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(05/05/14 4:23am)
IU President Michael McRobbie is aware of the shoes he has to fill. He’s surrounded by reminders — the bust of Herman B Wells in his conference room and the library that bears the legendary president’s name. But some say McRobbie has already filled them.
(04/29/14 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The drug court judge peppered the addict with questions.“So who’s the friend you thought you could trust?” she asked him abruptly. Her stare was met by his downcast eyes.He had been accepted to drug court after a string of DUIs, but then his urine test came back positive for alcohol. Like everyone in Drug Treatment Court, he’s an addict, working to stay clean, and the judge was trying to figure out why he wasn’t.As the wall clock ticked in Courtroom 313 of the Monroe County Justice Building, she waited.Ten seconds passed.“Who was it?” she tried again, leaning against the table of probation officers behind her. The judge had traded her throne-like bench for a lectern and stood on the courtroom floor closer to her defendants.Barely five feet tall, she wears no robe and wields no gavel, but has no trouble commanding the room’s respect. “Decide who your friends are,” she coaxed.To her right, the rest of the addicts sat silently in the gallery, watching the judge use the same piercing glare many of them had felt before.Forty seconds.“It’s your life, not theirs.”The addict stared at his feet.“Who is it?” she said.Sixty five seconds.Finally, he raised his head, looked into the gallery and gestured toward another drug court participant.Stillness.“Well,” she said quietly, “this is fun.”***Judge Mary Ellen Diekhoff doesn’t care that skeptics call drug treatment court the “hug a thug program,” because it works.At a time when politicians are debating strategy for the war on drugs, activists are advocating for decriminalization and prisons are overflowing with repeat offenders, presiding Judge Diekhoff and the drug court staff are offering an alternative they know works — with the results to prove it.Since 1999, 275 local participants have completed the program with a graduation rate of 61 percent, eclipsing the national average by nine percentage points. When it comes to the county’s pocketbook, drug court has saved Monroe County taxpayers almost $2 million in 15 years.But for some, the numbers aren’t enough. Inside the Justice Building, there is some resistance from defense attorneys and prosecutors alike — drug court is either too hard or not hard enough, they say. It makes the county look “soft on crime.”“Truthfully, for most of our people, they would find it much easier to go to jail or sit in prison because what do you have to do?” the judge says. “Nothing.”Behind bars, there are few decisions to make or responsibilities to fulfill. Schedules are predetermined, meals are provided.“As long as you behave yourself you ain’t gonna have a problem,” the judge says. “Uh-uh. That’s not this.”Under her watch, drug treatment court is hard work. At the change of plea hearing where accepted defendants waive their constitutional rights and plea guilty to their crimes, the judge lays out the expectations for drug court participants nationwide — 10 p.m. curfew, daily check-ins at the Community Corrections Building, weekly court attendance, no weapon possession, timely payment of monthly fees and urine screenings at least three times a week. No drugs, no alcohol, no bars.“Nicks is a bar. Kilroys is a bar,” she says. “If you go to Olive Garden, you can’t sit at the bar.” On top of that, the judge tells her people they must have a job or be in school while in drug court.“Our goal is to just keep putting up roadblocks so that they just have to keep changing directions,” the judge says, “and the one direction we want them to go to is to be sober.”If they complete the two-year program successfully, their criminal record is wiped cleanThe young ones are hardest to get clean. It’s usually a parent or lawyer forcing them to participate in drug court. But they don’t want to stop partying or change their friend group. They haven’t hit rock bottom yet.“They don’t get it,” the judge says. “They don’t understand they’re going to die.”In seven years as the presiding judge, she’s seen how drug court saves lives — alcoholics sober for the first time in decades, women giving birth to drug free babies, mended marriages and newfound parental trust. She’s seen addiction’s ugly side, too, watched it break up families, end careers and empty bank accounts. Nicotine addiction gave her own mother cancer.In her courtroom, everyone is an addict and all addicts are equal. Education level doesn’t matter. Money doesn’t matter. Age doesn’t matter. Addiction ravages the wealthy the same as it afflicts the poor.The addicts in drug court are people with a long history of criminal behavior driven by their disease. They are people with exhausted parents, spouses and children. People with problems that need treatment, not just punished. “My drug people,” she calls them.In court, she’s like a human lie detector, daring anyone to cross her. When it’s earned, she praises. When it’s necessary, she shouts.“When I get frustrated, I can make thunder and lightning happen,” she’ll often remind her drug court people. “But I don’t.” When she’s not “your honor,” she’s mom to a college-aged daughter and wife to Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diekhoff. Framed photos of them rest on her desk, beside Mickey Mouse figurines dressed like Darth Vader and R2-D2 and above a handful of sticky notes taped down that say, “I love you!”Since she took over drug court, the judge hasn’t had a vacation that wasn’t interrupted by drug court. She doesn’t even go most weekends without getting a phone call from drug court Director Steve Malone. The judge wants it that way, though.“This is not a job that you turn off,” she says. “This involves dealing with people’s lives. It’s a responsibility that I really feel heavily.”She and her staff are trying to reshape American assumptions about crime and punishment, to alter the idea that when it comes to drug offenders and addiction, justice can’t always mean an eye for an eye.“Come to court,” she says. “You just have to see it.”***Back in courtroom 313, the judge’s wrath came down on the addict in orange and the friend he pointed out, a 20-year-old alcoholic himself.After 20 minutes of questioning, the judge had connected the dots.Both men had been accepted to drug court after alcohol related offenses, which means they are free to live their lives as long as they follow drug court rules. But they didn’t.The 20-year-old alcoholic took the addict in orange to a gas station. He watched him buy a beer and watched him drink it. Next, they went to a party with more alcohol, where the 20-year-old let his friend drink again. He told him to stop, but didn’t call the drug court field officer or the case manager, like participants are supposed to if they see a peer in trouble. Then he let him drive home.The judge was disappointed in the addict in orange for drinking, but she seemed furious with the 20-year-old in the gallery.“What is the purpose of this court?” the judge yelled, raising her voice and leaning toward him. To get sober, he said. “What else?” she demanded. To work the program, he responded. “What else?” she asked, still not getting the answer she wanted.“This is the fundamental point of this court you are missing,” the judge shouted, enunciating each word. “It is to support each other.”As punishment for his dishonesty and for violating the rules, the judge sent the 20-year-old to jail, too, like a drug court timeout. For a week, he’d sit in a cell downtown, waiting the hear what the judge would do with him. It’s never just up to her, though.She’s just one vote of seven on a 10-person drug court team, which meets every Tuesday and is composed of Judge Diekhoff, Director Malone, three case managers, a Bloomington Police Department field officer, representatives from the offices of the prosecutor and public defender, a counselor from OASIS at IU and a woman from Centerstone, who represents the treatment community. They talk about the status of each participant — urine screen results, progress in counseling, attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.A week after the showdown between the judge, the addict and the 20-year-old, both men sat at the front of the courtroom in orange jumpsuits and shackles, watching their free peers trickle into seats in the gallery.It was just after 8 a.m., and the judge had already checked in with half of the crowded room. She’d heard about one man’s upcoming surgery and got teased by another participant for saying “groovy.”She smiled with a proud, new dad, whose wife had given birth to a baby boy the day before. “Six pounds, three ounces, 19 inches,” the man announced to the room, a smile spanning his exhausted face.“I’m just a happy dad,” he told her. “And you’re sober and celebrating,” she smiled, reminding the proud dad, like she does with all her participants, that life is better when they aren’t strung out.She welcomed a new participant to the program, a woman who had already relapsed, but was honest about it. There was no chastising. The participant had been forthright, an essential first step.After a few more interactions, the judge looked toward Director Malone, who nodded.“We now interrupt our regularly scheduled programming,” she said, pausing, “for graduation.”There were three of them total. They’d made it through 591 drug tests, earned 186 incentives and checked in at the Community Corrections Building 1,188 times. The judge, back in her shiny black robe, offered them official certificates and warm hugs.“I’m proud of you,” she whispered to each.One graduate had been in the program since October 2009 and relapsed four times early on.“Don’t do it the way I did it. I just couldn’t be honest with myself,” he conceded to the room. “Thanks to drug court for putting up with me all these years.”Then the court upheld their end of the bargain, dismissing the criminal charges from his record. Everyone clapped.