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(04/29/11 2:45am)
Sexual assault is the most underreported crime in America. Still, more than 700 people have reported cases to Bloomington and IU police in the past 10 years. Their experiences reveal an important truth about sexual assault: The places where we feel safe pose the greatest risk.
(04/11/11 11:27pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The conversations always start the same. “So, what are you doing after graduation?” I’ve been asked by family, friends, old high school acquaintances I mistakenly friended on Facebook and never deleted. Even my dentist broached the subject over winter break. As she slowly reclined my chair, and I gazed into the light, I thought about how I would answer The Question. “Well,” I said as she poked and prodded around my mouth. “I’m going to Virginia for an internship.” “Oh,” she said, clearly unimpressed, “and then what?” Silence.She talked about her son, a high school classmate of mine well on his way to becoming a doctor, and another friend who had spent his summer in the White House. I felt like a failure. All I could manage to say was, “I don’t know.” The job search is daunting. Broaching the subject results in heavy sighs and visible anxiety. One college student compared it to asking a 45-year-old woman when she’s ever going to get married. The hunt for employment shouldn’t be this taboo. Let’s look at the facts. The recession is still hurting employers, and the unemployment rate continues to hover at a shockingly high level, 8.9 percent, as of February. But to understand what that means for us, we have to look beyond this single statistic. Dig deeper into the data and you’ll find that candidates with bachelor’s degrees are least affected by the recession. These job hunters comprise only 4.3 percent of the current unemployed population. And while this number changes from month to month, the percentage of unemployed college graduates is generally decreasing. These numbers should encourage us, not bring us down. Yes, getting your dream job right out of college might be impossible; but getting a job, one that pays the bills, isn’t. Here’s the truth: There are jobs out there. In fact, we can even be a little picky about the jobs we take. But in order to reach this state of job nirvana, in order to move past the awkward dentist chair conversations, we need to stop panicking and start prioritizing. While blemish-free resumes and eye-catching cover letters matter, a successful job search hinges on something more important: an honest assessment of our values. Does location matter? Do you need to start work immediately, or can you afford to hunt? These are both questions an advisor at the Career Development Center asked me when I stopped in during walk-in advising hours. Sitting at the CDC, I found myself debating more than a job. I was thinking about where I wanted to start my life and what that life might look like. Was I ready to move to a state where I had no friends or family? Would I be content? Unfortunately, they don’t make comforting, pastel-colored handouts to answer these big questions. This deep introspection only bubbles to the surface after several glasses of wine and, perhaps, a panic attack. When I searched for a post-grad internship this fall, I sent out 11 applications. I told family and friends I was willing to work anywhere, for any pay, at any company. I just wanted to get my foot in the door. But when it came time to seriously evaluate my offers (and rejections), I found myself struggling to decide which criteria mattered most. I decided on this formula: I can work for a company I hate in a city I love, or I can work for a company I love in a city I hate. One way or another, I needed to find some joy. The combination of factors is different for everyone, and anyone who says they have it all figured out, well, they’re wrong. Even the people with the seemingly perfect post-grad plans get overwhelmed and confused. My roommate, a business student, went through a completely different process. She interned for a large firm after her junior year and, upon completing her summer, was offered a job for after graduation. At first I was jealous of her security. She would be able to go through her entire senior year without the stress of finding work. But the more time passed, the more I began to see her worry. She’d ask, what if I don’t like my job? What if I don’t like the city? What if it’s not the right fit? It’s time for us to dismantle the unemployment myth. In the process, we’ll need to make some sacrifices. Those of us wanting a job immediately after graduation might have to give up location and salary criteria for expediency. Others who value location might need to come to terms with a longer jobsearch timeline. Either way, we will find work. We’ll even find happiness.
