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(01/25/06 4:44am)
During a tour of Bloomington Hospital on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-4th District, promised to help work out kinks in Medicare's new prescription drug program. The visit came as an opportunity for Buyer to observe the new technological advancements the hospital recently implemented.\nThe hospital has commissioned the McKesson Corporation to transfer all its medical records into a streamlined electronic database by 2008. The records system will feature a patient information index enabling doctors, pharmacists and laboratory technicians to access the data simultaneously. Buyer praised the project, which will encompass the entire hospital patient base of 367,000 in nine counties. \n"We're hopeful with regard to health care that we can move in a fashion whereby we can leverage information technology that will improve patient safety," he said. "And here at Bloomington Hospital, they're one of the leaders in the country."\nBuyer does not represent Bloomington, but his 4th Congressional District does include western Monroe County and outlying areas served by the hospital. \nOn the technological forefront, the Bloomington Hospital also boasts a state-of-the-art 64-Slice CT Scanner that allows radiologists to diagnose problems quickly and accurately. Jonna Rischer, hospital spokeswoman, said it was the first hospital in the state to install the $1.8 million scanner, which records 64 pictures in a second, making it easier to diagnose multiple symptoms. \n"Technology is an enabler; it has tools that will help us to greater efficiencies," Buyer said. "We want to move this country to greater use of technology."\nBuyer announced he will have a conference call today with Michael Leavitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to address constituents' concerns about the new Medicare program, often known as Medicare Part D, which took effect Jan. 1. The new entitlement benefit, passed through Congress in 2003 with Buyer's support, provides retirees and disabled persons already on Medicare access to drug coverage. \nMedicare recipients are now able to voluntarily enroll for prescription drug coverage through private insurers and HMOs at federally subsidized rates of a $37 monthly premium and a $250 annual deductible, according to a Department of Health and Human Services press release. \nA May 15 deadline looms as late enrollment carries a penalty of increased out-of-pocket costs. After the open enrollment period ends, the cost will increase an estimated 1 percent per month, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. \n"To sign up so many in such a short period of time is very challenging," Buyer said. "There have been many hiccups... Whether we're going to extend the deadline, I don't know yet."\nMany patients eligible for the prescription drug coverage have expressed confusion regarding the number of options available. In Indiana, 42 different plans are available, according to a press release from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.\n"Generally, you don't hear from the satisfied people," Buyer said. "You hear from those who have a complaint. But I believe that a lot of these complaints are legitimate."\nBuyer said he remains confident that all wrinkles with Part D will be ironed out. \nThe federal government is working hand-in-hand with the states, pharmaceutical companies and pharmacists to address the concerns of the public, he said. \n"We want to give people the greatest array of choices, We want people in Indiana to have the greatest choice with regard to programs, so they can choose a plan best-tailored to their needs and requirements," Buyer said. "I have never cared for a one-size-fits-all government plan"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Freshman Jamie Epstein planned to see some of her favorite Broadway musicals -- "Aida," "Cabaret" and "Rent" -- in New York City during spring break.\nBut the 18-year-old native of Peoria, Ill., never arrived at her destination.\nEpstein died March 10 after an accident on Interstate 80 near DuBois, Penn., about 60 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. \n"It's so unreal," said Donna Ray, a freshman at the University of Kentucky who attended Richwoods High School in Peoria with Epstein. "She was so in control of her life, doing what she wanted to do. She had a handle on everything."\nFreshmen Christina Will and Kama Fann, two of Epstein's hallmates at Teter-Rabb, accompanied her on the trip. When the accident took place, Will was driving Epstein's 1999 Chevrolet Prism, Pennsylvania State Police said. \nTrooper David O'Donnell said Epstein had been resting in the back seat when Will lost control of the vehicle, which went onto the shoulder. Will, a 19-year-old also from Peoria, over-corrected while trying to get the car back onto the road, O'Donnell said.\nThe car went into the median, where it flipped several times before coming to rest on its side. Epstein, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the car. She was pronounced dead of head injuries shortly after police arrived, O'Donnell said.\nWill and Fann were taken to the DuBois Regional Medical Center, where they were treated and released. No tickets were issued, and O'Donnell said no drugs or alcohol were involved.\nO'Donnell, who investigated the accident, said Will told police she had been reaching for something when she lost control of the car. Both Will and Fann, who suffered minor scrapes and bruises, had been wearing their seat belts. Fann also broke her arm.\n"I was nauseous when I heard," said Jamie's brother, Reid Epstein. "The feeling was unimaginable -- it was like being hit by a truck."\nReid Epstein, a senior at Emory University in Atlanta, received the news on the way to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he had intended to spend his spring break. Four hours after he came into town, he caught a flight home to Peoria.\nHe attended the funeral services last Friday and said he has had a hard time coping.\n"Each day is better than the one before," he said. "It's gotten to the point where we're able to be functional. I can now turn on a TV or pick up a newspaper. But if I'm watching a basketball game, I'll see an car commercial and that'll set me off thinking about Jamie."\nMore than 500 miles away, Reid regularly spoke with his sister on the phone, he said.\n"This year she was as happy as she had ever been," he said. "Her growth in the past year was just amazing."\nEpstein had just been initiated into Phi Mu sorority and took part in IU Sing. She had long been interested in musical theater and had been gravitating toward a fine arts degree. \n"She sung in a lot of school musicals," he said. "She didn't just do what was expected of her. She pushed into things she enjoyed."