Super Bowl XlVI Bill Beck in indianapolis

BIll Beckside lines

INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL Experi-ence is sick.

Good sick, that is. If you’re not sure what I mean, ask your kids.

It’s a blast — at least it was for me Wednesday. You get the whole nine yards and then some.

All you need is time and enough funds in your checking account or on your debit card and you can have one heck of a (legal) good time at the Su-per Bowl.

Patience? You might wanna back that as well because by Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the downtown Indianapolis scene will become completely un-hinged.

I spent three hours in the Circle City’s heart and here’s what I found.

Parking, but not a lot.Look for $20-$40 prior to game day

and approaching $100 on Sunday. Like any big sporting event, the closer you get to the venue, the deeper you dig into your wallet.

I found little kids playing in the mid-dle of what normally would be Capital Avenue, just outside the Indiana Con-vention Center, on a turf mini-field.

Nicholas Hamilton of Louisville, Ky., a 5-year-old playing catch with his mother, Meridith, was briefly inter-rupted by Cris Carter, the ESPN analyst and former standout receiver.

With a cell phone glued to his ear, Carter walked through the field, stopped about 10 feet from Nicholas, who had a ball, and asked the youngster to throw him the ball.

Nicholas wasn’t paying attention at first, but then, as mom encouraged him, he flipped to ball to Carter, who playfully tossed it back before turning away and hurrying off.

Meridith and Nicholas went on play-ing catch.

Whoa! I had a Carter “C’mon, man?’’ moment and approached mom and asked her if she knew who the man was. She didn’t, but I told her it was Carter and that they could catch him on Sunday’s early pre-game show.

“It’ll make sense to him then,” Meri-dith said.

My good deed for the day. You’re wel-come.

Ran into Randy Robertson, the former Goshen High School coach and Gos-hen school board president. Randy was on the GHS sidelines in 1978, ’81 and ’88 when the Redskins played for state championships.

Watched the much-talked about “zip line’’ attraction. I’m surprised Cedar Point doesn’t have this.

Then again, maybe they already do.It’s 10 bucks, a long, long line and a

march up about 200 feet of steps. At the top, they strap you on to a cable and you “zip’’ about two city blocks to the other end.

For the easily freaked out, a change of

underwear may come in handy here.

I found an outdoor beer vendor and a food tent which, at 2 p.m., was surprisingly empty. For those wondering, yes, I passed on the beer.

But it’s inside the “NFL Experience’’ where you’ll find the most interaction and engage-ment with the Super Bowl and the game of football. That’s inside the Convention Center.

Temps will be in the mid-40s outside and everything is properly heated in-side, so I would suggest not layering too much.

It’s $25 for adults, $20 for children 12 and younger. There’s food, a huge gift shop/clothing area, games and foot-

ball challenges — throwing passes on a mini-field, kicking field goals from up to 40 yards and running through tackling dummies.

Saw Zachary Langlais of Monrovia drill a 40-yard field goal. No sweat for a 17-year-old soccer player.

I found food.I don’t know the quality of food —

that’s Marshall King’s expertise — but

It’s quite the ExperienceFootball fans flock to indy’s super Bowl Village.

Associated Press

A fan rides the zip line above Capitol Avenue in downtown Indianapolis on Sunday. Zip line riders pass in front of the entrance to the NFL Experience attraction.

Truth Photo By Bill Beck

Kids at the NFL Experience Super Bowl display play football outside on Capitol Avenue in Indianapolis.

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TV advertising’s biggest day is so big there are preview ads for the commercials. etruth.com

StephanIe Gattmansgattman@etruth.com

ELKHART — “... Catching up is always more expensive than keeping up,” Mayor Dick Moore told the Elkhart City Council Wednesday as he released an ad-ditional $1.73 million in capital fund requests for 2012.

Elkhart is finally getting out of “catching up” mode.

