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(04/11/13 4:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One of the Showalter Fountain’s missing fish has been recovered years after it was stolen, but how it was snatched remains a mystery. The fish — which curators say is actually a stylized dolphin — is pockmarked, scratched and stinking.“If you get close enough to him, you can kind of smell, like, beer,” Assistant Curator of Campus Art Katie Chattin said. “It’s gross. Beer’s not good for bronze.” The curators recovered the fish after an anonymous Bloomington native recognized a picture of it on a friend’s Instagram account. The photo was taken down immediately, but the man who’d recognized the fish managed to track it down. “Eventually, somebody else moved the fish and let him have it and bring it back to me,” Curator of Campus Art Sherry Rouse said. “Then I just get a call from someone here in town saying ‘The fish is here, and you can come and get it.’” Rouse said the person who recovered the fish wants anonymity “not because they’re guilty, but because they didn’t do it to get fame and fortune. They just did what they thought was right.” But they still don’t know who took the fish.“We don’t have any charges to press,” Rouse said. “We don’t have a thief.”
(03/06/13 1:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indianapolis — Police arrested two teenagers and are looking for other suspects in a string of early morning arsons Tuesday on the city’s east side. Police and firefighters connected a dumpster fire in the 1300 block of North Olney Street and a garage fire on North Linwood Avenue to two boys, 15 and 16 years old. Investigators believe a second North Olney Street blaze that damaged an abandoned home may also be linked.Neighbors said a second home burned on North Olney Street last night. Renee Lynch, president of the Brookside Neighborhood Association, said the abandoned home at 1311 North Olney St. caught fire early Tuesday morning, as well. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Hewitt said he can’t confirm that incident. Shauna Bailey reported the garage fire at her Linwood Avenue home at 12:42 a.m. Tuesday. Bailey said her son, Chauncy, woke her when he noticed flames from a fire behind the house reflecting on a basement wall. A mattress she’d set out for trash pickup was on fire. “With the mattress burning, it caught the garage on fire and melted the city trash can they gave us,” Bailey said.The mattress had burned down to charred springs by the time the Baileys went outside with a fire extinguisher. Firefighters had to help put out the flames on the outside of one garage wall and removed a burned section of the paneling. The flames were far enough from her house that she wasn’t worried.An IMPD fire investigation unit ruled out accidental causes and estimated damages at $1,000. Police say the fire started about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday. Bailey has only lived in the rental house since last Friday, but she said the unfortunate housewarming gift didn’t make her feel unsafe. “I was just surprised,” Bailey said. “I was like, ‘I just moved in here, and now this happened.’” By 1:15 a.m., another fire was reported at 1311 North Olney St. There were no injuries reported in the fire except a minor steam burn a firefighter received on the scene. He was treated on-site. Three neighbors called Lynch last night to report the fires. Her position as neighborhood association president means she’s acutely aware of the abandoned homes in her area. She said it’s a consistent problem there — a home across the street from her has been empty for 90 days.“Situation’s like last night, that’s ridiculous,” Lynch said.Sherry and Emery Bowe live in the 1400 block of North Olney and said they didn’t notice anything until they awoke to a street filled with fire trucks around 6:30 a.m. They couldn’t see flames coming from the burning home a few houses down, but noticed lots of smoke, they said. The couple was less surprised than Bailey. They remember another blaze a few weeks ago in a different abandoned home down the street. There are at least half a dozen vacant houses in their block. “It’s an invitation,” Emery Bowe said. “For meanness.” The Bowes have lived on Olney street for more than 25 years, and incidents like this make them uneasy. “But we’ve gotta live here,” Sherry Bowe said.
(02/28/13 3:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>VALPARAISO, Ind. — The murder trial of 20-year-old Dustin McCowan ended late Tuesday night. The prosecution’s case was built on the testimony of a man who saw someone matching McCowan’s description walking away from the scene, on the cellphone records and the accounts of his friends and neighbors and on what the prosecution described as many little clues pointing toward his guilt. No hairs, fibers or fingerprints connected him to the murder scene. No murder weapon was ever found. “This was largely a circumstantial case,” Porter County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Matt Frost said Wednesday.“To think that of the 90 plus pieces of DNA evidence that they submitted to the FBI lab, not a single shred of it pointed to Dustin committing this crime, that is certainly significant,” McCowan’s attorney John Vouga said. McCowan was accused of shooting Amanda Bach, his 19-year-old former girlfriend, in the throat at close range and dumping her body by the railroad tracks behind his home in 2011. He was arrested near McNutt Quad hours after her body was found. Around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, a Porter County jury found McCowan guilty.“He can’t kill again,” Amanda Bach’s mother, Sandra Bach, said as she left the courthouse Tuesday night. “There’s no doubt in our mind that if he was out there, he would do this to some other girl.” McCowan’s family and supporters remain convinced the real killer is yet to be found. During closing arguments the family wore purple bracelets with the words “Supporting the Innocent” and “Psalm 7:6.” “Arise, O Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice.” According to court documents, Bach went missing in the early hours of Friday, Sept. 16, 2011. Her car was found abandoned in the parking lot of Dean’s General Store in Wheeler, Ind., her purse and identification still inside. McCowan, the last person known to have seen her alive, told police he spent two and a half hours with her the night she disappeared. While Bach was still missing the next afternoon, McCowan traveled south to Bloomington with three friends for a previously scheduled trip. By Saturday, search parties were looking for Bach. Police received a tip from Nicholas Proncho, who lived near McCowan and told them to search the railroad tracks near McCowan’s house where he said his fiancé had seen young women in the past.Proncho and two officers discovered Bach’s body south of those tracks. She was naked except for a pair of underwear, laying on her back, with her legs splayed at an awkward angle — the left one curled so her foot touched her buttock, the right laying flat and bent with the knee out. Inexplicably, five shirts and a bra were wrapped around one hand. IU Police Department arrested McCowan near McNutt Quad that Saturday evening. He was transported back to Porter County and formally charged with murder Sept. 19. Police collected several pieces of evidence from the scene that became key to the prosecution’s case. Two black flip flops were found between the body and McCowan’s house, suggesting a trail to the body. An orange shirt with a faded stain was found near the railroad tracks after McCowan’s arrest. DNA testing revealed the stain was Bach’s blood, but no DNA from the wearer was found inside. Prosecutors said it matches another shirt McCowan was wearing when arrested. Bach’s cellphone was never recovered.When interviewed, McCowan’s father, a Crown Point, Ind., police officer, told police that a 38-caliber handgun like the one used to kill Amanda Bach was missing from his home. During the trial, which lasted four weeks, jurors heard from more than 50 witnesses — friends of the victim and defendant, neighbors, forensic experts, police officers and two inmates who testified that McCowan gave them information about the murder while in jail. One said McCowan admitted to shooting a young woman who “crossed him,” while the other testified he’d given him information about stashing her missing cellphone. Another witness testified to seeing a young man matching his description walking away from the area where Bach’s car was found in the early morning after her murder. The driver’s seat was adjusted to a height that was taller than Bach was.Although not required to prove motive, during closing arguments Tuesday, the prosecution suggested two — that McCowan either killed Amanda Bach because of his jealousy about her budding relationship with his friend or because he feared she was pregnant. McCowan’s attorney Nicholas Barnes disputed both suggestions and proposed another scenario. He said Bach’s body, and in particular the five shirts wrapped around her wrist, indicate she was abducted and killed after leaving McCowan’s home. In his closing arguments, he asked jurors to close their eyes and imagine themselves being invited on a boat named “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.” He said that boat had too many holes to take them to “Guilty Island.” He attacked both the local police department’s