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(09/01/14 7:12pm)
The Bloomington Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Commission selected three recipients last week for the annual Local-Motion Grant , a fund for activities that encourages biking and walking on community trails.
(08/28/14 6:34pm)
By Sarah Zinn
(08/18/14 5:51pm)
A man was cycling around 11 p.m. July 24 on the B-Line trail when he felt something hard push against his back.
(07/30/14 9:23pm)
After all the keys and cell phones and purses were collected, after the elevator moved down a few floors, after his fellow inmates stared at the guests through a window in the wall, Michael Luper took out a folded piece of paper from the breast pocket of his orange jumpsuit.
(07/27/14 5:42pm)
Before they opened the gates, pigs panted, teens flirted in their cowboy boots and county fair queen Lindsey VanDeventer fanned herself with her hog’s contestant number.
(07/20/14 3:27pm)
“Karlijn wasn’t on that plane, right?”
(07/13/14 5:16pm)
Four gongs on each side of the large, 14-inch crystal bowl signaled the beginning of its song. What Susan Clearwater called “the singing bowl” rang out, its vibration moving in a circle from Clearwater to her intern Vida Chavez-Garcia, as they sat with their eyes closed and legs crossed, the bowl between them. Clearwater moved a stick in a circular motion around the outside of the bowl.
(07/09/14 6:45pm)
Couples who were married during the brief window gay marriage was legal in Indiana wasted no time rushing to courthouses in their hometowns.
(07/06/14 9:49pm)
A white and orange sign read “Road Closed,” blocking entry to the 800 block of Eighth street. A mouse darted out of a pile of mulch by the garden’s wooden gate, almost running into Daniel Atlas. He got to the garden a little early for the workday Sunday.
(06/08/14 11:51pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kelly Mitchell won the nomination for Secretary of Treasury at the Indiana GOP Convention in Lafayette this past Friday.After three ballots, she won against Marion County Mayor Wayne Seybold and financial adviser Don Bates.Bates dropped out at the third ballot, and Mitchell won 63 percent of the votes, which beat Seybold at 37 percent.“It seems like people that were supporting Bates switched to Kelly Mitchell in the third ballot,” Robert Hall said. “She’s already working in that department, so she comes with experience, and she’s fiscally responsible.”Mitchell was the third in the line of women nominated to appear on the November ballot Friday. She joined Secretary of State nominee Connie Lawson and Auditor nominee Suzanne Crouch.Lawson and Crouch were appointed by Governor Pence after the two previously in the positions resigned, Hall said.Hall said the nomination of all women shows the GOP’s “war on women” is just something the Democrats have alleged. He mentioned Republicans tend to elect more women into office than Democrats.“I think the Democrats are hurting the economy, which is hurting women,” Hall said.The state of the economy was a discussion point at the convention. Treasurer Richard Murdock notably compared the current economic downturn to the events before the Nazi regime before accepting an award.“The truth is 70 years later we are drifting toward the tides of another beachhead with the bankruptcy of America,” he said at the convention.Another significant point of concern was the party’s decision to use language promoting marriage between a man and a woman.Though some party members disagreed with the decision, it was supported by the majority of attendees.
