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(11/16/06 3:39am)
Monroe County Prosecutor-elect Chris Gaal is leaving his at-large City Council seat up for grabs among Democrats in January when he assumes his new office.\nA past council candidate and an economics professor have already declared their candidacies, and more are expected to contend to fill the soon-to-be-vacated seat, which comes up for election in November 2007. \nDemocrats retain the seat through the final year of the four-year term.\nMonroe County Democratic Party chairwoman Lee Jones said a caucus date would be announced by week's end, allowing candidates to formally file. Party activist Susan Sandberg and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis economics professor Martin Spechler have announced their intentions to run.\nPrecinct committee chairs will choose Gaal's successor at the caucus, which will likely be sometime in December. As a citywide at-large seat, it's open to any registered Democrat who lives within city limits.\nPolitical pressure exists to add a woman to the nine-member council, currently occupied by nine men. Patricia Cole, who left office in 2003, was the last councilwoman.\nCity Clerk Regina Moore, who chairs the Democratic Women's Caucus, chalks up the council's current makeup to fluke. Many qualified women prove reluctant to run, she said, and the only female candidate to stand for council in 2003 suffered a narrow defeat.\nStill, Moore said she wouldn't mind seeing a woman restore some measure of gender equality to the council.\n"This could be an excellent opportunity for more balance," she said. "Everyone profits from more of a diversity of voices."\nGaal, who toppled three-term Republican incumbent Carl Salzmann last week, plans to serve through the year's end so he can see through the overhaul of the city's zoning ordinance, which comes before the council for approval in December. He represents the City Council on the Bloomington Plan Commission, which has been drafting and revising the comprehensive zoning update for years.\nGaal refrained from endorsing any candidate yet but said he hopes to turn his seat over to a progressive candidate "who will be a voice of reason for the community." \nSandberg, who ran for the council in 2003, said she aspires to fill Gaal's role.\n"More qualified women need to step into leadership positions so our elected offices more accurately reflect the population," she said. "I'm dedicated to the long-term best interest of Bloomington, and I'm ready to work professionally with the gentlemen on the City Council and Mayor (Mark) Kruzan."\nThe program coordinator for IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs arts administration program, Sandberg has worked in local social services for 13 years. The vice president of the Democratic Women's Caucus, she has been active in community service, including tenure as an officer on the Utilities Service Board and involvement in New Leaf-New Life, which stages theater productions for the Monroe County Jail inmates.\nIn 2003, she lost a close race to two-term incumbent Jason Banach in the traditionally Republican 2nd District.\nSpechler, the senior member of the faculty council, has also thrown his hat into the ring. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard University, Spechler serves as president of the Bloomington Jewish Community and precinct chair of Bloomington 19.\nSpechler identifies himself as a "social liberal" and a "middle-of-the-road Democrat" who would urge fiscal responsibility.\n"I'm by nature a money guy, conservative on fiscal matters, and would devote my attention on the council to examining the budget more closely than we have done in the past," he said, "with an eye to devoting available funds to building sidewalks, planting more trees to protect the environment, providing convenient public transportation, bicycle racks and paths, and improving our parks."\nJones said others have expressed interest in the seat but have not yet chosen to come forward.\nAny interested and qualified parties can submit a formal letter of candidacy to the county party secretary within five days of the caucus.
(11/15/06 4:22am)
Hoosiers should view their state's economy with tempered optimism over the next year, say some experts, who \npredict little economic growth but steady performance in \nIndiana. \nIndiana can anticipate adding 20,000 to 25,000 new jobs, an increase that lags behind the national average, according to an annual economic outlook released earlier this month by the Kelley School of Business. \nBut Indiana should continue to post a significant gain from 2005, which saw an increase of only 13,000 jobs, or less than half of 1 percent, the outlook report said. The Indiana economy grew by 24,800 jobs this year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. \nIndiana fares better in terms of growth than many of its Midwest neighbors, such as Michigan and Ohio. Still, employment levels should stay beneath the national average because of turmoil in the automotive industry and a declining housing sector, according to a report from the Indiana Business Research Center. \nIndiana relies heavily on the manufacturing sector, and the housing bubble has burst, even though home prices hold steady with no signs of decline, said Jerry Conover, director of the Indiana Business Research Center.\n"In Indiana, the weakening of the housing market will continue but to a lesser extent," said Conover.\nDespite a less robust housing market, Conover said Indiana can expect an uptick in construction jobs, a market that remains strong due to large construction projects in the state, including a new Honda plant in Greensburg, Ind., and the expansion of a BP refinery in Whiting, Ind.\nConover also stressed a mixed employment outlook. Overall job gains should put only a slight dent in unemployment, and potential losses in manufacturing jobs threaten to offset any gains made in the construction sector, he said.\nThe struggling manufacturing sector accounts for a major chunk of the Indiana gross state product, which slipped to 16th nationwide last year. But in the long run, Indiana might see a gradual increase in manufacturing jobs because manufacturing employment has been increasing in Indiana since last August, according to the report.\nIU economics professor Bill Witte said this projection stands on shaky economic ground because the slowdown reflects a trend dating long before the automotive industry's recent difficulties. But not all these jobs are being shipped overseas to cheaper labor markets, he said.\n"It's losing jobs not just to outsourcing but to increased productivity," Witte said. "Increased output requires fewer workers."\nHoosiers can look forward to moderate growth in the professional and business services, Conover said. The health and education sectors show particular strength.\nAccording the Indiana Business Center's findings, those industries tallied an additional 4,000 jobs this year, nearly keeping pace with the state's current highest-growth industry, leisure and hospitality.\nThe employment increase in health and education was half the national average of 2.2 percent, according to the Kelley School's annual economic outlook.\n"Indiana has not grown as rapidly as the national economy," Witte said. "It's the pattern we've seen evolve over the last few years"
(09/14/06 3:15am)
A high-tech entrepreneur and the city's police dispatcher are squaring off for the Bloomington City Council seat Republican Jason Banach will vacate in October.\nBloomington Police Department Telecommunications Manager Jeff Schemmer and businessman Brad Wisler have indicated they plan to throw their hats in the ring for the four-year seat, which does not come up for election until 2007. Real estate agent Bud Bernitt, a prominent local Republican activist, also expressed interested but withdrew his name from consideration to back Wisler.\nBanach recently announced his retirement after a decade on the council, citing a hectic professional schedule. Increased duties as IU's assistant director of real estate forced him to miss council meetings, which he said was unfair to his constituents.\nThe party has scheduled an Oct. 2 caucus to fill the vacancy. Interested District 2 residents may still submit formal declarations of candidacy to local GOP Chairman Franklin Andrew. The process remains open through Sept. 28 under Indiana statute, and Andrew welcomes any and all qualified candidates.\n"This is what differentiates us from the local Democrat party," he said. "They handpick their candidates while we go through the primary process to determine who best represents a district's interests."\nAt the caucus, the eight Republican precinct committee chairs will vote. City Clerk Regina Moore will attend to certify the result and swear in the appointee.\nWisler also has Banach's endorsement. As a 19-year-old junior at IU, Wisler ran with Banach for the council in 1995. On an affordable parking platform, Wisler lost to four-term incumbent Pam Service by a mere 291 votes.\n"We have the same issues today as we did in 1995: taxes, trash pickup and roadwork," Andrew said. "And the council still has its thumbs in things they can't control. They talk about the war in Iraq and other silly matters instead of Bloomington issues."\nWisler serves as president of downtown-based Resite Information Technology, which develops Web-based software for apartment managers. He founded the thriving company, which has clients in more than 30 states, in 2001.\nWisler's resume includes public service. He now serves as vice president on the board of Monroe County Youth Services, a government agency that runs youth shelters and a GED program. He has also worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Anderson Police Department.\nIf appointed, Wisler said he would continue Banach's fiscal conservatism and pursue job creation initiatives.\n"In my job, I travel around the country a lot," he said. "And I'm convinced we can persuade more employers to relocate to Bloomington and bring in more jobs."\nStill, Wisler said he would focus on the council's routine administrative tasks.\n"It will always largely be a matter of filling potholes and providing basic city services," he said. "Jason (Banach) always brags his biggest achievement was switching out sand for salt in the plow trucks."\nWisler said he would defend the seat in next year's election if appointed.\nSchemmer has not yet filed an official letter of intent. He was unavailable for comment by press time.
