City saddened by loss of leader

Bloomington's shades of red, white and blue, along with every other Old Glory around the nation will fly at half-staff today to honor the memory of former President Ronald Reagan. Bloomington citizens react to the death of the man who some say changed the Republican Party. \nFred Prall, Bloomington Republican mayoral candidate who ran against Mark Kruzan, but lost in 2003, kept the television on to absorb the information about Reagan's death.\n"I'm watching as much of it as I can," Prall said. \nPrall echoed the sentiments of many Americans who believed they had already lost Reagan after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. \nNancy Reagan, the former president's wife of 52 years, said at a dinner in early May, the ailment had taken her husband "to a distant place where I can no longer reach him."\nWhile some disagreed with Reagan's policies, many found him as a person to be rather congenial.\n"I think he was a great statesman," said Kathryn Kunz, an Indianapolis attorney and a staunch Democrat. "He managed to capture the imagination of a lot of Americans to inspire them, and this country economically. He had great accomplishments in spite of the fact that I didn't agree with him politically."\nReagan's ideals and memories will stick with many as they recall the impact he had on their lives. His influence on the Republican Party and the strong conservative movement he helped usher in makes his loss even more difficult for many. \n"He really did set a tone that I believe in, that's a conservative message," Prall said. \nKunz said Reagan brought something new to the country.\n"(Reagan was) a guy who had his own thoughts, his own opinions," Kunz said. "He was the right guy at the time. He inspired people at the time." \nNot all viewed Reagan's presidency so admiringly. Natalie Christoph, a retired IU program coordinator for individualized majors, doesn't hold Reagan's presidency in such high esteem. \n"I did not think he was a great president," Christoph said. "I thought he was an actor."\nChristoph expressed disappointment over many social project cuts from the Reagan administration, but said she could understand why people would be attracted to him.\n"He's the sort of person who was always very pleasant," she said.\nPhil Speer, manager of the American Legion Post 18 in Bloomington, said Reagan had a strong influence on the American military and had the support of many servicemen. \nHe believes Reagan's presidential influence as a whole will ultimately be fondly remembered. \n"I'd put him right up there as one of the greatest presidents we've had," Speer said. "He was the best president behind (Franklin D. Roosevelt) in our lifetime." \n-- Contact city/state editor Andrea Opperman at acopperm@indiana.edu. Opinion editor Tony Sams contributed to this story.