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(07/28/05 4:26am)
Poetry is found within town on local bookstore shelves and poets are often spotted stumbling across Kirkwood Avenue spewing words that otherwise possess no meaning. Frustrated with their perceived community lack of poetry appreciation, a local group decided to take its prose to the city streets. \nDrunk and Unpublished, "an unofficial poetry organization," conducted their second session of guerilla poetry Monday night. Their target audience: Wal-Mart patrons. \nBloomington poet Ian U. Girdley, co-founder of Drunk and Unpublished, said the guerilla poetry troop performed its first uninvited poetry reading in College Mall located on the city's eastside a few weeks ago. He said few Hoosiers were grazing through the mall as the show opened at 6 p.m. on an otherwise random Wednesday.\n"It is our goal to get poetry out to the people who usually don't hear it read -- those who usually aren't around it," Girdley said. "It's fun and we hope to shock people and make them think."\nBloomington poet Dennis Ray Powell Jr., co-founder of Drunk and Unpublished, said good poetry topples boundaries and shakes people out of their socialized stupor. He said his poetry troop is recruiting community poets who are unpublished and willing to share their thoughts, feelings and dreams with their Hoosier neighbors.\n"I don't know if I'm a good poet. Even when people tell you are good, you still don't really believe it," Powell said. "It's like kissing -- a person will tell you you're a good kisser while you're kissing them but there is never any way to tell."\nTen minutes after the scheduled 6 p.m. guerilla poetry reading rendezvous at 6 p.m. Monday at Wal-Mart, Girdley and Powell were the only two local poets who braved the blistering 115 degree heat index air. Both poets arrived via a Bloomington Transit bus.\nUpon entering the mega-superstore, Girdley and Powell gathered next to the retailer's sliding exit doors, about three hops across from Wal-Mart security personnel. Powell wedged himself between two patrons after standing on a bench next to the 50 cent toy machines, and Girdley recited two poems before turning the improv open mic to his Hoosier comrade. \nThe Wal-Mart security guard sipped Dixie cup shots of water as the Drunk and Unpublished duo spat word bombs like sex, soda pop, shiny rocks, sweet curses and bikini bottoms. Few patrons skipped a beat as they paraded through the manual one-way exit door with piles of plastic from toe to frown.\n"Can I help you guys with something," a Wal-Mart manager said as he waved his hand toward an audience member's camera. "No pictures in here ... Are you guys going to buy something?"\n"We are reading poetry to each other," Girdley said. "Have you received any complaints?"\n"Yes, from at least one person. You guys need to keep it down," the manager said.\nDeciding to take the path of least resistance, Girdley and Powell decided to exit the premises and abort the guerilla poetry reading for a better time and place on an a different day. \nBloomington resident and Wal-Mart patron Parul Kaushik said she listened to a couple of the poems while she sat on the bench Powell was standing upon. She said she witnessed many poetry readings while she lived in India, although she said they were never "random."\n"One of the poems I heard was something about a romantic relationship between a boy and a girl," she said. "Poetry makes me realize how life is beautiful. Poets, they don't see things as they are in the literal sense. They give their own perspective, new meaning to things we wouldn't be able to see otherwise. "\nGirdley said he would have preferred to read more poems but he didn't want "to push it" because the Wal-Mart manager asked them to keep it quiet. He murmured something about needing a cold drink on a hot day because all guerilla poetry readings are conducted in a peaceful and sober manner under strict sober conditions.\nPowell said the Wal-Mart door greeter seemed to enjoy their prose. \n"Ian likes to keep it peaceful and that's cool, but I think we need to push it further," Powell said. "The good thing now is we can go to Kirkwood Avenue and read poetry on the street. Kirkwood is where a poet goes when you get kicked out of other places"
(07/28/05 4:00am)
Folklorist Joseph Campbell once said that God is the experience of looking at a tree and saying, 'ah!' \nIf that declaration involves some semblance of truth, the City of Bloomington offers residents and guests the opportunity to communicate with Mother Nature along every street within town.\nBloomington received the label "Tree City USA" from the National Arbor Day Foundation in 1984, the first Hoosier city recognized as such throughout Indiana. Nashville and Indianapolis penned their names to the short list four years later, and more than 50 other Hoosier cities from South Bend to Evansville were crowned a tree city since that time.\n"Being named a 'Tree City USA' city is important for Bloomington from the standpoint that it kind of separates the men from the boys, so to speak, in terms of quality tree programs," said Lee Huff, urban forester for the City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department. "Bloomington utilizes the recognition in terms of eligibility for certain state grant money. We use those funds for everything -- from the planting of trees to educational grants to the training of employees to public education efforts."\nHuff said a city must abide by four requirements to receive the designation "Tree City USA:" legislate a citywide "tree ordinance," establish a "tree board/commission," appropriate $2 per resident for tree care and maintenance and host an Arbor Day program. Each tree city must renew their title each year, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources oversees the tree city program for the state.\nMore than 93 million Americans -- about one out of three -- live in a "Tree City USA" community that supports forestry programs for their residents, according to the Arbor Day foundation.\nHuff, a town resident since 1983, said most local Hoosiers, a lot of local businesses and some city governmental bodies have always supported a citywide Bloomington urban forest engulfing the picturesque IU campus. \n"The city has always been a tree-loving town. Look along the city streets. Look in peoples yards and on private property. People plant a lot of trees in this town," he said. "There are about 18,000 city street trees -- we remove 120 to 150 trees and we replant between 300-600 trees a year."\nTREE LOVE\nBloomington's manicured urban forest is more than one century in the making, although much of Southern Indiana was smothered by a tree canopy as far as the eye could see before significant westward American expansion. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, about 20 percent of Indiana was forested at the conclusion of the 21st century -- 4.5 million forest acres out of 23 million acres of Hoosier heartland. \n"The quintessential tree planted during the turn of the 20th Century across the country was the American elm. It was a highly popular street tree but a monoculture species," Huff said. "Dutch elm disease pretty much wiped out all of Bloomington's city trees during the 1950s and 1960s. We still don't have a large percentage of street oaks, maples or ash trees because insect or disease can wipe them out completely."\nMore than 85 different types of trees thrive in the Hoosier heartland today, according to the Forest Service Monroe County, in particular, is home to an abundant population of sugar and red maples, white and black oaks, yellow poplars and sassafras trees.\n"If you fly over Southern Indiana and look out the window you will see that trees are the dominant form of life. Trees help provide the Earth's oxygen in the air we breath and the water we drink … Students should ask themselves, 'would I even be here if it wasn't for the trees?" said IU biologist Keith Clay, who is also director of the IU Nature Preserve. \n"Trees are aesthetically pleasing to humans, they provide food and shelter, their roots bind the soil against erosion and their leaves provide shade on hot days … A lot of the history, tradition and ambiance of IU is due to the fact that with a 10 minute bike or car ride you can be out in nature at Lake Griffey, the Hoosier National Forest, Yellowwood State Forest -- a lot of different places."\nTREE CITY USA\nFew areas of Indiana forestland claim trees more than one century old, despite the 100- to 150-year lifespan of most Indiana hardwood trees like black oaks and chestnut oak trees. According to the Forest Service, pine trees were planted throughout the heartland from the 1930s to the 1960s in an effort to stabilize soil depleted by poor farming practices.\nBloomington resident Don Adamson, four-decade owner of Bloomington Valley Nursery, said the city's forest canopy could benefit from the addition of more nonnative trees because modern landscaping trends speak to increased property value and cultural aesthetic instead of practical necessities like timber or shade.\n"Trees make a lot of difference to the people in Bloomington. I like shade myself," he said. "I like to use a variety of trees to get different colors: white, pink and red flowers in the spring, bright red or purple leaves during the summer, yellow to gold to orange/red leaves during the fall … More than atmosphere is creating different views that are attractive -- the view from outside looking at a person's house and the view of being inside and looking out."\nBesides removing carbon dioxide from the air, producing oxygen and providing food or shelter for various woodland creatures, trees around the home can increase property values up to an estimated 15 to 20 percent. According to the NADF, street trees help shade city concrete and shade trees planted next to a building can reduce cooling costs between 15 and 35 percent. \nBloomington Urban Forester Lee Huff said he selects trees based on two primary factors because "one tree doesn't fit every need." He said it wouldn't be fair for the city to plant a tree near a power line, and he always keeps an eye open for particular tree species that are classified as "survivors" like certain maples, ash and oak trees.\nHuff said about 20 city trees are destroyed, damaged or maimed each year, with strewn limbs found along the neighborhood paths leading from many Bloomington bars and taverns.\n"We do some fertilization and tree maintenance in city parks and downtown areas, but a lack of resources to get into the local neighborhoods to fertilize, trim and prune is Bloomington's weakest (Tree City USA) link," he said. "We have plans for the most diverse urban forest ever undertaken. You can see a number of different species but we are not done with it yet. The city's canopy coverage footprint is at 52 percent. We are trying to get about 60 percent of the city covered by trees -- the biggest threat to an urban forest is man"