(09/08/06 4:50am)
The voter registration deadline is quickly approaching for this year's general election.\nThe last day citizens can register to vote in Indiana is Tuesday, Oct. 10. Residents who voted in Monroe County during the last election and have not since changed their addresses retain their eligibility and simply have to show up at their precinct polling place Nov. 7 or cast an absentee ballot by Nov. 6.\nFor everyone else, options for registering abound.\nMonroe County's official registration office can be found at Room 202 in the lobby of the Justice Building, 301 N. College Ave. It remains open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.\nA few other government offices at the Monroe County Courthouse, 100 W. Fifth St., carry the relevant form, including the Recorder's Office and the Treasurer's Office. Alternately, registration can be completed at the city clerk's office in Suite 110 at the Showers Building, 401 N. Morton St., or at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, 1612 S. Liberty Drive. Under the 1994 federal "Motor Voter" law, citizens can register while renewing their driver's license.\nThose pressed for time can visit www.indianavoters.com or Indiana's secretary of state's Web site, www.in.gov/sos, to print out an application, which can either be dropped off at any of the aforementioned offices or mailed to Monroe County Voter Registration, 301 N. College Ave., Room 202 Bloomington, IN 47402.\nTo register, residents must be U.S. citizens at least 18 years old by Nov. 7 not currently imprisoned on a criminal conviction who have maintained a place of residence within their registered precinct at least 30 days prior to the election.\nState law requires those registering to provide an Indiana driver's license or federal photo ID, such as a passport. Current student IDs from state-sponsored universities such as IU qualify, but out-of-state driver's licenses are not recognized as valid \nidentification under a 2005 law. Out-of-state students wishing to vote locally may show up with their University ID or pick up an Indiana photo ID card from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles branch free of charge.\nTo confirm addresses, registrants must also furnish some documentation, such as a recent bill or bank statement. And to mail in a registration form for Monroe County, an Indiana state driver's license number must be provided. Officials warn residents not to mail in the original form of ID.\nAny false information on the registration form constitutes perjury, a felony punishable by up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.\nMonroe County Clerk Jim Fielder encourages residents to register to vote at the earliest available opportunity. It can take up to seven business days to verify registration with a mailing sent out to verify address. Mailings returned as undeliverable invalidate registration.\nAfter registration has been validated, the county sends residents written confirmation with the location of their precinct polling site. Anyone who fails to receive mailed notification after registering or re-registering at a new address should call the Monroe County Voter Registration Office at 349-2690 to clear the matter up, Fielding said.\nOnce the registration period ends, registered voters can cast absentee ballots up through the day before the election without providing a reason. Absentee voting can be done in the atrium of the Curry Building, 238 W. Seventh St., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday from Oct. 10 to Oct. 21.\nThe county has extended those hours through Saturday for two weeks from Oct. 22 to Nov. 4. The hours are 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Nov. 6, the election's eve.
(08/30/06 5:18am)
Jeff Mease feels burned.\nMease, founder and CEO of the popular local chain Pizza Express, finds his business ensnared in a legal tangle with an Indianapolis-based business partner. The two companies have each filed dueling lawsuits in federal court.\nA contract dispute arose when the investment group Pizza Head LLC developed a West Lafayette Pizza Express store last summer. Negotiations over the terms of a new licensing agreement had ground to a halt by fall and both parties brought claims to court.\nThe Pizza Express suit contends Pizza Head has failed to pay royalties for using the Pizza Express name since the dispute began. \nThe Pizza Head suit maintains Pizza Express sought an illegal franchise contract without proper registration through the Indiana Securities Division. \nThe business relationship has effectively dissolved, with Pizza Head renaming its former Pizza Express locations Hot Box Pizza.\nPizza Head -- with leaders who are IU alumni -- came to Pizza Express two years ago with the idea of opening stores in Indianapolis. They signed a license agreement for two locations, which Pizza Head now contends amounted to a franchise contract.\n"They sold themselves as having great affinity for the brand," Mease said in an interview. "We were going on faith, as we haven't tried anything like that in 25 years."\nOver the years, Pizza Express has stuck to a policy of slow growth in the local area, with four Bloomington stores and one in Ellettsville. But Mease agreed to the proposal because he wanted to test the waters for eventual franchising.\nIn 2004, Pizza Head committed to an up-front fee and a 5 percent royalty on sales in exchange for use of the Pizza Express trademark and menu. It expanded to the West Lafayette market last summer under a verbal agreement without ink on a new licensing contract.\n"We were being loose," Mease said. "Apparently, in retrospect, we were too loose."\nDavid Klinestiver, the attorney representing Pizza Head, said contractual negotiations ended when Pizza Express sent a cease-and-desist letter.\n"They alleged trademark infringement on a franchise they helped set up," he said. "They insisted upon a license agreement too onerous for my clients to accept.\n"Pizza Head had no choice but to seek a court's opinion."\nPizza Head filed suit shortly after alleging "unlawful offer and sale of franchises." It argues that Pizza Express failed to provide detailed company information required in a franchise agreement under state law.\nPizza Express acted as a franchiser instead of a licenser under state law, Pizza Head's suit contends, because it offered the investors a promotional guide with marketing strategies, such as distributing condoms.\n"It's a classic example of a restaurant franchise contract," Klinestiver said. "It has all the classic hallmarks."\nMease filed a countersuit alleging contractual violations, including the withholding of royalty fees since last September. The sum falls in the "tens of thousands of dollars," he said.\nMease dismisses the Pizza Head suit as a means to maneuver out of a contractual obligation. He said Pizza Express did not issue strict guidelines on how to run the business, an essential component of a franchise agreement.\nThe U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana has set a March 2007 court date.\nFor now, Mease has tabled all plans to introduce the Pizza Express brand to new markets without retaining full ownership. He chalks up the experience as a lesson learned.\n"I'm not really angry because I blame myself," he said. "There are certain kinds of people you can't trust, people trying to take advantage of your company"
(07/31/06 3:33am)
Local Internet service provider HoosierNet will shut down Sept. 1. The not-for-profit ISP announced recently it will soon cease operations after 11 years in the community.\nCheap broadband alternatives have eroded its customer base. And since around 2003, the glut of reasonably priced DSL options has kept away new customers.\nDavid Ernst, executive director for HoosierNet Inc., said the decision is a straightforward matter of diminished revenues. National providers now offer many competing services at lower costs than would be needed just to recoup expenses.\nThe market for HoosierNet's flagship dial-up service has dried up completely.\nHoosierNet was incorporated in 1994 and up and running a year later. It was founded out of a concern that the Bloomington market was too small to attract the investment of for-profit ISPs.\nAt the time, national providers like Prodigy and CompuServe billed hourly connection fees and required long-distance phone charges.\nThough household Internet availability spread quickly and widely in the mid-1990s, HoosierNet continued to thrive in a crowded marketplace. Offering Web site hosting and free e-mail accounts, it grew expansively as the decade wound down.\nThough it rolled out its own DSL service in 2003, competition proved too fierce. HoosierNet couldn't price competitively, and its membership base dwindled to about a thousand.\nThe not-for-profit now focuses on a smooth transition for its loyal customer base. It is now in talks to transfer the domain bloomington.in.us to another host, allowing users to keep their e-mail accounts and Web sites.\nErnst said an announcement should be made in another week or two, as soon as a deal is reached, but he's confident the domain will remain valid.\nHoosierNet hosts more than 4,000 e-mail accounts, though many have been inactive for some time. Though it does not endorse any specific Web hosting providers, it points users in the direction of several companies offering local service, including Defcon1 and Dragonpress.\nHoosierNet promises technical help with all transition issues and maintains a Frequently Asked Questions advisory on its home page. It promises frequent updates as the situation develops.\n"We want this to go as smoothly as possible to thank all our loyal members," Ernst said. "We consider ourselves fortunate to have worked with the community for this long."\nHoosierNet employs five staff members, two of whom have already lined up new jobs. It occupies office space on the third floor of the Monroe County Public Library, as part of a longtime partnership.\nNo plans exist for the space.\nMany have expressed disappointment over HoosierNet's dissolution, but Ernst said it has served its purpose and run its course in an evolving landscape.\n"It's the state of the market," he said. "I'm sure many of our users will be able to find what they need cheaper."\nFor more information, visit http://www.bloomington.in.us/questions.html.
