280 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(06/29/05 11:53pm)
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"
(06/27/05 7:08pm)
Mississippi is no longer burning but the flame of racism continues to flicker throughout the nation.\nMore than four decades after civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were beaten and shot to death by Ku Klux Klan members in Neshoba County, Ala., 80-year-old and former Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison Thursday for commanding the 1964 slayings. Killen faced a maximum of 20 years for each count of manslaughter, and Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon said Killen's terms will run consecutively.\n"There are those of you in the courtroom that would say a sentence of 10 years would be a life sentence," Gordon said, as reported by the Associated Press. "Each life has a value. Each life is equally as valuable as the other life and I have taken that into consideration. The three lives should absolutely be respected and treated equally."
(06/27/05 7:01pm)
"Installations," a Dark Alley one-act production brought to town by the Bloomington Playwrights Project, offers campus community members the opportunity to witness a multimedia canvas of installation art performed on a theatrical stage. The art piece, written by Erynn Miles and directed by Cory Aiello, presents an interpersonal dilemma within a murder art duo hidden behind the comfort and security of their artisan masks.\nNathaniel, played by Todd Aiello, and Sera Lyn, played by Annie Kerkian, embark on an artistic crusade to paint their neighborhood with blood in the name of "art." An award-winning journalist named Liz Clark, played by Hannah Smith, commits herself to exposing the truth behind their murderous rampage. "Installations" blends recorded audio, a slide show of photography, live movement and a trio of acting talent to produce a maddening surreal portrait of artists determined to lead an artistic movement of murder and mayhem. \nAlthough the actual premise is somewhat unbelievable, "Installations" presents eager artisan talent gaining invaluable acting experience in a play on a stage in a theatre. Miles and Cory Aiello's installation art piece, considering the mass murdering circumstances, highlights the complex duality some artists experience balancing the demands of work within a definable ethical structure.\nSimilar to the uncomfortable sexual tension between Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in the 1967 film "Bonnie and Clyde," Nathaniel and Sera Lyn's violence toward one another is driven by the woman's desire for unobtainable masculine compassion. Todd Aiello's portrayal of Nathaniel, although a difficult character to play because the role is that of a complete madman who hides his real self from everyone including himself, is somewhat obtrusive to the show's overall ensemble of dialogue and activity. \nKerkian's portrayal of Sera Lyn is superb considering her character fluctuates from a mass murderer into a reformed appreciator of life and a god's given circumstances by play's end. In addition, her ability to slip from kindness to desperation to anger throughout the show is noteworthy. \nCory Aiello's direction is that of an artisan and his production deserves attention as an art installation standing on its own. "Installations" should receive judgment as an art piece rather than a pure theatrical spectacle to prevent audience disapproval and confusion.\n"What is art?" the play asks of the audience. Therefore, a compassionate crowd might applaud the genuine effort and community sharing highlighted by a local cast driving a local play written by a local playwright, which is typical of most Dark Alley BPP productions.\nUnlike Thelma and Louise in Ridley Scott's 1991 film, Nathaniel and Sera Lyn remind all Bloomington residents and guests that every human life is always worth more than murder art. "Installations" requests the audience question art at the expense of public opinion about the show because posing the question of "what is art?" suggests any particular art piece possesses worth only through the eternal subjective mind of the art receiver. \nThis transaction dissects all art to ambiguous irrelevance, dependent upon individual approval about a particular art piece's extrinsic value to the social realm at any particular time. Art is further reduced to the modern condition of intrinsic human judgment. \nAudience members possessing an open mind and extra time can pick up a coupon for half-off admission at the Soma Coffee House, 322 E. Kirkwood Ave. "Installations" continues Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. in the BPP's Lora Shiner Studio. Regular admission is $6.
(06/27/05 6:55pm)
Amid the machine screams of automobile traffic and the foot shuffle of freshman orientation, some campus community members took a weekend garden walk through Bloomington. \nThe sixteenth annual Summer Garden Walk, organized by the Bloomington Garden Club, benefited civic projects such as the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center, Bloomington Animal Shelter landscaping and the hospice sanctuary at the Bloomington Hospital. Thousands of participants perused six gardens spread throughout the town, from personal residences to the IU Bryan House -- home to President Adam Herbert and his wife.\n"I think the garden walk at the Bryan House was pretty good today with the heat -- a couple hundred people came through," said Bloomington resident Dan Nicholas, a 2005 Summer Garden Walk volunteer. "Some people are interested in plants here they haven't seen before, especially the Ligularia."\nNicholas said Ligularia looks like a Lilly pad but it is instead a vertical perennial with a kind of maroonish-tint on each green leaf. He said Bryan House garden walk participants meandered within the west-side flower beds or the more naturalistic outdoor floral arrangements on the east side of the house.\n"Trial and error determines what flowers, shrubs or trees go where," said Devin McGuire, the lone gardener for IU's Bryan House for about the last 18 years. "After a while, you get a feel for sunny plants or shady plants -- what needs a little care versus a lot ... The Bryan House garden is a public area students can walk through on campus to pause for a moment and notice the wildlife."\nMcGuire said he strives to discover plant life that doesn't require a lot of human maintenance throughout the year. He said he selects plants with varying textures to highlight his outdoor floral arrangements, and he prefers planting trees and shrubs instead of annuals. \n"IU Chancellor Herman B Wells had this vision that we needed to keep these precious islands of green and serenity, these places people can pause to reflect and dream dreams," McGuire said. "He wanted students to come by, pause and reflect for a moment to appreciate what's around and not always the next thing they're supposed to be doing. There are several benches around the property that provide a quite place to sit and study."\nBloomington residents Terry Baer and Joyce Rose, Bloomington Garden Club members and summer garden walk volunteers stationed near the Bryan House parking lot, said about 600 participants wandered throughout the campus gardens -- down from about 1,000 visitors at other garden walk locations throughout town.\n"These gardens are accessible most of the year, moreso than the other private gardens," Baer said. "They are aesthetically pleasing and if students have had a bad day, who wouldn't want to be inspired?"\nOther summer garden walk hot spots included Sue and Tom Berry's house, Robert Brookshire and Kris Floyd's house, Fred and Beth Cate's house, Jim and Harriet Kulis' house and the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center.\nMcGuire said his favorite garden moment involves picking fresh raspberries near the Bryan House shed, to deliver to Wells on his birthdays. In addition to maintaining the landscape, he said his duties involve assisting the Herberts' interior wishes for floral decorations and formal gathering set-ups. \nAlthough most of the Bryan House gardens are free and open to the public throughout the year, the summer garden walk allowed paying visitors to examine a small pond located in a private fenced-off area on the east side of the house. According to information from a Bryan House garden walk handout, McGuire fished a driftwood stump from Lake Griffy and added rocks and moss to give the pool a more natural appearance. McGuire said he has pursued undergraduate studies at IU since he first arrived on campus as a freshman in 1979. He said astronomy studies have taught him how to predict the rate of climate change as it pertains to the years of drought or heavy moisture.\n"I am learning to cooperate with nature instead of trying to make things happen," McGuire said. "My favorite time is fall -- late September, early October -- when the leaves are all turning red and orange and the green grass matures. I feel pretty lucky and fortunate to have fallen into gardening at the Bryan House. Most days are a pleasure."\nHe recommends students "pick up their trash" to help maintain the Bryan House's picturesque landscape. McGuire said the only severe damage and destruction to the gardens other than a few fallen trees occurred when thousands of students gathered on the front steps to protest Myles Brand's firing of Bob Knight in 2000.\n"So far the rabbits and some deer are the biggest culprits to garden damage," he said. "It doesn't take much to chew down a Day Lilly or the Hostas"
(06/27/05 6:26pm)
