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IDDC Launches E-commerce Web Page as Expansion of 'IN Indiana' Campaign

INDIANAPOLIS (March 1, 2023) – Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch  and the  Indiana Destination Development Corporation (IDDC) are launching a new e-commerce web page, IN Indiana Store  on March 1, 2023.

“We are excited to launch the e-commerce web page and take the next step in the IN Indiana campaign,” said Lt. Gov. Crouch, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “Not only does this give Hoosiers the opportunity to support local businesses, but they can simultaneously showcase their state pride.”

Some featured themes in the IN Indiana collection include parks and recreation, loving our mid-west roots, and the unique things that make Indiana special. From hats to t-shirts and hoodies, there will be plenty of options to put your Hoosier spirit on display.

“We are building a positive momentum for the great state of Indiana and this collection provides the perfect blend of comfort, quality, and Indiana charm,” said Elaine Bedel, IDDC Secretary and Chief Executive Officer. "The IN Indiana Store will allow individuals to put the spirit of Indiana on display in every corner of the state.”

The IN Indiana collection will be available for purchase online at  VisitIndiana.com/shop  and at the new United State of Indiana store in Broad Ripple at 1051 E. 54th Street, following their grand opening Friday, March 3, and Saturday, March 4. All proceeds from the IN Indiana collection will go to the IDDC Foundation.

For more information about the IN Indiana Store and wholesale options, go to  VisitIndiana.com/shop .

For more information about the “IN Indiana” marketing campaign, go to  VisitIndiana.com .

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Failed Indiana tourism improvement district bill promises to reappear in 2025

A bill that would create tourism improvement districts (TIDs) around Indiana to attract in-state and out-of-state visitors failed in 2024, but its author says it will be coming back in the 2025 legislative session.

In this year’s session, in the House Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 14, Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, discussed Senate Bill 61, which would have allowed people to petition their local governments to establish tourism improvement districts within their communities, enabling them to receive grants and certain funding from state taxes.

According to Indiana Tourism Industry News, a TID is “a supplemental funding mechanism for tourism promotion and destination development activities. Funds are raised through a non-tax assessment on business stays within a designated geographic area. Funds are used to provide services desired by, and directly benefiting, the businesses in the district.”

Carrie Lambert, executive director of the Indiana Tourism Association, said the assessment could be a fee or a percentage of the cost of a hotel room, food and beverage sales, or shopping sales.

This week, Holdman told TheStatehouseFile.com why the bill didn’t pass.

“I think there’s just some concern with small businesses shouldering some of the responsibility and the assessment,” Holdman said.

“Folks wouldn’t be limited in size in the district, so they could make the district rather large to make the impact rather small on local business and communities.”

Holdman said there are a dozen or more statewide communities that expressed interest in establishing tourism improvement districts. He said the Indiana Tourism Association is supportive of the efforts of communities to establish these districts.

Lambert gave an example of a tourism improvement district: Metamora in southeast Indiana, which includes the state’s only wooden aqueduct, Duck Creek Aqueduct, the oldest grist mill, and the Whitewater Canal.

“They at one point talked about, you know, it would be really cool if we created a tourism improvement district, and we would outline what business would be included, whether that would be lodging facilities or restaurants or retail shops, and they can create what assessment they like,” Lambert said.

She said there are other places in Indiana with tourism improvement districts, such as Fort Wayne and Shipshewana.

Lambert believes tourism improvement districts would work in Indiana. She said many states have had great ideas for development based on marketing, but they haven’t worked out for all of them financially.

“They haven’t been able to do it based on just funding streams and the capacity of what they’ve had with that recently,” Lambert said. “And there are grants that we know are available for different things across the state.”

She added: “Our Indiana Arts Commission has some grants. I know Indiana Destination Development Corporation has some grants. We feel like this is one more opportunity, as we say—another tool in the toolbox for our communities.”

Lambert also told The Statehouse File that TIDs allow more involvement from the businesses.

“What is unique is that people are gonna say, I’m gonna raise my hand and I’m gonna use my business to be assessed at what percentage,” Lambert said. “But then I’m also going to be on a committee that decides how those funds are going to be spent.

“They have a stake in what it’s going to be used on, which is a little bit unique than some other funding sources and mechanisms. So I love the idea. I mean, having the right legislation that local communities can then enact is really great.”

She explained that the additional percentage added on to the cost of a room is collected by the lodging facility and goes directly back to the county for funding its tourism marketing and development.

