I just  registered with our new reader comment tool, Pluck, and tested the system.

It took just a few seconds to get approval.

And my test comments actually allowed me to use dollar signs, puncuation with sentences and even an asterisk.

The system went up just a little bit ago, so please be patient as the systems guys with Freedon Interactive work out any bugs that up this afternoon and into the evening.

As I said last week, I hope our online users will the new reader comment tool easier and less frustrating to use. I also hope it makes for a more civil community conversation.

Don’t forget to try out the forum option of the tool. It will allow individual users to start their own topical forums.

Unfortunately, we’ve learned that the reader comments already posted on the old system can’t be converted to the new, so anything you posted in the past day or two will no longer appear with their associated stories.

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My impression is Hoosiers enjoyed the limelight that Democratic presidential primary race cast on Indiana.

What’s your take on that?

We’ll publish an editorial on Monday that resurrects an opinion piece I wrote earlier this year, contending that Indiana’s primary comes way too late in the presidential nomination process. It’s been 40 years since Hoosier voters mattered in that process.

But with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton slugging it out with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, our votes, opinions and voices finally mattered.

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Could we be in for a long night awaiting election results in Jackson County?

Maybe so.

With a number of Jackson County’s 33 precincts running out of Democratic paper ballots — and many voters preferring not to cast their ballots on the touchscreen I-Votronic system — means election board officials must count paper ballots and then enter them into the electronic system to yield vote totals.

Of course, the I-Votronic wasn’t an option for voters at Jackson 5 North at Seymour High School when it ran out of Democratic ballots. That’s because its touchscreen machine broke down with 55 votes on it about midday. The inspector there, Joe Robertson, said those 55 ballots will be electroncially transferred out and counted.

Why did the precincts run out of Democratic ballots? That’s probably a combination of at least three things: more people voted, perhaps most attributed to Indiana’s presidential primary actually meaning something for the first time since 1968; ballots had to be ordered before anyone ever dreamed that our primary could mean something and stir more people to vote; and it’s pretty clear that a number of Jackson County Republicans crossed over and took Democratic ballots, for whatever reason.

Anyway, we still have staff at the courthouse, waiting for the final results. As soon as we have them, we’ll post them online.

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Here’s something you don’t often hear on national television:

“Indiana is too close to call.”

That was Brit Hume on Fox News at around 7:30 p.m. That’s 90 minutes after polls were closed in most of the Hoosier state and 30 minutes after they were closed in the Gary and Evansville areas of western Indiana, where the clocks are set on Central time.

Generally, Indiana’s the first state called in a presidential race, and always for the Republican. Of course, that’s for the general election.

This spring, what’s too close to call today is whether New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will win the Democratic nod in the Hoosier state.

Clinton is leading Obama now with a pretty safae margin, but Fox News just reported that no precincts from Lake County are in yet. Who knows how that will pan out, where residents are encouraged to vote early and often, even if you’re dead.

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In talking to a number of precinct inspectors  and election officials today, it seems pretty clear there’s a whole lot of crossover voting go on across Jackson County.

Nearly every precinct has ran out of Democratic ballots, Carolyn Hurt of the Voter Registration Office said just after 5 p.m. Polls close at 6 p.m.

From what I’m hearing, those crossover Republicans are likely voting heavily for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary and against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

But it’ll be interesting to see if the crossovers go deeper into the Democratic ballot and try to get Republican Mike Sodrel a weaker candidate for the fall election in Indiana’s 9th District congressional race. I’m also hearing that Republicans are crossing over in the New Albany-Jeffersonville area.

Incumbent Democrat Baron Hill is opposed by three primary challengers, Gretchen Clearwater of Bloomington, John Bottorff of Jasper and Lendall Terry of Versailles. With the power of incumbency and strong name recognition, you’d think Hill wouldn’t have much of a problem today, just as he had little problem with three opponents in the 2006 Democratic primary.

But it could be interesting to see how much mischief Republicans attempted to do beyond Rush Limbaugh’s call for Operation Chaos, where he’s encouraged the GOP faithful to vote for Clinton on the premise that she’s easier for Arizona Republican John McCain to beat this fall.

We’ll see what happens.

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Be sure to stay connect with TribTown on Election Day.

We’ll report online about what’s going on with Tuesday’s primary and school board elections throughout the morning, day and evening into the night, if ncessary.

Carolyn Hurt, Jackson County Clerk Sarah’s Benter deput over the Voter Registration Office, said early today that poll sites and poll workers will be ready to open the doors at 6 a.m. Tuesday. It’s a long day, that could be even longer this time if turnout is higher.

Carolyn expects a good turnout of the county’s 29,000-plus eligible voters. That’s based on her observation that absentee ballots were up by about 50 percent going into the final few hours of absentee balloting.

Absentee boards in Brownstown and Seymour closed at noon today.

Reporters Zach Spicer, Jill Treadway, January Wetzel and Aubrey Woods will stop in at several polls Tuesday morning. We’ll report on the early morning turnout online and incorporate those findings into a story that will be published Tuesday in The Tribune.

Throughout the day will update the online Election Day posting as news warrants.

Then we’ll start posting results as they come in the clerk’s office, although we can’t assure that we’ll receive periodic results as we always used to.

Thanks to technology, we’ve seen delays in the periodic reporting, but also thanks to technology, final results are generally out much, much quicker than in the past.

We’ll not dwell on the election two years ago, however, when computer glitches delayed final tallies until the next morning.

At any rate, stay connected to TribTown. We’ll keep you updated and report on the results as soon as we can.

