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(02/15/08 3:42am)
INDIANAPOLIS – A Republican state representative running for Congress has apologized for working on campaign materials while on the House floor.\nState Democrats took video of Rep. Jon Elrod, R-Indianapolis, signing campaign thank-you letters and sealing them in envelopes. There are few ethical rules for legislators, and no law or regulation appears to prevent lawmakers from engaging in such an activity.\nElrod, the Republican nominee in the 7th Congressional District race, said he was multitasking but used poor judgment. He said it would not happen again.\n“I feel horrible about it,” he said. “I really do. To put our caucus and everyone else in this position, it’s just inexcusable.” \nElrod is running against Democrat Andre Carson in a March 11 special election for the congressional seat previously held by Carson’s grandmother, Rep. Julia Carson, who died in December. Libertarian candidate Sean Shepard is also running.\nAfter Democrats heard that Elrod was working on campaign materials in the House, the party sent a staff member to video Elrod from the House balcony, and the aide recorded him working on campaign letters twice this month, said Dan Parker, a spokesman for the Democratic party.\n“It raises questions about Jon Elrod’s ethics,” Parker said. “Here he is on the floor of the House doing campaign work. That says that politics is more important than the people’s work.”\nElrod gave the letters to a legislative employee – Graig Lubsen, deputy media director for House Republicans – to mail.\nThe handbook for House personnel says employees “shall not perform campaign or political activity during hours they are performing work for the House.” The rules also state that “campaign activity may not occur on House property.”\nHouse Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said Lubsen violated House rules and there would be consequences, although he did not specify what actions could be taken. He said he had a stern talk with Elrod and Lubsen, who said he did not know the letters were campaign-related.\n“I’m confident it has not ever happened before, and I’m very confident it will never, ever happen again,” Bosma said.\nJulia Vaughn, policy director of the government watchdog group Common Cause Indiana, said the incident “isn’t the biggest scandal since Watergate.” But she said lawmakers should refrain from doing campaign work in the Statehouse.\nIndiana Republican Party Chairman Murray Clark, a former state senator, said he doesn’t see anything wrong with it. He said the flap shows that Democrats are desperate to hold onto the 7th District.\n“Democrats are going to pull out every trick in the book,” Clark said. “I’m going to call Jon and make sure he pulls his shades at night.”
(02/15/08 3:12am)
DEKALB, Ill. – A gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, injuring as many as 15 people before he killed himself, authorities and the school said.\n“Police are confirming that the shooter is dead by a self-inflicted gunshot,” the school said on its Web site.\nThe university issued a statement on its Web site about an hour after the 3 p.m. shooting that “the immediate danger has passed. The gunman is no longer a threat.”\nKishwaukee Community Hospital spokeswoman Theresa Komitas told WLS-TV in Chicago it received 17 victims all with wounds from the shooting or flying debris, including three with serious injuries. She said she knew of no deaths at the hospital.\nGeorge Gaynor, a senior geography student, who was in Cole Hall when the shooting happened, told the student newspaper – the Northern Star – that the shooter was “a skinny white guy with a stocking cap on.”\nHe described the scene immediately following the incident as terrifying and chaotic.\n“Some girl got hit in the eye, a guy got hit in the leg,” Gaynor said outside just minutes after the shooting occurred. “It was like five minutes before class ended, too.”\nWitnesses said the young man carried a shotgun and a pistol. Student Edward Robinson told WLS that the gunman appeared to target students in one part of the lecture hall.\n“It was almost like he knew who he wanted to shoot,” Robinson said. “He knew who and where he wanted to be firing at.”\nAll classes were canceled Thursday night and the 25,000-student campus was closed on Friday. Students were urged to call their parents “as soon as possible” and were offered counseling at any residence hall, according to the school Web site.\nDominique Broxton, 22, a student from Oak Park, told the Chicago Tribune she could see two wounded students from her dorm room.\n“The ambulance took away two students on the ground right outside my dorm,” she said. “I don’t know them. They looked bloody.”\nShe said she saw a lot of confusion. \n“Students were running. People really didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “There is an intercom system inside the dorm. Someone came on and stated that someone had been caught. They said they caught the shooter and that we should remain calm and stay in our rooms. I am in my room now.”\nThe school was closed for one day during final exam week in December after campus police found threats, including racial slurs and references to shootings earlier in the year at Virginia Tech, scrawled on a bathroom wall in a dormitory. Police determined after an investigation that there was no imminent threat and the campus was reopened.\nThe shooting was the fourth at a U.S. school within a week.\nOn Feb. 8, a woman shot two fellow students to death before committing suicide at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. In Memphis, Tenn., a 17-year-old is accused of shooting and critically wounding a fellow student Monday during a high school gym class, and the 15-year-old victim of a shooting at an Oxnard, Calif., junior high school has been declared brain dead.