“It’s a really cool opportunity that I think can benefit not only our larger communities but some of our smaller ones as well,” Lambert said. “And I think that isn’t always the case with everything that can be transferable all across the board.”

In the February House Ways and Means Committee, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), representing small businesses, opposed the bill because of increasing costs, high tax rates and inflation.

“It’s an increasing burden to small business owners. These districts essentially create a tax on top of a tax. This bill would allow TIDs to coexist with TIFs (tax increment financing), in which that could actually end up creating a triple tax for businesses and no caps in place on top of that,” Natalie Robinson, Indiana state director for NFIB, said.

“To say creating special taxing districts right now is bad timing would be a huge understatement. This is coming up at a time like property taxes are already soaring, health-care costs are skyrocketing, and all of that is layered on top of our record-high inflation,” Robinson said

According to Robinson, small business owners are under pressure from inflation and having to pass the increased costs to their customers.

“I urge the committee to consider the impact that these special districts have on the small business and help implement policies that help support them,” Robinson said.

Despite these concerns, Lambert said she’s optimistic for small businesses, especially those specializing in tourism.

“When I was at the Statehouse, some small businesses were against it—well, some small businesses that likely wouldn’t really ever opt in,” Lambert said. “The reality of this is that small businesses that would be a part of this are the ones that are heavily involved in tourism.

“So what I look at it as actually a promotion of small businesses and then being in the conversation of how these funds are being used and how it can benefit their community and quality of place overall,” Lambert said.

She added: “Because that’s really what tourism is about. It’s not just for the folks that are coming in, but it’s also for the residents that are there creating such a great environment for families and experiences for everyone.”

John Asplund is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

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Post-Tribune | Dunes Tourism board president holds appointed…

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Post-tribune | dunes tourism board president holds appointed seat — for now, commissioners president plans to call for board restructuring.

After a dramatic interplay between himself and the Porter County Council Tuesday night Mitch Peters, president of the Indiana Dunes Tourism Board, managed to hold onto his post – for now.

Council President Mike Brickner, R-At-Large, Vice President Red Stone, R-1st, and member Andy Vasquez, R-4th, voted to remove him, while members Greg Simms, D-3rd, Sylvia Graham, D-At-Large, and Andy Bozak, R-At-Large, voted to retain him resulting in a tie because member Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, was absent.

Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, said by phone Wednesday that he will call for a restructuring of that board, removing Peters by default, at the next commissioners meeting on May 14. He said an analysis of the state statute dictating the makeup of county tourism boards reveals those serving must be employed in tourism.

Peters is a defense attorney involved with facilities for men coming out of addiction.

Peters, flanked by new Dunes Tourism CEO Christine Livingston and five members of that board’s executive committee, addressed the council at the end of its meeting, offering up apologies for the handling of the departure of former IDT CEO Lorelei Weimer, who left the post in January with a $225,000 severance package.

“We weren’t as accountable as we should have been,” he said. “We appreciate that each of you are accountable to the voters of Porter County. This isn’t going to happen again.”

Peters and Livingston gave a brief rundown of the changes they are making to IDT to make it more community-focused with an emphasis on partnerships with sister organizations such as the Porter County Expo Center and Memorial Opera House.

While he remained polite and complimentary of the “wisdom” represented by the IDT board members in attendance, Brickner, after speaking at length following an absence in recent months for medical reasons, called for a vote to remove Peters, who was reappointed by the council to the 11-member board in January. Peters has been on the board for 14 years and president for 13.

“Our responsibility as a council is to the taxpayers. I consider our appointments as an extension of the council,” Brickner said. “I am disappointed. This is not personal, but when we appoint someone, I expect transparency.”

Stone said he spoke to Weimer for four hours on the eve of her non-disclosure agreement taking effect. “She didn’t lie. She didn’t cheat. And she didn’t steal. That’s what you said,” he said to Peters. “I believe we were misled to pass the $225,000.”

Vasquez said his vote to approve the settlement would have been different if he had had more information. “I think I was misled,” he said.

Bozak, who pointed out that he voted against the settlement, also argued against removing Peters. “I also think if we remove Mitch at this time that causes a lot of turmoil,” he said.

Graham agreed. “Am I happy how it turned out? No, but we have to go on,” she said. “To say that he has to go after all his years of expertise . . . He screwed up, but haven’t we all?”