\nEpstein's friends also remember her fun-loving spirit.\n"She was a wonderful, wonderful person," said Ray, who had run cross country with Epstein for three years in high school. "She was always so much fun to be around. We were so close."\nEpstein kept up with most of her friends from Peoria, including Ann Sauder, a freshman at Illinois-Wesleyan University whom Epstein had known since first grade. \n"We talked everyday," Sauder said. "I always went to her for advice. She was part of our family, and I was part of hers."\nSauder has many fond memories of her closest friend.\n"(Epstein) was so fun; she was just everyone's mascot," Sauder said. "She always tried to keep the conversation light, keep everyone happy. She always made everyone laugh -- she was such a sweet, pure person." \nIn her first year of college, Epstein had started to crack through some of her shyness, Sauder said.\n"She had just started to open up," Sauder said. "She was finally gaining a lot of confidence, which is the only good thing I have to hold onto."\nJamie Epstein's parents have started a scholarship fund in their late daughter's name. Contributions can be mailed to The Peoria Area Community Foundation, 124 Southwest Adams St. Suite M-1 Peoria, Ill. 61602. Specify contributions as for The Jamie Epstein Scholarship Fund.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
It's now a little easier to find a parking space downtown.\nAfter a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week, the six-story Walnut Center parking garage opened for business.\nThe $5.6 million facility, which contains 385 metered and leased spaces and will feature retail stores on the first floor, is on the northeast corner of Walnut and Seventh streets. Parking is available through the Walnut Street entrance. \nFinanced and constructed through a public-private partnership, the city hopes the garage will relieve some of the parking congestion downtown.\n"This new facility is a welcome addition to the city's downtown," Mayor John Fernandez said. "The added parking downtown certainly fills a need identified by merchants and makes downtown a convenient and attractive location to come to shop, eat and enjoy all the amenities that the area has to offer."\nConstruction on the project began last June. It features nearly 9,000 square feet of retail space and 6,000 square feet of space for a telecom facility.\n"The retail space will add to the vibrancy of the area by attracting more customers downtown to shop," Fernandez said.\nOne business, Scottie's Brewhouse, has already committed to the space.\nThe "telecom hotel" is part of the city's initiative to draw high-tech businesses to Bloomington. An Indianapolis-based tech company, Metro Xmit, has leased the space, which it will sublease to other telecom businesses.\nThe "hotel" allows companies to cut their costs by letting them share Internet servers and access to fiber optic cables.\n"The telecom space will serve as an important hub for information exchange in our community and across Indiana," Fernandez said. "We feel it is important to provide our local technology firms with all the competitive advantages possible to survive in our changing economy."\nThe parking facility stretches over five floors, with 100 metered spaces open to the public at 25 cents per hour.\nWith the spaces around the courthouse square usually occupied by county government employees, it is hoped the garage will attract more consumers to downtown. \n"Winninger-Stolberg is pleased to be part of this unique public-private partnership to bring much-needed parking and retail development to the central business district," developer Eric Stolberg said. "We believe Bloomington is ahead of the curve in using partnerships to develop the downtown core and support local businesses."\nUnder the arrangement, the city is leasing the land to Winninger-Stolberg for $1 a year in exchange for being able to set affordable parking rates. After about 30 years, the city will own the facility.\nBloomington Parking Enforcement Director Jack Davis said the metered spaces are already in use, and the city hopes to start leasing the remaining spaces soon. Costs for annual leases range from $320 to $540. \n"I think this will benefit a lot of people who live downtown and work downtown," Davis said. "Hopefully, it will open up a lot of spaces from the courthouse square"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
State Senate Republicans will place a moratorium on new construction projects -- including at universities -- in a proposed two-year budget they are expected to send to the floor today.\nSen. Lawrence Borst, R-Greenwood, made the announcement Wednesday on the heels of shrinking state revenue projections and a slowing economy. The State Budget Agency recently reported that February revenues fell $102.6 million short of forecasts, and Borst said the state must tighten its belt on spending.\nThe decision affects colleges and universities throughout the state, which usually rely on either cash or bonding authority for new projects during budget-writing sessions. The House version of the bill, which passed with lopsided bipartisan support, allowed IU bonding authority for a number of capital projects. \nIn the House version, IU would borrow money to fund a $30 million multidisciplinary science building on the Bloomington campus and a $20 million student center and library at IU-Southeast.\nFrom the start, Borst -- chairman of the budget-shaping Senate Finance Committee -- made it clear he would slash the House's $21.1 billion budget. Overall, he's now striking out $235 million for capital projects from the budget.\n "We understand the Senate must make some changes," University spokeswoman Susan Dillman said. "But we hope that opportunities for funding can be allowed."\nWhile Dillman said IU understands the need to trim the budget, she said the projects should take priority. It's not just a special interest, she said.\n"This isn't just for students," she said. "What we've asked for is critical for moving into the next century, making Indiana's economy more high-tech."\nUnder the Senate version, Ball State University would also suffer significantly. It is seeking $20 million in bonding authority for a new music building as part of a campus-wide renovation.\n"We're hopeful, but we have to delay comment on that," said Tom Morrison, assistant to the associate vice president for government affairs. "We'll wait until the budget has passed committee."