“This is the reason we, with the drug court treatment program, do what we do,” Director Malone said to the rest of the room.The judge shed her robe again and prepared to address her drug court people who had reoffended and were back in jail, who’d been watching and waiting for almost an hour. She made her way down the line, then turned to the 20-year-old, the last participant of the morning.“OK,” she said. “Why are you in jail?”“I went to a party and I shouldn’t have,” he replied.The judge asked why he let his friend drink.“I didn’t do it intentionally,” he said. “I’m just not used to turning people down. I need to learn how to say no.”“Why didn’t you take him home?” she pressed harder.“I should have,” he said.She continued to grill him, not satisfied with his answers.“Pay attention to me,” she said sternly. “Are you supposed to be around people that are drinking at all?”“No, ma’am,” he conceded again.She kept pushing.“Your actions are despicable and unacceptable and should not be happening if you are serious about this program and truly invested in your own sobriety,” the judge said. “And the sanction for that,” she paused, “is staying in jail.”***On the hardest days, the judge tries to remind herself why she does this. She recycles quotes in her mind, some of the same ones that hang in frames around her office.“One small act can transform the world,” she thinks to herself.“You’ve got to believe in something,” she says.The starfish charm on her wrist helps, too. There’s a story she likes, adopted from an essay by writer Loren Eiseley, about a young child who happens upon an old man at the beach.Spanning the sand are thousands of starfish, baking beneath the hot sun, the tide sinking lower. The child watches the old man toss the starfish out to sea, one at a time, and asks how such an impossible task could make a difference at all.“It made a difference to that one,” the man says, throwing another into the water.If she can just make a difference in one life, she tells herself, it’s worth it.Even when she isn’t judge, she’s still judge. If she sees her drug people at the gas station or at the grocery store, she makes it a point to say hello — she hopes it will make their dealers steer clear.That’s about the only interaction outside the courtroom she’s allowed to have with her drug court people. They invite her to group picnics and social gatherings, but for ethical reasons, she’s not allowed to go.In drug court she’s usually just one voice of many, but if the team decides to terminate a participant, she’s the one who has to put the black robe back on and send them to prison.“Those are not a typical day at the office,” the judge says.Her job can be isolating for the same reasons. She can’t talk about her day with friends or family, and she’s hypersensitive to the way American culture perpetuates destructive behavior.If she drinks, she doesn’t do it in public. The judge can’t go to see action movies at the theater anymore because she hates the violence. She tries to walk once a day to clear her head.Playing with her “misfit clan” of rescue dogs — Emmitt, Hershey and Blake — helps, too.In Monroe County, court is aligned closely with the structure of the very first drug court, founded in Dade County, Fla., in 1989. But the drug court staff is always looking for ways to improve the program.The judge has two goals for the near future — start a re-entry court and develop a social event where the drug court staff can interact with their people’s families. Many of her drug court people come from broken homes, but she knows how important it is to have support of friends and family. If she can solicit their help, it makes keeping her people sober less challenging. “Yes, you’re getting treatment. Yes, you’re dealing with it as a disease — alcoholism and addiction is a disease,” the judge says, “but we’re also holding you accountable for those choices you are making while you are dealing with the disease.” ***The 20-year-old had spent two weeks in jail before the judge let him off the hook. She put him on house arrest and told him he had to check in at the Community Corrections building daily.The tracking bracelet on his ankle would ensure he stayed away from parties and away from alcohol.“It means you have to follow the rules,” the judge said in court. “Are you going to follow the rules?”He found a new job and returned to his drug court journaling class. It’s a group of five men who meet at 7:30 every Monday morning with case manager Brier Frasier in the Community Corrections building, where every door dons a window cling that says “Believe.”Together, they work through a booklet that helps them identify goals and understand their addictive thinking.When the judge saw him last week, he was already doing better. He’d excelled in journaling class a few days before, and his case manager shared that with the team. In class, he said he wanted to be more open-minded and told the class his plan — bring an organization folder everywhere, take notes about everything and share what he learns with his family. He’d even hung a white board in his hallway, so others could help him be accountable to his commitments and meetings.“I want to listen to everything everyone has to say before I respond to them,” he said.In Courtroom 313 two days later, the judge addressed the 20-year-old. He stood in the back, wearing a blue Zoo York T-shirt. He’d accidentally left early for a meeting, a violation of his house arrest, and had been assigned a day of road crew to clean trash along the highway as punishment. He had scheduled it for the Sunday of Little 500.“I don’t really want (you)around a bunch of drunken college students,” the judge told him, raising her eyebrows as the rest of the room smiled.“I don’t want to be around them, either,” he grinned back, shaking his head.
(01/24/14 5:00am)
It seems those DIY moms with their DIY blogs possess magical artistic powers we average crafters can’t live up to. We try. We fail. Our walls remain blank. So we took some time to search our own Pinterest boards for DIY crafts that you really can do yourself. Successful crafternoon, guaranteed.
(01/22/14 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There was pizza, but he didn’t eat it. Instead, U.S. Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District, worked the room, taking informal questions and learning the names of students at the IU College Republicans spring call-out meeting Tuesday night. He talked about his past as a Marine, a policy consultant and an attorney before running for Congress in 2010, when he defeated longtime democratic congressman Baron Hill. The call-out meeting was Young’s fourth stop of the day. Early Tuesday morning, he filed his paperwork with the Indiana Secretary of State, officially announcing his bid for re-election in the 9th District Congressional race. On his way back to Bloomington, where he lives with his wife and four young children, Young met with constituents in Johnson and Morgan counties before ending the night at IU. As he took the podium before more than 40 students and local politicians in the Georgian Room of the IMU, Young asked for an update on the IU men’s basketball game against Michigan State. “IU is up by five with 11 minutes left,” one male student replied. “OK,” Young said to a laughing room, “I better be brief.” The congressman outlined three areas of which millennials should feel ownership — the deficit, healthcare reform and unemployment. It shouldn’t be hard to engage peers with those topics, Young told the interested room, since each relates to challenges most college students face — debt, healthcare and the job search.Young criticized the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, mentioning the serious glitches in the website’s rollout that left many citizens confused and unable to sign up for the program. “Of course the rollout was an absolute disaster,” Young said. “But the rollout is just beginning.” He told the students that he began with dry policy issues to make a point. There’s work to be done, he said, especially with the young vote. “There’s an opportunity in places like Bloomington, Indiana to grow our reign,” Young said. “There’s an opportunity to grow our reign on campuses like Indiana University.” In a predominantly blue city in a traditionally red state, Young said he was the first 9th district republican to be re-elected consecutively in 50 years. He defeated former Rep. Baron Hill, D-9th District, in a close race in 2010 and kept his seat in 2012, defeating democratic candidate Shelli Yoder. Young is a native Hoosier who earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, served in the U.S. Marine Corps and later graduated with a law degree from IU. Young currently serves on the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. As of Tuesday, Young is the only republican to have filed for candidacy in the 9th District, alongside democrat Bill Bailey — a former mayor in Seymour, Ind., and representative to Indiana’s 66th District. Bailey announced his intent to run against Young last fall. Candidates may file with the state through Feb. 7 for the May 6 primary. IU College Republicans Chairman Riley Parr said the organization wanted a dynamic speaker who would draw an interested crowd to their call-out meeting.Young, who has been a consistent supporter of the group, seemed like a perfect fit. Parr has volunteered for Young’s previous campaigns and encouraged students at the meeting to get involved with local politics. “While you’re here, this is your community, and this is where you can make a difference,” Parr said. In the crowd Tuesday night were several members of the IU College Democrats’ executive board, who will have their own call-out meeting next Tuesday. Bailey is expected to speak. Young shook their hands and jokingly asked if the college democrats had come for the free pizza. “It’s good to represent you,” Young told them. “It really is.” Follow reporter Katie Mettler on Twitter @kemettler.
(12/09/13 6:04am)
David Camm's murder case divided a family and nearly bankrupted an Indiana county, forcing the community to question the meaning of justice.
