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(02/09/08 5:44am)
Tuesday night’s storm left thousands in Monroe County without power, and rising floods closed a handful of roads.\nMonroe County Emergency Director John Hooker said it “was just a typical storm.” He said it included outages, downed trees and washed-out roads.\nAccording to Duke Energy, one of the main energy providers in Bloomington, 7,675 customers were without power from 7 p.m. Tuesday until early Wednesday morning. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, power had been restored to all but 128 customers.\nMonroe County Highway Superintendent John Chambers said that a dozen roads were washed out Tuesday night and another dozen were closed because flash floods kep them completely underwater. \nChambers said the closed roads were opened by Wednesday. \nThe Monroe County Highway Department sent employees out at 9 p.m. Tuesday to post signs and look for trouble spots.\nAt 7 a.m. Wednesday, full crews were sent along their snow and ice control routes to make sure every road was inspected, Chambers said.\nThe highway department will continue to clean up roadways through Thursday morning, making sure to open up culverts and remove debris the storm left behind, Chambers said.\n“It’s caused us a lot of problems, but it’s fairly typical and pretty standard policy for us,” Chambers said.\nBloomington Police Department Sgt. Jeff Canada said they received few calls about the storm, except for a few intersections that lost power.\nChambers said the problem was county wide and not limited to just one region of \nthe county.
(02/08/08 2:37am)
Bloomington police are searching for a male suspect after he locked a woman in a bathroom, punched her and took $7 from her at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.\nBloomington Police Department officers responded to the Southern Winds Inn in the 3000 block of South Walnut Street, where a woman reported that a man she owed $20 had assaulted her and robbed her, said BPD Sgt. Jeff Canada, reading from a police report.\nThe victim went to a friend’s apartment to pick up items for her child. There she and the other woman met the suspect, who demanded the money the victim owed him.\nThe victim told the police the man then began to get rough with her and locked her in the bathroom.\nShe was able to escape, and the man then came toward her with a knife.\nHe knocked the woman down and punched her, causing injuries to her lip, Canada said.\nShe told police the man then began going through her clothes and took $7.\nThe suspect then left and the victim called the police, Canada said.\nPolice have identified a suspect, but have not yet released a name.
(02/06/08 2:04am)
A woman reported being sexually assaulted when a man grabbed her breast around 2 a.m. Tuesday at the \nHighland Lounge.\nBloomington Police Department officers responded to the 1900 block of South Curry Pike around 4 a.m. after they received a call about a possible sexual battery, said BPD Sgt. Jeff Canada, reading from a police report.\nThe woman told officers she was with the suspect and two other friends when the two friends left to go smoke outside, leaving the victim and the suspect alone.\nThe woman reported the suspect had grabbed her breast and wouldn’t let go after she repeatedly told him to stop.\nPolice know who the suspect is and the case is still under investigation, Canada said.
(02/05/08 6:27am)
While Super Tuesday might not be the Super Bowl, presidential candidates hope to come out as giants after today’s primaries.\nBut while almost half the country will vote in a primary today, Indiana still has 90 days before it gets a voice in the primaries, and by then it might be too late.\nThis has many Hoosiers, including business graduate student Ryan Brancamp, questioning the primary process.\n“The whole system is a farce,” he said. “A few certain states constantly play such an important role.”\nIndiana’s primary is May 6, three days after Guam’s. As the 45th state to hold a primary this year, Indiana wields little political power.\nIU Political Science Assistant Instructor Tim Rich said Indiana’s late primary means students are less likely to get involved with the election on a grassroots level.\n“It’s hard to get excited, even if you’re in the middle of the pack,” Rich said.\nRich said the primary system evolved after riots and controversies erupted when nominees were chosen directly at the national committee meeting.\nAs a result, each state holds its own primary, and those are staggered throughout several months. Rich said it’s in parties’ interests to put swing states near the front of the primary cycle.\nMany students believe that if Indiana had an earlier primary, it would receive campaign time usually forgone in the general election.\n“It would force candidates to actually come to Indiana, which, for the longest time, Indiana has kind of been left out,” junior Brad Schiesser said.\nGraduate student Emily McClean, who grew up in Bloomington, said because Indiana usually votes Republican in the general election, Democrats do little campaigning here.\n“Nobody really cares about Indiana because they assume it is a red state,” McClean said. “That kind of stinks for people in Bloomington, even though Bloomington is this little blue nucleus.”\nSchiesser said the current primary process is not the best possibility. He suggested three or four big days of primaries, but Rich said there are legitimate reasons for having such a spread out process, and that in a short process “you don’t get much of a campaign.”\n“Total flukes could pop up,” Rich said. “In theory, most years you can win the first or second primary and still blow it.”\nRich said there is a very good chance the nominees will be solidified after the national elections on Super Tuesday, especially on the Republican side.\nBrancamp said this is what will keep him and students like him from getting as involved in the primary process.\n“By the time the Indiana primaries float around in May, what’s the purpose of going?” he asked.