\nThe Senate budget would not only affect established colleges -- it would also affect the state's plan to expand the community college system. Under the House version, around $60 million in bonding would have gone to Ivy Tech State College campuses in Evansville, Lafayette, Richmond, Terre Haute and Valparaiso. \nBesides university capital projects, the budget would undercut several state projects, including three regional centers for the developmentally disabled. The centers were a priority in Gov. Frank O'Bannon's legislative agenda.\nThe budget endorsed by Borst is likely to sail through the Republican-controlled Senate, as it has in the past. The Senate would then enter into negotiations with the House before sending it to the governor. \nWhile O'Bannon's proposed budget was more fiscally conservative then the House version, it was unclear at press time whether he would veto the Senate version.\nO'Bannon spokesman Thad Nation could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Senate Democrats attempted to amend the two-year state budget Tuesday. Their $2.3 billion proposal would have increased higher education spending by an additional $84 million.\n"It all comes down to priorities," said Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. "While we don't question the Republicans' sincerity or their desire to come up with a responsible, balanced budget, we do question some of their priorities."\nSimpson's amendment would have also spent $71 million more on public schools and $20 million more on home care for the elderly. But the lion's share of the $184 million proposal would have gone to higher education funding. \n"The Republicans said education was their No. 1 priority when they overhauled the House-passed budget bill last week," Simpson said. "However, they proceeded not to properly fund all schools throughout the state."\nUniversity officials have criticized the budget, which would increase higher education funding by 1.7 percent during the next two years. The Democrat-controlled House put forward a version that would have increased it by about 4 percent. \nWith inflation expected to outpace funding increases, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education estimates the Bloomington campus will lose $1 million a year, driving tuition up.\n"It's a disappointment," said Mike Baumgartner, the commission's associate commissioner for financial affairs. "It's certainly far below what the commission recommended. But we realize there are different fiscal circumstances than when we made our recommendations."\nTo cover operating costs, the commission recommended an 8.5 percent increase in the first year and a 6.2 percent increase in the second. The increases would have been spent mostly on keeping faculty salaries competitive, Baumgartner said.\nTo retain faculty and cover expenses, Baumgartner said tuitions at state colleges and universities would have to be increased by about 4 percent under the Senate budget.\n"A few campuses would take a hit under the Republicans' budget," Sen. Bill Alexa, D-Valparaiso, said. "What this amounts to is a tax increase on the middle class."\nThe Indiana State Teachers Association bristled at the Senate budget, which it said doesn't meet the needs of public schools. The House proposal would have increased spending on public schools by 4 percent during the next two years, while the Senate increases average out at 3.2 percent.\n"With rising energy and insurance costs, these school corporations cannot maintain current programs and staffing levels," union spokesman Dan Clark said. "Larger class sizes, program elimination and teacher layoffs are the certain results of this budget."\nThe largest teachers union in Indiana insisted the state delay accountability standards set to take effect this summer if schools don't receive adequate funding.\n"If we cannot support teachers and students in their efforts to improve learning, then we should not punish them for the failure of the General Assembly to provide the necessary resources," Clark said. \nSenate Democrats didn't expect their amendment to gain any ground in the Republican-controlled chamber. \n"We hoped to play to the citizens of Indiana," said Rick Gudal, press secretary for the Senate Democratic Caucus. "We had some healthy discussion on the floor for about an hour, and that's what we hoped to start -- healthy discussion."\nBut they took pains to finance their proposed spending increases with tax restructuring. Democrats proposed shifting a $12,500 property tax deduction to an income tax deduction, which Gudal said would free up $190 million.\n"This is completely fiscally responsible," he said. "We're coming up with the money we're proposing to spend."\nThe Senate Democrats hope to persuade their colleagues across the aisle that they can avoid scaling back on spending without tapping into the state's emergency rainy day fund, Gudal said.\nHouse Democrats and Senate Republicans will meet in conference committee to settle their differences. If they can't work out an agreement by May, Gov. Frank O'Bannon must convene a special session, which could stretch into June.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Bloomington activists have planned a "week of resistance," starting Sunday, to coincide with Frank Ambrose's April 5 court appearance. \nPolice have charged Ambrose, a prominent local environmentalist, with driving nails into trees set aside for lumber in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest last June. Timber spiking, a class D felony in Indiana, carries a punishment of up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine.\nAmbrose's arrest is the first in connection with the Earth Liberation Front, a shadowy ecoterrorist group that has claimed responsibility for more than $37 million in property damage across the country. Locally, the group took credit for the arson of a home in the Sterling Woods development on the west side early last year and several other acts of vandalism.\nAmbrose maintains his innocence and pleaded not guilty at his Feb. 2 arraignment.\nFellow activists said they also believe he's committed no crime.\n"It's still hard to believe all of this is happening," said Jeff Melton, an activist and friend of Ambrose. "The Frank they're talking about isn't the Frank I know."\nSome even think authorities singled out Ambrose -- who has since moved to Detroit to spend time with his wife's family -- to silence his voice.\n"We're planning this week of resistance so to show them that we aren't scared and we stand behind Frank," said David Agranoff, the activist organizing the week's events. "It shows them that we're carrying on the work he cares about, which I think is what he'd want us to do."\nSympathizers plan to rally every day during the week -- on issues ranging from logging to sweatshop labor in Third World countries. \n"A lot of things are coming together right now," Agranoff said. "And we need to show them that we won't back down when President (George W.) Bush is repealing all of these environmental laws and regulations."