104 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(04/26/13 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last night’s frost was still on the ground early Sunday morning when a line began to snake outside the courthouse just after 8 a.m.Crushed beer cans were still scattered across nearby lawns, and porches were still adorned with an occasional brown glass beer bottle.More than half of the people in line were IU students cited for drinking or drug use. But anyone clutching folded white- or pastel-colored citation papers was welcome. They were the minor offenders of the 235 people Indiana State Excise Police arrested on a total of 285 charges.“You got a ticket, too,” a girl said, pointing and laughing as she recognized a friend while she joined the line.Some silently awaited their fate while others swapped stories of how they landed there — blackouts, vomiting, pulled over because a back tail-light was out. Most shivered in hoodies. They all awaited the outcome after a weekend of partying at Little 500, the World’s Greatest College Weekend.“This is the worst possible way to spend a Sunday.”“I’d rather go to church early.”“This isn’t justice.”Those inside would disagree.***Tom Rhodes,the director of community corrections, arrived to work at 7 a.m. and gestured to the line outside.“This year’s group has been well-mannered,” Rhodes said. “I’ve been watching, and they seem very respectful and cooperative.”In the 20 years the courthouse has processed Little 500 weekend drug and alcohol citations, the court appointments haven’t always gone well. Rhodes remembers a few whose throbbing hangovers prompted them to mouth off to the judge. Some have shown up “still under the effects” of whatever substance they were cited for.As offenders funneled through the courthouse door, two staffers with clipboards held their fates.If the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office deemed them eligible for pretrial diversion, they headed across the lobby into a PowerPoint presentation explaining the process. Their Little 500 partying would not scar their permanent records.They had pretrial diversion laid out for them: a $425 fine, three hours of trash pickup that afternoon and a four-hour alcohol class that evening. If they completed everything, they wouldn’t have to set foot in a courtroom.Questions began.“The alcohol class, is that 5 to 9?” a blonde-haired guy sitting in the back row asked.Yes, he was told. It’s normally a seven-hour Saturday class.“I work tomorrow at 6 in the morning,” he whispered to the person next to him.Outside the presentation, Monroe County Prosecutor Chris Gaal and his staff oversaw the flow of human traffic in the courthouse. Gaal and 25 of the prosecutor’s office staff pulled an all-nighter to process the citations. He counted down the hours until he could go home and nap.***Those not granted a diversion at the front door of the courthouse trudged up a staircase to face Judge Mary Ellen Diekhoff. These included people with prior convictions, pending cases elsewhere or out-of-towners who had to leave Bloomington before trash pickup and alcohol class ended.Prosecutors reviewed each file and granted an offer — usually a standard $1 fine plus $166 in court costs — if they pled guilty.Confused by the justice system and seemingly grasping for any nugget of advice, they turned to the prosecutor.“Should we not plead guilty?”“I can’t advise you to plead guilty or not. I’m a prosecutor.”The judge entered the courtroom arena and summoned each to her bench. All went smoothly until she discovered someone missed a previous court date for public intoxication and illegal alcohol consumption. He had a warrant for his arrest. He claimed he didn’t know about the court date in a case open since September 2011.“Not goin’ too well, is it,” she asked before banishing him to the other side of the courtroom while she decided what to do with him.Then the convictions began. She called Griffin Shepherd to her bench.She asked if he had any prior offenses.A traffic ticket, Shepherd said. He passed on a double yellow line.“That’s bad,” Diekhoff said. “Don’t do that. You could get killed.”What was he doing with his life, she asked.He works at Kohl’s.But what about long-term plans, she asked.He plans to earn a Bachelor’s of Arts degree and apply to law school.Diekhoff could no longer contain her laughter.“So this is like the criminal justice system from this side before you go to law school,” she said.He pled guilty to public intoxication, was ordered 35 hours of community service and was sent off to dream of law school.***Trash pickup began at noon outside Memorial Stadium. The offenders were split into groups and issued oversized tan work gloves and 40-gallon black trash bags. They headed off with probation officers to erase evidence of thousands partying on campus.They didn’t have to go far. The stadium parking lot was splattered all over with trash. Empty aluminum cans could be heard rolling in the breeze across the pavement.Probation Officer Leah Snow wore red mittens as she supervised her group cleaning the parking lot. In the past, her group members each filled about three black trash bags. Nothing that exciting, she said, mostly just trash and liquor.Their contact with the outside world involved a county pickup truck shuttling between groups to collect full garbage bags.By 3 p.m., the groups finished cleaning campus. They flung their last trash bags into a dump truck at the football stadium and departed for two hours of relaxation before the alcohol and drug education class at the courthouse.Joggers and power walkers lapped Memorial Stadium, and students waited at a bus stop. Normal life had finally reclaimed IU from the madness of Little Five.
(03/20/13 4:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>INDIANAPOLIS – The IU-Purdue University Indianapolis campus went into a state of alert Tuesday afternoon after police received three separate reports of a man with a gun on campus.The alert went out at around 12:30 p.m. after a female on campus reported seeing a long gun resembling a rifle or shotgun in an open car trunk. She was heading to her car, parked in a lot at 1145 W. Vermont St., when she saw a man standing next to an open trunk containing what looked like a musical instrument case. She tried to get a closer look to identify the instrument but told police she realized it was a gun. The IU Notify alert system sent out messages via text, email and Twitter that campus was on alert. The message instructed people on campus to seek shelter, but campus was never on an official lock down. Those inside campus buildings were allowed to exit but were told to do so at their own risk. IUPUI students, employees and IU Health employees were seen walking around campus throughout the afternoon while the alert was in effect. Police were on campus clearing buildings of threats, but did not intend for people to leave those buildings until a campus-wide all clear was issued around 5 p.m.“To my knowledge, we were going through buildings and looking for anything suspicious,” IUPUI Police Captain Bill Abston said. “I think there was some miscommunication. Our intent was not to have people leave buildings. That would’ve been contrary to our alert.” During the alert, police received two additional reports of suspicious activity on campus. They responded to a call at the Nursing Building, but Abston said he wasn’t aware of the nature of the call. There was no threat found. Police later received a report of a man carrying a rifle at the intersection of Blackford Street and Indiana Avenue. Police did not locate any threat in that area.Guards in orange reflective vests with hand-held radios stood watch at the entrance of several buildings on campus, including the Campus Center and the IU Natatorium. They let people exit the buildings but would not let anyone, including employees returning from breaks, inside.A guard at the Campus Center would not let anyone into the building but would let people out. A guard at the IU Simon Cancer Center would only let those with IU Health identification badges into the building.Despite the confusion, Abston said he was happy with the response. “We sent out the alert, realized people were leaving buildings, and we re-sent the alert,” he said. “Our intent was not to have people leave buildings.”