investigation of the case — McCowan was the only suspect from whom DNA samples were taken or evidence was examined — and the scientific validity of the state’s case, including forensic evidence and the technology used to trace McCowan’s cellphone to a location near that of Bach’s abandoned car. Barnes pointed out there was no DNA evidence linking Bach’s body or her vehicle to McCowan and accused the prosecution of deceiving the jury. He also disputed the prosecution’s timeline and said the murder was staged to implicate McCowan. He pointed the finger at Proncho, the man who helped police locate Bach’s body.In the state’s closing, Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Polarek reminded jurors of the testimony of friends who said McCowan showed little emotion at news of Bach’s death and said he would take a shot in her honor during his trip to Bloomington. They also pointed to the account of McCowan’s neighbor, Linda Phillips, who reported hearing a man and woman saying “Amanda, get up, come on, Amanda, get up,” multiple times the night she went missing. Polarek used cellphone text messages to show that McCowan put off visiting a friend on the night of her murder. Polarek displayed two images of Bach’s body — one autopsy photo showing she brought her hand up to protect herself, and one showing the placement of her body. “That body was dumped where Dustin McCowan dumped his garbage,” Polarek said. A group of Bach supporters gathered outside the courthouse during closing arguments and the jury’s deliberation. Inside the courtroom, her family crowded one side of the small gallery. The Bachs wore pink, purple and zebra stripes — Amanda Bach’s favorite colors. Many wore buttons with her face, like the ones supportive parents wear at football games. Across the aisle, McCowan’s family wore purple, matching the defendant’s necktie and their bracelets. While District 2 Superior Court Judge William Alexa read the verdict, both families clutched each others’ hands for support. The Bach family held a recent photo of Amanda. At the reading of the guilty verdict, McCowan’s mother and sisters sobbed, and McCowan hung his head.Outside the courthouse, Bach’s family met a group of supporters who cheered every time someone emerged from the building. As they hugged and cried together, a van drove past. “The real killer will be found,” a woman cried from the van’s window. “This isn’t over.”
(02/27/13 6:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>VALPARAISO, Ind.—Jurors returned a guilty verdict Tuesday in the murder trial of a 20-year-old arrested at an IU tailgate.Dustin McCowan of Union Township, Porter County was arrested in Bloomington in September 2011. McCowan was convicted of shooting his 19-year-old former girlfriend, Amanda Bach, in the throat at close range and dumping her body by the Canadian National Railroad tracks less than 300 feet from his home. He was 18 at the time of the incident.This story will be updated.
(02/11/13 3:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Connersville, Ind. — Dani the Deer is back in the wild, and the husband and wife who nursed her back to health are now out of the woods, legally speaking.Indiana’s version of “Born Free” ended Friday when a special prosecutor dismissed the state’s charges against Jeff and Jennifer Counceller for criminal possession of a whitetail deer, ending the possibility of time behind bars. The Councellers insisted they’d only wanted to help an injured animal. “I don’t think that any state law should punish an act of kindness when there wasn’t any criminal intent,” Jennifer Counceller told the IDS. The dismissal ended a case that drew national attention and divided opinion on the reach of the law and the morality of helping a wild animal. A Facebook page defending the couple picked up tens of thousands of “likes.” “Good Morning America” and The Wall Street Journal covered the story. The media attention was so intense that Gov. Mike Pence addressed the issue in one of his first press conferences. Jeff Counceller, a Connersville police officer, found the fawn on a summer night in 2010. He answered a call from dispatch reporting a wounded deer on the porch of a neighborhood home. No more than two months old, the deer had been bitten by another animal and was bleeding, curled in a ball. Counceller called his wife to tell her where he was. When she heard about the injured baby deer, she and the couple’s daughter headed straight to the scene. Jennifer Counselor, recounting that evening, said her husband had also called the Department of Natural Resources. They told him to leave the faun at the edge of a woods and “let nature take its course.” Jennifer Counceller said no one explained that keeping the deer longer than 24 hours would be a crime. Indiana law prohibits citizens from caring for a wounded wild animal. “Our consistent advice is to leave it alone,” DNR spokesman Phil Bloom said. “It may not be abandoned. It may not be orphaned.”When Jennifer Counceller and the couple’s daughter arrived and crouched next to the animal, the doe began licking and nudging the daughter’s hand. Jennifer Counceller couldn’t leave it.Jeff Counceller left to respond to another call, so Jennifer put the fawn in a pet carrier and drove her home. “When I took the deer that night, I had no idea that I was breaking the law,” she said. “I’m a nurse, and my first response is to heal and ask questions later.” The family called the fawn Dani — Little Orphan Dani. Jennifer bottle-fed her goat’s milk for six months as she slowly regained her strength. They helped her transition to eating greens. As her wounds healed, they moved her from a pen in their garage to a 50-by-30-foot enclosure they built for her in their backyard.They tried to find a wildlife rehabilitation center for the deer, but nothing fit. They always intended to send her back to the wild, said Jennifer Counceller, they tried to distance themselves from her by visiting her pen less. They thought they might finally be ready to release her in the summer of 2012, until the Midwest was plunged into a strangling drought. “It became a protective state of not wanting her to be released and struggle, or be released and die,” Jennifer Counceller said. Every day they kept her was another day breaking the law. While they waited for the drought to break, conservation officer Travis Wooley appeared at the Councellers’ door. He asked them if they were keeping a deer, and they shared the story of how they’d saved her. It didn’t matter. He told them what they’d done was illegal. At first, the conservation officer told the Councellers to apply for a permit to keep the deer. Four days later, he told them the fawn had become too accustomed to humans and couldn’t be released back into the wild. The conservation officer arranged for a lethal injection — at the Counceller’s expense — at noon on June 21, and agreed to let them bury her on their property. Court documents show Jeff Counceller sent the following text message to Wooley the night before the fawn was to be put down: “Do not kill the deer,” he pleaded. “I am getting an attorney because it is not the deer’s fault. Please.” Wooley came back the morning Dani was scheduled to die, but the doe was gone and her pen gate open. Jennifer Counceller told the conservation officer she believed her father had freed Dani during an early-morning feeding, but according to court documents he never admitted responsibility. Jeff Counceller said the text message was only sent because he was upset.When Dani disappeared, the Councellers were deemed “noncompliant,” and the DNR turned its case over to Fayette County prosecutors. “Once the DNR did not get the deer, they had no expectation of being charged with the crime until they were served the papers,” said Robert Gulde, Jennifer Counceller’s attorney. Meanwhile, he conservation officer embarked on a mission to recapture and kill the deer. He asked the Councellers to leave the door to her pen open and to shut her in if she came back. They even called him when they saw a buck and three does at the edge of their property. Dani didn’t return. It took the county until Nov. 29 to find a special prosecutor and officially file charges against the Councellers. Not long after, a Facebook page called “Drop charges against Connersville police officer” was put up by an anonymous user. It would grow to over 45,000 “likes.” “It had so much momentum,” Gulde said. “Once it got started, it was just crazy,” Public outcry was so intense Gov. Mike Pence was forced to respond. In a press conference on Jan. 30, he defended the DNR and said he asked the organization for a full briefing on the case. That publicity didn’t hurt their case either, Gulde said. The public was outraged that the Councellers might face jail time for helping an injured animal. Within a week of the governor’s request, the DNR requested the charges be dropped, citing time, costs and “the absence of any immediate harm from this single incident.” On Friday, special prosecutor Brian Clark fulfilled that request, filing documents in the Fayette County Clerk’s office.The Councellers got what they wanted: No formal charges, and Dani back in the wild. “We loved her dearly and wanted her where she’s at now,” Jennifer Counceller said. Last week, Jennifer told her lawyer she’d seen a group of seven deer at the edge of the woods. As they bent to drink water from the pond, one looked up and straight at her.It was Dani. She was sure of it.