(06/05/14 1:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kevin Coons said as a man experiencing homelessness, it’s getting harder and harder to find a place he’s allowed to be.He doesn’t sleep, he said, because there’s nowhere to go.Public places are implementing more and more restrictions that push him out, Coons said.This past week, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners met to discuss the implementation of large, 2-foot-tall and 6-foot-wide limestone planters in the window alcoves of the County Courthouse.It would be done to discourage camping and to heighten security in the area. The courthouse alcoves have provided people without homes shelter when it rains or otherwise, Coons said.“The freedom to move back and forth — that’s something that’s tantamount in our society,” local civil rights attorney Michael Gastineau said. “I think it’s being eroded for some individuals.”After the closing of the Interfaith Winter Shelter April 1, more than 50 people were left on the streets with nowhere to sleep.Although there are other shelters in town, space is limited, and not everyone fits eligibility requirements.There have been problems with misuse of the lawn, Commissioner’s administrator Angela Purdie said.Vomit, feces and trash have been found on the grounds in the past.Purdie said the planters’ purpose is not aesthetic, but to discourage people from loitering, camping and smoking outside the courthouse.“It only took a couple people to ruin everything for everyone,” Coons said.Community activists have questioned why the $5,000 that will go to the planters is not going to a shelter or service for those who are homeless. “We are left in Monroe County with many agencies that are generally private and nonprofit that support and help many of the homeless and the needy, and they are the ones who have the financial appropriations to provide that assistance,” Purdie said.Open shelters in town require tenants to be sober Monroe County residents with no history of sexual crimes.“That is the issue,” Purdie said. “There are resources available, but to use those resources you have to meet certain criteria that that agency has established.”Gina Simmons, a woman experiencing homelessness, said implementing the planters is another way the government is trying to run them out of town.“If you’re not doing anything bad, why can’t you just stay there?” she said. “All this land and there’s nowhere for us to go.”The planters are not the only decision that has been made to directly affect the homeless population, Gastineau said.This past August, the Monroe County Courthouse implemented hours for the lawn, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.Additionally, the Monroe County Public Library prohibits sleeping.The Bloomington Public Transit Corporation is now discussing changing its behavioral code to prohibit sleeping, smelling, loitering and obscene language.“I think they unfairly target those that experience homelessness and poverty,” Gastineau said. “They always have a legitimate business purpose for it, but I would say they do discriminate because they disproportionately affect those that are homeless.”Gastineau said he thinks the government has its own definition of public.“These measures and these sort of policies are basically a way to discourage and detour certain individuals from using that property without having an explicit law to that effect,” he said. “I think governments have manipulated the concept of private property to achieve a desired end.”The Monroe County Board of Commissioners will have another meeting at 9 a.m. June 13 in the courthouse, and citizens will be allowed time for public comment. The BPTC will have another meeting at 5:30 p.m. June 17, located in the BPTC Conference Room on 130 W. Grimes Lane, to further discuss the behavioral code. The meeting is also open to the public.
(06/04/14 10:43pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana was fourth on the list of states with the highest carbon emissions this past year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.However, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence recently came out in opposition of an EPA regulation that requires all states to reduce emissions from existing power plants 30 percent from 2005’s levels by 2030.After President Obama and the EPA proposed the changes Monday, Pence released a statement against it.“The president’s plan today will dramatically raise electricity rates in a way that will be passed onto consumers in the form of higher bills,” Pence said in a press release.“A typical household could lose $3,400 in disposable income. That will hit our lower-income and younger workers the hardest, hurting those who are trying their best to get ahead.”The Clean Air Act, implemented in 1990, includes standards for factory emissions of toxic gases, such as mercury. The act is only now being federally enforced.As many as 22 Indiana coal-fired power plants will be affected by the enforcement, according to the EPA.“In Indiana we produce more than 80 percent of our electricity from coal, and more than 3,500 hard-working Hoosiers are employed in the coal industry,” Pence said in the press release. “We are a manufacturing state that is competitive in part based on our low cost of energy. Raising the cost of electricity through these proposed EPA regulations will slow manufacturing and hurt Hoosiers across our economy.” The Hoosier Environmental Council has publicly criticized Pence for his opposition.It says Pence’s claims that it will hurt the economy are untrue. “We’re troubled that the governor, rather than embracing the opportunity to accelerate positive change in Indiana’s electricity market, has resorted to fear mongering that is unbecoming of a governor through hyperbolic statements like the U.S. EPA’s policy is occurring ‘without regard for the impact on the U.S. economy or American workers,’ and ‘will dramatically raise electricity rates,’” Jessie Kharbanda, Hoosier Environmental Council executive director, said in a press release.Kharbanda said although the changes will affect the economy, the nation has been given enough time to slowly implement changes in a way that will minimize harm.“Our hand remains extended to the governor and other key leaders to find innovative ways for Indiana, one of the country’s largest carbon emitters, to confront the significant global challenge of climate change,” Kharbanda said.“Political grandstanding, which is what some of Indiana’s key political leaders are doing, is not a constructive way to deal with a problem that will affect generations of Americans to come.”
