‘Kernanvilles’ spring up all over Indiana as businesses downsize, close

            by Anne Couples, THG News

The recession has been harder on Indiana than anywhere else in the country.  The state has lost more jobs the past three years than any other, and there is no light at the end of tunnel for working class Hoosiers just trying to find a way to get by economically as more factory jobs are moved to foreign countries where people will work for practically nothing. 

Many who are unable to make their loan payments have had their homes foreclosed on and are homeless.  This has led to a phenomenon that hasn’t been seen in Indiana since the Great Depression: the rise of shantytowns in towns around the state in open fields or vacant lots.  The homes in these towns consist of any building materials available: cardboards, sheet metal, wood scraps, even Legos.

Blaming Governor Joe Kernan for their woes, many residents of these towns have dubbed them ‘Kernanvilles’.  During the 1930s, similar dwellings were nicknamed ‘Hoovervilles’ after President Herbert Hoover, who many at the time said was doing little to solve the problems brought on by the Depression.

Life in Kernanvilles is no picnic, according to many of their residents.

“It sucks ass,” said Rose Farmer, a former assembly line worker who lives in a shantytown outside of Fishers.  “This place is filthy.  I have to sit on a hole in the ground to take a crap.”  Farmer’s boyfriend Chris Corressel added, “Now I know how people live in Third World countries.  I won’t ever make fun of those guys again when I see them on TV—if I ever have a TV again.”

Governor Kernan has taken a lot of heat in the media lately for not dealing with the problem.  “How can I deal with a problem I can’t identify?” asked Kernan.  “In this state, it is hard to determine which towns are shantytowns and which are regular towns.  As soon as I determine the difference, I will take immediate action.”

Kernan’s opponent in the gubernatorial election this fall, Mitch Daniels, has taken advantage of the situation by offering residents of Kernanvilles relief.  “I have been giving the poor and needy beer and pot to relieve their suffering.  This is how the homeless in big cities cope, so I figured it would work here.  Vote My Man Mitch in 2004!”

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