(02/04/13 3:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The final score sounded impossible: 107- 2. It was one of the most lopsided outcomes in the history of Indiana high school girls’ basketball. Bloomington High School South, a perennial contender, went into the game last December on a 7-game winning streak. Arlington Community, a much smaller Indianapolis school that had struggled for years against academic woes and student flight, had only won one game in two seasons. Ebony Jackson, the losing team’s coach, played so well for the Arlington Golden Knights that she was named an Indiana Girls’ Basketball All-Star. As she watched her team go down against BHHS, the game seemed to play out in fast-forward. Afterward, she told a reporter the way the opposing coach handled the game wasn’t okay. Bloomington South had come out strong in a press, scoring breakaway layups and running a man-to-man defense. She looked down at the other bench only once, she said, to see if they might slow down. Her team’s only points came from free throws. Larry Winters, veteran coach of the Bloomington South Panthers, said he wasn’t trying to run up the score. He said telling his players to hold back would have embarrassed the other team. They didn’t hold back — they scored an average of two points every 45 seconds. 107-2. News of the game sparked a visceral reaction around the country. “Apparently, Bloomington Coach Larry Winters mistook this prep game for the Battle of Bunker Hill,” espnW blogger Jane McManus wrote. “He decided to go full-throttle on a team that hasn’t won in 23 games.” “To the adults at B-town South,” Indianapolis Star Columnist Matthew Tully tweeted, “thanks for trying to crush the spirits of kids living in a neighborhood you wouldn’t spend five minutes in.” Critics were quick to blame Bloomington South’s coach. But the final score was about more than basketball. It was about two schools and their respective histories, the way one was reduced to a shell of its former self while the other continued to shine. This game was lost long before the opening tipoff.107-2. ***The outrage sparked by the game made those who were there reluctant to speak. Arlington’s players appeared on television only once, on CNN’s “Starting Point” with Soledad O’Brien. They smiled into the camera as their coach said they were shocked by how decisively the Bloomington South players trounced them. “They’d played longer than most of us,” one player told O’Brien, “and they worked very hard, and we just haven’t played before, and it was probably really hard for all of us.” Arlington officials responded carefully as well. Though media attention was largely sympathetic to their team, the officials became wary of the impact further coverage would have on students. When asked what their team learned from the loss, Coach Jackson said perseverance. “No matter what it is,” Jackson said, “you just gotta finish it.” The parents of the Bloomington South players agreed together not to speak to reporters. School officials treated the game like ancient history. “Everybody’s moved on,” said J.R. Holmes, Bloomington South’s athletic director. “It’s out of the news, and we don’t even discuss it anymore.”The extreme loss touched a nerve. It raised questions. What do players learn from losing so badly? Can a defeat like this one really be considered a victory? These teams hadn’t faced each other in eight seasons. The last time they had played, in 2004, Bloomington South won 52-42. Back then, Arlington’s enrollment in seventh through twelfth grades was around 1,500 students. This year, unofficial numbers provided to the Indiana High School Athletic Association place it at 422. Bloomington South’s enrollment last year was 1,699. This season, Arlington was by far the smallest school on Bloomington South’s schedule. The December game between them was far from typical. Holmes said Arlington asked Bloomington South to play them when Arlington needed to fill a hole in their schedule. Both sides, he said, were aware of the teams’ differences. “They knew it was going to be a mismatch,” Holmes said, “but they wanted their girls to experience playing against good teams.” Arlington asked. Bloomington accepted. ***Arlington’s gym is filled with testaments to the school’s former glory. State championship banners for wrestling, baseball and girls’ track hang on the walls, evoking a time when the school’s athletics were strong. Another banner honors the school’s former Indiana Girls Basketball All-Stars, including Ebony Jackson. But Coach Jackson attended a wholly different school. When Arlington was ranked last year by the State Board of Education, it received an F. In the same year, it enrolled 1,224 students in grades 7-12. The school had a 74.7 percent graduation rate. Before last school year, the school was designated a “Turnaround Academy.” After six consecutive years on the Department of Education’s probation, Indiana schools can be turned over to private operators that specialize in school improvement. Arlington, once handled by Indianapolis Public Schools, was put in the hands of turnaround operator EdPower.“It was in pretty serious shape in terms of its academic perfomance,” EdPower’s Director of External Relations Beverly Rella said. “And so a lot of what we’ve done this year has been around setting the standards and the culture so that those kids can continue to learn and perform better.”The school EdPower took over could be an intimidating place. “You had teachers who were afraid to open their doors to the hallway during passing periods,” Rella said. Bringing Arlington back would require a total restart and a buy-in from parents. But the school had been bleeding students for years. The depletion sped up when word of the takeover spread. Athletes left along with everyone else, headed for magnet or boundary or even private schools that wouldn’t be changing leadership. Last summer, Rella said, they weren’t sure how many students would return in the fall — or whether they’d even have enough to field a girls’ basketball team.“If you don’t know how many kids are necessarily gonna show up at your school by the end of August,” Rella said, “you’re sure not sure what kind of basketball teams you’re gonna have.” Most players on the team this year had no varsity, if any high school, basketball experience. The team won one game last season. When they took on Bloomington South, they had lost 22 in a row. What remains at Arlington is a program focused on academic success. Administrators have restored order to the hallways with monitors and patrolling police officers. They’re so eager to place college in the forefront of students’ minds that outside ever teachers’ door is a paper showing the logo of their alma mater.As Arlington places a new emphasis on academics, athletic achievement has become secondary. Bloomington South successfully juggles both. Last year the high school enrolled 1,699 students in ninth through twelfth grades. The school had a 90 percent graduation rate and was given an A rating from the State Board of Education. Basketball is big at Bloomington South. In 2009, when IU’s starting guard Jordan Hulls was a senior there and named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball, the team took home a state championship and was ranked third in the nation by USA Today. The girls’ basketball program has nine sectional and two regional championships.Girls’ Basketball Coach Larry Winters is in his 14th season at the school. Courtney Ladyman, who played for Winters and later coached the school’s freshman team, remembers him as tough but fair. Basketball season stretches through the winter, but she remembers spring and summer workouts. Winters took the game seriously, Ladyman said, and so did his players. “If you didn’t make that commitment,” she said “you didn’t play.” Arlington’s athletic director, Bob Wonnell, said he called Bloomington South’s athletic director before the game. A typical outing includes first a junior varsity and then a varsity game, but Arlington only had enough players for a single team. Bloomington South should only bring their varsity players, Wonnell said. By IHSAA rules, the game would be considered a varsity matchup.So Winters brought his best, the product of years of coaching and teaching and training, to face up against Arlington. “He’s not the kind of coach that would just cream a team just for the sake of doing that,” Ladyman said, noting the inexperience of Arlington’s players. “it’s hard to play against players like that.”She wonders what else her former coach could have done. “Do you just stop the game and not play? Or do you keep going?”