TERRE HAUTE —
A series of walkaways in the past year from Gibault’s southside facility serving troubled youth and resulting scary incidents produced sharp reactions from area homeowners and officials representing nearby schools. The mood was tense and nerves were frayed.
Safety and security concerns stemming from Gibault’s seeming inability to adequately contain its residential clients were clearly beginning to tarnish the institution’s image and reputation in the community.
While there’s still progress to be made, it’s good to know that Gibault officials are working hard to respond in a constructive manner by being more transparent with the public and more willing to inform people of efforts to make things better for all affected, including the young people the facility serves.
In a meeting of Gibault officials with local law enforcement, school officials and representatives of area homeowners, Michele Madley, interim Gibault CEO, reported on recent changes the institution has implemented to help address concerns about safety and security.
Among its steps are an increase in security staff, and immediate notification of police when two or more residents leave the Gibault campus. Nearby residents will also be notified through their homeowners associations, and schools will be informed when in session.
Meanwhile, more meetings similar to the one on Tuesday are planned for the future.
Gibault’s worthy mission has changed through the years as it serves young people with more severe and diverse problems. It speaks well of the community if the institution can coexist in its neighborhood and still managed to serves the needs of its fragile clientele.
The people of Terre Haute need to be proud of the work being done at and by Gibault. Building on this momentum and working toward eliminating safety concerns is a way that pride and confidence can be restored.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: Progress at Gibault
Efforts begin to restore confidence in security
- Editorials
-
-
EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
-
EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
-
EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
-
EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
-
Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
-
EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
-
EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
-
EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
-
EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
-
EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
-
READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
-
EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
-
EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
-
EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
-
EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
-
EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
-
EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
-
EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
-
EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
-
EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
-
EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
-
MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
-
EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
-
EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
-
EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
-
Season of Day 2s arrives
Calendars in Cincinnati contain one extra holiday — Opening Day, traditionally the first Monday in April.
-
Congress fails to recognize problem of education costs
Who hasn’t gotten this message yet? The cost of a college degree has become unaffordable for a wide swath of middle-class America.
-
EDITORIAL: The cause of public safety: Firefighter group dedicates itself to preventing tragedy
Ensuring that smoke detectors are in working order is one of those periodic chores that’s so simple, yet seemingly so difficult in terms of follow-through.
- More Editorials Headlines
-
EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press