(02/14/08 1:04am)
BROWNSBURG – Newlyweds could probably learn a few things from the five Estes sisters and their two brothers, who between them have amassed 391 years of marriage, and counting.\nIn an age when nearly half of new marriages are expected to end in divorce, the seven surviving children of C.M. and Minnie Estes have all been wed 50 or more years.\nThe youngest, Sue Bass, completed that golden anniversary streak Saturday when she and husband Edwin marked their 50 years together in a laughter-filled banquet room, surrounded by Sue’s six surviving siblings and many of the couples’ 71 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.\n“We’re the last. We made it,” Sue, 69, said after the Basses’ celebratory spotlight dance. Added Edwin, 73: “The others made it and we weren’t about to get beat!”\nThe Estes siblings, ages 69 to 84, attribute their marital success in large part to the moral example set by their late parents, who were married 58 years.\nC.M. Estes and wife Minnie raised their nine children – one died as a toddler and another is deceased – with the clear expectation that marriage is for life. The family lived in Kentucky before moving to Indiana in the mid-1940s.\nSeventy-four-year-old Joyce Samples said her parents endured hard financial times but set a loving example that she has emulated in her 57-year marriage to John Samples, 74.\n“They always showed respect for each other, which made us know that was part of marriage,” she said. “There wasn’t a lot of verbal advice. You just watched them and knew how it was done.”\nAside from Joyce and Sue and their husbands, the other Estes children and their spouses are: Agnes and Howard Byrd, wed 61 years; Douglas and Kathleen Estes, 60 years; Charles and Grace Estes, 57 years; Eula and L.B. Champion, 54 years; and Gladys and Bob Maple, who were married 52 years when Bob died in 1999.\nAn eighth Estes sibling, Joe, died in 1992, by which time he and his widow, Ruth, had 48 years between them. Their marriage boosts the Estes’ matrimonial total to 439 years.\nThe couples all live in Indiana except for Douglas and Kathleen Estes, who reside in Florida.\nStephanie Coontz, a professor of history at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., said it’s unusual for so many siblings to have such long marriages.\nCoontz, who has studied marriage trends for 25 years, said many marriages that began in the 1950s ended because of the marital divisions sparked as more women entered the work force in subsequent decades. That wasn’t an issue for the Estes siblings; all the wives were homemakers.\nDavid Popenoe, a professor emeritus of sociology at Rutgers University, said religion, commitment to the marriage itself and a willingness to overlook problems are often factors in long unions.
(02/13/08 2:52am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican hopeful John McCain have filed the necessary petitions to be on Indiana’s May 6 primary ballot.\nObama’s Indiana coordinator, Kip Tew, turned in more than 6,200 signatures supporting Obama to the secretary of state’s office around noon Tuesday. The petition included at least 500 signatures from each of the state’s nine congressional districts – the necessary number to get on the ballot.\nAbout 50 Obama supporters turned out for the filing.\nAttorney General Steve Carter and state GOP chairman Murray Clark delivered the required signatures on behalf of McCain. Republican Mitt Romney already filed in Indiana, but he has since suspended his presidential campaign.\nThe deadline to file is Feb. 22.