(07/26/06 11:59pm)
Monroe County United Ministries is soliciting volunteers for a major food drive planned for the weekend leading into the fall semester.\nIt seeks 100 volunteers to man booths taking donations outside most supermarkets in Bloomington and Ellettsville. The nonprofit organization needs to meet a target of 118 pounds of food at the risk of further reduced services.\nLike many area pantries, United Ministries has seen a recent surge in demand from working families requesting temporary food assistance. Since 2004, demand has shot up 72 percent while donations have risen only slightly.\nThe area's largest pantry, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, reports a 60 percent spike over the same period. Pantries deal in the hard numbers of nonperishable foodstuffs and cannot stretch out supplies creatively like soup kitchens.\nWithout resources, United Ministries has been forced to cut its emergency services. It long provided three meals a day per family member for five days, and it can now muster only three days of assistance.\n"We initially expected it to only be for a few months," said Rebecca Stanze, development coordinator of United Ministries. "It's now been over a year, and it's cause for concern."\nHigh-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared from the area in recent years. Increased housing and energy expenses have taken oversized bites out of many family budgets.\nMany officials warn of a looming hunger crisis.\n"It's a very busy weekend," Stanze said. "People are already there to shop for food, and we hope it will help us climb out of this."\nScheduled for August 26 and 27, the food drive will take place at all Kroger locations, all Marsh locations, O'Malia's, Bloomingfoods and Buehlor's Bi-Lo in \nEllettsville. WIFU and Bunger & Robertson are sponsoring the drive, with posters provided by Rhino's Youth Center.\nVolunteers are sought for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. shifts to pass out flyers on the hunger issue with shopping guidelines for giving.\n"This isn't one of our annual events," Stanze said. "Success will depend upon participation."\nUnited Ministries hopes for more student charity during the academic year to pull out of the rough patch. It's been working with Union Board to develop strategies to raise awareness of the hunger issue. Several ideas have been bandied about, including canned food donations as event covers.\n"They have been so proactive and supportive to help out any way they can," said Junior Kathryn Schluntz, a United Ministries intern. "They are busting their butts already to make this year a huge success."\nTo volunteer or for more information, contact kschlunt@indiana.edu or 339-3429.
(07/17/06 2:48am)
Downtown Bloomington is losing a landmark restaurant and gaining a grocery store.\nThe Bloomingfoods co-op announced in its July newsletter that it would be converting the popular gourmet cafeteria Encore Café into a grocery location servicing the downtown and westside of Bloomington. Plans exist for a deli section with seating maintaining some of Encore's menu items.\nIn the newsletter, co-op board President Strats Stratigos described the move as a "very difficult decision," but stressed that it will better serve the community. \n"There is a growing interest in healthy and local foods," he said. "Our members have been very vocal about seeing a Bloomingfoods grocery on the near westside."\nBeyond meeting the needs of the westside and the growing Prospect Hill neighborhood, the store should cater to the downtown's ballooning housing density, Bloomingfoods General Manager George Huntington said. As one of the few downtown buildings with an adjoining parking lot, it makes an ideal spot.\n"With all of the urban infill, it's really all fallen into place," he said.\nAcquired in 2002, Encore proved a burden on the ledger of Bloomingfoods, which runs a 9,000-square-foot eastside store, as well as its flagship back-alley Kirkwood Avenue location.\n"Our continuing commitment to key values, such as offering food at affordable prices and being an excellent employer, have made it difficult to operate the Encore Café as a profitable business," Santigos wrote in the newsletter. "We endeavor to pay all our full-time staff a living wage, provide health benefits and paid vacation."\nEncore reported more than $1 million gross revenue in the 2005 fiscal year. It only brought in about $700,000 during its first year of Bloomingfoods ownership. But beyond high overhead, it faces increased competition.\nWhen Encore first opened in 1991, 200 restaurants did business in Monroe County. That figure has since exploded to more than 320. Without comparable population growth, it's become a zero sum game for dining dollars.\n"It's a competitive landscape out there," Huntington said.\nOffering no table service, the eatery boasts an extensive salad bar and upscale entrees including herb-roasted salmon and Thai Chile chicken. Doubling as a caterer, it's known for its gourmet soups and many vegan sandwich options.\nEncore has also served as a nightlife destination, hosting many folk and roots acts and featuring a specialty selection of imported beers and wines. It stands as one of the few venues to afford local artists display space.\nBloomingfoods maintains its commitment to the arts, Huntington said. The location will continue to provide exposure for local artists, including the possibility of an outdoor sculpture area.\nEncore staffs 40 employees, roughly the number of positions the grocery store will create. Huntington said he expects most of the Encore staff to shuffle into the Bloomingfoods fold, with some crossover from other locations.\nHaving cultivated an urbane dining experience, owner Jim Silberstein sold the Encore to Bloomingfoods in May 2002 after casting around for a local buyer. The introduction of several national chains siphoned away revenue, leaving it unprofitable.\nThe co-op specializes in natural and organic foods at reasonable prices. Having tried its hand in the restaurant business, it's now renewing its core focus, Stratigos wrote in the newsletter.\nThough the Bloomingfoods board deemed its Encore run a success as a community space, market analysis encourages the new approach.\n"We feel that due diligence has been performed," Stratigos wrote in the newsletter. "It is time to move in a new direction at the Encore, one that reflects our expertise in the grocery business while building on what we've learned while running a restaurant."\nThe Encore Café will remain open through the summer as Bloomingfoods works out logistics. Remodeling of the 7,000-square-foot space is slated to begin in the fall.\n"It's business as usual," Huntington said. "We just wanted to make the announcement right away."\nThe future of the Bloomingfoods-owned Theater Café, the Buskirk-Chumley adjunct that relies on Encore's kitchen, remains up in the air.\nBloomingfoods will keep its members and the community updated as plans develop. \nHuntington urges patrons to give feedback on which menu items they would like to see kept over in the deli.\nComments and questions can be directed to 339-4442.
