place else. Just a thought.

Tom Remington

Tom Remington

Jody Arther, senior environmental manager at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management says this doesn’t mean the waters are getting worse. Really? The same report says that the number of listed waters that are too polluted has tripled since 2002. She says this is due to more extensive studies and finding more waters.

The News Sentinel in Fort Wayne reports that most of the pollution now comes from municipalities, farms and residential neighborhoods. As part of the Clean Water Act the big polluters have been stopped. This is what the report said about local municipalities.

Since the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972, Indiana’s waterways have improved markedly. Waste from livestock packing plants and industry is no longer dumped directly into the water, and most municipal and industrial wastewater, including sewage, is now treated before discharge. (bolding is mine).

This is almost like reading a report from the mid 1980s. I would have assumed that most states would have addressed these issues long ago. Part of the Clean Air Act does not have any affect on local towns and residents and therefore much of the polluting sources have gone unregulated as it is up to the states and local governments to deal with it.

Tom Remington