Salem Indiana and Woefully Ran Schools

 I've long been an educated person and relatively well educated and somewhat well traveled. The public education system in the United States these days is in many ways in total disarray as the education system has many flaws and a significant deal of incompetence and corruption in the said system. Instead being professional educators the school have become a paycheck for many and a theft of public funds and taxpayers dollars. Here in Indiana of course the schools are funded primarily through the property taxes of landowners and productive assets and land and homes that end up funding the school systems and public works. 

That said its pretty obvious to me and countless other parents and of course taxpayers who are being hosed by the public school system tax levies and administration but also staff that is often lack at professionalism at their jobs and not doing their job. 

An instance is the Salem Community Schools here in Salem, Indiana where the good old boy system is alive and well and the incompetence of many is off the charts. It might be added there are plenty of metrics and statistics that might be added here and over the next couple of weeks I will be exposing the Salem Community Schools as being lacking in so many areas of educational competence that such lack of action by administrators and staff should be considered criminal or neglect of students. I will be adding more to this blog post later on May 26, 2024 and May 27, 2024 and statistics and links from educational based webpages where the Salem Community Schools are regularly failing the students and improperly administering the schools and the benefits that the community and foremost the students should be receiving from their public education funded by the taxpayers through their property taxes. Thank you. 

Salem Indiana Schools and Nefarious Behavior of Public Servants and Officials.

Its quite interesting to watch the fustercluck that is currently the Salem Community Schools which is a school system I attended for 13 years from age 6 many decades ago until I graduated from said school system over 3 decades ago. I might also mention that not only did I graduate with a relatively good GPA while maintaining a rigorous course structure and graduated with 52 credits at a time when I only needed 38 credits but that I also was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities. 

That being said I later attended university and also matched my High School GPA and graduated with a degree after a few years. 

What exists at the Salem Community Schools these days for those who are here now is a laughingstock at the administrative levels of the school and there are plenty of people who need to be replaced because they're products of a incompetence based system where butt kissing is more important than being proficient at your job as an educator and leader. None of which exists in the sorry assed state of the Salem Schools these days including allowing bullying and harassment and people getting beat up in the schools. These same schools never bother to report these bullying incidents to the police or authorities but if a kid has an accident and ends up with a black eye or some other injury these same principals, administrators and teachers and counselors are readily available to accuse a parent of child abuse or some other offense against a child knowing that the law shield their sorry asses from legal repercussions from making a false claim or some other bullshittery about how the child may have been abused. 

All the while none of the accusations are actually true but it allows public officials, school administration, teachers and counselors to make false accusations about something that simply didn't happen. I don't appreciate being smeared by some sorry ass school official in his welfare job sucking down taxpayer money from the taxpayers and being able to openly accuse anyone and parents of students because they don't like that someone is on to their BS games and onto their lechery and hypocrisy. All the while the Salem Schools allow a massive amount of bullying at all three schools including Bradie Shrum Elementary as evidenced by myself and brought up to the school officials including a former principal and now current principal who was formerly assistant principal. 

The same events occur regularly at Salem Middle School where bullying and harassment is tolerated by teachers, staff and counselors and the administrators as well. This has been doing with the knowledge of a lot of people for many years and yet no one is terminated or loses their job or position due to being a bully enabler. This also goes on and went in the 1980s and 1990s when I was in the Salem Community Schools. Its about time its called out and gets nipped in the bud so to speak. Maybe one has to start filing lawsuits against the school corporation to put a stop to this nonsense and maybe the Indiana State Board of Education needs to start removing the teaching licenses and administration licenses of those involved in the school corporation that don't take a strict stand against bullying and harassment. Which ought to include administrators and staff and teachers and counselors making false reports of child neglect against parents they know nothing about nor have talked to the parents and the kids of such events. I don't appreciate having a lifetime clear record smeared by some nincompoop on a public salary who has been sitting on their asses on my dime and my tax monies and those of my community waging war against parents who call out bullying, corruption, nepotism and nefarious behavior in a school system that regularly ranks in the bottom half of all Indiana school systems at all three levels including elementary school, middle school and high school. 

I guess one has to start taking legal remedies outside of the Washington County corrupt courts and injustice system in Washington County, Indiana to get this problem resolved. 