Despite recent Congressional calls for a well-defined "timetable" regarding the withdrawal of U.S. military personnel from Iraq, American men and women in uniform continue to suffer murderous retribution.\nRick McDowell, a senior fellow for Iraq policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, spoke to more than 100 people Friday evening at the St. Paul Catholic Center located on 17th St. about the human cost involved in the U.S. military occupation of Iraq. McDowell and his wife completed a two-year term as the American Friends Service Committee Iraq Country Representatives in March 2005.\nMcDowell and his wife worked on relief and other development programs such as water, sanitation, health care initiatives, education, women's shelters and programs for disabled individuals during their wartime visit. Unlike other campus community discussions about the U.S. preemptive military attack of Iraq, the audience demographic reflected a heavy majority of 40- to 65-year-old people instead of the usual college-aged protest crowd. \nAfter a brief moment of silence, McDowell reminded the audience that more than 40 Indiana "sons and daughters" have lost their lives in Iraq out of the more than 1,700 dead American soldiers -- 86 coalition soldiers were killed within the last six weeks. Although Pentagon policy does not keep count of the Iraqi civilians killed, he said, international estimates project the Iraqi death toll upward of 100,000 civilians or more. \n"One out of four Iraqi families have lost someone," McDowell said. "In the last six weeks, more than 900 Iraqi civilians have died, 270 Iraqi police and military have died and thousands of civilians were wounded in May alone."\nAccording to The Associated Press, attacks during the weekend killed seven Iraqis, including four policeman. At least 15 other Iraqis were wounded.\nCiting the British Downing Street Memo, a 2002 document which implicates the Bush Administration for planning to manipulate American minds about the necessity of waging war against Iraq, McDowell said "no Americans were dying because of Iraqi terrorism before the war."\n"The U.S. has lost the war in Iraq. The Iraqi people have lost the war," he said. "To pretend we can win what has been lost is not believable. Iraqis' fear a civil war splintered along ethnic and religious lines more than Saddam's brutal regime."\nA suicide bomber killed at least nine Iraqi civilians in Samarra and eight Iraqi police officers were shot to death by insurgents Saturday, according to The Associated Press. At least four Marines were killed and 13 were wounded -- including 11 women -- by a suicide car bomb and ensuing small-arms fire Thursday as a U.S. military convoy rolled through Fallujah.\nMcDowell said the Bush Administration's mix of "weapons of mass destruction," "terrorism" and "Sept. 11" to justify invading Iraq equates to war as the means with no planned end in sight.\n"Police can't provide security for themselves. How can they be expected to provide security for the neighborhoods?" he asked the audience. "A judiciary system is the responsibility of the occupying country ... Security is important but so is (Iraqi) jobs ... They have a right to resist the occupancy (of a foreign invader) as in every other war. Outside forces are not going to bring peace and security to Iraq."\nMcDowell's presentation included a slide show of photographs involving ordinary Iraqi men, women and children to share the "human face" of the war.\nMcDowell stunned the crowd with Pentagon claims of spending about $4 billion thus far to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, considering about one of every three Iraqis does not have continual access to electricity, clean drinking water or adequate health care. He said more than half of the $1 billion a week spent by the U.S. to secure Iraq is cashed by security forces for U.S. corporations like Halliburton.\nBecause media reports and international estimates claim about 18,000 Iraqi insurgents are engineering the current violence against American military occupation forces, up from about 5,000 a year ago, McDowell asked the audience: "Are we safer?" \n"Only Iraqis can bring peace and security to Iraq," he said. "We have an opportunity to support Iraqis in a move to a peaceful nation among the community of nations ... The U.S. needs to declare we do not have imperial designs for the country ... Everybody agrees -- the insurgency will continue to grow as long as foreign soldiers occupy their land."\nIn front of a crucified Jesus nailed to the wall in the basement of St. Paul Catholic Center, McDowell encouraged the American audience to ponder one question in particular regarding the invasion and occupation of Iraq as the nation attempts to cope with an unrelenting Iraqi insurgency: "How would each American act if the U.S. was invaded and occupied by a foreign military"
(06/23/05 2:50am)
The fun isn't free but the frolic benefits campus community children.\nBloomington's Annual Fun Frolic provides carnival-goers an entertainment spectacle of county-fair food, amusement park games and carnival rides. Paying patrons and gallivanting guests parade throughout the west parking lot of IU's Memorial Stadium among the carnival's flashing lights, stomach-churning rides and merrymaking shrieks of laughter.\n"Our Fun Frolic show has been playing in Bloomington since the mid-1980s. We come here every year because we love it -- all proceeds go to the folks at the IU Campus Child Care and Big Brothers Big Sisters," said Joe Royal, Fun Frolic operations manager for Cumberland Valley, the company that runs the carnival. "I was born into this business. It's just like anything else -- you give back to the profession that loves you. County fairs -- showing cows, meeting friends -- are the mainstay of America, as American as apple pie and Indiana corn." \nRoyal said the Fun Frolic is an "amalgamation" of owner-operators, which subcontract food stands and game booths to vendors. He said the carnival is powered by about 4,500 kilowatts of electricity through more than a mile of cable from six mobile on-site generating plants -- "enough to run a hospital or half the town if need be."\nSimilar to the '80s dance song by "Dead or Alive," the Fun Frolic looked like it was lots of fun and patrons with opened, loving arms were spun right round like a record -- right round, round, round. Fun Frolic rides for most ages include the "Feuerball," "Starship Exodus," "Mega Loop," "Tilt-a-Whirl" and the "Cliffhanger."\nCliffhanger Operator Chris Breytenbach said about 80 percent of the ride operators and game vendors are young people from South Africa. He said a South African employment agency hooked up the workers with the Fun Frolic management company for a six-month tour of the U.S. Midwest, while others found employment at amusement parks like Disneyworld. \n"I came to the U.S. about a month ago, the first country I've been to other than my own anywhere on the planet. I've enjoyed it," Breytenbach said. "I used to run Toontown, but I like running this ride more. Working at the carnival is quite nice. The worst part is tearing the stuff down, getting on a bus to go to the next stop and putting up stuff straight away -- we don't have much time to sightsee." \nFun Frolic festivities include games such as "Skeeball," "Machine Gun Alley," "Crazy Ladder," "Fool the Guesser" and "Feed the Frogs." The loose talk heard around carnival game booths consisted of "we've got a winner," "kids win every time" and "fish until you win."\nBill Stewart, a "Guesser" who gets paid to be fooled, said he has worked at carnivals for about 60 years. Fun Frolic patrons can challenge Stewart to guess their age within two years, birth month within two months or weight within three pounds.\n"To win or lose this game really depends on the person, some people look their age while others don't. Guessing a person's weight is like a farmer guessing the weight of cattle going across a scale -- after a while you just know," Stewart said. "Children have a better chance to win and have fun if they let me guess their birth month, which is always just a guess." \nStewart guessed the weight of one of three Fun Frolic revelers during the interview, implicating one of "going to the bathroom beforehand" because he missed the mark by six pounds.\nSouth African Thereza Viljoen, a "Feed the Frogs" game operator, said the Bloomington residents and guests she has interacted with thus far at the carnival have treated her with kindness and friendliness. Her game consisted of casting a magnet toward a revolving pool of four-eyed fish in the hope of snagging a plastic blow-up baseball bat or other small furry prize.\n"The fun part of my job is watching the kids try to put the magnet in the frog mouths," she said. "The only skill they need is patience -- I help them put it in a mouth if they have trouble doing it. Children win a prize if they catch a frog or not." \nViljoen said the South African employment agency told the Fun Frolic workers to expect very little, but she said from what she's seen America is a beautiful country despite the lack of elephants, lions and baboons roaming the \ncountryside.\nFun Frolic patrons were also offered traditional carnival gut-busting foods like funnel cakes with the added choice of fruit topping, lemon shake-ups, corn dogs, Italian sausages and cotton candy.\nFood vendor Jeffrey Smith, a 13-year veteran of the carnival circuit from Tennessee, said children seem to seek out the cotton candy from his stand from the moment they arrive. He said he sells out of lemonade everyday and the caramel apples with nuts are also popular at his stand.\n"I pour pure granulated sugar into a machine called a tornado, I add food coloring powder and the heat mixes the two together to make cotton candy," Smith said. "Pink/blue cotton candy sells the best but red/blue is also popular -- we used to do purple, green and yellow. At our next stop we are going to introduce blue raspberry candy apples."\nRoyal said the Fun Frolic is headed to Valparaiso, the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville and the National Peanut Festival in Dothan, Ala. among other Midwest stops throughout the summer. He said he hopes Fun Frolic patrons continue to "have a ball" while their carnival is still in town by winning a prize, eating good food and riding the rides because agencies serving Bloomington campus and community children receive the bulk of the fruit from the carnival's labor.\n"In life, all work and no play makes you pretty dull," he said, "so you have to have a few breaks and laughter is the best medicine in the world." \nThe Fun Frolic tomfoolery continues today through June 24. Ride tickets cost $5 for 5, $20 for 25 and $50 for 72. Most rides cost two tickets or more.