(07/28/05 3:51am)
After sweating through a week-long heat wave that vibrated through most of the nation, several local businesses remained unaffected while others received minimal financial damage.\nBloomington temperatures peaked around 115 degrees Fahrenheit Monday, according to various heat index scales, causing some Bloomington residents to seek air conditioned shelters throughout most of the last seven to ten days. Unlike the visible financial destruction of a community committed by hurricane waters, tornado air, hail ice or flash floods, heat waves often prevent patrons from perusing the wares found within local merchants throughout town.\n"We haven't had the patio opened for about one week. During the middle of the day there has been no one out there and our servers would stay here for three or four hours with no tables. We finally closed the outside down because of no business," said Ashleigh Warner, promotions manager at Scotty's Brewhouse, 302 N. Walnut St. \n"The heat has given us more business inside, although during the summer a lot of our customers like to eat outside. I noticed a sales slump this weekend -- the heat was so intense a lot of people didn't want to go out on Friday and Saturday night. There weren't very many people out on the streets."\nBloomington resident Jim Cushing, three-decade manager of the Discount Den, 514 E. Kirkwood Ave., said he believed Hoosiers were hiding out in the air conditioned mall or the library instead of walking up a sweat along fifth street, Bloomington's number one foot-traffic hotspot.\n"We have sold less fifty-cent fountain drinks and more water, but business has been pretty much the same," he said. "My idea of perfect weather is the same as San Diego -- sunny and 82 degrees. We will have single serve ice cream next week: ice cream sandwiches, drumsticks and popsicles."\nBloomington resident Tosha Daugherty, communications director for the Bloomington Convention and Visitor Bureau at 2855 N. Walnut St., said Bloomington can still be enjoyable despite day long waves of intense heat. \n"We do have the state's largest lake in Lake Monroe, which is always a big draw in hot weather for swimming or on boats. We also have a lot of air conditioned attractions like the tasting rooms in local wineries," she said. "We have lots of great ice cream shops and local restaurants serve hot day food like the fabulous salad bar and cold sandwich selection at the Encore Café. Any downtown restaurant is also great anytime of the year and the city has an array of ethnic options."\nBloomington resident Leslie Allen, a camp store attendant at the Lake Monroe Boat Rental shop, said hot days are a good time to rent a watercraft to tour the manmade waterway. She said the heat hasn't affected lake business for the better or worse since an otherwise fun time can be enjoyed by all in lake water during most months of the year.\n"Lake Monroe is fun when it's hot -- you want to swim more and it's better swimming. The lake is beautiful and it's fun," she said. "Make sure you take plenty to drink on the boat. Anything you would do outside, make sure you drink plenty of water and sun block is always a good idea ... There's plenty of space out here and the water is clean. If you were in a pool you would be kind of confined -- in a boat you can go anywhere"
(07/28/05 3:47am)
Before melting underneath the glaring heat and suffocating humidity of the city's recent weeklong sweat fest, some residents and guests slurped and licked their way to cooler body temperatures despite oppressive heat waves.\nScreaming for ice cream and dreaming of homemade frozen treats, Bloomington offers ice cream addicts, fanatics and dabblers alike various shops and stands to freeze their brains during swampy-desert-like outdoor conditions. From the traditional vanilla wrapped in a homemade waffle cone to fresh strawberry chunks blended into soft-serve mixed with bananas, city ice cream vendors are treating the community to cold-hearted ways to cope with an otherwise boiling globe.\n"I'm used to summertime business and I know what to expect. I hope for hot weather, although the perfect weather for ice cream is 70 to 80 degrees," said Bloomington resident Tim May, two-decade owner of the Chocolate Moose ice cream stand, at 401 S. Walnut Ave. "People don't mind waiting in an outside line if it is seventy-five degrees with a nice breeze. If it's ninety-five degrees with a hot black top, people don't want to wait in the heat."\nMay also sells bags and blocks of ice to patrons from freezers located his ice cream stand. He said his ice business boomed during the weeklong national heat wave that scorched Hoosier brows.\n"I sell a lot more ice through the window -- instead of buying one bag they buy three," May said. Ice cream is a fun food and it makes people happy no matter what their mood. If you don't eat it fast enough it can make your hands sticky. Anything that can help cool your body temperature down a little bit on a hot day is good."\nBloomington resident Marcia Stewart, owner of Bruster's Ice Cream, 4531 E. Third St., said the weather has seemed "almost too hot" to appreciate the beauty of homemade ice cream. Similar to the Chocolate Moose's lack of indoor seating, she said her business has suffered from extreme humidity and sweltering heat because people have difficulty coping with charred concrete and minimal shade opportunities.\n"Ice cream is fun to play with -- I get to make waffle cones. They make my clothes and hair smell. Husbands and babies like me and so does my dog. He likes to clean off my shoes when I get home," Stewart said. "Ice cream cools you down, fills you up and gives you some extra energy -- it will make you feel comforted. Don't eat too fast or you get brain freeze, a painful sensation between your eyes. If that happens slow down, wait a few seconds and the feeling will dissipate."\nShe said an estimated 50 slurps is all that is needed to consume a milk shake from her stand. Stewart said an "interesting" but "really good" milkshake combination is a root beer float mixed with malt. \nIU senior Tessa Sturgeon, shift leader at Cold Stone Creamery, 530 E. Kirkwood Ave., said ice cream sales have melted away during midday throughout the weeklong heat wave but creamy scoops of flavored ice goo flew through the doors from 3 p.m. to close. She estimates 15 licks is all it takes to get to the bottom of a small ice cream cone from her shop.\n"I have noticed that people are staying inside to eat their ice cream. We have a couple of tables outside and people normally go outside to eat it," Sturgeon said. "Our ice cream is really hard and it melts pretty quickly unless you put in a lid on it. In a cone, I suggest eating inside unless you eat the ice cream really fast. A lot of people have been getting bottled water and asking for fruit in their ice cream like strawberries and raspberries."\nShe said her one wish involving ice cream is for more "non-fattening" varieties so a person could "eat it all the time and there would be no consequences"
(07/27/05 9:48pm)
Folklorist Joseph Campbell once said that God is the experience of looking at a tree and saying, 'ah!' \nIf that declaration involves some semblance of truth, the City of Bloomington offers residents and guests the opportunity to communicate with Mother Nature along every street within town.\nBloomington received the label "Tree City USA" from the National Arbor Day Foundation in 1984, the first Hoosier city recognized as such throughout Indiana. Nashville and Indianapolis penned their names to the short list four years later, and more than 50 other Hoosier cities from South Bend to Evansville were crowned a tree city since that time.\n"Being named a 'Tree City USA' city is important for Bloomington from the standpoint that it kind of separates the men from the boys, so to speak, in terms of quality tree programs," said Lee Huff, urban forester for the City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department. "Bloomington utilizes the recognition in terms of eligibility for certain state grant money. We use those funds for everything -- from the planting of trees to educational grants to the training of employees to public education efforts."\nHuff said a city must abide by four requirements to receive the designation "Tree City USA:" legislate a citywide "tree ordinance," establish a "tree board/commission," appropriate $2 per resident for tree care and maintenance and host an Arbor Day program. Each tree city must renew their title each year, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources oversees the tree city program for the state.\nMore than 93 million Americans -- about one out of three -- live in a "Tree City USA" community that supports forestry programs for their residents, according to the Arbor Day foundation.\nHuff, a town resident since 1983, said most local Hoosiers, a lot of local businesses and some city governmental bodies have always supported a citywide Bloomington urban forest engulfing the picturesque IU campus. \n"The city has always been a tree-loving town. Look along the city streets. Look in peoples yards and on private property. People plant a lot of trees in this town," he said. "There are about 18,000 city street trees -- we remove 120 to 150 trees and we replant between 300-600 trees a year."\nTREE LOVE\nBloomington's manicured urban forest is more than one century in the making, although much of Southern Indiana was smothered by a tree canopy as far as the eye could see before significant westward American expansion. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, about 20 percent of Indiana was forested at the conclusion of the 21st century -- 4.5 million forest acres out of 23 million acres of Hoosier heartland. \n"The quintessential tree planted during the turn of the 20th Century across the country was the American elm. It was a highly popular street tree but a monoculture species," Huff said. "Dutch elm disease pretty much wiped out all of Bloomington's city trees during the 1950s and 1960s. We still don't have a large percentage of street oaks, maples or ash trees because insect or disease can wipe them out completely."\nMore than 85 different types of trees thrive in the Hoosier heartland today, according to the Forest Service Monroe County, in particular, is home to an abundant population of sugar and red maples, white and black oaks, yellow poplars and sassafras trees.