On the Home Front

Veterans' hospital could be used for war victims\nINDIANAPOLIS -- The Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, which usually treats veterans, could be placed on active duty to treat casualties from the war in Iraq.\nThe 150-bed hospital is one of 65 Veterans Administration hospitals that can team up with about 2,000 community hospitals if needed to assist the Department of Defense hospital system.\nThe system, called the National Disaster Medical System, was established in the mid-1980s. It has never been activated.\nThe hospital has held drills and training and stockpiled drugs since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Dr. Kristi L. Koenig, director of the Emergency Management Strategic Healthcare Group.\nOver 200 attend Fulton County pro-troops rally\nROCHESTER, Ind. -- Prayers for a quick end to the war in Iraq were part of a rally to support the U.S. troops overseas attended by more than 200 people on the Fulton County Courthouse lawn.\nMayor Phil Thompson read the names of 49 people in the military with ties to the area that had been compiled by The Rochester Sentinel.\nOther speakers at the rally on Monday encouraged those in the crowd to find ways to show their support for those in the military.\n"They're there to fight for what's right, what's just, for the freedoms this country stands on," County Councilman Chris Sailors said.\nSteve Mulholland, who served in the Army in 1966-1972, carried a flag and wore patriotic clothing at the rally in the town about 40 miles south of South Bend.\n"I think its very important for people to get behind what's happening in our country," he said.\nIndiana National Guard unit making improvements at Kuwaiti camp\nThe camp for the Indiana National Guard's 152nd Infantry Assault Regiment is on a Kuwaiti sand ridge next to the bombed-out remains of an Iraqi command center from the 1991 Gulf War.\nThe Jasper, Ind., base has a 25-foot long prefabricated command post in a tent covered with a tan mesh. The soldiers have made many improvements since arriving in mid-February, such as building a dining tent and a makeshift plywood shower stall.\nEven so, Guardsman James Proft of South Bend said he had never used the shower.\n"I just wash my hands and face and use baby wipes to keep the rest clean," he told Steve Walsh, a reporter for the Post-Tribune of Merrillville, Ind., who is embedded with the unit. I suppose if I'm here long enough I'll give it a shot."\nThe post also has just received a military phone hookup the soldiers can use to call home, but it only works sporadically.\nThough Kuwait is a desert country, the sand on Multa Ridge is more of a tan grit, which gets into everything.\n"The first night we were here we had a sand storm," Proft said. "We thought we had put up the tent pretty well, but we had to hold down the sides. We've had about four sand storms since we've been here. It looks like a fog over everything."\nDespite war, school goes ahead with overseas trips\nCROWN POINT, Ind. -- Crown Point school officials say overseas trips for students will go on as planned, despite a worldwide caution alert issued by the U.S. State Department.\nThey said it will be up to parents to decide whether to allow their children to travel to Spain, Friday.\nMonday, the Crown Point School Board approved the trip to Spain by high school students over spring break, as well as a second trip to Japan from June 16-30.\nJames Hardman, director of instruction and curriculum, said that no travel warnings have been issued for either Spain or Japan.\n"We will continue to monitor the situation," Hardman said.\nLast week, Tri-Creek school officials canceled a March 27 class trip to France for 24 Lowell High School students.\nWar and the danger facing Americans in Europe left little choice, Tri-Creek Superintendent Donald Yeoman said.\nTri-Creek school officials said they would work with airlines and travel agents to help students collect some or all of the cost of the canceled trip.