(06/20/05 7:38pm)
Leaving the outdoor playground empty and the nearby horseshoe pits barren, community members from Terre Haute to Evansville to Bloomington packed the AMVETS Post 2000's Gathering Hall to voice comments and concerns about the new-terrain I-69 that is scheduled to cut through a few Southern Indiana communities sometime soon. I-69 project team members -- including engineers, environmental scientists, planners and Indiana Department of Transportation representatives -- provided the public with maps and aerial photos to highlight the highway's proposed route through Greene, Davies, Pike, Gibson and Vanderburgh counties. \n"These preliminary alternatives mark a milestone in the project and will allow us to move forward in indentifying a preferred alternative," said Bruce Hudson in a statement, a project manager for DLZ Indiana -- the engineering firm conducting the studies for Section 4. "Public input is an important part of the study. It will help us ensure the alignment of I-69 within the approved corridor is safe, efficient and environmentally sound."\nSupporters of a new-terrain I-69 cite potential economic benefits like employment opportunities, increased intrastate and interstate business incentives the highway might bring. Opponents cite the potential for excessive tax-payer costs associated with the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway, the potential for a paved "terror" corridor for terrorists and drug cartels running from Central America to Canada, the economic hardship from uprooting personal plots of land and rural communities and the irreparable damage to the environment and wildlife from continued urbanization.\nINDOT representative Ricky Clark was muffled half-way through his opening remarks with opponent chants of "No I-69" and the display of two protest banners among the crowd. Indiana State Police personnel escorted the opponents to the front and side of the Gathering Hall, having granted them permission to continue their opposition silently and without further disruption of the speakers.\nMonroe County Councilwoman Sophia Travis said community members should continue "the good fight" in voicing their opposition to all elected Indiana officials throughout the state about the potential baggage a new-terrain I-69 might bring to Hoosiers and the Indiana environment.\n"Sustainability is not something this highway will be a part of. What is the necessity of more pavement?" Travis asked INDOT officials. "Save it, don't pave it."\nBloomington City Councilman Andy Ruff said the "whole argument" for a new-terrain I-69 is "based on lies." He further added that the city's resolution against the INDOT proposal was the longest resolution in the more than 185-year history of Bloomington.\nCity Councilman Chris Gaal reaffirmed the I-69 supporter belief that people in South Central Indiana need jobs, but his opposition centered along political projections providing "fear of economic security" throughout the state -- specifically at Crane Naval Base.\n"You can manipulate people with insecurity and fear," he said, "but it isn't necessary to save jobs at Crane -- isolation is a strategic advantage." \nOther opponents to a new-terrain I-69 cited increased congestion on county roads, increased highway fatalities, increased tax-payer costs associated with highway maintenance, increased unemployment due to cheap labor elsewhere and increased low-income job growth. \n"I would stop repeating myself if Gov. Daniels or INDOT was listening," said concerned Hoosier Mary. She repeated four more times for effect: "We don't want I-69 -- We can't afford I-69. Fix the roads we have."\nHoosier William Boyd recommended INDOT bulldoze existing Wal-Mart stores and stripmalls throughout Indiana to plant trees. Wait 100 years, he said, and then talk about cutting down more trees for a highway.\nBloomington resident Martha Croutch said "taxpayer-supported vandalism of the Indiana people" and the Hoosier environment does not compare with the protest statements spray painted on the Statehouse in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. She said "we have some terrorists here in our midst," and she called for the Indiana State Police to arrest INDOT officials and others for vandalizing maps of Southern Indiana with blue, red and orange lines. \n" ... And I think they use dynamite to blast their way through," she said while the crowd applauded.
(06/20/05 1:42am)
Indiana residents and guests from across the state and Midwest crave a taste of Bloomington. \nMore than 40 Bloomington restaurants, wineries and brewpubs offered campus community members and guests a wide array of food, entertainment and reasons for joining the city community for its annual Taste of Bloomington at the Showers Common located near City Hall. \nBrooks Tolbert, a Bloomington resident for more than 20 years, said he was a first-time patron to "The Taste."\n"This is quite an event -- there is good spirit from the people here," he said. "The best part of Bloomington is the community friendliness -- a higher level of enlightenment and understanding, a blended show of so many spices."\nThe Taste of Bloomington patrons were costumed in summertime pastel colors like soft pinks, light blues and greens.\nBloomington resident Greg Young said he attended the event to meet some friends on "the right side of the stage behind the crowd."\n"I'm here to have a beer, a good time and to eat some food," Young said.\nThe Taste of Bloomington vendors wore company outfits or special t-shirts adorned with Mardi Gras beads and flowers in their hair.\nRoger Gibbs, a resident of Woodridge, Ill., said he was in town to visit his son before Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He said the atmosphere is "certainly different" in Bloomington compared to other Midwest communities he is familiar with.\n"It is very festive -- a lot of people are here and it is a nice evening to be out," Gibbs said. "There is a lot of ethic food here I enjoy. I really like the curry. Bloomington is a very nice town from what I've seen, very clean."\nPatron eyes seemed to gravitate toward booths based on the scents leading their noses. The onslaught of hungry and happy families jockeyed for position in human lines to restaurants, wineries and pubs based on the suggestions of friends and other family members. \nSpencer resident Adam Bowen attended "The Taste" to film footage for local television station CATS. \n"I love the taste -- I think it's a great event. You see a lot of the locals come out and it's always nice weather," he said. "I like watching people walk around and enjoying themselves."\nBloomington resident Beth Rives said she attended "The Taste" years before, but this year it seemed "much nicer, bigger and more alive." She recommended the Downtown Bloomington Commission offer more German entertainment such as music and dancing.\n"I love Bloomington -- the friendliness and diversity," she said. "The people are open. They smile and say hello. They even stop me and say, 'May I ask you a few questions?"
(06/20/05 1:05am)
Arts and crafts as part of a viable arts economy is nothing new to Bloomington.\nMore than 60 local artists and artisans collected around the city's courthouse square Saturday to peddle artwork, crafts and community literature during the 2005 "A Fair of the Arts." \nBloomington artist Marcy Neiditz said she creates functional ceramics by treating all surfaces like they are a canvas. She said she uses a microscope in her studio to examine sections of leaves and the growth of bacteria as possible artistic blueprints.\n"I'm influenced by nature and plants -- I go back to kindergarten and finger paint," she said. "I like being creative -- I fan out a brush so each hair creates a bunch of lines at once. I like being inventive -- most ceramic artists don't fire their pots three or four times. I really have a love and concern for environment. It keeps me going when I'm alone in my studio or I haven't sold much art in awhile." \nLocal and regional artists were invited to display, demonstrate and sell their art by the City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department.\nBrown County artist Greg Schatz, who owns Schatz Studio & Gallery, said he creates functional pottery that is fired with either gas or wood. \n"I am drawn by the scenery of southern Indiana -- I like the hills and trees," Schatz said. "I'm really concerned with the forms and shapes of my pots -- how the surface interacts with form ... I love the process of working with clay -- making the pots on the wheel is the most fun for me. I hope to improve the experience of eating or drinking, and not just consumer food." \nNew Harmony artisan Danny Cain, owner of Wabash River Fish Fiddlers and Fillets, makes fishing nets. He said it takes about three to four days to make commercial fishing nets for Hoosier use within rivers. He said his nylon and twine fish-trapping concoction is modeled after professional and folk fishing practices, which uses a series of fiberglass hoops and garbage bag twist ties. \n"River fishing with nets is dumb luck. You go out there -- you think 'this looks like a good spot' and then you put your net down. You keep trying till you find the right place," Cain said. "You can catch about 100 pounds of fish a day, but you have to put back bluegill, crappie and largemouth bass. I keep catfish, buffalo fish and highfin fish."\nCain said he learned his trade from the skills of a master named Jim Cooper. He said he believes fishermen making their own nets is a "dying art," and net owners should be careful where they put them to avoid fallen trees and shallow river bottoms.\nBloomington artisan Julie Johnson, owner of North Wind Kites, said she has been building nylon kites and kite banners for more than 20 years. She said she prefers to use bright and vivid colors to decorate delta, box and multicellular shaped kites for use in neighborhood parks, resident backyards and local school yards.\n"Just wait for a good breeze to hit your kite and have a helper to hold it up," Johnson said. "We tell people not to run with it, but you can still do that -- make sure you have enough wind ... as long as your line lasts and the person is willing to bring it back in you can keep getting the kite higher in the sky. Kite-flying is entertainment for some, but I've had a lot of people who come up and say it was relaxing. It's a nice activity to do together as a family."\nJohnson recommended the IU Memorial Stadium, Karst Farm Park and local schools with open fields as ideal kite-flying locations.\nNoblesville artist Joanie Drizin, who owns Girly Steel Studio, said her metal garden sculptures are produced in her "little studio" in a downtown Noblesville garage. She said she uses rebar, sheet metal and "found objects" to produce works of art to generate the necessary income to send her young son to college someday.\n"I like to accent nature -- which in itself is art -- with rust called patina," Drizin said. "I like to make whimsical and contemporary things -- it's hard work for a practical purpose. I used to do pottery but this really clicked for me. I feel happy if people look out in their garden and get a smile on their face from something they can't buy at Wal-Mart"
(06/17/05 7:05pm)
Marijuana is often accused by the mass public and government officials of acting as a "gateway drug" for American youth.\nThe gateway hypothesis presupposes teenagers who toy with marijuana, smoke "reefer" or otherwise ingest "grass" are more susceptible to abusing illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin or LSD, to name a few. For example, early marijuana users were found to be "eight times more likely to have used cocaine and 15 times more likely to have used heroin," according to a report published by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.\nTobacco consumers must be 18 years of age or older and alcohol consumers must be 21 years or older in the U.S., according to state and federal law. Beyond the mere semantic debate about hard drugs versus soft drugs, academic and scientific research based on hard data reveals more prevalent illicit gateway drugs for American youth -- nicotine and alcohol. \nTobacco and alcohol use by minors, in other words, is illegal and poses a significant health and financial threat to the overall productivity and sustainability of the American way of life. Tobacco kills far more people around the globe, for instance, than alcohol and illegal drugs combined, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Tobacco use killed about 5 million people worldwide in 2000 -- including about 700,000 in the U.S. alone. Alcohol use contributed the death of about 2 million people more across the world and illegal drugs killed an additional 200,000 people. \nAccording to the PAHO, tobacco is a gateway drug that often introduces youth to other drugs.