(10/25/13 4:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>LEBANON, IND. — After 13 years behind bars, David Camm walked out of court a free man Thursday when a jury acquitted him of the slayings of his wife and two young children.The verdict, the stunning ending to one of the most notorious murder cases in Indiana history, was immediately hailed by some as vindication for a wrongly accused man — and condemned by others as a shocking failure to bring a monster to justice.“We have been confident that David was innocent and soon would be vindicated, and this needs to be seen as a vindication for David,” defense attorney Richard Kammen said outside the courthouse Thursday.Camm, a 49-year-old former Indiana state trooper who has always maintained his innocence, had been convicted twice before of ambushing and gunning down his wife Kim, 35, their 7-year-old son Brad and 5-year-old daughter Jill as they came home one night in 2000 from swim practice to their southern Indiana home in Georgetown. Both decisions were later overturned due to prosecution error. The torturous road to Thursday’s decision forced Camm’s family, as well as the family of his slain wife, to relive the murders three times in three different courtrooms. Frank and Janice Renn, Kim Camm’s parents, have remained steadfast in their belief that David Camm slaughtered their daughter and only grandchildren. Camm’s family has insisted that David was an innocent man who had lost both his family and his freedom. Floyd County, meanwhile, has waited more than a decade for a final resolution to the case. The repeated prosecutions of Camm have cost the local government more than $4 million, creating budget shortfalls that have raised fears of county employee layoffs.When the verdicts were read aloud in court, Camm bowed his head and wept while his family embraced in the gallery. “There are still going to be people who think he did it, and that’s OK, you can’t control that, but he has now been vindicated in a lot of people’s eyes,” Camm’s uncle, Sam Lockhart, said after the verdict was read.After multiple death threats against the accused, security was heightened, and the courthouse was cleared of all bystanders. For his own protection, Camm was escorted from the building by a circle of guards armed with assault rifles and rushed into a waiting sheriff’s department SUV. The vehicle’s destination was not disclosed, but the officers were delivering Camm back to his family to begin his new life.***The case began on the night of September 28, 2000, when Kim Camm and the two children were shot moments after they pulled into the family’s garage. Camm told police that he had been playing basketball at a nearby gym and came home to find his wife’s body sprawled on the garage floor. The children’s bodies were in the backseat of the Ford Bronco. Jill was still strapped in by her seatbelt. Brad had been shot as he tried to escape by climbing over the back seat.Camm told police that he pulled Brad out of the SUV to try to resuscitate the boy. When that failed, he said, he called his former state police post for help.Eleven men who had been playing basketball with Camm that night corroborated his alibi, insisting that he had never left the court until after the murders. Even so, prosecutors arrested Camm four days later. Charged with three counts of first-degree murder, he was not allowed to attend his family’s funeral.In the years afterward, the state based much of its case on bloodstains found on a T-shirt Camm was wearing that night. The prosecutors called it “area 30,” the section of the shirt marked with eight drops of what proved to be Jill’s blood. The state’s experts testified that the pattern of the stains indicated high velocity impact spatter, caused by blowback from a close-range gun shot. Defense attorneys argued that the pattern was “blood transfer,” consistent with Camm’s story that his body had brushed against Jill’s bloody hair while pulling Brad from the Bronco to perform CPR.The verdict in the first trial was overturned after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the prosecutors had improperly called nearly a dozen women to testify that Camm had repeatedly been unfaithful to his wife. Damning as it may have been to Camm’s reputation as a husband, the high court pointed out that the state had failed to establish that the infidelities were connected to the murders.The state continued to press charges against Camm after a “fresh eyes” investigation uncovered two pieces of evidence — an unidentified handprint and an Indiana Department of Corrections sweatshirt — that had never been tested for DNA. Both were quickly matched to Charles Boney, an 11-time convicted felon who had been dubbed the “shoe bandit” for assaulting women in Bloomington and stealing their shoes while he was a student at IU in the late 1980s.Boney was arrested and charged with the murders in 2005. The prosecutors said that Camm had conspired with the felon, asking him to supply the gun. Boney, who insisted he had not shot the family, was convicted and sentenced to 225 years in prison. Camm was found guilty, too, but then the Indiana Supreme Court stepped in again and overturned the second verdict due to the prosecution telling the jury that Camm had molested his daughter and murdered his family so no one would discover the abuse. Though the autopsy revealed that Jill had injuries consistent with molestation, the court noted there was no evidence to support the claim that Camm was the one who had molested her.As the years passed, the mystery of the case haunted everyone involved. Due to extensive publicity, the third trial was moved to Lebanon, a small town in Boone County, two hours north of where the murders took place. Eager to avoid another reversal, Special Judge Jon Dartt took extreme caution as he ruled on what evidence he would allow the jury to hear. The judge prohibited the lawyers from bringing up Camm’s affairs, the molestation allegations or Boney’s criminal fascination with women’s feet. The defense protested the exclusion of the foot fetish testimony, noting that Kim Camm’s shoes had been removed at the murder scene and neatly placed on the roof of the Bronco.As the third trial began this August, the most crucial addition to the prosecution’s case was their decision to include Boney in their theory of the how the homicide had unfolded. The prosecution contended that Boney was a patsy, someone whose violent criminal record made it easy for Camm to frame. But the defense countered with testimony from a Dutch DNA analyst, Richard Eikelenboom, who used a relatively new area of forensics — called “touch DNA” — to place Boney at the scene and to show that his DNA had been found on Jill’s shirt and Kim’s underwear.Through the weeks of testimony, the Renns — Kim’s family — listened quietly from their seats directly behind the prosecution’s table.“I don’t want to believe he did it,” said Janice Renn, Kim’s mother, after a long day of testimony. “But I do.”Camm maintained his composure, too. When photos of his wife’s and children’s bodies were shown to the jury, his eyes filled with tears. But most of the time, his face showed little emotion. All of that changed when the prosecution called Boney to testify. Face to face with the man convicted in the murders of his family, Camm locked eyes with Boney. In a stare-down that lasted several minutes, neither man blinked.Boney told the jury that he had met Camm at a pick-up basketball game a couple months before the murders. The two talked briefly and a few months later had a chance meeting at a convenience store in downtown New Albany. There, Boney testified that Camm “probed” him for information about his criminal history and asked if Boney could get Camm an untraceable gun. Boney said he made the first sale, but Camm wanted another. The two arranged to meet at Camm’s rural Georgetown home so Boney could deliver the gun.Boney testified that as he handed the gun — wrapped in his DOC sweatshirt — to Camm in the family’s driveway, the Bronco pulled into the garage. Camm, Boney said, entered the garage and argued with his wife. Boney said he heard a popping sound, then heard a little boy yell “Daddy!,” then a second pop, then a third.***During closing arguments Tuesday, the prosecution and defense offered competing narratives to explain the murders.Prosecutor Todd Meyer told the jury that Camm had left the church gym during the second game of the night, quickly drove home when he knew Kim would be arriving with the children, then shot them before returning to play in the third basketball game.Defense attorney Stacy Uliana gave an impassioned explanation as to why the jury should believe it impossible for Camm to have slain his wife and children. Uliana argued that if Camm had wanted to kill his family, it would have made no sense to involve an 11-time convicted felon. The attorney pointed out that even if her client had plotted out the attack, he could not have known how many men would show up at the basketball gym and provide him an alibi.The jurors began their deliberations late Tuesday afternoon, deliberated all day Wednesday, then announced that they’d reached a verdict late Thursday morning. Once the decision was read aloud to the court, a handful of family members were allowed to see Camm directly afterward. Among them were his siblings Donnie Camm and Julie Blankenbaker, his uncle, Sam Lockhart, and father Don Camm.Nick Stein, a representative for Frank and Janice Renn, exited the courtroom first and spoke on behalf of the family.“They’d like to convey that what they lost, they lost 13 years ago,” Stein said.He said the Renns wanted to thank friends, family and the prosecution for their continued support.“And they want to thank the man upstairs, as Janice always says,” Stein added.Before the verdict came down, Janice Renn said no matter what the jury decided, she had already made her peace with God.Camm’s father told reporters he was thankful his son could live a free man again, and when asked what he was going to do next, he said he wanted a cup of coffee as he stood beside family in the brisk wind.Once his son was driven away from the courthouse under guard, he and other members of the Camm family retreated to a restaurant across the street. Someone called for a prayer. The gathering of nearly 20 people reached out and grabbed hands and cried together.“Amen and pass the potatoes,” someone said.Follow reporter Katie Mettler @kemettler.