(02/13/08 2:52am)
EVANSVILLE – A self-employed Internet contractor who runs a Web site that calls evolution a “spiritual deception” has entered the race for southwestern Indiana’s 8th Congressional District. \nPaul Abramson, 50, of Evansville, announced plans Monday to seek the Republican nomination and challenge Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth, a former Vanderburgh County sheriff who defeated John Hostettler in 2006. He joins Greg Goode in the GOP field for the state’s “Bloody 8th,” a name that reflects the district’s history of contentious races.\nAbramson said his policies are similar to Hostettler’s religious and fiscal conservatism. He said he met with Hostettler for 90 minutes in October to discuss a possible run but did not seek or receive his endorsement.\n“We have a religious heritage,” Abramson said. “It’s not freedom from religion – it’s freedom of religion.” \nAbramson is the founder and editor of www.creationism.org, which promotes “creation science.” Goode, 34, who filed papers with the secretary of state Monday, left his post as Indiana State University’s chief public and governmental affairs officer to run.\nGoode welcomed Abramson to the race.\n“It’s a terribly difficult decision to make,” Goode said. “I respect (Abramson) for the decision, and I wish him \nsafe travels.”
(02/13/08 2:50am)
INDIANAPOLIS – A former swim coach charged with child pornography possession now faces felonies tied to hidden video cameras that shot girls changing in an Indiana high school locker room.\nBrian D. Hindson, 40, has been charged with three counts of production of child pornography, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Hindson was arrested last week and charged with a felony count of possessing computer video files of child pornography.\nHis attorney, Gregg Stark, declined to comment on the case.\n“Right now, it’s unfortunately very premature as to what he’s facing and where we go from here,” Stark said.\nHindson was head coach and chief executive officer of Central Indiana Aquatics and a coach at Kokomo High School, where his swim club used the pool, according to a probable cause affidavit signed by Federal Bureau of Investigations agent Emily Odom.\nHindson has admitted to hiding video cameras in the locker rooms at Kokomo and Westfield high schools, according to court documents.\nThe latest charges stem from three videos that show girls changing in or out of bathing suits in the Kokomo locker room. One video appears to have been shot from a camera hidden in a locker, an affidavit states.\nThe other two appear to have been made by a person using a handheld camera and shooting through a door vent from an office next to the locker room. \nThe girls were not aware they were being filmed, said Steve DeBrota, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. He did not say whether they were swimmers Hindson coached.\nThe swimmers were identified after investigators showed the videos to the swimmers’ parents.\nDeBrota said investigators were still analyzing evidence.\n“We’re trying to determine the identity of any minors that are the victims of a federal crime in connection with these activities,” he said.\nHindson was charged with possessing child pornography after investigators found eight pornographic videos involving children on a hard drive in his Carmel, Ind., apartment, court documents state.
(02/07/08 5:17am)
BAINBRIDGE, Ind. – A powerful line of thunderstorms marched across Indiana, damaging homes, knocking down trees and power lines and tearing the roof off a fire station.\nBut flooding could cause the most problems throughout the state as the National Weather Service was warning Wednesday that the Wabash, Tippecanoe and other major rivers will spill over their banks.\nIn Putnam County west of Indianapolis, the storm tore the roof off a fire station in Bainbridge and destroyed its radio tower Tuesday night. Barns and mobile homes also were damaged, along with several utility trailers.\nIn Greene County, southwest of Bloomington, the sheriff’s department said roofs were blown off several houses in Bloomfield. Officers reported a large amount of debris in trees as well as downed trees and power lines. The sheriff’s department said the damage resembled that of a tornado.\nHerman L. Walters, 82, was watching television in the living room of his Bloomfield, Ind., home when two trees crashed into his house in less than five minutes.\n“One of them blew over \nand it came right through the rooftop,” he said. “Then the rain and the wind was so strong it took the roof right off. I’m just darn lucky I’m here in one piece.”\nAn 80 mph wind gust was reported in Clinton in Vermillion County. Trees and power lines were reported down in Terre Haute.\nThe National Weather Service was investigating storm damage in Putnam, Greene, Jackson and Decatur counties to see if any tornadoes touched down. No major injuries were reported.\nThe storms followed unseasonably high daytime temperatures in the 60s, and were generated by the same system that produced tornadoes that were blamed for more than 50 deaths in the South.