(03/04/13 5:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Tiffany Del Valle remembers her younger brother, IU student Tyler Coburn, pushing everyone around him to succeed.Tyler skipped a year ahead in high school math classes. But Tiffany struggled with math. As a freshman in high school, Tyler ended up in his sister’s geometry class when she was a junior.One day after school, Tyler went home and tattled on his sister to his parents. The reason she was struggling, he said, is because she talked through the class and didn’t pay attention.“He knew, to me, that it was very confusing,” she said. “And when I would talk, he would look at me (in class) like, ‘Quiet.’”He spent his evenings guiding Tiffany through their homework, reviewing problems until she got them right.“That was the kind of person that he was,” she said. “He was always very competitive and very eager to please. He would always push others. He would call you out on it and be like, ‘I know you can do better.’”Tyler was killed in a car crash in the early hours of Feb. 24 in Goshen, Ind. He was home for the weekend to celebrate his birthday with his Goshen friends. He would have turned 22 March 1.Tyler played intramural basketball at IU and was such an avid Minnesota Vikings fan that he named his childhood hamster after the team’s former quarterback Daunte Culpepper.His original plan included studying accounting at IU. But one semester in high school of interning at a bank made him change course. Instead, he channeled his love of fitness and pushing people to succeed into studying kinesiology with a health fitness specialist concentration. Tyler used his major to help his sister get back in shape. He gave Tiffany, a new mom to a 7-month-old boy, running shoes and a workout plan for Christmas.He was taking a class this semester on nutrition counseling. He was supposed to design an exercise and diet plan for an overweight child. But Tyler ended up working with one of the children’s mothers instead. “He was just excited about improving people’s health,” she said. “He’d get excited every time I lost a few pounds because he was helping me, and he’d feel the same way about her.”His friends at IU said Tyler was a high-achieving student who had no patience for free time. His roommate, Gabriel Medvinsky, said Tyler developed six separate business plans last semester for fitness-related companies. Medvinsky described him as “freakishly organized.” He said Tyler gained comfort from being a creature of habit and maintaining a balance between a regular daily workout, studying and being the life of the party. When friends cleaned out his room last week, they found yet another indicator of Tyler’s competitive, overachieving personality. He and his friends played a game in which they would try to steal a wooden mallard duck from each others’ residences. The duck had to be left out in the open, and the thief had to make a clean break. Keeping the duck for as long as possible became fierce competition. They found the duck in Tyler’s room, held down by duct tape and fenced in by wires.“He had it booby trapped,” Tiffany said. “That was very Tyler.”
(02/25/13 6:51pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU student Tyler Coburn, 21, was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning in Goshen, Ind.A Goshen police officer was called to the scene on a residential street and discovered that Coburn’s silver Mitsubishi Lancer had collided with a tree. In the accident report, the officer said high speed appeared to have contributed to the accident, Goshen Police administrative assistant Tina Kingsbury said in an email. Tanner Pederson, a 21-year-old passenger in Coburn’s vehicle, was transported to IU Health Goshen for non-life-threatening injuries, Kingsbury said. Coburn was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:37 a.m., Kingsbury and Elkhart County Coroner John White said.White said Coburn’s official cause of death is blunt force trauma to the chest. Coburn did not undergo an autopsy, but the coroner is conducting a toxicology screening, which can take up to two to three weeks to complete.According to information from Yoder-Culp Funeral Home, Coburn participated in athletics at Goshen High School and was studying sports medicine at IU.IU School of Public Health recorder Barb Bland said Coburn was pursuing a health fitness specialist degree in kinesiology. Coburn’s probable graduation date was summer 2014. She said advisers for Coburn’s department have been notified and are expected to email students about his death.Visitation hours are from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Yoder-Culp Funeral Home in Goshen. The funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.Coburn would have turned 22 on Friday.
(02/05/13 5:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It was about 1:45 a.m. on a cool Saturday in September 2011. A female IU student had already been to the Vid and had already drank at the Bluebird Nightclub. She thought she was done with the bars for the night. The group of five she started the night with dwindled, and she returned to her apartment.Her best friend called, begging her to come back out. She agreed. She found a ride and arrived at Kilroy’s Sports Bar at 2 a.m. They stayed until close — 3 a.m. — and wandered to the Taco Bell next door. She and her roommate were “shooting the shit” when he walked up.He wore jeans, a collared shirt and a black zip-up sweatshirt. He had brown hair, brown eyes and an average build. He asked for a lighter.She was an IU junior that night. She’s now a senior, and a rape victim.He said his name was Brandon. He said he was a 23-year-old psychology major at IU and that he was from Ellettsville, Ind. She now doubts his story.She invited Brandon to head home with her that night from the Taco Bell parking lot. She made it clear to him she didn’t want to have sex. She thought they wouldn’t go much further than making out. He seemed accommodating.While “fooling around,” he pinned her arms back so her hands were at the sides of her head. She froze. And then he raped her, taking her virginity.Nearly 17 months after the rape, she’s more eager to be the sober driver for nights out drinking. But she refrains from making a rule to always be in charge of car keys for the night. Making rules doesn’t help her admit it wasn’t her fault. Friends still suggest she not get drunk “this time.”“That doesn’t make sense,” she said. “Instead of ‘don’t rape,’ people say ‘don’t get raped.’ It’s not fair.”***Drunk sluts. Loose morals. Not fighting hard enough. Staying out too late. Wearing short skirts. It’s called “victim blaming.”IU Health Center counselor Debbie Melloan has worked with sexual assault victims at Counseling and Psychological Services for 23 years. Despite the University’s sexual assault outreach and prevention programs, IU students don’t seem to engage in victim blaming much less than the general population, she said.Victim blaming, Melloan said, obscures one key point: Sexual assaults happen because a perpetrator decides to disregard consent and do what he or she wants. No matter how much women or men curtail their alcohol consumption or how closely women watch their hemlines, they don’t have control of a rapist’s decisions.“All of us do things every day that can create our vulnerability,” Melloan said. “But, it takes somebody else to decide to exploit that vulnerability for a sexual assault to happen.”Men aren’t the only culprits. Melloan said women blame female victims as a defense mechanism. Feeling vulnerable and scared, women find ways to separate themselves from sexual assault victims.She stayed at the party when her friends left, but I don’t do that. She blacked out, but I don’t do that. She went into the guy’s bedroom, but I don’t do that.“It’s sort of a way to give yourself this false sense of security so that you don’t have to deal with your own vulnerability,” Melloan said.The roots of victim blaming reach deeply into traditional gender roles. Melloan explained that, historically, in heterosexual relationships, women are the gatekeepers, responsible for protecting their virginities.Men have historically been portrayed as hormone-crazed and unable to control sexual desires. The sexual revolution only granted women permission to have premarital sex about 40 years ago, she said, but previous gender roles haven’t disappeared yet.