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(09/10/02 10:30pm)
Three days ago, as the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks loomed before a jaded nation, the men and women of the Bloomington Township Fire Department took a moment of silence to honor two of their own. They assembled quietly, standing around a limestone marker flanked by an undulating American flag, lost in their own thoughts and memories.\nIn an era of innocence lost, as a country turns its attention to the machines and mechanisms of a war against terror, these quiet heroes took a moment to remember their fallen brothers -- and reflect upon the level of courage their service commands.\n"People ask me all the time, 'Faron, with your years of experience, would you have gone inside that tower?'" Chief Faron Livingston said. "And I say yes -- of course -- absolutely. When you make a commitment to this life, you have to know you're going to see death and destruction. You just have to go in and do it."\nLivingston removes his hat as he approaches the site where the memorial, crafted of Indiana limestone and towering at six-foot-one, will stand. It's not yet been completed; the designer, himself a former BTFD fireman and IU graduate, isn't done yet. But small commemorative stones rise from the carefully manicured lawn.\nLivingston is a friendly man whose easygoing demeanor belies the disposition required of a firefighter in charge of nearly 50 volunteers and six full-time employees. His office is adorned with certificates proclaiming completion of well control training, participation in national fire training academies and bombs and explosive devices expertise. Yet he becomes soft-spoken, matter-of-fact, when talking about the soul of his force -- those men and women who've stuck with the job despite the emotional toll the work often demands.\n"You know, you either joke about it (firefighting), or you go nuts," Livingston said. "Sometimes you've got to cry, to get it off your chest. It's a natural reaction. It's okay."\n"Look at all that crazy sky"\nThe morning of Sept. 11, Livingston got to work a little late, so he took the back door. He entered the recreation room adjacent to the kitchen and came upon his men huddled around a television set.\nFirefighter and IU student Matt Baranko tore his eyes from the screen and looked up at his boss.\n"Holy shit," he said. "A plane's hit the World Trade Center."\nThat's when the adrenaline started pumping. E-mails began pouring in from all over the city and county from concerned residents asking for confirmation, pleading that this could not, should not, be true. A discord of screeching tones danced across the central dispatch system frequencies. Orders came in requesting fire chiefs to close and lock all station doors. Disbelievingly, the men and women of BTFD listened to live accounts of reporters and onlookers impersonating New York City fire personnel in attempts to get closer to Ground Zero. \n"How could you hit that?" assistant chief Joel Bomgardner recalls saying. "Look at all that crazy sky."\nThe firefighters remained together for about half an hour longer, some still glued to CNN reports, others offering somber exchanges. Then, in a near mass exodus from the Old State Road 37 station, they went home to their families. Three days later, they were watching M-16 fighter planes escort a small passenger plane from the skies over Monroe County Airport. \n"It bothered the hell out of me," Livingston said, recalling five of his own brethren from his days at the National Fire Academy who lost their lives racing into the blazing towers. "But it's funny how it affected people -- they just started telling us out loud that they appreciated what we do."\nTwo weeks after the attacks, Bomgardner walked by the station pool table, bathed in light by two floor-to-ceiling windows. Atop it sat a basket with an unsigned card:\n"Thank you for everything you do. We have always appreciated it."\nWrapped around the basket was a knit American flag afghan. Exactly one year later, it's still there, a persistent symbol of community spirit, a glimmer of hope in a time of mourning.\nThe first to respond\nAs anthrax scares fueled near-hysteria nationwide, the department's Hazmat -- short for hazardous materials -- team was placed on standby status. If the deadly spores were detected in Monroe or surrounding counties, they'd be the first in, reporting to the epicenter of the hot zone. Livingston recalls 42 such responses this year, with approximately six termed "credible threats" -- situations where "interest is perked."\nAn example of such an incident occurred in mid-October, when the Bloomington chapter of Planned Parenthood received one of 82 allegedly anthrax-laden letters from an unknown location in Ohio. Though Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez warned city officials not to "let fear and uncertainty turn into panic," reports of possible anthrax detection poured into city and township police and fire units. The BTFD was among the first to respond.\nThe department even graced the pages of Time last October as reports of anthrax in Forest Quad mobilized both full-time and volunteer members of the Hazmat team into action. \nLivingston's expertise in working with hazardous chemicals has earned him the moniker "Hazmat One" around the stationhouse. Each year at the National Firemen's Caucus in Washington, D.C., he makes the trek to Capitol Hill to visit Indiana Senator Richard Lugar in his Constitution Avenue offices.\nJust one of the guys\nBomgardner said the attacks prompted a spike in volunteer signups. Some recruits could take it; others dropped out of sight shortly after they appeared -- a testament to the "try it for a few days or make it your life" mentality pervading the fire service, he said.\nLivingston has a file cabinet full of turned-over personnel. But for every fireman lost, he said, he's got five of the "other breed" -- those dedicated to the task of saving lives.\nBomgardner estimates 75-to-80 percent of post-Sept. 11 volunteers have stuck with the job. Some are IU students, many of whom, like Baranko, plan to complete their academic pursuits but return to the service. Many of them are locals, longtime Bloomington residents who have grown to love the community that nurtured them from childhood.\nLivingston, a former truck driver, crisscrossed the country on nationwide hauls and said he's "been to town and seen the circus," and Bloomington's just where he wants to be.\nIU costume shop employee Eleanor Modin once considered herself just that -- a sort of silent supporter. But since Sept. 11 and at the prompting of friends involved in the fire service, she began considering ways she could contribute to the fight against terrorism. An avid philanthropist, she turned to the BTFD as an alternative way to give back to the immediate community.\nHailing from Switzerland, Modin came to the U.S. to study music at IU. On the morning of Sept. 11, she was at work in the Musical Arts Center -- without a TV. A friend called to inform the staff of the attacks, and they waited until National Public Radio picked up the reports. A television was later installed on the MAC's main stage to allow those working in the facility to follow developments. \nSomething stirred within Modin. She had done rescue work in the Swiss Alps and was no stranger to physical challenges. A friend, the chief of Indian Creek Township's department, encouraged her to talk to the BTFD. So she signed up, and three months later began work as a part-time volunteer. \n"I weighed it carefully," Modin said. "I wanted to make a solid commitment. Christmastime gave me some downtime" -- Modin had to complete 24 hours of mandatory training -- "so I chose December to do it."\nNine months later, she's still an active member and a trained Hazmat technician. Though she's a woman in a service once considered to be dominated by gruff, burly males, she said she never feels inferior.\n"I can't carry someone down the big ladder, obviously," she said. "But I feel comfortable. You get more detached to things like that, and you just go in and do your job."\nLivingston agreed.\n"She's one of the guys," he said. "When women come in, they're accepted immediately into the brotherhood of the department. We've got guys from Greece, women from Switzerland, IU students. They're all part of the department, and they're all equals. We get the other, special breeds, and we like it that way"
(09/10/02 10:27pm)
"You're goin,'" says firefighter Sal Aragono.\n Co-worker Vincent Geloso shakes his head no. \n"Yes, you awre," he repeats, this time more firmly.\n"No, I'm gonna be good tonight," Geloso declares. "I'm gonna be good -- I'm not drinking. I'm going to stay home and go to bed early."\nAragono's dark brown eyes glitter as he washes down a bite of his grilled chicken sandwich with a can of soda pop and grins at Geloso's bold-but-mistaken declaration that he would behave. \n"Look at Pinnochio's nose growin' over der," he laughs.\nAragano then drops the conversation with the comforting knowledge that his prediction will probably come true -- that Geloso will turn out for tonight's annual "Fire Under the Bridge" party at the Brooklyn Bridge.\nFirefighters say the party is sure to be "ass-kickin,'" which might have something to do with the fact that seemingly every 20-something woman in the city migrates to the riverside in festive and binding attire. All men are charged a $20 entrance fee, while women get in free but have the option of donating money to a Sept. 11 fund.\nNationwide, everything firefighters have been doing lately seems to in some way revolve around supporting other firefighters who were affected by Sept. 11 -- firefighters they might not even know. \nWhen people refer to the firefighting profession as a "brotherhood," it's not an exaggeration. Living, cooking, eating, cleaning and working in such close proximity with one another leads them to go beyond the acquaintance, friend and coworker stages -- they become family. \n10 House lost five family members.\nTheir station is roughly 50 feet away from Ground Zero and has been out of commission since Sept. 11. If you peer through the dusty windows on the large, red garage doors that mark the station, you'll see that almost all of the firefighter's personal belongings have been cleared out. They've been temporary relocated to the 7 Engine Station several blocks away.\nOnce a week, 10 House comes out to sell T-shirts for $20 apiece -- with proceeds going to the deceased firefighters' families and the station -- which is what they're doing when they roll up onto a curb amidst the Ground Zero merchandise mayhem. \nEveryone within a half block's radius is standing on their tiptoes to get a better view of what's going on, members of the 10 House fire station hop out of their engine, set up a makeshift souvenir stand and begin selling shirts out of cardboard boxes. \nWhile the firefighters' surprise visit is a delight for tourists and their NYPD buddies, who work in the area, the nearest street vendors take it as their cue to leave. \nPeople simultaneously abandon vendors in favor of 10 House. They are no longer looking for a bargain, but for heroes and a good cause. Even in the pressing heat and humidity of the day, they swarm around the truck, waiting to buy T-shirts and get pictures taken with them.