(02/06/08 2:06am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Oral arguments are set for next month in the appeal of a man convicted of murdering a 19-year-old IU student.\nThe three-member Indiana Court of Appeals has set the case for March 20 in Indianapolis.\nJohn Myers II was convicted in 2006 of murdering Jill Behrman, who disappeared in 2000 while cycling. Her remains were found in April 2003.\nThe appeal filed in September argues that jurors misbehaved and that pretrial publicity tainted the trial.\nIt also questions whether a forensic pathologist’s opinion that Behrman had been raped, even though there was no evidence of sexual assault, should have been admitted.\nMyers is serving a 65-\nyear sentence.
(02/06/08 2:02am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana is among a group of states considered the worst contributors to a nearly 8,000 square mile patch in the Gulf of Mexico that is inhospitable to marine life, according to research by the U.S. Geological Survey.\nAnimal manure and fertilizer flowing from Indiana and nine other states into the Mississippi River has significantly contributed to a seasonal “dead zone” – an area that is so depleted of oxygen that most aquatic life cannot survive.\nAlong with Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi were the worst contributors to the dead zone.\nThe nine states represented one–third of the 31-state Mississippi River drainage basin, but were responsible for more than 75 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorous that deplete oxygen from the Gulf, killing fish, crabs, clams and shrimp, according to the study.\nThe excessive amount of nitrogen in the Gulf was mainly caused by corn and soybean farming, and the overabundance of phosphorous was primarily caused by animal manure on pasture and rangelands, the survey said.\n“Conventional thinking has been that the pasture and rangelands don’t contribute as much as the cultivated cropland,” said Richard Alexander, a research hydrologist and lead investigator on the study. “The thinking has been that the row crops would contribute more phosphorous.”\nThe study found 37 percent of phosphorous delivered into the Gulf comes from animal manure on pasture and rangelands.\nCorn and soybean farming accounts for 52 percent of nitrogen contributions.\nIndiana was the third worst contributor of nitrogen at 10.1 percent and sixth worst contributor of phosphorous at 8.4 percent among the states in the basin. Illinois was the worst offender for contributions of both substances.\n“This is one more piece of strong evidence about the source of nutrients and about the serious action that should be taken to reduce the nutrients,” said Nancy Rabalais, who serves as executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and researches the dead zone.\nShe said regulation may be difficult because the nitrogen and phosphorous are coming from the land and atmosphere rather than from pipelines.\nBruno Pigott, an assistant commissioner with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s Office of Water, said the agency was reviewing the report but had been working on nutrient issues for years.\nHe said the sources of nutrients in groundwater were diverse, including wastewater treatment plants and lawn fertilization as well as runoff from farming and other activities.\n“We think there has to be a broad-based approach to reducing nutrients,” he said.\nMeanwhile, Pigott said Indiana Department of Environmental Management is using public funds to reduce pollutants to waterways and developing statewide criteria for nutrients.\nThe agency also has phosphorous limitations in place for wastewater treatment plants upstream of lakes, especially in the Great Lakes region, he said.
(02/01/08 2:51am)
MUNCIE — The implosion of a 190-foot smokestack emblazoned with the name Chevrolet marked the end of a chapter in the city’s automotive industry.\nThe Chevrolet plant opened in Muncie in 1935, employing 1,100 people. As many as 3,400 people worked at the plant at its peak in the late 1970s, although only 380 remained when it closed in March 2006.\nThe last remnant of the razed plant came down Thursday in front of crowds.\n“This is the last hurrah,” said Jerry Friend, the city building commissioner. “It’s too bad.”\nOver the years that plant operated as Detroit Diesel Allison Muncie Transmission Plant and New Venture Gear, a General Motors/DaimlerChrysler joint venture. Demolition of the complex has taken several months.\n“It is the end of an era,” said Mike Jones, chairman of United Auto Workers Local 499. “It’s sad to see it go, that’s for sure, but more importantly, what it represented is going away. That’s even sadder.”\nThe city’s other big auto parts maker, BorgWarner, will close its plant in early 2009. As many as 6,000 worked there in its heyday.
