Former speaker Gregg has prostate cancer\nINDIANAPOLIS - Former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg announced Saturday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.\nGregg, who served as interim president of Vincennes University after leaving politics, talked about the disease during his Saturday morning call-in show on WIBC (AM-1070).\n"Less than 24 hours ago I found out I have prostate cancer," Gregg said in an emotional announcement. "I wasn't expecting that. I'm a little scared and I'm a little frightened. I've got some tough decisions to make."\nGregg said his 74-year-old father has also been treated for the disease.\n"It's not fun," he said of his father's condition. "And it's not really fun when you get it at 49.\n"I'd appreciate your prayers. I know God's in control and I know where I'm going to go when I leave this earth."\nGregg served as speaker from 1996-2002 and was first elected to the House in 1986.\nAfter choosing not to seek re-election in 2002, he practiced law from his Vincennes law office. He accepted a one-year appointment last year as interim president of Vincennes University, where he earned an associate's degree in 1974.\nGregg has yet to tell his two boys, who were headed to a vacation in Texas.\nHow serious his condition is has yet to be determined.\n"I don't know what the Lord's got planned for me," Gregg said. "I don't know if I'm on the downhill of a short rope, or if I've got a long time. But if one person out here is listening to this and goes to the doctor and catches this in time then I know that'll be one good thing."
Nearly 6,000 get shots to prevent hepatitis virus\nMARION, Ind. -- Nearly 6,000 people who live in or pass through this town have received immunization shots after an employee at a local Wendy's restaurant tested positive for hepatitis A, health officials said.\nThey took advantage of a two-day clinic offered by the state.\nAfter the Indiana State Department of Health treated 2,200 people and had to shut its doors on Thursday because of high demand, another 3,639 came on Friday for the shots, officials said.\nThe IDOH offered the free shots to customers who ate food between July 13-27 from the restaurant on the Marion bypass on the south side of the city, about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis.\nSince the first employee tested positive for hepatitis, all other Wendy's employees have tested negative, state Health Department spokesman Andy Zirkle said.\nCustomers were given shots of immune globulin, which greatly reduces the chances of contracting the disease if given within 14 days of exposure.\nHepatitis A inflames the liver and is spread through close personal contact, inadequately washed hands and contaminated food and drink. It is rarely fatal and usually clears up in about two months.\nUnlike Thursday, when many had to wait for hours in long lines at the Grant County Fairgrounds before being turned away, things went much smoother on Friday. More volunteers in a bigger area made for fast moving lines.\n"It's still been a fairly steady stream," Zirkle said. "We expanded the size of the clinic area; we had a larger staff."\nStaff shut the doors to the makeshift clinic at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, two hours earlier than planned, to alleviate the congestion.\nThose who were unable to get to the free clinics on Thursday and Friday may receive a free shot beginning Monday at the Grant County Health Department.
House candidates say molester ban should be statewide\nLAFAYETTE -- Two candidates who want to represent Lafayette in the Indiana House praised a federal court ruling barring a convicted child molester from city parks but said a statewide version of the ban is needed.\nThe 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld the Lafayette ban Friday. In an 11-3 decision, the judges said the ban did not violate the Constitution because the man acknowledged that he not only had thought about having sex with children but had visited a park in hopes of finding children.\nThe judges reversed a previous 2-1 ruling by a partial court panel that the ban unconstitutionally punished the man for his thoughts.\nConnie Basham, the Republican candidate for the vacant House District 26 seat, said the issue still needs to be addressed at the state level.\nBasham has said that if elected she plans to introduce legislation making it illegal for convicted child molesters to frequent public parks.\n"It's not about punishment again," Basham told the Journal and Courier for a Saturday story. "It's about protecting children and helping those with the addiction. And that's what it is, an addiction."\nJoe Micon, the Democratic candidate, said he also would support a statewide ban but wondered how effective it would be.\n"While I would be supportive of legislation, I would have questions about its enforceability ... and its ability to meet a constitutional challenge," he said.\nThe city parks department barred the man from local parks after he told his probation officer that he had gone "cruising" at Murdock Park in January 2000 to look for children and had considered exposing himself to a group of children there. He did not because of the number of children and openness of the area, the man said in a court deposition.\nThe U.S. District Court in Hammond upheld the ban after the Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on the man's behalf. The Court of Appeals panel overturned that decision, but the full court reconsidered it at the city's request.\nThe three dissenting judges Friday said that Doe's thoughts, though "repugnant," were protected, and that such a ban could deter pedophiles from acknowledging their urges and seeking therapy.\nWest Lafayette resident Joan Laskowski expressed a similar concern. She said rehabilitation is in order -- not exile.\n"I don't think that it does justice to the actual problem. The decision does not do justice to the situation," she said of the Court of Appeals decision.\n"A person should not be stigmatized based on impure thoughts," she added.