\n"If you fly over Southern Indiana and look out the window you will see that trees are the dominant form of life. Trees help provide the Earth's oxygen in the air we breath and the water we drink … Students should ask themselves, 'would I even be here if it wasn't for the trees?" said IU biologist Keith Clay, who is also director of the IU Nature Preserve. \n"Trees are aesthetically pleasing to humans, they provide food and shelter, their roots bind the soil against erosion and their leaves provide shade on hot days … A lot of the history, tradition and ambiance of IU is due to the fact that with a 10 minute bike or car ride you can be out in nature at Lake Griffey, the Hoosier National Forest, Yellowwood State Forest -- a lot of different places."\nTREE CITY USA\nFew areas of Indiana forestland claim trees more than one century old, despite the 100- to 150-year lifespan of most Indiana hardwood trees like black oaks and chestnut oak trees. According to the Forest Service, pine trees were planted throughout the heartland from the 1930s to the 1960s in an effort to stabilize soil depleted by poor farming practices.\nBloomington resident Don Adamson, four-decade owner of Bloomington Valley Nursery, said the city's forest canopy could benefit from the addition of more nonnative trees because modern landscaping trends speak to increased property value and cultural aesthetic instead of practical necessities like timber or shade.\n"Trees make a lot of difference to the people in Bloomington. I like shade myself," he said. "I like to use a variety of trees to get different colors: white, pink and red flowers in the spring, bright red or purple leaves during the summer, yellow to gold to orange/red leaves during the fall … More than atmosphere is creating different views that are attractive -- the view from outside looking at a person's house and the view of being inside and looking out."\nBesides removing carbon dioxide from the air, producing oxygen and providing food or shelter for various woodland creatures, trees around the home can increase property values up to an estimated 15 to 20 percent. According to the NADF, street trees help shade city concrete and shade trees planted next to a building can reduce cooling costs between 15 and 35 percent. \nBloomington Urban Forester Lee Huff said he selects trees based on two primary factors because "one tree doesn't fit every need." He said it wouldn't be fair for the city to plant a tree near a power line, and he always keeps an eye open for particular tree species that are classified as "survivors" like certain maples, ash and oak trees.\nHuff said about 20 city trees are destroyed, damaged or maimed each year, with strewn limbs found along the neighborhood paths leading from many Bloomington bars and taverns.\n"We do some fertilization and tree maintenance in city parks and downtown areas, but a lack of resources to get into the local neighborhoods to fertilize, trim and prune is Bloomington's weakest (Tree City USA) link," he said. "We have plans for the most diverse urban forest ever undertaken. You can see a number of different species but we are not done with it yet. The city's canopy coverage footprint is at 52 percent. We are trying to get about 60 percent of the city covered by trees -- the biggest threat to an urban forest is man"
(07/25/05 2:22am)
The charred remains of broken dreams were bulldozed Friday to conclude yet another chapter in the death of three IU students from a house fire more than a year ago.\nSeven-hundred and nineteen North Indiana Avenue, the scene of an unresolved May 22, 2004 electrical fire, was demolished fourteen months to-the-day after sophomore Nicolas Habicht, and juniors Joseph Alexander and Jacob Surface perished from carbon monoxide poisoning after a small early morning blaze erupted in their living room. Junior Paul Dayment survived after he was transferred by Lifeline helicopter with Habicht to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.\n"Tell your mom and dad, your kids, you love them everyday because you don't know if you'll get to see them again," said Nicholas' father Marv, who traveled to his son's last resting place for the third time since the fire. "It's hard enough to let them go away to college. As a parent you just don't think your kid is going to die in a house fire. It never crossed my mind -- you expect a car accident, drugs or a shooting ... Nic called every week to keep us informed about what he was doing."\nMarv recalled placing a rose in the house's front door screen Thursday night. After the porch collapsed Friday, he said the crane operator noticed the rose laying on the front steps and both men took a moment to breathe a sigh of peace and remembrance. He pried the number "719" from the house as a keepsake for his memory book and he ripped off several spindles off the front porch before the \nscheduled demolition to share with other family members and friends.\n"One minute you're happy and the next you're sad ... I remember going through each room at a time and I thought about the boys -- there were Twinkies and Hi-C drink in the fridge, mirrors on the walls and the beds where they put their heads," Marv said. "Writing on the wall in Nic's room from his friends said he was a 'hero' and they loved all the boys. They all died in 10-foot by 10-foot rooms."\nFire investigators have yet to announce the origin of the fire, although a faulty Xbox cord has been implicated as the number one suspect in the students' deaths. The BFD issued a warning to students about the potential fire hazard associated with prolonged Xbox use this past winter and Microsoft, the gaming device manufacturer, issued a recall for all non-continental European-made Xbox power cords in mid-February manufactured on or before Oct. 23, 2003. \nMarv said the most difficult memory brought to mind during Friday's demolition was hearing Nic referred to by the name "Arizona" before he arrived in Indianapolis for treatment because his identity was not yet verified until that time. He said the deceased student's families would prefer 719 N. Indiana Ave. develop into a basketball court or a public park of some kind because the boys enjoyed playing sports.\n"We don't want another house to go up without a monument or a marker to remember what happened there," Marv said. "We as parents just don't want our the boys forgotten -- in two or three years people in Bloomington won't remember that much and that is \ndifficult."\nHe said the property owners told him they plan on transforming the burnt-down property into a grass lot until further notice. Stasny & Horn, owners of the demolished house and the land beneath it, were unavailable for comment at press time.\nThe students' families are hosting a golf tournament Aug. 20 to raise money for various community organizations like the Bloomington Fire Department. For more information call 317-888-9036.\nMarv said all student housing should contain both smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to avoid future fire-related premature and unnecessary deaths. \n"It's a very lonely time right now. It seems like the fire just happened," Marv said. "Everyone gets to move on but we have hit a brick wall ... There has been no finality ... The house should become a park where people can meet to be a family, to take time to share memories, and to say 'I love you.' We don't get to do that"
(07/25/05 2:22am)
If you can't take the heat, stay out of Bloomington this week.\nMonroe County Hoosiers, like many others in the mid-to-southern regions of the state, are experiencing a National Weather Service "excessive heat warning" until 7 p.m. today. The temperature within Bloomington is expected to register in the mid-90s this afternoon as the heat index rises above 110 degrees. Similar to the yolk of a chicken egg frying on a sidewalk manhole cover beneath the solar glare of about 10,000 degrees, campus community members have baked in the sweat of a week-long heat wave blistering the nation from coast to coast. \n"An Indiana summer is usually this humid but it's never really this hot for this long," said IU senior John Vujovich. "I love the heat but I hate the humidity -- the feeling of waking up and taking a shower, but when you walk outside you don't feel like you've showered ... The sweat from walking one block to school to study is like running half-a-mile." \nBloomington temperatures hovered around 90 degrees Monday through Sunday, and the heat index registered above 100 degrees nearly every afternoon last week. According to the National Weather Service, the heat index is the temperature a human body feels when heat and humidity are combined.\nOlder persons, children and people with certain medical conditions like heart disease are at greatest risk for heat exposure. According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 9,000 Americans died from heat exposure from 1979 to 2002 -- more than hurricanes, lighting, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes combined. \nSenior Matthew Martellaro, an employee of the Indiana Memorial Union's Sugar & Spice, said many students have flocked to his food service stand during the state's most recent heat wave to guzzle buckets of iced coffee and slurp tubs of Creamice frosted beverage. He said year-round sales of Special K Chewey, Chocolate Chunk and No Bake cookies are not affected by the temperature as much as sugary and caffeinated drinks.\n"Students should drink plenty of fluids and water is the best thing out there," he said with no visible sweat beads dripping down his brow due to his air-conditioned work environment. "You can try to avoid the humidity but you can't ... Students can go to the pool to cool off or they can go to someone's house if that person has a pool."\nAlcohol consumption, strenuous outdoor physical activities and perspiration inhibiting medications also increases the risk for hot-weather related injuries, according to the CDC. Air conditioning is the number one protective factor against heat-related illness and death, and lightweight, light-colored and loose-fitting clothing can reduce a person's body temperature if activity must occur outdoors during the day.\nValparaiso resident and junior Sean Ripley said he is combating the heat with increased air conditioning use within his campus home. He said the Canadian air rushing off of Lake Michigan provides his hometown with more of a breeze and wind than Bloomington during hotter summer months, which makes the 100-plus temperature days seem more bearable. \n"It feels like you're swimming when you walk around outside. The second you step outside, whether or not you have bathed, you feel disgusting," Ripley said. "The heat makes you feel tired and the humidity might make it seem like you aren't getting enough done. You have to fight through it ... When I get to work I have been sweating a bit and it takes me a few minutes to feel normal."\nAbout 20,000 Americans died from the effects of heat and solar radiation between 1936 and 1975, according to the NWS, including 1,250 people during the 1980 heat wave. More than 20 Americans died from the recent heat wave in Las Vegas, and authorities are investigating dozens of other possible heat-related deaths across the country as of press time.\nBesides the infamous sunburn and murmurs of heat cramps, heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke and immediate medical attention may be necessary if a person continues to vomit after prolonged heat exposure or if her or his internal body temperature rises above 106 degrees.\nVujovich said he recommends students still "do what they want to do" but to postpone most outdoor activities until after a 6 p.m. dinnertime if possible to avoid potential negative heat-related heath consequences. He said his friends have continued to toss Frisbees around and hit baseballs in batting cages despite the sweltering summer weather.\n"I've been exercising, running, at 10 p.m. at night to avoid the heat and the weight room in the HPER has been ridiculously hot," Vujovich said. "You can always get out of the heat, but if there is one thing I could do without it would be the humidity"