(02/01/08 11:11pm)
Two IU students were scammed out of thousands of dollars after they got more than they bargained for with their online advertising.\nThey are just two recent victims of a resurging fake-check hoax known as a “check overpayment” scam.\nIn the scam, victims sell something online, but the buyer sends them too much money in a fraudulent cashier’s check, often claiming it as extra shipping fees. Scammers then tell their victims to wire the extra money to a bank account. Often people will wire the money before verifying the check, leaving them out thousands of dollars.\nLinda Carmody is president of the Better Business Bureau of Central Indiana, which covers 46 counties, including Monroe. She said she first heard about the “overpayment scam” in 2003 and that she has seen many cases surface since then.\nShe advises people not to do business with anyone who wants to pay more than the asking price.\nScammers often target vulnerable groups like the elderly and students, Carmody said.\nOne IU woman received $4,000 for a $1,700 sublet on her apartment after she advertised on the online community Craigslist last week, said Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Jeff Canada, reading from a police report. The scammer told her to wire the rest to a Western Union account, where it was then rewired overseas.\nOn Tuesday, an 18-year-old male student reported to officers that he had received a check for $2,000 after advertising his guitar for only $100. The money was accompanied by instructions on what to do with the extra money, which he wired to London before realizing the check was fake.\nIn both cases, the students didn’t verify the check with their bank before wiring the extra money overseas, which makes it impossible for the police to track.\nCanada said the Internet is a haven for scammers.\n“The Internet is such a great place for a criminal to conduct his business, especially overseas because he’s kind of untraceable,” Canada said.\nCarmody added that scammers will even pose as a business or use the names of credible banks such as National City or Bank of America. She has even heard of some cases in which criminals printed their cashier’s checks with the same type of paper as the bank.\n“If there’s a way to do it, the crooks will do it,” she said. “In many instances, the banks can’t even tell the difference.”\nBoth Canada and Carmody recommend that people take any questionable checks to their own bank and ask the bank to hold the check and process it before depositing it in their account.\nIn both cases, the students were contacted a second time to wire more money from another fake check, Canada said.\nCarmody said this is common, as scammers want to keep taking advantage of vulnerable people.\n“They try to pinpoint the gullible people and hit them time and time again,” she said.
(01/28/08 12:57am)
A Bloomington man was arrested on two felony counts after fighting with an officer and striking him with brass knuckles around 9 p.m. Saturday night near the Old State Road 37 and North Walnut Street intersection.\nJason Nichols, 31, was also being sought by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department for reportedly hitting his girlfriend with the brass knuckles just shortly before the altercation with Bloomington Police Department officer Jeff Rodgers.\nBoth Rodgers and Nichols went to Bloomington Hospital for injuries, but were released after being treated, said BPD Lt. Daniel Carnes, reading from a police report.\nRodgers was driving southbound on North Walnut Street to begin his shift when he saw a man who appeared to be intoxicated. The man was walking on the edge of the road halting traffic just north of the North Walnut and Old State Road 37 intersection.\nAccording to Rodgers’ report, he pulled his vehicle over and attempted to call the man out of the road.\nNichols finally approached Rodgers and was argumentative with the officer. When Nichols reached for his ID, Rodgers saw dried blood on his face. Before he could ask any questions, Nichols struck the officer in the face with his right hand, knocking him back.\nA physical altercation then ensued between the two men for several minutes, which at one point took them into the middle of the street.\nRodger’s report said that although they were almost hit by oncoming vehicles several times, no one stopped to help the officer.\nAt some point during the fight, Rodgers was able to radio for emergency assistance. Indiana University Police Department and BPD officers responded and found Rodgers on top of the suspect on the shoulder of the road, pinning his right arm to his side but not yet in handcuffs.\nOfficers then saw Nichols throw the brass knuckles into the street. This was the first time Rodgers knew that the suspect was using them.\nNichols was taken into custody by the assisting officers.\nAn ambulance arrived and Rodgers was taken to the Bloomington Hospital emergency department where he was treated for injuries, including multiple lacerations to the face. Rodgers’ shirt was also torn, and his right eye was beginning to swell shut.\nNichols refused treatment at the scene and was taken to the hospital and treated for lacerations to the face and hand.\nNichols was subsequently released and charged with battery with a deadly weapon, a Class C felony; resisting officers, a Class D felony; disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a Class B misdemeanor.
