RICHMOND, Ind. -- Five Richmond High School students who blocked a school hallway during an anti-war protest were arrested by city police.\nThe students, all boys, were arrested Monday morning and taken away in handcuffs. They were later released to their parents.\nPolice Lt. Tom Porfidio said 12 students were sitting in a hallway and most went on to class when officers arrived.\nThe five students who refused to leave were arrested.\nTenth-grade principal Barb Bergdoll said the students' desire to protest the war in Iraq was not the problem -- the problem was that they were blocking a hallway and missing class.\nBergdoll said the students' protest was respectful and never loud or unruly. \n"It's just that they chose the wrong place to do it," she said.\nSophomore Will Terpin, 16, was one of the students arrested. He said war is not the solution to the problems in Iraq and that his protest meant no disrespect to the U.S. soldiers fighting there.\n"I am praying for them and their families," he said.
\nSoldier e-mail shut down for security
JASPER, Ind. -- The e-mail link that has helped some Indiana National Guard members assigned to the Middle East keep in touch with their families has been shut down for security reasons.\nThe e-mails to U.S. troops in the area were stopped last week because they were posing a threat to the safety to troops, said Lt. Col. Larry Powers, a spokesman for the Indiana National Guard. He said he did not know when e-mails with family members would be allowed again.\n"The element of surprise was being compromised," Powers told The Herald for a story Monday.\nAnita Tobin said she had received about 15 e-mails from her husband, Staff Sgt. Mike Tobin, since his Jasper-based Guard unit was sent to Kuwait in February.\n"I get comfort from them," Anita Tobin said of the e-mails from her husband. "It's basically like halfway talking to him."\nPowers said military personnel in the Persian Gulf area still had access to regular mail and telephones, although he did not know what restrictions they faced.
\nHundreds attend Lafayette donation rally
LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Playing cards, compact discs and stationery were just a few gifts from community members to the troops overseas bundled in dozens of bags and boxes at a live music rally.\nThe show of support from hundreds of people who gathered Sunday at Riehle Brothers Tavern amazed Purdue University senior Erin Saxsma, who will report to Air Force basic training in June.\n"It's huge," said Saxsma of Schaumburg, Ill. "You hear so many unsupportive things. This means a lot."\nRed Cross representatives have been gathering supplies for the last few weeks, but this was the first local rally, said Melissa Axley, director of disaster and emergency services. One group of contributors, American Veterans Motorcycle Riders Association, wheeled in 13 large boxes of contributions.\nWest Lafayette resident Cathy Taylor said she and five friends went shopping for the troops on Sunday after learning about the rally the previous night. The six filled three shopping bags with notepads, shaving cream, razors and other toiletries.
\nMinorities in central Indiana split on war
INDIANAPOLIS -- Support among central Indiana residents for U.S. military action against Iraq splits along racial lines, according to a recent poll.\nThe survey taken for The Indianapolis Star in the days before the U.S. invasion began last week found that 57 percent of minorities opposed war with Iraq and 55 percent believed diplomatic efforts should have continued. Military action was supported by 77 percent of whites questioned for the poll.\nJames Lane, who is black and served in the Army during World War II, said he was against the Iraqi war.\n"I don't understand why we're going to fight people that really didn't do anything to us," said Lane, 80.\nKay Francis Hardnett said the issue was the focal point of last week's Bible study at Bethel AME Church, an Indianapolis church with several hundred black members.\n"I don't believe that there was a soul at our table who condoned the war," she said.\nThe poll of 403 central Indiana residents was taken March 18-19 by TeleResearch Corp. of Indianapolis and had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