(07/22/05 6:49pm)
The City of Bloomington has instituted a smoking ban in most public facilities in an effort to help keep the community healthy and smoke-free. Some Monroe County businesses, as a result, fear their profits might be extinguished in smoke-free indoor air.\nAccording to city ordinance 03-06, passed by the common council March 27, 2003, the right to breathe smoke-free air in enforced public smoke-free environments has been granted to every Bloomington student, resident and guest beginning Jan. 1. As the fine print states, smokers are not allowed to ignite, puff or palm tobacco inhalers of any kind in any bar, business, place of employment, private club, enclosed public place or restaurant. \nIn addition, businesses must remove all ashtrays and post smoke-free environment signs at all entrances. The ordinance also encourages smokers to remain a "reasonable distance," presumably more than 30 feet, from entrances, exits and ventilation systems from the same establishments. Both the bar owner and bar patron can be fined more than $100 for the first several offenses, although stiffer penalties and fines will accompany repeat offenders. \nJoey Sowder, owner of the Cabin Restaurant and Lounge, 4015 South State Road 446, said he read about the Bloomington and Monroe County smoking bans in the newspaper. He said representatives from her tavern contacted the City Council to discuss a petition signed by more than 100 of his customers against the smoking ban, but their collective opinion was never received by the members of the city board. \n"There is supposed to be no smoking in here; I'm not happy about it," Sowder said. "I'd like what they (did) for the president. (The smoking ban) should have been on the ballot; we should have voted for it. Instead, three people made a rule and everybody has to live by it."\nGregg Rago, one of Nick's English Hut's general managers and a self-avowed "Bloomington kind of person," said the city has been historically conscious of human rights and freedoms. He said his employees have voluntarily participated in a smoke-free workplace since Sept. 1.\n"After a test or a hard day, it's human nature to go out and kick back -- have a cigar or cigarette socially, feel it's alright to have a drink and a smoke," Rago said. "Which is great, but we all need to cooperate with the city on this smoking ban. ... There are a lot of students from out of town who aren't really aware -- we have to inform them of the smoking ban in a friendly manner -- you can't smoke. It's not our rule; it's the city's rule. "\nNeither excise nor BPD will enforce the ordinance. Concerned citizens, vigilant within the smoke-free scene, are encouraged to report smoking ban violations by calling 349-3850, emailing smokefree@city.bloomington.in.gov or mailing a letter to Smoke--Free, P.O. Box 100, Bloomington, IN., 47402. State the location, the nature and the date of the violation. If reporting violators through email, type "compliance violation" in the subject heading. \nSowder said several customers have already declared their distaste for the smoking ban by refusing the Cabin's food, beverage, and lodging services. He said he believes the smoking ban will ultimately hurt business in the short run, which might ruin her business in the long run.\n"People just walk out," Sowder said. "They done showed up and find out they can't smoke. Our traffic is the lake business, and when you go to your regulars and tell them that you can't smoke, that ain't good because we don't have that many regulars in the wintertime. If you pay for a liquor license ... (the city council) shouldn't hurt your business. I'm sure there are people here who would like to smoke but can't."\nRago said Nick's management, along with other bar owners on Kirkwood Avenue, are also concerned with losing customer revenue since bar owners and tavern personnel are primarily responsible for policing the smoking ban in and out of their businesses.\n"The biggest issue is where people are going smoke outside our doors," Rago said. "The current city 30-foot smoking ban radius in front of our business's doors takes smokers out into the street in order to comply with city ordinances. We don't want to police our customers." \nAlly Griffith, a bartender and server at Scotty's Brewhouse, said her restaurant and bar has been smoke-free since it opened in 2001. \n"I'd say a lot of people come here because of the fact they consider us to be a family environment," Griffith said. \nSowder said he is going to allow patrons to smoke at the Cabin until they get penalized, despite the $100 fine levied by the city and threats of repealing liquor licenses for businesses acting as repeat smoking ban violators.\n"We have cabins out back (customers) can rent and smoke in," Sowder said. "I'm sorry for all those who can't smoke; we'd like you to. I think if you are paying taxes, and in your own place, you should be able to do what you please."\n-- Contact City & State Editor David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.
(07/14/05 3:04am)
Step aside alcohol, tobacco and marijuana -- methamphetamine abuse has emerged as the nation's leading drug problem.\nAlthough the White House reiterated its stance last month that marijuana remains the nation's most substantial narcotic threat, the National Association of Counties declared July 5 that the manufacturing, trafficking and abuse of "meth" is the most serious drug problem within communities of at least 45 states after they conducted a survey of 500 sheriff's departments. Meth-related arrests have packed American jails and swamped other county-level agencies that deal with children and toxics from meth environments.\nWhile most in law enforcement recognize marijuana as a problem, those costs are far outweighed by those from jailing inmates on meth charges, cleaning up makeshift labs and caring for children left behind when addicted parents are sent to prison or treatment, Vigo County, Ind., Sheriff Jon Marvel said.\nMeth is infecting the Midwest at a higher rate than other regions throughout the U.S. -- Missouri law enforcement officers seized a national high of more than 2,700 meth labs in 2004. Indiana is among 17 states that reported a doubling of meth arrests during the last five years, and five other states have witnessed severe three year increases.\n"It ain't just in Kansas anymore," Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) said. "The whole country is screaming. The entire nation is yelling. At what point does Washington respond?"
(07/14/05 2:58am)
Although some Americans feared their fate at the hands of Hurricane Dennis, tropical storm rains have brought praises of thanks from some members of the IU community.\nWhile some national neighbors barricaded their houses or vacated their Gulf of Mexico neighborhoods from the fourth named hurricane of the summer season, some Hoosiers have danced through the tropical mist. Hurricane Dennis ravished communities beginning Sunday along the Gulf of Mexico, destroying condominiums, retirement villages, nudist colonies, vacations homes and many American dreams. \n"The rain is nice -- it's like coastal rain. I've been staying inside and working mostly. It seems like we haven't had much rain in Bloomington lately," said town resident Brad Carter, while waiting within IU Dunn's Woods for Nala, his husky-shepherd mix, to retrieve a thrown stick. \n"When it rains here you usually don't go outside because it is a torrential downpour for maybe 15 minutes. It rains so hard it's difficult to make it from the car into the house without getting wet. The rain this week is kind of misty -- it sometimes can spit for hours and hours."\nHurricane winds, torrential downpours and tornado-producing storm clouds formed a tropical storm that destroyed property, uprooted trees and flooded southern towns throughout neighborhoods in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and the Florida panhandle. Weaving northeast through Kentucky and Tennessee toward southern Illinois and Indiana, the storm that was once Hurricane Dennis has provided the campus and town a few drops of much needed rain during an otherwise dry July. \nSenior Alma Malagon, an East Chicago resident, said she has enjoyed Hurricane Dennis' northern spray because the Southern Indiana dirt is dry and most plants need the water. \n"I feel we needed rain for the plants. The hurricane rains haven't affected us as much," Malagon said. "It's still drizzling and the rain hasn't been as heavy."\nHundreds of miles away from the major damage and disrupted lives Hurricane Dennis provoked along the Gulf, graduate student Surag Dixit said the tropical storm has resulted in a "feeling of freshness" while he strolled through campus this week. He said he has enjoyed the Dennis' mist because the rainy season in India, his nation of origin, occurs in July through September. \n"Americans wait for sunny weather, but in India it is pretty dry and we have so much sun they wait for this kind of weather," Dixit said. "For me, I like the rain."\nHurricane Dennis' damage and destruction pales in comparison to Hurricane Ivan's more than $14 billion assault during the summer of 2004. Tropical Storm Emily, Mother Nature's next significant water threat, is already veering northwest and could become Hurricane Emily as it progresses through the Caribbean islands.\n"I'm glad we're getting water -- my yard is just dead. We don't get a lot of rain this time of year -- we usually only get a lot of sudden downpours," Bloomington resident Paul Spicer said Wednesday. "For the remnants of a hurricane, we haven't gotten that much rain. It's been off and on all day today -- it sprinkled this morning and then dried up." \nSpicer, a member of the IU Fire and Safety Risk Management Division, said his rain meter at home had registered about half-an-inch of water in Bloomington as of Tuesday.