“In 2008, we found our city to be less than tidy and not very well maintained,” Moore said. “We found that we had personnel shortages in some departments and the lack of reliable equipment in many. To add to the problem, we soon lost millions of dollars that normally found their way into our general fund and difficult

decisions had to be made.”Moore said the city has spent

millions bringing streets up to condition and replacing “anti-quated and unreliable equip-ment” to do a better job with tree trimming and replacement,

brush and limb pickup and pav-ing and snow removal.

“All of this has required a sub-stantial financial investment,” Moore said. “... Like any program where you’re playing catch-up, you hope to do exactly that and then reduce the amount needed to continue on. I feel to some ex-tent we have arrived.”

Moore said the request, which

Mayor submits capital requestif budgets don’t rebound, housing assistance could be in downward spiral.JuStIn leIGhty jleighty@etruth.com

GOSHEN — A history of local mismanagement and federal budget tightening will combine to cut housing assistance to 100 local individuals and families.

“It’s self-inflicted. The Goshen Housing Authority acted im-properly and this has been the end result,” said Wayne Kramer, a recent addition to the housing authority’s board.

“Those of us who came on the board to try to straighten this

out are not too happy about it,” he said.

And if things don’t improve in the next couple of years, this could be the start of a spiral that will kill federal housing assis-tance in Goshen.

“I’m trying to figure out what I may have to ask the (Goshen City) council to do, and if the council says no to whatever I’m proposing, I think we just watch the program unfold or fold up over the next several years,” said Mayor Allan Kauffman.

The current board knew they’d have to pay back about a half-

Service cuts looming for Housing Authority

elkhart cIty councIl

Truth File Photo By J. Tyler Klassen

The city plans to replace eight squad cars for the police depart-ment in 2012.

GoShen

“Catching up is always more expensive than keeping up.”

Elkhart Mayor Dick Moore

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Gov. Mitch daniels signed the bill into law Wednesday, but union supporters still show their discontent in indy.tom loBIancoAssociated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is the first Rust Belt state to enact the contentious right-to-work labor law prohibiting labor contracts that require workers to pay union representa-tion fees, after Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the bill Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate approved the measure a few hours earlier Wednesday, following weeks of discord that saw House Democrats boycott the Legislature and thousands of protesters gather at the Statehouse.

“Seven years of evidence and experience ul-timately demonstrated that Indiana did need a right-to-work law to capture jobs for which, despite our highly rated business climate, we are not currently being considered,” Daniels said in a statement. A spokeswoman said he would not take questions on the measure Wednesday.

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to make In-diana the Rust Belt’s first right-to-work state, passing legislation that prohibits labor con-tracts requiring workers to pay union repre-sentation fees.

Thousands of union members gathered in-side the Statehouse chanted “Shame on you!” and “See you at the Super Bowl!” as the vote was announced. Thousands more amassed outside for a rally that spilled into the India-napolis streets, already bustling with Super Bowl festivities, hoping to point a national spotlight on the state.

Indiana will be the first state in a decade to enact a right-to-work law, although few states with legislation in place boast Indiana’s union clout, borne of a long manufacturing legacy. The move is likely to embolden national right-to-work advocates who have unsuccessfully pushed the measure in other states following a Republican sweep of statehouses in 2010.

Passage of the law will close one chapter in a contentious debate that sparked a five-week walkout by outnumbered House Democrats last year and saw them stage numerous boy-cotts this session, delaying action on other bills and threatening to spill over into Sun-day’s Super Bowl.

The Republican-controlled Senate ap-proved the bill in a 28-22 vote Wednesday morning. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels’s sig-nature made Indiana the 23rd right-to-work state.

“We’re giving freedom to workers who don’t want to be a part of something they don’t be-lieve in,” said Republican Sen. Carlin Yoder, shortly before the vote.

Over the past year, Republicans have pushed for other anti-union laws in battle-ground Rust Belt states where many of the country’s manufacturing jobs reside, includ

Indiana is officially a right-to-work state

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