(01/24/08 3:10am)
James M. Lawrence, 59, is in “very serious condition,” after he was struck by a car as he was walking across Curry Pike Wednesday morning.\nBloomington Police Department officers responded to a call at 6:51 a.m. and found Lawrence non-responsive, BPD Sgt. Jeff Canada said.\nVincent Payne, 71, was driving his 2000 Buick LeSabre northbound on Curry Pike north of Third Street in the right lane when he hit Lawrence.\nOfficers said both men lived in the area and were possibly on their way home, Canada said.\nLawrence is currently at Bloomington Hospital.
(01/23/08 4:11pm)
Three IU undergraduate men were arrested for illegal consumption and being minors in a tavern Tuesday morning after entering Kilroy’s with fake identification.\nBloomington Police Department Officer Ian Lovan was dispatched to the Bloomington Hospital emergency room were he met with a young man complaining that he had been punched after getting into a conversation with a man, said BPD Sgt. Jeff Canada reading from a police report.\nJoshua Thomas, 19, told police that while he was at Kilroy’s, an unidentified man had punched him, but Kilroy’s staff said the man hit him in the head with a beer bottle, Canada said.\nThomas, Justin Morales, 19, and Brennan Charles, 20, are all being charged with illegal consumption and being minors in a tavern. Thomas was also arrested for disorderly conduct for causing a scene in the hospital, Canada said.\nThe suspect was identified as a 6-foot male with a goatee and short black hair, who weighed about 155 pounds, Canada said.
(01/22/08 2:40am)
Bundled up against the sub-freezing temperature, 140 students, parents and children walked the streets of downtown Bloomington Sunday afternoon, carrying signs and spreading a message.\n“Abortion kills children,” read the bright-yellow signs participants held for passing cars at the annual Rally for Life, which was held in front of the Monroe County Courthouse.\nThe rally, which protested the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, was organized by the Church of the Good Shepherd Pro-Life, Bloomington Pro-Life and Monroe County Right-to-Life. After several speakers, the rally ended with a walk around the city.\nDavid Talcott, an IU graduate student, kicked off the event by speaking about what he considers to be the evils of abortion. According to literature passed out at the event, two of every five babies conceived in Monroe County are aborted.\nTalcott said that to most of the country, babies are “rapidly disintegrating sacks of amino acids.”\n“It’s just a matter of whether or not you see human life as important enough to defend,” Talcott said.\nFor Talcott, protesting is nothing new. He and others protest at Planned Parenthood every Thursday and just recently started protesting downtown each month.\nTalcott said they do have an important impact. While protesting outside of Planned Parenthood they were able to convince one woman to choose not to have an abortion, he said. A member of the Church of the Good Shepherd then adopted the woman’s baby.\n“We have a kid in our church who is only alive today because of us,” Talcott said.\nMany of the attendees at Sunday’s rally were churchgoers, and some of the people also quoted scripture and some prayed.\nWhile addressing the crowd, Talcott quoted the Bible and recited everything he said Jesus calls them to do.\n“These things can’t be done sitting on our couches in our comfortable and warm living rooms,” Talcott said. “God calls us to action; Christ propels us out into the world.”\nBloomington resident Karen Combs said rallying against abortion has a special place in her heart, as she was once pregnant out of wedlock.\n“Don’t take it out on the children,” Combs said.\nTina Tuley-Lampke, executive director of the Crisis Pregnancy Center and Hannah House, said she was encouraged by the new wave of young people.\n“This generation is very volunteer-oriented and service-oriented,” Tuley-Lampke said. “In some ways they’re in rebellion to the ‘me’ generation, and they’re really looking to improve the world in a meaningful way.”\nElizabeth Wegener, a senior at Bloomington High School South, said the fact that people are willing to stand out in the cold shows how committed they are, but added they can’t change people’s opinions.\n“It wouldn’t be up to us, it would be up to God to change people’s minds,” she said.