(07/11/05 1:21am)
A four-part bombing in London Thursday proved the resolve of the British public as their hands were dipped in the blood of an international World War III.\nClaiming retribution for the continued military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the "Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" indicated responsibility on an Islamic Web site for the attacks that murdered about 50 people and injured more than 700 others after three subway stations and a double-decker bus were blown to pieces within minutes of each other by improvised explosive devices. The terrorist group, which is also implicated in the Madrid, Spain, train bombings that killed about 200 people and injured more than 1,400 others, also stated that all other "crusader governments" including Denmark and Italy should expect similar civilian casualties.\n"We are now waging a global war on terror -- from the mountains of Afghanistan to the border region of Pakistan, to the Horn of Africa, to the islands of the Phillippines, to the plains of Iraq," President George Bush said in a radio address Saturday. "We will stay on offense, fighting the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them at home. We will continue to deny the terrorists safe haven and the support of rogue states. And at the same time, we will spread the universal values of hope and freedom that will overwhelm their ideology of tyranny and hate."\nPresident Bush also said America and Great Britain stand together to defeat hateful ideologies of the 21st Century, and he closed by rallying Americans to believe the "cause of freedom" will prevail. His radio address did not indicate whether or not his administration was pursuing a concrete timeline for U.S. military withdrawal from the Middle East nor did the president reference the likelihood of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. \nDespite the president's continued insistence that the "War on Terror" can and will be won by continued American resolve, some campus community members insist war cannot be waged against a noun or a particular military mythology.\n"Freedom to me is to live without fear of being killed, of being threatened with violence, with having enough to eat, with having basic human rights, with having a place to live, with having a place to speak freely. It's a number of things," said Timothy Baer, a member of the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition. "Freedom is also about treating others with equality, kindness and generosity. You hear about we are fighting terror for freedom but it turns into just a bunch of empty rhetoric, propaganda."\nAccording to an al-Qaida training manual from the Department of Justice that was obtained by the Manchester Metropolitan Police in England several years ago, their current "Jihad," or Holy War, is being waged against the U.S. and other Western sympathizers for occupying the Middle East with military force after the first Gulf War in 1990. The manual states the belief that the only available tools for Islamic governments to negotiate with Western governments is the use of bombs and rifles because threats of violence beget threats of violence.\n"The confrontation that Islam calls for with these godless and apostate regimes does not know Socratic debate, Platonic ideals nor Aristotelian diplomacy. But it knows the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing, and destruction, and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine-gun," according to information from the manual. "Islamic governments have never and will never be established through peaceful solutions and cooperative councils. They are established as they have been -- by pen and gun, by word and bullet, by tongue and teeth."\nDue to the resolve of both Americans and the terrorists to employ violence as a justification for their cause -- American freedom for the Middle East versus a Middle East free of America -- California Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey has introduced House Concurrent Resolution 35 to remove the target off the heads of U.S. military personnel occupying Iraq.\nBaer said the U.S. was not an Osama Bin Laden or al-Qaida target until 1990 because the nation did not have any permanent military bases in the Middle East region. He said about 500 people signed a petition in Bloomington throughout the Fourth of July holiday weekend that demands President Bush draft a concrete timetable for military withdrawal from Iraq to increase the likelihood of reduced terrorist attacks at home.\n"H.C.R. 35 speaks to the wrongness of the U.S. occupation of Iraq -- it has concerns for both American soldiers and the people of Iraq," Baer said. "I am committed to the well-being of the people of Iraq, who are mistreated by the policies of this nation. The Bush Administration can say whatever they want about the increasing insurgency but it is being driven by the U.S. presence in Iraq … I am very thankful to live in this country and we as citizens have great potential to do good around the world."\nThe Bush Administration and the Pentagon have plans to build at least four permanent military bases in Iraq in addition to the U.S. military presence in Bahran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The proposed U.S. embassy in Baghdad is also advertised as the world's "largest" home to American government officials outside North America.\nMore than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died throughout the three-year long Iraq war and tens of thousands of soldiers have been wounded. H.C.R. 35 calls for planning and implementing an immediate withdrawal of military forces from Iraq to help U.S. soldiers save themselves from continued death and destruction.\n"Everyone who loves freedom was moved by the courage of millions of Iraqis braving death to cast a ballot on January 30. The Iraqi elections, however, do not justify this war - neither the lies used to sell it, nor the incompetence with which it has been managed," Rep. Woolsey said in a Capitol Hill press conference. "The elections won't bring back the dead or heal the wounded. They won't reimburse the American taxpayers billions of dollars. And the elections won't stop the vicious insurgency that is terrorizing Iraqi communities."\nBaer said House of Representative members Julia Carson (7th district) and Mike Sodrel (9th district), among other elected-Indiana officials, need constant constituent pressure from organized statewide groups to support the campaign. \n"How would citizens of this country feel to be occupied? I think there would be armed resistance," he said. "There are legislatures who act on our behalf, and as constituents we should ask for them to implement foreign policy that is both moral and upholds the principles we as a nation like proclaim -- we talk about justice, liberty and freedom … This war is immoral, illegal and initiated upon lies. We are using napalm-like weapons, cluster bombs and uranium tipped weapons."\nAccording to the al-Qaida manual, the civilians of democratic governments must be held accountable for the actions of their elected government officials. Abiding by that rationale, the 50 dead Londoners Thursday and the more than 3,000 dead Americans from the Sept. 11 attacks are retribution for the hundreds of thousands of unaccounted for life that has been lost from increased U.S. occupation of the Middle East.\nBaer said the presidential belief that Americans aren't dying because the nation is fighting the terrorists in Iraq is deadly rhetoric designed to confuse and bewilder the public into believing no attacks will happen on U.S. soil because soldiers are being slaughtered in Baghdad. Instead, similar to most Americans polled during Bloomington's Fourth of July festivities, he said he believes Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the ultimate terrorist breeding ground for people to increase their hatred toward the U.S. and their willingness to murder American civilians in general. \n"Killing and being killed has nothing to do with America or being an American. We are creating a terrorist training ground in Iraq -- the terrorists feel it is the best place to kill Americans," he said. "Wanting the troops to come home is support for the troops, wanting them to come home in one piece because they are more than cogs in the war machine is acting patriotic. I care about U.S. soldiers as human beings -- the Bush Administration doesn't or they wouldn't be putting them in harm's way ... The military of this country should be about defense"
(07/11/05 12:43am)
Some loose talk about Bloomington acting the role of a viable arts community has blown through town this summer, yet the community seems hesitant to identify the city's place among the national and international art talent decorating the globe.\nThe Downtown Gallery Walk commenced Friday evening, the second of four like-minded events scheduled about town during the year, showcasing nine Bloomington art galleries and the artwork contained within their walls. With finger food and swallows of red wine directing hundreds of people to the streets in a somewhat organized and directional manner, people strolled from gallery to gallery spewing hums of orchestrated melody and whispering tidbits of companionship hand in hand and hip to hip.\nThe collective aesthetic of Bloomington's community art speaks through functional ceramics, functional sculpture and landscape painting. For example, the Top Gallery, 209 N. Washington St., offers art buyers and appreciators the opportunity to gaze upon dozens of pastel oil paintings that remind the viewer of calmer times somewhere in a rural landscape.\nMany of the nine local galleries represented in the Gallery Walk filled their chambers with common bourgeois expectations that do not challenge the viewer about anything presumed "real," nor offer the community any sort of dissent or reflection about the status quo. A viable art economy in Bloomington can become a future reality if the city and its galleries market their product toward a targeted audience, since much of the community artwork occupying local gallery space is designed for in-home and outside use rather than simple decoration.\nA collective art community catering to the human imagination also exists, but few local galleries seemed to appreciate artistic aesthetic choices beyond the traditional still life painting, sculpture and pottery. The John Waldron Arts Center, for instance, is one of a few galleries along the walk that dedicated gobs of space for artwork "outside the box." \nMelissa Parrott's "Blue Squid Flower," "Aquatic Angiosperm" and "Weeping Squid Flower," although costing pocketloads of cash, offer campus community members creative clay work in an artistic class of its own. Her bright-colored and twisted creations draw the viewer's eyes along a comic portrait of nature's attempt at life.\nThe focus of a viable Bloomington art economy could also stress the imaginative and market the city as a home for creative thinkers and the possibility of offering artwork outside the Midwest mainstream. \nThough the fastest path between any two points is always a straight line, Gallery Walk participants that wandered from the city's well-traveled paths discovered other community artwork.\nWords, symbols and other images are painted in alleys, on bridges and along walkways leading to and from each gallery during the gallery walk. Political statements, random nonsense and artists' names are stenciled, tagged and spray-painted on local business walls, light poles, dumpsters and fences.\nBloomington's art economy could also include a community drive to paint all alleyways, unused local business wall space and walkways by talented artists, who are posing as criminals due to lack of public art space and their inability to address particular topics through any other acceptable artistic medium. \nAlthough the preferred taste and cultural aesthetic of some Bloomingtonians might lead them to believe that stenciling, tagging and spray-painted murals is simply graffiti that needs to "cleaned," the true artistic heart of Bloomington is apparent through the desire of local artists to beautify their city's public environment.\nBloomington could follow the path of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles by insisting local businesses offer private wall space for the enhancement of the city's image and by offering public space for "outside the box" artists to enhance the cityscape. The Gallery Walk, although offered four times this year, is a limited approach to showcasing the best art from the best artists Bloomington has to offer.\nThe third and fourth gallery walks, for example, could include street booths for local artists who are not gracing local indoor gallery walls and other local artists should have the opportunity to produce their work in public view, rather than under sweatshirt hoods during in the early morning.\nLocal artists like Joanne Shank, who's work is displayed at the Bellevue Gallery, 312 S. Washington St., and Sandy Taylor, whose clocks are displayed at By Hand Gallery in Fountain Square Mall downtown, deserve national and international recognition and Bloomington can lead the way in helping to promote them. A viable city art economy can become a definite reality if local artists are offered affordable and ample living space, workspace and showcase space. \nUntil that time, alleyways will continue to offer space for some of the best artwork Bloomington has to offer and the Gallery Walk will continue to reinforce limited economic perspective due to the watered-down art aesthetic that is commonplace throughout other Southern Indiana art economies.\nAs artists have to compete with one another for time, attention and space, Bloomington should squeeze the tradition, creativity and talent from every one of the town's artists and not only showcase a select few labeled "sellable" items to a select few number of "buyers" with money to spend. The city will receive recognition as an artistic destination only when would-be travelers have an incentive to visit an art community unlike anywhere else across the globe.\nBloomington has more to offer than limestone and the community of artists seems willing to work for shelter, food and support. For proof, look no farther than your local alleyway.