\nFirefighter Garfield Boston is one of the designated photo opportunities for the day -- a prime candidate due to the plastic action figure he has tucked into his helmet.\nBoston says his niece gave the doll to him as a charm to keep him safe, and he keeps it with him whenever he makes a run to judge if it's getting too hot in a building.\n"If (the action figure) starts to melt, I'm in too deep and know I need to get out," Garfield says.\nNYPD Officer John Doyle says New York law enforcement officials are probably in more photo albums than celebrities.\nBoston good-naturedly mutters from the corner of his plastered-on grin that his face is, in fact, hurting very badly from all the smiling he is doing for the hundreds of pictures being taken.\nLt. John Burkello squints into the sun and crosses his tight forearms as he observes the phenomena that occurs every time their engine pulls up.\n"We deal with the public a lot, lately -- no one really noticed us before this," Burkello says.\nThey're getting attention now, though, and not just because of their profession. It's also because of their prophetic emblem, which has been around for 18 years.\nIt's on the side of their truck and on top of their lunch table -- an image of a fireman wielding a fire hose and straddling the top of World Trade Centers, which have a fire licking up their sides.\nThe NYPD also assisted in the city's recovery, which hasn't gone unnoticed by the public.\nDoyle says the NYPD has been feeling the love, too, like from the woman who had just walked up to him, crying and giving him a hug. \n"People used to hate us until this happened," Doyle says. "It's a much different job now." \nDoyle says officials try to be as helpful to the public as possible because they've been so good to them.\n"I thought (the kindness) would've died down by now, but it hasn't," Doyle says. "It's in everyone's heart. It could have happened to anyone, at anytime."\nEither this "unexpected death" notion still hasn't sunk into some firefighters' heads, or they're just choosing to disregard it and continue doing their job.\nFirefighter class enrollment has more than doubled in size since Sept. 11, with a little over 300 recruits going through the 10-week training.\n"We're young and stupid, so we're not scared," Garfield says. "If we were smarter, we'd be terrified."\nBrains or no, being a firefighter is not without its rewards -- particularly for those who work in New York and are worshiped by everyone in city.\nTheir high-spirits and stubborn attitudes are what can catapult them into a burning building or a blazing party.\nAs Doyle begins to sidle away from Boston and back into the crowd, Boston tells him their station is planning on throwing "the most insane party" when they get back together. Doyle nods and says "That's good -- you guys deserve it."\nGeloso says even though he has enjoyed some of their time-killing antics, this past year has been draining and despite everything that has happened with Sept. 11, his family wants to get back their station.\nThe department is burnt out on ceremonies," Geloso says. "Every time we're (at 10 House), we can't believe it's gone. We're just waiting for it to open so we can all get back to work"
(09/10/02 10:22pm)
As our airplane made the gradual turn to the north toward LaGuardia Airport in Queens, it gradually came into view -- the void that used to be the World Trade Center, windows formerly glistening brilliantly in the midday sun. That's when the reality sunk in -- the city I had grown to love had been wounded and was no longer the same. \nVisiting New York City before Sept. 11, 2001, always brought a great deal of excitement. I would go to visit family and friends, and I would take friends from home to share with them the many wonders of "The City that Never Sleeps." But this visit was different. \nI boarded an airplane in Indianapolis early one Wednesday morning with two fellow journalists, neither of whom had ever been to NYC. Since I was familiar with the city, I was the designated navigator for our trip. \nThe World Trade Center was so many things to so many people. Among other things, to me, it was a symbol of the great strength, or ability, of our country. I would stand at the bottom of the towers and gaze upward in awe of the giant structures piercing the clouds above my head. \nThe first time I was on my own in NYC, I memorized certain landmarks that would serve as a guide so I could just look to the tallest buildings in sight and have an idea of my location. Eventually, I learned the order (or disorder) of the streets and avenues, but the towers were still a reliable resource when wandering out of a different Subway exit every time. \nBefore we arrived I found myself wondering what my new point of reference would be, and I concluded that without the towers I would be like a sailor without her North Star.\nI did not know what to expect. From speaking with loved ones in and around the city, I knew people had been back to work for some time, and I knew the city, as well as the entire nation, was recovering. But it was still going to be a different city.\nThe image of Ground Zero had become etched in my mind after almost a full year of television coverage of the rescue, clean-up and rebuilding efforts. As the days after the tragedy turned into months the site went from stories of twisted metal to a construction site.\nAs I made my way to the site I passed under at least a full city block of scaffolds. Now a memorial, what was left of the 10 House fire station slowed the line down as everyone stopped to pay respects.\nGround Zero was most accurately described to me by a NYPD officer patrolling who patrols the area every day. "It's a gravesite," he said with a serious, somber face.\nDescribing what the twin towers looked like was a difficult task. When the question was posed to me, I said to look for a moment at the tallest buildings around … then imagine two more buildings twice as tall as the tallest you can see. They were so big they took up two city blocks.\nBeing back in the city was not as different as I had envisioned it would be. New Yorkers had never come off as unpleasant to me, but now people seem to have found a little extra time to help a stranger or point a tourist in the right direction. People still walk as if there is always somewhere to be, but they should've been there five minutes ago. The police sirens still screamed. The big black Lincoln Towncars still dominated the streets and managed to parallel park into spaces I couldn't get into with a Honda Civic.\nI have heard comparisons of trips to New York City, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania after Sept. 11 to a pilgrimage; a quest to one's holy land. In a way, the physical locations where the planes struck will forever be reminders of what used to be. That is, the feeling of safety and security, of omnipotence and pride that were taken for granted one year ago. But the terrorists did not accomplish their goals on Sept. 11, 2001. Our pride grew stronger. Our nation came together. We will keep going.
(09/10/02 10:15pm)
Ground Zero takes up two city blocks.\nThis statement lacks meaning until you understand the term "concrete jungle" is the most accurate description of New York City you will ever have.\nIn a city where trees are a rare commodity, space is nonexistent and you're more likely to look up and see a skyscraper than the sky, it's a punch in the gut to round the corner to see -- emptiness.\nIt feels more like a magic trick than reality. You half expect David Copperfield to slide up from behind you, tell you it's an illusion and that after you cut the deck, he can make it reappear.\nBut on Sept. 11, terrorists made it permanently disappear, and the country was left to clean up the nightmare left behind.\nGround Zero no longer looks like the mountain of hellish debris we watched on CNN. Once you shuffle through the line that winds half way around the block and make your way up to the viewing dock, you peer over the ledge to see a scene that looks like it's from a James Bond movie.\nFrom a semi-aerial view, you can see cement trucks, vans and cranes, all kicking up what appears to be miniscule tufts of dust and you wonder what, specifically, they're up to.\nWhat was once the foundation of the World Trade Center has now been reduced to dirt and is, for the most part, completely smooth.\nThe walls of the seven-story quarry have been torn out, revealing layers of structural cake that was once a parking garage. One can count stories by tallying the horizontal red beams remaining at each level.\nMassive metal spotlights tower over the workstation, shedding light on the unpleasant subject matter below so construction can continue around the clock.\nWorkers running around at the bottom look like tiny ants. One has to wonder if that many "ants" could fit into the gaping hole, how many more of them could fit into, and flee from, the two World Trade Centers. How many of them were reduced to their most base, animalistic instincts as they scrambled to escape with their lives?\nMiles of tarps were set up on surrounding buildings from where windows had been blown out and plane parts had slammed into it and, again, one has to wonder what was it like for the tiny but significant person standing near the windows as sheer force and metal blasted through their glass wall and their lives?\nThoughts that never occurred to me before rushed in all at once, making me mentally strangled and eager to leave.\nWhile winding my way out of the viewing area, I passed a woman standing mid-stream in the human traffic flow. People parted around her as she admonished her mother to stop taking pictures of the site.\n"You realize those pictures aren't going to capture anything near what it is, don't you?" the woman said, as she escorted her mom away.\nWhich is absolutely true -- the only things people will probably see in their photographs are blurry fence lines and a construction site.\nEven though I saw Ground Zero in person, I felt cheated out of the full comprehension of what happened -- no matter how horrific that comprehension may have been.\nI was hoping to have some sort of reality hit home that I couldn't get in Indiana, but the emotions didn't spring from the "improved" Ground Zero.\nThey came from the memorials set up on its outskirts. From pictures pinned to fences. From the miles of tarp streaming down surrounding buildings, masking the scars where windows were blown in. From the street vendors who were profiting from death. From survivors who recounted their experiences in such vivid detail you would think it happened yesterday. From visitors who had come in from all over the world to mourn the loss.\nFrom New Yorkers, who have -- through perseverance and Rubbermaid attitudes -- recovered their lives and now serve as a beacon to friends and middle finger to foes who would make futile attempts to destroy the freedom we cherish.