The Salem Indiana Drug Den

 Since the 1990s when Salem became a drug infested town under the guise of certain members of the local legal guild and legal society and became known for people getting out of drug crimes by going to these lawyers Salem has been going downhill. 

The same could be said for the state of Washington County, Indiana which is now rapidly in decline as crime spikes due to the criminal nature of many Washington Countians and also the fact that local prosecuting attorney and judges along with law enforcement are more interested in prosecuting minor offenses while drug crimes, violence, meth distribution, meth possession, heroin distribution and possession and other serious crimes are not dealt with. Not to mention the lack of prosecution of common criminals who get plea bargains and repeated attempts at reforming themselves to no avail and end up being in the Washington County, Indiana revolving door injustice system for a lifetime instead of getting common sense rehabilitation and the ability to improve their lives through education, job training and skills. 

Instead crooked Washington County, Indiana and the crooked little town of Salem, Indiana wishes to harass people that call out criminality in government and persecute those who speak out about such crooked and corrupt practices in government. Indeed, Washington County for many years at the state capitol in Indianapolis was known as being a drug den and a place of one of the most venal and corrupt county governments in Indiana. Long has passed since that was first brought up by some state legislators in the late 1990s but the corrupt institutions remain and the revolving door justice system and police incompetence and corruption remain. Not to mention the mismanagement of Washington County finances and public administration in both the City of Salem, Indiana and Washington County, Indiana. 

Did you know that Washington County, Indiana has a poverty rate of 18.1 percent for children and the City of Salem is about 25 percent for children living in poverty. That's not counting working age and older adults who are increasingly living in the drug infested town of Salem, Indiana living in a community of low wage jobs, poverty and lack of economic opportunity. Meanwhile the infrastructure of Salem, Indiana continues to rot despite the shiny new pavement on old Main Street between the light by CVS around the square. 

All the while the town looks like a cesspool and looks like it hasn't been painted and cleaned for a generation and is falling apart. Sure there are still some nice homes and well kept properties but the current administration and current officials in Salem, Indiana aren't held to account and are not doing their jobs as public servants. 

Instead the city of approximately 6,700 people is literally falling apart with many of the streets in poor condition, a water system that is financially mismanaged with too many cronies working in the system. Furthermore, it might be added that years of mismanagement and might I add outright nepotism and cronyism is a huge part of the problem. Or that since 2018 Salem has been fudging federal and state guidelines when it comes to water reporting and fixing the quality problems with yellow water and discolored water and many of these citizens will not drink Salem Municpal Water much less let their dog bathe in it in some cases.

I might also add that the good old boys at the Salem Police Department basically turn their heads and eyes away from known crimes and crime reports from citizens and refuse to do their jobs as a public servant by investigating and arresting those people who are committing crimes even as people report crimes to these public servants. Instead Washington County and Salem, Indiana sink more into the morass of being a crime infested community. Maybe we can put a sign up that you are in Washington County- A Certified Crime Infested Drug Den along with Salem needing a sign of more than A City With  Rich History. 

Salem has been living off its laurels for decades while the infrastructure declines, the city is deep in debt, the water system is busted and there is little or no productive new economic capacity being introduced unless you want low wage jobs, retail and donut shops. Let's get real and ask why the Salem City Council and Salem officials and Washington County officials don't get their heads out of their posteriors and do their jobs. 

A Salem Native Tells It Like It Is About Salem Indiana and Washington County

 I borrowed this with permission but it sums up pretty much the Salem, Indiana and Washington County, Indiana Mentality to a T

There’s a lot of gossip in small towns and even in workplaces because most people don’t have the mental depth, education depth or abilities to make anything out of their lives to do things that they want to do and need to do. Instead, they’ll sit on their rear ends for a lifetime and start talking about everyone in their town. Usually this kind of stupidity exists in small communities of 10 to 15,000 people in that there will be people who live in close proximity to actually worry about what you are doing. A lot of these people probably know your parents or knew your family or just want to make trouble by sticking their nose in your business or spreading rumors about things they have no right to stick their nose into.