(01/21/08 8:40am)
Police found IU junior Sarah Bachman dead in her apartment Monday night, Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Jeff Canada said, reading from a press release.\nDean of Students Dick McKaig said Bachman was majoring in apparel merchandising in the College of Arts and Sciences.\n“She was a very good student by all accounts and very active in the apparel merchandising major,” McKaig said.\nMonroe County Chief Deputy Coroner Nicole Meyer said the cause of death will not be determined until the toxicology reports come back in six to eight weeks.\n“It’s just a tragedy,” McKaig said.
(01/18/08 6:09am)
When IU senior Daniel Elliot came back to his apartment at Hoosier Courts after winter break, he wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit.\nTo Elliot’s surprise, his apartment had been burglarized and the door leading to his room had been kicked in.\nElliot and his roommates lost an iPod, prescription drugs, alcohol, DVDs and cash. Their neighbors lost almost $400 in cash, and Elliot said he saw four to five other apartments in his complex that had also been broken into.\nBloomington Police Department Capt. Joe Qualters said Bloomington had 64 burglaries between Dec. 15 and Jan. 7, a number that includes businesses and multiple burglaries in Elliot’s apartment complex. But BPD Sgt. Mick Williams said students can take a number of precautions during breaks to help protect their property.\nFirst, he said, students should take anything valuable home with them, including iPods, laptops and game systems.\nWilliams also recommended that students record serial numbers of valuable items so that if they are found, the items can be returned to them.\nWilliams said students should make sure their windows lock and to get dead bolts on their doors.\nIt was easier to prevent break-ins when Qualter first joined BPD because most student housing was located in the same area, so police could better watch over it during the breaks, he said.\n“Twenty years ago you knew the traditional apartment complexes, but now they’re spread out over town,” Qualters said. “They’re not quite as compact.”\nBut no matter what precautions they take, it might not be enough to stop a determined criminal, Qualters said.\n“The bottom line is if someone wants to get in, they’re going to,” Qualters said. “But hopefully they’re going to create a lot of noise and someone will hear it.”
(01/18/08 5:03am)
A 21-year-old IU student reported an attempted sexual assault at 11:30 p.m. Monday near the SR 45/46 bypass and 10th Street, according to the IU Police Department. \nIUPD responded to the IU Health Center Tuesday after a woman was treated for injuries from an attempted sexual assualt, Bloomington Police Department Capt. Joe Qualters said in a press release.\nThe woman told officers she had left the Herman B Wells Library and was walking home when a man grabbed her around the neck from behind and knocked her to the ground.\nThe man then held her down and attempted to remove her clothing, but the victim put up a fight and the man heard sounds of other people in the area so he fled, Qualters said.\nThe woman suffered injuries to the side of her neck, forehead, ear and arm.\nThe woman described the man as a white male in his early 20s, 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds. He had short brown hair and was wearing blue jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.\nAnyone with information should contact BPD Detective Kevin Hill at 349-3355.