IDT board member Don Ensign, who would be one of the board members removed for lack of a tourism background, according to Biggs, defended Peters, saying the driver behind all the board’s choices during the settlement negotiation with Weimer was making sure “Lorelei was given a great deal of dignity and respect.”

He said the board was “absolutely wrong” in not apprising the council of that process while it was happening.

“I didn’t know I was going to be called in here and called a liar. You’ve called me a liar,” Peters said, adding that he was not going to get into details about Weimer because there is a non-disclosure agreement regarding her departure.

“Now,” Stone replied. “Now there is.”

Simms wanted to table the vote until Rivas could be present.

“Well, we have a quorum,” Vasquez responded.

Weimer, who sat at the back of the room throughout the meeting, was invited to come to the microphone. IDT board member Richard Riley spoke up to say the vote on Peters needed to happen first.

The council looked to their attorney Harold Harper for clarification on the rules of order. He said it was at the discretion of the council president whether Weimer was allowed to speak before or after the vote.

She was invited up. She told the council she was told by the IDT board and its attorney David Hollenbeck that she could either retire or be fired. She added that while it was clearly a violation of the Open Door Law, she was told the IDT board had the votes lined up to fire her.

“I said I could not take this risk and Dave said, ‘That’s probably a good decision,’” Weimer said. “Nobody has any idea what this man has done to me since August.”

“Are you talking about me?” Peters asked her.

“Yes,” she replied.

Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

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American tourist facing possible 12-year prison sentence after ammo found in luggage in Turks and Caicos

By Kris Van Cleave

Updated on: April 25, 2024 / 7:28 PM EDT / CBS News

Valerie Watson returned to Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport in tears on Tuesday morning in a drastic departure from how she imagined her long weekend trip to Turks and Caicos would end.

Watson is home, but her husband, Ryan Watson, was jailed on the island and is facing a potential mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years behind bars after airport security allegedly found four rounds of hunting ammo in his carry-on bag earlier this month. 

"We were trying to pack board shorts and flip flops," Valerie Watson told CBS News. "Packing ammunition was not at all our intent."

Valerie Watson, who learned Sunday she would not be charged and would be allowed to return home, said the trip "went from what was supposed to be a dream vacation to a nightmare."

Ryan Watson was released on bail after two nights , but must remain on the island and check in with police twice a week.

The Watsons are not the only ones going through this ordeal.

Bryan Hagerich is awaiting trial after ammo was found in the Pennsylvania man's checked bag in February.

"I subsequently spent eight nights in their local jail. Some of the darkest, hardest times of my life, quite frankly," Hagerich said. "These last 70 days have been kind of a roller coaster, just the pain and suffering of having your family at home and I'm here."

Possessing a gun or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos, but tourists were previously often able to just pay a fine. In February, however, a court order mandated that even tourists in the process of leaving the country are subject to prison time.

Since November 2022, eight firearms and ammunition prosecutions in total have been brought involving tourists from the United States, three of which are currently before the court with each of the defendants on bail.

Last year, a judge found Michael Grim from Indiana had "exceptional circumstances" when he pleaded guilty to accidentally having ammunition in his checked bag. He served almost six months in prison. 

"No clean running water. You're kind of exposed to the environment 24/7," he told CBS News. "Mosquitoes and tropical illnesses are a real concern. There's some hostile actors in the prison."

The judge was hoping to send a message to other Americans. 

"[His] sentencing was completely predicated on the fact that I was an American," Grim said. 

The U.S. embassy last September posted a travel alert online, warning people to "check your luggage for stray ammunition," noting it would "not be able to secure your release from custody."

In a statement, a State Department spokesperson told CBS News, "We are aware of the arrest of U.S. citizens in Turks and Caicos.  When a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. In a foreign country, U.S. citizens are subject to that country's laws, even if they differ from those in the United States." 

Last year, TSA found a record 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, and most of them were loaded.  

"I can't even begin to think that this very innocent, regrettable mistake would prevent me from being able to watch my son graduate or teach him to shave or take my daughter to dances," Ryan Watson said. "It's just unfathomable. I do not — I can't process it."

The Turks and Caicos government responded to CBS News in a lengthy statement confirming the law and reiterating that, even if extenuating circumstances are found to be present, the judge is required to mandate prison time.   

Kris Van Cleave is CBS News' senior transportation and national correspondent based in Phoenix.

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