(09/03/02 5:25am)
NEW YORK -- Lindsay Davenport spent the better part of Monday sitting by a window at the National Tennis Center while rain fell. Once play started, she rose to the occasion.\nPlaying just her fifth tournament since knee surgery, Davenport moved into the U.S. Open quarterfinals by beating 13th-seeded Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 6-3, 6-1 in a match that started more than 7 hours late because of downpours.\n"It was hard for me to get going. I really didn't have a lot of time to" prepare, Davenport said. "I'm so relieved it's over with, but I don't remember going out there too many times with no warmup, not a lot of notice."\nThird-seeded Jennifer Capriati followed Davenport in Arthur Ashe Stadium and also eased into the round of eight, beating fellow American Amy Frazier 6-1, 6-3 despite eight double faults.\nRain that fell through the night continued into Monday, and organizers postponed 60 doubles and junior tournament matches. They were still hoping to be able to fit in a big schedule of main draw singles action, though by 8:45 p.m., only Davenport and Capriati had completed their matches.\n"The bad news is: We're behind in matches, doing the best to make them up," tournament referee Brian Earley said. "We're certainly hopeful to get where we need to be. We know it's a hardship."\nDavenport only had a hard time right at the start against Farina Elia, dropping the first two games. Then she turned it on, winning four straight games and 12 of the remaining 14. Davenport won eight of the last nine points in each set, closing the match by breaking Farina-Elia's serve at love.\n"Once I got back on serve pretty early, I think I felt a lot better out there," Davenport said.\nThe American finished 2001 atop the rankings, but she was out from November until last month because of her knee injury. While Davenport and another former No. 1 player recovering from surgery, Martina Hingis, were sidelined, Serena and Venus Williams met in the last two Grand Slam finals and climbed to 1-2 in the world.\nIn Davenport's comeback, she reached the semifinals in the first two and the finals in the last two. Two losses came against Venus Williams, including the title match Saturday in New Haven, Conn.\nShe spent nine weeks on crutches after her operation in January, then endured months of rehabilitation that included eight hours a day using a machine that repeatedly bent and straightened her right knee.\nDavenport also changed her diet and has appeared fit in her four victories here.\nThe worst potential backlog was in the lower half of the men's draw, which includes four-time U.S. Open champion Pete Sampras, 1997 finalist Greg Rusedski, third-seeded Tommy Haas, and three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten.\nTheir third-round matches got under way Sunday, but they were halted in progress, with Sampras serving down 5-4 to Rusedski, Haas up a set against Thomas Enqvist, and Kuerten a set ahead of Nicolas Massu. Even if all were finished Monday, it meant one men's finalist probably would have to play five matches in seven days.\n"We know best-of-five (set matches) take a lot out of a guy," Earley said. "We know the bottom half of the draw is going to be a struggle for somebody."\nIt certainly wouldn't make things any easier for the 31-year-old Sampras, who has been struggling with his game of late. He hasn't won a tournament since July 2000, when at Wimbledon he claimed his record 13th Grand Slam title.\nOthers have more pressing fitness questions.\nHaas has had pain in his right arm -- though his coach, David Ayme, said Monday it's "not a factor when he gets on the court" -- and another player in that half of the draw, fifth-seeded Tim Henman, has been fighting right shoulder problems.\n"We're not even thinking that far ahead," Ayme said, referring to the chance that there could be a jammed schedule. "If we lose one, Tommy's on a plane, and he watches the rest of the tournament at home on TV."\nWhile pushing the men's final back a day to Sept. 9 could happen, Earley said there are some limits to what his options are as he tries to figure out a way to get all the matches in. No day's action will start before 11 a.m., for example, and players won't have to play more than one singles match in a day, unlike at some lesser tournaments where weather interrupts action.\nUnlike at Wimbledon, there aren't indoor practice courts made available to players during the two weeks of the U.S. Open. Instead, that space is handed over to sponsors and an area called SmashZone, where fans can measure how fast they serve or play the role of sports broadcaster by calling action from a match on tape.
(08/01/02 3:51am)
ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- The sun was shining. The surfers were riding the waves. The beach and boardwalk were packed. Matt and Katie were in bare feet. The Boss was in his element. \nAnd his fans -- some 10,000 of them -- were in hog heaven. \nGlory days, indeed: Bruce Springsteen headlined a "Today" show broadcast Tuesday from the hard-luck Jersey shore city where he made his name, performing live on a program that showcased some of his home state's greatest hits. \nSpringsteen, 52, played an acoustic set in Convention Hall to warm up, then returned with his nine-member band for a miniconcert that was carried live on "Today." \nThe appearance coincided with the release of "The Rising," the new CD from Springsteen and his E Street Band. \nThrongs of die-hard Springsteen fans flocked to the boardwalk, some lining up more than a day early for the nationally televised three-hour show, which began at 7 a.m. \nAmong them was Gary Horst, 46, of Richmond, Va., who draped a fading blue 27-year-old "Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band" T-shirt over a boardwalk railing in hopes of catching "Today" cameras. \n"I drove up for the chance to see Bruce, in Asbury Park, on the 'Today' show. How much better can it get?"\nThe show, co-hosted by Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and weatherman Al Roker, included a taped interview with Springsteen and live segments on the beach that focused on surfing, sand-sculpting and cooking New Jersey-style. \nAtlantic City firefighter John Gowdy, a renowned sand sculptor, demonstrated his craft on a 12-foot tall sandcastle he had already erected on the beach, complete with "Today" logo. \nAuthor-chef Chris Styler of South Orange showed off New Jersey cuisine. His creations included grilled bluefish, grilled corn and Jersey tomato salad. \nThe show also spotlighted new efforts to breathe life into Asbury Park and its decrepit waterfront,which are the focus of a $1.2 billion redevelopment plan. \nAbout two dozen boats, surfers and personal watercraft users took in the scene from the ocean, about 100 yards from shore. \nThe beach crowds cheered and waved signs whenever a camera pointed in their direction. "They're a very easygoing crowd," said police Capt. Mark Kinmon. "We haven't had any troubles."\nThere was some good-natured mischief, though. \nCouric, reading her script to herself as she awaited the end of a commercial break, was hit on the back of the head with a beach ball thrown from the crowd. Hands on hips, she whirled around, glaring at the crowd in mock anger. \nWhile Couric, Lauer and Roker were on the beach, Springsteen was inside Convention Hall warming up. The 2,500-seat arena, which has no air conditioning, was sweltering hot, but fans gladly endured the discomfort to hear a solo Springsteen play acoustic versions of two oldies and a new song: "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street," "For You" and "Waitin' on a Sunny Day." \nLater, with the band in tow and the cameras on, he played a 33-minute set that, except for "Glory Days," was all material from the new record. \nThe event and the thousands of fans who came for it transformed the Asbury Park waterfront into a bustling concert scene. \nA Howard Johnson's cafe on the boardwalk closed for eating, instead serving drinks through a window. "Too many people. We couldn't handle it," said bartender Tommy Anderson. \nThe cafe served 20,000 people -- total -- on Monday and Tuesday, he said.\n\n
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
As the dog days of summer drag on, and the infamous southern Indiana humidity rises, you may find the temptation to kick back in your La-Z-Boy, soak up the air conditioning and catch up on cable television's brain-draining smorgasbord of entertainment nearly impossible to resist. But a summer spent in Bloomington without enjoying her considerable natural resources is a summer wasted indeed, and the Parks and Recreation Department has prepared a tempting array of free entertainment that will keep your weekends booked from now until the leaves begin to turn.\nThursdays\n"Evening With the Stars" Movie Series -- 9 p.m., Bryan Park Pool\nBringing the seemingly incongruous worlds of swimming and classic cinema together, the Evening With the Stars series is held every week in Bryan Park Pool, 1100 S. Woodlawn Ave. You can take in the movie as you float, or for those who prefer to remain dry, the deck is available as well. The films are appropriate for the whole family, although some may carry a 'PG' rating. Upcoming showings include Preston Sturges' classic comedy "Sullivan's Travels" (1942) and Alfred Hitchcock's voyeuristic thriller "Rear Window" (1954). Call 349-3700 to get a complete listing of films.\nFridays\nPerforming Arts Series -- 7 - 8:30 p.m., Third Street Park.\nFor entertainment of a more musical bent, look no further than Third Street Park Fridays for an eclectic selection of live performers. This Friday (June 29), local Afropop band Afro-Hoosier International will be taking the stage. The unique group is comprised of nine members encompassing various races, both genders, and ages from 22 to 58 years old.\n"We like to play African popular music -- the kind of pop music you hear on radios and night clubs in African cities. It's dancing music," said Bob Port, a professor of linguistics and computer science at IU and a member of the group. "It represents a lot of different styles from different parts of Africa."\nFuture Friday night attractions include the Monika Herzig Acoustic Project (July 6) and Blues Underground (July 27). The summer is capped off with the Monroe County Civic Theatre's production of "The Merchant of Venice" (August 10 -11 & 17-18).\nSaturdays\n"A Fair of the Arts" -- 8 a.m. - 2 p.m., July 14, Aug. 11 and Sept. 8, Showers Common.\nThe Farmers' Market in Showers Common is already a Bloomington fixture, and on the second Saturdays of the month this summer, it will be supplemented by A Fair of the Arts, an event that allows local and area artists to showcase their work and peddle their wares. Parks Department's Community Events Specialist, Leslie Kaiser, said there will be about 24 booths and art vendors at the next fair. The arts and crafts for sale include candles, watercolor paintings, photos and mosaic work. Find the perfect knick-knack for your apartment or just take in the handiwork. Musical accompaniment July 14 will be provided by Lauren Lain Powell and Blaq Lily.\nSundays\nPerforming Arts Series -- 6:30 - 8 p.m, Ninth Street Park and Bryan Park.\nThere's another night of music on Sundays, starting in Ninth Street Park (Ninth & Fairview) for the first two weeks in July before moving to Bryan Park for the rest of the summer.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
NEW YORK (AP) -- In a horrific sequence of destruction, terrorists hijacked two airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in a coordinated series of attacks Tuesday morning that brought down the twin 110-story towers. A plane also slammed into the Pentagon, raising fears that the seat of government itself was under attack.\n"I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. "Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible."\nAuthorities had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers, but many were thought to have been trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center. American Airlines said its two aircraft were carrying a total of 156 people.\n"This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that's ever taken place in the world," said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Transport in London. "It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden."\nPresident Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to "hunt down the folks who committed this act."\nWithin the hour, the Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from an aircraft. The fiery crash collapsed one side of the five-sided structure.\nThe White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated along with other federal buildings in Washington and New York.\nAuthorities in Washington immediately began deploying troops, including an infantry regiment. The Situation Room at the White House was in full operation. And authorities went on alert from coast to coast, halting all air traffic and tightening security at strategic installations.\n"This is the second Pearl Harbor. I don't think that I overstate it," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.\nAmerican Airlines identified the planes that crashed into the Trade Center as Flight 11, a Los Angeles-bound jet hijacked after takeoff from Boston with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77, which was seized while carrying 64 people from Washington to Los Angeles.\nIn Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh with 45 people aboard. The fate of those aboard was not immediately known and it was not clear if the crash was related to the disasters elsewhere. In a statement, United said another of its planes, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people on board, also crashed, but it did not say where.\nEvacuations were ordered at the United Nations in New York and at the Sears Tower in Chicago. Los Angeles mobilized its anti-terrorism division, and security was intensified around the naval installations in Hampton Roads, Va. Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., was evacuated.\nAt the World Trade Center, "everyone was screaming, crying, running, cops, people, firefighters, everyone," said Mike Smith, a fire marshal. "It's like a war zone."\n"I just saw the building I work in come down," said businessman Gabriel Ioan, shaking in shock outside City Hall, a cloud of smoke and ash from the World Trade Center behind him.\nNearby a crowd mobbed a man on a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 2 to 3 inches deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified.\nThe planes blasted fiery, gaping holes in the upper floors of the twin towers. A witness said he saw bodies falling and people jumping out. About an hour later, the southern tower collapsed with a roar and a huge cloud of smoke; the other tower fell about a half-hour after that, covering lower Manhattan in heaps of gray rubble and broken glass. Firefighters trapped in the rubble radioed for help.\n"Today we've had a national tragedy," Bush said from Sarasota, Fla. "Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country." He said he would be returning immediately to Washington.\nThe crashes at the World Trade Center happened minutes apart, beginning just before 9 a.m.\nHeavy black smoke billowed into the sky above one of New York City's most famous landmarks, and debris rained down on the street, one of the city's busiest work areas. When the second plane hit a fireball of flame and smoke erupted, leaving a huge hole in the glass and steel tower.\nJohn Axisa, who was getting off a commuter train to the World Trade Center, said he saw "bodies falling out" of the building. He said he ran outside, and watched people jump out of the first building. Then there was a second explosion, and he felt heat on the back of neck.\nWCBS-TV, citing an FBI agent, said five or six people jumped out of the windows. Witnesses on the street screamed every time another person leaped.\nPeople ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper drifted over Brooklyn, about three miles away.\nSeveral subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended. New York's mayoral primary election Tuesday was postponed. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed.\nDavid Reck was handing out literature for a candidate for public advocate a few blocks away when he saw a jet come in "very low, and then it made a slight twist and dove into the building."\nTerrorist bombers struck the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.\n"It's just sick. It just shows how vulnerable we really are," Keith Meyers, 39, said in Columbus, Ohio. "It kind of makes you want to go home and spend time with your family. It puts everything in perspective," Meyers said. He said he called to check in with his wife. They have two young children.\nIn New York, "we heard a large boom and then we saw all this debris just falling," said Harriet Grimm, who was inside a bookstore on the World Trade Center's first floor when the first explosion rocked the building.\n"The plane was coming in low and ... it looked like it hit at a slight angle," said Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported.\nIn 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog.\nIn Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour later.