(01/18/08 3:36am)
Three local organizations will present the annual Rally for Life at 2 p.m. Sunday on the lawn of the Monroe County Courthouse.\nMonroe County Right-to-Life, Bloomington Pro-Life and the Church of the Good Shepherd Pro-Life will hold the rally to remember the 1.3 million killed by abortion each year.\nThe rally is one of many national marches that coincide with the 35th anniversary of the Jan. 22, 1973, U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case.\nRally organizer Carole Canfield said that despite last year’s freezing rain, 120 people attended the rally. She extended an invitation to all of Monroe County this year.\nCanfield, who has been involved with the rally for almost 10 years, said that over the past few years, the rally has drawn a smaller turnout.\n“With the general apathy with the subject of abortion, that has declined,” she said.\nAssistant pastor David Currell of the Church of the Good Shepherd and a speaker from the Crisis Pregnancy Center and Hannah House Maternity Home will address the audience before they march down Walnut Street to Third Street, where the protestors will turn and then walk back up College Avenue.\nCurrell said he will discuss the pervasiveness of abortion in society and how the Bible applies.\nCurrell said he hopes people turn out to support human life.\n“I believe human life is sacred,” Currell said, “and we know that because of the testimony in the Bible. The taking of life is wicked, whether it be abortion, euthanasia or murder.”\nAttendees are asked to bring diapers, especially sizes 3 to 5, to help support the Crisis Pregnancy Center, a maternity house that teaches life skills to mothers and works with them if they want to go through the adoption process.
(01/17/08 5:21am)
A Bloomington woman told police Wednesday her boyfriend and his friend tried to strangle her after an argument. \nThe woman reported the attack early Wednesday morning, Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Jeff Canada said, reading from a police report.\nOfficer Michael Baker responded to a call in the 700 block of Basswood Drive. The victim told Baker she had gotten into an argument with her boyfriend while getting clothes for her child at the apartment.\nThe woman told Baker that when her boyfriend left the apartment, she followed him outside, where she found him and one of his friends near the street. She told police that her boyfriend’s friend pushed her down, and then her boyfriend bent her fingers back, spit on her and started to strangle her.\nThe woman had signs of an injury to her neck, Canada said. BPD is still looking for the two suspects.
(01/16/08 5:55am)
About 300 students filled the Whittenberger Auditorium Monday night to see award-winning director Christopher Quinn’s documentary “God Grew Tired of Us.” \nThe documentary chronicled the lives of three of Sudan’s Lost Boys, a group of 10- to 25-year-olds who fled war-torn Sudan as the government killed its own people. The film began with their escape from a civil war in Sudan and ended with their arrival in America.\nQuinn followed the boys for over four years, documenting every step along the way, including their time in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp as well as their assimilation into American culture.\nRuth Droppo, a graphic designer for the IU Department of Geology, has experience with the Sudanese refugees firsthand.\nA few times a month, Droppo makes the two-hour trek to Louisville, Ky., where she works with a group of Sudanese refugees.\nDroppo said she had seen clips of the movie before Monday night and heard it was an accurate portrayal of the refugees’ stories.\n“The Sudanese refugees I know say it does in fact read very well and speaks to their experiences,” Droppo said. “And they really want the story told correctly.”\nThe refugees began their story in Sudan after 27,000 of the Lost Boys fled for safety because of a civil war. More than 1,000 miles later, 12,000 of them landed in a refugee camp in Kenya. \nAt one point in the movie the boys had to eat mud and drink their urine to survive.\nFor the next 10 years, Kenya would become the boys’ home as the Sudanese government continued to slaughter their own people in their homeland.\nEventually thousands of the Lost Boys came to America, where they found a world completely different than the one they had known all their lives.\n“It’s just amazing they have such a sense of community and then they come here,” said IU senior Meg Minkner. “The culture shock must have been terrifying.”\nSponsored by the student group Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, the event was followed by a lecture and question-and-answer session. Rebecca Burns, STAND co-president, hoped the students who saw the movie would become more aware of the continuing struggles of people in African countries.\nDuring the question and answer, Quinn said the changing culture was the most interesting aspect of the documentary.\n“That was one of their biggest battles, that they gave up so much culturally,” Quinn said.\nDespite the movie’s heavy scenes, the audience was able to find a few places to laugh.