(02/24/11 5:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last March, former student Hai “Howie” Yu was charged with raping a female student and dragging her half-naked body out of the Foster Residence Center. On Wednesday, the rape charges were dropped and he pleaded guilty to reduced charges of sexual battery and criminal confinement.After the plea agreement was announced in court, deputy prosecutor Rebecca Veidlinger told the judge that the victim, who appeared in court, had been consulted about the new charges and supported the resolution.“Thank you,” Monroe Circuit Judge Teresa Harper said. “I would have had serious concerns and misgivings about this agreement had I not been aware that the victim in this case feels that this is an appropriate decision.”Since his arrest, Yu has lived under house arrest in Bloomington. On Wednesday, he arrived at the Justice Building — holding the door open for an elderly woman on the way in — and sat quietly in the hallway, head hung.During questioning from his attorney and Veidlinger, Yu was never directly questioned about intercourse. However, he confirmed he had touched and kissed the victim. He also said he knew she was highly intoxicated that night. “Would you agree that her level of intoxication rendered her mentally disabled or deficient?” Veidlinger asked Yu.“Yes,” he said.“And that mental disability or deficiency prevented her from being able to consent to that touching?” Veidlinger asked.“Yes.”Yu’s case was scheduled for a jury trial starting March 7. Witnesses who saw Yu and the victim at various points throughout the evening of March 11, shed light on what happened through police reports and interviews with the Indiana Daily Student.The night started with a party and ended with a woman in the hospital and possible sexual assault changes. IU Student Association election results had been counted that day, and the numbers were official by the evening: iUnity, the party Yu was affiliated with as the 2009-10 Foster Residence Center representative to the IUSA Congress, won. Many of the campaign’s members, including Yu and the victim, were celebrating the victory at Phi Gamma Delta.iUnity members said they didn’t notice anything unusual about Yu or the victim that night. Few knew him personally and one member said he had never met Yu before. Junior Farihah Hossain said she saw the victim drinking, but noted that she was with friends and nothing seemed wrong. However, police said security videos captured Yu dragging the woman across the deck of the fraternity toward the parking lot.By the end of the night, a sober driver told police the victim was leaning against Yu, her knees buckling as they waited for a ride. The driver told police he questioned Yu about the woman’s identity and where she lived. Yu told the driver she lived in a sorority, but to take them both to Foster so he would be able to take care of her. During the trip back, the woman sat limp and silent in the car. “The sorority was not the best place for her now,” Yu allegedly told the driver.Police said they also checked surveillance cameras from Foster. According to a report, video footage showed Yu dragging a fully clothed woman who was “not moving under her own power” toward the west door of Foster-Magee. About an hour later, the security camera captured Yu dragging the woman out of the same door. This time, police said, she was naked from the waist down.Junior Mackenzie Kelley told the IDS she was getting a ride home from a party with several other girls when she saw Yu drag the woman toward a dumpster. The woman was unconscious, she said, and missing pants.“Do you need help?” Kelley remembered yelling to Yu from the car window.“No,” he said. “It’s OK. I’ve got it.”After getting out of the car to try and help the woman, Kelley told Yu they needed to call the police. IUPD officers who responded to the call took the victim to Bloomington Hospital, where she was treated for bruises and a spleen injury.The next morning, police questioned and arrested Yu at the Indianapolis International Airport. The Long Island native was getting ready to board a flight back to New York for spring break. While investigators originally feared he was fleeing, Yu later explained he had purchased the ticket a month in advance.After his arrest, IUSA removed Yu from Congress, IU officials announced he was no longer a student, and he was placed under house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor.Yu is scheduled to be sentenced March 24.
(02/21/11 6:43pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>We’re hustled near the arboretum, chased down near the steps of Ballantine, and aggressively stalked with clipboards near the Sample Gates. “Sign a petition,” we’re begged. “You don’t have to give any money.” So we sign and walk away feeling good (albeit slightly violated by their persistence) that we declared our commitment to the cause of the day. Few petitions circulated around campus get enough signatures to reach their final destination: a small check box on OneStart’s “optional service fees” page during class registration. As a result, we rarely have to decide whether or not we want to cough up $5 for the cause we proudly signed our name in support of.And who can blame us for holding onto our money? We scrimp and save and take out loans for ever-increasing tuition. Then we’re faced with $451.75 in mandatory student fees that go to activities, the Health Center, transportation, and