(08/27/13 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students stared and whispered as the four white supremacist protestors marched through campus.“Racist, fascist, anti-gay, Trad Youth Network here to stay,” the protestors chanted loudly, walking quickly past Rose Well House and the statue of Herman B Wells, carrying black and white signs.All affiliated with the Traditionalist Youth Network, a national organization with a mission to encourage high school and college-aged students to band together under “tradition and tribe,” the four men stopped for a photo opportunity in front of Sample Gates. Only one of the protestors, Thomas Buhls, 30, is an IU student. He founded the IU chapter of TYN in July.While they posed with signs denouncing communism, zionism and modernity, the four protestors shouted back and forth with an angry IU graduate student who followed them from the center of campus all the way to their destination, Boxcar Books on Sixth Street.“They shouted some bullshit rhetoric, and I countered it,” said the angry graduate student, who wouldn’t give his name. “I hate all the violent oppressive bullshit they stand for.”As the men approached Boxcar Books, the graduate student retreated back to campus.But a swarm of nearly 50 counterprotestors picked up where he left off.“Go the fuck home!” one counterprotestor yelled as TYN protestors approached and stood on the sidewalk outside the business.“You ask us to go home?” one of the protestors said calmly. “Could we ask all the third world immigrants to go home?”It was just after 2 p.m., but those at Boxcar Books had been waiting several hours for the TYN protestors, who were “picketing Boxcar Books because of the store’s support for Leftist terrorists, communism and violent anarchists.”“Why don’t you do what your leader did and put a fucking gun in your mouth like the rest of the fucking Nazis,” another counterprotestor screamed.***Thomas Buhls is a racist, but he prefers not to discuss the semantics of the word.“I feel it’s kind of silly to argue about the definition of racist,” Buhls said before the protest yesterday. “I’ll tell you straight up, of course I am.”A former Marine, Buhls, 30, said he served three tours in Iraq over the course of nine years before coming to IU in the summer of 2011 to pursue a degree in communications and culture.“I’ve always thought of myself to be something of a white nationalist,” Buhls said. “I’ve always had that sentiment and that feeling.”He has been involved with the White Nationalist Movement, he said, and has been a longtime member of the Knights Party, an organization associated with the Ku Klux Klan.“That’s what brought me to the Traditionalist Youth Network because I see a lot of movements out there that have really strong opinions and a lot of active members, but their platform, it just doesn’t get them anywhere,” Buhls said. “That’s what the Traditionalist Youth Network has. Our platform, this is taking us places.”The national organization was founded by Matthew Heimbach, 22, a recent graduate of Towson University in Maryland, and Matthew Parrott, 31, a resident of Paoli, Ind., who dropped out of IU more than 10 years ago.Heimbach was president of the White Student Union at Towson before he graduated last spring. He and Parrott had interacted on social media and decided about three months ago to form TYN.They joined Buhls for the protest yesterday, Heimbach said, to show him that the national chapter supported his efforts at IU. There was one other protestor, John King, 45, of Jasper, Ind., but no other IU students.“I don’t like to talk about the numbers because it’s not about the numbers,” Buhls said.Buhls said his organization has more members than were present at the protest, but said they weren’t comfortable being publicly affiliated with TYN.Buhls and his fellow protestors spent Sunday night and Monday morning painting the bridge across from the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center and chalking across campus. He said this demonstration was an attempt to educate campus about the organization.Yesterday’s protest was not Buhls’ first. In April 2012, he was involved in a similiar protest that drew violent counterprotestors to his location outside the Monroe County Courthouse in downtown Bloomington. That time, though, he was alone.In 2011, Buhls was arrested after leaving copies of a KKK publication at a Martinsville appliance store, according to the Associated Press. But a Martinsville City Court judge later found Buhls not guilty on the basis that the law allows people to hand out material regardless of its content.In early August, Buhls was charged with violating the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct for posting Traditionalist Youth Network flyers in academic buildings covering windows, doors and the ground, according to a document from the Office of Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs that Buhls provided the IDS. The document says Buhls also chalked in prohibited areas.Jason Casares, associate dean of students and director of the office of student ethics, said he could not comment specifically on Buhls’ case, but said that generally his office does not censor student messages. Rather, he said, any citation from his office would be related to the method the message was delivered.“We’re looking more at what manner did you use to voice your opinion,” Casares said. “It’s not going to be about the speech, it’s going to be about you defacing the property.”***IU sophomores Jon Cohen and Lexie Heinemann had just come from Village Deli when they saw the protestors waving signs and heard them chanting.Holding hands, the two were standing in an alley beside Boxcar Books contemplating whether or not to go inside. Cohen needed to pick up a book for his anthropology class.“I don’t know if this is the best way to get your message across,” Cohen said. “I understand that everyone has the right to express themselves, and even though what they’re saying most of the people would disagree with it, but it can’t be a one-way street. If we have a right to live our lives they have a right, too, but it’s just like, seriously?”Heinemann said she felt confused, intrigued and even a little scared.“Look at these two guys,” Cohen said, pointed to Buhls and a counterprotestor, yelling only inches from each other’s faces. “These are two men yelling at each other. They’re fighting fire with fire.”After more than 30 minutes of protesting, the four TYN supporters left as counterprotestors sprayed them with a garden hose. Follow reporter Katie Mettler on Twitter at @kemettler.
(08/26/13 4:14am)
Progress has stalled in a civil negligence lawsuit that missing IU student Lauren Spierer’s parents filed against the three men who were with their daughter the night she disappeared more than two years ago. It has stalled pending a ruling on a dismissal motion the men filed in July and August.
(04/08/13 2:54am)
Long Long sat front and center in his American Country Music class.
(03/20/13 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>SOUTH BEND -- Patricia Kobalski was watching TV late Sunday afternoon when a plane dropped from the crisp March sky and plunged into her living room.The private jet, a Hawker Beechcraft 390, burst through a corner of the house and crashed to a stop just feet from her 6-year-old son Dominick, who was sitting at the kitchen table.“Mom!” he cried out.Kobalski had lived in the mauve colored one-story house at 1614 N. Iowa St. for more than 20 years. She said she was so accustomed to the regional airport next door, the drone of the planes coming and going, that she didn’t even notice the failing jet’s roaring engine as it plummeted toward her home.At about 4:25 p.m. Sunday, a small private jet carrying four passengers careened out of control, apparently due to mechanical failure. The crash killed two people and hospitalized three others.The Beechcraft skimmed the roof of a house two doors away and obliterated the back half of her next door neighbor’s home before coming to a halt in Kobalski’s front room. The only member of the family who used that room was Kobalski’s cat, Zuul – named after a demi-god in the movie Ghostbusters.The front of the house swirled with debris and insulation. Kobalski saw no plane, but smelled fuel. Dominick was already at the back door, ready to get out. Kobalski grabbed their coats and they ran into the backyard.“Patty, are you all right?” a neighbor shouted. "Patty! Are you alright?"Kobalski was in shock. She and Dominick evacuated with the rest of the neighborhood.On Tuesday afternoon, two days after the crash, a golden crane operated by firefighters and other workers retrieved the plane that still occupied what remained of Kobalski's living room, leaving behind a gaping hole.After the wreckage was removed, Kobalski returned to say goodbye to her home, which eventually will be demolished. Arms crossed and hood up, the burgundy-haired woman trudged down Iowa Street and asked firefighters to retrieve a few belongings that weren’t ruined by the jet fuel. She was also looking for Zuul, her cat, who had not been seen since the crash.* * *Removing the plane — a key step in the crash investigation — required hours of work in Tuesday’s 20-degree weather. Using a horizontal beam to secure the fuselage, and then the tail, operators slowly lifted the two large and fairly intact chunks onto a flat-bed semi truck. Assistant Fire Chief John Corthier said the plane snapped in two when it crashed Sunday, but on-site workers had to carefully sever wires and metal to detach the fuselage from the tail before placing it on the truck.Around noon the semi drove north on Iowa Street and headed toward the airport. The plane was dropped off at a hangar where National Transportation Safety Board investigators will reassemble the pieces to gather clues into what went wrong. The investigation, officials say, could take up to a year. One item, the plane’s black box, has already been recovered from the cockpit and shipped to Washington, D.C. where analysts will use it to reconstruct the jet’s final minutes in the air.When the Beechcraft crashed through the three homes, co-pilots Steven Davis, 60, and Wesley Caves, 58, were killed and the other two passengers, Jim Rodgers and Christopher Evans, were injured and transported to Memorial Hospital of South Bend. The plane is registered to 7700 Enterprises in Helena, Mont., and is owned by Caves. It took off from Tulsa, Okla.As of Tuesday afternoon, Rodgers remained in serious condition, hospital spokesperson Edgar Diaz said, and Evans was in fair condition.A third victim and Iowa Street resident, Diana McKeown, was sitting in the front room of her home when the plane demolished the back two-thirds. McKeown’s was the second home hit. Tuesday McKeown was in fair condition at Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Diaz said.Shortly after 4 p.m., the airport received a radio call from the pilot that the plane was experiencing mechanical complications and would be making an emergency landing. It attempted to land several times, and minutes later struck the neighborhood.First responders were already en route to the airport when they witnessed the plane crash. They were on the scene within minutes, Corthier said. At the same time an airport truck carrying fire-extinguishing foam arrived on site. A spark and fume mixture ignited what Corthier called a “flash fire” while rescuers were removing the surviving victims from the plane, but was immediately extinguished because the foam truck was pointed directly at the structure.“That probably saved a lot of lives,” he said.When the jet fuel leaked into Kobalski’s home, it created an explosion hazard that triggered first responders to evacuate neighborhood residents until noon Monday. Eight homes, the three hit by the plane and five others closest to the wreckage, remained empty until late Tuesday afternoon. Corthier said they wanted the area clear and accessible for firefighters and city workers to remove plane remnants Tuesday.The South Bend Police Department guarded each entrance to the site until the retrieval was complete, only allowing people with proof of residency to pass through.At about 2:30 p.m., the area was opened, except the three homes damaged in the crash. McKeown’s and Kobalski’s homes will be torn down due to structural damage. The first home struck, owned by Frank Sojka, sustained roof damage on the right side and will need to be evaluated by safety specialists before it can be inhabited again, Corthier said.As their neighbors slowly trickled back into their homes, the residents of the 1600 block of Iowa Street shouted across the street to one other. They phoned to exchange information and welcome each other home. But at least three of Iowa Street’s own won’t be moving back into their homes. Kobalski said she’ll probably never come back.“I don’t think I can,” she said, a catch in her throat, arms crossed, shaking her head.* * *Kobalski flashed her ID and moved past the barricade at the mouth of Iowa Street, her former home. She walked down the sidewalk and met her neighbor, Bruce Strnad, the first to see her and her son after the crash.They hugged and cried, Strnad said.Strnad was watching TV in his basement when he heard a “sonic boom.” Then his whole house shook. Strnad, 66, emerged and found a large metal wing in his driveway and his neighbor’s home in a heap of rubble. Insulation dusted the lawn.“The grass was gray,” he said. “It wasn’t even green.”He started toward Kobalski’s front door, but was called off by emergency personnel. He looped around back and found his friend in shock.He didn’t see her again until Tuesday morning. Kobalski returned to Iowa Street with her brother and niece to retrieve whatever was salvageable. She gave firefighters a list of her must-haves: childhood photos, keepsakes and important paperwork.Most of all, she hoped they could retrieve her mother’s cookie jar from the kitchen, a pudgy glass baker with a small white hat and red spoon.Corthier said they located the jar, but it was shattered. Kobalski’s brother, followed by three firefighters, emerged from Iowa Street with three boxes. Her mother’s cookie jar wasn’t included and Zuul was nowhere to be found.A sharp wind whipped the exhausted woman’s face, and for the last time Kobalski walked away, clutching to her chest the black metal address plate that was once connected to her home.