(05/29/14 1:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The future of deer in Griffy Lake has moved from the hands of the City Council to the Park Commissioners.Tuesday, the Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners unanimously approved a contract with a wildlife management company that will facilitate deer sharpshooting in the Griffy Lake Nature Preserve. The $31,000 contract will allow the nonprofit organization White Buffalo to kill more than 100 deer in Griffy Lake between Nov. 15 and Feb. 28, 2015.Park commissioners discussed sharpshooting logistics with White Buffalo after a long awaited approval from the City Council, which amended a city code prohibiting the discharge of firearms within city limits. The issue of deer overabundance in Bloomington has been steeped in controversy. The Bloomington Deer Task Force, which includes City Council member Dave Rollo, is in favor of sharpshooting deer to curb what they perceive to be an overpopulation problem. Others question the proposed use of violence and whether the deer population is even out of hand.Sandra Sharpshay, executive committee member of Bloomington Advocates for Nonviolent and Innovative Deer Stewardship, stressed the lack of concrete evidence of deer overpopulation.A 2014 study at IU Shelton Research Center has collected data of deer pellets, but scientists have admitted this method is not the most accurate, Sharpshay said.“No one knows if the deer are overabundant at Griffy now,” she said at the meeting. Not having a definitive deer count will not affect the sharpshooting processes, White Buffalo representative Ryan Rotts said.“Although we don’t know exactly how many deer are in the preserve, that information is really irrelevant,” he said. “What’s important is that we have the metrics available to show that our management has provided measurable successes in reestablishing some of the species that have been near eliminated in the park.”Many community members came out in favor of culling the deer at the meeting, voicing complaints about their ruined gardens and scared pets.Bloomington resident Anne Sterling said she was concerned about the environmental effects of the lead in the bullets they plan to use. “Even if the sharpshooters have a 99-percent accuracy rate, which seems a bit optimistic, it’s unavoidable that lead will be injected into the Griffy Lake Nature Preserve,” she said.Board members said they were focusing mainly on whether the contract was appropriate or not, and that they put trust in public officials who said overpopulation was a problem.
(05/22/14 12:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Rodney Vawter’s car never really hurt anyone. It would receive a few dirty looks here and there, but no complaints were ever filed against it. Most often, people would laugh and give Vawter a thumbs up when he drove it. They’d be pointing at his plates. Last April, the Greenfield, Ind., police officer came home to a letter from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.Emblazoned with the Fraternity of the Police tag, his license plate read “0INK,” and was being revoked.The BMV had allowed the car to drive around Indiana for three years, but it now deemed the plate offensive and misleading.“The BMV giveth, the BMV taketh away,” Vawter said.He wasn’t going to let the BMV force the oink-mobile off the road.***Vawter tried to reason with the BMV. He wrote a letter to appeal the revocation, but it was sent back to him. He tried calling people, but he ended up getting voicemail. The people he did talk to didn’t know much about protocol in this kind of situation.A friend suggested he pursue a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union. Hesitant at first, Vawter and his lawyer soon found out there were many inconsistencies with the BMV’s personal license plate program. It approved “BIGGSXY” but not “SXY,” “BIBLE4ME” but not “BIBLEH8R” and “FOX NEWS” but not “FOX*LIES.”The BMV claimed it was unable to explain the inconsistencies in court. A First Amendment issue was at stake.“It just depends on what mood they’re in and what day of the week it is,” Vawter said. “You don’t hear the same thing twice.”The “offensive” standard was meant for vulgar and derogatory comments. Vawter’s court statement said he considered his plate “an ironic statement of pride in his profession.”***A police officer for more than 10 years, Vawter said he’s been called a “fucking pig” to his face at least 300 times.It’s something he’s accepted.Vawter is a criminal investigator. He said he likes his work because it’s exciting. He said he also likes the physical evidence side of his job because it doesn’t lie to you.He remembers working on one case — a homicide — for almost two months. He worked on the case up until Christmas morning, he said.In a way, he associates his passion for justice with the license plate court case. It’s about fairness, Vawter said. “When I go out and do my job, I can’t violate people’s civil rights,” he said. “That’d be like me going over to a car and stopping it just because I wanted to.”***On May 8, Marion Superior Court Judge James Osborn found the standards the BMV used violated the First Amendment and Indiana law, and he ordered they cease being used.Vawter said he is happy without monetary compensation. He said he requested his attorney fees be paid, but that was it.“It’s about getting the BMV to set standards and follow rules,” Vawter said.The oink-mobile drives on for now.“I have a personalized license plate on my truck with my last name on it,” Vawter said. “I’m sure someone finds that offensive, too.”