technology. So when it comes to volunteering our hard-earned dough for “optional service fees,” it’s easy to just say no. In fact, it’s difficult to think of a reason to say yes.But it wasn’t always easy to look the other way. Before the 2005-2006 school year, students had to select “yes” or “no” for every optional fee. When registration technology changed, so did the yes/no option. The default choice became no, and students had to check a box only if they wanted to pay for an optional fee. Sarah Robinson, IUSA director of women’s affairs, organizes the optional Sexual Assault Prevention Fund (formerly the Rape Crisis Fund). She says the fund prospered before the system change.After the technology changed, the fate of optional fees wasn’t hard to predict. As former Dean of Students Richard McKaig warned the Indiana Daily Student in 2005, “We’re making it too easy to ignore the check-offs.” As predicted, donations to the Sexual Assault Prevention Fund plummeted. The fund steadily declined ever since.Today, getting a cause on the optional fees page is about more than raising money. Optional fees require student involvement (gathering 10,000 signatures and, once on the list, allocating the money). They ask that students make an investment in the future of the University.For the past two or three years, student groups have rallied to collect enough signatures to get a sustainability fund on the menu of optional fees, says Jacob Bower-Bir, logistics chair of the Student Sustainability Council. Every time, their efforts failed. This fall, however, a group of 19 student organizations on campus came together under the Student Sustainability Council to achieve this goal. Starting next fall, students will have the option to donate $5 toward campus sustainability initiatives.Just getting the signatures is a milestone, Bower-Bir says, but it’s only a small part of the recipe for a fund’s success. Students not only need to donate, but they need to get involved in the process of spending the funds. “You’re not buying absolution,” Bower-Bir says. “You’re buying responsibility.”It’s easy to donate $5 to a cause and then relax knowing that someone else will solve the problem. But that’s not what a student fund is about, Bower-Bir says.Students propose and organize student funds. If students think the University needs solar panels, that’s where the money will go.While a quarter of the student population backed the petition to add sustainability to the optional fees list, Bower-Bir knows that even the best funds can quickly lose momentum.Need proof? The $3 sexual assault prevention fund once collected $27,500 a year. The technology change, coupled with a lack of awareness, caused the balance to drop to $12,041 by 2011.In the end, it’s up to us, the tired, cash-strapped, stressed-out students in the process of signing up for classes. We have to take the time to check a box.The $3 or $5 we give to a fund might not manifest in something as tangible as a yearbook or gym locker. But what we get in return, Bower-Bir argues, is much greater. “The $5 investment will pay way more than $5 in dividends.”So what do we get for our money? We get the satisfaction of knowing our friends are learning how to prevent sexual assault. We get the satisfaction of knowing that our campus will be a better place for the next generation of students. And we get the satisfaction of knowing we invested in the future of our University.
(11/15/10 4:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a 19-year-old IU student reported being raped near McNutt Quad earlier this month, campus began to buzz. Instructors brought up the case in classes, cautioning students to be safe. Thirty-five people posted comments on the Indiana Daily Student article about the crime, a story that amassed more than 4,000 views online.It’s easy to get angry when a stranger dressed in black — and allegedly wielding a knife — attacks a teenage girl during her evening run. The story deserves outrage, but it’s not the only one. What about the other reports, such as the two IU students who told police they were raped — one in a car on the east side of town and another at the intersection of Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street — on Oct. 2?What about the majority of victims whose stories never make it into press releases or newspapers because they chose not to report?The sexual assault cases that become public knowledge represent only a tiny fraction of the victims living, working and studying in Bloomington. In early October, the University released the newest set of statistics about sexual assault on campus. Because of a change in the way information was collected, the number is more than four times greater than that of the previous year. Even with the spike, however, University administrators said the numbers still don’t reflect the problem.Numbers can’t capture the magnitude of sexual assault on campus. It’s a crime that is underreported and stigmatized — a lethal combination. “I never thought it would happen to me,” a survivor explained at Take Back the Night, an annual event to combat sexual assault that took place in early October.People who work with sexual assault survivors know that days such as Oct. 2 are not the exception, but the norm. On-scene advocates at Middle Way House said it’s not uncommon to make trips to the Bloomington Hospital twice in one night. University administrators said they sometimes receive e-mails about sexual assault after weekends with heavy drinking such as Little 500 and Halloween, as well as after football games.Sexual assault happens on Sunday afternoons, Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings. It happens with ex-boyfriends, strangers and friends. It happens in dorms, greek houses and off-campus apartments. And most of the time, it lives in silence.