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Red, white and blue balloons bunched together were the only indication of a "special event" Nicks English Hut, 423 E. Kirkwood Ave., sent to passers-by Thursday.\nWaitresses and bartenders worked almost for free from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., donating all their tips to aid the Red Cross in relief efforts of the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York last week.\n"We wanted to do something to help and we knew giving blood wasn't an option," said Wendy Clendening, a waitress who is also a sophomore at the University.\nShe said that blood banks probably had enough donors at this time due public outcry, and also that she herself could not give blood. \n"So we thought about donating our tips here," Clendening said.\nAround noon the flood came; a line of people formed at the door, and the wooden booths were filled. Many of the lunching patrons wore a red, white and blue ribbon, like the ones that sat on the counter by the front window, accompanied by a jar with a sign: "donations for ribbons." \nNick's -- characterized by a friendly atmosphere that resembles Cheers, complete with mounted taxidermy and six televisions over the bar blaring four channels -- had its benefit under way.\n"I was pretty floored by it," said Nick's customer Jason Bennett, a Bloomington resident. "It basically means that the entire staff is giving up a day's pay." \n"We all just wanted to do something tangible to help these people," said waitress Natalie Cabanaw, Bloomington resident. "All the waitresses who agreed to do this with me are full time students. And, I just think it is really cool that they would agree to do it. It's really a big tribute to them."\nCo-owner Rex Barnes said the event took about a week to plan. While Nick's advertised moderately, news of the benefit mainly traveled from customer to customer. \n"One of our customers mailed 500 people yesterday," he said.\nAnd it worked.\n"I'd say I'd leave a bigger tip today because of it, to help out," said Becky Kehrberg, a Bloomington resident.\nBennett was equally impressed with their efforts. \n"If the staff is basically donating a days pay, think about the difference that it would make if everyone did the same," he said.\nNick's is no stranger to fund-raising. The restaurant/bar does four to five of such events yearly, Cabanaw said, the most recent being for the family of Jill Behrman, a missing IU student and Bloomington native. The bar raised nearly $1000 in tips at that event.
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The Sept. 11 attacks have changed America forever, in almost every sphere of life. The economy, politics, religion and even the entertainment industry have all been affected by the huge loss of life and the loss of security. There has been a build up of fear, and with fear comes panic. And everyone has become increasingly careful, particularly in entertainment.\nNBC pushed back premiere week in the wake of the tragedy. Blockbuster stores across the country have been putting warning labels on any video that contains terrorist content.\nNBC's "Alias" and Fox's "24" have been put on hold for the time being, as they both contain "CIA" themes, according to CNN.com. CNN also reports that "24" was particularly touchy because it contains the destruction of a passenger plane by a terrorist. "The Agency," a CBS show, involves a plot by several terrorists to blow up a department store.\nBill Maher, host of ABC's late night television show "Politically Incorrect," recently came under fire for comments he made about the terrorists. In a discussion about the events and character of the terrorists, Maher said the terrorists were mislabeled as cowards. According to The New York Times, Maher said "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly." \nThe New York Times also reported that "Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, denounced Mr. Maher, saying of news organizations, and all Americans, that 'in times like these people have to watch what they say and watch what they do.'" \nGranted, Maher's position might not be a popular point of view, but expressing views, whether they are popular or not, is a part of being American. Maher may be right, and he may be wrong. A lot of people may support this view, and a lot of people may not. But if Americans are really recommitted to their country and its ideals in the aftermath of the tragedy, they should be able to accept the fact that we are still entitled to free speech. The American flags flying in practically every window are not just pieces of cloth -- they have principles behind them.\nDuring the Red Scare in America, the government was very wary of what people were saying and doing. People were afraid of a war with Communist enemies. People were arrested for saying something even remotely suspicious. Today, we are also afraid. But we cannot let it get to the point where mainstream society and even the government punishes people for their views.\nEveryone deals with tragedy differently, and what might be right for one American is not right for all Americans. We all want to live in a safe, happy country, but it is certain that we will not give up our basic constitutional rights to do so.\nStaff vote: Unanimous
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This weekend, despite the looming threat of rainy weather, current, former and future students and members of the Bloomington community gathered to revisit the past, look toward years to come, cheer on the team and celebrate all that is cream and crimson.\nIU celebrated Homecoming with the 43rd annual homecoming parade and pep rally, "Yell Like Hell" spirit competitions, the reunions of IU classes from 1961 and 1976, and of course, the football game against Illinois.\nMany of the events for Homecoming were organized by the IU Alumni and Student Alumni Associations and the Student Athletic Board. The alumni were welcomed back to the campus with a luncheon in Mellencamp Pavilion before the start of the football game, and with an open house at the Virgil T. Devault Alumni center on 17th Street.\n"Yell Like Hell," the yearly student spirit competition, was held Oct. 11 at the Willkie Quad Auditorium. Student groups competed in a cheer and spirit contest, and were also treated to a concert by the a cappella groups Straight No Chaser and Ladies First.\nThe pep rally featured cheers led by parade grand marshall and Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm, along with the IU Marching Hundred, the IU cheerleading and pom squads and the IU football team. Inspiring statements were made by seniors Antwaan Randle El and Levron Williams, two of the team's captains.\nBrehm dressed appropriately for the occasion, donning a cream and crimson cheerleading outfit.\nDuring the festivities, several individuals and organizations were honored:\n• The Homecoming court was crowned after the parade and pep rally at the Sample Gates. The king was junior Arty Allen, and the queen was senior Elizabeth Kienzler.\n•Zeta Beta Tau and Delta Gamma captured the "Yell like Hell" Spirit session, as well as other homecoming events, making them the overall homecoming winners. Representatives from ZBT and DG were awarded the alumni association grand champion trophy during the third quarter of the IU homecoming game.\n• Phi Mu and Phi Kappa Psi were runners up.\n• Forest Residence Center won the window painting competition.\n• Delta Gamma and Zeta Beta Tau won the banner display contest.\n• Phi Mu and Phi Kappa Psi won the Cream and Crimson Award, given to the float best exemplifying the homecoming theme "Let the Good Times Roll."\n• National Residence Halls Honorary won the Best Overall Float entry.\n• Delta Sigma Theta won first place in Marching.