(07/07/05 5:07am)
The history of IU golf is told through individual blips of conference recognition scattered on the national collegiate golfing radar screen. And then IU golf coach Mike Mayer recruited Evansville native Jeff Overton.\nOverton's 2001 arrival in Bloomington received little student fanfare and even less campus community publicity. Besides the usual public relations memo and the student newspaper plug, neither Mayer nor the student body knew what to expect from a golfer who first caught the "golfing bug" sometime during his eighth-grade year in middle school.\nOverton concluded his IU golf career in May, however, as the single greatest golfer to ever swing a crimson and cream tinted golf club. Between the fall of 2001 and the spring of 2005, he won one Big Ten Championship title and eight other individual tournament titles, was the Big Ten Golfer of the week nine times, was a two-time winner of the Les Bolstad Award for the lowest stroke average in the Big Ten Conference at the end of the season and won back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year awards his junior and senior years.\n"My dad told me I could do anything I wanted if I wanted to," Overton said. "I wanted to play golf and next thing you know I was a decent golfer ... Pretty much as soon as I got to campus I knew I had made the right choice. I got to play in tournaments right away with experience playing against the number one from other teams -- had I gone anywhere else I would have been lost in the crowd. "\nOverton said he was recruited by Big Ten rival and 2005 NCAA Golf Champion Illinois, Ball State, Kansas State University and the University of Georgia, but without a scholarship offer. He is only the seventh IU golfer to win a Big Ten Championship since the tournament began in 1958, including the 1975 Hoosier duo of Bob Ackerman and Gary Biddinger who finished tied for first.\nOverton's career-ending 71.71 strokes per golf outing average is the lowest number of swings of any IU golfer the program has ever seen.\n"By my junior year I won a tournament and then I thought I could win every tournament I played," he said. "It has now gotten to the point I want to be the best golfer Jeff Overton can by maximizing my potential."\nAfter stumbling somewhat during the third round of the 2004-2005 season opener, Overton scorched his way through the Midwest collegiate golf scene with three tournament wins, four second-place prizes and nine top-five finishes out of 10 contests entered -- including a Big Ten Championship crown. He completed 34 rounds of golf during the regular season, averaging 69.97 strokes per outing. \nOverton's season-ending average of 70.62 is the lowest number of strokes ever swung during 18 holes of competition by any IU golfer. \nMayer said the Big Ten Conference and IU records Overton leaves behind "speak for \nthemselves." \n"It's been an honor to work with Jeff Overton -- he has a lot of heart and passion," he said. "I've been privileged to be part of the process. Golf is a team concept but it is very much an individual sport."\nIU men's golf tied for 18th place at the NCAA East Regional tournament two weeks after the team scored a second place finish in the Big Ten Championships in May. Overton ended his Hoosier golfing career at the NCAA Tournament tied for 20th, although he proclaims Hoosier golf fans will soon see his Professional Golf Association swing sometime in the next two to three years.\n"I try to figure out holes I can take advantage of and the holes I need to be careful of -- it's all about picking your spots. You don't have to birdie all 18 holes. Sometimes the best shot is for par," he said. "It's a great honor to be considered 'the greatest golfer in the history of IU golf.' It's been a great ride and I appreciate everything IU and Coach Mayer have done for me." \nOverton is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten team member. He also thanked his father, Ron, for "strength and courage" and his "cushion" Bob Walters, his mentor who helped fuel his ambitious drive to hit 200 to 300 golf balls every day for the last decade.\nMayer said he credits Overton with helping mentor teammate and former IU golf star Heath Peters and a batch of young Hoosier talent recruited during the last three years.\n"I think Jeff shows everybody they can achieve if they set out to achieve -- if they have passion, love, desire and a work ethic as well," he said. "I loved every minute of all the practice hours. When you have that kind of heart you can get pretty damn good at golf."\nOverton said he admires PGA superstar Tiger Woods for contributing to fan growth and media attention of golf throughout the last ten years, and golf folk legends Ben Hogan, Jack Nicholas and Sam Sneed among an extended list of others.\n"At first my motivation was to do something with my life that I could work hard for. My self-drive earned me a scholarship and I was able to play as part of a team," he said. "I try do my best and I try my hardest at every tournament. If I lose, I'm going to go out and make sure the winner is in the spotlight. Part of winning is being a good loser -- I try to treat everybody after each round as a winner."
(07/07/05 4:49am)
Somewhere in America lives a minimum-wage worker who isn't making enough money working full-time to support her or his family. In the meantime, Indiana's Congressional delegation voted six-to-three to support a $3,100 "cost-of-living" pay increase for all Congressional salaries in 2006.
(07/07/05 4:04am)
"A Twist of Treason," an opera written by Bloomington resident Julian Livingston, is described by the Bloomington Area Arts Council as a two-act historical dramatic musical about the tragic life and love triangle of the notorious American traitor Benedict Arnold, his wife Peggy Shippen and the British spy John Andre.\nLivingston said "A Twist of Treason" is an American opera about American characters written in the English language. He said he is "thankful" the Monroe County Civic Theatre selected his show for production and he is "grateful" the Bloomington Area Arts Council for the personnel and support.\n"I have written other full-length musical shows but nothing called a full-scale opera before," Livingston said. "There are a lot of people vying for space and creative venues out there -- it's always a struggle to get something performed … I think the kind of musical where you have dance and singing, rock and pop stars like Madonna, is very much imitating what was carried on as opera hundreds of years ago." \nLivingston said he wrote the script on commission from the Battleground Arts Center in New Jersey, which was celebrating the bicentennial of the American Revolution.\n"A Twist of Treason," directed by Bloomington resident Janice Clevenger and conducted by IU music school professor Shuichi Umeyama, is described by the BAAC as an operatic highlight of Arnold's battlefield heroism in the Revolution and the depth of his love for his 19-year-old wife Shippen. \n"I consider this a chamber opera because there are a small number of singers involved. It's presented in the classic opera style with contemporary tastes," said Umeyama, the conductor who prefers the title "director of ensemble."\n"Opera is really the biggest form of musical art which has every theatrical element -- an orchestra, singing, costume, set. It's very difficult to put together and produce, but the performance is an exciting moment," he said.\nThe Twist ensemble includes: Raymond Feener, a baritone acting as Benedict Arnold; Diana Livingston Friedley, a soprano portraying Peggy Sippen; Geoffrey Friedley, a tenor performing the role of John Andre; and Rachael Himsel, a mezzo-soprano who fulfills the role of Shippen's maid Rebecca.\nLivingston said he has written about 250 pieces of music but "A Twist of Treason" is high on his list of favorites. He said his work would be as good of introduction as any into the opera world.\n"I tried writing the story down first as sort of a rhymed play. I wrote the script while envisioning the music and sure enough it turned into an opera," he said. "I would expect the audience to find what they typically find in an opera -- drama, tragedy, pathos, the usual emotions you get on an operatic stage. This opera starts out on a high note but the music shows much more tragic kinds of sounds as the drama heightens."\nLivingston said that although the U.S. of 225 years ago was a "very different world," opera viewers can expect "singable, hummable themes" worth replaying in the human minds of audience members.\n"I hope there are melodies and tunes in the opera they can't get out of their heads, and I hope they compliment the performers," he said. "I hope I get to see the audience again, hopefully to hear something else I've done."\nPerformances start at 8 p.m., July 8, 9, 15 and 16. For ticket information call 334-3100.
(07/07/05 3:56am)
More than two centuries after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, bombs burst through the air Monday night.\nBeyond the traditional holiday parade hosted in about every community across the U.S., Bloomington residents and guests mixed and mingled throughout a Fourth of July holiday weekend that offered various learning opportunities, a fish fry, and a 35-minute firework show. Otherwise patriotic Americans were spotted along the city's streets draped in American flag clothing and accessories, including red, white and blue hair ribbons, top hats and face paint.\nMatthew Nance, an IU Chemistry faculty member, spent the day before the Fourth of July entertaining children with the science of fireworks at the Wonder Lab's outdoor WonderGarden. He educated Bloomington youth about the chemical reactions of firework colors and the history of Independence Day fireworks. \n"This is why the British lost (the Revolutionary War) -- sometimes the wind isn't our friend," Nance joked while attempting to hold a homemade-cardboard cannon upright above a lit fuse so he could dump sodium into the tube to create a small explosion.\n"Wooooow," the audience howled as a giant fireball shot from the cannon when the salt sprinkled atop the flame.\n"The secret ingredient is oxygen," Nance lectured behind the glare of plastic safety goggles.\nHe said Revolutionary War "black powder," a predecessor of modern gunpowder, consisted of charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate. Because the battleground scene often consisted of plumes of black powder smoke, modern gunpowder does not contain sulfur to increase solider visibility as she or he looks along the barrel toward a gun's sight.\nNance said black powder was used by the Chinese more than a thousand years ago to launch rats from bamboo tubes toward a perceived enemy.\n"Imagine soldiers on horses firing rats -- I'd be pretty scared," he said. "The rats would probably be more scared than you are."\nNance also encouraged the crowd to scream "hey, that's strontium" when they spotted red fireworks throughout the holiday weekend. Strontium is an expensive chemical that increases the cost of red-colored fireworks, he said, so a typical fireworks display contains few red-colored bursts of light throughout the night sky.\nHoliday weekend vendors offered water bottles from wagons, American flag memorabilia like buttons and pins and colorless cotton candy.\nRichard Dunbar, exalted ruler of the Bloomington's Elk Lodge No. 446, said more than 700 campus and community members chomped through about 400 pounds of dry-batter breaded Chinese Pollack during their public holiday feast. \n"We really appreciate the members of the public that showed up and all the members who worked from 6:30 a.m. to about 7 p.m. We had more people stop by than years past," Dunbar said. "It seemed like a whole new crowd of people -- it was a good day for us because we do general fundraising to raise money for cancer research at IU and Purdue and we participate in the clothe-a-child program with the Bloomington police and fire departments." \nCamped along the southside of the IU Memorial Stadium and surrounded by about 500 feet of restricted space, Bloomington's annual firework display ignited after several hours of live music, carnival-like food, a festive atmosphere of sparkler craziness and a port-a-potty line that sprawled about 100 people deep for most of the evening.\nLes Compton, club manager for the Bloomington AMVETS Post 2000, said about 80 volunteers consisting of American military veterans orchrastrated the city's annual Fourth of July fireworks for the estimated crowd of 50,000 campus that scattered around the IU Memorial Stadium and throughout town to watch the bomb-bursting display. He said the club purchased $25,000 worth of fireworks to explode.\n"We receive outside donations from the community and the AMVETS post puts the show together each year," Compton said. "This year's show was the same as year's past, and I hope the crowd likes it and appreciates the community's work."\nThroughout the city's annual firework display, Bloomington adults and children alike were heard yowling "oohhhhh" and "ahhhhh" before filing into their automobiles, joining a spider web of congestion and continuing on to other spectacles of American patriotism with family and friends away from Memorial Stadium's gravel lot.