(07/13/06 12:04am)
While riding out a shift as a Circuit City floor salesman his senior year of high school, Jared Schneider realized he'd like to be able to wear shorts to work if he felt so inclined.\nHe realized he wanted to work for himself.\nHe's not waiting on a bachelor's degree.\nBy late July, the 19-year-old junior plans to open Baked! of Bloomington, a downtown cookie delivery store. Schneider touts freshly baked cookies straight out of the oven as an alternative to yet another pizza or sub.\nTo be open until 3 a.m. weekends, the store offers as its signature special the "Hot Box:" a baker's dozen with a quart of milk for $11. Selling freshness, Schneider promises that dough won't touch tin until the order is completed.\nInspiration came in a flash. His friends lavished praise on a helping of his mother's trademark chocolate chip cookies, and it occurred to him that there was an untapped market in a college town for a taste of home.\n"It was too good and too easy an idea to wait on," he said. "I wanted to move in and corner the market."\nSchneider tried his hand at entrepreneurship before. In high school, he ran a summer car-detailing business that raked in a 2,500 percent return on investment. Still, as an 18-year-old with no credit established, he had a tough sell even with an innovative concept.\nHe ruled out banks altogether and pled his case to a venture capital fund out of his hometown, Chicago. He won their backing on the strength on his idea.\nSchneider envisions aggressive expansion for Baked! He eyes a franchise in every Big Ten college town -- as a start.\nPassing on preservatives and shortening, Baked! will whip up a fresh batch of cookie dough daily, Schneider said. Though the menu features a few staples like chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin, it focuses on customization from a set list of ingredients.\n"If you want to get into permutations, there are literally thousands of possibilities," Schneider said. "We will give you exactly what you want, to your exact specifications."\nThe customer also retains the option of having the cookies cooked gooey or crisp. Though it emphasizes delivery, Baked! will maintain a storefront with pre-baked cookies for walk-in traffic.\nThough Baked! prides itself on quality and uses only natural ingredients, Schneider shuns comparisons to established chain Mrs. Fields.\n"Everybody is gourmet these days," he said. "It's a word that gets thrown around a lot. I'd absolutely say we're gourmet, but we remind you of home."\nBusiness professor David Rubenstein, who's given Schneider feedback on his venture, heartily endorses his product, which he describes as "warm and plump and moist and rich."\n"The cookies are unique, special," he said. "They aren't little cardboard slats, stamped out on an assembly line."\nStill, Rubenstein qualifies his optimism about Schneider's aspiration toward a national chain.\n"The business plan looks solid, but it is no 'sure thing,'" he said. "Enterprises are like dramas, and beyond the business plan, success will depend on two factors -- the entrepreneur and the customers."\nIt's not every day that an undergraduate bootstraps a brick-and-mortar company up from the ground. But Schneider follows in the footsteps of two University of Texas juniors who opened Tiff's Treats in Austin, Texas in 1999. With the same concept of delivered homemade cookies, they're now thriving, with a strong customer base and a number of catering accounts with corporate clients. Residents voted its confections among "The Best of Austin" last year in the Austin Chronicle's annual survey.\nIt's proved such a hit that it's branching out to a Dallas location this summer.\nThough Baked! skews primarily to hungry students stranded in dorms and those looking for a quick, convenient snack after the bar crawl, Schneider also expects to cultivate a business clientele.\n"You can pick up some stale doughnuts at the supermarket," he said. "Or you can get the freshest possible cookies for your office party or reception area."\nSchneider looks to word-of-mouth as his marketing strategy. T-shirts have cropped up around campus declaring that the wearer "gets Baked! before class." Signage invites potential customers to "get Baked!"\n"We just need to grab people's attention," Schneider said. "I'm confident once people have sampled our cookies, they'll keep coming back."\nSchneider, enrolled in the honors program I-Core, plans to continue his studies while running a business with up to 25 employees. Though well ahead of fellow students who fret mostly over quizzes and weekend plans and who haven't formed their own limited liability corporations, Schneider is quick to give credit where it's due.\nHe's dubbed the chocolate cookie "Stacey" in honor of his mother.\nBaked! of Bloomington is located at 601 N. College Ave., on the ground floor of Smallwood Plaza, and can be reached at 336-2253 or BakedOfBloomington@gmail.com.
(07/03/06 2:31am)
A stamp cost just 6 cents. Mail was still sorted by hand when Larry Jacobs was first hired on as a clerk by the United States Postal Service in 1969.\nNow, in a changed communications landscape, Jacobs ends his 17-year tenure as Bloomington Postmaster with his retirement today. He held the position for the second-longest stretch since the post office was established here in 1824.\nIt may be up to a year until a successor is named.\nBloomington mayor Mark Kruzan proclaimed June 29 Larry Jacobs Day, in honor of the native who rose up through the ranks to the top spot.\nEarly on in his 37-year postal career, Jacobs followed the typical postal service management path to distant posts across the state. He bounced from the district office in Indianapolis to stints in Terre Haute to Gary. He maintained his residence in Bloomington all the while, commuting an hour each way for years.\nApplying on a lark when he heard of the posted opening, he was thrilled to receive word of his appointment as postmaster. He'd be returning home.\n"I thought it only a possibility that it would happen," he said. "I assumed I'd end up in human resources."\nWhen Jacobs took the reigns in 1989, mail processing was still mechanized, requiring an operator to manually punch in the codes. The process averaged 60 letters an hour. During the early 1990s, he presided over full automation, which speeds through 3,500 pieces of mail an hour.\nHe oversaw local expansion to the mail-processing center at Vernal Pike. Built in 1999 to handle volume, the regional facility processes 25,000 to 35,000 letters and packages per day.\nHe hosted the USPS's premillenial "Celebrate the Century" whistle-stop rail tour, complete with a vintage mail car. He kept order during the clockwork holiday and tax day rushes. He's had to shift routes and expand branch hours.\nA stamp running only 25 cents when he first took the helm, he's seen the post office lose business to the encroaching popularity of e-mail and online bill-paying. He's witnessed stepped-up competition from FedEx and United Parcel Service. He's faced threats of corner-cutting schemes, including repeated propositions to consolidate mail sorting in Indianapolis and a recently tabled plan to eliminate the Bloomington postmark.\nHe's stood by carriers hospitalized because of dog attacks and pressed the state legislature for tougher restrictions on dog owners. He's assisted authorities with rashes of mailbox vandalism and stolen Social Security checks. He's even toed off with the specter of terrorism, when an anthrax scare swept the nation shortly after 9/11.\n"Everyone was so paranoid," he said. "If someone so much brought a powdered doughnut or spilled some creamer in the conference room ... It was a trying time."\nJacobs had to alert postal inspectors to suspicious-looking mail and send it in for testing. The Vernal Pike facility has since been outfitted with anthrax-detection equipment.\nDozens of well-wishers thronged the Monroe County Courthouse rotunda Thursday for Jacobs' retirement gala. Applause often roared through the small enclosed space, as a series of colleagues and friends stepped to the podium to bid him farewell.\n"Larry always went the extra mile, beyond the call of duty," said Rochelle Israel, Manager of Human Resources for the Indiana branch of the United States Postal Service. "He leaves some big shoes to fill."\nJacobs was showered with laurels and gifts, including a commemorative plaque and a bronze sculpture of an eagle, the postal service's mascot. The Monroe County Board of Commissioners read an encomium recognizing his contribution to the community. And representatives of Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th District presented him with a flag flown in the nation's capitol in his honor.\nA member of the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and several other local committees, Jacobs gave no big speech and thanked everyone in turn, recognizing several friendships formed over the years. He shook hands and chatted for over an hour, a crowd orbiting around him all the while.\nThe spry 56-year-old said he looks forward to the leisure, to be spent on the slopes and golf links. He's planned a six- to eight-week golf trip to Arizona with fellow postal retiree Walter Morrison and their wives.\n"We even invited the ladies to meet us there," quipped Morrison. "You know, considering his years of hard work, I urged to take his retirement soon, mostly because I needed a golf partner."\nIsrael, top management from Indianapolis, said Jacobs has more than earned the rest and relaxation. He distinguished himself among postmasters, she said.\n"We received no complaints from Bloomington employees over the years," she said. "That's very unique. Managers are usually targets for complaint in the postal service."\nIsrael said it's uncommon for a postmaster to hail from his own community, as the postal service long ago took steps to shake perceptions of political patronage. The position is merit-based, with applications flooding in from far and wide.\nThe postal service is now fielding applicants, with Jim Mennel transferred from Indianapolis to serve as the interim officer-in-charge. Israel expects a new postmaster may be appointed as early as by the end of July. The process often takes between four to 12 months.