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Correction: The Monroe County Bank was misidentified in this story. The IDS regrets the error.\nFace lifts for some of Bloomington's public facilities are not the tasks of construction crews, but the hard work of hundreds of volunteers. Bloomington Volunteer Network pulled together human resources for a week of local fall clean up this week referred to as Week of Caring.\nIn 1996, the Bloomington Volunteer Network and the United Way joined forces for a day of fall clean up. Bet Savich says that one day was not enough to complete all of the tasks that Bloomington Volunteer Network would have liked to accomplish. So Day of Caring evolved into Week of Caring the following year. \nRaise the Roof is one segment of Week of Caring dedicated to home improvements. Doris Sims, director of housing and Neighborhood Development said volunteers of an IU Community Outreach and Partnerships in Service Learning will weatherize homes, secure air conditioners, seal windows and clean out gutters of four low-income homes in Monroe County. Sims said she thinks that people are becoming more aware of volunteering because of the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11. \nSavich, director of Bloomington Volunteer Network, said people are more eager to volunteer their time. \n"Because of our empathy for those affected directly by the terrorist attacks, and everything we've all been through this last month, many people are feeling an overwhelming desire to act," Savich said. "Becoming more involved can help restore a sense of hope in our hearts, homes, and ultimately our nation." \nLocal organizations and University organizations recruited more than 500 volunteers in the Monroe County area to participate in charity events for Week of Caring. Beyond the volunteer organizations pitching in their efforts, several other businesses or clubs formed volunteer teams. Monroe Bank, for example, has teams cleaning gutters, painting offices, reading to children and doing various other projects around Monroe County. \nToday, Monroe Bank will close at noon so about 150 employees can participate in those Week of Caring events. Volunteers will work at Hannah House Maternity home, Harmony School, Middle Way House, Monroe County Public Library, Area 10 Agency on Aging and various other facilities in the area. \n"Our goal is to demonstrate volunteer work and give back to the community," Carmen Odle, group leader for the volunteers, said. "We want to set an example for other businesses," she added.\n"I want to encourage people to volunteer," Savich said. \nAside from the physical aspects of Week of Caring, there are other events for elderly folks and children to participate in. Monday night senior citizens had the opportunity to interact with children. \n"Rocking babies was really fun," Georgia Schaich, director of retired Senior Volunteer Program, said. "Many seniors can't be with their own grandchildren, so they enjoyed spending time with babies," she said. \nA new feature of Week of Caring is Senior Day of Caring on Friday. Volunteer senior citizens will collaborate to sew baby blankets for needy babies around the world. \nVisit www.idsnews.com for links containing more information about Bloomington Volunteer Network.
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Several dozen peace activists marched from their peace camp in Dunn Meadow to the intersection of Third Street and College Mall Road Saturday, encountering mixed reaction from passers-by. \nThe protesters sought to express concern about U.S. bombing in Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on Washington and New York. \nProfessor Emeritus of Philosophy Milton Fisk said those who oppose the military campaign, now a distinct minority, support action to halt global terrorism, but not the action undertaken by President George W. Bush. \n"We want some kind of justice, but we differ on the means," Fisk said. "We cannot say 'go ahead' with the war."\nDuring their march, protesters encountered mixed reaction, although most onlookers were supporting the war. \nOne man rolled down his window as he drove by on College Mall Road to yell: "What's your solution?"\nMarcher Peter Drake, a graduate student, said in lieu of bombing, the United States should work in coordination with international law enforcement agencies to track down terrorists, cut off funding to terrorist organizations and involve the United Nations more in the response. \nSome protesters suggested the United States should stop supporting repressive regimes in oil-producing countries. \n"Only in that way can we stamp out the problems that cause terrorism," Fisk said. \nDrake said he worries that the U.S. bombing will simply work to aggravate the terrorist groups, propelling them into taking further action. \n"This could escalate and blow up," Drake said. "The goal has moved from dealing with terrorism to taking the Taliban out of power."\nBut some passers-by associated the peace protesters with the terrorists. \n"You all need to be sent to Afghanistan," one woman shouted. \nMoments later, another driver associated the marchers with Afghanistan, yelling, "Get a life. Go back."\nDespite the reaction, marchers said they wanted the public to know that some opposition to the U.S./U.K.-led campaign does exist.\n"I think we are not getting a fair share of media and there are many people who are against the war, but they feel they are in a minority," said Bloomington resident Reza Pishghi. "Actions like this help get the message out that there are others." \nSome passers-by showed support for the protesters' message with a thumbs-up sign or a honk and a wave.\nOpponents of the bombing said they do not distinguish between the lives of Americans and those of Afghans, be they in Los Angeles or Kabul. All life, they said, is sacred. \nA passer-by disagreed: "Bomb the hell out of them."\nRegion editor Stacy Kess contributed to this story.
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- The television tower lies toppled on its hill, felled by aerial bombing. Not that it matters much to people in Kabul. Their Taliban rulers long ago banned television as part of their rigid Islamic program. \nTanker trucks are spread throughout the city, apparently to disperse the Taliban's oil supplies away from the fuel depots that are on the list of bombing targets. \nThe Foreign Ministry, in the center of Kabul, is untouched by the U.S.-led bombing. Some of its staff have left for Pakistan, while others are taking exams to become diplomats. The successful ones will represent a regime recognized by only one government -- Pakistan. \nMost of the Taliban ministers remain. The Taliban Cabinet continues to meet every week but in an undisclosed location since the bombing began. The presidential palace, once its home, was damaged by fighting years earlier. \nAfter nearly five weeks of bombing, the damage done by the planes seems slight. Only a small portion of the city has been directly hit. The government continues to function. The Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, who has only rarely visited Kabul, is said to still be in Kandahar, the Taliban's stronghold, 285 miles to the southwest. But his headquarters and home in Kandahar have been bombed and it's not known from where he operates. \nAfter 20 years of Soviet occupation, civil war and now the U.S. and British air campaign, life for ordinary people in Kabul could be described simply as more of the dreadful same, night after night of explosions, shaking buildings, fear and death. \nThe Taliban regime and the Pentagon dispute each other's casualty figures. The U.S. government insists it's trying to avoid harming civilians, but this is a city where military targets are woven into residential neighborhoods. \nAmong the dead since the offensive began Oct. 7 are two families, each of eight people; three children killed when a bomb landed near their home; and four U.N. mine-clearing employees. The Red Cross compound has been hit twice. The children's hospital says it has admitted 29 children. \nOn the streets and in the few restaurants still open, Afghans readily express their sympathy for the thousands killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America, but are bewildered to find themselves caught up in America's war against Osama bin Laden, the suspected terrorist mastermind, and his al Qaeda network. The United States launched the air assault after the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden. \nAlthough the buildings tremble throughout Kabul when the bombs fall, only a small portion of the city has been directly hit. \nNear the Ariana Chowk neighborhood, which has suffered no damage, is the centuries-old presidential palace where the Taliban used to hold Cabinet meetings. It is badly damaged, not by air raids, however, but by the bitter civil war between Islamic factions that preceded the Taliban's rise to power in 1996. \nLast weekend, B-52 bombers pummeled the mountains that ring Kabul. The earth shook, windows rattled and residents trembled. \nThe rocket-rutted road to Kabul International Airport is lined with rickety wooden shops and mud houses nearby. They shuddered for several nights running as 1,000-pound bombs hit the airport. \nThe Taliban have said the airports in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar and Herat have all been heavily damaged. Kabul's airport is off-limits, and it isn't known whether any of Afghanistan's antiquated fighters survived. \nOutside the mud walls around the tomb of the emperor Barbar, children with dirt-streaked faces push, shove and tumble about in the sand. \nA man on a bicycle, Abdul Jan, bounces down the hill, a passenger teetering on the back. Pausing for a rest, he reminisces about the trees and gardens that made this such a perfect picnic spot. \n"We would bring tents, and small stoves and pots and the very best food," he said. \n"Life used to be sweet." \nThose days seem as far away as the memory of the 16th century Mogul emperor, his burial ground now a rock-strewn overgrown mess, its surrounding trees cut down for firewood. \nThe damage done by the planes seems slight compared with what went before. Along the Kabul River to the south of the city are entire neighborhoods ruined in the 1990s by the civil war between the various Islamic factions that now make up the northern alliance and are fighting the Taliban. \nMacroyan, a Soviet-era complex of dozens of six-story apartment buildings, was heavily damaged. Today it is occupied by the poor. Tattered blankets cover shell holes in the walls. A few windows have panes, but most are covered by sheets and blankets. \nThere are communications towers and artillery positions on the nearby hills, and when night comes, and a curfew and power shutdown plunge the city into silence and darkness, people start listening for the roar of jets. \nIn Macroyan, residents say, some gather on the ground floors when the jets come. Some run away. But most just hunker down in their homes and hope for the best. The worst off are the poorest, who live on hillsides outside the city where the land is free. But the slopes are also where the Taliban guns are positioned. \nIn some cases, the bombing means the displacement of the already displaced. \nYears ago, civil war drove Allah Saeed north to the Khair Khana neighborhood of Kabul. There the impoverished family built a new home on free slope land. But the hilly northern neighborhood is full of targets, the Baba Jan garrison, an artillery unit and an anti-aircraft unit, that have attracted the bombers. \nOne of the families of eight who were killed lived in a mud house in Qali Hotai and the other in Khair Khana, and last week Saeed loaded the family's tattered belongings onto a truck and headed to a safer part of the neighborhood. \n"The bombing was every night and so close. Everything shook. All the children were crying and I was crying," Saeed said. \nHaqer Naser and his family found themselves in the same predicament. They had to abandon their house and move in with a relative. \n"We have nothing except our lives. We had to leave," Naser said, as Kabul got ready for another night of bombing. \n"I just want it to stop," he said. "Our lives are in ruins"
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NEW YORK -- An American Airlines jetliner on its way to the Dominican Republic crashed moments after takeoff Monday in a residential neighborhood five miles from Kennedy Airport, authorities said. There was no immediate word on deaths or injuries.\nBill Schumann of the Federal Aviation Administration said there was no immediate indication of what caused the crash, which came two months after two hijacked airliners brought down the World Trade Center.\nAll metropolitan area airports -- Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark, N.J. -- were closed after the crash, which took place in the Rockaway section of Queens. All bridges and tunnels into the city were closed except to emergency vehicles.\nFlight 587, an Airbus A300 that can hold 275 passengers, went down shortly after 9 a.m in the waterfront neighborhood 15 miles from Manhattan, setting buildings on fire. A plume of thick smoke could be seen miles away. There was no immediate word on the number of people aboard the plane.\nA U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said intelligence agencies, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration were reviewing all recent intelligence for any signs that terrorism was involved, but an hour after the crash there was no evidence pointing to an attack.\n"They are comparing information to see if it provides any insight into what transpired. At this point, there's no indication of a terrorist attack, but it certainly can't be ruled out in the current environment," the official said.\nMayor Rudolph Giuliani canceled his morning events and headed to the scene.\nPlanes were being diverted to other airports, and Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Peggy Estes said the airline was working to account for all its planes.\nThe plane had been scheduled to leave at 8 a.m. and arrive in Santo Domingo at 12:48 p.m.\nOne witness reported debris falling from sky and told the Fox News Channel four homes were on fire.\n"All of the sudden, I see an engine fall off, and it went to the side, and in 10, 15 seconds it went down," witness Kevin O'Rourke told WABC-TV. "An engine fell off."\nWitness Phyllis Paul heard the engine. "It was very, very loud. Because of what happened Sept. 11, it gave me a chill," she told CNN. "It was getting louder and louder, and I looked out the window. I saw a piece of metal falling from the sky."\nThe World Trade Center was destroyed by two Boeing 767s hijacked out of Boston's Logan Airport. One of the planes was operated by American, the other by United.
