Around The Region

Experts worry talk of earthquake danger will fade quickly\nEVANSVILLE -- Some experts worry that earthquake safety will soon be just as undetectable on people's minds as the aftershocks since Tuesday's quake that rattled southern Indiana.\nThat 5.0 magnitude earthquake caused little damage even though it was felt at least 250 miles away -- as far north as South Bend and as far south as Memphis, Tenn.\nBut don't expect too much talk about the quake.\n"It is very short-lived, unfortunately," said Mitch Withers, the seismic network director for the Center for Earthquake Research and Information. "People won't even be thinking about earthquakes within a year."\nThat bothers Withers because he says those living in the Ohio Valley need to be prepared for damage worse than the scattered instances of broken windows and cracked foundations from Tuesday's quake.\nWithers said residents should be ready for a magnitude 6.0 quake, which could cause severe damage.\nTrooper's presence at casino party under investigation\nVEVAY, Ind. -- Indiana State Police are investigating the presence of an off-duty trooper at a Belterra casino party during which, a lawsuit claims, the casino supplied prostitutes for high-rollers.\nA review of the trooper's action is part of the Indiana Gaming Commission's investigation of the allegations surrounding the party last summer at the Ohio River casino, said Jack Thar, the commission's executive director.\nThe state trooper's presence was mentioned in Belterra's response to a federal lawsuit filed by two women who formerly worked at the casino.\nThe sexual harassment lawsuit says that eight to 12 prostitutes were brought in from California and Louisville to entertain 48 wealthy male guests who had participated in a golf tournament at Belterra.\nThe casino has denied that it arranged for any prostitutes and said representatives of the state gambling commission were at the party in Belterra's Celebrity Room.\nThar said that "there was an Indiana State Police trooper who was off duty who acts, when he's on duty, as a representative of the Indiana Gaming Commission at the Belterra facility. And he was present in the Celebrity Room."\nThar told The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., for a story Sunday that he did not know how long the trooper, whom he would not identify, was in the room.\nMaker of low-budget film say they want to repay investors\nINDIANAPOLIS -- The investors who backed a low-budget karate action thriller filmed in Greenfield 14 years ago are still in court with its makers, hoping to recover some of their money.\nThe film's production company, Film Investors One, has been in receivership, under the supervision of a Hamilton County judge since soon after "Pushed Too Far" was completed.\nProduced at a cost of about $600,000, the film has earned less than a fifth of that, said John Kleiman, who wrote the initial script and co-produced the movie.\n"A lot of that has gone to attorney fees," he said.\nFor Kleiman and co-producer Kelly Hocker, their only hope of repaying investors -- many of them relatives and friends -- lies in U.S. District Court.\nFilm Investors One in 1996 got a $100,000 judgment against a New York distribution firm, Cinevest Entertainment Group Inc. in a lawsuit accusing Cinevest of distributing the film without paying any royalties.\nCinevest late last year filed a motion to set aside the judgment, saying it had never been able to sell the film.\nScott Benkie, who represents Film Investors, said he doubted Cinevest's claim that it never made any money. But he's hopeful of negotiating a settlement before the next hearing on July 10.\nThe 95-minute film involved nearly all local actors and crew. Its one name actor was Claude Akins, who grew up in Bedford and was best known for playing a bumbling sheriff in a 1978 made-for-television movie, "BJ and the Bear."\nKleiman and Hocker began working to make the movie in the mid-1980s after talking with members of the crew filming "Hoosiers."\nKleiman also involved Herb Johnson, a former Greenfield High School classmate who was operating two karate schools in Indianapolis. Johnson agreed to make the movie for a share in whatever profits resulted.\nThe film's plot has a psychopathic wrestler descending on a small Indiana town, where he starts killing people until the town's nonviolent karate school owner, played by Johnson, is forced to take action, with help from the town sheriff, played by Akins.\nBoth Kleiman and Hocker said their only interest now was seeing that their backers finally received some money.