(01/30/08 4:46am)
LONDON – More than 40 years after it barred the iconic British band from playing there, Israel said it wants the surviving members of the Beatles to participate in a concert celebrating the country’s 60th birthday.\nBut the Israeli embassy in London denied a report that the Jewish state had apologized for its original refusal to let the Beatles perform in the country. The band had been booked to appear in 1965, but the government refused to grant the necessary permits on the ground that its music might corrupt the country’s morals.\n“Israel missed a chance to learn from the most influential musicians of the decade, and the Beatles missed an opportunity to reach out to one of the most passionate audiences in the world,” Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor said in a letter addressed to Sir Paul McCartney. “On our 60th anniversary, we would like to take the opportunity to offer you a second chance to play in Israel.”\nThe embassy said a letter was presented by Prosor to Jerry Goldman, chief executive officer of the Beatles Story museum in the north England city of Liverpool. It was also sent to Sir Paul McCartney and Richard Starkey, better known as Ringo Starr.
(01/23/08 3:25am)
INDIANAPOLIS – The wrongful death lawsuit against a former Ball State University police officer who fatally shot a student in 2003 was set to go to trial Tuesday.\nThe trial in the case against Robert Duplain will be held in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.\nMichael McKinney, 21, of Bedford, was shot four times by Duplain, who was responding to a report of a stranger pounding on the door of a house in Muncie early on Nov. 8, 2003. Tests later showed that McKinney had a blood-alcohol content of 0.34.\nThe lawsuit filed by Timothy McKinney, Michael’s father, alleges that Duplain first shot the student twice in the back and side while he was facing away from him, then ran up and shot him twice more after he turned around.\nThe defense contends that Duplain fired only after McKinney charged at him.\nJudge Richard Young has ruled that the key issues in the trial will include whether McKinney charged Duplain, whether Duplain sufficiently alerted McKinney to his presence and whether Duplain acted reasonably in shooting McKinney four times.\nThere was no telephone number for Duplain in published listings and he could not be reached for comment.
(01/23/08 3:23am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Connie Heermann was thrilled when she saw some of her 11th-grade English students reading with rapt attention for the first time when they took up a book of diary entries by students who inspired the movie “Freedom Writers.”\nShe had a problem, though: Her administrators say they didn’t approve, and they’re now trying to terminate her for insubordination.\nHeermann, who’s been suspended, is fighting for her job at Perry Meridian High School.\n“This is not about my own self-justification or my union rights or my retirement. That is not what I’m fighting for,” said Heermann, who has been a teacher for 27 years. “I want the public to know what has happened because I don’t want the students at Perry Township to continue to be disserviced.”\nThe book contains racial slurs and some sexual content. It has been taught in other schools around the country, but at least one other district, in Howell, Mich., has encountered controversy over use of the book.\nThe book’s approach encourages students to write about their experiences, to reach out to students of different backgrounds and to work toward attending college and taking active roles in their communities.\nHeermann collected parental permission slips before introducing the book, but officials for the south suburban district said Heermann never got permission from administrators.\nShe said that when she told the students to turn in the books, 19 of the 22 students in the class initially refused.\nJon Bailey, the school district’s lawyer, said not only did Heermann disobey an order from her supervisors not to teach the book, she used a book that hadn’t been through the district’s approval process.\n“Anything that gets kids to write is good, but these are kids’ journals written in some very explicit language,” Bailey said. “The core issue here is, does a school district have a right to decide its curriculum content or do individual teachers have a right to take it in whatever direction they wish?”\nPrincipal Joan Ellis made it clear to Heermann that she could not pass out the books or use them for lessons, he said.\n“It was made very clear to her not to move forward,” Bailey said.
(01/21/08 8:42am)
General Electric said Thursday it plans to close its Bloomington refrigeration plant by the fourth quarter of 2009 due to losses of about $45 million last year and an expectation of similar losses this year.\nGE “can no longer effectively compete” because of declining sales of side-by-side refrigerators and rising costs of materials and labor, plant manager Kent Suiters said in a news release.\nThe plant employs about 900 people, who were notified Thursday. GE said about 60 percent of the employees would retire with retirement and pension benefits.\n“This announcement is particularly difficult because our employees have done everything we have asked of them,” Suiters said in the release. “The hard fact is that even with investment and great effort by our employees, the plant has continued to lose money. It does not make good business sense to continue down this path.”\nThe 837 hourly employees are represented by IBEW Local 2249, which may request a 60-day bargaining period in which alternatives to the closing may be presented, according to the release.\nLocal President Bill Mitchell said he plans to open negotiations to try to save the plant, but acknowledged the union would have to be “very creative” to come up with a solution.\n“We’ll give it our best shot,” he said.
