Attorney General Steve Carter has published the following press release:

Six more individuals have been charged on 19 counts of illegal activity in the 2003 East Chicago primary election announced members of the Joint Voter Fraud Task Force led by Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter and Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter. One of the individuals charged today is East Chicago City Councilman Levones Tolbert, who was a precinct committeeman during the ’03 primary election.

“I can’t emphasize enough the seriousness of tampering with any part of the election process,” Attorney General Carter said. “Voting is a fundamental right of citizens that must be preserved and an honest election process must be returned to East Chicago.”

The task force announced 41 criminal charges against seven people in July. Prosecutor Carter says the investigation does not stop here.

“The effectiveness of the Lake County Vote Fraud Task Force is a result of the continuing cooperation of the Office of the Lake County Prosecutor, the Office of the Indiana Attorney General and the Indiana State Police,” Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter added. “Voting in a precinct other than your own is a crime and in a close race it can negatively affect the outcome and the right of all candidates and voters to a fair electoral process.”

The six individuals charged today for illegal activity in the 2003 East Chicago primary election are Arthur Vera, Armando Vera, Elvia Vera, Pedro Moro, Yolanda Ramirez, and Levones Tolbert. The 19 counts filed against them include fraudulently receiving voted ballots, voting in a precinct other than where the person lived, and perjury for lying about where he/she lived on absentee applications.

The Indiana State Police is leading the investigation and filed arrest warrants earlier this week.

“Voter fraud strikes at the core of our democracy,” Indiana State Police Superintendent Paul Whitesell stated. “The Indiana State Police will vigorously investigate allegations of voter fraud.”

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued an interim final rule amending the regulations for the leasing of oil and natural gas in special tar sand areas. The amendments will bring the regulations into accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (pdf). The rule is effective immediately, but comments will still be accepted until December 6, 2005.

Yesterday the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel ran an editorial titled, “Launch charter study now: Thanks to Evansville and Vanderburgh County, there is a new sense of urgency.” The piece quotes yours truly on similar unification efforts in Evansville/Vanderburgh. Fort Wayne charter-government supporters are moving up their timetable due primarily to coincide with Evansville/Vanderburgh’s efforts. Many believe that a unified effort between the two regions will stand a better chance of receiving support from the state legislature. Leo Morris has more at Opening Arguments in a post titled, “Let my people know.” Indiana Barrister has covered the issue extensively. Read this Oct. 5 entry for more.

The TribStar of Terre Haute carries an article titled, “Former Vigo County judge dies at 84.”

Harold Bitzegaio, a decorated war hero, avid outdoorsman and no-nonsense Vigo Superior Court judge, died Wednesday at age 84.

* * *

Bitzegaio served as Vigo County Superior Court 1 judge for about 20 years through 1980.

* * *

“He had a stern, no-nonsense demeanor about him” Adler said. “I think most lawyers who didn’t know him well felt somewhat intimidated by him.”

Judge Bitzegaio knew the law and had a practical approach to cases. “You might say he was somewhat impatient. He wanted attorneys to get to the heart of the case,” Adler said.

Outside the courthouse, Bitzegaio was neither stern nor serious, Adler said. “He was very gregarious and affable.”

Vigo County Prosecutor Bob Wright said Bitzegaio “had a very good legal mind” and was instrumental in creating Indiana’s pattern jury instructions – instructions used in every jury trial in Indiana.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service seeks comments on a proposed rule that would designate critical habitat for Brodiaea filifolia, in accordance with the Endangered Species Act. The proposed habitat includes 4,690 acres in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, and San Diego counties, California. Comments will be accepted until October 20, 2005.

The Delaware Supreme Court reversed a lower court opinion requiring an internet service provider to disclose the identity of an anonymous blogger who allegedly made defamatory claims about a public official. You can access the ruling here (pdf). The justices said the Smyrna town councilman Patrick Cahill should have to make a stronger case that he and his wife, Julia, had been defamed before ordering Comcast Cable Communications to disclose the identities of four anonymous posters to a blog site operated by Independent Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Delaware State News. Among other things the bloggers pointed to Cahill’s “obvious mental deterioration,” and made several sexual references about him and his wife, including using the name “Gahill” to suggest that Cahill, who has publicly feuded with Smyrna Mayor Mark Schaeffer, is homosexual. The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware offers this report. The Associated Press reports that “Court Rules in Favor of Anonymous Blogger.”