(02/20/13 5:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If Roxy didn’t pass the temperament test, she would die.At three years old, the ginger colored pit bull mix weighed 60 pounds and had too much energy. That’s why her owners returned her to the City of Bloomington Animal Shelter. They couldn’t handle her.It was late summer 2009, and the shelter was packed. It was a period when employees didn’t have the time or the resources to rehabilitate dogs like Roxy.Kennel staffer Emily Herr tried anyway.For the last 10 years, the shelter has worked to reduce the euthanasia rate, and its efforts worked. But every day they are still forced to make difficult decisions about which animals to spare and which to kill. In jeans and sneakers, Herr has spent her days caring for outcast animals in waiting. Her colorful tattoos peek out from her shirt sleeves as she checks them in and lets them go.When Herr thinks about tough decisions, she thinks back to Roxy.It was Herr’s second year on the job, and the then 26-year-old had already established herself as a softie. She favors the difficult cases, the animals that need saving. When Roxy’s owners said she was too aggressive, Herr knew the dog probably wouldn’t leave the shelter alive. Euthanasia was almost inevitable.So Herr took Roxy home.It was only temporary. Fostering the dog for a couple days might just buy the time Roxy needed to learn to be adoptable.For three days, Herr tried to train Roxy. Herr overfed her, a tactic called free feeding, and overloaded Roxy with toys — both attempts to desensitize the dog. The two played fetch with tennis balls, and Roxy romped outside with Herr’s three other dogs.At night, Roxy even slept in Herr’s bed.The dog made herself at home. Roxy had proved to Herr that she deserved to live, that someone would want to adopt her.They returned to the shelter for Roxy’s first temperament test, a series of trials that would determine whether the dog was well behaved enough for the adoption floor.Would she growl at food? Would she growl at strangers? Would she attack other dogs? Would she pose a danger to her new owners?Roxy had to prove herself.
(02/05/13 5:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU College Republicans and Democrats have found something worth reaching across the aisle for — student voting rights. House Bill 1311, authored by Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, would amend the Indiana Election Code by preventing out-of-state university students from voting in Indiana elections. And some IU students aren’t very happy about it. For the leaders of the IU republican and democratic student groups, this bill transcends party lines. “As a leader of a student group on campus, a resident of Monroe County and the president of College Republicans, I say this is not a partisan issue,” said Daniel Cheesman, IU College Republicans chairman. “This is a student issue. A student rights issue.” IU College Democrats President Aaron Dy said his organization heard about the bill through Indiana Young Democrats, the official youth caucus of the Indiana Democratic Party, which reaches out to people ages 18 to 35. Both democratic groups, along with College Democrats of Indiana, the statewide group for democratic university students, plan to attend HB 1311’s hearing during the House Committee on Elections and Apportionment meeting Wednesday. The meeting is at 3:30 p.m. in Room 156A in the Indiana Statehouse basement, 200 W. Washington St. #220, Indianapolis. Depending on the hearing outcome, Dy said his group and others plan to evaluate a course of action to stop the bill’s passage. “I think it’s important that the students make it known that we’re paying attention and that just because we’re students doesn’t mean you can infringe upon our rights without us paying attention,” Dy said. Cheesman echoed Dy’s concerns. He said he met Mayfield on the campaign trail several times last semester, and that IUCR endorsed her as a candidate. “I support her and I voted for her. I think she is going to represent our district very well,” he said. But when it comes to HB 1311, Cheesman said his group cannot support disenfranchising certain students. Both IUCD and IUCR work extensively to involve students in the democratic process. At the core of their efforts is registering students to vote. Both Dy and Cheesman said this amendment would make it even more difficult to get students engaged. “To us, we would see it as a student issue, because no out-of-state student, Democrat or Republican, would be allowed to vote,” Dy said. Cheesman said this gave both groups an opportunity to stand for something important to the student body as a whole, regardless of party affiliation. “Especially in these more partisan times, I think it would be great to come together, especially on a local issue,” Cheesman said. Mayfield was not available for comment.Alongside limiting voting rights to just university students paying in-state tuition, HB 1311 proposes other amendments to the Indiana Election Code concerning redistricting guidelines and electronic voting procedures. HB 1311 was introduced Jan. 14 and co-authored by Rep. Jim Baird, R-Greencastle.
(01/23/13 4:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Gov. Mike Pence has a favorite teacher, and it’s his wife, Karen Pence. Pence admitted his favoritism Tuesday night during his first State of the State address, where the importance of education leapt to the forefront of his 30-minute rhetorical game plan.With the Indiana House of Representatives packed to the brim with legislatures, special guests and onlookers, the newly inaugurated governor spoke of working “boldly” to tackle issues of job creation, lower taxes, workplace preparedness and impoverished children. “I come before you to proclaim that the state of our state is strong and growing stronger because we have good government and because we serve a great people,” he said. “If we will remain bold, confident and optimistic, I am positive we can lead our state from good to great.”Despite the blustery cold weather outside, Indiana legislators were warm and chatty inside congressional chambers as Pence began his address by patting his colleagues on the back for what he considered a job well done.“Hoosiers owe a debt of gratitude to all the leaders gathered in this room,” he said. “Because of your service in the recent past, our state has become the fiscal envy of the nation and a model from how good government works.”He touted Indiana’s balanced budget and AAA bond rating, drawing a stifled chuckle from the crowd when he pointed out that Indiana rated higher than even the federal government.But the complimentary tone transitioned into a sobering one when Pence began to outline the roadmap for Indiana that he so often spoke of on his campaign trail last fall.“We have to do better,” he said. “And doing better starts with the right priorities. It starts by adopting a road map that says “yes” to our future and believes in the unlimited potential of our people.”For Pence, “making job creation job one” is at the top of his priority list.He emphasized that because of Indiana’s fiscal responsibility in year’s past, the state’s budget now has the flexibility to “fund our priorities,” including increasing education funding, cutting income taxes by 10 percent across the board, investing nearly $347 million infrastructure projects and fully funding teacher pensions for the next two years.He continued, speaking on the importance of prioritizing our veterans’ well-being by investing more money in job training and certifying Veteran Service Officers and procuring 3 percent of state contracts from veteran-owned businesses.“Post-9/11 Hoosier veterans have an unemployment rate higher than the national average,” Pence said. “We have to do better. We owe these heroes nothing less.”Anticipating pushback from his partisan opponents, Pence reiterated his belief that Indiana can both maintain a balanced budget and fund its priorities.“Now, I know there are some who say we have to choose between letting the people of Indiana keep more of their hard-earned dollars and meeting the state’s priorities,” he said. “As our budget clearly shows, we can do both.“But Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, isn’t so sure the Republican party’s priorities are on par with his democratic constituents. Pierce said his biggest takeaway from the governor’s address was the proposal that income taxes can be cut and government aided programs will not suffer as a result.Pierce’s main concern: Pence’s proposed education funding increase — 1.5 percent — is much less than the 3.5 percent increase proposed by Commission on Higher Education Commissioner Teresa Lubbers in her State of Higher Education address Jan. 9. IU’s campus makes up Pierce’s district, so he said it’s obvious he is an advocate for more affordable higher education.“Students don’t have to spend a lot of time cheering me on,” he said. However, he said he recommended that students be in touch with both their own legislatures and their parents’ legislatures if education reform is something they hold dear.After the State of the State address, Pierce said he looks forward to working together in this legislative session, a concept Pence drove home toward the end of his speech.“Voters sent a pretty clear message that they want bipartisan representation, not gridlock,” Pierce said.House Democratic minority leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, said bipartisan efforts are his top priority.“Agreeing on the facts is sometimes the first step in finding a consensus,” Pelath said after the address.He said Democrats and Republicans may disagree on solutions for the problems, but acknowledging and identifying them is a productive first step.“One thing we all identify as a problem is that we have enough jobs in Indiana, we just don’t have enough applicants with the right skills to fill those positions,” Pelath said. “We can’t solve the unemployment problem, but we can cut into it.” Even with a Republican supermajority in the Indiana legislature, Pierce and Pelath didn’t seem phased by a potentially daunting partisan struggle.“Here in Indiana we at least want to accomplish the things we broadly agree on, and that’s where, hopefully, we can set an example,” Pelath said.