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As a little girl, Doria Dee Johnson often asked about the man in the portrait hanging in an aunt's living room, her great-great-grandfather. "It's too painful," her elderly relatives would say, and they would look away.\nA few years ago, Johnson, now 40, went to look for answers in the rural town of Abbeville, S.C.\nShe learned that in his day, the man in the portrait, Anthony P. Crawford, was one of the most prosperous farmers in Abbeville County. That is, until Oct. 21, 1916, the day the 51-year-old farmer hauled a wagon-load of cotton to town.\nCrawford "seems to have been the type of negro who is most offensive to certain elements of the white people," Mrs. J.B. Holman would say a few days later in a letter published by The Abbeville Press and Banner. "He was getting rich, for a negro, and he was insolent along with it."\nCrawford's prosperity had made him a target.\nRacial violence in America is a familiar story, but the importance of land as a motive for lynchings and white mob attacks on blacks has been widely overlooked. And the resulting land losses suffered by black families such as the Crawfords have gone largely unreported.\nThe Associated Press documented 57 violent land takings in an 18-month investigation of black land loss in America. Sometimes, black landowners were attacked by whites who just wanted to drive them from their property. In other cases, the attackers wanted the land for themselves.\nFor many decades, successful blacks "lived with a gnawing fear ... that white neighbors could at any time do something violent and take everything from them," said Loren Schweninger, a University of North Carolina expert on black landownership.\nWhile waiting his turn at the gin that fall day in 1916, Crawford entered the mercantile store of W.D. Barksdale. Contemporary newspaper accounts and the papers of then-Gov. Richard Manning detail what followed:\nBarksdale offered Crawford 85 cents a pound for his cottonseed. Crawford replied that he had a better offer. Barksdale called him a liar; Crawford called the storekeeper a cheat. Three clerks grabbed ax handles, and Crawford backed into the street, where the sheriff appeared and arrested Crawford, for cursing a white man.\nReleased on bail, Crawford was cornered by about 50 whites who beat and knifed him. The sheriff carried him back to jail. A few hours later, a deputy gave the mob the keys to Crawford's cell.\nAt sundown, they hanged him from a solitary Southern pine.\nNo one was ever tried for the killing. In its aftermath, hundreds of blacks, including some of the Crawfords, fled Abbeville.\nTwo whites were appointed executors of Crawford's estate, which included 427 acres of prime cotton land. One was Andrew J. Ferguson, cousin of two of the mob's ringleaders, the Press and Banner reported.\nCrawford's children inherited the farm, but Ferguson liquidated much of the rest of Crawford's property including his cotton, which went to Barksdale. Ferguson kept $5,438, more than half the proceeds, and gave Crawford's children just $200 each, estate papers show.\nCrawford's family struggled to hold the farm together but eventually lost it when they couldn't pay off a $2,000 balance on a bank loan. Although the farm was assessed at $20,000 at the time, a white man paid $504 for it at the foreclosure auction, land records show.\n"There's land taken away and there's murder," said Johnson, of Alexandria, Va. "But the biggest crime was that our family was split up by this. My family got scattered into the night."\nThe former Crawford land provided timber to several owners before International Paper Corp. acquired it last year. A company spokesman said International Paper was unaware of the land's history, and added: "It causes you to think that there are facets of our history that need to be discussed and addressed."\nOther current owners of property involved in violent land takings also said they knew little about the history of their land, and most were disturbed when informed about it.\nThe Tuskegee Institute and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have documented more than 3,000 lynchings between 1865 and 1965. Many of those lynched were property owners, said Ray Winbush, director of Fisk University's Race Relations Institute.\n"If you are looking for stolen black land," he said, "just follow the lynching trail."\nSome white officials condoned the violence; a few added threats of their own.\n"If it is necessary, every Negro in the state will be lynched," James K. Vardaman declared while governor of Mississippi (1904-1908). "It will be done to maintain white supremacy."\nIn some places, the AP found, single families were targeted. Elsewhere, entire black communities were destroyed.\nAt the start of the 20th century, Birmingham, Ky., a tobacco center with a predominantly black population, became a battleground in a five-year siege by white marauders called Night Riders.\nOn March 8, 1908, about 100 armed whites tore through town, shooting seven blacks, three of them fatally. The AP documented the cases of 14 black landowners who were driven from Birmingham. Together, they lost more than 60 acres of farmland and 21 city lots to whites, many at sheriff's sales, all for low prices.\nJohn Scruggs and his young granddaughter were killed in Birmingham that night. Property records show that the lot Scruggs had bought for $25 in 1902 was sold for nonpayment of taxes six years after the attack. A white man bought it for $7.25 (or about $144 in today's dollars).\nLand that had belonged to other blacks went for even less. John Puckett's 2 acres sold for $4.70; Ben Kelley's city lot went for just $2.60.\nToday, Birmingham lies beneath a floodway created in the 1940s.\nIn Pierce City, Mo., 1,000 armed whites burned down five black-owned houses and killed four blacks on Aug. 18, 1901. Within days, all of the town's 129 blacks had fled, never to return, according to a contemporary report in The Lawrence Chieftain newspaper. The AP documented the cases of nine Pierce City blacks who lost a total of 30 acres of farmland and 10 city lots. Whites bought it all at bargain prices.\nSometimes, individual black farmers were attacked by bands of white farmers known as the Whitecaps. Operating in several Southern and border states around the turn of the 20th century, they were intent on driving blacks from their land, said historian George C. Wright, provost at the University of Texas at Arlington.\n"The law wouldn't help," he said. "There was just no one to turn to."\nWhitecaps often nailed notes with crudely drawn coffins to the doors of black landowners, warning them to leave or die.\nThe warning to Eli Hilson of Lincoln County, Miss., came on Nov. 18, 1903, when Whitecaps shot up his house, The Brookhaven Leader newspaper reported at the time. Hilson ignored the warning.\nA month later, the 39-year-old farmer was shot dead as he drove his buggy toward his farm, the newspaper said. The horse trotted home, delivering Hilson's body to his wife, Hannah.\nShe struggled to raise their 11 children and work the 74-acre farm, but she could not manage without her husband. She lost the property through a mortgage foreclosure in 1905. Land records show the farm went for $439 to S.P. Oliver, a county supervisor. Today, the property is assessed at $61,642.\nIt wasn't just Whitecaps and Night Riders who chased blacks from their land. Officials did it too.\nIn Yazoo County, Miss., Norman Stephens and his twin brother, Homer, ran a trucking business, hauling cotton pickers to plantations. One day in 1950, a white farmer demanded that Stephens immediately deliver workers to his field, Stephens' widow, Rosie Fields, said in a recent interview.\nStephens explained he had other commitments and promised to drop off the men later, his wife said. The farmer fetched the sheriff.\nThat evening, the brothers found themselves locked in a second-floor room at the county jail. They squeezed through a window, leaped to the ground and ran. Fields said her husband later told her why: They had overheard the sheriff, now dead, talking about where to hide their bodies.\nFields said Stephens and his brother quickly flagged down a bus to Ohio. A year later, she and her five children joined them.\nFor a decade, the family made mortgage and property tax payments on the house they left behind, records show. But it was hard to keep up, and they never dared to return, Fields said.\nFinally, in the 1960s, they stopped paying and lost the house they had purchased for $700 in 1942.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Columnist wrong; Israel retaliations not acts of terror
I disagree with Malcolm Fleming's entire letter Jan. 18 (Sept. 11 terrorist attacks not the same as Palestine-Israel conflict) and would love to deconstruct it point-by-point. But, as I don't have the requisite column-inches, I'll suffice to dispute his equation of Palestinian terror with Israeli "terror."