(01/09/08 5:52am)
REMINGTON, Ind. – Storms that dropped more than 5 inches of rain on parts of Indiana amid record warmth pushed rivers and streams over their banks, killing at least one person and threatening to overwhelm a dam on the Tippecanoe River.\nA man was swept into floodwaters in Remington and drowned Tuesday morning as he was trying to get out of his house after Carpenter Creek flooded, said Karen Wilson, Jasper County Emergency Management director. Remington is about 90 miles northwest of Indianapolis.\n“The waters were moving so rapidly and so deep that he just went under and didn’t come back up,” she said.\nShe said up to 150 people were evacuated around Remington and up to 30 homes were affected by water that reached waist-high levels in some places. Evacuees were sheltered in local churches.\nIn nearby White County, where the National Weather Service had issued a flood warning, county emergency management director Gordon Cochran said boats had been called out to assist in evacuating hundreds of people in Monticello, Blue Water Beach and Diamond Point, which are all about 80 miles northwest of Indianapolis.\nCarroll County Emergency Management director Dave McDowell said 200,300 homes may possibly be flooded but that many are unoccupied summer residences.\nThe weather service reported near-record flooding at the Norway and Oakdale dams just north of Monticello, a city of 5,400 people about 30 miles north of Lafayette.\nMcDowell said officials are recommending that all residents south of the Oakdale Dam leave their homes.\nThe weather service said that neither dam was expected to fail but urged residents to closely monitor the situation along the Tippecanoe River, which was forecast to rise steadily into the afternoon. White County Sheriff John Roberts confirmed that the dams are holding, although water levels were high.\n“The water, either from wind or the flood, is coming over the top of the dam, but it’s minimal,” Roberts said.\nMaster Trooper Bill Brooks said the speed of the Tippecanoe River jumped to nearly 27,000 cubic feet per second at around 9 a.m. from nearly 23,000 cubic feet per second at about 7:15 a.m.\nU.S. 24 was closed for more than 20 miles between Reynolds and Interstate 65, Brooks said. The Indiana Department of Transportation said several other highways in northwestern Indiana also will be closed until floodwaters recede.\nSome roads had washed out in White County, including Indiana 16 east of Monon, which is closed.\nPaul Dyke, youth minister at First Christian Church in Remington, said about 150 evacuees were taking shelter at the church. The American Red Cross set up shelters in Lafayette, Delphi and smaller towns along the flood path.\nLafayette city officials were preparing in case the rain continues to raise the level of the Wabash River. At noon, the weather service issued a flood warning along the Wabash from Lafayette to Terre Haute.\nThe thunderstorms that dumped the heavy rains were accompanied by record warmth across much of the eastern half of the nation that pushed Monday’s high in Indianapolis to 68, breaking the old record of 64 set in 1907.\nNear-record highs were expected again Tuesday across much of Indiana, said Joseph Nield, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Indianapolis bureau.\n“We’ve been kind of sandwiched between high pressure to the east and strong low pressure to the west that’s brought southerly and southwesterly winds,” he said.\nNield said a cold front will pass across the state overnight, bringing cooler air, although even those readings, in the upper 40s, will be unseasonably warm. January’s average highs are in the middle 30s, he said.
(01/09/08 5:50am)
CROWN POINT, Ind. – A judge has dropped charges against a Gary man who sparked a police chase in which an officer died when two patrol cars crashed.\nBernard D. Watkins, 27, was released from the Lake County Jail on Monday. He had been charged with carjacking, resisting law enforcement, auto theft and misdemeanor battery in the Aug. 12 crash that killed 28-year-old Patrolman Benjamin Wilcher.\nLake Superior Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. granted the request to drop the case on Monday. In their motion, prosecutors said they were unable to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.\nWatkins’ live-in girlfriend told investigators that he was driving her car when he became upset and began punching her, court documents said. She said he kicked her, pulled her from the car, then drove off and said he would be back “to shoot everybody up.” The woman told police that Watkins was armed.\nSoon after, officers spotted the car and tried to pull him over but the driver sped away. Patrolman Arthur Lemme said the car drove through a stop sign, after which Lemme’s cruiser collided with Wilcher’s at the city intersection.\nWilcher died at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields, Ill., several days later. Lemme suffered a broken foot and ankle and a serious arm injury, court documents said.