“There’s sort of this assumption, then, that if something happens that the woman doesn’t want to have happen, then it’s her fault for not having kept the gate shut,” Melloan said. There are ways to reduce the risk of being sexually assaulted. However, a better approach, Melloan said, is looking at the environments in which assaults occur. Rather than concentrating on the victims, she suggested concentrating on attitudes and behaviors that allow sexual assaults to happen.Melloan referred to social stigmas, such as cigarette smoking. Thirty to 40 years ago, American society didn’t condemn those behaviors, she said. But society recognized they were harmful. Today, smokers can’t light a cigarette in many public places. “That would be my hope that, as a campus or as a culture, that we have the same sorts of stigmas against treating women that way and disregarding ‘no’s’ that we do around some of those other behaviors,” Melloan said.***The victim’s roommate convinced her to shower after the rape. For the first time, the victim saw the physical damage — bruises, bite marks and blood covered her body. The day after the rape, she went to IU Health Bloomington Hospital with her best friend and her roommate for a sexual assault exam.She needed medical attention, and she wanted documentation of her rape. She completed a rape test kit with a sexual assault nurse examiner and a Middle Way House volunteer.“It validated that it happened,” the victim said. “And no one can ever take that away from me, because there’s proof.”She didn’t want to report it to law enforcement. She was too afraid they wouldn’t believe her story. She felt she would be attacked by public opinion and a defense lawyer. She was drunk, and she invited him home. She didn’t want to hear what people would say.“That right there is enough for our society to question it,” she said. “That’s enough, no matter what ... I would look like a drunk slut with a regret, and that’s too much to bear.”Almost everyone in her life who knows she was raped knew within the first week after it happened. She stopped telling people after she told her cousin. Her cousin, a female similar to her in age, tried consoling her: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.“Then she said, ‘You know, you learn from things, so you’ll know better next time.’ That just ...” she paused. “I stopped telling people after that, because it made me feel like shit.”She has heard a similar refrain from others. She was working in a group in a German class when she overheard an adjacent group discussing sexual assault.Three students — two women and a man — argued rape is never the victim’s fault. But the remaining male group member wouldn’t budge. What if a girl was drinking, he argued, and went on to list other conditions for shared blame.“I just wanted to throw a book at his head,” she said. “Not even the fact that he said that, just that he needs to say that in private, because you don’t know who you’re hurting when you say something like that.“That kind of stuff cuts you like a knife.”***An on-campus group of about 20 students is trying to change the victim-blaming culture. Raising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters, or RAISE, gives presentations to educate student groups about sexual communication.The biggest part of the presentation is a sketch of a sexual assault between two fictional characters, Tom and Amanda. Five female and two male students sat in the audience for one of RAISE’s presentations. RAISE Co-President Tori Martindale and her male counterpart Grant assumed the identities of Tom and Amanda and told the story of Amanda’s sexual assault.Amanda was a freshman and Tom was a junior. Tom was throwing a house party, and they were both drunk. They started talking, headed downstairs to Tom’s bedroom and made out on his bed. Tom reached for the button on Amanda’s pants. Amanda said no.“I stopped trying to take off her pants and just put my hand down ‘em,” Tom said.Tom unzipped his pants. He pulled aside Amanda’s underwear.“No, Tom,” she said. “No, Tom, stop it. We need to stop.”But Tom didn’t stop, and they had sex. Shortly after, they headed back upstairs to the party.“Maybe I should have screamed or tried to hit him, but I don’t think I really wanted to believe this was happening,” Amanda told the audience.The audience asked questions to clarify the incident. How many times did Amanda say no? Why did she go downstairs? Did Tom think he raped her? Was Amanda drunk?The presentation stopped. Tori and Grant asked for a show of hands — who thinks it’s a sexual assault? Six out of seven audience members raised their hands.Who thinks it’s only Amanda’s fault? No one raised a hand. Who thinks it’s only Tom’s fault? Blank stares ahead. No one’s hand moved.Who thinks Amanda and Tom share the blame? Audience members exchanged glances. Heads started to nod. A wishy-washy hand went up, fuchsia-polished fingernails tilting back and forth.“I think maybe she should’ve done more.”“Maybe she should speak up.”“But, she did. She did say no,” Tori said. “And, no matter how she said it, he heard it. No means no. There’s nothing more that she should’ve done or could’ve done to avoid that situation.”Tori explained to the audience that they’ve engaged in victim blaming. That they said it was Amanda’s fault because Amanda could’ve done more to prevent the assault.Someone rarely says Amanda deserves all the blame, but audience members commonly believe Amanda and Tom share the blame. RAISE needs a male and female to do the presentation, but they only have one male presenter. RAISE Co-president Kelsey Britt said some sexual assault education can demonize men. Although their skit involves a male assaulting a female, RAISE wants everyone to receive their message, regardless of gender.They’ve had a few presentations get ugly. Audience members have said vulgar things or didn’t take the presentation seriously.Female audience members have blamed Amanda. Tori and Kelsey said it’s a defense mechanism. The audience’s gender mix makes a difference. Mostly female audiences buffer against rude comments, because they often feel more personally affected by sexual assault, Tori and Kelsey said.They repeated statistics Melloan cited: one in six women will be sexually assaulted — one in four during college years — and one in 33 men will be sexually assaulted. Several sexual assault advocacy groups and government agencies, including the United States Department of Justice, cite similar statistics.Kelsey and Tori know they’re never going to eradicate sexual assault. They said the best they can hope for is to improve communication between sexual partners and increase awareness around campus about issues related to sexual assault.“It’s such a widespread problem, and the roots of it are just so deep in our society,” Kelsey said.“You can feel kind of powerless,” Tori said. “Like you can’t fix it.”In each presentation, they teach bystander intervention techniques: distracting the aggressor, directing a victim to resources, letting a victim choose his or her course of treatment.“It’s not just the two people who are having the interaction,” Tori said. “There’s this thing going on this whole year about Culture of Care, and it’s about us taking responsibility for other people to make sure everyone is happy, healthy and safe.”***She — the IU senior — has a piece of paper with a number on it. The number corresponds to a box sitting in Bloomington Police Department’s storage. The box is her rape test kit. It’s filled with Brandon’s silver watch, pictures of the physical damage he did to her and her recollections of what happened.She had a tough time relating to her male friends after the rape. She has drifted away from her closest male friend. Every time she brings it up, he falls silent and changes the topic of conversation.She divided the men in her life in two groups: they were compassionate if she told them, or they were in the “you could be rapists, too” group.She emphasized over and again that her judgments aren’t fair. She knows not all men are rapists. But Brandon seemed fine. What’s stopping another normal-looking guy from being a rapist?Six months after the rape, while talking to a friend one night outside a party, one of her male friends overheard her discussing the rape.He called her every day for a week to check on her. He still calls occasionally to ask how she’s doing. He told her he wished he knew sooner.“That made me feel like it was okay to have men back in my life,” she said. “And, maybe they’re not all people who won’t understand.”Nearly 17 months later, the all-consuming downward spiral has slowed, and she has days when she can get up, go to work and run errands. Therapy helped immensely. She’s still struggling with classes, but not as badly as she did in the immediate aftermath. She’s comfortable around and comforted by her male friends.She’s not sure if she’ll tell more people in her life. She’s afraid she’ll be looked at differently or interrogated.“I do wish society was different,” she said. “Because there are times I’m mad he’s out there.”