***Each year, IU compiles information for the Clery Report, a federally mandated campus crime report started 20 years ago after a Lehigh University freshman was raped and murdered in her dorm.In 2009, the report explains, 35 students were victims of sexual assault.Justin Brown, assistant to the dean of students, is one of the administrators responsible for determining which reports make the cut into Clery. Brown said the spike in reports was because of more meticulous reporting on behalf of the campus community. For almost a year and a half, a sexual assault prevention team has been meeting to talk about the problem. The Clery Report, Brown said, was one part of that discussion. This increased communication made it easier for the IU Health Center to contribute information to the annual report.But “extraordinary and diligent” reporting from the University can only make the report slightly more accurate.Brown said some reports contain only partial accounts of a crime. When alcohol is involved, fragmented reports become even more common.“If we don’t know where it happened, we can’t put it in,” Brown said, adding that this kind of reporting happens regularly.Because Clery was designed to keep tabs on campus crime, most reports made from off-campus locations will never make it into the report, said former IU Police Department Police Chief Jerry Minger. A woman raped by an unknown assailant at a party on 15th Street in 2000 was not included in Clery. Neither was the woman whose ex-boyfriend raped her on North Clark Street in 2001 or the two victims passed out and assaulted in apartments on North Walnut and Hunter streets in 2006 and 2007.Similarly, Minger said, the two students assaulted Oct. 2 will not be part of the 2010 Clery Report.These off-campus crimes, Minger said, are compiled in a different report, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.Even if all of the known cases were compiled into one document, however, it still wouldn’t accurately reflect the problem. Ask advocates, and they’ll say that the real problem isn’t holes in a law, but rather a culture that doesn’t support victims bringing their experiences to the surface.***The numbers deceive. As Middle Way House Crisis Intervention Services Coordinator Tina Cornetta explained, when we focus exclusively on the numbers, we forget about the needs of the individuals.Cornetta said after the two reported assaults on Oct. 2, friends expected her to be surprised.“As sad as it makes me to say, it didn’t surprise me,” Cornetta said. “I don’t think it’s unusual for there to be more than one sexual assault in a day. Certainly it’s appalling and deserves outrage, but for me, it’s no longer shocking.”Listen to survivors, and reporting complications become clear.A recent graduate told the IDS she didn’t call the police or go to the hospital after her ex-boyfriend raped her in a motel room freshman year. “I could shame him publicly, but that wouldn’t do any good,” she said. “I just didn’t want him in my life, so I didn’t think about it.”Another survivor, a recent transfer to IU, said a guy she was casually dating sexually assaulted her. She was a freshman at the Art Institute of Chicago at the time and didn’t realize what had happened until she started having vivid nightmares of the evening.By then, a month had passed. She didn’t go to the hospital. She didn’t tell the police. She didn’t tell her family.“Mainly it was just shock,” she said about her decision not to report. “There wasn’t a whole lot that could be done. If I’d done something a month later, I would have been making trouble. And who would believe me after a month?”Her story does not include an anonymous assailant dressed in black or a poorly lit street. It does not fit the stereotypical narrative of a sexual assault. It doesn’t need to. The University, police department and Middle Way House share the same message: “We believe you.”
(10/12/10 6:18am)
It’s time to break out the tissue box. We asked you to tell us about the first time you called Bloomington “home.” Some of you didn’t remember. Some of you said you’d never called it home. But most of our respondents had at least a vague recollection of the time they let the word “home” slip in regard to their campus house, apartment, or dorm. If you made your mom sob, take comfort in knowing that you weren’t alone.
(10/12/10 6:17am)
Turn off your iPod. Take out your earbuds. Listen. The sounds of home are more addictive than any Lady GaGa song.
(10/12/10 6:14am)
Forget that “new car” smell. Inside asked readers to list the scents that reminded them of home. We think some ambitious Kelley School of Business students could get rich making “grilled fajitas” or “Dad’s cologne” air fresheners in the shape of a house.
(10/12/10 6:13am)
A house might have four walls, but the sights of home are a little less defined. Here are some hairstyles, landmarks, and objects that remind us of home.
(10/12/10 6:12am)
Home. It’s where our family gathers at Thanksgiving and where the B bus drops us after class. It can be a dwelling, a city, a network of friends, or a place where we spend a lot of time.