***The game was Tuesday evening, December 11. They played in the Arlington gym. Bloomington came out strong in the first half, running a full-court press and man-to-man defense. Coach Jackson, interviewed recently by the Indiana Daily Student, described Bloomington South pouring in layups while Arlington struggled to keep up. By the end of the first quarter, Arlington hadn’t put any points on the board. The Golden Knights didn’t score until a shooting foul brought a player to the free throw line in the second quarter. At halftime, the score was 60-1. When Jackson walked into the locker room, she began to process how quickly the Panthers were blowing her team away. “I gotta give them their credit, they were good,” Jackson said. “From the time they stepped out on the floor they were consistent all four quarters."She tried to keep her players motivated. They had a choice, she said. They could accept one point on the scoreboard, or they could come out and fight back. After the game, commentators would wonder whether the game should have been ended early. But Indiana has no mercy rule. If instituted, IHSAA Commissioner Bob Cox said, it would take the form of a point differential rule. When one team surpasses another by a certain number of points, officials would move to a running clock, stopping only for timeouts.In the absence of any institutional mechanism, play is left up to coaches. Bloomington South’s defended his choice to keep playing as a normal game to the Indianapolis Star. “I didn’t tell my girls to stop shooting because that would have been more embarrassing,” Winters said. “We were not trying to embarrass them or run up the score.” Arlington’s Athletic Director, Bob Wonnell, doesn’t blame Winters. “What are you going to tell a girl, to stop?” Wonnell asked. “Dribble all the way down there, stop, don’t shoot it? Throw the ball out of bounds? I mean that’s just as insulting to the other team. You know, let’s just get this thing done as quick as we can and go home.” And Arlington’s Coach Jackson doesn’t believe in a mercy rule. She said she never considered forfeiting, either. “I’ve never seen it done in all my years of playing ball,” Jackson said. “It never crossed my mind, ever.” ***The second half of the game moved only a little more slowly than the first. Jackson remembers Bloomington South sliding out of a press and passing more. She still couldn’t find a way to break through the team’s defense. “They totally overpowered us,” Jackson said. In the third quarter, they were fouled and scored one more point. Jackson said the Arlington players were played aggressively throughout the game. “I think I looked down at their benches one time just to see, like, are you gonna lay off the gas?” Jackson said. “But no, I mean I wasn’t frustrated, I was just really trying to coach the next play or figure out our next opportunity to even score.”As the game wound down, Jackson wanted to make sure her players were alright. It wasn’t a moment for yelling, she said. Once the game was over, she had her players pile their hands in a circle to cheer, but even as she did so, the score filled her head. The reporters, she knew would be calling tomorrow, she thought. ***Every loss hurts. A month later, Bloomington South suffered a stunning defeat by conference rival Pike High on the north side of Indianapolis. In this game, Bloomington South struggled to keep pace. Even an hour and fifteen minutes from Bloomington, the stands were a sea of Panther purple, of chattering parents and siblings holding nachos. Near the end of the fourth quarter, a senior guard began to bring them back. She started hitting three-pointers and didn’t stop, sparking fast breaks and ratcheting up the excitement in the gym until the game was tied in its final seconds. And then, impossibly, with two seconds remaining, a Pike player hurled the ball from beyond half court. It was over instantly.The Bloomington South players lined up, slapped opponents’ hands and watched Pike parents rush the court. The player whose streak brought the Panthers back walked slowly toward the locker room. As she neared the doors, her face crumbled and her eyes filled with tears. She broke into a jog, leaving the court behind as quickly as possible. This week, Bloomington South will try to win another sectional. They’ll enter their first game ready with a full staff of coaches, a battalion of parents and years of practice behind them. ***Arlington players won’t be competing in the tournament this year. After their historic defeat by Bloomington South, they played only two more games. At the end of the fall semester, some of the players’ grades were too low, and administrators decided the team would forfeit the rest of their season.After all the media attention, the outpouring of support, even the pity — the Golden Knights’ season was done. Arlington’s standards are higher than those maintained by the IHSAA. “We were chosen by the state to focus on those academic things, and that has to be our number one priority,” Arlington Athletic Director Wonnell said. In this new Arlington, a student athlete’s life must be about more than winning or losing with a basketball in hand. And as the school struggles to regain footing, every passing grade, every relationship forged, every little achievement is a victory.Arlington players don’t see their coach on the court anymore. But some of them visit her special education classroom nearly every passing period. Jackson will start planning for the next season this spring. Maybe soon, she and her girls will once again return to the gym, practicing under all those banners.
(01/22/13 5:00pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WASHINGTON, D.C.— “Obama’s on fire,” Alicia Keys crooned from the piano at the head of the stage. “Everybody knows that Michelle is his girl.” Keys’ performance under the Obama-Biden seal kicked off the Inaugural Ball’s live musical performance and drew cheers from the gathered crowd. Most wore floor-length gowns and tuxedos and sipped small drinks as they turned their faces toward the stage. In 2009, Obama supporters looking to dance away Inauguration Day chose from 10 balls, many of which were held in the same convention center. This year, in a move that reflected political and financial austerity, as many as 40,000 supporters chose from just two: the Commander In Chief’s Ball, for Military Families, and the Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center. “I thought it would be fancier, to be honest,” Mayra Perez, an attendee, said. “I pictured it differently.” Ball-goers entered the building through heavy security that spanned several blocks around the perimeter. Once inside, most moved down to the concrete Convention Center floor, decorated with glowing balls and presidential seals. Bars and snack stations with pretzels and Cheez-Its were scattered throughout the space, but the expanse was still vast. Perez and date Aakash Dsai found tickets a few weeks ago online. As country artist Brad Paisley took the stage, Perez said that for $60, the tickets had been well worth it. Paisley opened with “American Saturday Night” and performed several songs. Fun took the stage next and played hits like “Some Nights” and “We Are Young,” crowd favorites that created an Inaugural Ball sing-along. The floor was filled with supporters of all ages. A six-year-old danced for his parents in a corner near the media area. Viewers in the wheelchair-accessible section rose for Mexican band Maná. Other performers included members of the “Glee” cast, John Legend, Soundgarden and Stevie Wonder. Just before 9:30 p.m., President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama took the stage at the front of the room. As Jennifer Hudson sang Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” the couple danced and spun and waved to the crowd, celebrating the promise of another term as the country’s first couple.