(02/05/13 3:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Former IU basketball player Devan Dumes was charged Monday in Indianapolis with a felony for knowingly receiving a stolen handgun and a misdemeanor for possession of marijuana.These charges follow six charges filed against Dumes during January that are the result of two separate alleged shooting sprees two days apart in Indianapolis. Dumes racked up felony criminal recklessness and misdemeanor carrying a handgun without a license charges for allegedly shooting at a house with his brother and 1-year-old nephew inside. He also faces felony attempted murder, attempted carjacking and theft, and a misdemeanor for carrying a handgun without a license for allegedly shooting a man in the neck during a car sale. The two new charges came after police executed a search warrant at Dumes’s apartment in that case. On Jan. 9, Dumes fired several shots into a house on the 6600 block of Hazelhatch Drive, according to court documents.Naquela Bankston told police that her youngest son’s father, Marvin “Dejuan” Dumes, was vising her home when Marvin Dumes’s brother, Devan, knocked on her front door. Devan allegedly asked for keys to Marvin’s music recording studio.Bankston told police something seemed off — Devan’s eyes appeared droopy and portions of his speech sounded incoherent.Marvin reportedly refused to give Devan keys to the studio and asked him to leave. Devan allegedly started cursing at Marvin. Marvin was holding his 1-year-old son — Devan’s nephew — during Devan’s allegedly expletive-laced rant.During the verbal exchange between the two brothers, Bankston spotted a handgun on Devan’s right hip. She later told police she feared the conflict would escalate. She reportedly wedged herself between Devan and Marvin and shoved Devan through the open front door, out of the house and toward his car, a gray Range Rover, parked outside.Bankston told police Devan opened his driver’s side door, turned toward the house and began firing shots toward Bankston, who was standing in her driveway. Bankston allegedly fell to the ground next to a car in the driveway. She later told police that when she looked at Devan, she saw bullets coming out of the gun and fire coming from the barrel. Bankston told police she remembered hearing 20 shots fired.According to court documents, Devan emptied the gun, jumped in the driver’s seat of his car and sped away. Marvin allegedly hopped in his car and followed Devan. Bankston allegedly went inside her house to check on her two children and called 911.Police were unable to track down Devan or Marvin that night. They later determined that Devan doesn’t have a valid Indiana handgun permit.On Jan. 11, police responded to Wishard Hosptial in Indianapolis after a man reportedly drove himself to the hospital while talking on his cell phone with his wife after being shot in the neck.The man, Keith Jones, was taken to surgery immediately after arriving at the hospital, according to court documents. Outside the hospital, police reportedly found a handgun lying on the driver’s seat floor of Jones’s 2011 black Chevrolet Camaro.Jones’s wife told police he said “Dumes’s boy had shot him” during their conversation while Jones drove himself to the hospital. She told police she believed her husband was referring to Devan.Police later ran the handgun in Jones’s car and reportedly discovered the handgun was listed as stolen in a separate case.Three days later, Keith Jones, still in the hospital and unable to speak, reportedly nodded yes when police asked if Devan had shot him.On Jan. 25, the first day after the shooting that Jones was able to speak, he told police he had run into Devan at Sunset Strip nightclulb. Devan and Jones reportedly discussed sale terms for Jones’s Camaro.Devan reportedly called Jones in the early morning hours of Jan. 11 to arrange a transaction. At their meeting, Devan allegedly exited a blue Lexus and jumped into Jones’s Camaro. Within seconds, Devan allegedly pulled out the stolen handgun and shot Jones in the neck. Devan then allegedly dropped the handgun — which he is charged with stealing from a gun store — on the floor and got out of the Camaro, leaving Jones to drive himself to the hospital.That same day, when police executed a search warrant at Devan’s apartment in Indianapolis, they allegedly found a cellophane bag with marijuana on Devan’s kitchen counter and in an ashtray on his living room coffee table.Police also allegedly found a loaded pistol with several bullets lying partially under Devan’s living room couch. Upon running the pistol’s serial number, police learned the gun had been stolen in November 2012 in a separate case.Dumes was arrested Wednesday for the alleged attempted murder and other events that happened on Jan. 11. He is currently in custody at Marion County Jail.- Colleen Sikorski
(01/28/13 1:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The man who reportedly assaulted two law enforcement officers and attempted to gain possession of an officer’s gun during an altercation Jan. 17 was charged with attempted murder Thursday.Cody Waldrip, 32, was also charged with 15 other counts in addition to the attempted murder charge. The felony charges include aggravated battery, escape, criminal confinement, disarming a law enforcement officer and intimidation with a deadly weapon, as well as misdemeanor charges of resisting law enforcement.On the evening of Jan. 17, according to court documents, Monroe County Deputy Sheriff Terry Mullis arrived at Waldrip’s residence to deliver a protective order filed against Waldrip. Waldrip allegedly evaded identifying himself.A struggle then reportedly ensued. According to the probable cause affidavit, Waldrip sat atop Mullis’ chest and then began punching him repeatedly. Mullis told Waldrip he had heart surgery and couldn’t breathe, but Waldrip did not stop. According to court documents, Mullis is 62 years old and Waldrip is the manager of an exercise center and regularly works out.Waldrip then reportedly escaped in a blue van, and Mullis fled to his police car to call for an ambulance and request backup.According to court documents, Bloomington Police Department Officer Brett Rorem responded to Mullis’ backup call and attempted to approach the blue van Waldrip was driving. Waldrip reportedly sped away, then parked the van and exited the vehicle. Rorem then pursued Waldrip on foot as Waldrip resisted multiple calls to surrender to arrest.Rorem then reportedly reached for his baton and attempted to strike Waldrip in the leg, but Waldrip allegedly wrestled it away. The altercation continued.According to court documents, Rorem felt Waldrip pulling at Rorem’s pistol case multiple times. Rorem managed to retrieve his pistol and fire a shot at Waldrip but missed him. Waldrip then fled.Waldrip stopped running and picked up what was described as a small tree log. Rorem allegedly sprayed Waldrip with pepper spray, but it had no visible effect. Waldrip was commanded at gunpoint to put down the log and surrender, but didn’t. Several officers at the scene then reportedly tackled Waldrip and eventually handcuffed him.While Waldrip was giving his statement in police custody, he said he felt Mullis was “having a bad day” and wanted to arrest someone. Waldrip said Mullis trying to arrest him scared him, according to court documents. Waldrip told police he has a history of panic attacks and has been previously hospitalized.Police noted Waldrip had received papers from Monroe County Sheriff’s employees three times previously, and each of those was uneventful. Waldrip declined to explain to police why this time had been different.Waldrip entered a plea of not guilty, and he will use a court-appointed public defender. He is currently in the custody of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.The pretrial conference is scheduled for April 10. — Colleen Sikorski
