Does Indiana even have the death penalty?

Seven women found dead in Hammond and Gary. Feds busted up a heroin ring. A gal from Crown Point dead in a car chase with police in Mexico. Prostate cancer.

Tough show. Purdue Cal athletic director Rick Costello started it out light talking about the Coaches Caravan on Thursday night, which I’m gonna host. There’s a script somewhere and I should probably study it but instead I’ll rely on wit and candor. Costello told about Purdue striving to make it into Division II. Dream come true, baby. Dream come true.

Hammond mayor Tom McDermott talked about how the Hammond police solved the case of the local serial killer. Motel 6, weird text, SWAT team taking the guy by surprise… Then all the sudden Darren Dion Vann just starts talking. A weekend of discovering dead women in abandoned buildings.

We also talked about the taser incident and how a lotta people have been criticizing Hammond police for excessive force and racism. The mayor stressed that despite all of the criticism the Hammond police kept doing their job and took down a serial killer. Good work, guys.

But back to the serial killer. I asked the mayor why Mr. Vann was leading police to all of the bodies and he said – It’s my opinion that he just wants the death penalty.

Hmm. Does Indiana even have the death penalty? Can you request it? If you killed someone and you just want to die, then should we keep you alive and make you suffer? I get the feeling that this death penalty stuff is important to the story. If I had a yellow highlighter I’d use it on “death penalty.”

State Rep. Linda Lawson talked with me about dangers for women. She’s holding a women’s symposium tomorrow at 6pm, so the whole thing was kind of timely. Lawson used to be a tough female cop. She told some stories of how it used to be for women who got beat up by their husbands. Are women safer now than when she first started in the 70s? I don’t know. Maybe.

I asked Highland town councilman Bernie Zemen again about his diagnosis of prostate cancer. He looks a little worried. He’s a hardass Region Rat and that means you walk around with a hardass Region look. But then again when the doc tells you that you got cancer…

“Of course I’m a little scared,” he said and he meant it. We both took up the cause about getting the blood test and, if need be, watching the doctor put on the latex glove.

Ouch just thinking about it. The brand spanking new Munster town manager Dustin Anderson came in and told about how he was there to do the wishes of the town council. I did a doubletake on that one. For 30 years, Tom DeGuilio was town manager and I can’t remember him saying in all of that time once that his only job was to fulfill the wishes of the town council. I’m a cynic. That’s all it is.

Teamsters officials Richard Knipp and Harvey Jackson talked health care and this new way that drivers get a safety score. Zero is best. Once you get to 60 or so insurance carriers drop you. We talked about how the Borman is probably the heaviest truck traffic in America.

That’s a lot of radio for a rainy Tuesday after I just got back from the Notre Dame at Florida State trip. Returning to seven women murdered by an alleged serial killer, big heroin bust in our own backyard, prostate cancer, and a local woman fugitive dying in a car chase. 

In the end, the serial killer arrest and taser incident gone viral have the eyes of the country on Hammond, Indiana.

“Fox and Friends wanted me on this morning,” the mayor said. “Instead I came to your show on WJOB in Hammond, Indiana.”