(01/22/13 5:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WASHINGTON, D.C. — Thousands of people packed the National Mall on Monday to watch President Barack Obama take his second oath of office. Obama’s speech hinted at broad plans and big hopes for the future and drew cheers from supporters. Musical artists James Taylor, Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Clarkson performed, and Poet Laureate Richard Blanco read for the crowd. But for those gathered at the foot of the Capitol Building and beyond, experiencing the 57th Inauguration live meant hours in the cold and slow-moving lines. George Washington University freshman Zac Ruckert took his place on the Mall around 5 a.m. His friend Ernie Britt, a Duke University freshman, set out for Washington at 2 a.m. to arrive at the Mall just before 10 a.m. “It’s Barack Obama’s second inauguration, and it’s on MLK Day, so no classes — it was just perfect, I think,” Britt said. The two jostled for American flags as they waited for proceedings to start. Ruckert said he’d taken a different route to get here, because three Metro stations were closed in advance of the ceremony, and Pennsylvania Avenue was blocked off in advance of the Inaugural Parade.“It’s been kind of crowded here the last couple days,” Ruckert said. “It’s sort of annoying, but it’s great today.” The Secret Service estimated between 500,000 and 700,000 people flooded the city for the Inauguration. On the Mall, crowds watched giant screens, kept warm with food from concession stands and, occasionally, tried to push their way toward a better viewing area. Junior Lena Morris drove with a group of four other IU students for a weekend of sightseeing and to watch the Inauguration from the Mall. Morris said they weren’t able to get as close as they would have liked but thought it was still worth the trip. “It felt great to be there anyway,” Morris said. It took Morris and her friends about two hours to travel from Northern Virginia, where they stayed for the weekend, into the city on Inauguration Day. She estimated they spent about 30 minutes just exiting the Metro station. “I expected it to be very crowded,” IU sophomore Nathan Benham said. “And I’m very impatient, so it kind of was bothering me how slow crowds were going and what not.”The group lingered after the ceremony was finished to check out the large CNN Booth in the middle of the Mall. Benham said despite the chaos of the entrance and exit, the trip was well worth it. “It’s not something I’ve ever experienced before,” Benham said. “These things don’t really come around as often as some other events.”
(01/21/13 5:32pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Hoosiers gathered to celebrate the inauguration at a bipartisan ball. The Indiana State Society’s Inaugural Ball tradition dates back to 1952, Ball Chair Jan Powell said. These days, tickets go for $400 a plate or $9,000 a table. For that price, politicians and a privileged few listened to the Purdue Varsity Glee Club and heard remarks from Gov. Mike Pence. The celebration traditionally stands out because of its menu and tenor.“Ours is a more formal evening,” Society board member Kathy Dirks said. “Dress is very important, as you can see,” Board member Larry Friend agreed, nodding to the floor-length gowns and black ties that consumed the reception room. “Most people are in tuxedos.” As the reception room filled up, guests posed for pictures with Indiana representatives and accepted appetizers from waiters. Attorney General Greg Zoeller and his daughter, IU senior Gretchen Zoeller, were standing near the edge of the room when a member of the Purdue Varsity Glee Club asked to serenade her. He took a knee, took her hand and began. “Life would be a dream …” he sang.When it was finished, Zoeller, a graduate of both Purdue and IU, pointed out the serenade’s irony. Zoeller has been attending inaugurations for decades and said the highlight of his “inaugural career” was a ride on the Bush-Quayle inaugural parade float. “I have a tradition of celebrating democracy,” Zoeller said. “So when you win, you can celebrate the inauguration a little more. When you don’t, you can celebrate democracy anyway.” Gretchen Zoeller said she was happy to see Obama win.“I’m celebrating a little harder than he is,” she said.“Well,” her father said, ”there’s room for everybody to celebrate.” Freshman Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., agreed. “It’s been a spectacular turnout, and you know it’s a real sign of how much everybody from back home still feels how critical it is to connect to each other,” Donnelly said. “Because there’s a whole lot more common sense in Indiana than Washington, D.C.” In his five-minute keynote speech, Pence asked God to bless President Barack Obama and his family. He also drove home the same ideas and phrases used during the lead-up to the Nov. 6 election. “From my heart, I believe this is no ordinary time in the life of our state,” Pence said. “I believe this is Indiana’s moment, and it’s a moment where if we will continue to be bold and innovative, Indiana is poised to go from good to great.”
(01/20/13 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jayla Lane hunched over the nearly blank sheet of paper in the D.C. Armory, pondering how she should begin.“Just make them feel good about themselves, you know?” the IU junior told her friend, senior LaTonja Anderson. “Make them happy, you know?”Their letters would be stacked on top of toiletries, hand-knit scarves, protein bars and other items in Operation Gratitude packages for Armed Services personnel deployed overseas, first responders and returning veterans.Lane put pen to paper.“To: My Hero,” she began.
(01/18/13 4:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The nation will begin official celebrations of President Barack Obama’s second term this weekend in Washington, D.C. The Ceremonial Swearing-In Ceremony, the one officially marked by national media and open to public in front of Capitol Hill, will take place at 11:30 a.m. Monday. “What these inaugural speeches and ceremonies have generally been is a way for the president to cast what they think are their central ideas for the upcoming four years,” said Edward Carmines, IU professor of political science.Carmines said Inaugural Ceremonies provide the newly elected president’s supporters another chance to celebrate their victory. “It’s a way for the president, or the president-elect, to thank his or her supporters,” Carmines said.Inauguration weekend begins Saturday morning with the National Day of Service Summit on the National Mall. The event will be one of a series of events scheduled in all 50 states to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To mark the occasion, the first and second families will volunteer throughout the city.“There’s a different tenor to the country, of course, this time because, with the election in 2008 of the first African-American president, there was kind of an historic event that’s taking place, and it’s not the same this year,” Carmines said. “I think we’re less euphoric about it, and we face such a daunting set of problems that I think that’s kind of changed the tenor somewhat of this inauguration.”The Inaugural Parade will follow with floats and vehicles from more than 58 groups.On Saturday evening, First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, will host the Kid’s Inaugural Concert. The event, along with Sunday’s Commander-in-Chief’s Inaugural Ball, will honor military families. Each state will also hold its own celebratory ball.The nonpartisan Indiana Society of Washington, D.C., will have an inaugural ball for expatriate and visiting Hoosiers. It is traditionally the night before the official inauguration and features a keynote from the current governor.“It’s nice because they can attend our ball that night and then attend some of the official activities the next day,” said Jan Powell, chairman of the Indiana Society Inaugural Ball.She said the Indiana Society, founded in 1905, began their ball tradition in 1952, when Hoosiers flocked to President Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration and needed a place to celebrate.According to a press release, Powell said the Indiana Society solved the problem by having a dinner dance for Hoosiers who traveled to D.C. for the Inauguration. Because of the coinciding dates of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Inauguration Day, both the president and vice president will be officially sworn in during a private ceremony on Sunday. Obama and Biden will officially be sworn in on Sunday.
