Riot damage estimate growing

Several weeks after the Sept. 10 riots following the firing of former men's basketball coach Bob Knight, University and local law enforcement agencies are still reflecting on the financial and social scars inflicted by the chaos.\nAt the Bloomington Faculty Council meeting Tuesday, Chancellor and Vice President for Academic Affairs Kenneth Gros Louis announced an official assessment of $15,000 worth of damages resulting from the riots.\nBut Hank Hewetson, associate director of the physical plant, said he was hurried by Gros Louis earlier in the week to release a figure. Having compiled further detrimental expenses, the final cost is expected to exceed Gros Louis' estimate.\n"The Chancellor called me and pressed me to provide him with an order of magnitude," Hewetson said. "When asked, I was sure to preface the estimate with the fact that there are many unknowns left."\nHewetson said Thursday the cost-to-date, not including damage to the Showalter Fountain fish, was in excess of $14,000, and is expected to be closer to $20,000 when all repairs are completed.\n"It was difficult to establish a total because we've yet to begin preliminary repairs to the fountain," Hewetson said. "The fish will require welding and plumbing repairs, and the extent of technology put into the repairs will be a big factor on the actual total cost."\nMany different organizations are contributing to the repairs, Hewetson said. The grounds crew is handling most damages, but utility companies have refurbished lights and individual window outlets and mended most broken glass and windows around campus.\nThe Office of Risk Management is expected to handle damage payments. But Perry Metz, assistant to the Chancellor, said there could be a problem.\n"The figure is small considered against our insurance policies, which consequently might not be able to cover the damages," Metz said.\nLt. Jerry Minger of the IU Police Department said he kept a tally of what specific damages were made to campus. Minger also kept tabs on the extent of law enforcement required for the riots, as well as subsequent arrests.\nDamages Minger said were a direct result of the riots include: two light poles knocked down in the vicinity of IU President Myles Brand's house, a construction sign knocked down at Fifth Street and Indiana Avenue, several cars with tires slashed in the parking lot of the Main Library, a torn-down goalpost at the south end of the football field, damages to Showalter Fountain and a handful of cars with windshield and body damage.\nIn total, approximately 205 officers, two fire trucks with accompanying crews from the Bloomington Fire Department and four Bloomington Hospital ambulances were dispatched on the night of the riots. Thirty-five officers hailed from IUPD, 47 from the Bloomington Police Department and 115 from the Indiana State Police.\nAbout eight arrests were a product of the unrest, Minger said. The major charge was disorderly conduct, but several charges of assault also ensued, he said. There also was an attempted battery where a student tried to strike an officer, a theft charge for uprooting a parking sign and one vandalism charge.