The reason they do this is because they have nothing else in their lives to do other than gossip. Think about it. The town they live in is often boring, decrepit, run down, higher unemployment rates and underemployment not to mention a total dearth of jobs. You can also add in that these towns often have people who are of low mentality and lower educational levels than what you would find in a small city, university town or suburbs/urban areas. Small town people these days are often very dull with no real interests, activities, hobbies, etc and no way of really making friends except for their 5000 fake Facebook friends that most of them possibly don’t know very well.

I grew in one of those small towns 5,000 population and the county had about 25,000 population and its still that way 28 years after I graduated high school. I was born there and my parents moved back there when I was six after living in a far different part of the state and in a totally different region where I lived in a county with well over 120,000 people at that time.

One of the reasons for moving back to that town where I was born was my parents wanting to be closer to their parents who are now deceased by about 10 years and in some cases 25 years. However, my parents are still steadfast in living in that community even though I’m about 75 minutes away by a 4 lane highway and I’m glad I left my hometown because it degenerated into a big pile of garbage over the years.

The sad thing is that when I went to school there in the 1980s and 1990s, the town actually produced a higher quality of people that came out of that town and produced people that were largely high quality people. So why did the town die and turn into an Indiana drug den of ignorance, poverty, stupidity and low educational levels along with having crime problems and serious methamphetamine issues?

Largely the problem was that the manufacturing base in the town stagnated and in a lot of ways decreased by plant closures and things not being attracted to improve the quality of the town. The people my age then being 18 to 22 by and large hauled their stuff out of town and went to college, trade school, 2 year community college or major universities where 5 people in my graduating class of 127 became doctors, many more became part of the medical field but also others joined the military and made something of themselves through military service. Also many of us worked our way through school or other pursuits and then graduated a bit later.

When it came time to graduate the vast majority of them decided to go to the most near large city of 1 million people and get good careers there. Hardly any of them who left for college ever came back to that small town and no one can blame them. Even a few years ago a friend of mine considered moving back there and then he realized he would have to find work 35 or 40 miles away in the nearest large city south of there. So instead he decided on living in the suburbs of the city of 1 million and lived there for quite a few years until he decided to relocate to the Western US to be closer to the family of his wife but still in a larger metro area and suburbs.

A lot of the ones who stayed either succumbed to drug abuse issues, alcoholism, criminality, did jail time, or ended up in jobs that really were a waste of their abilities. All I can say is that I am glad that I got out and pursued work accomplishments, education and continuing education.

A lot of the locals still there now have to deal with criminal records, drug abuse problems running across the community that have been ignored for 25 years by the local politicians, police, lawyers etc because it would be traced back to some of the local politicians and cops/prosecutors turning their heads away from the drug pushing being committed by some of the local politicians. Many of the towns in that region now suffer from horrendous amounts of drug addiction, mostly meth, heroin, pills, etc. The manufacturing economy went from several manufacturing plants and a vibrant town to a place that is dependent on at most 2 factories and if they ever leave the whole town will dry up.

What I am trying to point out to you is that small towns aren’t exactly places that you want to stay if you have real career goals and job ambitions to do better for yourself. As far as the gossip goes, its the people that never go anywhere in their lives and careers that worry about the gossip. Realize that the fact that you don’t gossip makes you generally a better person than the ones that think they know everything. Most of the time they don’t know what they think they do and most of the time they don’t have the ambition, drive, skills, education and training to amount to anything other than being another small town loser with nothing that they will ever accomplish that will actually stand out or change much of anything to the world they live in.

What I seen with my hometown is that it really went downhill because of the lack of jobs, manufacturing closures but also the fact that the people didn’t have any depth of thought or conversation about new industries to attract and retraining and educating the upcoming and current workforce. Instead the town fathers got this idea that could try the retirement community angle even though the town has virtually nothing to offer outside of a few fast food places, a Walmart and a few businesses in the middle of the town. Most of the rest of it is single family houses, an awful local hospital and a community with schools that are regularly rated with C and D grades by the state department of education.

What I always noticed about my hometown along with other small towns is there are a lot of people that don’t have anything else to do except pass rumors, complain or start something about someone else they don’t know. All I had to do in high school was tell some sort of story about myself and then watch the other students run around and tell the story and then I would find out about it by 3 pm that school day. Someone would come back to me and ask if I knew the rumor and I would always laugh about it and how stupid people were. Even worse is that in that small town there are people who were adults then and their kids are middle age 40s now and still act the same way. Losers.

