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Greenfield, IN 1900 (Illustrator R. J. Campbell)

PRIMARY VOTING MAY 6: HILLARY WIPES OUT OBAMA IN HANCOCK COUNTY BUT FINAL MARGIN MAY NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL THURSDAY

With 16 of 38 precincts reporting Hillary Clinton was pasting Barack Obama in Hancock County by a vote of 2352-1408, wracking up over 60% of the vote as Primary evening ended. Then as of Wednesday morning, the electronic returns show Hillary ahead 6,106 to 4,065.  But the final final tally is not yet concluded because there are still numerous paper ballots yet to be included in the total.  Hancock County may turn out to be the last county in the state to fully tabulate primary results.

For the first time in a very long time, Democrat primary voters outnumbered Republicans in the largest vote recorded in Hancock County history. 9,383 total votes were taken electronically. But still there are votes to count.

County Clerk Shari Burris had ordered four times the number of Democrat electronic ballots more than the last primary and they ran out in every precinct leaving huge numbers of Democrat primary voters to have to fill in hard-to-count paper ballots.  This count would not be completed until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest according to Hancock County Clerk, Shari Burris.

Nevertheless, the electronic numbers in the voting carry a solid message of support for Hillary Clinton, Democrat candidate for President.  The final vote will not be known until five teams of “hand counters” (one Democrat and one Republican each) finish their work of counting the hand ballots in each of the Democrat precincts.

Hancock County gave U.S. Rep  Dan Burton a razor thin margin over challenger John McGoff 4694 to 4039.  Dan Burton would go on in the 5th District to win re-nomination by an equal margin of about 52%.  The challenge by John McGoff, an ER physician, was the strongest challenge to Burton in many years and was believed to be heavily financed by those associated with Eli Lilly, a firm that has found itself at odds with Burton on Congressional matters.

In state races, incumbents Beverly Gard and Bob Cherry won re-nomination.  The Gard race was contested by Terry Michael but Gard won with 74% of the vote.

The Republican nominees for Commissioner are Brad Armstrong and Tom Stevens. An early lead for Incumbent Jack Heiden in his face off with Stevens evaporated as the precincts reached 50% reporting.  The top three County Council votegetters for the Republicans were Richard Pasco, Rosalie Richardson and Brian Kirkwood.  Retiring Commissioner Brian Kleiman came in a close fourth but failed to receive the nomination. Other candidates missing the mark were Ted Cecil, Stephen Gipson, Mark Higgins and Tom Lake.

In the largely ignored race for Governor between Democrats Jill Long Thompson and Jim Schellinger, the latter ran slightly ahead locally but Jill Thompson eventually prevailed on the statewide vote. 

In other local races, the contested judicial seat for Superior Court 2 for the County Republican primary was won by Incumbent Dan Marshall with about 59% of the vote over challenger and former Hancock County Prosecutor Larry Gossett and Phyllis Collier Vest took the contested County Treasurer nomination of the Republican Party over Jeffrey Lowder by a 55% to 45% margin. In the County Coroner race, Tamara Vangundy won the Republican nomination 3,055 votes to 2,261 for Michael Cushing and 2,776 votes for Dan Dvoy.

One of the most closely watched series of races involved challenges to long time Republican precinct committee persons.  Several county races, and particularly the last Sheriff race, have reportedly led to deep divisions within the Republican party. In one of the races by challengers, the current Greenfield mayor Brad Dereamer vied with long time Precinct 1 committeeman Thomas Haines.  Haines won 297-280.  In other such contested committee races Mitch Pendlum defeated Joe Skvarenina for the 3rd Greenfield precinct, Bill Etherton defeated Jack Randolph in the 8th Greenfield precinct, Patricia Elmore defeated Michale Grant in the 9th Greenfield precinct, James Shelby defeated Larry McGuire in the Greenfield 10th precinct, Brian Kleimajn won a contested race against Douglas Dugger in Sugar Creek 3,  and finally Carolyn Grass defeated Jeannine Gray for a contested Brown Township committee post. The innder workings of the Hancock County Republican are pretty close to the same "old guard" domination as before.

More results and especially the final tally for the Democrat Party are just not known.

