Around Indiana

Pharmacies to require prescriptions for cold meds

TERRE HAUTE — Four Terre Haute pharmacies will now require prescriptions for the purchase of certain cold medicines that can be used as ingredients in methamphetamine.

Kmart, Wal-Mart, JR Pharmacy and Terre Haute Prescription Shop agreed at the request of area police to require a doctor’s prescription before selling products containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine.

Pseudoephedrine is an ingredient in several cold and allergy medicines, including Sudafed, Claritin D and Aleve Cold & Sinus.

Three other pharmacies, Kroger, CVS and Walgreens, have agreed to seek corporate approval to enact the prescription-only policy by July 1.

Purchases of the medicines are already limited and tracked under state law.

Feds to hold hearing on Pendleton sex abuse

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana prison officials are expected to tell a federal panel next month about the changes they’ve made since a study found the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility had one of the highest rates of sexual abuse in the country.

The June 3 hearing in Washington is in response to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report released in January that found 36 percent of youths at Pendleton reported being sexually victimized either by staff or other teens.

An anonymous computer survey conducted in 2008-09 found that the rate of sex abuse at Pendleton, a maximum-security teen prison about 25 miles northeast of Indianapolis, was about three times the national average.

The Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force that same year conducted face-to-face interviews with 36 youths, who said they were unaware of any sexual abuse — a finding that task force director Bill Glick questions.

A third study this spring by the DOC — also including interviews — found a rate of about 12 percent, agency spokesman Doug Garrison said.

But any abuse is too much, officials said.

“In that type of environment, any of that type of contact is coercive. In a prison-type environment, you can’t say anyone is really free to choose,” Glick said.

State prisons have always had a zero-tolerance policy toward sex, Garrison said, but officials have re-emphasized it in staff training and in dealings with inmates.

“We’ve told the boys ... that there is no tolerance for sexual activity, coercive or non-coercive,” he said.

That can be particularly challenging with Pendleton’s population, 40 percent of whom are sex offenders, Garrison said.

The DOC also has worked to improve its hiring practices, tightening its screening for those who apply for work at juvenile facilities.

It is considering requiring psychological testing for applicants, as well.

Staffers also have received special training in responding to sexual abuse and avoiding sexual misconduct, and the DOC is working with a production company to develop training videos.

“We know that despite our best efforts, it happens,” Garrison said. “We hope we’re doing the best we can.”

Muncie men take to streets with ‘Green’ business

MUNCIE — Two Army veterans are taking to the streets of Muncie with a new business venture they hope will appeal to environmentally conscious travelers.

Cory Brown and Tyler Wright have launched Doing It Green Pedicab to ferry people home from downtown Muncie and bars near Ball State University in a pedicab, which resembles a rickshaw pulled by bicycles.

“This is sustainable,” said Brown, 24. “We are doing it green. We’re not fueled by anything except pedals.”

The pair paid for the $5,000 green pedicab with a Veterans Administration loan and have been practicing hauling friends around until getting the necessary insurance and licensing to start accepting rides for cash.

They got that approval earlier this month.

“I’ve lost, like, seven pounds in the past two weeks, and I haven’t even been trying,” said Wright, also 24.

Customers can hail the cab downtown and in The Village south of campus and on a fixed route in between.

Riders will be charged a flat fee that varies by time of day and could cap at $10 per passenger per ride after 10 p.m.

Brown, a full-time student at Ball State, and Wright, who works full-time as a glass installer, hope people will embrace the pedicab as an alternative to traditional taxis.

They said they aren’t afraid to start a new business even though the economic recovery is slow.

“You can’t tell me there aren’t opportunities out there,” Wright said.

Church helps people recovering from addiction

MUNCIE — Brady Vaught knows the help addicts need.

He’s been there. Almost 11 years ago, he gave up heroin and alcohol for good.

“I had gotten sick and tired of being sick and tired. I met up with a friend of mine, and he told me about an AA meeting,” Vaught said.

Now Vaught is thankful he’s turned around his life.

He owns his own locksmith and home repair business and also is trying to help others, with the assistance of his church, Harvest Fellowship Christian, 1010 E. Centennial Ave.

“I tell people, when there seems to be no way, there is a way,” Vaught said.
He leads the church’s Freedom to Recover program, a series of Friday night meetings for those struggling with addiction.

But Vaught and the church are doing more than just talking.

The church has opened the doors of a home it owns to those in need of emergency housing, including those recovering from addiction.

The Hope House, as it’s known, was a dilapidated home on the church’s property that church members spent a week rehabbing last July.

The goal was to use it to help get others back on their feet, and there were visions of families forced out of their homes by fires or the like.

That idea has worked to an extent, but Vaught and David Rawls, the church’s discipleship minister, saw an even bigger need.

“Some of it blends,” Rawls said. “A large percentage of the emergency shelter part of it has been people who have addictions, which is why they don’t have a home or can’t afford things.

“There is a huge need out in the community,” Rawls said. “Just on the practical side, the government agencies don’t have the ability to work with all the problems and issues out there.

On the spiritual side, we believe ... the way to overcome them is through spiritual help.”

The church recently celebrated its recovery program with a meal and message by Vaught.

The event was free and open to the public, and during Vaught’s talk there were games for children to play.

Church members showed off the Hope House.

“We want to help anybody that needs help, but ... there are guys out there that just can’t get clean on their own,” Vaught said.