(06/30/05 5:01am)
Marijuana use for medicinal purposes has taken a few public tokes backwards in the last few weeks as the Federal government dropped the hammer on alleged corrupt pot growers and distributors polluting the entire medicinal marijuana debate.\nDespite the historical prevalence of marijuana use by world citizens and within communities across the globe for the last 5,000 years, smoking "reefer" to ease human psychological, emotional and physical pain is a common pasttime of some bipolar candidates, cancer victims, HIV/AIDS patients and American neighbors who are otherwise terminally ill among an extended list of others.\nAmerica's lethargic sway from marijuana prohibition to possible pot decriminalization requires fact-finding missions based on hard scientific data about the pros and cons of ingesting marijuana to reduce short term or lifelong human pain.\n"Three interrelated factors have fostered the definition of marihuana (sic) as a major national problem," Pres. Richard Nixon's 1972 National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (NCMDA) declared. "First, the illegal behavior is highly visible to all segments of our society. Second, the use of the drug is perceived to threaten the health and morality not only of the individual but of the society itself. Third, and most important, the drug has evolved in the late '60s and early '70s, as a symbol of wider social conflicts and public issues."\n \nMARIJUANA AS A DRUG\nThe NCMDA, also called the Stafford Commission, reported that until the last part of the 19th Century, the only drugs used to any significant extent for non-medical purposes in the U.S. were alcohol and tobacco. From Colonial times through the Civil War, alcohol was sometimes associated with foolish, uncontrollable and dangerous behavior and tobacco was sometimes linked to delirium, perverted sexuality and insanity.\nThe "recreational" use of otherwise medicinal narcotics at the beginning of the 20th Century sparked increased American addiction to opium, morphine, heroin and cocaine before federal-governed medicine labeling required the full-disclosure of all bottled ingredients. The Federal government legislated the Harrison Narcotics Act in 1914, as a result, to prohibit all non-medical production, distribution or consumption of narcotics. \nNational alcohol prohibition, legislated by Congress, began in 1919 but "the experiment failed to achieve its declared purpose: elimination of the practice of alcohol consumption," the Stafford Commission reported. The use of alcohol and tobacco was "indigenous American practices," while the intoxicant use of narcotics was not native and the users of these drugs were "alien" or perceived to be "marginal members" of society. \n"The legal scheme was designed to cut off supply, not to punish the consumer. Demand could be eliminated effectively, if at all, only through educational efforts," Stafford Commission members stated. "... By the early 1930s, the abstentionist thrust against alcohol and tobacco had diminished -- the two drugs had achieved social legitimacy."\nMarijuana, on the other hand, never received social legitimacy because it was labeled a narcotic in scientific literature and local statutory provisions aimed at curbing the marijuana smoking of Mexican immigrants and West Indian sailors throughout the southeast, according to the Stafford Commission. Marijuana use across the nation was prohibited in 1932 when the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws included marijuana as a narcotic drug, and the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 granted federal jurisdiction over state marijuana laws. \nSimilar to the 1936 propaganda film "Reefer Madness," marijuana use was often associated with psychological dependence, criminal deviance, hypersexuality and insanity despite a gaping lack of academic, scientific and health research to support such claims at that time. The Stafford Commission reported many opponents of marijuana feel compelled to establish a "causal connection" between marijuana use and crime, psychosis and the use of other drugs, while their adversaries focus the dispute on negating such relationships.\nBecause the Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that many provisions of the Marihuana Tax Act were unconstitutional, the Senate legislated the 1970 Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act which labeled marijuana a Schedule I narcotic -- similar to heroin and most hallucinogens -- that has "no current accepted medical use" and a "high potential for abuse." Schedule II medicinal narcotics included cocaine, PCP, morphine and Demerol while "medium abuse" potential opiates, Vicodin and some forms of codeine were listed as Schedule III.
(06/30/05 4:50am)
President Bush on Tuesday suggested the rise of democracy will be the ultimate triumph over radicalism and terror. Meanwhile, some members of the U.S. Senate and the American public still believe a legislated timetable for military personnel withdrawal will provide the ultimate triumph over the rising Iraqi insurgency. \n"This nation will not wait to be attacked again. We will defend freedom. We will take the fight to the enemy. Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war," Bush told the crowd of American soldiers from the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division, stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. "... There is only one course of action against them: to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home."\nBush further emphasized his administration's refusal to offer Americans a timetable for withdrawing U.S. military personnel from Iraq -- an occupied sovereign country as of a year ago to the day of Tuesday's speech -- calling any proposed exit strategy a "serious mistake." Instead, he offered American audiences an answer to the hypothetical social question: "Is the sacrifice worth it and vital to the future security of our \ncountry?" \n"Our mission in Iraq is clear. We're hunting down the terrorists. We're helping Iraqis build a free nation that is an ally in the war on terror. We're advancing freedom in the broader Middle East," Bush said, one of 26 references to "freedom" during his half-an-hour speech. "We are removing a source of violence and instability, and laying the foundation for peace for our children and our grandchildren." \nAt least 1,740 U.S. military personnel have died since the March 2003 American liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein, according to the Associated Press. An estimated 16,000 to 26,000 Iraqi insurgents have detonated 484 car bombs and used other urban warfare tactics during Iraq's occupation to kill at least 2,221 Iraqis and to injure more than 5,574 people. \n"Bush outlined exactly what Americans wanted to hear. Since day one he asked for resolve and dedication to the cause of war," said Andrew Lauck, chairman of the IU College Republicans. "He said our country is determined to find a solution and he made it very clear tonight he is not going to waver from that path ... We are over there for a reason and we are going to stay until our mission is completed."\nAn estimated 100,000 or more Iraqi civilians have died in the conflict as coalition collateral damage, although the Pentagon does not keep tabs. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees have fled to neighboring countries like Syria and Iran.\n"Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying, and the suffering is real ... The terrorists do not understand America," Bush said, one of 26 references to "terrorism" Tuesday night. "... Hear the words of Osama Bin Laden: 'This Third World is raging' in Iraq. 'The whole world is watching this war.'"\nReferencing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York a handful of times, Bush said military reports indicate the U.S. has killed or captured hundreds of foreign fighters in Iraq from Egypt, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The president did not mention the more than $200 billion spent on the war already, nor did he indicate his administration's current stance in regard to Iran's theocracy, North Korea's nuclear weapons or Saudi Arabia's support of international terrorism -- home to 16 of the 19 Sept. 11 suicide hijackers.\nIU sophomore Daniel Reichwein, an Army reserve soldier and paralegal for the U.S. military's Justice Adjunct Group (JAG), said he missed Bush's speech because he was busy studying for summer classes followed by work commitments. He said he prefers the Bush Administration offer a "concrete" timeline, but he said guerilla warfare is often unpredictable. \n"Twenty years down the road I would hope some other countries will see the good we are doing right now and look at the U.S. in a better light -- helpful and doing the right things," Reichwein said. "After the insurgency is cleaned up in Iraq, the terrorists will probably try to attack more local targets -- hopefully not another 9-11. I'm confident in our intelligence agencies but I do see the risk of more terrorism happening in the U.S."\nLauck said he feels pride about having voted for Bush in the 2004 election and he feels prideful standing behind the decisions the president makes about the war in Iraq.\n"Every American and member of the international community needs to ask himself or herself: 'would I rather have a ruthless dictator or an insurgency struggling to stay alive?'" he said. "I think the student body saw a president that was resolved and resolute, and I think the best thing we could do is stand behind him and support the troops in Iraq."\nContrasting with Vice President Dick Cheney's claim a few weeks ago that the Iraq insurgency is "in the last throes" and Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfield's claim Sunday that the insurgency might last up to 12 years more, Bush said the U.S. military is prepared to step down "as the Iraqis stand up." The president also said the Jan. 2005 Iraq election, in which about one out of five Iraqis voted, and the proposed Aug. 2005 drafting of an Iraq Constitution prove democratic progress is being made in the Middle East -- "the ultimate triumph over radicalism and terror."\nBloomington guest and Charleston, S.C., resident Zan Turvey said he respects Bush's resolve and he doesn't think America should show weakness toward the terrorists. He said he wishes the U.S. would have waited for increased international support from world governing bodies like the United Nations, although he said "there is no question Saddam had to go."\n"I disagree with the mess we are in today, but Iraq will be a better place when their government is established and their infrastructure is rebuilt," Turvey said. "I do agree with the fact we'll probably be attacked again, but we can't sit back and wait for it happen -- Iraq is the lesser of two evils I suppose. We strengthened Saddam and we trained his upper people on warfare, but he is an example of a dog gone rabid that needed to be put down. Unfortunately, a lot of his citizens throughout the decades suffered and continue to suffer from his leadership"