\nApril 5, activists plan to march from the Bloomington FBI office to the Justice Building, where Ambrose will appear for a pre-trial conference. Organizers expect sympathizers from Florida and Oregon to come for the protest.\nMonroe County Sheriff Steve Sharp said additional security would be on hand.\n"We've been working with local police and the FBI," he said. "Extra deputies will be present."\nWhile he isn't bothered by the added security detail, Agranoff said the rally won't be violent.\n"We're just planning on civil disobedience," he said. "Some seem to think that we'll be burning down buildings. But we'll just be carrying signs"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Bloomington's mayor said Wednesday the city will try to forge ahead with a proposed nine-story downtown apartment complex just off the square. The apartments would house about 800 students. \nMayor John Fernandez announced Wednesday that his office is seeking a continuance for the Melrose Apartments petition until the May meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals. The zoning board serves as a quasi-judicial body that rules strictly on whether a project meets required conditions.\nInitially heard at the board's March 15 meeting, the petition comes up for a second hearing and a vote April 12. Fernandez said he hopes postponing the meeting will allow the developer and the board to reconcile their differences. \n"Melrose has the potential to be a tremendous asset," Fernandez said. "It could greatly enhance the vitality and vibrancy of our downtown for many years to come. We just need to work out some important details to make it as good a project as possible."\nIntergroup Realty Trust, a Florida-based developer, plans to construct the proposed high-rise apartment complex at the ST Semicon site, a run-down building across from city hall. \n"Every day I walk out of city hall and see this blighted and decrepit eyesore that has sat vacant for 10 years," Fernandez said. "I believe in this project's potential, and I believe we can make it a better proposal."\nThe proposed housing complex has generated some controversy over its size and whether there would be adequate parking. Some city council members have said such an urban infill project would be out of place downtown. \nThe developers will have to resolve such issues with the zoning board. If approved, Intergroup President Pat Nolan said the apartment complex should be ready by the 2002-03 academic year.\n"There's the issue of parking -- whether it will satisfy the needs of the residents," said Nathan Hadley, the city's executive assistant of economic development. "There's the issue of whether it will fit in with surrounding buildings. And some people aren't comfortable with the high density of this project. We hope to see that everyone is comfortable with this."\nTom Micuda, the city's planning director, said he didn't know if a compromise could be hammered out.\n"I can't predict an outcome at this point," he said. "It'll involve more than tweaking. I don't know the extent to which the developer will compromise, but I know they're willing to talk and explore this."\nSome members of the Monroe County Council have expressed interest in buying the ST Semicon site for a new juvenile correctional facility the county plans to build. Councilmen Jeff Ellington and Scott Wells have been pushing to make the purchase, arguing the site's proximity to the Justice Building would allow the county to save money by sharing resources.\nBut the zoning board is the only local governmental agency with authority over the matter. \nAnd the city's planning department will try to smooth over concerns about the plan, which has the backing of downtown businesses.\n"In 16 years, we've had only 300 new housing units downtown," said Talisha Coppock, director of the downtown commission. "That pales in comparison to the growth of the rest of the community."\nDowntown merchants would salivate over the idea of 800 new student consumers in the area, Coppock said. \n"Student housing is important to the downtown's economic health," she said. "They'll patronize music stores, coffeeshops, bakeries, bookstores. The more pedestrians we have downtown, the more businesses will flourish"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Last Friday, police took Mike Andrews to jail after he sparred with an officer in a mass bike ride protest. After six days, he's finally leaving the Monroe County Correctional Center.\nMonroe Circuit Court Judge David Welch released Andrews, 54, from jail on bond reduction Thursday. At his Tuesday arraignment, Andrews delayed his release by refusing to plead, according to Welch's office.\nUnder state law, a mandatory plea of not guilty was entered.\nThe county prosecutor charged Andrews with obstructing traffic, disorderly conduct, resisting law enforcement and battery of a police officer, a Class D felony. The longtime Bloomington activist could face up to three years in jail and a $16,000 fine.\nAndrews released a statement from jail Monday detailing his account of Friday's events. His version is similar to police accounts, but he claims officers used excessive force. \nAndrews said in the statement that he and his wife, Nancy Rinehart, spontaneously decided to join the monthly bike protest, which they read about in the newspaper. Wanting some fresh air, Andrews said, he joined the dozens of bicyclists who rode en masse through the streets to call attention to alternative modes of transportation. \nWhen the bicyclists started to hold up traffic on North Walnut Street, police moved in to break it up. In his statement, Andrews said he did ignore warnings an officer gave him.\n"The right lane was a turn-only lane," he said. "(We were) legally traveling in this lane."\nAndrews said the officer -- Cory Grass -- grabbed Rinehart when instructing her to move over.\n"Alarmed by the assault and the prospect of injury to Nancy, I quickly stopped and grabbed her forearm," he said. "I seized the officer's wrist with my left hand, attempting to free her arm so that she would not be pulled roughly off and backwards over her bike."\nAndrews claims the officer then pulled all three of them down and onto his bike.\n"At this point, I was quickly pressed to the ground by several policemen," he said. "I was sprayed in the eyes by some sort of pepper gas from an aerosol can. At the same time, someone was punching or clubbing my thighs repeatedly with some hard object, possibly a heel or a nightstick."\nHis account differs with the police report, which states that Andrews knocked Grass off his bike and pinned him to prevent him from making an arrest. BPD Sgt. Bob Neely said officers used only as much force as was necessary to subdue those resisting arrest.