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VIEWPOINT: The Commerce Connector in perspective

As one who navigates the tangle of roads at interstates 69 and 465 frequently, my first reaction to the proposed Indiana Commerce Connector was positive-anything to relieve that mess. Looking at a map and considering, for example, a more direct connection between inter states 69 and 70 east of the city seems to make perfect sense. There are many questions to be answered, however, before the state should make a commitment to it. In considering such a major project, it…

Analysis shows little savings in biz-group consolidation

The merger of four of central Indiana’s biggest business development organizations might achieve only modest cost savings,
or even be more expensive than the status quo, a confidential financial analysis obtained by IBJ shows.

IBJ reporters win state competition:

IBJ won two first-place awards in the Hoosier State Press Association’s 2006 Better Newspaper Contest, and an IBJ contributor was honored for his weekly column. IBJ was first in the Best Business/Economic Coverage category for reporter Peter Schnitzler’s Emerging India series, which was published in the first quarter of the year. IBJ also placed first in the Best Profile Feature category for reporter Anthony Schoettle’s story about Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, which was published Jan. 16. Columnist Bruce Hetrick…

Shoopman ready to build again

Paul Shoopman put 33 years into Dura Builders Inc. before selling his residential construction firm to national player KB
Home Inc. as the local housing market boomed. Two years later, he’s getting back into the business even as KB and others retrench.

SPORTS: Keady takes on a job much harder than coaching

“Nursing’s a lot harder than coaching, I can tell you that,” Keady, 70, said from his Tippecanoe County home, not far from Purdue University where the basketball court in Mackey Arena bears his name. After 25 years on the Purdue sidelines in a storied career that had almost everything except the storybook ending, Keady signed on last year as an assistant coach with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. This year, Raptors management changed and his contract was not renewed. Just as…

BULLS & BEARS: Firms that raise dividends often good investments

A couple of weeks ago, I explained that if in your golden years you place too little of your portfolio in stocks, then live too long, you run a high risk of running out of money before you run out of time. For older people, their fear is permanent loss of principal. Although people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s all know they need growth of principal, the fear of loss keeps many of them from getting enough growth to…

Strap maker hits right chord with guitar players: Action Custom Straps’ products catch on thanks to attention from musicians like Jimmy Buffett, Keith Urban

The guitar straps Terry Misner creates for musicians worldwide are the canvas for his artwork. In his specialty, though, the tapestry is really soft leather he uses to combine comfort and custom designs for performers such as Jimmy Buffett and Keith Urban. “It’s like sewing silk rather than sewing canvas,” he said. “You can rip through canvas in a hurry, but what would you rather feel?” The 56-year-old Misner operates Action Custom Straps with wife, Dena, and daughter Nikki O’Neal….

BRIAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Is privatizing public services the answer?

Since being elected governor, Mitch Daniels has unveiled several big ideas, a common theme of which is the privatization of public assets. Privatization is not a new idea or a big idea. Indianapolis residents are familiar with privatization, specifically of the city’s wastewater treatment facility and Indianapolis International Airport. While these privatization efforts purportedly have generated significant savings, none of those savings have been remitted to Indianapolis citizens, whose utility rates and ticket and parking fees helped construct and maintain…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Web application is right gift for those who fear software

Got a businessperson on your list? We’re hard to buy for, so you have my sympathies. Most of us have specific preferences in software, handheld devices, cell phones and other toys we euphemistically call “tools.” Ties aren’t common in business settings anymore, cutting off yet another formerly fruitful buying channel. Few of us have any use for another desktop nameplate. And gift certificates are rather cold. Software is a particularly bad gift choice. Most of us dread getting new software…

Breaking up may be hard, but museum thrives anyway: Conner Prairie turning red ink to black as it embraces independence after years-long governance dispute

Nearly a year after its split from longtime trustee Earlham College, Conner Prairie is on the rebound. The Hamilton County living-history museum is poised to close out 2006 with more revenue than expenses-the first time in years it’s been in the black. “We feel very good about it,” said Berkley Duck, board chairman for both the museum and its affiliated foundation. “We’re coming in pretty well against what we estimated.” That’s impressive, considering the 32-member board didn’t have much time…

Stewart helping promote Indiana to racing companies

City and state officials are igniting a souped-up effort to draw motorsports-related companies here, and they’re enlisting
Hoosier-born NASCAR champ Tony Stewart to help drive their message home.