(06/30/05 4:47am)
More than a hundred new Indiana laws are in effect as of Friday, yet that news might be a surprise to some Hoosiers.\nAfter partisan politics divided the Statehouse and stalled hundreds of proposed bills on the floor and within committees, the Indiana legislature rolled through the second legislative session and passed more than 100 bills to otherwise improve the health, safety and well being of Hoosiers across the state.\nBeginning July 1, for instance, schools will be required to form a "safe school committee" to create a plan to combat bullying. Under another new law, judges will be able to order anyone on probation to serve their entire sentence if they violate any condition of their release.\nAside from commonsense laws like not allowing domestic violence criminals to possess a handgun, a few new Indiana laws are causing a fuss among some Hoosiers.\nIndianapolis resident and junior Liz Stringer said the law requiring all Indiana classrooms to display the American flag is not necessary.\n"It seems like the state is wasting money to put a flag in every classroom when there are more important things the school could spend their money on," she said.\nYunosuke Shivuya, a Japanese student studying English at IU for about eight months, said he thinks there is no need to display the American flag in every classroom because Americans already display the flag in front of their homes, within their schools, within their communities and "everywhere" else. He said the Japanese do not display Japan's flag other than on "Holy Days," other special ceremonies or at government facilities.\n"For American people, they are proud to be American," Shivuya said. "I'm from Japan but I'm not Japanese at all and I'm not really interested in being around Japanese people. I don't want to be categorized -- I'm human. I have other reasons to study English, and one is to be a person from the world." \nIndianapolis resident and alumnus Patrick Ockerse said he wasn't aware of any of the new laws going into effect Friday. He said the mandatory flag-display law is "funny," and not much of a surprise to him at all. \n"I wouldn't try to impose patriotism -- that is a mistake. The goal of our country is to find the best way to be -- we need to allow uncensored opinions, all points of view," Ockerse said. "If democracy is the best decision, the youth will decide to participate or they will grow up wanting to fix things. Instilling any beliefs at a young age is a mistake. I think it makes people less open-minded to other ideas, which should be considered equally, and then an intelligent decision or ideology can be formed."\nWarsaw resident and fifth-year senior Kyle Brown said the mandatory-flag law shouldn't apply to private schools and the new Indiana law mandating a "moment of silence" should not apply to public schools because it equates to an organized prayer.\n"People can do whatever they want to do before they get to school. When you go to school you are there to learn, not to partake in some ritual that has nothing to do with the learning process. If people want a moment of silence they can have it at a church or at home or in a patriotic club of some kind. If the government is forcing students to go to school they shouldn't force them to be patriotic."\nStringer, a volunteer at Bloomington's Middle Way House for victims of domestic violence, said she appreciates the state stepping up to face some issues facing women but she said the state should do more to protect rape victims. \n"Domestic violence and lack of guns is good because I dedicate my time to making sure domestic violence doesn't happen," Stringer said. "The state pays a lot of attention to sex offences against children but not enough time and money to general rape victims. (Indiana elected officials) should give colleges more funds to help support rape victims and to support rape prevention"
(06/30/05 4:00am)
Americans often celebrate the 4th of July national holiday by bursting fireworks through the air, marching to patriotic tunes and scorching slabs of meat on a grill.\nWhether beef, bison, elk, ennui, hot dog, lamb, ostrich, pork, poultry, seafood steaks, veggie patties or venison, meat of all denominations will meet the flames of outdoor fires. Some campus community members, no doubt, have cleaned their charcoal or gas grill, water or wood smoker in anticipation of having to feed coworkers, family, friends or neighbors.\n"When grilling, flavor and heat control are the two big things," said Dave Schell, co-owner of the Butcher's Block, 115 South S.R. 46., a local meat shop. "Grilling time and temperature depend on a lot things -- thickness, the thicker the item you slower you want to cook it; fattiness versus leanness, leans meats like fish need less time; and the particular type of cut, some cuts are not suitable for grilling at all."\nIt is recognized that barbecue is one of the oldest cooking methods known to man. Learning to control the use of fire by early man around 500,000 B.C.E. was a profound event that likely included the roasting of meat for survival, according to the National Barbecue Association. Barbecuing, in essence, gave birth to the beginning of civilization. Archeological evidence indicates that early man was indeed using fire to cook meat by 125,000 B.C.E.\nBloomington residents and guests seeking meat to grill during the Fourth of July celebration can discover "exotic" four-legged or fin-flapping barbecuing choices in various retailers throughout town like Bloomingfoods Market and Deli located on East 3rd St., the Butcher's Block and the Faris Meat Market located on North Walnut St.\nMonroe County resident John Delong, owner of Red Sky Ostrich Ranch, said he sells his ostrich meat to these three meat market choices. He said he is overseeing 15 animals right now because he just sent a pre-holiday shipment to slaughter.\n"Ostrich is a good-tasting red meat, similar in taste and texture to beef with the health attributes of poultry -- low fat, low cholesterol," Delong said. "Ostrich is prepared the same way as other red meats -- I like to grill it. If you take any kind of condiments and put them on an ostrich burger, you might tell a small difference but otherwise you would be convinced it was beef."\nHe said an ostrich behaves like most other commercial livestock penned within a "free range" -- they eat, drink, sleep and frolic about the farm. \nCampus community members yearning for fresh-made hamburger patties or other high quality meats including grillable seafood can peruse the daily rotated selection at the Butcher's Block. A special grilled treat for the Fourth of July holiday might include, Schell said, an "old fashioned" pinwheel steak you can't find anywhere else in town.\n"We carry a nice tunaloin, which is freshly flown in from Bahi and overnight-flight fresh salmon from Alaska. We cut all our fish meat from whole fresh fishes instead of shipping in frozen fillets," he said. "We give barbecuing suggestions on the spot depending on whether the customer plans on grilling hamburgers, steaks, chicken, pork chops or fresh seafood steaks."\nBarbecuing aficionados and otherwise fire-roasted meat consuming humans disagree about the overall grilling experience when gas grills and charcoal grills are compared side to side. Delong said he prefers the taste of ostrich grilled over a charcoal flame, for instance, although due to reasons of convenience he uses a propane grill at home.\nBloomington resident Jason Justice, manager of Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill, said he uses up to six wood logs a day to "smoke" Southern barbecue about 10 to 12 hours for campus community members and guests to consume. He said the taste of smoked meat is often enhanced by a barbecue-sauce glaze that grill-workers should apply after the meat is removed from the flame. \nHealth officials recommend would-be grillers place cooked meat onto clean plates that did not come in contact with any form of raw meat. According to the advice of Purdue University animal scientists, barbecue chefs should trim the extraneous animal fat from the meat when possible before cooking and the skin should be removed from poultry. \nHealth officials also recommend willing grilled-food consumers remove any charred areas from the meat before eating it and that tongs should be used to flip grilling foods instead of a fork. According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meat color is not a sure indicator of whether food is safe to eat -- the only way to know foods are properly cooked all the way through is to use a clean food thermometer.\nBloomington resident Jason Schaffer, a self-proclaimed "traditional meat smoker" and co-owner of the Butcher's Block, said he grills about everyday if he has the time and the weather permits. He recommends holiday grillers use charcoal for their open flame and that they choose an enjoyable meat to grill to further enjoy the occasion.\n"I start the coals using a coal starter -- a cast iron cylinder that holds about five pounds of charcoal. That method allows you to start a fire with paper instead of lighter fluid so you don't taste lighter fluid in the food," Schaffer said. "At that point I pull the meat out of the refrigerator, season it with our 'Meat Magic Seasoning' and let it warm to room temperature -- I don't like throwing cold meat onto the grill."\nAccording to the USFDA, poultry should be grilled to an internal temperature of at least 180 degrees Fahrenheit, ground beef to 160, other meats and steaks to 145 and seafood until it's opaque colored and it flakes easily with a fork. Health officials warn against washing meat before grilling and recommend instead that grillers microwave the meat beforehand to jumpstart the meat's internal temperature. \nSchaffer said he separates the coals into a pile in the center of the grill when they turn white, and he recommended applying direct heat to most thick cuts of meat like beef steaks whereas thinner meats like fish steaks prefer indirect flames. After grilling he puts the lid back on the grill to cool the coals. \n"As a rule of thumb I like to rotate the meat once to get the grill cross-marks -- it doesn't affect the taste but it helps with presentation," he said. "The more you leave the meat alone on the grill the better it will taste"