\nNeely said if the bicyclists had complied with officers' instructions to move into the far right lane, police would not have made any arrests.\nIt's not the first time Bloomington police have cracked down on the bike ride, an international event called "Critical Mass" that originated in San Francisco in 1992.\nBloomington activists first staged the event in April 1994, disrupting traffic and getting into several confrontations with motorists. After receiving a number of complaints, police were out in full force for the next mass bike ride that September.\nThat time, they arrested seven cyclists on charges of obstructing traffic and resisting law enforcement, citing 10 others for obstruction of traffic.\nBut the arrests of Andrews and six other cyclists last Friday have still generated a backlash from the activist community, which marched through Bloomington to the police station Thursday.\n"Expressing your opinion is not a crime," Cogi Haggerty, Rinehart's son, said. "We wanted to show that you can challenge authority."\nAndrews has long been active in many environmental and criminal justice causes in Bloomington. He ran for mayor as an independent candidate in 1987, garnering 884 votes, or 7.6 percent of those cast.\nIf convicted, it won't be the first time Andrews has served jail time.\nProtesting state law that prohibited write-in votes, he was arrested in 1985 for refusing to leave a voting booth, Andrews said in a written statement. He was sentenced to 191 days in prison, which he served at the Putnamville State Correctional Facility, according to the statement.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Indiana House Democrats presented their redistricting maps Monday, and it's almost certain that Bloomington will fall into the 9th congressional district by the 2002 election.\nUnder state and federal law, the General Assembly is required to redraw its legislative maps every 10 years. As a result of population shifts shown by last year's census, Indiana loses one of its 10 congressional seats. \nFreshman Rep. Brian Kerns, R-7th, is out of luck -- lawmakers eliminated his district, carving it up adjoining districts.\n"The challenge facing the legislature was with the loss of a congressional seat," House Democrat Caucus spokesman John Schorg said. "The districts all reflect similar interests and meet census guidelines." \nWhile redistricting is a political issue, Democrats have the upper hand with control of both the House and the governor's office. Unless they reach an compromise with the GOP-controlled Senate, final authority would go to a commission stacked with Democrats.\nDemocrats sought to create districts with about 675,000 residents a piece. The proposed districts deviate from that figure by less than 1 percent in all instances.\nUnder the proposal, Rep. Baron Hill, D-9th, would serve as Bloomington's new congressman, assuming he's elected to a third term. Until the 1992 election, Bloomington had been split between the 8th and 9th districts. It's since fallen solidly into the 8th district -- known as the "Bloody Eighth" for its hard-fought elections -- along with most of Monroe County.\n"It gives us a dynamic district with a solid Democrat incumbent," said Frank McCloskey, a former congressman who was unseated in 1992 by Republican John Hostettler, who now represents Bloomington and the 8th district. "We no longer have to work to oust a congressman who's too the far right of his party."\nThe "Bloody Eighth" has traditionally been a swing district, with Democratic strongholds in Evansville and Bloomington. A longtime party activist, McCloskey doesn't think his party is giving up on the seat. The district now extends further north than it ever has, including such working-class counties as Vigo. \n"They took Bloomington out, but they put Terre Haute in," he said. "They're adding Democratic votes."\nHostettler's office hasn't had enough time to look at the proposed redistricting, but his camp isn't taking anything for granted.\n"We'll see how it adds up in terms of demographics and population growth," said Hostettler's Washington spokesman, Michael Jahr. "But we wouldn't say the district's now a Republican stronghold. We'll be watching the process very intently."\nMcCloskey said shifting Bloomington to the southeastern 9th district would also help shore up support for Hill, who narrowly won reelection last fall.\nBut Hill isn't holding his breath.\n"As a former state legislator, I know one shouldn't consider anything at the State House final until the General Assembly adjourns," he said in a statement. "And I look forward to serving whatever portion of southern Indiana the legislature deems appropriate"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
The fire kindled near the stairwell in the basement.\nIt wasn't long before the flames licked at combustibles stored under the stairs. \nGlutting themselves on oxygen, the flames reached a ceiling temperature of about 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Spontaneous ignition occurred.\nThe flames rocketed up the stairs, engulfing everything in their path. \nThe fire, which started about 2:15 a.m. Sunday, razed the Maple Leaf Apartment complex, leaving 16 residents homeless.\nAnd it wasn't an accident, a Bloomington fire investigator said.\nSteve Cottingham, chief fire investigator for the Bloomington Fire Department, said it's a clear case of arson. \n"The location rules out an accident," he said. "There's no point of origin. If someone had just dropped a lit cigarette, the prolonged smoldering process would have set off the fire alarms much sooner. It spread too rapidly." \nThe fire's location prevented residents from escaping down the stairs, and it spread rapidly into the halls, trapping many in their rooms. They were lucky to get out with their lives, Cottingham said. \n"Fortunately, they only suffered minor injuries," he said. "There were only a few minor cases of smoke insulation, and a young woman suffered some burns on her hand when she touched the doorknobs."\nThe residents escaped by playing by the book, Cottingham said.\n"They did all the things you're taught to do in grade school," he said. "They put towels on the doors and all got out of the buildings through the windows." \nAnd Cottingham said the firefighters also did admirable work.\n"When they got there, they fortunately realized the nature of the fire," he said. "They didn't send men in. They immediately used the ladder and had the fire out in about two to three minutes."\nThe University offered temporary housing to the fire victims Monday.