Around The State

Suspected food poisoning sickens Oklahoma band members during contest\nINDIANAPOLIS -- A group of Oklahoma high school students competing in a national band contest was apparently stricken by food poisoning that sent more than two dozen students and two adults to hospitals.\nTwenty-six members of the Moore High School marching band and two adults were treated and released from Indianapolis hospitals Saturday after experiencing severe nausea, vomiting and brief fainting spells.\nThe victims were treated for food poisoning and extreme dehydration.\nMembers of the group from Moore, Okla., located about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, fell ill as they were preparing for a 13-hour bus ride home after competing in the 27th annual Grand National Championships.\nThe band did not reach Saturday night's finals at the RCA Dome.\nAlthough some of them ate at the sporting facility, Indianapolis Fire Department investigators and RCA Dome officials said they were convinced the illness was not caused by concession food.\n"We can assure you that the band members did not get food poisoning from eating at the RCA Dome," Capt. William W. Brown, events coordinator for the Indianapolis Fire Department, told The Indianapolis Star.\nJohn Althardt of the Marion County Health Department said the ill teens and two adults were being asked to list the places where they had eaten. He said it was unlikely they became sick from food at the dome.\n"They all ate as a group, and we are trying to determine where they got the food poisoning," he said.\nPair accused of organizing dog fight; police confiscate dogs\nMIGHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- Two northern Indiana men have been accused of organizing a dog-fighting contest after authorities confiscated three pit bulls and 10 puppies from a home.\nThe charges may be the first in LaPorte County for placing dogs into combat with one another.\n"As we've known for some time, this is occurring on a regular basis, not just in Michigan City, but all over," Chief Deputy Prosecutor Atley Price said.\nPolice declined to say how they learned of the fight Friday evening, but officers arrived as the men were trying to stop the fight and round up the dogs, which were wounded and had scars, Price said.\nLaymon Fly, 21, and LaRon Ross, 20, were charged with using animals in a fighting contest, a Class D felony.\nThe adult dogs, along with 10 pit bull puppies that were being kept in an enclosed back porch, were taken to an animal shelter.\nBecause there were only three spectators, Price does not think betting triggered the fight. It may have been a sudden bid for "bragging rights" over who had the toughest animal, he said.\n"It would appear it was something more on the spur of the moment," Price said.\nMan arrested after sheriff says he drove too close\nLAPORTE, Ind. -- A man was charged with driving while intoxicated after LaPorte County Sheriff Jim Arnold said the man was tailgating his unmarked police car.\nArnold was driving to his daughter's wedding rehearsal Friday evening when he said a pickup truck drove toward his car until only inches separated the two vehicles.\n"I really thought he was going to rear end me," Arnold said.\nWhen he pulled over to let the truck pass, Arnold said the truck stopped behind him and the driver began revving its engine.\nArnold said he then approached the truck, displayed his badge and attempted to give the driver, Sammy Robbins, 40, a lecture about his driving habits.\nSheriff's deputies then arrived and arrested Robbins.\nRobbins refused to take a blood-alcohol test, but Arnold said he smelled alcohol when he reached inside Robbins' truck.