Carving a niche outside Louisville: Hoosier Bat Co. finds success with Major Leaguers, amateur baseball players

A three-piece wooden bat David Cook developed in 1989 became popular among professional baseball players, but ended up nearly devastating his upstart manufacturing company. Major League Baseball banned the bat just a year later after what Cook contends was a fierce lobbying effort from his largest rival, Louisville Slugger. The bat-made of ash, hickory and maple-is fused by finger jointing and remains in use at the amateur levels. The durability of the bat rivals that of an aluminum model, Cook…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Colts lover gets a new hero

I was quarterback for the Colts once. I was about 9 years old and I was playing pee-wee football at Meridian Street Methodist Church. As all the kids gathered to be selected for a team on the first morning, I somehow finagled my way on to the Colts. I had to, because the Baltimore Colts were my favorite NFL team at the time. My hero was Johnny Unitas, thought by some even today to be the best quarterback ever to…

Standard Management continues perilous skid: Company reports more losses; stock value sinks

Standard Management Corp. stock peaked five days into 2006 at $1.55. It’s spent the rest of the year in a free fall that observers believe will culminate with the company’s filing for bankruptcy. The Carmel-based pharmaceuticals distributor reported a $10 million loss in the third quarter, bringing losses for the first nine months of 2006 to $14 million. The red ink, along with executive turnover and a string of failed acquisitions, has sapped investor confidence. The company’s shares, which traded…

NOTIONS: Looking in the mirror for Santa and Mrs. Claus

Bruce Hetrick has the week off. Before he left, he updated this column that was first published Dec. 20, 2004. Contrary to folklore perpetuated each December, Santa and Mrs. Claus don’t live at the North Pole. Their heads aren’t crowned with thick, white locks. Their clothes aren’t predominantly crimson. And there’s no sleigh in the garage, nor reindeer in the stable (in fact, there’s no stable at all.) The Clauses live, instead, on the north side of Indianapolis. As occasional…

BEHIND THE NEWS: For Conseco, tough loan tactics yielding big results

Conseco Inc.’s scorched-earth legal tactics have sometimes infuriated the defendants in the company’s path. But they sure seem to be working. As of Sept. 30, the company’s legal assault on the 11 biggest borrowers under its disastrous directors-and-officers loan program was expected to yield $54 million, after expenses-and that was before the Dec. 6 settlement with Stephen Hilbert, 60, the biggest borrower of all. Attorneys declined to tell how much Hilbert will pay, saying the deal is confidential. But you…

Hoosier Tire still racing: For nearly a half-century, Lakeville company has competed with the big boys

When the rubber meets the road, auto racing experts say there are few-if any-companies that outperform Lakeville-based Hoosier Racing Tire. Hoosier tires, industry sources said, are equal to their better-known brethren in racing-related sales and on-track performance. “This company has gone head-to-head with Goodyear on the biggest of all racing circuits,” said Dick Berggren, editor of Speedway Illustrated and a retired racer. “I can’t think of a business where the costs of entry are steeper or the level of technology…

Does gender matter in politics?: Despite high-profile wins, politics still remains a male-dominated field

1992 was dubbed the “Year of the Woman,” when four women were elected to the U.S. Senate, but 2006 may be seen as the beginning of a new women’s political movement, says Marie Wilson, president of The White House Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group that’s working to advance women in political office. Indiana has made some strides, but 85 years after women won the hard-fought right to vote, the number of women in elected office at the national level hasn’t…

Old National slaps Durham with suit

Indianapolis entrepreneur Tim Durham has run into trouble with one of his lenders. Evansville-based Old National Bank says
in a Dec. 1 lawsuit that Durham’s Indianapolis-based holding company,Obsidian Enterprises Inc., is in default on $2.6 million
in loans that came due Nov. 1.