(06/16/05 5:48pm)
Michael Jackson was acquitted in a court of law Monday of charges relating to the alleged sexual molestation of a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch in 2003, but the courtroom of Bloomington's public opinion believes justice was not served in his case.\nA Santa Barbara County jury of four men and eight women concluded Jackson was not guilty of four counts of child molestation, four counts of supplying alcohol to a minor, one count of attempted child molestation and one count of conspiracy. The four-month trial, mirroring a tabloid fish fry of Jackson's "eccentric" behavior and his "bizarre" lifestyle on his California Neverland Valley Ranch, provided the jury with more than 600 exhibits of evidence and testimony from more than 140 prosecution and defense witnesses.\nSimilar to millions of Michael Jackson fans across the nation and around the world, IU sophomore Jamie Cory said the "King of Pop" has been one of her idols all her life. She said she believes Monday's "not guilty" verdict is going "to make people hate him even more." \n"I don't think he did it, but I think people are weirded out by his appearance -- his skin color, nose -- and his actions -- the whole sleeping with little boys thing," Cory said. "They don't want to accept him because he's different. If it happened, it happened -- if it didn't, it didn't. If parents are stupid enough to keep letting their kids go to his house that is their choice. Of course I would love to meet him, but I wouldn't want to stay all night."\nAttorney Thomas Mesereau Jr., Jackson's defense lawyer, told NBC's "Today" the international pop-music star was no longer going to share his bed with young people. Jackson was also accused of child-sexual abuse at his Neverland Ranch in 1993, but a multi-million dollar civil settlement kept the case from the spotlight of criminal courts. \nThe King of Pop has maintained his innocence against both sets of charges. The mental image of Jackson as a pedophile, however, continues to linger in the American public mind as it has throughout the last decade. \nChild molestation allegations against Jackson were sparked by a 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation documentary in which the pop star said he often shared his bed with children in a nonsexual way, including the 13-year-old boy who later accused him of sexual misconduct.\nThe jury verdict of not guilty on all counts polarized about 20 TV watchers who had gathered in the Indiana Memorial Union's Burger King food court to hear the live-audio feed broadcast from the Santa Maria courthouse. Jackson supporters were heard breathing a deep sigh of relief between sporadic claps after each count flashed on the television screen. Others shook their heads side-to-side in seeming disbelief, and profane grumblings about Jackson's "sickness" were heard as some frustrated campus community members stomped from the scene. \n"I like his music, but I wouldn't say I'm a Michael Jackson fan," said IU junior Scott Adamo. "If he did it, it's kind of sick. I think the media blew it way out of proportion -- if it was a regular case the media wouldn't have been there. If it were a regular guy there might have been a different verdict. He needs to quit sleeping with little kids -- it's sick."\nProsecutors branded Jackson a deviant who used his playland as the ultimate pervert's lair, plying boys with booze and porn, according to The Associated Press. Prosecution witnesses described other bizarre behavior by the pop star: they said he licked his accuser's head, simulated a sex act with a mannequin and kept dolls in bondage outfits on his desk.\n"We all did our job and we did it conscientiously ... We don't select victims of crimes and we don't select the family," said Prosecutor Tom Sneddon, the Santa Barbara County district attorney who has accused Jackson of sexual misconduct with children since the early 1990s. "When a victim comes in and tells you they've been victimized, you look at the evidence -- you do the right things for the right reasons."\nDefense lawyers described Jackson as a humanitarian who wanted to protect kids and give them the life he never had while growing up as a child star, according to The Associated Press. The defense said the family exploited the boy's illness -- he thought he was dying of cancer -- to shake down celebrities, then concocted the charges after realizing Jackson was cutting them off from a jet-set lifestyle that included limo rides and stays at luxurious resorts. \nThe mother of the alleged victim settled a personal-injury lawsuit with J.C. Penney for more than $150,000 in 2001, according to various media reports. \nMedia polls conducted across the nation since Monday questioning the "fairness" of the trial reflected a polarized American public opinion about Jackson's guilt, despite the courtroom verdict of "not guilty" pronounced by a jury of their peers who witnessed firsthand the courtroom drama, heard every word of testimony and examined all the evidence. For example, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken after the verdict showed that 48 percent of Americans disagreed with the pop star's acquittal, 34 percent agreed and 18 percent had no opinion.\nThe jury issued a statement after the verdict claiming their acquittal is testament to their beliefs in the justice system and the truth. As Michael and the Jackson family boarded black SUVs Monday for the trip back to the 2,600-acre Neverland Ranch, one of his fans held up a sign for the world to observe: "Michael -- on behalf of mankind -- we're sorry"
(06/16/05 2:01am)
The city of Bloomington's lawsuit against four IU students and their landlord for violating occupancy restrictions is nothing new within the campus community. \nThe litigation naming graduate student Eric Spoonmore, senior Christine Little, senior Stephanie Bullock, alumnus Chris White and Haralovich Properties is part of an "ongoing enforcement," said Patty Mulvahill, an assistant city attorney who is handling the occupancy violation. \nMulvahill said it is "not uncommon" for students to be named as defendants in an over-occupancy lawsuit, although the city often pursues only the landlord in such cases. \nThe lawsuit filed April 22 alleges the student tenants violated city zoning restrictions because four students were living in the house at 204 S. Clark St. at the time of the city's inspection. \nMichael Huerta, a staff attorney for IU Student Legal Services who is representing the students free of charge, said a typical over-occupany lawsuit from the city takes about one-and-a-half to two years to settle out of court. \n"The landlord is supposed to post a notice of occupancy permit by the front door. This particular house did not have that posted," he said. "The city will want to know what the students did when the city found the house in violation. \nEvery case is different -- sometimes students are fined, sometimes not." \nThe city of Bloomington zoned the residence to maintain a maximum occupancy of three unrelated adults or one family, according to the zoning ordinance.\nMulvahill said city officials send a letter to the residents and the landlord once tenants are found to be in violation of occupancy restrictions. From there, they have 10 days to remedy the situation and notify the city of compliance.\nThe legal department sent such a letter March 29 to the students and to Peter Haralovich, the property owner. Haralovich was unavailable for comment at press time.\nBullock said the soonest her roommates could vacate the property during the school year was after the graduation ceremony in May.\n"When we got the letter from the city, we thought 'are they kidding?' We didn't think it made sense and we didn't know if they were serious," she said. "It was our house and we signed the lease to live there until August." \nMulvahill said her office settles many overoccupancy cases out of court with defendants paying a portion of the amount upfront. The city then will forgive a portion of the remaining settlement amount for each year the landlord complies with occupancy restrictions. \nAlthough the zoning laws restricting occupancy within the campus community were legislated several decades ago, Bloomington property owner and landlord Peter Dvorak sued the city in 1996 for violating the privileges and immunities clause of the Indiana constitution. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in Dvorak's favor but the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the city's right to enforce the zoning restriction in 2003.\n"I like the landlord and I love that house so much my little brother is living there next year," Bullock said. "Four people can live there comfortably and we have never had any discomfort -- other than the lawsuit. There are houses on campus with six or seven people living together, and it's not like we're housing 10 illegal immigrants or anything"
(06/16/05 1:04am)
Bloomington welcomes the sex, drugs and palm trees of 1980s Hollywood beginning Friday at the John Waldron Arts Center.\nDavid Rabe's "Hurlyburly", brought to the community by the local Detour Theatre Company, promises to entertain and amuse audiences with rapid-fire dialogue reflecting cocaine-fueled masculine passion in an otherwise decade of decadence in America. Rabe's production is intended for mature audiences only due to certain content and foul language, according to the Bloomington Area Arts Council. \n"At first glance the play looks like a bunch of misogynist guys talking -- men in a very superficial time period," said "Hurlyburly" director Richard Perez, an artistic director for the Bloomington Playwright Project. "On a closer examination the play has a lot of great explorations about contemporary male relationships -- struggles to be better people without having the tools to be able to do so. I think part of the challenge is to make these characters multidimensional. In the first read of the script they seem very superficial, but at the core of the play they are really looking for a better way to be in the world." \nThe heart of the play is set around four male characters -- two casting agents, one would-be actor and one who never quite fits in anywhere -- who battle one another in a race to drown their downtrodden fortunes in the back of their throats and to snort their endless troubles up their noises. Throughout the so-called action, which is not in the form of movement but of dialogue, a parade of female characters interacts with the men in an ongoing chorus of male psyche chatter.