(01/09/08 5:46am)
MUNCIE – A homeowner foiled an armed robbery attempt at his house by grabbing the intruder’s rifle, smashing the weapon and holding the teenage suspect until police arrived.\nGarry Roberts, 54, said a teenager came to his door Sunday and asked to borrow a cup of sugar. When he returned from the kitchen, the youth had donned a ski mask and was pointing a .22 caliber rifle at Roberts, demanding money, he said.\n“If I gave him the money, I knew he would shoot me,” Roberts said.\nRoberts told authorities he placed the bowl of sugar in front of the gunman and offered him $10 out of his wallet. Then, as he continued talking, he moved close enough to grab the rifle when the teen turned away for a split second. He threw the weapon against the front door, breaking the gun, then took the suspect outside to a neighbor’s house and called police.\nDavid Anthony Alva, 17, was waived to adult court. He was being held without bond in the Delaware County Jail on Monday on preliminary charges of armed robbery, burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, pointing a firearm and residential entry.
(01/07/08 4:31am)
CHARLESTOWN, Ind. – State inmates soon could return to work as municipal firefighters, a state prison official said.\nThe program that uses the inmates to fight fires for the Charlestown Volunteer Fire Department during daytime hours was suspended last week amid concerns voiced by opponents.\nDetractors complained at a meeting that the inmates were not well supervised and had been allowed to go through residents’ homes while at fire scenes.\nRandy Koester, chief of staff for the Indiana Department of Correction, said the program has been suspended while allegations are being investigated. However, he said the investigation so far has found no wrongdoing, and the program could resume soon.\nState inmates are used across Indiana to help municipalities with garbage collection, road cleaning and other tasks, Koester said. The DOC supported the idea of using them as firefighters because it can help them develop valuable skills they can use once they leave prison.\n “We want to provide a good community service. At the same time, provide inmates with meaningful work,” Koester said.\nBut at a fire board meeting Thursday night, some residents complained about the program.\n“I really don’t feel comfortable calling 911 and having a criminal come to my home,” resident Carla Shields told the board.\nMaurice Jones, one of two firefighters who have been fired after opposing the program, said he took photographs of inmates watching television, playing pool, using computers and loafing around the fire house.\nHe said members of the fire department should have been allowed to vote on whether to allow inmates to fight fires.\nHowever, Fire Chief Lee Slaughter and the program’s coordinator, Mark Goodlett, said Jones’ allegations were unfounded and that the program has fared well.\nGoodlett, a city councilman, said the program began about a year ago. At first, inmates were used for tasks around the fire house such as cleaning fire trucks.\n“We decided to take it to the next level to see if we could use these guys to fight fires,” Goodlett said, adding that none of the firefighting inmates are sex offenders, violent criminals or arsonists.”\nHe said when the program was approved by the state, about 50 inmates were interested. The department had them take agility tests – something the regular firefighters don’t have to pass – and the top eight were selected.\n“They’ve been a tremendous help to us,” Goodlett said.\nHe said they are constantly supervised and are strip-searched when they return to the firehouse from a run.\nSlaughter said he was skeptical of the program when it was proposed.\n“It’s actually a lot better than what I thought,” he said.\nThe inmates are used during the day, when manpower is in short supply because volunteers are at their day jobs, Slaughter said.\n“What I ended up with was one heck of a fire department,” he said.