GREENFIELD BANKING CO. CHANGING ITS DOWNTOWN IMAGE

Not everything changes in Greenfield, Indiana. There has always been the Greenfield Banking Co. office downtown for example. But now that building is getting a new look this May 2008

GAS PRICES SOAR!

CITGO on West Main Street, Greenfield, offers its cheapest gasoline at $3.64 per gallon.

Gas prices are on everyone’s mind these days. The average price of a gallon of gasoline hit a new record this week and could surge even more as demand for the fuel rises this summer according to a industry analysts. The U.S. average retail gas prices rose to $3.6245 a gallon in May, up about 15.cents per gallon in the past two weeks. In the past month, gasoline prices have increased more than 30 cents. The price is expected to continue on the upswing. The price increase reflects record crude oil prices. Crude oil prices have risen to a record of nearly $120 a barrel this year, keeping gasoline prices high. Also adding to the fuel's price are regulatory mandates calling for increased levels of ethanol to be added to gasoline. Trucking companies are also paying more for their fuel, which could seep through to the prices consumers pay for a range of transported goods. The average U.S. diesel fuel price rose nearly 8 cents a gallon to $4.2911 per gallon. The cost of diesel is up more than 80 cents this year,

 A VISIT TO HANCOCK COUNTY BY A REAL LIVE PRESIDENT 

Local Democrat Julia Wickard introduces President Clinton to a packed audience at the Greenfield Middle School

Bill Clinton, the nation’s forty-second president, visited Greenfield to speak on Friday May 1, 2008.  The date was significant because his wife Hillary was seeking Indiana’s primary nod on the next Tuesday seeking to succeed George Bush as the nation’s next president.  Greenfield was a last minute campaign stop for the former President and he visited the Greenfield Middle School on Park Avenue to rally support for her.

The word spread about the presidential visit the day before without details.  Then in the morning the exact time still remained a mystery.  Not everyone was much enthused. Oddly enough the local Democrat party apparatus was among the least responsive.  The former Democrat city attorney (until Jan. 2008) “pooh poohed” the visit when I saw him at the courthouse Friday morning.  He had already committed to Obama. At the event itself I would later see the local Democrat chairperson and I asked “Where can I get a Hillary (Clinton) yard sign?”  His answer led me to realize he was present only as a formality.  He very coolly told me he had no campaign yard signs “for either candidate.”

Anyway, many rank and file county folks began their line up to try to get in to see the President starting at about noon.

Sensing the historical significance of the event your narrator arrived as one of the first twenty or so after picking up my granddaughter out of Harris School.  Seeing a former President in person is a great rarity for Greenfield.  Not since Harry Truman made a train stop in Greenfield during his “whistle-stop” campaign of 1948 had a President spoken here.

Even as early as noon, the Greenfield Police Department had the Greenfield Middle School entry organized.  I asked an officer at the door when Clinton would speak. He thought it might be at 4 p.m. or 4:30.  The only thing he was sure of was that there was a line for entry of spectators that would form behind a rope spanning posts on spare tires along the side of the Middle School entry to the east.  He did not express much concern about the crowd control.  He said President Clinton had just had a similar speaking engagement at a Decatur Central School in Indianapolis and only fifty or sixty people showed up.

He also stated that about three hundred school children would be given bleacher seats by “invitation” in the Middle School gym and that the rest of us would have to stand on the gym floor.  He believed invitations were prorated among middle school students and high school students in the Greenfield Central School system. That did not exactly turn out to be the case. 

As the minutes and hours wore on, the weather turned nasty and rain began falling in fierce bursts.  The line on the grass moved against the side of the Middle School where there was a slight overhang.  The line continually lengthened until it extended the entire length of the Middle School and to the front of the adjacent Harris School building.

Rainy weather at the Clinton visit to Greenfield Middle School.

The sky was a little threatening for us who were the first few in line.  A woman and her two young children from New Palestine were the first in line.  She was afraid to take them back home when she learned the wait would be so long. She didn't want to have to come back.

Finally, the crowd entered the Middle School gym. Some of the older had in fact been allotted bleacher seats.  Others crowded around a semicircular barricade leaving a viewable space. for the Secret Service agents to keep watch on any who would approach the former President.

