07302005 - News Article - More vote fraud charges - VOTE FRAUD: Seven people charged in 41 counts stemming from 2003 primaries - ROBERT CANTRELL

More vote fraud charges
VOTE FRAUD: Seven people charged in 41 counts stemming from 2003 primaries
NWI Times
Jul 30, 2005
nwitimes.com/news/local/more-vote-fraud-charges/article_e05687f5-aa45-5834-b7a9-c89c7620cfee.html
HAMMOND | The fallout continues for those involved in the election that led to the ouster of former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick.

Indiana Attorney Steve Carter and Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter announced Friday they filed 41 criminal vote fraud charges against seven people in connection with 2003 primary elections.

Six of those charged are in connection with the East Chicago Mayoral primary that pitted Pastrick against George Pabey.

Pastrick won the election, but lost the battle for mayor when the Indiana Supreme Court ordered that election redone. He subsequently lost to Pabey in October 2004.

At the time, two of those charged worked for East Chicago. Larry Battle was employed for the parks department; Florentino Guillen for the schools.

Brian Berkman is the sole person charged in connection with voting in the 2003 Democratic Primary that pitted Deborah Riga and Kenneth Anderson for Schererville town judge. Riga won by 11 votes, and that primary result was overturned as well.

Berkman, a Gary resident, is accused of voting illegally in the Riga/Anderson election. He is charged with one count each of voting in other precincts and perjury.

Bernard Carter asked the attorney general for help looking into the 2003 primaries that fall. Federal investigators took over, checking for violations of federal law, but found none. They handed the case back to state and county officials in March, the attorney general said.

The Carters were assisted in the investigation by the Indiana State Police.

And they're not done yet, the attorney general said Friday at the Indiana Welcome Center.

"The assignment continues," he said at a news conference. "Public corruption is a serious issue in Indiana wherever it occurs, but it's occurred too many times in Northwest Indiana. The public's confidence is undermined by the acts of corruption by public officials in the election process."

The probable cause affidavit reports Battle, 51, lived in Gary but voted in the East Chicago primary. He is charged with seven counts of vote fraud, ballot fraud and perjury.

Allan "Twig" Simmons, 37, of Hammond, faces 20 charges including perjury, obstruction of justice and vote fraud.

Those are in addition to nine charges filed against him in March.

According to the affidavit, Simmons encouraged several people to vote absentee, provided them with ballots -- some of which were already filled out -- and took them from the voters for delivery.

Two of those whom Simmons helped vote absentee were legally blind, the report states. Many of the voters were elderly or weren't fluent in English, Steve Carter said.

"It's hard to think those people would seek out those opportunities to participate in illegal activities," he said.

07282005 - News Article - Feds continue Cantrell, drug center inquiry - Records of E.C. political insider's consulting work again under review - ROBERT CANTRELL

Feds continue Cantrell, drug center inquiry 
Records of E.C. political insider's consulting work again under review
Post-Tribune (IN)
July 28, 2005
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10C0841AA25790A0?p=AWNB.html
Federal investigators have again requested documents about work political insider Robert Cantrell did for a Hammond drug addiction counseling center.

Nancy Fromm, head of Addiction and Family Care drug center, confirmed Wednesday she had complied with a written request from the U.S. Attorney's Office to supply records relating to consulting work Cantrell did for the business.

The business has drawn the interest of federal investigators since at least early 2004, because of Addiction and Family Care contracts with the North Township Trustee's Office, where Cantrell works.

"They asked for the same records they did last year, the ones about Bobby Cantrell, his work as a consultant for me," Fromm said.

The records request did not detail on what the investigation is focusing, nor did it request Fromm to appear before a grand jury, she said.

"I'm assuming it's the same thing as last time," Fromm said. "(Cantrell) has worked for me, helping me bring in clients, though not so much any more."

Cantrell could not be reached for comment.

A clerk at the East Chicago office of the North Township Trustee's office, where Cantrell works, said Wednesday that Cantrell was on vacation.

When federal agents took records from North Township Trustee Greg Cvitkovich's office last year, there was widespread speculation they were looking into contracts between the trustee's office and Addiction and Family Care.

Those contracts included taxpayer-funded massages for North Township employees on taxpayer time.

Though Addiction and Family Care has long been linked to Cantrell, Fromm lamented the impact the continuing investigations have had on the business.

"It definitely hammers at my business," she said. "We're just now getting back on our feet."

A secretary for Cvitkovich said Cvitkovich had no comment about the federal investigation.

Fromm has been at the center of other federal inquiries.

Former Schererville Town Judge Deborah A. Riga awaits trial on charges she extorted money from Fromm for addiction counseling services Fromm offered through Riga's court.

"This time, (federal authorities) didn't ask for any records having to do with Riga, obviously," Fromm said.

"They asked for the same records they did last year, the ones about Bobby Cantrell, his work as a consultant for me."

07072005 - News Article - Cat season crowds humane societies in summer months

Cat season crowds humane societies in summer months

Post-Tribune (IN) 

July 7, 2005

www.newsbank.com

The dog days of summer may not have arrived yet, but the cat days are well under way.

Local animal shelters say their cages are overflowing with unwanted cats and kittens, part of the annual summertime influx of felines workers call "cat season."

"I don't care if you have spaces for 20 animals or if you have room for 100, you're going to be filled," said Betty Clayton, who opened the Humane Society of Northwest Indiana in Gary two years ago.

Clayton took in 54 cats in June, and has had to turn away others.

Officials at the two largest shelters in the area, humane society operations in Hobart and Munster, say they are stuck with more kittens than they can hold, and few are being adopted out.

The seasonal surge mirrors the feline reproductive cycle, as cats in summer give birth to kittens conceived in the spring mating season.

But even though shelters know cat season is an annual event, there's no way to prepare when it starts raining cats and cats, said Carol Konopacki, director of the Hobart Humane Society.

Konopacki's group, which also serves as animal control for Hobart, Merrillville and surrounding unincorporated areas, received nearly 250 cats and kittens in June alone -- double the number they see in winter months.

Because few were adopted -- and others were feral or sickly -- shelter workers had to euthanize more than half of them.

"It's cat season, and everybody wants to get rid of their cats," she said. "What do you do when you get 40 in one day and adopt out five?"

A box of 16, 2-week-old kittens was waiting on the front steps of the Humane Society Calumet Area in Munster when Executive Director Cathi Daniels arrived at work Wednesday morning.

Daniels, whose shelter is the largest no-kill shelter in the region, already has more than 100 cats in her care or in foster homes.

"We have a special. When you get one kitten (for a $75 fee), you get another one free," she said.

When shelters turn away cats, reluctant owners turn them loose -- increasing the ranks of the stray cats and further increasing the burden on local animal control officials.

Those animals fortunate enough to get a cage at a Humane Society shelter in Gary and Munster can stay, so long as they remain mentally and physically healthy, which can be difficult for animals that don't get much human contact.

With 75 volunteer "foster parents," the Munster shelter can send most of its surplus kittens to temporary homes, but that's not yet an option in Gary, Clayton said.

Budget and capacity pressures mean that each month about three or four cats -- those that are sick, psychotic or very old -- are euthanized at her shelter, she said.

"There are worse things than death for these animals," Clayton said. "It is the absolute worst thing to play God over these animals."

Owners need to spay and neuter their pets or make sure they can find homes for kittens, Konopacki said.

"People say they want to let their cat have kittens so their children can see the miracle of birth," she said.

"They should have to take them here when we put them down so they can see the miracle of death," she said.