(06/10/10 4:07pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last year was Pete Goldsmith’s first as IU’s Dean of Students. The alumnus tells us about his own days as a Hoosier, how he copes with student deaths, and why he wants to dine with the Queen of England. On what exactly “Hoosier” means to him:Goldsmith Well, the story I’ve heard most often is that back in pioneer days, folks would yell out of the wagon when they heard voices, “Who’s here?” It got mashed into “Hoosier.” But I’m open to other interpretations.On dealing with student deaths:Goldsmith It’s always an extremely sad thing. I don’t ever claim to be able to know particularly how parents feel, but as long as I’ve done this, I just can’t imagine. You just try to provide as much support as you can.On the biggest challenges he faced as a student at IU:Goldsmith I think for me it was the fear of failure. My family was living in Maryland, so I came out here knowing nobody. It was kind of figuring out how to navigate in this place and manage in this place, and really just not wanting to fail. I had been a relatively good high school student, not a 4.0 student by any stretch, but trying to think about how I could be successful here.On what it was like being in ROTC as a student:Goldsmith In the late ’60s, it was very interesting. For me, it was particularly challenging because I was also a government major interested in developing countries. In my classes, I was reading lots of things that were highly critical of the Vietnam War and of foreign policy and kind of our ways of thinking of the world. In ROTC, I was hearing about the dangers of communism and the dangers of the so-called “domino theory” that if Vietnam fell, the rest of Southeast Asia would fall. So it was really quite a contrast, and I was trying to resolve all of that in my head.On his hobbies:Goldsmith My grandson and I love model trains. He and I love to do that when we have a chance. Then I have this car, a VW Thing that I like to tinker with and drive around. It was orange, but now it’s Indiana red. When I was here interviewing, I was asked how I would be known quickly on the campus, and my answer was the car.On what three people he would like to have dinner with:Goldsmith I would like to have dinner with Barack Obama because I think he’s really amazing in terms of his energy and vision and calmness. I mean, think about what he’s done in the last few weeks with health care, and yet he seems really focused and not overly exercised. I think also Nelson Mandela. He has this vision for what a better South Africa could be and what a better world could be. And I would love to have dinner with the Queen of England. My wife and I both enjoy British history and culture, and I think it would be fascinating to see the world through her eyes.
(06/09/10 3:38pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>You’re finally here. You made it through four tedious years of high school, the anxiety-packed college admission process, and the mind game that is the FAFSA. Time to take a break for the next four years, right? Absolutely not!The final sprint to freshman year is exhausting. I remember it well. But I can tell you, without a doubt, that the next four (to six) years of your life will be the greatest, most exhausting, of your twenty-something career.It’s difficult to give general advice about “college” because, as you will quickly find out, your time here is about much, much more than classes. But if I could give you one piece of advice, it would be this: Figure out what you want to do, and do it now. Don’t wait four years.College is a time to take risks (hopefully calculated, well planned ones). At no other point in your life will you have the time, resources, and guidance to start a business, film a movie, or make a magazine. This is a lesson I didn’t learn for years. College is not a time to plan and prepare for your professional career; it’s the beginning of it. I’m not saying you can’t have fun, because you will. Learn to rock climb or ballroom dance. Train for Little 500 or take a dip in Showalter Fountain. Just don’t leave your college bucket list for your last semester. Start crossing things off during Welcome Week. I’ve soaked in an opera at the Musical Arts Center, puzzled over student art at the SoFA gallery, and cheered on the Hoosiers at soccer, football, and basketball games. Pursue your interests in major and non-major classes. The seemingly random classes I’ve taken (yoga, an English class on Jane Austen, and public speaking, to name a few) have pushed me to re-examine my interests. With so many general education requirements, there’s no reason to take boring classes. Find subjects that interest you and learn about them in new ways.Take the time to meet new people. Go outside of your circle of friends, whether those are high school buddies, floormates, or class companions. Get out of the business school, the music school, and (in my case) the journalism school. Indiana University is a big place and you’ll want to find a spot to call your own. But don’t forget about all of the opportunities around you. Your four years here will fly by. Mine certainly have. So take a few hours to relax (after all, you’ve worked hard to get here). Then get off Facebook and get going.