(06/26/06 3:49pm)
It was long the province of major cities like San Francisco, Boston and Seattle.\nBut Bloomington acquired the online community bulletin board Craigslist last week. The international cultural phenomenon, which traffics more than 4 billion page views per month, added 100 new markets ranging from Budapest to Bangladesh, from Flagstaff, Ariz. to Fayetteville, Ark.\nBloomington made the cut in the latest round of expansion because of "numerous user requests, quite of few of which came from IU students," Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said.\nA free online classified site, craigslist.org serves as a one-stop emporium for everything from sublets to used mountain bikes to concert tickets. Testimonials abound of entire apartments furnished for a song, of barters struck for guitar lessons or massages. Bloomingtonians are already hawking kayaks, a Mortal Kombat II arcade machine and a 12-by-11 inch ceramic bust of the Dalai Lama with bronze acrylic finish. A Scrabble deluxe edition is being sold for $15.\nCraigslist also promises more companionship than new roommates would provide. It of course includes a personals section featuring the popular pretense-free "Casual Encounters" and "Missed Connections," in which posters hope to locate objects of desire they encountered in social settings or chanced to see on the street.\nIntended as a digital commons, it's also known for its raucous message board "Rants and Raves," a seat of sociological commentary and heated and often profane political debate. In most markets, it usually degenerates quickly into back-and-forth insults hurled anonymously through cyberspace. Recent Bloomington posts have concerned "neotard locksteppers" and "Ann Coulter's adam's apple." Recent discussions have addressed the American public's disinterest in soccer and the likelihood of restaurant wait staff retaliating against stingy tippers.\nManagement prides Craigslist on being non-commercial, an oasis in an increasingly corporate Internet. The interface is basic, the design serviceable, devoid of any frills. It runs no advertising, no banners, no pop-ups, no sidebars, no scroll-overs.\nFounder Craig Newmark never intended it as a money-making enterprise. In the Internet's Paleolithic era, the self-avowedly "geeky" computer programmer e-mailed San Francisco-area friends about job openings, housing leads, parties and technology updates. Before long, the e-mails circulated into wide distribution. He switched over to a listserv and soon realized a Web site would be needed to accommodate the volume.\nPeople flocked to the site, which was quickly considered the Bay Area's premiere job resource for techies. It took root in other forward-leaning cities like Austin, Texas and Portland, Ore., and has since spread concentrically across the globe. Noting its 10 million individual users per month, market tracker Alexa places Craigslist as the seventh most visited site on the Web, trailing only Yahoo, Google, MySpace, Microsoft Network, eBay and Amazon.\nCraigslist remains true to its humble origins. It's run out of a restored Victorian home in San Francisco's Sunlight District with a staff of 22.\nManagement has declined to leverage its position into maximizing profits. It charges below-market fees for apartment listings in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City, which are free to users everywhere else. A recent Wall Street Journal analysis puts its annual earnings at $25 million with a potential worth in the hundreds of millions.\nSimilarly providing a free service to users, Google rakes in revenues hand over fist from advertisers. A Wall Street darling, Google has seen its market valuation skyrocket up to $390 per share since it went public last year. Craigslist focuses instead on providing a public service, Buckmaster said.\nFor all its idealism, Craigslist does not lack detractors. Many consider it a threat to the newspaper industry, as it siphons away classified dollars. IU Director of Student Media David Adams, downplays the local impact.\n"It's been available in Indianapolis for some time, and it seems to meet the needs of some clients, but not all," he said. "Certainly, a free service delivered electronically is a potential challenge to the IDS and other traditional forms of media delivery of such advertising messages."\nMany predict Craigslist and similar sites will force newspapers to tinker with their business model, which depends on advertising, particularly classifieds. The IDS is already mindful of the threat, Adams said.\n"I think newspapers and all other media will continue to adapt and change to new, Internet-based revenue challenges," he said. "I think the IDS is unique because it primarily serves a defined population gathered together as a unique university community.\n"We have worked aggressively to have our own searchable classifieds and other advertising directories and vehicles, so I think we'll meet such challenges."\nOverlapping the services of locally established networking sites like Facebook, only time will tell whether Craigslist will click in Bloomington. But after only a week with no publicity, http://bloomington.craigslist.org/ has more than 300 posts.
(06/19/06 4:26am)
A hunger crisis looms over Bloomington, officials warn.\nFood donations have held constant, but local pantries have seen a surge in demand. Most nonprofits can even claim a tepid increase in giving, but it has failed to keep pace.\n"Our shelves are bare," said Leah Sinn, a caseworker with the Salvation Army. "It's pretty pathetic."\nMany working families stand a single unexpected hospital bill or auto mechanic visit away from an inability to make ends meet. Food pantries lend them a helping hand through rough patches.\nBut donated supplies fall short of a demand that has risen sharply over the past few years.\nSince 2004, Monroe County United Ministries has seen a 72 percent increase in families requesting food assistance, according to internal record-keeping. Mother Hubbard's Cupboard has witnessed a 60 percent spike over the same period.\nUnited Ministries, a secular nonprofit organization, has been forced to take drastic measures. It long provided three meals a day per family member for five days, and it can now muster only three days of assistance.\n"We're afraid of running out or being unable to provide nutritionally complete meals," said Rebecca Stanze, development coordinator of United Ministries. "It's extremely worrisome."\nMany well-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared from Bloomington in recent years with the closing of the Otis Elevator and General Electric refrigerator plants. Production was outsourced to cheaper labor markets in other countries.\n"Unfortunately, with $8- or $9-an-hour service jobs, people can't put a cushion of savings in the bank," said Julio Alonso, executive director of the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. "Working families often face tough choices between utility bills and food and rent."\nA number of other factors contribute to the growing crisis, including an expensive housing market and steep gas prices that throw family budgets off-kilter.\n"Unfortunately, donating is a short-term solution," Alonso said. "In the long term, we need to bring in jobs and create educational opportunities."\nHoosier Hills, which gathers donated food to distribute to local pantries, notched a small victory in May. It brought in 3,000 lbs. more in canned goods than in 2005 during its annual Letter Carrier Food Drive, in which people leave donations for the postal worker to pick up. But it did not make much of a dent in the dramatic upswing of requested assistance.\n"The community has been generous," Alonso said. "But many of our community agencies have come to us and indicated that they're under a tight squeeze."\nAlonso has cause for concern, as donations typically drop off during the summer months. Need inversely rises during the summer, when many children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school are cut loose.\n"Psychologically, people think of giving more when it's cold, particularly during the holidays," he said. "But the summer is often busier. If anything, we need more food, not less."\nHoosier Hills' largest client, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, which services 1,200 clients a week, relies heavily on corporate donors. Supermarkets such as Kroger and Marsh give their overstock, which is channeled to needy families.\nBut they've also felt the pinch. They've been forced to schedule an additional weekly delivery from Hoosier Hills to keep up with demand.\n"There are fewer adequately paying jobs and so much underemployment," Director Libby Yarnelle said. "Without padding, you're often one paycheck away from needing help or worse."\nYarnelle doesn't hesitate to label it a crisis.\n"When anyone is hungry, it's a crisis," she said. "When children go hungry, it's a crisis. It's a basic need -- it doesn't get more basic than food."\nFor more information on donating, contact Hoosier Hills Food Bank at 334-8374 or Monroe County United Ministries at 339-3429.
(06/12/06 3:15am)
Al Carpenter insists Saturday won't rank as the happiest day of his life.\nHe would rather see IU win the Rose Bowl.\nStill, the limelight-basking Carpenter shuddered with sobs and praised God as a long-standing dream came to pass when he cut the ribbon for the grand opening gala of Big Al's Mobility Solutions, a power wheelchair retailer and repair shop.\nDozens of family, friends and well-wishers gathered for the catered and balloon-festooned affair, presided over by ESPN analyst Lee Corso, who led IU to its first bowl victory during his 1970s coaching tenure. Carpenter counts Corso as a dear friend, having assisted his coaching staff as a volunteer for a decade.\nBorn with cerebral palsy, Carpenter can only walk short distances at a stretch. Never held back by his handicap, he hitchhiked on crutches from Seymour, Ind. to practice. He hobbled along the same gravel-strewn shoulders up to six days a week for several years before he moved to Bloomington to be closer to the team. It's 25 miles -- each way.\nCorso found Carpenter's sideline enthusiasm so infectious that he brought him along to the 1979 Holiday Bowl game, where IU inched out Brigham Young University by a missed field goal. Carpenter wears the ring to this day. In gratitude for his contribution of moral support, the team pooled funds and presented him with his first motorized cart.\nA Hollywood production company optioned the story for a television movie that ultimately fell through.\nCarpenter should be taken as inspiration, Corso said.\n"Happy are those who dream their dreams and are willing to pay the price to see them come through," he said. "He just badgered on for years and years, and today is the perfect example of why you should never give up."\nCarpenter persisted over the past eight months trying to build a business on a shoestring budget. Financing proved a tough sell, and he found securing insurance difficult and costly. At least 20 agents declined to shoulder the liability of medical equipment, Carpenter said.\nBut the community came forward to help a well-known football and basketball booster, who has also circulated as a longtime local softball coach. He's been affectionately dubbed "Big Al" and "Crazy Al" for his vocal support at Assembly Hall. Regarded for his unrelenting optimism, he notoriously wore a pith helmet while a football coaching assistant.\nHis market research won out. As many as 65,000 disabled, elderly and infirm people in Monroe and five surrounding counties require mobility equipment, he found. Others retail power wheelchairs and motorized scooters locally, but none are owned and operated by the physically disabled. And none provide highly technical maintenance.\nMany disabled locals had to venture up to Indianapolis for even routine diagnostics. \nSome had to endure up to two weeks of house-bound immobility while waiting on parts, said sales manager John Combs, who himself suffers from muscular dystrophy resulting from an automobile accident.\n"Many people fail to appreciate this," he said. "But when you're handicapped, you're handicapped, today and every day."\nBy his own admission, Carpenter uniquely appreciates the need for maintenance. Racking up to 300 miles a week and often running full-throttle, he's worn out "maybe 7 or 8" scooters over the years.\nBig Al's intends to loan out replacement units so its customers can go about their daily lives without interruption. And Combs said it also stands out in a small niche field by offering training for its merchandise, which runs from walkers all the way up to $5,000 Scout scooters clocking up to 10 mph.\nBig Al's has developed a financing plan compatible with Social Security. As it builds a customer base, it plans to expand to service vehicle lifts and ramps - highly specialized maintenance unavailable locally.\n"We want our customers to be as comfortable as if they just bought a new Cadillac," Combs said.\nTeary-eyed, his voice cracked, the burly Carpenter hastened to credit others.\n"So many people have been so supportive, such good friends," he said. "But if everyone got the thanks and mention they deserve, you wouldn't have room to print it in your newspaper."\nBig Al's Mobility Solutions is located at 924 W. 17th St., Suite E, on the corner of 17th Street and Willis Drive. It can be reached at 333-1100.