(01/15/13 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This influenza season, health clinic waiting rooms are filling up with more coughing, achy patients earlier than in previous years. The virus has struck about a month and a half before its usual February onset.The 2012-13 influenza season began in December, with the East Coast being hit the hardest so far. The influenza death toll in Indiana climbed from 10 to 21 this week, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. But local health agencies say there’s no reason to panic yet.“Whether we have more deaths or more hospitalizations than typical is yet to be seen,” said Penny Caudill, Monroe County Health Department administrator. “If it’s peaking early and it goes down, then it may be more typical. If it continues and we’re not seeing an early peak, then it may be worse than a normal year.”Nancy Macklin, IU Health Center director of nursing, said an early flu season is unusual, although not unheard of.“Quite a few years ago, influenza hit right after Thanksgiving, and that was horrible because so many people were sick for finals week,” she said.Macklin said this year’s flu season has been mild so far. She said the Health Center saw between 40 and 50 students with influenza or influenza-like symptoms last week. During past seasons, that number had been as high as several hundred students.However, she said, conditions can change quickly.“So far, we have not seen the huge number of ill patients and the serious, very sick people that has been reported in the national media,” she said. “Hopefully we won’t get that. But even the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is saying it’s too soon to fully know what’s going to happen with this year’s influenza season.”IU Health Spokeswoman Amanda Roach said the IU Health Bloomington Hospital emergency department is seeing about 20 to 30 patients daily with influenza or influenza-like symptoms.“This is kind of the earliest flu season in the last four to five years,” Roach said. “Volumes of patients coming in with flu and flu-like symptoms are higher than we typically see.”Both Caudill and Macklin stressed getting this year’s influenza vaccine. The vaccine protects against the three main types of influenza that are circulating. The vaccine can lessen symptoms and shorten the duration of the disease.Strains, or types, of the influenza virus can vary between influenza seasons. The strain H3N2 is proving to be the most common and most virulent strain this season. But, Macklin said, this year’s vaccine protects against the strain, making the vaccine “a good match.”“It’s still recommended that the best thing to do is to get the influenza vaccine,” Macklin said.Since hands carry the influenza virus, Macklin recommended frequent hand washing along with other routine advice for staying healthy, noting the difficulty for college students to follow this advice.“It’s hard not to be stressed out,” she said. “It’s hard to stay away from sick people if they come to class, it’s hard to eat right, it’s hard to get sleep.”The Indiana State Department of Health release said no vaccine shortages have been reported. However, the vaccine may become more difficult to find due to increased demand. Those interested can check flu.gov to find vaccine administration sites.For students with influenza symptoms who have seen a medical practitioner, Macklin recommended emailing instructors to call in sick.“Let’s face it, professors are lied to all the time,” she said. “Let them know the severity and that you are under medical direction to self-isolate to stop the spread of disease.”This influenza season, health clinic waiting rooms are filling up with more coughing, achy patients earlier than in previous years. The virus has struck about a month and a half before its usual February onset.The 2012-13 influenza season began in December, with the East Coast being hit the hardest so far. The influenza death toll in Indiana climbed from 10 to 21 this week, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. But local health agencies say there’s no reason to panic yet.“Whether we have more deaths or more hospitalizations than typical is yet to be seen,” said Penny Caudill, Monroe County Health Department administrator. “If it’s peaking early and it goes down, then it may be more typical. If it continues and we’re not seeing an early peak, then it may be worse than a normal year.”Nancy Macklin, IU Health Center director of nursing, said an early flu season is unusual, although not unheard of.“Quite a few years ago, influenza hit right after Thanksgiving, and that was horrible because so many people were sick for finals week,” she said.Macklin said this year’s flu season has been mild so far. She said the Health Center saw between 40 and 50 students with influenza or influenza-like symptoms last week. During past seasons, that number had been as high as several hundred students.However, she said, conditions can change quickly.“So far, we have not seen the huge number of ill patients and the serious, very sick people that has been reported in the national media,” she said. “Hopefully we won’t get that. But even the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is saying it’s too soon to fully know what’s going to happen with this year’s influenza season.”IU Health Spokeswoman Amanda Roach said the IU Health Bloomington Hospital emergency department is seeing about 20 to 30 patients daily with influenza or influenza-like symptoms.“This is kind of the earliest flu season in the last four to five years,” Roach said. “Volumes of patients coming in with flu and flu-like symptoms are higher than we typically see.”Both Caudill and Macklin stressed getting this year’s influenza vaccine. The vaccine protects against the three main types of influenza that are circulating. The vaccine can lessen symptoms and shorten the duration of the disease.Strains, or types, of the influenza virus can vary between influenza seasons. The strain H3N2 is proving to be the most common and most virulent strain this season. But, Macklin said, this year’s vaccine protects against the strain, making the vaccine “a good match.”“It’s still recommended that the best thing to do is to get the influenza vaccine,” Macklin said.Since hands carry the influenza virus, Macklin recommended frequent hand washing along with other routine advice for staying healthy, noting the difficulty for college students to follow this advice.“It’s hard not to be stressed out,” she said. “It’s hard to stay away from sick people if they come to class, it’s hard to eat right, it’s hard to get sleep.”The Indiana State Department of Health release said no vaccine shortages have been reported. However, the vaccine may become more difficult to find due to increased demand. Those interested can check flu.gov to find vaccine administration sites.For students with influenza symptoms who have seen a medical practitioner, Macklin recommended emailing instructors to call in sick.“Let’s face it, professors are lied to all the time,” she said. “Let them know the severity and that you are under medical direction to self-isolate to stop the spread of disease.”- Colleen Sikorski
(01/14/13 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Amid illness and inclement weather, the American Red Cross is stepping up its efforts to attract blood donors in January. The Red Cross made January National Blood Donor Month to encourage healthy donors to help the organization meet its 17,000 pints-per-day quota.“It’s a nation-wide dip, and it’s a trend we see from year to year,” said Katy Maloy, a Red Cross program manager for the River Valley Blood Services region, which encompasses Kentucky, southern Indiana and south-east Illinois.It might be more difficult for college students to donate because they often have to walk through rain, snow or freezing temperatures to blood drives on campus, said Karen Stecher, national Red Cross spokeswoman.In a corner of Wright Quad’s Formal Lounge Wednesday evening, a sign propped up on a table at the entrance to a blood drive warned people to skip donating if they didn’t feel 100-percent healthy. “Most of our donors who are sick don’t even try,” said Dana Ferguson, a Red Cross employee who was in charge of the blood drive.Ferguson said the main reason they have to turn potential donors away is due to low iron levels. While low iron levels aren’t necessarily related to seasonal sickness, they often drop when someone is on the verge of coming down with a cold or flu.Ferguson also said she tends to see fewer donors at sites during the holiday season as schedules become busy. While the Red Cross usually has T-shirt giveaways or drawings during December, they often don’t do anything over-the-top in January to attract donors during the month. The combination of busy schedules, winter weather and illnesses affects the numbers of donations the Red Cross receives. Outside the donation area’s white folding walls, IU freshman Raine Cole began layering herself with winter clothing before leaving the Formal Lounge. She slipped her North Face jacket over her newly bandaged arm. She said she’s been donating blood regularly for the past six months and tries to stop at a blood drive whenever she sees one on campus.“I donated today because my grandpa just got blood,” she said.Cole said she’s never had to refuse donating because of illness.As flu season in Indiana is kicking into high gear, Ferguson said she expected a normal turnout for the Wednesday blood drive.Ferguson said she typically sees about 25 donors during a blood drive at Wright. Mid-way through the drive, 20 people had already donated.“IU’s usually pretty good,” she said.Interested in donating? Visit one of the blood drives on and off campus this week.