(04/15/10 12:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A handwritten sign met Willkie Quad residents as they waited at lobby elevators Tuesday night, several hours after a student was discovered dead in the North tower. “3RD FLOOR RESIDENTS, PLEASE COME TO THE FRONT DESK.” The approximately 35 students living on the third floor of the north tower could go up to their rooms — for only a few minutes — and grab essentials. They wouldn’t be sleeping in their beds that night. But no one wanted to stick around.Willkie residence manager Doug Yeskie said most students chose to spend the night with friends, but the staff provided housing on other floors for students who couldn’t find a place to stay. Fewer than 10 people took the staff up on the offer.Residents were allowed to return to their rooms Wednesday night.***Around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, sophomore Andrea Zambrano walked toward the elevators with a friend. The doors creaked open and eight people crowded in. When the doors parted at the third floor, the two walked into an overpowering odor.“It smells like they hard-core cleaned,” Zambrano said, covering her nose with her hand as she turned left and walked down the third floor hall. The environmental operations staff thoroughly cleaned the floor before residents could return.Zambrano stopped at her room, almost at the end of the hall, and swiped her key card to get in. “I honestly thought it was food,” she said of the smell that floated through the floor for the last week.Residents never worried about the smell — it’s just someone’s refrigerator or a messy neighbor or a smelly tree outside. No one thought the odor was the sign of a problem.Zambrano flicked on the light in her room.“I don’t know how much to take,” she said.“Just take enough for tomorrow and tonight,” her friend said.Zambrano tossed a yellow tote bag on her bed and started pulling clothes out of her closet. “I just don’t want to live here anymore,” she said. “I guess I’m just freaked out.”***When Zambrano came back to Willkie around 4 p.m. Tuesday, she said didn’t know what was going on. She knew someone had died, but she didn’t know it was on her floor, down the hall. Many Willkie residents said they never received an e-mail from Willkie staff or Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith with information about the death or their safety. However, at 1:16 p.m Wednesday, the Willkie Residence Center Facebook group sent out a message to its 183 members, encouraging students to contact Counseling and Psychological Services if they needed to talk. Goldsmith said he was still figuring out how and what to communicate to students. Residential Program Services Executive Director Patrick Connor explained that communicating how to receive emotional support was his top concern.***Zambrano said she doesn’t know what Gregory Willoughby looked like, but that’s not unusual for students living in Willkie. Most residents live in single suites — two individual bedrooms connected by a shared bathroom — and many students aren’t friends with their suitemate. There are no Resident Assistants to make rounds, no propped-open doors and no floor-bonding activities. Students live in relative anonymity. “People choose to live here,” Zambrano said, grabbing a pair of gray shoes out of her closet and throwing them on the bed. “If you want a more social setting, you can go somewhere else.”The quiet drew Zambrano, who lived in McNutt Quad freshman year, to the residence hall. Now the thought of living in a single makes her anxious. She’s alone. Zambrano said she wonders if some simple gesture could have helped Willoughby.“You wish you could have made a difference,” she said. “Maybe saying ‘hi’ would have helped. But you never know what the reason was. It’s just shocking.”***Two Willkie employees walked through the hall, stopping at Zambrano’s open door. “We really need to be heading out now,” one said. “I’m going to come back around and check.”Zambrano grabbed books and shoved them in her bag.“Oh, my phone charger!” she said, grabbing some cords.“Your toothbrush and hair stuff,” her friend replied, sending Zambrano lunging into the bathroom.She picked up her bags and walked into the hall, the smell of cleaning chemicals hanging in the air. The floor bulletin board by the elevator carried a simple message that, given the situation, turned eerie. It’s a message of gratitude for the Environmental Operations staff. “Thank you E.O. staff.” Below that someone wrote, “for taking care of us all year.” It’s signed, “North 3.”
(04/13/10 1:10am)
Newspaper classified ad sales might be floundering, but that hasn’t stopped people from buying and selling their junk. The adage “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” couldn’t be truer in the world of cyber classified ads. Every lost ring, found wallet, and free couch has a hidden history. We scoured the OneStart classified ads to find creative sales pitches and the people behind them. Our stuff tells a story.
(04/13/10 1:00am)
We asked Brooke McCluskey, marketing manager of Hoosier Times (the group that publishes the Bloomington Herald-Times) for tips on writing a classified.