(05/12/14 1:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After delivering the day’s mail, Letter Carriers helped transport food to families in need.Hoosier Hills food bank and the Letter Carriers Union paired for the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive Saturday.People were encouraged to leave a bag of nonperishable food by their mailboxes for Letter Carriers to pick up and bring to Hoosier Hills.In an effort to bring in more food, the food drive continued into Sunday.With an extra day, Bryant said she hopes to exceed the 38,000 pounds they collected this past year.“Our letter carriers are on the streets and in the community every day and they see firsthand how families are struggling to put food on the table,” Indiana National Association of Letter Carriers President John Tripplett said in a press release. “These are not only our customers, they are our neighbors and friends, and we are proud to help in this worthy effort.”Through a partnership with Feeding America, a network of more than 200 food banks, Hoosier Hills distributes the food collected to local food banks, soup kitchens and shelters.The annual nationwide event garnered more than 74 million pounds of food this past year, its 21st year of operation. Over the course of its 21-year history, the drive has collected more than one billion pounds of food, according to a press release.The Hoosier Hills food bank in Bloomington collected 27,000 pounds of food this year, which is 10,000 pounds less than the amount collected this past year, Executive Director Julio Alonso said.Alonso said it might have been because it rained Saturday, or because of IU graduation.Stamp Out Hunger is the organizations’ most important event of the year, according to a press release. Angelo said the food bank has come to rely on the proceeds throughout the year.“It’s always been very important to us,” he said.Hoosier Hills has experienced a spike locally and nationally in demand since the recession began, Alonso said. More than one million people in Indiana are unsure of where their next meal is coming from, according to a press release.“The timing of this food drive is crucial,” Executive Director of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry Emily Bryant said. “Food banks and pantries receive many donations during the holiday season. By spring, supplies begin to run low at a time when we need to gear up for summer, when children don’t have access to school breakfast and lunch programs and might not access summer feeding programs.”Member food banks of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry distributed 80 million pounds of food in 2013 through nearly 1,700 agencies across Indiana, according to a press release.Alonso said the food collected from last years Stamp Out Hunger drive lasted them the whole summer.
(05/09/14 4:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Coal-fired electric power plants provided 84 percent of Indiana’s energy this past year. In light of a recent environmental regulation, Indiana’s reliance on coal for power might have to change.Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which the agency said will eliminate 90 percent of mercury and acid gas released into the air by coal-fired power plants.More than 35,000 Hoosiers have provided comment to the EPA opposing the regulation, according to a press release.The opportunity for Hoosiers to comment on the new regulations restricting emissions ends Friday.As many as 22 Indiana coal-fired power plants will be affected by MATS, according to the EPA. The regulations have been criticized for being economically unrealistic.“These proposals eliminate jobs before new technologies are available to help and employ people in new greener jobs,” Indianapolis resident Dennis Campbell said in a press release. “Our state and nation are still suffering from one of the worst economic conditions in years and this is an additional tax on the very people that need help.”MATS has been controversial nationwide. In April, two states challenged the regulations in the Supreme Court, but the court ruled in favor of the EPA.Congress has yet to approve MATS. The agency has been collecting required public input on the new requirements since January and has held listening sessions in cities such as Boston and Chicago, but not in Indiana.While many Hoosiers are concerned about increased energy costs, the EPA said MATS will create up to $2.9 billion in health benefits in 2016.MATS will require coal-fired power plants to use proven pollution control technologies, protecting Americans from mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acid gas.“When coal is combusted, mercury is released through the plume into the atmosphere,” Indiana Department of Environmental Management Branch Chief Scott Deloney said. “Because it’s a heavy metal, it will fall to ground into water bodies.”Deloney said this can lead to human consumption of mercury and other toxins, which can adversely affect brain development in children. The EPA estimates the new requirements will save 290 lives.Some coal-fired power plants have been made to meet MATS, said Deloney, which will reduce costs on citizens in the area.Other plants will request a rate increase from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to stay in business, which will cost taxpayers in the area.Deloney said major coal plants such as the Duke Gibson facility have a lot of adapting to do.“I’ve seen some reports of rates requested from 20 to 30 percent,” Deloney said. “There are several plants throughout the Midwest that are simple shutting down simply because it’s not cost feasible for them to maintain operation.”While the EPA claims pollution control technology is widely available, parties against the regulation have been skeptical.However, Deloney said he doesn’t think plants will have problems obtaining the right technology.“It’s been in practice here in Indiana for some time.”Deloney said the plants affected will need to be compliant by some time around March 2016.