(06/05/06 2:45am)
Hurricane Katrina flung many lives and families scattershot around the country. With swathes of housing in the Gulf Coast razed or uninhabitable, many displaced residents decided to forgo a return to the area, choosing to rebuild from scratch elsewhere.\nBy the start of hurricane season this year, nearly 100 Katrina evacuees have taken up permanent residence in Bloomington, Red Cross officials estimate. About 300 came for refuge in the wake of the devastation.\nSome have since returned to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region to pick up the pieces of their water-logged lives. Many simply passed through Bloomington to parts unknown.\nThe Red Cross tracked 342,354 evacuees dispersed across the country, maintaining a database to reunite families.\nAbout one-third of the refugees found employment here and signed leases or sought out mortgages, chancing settlement in a new community. Maria Carrasquillo, director of Emergency Services for the Monroe County chapter of the Red Cross, \npegs this figure as approximately on par with the national average.\nThe 2000 U.S. Census placed New Orleans's population at about 484,674. No exact data exists today, but a March RAND Corp. report put it at 155,000. Predicting it may climb to 198,000 by year's end, the report found that 55 percent of homes suffered severe flooding of at least four feet.\nDeprived overnight of home and hearth, a few hundred flood-victims made their way to Bloomington.\n"Most had some family connection or were raised here," said Bet Savitch, director of the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network. "But many had gone to school here, or passed through before, or simply sought a college town."\nBloomington was prepared to absorb and provide assistance to an en masse evacuation of 500 citizens. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency canceled a planned airlift to Indianapolis at the last minute. Temporary at Ashton Center ended up with dozens upon dozens of unoccupied cots.\nEvacuees trickled in on their own by car or public transportation. As family members were located, their ranks swelled to about 300, most of whom stayed with relatives or friends.\nVolunteers quickly stepped up to provide the necessities and arrange for medical care and school enrollment. Restaurants offered free food and landlords provided short leases with waived or deferred deposits and a first month's rent free. The city donated $15,000 to local volunteer efforts. It tendered free bus passes and waived utilities fees for the first few months. And all registered evacuees were assigned social workers to monitor their cases.\n"They received help with getting Social Security checks, Section 8, foodstamps, post-traumatic stress counseling, tutoring, everything," Savitch said.\nThe St. Vincent de Paul Society, a local Catholic charity, provided furniture and household items for many of the lower-income evacuees, some of whom made do with little more than a mattress and whatever possessions they could carry. The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation handed out up to $500 in cash to families.\n"They were all extremely gracious," Savitch said. "They were all reluctant to take any assistance."\nVolunteers continued to help over the long term, smoothing arrangements for property recovery when possible and providing social support. An ad hoc committee called Katrina Transitional Assistance to Families formed to attend to the uprooted.\n"It takes time to rebuild. It's a tragedy like a death in the family," said Barbara Moss, who spearheaded the effort. "At first people rally around you to give support but later forget what you're going through and expect you to move on."\nMany of the evacuees found employment in local industries and decided to stay. It largely depended on what opportunities arose, Carrasquillo said.\n"There's no trend socioeconomically," she said. "It's people from all walks of life ... Some just fell in love with a great town that welcomed them."\nTen months have passed since the disaster. The city now provides assistance to evacuees only through the regular channels of the existing social safety net. Volunteerism has tapered off as most families have become assimilated and found solid footing.\nLast fall, IU-Bloomington accepted nearly 80 transfer students from Gulf Coast universities. Assistant Registrar Bart Quinet said it will remain unknown until the fall semester how many, if any, decide to complete their degrees here. Thirteen students continued their studies for the spring semester.\nThe Red Cross contacted 10 evacuee families to see if they'd be willing to be interviewed for this article. None expressed interest.\nMost, Carasquillo said, just wanted to put it behind them.
(05/22/06 12:56am)
Bloomington now boasts some of the edgiest doughnuts in the country.\nSquare Donuts, the first franchise of the Terre Haute landmark, opened downtown Friday to brisk weekend business without any advertising or fanfare.\nThe business's name is a straightforward description of its signature product -- four-sided pastries. Like the trademark "hobble skirt" Coca Cola bottle, it's a Terre Haute original.\nRichard Comer invented the distinctive quadrilateral doughnut in 1967. Coming off a stint in the Marine Corps, and planning to become a science teacher, he helped out at the family business, Tasty Creme Donuts. A salesman walked in one day talking up a square cutter. Comer decided to place an order and give it a trial run.\n"It was a matter of fluke," he said.\nHe soon noticed they were selling at three times the rate of their round counterparts, when displayed side-by-side in the glass case. And so Square Donuts was born.\nIt quickly dominated a mid-sized city market clogged with four doughnut shops. It now has two thriving Terre Haute locations, Comer said, and has had as many as four. Its flagship Third Street store, deemed too small to keep pace with growth, shut its doors last year when the baking was shifted to the more spacious downtown location. The unique doughnuts have garnered national media attention on PBS and Keith Oberman's MSNBC show "Countdown." They show up as a selling point in the travel guide "Oddball Indiana" and are touted on tourism billboards along Interstate 70.\nThe Terre Haute stores attract their share of faithful regulars who come in like clockwork, and Comer estimates that every resident has tried the square treat at least once.\n"The novelty got them in the door," he said. "You need a gimmick to get them in the door. But it's the quality that keeps them coming back."\nOffering the first and only square doughnut in the county for decades, Comer has inspired many imitators from North Carolina to Texas. A Houston-based chain that has taken the name as well as the concept declares in its slogan that its doughnuts "don't cut corners."\nSquare Donuts has strong sales in Terre Haute, said Richard Comer, the third-generation steward of the family business. He said they produce 500 to 600 dozen donuts on an average day.\n"We're very popular with out-of-towners passing by," he said. "Those who travel through on business make it a point to stop by."\nThe Bloomington franchise is just the maiden voyage, Comer said. He'd like to see as many as ten franchises scattered throughout Indiana. Still, he doesn't ever expect to compete with Krispy Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts on a national playing field.\n"I want to see it through slowly," he said. "Often, with franchises, in one or two years, the quality drops off from the original."\nWith no national chains outside of the dorms and only two competitors, Bloomington serves as an ideal market for Square Donuts, franchisee Braden Johnson said.\n"It's a unique concept," he said. "And it's close enough that people know about it, know about its reputation."\nJohnson expects the quirky pastries to take off with students. In the fall, he plans to sponsor an eating contest to establish a presence on campus.\nHe won't try to compete with the many local coffee shops.\n"We plan to keep it pretty no-frills with the coffee," he said. "We won't have any cappuccino, just good strong coffee to start the day."\nBy week's end, Johnson said he hopes to set up a prominent street-front sign with the Square Donuts logo, a square missing a doughnut hole and a large bite. He hopes it becomes a Bloomington fixture.