Fleming writes, "Both Israel and Palestine are guilty of terrorism, meaning the killing of unarmed civilians of the other side." Wow. What a generous definition of terrorism. Are we honestly expected to believe that there is no moral difference between Israeli attacks on terrorists which happen to kill civilians and, say, last week's terrorist attack on a little girl's Bat Mitzvah party in Hadera? Is the failure of Palestinian apologists after Sept. 11 so desperate that it has come to such outlandish (and unquestionably faulty) attempts at moral equivalency? Terrorists, you see, don't just kill innocent civilians. If that were the case, every off-target American bomb in Afghanistan would be a terrorist attack. Terrorists TARGET innocent civilians. And Israel doesn't do that.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Mike Weichman, an IU alumnus, had an office with an unbeatable view. Looking out the windows of the 81st floor of One World Trade Center, he would see the Statue of Liberty rising above a sparkling Hudson Bay. He resigned from his job at the beginning of September. Several days later, he would stand on the roof of his apartment building, adjacent to the Empire State building and Times Square, and survey the wreckage of the World Trade Centers.\nHe watched as black smoke billowed, clinging to the city and obstructing the skyline. The city was eerily silent -- completely void of the honking and shouting associated with New York.\nHis friend and ex-coworker, Sujo John, didn't have the nauseating luxury of observing the aftermath. He was preoccupied with getting out of Tower 1 before it collapsed.\n"There was a loud crash and lots of smoke, fire…we were all crouching down on the floor until we heard the steel beams creaking from the ceiling about to cave in. That's when we got up and started running," John said.\nHe and his coworkers attempted to make their way down 81 flights of narrow stairs. He told them if they wanted to save themselves, start chanting "Jesus." Everyone did.\n"When you are near death, believe me some people are so ready to accept our Jesus," John said.\nThey navigated through smoke, assisted only by the lights that had not short-circuited. When John got to the bottom, the ceiling started to collapse. Glass, concrete and flames rained down, striking many around him. He remained unscathed.\nPicking his way over to a surviving FBI agent, he grabbed his hand and said, "God, if it's your will, show us out of this place."\nThey walked through walls of white ash until they spotted a flashing ambulance light that led them out of the building. The FBI agent went back in to help more people, but the tower collapsed minutes afterwards.\nJohn got on a bus parked nearby to get a few minutes of fresh air. His throat and lungs were coated with soot and ash, as was the atmosphere outside the bus. He was devastated; he had made it out of the building, but his pregnant wife, Mary, had worked in Two World Trade Center. \nWhat he didn't know was that her bus had been running five minutes late that morning, so she never made it into the building before it collapsed. She would later tell John she had run from the building, covering her womb to protect their child from the people stampeding down the streets. She glanced back long enough to see people jumping from Tower One, the north tower. She had also thought her husband was dead. \nWhen John got out of the bus, a reporter shoved a microphone and camera into his face. \n"I was still under the impression my wife was dead," John said. "I told him to go away; people were dying. The cameras were a help, though, because my family saw me running and knew I was okay."\nAs soon as John contacted his family and found out his wife was okay, he tried to meet her on the other side of the bridge the only way available: the ferry. There he encountered Weichman and his girlfriend, who were also trying to get a ride out of the city. \nWeichman said everyone was waiting semi-patiently and then they suddenly began to panic.\n"It was mass chaos. People were shoving through the blockades and packing themselves onto the boat," Weichman said. "I'll admit, I was one of them. I wanted to leave."\nEven though Weichman was in New York City Sept. 11, what happened still hasn't become a reality for him.\n"I guess it still hasn't hit me because everyone I know made it out alive, you know? I mean, it can happen to anyone at any time. You can't live your life in fear," Weichman said.\nJohn said one of the most sad parts of the day was when people would come running up to him, shaking his shoulders, asking which floor he'd come from and if he knew their loved ones.\n"I felt bad. There were 50,000 people in that building -- I didn't know them all by name. But I knew what they were going through. We were all in shock," John said. "Now people have been asking: Why did it happen? Where was God when this happened? Evil people did this. God had no part in it. He received the dead and saved others. God is there for people who are hurting."\nJohn now travels around the country, giving unpaid speeches to churches, school and other events. Mary is due any day now.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
IDS reporter Elise LeBlanc traveled the town on the eve of IU's biggest victory since 1992. She encountered "alumni losers," athletic exhibitionists and beloved police officers. This is what she saw. \n4:50 p.m. -- Depart house, armed with disposable camera for blackmail and mini recorder to verify quotes fans probably won't remember saying. \n4:54 p.m. -- Stop at Video World. Employees are twiddling thumbs, waiting for customers. Only action they've seen so far is at the drop-off box. \nAssistant Manager Eric Dinwiddie is wholly unconcerned with the basketball game.\n"The game's definitely interfering with business," Dinwiddie said. "When is it even on? Six? Seven?" \n5:01 p.m. -- Final Four paraphernalia booth set up at old Marathon station. Fans are making last-minute T-shirt purchases. \n5:09 p.m.-- Cars spilling out of parking lot. People inside are lined up with cases of beer. \nAssistant Manager Todd Francoeur, recent IU graduate, said they will be even busier later tonight if IU wins the game. \n"If we win tonight, it will be pandemonium. Tomorrow's Sunday, so people will be drinking without any fear of repercussions," Francoeur said. "It kind of pisses me off because we're finally going to the Final Four and I'm not a student anymore! But I'm just happy that they're going."\n5:25 p.m. -- Side of Assembly Hall littered with news vans. WRTV6 employee Dan Wills is not worried about potential damages to vehicle, in case of a stampede. He said he's more concerned with police, because they are the ones who had climbed on top of their van last time to see over crowd.\n5:35 p.m. -- People in hallways are decked out in red and white, and lining up to get their precious concessions before the game. The inside of Assembly Hall is packed with students, families, alumni, children and security to watch the game on big screen set up in middle of court. Three cheerleaders are flipping across the floor, and band members play the fight song.\nThe band members who were allowed to play in Atlanta were determined by seniority. Fifth and fourth years got to go first, then the oldest after that. Sophomore Joseph Heuring isn't too upset he didn't get to with them.\n"I think it's going to be just as rowdy down here as it will in Atlanta," Heuring said.\nA man is stumbling across seats, scrambling to unravel extension cord for a camera woman. One camera person zeroes in on Chancellor Sharon Brehm, who came with friends and was in wonderful spirits.\n"I think this is great…especially the support of the faculty, staff and students," Brehm said.\n6:05 p.m.-- Fans are behaving as if the game is actually at Assembly Hall. Sooners bounce on to court. Crowd boos a lot. Hoosiers come on screen and are given a standing ovation. Lots of love for A.J. Moye, who gets extra loud cheers and people chanting his name. Some are debating how his last name is pronounced. Everyone roared at the announcement that Coverdale will start.\nGame starts. Fans collectively hold their breath, gasp or explode into cheers whenever something good happens. \n6:35 p.m. -- Howling comes from all corners of the Kirkwood area. It's like the whole campus is cheering in surround sound. Even in my car with the doors shut, I can still hear the cheers loud and clear. \n7 p.m. -- Halftime at Kilroy's Sports bar. Unbelievable. They have extra tents set up to accommodate the nearly 2,000 customers present. More than 30 empty kegs are on back stoop. Inebriated customer is asking nearby cop to baby-sit his half-empty pitcher of beer while he goes into the tent for a few minutes.\n"People have been here since noon. Some were already lined up when we showed up to open at 11…they're wasted," said employee senior Mike Shander. \n7:20 p.m. -- Spot Fred Durst wannabe making cellular calls from his Escalade, updating everyone on game.\n7:43 p.m.-- Avert potential disaster. Make it to car before Parking Operations man can ticket car parked at Taco Bell. He admitted they bumped up number of employees to bust people making unintelligent (illegal) parking decisions.\nOperations have plenty to pick from this evening. Resourceful students are making do with every inch of available space in the Kirkwood area.\n7:45 p.m. -- Heading down Third Street. No one else is on the road. Not even a cop car.\n8:04 p.m. -- Find out not everyone is watching game. Dedicated parishioners are attending an evening Easter Mass at St. Charles Catholic church and making no effort to check up on the game. Am feeling quite bad; my priorities are a little different tonight. \n8:06 p.m. -- Stop at Bigfoot. Two employees are standing behind counter with nothing to do because they aren't allowed to listen to the radio. It doesn't bother them too much, though, because employee Dan Yokley found a way to get around it. \n"I got, like, three people calling me every couple minutes, telling me what's up," Yokley said. \n8:10 p.m. -- Officer Kay Minger parks horizontally across entrance to Indiana Avenue at Third street to block off traffic. She updates inquiring pedestrians on the score. \n"We're just happy they're winning, even though that means we will be out again Monday. I'm especially happy for Mike Davis," Minger said.\n8:12 p.m.-- Discover group of police, dressed in riot gear and face shields, congregated outside of IU Outfitters on corner of Kirkwood and Indiana. They're busy peering up at something through the glass walls. One of the officers had turned game on television inside. None of the officers appear terribly worried about stampede that's about to happen, regardless of a win or loss. They said they just wanted IU to win.\n8:14 p.m. -- Round corner just in time to see people pouring out into the streets from Kirkwood bars. For the next two hours, fans would be rushing in from all directions. \nThe first man out cartwheels into middle of Kirkwood and Dunn. \nHelicopters thrummed overhead as people spilled out into intersection, screaming, crying, hugging, kissing, spraying beer, shooting silly string, setting off fireworks, hollering from rooftops, carrying people on their shoulders and back, banging on pots and pans, flashing their breasts and the "number 1" sign, calling people on cell phones, taking pictures, videotaping and chanting "IU." \nEveryone flocked to news cameras like the salmon of Capestrano (joking). One person uprooted a stop sign and paraded it through crowd. \nOthers decided it would be a good idea to scale the light posts and dangle like monkeys from the electrical wire, while attempting to cross to the other side. Several people fell in their pointless quest and the crowd had to break their fall. I'm sure they'll be feeling that tomorrow.