(04/03/14 2:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the rain started, the music didn’t stop. The two men singing, “This land is your land, this land is my land,” kept playing their banjos. But farther up the hill, where people sought shelter under a small part of the courthouse roof, the music wasn’t as loud as the rain hitting the pavement.The night of April 1 meant the same thing for all of them — a night without a home. Interfaith Winter Shelter, the only place in town open to everyone, even those with addictions, closed forthe summer.It was 9:30 p.m. and they had just finished protesting the shelter’s closing. Volunteers stuck around, but slowly the people spread out, knowing they had to go to the bathroom or find something to eat before they settled somewhere for the night.A light was on in an office cubicle visible through the half-closed blinds of a courthouse window. Angela Riley stood outside.Protecting her bags from the rain, she placed them in the indented window frame where she sometimes slept last summer. A desk decorated with greeting cards, family pictures and a cozy desk chair sat only a wall away. She covered her bags with a trash bag to keep them dry.“That’s how you fix a bag,” she said to Ronnie Deckard, her boyfriend. They were a couple, but on nights like this they were a team. If he went somewhere, she waited for him, guarding their bags. He didn’t let her carry them around, either. He said they were too heavy.They shared cigarettes and talked about where they would go if the rain got worse. Maybe under the B-Line Bridge. Maybe they could convince someone to let them sleep on his or her couch.Around the corner, others huddled together. A man called “Pinky” read a Bible. Ever since he overdosed a couple of years ago, he doesn’t go anywhere without it. People wore donated rain ponchos. A pregnant woman sat cross-legged in a blue poncho, her round face the only visible part of her body. She hoped she was having a boy. She already had two girls.Pizza came, bought by the volunteers and Deckard, who contributed $6. Volunteers helped pitch a small overhead tent. Down the street at Kilroy’s Bar and Grill, music boomed. Through the windows, people conversed, laughed and drank.Across the street at People’s Park, three people experiencing homelessness tried to gather enough money for a motel room. It was 11 p.m. John Adams, a volunteer at Interfaith, couldn’t stand seeing people suffer in the rain. He knew he would end up opening the church, even if he got in some trouble for it.“I’m sure I’ll hear about it later, but I’ll let them in,” he said. “People don’t get no rest in their mind like this.”He opened First Christian Church around 12:30 a.m., but many people had tapped their resources and were staying with a relative, a volunteer or a friend of a friend. Riley and Deckard convinced volunteer Ayman Ashwaiheen’s friend to let them sleep on his couch.But people like Ashley Howerton still had nowhere to go.There were only three women in the women’s room that night. Normally, there are 11. Howerton thought about how almost everyone else seemed to have someone who cared enough to give them shelter. But she didn’t.Out the window of the women’s room, the cross on the roof of First United Methodist Church glowed through the sheer curtains.Howerton still believes in God, but said it can be easy to lose hope. She is 27 years old and has tumors in her stomach. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, Josh, who was sleeping in the men’s room.When she thought about her daughter, she cried.Her daughter, Shelby, has Pallister-Hall’s syndrome and six fingers on one hand. She wears a feeding tube. She’s almost 7 years old and lives with her grandmother and two brothers who are 8 and 5 years old.Shelby’s hospital bills cost them their home, Howerton said. She was on life support for six months, pronounced dead six times.Howerton sold her wedding ring for money. But her kids made her another one, she said, showing off the black ring made of duct tape. She hadn’t even smoked marijuana before she was homeless. After a while, she felt like she would never overcome it. She tried meth, and within a month she was addicted — something that haunts her every day. She has been clean for three years.Howerton’s voice shook. She sobbed. She liked company. Even at 1 a.m., she said she wasn’t tired and kept talking.“Most of the time,” she said, “people don’t want to take the time to know your story.”