\nBloomington resident Mike Price, "Hurlyburly's" artistic director, recommends theatre-goers listen for Rabe's repeated imagery layered throughout the dialogue for cues to the underlying meaning behind the play. He said \n"This is a challenging play -- it's not like a 'Hello Dolly,'" Price said. "The purely technical demands on the actors require a strong ensemble and a very high energy level for the entire cast to maintain. The level of themes that are involved in the language are powerful on many levels."\nHollywood is presented as a battlefield where male friendships are illusory, according to the BAAC. Intense, funny, tragic and piercing in its exploitation of men's lives.\nThe cast includes Price, Patrick Doolin, Allison Baker-Garrison, Stephanie Harrison, Steve Heise, Sebastian Tejeda and Amy Wendling. \nPerez said the setting captures the essence of the time period without hitting the audience over the head with Madonna or Cyndi Lauper. He recommended audiences explore the cultural concerns highlighted in the play through the dialogue. \n"I think the play is courageous in its exploration of what it means to be male and female in 1980s Hollywood culture. These people are really adept at using language as weapons," Perez said. "They use language as a way to escape reality when they speak to each other. Although they are trying to connect with language, they end up separating from one another even more ... The issues present when the play was written are issues many men and women still struggle with today. I hope audiences open themselves up to looking at all complexities of the play instead of focusing on just the language or subject matter." \n"Hurlyburly" is playing at 8 p.m. June 17-18, 24 to 25, July 1 to 2 and at 2 p.m. June 26 and July 3 in the John Waldron Arts Center Rose Firebay.Individual tickets are $12 general admission, $10 for students and seniors. \nFor more information contact 812-334-3100, ext. 102 or vistit www.artlives.org.
(06/13/05 1:10am)
There is no Wizard of Oz at the end of most tornados.\n"Tornados are often overlooked and they can be very catastrophic," said Marilynn Mundy, crisis and disaster planner for IU's risk management office. "Personnel in each building act as an emergency control committee to ensure everyone is evacuated. If it's a fire alarm going off, hopefully students are willing to get out of their seats and leave the building along emergency evacuation routes."\nCampus community safety within each building is the responsibility of an emergency control committee coordinated through the office of risk management. Each building's ECC has developed a building emergency action plan in case of any natural or man-made disaster, which provides information on where to go and what to do in an emergency. \nMundy said evacuation routes are visibly posted throughout each building on campus and each emergency plan includes tornado shelters within each building. The ECC is comprised of volunteers, either salaried employees or hourly staff.\nAccording to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., about 60 people are killed each year from the more than 1,000 tornados occurring in all 50 states at all times of the year. Tornados are often formed when warm moist Gulf of Mexico air floating north collides with cold Canadian air drifting south and dry Rocky Mountain air wandering east. \nThe size of a tornado is not necessarily an indication of its intensity, according to the Tornado Project, a company that makes tornado information available to the United States. The vast majority of tornados are either weak or do minimal damage and only a small percentage of tornados can be correctly classified as violent. \n"If a tornado can hit Ellettsville or Martinsville, it can easily hit the campus," said Ken Long, director of risk management for IU. "Preparedness is the key. You can't wait for an emergency to happen to figure out what to do. You have to figure it out beforehand. Fire alarms go off regularly throughout the school year. They are sometimes false alarms but sometimes not."\nLong said campus community members should treat every alarm as if it were a real emergency, especially during tornado warnings and watches. A "tornado watch" issued by the SPC means a tornado is "possible" based on current weather conditions -- temperature, humidity and air flow. A "tornado warning" issued by the National Weather Service means a tornado has been spotted or Doppler radar indicates the storm is capable of producing tornado conditions.\nAccording to the Tornado Project, most tornado deaths occur in cars that are thrown and mobile homes that are obliterated. Most people killed by tornados have been blown sideways, with only a small vertical movement. "Sucked up" is not an accurate description of being caught in the air rushing toward the vortex -- centrifugal force throws things out. According to the Tornado Project, a human was thrown about a mile in a May 1, 1930, tornado in Kansas.\nLong said the office of risk management develops emergency action plans so campus community members can trust building personnel to lead them to safe environments to ride out potential tornado-producing storms.\n"If someone is in an Indiana University building, follow the directions of emergency personnel," he said. "The key to surviving all emergency situations is to determine what to do beforehand in case an emergency situation occurs. Panic creates chaos."\nAccording to the SPC, tornados can appear from any direction but most move from southwest to northeast. They move counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The SPC reports that tornados hit any particular square mile of land about every thousand years on average -- regardless of whether or not a tornado has hit that specific plot of land before. \n"There is the potential for massive death tolls if a stadium or fairground is hit by a \ntornado during a concert, festival or sporting event -- even with a warning in effect," according to the SPC Web site. \nMundy said it's important to look up the emergency plan of any building you spend a significant amount of time in throughout the school year or summer.\n"Look up the emergency action plan on the risk management Web site at www.indiana.edu/~riskmgmt/ or track down the building manager to become familiar with the emergency procedures," she said. "Most plans include all the names of building personnel who have received first aid and CPR training. Safety is something you have to talk about over and over again"
(06/13/05 12:42am)
Community members can meet elk, cow and bison meat Saturday's near the front steps of City Hall.\nThe Bloomington Community Farmer's Market offers students, residents and guests the opportunity to purchase local-farmed meat raised through otherwise organic methods of grass grazing without any chemical or hormonal additives. Campus community members can munch on meat jerky of all persuasions for a few dollars or they can stock the freezer with thick meat steaks for about $20 more.\nBloomfield resident Becky Long, co-owner of Long's Elk Farm and an occupational therapist by day, said the elk meat from their stand was fed clover, rye, grass, whole kernel corn and a daily mineral pellet. Becky said she and her husband own and oversee a 25 elk herd as a potential retirement project to ensure sustainable living throughout decades to come. \n"As a whole there are ups and downs to raising elk," Becky said Saturday morning in between meat-for-money transactions for ground elk, elk patties, elk rolled-rumbo roast, elk steaks and elk summer sausage. "Yesterday, two elk calves were born -- that's really neat. My husband broke his leg rounding up the elk once -- that was no fun. It's a lot work but we have our favorites, and our favorites won't be in the freezer."\nBecky said her husband, similar to most Community Farmer's Market meat vendors, sends a few two- to three-year-old animals a month to Rice's Meat Processing for slaughter because the facility is state-inspected as per federal law. She recommends patrons cook elk meat medium rare to prevent drying the meat.\nAll meat farms are governed by the Board of Animal Health and each farmer must abide by a plethora of other state and federal laws pertaining to animal safety such as security fences and periodic health care. \nBloomfield residents Sanford Graber and Jonathan Miller, who were volunteering their time Saturday morning to trade White River Produce's meat and eggs for U.S. currency, said Community Farmer's Market patrons might enjoy local farm-raised meats instead of over-the-counter meats sold at the grocery store because Bloomington students, residents and guests can interact with the meat farmer and discuss how the animal was raised.\nWhite River Produce owned by William and Carolyn Schrock, oversees about 400 or 500 chickens, about 50 heads of cattle and about 20 hogs, Graber and Miller said. \n"Local farm-meat is definitely a lot better for you because it has no antibiotics and no hormones," Graber said. "The cattle on the White River Produce farm are fed grass in the summer and hay in the winter. No chemicals, pesticides or herbicides are spraying on the grass -- the beef is organic but not certified. The pigs roam on an open range."\nGraber, who works on his dad's dairy farm throughout the week and most weekends, said the White River Produce stand offers pork sausage, pork chops, tenderloin, bacon, ham, spare ribs, beef cube steak, chuck roast, rump roast, soup bones, and beef tongue to name a few items. He recommends Community Farmer's Market meat patrons fry most slabs of beef before baking them in an oven like a roast with a little salt and pepper.\nBainbridge resident Jason English, of English's Buffalo Farm, said his parents John and Sheila raise about 100 head of bison on their 100 acre farm. Jason and cousin Bradley said their farm chores consist of fencing the property, feeding the animals, loading the bison to be slaughtered, weighing the meat, boiling the skulls, selling the hides and promoting the family farm and gift shop. \n"There is always something to do on the farm -- put out hay, feed the bulls, cut wood," Jason said. "Bison like to walk around, eat, sleep and shit . They stay in the back of the farm and come up once a day for water. You have a 50/50 chance of seeing them. Sometimes you can hand feed them, but other times they'll stop until they build up the courage. Bison are real curious -- they check everything out and snoop around."\nA pamphlet provided by the English Buffalo Farm stand claims bison meat contains lets fat, cholesterol and calories than both beef and chicken.\nJason, who works the third-shift at the Indianapolis airport before arriving home in the early morning to work on his family's farm, said bison farming is often difficult because the animals tend to "tear up, bust, bend-in-half and break" any structure not made of reinforced steel or concrete. He said the typical slaughtered bison provides about 600 to 700 pounds of meat.\nThe Long's five year old elk farm, similar to the English's Buffalo farm, was started with three animals purchased from another farm because it's against the law to fence-in wild elk or bison. Becky said her husband, a state aerial photographer by day, is planning to increase their elk stock to about 100 animals when he retires in a few years.\n"Most of the time elk are very docile animals -- they walk around and graze and lay around and graze," Long said. "Elk are herd animals: they stick together and get upset if they are by themselves. It's not like horses, you don't really go out and pet an elk. You feed them and look at them -- I don't really consider them pets"