(03/23/10 3:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hai “Howie” Yu, a sophomore facing felony rape charges for a sexual assault that took place at Foster Magee residence hall, remains in the Monroe County Jail despite a bail reduction.Yu faces two counts of rape, both class B felonies. Under Indiana law there are three subsections of rape. Yu is charged with two of these subsections. He also faces one count of criminal confinement, a class D felony.Judge Kenneth Todd reduced Yu’s bond from $250,000 surety and $1,000 cash to $50,000 surety on the condition that, when released, Yu is placed on home detention with GPS monitoring.Monroe County deputy prosecutor Rebecca Veidlinger said despite the decrease, Yu’s bond is still more than twice as high as the presumptive bond, a $20,000 surety and $500 cash, for a class B felony.However, regardless of whether Yu can pay for the new surety, Veidlinger said he would have to meet the criteria for the home detention program with GPS monitoring. According to online descriptions of the program, these criteria include having “a residence and telephone service and equipment that is compatible with our electronic monitoring equipment.” Participants must also remain drug- and alcohol-free and take part in screenings during the program. It is not clear if Yu, who lives in Foster Quad, will meet these criteria.Under the home detention program, an individual is confined with an ankle monitor and can only leave home for scheduled visits, such as work and school.At a bail review hearing in the Justice Building on Monday, Yu’s attorney Joseph Lozano explained that Yu cooperated with police in the early stages of the investigation. Yu, who is from New York, was at the Indianapolis International Airport on March 12 when police called asking about his whereabouts. Lozano said Yu told police where he was and answered questions and missed his flight in the process. He was then detained by airport police and arrested by IU Police Department officers.IUPD Lt. Craig Munroe verified that Yu answered his phone and gave investigators his location.Veidlinger said the large bond was a result of concerns about the flight. The details of Yu’s trip to New York were originally unclear, and at one point, investigators thought the ticket was one-way. However, Lozano said Yu had booked a round-trip plane ticket a month in advance with the intention of returning to Bloomington on March 21.A pretrial conference is scheduled for April 29.
(03/22/10 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU sophomore Hai “Howie” Yu, 19, faces two counts of rape, class B felonies, and one of criminal confinement, a class D felony, for a sexual assault at Foster Magee residence hall March 11.Yu was stopped by Indianapolis Airport Police on March 12 and escorted to the Monroe County Jail by IU Police Department officers around 2:40 p.m. He is still in jail with a bond of $250,000 surety and $1,000 cash. A bail review hearing is scheduled for today.In a probable cause affidavit, IUPD investigative Sergeant Leslie Slone said she interviewed Yu, whose account of the evening contradicted campus video surveillance systems.Around 3:30 a.m. March 11, IUPD officers responded to a medical assist call and found an unidentified, unresponsive female IU student who was lying partially naked outside a door of Foster Magee. The woman was transported to the Bloomington Hospital. According to the affidavit, she had multiple bruises on her body, a spleen injury, and a sexual assault examination indicated rape.Slone wrote in the affidavit she was informed that a man, later identified as Yu, observed the woman as he was walking by. Slone later questioned Yu regarding the identity of the woman.Yu, who is the Foster Residence Center representative to the 2009-10 IU Student Association Congress, told police that he found the woman lying in the grass near Foster Magee after the two of them received a sober ride together from a fraternity party to Foster.Yu told police he then dragged the woman to a Magee door to help her.At one point, Yu told investigators the woman was someone he “did not know well,” but at another point he said he knew her name.The affidavit states that the Foster Magee camera system recorded images of Yu “dragging a female into the west side door of Magee.” The video showed the female clothed and “not moving under her own power.” Surveillance also showed Yu dragging the female out of the same door about an hour later, and the woman “had no clothes on from the waist down,” according to the affidavit.The fraternity surveillance system also contained footage of Yu “dragging a woman across the north exterior deck of the fraternity.” Again, the woman was not moving on her own. According to Slone’s affidavit, the woman in the fraternity footage appeared to be the same woman as in the Magee footage.Yu’s account of the evening also contradicted that of the sober driver. Yu said the woman “requested to be dropped off at Foster Harper circle drive.” However, the affidavit shows that the fraternity’s sober driver remembered the woman being “completely limp” and unresponsive.Yu declined multiple offers to call 911, explaining that he was friends with the woman and would take care of her, the driver told police.Anyone with more information on this case can call IUPD at 812-855-4111.Editor’s Note: The Indiana Daily Student strives to report the most accurate, up-to-date information available while protecting the privacy and safety of sexual assault victims. Online comments on this story have been disabled and hidden in an effort to keep this story free from misinformation and defamatory remarks. Please refer to the IDS Terms of Use for further clarification.