(04/01/14 4:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Women were first in line. One man slumped against a handrail, head down, not moving. Two others were singing “Hotel California” by the Eagles. One square, white light illuminated the alley, casting shadows across the pavement.Angela Riley got to the line early, like always. She wanted to secure her bed spot.She was waiting with about 40 others at 9 p.m. Friday in the alley behind the First Christian Church for the Interfaith Winter Shelter to open.Fifty is max capacity, the site director said as he closed the door. A man cursed at him, holding rolled up blankets and bags. They’ve been hitting full capacity a lot lately, the site director said.The winter shelter will close today and not open again until October 31. With no summer shelter to replace it, its 50-some tenants will be sleeping on the streets.***Interfaith is the only low-barrier overnight shelter in Bloomington. Other shelters such as Martha’s House, Backstreet Missions and New Hope Family Shelter are open year-round but require residents be sober Monroe County citizens with no history of sexual crimes. The only requirement at Interfaith is respectful behavior. The shelter is open from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and moves between four churches each night. First United Church, First Christian Church, First United Methodist Church and Trinity Episcopal Church are the sites for the shelter, but other churches in Bloomington contribute to funding.Samantha Harrell, who directed Interfaith on Sundays, worked every day this winter to find a summer shelter. She hated having to tell people she was “working on it” or that they were “having meetings,” because she didn’t want to sound bureaucratic. At meetings Harrell wore a shy, humble smile. She waited for everyone to voice their opinions and concerns before speaking.But sometimes, while talking one-on-one, she got carried away with explanations. Logistics, charitable policies, budgets, zoning laws. Closed doors.Her explanations built on each other in an effort to connect the dots of an issue with so many complexities. But there was one question Harrell couldn’t answer. Why was no one stepping up?“It’s just this crisis that doesn’t feel like a crisis,” she said. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to address homelessness.”She knew she would likely end up passing out blankets and food at night once the shelter closed, like last year.Many residents had become her friends, and she didn’t want to let them down. Riley, or Stephanie or Buzzsaw, who earned his nickname because he sounds like a buzzsaw when he snores.“Shelter is a right, not a privilege,” she said. The tattoo on her arm says, “Because your liberation is bound up in mine.”***Angela Riley tries to straighten her hair every day because she doesn’t like how it frizzes. She’ll plug her straightener into an outlet at the Shalom Community Center lounge and flat iron it without a mirror. She smokes cigarettes because they helped her overcome her meth addiction. She calls her children almost every day. Angela holds these consistencies dear.She writes to-do lists and reminders in her planner, because right now her hobby is trying to better her life. At 29, she’s experienced homelessness off and on for four years.“I don’t want to be homeless in 30 years,” Angela said. “The longer you’re homeless, the less you’re encouraged to do something about it.”Keeping focused on her goals — getting a job, applying for rapid rehousing, being able to see her kids grow up — helps her say no to the substance that used to rule her life.Meth used to help her stay awake so she wouldn’t have to sleep on the streets, she said. It made the pain go away.But now, if she remembers her to-do list, she can say no to meth. ***Harrell, the Sunday site director at Interfaith, grew up with parents who struggled with addiction, and she watched her mom slip in and out of homelessness. She realized the only reason she turned out differently was her good fortune, the lifelines people threw her.The teachers who took her out to lunch, the people who gave her free books, one sibling she looked up to — they made the difference. She knew others didn’t have that support.“There are people who are addicted to drugs that have houses,” Harrell said. “There are people with mental illnesses that have houses. There are people with criminal histories that have houses. Homelessness is not created by individuals.”When she started volunteering at Interfaith five years ago, she said, she couldn’t help but be reminded of her family. She felt more at home at Interfaith. When she attended IU as an undergrad, she wasn’t used to being around so many middle-class people.She would overhear phone calls of Interfaith residents talking to their kids, crying, trying to explain why they weren’t there and why they couldn’t hug them or hold them or go to their school performances. Witnessing that, she said, prompted her to call her own mother, who she hadn’t spoken to in almost two years.She knew she was where she was supposed to be. ***A woman walked toward the women’s sleeping room at 10:30 p.m., the scheduled bedtime. Her boyfriend followed. He kissed her goodbye, then got on his knees and kissed her pregnant stomach. “Got to kiss the baby, too,” Angela said, watching. The