Following is the text from the Winter, 2003, City of Indian Hills Newsletter:
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The holiday season is upon us once again, and all of us on your City Council want to wish each and every one of you a happy, healthy and safe season and a prosperous New Year.
A MESSAGE FROM THE WASTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE With the winter season on its way, those Councilpersons handling waste management issues in Indian Hills (Marie Bukowski, Bob Murphy and Joyce St. Clair) thought you should know the following:
OCTOBERFEST REPORT We think that the Octoberfest celebration gets bigger and better each year, and judging from the October turnout, this year was the very best. We try to expand this event and cater especially to the young people of our city. We extend special thanks to our former Councilman and current Public Works Chairman Jim Graven and his wife Jane. They worked extremely hard to arrange many of the activities, and our able and valuable City Clerk Betty Guelich took responsibility for the other events. At the end of the Octoberfest, a resident came up and asked whether we would like to have some live bluegrass music donated for next year's event. STAY TUNED. We also want to thank Harrods Creek and St. Matthews fire districts and the owners of the vintage fire trucks for their participation, along with our Indian Hills Police Department for the KidPrint Child Identification Program booth. POLICE DEPARTMENT Speaking of our Police Department, there was a recent negative letter to the editor of the Courier-Journal concerning the KidPrint Child Identification program. This program is an issue that we as a city strongly advocate, and it is one of those proactive programs that we hope never has to be used. We are enclosing with this newsletter a copy of Chief Kelly Spratt's letter of response to the editor (which may not ever be published in the Courier-Journal). COPS CORNER The Indian Hills Police Department would like to wish Happy Holidays to everyone, and hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable season. Keep in mind that packages left in your locked car in your driveway are very vulnerable to thieves. During this time of year, some people prey on the public's sense of security when it comes to their own driveway, so please spare yourself the loss and aggravation. CITY TAX BILLS We hesitate to talk about tax bills at this season, but they have been mailed and are due without penalty by January 1, 2004. Bills paid after January 1 incur penalty and interest. SNOW REMOVAL Just as a reminder (which we hope we won't need), the probability is that our regular contractor will again be plowing this winter and has asked that vehicles NOT be parked on the streets so that roads can be plowed on an as-needed basis. The determination of whether the roads should be plowed starts with our Police Department, who are on the road 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are responsibility for contacting our snow removal crew when necessary and help establish plowing priorities to benefit our residents. OTHER ISSUES There are several issues upon which your City Council is working that we will address in future newsletters as we obtain more information:
CHANGE OF DATES OF REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS At the November meeting of the City Council, we had the first reading of an ordinance to change the day of the week on which we hold our regular City Council meetings. We have been meeting on the third Tuesday of each month, and we are changing the date beginning with January, 2004 to the third Thursday of each month. The time (6:00 p.m.) and place (Louisville Boat Club) remain the same. Attached to this newsletter are the meeting dates for 2004. HAPPY, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Attachment: Meeting Schedule
Attachment: Text of Chief Spratt's response to the Editor of The Courier Journal December 9, 2003 Dear. Editor; In responding to Mr. Potter's concerns mentioned in his November 30th letter, I feel it necessary to address his points and to air the intent of the KidPrint Child Identification Program offered by the Indian Hills Police Depamnent. The program is more than merely placing a fingerprint with a photograph and name. The program contains biographical information (birth date, height, weight, hair color, and eye color) to be used in locating a missing or or abducted child as quickly as possible, before the need of the fingerprint for identification purposes. The card also offers advice for parents before being faced with the tragedy of a missing child, the strongest being "be prepared ... child protection is the responsibility of everyone". With personally interacting with roughly one thousand children since tho inception of our program in October 2002, I can say that this effort does not "scare children" or "give parents a false sense of security". The program does allow for children and parents to interact with police officers in a friendly environment. If it weren't for community programs such as this, the public would almost never communicate with a police officer unless it was brought about by a crime or emergency situation. While I strongly disagree with Mr. Potter's assertion that this program is "potentially worse than useless", it is our wish that not even one of our identification cards is used to locate a missing child. As a father of two, I hope that no parent or child is ever faced with an abduction or missing case. I prefer to be prepared and educated with the intent of preventing a tragedy (and having information readily available) as opposed to responding to that tragedy after-the-fact. Respectfully,
Col. Kelly W. Spratt |