(06/09/05 2:19am)
Two dozen environmental advocates and Bloomington I-69 protesters who confronted the Indiana State Police Saturday on the front steps of the Indianapolis Statehouse face a Marion County judge today to determine what charges, if any, will be filed.\nTwelve of the estimated 40 to 50 protesters, including IU junior Alison Phillips and Bloomington resident Colin Schoder-Ehri, were arrested for disorderly conduct after at least one protester spray painted "I-69 Is the Enemy" and "No I-69" within and outside the Indiana's capital building. According to an Indiana State Police news release, Phillips has been tentatively identified as the person responsible for defacing the building.\n"I found out when I saw my mug-shot on the 11 o'clock news. I felt terrible, scared and frustrated because I didn't do anything wrong," Phillips said. "I had no idea that was going to happen and I do not condone property damage -- I was playing a drum the entire time."\nCritics of the proposed I-69 route extension through Indiana claim the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway -- from Mexico through the U.S. to Canada -- might bisect hundreds of Hoosier farms and destroy thousands of acres of Southern Indiana forest. Supporters of the extension cite free trade principles necessary to compete in a global economy.\nState Police First Sgt. David Bursten, field supervisor of public information officers, said protesters were beating five-gallon pickle buckets with sticks which prevented some Hoosiers from enjoying the downtown atmosphere. \n"The Statehouse is the people's house so it's open 24 hours a day for citizens to engage in any lawful activity you want to," Bursten said. "We're not saying all the protesters were bad, but some defaced the exterior and interior of the building which is 117 years old. Everybody in the U.S. has the right to protest, but individual rights come with responsibilities."\nPhillips said she attended the I-69 protest because she believes the proposed route through the Hoosier heartland will do "horrible things" to Indiana and the U.S.\n"At the beginning, everything was really happy and vibrant -- a positive atmosphere of playing drums and marching. It stayed that way until we reached the Statehouse," Phillips said. "We got to the Statehouse and we were entering the building -- I don't know why, just to get inside and make some noise -- and at that point some individuals -- I don't know who -- started spray painting. After about 10 minutes we started to leave as a group."\nPhillips said the marching band of vibrant protesters was followed by police as they looked for a "comfortable" place to disperse. She said the group was never told anything by any law officers before the "onslaught of police tried to catch as many as possible."\nAccording to an ISP news release, "protesters for hire" were confronted by Capitol Police officers after spray painted statements and symbols of protest were discovered on the north exterior and interior of the Statehouse. When the CP officer attempted to get the large "unruly" group to stop and remain in place for an investigation, the protesters ignored the officer's request and continued chanting and the beating of makeshift drums as they tried to leave.\n"The protest these people engaged in was neither peaceful nor lawful," Bursten said. "The issue of I-69 has been debated and continues to be debated -- the government is of the people, by the people, for the people. If you protest in a peaceful manner, everybody has the right to do that."\nPhillips said police officers did not offer any solution for the group other than handcuffs and the anxiety of jail holding cells.\n"There were no words. When there were enough of them to stop the crowd they came from every direction," she said. "One minute the cops were following closely, and then the next minute they were right on us. They arrested anyone they could catch. They tackled a couple of people and that pretty much put people in panic mode."\nPhillips said the 24 arrested individuals -- including four from Kentucky, two from Michigan, two from Missouri, one from both Georgia and Pennsylvania, one reported as "homeless" and one reported as "unknown" -- were handcuffed, detained for about three hours on the IU-Purdue University in Indianapolis' law school lawn and transported to jail. She said most protesters faced a judge about 4:15 a.m. Sunday and were released on their own recognizance about 6 a.m. when a 72-hour continuance for the case was issued.\n"We're still very early in the investigation, but it's becoming clear this was a group of 'protesters for hire' that likely don't have a specific interest in I-69," Bursten is quoted as saying in the ISP news release. "It's a shame when a group of misguided young people confuse the difference with the right to peacefully protest versus crossing the line to criminal conduct and damaging property that all of us, taxpayers, have paid for and will pay today to repair the damage." \nPhillips said the group is establishing a team of lawyers to challenge any charges that are not dropped. She said the protesters are seeking all the legal help they can find.\n"The feeling I got was 'round em' up, sit em' down and then figure out what to do with 'em.' When we let people pressure us to be silent, that's when we give them permission to do so," Phillips said. "This is a minor setback -- in the long run this will not stop us from demonstrating. Voting only goes so far and after that it's up to you to get your voice heard because if you don't they won't listen to you. We have to be animated about continuing the fight and to continue to show pressure to get this highway stopped. It is important for Indiana and the world in general"
(06/09/05 2:19am)
Bloomington's Griffy Lake has closed for the remainder of the summertime water-recreation season to private watercraft due to a Waterweed invasion.\n"The lake is under attack from an exotic invasive plant called the Brazilian Elodea -- a very long and stringy type of weed," said Bloomington resident Bob DeWar, a Griffy Lake boathouse employee. "When you're looking at the surface it doesn't seem like much of a problem, but when you get out onto the lake your fishing lines get caught in it, your canoe paddles get caught in it and it's difficult to see the bottom in shallow areas."\nVisitors can still rent canoes, kayaks and rowboats from the city to cruise through the lake for $5 per hour.\nThe Indiana Department of Natural Resources' Division of Fish and Wildlife claims Brazilian Elodea's invasion of Griffy Lake is the first and only Hoosier public body of water to contain a dense population of the foreign species native to some regions of Brazil and the coastal areas of Argentina and Uruguay. Elodea, also called Brazilian Waterweed, is often sold in the aquarium industry under the alias of "Anacharis." \nThe IDNR reports that Brazilian Waterweed has invaded waterways throughout about 31 states -- from Hawaii to Missouri to Delaware -- and about seven other countries throughout the world from New Zealand to Denmark. \n"Our immediate goal is to contain the Elodea from spreading -- motors tear it up, it gets caught in a boat's backwash and it sticks to rutters," said Mick Renneisen, director of Bloomington Parks and Recreation. "We want to contain the Elodea from other bodies of water like ponds, Lake Lemon and Monroe Reservoir. The long range objective is to find a nonchemical method to eradicate the plant from Griffy Lake. The goal is to get it out and never see it again."\nRenneisen said the Brazilian Waterweed was first discovered in 2003 and the plant can infect about 100 acres a year -- about 18 acres of the 109 acres of the lake are infested. Lake personnel have found aquarium rock remnants along the shores. This discovery has led city and state officials to believe at least one person dumped their aquarium fish into Griffy Lake when they left town. \n"This particular plant is one that probably came through an aquarium tank. Elodea has a wider impact, very quickly, across the aquatic ecosystem," said Robert Waltz, director of IDNR's Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology. "Because they are very aggressive, they affect two organisms: fish and the displacement of native plants. Having a plant coming in and dominating a habitat is not a good thing."\nWaltz said the effectiveness of nonchemical treatments to combat Brazilian Waterweed is difficult to predict because little documentation speaks to the consistency of mechanical means of removal. He said he supports Bloomington's decision to treat the plant invasion based on their budgetary concerns, but he said chemcial treatments have proven effective and provide immediate relief. Chemical treatments, on the other hand, might destroy native plants, harm wildlife and seep into neighboring \nbackyards.\n"Right now we have an exotic species of plant at one site in Indiana which can be controlled," Waltz said. "The longer it stays there, the more opportunity it has to be spread other places. It's a problem when you recognize it as a problem. A $50 problem is the best time to track it before it becomes a $300,000 to $500,000 problem. Elodea is extremely difficult to get rid of and it's an ongoing cost. The plant will die out on its own, but it might take a very long time to do so."