women’s room had a warm glow to it, lit by a small lamp. 11 mats were each labeled with pink duct tape — the same duct tape used to label the lamps and tables and markers. An ornate clock sits atop an unused, Victorian-style fireplace. The only thing on the walls is a painting of an important-looking man with white hair hung next to the window. A bookcase is stacked with red leather Bibles. The first time she was in jail Angela read the entire Bible. She didn’t sleep at all those first two weeks, she said. That was seven years ago. The mats are numbered and about two inches thick. There are 11 for the women and 49 for the men. The men sleep in a bigger room across the hall, but they still let Angela say goodnight to her boyfriend before bedtime.Angela always sleeps in the same bed at First United. It’s the one with the fuzzy pink blanket, labeled number 10. Each tenant gets a mat to sleep on and a fuzzy blanket, but hers is the comfiest. She always sleeps next to her best friend, Missy.“Every night at every shelter we put our beds next to each other,” she said.You get used to sleeping in a room with a bunch of people, Angela said. You get used to all the snoring and coughing and shuffling.***“Smoke break,” Angela yelled to the room of people. They get one at night and one in the morning. Angela is always the one yelling. She knows she’s a loudmouth, but sometimes you have to be, she said.The day before she was born, Angela’s mom went speed boating. Angela likes to say all the bumps from the waves are what made her this way.“I love you,” Angela yelled at Deckard as he went back inside the shelter after finishing his cigarette. They were both chewing on chopsticks left over from their takeout.Everyone knows Angela at the shelter. She’s the homeless representative for Shalom Community Center, which provides showers, laundry services and a daytime shelter for the homeless. She’s taken to being the voice of the tenants.“We love you, Cliff,” Angela yelled at a man with a catatonic expression who was being taken out on a stretcher. The altercation was not dramatic. It happens a couple times a week, Angela said. Someone gets too high or too drunk or is having breathing problems, and the volunteers decide they need to go to the hospital.“Make sure you tell them we’ll call,” she yelled at him as he was carried down the stairs.***A man approached the empty volunteer desk, reeking of alcohol, confused about which mat he was assigned to. Angela, who was nearby, looked down the list and told him he was bed number 19, not 20.“I’m the unofficial Interfaith volunteer,” she said. It has been Angela’s dream to become a social worker. She was inspired by a volunteer at Shalom Community Center.“For some crazy reason my ass wants to help people,” she said.Angela recently re-enrolled in Ivy Tech Community College. After she gets her school ID and schedules her classes, she’s ready to start working on her human services degree. She applied for financial aid and every scholarship possible, she said. She plans to attend classes in May, but because Interfaith is closed, she will be sleeping on the streets.She wants to get a place of her own so she can have her three kids visit. Her two sons and youngest daughter live with her ex-husband.“They know mommy sleeps in a church every night,” she said.Her daughter, who she calls “mini-me,” inherited her spunk. She is 5 years old and not afraid to boss her older brothers around.“She’s evil just like me,” Angela said, smiling. When Angela appeared in the Bloomington Herald-Times after receiving her GED, her son’s teacher gave him a copy of the article.He framed it.***Harrell will deliver care packages of blankets and food to Interfaith tenants tonight, just like she did last summer. She will help lead a candle-lit vigil to raise awareness about the shelter’s closing. She wonders how Angela will do tonight. Harrell is amazed by her resilience, and she thought that somehow Angela would figure something out. But she hasn’t. Not yet.Harrell says she wishes she could make people understand everyone has worth.“We have not gotten away from the idea of deserving and undeserving poor,” Harrell said. “You shouldn’t have to be a good enough person to survive.”Angela said she planned on pursuing options with relatives, but she knew there were no guarantees. She didn’t know where she would sleep tonight.She may be finding shelter in alleyways, dumpsters and the undersides of porches. Maybe she’ll return to the window frame of the County Courthouse, where she willed herself to sleep most nights last summer. She’ll try to shake off the fear that someone will beat her up and take her things.At least it’s not the bare ground, she tells herself. She can’t stand not knowing what she’s lying on. Maybe old urine. Maybe vomit. She never could get used to the dirt.It feels to her like the winter — when the cold stokes the public’s compassion and the shelter opens its doors — is the only time she matters. “Nobody cares about us in the summer,” she says.Summer, for her, starts tonight.