(01/10/13 4:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>INDIANAPOLIS – At the state’s first State of Higher Education address, Higher Education Commissioner Teresa Lubbers said she wanted Indiana collegiate students to leave with at least one message in tow: 15 to finish.The catchphrase, meant to remind students that taking at least 15 credit hours a semester is vital to graduating on time, wasn’t the only pointer Lubbers had for current and future students, but she said it was the most important.“If Indiana college students listening remember only one thing I’ve said this evening, it should be the following phrase: 15 to finish,” Lubbers said halfway through her 30-minute address.Lubbers’ State of Higher Education address was the first of its kind in Indiana and was at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Indiana Government Center in downtown Indianapolis. The Commissioner said such an address was only necessary next to the annual State of the State address from the Governor and State of Education address from the Superintendent of Public Instruction.“The timing of my remarks this evening is altogether fitting as higher education has become the common link between the aspirations of our young people and the economic prosperity of our state,” she said.She continued, emphasizing the important role students, educators, administrators and legislatures have in shaping higher education in Indiana.Two main statistics fueled Lubbers’ address — Indiana ranks 40th among the 50 states in the number of adults with education beyond high school and 41st in per capita personal income. Indiana’s Big Goal, according to a press release, is to increase the number of Hoosiers with higher education to 60 percent of the state’s population by 2025.The Commissioner outlined specific ways she and her commission plan to accomplish it.“It is not an overstatement to say that Indiana’s future — the kind of state we will be — has more to do with education than anything else,” Lubbers’ said in the beginning of her address.Speaking directly to her 300-person audience, Lubbers gave instructions and suggestions to her three main demographic groups: students, legislatures and the academic institutions themselves.Beyond the 15 to finish catchphrase, Lubbers encouraged students to limit their loans to no more than their expected annual starting salary after graduation. She challenged the Indiana General Assembly in the upcoming legislative session to support performance-based funding for colleges, stop cutting higher education funding and create financial aid incentive that rewards students for performing academically and graduating on time.To the collegiate institutions, the commission recommends a limitation of increases in tuition and fees at or below the rate of inflation, while also promoting college advising and financial aid policies to minimize outgoing student debt.At the address, the Commission on Higher Education released their new “Return on Investments” report. According to the report, three in 10 Hoosier students complete a four-year degree on time and less than one in 10 earns a two-year degree on time, which the report said could cost an Indiana student $50,000 or more in extra tuition, lost wages and related expenses.Following Lubbers’ address, a panel of four took the stage to discuss education through a broader lens, explaining its importance to business, the community and Indiana’s youth. Amos Brown, host and managing editor of Afternoons with Amos on WTLC-AM, moderated the discussion.The panelists were Indiana Chamber of Commerce President Kevin Brinegar, Indiana Youth Institute President Bill Stanczykiewicz, University of Indianapolis President Emeritus Beverley Pitts and House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis.In an effort to engage students in the Commissioner’s first State of Higher Education address, culinary students from Vincennes University were invited to prepare reception food and a quartet of students from IU’s Jacobs School of Music provided background music. Additionally, three Ball State University communication students live-tweeted the address. Katie Mettler
(01/09/13 4:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana has fought to uphold California’s Proposition 8 since 2010, defending California’s ability to define marriage as between a man and a woman. When the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to rule on the statute’s constitutionality on Dec. 7, Indiana and more than a dozen other states’ efforts proved fruitful in bringing states’ rights to the national stage.This spring, the Supreme Court will review Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage, alongside the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which denies legally married gay and lesbian couples the right to receive certain federal benefits. On Monday, the Supreme Court scheduled Prop. 8’s hearing for March 26 and DOMA’s for March 27 with hopes of an official ruling by June 2013.Although decisions in both cases will indefinitely affect Hoosiers, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has taken a particular interest in the future of Prop. 8, as it relates to states’ rights.“With all due respect to those who have called for a truce from conflict on social issues, this is a legal question of central importance in our nation that only the United States Supreme Court can evaluate and determine with finality,” Zoeller said in a December press release. “We contend the people of each state — either through their elected legislators or directly by referendum — should have the authority to define marriage within their state, and Indiana stands firm in its vigorous defense of each state’s legal authority to recognize the traditional definition of marriage as a significant state interest.”The statement came the same day the high court granted certiorari to the Prop. 8 case, Hollingsworth v. Perry.In 2010, Indiana co-authored an amicus brief, or a friend-of-the-court brief, supporting the push to appeal California’s 9th Circuit Court decision that struck down Prop. 8. In August 2012, Indiana co-authored another brief with Michigan and Virginia asking the Supreme Court to hear the case and defending its constitutionality. Twelve other states joined the brief. Now that the high court has decided to hear the case, Zoeller’s office announced the Attorney General and his Solicitor General, Thomas Fisher, are drafting two more friend-of-the-court briefs based on Indiana’s opinion of the merits of the Prop. 8 and DOMA cases, according to a press release.“There are two opportunities to file amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court. One is on the ‘cert petition’ stage, that is, when a request has been made that the Court consider hearing an appeal,” Zoeller spokesman Bryan Corbin said in an email. “The second opportunity to file a brief is in the “merits” stage – after the Court has agreed to accept a particular appeal, but before it has heard the oral argument on that case.”Zoeller’s office has not yet released what its merit-based arguments will contain, but Corbin said he anticipates the briefs will reach the Supreme Court by the end of January.In taking on these two cases, the Supreme Court has agreed to explore at least two major constitutional principles: states’ rights as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment and the Full-Faith and Credit Clause in the 14th Amendment. The high court’s rulings could alter Indiana’s current push to amend the state’s constitution, defining marriage as between one man and one woman and rejecting a legal status “identical or substantially similar” to that of marriage. That effort, House Joint Resolution 6, was authored by Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, and has already passed through Indiana’s House and Senate. If HJR 6 passes both chambers again in 2013’s legislative session, it will be put to a popular vote by referendum in 2014.If the Supreme Court upholds Prop. 8, which also involved amending the constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, then Indiana could preserve its ability to define marriage for itself, IU-Purdue University Indianapolis constitutional law professor David Orentlicher said. However, even if DOMA is overturned based on its presumed “discriminatory language,” which denies federal rights to some legally bound couples, it could still be hard to preserve states’ rights on the issue, Orentlicher said.He also said the chances of the high court upholding Prop. 8 and striking down DOMA are unlikely. “The states’ rights argument is indeterminate,” Orentlicher said.Even if the high court rules in favor of states’ rights, the possible elimination of DOMA could still undermine an individual state’s rights under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the 14th amendment.This hypothetical, though, is one the Attorney General’s office isn’t willing to comment on quite yet.“It would not be appropriate for us to react hypothetically in advance to a decision the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet issued,” Corbin said in an email. “The legal positions of Indiana and the other states will be set forth in the two amicus briefs that will be filed, and we will let those briefs speak for themselves.”Orentlicher said he believes the American people are more supportive of same-sex marriage than ever before, and it will be hard for the sitting Supreme Court justices to buck popular opinion.In terms of legalizing same-sex marriage, Orentlicher said he believes it’s a matter of when, not whether or not.“The argument against same-sex marriage is a difficult one to make. The more you view marriage as an institution between two people who want to make a long term commitment to each other, it’s harder to distinguish between same-sex and opposite-sex couples,” Orentlicher said. “I don’t think there’s any question that, at some point, the court will rule in favor of same-sex marriage.”