(11/14/12 4:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A 21-year-old female student reported being raped between 11 p.m. Friday and 12:23 a.m. Saturday in Teter Quad, according to IU Police Department logs.IUPD Chief Keith Cash said the female student met the suspect Friday night at a party. The two went to his room, where the rape allegedly occurred, Cash said.The case is still under investigation.
(10/26/12 4:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After stocking up on purple leggings, crackers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, sophomore Chelsea Chaffee said she planned to go to bed at 8 p.m. Thursday in an attempt to start her IU Dance Marathon shift Friday night with enough energy to make it to Sunday morning.“I’ve never been awake for that long before, so I thought it’d be an interesting experience to do with my sisters,” said Chaffee, who is participating with her sorority Theta Phi Alpha.Chaffee, along with about 2,000 other students, will dance for 36 hours to raise money for the Riley Hospital for Children. Chaffee will dance for the full 36 hours, while other participants dance for 17 hours, during the 22nd IUDM taking place from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Sunday at the IU Tennis Center.About 400 more dancers will participate this year compared to the 2011 marathon, IUDM President Julie Troyer said. IUDM has also recruited about 250 additional committee members this year to help organize and run the marathon. Troyer credits the increase in dancers and committee members to increased recruiting. Last year, IUDM gave participants the option to dance for a 17-hour shift instead of the full 36 hours.“I think certain organizations didn’t always have the best attitude going into dancing 36 hours,” Troyer said.All students dancing will do so at least 17 hours. Those who dance 36 hours are either awarded those slots by their organization or raised enough funding to make it into the top 250 fundraisers out of nearly 2,000 dancers.“People enjoyed their experiences more because it was tailored to what they wanted to do,” she said.To recruit more dancers, Troyer said IUDM worked more aggressively to recruit multicultural sororities and fraternities and non-greek campus organizations.IUDM committee members tracked incoming IU freshmen that participated in their high schools’ dance marathons and sent emails encouraging them to join IUDM as this school year started. Rainy weather this spring forced organizers to move Rockin’ for Riley, an IUDM concert outreach event originally scheduled for April, to Aug. 24.“We were going to can it, but then we were like, ‘Hey, we can use this as a huge recruiting tool,’” Troyer said.She estimated between 45 and 50 people signed up to be dancers that day.Each dancer had to raise a minimum of $500 to participate. The top 250 fund raisers who get to dance 36 hours average between $800 and $1,500, with the highest individual fund raiser bringing in $30,000. The final fundraising total will be revealed at the event.Chaffee estimated she raised $575 since starting her fundraising at the beginning of the school year.Theta Phi had dancers sign up for foods they’d like to be delivered to them.During her shift, Chaffee’s sisters will bring her Pizza X and Greek yogurt. Her purple leggings, along with a purple tutu, are for color wars — competitions and games to keep everyone going.“It gives us something to do while trying to stay awake,” she said.
(09/20/12 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>More than one person saw the McDonalds newspaper advertisement on Aug. 26, 2011, at La Casa Latino Cultural Center. A La Casa staff member discovered the words “criminals deport” scrawled next to a Latino employee depicted in the McDonalds ad. Later, on the refrigerator in La Casa’s kitchen, it was discovered someone rearranged magnetic letters to spell out “you need to leave.” This is one of 11 incidents detailed in the Bloomington Human Rights Commission’s 2011 Hate Incident Report, which includes the time from July 2011 to June 2012. The commission has two jobs: organizing educational events for residents and investigating complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity. Hate incidents don’t fall into those categories, said Barbara McKinney, the Bloomington Human Rights Commission director. But the commission does document hate incidents, try to refer victims to appropriate resources and work with like-minded community organizations to develop community responses, McKinney said. The number of hate incidents has decreased each of the last three years, falling from 26 to 18 to 11 incidents, respectively. But the report can only reflect the number of incidents reported, which, the press release acknowledges, may not be a comprehensive account.“I hope the numbers are down because of improving tolerance in Bloomington,” McKinney said. “The average number over the last 12 years is 20, and it’s certainly encouraging to see the current report so much lower than the average.”The incidents in this year’s report range in severity, from someone painting “you are gay” on the steps of a home occupied by a heterosexual man and woman to expletive-laced exclamations and pushing and shoving. Seven incidents were motivated by racial bias, two by religious bias, one by a bias against lesbians and gays and one by racial and/or sexual bias, according to a press release issued with the report. BHRC collects reports from several sources: police, citizens directly bringing incidents to their attention, local media reports and emails through their anonymous hotline. Bloomington Police Department works with the commission by investigating each report BPD receives and reporting hate incidents to the BHRC. “I believe the incidents are down because we have a community that is very much aware, and they will not tolerate this behavior,” BPD Chief Michael Diekhoff said. “That type of atmosphere, I believe, helps in sending a message that it is not acceptable to exhibit hate-type behavior.”
(09/17/12 2:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Orange and yellow streamers twisted through the stair railing, and Spanish pop music played as La Casa Latino Cultural Center and Latino Enhancement Cooperative kicked off Festival Latino, a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, on Friday.“We tried ... to get a broader diversity from everywhere, to welcome everyone,” said senior Prisma Lopez-Marin, who serves on Latino Enhancement Cooperative’s board.Guests munched on rice and beans and stuffed hot tortillas with fajita ingredients while mingling in La Casa’s backyard. Several booths, including cultural sororities and fraternities, the IU Office of Overseas Study and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, dotted the yard. Volunteers gave out information and chatted with guests.Jackiee Carbery, a health and wellness educator at IU Health Center, tried to keep posters and fliers from blowing away as she stood behind the IU Health Center’s outreach table. Carbery said the health center often does outreach events at on-campus culture centers but tries to push health issues that are important to the entire student population.“All of the issues we treat at the health center affect everybody,” Carbery said. “And I don’t think people realize that.” Several fliers about smoking and quitting tobacco use sat on the table, part of the health center’s push to promote tobacco cessation and nicotine replacement due to the statewide smoking ban that began in July. “We don’t want to go, ‘Oh yeah, just white people smoke,’” Carbery said. Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan spoke to guests before the city’s Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs presented awards. “I want you to consider Bloomington your home,” Kruzan told the students in the audience.He wished the students luck for the new school year and talked about how he fell in love with Bloomington as an IU student.The commission and the city, Kruzan said, “want people to feel welcome, to feel safe, to feel they are a full participant in the community.” The Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs gave, among other community awards, a Latino Leader Award to Lopez-Marin. Nominators called her a “dreamer and a doer”.“I do everything that I do because I’m very proud of anyone that’s here who’s Latino trying to graduate,” Lopez-Marin said.