(02/17/06 4:50am)
Bloomington might soon disappear from the map. The future of the city's postmark remains up in the air.\nThe Monroe County Commissioners intend tonight to endorse an objection to a plan to shift the postmarking of mail from all 474 ZIP codes to Indianapolis -- even mail sent locally, to another 474 code. \nBloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan and the Monroe County Council has already come out against the plan, part of a streamlining overhaul by the United States Postal Service. Currently, Bloomington has one of the 300 postmarks in the United States.\nThe plan could cost several local jobs, public officials say.\nPostal service officials announced in December they would conduct a feasibility study. They said they might be able to maximize efficiency by consolidating the mail-processing operation with Indianapolis.\nWith the increasingly wide use of e-mail and online bill-paying, the postal service has seen a decline in revenues in recent years, chiefly from the falling volume of First Class mail. It seeks to cut out $5 billion in operating costs by 2010 to ensure cheap service for its customers, spokesman Azeezaly S. Jaffer said in a statement.\nHit hard by rising fuel costs, the service also must shoulder a congressional mandate to put $3.1 billion in escrow annually to fund its pension obligations, which takes effect this year. \nOnce the study is completed, Bloomington Postmaster Larry Jacobs said the plan would still require approval from the district office and headquarters in Washington, D.C.\n"I'd never say never," he said. "It still might not go through. It's not totally a done deal."\nKevin McCaffrey, Maintenance Craft Director of the local 2122 American Postal Workers Union, said the plan, if enacted, could cost 12 post office jobs and eventually as many as 50 from the area. While the affected postal workers would not be laid off, they would be forced to transfer.\nSuch a move would also hurt service, McCaffrey said.\n"They want to cart the mail on a 100-mile round trip to do what we already do here," he said. "Service is going to suffer."\nMcCaffrey noted the postal service tried such an arrangement in 1991. It returned the processing to Bloomington the following year after an influx of complaints.\n"I've done 24 years in the service, and I've seen this before," he said. "They're just going to change the service standard."\nIndianapolis already postmarks 474 mail sent out on Saturday because of the diminished volume, Jacobs said. The Vernal Pike facility also handles the sorting of incoming local mail.\nThe union recently conducted a study of its own, tracking letters addressed locally sent out on a Saturday. Most arrived on Monday, but McCaffrey said many took as long as six days to reach their destination.\n"It was strictly non-scientific," he said. "But the official USPS numbers put Bloomington in the top 10 percent nationally for sorting productivity. We're already doing a better job of it than Indy"
(02/14/06 5:28am)
Public health legislation co-authored by State Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, now stands before the state Senate awaiting a committee hearing. The bill, which outlines rules for quarantines, passed the House 69-28.\nWelch's bill empowers public health authorities to isolate and restrict the movement of individuals exposed to a communicable disease and establishes a procedure for local government officials to issue or obtain quarantine orders.\n"The threat of a pandemic illness, such as avian flu, has pressed Indiana to have a solid plan in place to handle health disasters," Welch said.\nHouse Bill 1235 makes it a Class A misdemeanor, which carries the highest legal penalty short of a felony, to violate any quarantine put in place. Violators would face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.\nThe bill ensures isolation "in the least restrictive manner" upon evidence of exposure, according to the General Assembly's legislative digest.\n"It is hard to tell someone that you cannot leave an area for a certain period of time with no contact with family and friends," Welch said. "However, a quarantine may be needed for the person and the general public's protection."\nWelch's bill also provides immunity from civil liability for medical practices and health care facilities in the event of a disaster. Under what is commonly known as "Good Samaritan" protection, people or facilities meeting certain criteria are shielded from any lawsuits resulting from "an act or omission in providing health care services," according to the bill's wording. \nIn hailing the bill's passage, Welch cited her experience volunteering as a nurse along the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. \n"This language is needed for Indiana in the case of a disaster such as an earthquake," Welch said. "Hurricane Katrina has taught us that we need to be prepared."\nWelch co-authored the bill with Rep. William Ruppel, R-North Manchester, and it passed the Republican-controlled House with bipartisan support.\n"Public health should always be a key concern," Ruppel said. "We need to always look out for what is best for the public and do all that is necessary to ensure that their health and needs are at the top of our list of priorities." \nThe legislation now stands on the docket of the state Senate Committee on Judiciary, where it is sponsored by Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, and Sen. Billie Breaux, D-Indianapolis. John Schorg, a House Democrats' spokesman, said the Senate is currently tinkering with the wording.\nThe exact mechanics of the quarantine procedure will have to be threshed out, Schorg said, before the bill comes up for a committee hearing.
(02/07/06 5:41am)
The General Assembly has again rejected a proposal to install slot machines at Indiana's two racetracks. Under House Bill 1077, drafted by state Rep. Eric Gutwein, R-Rensselaer, tax revenues generated from the slots would have been funneled into county governments to ease property taxes. \nUnder the plan, licensing fees and a 32 percent wager tax would have brought in $292 million to the state along with more than $157 million annually, according to a press release from Gutwein's office. The legislation would have annually distributed $500,000 earmarked for tax relief to all non-gaming counties and $25 million to the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to further economic development. \nChristina Nash, Gutwein's press secretary, said the bill is effectively dead. The Committee on Public Policy and Veterans Affairs has refused to give it a hearing, she said. Similar legislation, clamored for by the ailing horse racing industry, has failed during the past four legislative sessions.\nBecause of rising costs and reduced purses, both Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Downs in Shellbyville have been in the red since 2003, according to company figures. Hoosier Park reported a loss of more than $1 million in 2004 and has not since made a mortgage payment to its majority owner, Churchill Downs Inc. Indiana Downs lost more than $2 million during the same fiscal year and more than $3 million in 2003.\nRick Moore, Hoosier Park's president and general manager, declined to comment on how much longer the track can keep afloat in the tide of red ink.\nThe downturn has also adversely impacted horse breeders and related supporting businesses, such as veterinary practices and feed stores. According to a 2003 study provided by the Indiana Horse Racing and Breeding Coalition, an Indiana racehorse accrues $4,136 in costs while only bringing in $3,017 in revenue. \nThe industry views wagering as the only viable option it has to make it through this financial rough patch. In trying to sell the idea to legislators, the coalition pointed to the state's $645 million deficit.\n"Government supplies a number of services to the state," said Michael Brown, spokesman for the coalition. "Taxes is one of the ways we have to pay for them, and most aren't in favor of high taxes.\n"Gaming serves as voluntary taxes -- no one pays them who doesn't want to pay them."\nBoth House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Garton, R-Columbus, have repeatedly ruled out any expansion of gaming to deal with the state's budget woes. A Democrat-sponsored slot machine bill that would have increased funding to public education made it to a vote on the Senate floor last year only to be voted down along party lines. \nBosma said no bill expanding gambling in Indiana would likely pass the House. He told The Associated Press slots would place restaurants and other businesses at an unfair disadvantage. Other Republican lawmakers criticized the proposal as exploitative of the poor. \nBrown acknowledges that legislative relief for the horse racing industry is a long shot.\n"We were hopeful going into this session, and it's a bill that would have enriched not only the horse industry, but all Hoosiers," he said. "It's like a tree -- the branches are the more prominent race tracks, but the roots are the breeders, the farmers, the trainers, the farriers, the tack and harness shops, the truck and trailer sales, the land contractors"