\n"It's what we do whenever we have a situation like this," said Bruce Jacobs, associate vice chancellor for administrative affairs. "As far as I know, no one's taken it up yet. Sometimes they know some friends who they can stay with."\nAs of yet, there are no suspects in the case. The Bloomington Police Department has not yet opened a formal investigation, Capt. Joe Qualters said. \nThe searing heat wiped out any evidence at the scene of the crime, Cottingham said.\n"All we know is that they didn't use accelerants or flammable fluids," he said. "There wasn't any residue. I've been talking with police, and we'll be working on this"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Bloomington resident Joel Rennard smokes a pack of menthol lights a day. \nDragging away at a cigarette, he bristles at Gov. Frank O'Bannon's plan to raise cigarette taxes to offset a massive revenue shortfall. Speaking before the General Assembly Monday, O'Bannon suggested suspending a 1999 property tax cut and hiking cigarette taxes by 50 cents a pack.\n"I don't think it's fair," Rennard said while exhaling a cloud of smoke. "And people are going to quit smoking, and they're not going to get their money. It's really a lost cause."\nO'Bannon said he doesn't think so. \nHe estimates the state will bring in $650 million during the next two years by raising the 15.5-cent tax per pack. The hit on the pocketbooks of people like Rennard would help the state ride through the $923 million shortfall announced last week, O'Bannon said.\n"Our choice, while difficult, is very clear," the governor said in a statement. "Either we move backward, halting the progress we have made, or we make the tough choices that will allow Indiana to move forward."\nIn proposing the first tax hike since 1987, O'Bannon said the state must meet its commitment to education, Medicaid and other priorities. His budget proposal would raise K-12 and higher education funding by 4 percent during the next two years, an increase to keep pace with inflation. \n"We greatly appreciate the leadership shown by Gov. O'Bannon in seeking to fund education adequately in a difficult budget year," University spokeswoman Susan Dillman said. "We strongly agree with him that the long-term interests of the state and its citizens are best served by continued progress in education funding."\nThe governor's budget would also provide start-up funding for the School of Informatics and matching funds for the Purdue University nanotechnology project. And it would tap into gambling revenue to give public universities $25 million a year in technology funds.\n"We are particularly pleased with the governor's call for start-up funding for our School of Informatics, which will provide a vital boost for high-tech jobs development in Indiana," Dillman said. "While it is still difficult at this point to determine what the final details of the budget might be, we are encouraged by the governor's proposal."\nBut O'Bannon's plan won't see the light of day in the Statehouse. \n"It won't get to the floor of either chamber," said Rep. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend. "The Senate Republicans won't go for the tax hike, and neither will House Democrats representing counties that grow tobacco."\nBauer -- who drafted the House version of the budget -- said lawmakers are looking at spending cuts.\n"We'll just have to adjust the budget," he said. "I don't see anyone going for a tax hike or further use of riverboat gambling funds. It means we're going to have to do some trimming -- university and K-12 funding will have to be cut."\nWith a mere two weeks left in this session, lawmakers will have to convene a special session to craft a budget. While deceased legislation sometimes rises from the grave as the summer stretches on, few have faith in O'Bannon's proposal.\n"I don't know if I would pronounce it dead," said John Schorg, a spokesman for the House Democrat caucus. "But it would be difficult for many legislators to work up enthusiasm about it"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Hoosiers might soon have an easier time renewing their driver's licenses.\nMoments before Sunday's midnight deadline to adjourn the 2001 legislative session, lawmakers sent a Bureau of Motor Vehicles reform bill to the desk of Gov. Frank O'Bannon.\nO'Bannon's press secretary Thad Nation said the governor should sign the bill in a few weeks, after he has time to review it. The legislation comes as a result of a bipartisan committee's two-year study.\n"Although the bill contains numerous reforms and revisions, I am pleased that we have finally reached a consensus on what needs to be accomplished in order to update and improve branches across the state," Rep. Ron Liggett, D-Redkey, said. "The study committee has spent years on researching what it takes to improve license branch services, and I am confident that these changes are some of the most beneficial for Indiana."\nThe bill -- authored by Liggett -- would establish a fund to provide new technology that would allow people to apply for or renew several types of licenses over the Internet or through mail. Under the legislation, customers would be able to register or renew their licenses in any county.\nIt implements a 50-cent fee for some transactions to pay for the upgrades.\n"It's going to allow us to expand into the next age of technology," BMV spokesperson Kelly Duncan. "We want to improve customer service in whatever way we can."\nBut it's not the only added fee customers will be paying. Last Thursday, the BMV approved a schedule of 164 fee increases that is expected to raise $40 million to pave over a $7 million deficit. The bureau is now borrowing from the motor vehicle highway fund -- taxpayer money that's supposed to go to fixing roads.\nAs of Jan. 1, fees for most transactions will rise $3, $5 to $7 if late. Once signed into law, the 50-cent increase would go into effect at the start of the next budget cycle beginning July 1st.\nBesides upgrading technology, the bill would also introduce a staggered schedule for license plate renewals that would require customers to come in over the course of the month, instead of at the end. Lawmakers and state officials hope this will cut back on the end-of-the-month lines that have plagued license branches for years.\n"We don't have any exact figures," Duncan said. "But we reasonably expect to cut the lines in half." \nLawmakers removed a provision from the bill that would have merged the BMV with the quasi-independent BMV Commission that oversees license branches. It was unclear what the move would cost and whether it would improve service.\nDemocratic supporters of the mergers said it would ultimately cut red tape and save money. But Republicans expressed the fear that eliminating the commission would risk a return to the political patronage rampant in the license branches before the late 1980s.