(12/10/12 5:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two long-time Indiana leaders leaving office this year won’t head quietly into retirement. In January, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Gov. Mitch Daniels will step out of politics and into academia, leaving legacies of policy and prestige in their wake. Daniels will pass the torch to Gov.-elect Mike Pence at the start of 2013 and assume the role of president of Purdue University. Lugar announced plans Dec. 7 to serve as a distinguished professor of political science and international relations at the University of Indianapolis and expand the institution’s renamed Lugar Academy. The expansion will add a semester in Washington, D.C. program and an Elected Officials Institute to the 35-year tradition of the Lugar Symposium, which invites hundreds of high school juniors to the university’s campus every year to discuss public issues and world events. “I’ve witnessed, during these last 36 years of visits, the growth of this campus,” Lugar said at a press conference Friday. “It’s been dynamic. The people who are interested in this campus really have been generous with their money, with their leadership, with the Board of Trustees.” Lugar himself is a former university trustee and former political science professor at the University of Indianapolis.Andrew Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said the move back into academia is a logical next step for Lugar. Researchers make good teachers, Downs said, but politicians provide an intimate look at the issues. “You get it from a boots-on-the-ground perspective,” Downs said. “It’s just a wonderful marriage that happens when people who show up in the classroom can do that.” But for Daniels, Downs said, the path is less clear-cut. Downs said he likely plans to make major policy reforms in higher education. As governor, Daniels will be remembered for restructuring governmental units like the Indiana Economic Development Council, for balancing the state budget, for the cigarette tax and privatization of the Indiana Toll Road and for putting aside social issues to focus on saving the state’s economy, Downs said. Daniels is younger than Lugar and at one point was discussed as a possible Republican presidential candidate. He won’t be known just for his time in office, Downs said. “His legacy’s not done, whereas Lugar’s is kind of written now,” Downs said. Downs said Lugar will be remembered for his contributions on an international scale. But Lugar was also the only Senate incumbent to be defeated in the 2012 primary. He’ll leave office because of that defeat. Downs said in the short run, Lugar might be remembered as someone who “got out of touch and stayed too long.”“That is not a good way for people to remember someone who had the legislative successes he had,” Down said. Within the state, Downs said Lugar carries a legacy as mayor and school board member as well as senator. Outside it, he said, Lugar has been nationally and internationally recognized as someone who worked during the long term to accomplish important goals.Lugar served 36 years in the U.S. Senate, making him the longest serving member of Congress in Indiana history. His committee appointments included the Foreign Relations Committee and the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. He also authored the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which helped decommission Soviet-era nuclear weapons. But he isn’t finished yet and said Dec. 7 he will continue to work for the remaining weeks toward a solution to keep the U.S. economy from dropping off the “fiscal cliff.” “I believe this is extremely serious,” Lugar said. “I spent all day yesterday talking to one plan or another, and we’re going to be very active to the very end to try to bring about a solution.”
(12/07/12 4:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Gov.-elect Mike Pence announced three more cabinet appointments Wednesday. Pence, a Republican, will be inaugurated Jan. 14, 2013 and replace two-term Gov. Mitch Daniels. He began announcing cabinet appointments shortly after his election, Nov. 6.Anita Kolkmeier Samuel – Director of State PersonnelSamuel is a graduate of the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law and University of Indianapolis. She was general counsel for Daniels and former general counsel and policy director for State Personnel. “Anita Samuel has an impressive record of service in the Daniels administration,” Pence said in a press release. “She is a proven leader who will capably serve the thousands of dedicated Hoosiers who work for the people and state of Indiana.” Robert Wynkoop – Commissioner of the Indiana Department of AdministrationWynkoop, a graduate of Taylor University and Ball State University, is the current commissioner of the Department of Administration. He formerly worked as the Department of Administration’s deputy commissioner of procurement and at the IBM Corporation. He also served on the staff of U.S. Sen. Dan Coats. “Robert Wynkoop is a public servant of the highest caliber and will ensure state government in Indiana continues to function smoothly and effectively,” Pence said in the release. Mike Alley – Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Revenue Alley A graduate of Indiana State University, is the current commissioner of the Department of Revenue. He is the former president and CEO of Fifth Third Bank of Central Indiana and former interim chairman and CEO of Integra Bank Corporation of Evansville. “Mike Alley has extensive experience in the financial world, which he has used to assist the people of Indiana through his role at the DOR,” Pence said in the release. “We are honored to have an individual of his expertise on our team moving forward.”— Claire Wiseman
(11/30/12 5:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Student Association included a unification of Bloomington Transit and IU Campus Bus services as a part of its party platform, but the plan is dependent on funding approval from the Indiana Department of Transportation.Bloomington Transit General Manager Lew May said Bloomington Transit officials have met with university administrators to discuss combining the two systems. The next step will be determining whether INDOT will provide additional funding to a unified system, May said.“It’s not a sure thing that a proposed unification will result in any additional funding,” May said. “There is the possibility there, and the potential benefits are too great to overlook.”May said both bus services will meet with the new INDOT commissioner after he or she is appointed by Gov.-elect Mike Pence.Campus Bus and Bloomington Transit carry 3.5 million riders per year respectively, May said. He added that Bloomington’s combined total ridership is the second highest in the state behind Indianapolis. Unifying the services, which already share facilities and travel similar areas, could increase state funding through a formula based partially on ridership. Campus Bus services do not currently receive state funding. Operations Manager Perry Maull, who was not involved in unification talks, said 98 percent of Campus Bus funding comes from student fees. IUSA Vice President Pat Courtney said student experience with the bus system would not change due to the unification. The bus systems would remain largely independent of one another, retaining their signature colors and defining their own bus routes according to need.May confirmed the current plan would allow the two services to define their routes.Courtney said cuts in state transportation have put some public transit systems in a tough spot. The campus bus systems recently applied for a federal grant to have more money for new buses. The request was rejected, Courtney said.“The bus systems are working hard to ensure student cost is not increased,” he said.Potential funding from the merger is estimated at $2 million.“It’s a number that’s been circulated throughout the University,” Courtney said. “We didn’t come up with that. It’s something the bus transportation world knows about.”The Monroe County Planning Organization’s 2030 long-range plan, published in 2005 and re-adopted in 2010, does not include bus unification as a stated policy goal. Bloomington Transit buses run routes through campus, though, and student travel patterns are included in the 201-page report. Part of student fees goes toward the universal ridership program for Bloomington Transit, which allows students to ride for free.Courtney maintains that now is the time to keep pushing for unification. IUSA particularly wants to increase student input concerning Bloomington Transit’s decision-making process.The campus bus system has the Student Transportation Board, which talks with campus bus leaders and represents student opinion concerning transportation issues.“This is very important because the campus buses use student fees,” Courtney said. “We’re trying to get the same with Bloomington Transit, because student money indirectly funds it.”IUSA has participated in multiple meetings with university administration and Campus Bus in the last month, Courtney said, and will meet with administrators next week to gather momentum before winter break.He said he is optimistic that the agreement can be reached within the current IUSA administration’s term but notes that many things, including INDOT’s response, could delay the process.“There’s lots of legwork that has to be done,” Courtney said. “It may not be moving as fast as students may want, but we’re looking into the many variables that affect this.”