(10/30/12 5:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Until a television producer told them on the phone, Nancy and Steven Comiskey had no idea their daughter’s killer had been a free man for nearly a year and a half.Had the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office followed the correct procedure, the Comiskeys would have known of his release in July 2011. On Nov. 9, 2004, Bryan Gooldy, high on drugs, drove across the center line on North Walnut Street and struck IU alumna Kate Comiskey’s vehicle. She was killed in the head-on collision.It was 7:05 a.m., and Kate, a teacher at Indian Creek High School in Trafalgar, Ind., was on her way to work. A month after the accident, Steven submitted a victim notification form to the prosecutor’s office. He and Nancy were to be notified if Gooldy was released, but the county prosecutor’s office never filed the form with the state.“You become used to dealing with the grief and pushing it down inside, and then things like this just bring it right back up, right back up to the surface,” said Nancy, an IU journalism lecturer and former interim director of IU Student Media.Gooldy was sentenced to 20 years in prison, which was then doubled to 40 years under the state’s habitual offender statute. Before the accident, Gooldy had been convicted in other cases and had already served six years for a robbery charge.In March 2011, that sentence was reduced to 20 years. During the initial hearing, prosecutors cited the wrong statute. They should’ve cited the habitual drug offender statute, which adds eight years to a sentence rather than doubling it. To add back to Gooldy’s sentence, the Comiskeys would’ve had to take him to trial again.Because Indiana law allows inmates two days of credit for every one day served with good behavior, Gooldy would serve 10 years.Rather than risk an acquittal in the nearly seven-year-old case, the Comiskeys decided to accept the sentence reduction with the understanding that Gooldy’s sentence would not be reduced any further. They had been assured that he would be released in November 2014 at the earliest.In a letter written to the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office on Feb. 21, 2011, Nancy said the “lack of communication in the past six months is disturbing” and insisted their consistent hearing attendance and her 20 plus phone calls to the case’s lead prosecutor, Jeff Kehr, were sufficient evidence they wanted to remain informed on the case’s progress.“Our decision, of course, rests entirely on your securing a guilty plea on the B felony and the sentence of 10 real years in prison,” Nancy wrote. “We understand Gooldy would remain in prison until November 2014, and there is no chance of early release. If this is not correct, please notify us immediately.”Nobody ever did.Just four months after the sentencing adjustment and Nancy’s letter, Gooldy was released on July 29, 2011, to Parole District 5, which encompasses southeastern Indiana.Gooldy completed a variety of state programs to receive additional time off his sentence.He received 365 days for completing an associate’s degree in Bible studies, 183 days for completing the state’s PLUS “faith and character-based” program and 657 days for completing a bachelor’s degree in organizational management.This brought his release date to the earlier July 29, 2011, date.“The big problem here is that these education programs are basically get out of jail free cards,” Nancy said. “It’s just unbelievable to me that a man with 10 convictions who has killed somebody serves six and a half years of a 20-year sentence, let alone six and a half years of a 40-year sentence.” Nancy things the education programs are good, but they shouldn’t allow offenders to dock time off their already shortened sentences. The Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but Indiana Department of Corrections spokesperson Doug Garrison said the department was never informed of the Comiskeys’ request to be notified of Gooldy’s release.“When an offender is released by opportunity of law, there is no parole hearing,” Garrison said.However, he said the Comiskeys would have had the freedom to write to the prosecutor’s office on behalf of their daughter, but he wasn’t sure whether the law would have allowed their input to influence Gooldy’s release date. “If everything had been done as it should have been, we would have been notified 45 days before his release, and we could have at least written a letter to the commissioner, we could have written a letter to the parole board, we could have spoken up for our daughter, and that was just so hard for me to deal with in the first couple of days of this, just knowing that no one spoke up for her,” Nancy said. Nancy said she is unsure whether there are any legal repercussions for the actions of the prosecutor’s office but said she plans to file an official complaint with the state.“What happened was wrong,” Nancy said. “But nothing is going to bring our daughter back.”Prior to their discovery of Gooldy’s early release, Steven and Nancy had talked about the irony November 2014 would bring.“We had always thought, well isn’t this interesting that we will be marking the 10th anniversary of our daughter’s death at the same time this guy will be celebrating getting out of prison,” Nancy said. The Comiskeys have spent the last eight years keeping Kate’s memory alive.“There is not an hour of the day I don’t think of her,” she said. “She had just exceeded all our expectations. She was an amazing teacher, the funniest woman I have ever known. We adored her, and she adored us, and basically a big part of our lives ended that day. Our lives will never be the same. We’ll never ever be the same.”Kate loved animals, so each year for Christmas and their daughter’s birthday, the Comiskeys play with animals at the Humane Society and make a donation. They still have Kate’s dog, Lola.For Nancy and Steven, there really is no next step. “What’s next is we get up tomorrow morning and get through another day, that’s what’s next,” Nancy said. “That’s what’s next. That’s just the way it is, and we’ve had eight years to practice that, and we’ll have some more.”
(10/17/12 5:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The performances of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama garnered criticism from both sides in the first presidential debate two weeks ago.In Tuesday’s round two, both delivered. At Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., the debate took the form of a town hall meeting.Crowd members, undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization, asked the candidates questions about foreign and domestic issues.A handful of audience members had a chance to ask questions directly, which included such domestic topics as gun control, affordable education, unemployment among college students, tax credits, workplace inequality and gas prices. Participants touched on foreign issues including immigration, Libya, national security and job outsourcing.Audience members did not ask questions about several hot topics in this year’s election rhetoric, including the war in Afghanistan, health care, veterans, Medicare and Social Security.EducationObama: Although he began by referencing the importance of creating decent paying jobs for college graduates, Obama transitioned, saying he wanted everyone to have access to a quality education. He directly addressed the student who asked the question, saying, “I want to make student loans available for folks like you,” while also emphasizing the importance of investing in community colleges that are training people who are already in the workforce and want to go back to school. Romney: Addressing the college student who asked the question, Romney said he wanted to keep Federal Pell Grants growing and make college affordable with a loan program. He told the student, “I want you to be able to get a job,” saying he would change the current problem students face of acquiring more debt with less job availability because the middle class “has been crushed” in the last four years.Workplace InequalityObama: After an anecdote about his mother hitting the glass ceiling, Obama touted the first bill he signed in office, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. He called women’s struggle for equality “a family issue and a middle class issue.” The president said equal opportunity begins with easier access to decent education and pointed to the increase in Federal Pell Grants during his administration.Romney: The former governor told the audience his administration in Massachusetts had more women in senior leadership positions than in any other state. Romney said he learned through this that having females in higher positions requires employers to be more flexible to accommodate a woman’s lifestyle. He argued the best way to help women in the workplace is to create a stronger economy, and he said he plans to do just that.ImmigrationObama: Obama said America isn’t just a nation of immigrants, but also a “nation of laws,” saying the current immigration laws were part of a broken system that needed to be fixed. He said he wanted to make the path to citizenship easier and cheaper. Obama emphasized his constant commitment to the DREAM Act, a bill that would allow the children of illegal immigrants to gain U.S. citizenship through higher education or military service.Romney: Claiming America is “a nation of immigrants,” Romney said it’s important for the legal system already in place to work more efficiently, but he said he wouldn’t grant amnesty to immigrants who chose to come into the U.S. illegally. Romney did, however, announce his support for an employment verification system and a pathway for children who were brought to the U.S. illegally to become permanent residents, citing military service as one way to gain citizenship.Job outsourcingObama: Obama said he will close loopholes allowing companies to benefit from moving jobs offshore. He said the way to create jobs in America is to double exports and change the tax code so businesses investing overseas do not receive breaks. Obama said he will continue to be tough on China and in trade deals with all countries so American workers benefit the most.Romney: Romney said he would make it more attractive for American businesses of all sizes to keep jobs in America. To do this, he plans to lower tax rates for companies. The governor called out China for artificially keeping down the value of its currency and promised that on his first day in office, he will label China as a currency manipulator and will enact tariffs to make sure they play by the rules.