----------------------------------------------Summer Shelter AlternativesInterfaith Winter Shelter director Samantha Harrell and the supporters of the opening of a summer shelter have said finding a space big enough and willing to house about 60 people every night in their low price range has been challenging. The process of meeting with zoning officials and city planners would likely take months to complete, if successful.Here are some alternatives Harrell and other supporters have explored to house people experiencing homelessness.City-owned BuildingsBloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan has clearly said he does not support the summer shelter and believes the homeless population in Bloomington is mostly a migrated one. “Police and social service providers are seeing more people coming to town, often saying they've done so based on word of mouth that there are many services available here,” he said in an email. Service providers are already struggling to meet local need, so it's unsustainable to have more people coming here solely for services.Harrell said Kruzan’s lack of support has made it hard to pursue options under the city’s jurisdiction, such as vacant lots, empty city-owned buildings, and parks and recreation properties that have potential to serve as a temporary shelter. Harrell and others have also pursued the County Council but were referred back to the city.Public CampingMany people experiencing homelessness last year resorted to public camping. However, public camping is illegal in the City of Bloomington, and was tolerated in previous years because it was considered a form of protest, or was on private property. New construction during the past decade has wiped out many hidden camping locations,such as parts of what is now the B-Line Trail.Place of WorshipHarrell said many churches support their mission to find a summer shelter, but none are willing to off er their own spaces. Churches that are host to Interfaith from November through March cite volunteer burnout as a reason to deny the shelter request. Other institutions said they had inadequate space or unsupportive congregations.
(03/31/14 1:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival will screen a film by IU doctoral student Russell Sheaffer. “Acetate Diary” is one of eight experimental films to be shown at the festival.“I can remember being in a state of shock after a particular visit to the doctor and not knowing what to do or feel,” Sheaffer said in a press release. “I grabbed this roll of film and everything else I could find — pushpins, highlighters, Sharpies, razor blades — and just started.” Sheaffer, a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Communication and Culture, created the film without a camera. Instead, he painted and wrote on a 16mm strip of film, according to the press release.“Some days I’d only work on it for a tiny bit, but other days, I’d sit over it for hours at a time,” he said. His film will be shown with “All Vows,” a film commissioned by IU Cinema and the University’s Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Program in Jewish Studies.Sarah Zinn
(03/27/14 4:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Audience members were moved to tears as they listened to personal stories relating to homelessness at the city council meeting last night. The Wednesday night meeting started with 20 minutes of public comment from 15 different speakers, 14 with a vested interest in providing summer shelter to tenants of Interfaith Winter Shelter, who will be without shelter come April 1. “There are worse things that Bloomington could be known for than compassion,” said Stephanie Waller, IU student and an Interfaith volunteer. Several speakers were students at the IU School of Social Work who also volunteered at the Interfaith shelter.IU student and Interfaith volunteer Gabriela Morales was brought to tears at the podium. She said she didn’t want to go to a college in a town that treated people this way.Others in the audience were also moved by the poems, testimonials and pleas of speakers.Kathy Byers, director at the IU School of Social Work, stressed collective and cooperative action on the parts of city government, social services and community activists.“You cannot get your life together, you cannot address your addiction, you cannot get a job without a place to sleep at night,” she said.Bloomington resident Glenn Carter emphasized the city’s lack of concern for people without money, and its close relationship to IU. While opponents of the initiative to create a summer shelter criticize people experiencing homelessness for substance abuse, Carter said college students have similar habits and the city condones it because of their class in society.The need for a low-barrier shelter in Bloomington was a main point in the commentary. Low-barrier shelters, unlike local existing high-barrier shelters such as Martha’s House, have only one requirement for entry — that tenants exhibit respectful behavior. High-barrier shelters only accept tenants who are sober, Monroe county citizens with no history of sexual abuse.Samantha Harrell, who directs IWS on Sunday nights, asked the council members to reconsider the city’s hesitant position on low barrier shelters. Mayor Mark Kruzan has been open about his opposition to the opening of a summer shelter, because he said he thinks many homeless people do not hail from Monroe County.Harrell stressed that the low barrier model was effective.“I’m in awe at the work that the community is doing to respond to this crisis,” Harrell said. “I’m asking one of you to step up.”