Indiana House Democrats push trailer court decoy initiative
By John
LeForest, THG staff writer
This week Indiana
democrats in the state House of Representatives have been rallying support for a
key bill that would create decoy trailer parks on the outskirts of towns to lure
tornados away from inhabited trailer courts within the city limits.
“Everyone knows that as
soon as tornados touch down, they head straight for trailer parks to destroy
everything in their path. If this bill passes, many Hoosiers’ lives will be
saved since tornados will be tricked into destroying the uninhabited decoys,”
remarked Bonita Townsend of Clinton, D-42nd district. “This is by
far the most important piece of legislation introduced in the Indiana House
since Brown v. Board of Education back in the 1920s!” added
Representative Ron Buggins of Portland, D-33rd district.
House Demos face stiff
competition for getting the initiative passed. Nearly every Republican in the
House polled has said there is no way they would vote for the bill. “With the
budget crisis we are having right now, there is no way we can budget the money
needed for this initiative,” says House Republican Blake Knight, “We can barely
pay for schools to have enough teachers—How can we afford fake trailer courts
that nobody lives in?”
The question of cost has
been the most hotly debated issue in the House as the day that this bill comes
to a vote nears. Republicans say that one of the main problems is that the
materials needed to build the decoy trailer courts will cost more than replacing
real trailer courts destroyed by the high winds of a tornado. “Sometimes you
have to look past the costs. You can’t put a price tag on the lives of our
constituents!” argued Representative Townsend.
Even if the bill passes in
the House, there is no guarantee that the bill will not die in the Senate or
will be signed by Governor Joe Kernan, who might not want to take a stand on
such a controversial and costly bill. The bill will be voted on this Friday.
