Starting July 1, teens will no longer be allowed to talk, text or shoot video with their cell phones while they drive.

That’s according to a new state law.

Other provisions of the law that won’t go into effect for another year govern the licensing of teen drivers.

Check out staff writer Jill Treadway’s story in Wednesday’s edition of The Tribune and online at TribTown.com.

She talks with teens as well as an insurer about the changes coming up for teen drivers.

Local law enforcement officers wonder why the law only bars teens from texting while driving.

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Seymour Police Department is asking for the public’s help in an investigation that began with a report of a burglary Monday afternoon and ended with the arrest of two Illinois men after a pursuit.

Check out Aubrey Woods’ story in Thursday’s edition of The Tribune and online at TribTown.com.

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Seymour mayor-elect Craig Luedeman is expected to release job appointments sometime this afternoon.

 That’s what he told staff writer January Wetzel at this morning’s Seymour Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.

It sounds as though the tips I was getting that there was a good chance the new Seymour police chief would be a retired federal law enforcement person were wrong. So I’ll stand corrected once Craig releases his appointments.

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I’ve been puzzled by the venom and vitriol that’s been aimed at Seymour Police Chief Craig Hayes and Seymour Fire Chief Fred Hines concerning recent disciplinary cases involve police officer Bernard Petro and firefighter Tom Hoene.

Public reaction to Petro being demoted but retained has been fierce, or at least among many of the folks posting reader comments to our stories. I think that’s partly a result of how the agreement that led to that conclusion was made public — pretty well last-minute before Petro’s return to active duty following a 60-day suspension. It appears not even the Seymour Board of Public Works and Safety was aware of what was going on. Its members have certainly cried foul about the process and want to change it.

And the explanation from the mayor that Petro had suffered enough financially really didn’t seem to go over well with some in the public, either, or that the details of the allegations were not openly discussed. That’s left questions in the minds of many folks, although Hayes has said repeatedly that the actions involved no physical contact. And to my knowledge there’s been no evidence that the people involved were minors, as some reader comment postings have claimed.

If there’s an agreement that’s eventually reached between Hines and Hoene — Hines’ comments for a story that appeared in The Tribune on Tuesday certainly hint that something could be in the works — it will be interesting to see if it’s handled better than the Petro case. It would be hard not to.

For instance, giving the board of works a heads up about what’s happening and why it’s happening would be a good start. Maybe even give that heads up before the agreement is signed.

Perhaps we’ll learn something Thursday. That’s when Hoene’s hearing is set with the board of works. Its members are Mayor Jim Bullard, Councilwoman Mary Voss and Councilman Mike Jordan.

As staff writer January Wetzel reported following the last Seymour Common Council meeting, Jordan proposed that the council consider changing the process of reviewing such complaints. Council agree, and city attorney Jeff Lorenzo was working on a draft of such a plan.

The city’s also looking into adding a citizen member to the police review board. Staff wrwiter Zach Spicer has been contacting police departments around Indiana this week to learn how complaints against police officers are handled in other communities and whether their processes include citizen involvement. He’ll report his findings later this week.

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Based on reader comments online at TribTown.com and in letters to the editor of The Tribune, it sounds like it must be even tougher than normal to be a policeman in Seymour these days.

The responses to stories, an editorial, a column and letters about the disciplinary action taken against officer Bernard Petro of the Seymour Police Department have been numerous. Some are even mixed in with a story about the disciplinary action that Seymour Firefighter Tom Hoene may face.

Many of them appear to condemn all SPD officers with a broad brush. And that’s too bad.

Only Petro was facing disciplinary action, not any of the other current members of the police department. Yet they all seem to be taking it on the chin in many of the comments.

Over the years as a journalist, first as a police reporter and later as an editor, I’ve worked with many police officers, sheriff’s deputies, conservation officers and state troopers, in Arkansas, Ohio and Indiana.

For the most part, they’ve been good people. For the most part, they’ve been dedicated professionals. For the most part, they’ve been honest.

Granted, there have been some you wouldn’t trust with your life. A few probably didn’t play by the rules.

But that can be said of news reporters. Of bankers. Of factory workers.

Those few, however, don’t mean they’re all bad.

Being a cop, and I don’t use that word derisively, can’t be easy at any time. It has to be a little harder right now in Seymour, or at least based on many of those reader comments, based on the actions of one officer.

Again, that’s too bad.

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Seymour Common Council members of the board of public works and safety have expressed concern that their role in the Bernard Petro disciplinary procedure has been misreported in The Tribune.

They dispute that Seymour Board of Public Works and Safety received a recommendation from Police Chief Craig Hayes to fire Petro.

Well, The Tribune reported May 19 that Hayes submitted his “chief’s charges” to the board at its May 18 special meeting. That’s a fact.

We have a copy of minutes from that meeting that indicate Hayes presented his report to the board and its members, Councilwoman Mary Voss, Councilman Mike Jordan and Mayor JimBullard.

The Tribune also reported May 19 that Hayes’ report recommended Petro be fired. That’s a fact.

We have a copy of the document, one given to us by Hayes on May 18, and it’s also a matter of public record available in the clerk-treasurer’s office.

And city attorney Jeff Lorenzo confirmed Thursday that Hayes’ recommendation to fire Petro was included in that document.

Voss complained during Thursday’s board of works meeting that newspaper coverage has been wrong.

She said, reading from a statement, that “The Tribune wrote that “Chief Hayes brought a recommendation to the board for termination of officer Petro. This was never a recommendation brought to this board for any action.”

We’re not sure what she’s talking about, because the report was presented to the board and it recommended that Petro be fired. Those are facts.

Board members either don’t remember the report, don’t want to remember the report or didn’t do their job.
Jordan has also complained that the works board’s role was misrepresented in the newspaper.

But we don’t think so.

Again, we reported this week that Lorenzo said Hayes’ internal investigation report was not read by Bullard, Jordan and Voss because the process went into negotiations between lawyers for Petro and Hayes. That’s a fact, and that’s what we published.

Voss also read from her statement that “at this point, the board has not officially seen or heard any information, accusations, or witness statements with respect to this charge.”

We never reported the board heard such statements and that a hearing was ruled out because of the agreement between Petro and Hayes. We do, however, wonder whether anything can be read into Voss using the word “officially.” Could that mean statements could have been reviewed unofficially? Who knows.

We understand that city officials are probably taking some heat for how Petro’s disciplinary action turned out, and we’re certain those same officials would have taken some heat from someone regardless of its outcome.

We just wonder how blaming the newspaper for reporting the facts helps them explain that outcome to their constituents.
We invite anyone to call us, write us or visit with us about errors in our stories. We want to report the facts. We serve no one by doing any less.