(06/09/05 2:02am)
Congress has the authority to grant all 50 States the right to prescribe medicinal marijuana to alleviate the pain and suffering of patients who can't find relief through other modern methods of medicine, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday. The U.S. Government, without Congressional intervention, may prosecute cancer patients, HIV/AIDS patients and Americans suffering from dehabilitating pain who ingest doctor-prescribed marijuana or grow marijuana plants for intended medicinal use. \n"The regulation is squarely within Congress' commerce power because production of the commodity meant for home consumption, be it wheat or marijuana, has a substantial effect on supply and demand in the national market for that commodity," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority opinion, which included Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. "Prohibiting the intrastate possession or manufacture of an article of commerce is a rational (and commonly utilized) means of regulating commerce in that product." California residents and medicinal marijuana users Diane Monson and Angel Raich sued the federal government for intrusion and potential future intrusion into their prescribed medicine regiment, which includes the ingestion of marijuana. Monson suffers from back pain caused by a degenerative disease of the spine and Raich suffers from an inoperable brain tumor and a seizure disorder. \nMajority opinion hugged and would not let go of the 1942 Supreme Court decision Wickard v. Filburn for legal validity, which involved the Government's regulation of local wheat farming involving a farmer's intent to sell his excess produce throughout the open market. They also cited the Supremacy Clause that "unambiguously" ensures federal law prevails when in conflict with state law.\n"The court held Congress has the power, through Controlled Substances Act, to forbid even personal use of marijuana, whether ill or not, and the state can't trump that power," said Craig Bradley, a James Louis Calamaras professor of law at IU. "They weren't voting according to their beliefs about marijuana. The remedy is Congress -- they say states can or can not have medicinal marijuana and exceptions in drug laws."\nCalamaras said Congressional authority for state-practiced medicinal marijuana has little prospect because of the current partisan legislative environment on Capitol Hill. He disagreed with the majority's likening of wheat to marijuana and their claim of potential effects of medicinal marijuana on the interstate market because illegal distribution of legal narcotics is "another crime" altogether. \nThe 1970 Controlled Substances Act classifies marijuana as a Schedule I substance based on claims the drug has a high potential for abuse, it possesses no accepted medical use and it has not been accepted as a safe form of supervised-medical treatment. As a result, none of the 50 states can grant their citizens consent to manufacture, distribute or possess marijuana without Congressional consent because the above are criminal offenses. \n"This case exemplifies the role of states as laboratories. The states' core police powers have always included authority to define criminal law and to protect the health, safety and welfare of their citizens," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the minority opinion, which included Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas. "Even if intrastate cultivation and possession of marijuana for one's own medicinal use can properly be characterized as economic, and I question whether it can, it has not been shown that such activity substantially affects interstate commerce ... The Court's definition of economic activity for purposes of the Commerce Clause jurisprudence threatens to sweep all of productive human activity into federal regulatory reach."\nMajority opinion doubted law enforcement inability to distinguish between marijuana "cultivated locally" and marijuana "grown elsewhere" and as further rationale to prohibit medicinal marijuana within willing state populaces and governmental bodies. They also cited concerns about medicinal marijuana being diverted into illicit channels much like most opiate-based pain-reducing medications -- many of which are classified as Schedule II narcotics under the CSA -- and other pharmaceuticals like anti-anxiety and anti-depression medications. \n"As the Court explains, marijuana that is grown at home and possessed for personal use is never more than an instant from the interstate market -- and this is so whether or not the possession is for medicinal use or lawful use under the laws of a particular State," the majority opinion stated.\nCongressional authority in this case, the Supreme Court ruled, overrules medical marijuana laws in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state -- all but two of which passed medicinal marijuana laws based on public voting referendum. Many news outlets have reported state officials from California and elsewhere have doubted since Monday the U.S. Justice Department's intention to smoke out otherwise law abiding citizens smoking medical marijuana based on the medical advice of a licensed physician. \n"Even assuming the CSA's ban on locally cultivated and consumed marijuana is 'necessary,' that does not mean it is also proper," Justice Thomas wrote in his own dissent of particular clauses in the majority and minority opinions. "Here, Congress has encroached on States' traditional police powers to define the criminal law and to protect the health, safety and welfare of their citizens ... If the majority is to be taken seriously, the Federal Government may now regulate quilting bees, clothes drives and potluck suppers throughout the 50 States -- One searches the Court's opinion in vain for any hint of what aspect of American life is reserved to the States."\nThe minority also said any similarity between commercial wheat and medicinal marijuana amounted to "bare declarations" that were asserted "without any supporting evidence -- descriptive, statistical or otherwise."\n"The homegrown cultivation and personal possession and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has no apparent commercial character -- they have simply grown, in their homes, marijuana for their own use, without acquiring, buying, selling, or bartering a thing of value," the minority opinion stated. "The Government has made no showing in fact that the possession and use of homegrown marijuana for medical purposes, in California or elsewhere, has a substantial effect on interstate commerce ... This overreaching stifles an express choice by some States, concerned for the lives and liberties of their people, to regulate medical marijuana differently."\nJustice Thomas, consistent in tone to the otherwise minority opinion and in utter contempt of the so-called majority opinion, concluded in his dissent: "Our federalist system, properly understood, allows California and a growing number of other States to decide for themselves how to safeguard the health and welfare of their citizens"
(06/09/05 1:20am)
Hoosiers suffering from chronic pain, cancerous deterioration and the wasting away associated with HIV/AIDS have no state or federal right to smoke or otherwise ingest marijuana for medical purposes under the advice and care of Indiana doctors as prescribed by most local, statewide and national laws.\nBloomington students, residents and guests living within the campus community do not have the current choice to choose marijuana as a decriminalized method of medicine despite increasing waves of health, science, academic and popular beliefs about the effectiveness of medicinal marijuana dating back three decades in America and tens of thousands of years across the globe. Ten states have legislated medicinal marijuana and about half a dozen more are considering like-minded policies this legislative season, despite Congressional refusal to consider the implications of "the Drug War" relating to otherwise law-abiding and patriotic citizens possessing small amounts of marijuana for medicinal purposes established in the House of Representatives Resolution 2087.\n"As a police officer and a police agency, I think I speak for all of us individuals who have to do law enforcement," said Lt. Jerry Minger of the Indiana University Police Department. "We are extremely sympathetic to those individuals who would have to use marijuana for chronic pain. The unfortunate aspect is that we have to rely on state laws -- laws we have to enforce."\nThough the Drug Enforcement Agency has the authority to regulate marijuana laws for states, Congress can regulate their policy.\n"The federal government usually involves itself in cases involving a threshold of 1,000 pounds of marijuana or the growing of more than 1,000 plants," said Allen St. Pierre, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "The other 98 percentile is usually left to local and state officials. HR 2087 would reduce marijuana from a Schedule I substance to either a Schedule II or a Schedule III narcotic, which means it could prescribed by a doctor or sold from the government's own crop grown at the University of Mississippi at Oxford." \nNORML does not advocate youth drug use, nor do they necessarily prescribe to full-legalization of marijuana other than small possession and the non-sale transfer of small amounts. The National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse commissioned by President Richard Nixon in 1972 also recommended states have "no need for criminal sanctions against possession for personal use or casual transfers" and provided additional suggestions for how to keep marijuana use within the confines of the home environment.