The students began their entry and were seated but still the President had not arrived. The excitement built as Greenfield Central high schooler Cory Book left his seat in the student section and went to the center of the gym and orchestrated a periodic handclapping.

Then the President appeared from behind a curtained area behind the speakers platform.  It resulted in an eruption of applause and cheering.

The substance of the President’s remarks were current issues in America as he saw them.  Some might also say his speech was a “stump” pep talk for his wife Hillary Clinton’s presidential race.

He jokingly referred to his visits to the small towns of Indiana saying he had been asked what wouldn’t he do next – pick up Wal-Mart shoppers and take them to the polls? He mentioned that that sounded to him like a good idea.

The President said the worst part of the last eight years since his presidency was that America was being divided by wealth where the where the rich were getting richer while more and more people had fallen from the ranks of the middle class. “This economy is in the tank in more ways than one,” Clinton said. “Energy costs are up $2,000 per family, and you’re spending about $250 more a year on food. But your income is about a thousand dollars lower a year with inflation than it was the day I left office. Five million people have fallen from the middle class into poverty.”

Clinton said his wife’s plan if she is elected president is to create solid jobs that cannot be shipped overseas. Her plan calls for the creation of 3 million jobs for the repairing and building of America’s infrastructure needs such as roads, water and utilities. Other jobs under her plan would be created with a serious commitment to developing a home-grown energy independence policy. Also, he said to rousing applause that she would not allow America’s defense industry to send jobs overseas.  He also condemned out-of-control gasoline prices.
Hillary Clinton has also proposed a tax relief holiday this summer, during which the federal tax used to fund road projects would be temporarily suspended.

“For this, she has been ridiculed,” Clinton said. “But too many Americans every day are being forced to choose between buying gas or buying food.”

“The real answer is to have higher mileage cars,” he said. He talked of a man getting 100 miles per gallon in city driving and about 70 miles per gallon on the highway. He said he investigated the situation and learned about the high-tech battery pack used to run the car at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.  “It’s a hybrid car on steroids,” he said. “Think what that would mean to your life if you had a 100-mile-per-gallon car. You could keep your money at home, in your pockets, in your children’s future.” Clinton said the problem is that such a battery pack now costs about $10,000. But he recalled flat-screen televisions, computers and other electronic devices. He said the price will drop drastically when those items are manufactured in bulk. “Everything gets cheaper when you make more of it,” he said. “Any country that beat the world to the moon should be able to build a car battery. It would explode opportunities in America.”

Following the speech, the President left his spot behind the speakers platform and made his way around the semicircular barricade shaking hands with the many anxious Hancock County folks stretching for the reach.  Secret Service agents were close beside and on one occasion barked out for a "gladhander" to put down the coat he had in one hand.

One notable aspect of the visit was the section to the left of the dais where chairs had been placed for Hancock County elected officials. Mayor Brad DeReamer and Prosecutor Dean Dobbins were among those in this audience.  Both are of course Republicans.

Sheriff Bud Gray told me afterwards how the President had come to Greenrfield.  He had flown into Mt. Comfort airport where the Indiana State Police had organized a convoy with state police vehicles in front and back.  The President had then been driven to the Greenfield Middle School in one of the two suburban vans within the escort. At the Middle School the Hancock County Sheriff's Dept and Greenfield City Police had shared security responsibilities.

The Presidential visit has already resulted in folklore.  The very next day, a Republican committeeperson told me “Nobody went to see him.”   The fact was that the turnout was huge for an event that had hardly been expected. The crowd filled the gymnasium and politics or not we can now say that a President has shared our space.

 GROUNDHOG TIME

Hoosier groundhogs are on the move signaling the Spring warmup in Hoosier land. Some consider the groundhog the only sure sign of the change of the winter season to Spring.  The groundhog awakens from its winter snooze depending upon temperature. Then it makes its few ventures from its burrow in the Spring.  Except to seek a new home or to breed the groundhog rarely ventures far from its burrow among juicy alfalfa fields or grassy spots.

GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE TAKES HANCOCK COUNTY TO SEAT OF CALVARY

The annual Hancock County community Good Friday service was held at Greenfield Christian Church this year but the summons was to a distant hill. This was the hill known to history as Calvary upon which Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of all. The memorial to the great achievement of redemption began at 12 noon Greenfield IN time on March 21, 2008.  Overseeing the service which filled the local church was a cross with wreath of a crown of thorns. Conducting the services were numerous local ministers to include John Davis of the Greenfield Christian Church, Larry Dull of Calvary Baptist Church, Hugh Severance of the Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church, Don Crane of the Park Chapel Christian church, Rich Schoeff of the Greenfield Friends Meeting, Steve Bradley of Brown's Chapel Wesleyan, Russ Jarvis who is the Chaplain at Hancock Regional Hospital, todd Beale of the Community Christian Church of New Palestine, Joe Pesola of St. Thomas Catholic church of Fortville and John Paulson of the Greenfield First Presbyterian Church.

A NEIGHBORLY VISIT BY A POSSIBLE NEXT PRESIDENT

Hillary Clinton visits our neck of the woods with Senator Evan Bayh at her side.

     Hillary Clinton, Democrat candidate for President, motored to the Central Indiana venue of her next test in her presidential campaign Thursday March 20, 2008.  It was Anderson's huge Wigwam and many interested Hancock County voters and local Democrats made the trip.  They were joined by thousands of Hoosiers. The Wigwam holds about nine thousand people and was at one time considered the largest high school gym in the world. The size was needed because Hoosiers crowded in to see possibly the first woman President in the nation's history. The Indiana Primary may well decide the Presidency with the former first lady, Hillary Clinton now a Senator from New York vying with Democrat opposition.  Ms. Clinton was introduced by Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, a supporter, who commented that this year for the first time in forty years the Hoosier primary may determine who the next President will be. Ms. Clinton proved to be a very rousing and fluent public speaker.  She received her greatest applause in insisting she will "renegotiate NAFTA" which has caused many manufacturing jobs to be lost to American workers and also rev down the war in Iraq which is costing $341.4 million per day in unfunded liabilities amounting to a debt on the head of every American child of $30,000. 

A BRILLIANT BUT ERRATIC LAWYER OF THE HANCOCK COUNTY BAR

     One of the first lawyers in Greenfield and one of its most brilliant barristers was also one of the most erratic in Hancock County history.  His name was Reuben Riley born in 1819.  Many know him as the father of James Whitcomb Riley, the most popular poet in American literature. The career of this barrister covered the entire early history of his hometown.  He died in 1893 as his marker at the town cemetery says.  The stone also has inscribed a strange and cryptic message: "God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain."  Beside this final resting place is a telling government issue tablet worn away by time.  It can still be read to say: CPT. Reuben A. Riley. 5 Ind. Cav. Co. G.  We also know Reuben Riley to have been a Captain of Co. G, 8th Ind. Regt. Ind. Volunteers (Infantry). The service with the 8th Ind. Regt. made him a true Civil War hero and also broke him in mind and body. 

     It is interesting to speculate on Reuben Riley's mental state after the Civil War when he returned to practice law in Greenfield. One local tradition has it that Reuben Riley as a lawyer, would simply leave a law suit in progress to carve an ax handle at home. 

     When Reuben Riley became the father of James Whticomb Riley, he set an ambition for his poet son and it was not to be a poet. Reuben Riley wished his son to succeed him in the law.  Try as hard as he might, the boy could not settle into that mould.  The father had a law office in the three story Greenfield Masonic Building and required his son to sit in his office and "read the law."  Instead, the boy's mind led him to compose poetry within the pages of an opened law book.  It is said that the famous poem, "An Old Sweetheart of Mine" was originally conceived and composed during one of his sessions "reading the law."

     Is It Time to Return James Whitcomb Riley to his Rightful Resting Place?

Hancock County Current Obits

BOOK OFFER: THE HOOSIER DEUTSCH: LOST LEGACY will be available in print for delivery to purchasers beginning Nov. 1, 2008 just in time for the holidays. Printing for advanced purchasers only, $35.00. Mail for reserved copy to Coiny Publishing, P.O. Box 605, Greenfield, IN 46140. Hardbound. Illustrated. And let your librarian know that a new history of a lost people will be out!!!  Book by Thomas E.Q. Williams, author of Hoosier subjects. Limited edition. Available only through this website. Contributors of material are still solicited until further notice.