Another Edition of Heartland Values

Go Indiana!

Segregationist Center
So it turns out that one of IU's buildings is named after a staunch segregationist and bigot, one Ora Wildermuth.

I bet you’ve passed it a few hundred times, maybe more.

It is a sign, small and simple. White words wrap around a dull maroon rectangle with the declaration: Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center.

This sign, which stands outside of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation building, represents the man, and the man represents the institution.

So who is the man?

One thing Judge Ora Leonard Wildermuth advocated would have made George Wallace proud. For Wildermuth, it was segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever. He put it in his own words on Nov. 19, 1945, in a letter to IU comptroller Ward G. Biddle. Wildermuth, then-president of the IU board of trustees, wrote, “I am and shall always remain absolutely and utterly opposed to social intermingling of the colored race with the white. I belong to the white race and shall remain loyal to it. It always has been the dominant and leading race.”

Ooh yeah, that's the old time white power schtick. You can't get hate like that anymore.

A bit of an irony for those of us who know Indiana these days too:

Wildermuth was one of the first citizens of Gary when he arrived there in 1906. He served as Gary’s first schoolteacher, librarian and municipal judge.

For those of you outside the state, Gary is a very heavily black majority city... with one of the highest per capita levels of violence in the country. Being a white supremacist from Gary these days would buy you a one way ticket to Hell on the Express train.

But back to the asshole.

From 1938 to1949, Wildermuth was president of the IU board of trustees. When the school sought funds, the trustees sought a reason. Both reason and racism clashed in the summer of 1948 when IU President Herman B Wells sent out a correspondence to the homes of each board member. Wells specifically requested from the trustee president to spend $60,000 to build new dormitories for the “colored housing situation.”

Wildermuth responded to Wells by writing, “So few of them succeed and the average of the race as to intelligence, economic status and industry is so far below the white average that it seems to me futile to build up hope for a great future.”

Much like a white-sheet clad Energizer Bunny, he kept going and going and going!

So, ok, the man was clearly a bigot, and having a campus building named after him is a disgrace. Right?

We'll surely be seeing some swift action on this point too, right?

When former IU President Adam Herbert discovered last April that a campus building bears the name of a known segregationist, he vowed to take speedy action. Almost a year later, with Herbert out of office, the team of faculty and administrators responsible for resolving the issue is still requesting more time.

...

Terry Clapacs, University vice president and chief administrative officer, heads the committee. He said a decision could not be reached last week because the committee members “all wanted to do more individual research.”

“There are a lot of opinions,” Clapacs said. “There were 17 of us that met, and everybody had something to say about it, so it was a very interesting conversation.”

The way I see it, you have basically two options, Clapacs, you moron. Either take his name off the building, or put on the white sheets yourself.

That's about the size of it.

Source: The Indiana Daily Student (original column) (status article)

Midwestern Poison
So as it turns out, Indiana found a way to enrich itself at the trough of Hurricane Katrina: selling the formaldehyde soaked trailers to FEMA.

Northern Indiana’s recreational vehicle industry is at the center of a federal inquiry into toxic air found in emergency trailers supplied to victims left homeless in 2005 by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday that it measured the highest levels of formaldehyde in emergency trailers made by three Indiana firms: Gulf Stream Coach, Inc., the largest privately held RV maker in the U.S., based in Nappanee; Pilgrim International, Inc., based in Middlebury; and Keystone R.V. Co., based in Goshen.

...

Officials at plywood industry trade groups in the United States and Canada suggest improperly sealed plywood imported from China might be the culprit. The plywood would have been used to make cabinets and build the structure of the trailers.

American and Canadian plywood makers say they commonly use phenol formaldehyde to make both interior and exterior plywood. The phenol variety’s tight bonding characteristics make it impervious to water, while the other variety, known as urea formaldehyde, can allow gas to escape if it is not sealed properly, said Paul Jaehrlich, technical services director of the Canadian Plywood Association.

China too! We should have known.

So basically, they cut corners (and padded their profit) by using cheap Chinese plywood. What harm could that possibly cause?

The results showed 121 Gulf Stream trailers tested had an average formaldehyde level of 0.103 parts per million, 39 Pilgrim units tested had an average of 0.108 parts per million and 38 Keystone units tested had an average of 0.102 parts per million.

The average exposure level for typical indoor air is 0.01 to 0.03 parts per million.

...

What is Formaldehyde?
It is a colorless gas emitted from many construction materials and can cause breathing problems, itchy eyes and rashes. The gas is also a suspected carcinogen.

Oh, right. It could KILL PEOPLE.

Selfish, arrogant, greedy, grasping pricks.

Another lesson in the true meaning of 'Heartland Values'

Source: The Indianapolis Star