(03/02/10 5:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a series of vehicle break-ins in the last week, IU police officers identified and arrested a Bloomington man responsible for burglarizing the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and stealing items from multiple cars on campus.At 12:45 a.m. Monday, Officer Morgan Berns was working extra security detail at the HPER after the building’s keys were reported stolen. Interim Chief of Police Jerry Minger said Berns noticed a man, later identified as 36-year-old Jere Brant Crouch, trying to enter the west side of the building with various keys. Minger said Berns entered the HPER after Crouch but could not locate him inside. The officer waited outside the building until Crouch left and went to get into his car.Crouch was arrested for theft, a Class D Felony and additional charges are being evaluated. Crouch admitted to burglarizing a HPER office and safe. He also admitted to breaking into five vehicles on campus, shooting out the windows with a pellet gun and taking anything of value.In the last week, Minger said IUPD has had 15 reports of broken vehicle windows, and nine of those involved theft. Four of the break-ins are still under investigation; however, Minger said it is possible Crouch could be involved.According to the IUPD media log, thefts from vehicles occurred in an Indiana Memorial Union pay lot, the parking lot north of the Art Museum and the Atwater Parking Garage. A possible theft was reported at the Student Recreational Sports Center. Vehicle windows were broken out in the Atwater garage, Henderson lot and Read Center west parking lot.Minger said Crouch had checks, gift cards, envelopes, wallets and IU building keys in his possession. After getting a warrant to search Crouch’s car, officers found a GPS system, cell phones, iPods, backpacks, clothing, tools and cash. Minger estimated Crouch had more than $4,000 worth of stolen goods.“We’re going through a mountain of property to try and obtain owner information,” Minger said.Crouch told officers he targeted vehicles with visible, valuable property.“We’re always trying to educate people,” Minger said. “Don’t leave your keys nearby. Don’t leave your car unlocked.”While mobile patrols of the parking lots and garages increased when reports of break-ins began, Minger said it is tough to patrol the garages from the street.“We can’t be everywhere at once,” Minger said. “Parking garages obstruct your view from outside. They present a unique problem.”Minger credited Berns for his “diligence” in observing Crouch’s suspicious activity.“This is such great police work,” Minger said. “You have to rely on the sense of the officer, and he really followed up to find out more.”Minger said the case is still under investigation. Anyone who might have information concerning this stolen property, the vehicle break-ins or the arrested subject should contact Detective Lieutenant Steve Fiscus at the IU Police Department at 812-855-4111.
(03/01/10 5:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A 21-year-old IU student was arrested after he used a loaded handgun to assault a man at Kilroy’s Sports Bar early Saturday morning.Bloomington police Sgt. Jim Batcho said officers arrived at the bar around 2:45 a.m. Saturday and walked down an alley where they found Alexander Edward Brill with his hands in the air, surrounded by bar employees.Brill told officers he had a loaded Smith & Wesson .45-caliber automatic handgun. An officer confiscated it, along with a magazine of bullets in Brill’s front left pocket and a knife in his front right pocket.Sgt. Scott Oldham, who responded to the call, said the gun was fully loaded with a bullet in the chamber.Batcho said Brill had an Indiana personal protection gun permit, which he was holding in his hand when officers arrived.The majority of states have certain carry laws, which enable citizens to have a firearm in public as long as the individual has a valid permit and is not intoxicated, Oldham said.Batcho said Brill is facing preliminary charges of battery while armed and intimidation with a deadly weapon, both Class C felonies, and pointing a firearm, a Class D felony.Brill was at the bar when he starting talking to a woman he knew, Batcho read from the report. Brill told officers that five men approached him, verbally taunting and harassing him.According to written witness statements gathered by the police, Brill pointed the gun at a female bar employee. When a man tried to intervene and diffuse the situation, Brill hit him with the weapon.Brill told officers he was afraid and pulled the gun for protection. He said he had been injured in fights in Bloomington before.— Vince Zito contributed reporting to this story.
(02/23/10 4:37am)
Red gum is wedged into the corner of the wall. When practice room 228 sits empty, it still resonates from the droning cello and soaring voices of students in neighboring rooms. Its baby grand piano fills most of the space, and a chair confronts a full-length mirror, waiting for a musician to fill the chamber with sound. Water stains pattern the peg-board walls. Outside, the door is gray and covered in scuff marks from violin, cello, and saxophone cases bumping into it. There’s a small square window for practice-room-hopefuls to peek in and see if the room is occupied. The walls lining the hallway are green or blue depending on the light.