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Decked out in a white tank top and shorts, Yvonne Williams basked in the sun early Tuesday afternoon. Slightly reclining, she kept an eye on her 3-year-old daughter, Mara, who frolicked in the grass.\nOnly a year ago, she wouldn't have considered taking Mara to Peoples Park, which was an asphalt slab littered with obscene graffiti, broken glass and cigarette butts. A popular hangout for the counterculture and teens, it had a reputation as a place to go for illegal drugs.\nBut families -- splayed out on blankets -- gathered to munch on brown bagged sandwiches Tuesday. An elderly man tried to nap in a lawn chair, taking in the smell of the freshly planted sod and the sounds of Kirkwood Avenue. A mother in overalls sat on a park bench, breast-feeding her infant son. Local businessmen in suits and ties sipped Starbucks coffee.\nAfter about a year of renovation, city officials reopened Peoples Park with a noon ceremony earlier that day.\n"We were not maintaining the park," Bloomington Parks and Recreation Operations Director Dave Williams said. "It was thought of as not a safe place, not a place you'd want to go. We want to restore it as community gathering place, a safe and comfortable place."\nWilliams heaped praise on the added greenspace in the new design, which features a circular walkway at its center. While the centerpiece limestone sculpture remains intact, the park has a different look. Brightly colored murals line the wall of the adjoining building, and the park has twice the seating -- although none of it's in the shade.\nThat bothers W. Owen Powell, a former regular at the park. But Powell, who wore a black skicap over his shoulder-length hair, found himself otherwise pleased with the renovation.\n"It's nicer than I thought it'd be," he said. "It could use a kiosk and some chess tables -- we need flyers."\nPowell, who moved from North Dakota to Bloomington a decade ago, has hung around the park for nearly nine years. He fancies himself "unsavory."\n"This has always been a place for disenfranchised misfits to go without being hassled," he said. "It's always been a place where the dangerous freaks can hang out. And we will continue to."\nIn 1998, the park department pulled together a steering committee to overhaul the park. Construction on Kirkwood delayed the project, which cost nearly $120,000.\nCity Councilman Chris Gaal, D-6, voted for the appropriation.\nTuesday afternoon, he sat in the shade of a budding tree, polishing off a greasy vegetarian quesadilla.\n"I've been coming here since I was in grade school," he said. "It's the nicest I've seen it, and I look forward to coming here in the future."\nThe park awaits a few finishing touches, such as tile mosaics and lighting. But park officials have pledged to maintain it, so that families feel more welcome.\n"It's a good place to grab lunch and sit outside," Williams said, while listening to the blues licks of folk musician Gordon Bonham, who kicked off an inaugural Tuesday lunchtime concert series. "I hope it will stay clean and I hope people will respect the property"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Jill Behrman's room, nestled in a sleepy southside neighborhood, remains just as she left it one year ago.\nFBI agents and evidence technicians filed through last June and July, retreiving journals, her address book and other personal items. They searched for clues, anything that might explain her disappearance last May 31.\nBut it still looks as though she had been packing for her summer job yesterday. It's still littered with stacks of jeans and tank tops, towels and toiletries.\nJill, a lifelong Bloomington resident who had just finished her freshman year, had been packing for her job at Camp Brosius, IU's alumni camp in Wisconsin. Scheduled to work at noon at the Student Recreational Sports Center, Jill checked her e-mail at 9:30 that morning before going out for a bike ride.\nAbout 10 minutes later, a friend saw her riding down Harrell Road, not far from her Hyde Park home. It's the last anyone saw her -- in the flesh.\nHer picture now adorns storefronts throughout Bloomington and southwest Indiana. Bright yellow ribbons hug trees as a reminder. But the flyers have crinkled and faded with time, the ribbons frayed.\nHer parents, Eric and Marilyn, still have trouble accepting her disappearance. \n"We think that we live in a very safe Bloomington community, that things like this just don't happen here," Eric said. These are things that happen in other places and to other people, and things like this don't happen here -- but it did."\nEric and Marilyn have settled into a world both familiar and foreign. \n"It's still kind of hard to go shopping," Marilyn said. "I'll pass by the Gap and wonder what's on sale. I always used to shop there for Jill. In the supermarket, I'll pick up carrots -- which she always used to eat with veggie dip -- and have to put them back.\n"It's things like that, in normal everyday life."\nThey sit on the same balcony pew in church every Sunday, but the presumed abduction of their daughter has challeged their deeply held Methodist faith.\n"You wonder why God would let something like this happen," Marilyn said. "She was normal, typical -- she was such a good person. But life goes on."\nMarilyn tried to suppress the tears while she listened to the casette player in the kitchen. Eric had just brought home a tape of Casey Kasem's recent dedication to Jill. Kleenex is only an arm's away in the kitchen.\nJust thinking about Jill often brings the Behrmans to tears. They can't bring themselves to think about what might have happened.\n"We know what might've happened," Eric said. "But we don't know what really happened. You can spend a lot of energy on the imaginative dark side. But all we have is theories." \nBut what the Behrmans want more than anything is to know -- and the prospect also terrifies them.\n"We're kind of scared to find out," Marilyn said. "We suspect it's not going to go down the good road.\n"We're not giving up," she said. "But you've got to face facts, however hard it might be"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