The Indianapolis Star carries an Associated Press article today titled, “Coats to work as Miers’ adviser.”

President Bush on Thursday tapped former Indiana Republican Sen. Dan Coats to help shepherd Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers through the Senate’s confirmation process.

Coats, who resigned in February after nearly four years as the U.S. ambassador to Germany, will fill an unpaid role similar to that of former Sen. Fred Thompson during Chief Justice John Roberts’ confirmation proceedings.

As some readers may recall, Coats has been consistently pro-life. Coats has pushed legislation to restrict abortion, tried to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts because of grants it made to artists he said mocked God, and led the opposition to allowing gays in the military.

The Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana carries an article titled, “Porter County weighs digital record-keeping.”

Paperwork and documents are piling up in the Porter County Administration Center, and space for boxes of filings is running out.

Digitizing the records could be the answer, but some county officials are not sure what paperwork can be completely dispensed with after digitization, and what has to be kept.

Meanwhile, boxes of paperwork and legal documents are piling up in the basement, and officials are wondering if computer disks or microfilm is the answer.

In a meeting of Porter County commissioners and Porter County council members on Wednesday night, officials discussed solutions.

Earlier in the day, Commissioner President Robert Harper said computerized records are a possibility, as are microfilming documents.

But there will still be state-issued constraints.

Thomas Langhourne reports in today’s Evansville Courier & Press, “Merger referendum gets nod.”

Overcoming the skepticism of one of its leading members, the Vanderburgh County Council on Wednesday passed a resolution in favor of holding a countywide referendum on city-county government consolidation.

Evansville city officials put the wheels in motion for a similar resolution Sept. 26. The City Council is expected to vote on it within two weeks.

If the Legislature passes a bill allowing Vanderburgh County to hold a referendum, supporters intend that it be held in conjunction with the November 2006 general election.

Wednesday’s County Council vote in favor of the resolution supporting a referendum was 4-2, with Councilman Curt Wortman, R-2nd District, and Council Finance Chairman James Raben, R-1st District, voting no.

Indiana Barrister has covered the issue extensively, including in this Oct. 5 entry.

The following press release was just sent to me by the Counsel to the Chief Justice of Indiana:

Descendants of Mary Clark, a black woman who played a key role in the Indiana Supreme Court’s 19th century decisions regarding slavery, will tell her dramatic story in the Indiana Supreme Court chambers on Friday, October 14, 2005 at 2 p.m., Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard announced today.

Clark’s descendants will join two other presenters in an hour long event showcasing the Court’s efforts to develop new ways to access information about Indiana’s legal past including: a searchable database of early Indiana cases, dramatic re-enactments about the lives of key figures in Indiana legal history, and a new biography series about Indiana lawyers and judges.

The event is part of a new Supreme Court-sponsored lecture series aimed at addressing legal topics of current interest to lawyers, judges, educators, and citizens in a variety of formats. Each talk will be free and open to the public.

Chief Justice Shepard will introduce this inaugural lecture and the speakers. Douglas Fivecoat, the editor of a new biography on Isaac Blackford, will provide insights on the longest serving judge of the Indiana Supreme Court and Indiana’s first Speaker of the House. His remarks will cover Blackford both as a jurist and as a prominent participant in Indiana’s formative years. Vicki Casteel, from the Indiana State Archives, will demonstrate a new database that for the first time allows electronic searches for Indiana Supreme Court cases from 1816 to approximately 1862 – covering Blackford’s entire career on the Court. The final panelists, Ethel McCane and Eunice Trotter, are direct descendants of Mary Clark. In re Clark is one of the most important pre-Civil War cases heard by the Court. In Clark, the Court struck down indentures binding Mary Clark, a black woman, to a white man.

Accessing Indiana’s Legal Past is sponsored by the Indiana Supreme Court “Courts in the Classroom” Project and the Indiana State Archives. The seminar will take place from 2-3 p.m. in the recently renovated Supreme Court chambers on the third floor of the State House. Light refreshments will follow.

One hour of free Continuing Legal Education credit has been approved, which also qualifies for credit for newly admitted attorneys.

The event will webcast “live” at www.in.gov/judiciary/webcast. Visit the “Courts in the Classroom” website for information about the book Isaac Blackford: Indiana’s Blackstone, the database created by the Indiana State Archives, and for documents relating to In re Clark. www.in.gov/judiciary/citc