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Did you know?

Kovenor’s Corner is open for the season.

It was a night of excitement around the Davis house the other night when Karen and girls brought home ice cream the other night. Yes, we’re easily excited, at least when it comes to ice cream.

Summer’s a good time. DQ and Kovener’s are open, but neither are open nearly long enough.

I’ve often grumbled about how late in the spring Kovener’s opens and how early in the fall. Although DQ opens a little earlier and closes a little later, it’s track record on supplying me with ice cream isn’t much better.

I know of no reason for not standing outside either business in the bitter cold for an ice cream treat. I’ll stand in rain in the summer, so why should they think I’d not stand in sleet or snow?

I suppose one could argue that they’d lose their luster if they stayed open all year.

That perhaps we wouldn’t have been as excited about a Kovener’s Corner treat as we were the other night.

That perhaps the pumkin pie Blizzard at DQ wouldn’t be such a treat if we could have it in January or February.

Maybe.

But I wouldn’t mind finding out.

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Tired of wading through the mire of what can sometimes make up a segment of online reader comments at our Web site, TribTown.com?

You’re not alone.

That’s why we’ll roll out a new reader comment tool — Pluck — on Monday, May 12.

The new tool will require anyone wanting to comment on stories posted online at TribTown to first register. You’ll need a verifiable e-mail address to do so.

No, you won’t have to publish your real name, although personally I put more stock in comments that carry a real name. I’m sure most other readers do, to.

Pseudonymns will be allowed, and pseudonymns will be registered, so we hope to eliminate what appears to be happening now, with some commentators purposely using the names of others to stir the pot.

One goal of Pluck is to encourage a more civil, more robust and more active community conversation online. As part of that, we’ll also offer readers more options to comment online rather than just the customary reader comments that follow each story posting.

Those other options include creating your own blog that will appear online at TribTown and initiating topical forums. You can also submit your own photos for use in user-submitted photo galleries.

You won’t be required to register to read our site or any of the reader comments, blogs or forums. Registration is needed to write comments to stories or forums or to create your own blog on TribTown.

Pluck will continue to allow viewers to flag comments if they think they’re out of bounds. Staffers at The Tribune will monitor those flagged comments to determine whether they should stay up or be removed. This new tool also will allow us to block those posters who repeatedly violate the Web site’s rules of community conversation.

Is this censorship? We don’t think so, although we’re quite certain there will be those who will claim that’s exactly what it is. Instead, we think the new tools — and our continued efforts to delete abusive comments — is simply an effort to create a more useful, vibrant and productive marketplace of ideas.

You’ll find how to register in a blue box on TribTown.com’s home page that says “Publish your stuff” starting Monday. Be sure to check it out, get registered and join the community conversation.

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Senior Judge Jonathan J. Robertson of Brownstown was hanged Friday in Jackson Circuit Court.

He’s still around to talk about it.

“It’s a nice picture,” Robertson said, taking a look at the photo/oil portrait that now adorns a wall inside the courtroom.

That’s the courtroom where Robertson began a 32-year career on the bench. He first served as judge of the Jackson Circuit Court, from 1965 to 1970.

He joined the Indiana Court of Appeals at Indianapolis in 1971 and retired in 1997.
“Being a part of Jackson Circuit Court has been a wonderful experience,” Robertson said.

But as Jackson Circuit Judge Bill Vance said during remarks Friday before the portrait’s unveiling, Robertson’s tenure as a judge continues. He still serves Indiana’s judicial system as a senior judge.

He also serves as coach for Vance.

“The most important lesson he’s taught me about being a judge is that judges decide the cases and issues that are before, not the cases and the issues they think should be before them,” Vance said.

Vance called Robertson the “most distinguished jurist to come from Jackson County.”

Robertson is known around the state for his delightful sense of humor, something you’d see on display while interviewing him at his Statehouse office, something you’d hear in his stories at the courthouse and something you’d see in the twinkle of his eye, long before he was ready to speak.

But Vance was careful to point out in his remarks that Robertson wasn’t a strong jurist because of his “sense of humor or his likeableness.”

“Judge Robertson is an outstanding judge be-cause of his great understanding of the law,” Vance said. “His judgments leave no doubts.”

Robertson was almost at a loss for words Friday. He said he appreciated the portrait and those who helped make it possible. It was a project of Vance and the Jackson County Bar Association.

The portrait joins a similar one already in the courtroom, that of another longtime retired judge, Jackson Circuit Judge Robert R. Brown of Brownstown.

He followed Robertson on the local bench.

Both men have been pleasures to work with and remain people you enjoy running into. They always have a good story to tell and likewise enjoy hearing what’s on your mind, especially if it’s a good tale.

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Guess we shouldn’t expect to see New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Seymour now that 9th District Rep. Baron Hill has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

With Hill, a Seymour Democrat, is one of the state party’s so-called superdelegates, I’d been expecting both wannabe nominees would make a campaign stop hear to court his support.

But Hill ended speculation with who he’d support with his announcement today.

Now the speculation is likely under way, or perhaps continuing, over how the endorsement of Obama helps and hurts Hill in his re-election bid this year. He faces three opponents in Tuesday’s primary election.

If he wins Tuesday, as expected, he’ll face Republican Mike Sodrel, a former 9th District representative, for the fourth time this fall. Also in the race this fall will be Libertarian Eric Schansberg.

So, don’t for Clinton to visit Seymour in the coming few days.

But what about Obama?

Do you think he’ll make a campaign swing through Jackson County?

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