(02/06/06 3:15am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Party officials announced Mike Kole as the de facto Libertarian candidate for the Indiana Secretary of State race before a conference of student activists Saturday. \nThe official nomination takes place at the party's convention in April, but the state leadership came out with an endorsement of Kole, the party's chair in Hamilton County, who is running unopposed thus far for the ballot slot. The state office -- held by Republican Todd Rokita -- oversees business regulations and elections, and a 2 percent showing in November guarantees four years of automatic ballot access for Libertarian candidates in all local elections.\n"I intend to deflect that stereotypical bromide that you're wasting your vote if you vote for a libertarian," Kole said. "You're wasting your vote if you believe in free speech and privacy, and you vote for a Democrat. And you're wasting your vote if you believe in small government and fiscal conservatism, and you vote for a Republican."\nStudents from far-flung reaches of the state descended on the University of Indianapolis campus to plot political organization. Of the dozens in attendance, only two IU students braved the early-morning snowfall to attend the day-long conference, which was scheduled during an IU men's basketball home game against top-ranked UConn. \nFeaturing Kole as the keynote luncheon speaker, the Libertarian Party of Indiana's 2006 Collegiate Conclave focused on ways to advance ideas of limited government and individual liberty on campuses and in communities.\n"People have this ridiculous perception of libertarianism as gay orgies on the front lawn with crack and 155 (millimeter caliber) howitzers," said senior Mark Christian, a Marine Corps veteran and self-described disillusioned Republican. "It's a perspective on and a philosophy of government on many of these unnecessary laws."\nKole resolved, if elected, to address gerrymandering in Indiana, the practice of redrawing districts to protect incumbent office-holders. He noted that no state senate seats in the General Assembly changed hands in the last election, with the closest margin of victory at 9 percentage points. \n"These districts look like they were drawn by someone who was drunk or by a child trying out Crayolas for the first time," he said. "It's nothing that Rand McNally would have ever imagined in his wildest dreams -- it looks like a series of Rorschach blots."\nParty activists were heartened by the November election of Michael Sessions as mayor of Hillsdale, Mich. An 18-year-old high school senior, Sessions won as a write-in candidate on a shoestring budget of $700 raised from a summer job.\n"His chief tactic was that he was not in office," said Jim Lark, a professor at the University of Virginia and the former national Libertarian Party chair, who was a featured speaker at the event. "He distinguished himself as a physical entity. These office-holders so often take their positions for granted, as though they're there as a benevolent act of God."\nThe libertarians focused on the lack of choices offered to voters.\n"The gerrymandering in this state is very bad for representative democracy," Kole said. "These politicians learn they don't have to be accountable to the public -- it disgusts me to be in a country where there's no opposition after the primary."\nKole pledged, if elected, to cut the operating budget of the office by 10 percent, to oppose the forced annexation of unincorporated townships and to relax the state's requirements for third party ballot access.\nDan Drexler, executive director of the state party, said it would settle for a strong showing in November, perhaps 10 percent of the statewide vote. Kole is more optimistic.\n"I'm running to win," he said. "We want to be a factor in this campaign."\nThe Libertarian candidate has hit the 2 percent threshold guaranteeing ballot access during the past three election cycles, dating back to 1994. \nRebecca Sink-Burris, a Monroe County resident who now serves as the party's state secretary, garnered 4 percent in the 2002 election, nearly 60,000 votes.\nFor more information, visit w\nwww.lpin.org/monroe/index.htm.
(01/25/06 5:47am)
Alexander McClure, a slave in Tennessee, sought to ship himself to freedom, to a new life in the North.\nWith help, McClure sealed himself in a dry goods crate in Nashville, Tenn., bound for Cincinnati by rail. Documents unearthed by the Indiana Historical Bureau Underground Railroad Initiative reveal that McClure endured more than 10 hours holed up in a three-foot by two-foot crate. \nHis journey ended short of sanctuary in the free state of Ohio when his box broke open while being transferred from a ferry onto another rail line. Authorities in Seymour, Ind., apprehended him. \nMcClure's story is one of many the initiative gathers. Drawing on federal funding, the state program sponsors research and public outreach programs to record such stories.\nThe Underground Railroad, a secretive network of safe havens, was set up by white abolitionists, free-born blacks and liberated slaves in open defiance of the law. Individuals -- some for religious reasons, others out of first-hand knowledge of the brutal hardships of slavery -- assisted with shelter, food and passage to the next station on the railroad. \nDuring the early- to mid-1800s, many slaves fleeing Southern plantations crossed the Ohio River into Indiana, a free state. According to archived news reports by The New Albany Daily Ledger, many swam the mile-wide river or walked the sheeted frozen surface in winter. \nSeveral runaway slaves passed through Bloomington along one of the main routes.\n"We want the public to understand that the Underground Railroad is an important part of our state history -- a vital part of Indiana's heritage," said Jeannie Regan-Dinius, special projects coordinator of the initiative. "It's one of the earliest civil rights movements, one of the earliest philanthropy movements. All socioeconomic classes and races were working together toward freedom and equality."\nRegan-Dinius said the project also seeks to dispel myths surrounding the railroad. \nMcClure, for instance, was one of the few to literally travel by rail. Most journeyed by foot, sometimes by wagon or ferry, often taking roundabout routes to throw off pursuers, according to William Still's first-hand account, "The Underground Railroad." Generally, they hid by day, advancing only under darkness of night. They often slept out in the open, in fields and in the woods.\nAnother common misconception is that the railroad was literally subterranean, Regan-Dinius said. But many "conductors" of the rails openly disobeyed the law.\n"People picture tunnels and hiding places, but much of it took place right out in the open," she said. \nThe Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archeology administers the project to preserve Underground Railroad history through a federal grant from the National Park Service. According to the Congressional Record, in 1998, Congress passed an act charging the park service with preserving Underground Railroad history.\nRealizing the difficulty of researching such a poorly documented and varied underground network, the park service tasked out the job to state governments, Regan-Dinius said. Indiana was the first to answer the call in early 1999. Several other states, including Michigan and New York, have since followed suit.\nMany fugitive slaves from Kentucky passed through Indiana on the way to Michigan or Canada, she said. Some chose to stay, linking up with free black settlements. \n"They had farming communities where they lived together and supported themselves as a community," Regan-Dinius said. "Most chose not to live in the cities and towns, so they could live with a little less racism."\nMost escaped slaves opted to flee the country altogether, she said. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 gave licenses to bounty hunters, who often tracked the escapees like prey with packs of dogs. \n"Canada was easier," she said. "There were still property laws in place, and there was still violence surrounding it. Many were recaptured or kidnapped and sold back into slavery. There was a reward of $50, which was a lot of money in 1851."\nThe initiative has also scheduled a series of workshops in February intended for teachers but open to the general public at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis. \nStaffed by a volunteer research group known as Indiana Freedom Trails, the initiative eventually hopes to map as many confirmed stations along the railroad as possible, Regan-Dinius said. \nThe program has already designated a few sites in the state, such as the Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, a restored eight-room house dubbed the "Grand Central Station" of the Indiana Railroad, according to the Indiana Historical Bureau. The Coffin family reportedly helped more than 2,000 slaves on their journey to freedom and was immortalized in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," as a place of refuge of the heroine, Eliza.\nThe initiative also funds a marker program, which has nine signposts denoting key events in Indiana Underground Railroad history scattered throughout the state. Most are concentrated in the south-central region, said Stephen Berrey, marker program coordinator.\nThough intended for tourists, the markers do not stake out and identify specific routes taken by runaway slaves.\n"There are hundreds, thousands of paths from town to town," Berrey said. "We're not trying to link them in that way ... We want the public to understand how complex and vast this really was, beyond just escaping."\nIt takes a year of research to certify a marker application, Berrey said. The process relies heavily on locals coming forward, often with family records. \nWhile there are no markers or designated historical sites locally, a few places in Monroe County have been linked to the Underground Railroad, including the University-owned Raintree House. \nMany of the local conductors were Covenanters -- members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church -- transplanted to the greater Bloomington area from South Carolina, wrote Henry Lester Smith in a 1917 issue of Indiana Magazine of History. According to the article, a few local citizens harbored runaway slaves, risking criminal prosecution and often violent run-ins with the professional bounty hunters.\nBut documentation remains scarce. Because the Railroad broke the laws of its day, few official records now exist. The initiative, Berrey said, draws heavily from court cases and census records but often relies on diaries and genealogies.\n"A lot of stories may be hard to prove," he said. "But it's our hope that people will come forward with whatever they have. The longer we've been going, the more interest we've generated -- we're starting to get all sorts of interesting material from the north of the state now."\nBecause of the scope of the project and its localization, Regan-Dinius suggested a partnership with an IU history or folklore professor would be a productive working relationship. Beyond calling for volunteers, she urges anyone with any pertinent information to come forward.\n"Grandma's diary gets thrown away," she said. "But that's a piece of living history that a historian would salivate over"