View the Friday Facts Online

1. Online Resources Enhance Fall Experience

2. State Offers Money-Saving Energy Tips

3. Citizen's Guide Makes Sense of Property Taxes

Farmer's Market Season Coming to an End

It’s almost end-of-season for Farmer’s Markets.  Get fresh local produce while you can!  Find a market in your local community by using the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farmers Market Search. Who benefits from Farmer’s Markets? Farmers and consumers, according to the Agriculture Marketing Service.  Farmers have direct access to markets to supplement farm income. Consumers have access to locally grown, farm-fresh produce and the opportunity to personally interact with the farmer/worker who grows the produce.

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Friday Facts Editorial Team:

Katharine Springer
State Data Center Coordinator

Elisabeth O’Donnell
Federal Documents Librarian
&
Kim Brown-Harden
State Documents Coordinator

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This month, we celebrate the 3^rd anniversary of Friday Facts: Government Information you can use. To commemorate these years of fact-sharing, we are publishing the same topics covered in our first two issues in October 2007, updated for 2010. Enjoy!

Online Resources Enhance Fall Experience

Make the most of this year’s leaf watching season by using all of your senses. The National Park Service’s Natural Sounds webpage can help you and your patrons interpret the sounds you experience as you stroll through nature this Fall - including wild animals, humans, wind, and water. Visit the Park Service’s Sound and Picture Gallery to hear sound clips of a bald eagle at Yellowstone National Park, a Reveille bugle call at Fort Larned National Historic Site in Kansas, and more.

Enjoy the visual beauty of autumn in Indiana parks as well.  The Indiana Department of Natural Resources publishes a Recreation Guide for camping, hiking, and fishing ideas in state and local parks throughout the year.  This and many other free publications about the outdoors are available through their website. Check out the many Indiana destinations provided by the DNR.

No time for outdoor fun?  Watch the season change via the internet:  Indiana Office of Tourism has placed web cameras (Leaf Cams) at three different places for your viewing pleasure.  Take a peek, and watch the leaves change colors daily!

State Offers Money-Saving Energy Tips

Have you turned up your thermostat yet this season?  Depending on the size of your house or apartment, energy bills can get high during the winter.  With cold weather coming, the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor offers ways to reduce your winter energy bills.  Even kids can get in on the effort. Their website offers a Kids’ Zone where you can find printable activity pages, fact sheets written especially for kids, and a fun quiz that tests energy smarts.

If you have a complaint about your utility service (electric, gas, telephone, water, sewer), the office encourages you to contact the utility directly first.  If it is not resolved in a timely manner, you can file an online complaint form through the Consumer Counselors office via their website or contact them by phone at 1-888-441-2494.

Citizen's Guide Makes Sense of Property Taxes

Do you have questions about your property taxes?  Have property taxes been the talk of the neighborhood this week?  The Indiana Department of Local and Government Finance provides a Citizen’s Guide to Property Taxes online.  It can show you where your tax dollars go, broken down dollar-for-dollar by Indiana county and township.  Search for the value of your own property during any year from 2005-2009 and get contact information for your local tax officials.

www.library.IN.gov