(11/30/12 5:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Every day, on every corner of campus, students throw away little pieces of their lives.We discard Jimmy John’s sandwich wrappers in the underbrush of Dunn Woods. We drop crushed beer cans in the mud of the tailgate fields. We accidentally leave textbooks in empty classrooms. From Dunn Meadow to Memorial Stadium, we leave bicycles, laptops, Papa John’s Pizza boxes, dinosaur toys, dildos, Halloween masks, underwear, Mickey Mouse ears. In the grass, we leave condoms, some used, others still untouched in their wrappers. In the trees, we pin love notes — Valentine’s Day messages that will never be delivered. In the dumpsters outside the School of Fine Arts, we abandon sculptures deemed unworthy. In the School of Music, frustration consumes us and we smash our violins and then throw them on the ground outside.Every day, IU-Bloomington students discard about 186,000 pounds of garbage. Every year, the University dedicates thousands of man-hours and spends thousands of dollars to keep it from burying us. The campus workers who collect what we throw away know us through our trash. Desire, ambition, sloth, love, hunger, hope, disappointment — they see all of it in the things we leave behind. They pick up what we have forgotten, and then they make it disappear.
(11/28/12 6:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana taxpayers will receive a $111 tax refund just for filing their 2012 income tax returns. The automatic refund is the first of its kind in the state and was generated by a plan created by Gov. Mitch Daniels and approved by the Indiana General Assembly in 2011. The state’s $2.155 billion budget surplus reserve is 15 percent of the state’s budget. The total surplus is $721 million. The remaining $360 million was used to strengthen the Judges’ Pension Fund, Prosecutors’ Pension Fund, State Police Pension Fund , Pre-1996 Teachers’ Retirement Fund and Conservation, Gaming and Excise Officers’ Pension Fund. According to the governor’s plan, funds in excess of 10 percent of the state budget are to be returned to taxpayers as a refund. In the future, that threshold will increase to 12.5 percent. Indiana Department of Revenue Spokesman Bob Dittmer said the current per capita model replaced an earlier pro-rated model in which taxpayers received a percentage. Daniels said the per capita model is ideal for getting money back to taxpayers. “We thought that any refund that did happen would be maybe more meaningful to low-income and moderate-income people,” Daniels said. Any Indiana citizen who completes the IT 40, IT 40 EZ or IT 40 PNR forms is eligible for the refund. Joint filers can receive a $222 refund. Dittmer said the process is simple. Qualifying individuals or couples will put $111 or $222, respectively, on the appropriate line on their tax return form. “Say they get all their deductions, etc, get down to credits, at the bottom end of the calculations, if they end up owing us a dollar, they’ll keep that dollar and we’ll send them $110,” Dittmer said. Daniels said one in four taxpayers will receive at least a 25 percent discount, one in seven will receive at least a 50 percent refund and one in 10 will receive all their tax dollars back. According to the governor’s office, 3.26 million eligible taxpayers will receive the refund. Daniels said returning the money to taxpayers rather than allocating it to other departments is fair. “Past a point of rock-solid fiscal strength, it’s better to leave this money in the pockets of those who earned it than to let it burn a hole, as it tends to do, in the pocket of government,” Daniels said in a press release.
(11/14/12 4:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One week after the general election, Indiana Republicans at the state, local and university level are nursing wounds, celebrating victories and looking toward the future. LOCALPreliminary results show Monroe County Republicans losing nine of the 10 contested local seats. Democrats claimed all three at-large county council seats and both county commissioner seats open this year. Republicans will fill seats in the House of Representatives in District 60, 46 and 62, but will lose state senate representation in District 40. Monroe County Republican Party Chairman Steve Hogan said the group must find a more effective way to get its message across. He said he thinks the group fell victim not only to straight-ticket voting but also to its own polarizing reputation. “I think that the Republicans in Monroe County are perceived as right of center, and I think it’s expected that the Democrats are way left of center,” Hogan said. Hogan said perception of Republicans in the county is skewed. “We need to be viewed as a more moderate group,” he said. He also said winning in the next elections will mean appealing to moderates and getting their message to voters. He’s confident the party will be able to move forward. “The reality is today’s a new day, and as soon as we get over the first week here, then people are going to come in and say, ‘What can I do?’” Hogan said. “They’ve got an investment, and that’s really important.” STATERepublicans took the offices of governor and attorney general on Election Day and achieved a supermajority in the state House of Representatives. A long-standing supermajority in the state Senate means that both houses, as well as the state’s highest office, are filled by Republicans. “The way we feel is it was a great night for Indiana Republicans, but an even better night for all Hoosiers,” Indiana Republican Party Spokesman Pete Seat said. Indiana’s national representation shifted. Republicans lost Sen. Richard Lugar’s U.S. Senate seat to Sen.-elect Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., who beat out State Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Lugar has occupied the seat since 1977. Seat said the loss was disappointing. “Hoosiers spoke, and they made their choice,” Seat said. “We will field a solid candidate in six years’ time and hopefully take it back. Six years is a long way, though.”But Seat said the party feels good about gains. Republicans will send Jackie Walorski to fill Donnelly’s 2nd District seat in the House of Representatives and will fill Gov.-elect Mike Pence’s seat with Luke Messer. They’ll also hold on to the 5th District seat with the election of Susan Brooks. Indiana doesn’t have a 2013 election. Seat said until the 2014 election cycle, party officials will focus on supporting Republican legislators. “It’s just about keeping people engaged and involved and laying the groundwork for 2014,” Seat said. “We’re going to have solid members of the House of Representatives that are up for reelection.”ON CAMPUSIU for Romney Communications Director and senior Kenzie Carlson said Romney’s loss will require Republicans to shift their focus toward the center on social issues such as gay marriage.“I think it’ll be a clear shift,” Carlson said. IU College Republicans spent much of the semester campaigning for state and local candidates. Outgoing chairman and junior Hilary Leighty said they were excited by the reelection of Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District. “We were a little bummed about Mourdock and bummed about the presidency, but we’re happy that Mitt won Indiana,” Leighty said. Leighty said IUCR’s didn’t focus on campus because they felt their efforts could be more effective at the local level. Instead, the group worked phone banks, attended local Republican Party events and helped publicize events on campus. Leighty said she worked the polls on Election Day. She said she was disappointed by results in local races. “It’s just so hard for them to win in a country like this where it is so overwhelmingly Democrat and where students just go and vote straight ticket,” Leighty said. Despite what she described as an uphill battle, Leighty said the challenge presented by campaigning for Republicans in Monroe County was a valuable experience.“Working against all of this, I guess, makes it more challenging and more fun,” Leighty said.
