Monroe coroner accidently shoots himself in leg\nMonroe County Coroner David Toumey was hospitalized with a leg wound after accidentally shooting himself while trying to demonstrate gun safety.\nToumey told The Herald-Times for a story published Saturday that he was demonstrating gun safety to some people at a Lake Monroe boat ramp about 11 p.m. Wednesday when he accidentally shot himself.\nHe said that as he checked to make sure his weapon was unloaded, the gun discharged, and a bullet struck him in his left leg.\n"It's an unfortunate accident," Toumey said. "I've always been very, very safe."\nHe was taken to Bloomington Hospital and later transferred to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.\nToumey said he was scheduled to have surgery Saturday and expects to be in the hospital from three to five days.\nMonroe County Sheriff Steve Sharp said he was unable to release details of the shooting because the report had yet to be filed by the deputy assigned to the case.
Ball State police to seek accreditation from \nnational commission \nMuncie -- Less than a year after a rookie Ball State University police officer shot to death an unarmed student, the campus police force is seeking accreditation from a national law enforcement group.\nGene Burton, Ball State's director of public safety, said campus police recently began an in-depth national accreditation program with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.\nIf the university meets the Fairfax, Va.-based group's standards, it would become the only campus police agency in Indiana accredited by the group.\nTo achieve accreditation, Ball State's police department must comply with more than 400 pre-established standards set forth by CALEA, which has accredited an estimated 600 police agencies nationwide, including 47 campus police departments.\nBurton told The Star Press for a story published Saturday that the accreditation process could take up to three years to complete.\nHe said seeking the CALEA's accreditation was first discussed after a departmental review in 2002.\nHowever, he did not dismiss the idea that the shooting death last November of Ball State student Michael McKinney, 21, factored heavily in the department's decision to go forth with the process.\n"Again, this was something we'd been looking at several years before the (McKinney) incident took place, but did that play a part in our decision now to go forward with this?" Burton asked. "I'd say probably all the incidents that happened last year did."\nThe foremost incident was the Nov. 8, 2003, death of McKinney, who was legally intoxicated when he was shot four times by 25-year-old BSU officer Robert Duplain.\nDuplain had not yet attended the state's Law Enforcement Academy and was not trained in the use of less-than-lethal force like pepper spray.\nThe month after his McKinney's death, Ball State announced major policy changes regarding its officers training -- the most important of which was the requirement for all campus officers to complete academy training before patrolling alone.\nIn February, the McKinney family filed a federal lawsuit alleging that McKinney's civil rights had been violated. The family's attorneys have told the media that they could seek anywhere from $75,000 to $100 million for the civil rights violation.\nBall State filed a response in May, arguing that Duplain's actions were justified.\nThis summer, Ball State's police department purchased TASERS, becoming the 127th university in the nation to arm its officers with the shock gun device.
Frustrations prompt some school officials\nto ban cell phones \nHOBART, Ind. -- In the ongoing battle for students' attention, some Indiana schools are fighting the rise of text messaging and endless cell phone chatting by banning the phones.\nThe phones disrupt classes and valuable instruction time, said Tony Lux, superintendent of Merrillville Community School Corp., which has banned cell phones.\n"I understand everybody has them and they're so popular. You want to make sure you don't have distractions during the school day," Lux told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville for a story published Sunday.\nThe Indiana General Assembly has seesawed back and forth on the electronic devices, banning them in 1994 and repealing the law a year later, leaving the policy up to local districts.\nDuring the 2003 session, state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, offered a bill reinstating the prohibition, but it failed to pass.\nSchool districts have mixed policies on the cell phones. Crown Point schools allow cell phones in school, but they must be turned off.\nGary school officials recently debated the issue and decided to keep a total ban in place.\n"The bottom line is they're too disruptive during the school day," said Gary Superintendent Mary Steele. "We have to protect the instructional day and make sure it doesn't have a lot of interruptions."\nThe ban has made some parents unhappy, including Gary School Board member Jesse Morris, who argued his son needs a phone to call him or his wife for a ride home after school.\nMorris, however, went along with the ban approved by the School Board last month.\nGary students are told if they abuse the policy, their phones will be confiscated and returned to their parents.\nMelanie Barton, a 13-year-old who attends Hobart Middle School, recently got her first cell phone.\nAlong with new notebooks and gym shoes, she plans to pack her new phone, too, although Hobart's schools don't allow kids to use them during the school day.\n"My friends and I go a lot of places. We need to call for rides home," said the youngster, who is involved in soccer, basketball, track and volleyball.\nIn Valparaiso, students aren't allowed to carry cell phones during the school day, but may use them at extracurricular events, said Assistant Superintendent John Hutton.