Doing What's Right For Washington County

 It's interesting that the Washington County Prosecutor talks about doing what's right for Washington County, Indiana and has in his previous statements done so repeatedly. Then why is it that political corruption and police corruption along with election violations pertaining to the Salem, Indiana mayoral election of 2019 get absolutely no attention. 

Now its well known around these parts that Washington County, Indiana has long been a hotbed of political corruption and the good old boy system rubbing each others backsides. Not to mention the various incidents which have happened over the years in Salem, Indiana and environs such as American citizens being denied their constitutional and civil rights by the local authorities. Much like it's sister county to the north Jackson County where in 2021 a black inmate arrested for shoplifting and evasion was arrested by the police and sheriff's department there. Only to be found dead some time later apparently being poisoned in jail while being in jail which should be a place where contraband shouldn't be and prisoners shouldn't be mistreated. 

This state of affairs is well known to have happened in the past in Washington County, Indiana along with citizens being harassed by various members of law enforcement and so called good old boys including one local neanderthal politician telling a community member that she needed to be more careful as in don't expose the good old boy politicians and butt kissers. You know the type being the community do gooders that always talk about doing their public good in the community while drugs and dope and corruption stinks up the entire county. Not to mention hiding things from the public that involves community funds being stolen away and ending up in the pockets of public officials and those related to the public officials. Add in a couple of judges that are more interested in their own version of the law rather than following the Indiana Code and Indiana and United States Constitution. 

I wonder when this said Prosecutor and his staff of hired guns are going to start investigating the misuse of public funds including COVID aid that mysteriously went to a few businesses around Salem. Some of that money mysteriously went into a few people's pockets including someone that didn't even have a business entity nor filed the proper reports and information with the Secretary of State along with the Indiana Department of Revenue and other necessary filing requirements all businesses have to comply with. 

Since we're on doing what is right for Washington County do ask why is it that Washington County is one of the biggest drug dens in all of Southern Indiana and has been for about 30 years? Ask yourself why haven't the powers that be in Salem, Indiana including all of these public officials aren't really interested in fixing the methamphetamine crisis and heroin issues that plague Washington County and Salem, Indiana. Ask yourself why Salem is just as a big of a drug den as it was 20 years ago when it mostly marijuana and LSD that was a big local problem and a few well known citizens were known to be involved in the drug trade. Of course the local city police and Sheriff's Department of that time turned a blind eye to the corruption and the public officials that knew all about it got real mum about the whole thing when anyone questioned them. 

Of course one local businessman in Salem was involved in making sure that someone was bailed out of a Florida jail when they were caught importing drugs and also was able to get out of the pickle without a scratch. Wonder why that was? Because Daddy Warbucks got on a plane and flew down to Florida to make sure this community member didn't get a jail sentence in the big house. 

Let's also ask why people were getting beaten in the County Jail back in the 1970s and 1980s and for all anyone knows it could still be happening behind closed doors. After all look at the rough pictures of those arrested and put in the police mugshots and media when these people are arrested. Most people don't run around with cuts and bruises to their face or black eyes unless they were physically assaulted and I don't think they were running into doorknobs or getting into a fight with their woodstove. 

Let's also ask a question of why local law enforcement and local officials are above the law or think they are because no one at the state level in Indiana or the FBI hasn't been to Washington County, Indiana to check things out because everything is just hunky dory in Washington County, Indiana and Salem, Indiana. 

It reminds me of an incident a couple of years ago when a so called scion of the community was highly upset of someone writing an article criticizing the local community of Salem, Indiana and they also talked about the same sort of corruption that I have mentioned in my posts here. Not to mention they had made mention of the corruption issues with drugs and telling the young people of Washington County that they should consider moving to other places with less corruption and do as little business with Washington County as possible and that includes local businesses and outfits. 

One young lady who posted such a diatribe that she didn't write and she just posted what she read was pilloried and condemned by the local do gooders and the community so called back scratchers and leaders. Including one prominent former Salem businessman well aged into his years who criticized her for writing the piece and then later having to backtrack because he didn't know who wrote the piece. Of course being a lifelong butt kisser and crony in Salem, Indiana was that "Salem is not corrupt" yet there are thousands of people in Washington County that know by personal experience in dealing with the police, legal system and judicial system that they've been screwed in some cases countless times by the good old boy system and those who are in power who behave corruptly. 