(01/07/08 4:25am)
UPLAND, Ind. – Two dozen quilts that a northern Indiana woman meticulously pieced together in the last months of her life have been donated to a group that provides handmade blankets and quilts to seriously ill infants and children.\nCarol Vore, who died of cancer at age 68 on Dec. 4, knew her time was growing short in August when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Having previously battled throat cancer, the Upland resident knew her prognosis was bleak.\nVore, who was a longtime quilter, felt a sense of urgency to get as many quilts as possible made while she still could sew, her relatives said.\nOver the last four months, her sewing machine had put in countless stitches as she pieced together colorful squares of flannel, cotton and fleece.\nWhile making them, she read on the Internet about Project \nLinus, a nonprofit group that provides handmade blankets and quilts to seriously ill, grieving or traumatized infants and children.\nVore decided to devote the rest of her days to making quilts for Project Linus.\nAnd the sicker she became, the more intensely she worked to complete more quilts, said her son, Steve Vore, who also lives in the Upland area.\n“She went crazy making quilts,” said Steve Vore, whose wife, Cheryl, and his sisters –even the grandchildren – also caught the Project Linus bug from Carol Vore.\nNow, the legacy of her last months will be wrapped around young sick children facing surgery, enduring chemotherapy or recovering from a major trauma in their lives.\nOn Friday, the Vores delivered 16 quilts to Project Linus’ Fort Wayne office. Another eight are on their way as soon as some finishing touches are made.\n“Her only regret is that she did not feel well enough the last month to complete more quilts,” Steve Vore said, adding that he plans to donate stacks of her fabric pieces.\nAt Thanksgiving, the Vores realized that, although she had always made quilts for others, she’d never made one for herself.\nSo the children and grandchildren secretly put together a special quilt – a soft green one – for their mother and grandmother.\nThat quilt was to be a Christmas gift, but Carol Vore’s health was rapidly declining and they gave it to her early.\n“It brought her a lot of comfort the last few days,” Cheryl Vore said of the quilt.\nAfter his mother’s death, Steve Vore sent an e-mail to Peggy Albertson, chapter coordinator of Project Linus in Fort Wayne, offering his mother’s quilts.\n“I’ve never received such a letter,” said Albertson, who remembers the emotions she felt when reading of Carol Vore’s love of quilting for others. “I know how much the blankets mean to these children, but they will never know the story behind them.”\nIn 2007, the Fort Wayne chapter of Project Linus delivered 11,761 quilts to northeast Indiana children. In 2008 and beyond, Carol Vore’s legacy will wrap love and care around scores of other youngsters.\n“How very honored we are,” Albertson said, “that she chose Project Linus for a project she poured so much of her heart into.”
(12/29/07 10:01am)
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of a woman who was sentenced to eight years in prison in the 2004 dragging death of a Bloomington man.\nThe court ruled that 30-year-old Misty Evans'' attorney should have objected to improper instructions given to the jury.\nThe appeals court''s ruling does not prevent Evans from being tried again, and the prosecutor could ask the state Supreme Court to consider the decision. The Associated Press left a message seeking comment with the prosecutor''s office.\nProsecutors say Evans had been drinking before she hit 21-year-old Jesse Reuben Jacobs with her car and dragged him to death. Evans says she wasn''t drinking and that she thought she had hit a deer. She says she didn''t see Jacobs'' body under her car when she stopped to look for the animal.\nJury instructions at her trial told jurors to determine whether there was an accident that caused Jacobs'' death, and that Evans failed to remain on the scene. But the appeals court says the jury should have also considered whether Evans knew the accident hurt a person.\n"Had the jury been properly instructed, it would have been required to find that the state proved not only Evans''s knowledge of an accident, but also her knowledge, actual or imputed, that the accident resulted in injury to a person in order to convict her of leaving the scene of an accident," the court wrote in its decision. "Because of the faulty instruction, however, the jury may not have properly assessed the credibility of Evans'' defense."\nThe appeals judges said they believe there is a "reasonable probability" the jury''s verdict could have been different had Evans'' lawyer, Ron Chapman, objected to the instructions and sought directions that included all the guidelines.\nChapman said Friday he has no qualms with the appeals court finding he made a mistake.\n"Anything that will get a conviction overturned is OK with me," he said. "I''m very pleased for her. Justice has finally prevailed."\nChapman said he hoped Evans would soon be released from prison. The Indiana Department of Correction Web site lists Evans as being housed in the Madison Correctional Facility.
