Charges fuel debate over military's access to students\nEVANSVILLE -- A provision in a sweeping education reform law that allowed military recruiters broad access to students is under fire, fueled in part by charges of sexual abuse by military recruiters.\nCritics say the No Child Left Behind law is putting young people at risk by requiring high schools to give military recruiters the same access afforded universities and prospective employers. It also allows them access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of students unless a parent objects.\nAt least eight recruiters have been accused of assaulting potential or new recruits in Indiana, West Virginia, Washington, California, New York and Maryland since the law took effect in 2002.\n"These privacy privileges have been abused by certain recruiters who have used it to target vulnerable children," said Jay Staunton, communications director to U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, D-California.\nHonda has proposed legislation that would require students to "opt in" if they want military recruiters to have access to their personal information and to contact them.\nMilitary officials, however, say No Child Left Behind helps them keep recruiting costs down and maintain an all-volunteer force -- particularly important with the strains on the military because of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.\nThey also contend that recruiter abuse existed before the law took effect and say the legislation did little to change the way recruiters interact with schools.\n"Most schools already had a positive working relationship with the military," said Douglas Smith, spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky.
Police say man robbed Amish family at gunpoint\nLAGRANGE, Ind. -- Three men robbed an Amish family at gunpoint as they rode their horse-drawn buggy along a country road in northern Indiana, police said.\nMarc Duchatellier, 18, and Nicholas J. Knox, 21, both of Elkhart, and Clifton Lee Miller, 24, of Goshen were being held Saturday in LaGrange County Jail on charges of armed robbery, a jail officer said. Each man's bond was set at $50,000.\nThe family, whose names were not released, was riding on a county road about 30 miles south of the Michigan border when a Pontiac Grand Prix blocked their path at an intersection, police said.\nThree men with handguns jumped out of the car and demanded money from the family, said LaGrange County Sheriff's Department Detective Sgt. Jeff Campos. One of the men in the buggy tossed his wallet to the robbers, who then fled in the car.\nA police officer in nearby Topeka later stopped a vehicle matching the description provided by the family. Police also recovered the guns, which they said the suspects had thrown from the car when they encountered the officer.\nPolice also recovered the $1 that was stolen and returned it to the robbery victim.\nMore than one-third of the county's population of 36,000 is Amish, according to information on the LaGrange County Chamber of Commerce Web site.