(11/07/12 5:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>COLUMBUS, Ohio — It ended here.In Ohio, early reports of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s loss were especially shattering for volunteers and supporters who spent time in the trenches of this crucial swing state.“Paul (Ryan) and I have left everything on the field,” Romney said in his concession speech. “We have given our all to this campaign.”Throughout the campaign, the state and its 18 electoral votes were hotly contested commodities.After calling Ohio, pundits began to call the election.Both candidates made stops in the state during the election’s final days. On Monday night, hours before the polls opened, Obama had a rally at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, with musical supporters Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z. In the same city and on the same night, Romney addressed supporters at Landmark Aviation.Romney spokesman Robert Reid said Tuesday morning that Ohio was “critical.” During the final push, supporters stepped up their efforts to get out the vote.U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Romney adviser and campaign chairman, said volunteers knocked on 2.7 million doors and made 5.9 million phone calls in the run up to the election.Those numbers are due in part to out-of-state volunteers.Glenn Thomas of Frisco, Texas, traveled to Ohio on Thursday with a group of 100 volunteers. He knocked on doors and made phone calls, convinced his efforts here would matter more than those he made back home.“It’s the battleground,” Thomas said.The same group sent hundreds to other key states.“I can talk to people in Texas all I want, and the reality in Texas is that they’ll vote the way they vote,” Thomas said. “Here in Ohio there’s an opportunity to either influence or to motivate people to get out the vote.” Thomas flew back to Texas on Tuesday. He watched the results come in from home and said at 11:30 p.m. he was unwilling to concede a loss until the remainder of Ohio’s votes had been counted.But just before Romney’s concession, Thomas said he was feeling a little depressed. He worried about the country’s polarization, about the deficit and about what Obama’s administration would mean for the country and for his five children. Still, he wouldn’t take it back.“I’d do it again,” Thomas said. “I’d probably do it harder.”“Every vote counts, and hopefully the work that we did in coming there keeps us on top or puts us back on top,” Thomas said. Volunteers Jeremiah Stock, 18, Ben Northrup, 15, and Olivia Cox, 16, traveled from Kentucky to knock on Ohio doors and ring Ohio phones. They came with 200 other volunteers from the Jeremiah Generation, a group of homeschooled young people who travel to volunteer for Republican candidates.This is Northrup’s fifth campaign with the group, and before the results were called, he said it’s the tightest race he’s worked.“This seems at least the most critical and stressful one,” Northrup said. “Very high pressure, very taut.”The three waited with other volunteers in corner of the ballroom. Teenagers and children sprawled on the floor, waiting for results. They said they were sure it would be close, but they added that no matter the outcome, the experience would be well worth the time and experience.After the announcement, Northrup said he felt okay about the loss. He’d prepared for the worst, he said, and hoped for the best.Given the amount of work they’d put into volunteering in this state, it was difficult.“It’s always a bummer to know that your whole life’s blood and tears, the work kind of didn’t count,” Northrup said.Volunteers Chris Lee and Daryl Kelly came from Pasco and Richland, Wash., respectively, and paid their travel expenses to make their voices heard. They concentrated their efforts in Ohio, Lee said, because Ohio would determine the course of the presidential election.“For the last 100 years, not a Republican has won without winning Ohio,” Lee said.And after their Republican lost, Lee said he was disappointed and worried for the future.Still, Lee said, the effort they put into this crucial state was worth it. They gave everything they possibly could, he said.“And to you here tonight, and to the team across the country — the volunteers, the fundraisers, the donors, the surrogates — I don’t believe that there’s ever been an effort in our party that can compare with what you have done over these past years,” Romney said.
(11/06/12 7:48pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio matters. In the last several months, the state and its electoral votes have been hotly contested real estate. According to the Washington Post, President Barack Obama made 11 campaign stops in Ohio in the last 30 days alone. Mitt Romney made 23. Columbus, Ohio, is ground zero. Monday night, hours before the polls opened, Obama sponsored a rally at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus with musical supporters Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z. In the same city, on the same night, Mitt Romney addressed supporters at Landmark Aviation. “Ohio is very critical,” Romney spokesman Robert Reid said Tuesday morning. “It’s gonna be a big state tonight, but we’re very confident about our chances here.” Reid stood inside the campaign’s Ohio State Headquarters on Dublin Road in Columbus. Volunteers and campaign staff were up and at it early for Election Day. Strategy in the very last hours meant knocking on doors, making phone calls, driving voters to the polls and processing complex exit poll data. The headquarters were a hub, and they’d take anyone who wanted to help.The building’s walls were covered in Romney signs, hand-painted or official, making the shape of O-H-I-O or just an O-H.Glenn Thomas was on his way to the airport. The Frisco, Texas, native traveled to Ohio last Thursday with a group of 100 volunteers, convinced his efforts here would matter more than those he made back home. “It’s the battleground,” Thomas said. Volunteers from the same group, hundreds more, they said, headed to other key swing states.“I can talk to people in Texas all I want, and the reality in Texas is that they’ll vote the way they vote,” Thomas said. “Here in Ohio, there’s an opportunity to either influence or to motivate people to get out the vote.” Franklin County, just one county in the state capital of Columbus, is a strategic hub for a reason. “Franklin’s going to be very tight, so you know we want to make sure we identify a lot of those undecided if people are still undecided today, identify those folks and make sure they understand Governor Romney’s message and that they have all the information they need to make an informed decision,” Reid said. Thomas said some voters are weary. When he approaches their doors — a key strategy, since some have taken to avoiding the phones — he jokes about it, telling them he knows he’s one of the many campaigners they’ve seen this season.Reid said volunteers, on the other hand, were energized. Inside headquarters, the pace was frenetic as people learned the phone systems or dashed by handfuls of doughnut holes or large Starbucks cups. Thomas said he’s averaged four hours of sleep each night in Ohio. The front desk director’s space included packets of Alka-Seltzer, Airborne and Hall’s cough drop wrappers. The cold hit the director Monday. Months of campaigning were taking their toll. It all came down to this.“We’ll see how it comes out today, but we’re very confident,” Reid said. “We think that we’re on path to deliver 18 electoral votes.”
(11/02/12 2:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Thursday, there was a vote moat in the Arboretum. They’d hoped for a vote goat, hosted a vote boat and planned a mock vote for next week. For volunteers in the Indiana Public Interest Research Group, it’s a time for the final push, and a time to ensure votes make it to the ballot box next Tuesday. INPIRG’s mission is to make 15,000 voter contacts by next Tuesday. A contact could include a text message, flyer or Facebook message — anything that encourages students to “raise their voice” on Election Day. Campus organizer Elizabeth Himeles said the campaign has been long and busy, but promises to be rewarding. “I’m just excited,” Himeles said. “Right now we have four days left to get all of our contacts before the election.” INPIRG is affiliated with U.S. PIRG, and is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of student volunteers and interns advocating for policy issues important to students. Voter registration and encouraging voters toward the polls are also major components of its mission. Indiana’s last day of voter registration was Oct. 9. By that date, INPIRG registered 2,115 voters through tabling and events like the Vote Boat, which enticed potential registrants with an eye-catching effort involving a donated vessel.After their registration efforts, INPIRG shifted tracks. That’s where the Vote Moat came in. The idea was to dress in medieval garb and encourage voters to fight for their right to vote. The INPIRG’s asked voters to pledge to vote. They also encouraged voters to text message cell phone contacts and Facebook message those contacts with reminders about Election Day. “We’re trying to make it fun for people,” INPIRG media intern Colleen Dobry said. “People can get bogged down in all of the details of politics, and we just want to focus the idea on raising our voice and that sort of thing, keeping it young, fresh and fun.” On Monday, the group will sponsor a mock election from noon to 3 p.m. at the Showalter Fountain, complete with campaign signs and ballots. Campaign Intern and sophomore Harry Douglass said the goal for that event is 2,000 voter contacts. The candidates? Tootsie Pops and Blow Pops. Their mission, Dobry said, is to raise the student voice in the 2012 election. “I think that having a lot of young people involved in this election will be a success for us,” Dobry said.