(09/14/12 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU employee Laura Makarchuk had a close call with a cyclist on the morning of Sept. 7. She was sitting in a line of morning rush hour traffic at the four-way stop sign at the intersection of Seventh Street and Jordan Avenue. As she lifted her foot off of her break to inch forward in traffic, a cyclist darted in front of her.“I was shocked. I couldn’t believe he did that,” Makarchuk said. “Afterward, I felt really shook up.” Close calls, or even crashes, between cars and cyclists aren’t a rare occurrence on campus. IU Police Chief Keith Cash said the vast majority of calls involving bicyclists since 2007 have been bicyclists striking vehicles. There are no specific bicycle crash hot spots on campus, Cash said, but there are various types of bicycle accidents IUPD respond to. “We have responded to everything ranging from car versus bicycle, pedestrian versus bicycle, bicycle versus bicycle, deer versus bicycle and bicyclists simply falling off their bikes,” Cash said in an email. Cash said these crashes usually result in minor injuries to the cyclists.Senior Helen Han rides her bike to class about every other day. She said campus and the city of Bloomington each have their own pitfalls: Campus can be crowded, and the city has road construction. On campus, times between classes and rush hour at busy locations such at Tenth and Third streets are the most dangerous, Han said.“Some cyclists try to go through the cars, which can be dangerous for both the cyclists and the cars,” Han said. Han said she’s seen cyclists doing other unsafe things: riding on sidewalks and riding the wrong direction on one-way streets. Makarchuk said she’s willing to share the road with cyclists, but wants them to follow the rules. “It’s not the close calls as far as I’m concerned, but it’s very risky behavior,” Makarchuk said.
(09/07/12 2:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Local artist and IU student Joe Masek crashed a party last weekend.He was too tired of roadblocks to register an official booth at the Fourth Street Arts Festival in Bloomington. He called Amol India, a client of his, and convinced the owner to let him set up his artwork on the restaurant’s property. His largest piece to date, a neon-colored bike rack commissioned by the City of Bloomington, stood on Amol’s front lawn. In the shape of a flaming guitar, a yellow, thorned crown hangs on the neck above a cracked, pink-and-red sacred heart.“This is me,” Masek said of the piece. “Doing this piece ... it made me see what I’m worth. I didn’t know I could pull it off.”Masek said he spent about 180 hours designing, sculpting and painting the bike rack. The project took him a month to complete, and he frequently stayed at his studio until 3 a.m. after leaving his day job. He’s working toward a second degree, a BFA in sculpture from the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts, before pursuing an MFA in sculpture. He wants to do what he couldn’t with his first degree in art therapy: teach and create art on his own terms. Masek occupies two studios, one for painting and one for sculpture, at the Trained Eye Arts Center in Bloomington. He displays his favorite pieces in his sculpture studio alongside spray-painted designs on the walls and an open dock door for trucks.Though he has painted since he was 12 years old, Masek only started sculpting three years ago. “Once I got into sculpture, that was it,” Masek said. “I can’t sit still while painting anymore.”He is normally in his studio from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. He starts his sculpting projects after classes two days per week or after the commercial painting and odd jobs he does on non-class days.But his schedule can bring him close to his breaking point. He almost quit everything Tuesday night. The physical and emotional demands of producing art caught up with him when contracts for thousands of dollars for his commissioned works fell through. “They go all the way through it, and it’s like check time and they’re like, ‘Actually, no,’” he said. “I don’t wanna get rich, but I’d like, you know, something.”Masek is currently sculpting a flaming guitar. Its chrome skeleton leans against a pale-colored wooden workbench. He was also commissioned to create a sculpture for the Courtyard Bloomington on College Avenue. That sculpture will pay for his MFA in sculpting.“I actually want to learn about art academically, intellectually,” Masek said. He resisted returning to school because more intellectually-minded artists he knew were “stuck up.” But he made friends with artists who were both successful and down to earth, which factored into his decision to start classes.Masek will soon teach art classes in his studio to children from Middle Way House and foster homes.His students will start with simple projects: colored pencils, spray paint and maybe simple wood sculptures. “I was raised in the system and dealt with some jacked-up stuff, so that’s who I’m targeting,” Masek said. Masek started painting at the same age he began moving between homes with his mom, his aunt and foster parents. His Mötley Crüe obsession began at the same time and inspired his first sketches. He still listens to them while sculpting. Often mocked by his friends for liking the band, Masek said Mötley Crüe has sung him through bad breakups, kicking a heroin addiction and, now, a career change. “They’re still here, and they’re still kickin’ ass, and it’s plain rock ’n’ roll,” he said. “It gives me more motivation.”
(08/29/12 4:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Four female students chatted in their floor’s lounge Thursday evening after a day of classes and meetings.The girls, who had been living in the fifth floor Teter Quad Wissler lounge since move-in day, discussed their new room assignments with one another among their bunked beds and tables serving as desks and storage space. About 30 minutes earlier, they chose their permanent rooms for the 2012-13 school year in individual meetings with Sara Ivey Lucas, IU Residential Programs and Services’ assistant director for housing assignments.These girls are four of 120 students who received emails Aug. 1 informing them they would start their school years in temporary housing. Once the 28 to 32 Teter residents living in lounges move out by today, 41 men living in Read Center and Forest Quad will be the only students living in floor lounges. Students from Foster Quad and Eigenmann Hall moved out of lounges before classes began.“There’s a little bit of everything, but I may not be able to give you your dreams and desires,” Ivey Lucas said to the temporarily housed Teter students at the meeting. “We’ll try to find the best match.”RPS has housed students in lounges for at least part of the last six school years, usually with 225 to 275 students starting their years living in a floor’s common space. Part of the reason students need to be housed in lounges, Ivey Lucas said, has been RPS’s construction schedule. Both towers of Briscoe Quad are open this school year, though they house 400 fewer students than they did prior to construction. For the previous two school years, one tower of Briscoe had been closed, resulting in 500 fewer rooms RPS could use. A new dorm on Rose Avenue is slated to open for the 2013-14 school year.“With any luck ... we’ll have reached the point where we no longer have to deal with overflow housing,” she said. “One can never predict the admissions season and how many people are gonna want to come.”By Aug. 1, RPS has to have an assigned living space for every student living on campus, Ivey Lucas said. After that date, they start checking enrollment status of students. They ask resident assistants to report any students who haven’t shown up for the school year. Once they figure out who might be a no-show, they start contacting those students. Reasons students don’t show up to IU include visa complications for international students and serious last-minute medical complications.“We probably have five students who didn’t think their basic training was going to start until January who discovered they have to report for basic training on Sept. 1,” Ivey Lucas said. About 60 percent fewer students started this year in overflow housing than the 2011-12 school year. Then, 290 students began their Welcome Weeks living in lounges. Freshman Sara Jallal said her parents weren’t thrilled when they found out she’d be living in a lounge.“I thought ... I would be just so packed and not, like, comfy,” Jallal said. One of Jallal’s roommates, junior transfer student Carson Nestler, said she and her mother were in disbelief.“My mom got the phone call and was like, ‘This is a joke, right? Like, you’re kidding,’” Nestler said. But Jallal, Nestler and their two roommates, sophomore transfer student Samantha Johnston and freshman Simone Graham, said last week was better than expected.In addition to regular dorm room furniture, Johnston said they “also have all the couches and desks.”“And the TV,” Jallal said. “It’s huge,” Johnston said of their room.“It’s like an apartment,” Jallal said. They’re all biology majors but have spent their time together working out, eating meals and going on late-night vending machine runs.The girls had arranged one side of their lounge as a living room: three blue couches surrounding a coffee table faced the TV. One of the girls had a pillow, a blue bedsheet and two blankets spread on a couch — she wasn’t a fan of her top bunk. Their four desks faced the wall of windows spanning the width of the room.While the other girls on their floor are nice, they said they’ve become particularly close with one another because of close living quarters. Their RA didn’t put their nametags on the lounge door, so they made a sign themselves.The four chose their permanent rooms based on their lounge experiences. Nestler knew she didn’t want to live in a building without an elevator. Jallal couldn’t get into Nestler’s new dorm, so she chose randomly. Graham wanted to stay with friends she’d already made on their floor, and Johnston wanted an economical place to live. Nestler, who chose her new room in Foster first, thought she didn’t have a roommate. She spent the rest of the meeting encouraging Jallal to try to sign up for the same room. But Jallal came back with a room in Read.“What about Foster?” Nestler asked. “What about Crimson Creamery?”“There was, like, no room left,” Jallal said.Nestler said she was concerned she has missed out on Welcome Week bonding with her future floormates.“It’s gonna be a bummer when I leave and I won’t be close to people here,” she said.