(10/15/12 4:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A knee-high wall of mustache-branded and Indiana-stamped campaign yard signs ran parallel to queuing Hoosier Democrats Friday morning.Lined along the red brick walls of Indianapolis’ North Central High School, more than 3,000 people converged for the Indiana Democratic Party’s Hoosier Common Sense rally, headlined by former President Bill Clinton.Supporters shivered in line for hours before the rally’s 10:30 a.m. start, gripping blue and white signs reading “Hoosiers Love Bill” with a red heart replacing the word “love.”Among the masses was a group of half a dozen IU students, several of them North Central alumni. They road tripped to a friend’s house Thursday night for what they called their “fall weekend,” spending the night in Indianapolis to ensure they could get in line early Friday morning to hear Clinton speak.It was cold but worth it, they said.“It’s great to see any politician speak, but especially in your high school gym,” North Central alumna and IU senior Emma Cudahy said. “Personally, I think this is what this state needs to get its blood going.”The students said Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention in September excited them, and they thought the momentum from Vice President Joe Biden’s performance at Thursday night’s debate carried into the rally.They agreed Biden made up for what President Barack Obama lacked in the first presidential debate Oct. 3.“It’s just relevant that (the debate) happened last night and this is today,” IU junior Bari Finkel said.As the students settled in on the lower level of bleachers, John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” played.They were ready for Bill.Before Clinton came onstage, several Indianapolis politicians and a couple candidates spoke, including Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial candidate State Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, and Rep. André Carson, D-7th District.Both emphasized the importance of using what they called Hoosier common sense in this year’s election and shutting down extremism. “We need to go out to common sense moderate Republicans and explain to them why elections matter and this one matters the most of all,” Simpson said to the rowdy crowd.After Simpson, Carson spoke about the importance of a final burst of energy in the last month before the election. In a surprise appearance, former Indiana governor and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., led Donnelly, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg and Clinton onstage.“Fortunately for us, nobody embodies this concept of Hoosier common sense more than our special guest today,” Bayh said of Clinton.As anticipation built, supporters stomped their feet and cheers echoed through the crowded gym.Bayh endorsed Gregg and spoke of the position’s importance.When Gregg took to the podium, he was all smiles behind his signature mustache.“We’re gonna win!” he shouted in his raspy voice. “It’s a great day to be a Hoosier.”Gregg spoke of bipartisanship and education. As he introduced Donnelly, the last speaker before Clinton, he said he wanted to make history with the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.“Now, the Lord didn’t bless him with a good looking mustache,” Gregg said. “But you know, even though it’s been 1908 since we elected a governor with a mustache, its been a long time since we elected a Democratic governor and United States senator at the same time.”The crowd grew restless as Donnelly took the microphone.Donnelly explained to the crowd why their much-anticipated guest was in Indiana.The U.S. Senate candidate received a call on his cell phone from an unknown number, and the operator on the other line told him President Clinton wanted to speak with him.Donnelly thought it was a joke.“And the next thing I hear is the voice of God,” Donnelly delivered to a roaring crowd. “He said to me, ‘Joe, you are gonna win this race for the people of the state of Indiana. Would you mind if I came out and wanted to help a little bit.’”Donnelly had no problem accepting his offer.As Clinton approached it the crowd erupted.“I almost feel entitled to sing ‘Back Home Again in Indiana,’” Clinton joked.In 2008, Clinton frequently campaigned for his wife in Indiana, then-presidential hopeful and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.This time, he spoke to the crowd with a different purpose.His 37-minute speech focused on the importance of bipartisanship in government.“When you know you have more yesterdays than tomorrows, it sort of simplifies and clarifies life, and I think about all that matters is whether people are better off when you quit than when you started, whether children have a brighter future and whether things are coming together or being torn apart,” Clinton said. “The rest of it’s all background music.”Clinton criticized what he called the “my way or the highway” attitude of the Republican candidates, specifically calling out Gregg and Donnelly’s opponents, gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mike Pence, R-6th District, and U.S. Senate candidate Republican State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, respectively.Clinton discussed health care, education and the economy.He placed special emphasis on the U.S. Senate race, referencing Mourdock’s calls for less compromise in Washington, D.C.“I loved everything about Indiana’s role in the Senate when you had Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar,” Clinton said.Later, he mentioned Lugar again.“I thought he at least might have acknowledged that Dick Lugar made this country a safer and stronger place,” Clinton said, referencing Mourdock.Clinton said when interests of the country were on the line, officials worked together.“That’s my deal,” Clinton said. “Constructive cooperative works better than constant conflict. If you apply Hoosier common sense to this election, you will elect John Gregg governor, and you will elect Joe Donnelly to the United States Senate.”
(10/01/12 4:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Former Bloomington City Council President Charlotte Zietlow nabbed a faux mustache from the campaign paraphernalia table and tucked it behind the band on her army green fedora. Nestled beside an Obama for America pin, it flopped along as she walked from table to table at Nick’s English Hut Friday night. She was there to support Democratic gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial candidates John Gregg and Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington. “People are here to see their friends ... and see who’s not here,” she said with a chuckle as she moved to socialize at the bar. More than 100 people ventured to the Hoosier Room for a meet and greet and fundraising evening with Gregg and Simpson. Students and community members mingled with candidates, sharing drinks, stories and strategies to defeat Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., on Election Day. Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan introduced the duo. “I know it’s Friday, and I know it’s Bloomington,” Gregg said to supporters. “I’m sure you’ve all got parties to get to.”“This is the party,” one audience member shouted. Gregg graduated from IU in 1976 with degrees in political science and history. The first time Gregg came to Nick’s was in the early ’70s.“It is a great place,” he said. Before joining his supporters in the Hoosier Room, Gregg said he stopped by campaign headquarters in Bloomington, where a group of about 20 students spoke with him about job markets and the affordability of college. More students standing on Kirkwood Avenue echoed the same concerns. Gregg and Simpson addressed both issues Friday night. Simpson emphasized the importance of electing a governor who supports higher education. She said higher education funding is being cut by $150 million a year, adding that Pence voted against Pell Grants six times. “Education should be about K-16, not just K-12,” Simpson said. The governor also appoints boards of trustees at public universities like IU, and Simpson said those appointments matter. “Students need to make sure those appointees are supporters of public education, which isn’t the trend now,” she said. Gregg echoed Simpson’s stance and said he is the only gubernatorial candidate that has a background in education. He served as interim president of Vincennes University from 2003 to 2004. Gregg spoke of the economy and jobs. “Jobs are first, second and third,” he said, “We can do this if we quit fussing about the Girl Scouts and the license plates.” IU senior Joel Ahearn attended the meet and greet with his roommate. Both donated money to the campaign. Over glass jars of Upland Wheat, the two talked about the upcoming election.Ahearn said for him, the election will come down to college affordability, and that’s why he supports Gregg and Simpson. “I work 40 hours a week,” he said. “I need my financial aid.” Ahearn said he comes from a low-income household, so his loans and grants have helped him keep college affordable. “I know it’s an issue,” he said. “Congress is trying to increase interest.”The roommates said issues of gay rights and health care will influence their vote, too. Simpson supports equal marriage for same-sex couples. Gregg does not. The lieutenant governor candidate made light of their conflicting ideologies. “We don’t always agree on everything, but we’re getting better at it,” Simpson said as she playfully put her arm around Gregg. “I’m bringing him over to my side.” Applause erupted throughout the room. “Welcome to Bloomington,” Kruzan said.
(09/26/12 3:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Convicted murderer Robert E. Lee will no longer reside in Monroe County, an Indiana Department of Correction official said. Instead, Lee is currently in Jennings County.Lee was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1986 murder of Ellen Marks, but was released early for good behavior and for receiving multiple college degrees.Lee was released from the Branchville Correctional Facility on Saturday and taken to the Monroe County parole office where his GPS monitoring device was activated. He was then transported to an undisclosed location in Bloomington where he intended to reside.But DOC Media Liaison Amy Lanum said this fell through, and he is no longer staying at that location.“Due to the large public attention, they decided they no longer wanted him to stay there,” she said.Because of the violent nature of Lee’s crime, officials had a difficult time finding a place for the man to stay in Monroe County. Early this week, Lee was taken to the Jennings County parole office, where Lanum said he now plans to reside.Jennings County is two counties east of Monroe County. According to Google Maps, it is an hour and 15 minutes from Monroe County.The DOC would not release Lee’s specific location, but Lanum said the man has 72 hours after his release to disclose his place of residence and register with the Sheriff’s Department.Once he registers, Lee’s location will be available on the Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry.Indiana law did not require individuals to register on the Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry at the time of Lee’s conviction, said Indiana Parole Board Vice Chairman Randall Gentry. Although Indiana law does not require Lee’s registration, Gentry said his registration is a stipulation of his parole.