Even to the point that a former resident of Salem and Washington County now living in Arizona once remarked "Shame on those locals and public officials that are profiting from the drug trade and turning their eyes the other way while drugs are ruining the community" paraphrased of course because I can't locate the exact quote made in 2020 or thereabout. 

So when are the public officials of Washington County going to actually do the right thing for Washington County and actually do something about the drug problems and corruption problems in Washington County. It's 2022 and they can't hide things like they used to do in Salem, Indiana because we've got our cameras and we've got the internet and we've got the First Amendment to bring these things to light. 

There is one thing that cockroaches and mice and other vermin truly hate and that is the light and especially the light of truth shining on their crookedness and criminality and nefarious deeds. 

Shine on Washington County and you can do so much better than the criminal element that exists in your local authorities and local government. It's too bad that the local citizenry is still asleep or accepting of this corruption because they're often related to someone that is involved knee deep in something they shouldn't be doing. Calling out these vultures and criminals is really doing what is right for Washington County not the prostitutor's office making useless statements protecting their backside. 

The Laughingstock Community of Salem, Indiana and Washington County, Indiana

 Salem, Indiana despite its checkered past with racial problems including a certain unknown percentage of the town and now city being comprised of bigots, racists, Klan members and other sorts of unsavory characters was at least a decent place to live. Despite the stupidity of racist ideas and stupidity of that entire ideology as if the residents of Salem were somehow mentally and genetically superior to that of other races and Salem being in many ways a sundown town at least most people had some basic respect for the rest of society. 

Not any more in most cases

In Salem these days you have landlords, apartment managers and other cretins that allow all kinds of criminals and miscreant trash to roam their premises while tenants and individuals that pay their bills and do the right get thing are harassed for calling out bad behavior. Not to mention the open and outright abuse of drugs such as marijuana, meth, opioids and pills that are regularly used by these individuals. All in the plain sight of anyone and known by many people including the landlords and apartment managers and such. Strangely enough when scumbags are doing drugs in the presence of children (who are young and impressionable) those who complain about the illicit use of these drugs in violation of apartment leases are often told in no less than threatening language they'll be evicted. 

Then again, if one calls the local Salem Indiana police about a pot smoker whose foul odors go through walls and into the next apartment nothing ends up getting done even though the department supposedly has a drug dog to sniff out weed, meth use, and other contraband. Interestingly enough having to battle such people with criminal records out the wazoo seems to be a common problem in Salem, All the while these same LOSERS and drugheads have criminal records going back years even decades. 

However, whenever you bring this up to the local yokels in Salem you'll get the response that its not the person you are thinking of when you find that they have a checkered criminal past. Of course, you know you've got the right person based on name, physical characteristics, age, arrest records, previous addresses and such. All the while the goon apartment manager screams about how their record came back as clean. Obviously they didn't know how to do a proper background check either or their superiors in the business. Add in that many drug abusers have other criminal involvement involving thefts, auto thefts, burglaries, drunk driving one would think a simple search of these individuals in court records would suffice. Not so in hillbilly mentality Salem where the average IQ is about 85 and its been dipping for the past couple of decades. Add in the rotten school systems of Washington County where half of the kids graduate 12th grade without even being at a 12th grade reading or English composition proficiency. Math appears to be even worse when its only about 35 percent which is why Washington County residents and a whole lot of Salemites don't make much money. 

However to listen to the local education officials in the superintendent offices including superintendents, assistant superintendents and other butt kissers one would think that Salem, Indiana and Washington County in general has the best schools in the region. However, a close look at statistics and rankings from 2012 through the pandemic start of 2020 shows that Salem High School, Salem Middle School and Bradie Shrum Elementary all score way below many school districts in other counties of Indiana in similar demographic areas, school size, resources and much more. When an elementary school repeatedly receives a C or D rating from the Indiana Department of Education it doesn't say much about the quality of the school when from 2012/2013 until 2020 the ranking is a C or mostly D ranking by the state. 

