Kyles Korner

Early this week, the Vigo County Health Department proposed an admendment to the Vigo County Clean Air Ordinance.  It was a pretty big admendment as well- they want to ban smoking from all public buildings.  This would mean all businesses, bars, and private clubs.

I'm a non-smoker, and have been all my life.  Does it bother me to see people smoke?  Not at all.  If you have the money to spend on cigarettes and choose to puff away, that should be totally up to you.  (Now if you are on government assitance and still light up, I have a problem with that, but that is an issue for another blog.)

Do I want to go out to eat dinner and inhale your smoke?  Absolutely not.  That is why I loved the original Clean Air Ordinance.  It put up some paramaters that allowed people to enjoy eating out and taking their kids bowling without smelling like an ashtray on the way home.  The smokers were not completely put out either, with most restaurants and bars building enclosed smoking sections so those patrons could enjoy a smoke with their meal.  I thought it was a win-win for everyone.  Basically the only place a non-smoker would have to deal with smoke is at a bar, which is easy to avoid if you choose.

The new county ordinance would change that.  Basically, you would be relegated to smoking only inside your own home, vehicle, or outside.  Even as a non-smoker, I think this might be taking things a step too far.  The current ordinance more than accomodates the average citizen, and every person can choose what they want to do.  Businesses can decide to have special enclosed smoking areas to attract and serve smokers.  Now those businesses could lose those customers, and in a struggling economy, nobody can afford that.

Also, I feel it is extremely unfair to the food establishments who incurred a hefty expense in building and designing these "enclosed smoking areas", as they will have to again spend thousands of dollars to undo the previous work to the layout of their building.  From personal experience, the food industry is very, very hard to be profitable in.   I can't see how this will help.

I think this issue is one that needs to be voted on.  What we have now seems to work just fine.  Let local buisness owners who already do a great job following the current ordinance, CHOOSE how the operate their business.  What is next?  Is the Health Department going to mandate serving portions at restaurants too?  If Vigo County thinks public smoking is still an issue, then let's put it on the next ballot, and let the voters decide, but don't decide it for us.

We have better news for you today on our 98.5 WIBQ-FM transmitter.  After some lengthy repairs all day Tuesday until very late Tuesday night, WIBQ is back on the air at around 70% power.  This means you should have no issues in cities like Paris, Marshall, Terre Haute, or Clinton picking up our station.

Another part was found to be damaged during the lightning strike, and it will have to be replaced to get us back to 100% power.  So sometime Thursday evening, WIBQ will have to go off air again for a short period of time, and after that final repair is made, we should be back at 100 % power.

Kudos to our cheif engineer, Jerry Arnold, and Kevin Berlen for their hard work and long hours put in this week. 

Also, we would like to thank you again for your patience with us during the issue.  It's been a couple very frustrating days for us as well.

Kyle

kyle.west@wibqfm.com

BEAVERCREEK, OHIO (Dayton Daily News)-  A 19-year-old Mason man driving south on Interstate 675 on Monday morning near the Indian Ripple Road exit crashed his car into an overpass, breaking the car into pieces and shutting down traffic for five hours.

The driver has been identified as Brennan S. Eden. He underwent surgery Monday afternoon and was in critical condition.

The specific cause of the crash has not yet been determined, but Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Marty Fellure said crash investigators are looking into whether speed played a factor. The investigators also will test for alcohol, which is a routine procedure.

Eden was seriously injured and flown to Miami Valley Hospital via a CareFlight helicopter, according to Fellure.

The accident happened about 7:15 a.m. Monday, Aug,. 23. Eden was driving a 1985 Pontiac Firebird south along the highway when the car went left of center and struck a culvert, which launched the car into the air until it struck the Wagner Road overpass. The Firebird disintegrated into many pieces. Eden was ejected and came to rest on the right berm of southbound I-675.

Investigators don’t know how fast Eden was driving but suspect he was traveling in excess of the 65 mph speed limit.

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Still waiting word on how the driver of this is going to come out, but if he lives, it would almost be a miracle.  I don't know what would cause a car to go that far off the road unless a tire blew, or if he just was playing on the cell phone.   I like the line where it said "police suspect he was traveling in excess of the 65 mph speed limit."  You think?  That car was going no less than 80 when it launched in the air.

Whatever caused the accident, it was by far the nastiest crash video I have ever seen.   What is even more amazing is how it all got caught on video from a cop car.  Insane.  It may be a good thing he hit the overpass.  Think what would of happened if he went into the oncoming traffic?  Then we could be talking about several people in the hospital today.

  Hopefully, the kid is able to pull through, and his injuries are not life threatening. 

So late Friday night into early Saturday, we got some very much needed rain in the Wabash Valley.  I know my brown grass in my front lawn sure needed the rain, and farmers all over the valley were probably estatic.

I left the radio station around 2 AM, and before I left I saw a huge mass of green, orange, and red on the radar heading our way.  I knew it was just heavy rain, no severe weather, so I went ahead and headed home for the night.  I sleep very well in thunderstorms, and was looking forward to a nice night of sleep.  Evidently, I slept thru an impressive lightning display.

The call came way to early Saturday morning.  The WIBQ transmitter had blown up as result of the storm.  Most likely, some type of lightning strike:

(Okay, so maybe not as vicious as THIS picture, but you get the idea)

We had some parts fail, and while we fixed what we could, we had to order one more part, which is due first thing Tuesday morning.  The timing of the storm on a early Saturday morning, meant having to wait until this morning to order the part, which added a couple days to the process. 

We are still on air at a very reduced power, so you might be able to get us just fine in your car or truck radio, and in downtown Paris.  However, radios inside your home or work may have difficulty until we are back at 100 % power (hopefully by mid-day Tuesday).   It's us, not your radio.

We here at WIBQ would like to thank you for your patience, and appreciate those who have sent E-Mails, left phone messages, and have posted on our facebook page.  If you have any other questions, you can e-mail me at the link below or Steve Hall ( steve.hall@wibqfm.com ) We hope something like this never happens, but every now and then Mother Nature has her way!

-- Kyle West

Kyle.West@wibqfm.com