\nUnable to grasp the concept of things such as showers, apartments, and electricity, the boys had a hard time adjusting to American life.\nWhen the refugees finally arrived in America and got off the plane, they were greeted by a confusing contraption: an escalator. Not sure what to do, the refugees stumbled and staggered down the oddly moving staircase.\nIn one scene of the movie, one of the refugees takes a box of Ritz Crackers and dumps them into a large container and then crushes them with a hammer before adding milk.\nIU senior Mo Jeffy said she was glad the movie was about more than the refugees’ sad history.\n“Their life isn’t just about depression,” Jeffy said. “In the end there’s so much hope and laughter,” “A depressing movie wouldn’t have done justice to them. They would have said, ‘That’s not my life. That’s not who I am.’ ”
(01/16/08 4:14am)
Two Bloomington houses were burglarized Monday night in unrelated incidents, Bloomington Police Department Capt. Joe Qualters said, reading from police reports.\nThe first report came at 3:48 p.m. Tuesday when a housesitter said the home for which the sitter was caring on the 1000 block of West Washington Street had been broken into overnight.\nOfficers reported that someone appeared to have forced entry through a dog door that had been nailed shut. A hammer was recovered at the scene.\nPolice located a suspect who claimed that he was hungry. An unknown amount of food was reported missing from the house.\nThe second report came to BPD after 5 p.m. Tuesday from a house on the 3700 block of South Fenway Place.\nThe complainant said a Toshiba laptop and a Hewlett-Packard laptop were stolen between 9:45 a.m. and 4:45 p.m.\nBPD currently has no suspects and is still investigating the second incident.
(01/14/08 2:08am)
Two men forced entry into a residence on North Maple Street, one confining three men in a bedroom while the other searched the house, police said.\nBloomington Police Department officers responded to a call from four men at 12:25 a.m. Saturday.\nThe residents reported that around 11:30 p.m. Friday, one of the residents answered a knock at the door as one man armed with a hammer and a second man armed with a knife pushed their way into the residence.\nThe man with the hammer then struck three of the men it, taking $50 from them and confining them to a bedroom while the fourth man hid in a closet.\nThe men reported nothing else missing, believing the suspects were looking for additional money hidden throughout the residence, Williams said.\nAfter the suspects left, the men called a friend, who then reported the robbery to the police.
(01/11/08 2:26am)
A Bloomington man was stabbed in the leg during a robbery at the north end of the Winslow Sports Complex on Wednesday around 11 p.m., according to a police report.\nThe 24-year-old male’s name is yet to be released.\nThe victim reported that he was jogging through the complex when he approached a man in his 50s with long gray hair and beard, who appeared to need help.\nThe suspect then told the victim that he needed to hand over his iPod, at which point a struggle ensued between the two men, the report said.\nThe victim reported that a second man came from behind and stabbed him in the upper-right thigh. He reported that he was then kicked or punched in the face.\nAfter the suspects left, the victim used his cell phone to call friends, who then transported him to Bloomington Hospital, where he was treated for leg, face and shoulder injuries, police said.
(01/09/08 5:49am)
The Bloomington Police Department charged a Green County man with public intoxication and indecent exposure after the department received two separate reports about him.\nMichael Krzner, 41, was arrested in the parking lot of Shoe Carnival at 3275 W. Third St. after an unidentified man recognized him. The man had originally called police around 3 p.m. and claimed he saw Krzner masturbating in his car at the Wendy’s at 3285 W. Jacob Dr.\nTwo women also reported that Krzner exposed himself to them around 3:15 p.m., BPD Capt. Joe Qualters said, reading from a police report.\nWhen officers confronted Krzner, reported smelling alcohol on his breath and arrested him after a witness identified him and his vehicle, Qualters said.
(01/09/08 5:46am)
A woman was arrested for neglect of a dependent by Bloomington police after leaving her 18-month-old child alone while she took an afternoon jog, according to a police report.\nAndrea Sayer, 25, was arrested after police were called to her home on West Apple Tree Court at 3:30 Monday afternoon, said BPD Capt. Joe Qualters.\nPolice were called to Sayer’s residence after maintenance crews found the child during a routine safety check. After going upstairs to check the fire alarm, they noticed the child alone in the crib and were unable to locate an adult, Qualters said.\nSayer returned before the police arrived and said she went jogging for about 30 minutes while her child took a nap.\nSayer’s 3-year-old child was with a family friend. Both children have been placed under the friend’s supervision until Sayer’s husband takes custody of them, Qualters said.