(08/27/12 2:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Event sponsors turned off the salsa music drifting through the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market Saturday morning to start the 24th annual salsa contest. As many as 20 salsas could be entered in each of the three categories: tomato-based raw, tomato-based cooked and specialty. “I think the pioneers came here, found Nick’s (English Hut), the farmers market and salsa and decided to build a town here,” Emcee Steve Krahnke said. Judges tasted contestants’ salsas under a yellow and white-striped tent while Gregg “Rags” Rago of Nick’s gave the crowd a salsa-making demonstration. Judges rated salsas’ aroma, texture, appearance and flavor. While Rago chopped various vegetables, he gave shout-outs to his favorite farmers market booths from which to buy his ingredients. “Cilantro has been hard to come by this year because it’s been so hot,” Rago said. “You really gotta support the farmers this time of year.” The only ingredient he couldn’t find locally was limes.“If you happen to have a lime tree in your yard, please let us know,” Krahnke said. Decked out in a black apron patterned with red, yellow, orange and green peppers, Rago worked to make a batch of traditional salsa — tomatoes, limes, onions, garlic, hot peppers, salt and cilantro — in front of the crowd.He demonstrated how to properly cut a tomato, slicing it horizontally before dicing each circular piece. He let the tomatoes drain in a sieve while chopping onions, cutting the top and bottom off, then slicing the remaining part in half and fanning it. While Rago demonstrated, farmers market attendees sampled salsa from each of the contestants, circling booths and trying each entry with tortilla chips. The winning cooked salsa, which judges called “perfection on a chip” and “fresh, complex and feisty”, had no name. IU chemistry graduate student Alice Hui and chemistry lab worker Aulaire Schmitz claimed their prize in their first-ever salsa contest entry. Schmitz and Hui entered their salsa in the cooked category because they used roasted peppers and poblanos. The two started making salsa about a year ago after their garden produced an abundance of tomatoes. They started throwing things together in a blender to make salsa and found a recipe that stuck.“We wrote it down last year so we would remember it,” Schmitz said. They claimed a prize bag filled with a wooden cutting board, cloth grocery bags and several gift certificates to local restaurants and food stores. The two said they still plan to play around with different ingredient combinations.“Of course we like experimenting,” Hui said. “We’re chemists.”
(08/20/12 4:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With its entire customer base located across the state line in Illinois, Chase Energy Corporation decided to headquarter its business in Bloomington, opening its doors in March at The Solution Lab, a collaborative workspace.Senior Partner Marc Phelps said Chase Energy should create up to 75 full-time positions, mostly in marketing and customer care, by the end of 2015.Chase Energy has no prospects to develop a customer base in Indiana as doing so is currently not an option under Indiana’s utility regulations. The company sells electricity to consumers in deregulated markets — states where public utility companies don’t have a monopoly on providing electricity. Instead, customers can choose what kind of electricity they receive — for example, the cheapest or greenest electricity — and have it delivered to them on the electrical grid the public utility maintains. Illinois began deregulating in 1997. Indiana has deregulated its natural gas market for customers in Northern Indiana, served by Northern Indiana Public Service Company, but has not deregulated its electricity market. Marc Phelps, a senior partner with Chase Energy, said the ultimate goal is for Indiana to deregulate its electricity market, but he doesn’t see it happening anytime soon.“There hasn’t been any real rumbling,” Phelps said.States including Illinois, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania and California deregulated their electricity markets in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Most of the states deregulating their electricity markets worked to keep loopholes out of the written laws deregulating the electricity market. However, California’s law allowed speculation, which caused part of Enron’s downfall in 2002, Phelps said. “It’s scared legislators and governors ... because no one wants to be pegged politically with writing the bill that caused the next Enron,” Phelps said.Despite the seeming lack of political will to deregulate in Indiana, the company’s founders chose to establish headquarters in Bloomington. The founders, most of whom are from Bloomington, considered moving the company to Illinois.However, Phelps said they decided to stay based on business relationships, specifically citing Old National Bank and the Solution Lab. The close proximity to IU was also a factor, he said.Bloomington Economic Development Corporation has also worked with Chase Energy. BEDC Project Manager Dana Palazzo pointed out the benefits of the company choosing to locate its headquarters here as opposed to near its Illinois customer base.“Indiana is known as a more business-friendly state, and businesses will generally find operating costs and total tax burden to be more attractive than in Illinois,” Palazzo said. Palazzo said Chase Energy’s situation is common. Many Bloomington-based companies sell their products or services outside Bloomington.“They bring money from somewhere else, meaning new money enters into the Bloomington economy,” Palazzo said. “These new employees will likely spend and invest in the community, thereby supporting other businesses and employees.”As for Chase Energy, the company has no plans to move anytime soon.“Our ultimate hope is that Indiana will deregulate and that we’ll be able to sell (here),” Phelps said. “Hopefully, it (Chase Energy) ends up being good for this state as well in terms of employing some folks and bringing those people here.”
(08/10/12 2:44pm)
Global Gifts
(08/10/12 2:43pm)
Moonstone