\n"The first point is that even marihuana (sic.) possessed for personal use is subject to summary seizure and forfeiture if it is found in public. In our view, the contraband feature symbolizes the discouragement policy and will exert a major force in keeping use private," the NCMDA recommended. "Essentially, possession of marihuana would be the equivalent of a traffic offense in those jurisdictions where such an offense is not criminal … The civil fine would not be reflected in a police record, nor would it be considered a criminal act for purposes of future job consideration, either in the private sector or for government service … Indeed, the time consumed in arresting Possessors is inefficiently used when contrasted with the same amount of time invested in apprehending major dealers. Although a credible effort to eliminate supply requires prohibitions of importation, sale and possession with intent-to-sell, the enforcement of a proscription of possession for personal use is minimally effective."\nMinger said he remembers walking to class through Dunn Meadow on campus in the early 1970s to the sight, smell and sounds of Vietnam War protesters and hippies smoking marijuana for recreational purposes. Despite the national social perception of a delinquent youth movement connected to marijuana use, Minger said a compassionate campus community reduced marijuana possession of less than 30 grams from incarceration to a "common nuisance" misdemeanor.\n"With any substance, even caffeine, you find users as well as abusers," he said. "I don't have the answer. I adhere to my own ethical standards and I look to the state to provide me with guidelines. The state makes laws based on the population they represent -- we create laws to govern ourselves. " \nSt. Pierre said he believes Congress has created the current criminalized marijuana "debacle," and he said he hopes Congressional leaders can fix it by making medicinal marijuana legal to needy ill patients.\n"Two private citizens preemptively sued the federal government. States themselves are beginning to take steps toward possibly suing the federal government as well," St. Pierre said. "If a state came forward and said 'we want to do this and you can't stop us' the government would be forced to listen. The free market should determine the decriminalization and medicinal applications of marijuana, not the pharmaceutical companies and other vested interests."\nMinger said the current national climate of criminalized marijuana possession, cultivation and distribution results in otherwise law-abiding medicinal marijuana users who in effect support drug dealers and their organized crime operations.\n"Marijuana is illegal because the population of Indiana says it's illegal," he said. "The minute they say it's not illegal -- that's when we stop enforcing it. One must weigh possible punishments against alleviating the pain and do it in a fashion as to not encroach on someone's space. It's a very unfortunate circumstance to be in for that small percentage of the population -- if you use marijuana do you grow your own, buy from someone else?"\nThe United Nations claims an estimated 141 million people worldwide ingest marijuana -- making it the most widely abused drug in all parts of the world. Human Rights Watch often criticizes the American "War on Drugs," specifically related to marijuana arrests dealing with small possession and the criminalized nature of personal marijuana use. \n"Many factors -- the transformation of crime and punishment into key issues in electoral debates, the persistence of drug abuse, the desire to 'send a message' and communicate social opprobrium, ignorance about drug pharmacology, and concern about crime among others -- have encouraged politicians and public officials to champion harsh prison sentences for drug offenders and to turn a blind eye to the extraordinary human, social, and economic costs of such policies," Human Rights Watch reported. "They have also turned a blind eye to the war on drugs' staggering racial impact … When asked to close their eyes and envision a drug user, Americans overwhelmingly picture a black person"
(06/06/05 1:57am)
When four IU students moved into a four-bedroom, two-story house they were renting off campus, they never imagined that they were violating city occupancy restrictions. Now, they face a lawsuit which resident Eric Spoonmore said could cost them as much as $170,000.\nThe city of Bloomington is suing Spoonmore, a graduate student, senior Christine Little, senior Stephanie Bullock, alumnus Chris White and their landlord, Haralovich Properties, for violating zoning restrictions at their house at 204 S. Clark St. \n"The house has four bedrooms with one closet in each room, two bathrooms with showers, phone jacks and internet connections in each room and the driveway can accommodate up to four cars," Spoonmore said. \nDespite this, the house is zoned by the city as a "single dwelling residence" -- meaning only three adults or one family are allowed by law to live there. \nBloomington City Planner Tom Micuda said zoning ordinances that set occupancy restrictions are very common.\n"Regardless of the number of bedrooms, only three adults are allowed to live in a house zoned as a single dwelling residence," he said.\nHe said the Clark St. property has had the same zoning restriction for more than 30 years. \nIn May 2004, an anonymous complaint claiming too many people were living in the house prompted the city to investigate the housing violation, according the property's rental record. A Bloomington housing inspector visited the house and interviewed Spoonmore March 3. According to the inspector's report, Spoonmore said there were four people living in the house. \n"Typically, we become notified of over-occupancy violations from a citizen complaint," said Susie Johnson, director of Housing and Neighborhood Development for Bloomington. "Once we receive the complaint, we open an investigation to try to determine whether or not the complaint is valid and if we have reason to believe that it's valid, then we send it up to the legal department for them to take over."\nShe said HAND processed 51 occupancy violations in 2004 and 17 thus far in 2005.\nJohnson would not comment on the particulars of the city's lawsuit or investigation involving 204 S. Clark St. because the city has legal action pending.\nSpoonmore said his lawyer stated the defendants face a maximum $2,500 fine for each day the property was occupied by more than the permitted number of persons -- not to exceed a collective fine of $170,000.\nSpoonmore, Bullock and White signed the lease in March 2004 for the house, which Spoonmore claimed his landlord deemed to have four bedrooms. Little, who was studying abroad in Australia at the time, did not sign the lease, though Spoonmore said the landlord approved of her living there. The rental agreement also had an available fourth "signature" line. \nSpoonmore said the landlord never provided a copy of the residential rental occupancy permit to him or his roommates, nor was the permit displayed "inside the main entrance of the rental unit," as required by the city of Bloomington. \nMicuda said both the landlord and the tenants are responsible for making sure the rental property is within the occupancy restrictions, although the primary responsibility often falls on the landlord or property owner.\nSpoonmore said this is a nasty all-around situation to be involved in for any student. \n"I know ignorance is no excuse, but we were left in the dark," he said. \nRoommate Bullock said the "great house" they lived in for the past year was advertised as having four bedrooms, hence the need for three other roommates.\n"The ad in the newspaper was for a four-bedroom house -- I am 95 percent sure," Bullock said.\nThe students have obtained legal representation from IU Student Legal Services, although both their lawyer and the SLS director were unavailable for comment at press time. Haralovich Properties did not return phone calls from the Indiana Daily Student seeking comment. \nProperty owner Peter Haralovich, who has obtained outside legal counsel, was also unavailable for comment at press time. \nSpoonmore recommends students and residents "know the law" pertaining to zoning ordinances as they relate to rental properties throughout town. He said would-be renters should investigate on their own the "real number" of people allowed to rent an apartment or a house and verify the number with their landlord. \n"You can't imagine the stress of having something like this on your back -- it is enough to make you go crazy. I think a lot of people need to be aware of this," Spoonmore said. "At this point I've accumulated about $30,000 in student loans and I'm about $50,000 in debt. All of us are in shock. $170,000 divided five ways adds an extra $30,000. How can you recover from that at age 22? It is unfathomable. Whatever lesson they're trying to teach us, we have already learned"