\nOne man who did it was wearing only his boxers and completely unaware that his anatomy was dangling on full display when he straddled the light post above thousands of people. \nFreshman Roosevelt Kelly was one of the few calm observers of the evening. He and his friends had watched game at Briscoe and had come here to check out the scene. \n"It's pretty wild -- I haven't seen anything like this before. This is new," Roosevelt said.\n9:30 p.m. -- Right now it doesn't matter where one is on campus, people are celebrating and making noise everywhere. Students, Bloomington residents, children, families, alumni, high schoolers -- doesn't matter. \nPeople who aren't on Kirkwood are overflowing from cars, clinging to the top, hanging out the windows or riding in trunks. Traffic is almost standstill. Everyone's honking, screaming, waving flags banners, blaring "We Are the Champions," and pedestrians and drivers are giving each other high fives. \n9:40 p.m. -- Encounter Officer Kay Minger again, who is smiling at all the stopped traffic.\n"I've never been hugged so much in my life," she laughed. \n9:45 p.m. -- Check out Showalter Fountain, which is blocked off by flares. Officer said fans bypassed the fountain in favor of Kirkwood this evening. Some fans are climbing into the fountain to get picture taken with the mermaid statue dressed in an IU shirt. Officers make no attempt to stop them.\nThroughout the whole evening, police turn out to be more of a photo opportunity than a threat for fans. Groups of them beam and smile at the happy crowd and students are hopping over to get pictures taken with them. \nOne officer is on top of Greetings, videotaping the whole melee. He even videotapes his partner when he was running around the rooftop, trying to chase down a student who had somehow climbed up there. \n10:15 p.m. -- Fans are packing themselves into the square. Thousands of people are around the courthouse, exercising their right to celebrate, drink, make noise, jaywalk and be collectively insane.\nEven at two in the morning, people could still be heard honking and screaming as if the game had just gotten over. As one fan pointed out, people weren't cheering for this evening's victory, anymore -- they were already cheering for the next one.\nWhen asked what he thought of the game he had said: "The game? What game? The game is this Monday!" and rushed off into the crowd of roaring fans.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
They believed until the end.\nThousands of fans swarmed theaters, houses, bars and restaurants -- any room that had a television -- almost uniformly clad in red, white and "Indiana" emblems hoping for a Cinderella season with a fairy tale ending.\nA day and early evening full of girls dangling from car windows, high-spirited honking, long lines and hard partying gave way to a night when nobody remained outdoors. The parking lots stood open, class buildings stood empty and the only sounds were reflected cheers.\nWhen the buzzer sounded and IU came up short by 12 points, everything turned inside out. Nobody remained inside. The streets filled with chaos as people kept cheering for their team or took out their frustrations on parked cars, lampposts and windows.\nTensions ran high at Assembly Hall before tip off. The crowd, all 10,000 of them, was a sea of red and white, and rolls of toilet paper arced gracefully from the top of the bleachers. Giant beach balls traversed the crowd and wave after wave wound its way around the hall. The crowd erupted as pre-game coverage began, and every shot the Hoosiers took was celebrated as the first and the best. \nThe courtyard was empty at Collins Living-Learning Center but the air around the building was filled with boos and screams of joy as students watched pregame action from dorms and the lounge in the main building.\nLights in the lounge were dim but more than made up for by the electrically-charged atmosphere. Students sat on couches, chairs and the floor eating and watching TV on a large projection screen. As he balanced on a chair eating a sandwich and Funyuns, senior James Brown predicted that the Hoosiers would carry the game.\n"It's going to be ugly for Maryland," he said. \nBrown, who chose to watch the game from home at Collins so he wouldn't have to wait in line for hours at a bar, explained that an Indiana win is inevitable because of his "hot/cold theory": the team was cold for the beginning of the Duke game, then became hot in the second half; a trend that has perpetuated since then, leaving them ready and able to win against Maryland.\nOn the screen, the game began with military carrying out an American flag from the remains of the World Trade Center and with the introductions of the team. IU's starters enjoyed loud cheers from the Collins crowd, while Maryland's players -- particularly Juan Dixon -- were vigorously booed as they ran out onto the court.\nAs turnovers and a lack of baskets plagued both teams during the first minutes of the game, Brown remained confident but laughed, "This is starting to look like a high school game."\nA slightly more subdued crowd sat in front of the two big screen televisions in the Commons at the Indiana Memorial Union. As IU fought to overcome a Maryland lead, about 30 people watched each television. As he and some friends reclined on the wooden chairs, Pete Hinnefeld, a freshman, said he wasn't feeling very good about the game.\n"I think Maryland's outplaying us so far," he said. "But that happened in the Duke game. There is always definitely a chance for us to play better once (Jarred) Jeffries is not worried about his two fouls."\nSuddenly, the group erupted with energy as Kyle Hornsby sank a three pointer. \nOn the edge of campus at a house on East Third Street, 15 people -- all except one wearing red Indiana shirts -- crowded around the television set. Groans and expletives escaped their lips as the team missed a number of shots in a row. Six minutes and 11 seconds remained in the first half and IU was down by seven. \n"We made it to the championship and that's what counts," said junior Justin Barnes. "They've done great things with what they have, and they will win."\nJunior Leanne Foldenauer echoed Barnes' sentiments. \n"We're down right now," Foldenauer said. "I think we can still win it."\nFoldenauer sat quietly on the edge of the crowd, but her eyes remained on the screen.\n'We're a second-half basketball team," she said. "We have heart, and that's all that matters."\nThe crowd remained somber as the clock wound down on the first half and IU continued to trail behind Maryland. \nDownstairs at the Union hotel front desk, seniors Katie Suttles and Jeremiah Brown were two of the few IU students stuck working on the Hoosier's big night. Although Suttles admitted she'd rather be home, she did acknowledge it was nice of their boss to allow a TV in the back so they could see the game. Brown cheered from the back as the TV showed Tom Coverdale making a last-minute basket as the half came to a close. He emerged behind the desk smiling.\n"(The game) is very competitive which is good," Brown said. "It's good seeing it's competitive because Maryland is such a good team."\nAt the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre, 114 E. Kirkwood Ave., during halftime, the smell of dark coffee mixed with tension filled the lobby, where many families watched the game. Freshman Amanda Rice was optimistic, although the team was down six points and seemed to be in a rut. \n"I think we'll be fine," she said. "Eventually." \nUp the street, Nick's English Hut, 423 E. Kirkwood Ave., was packed at halftime. Walking past a "Full" sign and the Bloomington city fire code posted on the front door, senior Mandy Verner came outside to smoke. She said she had been at Nick's since 1 p.m. \n"Since the Duke game, I've not paid attention to the second half and every single time they've won," Verner said. \nShe said her boyfriend was just as superstitious. \n"My boyfriend has been wearing the same clothes since the Duke game," she said. "His roommate is wearing the same clothes, but he hasn't washed them." \nTo chants of "Let's go Hoosiers," students packed into Kilroy's Sports Bar, 319 N. Walnut St. The doors closed to additional people around 8 p.m., an hour before the game started. It was standing room only at 11. Students couldn't even move. They stood on chairs and tables and rested on top of other people's shoulders. \nSophomore Charlie Crowe said, "I've never seen anything like this in my life. The atmosphere is incredible. This is IU and IU basketball ball at it's best." \nThe tension is in the air. The smoke is thick. The cheers are loud. At the Video Saloon, 105 W. Seventh St., owner Mike Black watched the Hoosiers attempt to overtake the Terrapins in the second half.\n"It seems like we're always behind and then somebody hits a three," Black said. "If the storyline stays the same, we're going to win."\nSitting at a table in the bar, Elizabeth Peterson, a social scientist getting her Ph.D at IU, said the antics of the crowd are more interesting than the game itself.\n"It's all very primitive," she said.\nStudent reactions at Assembly Hall ebbed and flowed with the tide of the game, with raucous cheering when the Hoosiers were performing well and dejected chattering when they weren't. Cheerleaders attempted to invigorate the sullen crowd during the lulls, but the crowd needed no prompting when IU led for 13 seconds. \nThe buzzer sounded and Maryland fans cheered the school's first ever NCAA national championships. At Showalter Fountain, the site of intense celebration during IU victories of the past, the only sounds in the air were the buzz of helicopters and obscenities as fans emerged from game-watching locations and headed towards Kirkwood Avenue.\nAn IU alumnus who now lives in Michigan approached the fountain. Identifying herself only as Neema for fear that her co-workers would read the paper, Neema admitted that she drove down today to witness the national championship celebration she missed in 1987.\n"So it's over?" she asked.\nBut the night wasn't over for all the fans. Groups of students marched from all corners of campus toward Kirkwood Avenue. About eight or ten students tore down two light posts in front of the Auditorium; another light was taken out.\n"A group of about 50 people came and that bunch broke loose and started breaking those things," said Indiana University Police Department officer Charles Caragol.\nPeople swarmed out of bars, houses and dorms to once again converge on the area around Kirkwood Avenue. Although the crowd was large, the atmosphere was more subdued than it had been in days past. But cheers of "Go Hoosiers" and "Hoosier Pride" still echoed on the streets. \n"We had faith until the end," Allison Graham, a sophomore, said. "We hadn't been down here until tonight and it's absolutely insane."\nBottle rockets went off as people attempted to climb light poles; police had removed the wires that stretched from the lights across the street to discourage students from hanging from them.\n"I just wanted one more win for my last year," said Chris Johnson, a senior. "But instead I'll party down here."\nAt 11:45 p.m. the giant television screens at Yogi's Grill and Bar, 519 E. 10th St., showed highlights of the recently ended national championship game. Loud music played over the speakers, but the lack of people and conversation made the bar seem oddly quiet. Busboys wiped down empty tables and swept up garbage scattered across the floor. \nThe scene was very different from a half hour earlier. \n"It was pretty intense for the most part," said Chris Littrell, a waiter at Yogi's. "It kind of dropped off at the end. During the last five minutes (of the game) it seemed like everyone's mood dropped." \nLittrell said the bar and restaurant areas of Yogi's had been full since 2 p.m. Monday afternoon. \nAaron Potts, an IU alumnus, now lives in Washington D.C. He managed to make it back to Bloomington for the championship and said, despite the loss, he was impressed with IU's season. \n"I'm happy that we made it this far," Potts said. "If you would have told me a month ago that (IU) would be playing in the final game, I would have called you crazy."