Even more laughable is to hear a former principal of Bradie Shrum make the comment that its less about the education of children but how they get along with others. Hmmm, sounds like they're more interested in social promotion rather than producing children that will grow into adults and realize what a totally fucked up place that Salem, Indiana truly is and leave for greener pastures. The best part of this is that I can go back to my high school class of 130-140 and remember that only about 1/4 of the graduates at that time stayed in Salem and the rest moved elsewhere because they knew what a rotten dump that Salem, Indiana truly is and that opportunities, jobs and futures were vastly improved when looking elsewhere. 

It's even more damning when in 2021 that most of these people will be retiring in 10 to 15 years and looking to move somewhere else but they won't be moving back to dumpy little run down Salem especially when its wracked with semi-illiterate young adults and middle aged dropouts by then . Not to mention drugs everywhere which has been the case in Washington County for the last 10 to 15 years but also going back to the 1980s and 1990s when the small town mafia style goons started bringing in dope such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, meth and other trash. The problem is do the people of Washington County really care? Or are they mostly sitting in their little restaurants and houses and hypocritical churches while the community around them turns into a cesspool of meth heads, heroin junkies and 80 IQ pot smokers with criminal records so long that they couldn't get a stable decent job anywhere much less amount to anything else. 

This isn't quite the Salem, Indiana that I remember and its been repeated countless thousands of times across the country over the last 30 years of dope being dumped everywhere which has made for a nation full of dopes who are incapable of logic, reason, sound education and being a decent person or upstanding citizens. There have always been lowlifes, scofflaws and criminals but the current state of affairs in Washington County, Indiana is ridiculous. 

Small Town Parasite Behavior

 Salem, Indiana at one time was a community where people proudly worked for a living, held jobs and started businesses that helped the community and provided goods and services needed for everyday life. However, a more insidious problem has been increasing in number and percentage of the population. That is due to the problem of welfare dependency and government programs that allow a certain percentage of the non-disabled population aged 18 to 65 to become government dependents and welfare cheats. That can be said of some of the housing issues around Salem, Indiana as well as in Washington County where people that once worked their fingers and bodies for a living that now have become dormant people. 

These are people who at 20...30...40...50 years of age are government welfare cheats and losers that refuse to work for a living and better themselves. Therefore, much of Salem consists of these parasites as well the massive drug problem that exists in Salem, Indiana and Washington County, Indiana at large. A drug problem that has been allowed to fester for decades while the local authorities in the legal eagle category as well as other law enforcement turn their heads and spend time making sure to have as many repeat dope offenders including meth junkies, heroin junkies and other drug abusers in the system. 

These people and a certain percentage of their fellow travelers and associates do their best to run down Salem, Indiana and turn it into a small town drug den that is well known across other counties in Southern Indiana as being wracked with drug problems including authorities in counties as far flung as Scott County, Harrison County, Orange County and Lawrence County, Indiana for its own drug issues. 

The Salem mentality over the years has been for the local prosecutor and judges to turn a blind eye at the drug problem in Salem, Indiana which causes a great deal of other criminal behavior including assaults, domestic violence, theft and countless other criminal acts. 

It also should be mentioned that sizable percentage of these people are also on public assistance programs such as housing and rural development programs through USDA Rural Development and HUD programs while using drugs in apartments and other residences in Salem and Washington County. Yet the lenders and lendees that oversee these apartment developments often turn a blind eye to drug abuse on their premises and properties as do the local law enforcement authorities. 

Much of the blame for this goes back to various public officials like the Prosecutor's Office and local police departments and police jurisdictions that have always turned a blind eye since the 1980s and since towards the increasingly problematic behaviors and crimes that are committed in the usage and distribution of these drugs and the resulting criminal behaviors of many of these people. 

Don't count on Washington County, Indiana to do the right thing and start enforcing the laws equally when it comes to drug abuse, drug possession and criminal activities of these drug den that Washington County has become over the past 30 plus years. It's quite a shameful scene to consider that people call Salem, Indiana and environs a family oriented community while so many people in the community are involved in the manufacture, sale and distribution of drugs and criminal activities and have been for many years. 

Or as a friend once said regarding Washington County, Indiana and its court system that it should be called Washington County Justice......where there is no justice and all you have to do is be properly connected to the right people and make sure to grease some palms or do some back scratching to make sure you're not in trouble with the law.