MARTINSVILLE -- A Morgan County Superior Court Judge has reset Judy Kirby's sentencing from today to June 13. \nOn March 25 last year, an allegedly suicidal Kirby sped the wrong way up Ind. 67 for 1.7 miles, plowing into Thomas Reel's minivan. Reel and his children, Jesica and Bradley, died in a crash that the police estimate occured at a combined speed between 159 and 177 miles per hour. The collision also claimed the lives of Kirby's children, Jordan, Joney and Jacob, and Jeremy Young, a nephew in her care.\nRichard Miller, a close friend of the Reels, survived the crash with serious injuries. \nAfter an 11-day trial in May, a jury shipped in from Dearborn County found Kirby guilty of seven counts of murder. Kirby, who's been in jail since she was released from the hospital, was also convicted of four counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and a lone felony county of aggravated battery.\nUnder standard sentencing, Kirby could face up to 435 years in prison. Kirby's defense attorney Tom Jones, who plans to appeal the verdict, said he believes the murder counts will be stacked.\nThe defense argued during the trial that Kirby suffered from a thyroid imbalance that left her psychotic. The jury sided with deputy prosecutor Tom Iacoli's view that Kirby knowingly tried to end her life while distraught over a recent breakup and pending drug charges. In the most dramatic moment of the trial, Iacoli silently watched the clock for 87 seconds during his closing argument -- the exact length of time she drove through oncoming traffic. \nMorgan Superior Court Judge Jane Spencer Craney will sentence Kirby, who is likely looking at life in prison. But the sentencing might not be Kirby's last court appearance -- two civil suits are pending.\nBoth the Millers and the widowed Louise Reel -- who sat through the entire trial and shed tears of joy after the conviction -- have filed lawsuits seeking compensatory damages from Kirby's liability insurance carrier, PAFCO. Morgan County Superior Judge G. Thomas Grey has scheduled an attorney's conference for August in the hope of consolidating the nearly identical suits.\nGrey doubts the suits will go to trial after the insurance issues are settled, noting that Kirby couldn't otherwise afford to pay the substantive damages. But Lee Christie, an Indianapolis attorney representing the Millers, said they might want a trial just to win a judgment against Kirby.\nThe civil suits allege that Kirby drove the wrong way, exceeded the speed limit and failed to alter her course to avoid a collision. Kirby's attorney, appointed by her insurance company, is seeking a change of venue because of the media attention surrounding her trial.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
TERRE HAUTE -- At about 7:20 a.m. today, Timothy McVeigh will taste rubber. His body will tingle with a cool sensation.\nThen he'll sputter and draw his last gasp of air.\nMcVeigh, convicted of bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in a 1995 blast that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more, will be the first person executed by the federal government in 38 years.\nMcVeigh spent Sunday in an isolated 9-by-14 foot cell, just a short walk from the execution chamber. His attorney, Nathan Chambers, described him as being in "good spirits" after a Saturday meeting.\n"He's upbeat," Chambers said. "He's very at peace with the decision he made."\nIn December, McVeigh called off all appeals, asking to be put to death as early as possible. But his execution was postponed three weeks after the FBI made an eleventh-hour confession to withholding more than 4,000 documents from McVeigh's defense team.\nThe 33-year-old Gulf War veteran appealed to allow his attorneys more time to review the evidence, but a federal judge in Denver denied any further delay. Again, McVeigh asked to die.\nAnd by all accounts, he's resigned himself to it.\nDavid Paul Hammer, a fellow federal death row inmate, described McVeigh as "a soldier in lock-'n-load mode" in his online journal. By Hammer's account, McVeigh is angling for martyrdom.\n"His face is pulled tight and his body is slim to the point of resembling a starved person," he wrote. "At 6'2 he weighs only 157 pounds. All of this is by design, planned to the most minute detail.\n"All for impression and purpose." \nMcVeigh has willed all of his possessions to his fellow inmates. He gave Hammer a picture of himself with the inscription: "My head is bloodied, but it remains unbowed."\nAt 4:10 a.m. Sunday, prison guards whisked McVeigh into his holding cell. He lived out the last hours of his life in a small room with a sink, a metal toilet and a bed mounted to the wall.\nA long interior window opened to an adjoining room. As a precaution, guards kept an eye on the unremorseful killer around the clock to ensure that he didn't attempt to commit suicide.\nAt about 5 a.m. today, Vigo County Deputy Coroner Kevin Mayes will examine McVeigh's body through the glass partition. McVeigh will then sign a statement saying he hasn't been abused, a legal formality intended to shield prison officials from potential lawsuits.\nAccording to Bureau of Prisons protocol, McVeigh will then be required to put on khaki pants, a white T-shirt and slip-on tennis shoes. After a strip search, guards will lead McVeigh down to the execution chamber, a room with green tiles and drapes covering the four witness rooms.\nHe'll be strapped down in the gurney, with restraints binding his chest, waist, arms and legs.\nTechnicians will insert the IVs that will send a lethal chemical cocktail -- worth $86 -- coursing through his veins. Prison spokesman James Cross said a sheet will be draped over his body to keep the needles from view.\nPromptly at 7 a.m., the drapes will open. An undisclosed number of government officials will view the execution, along with victims, media representatives and those invited by McVeigh.\nWarden Harley Lappin and U.S. Marshall Frank Anderson will remain in the chamber with McVeigh. Lappin will ask McVeigh if he would like to make a final statement.\nMcVeigh told the authors of "American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing" that he plans to quote William Ernest Henley's 19th-century poem "Invictus."\nLatin for "unconquered," "Invictus" closes with the lines: "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul."\nOf course, McVeigh might have changed his mind since conducting 75 hours of interviews with Dan Herbeck and Lou Michel, reporters for the Buffalo News, McVeigh's hometown paper. But an apology won't be forthcoming.\n"He's sorry that 168 people died," Chambers said after his Saturday meeting. "He takes no joy in that. But in his view, in his opinion, in pursuing his goal, it was necessary."\nLappin will read the judgment, and Anderson will then check with the Justice Department to make sure no last-minute stay has been granted. McVeigh waived his appeal, so the execution will go ahead.\nUpon Lappin's signal, sodium pentothal will be pumped into his veins. An anesthetic, it will put him to sleep by preventing his brain cells from reacting to nerve impulses. Technicians will then administer a dose of pancuronium, which will relax his lungs.\nThe last drug, potassium chloride, will block the electrical signals inside his heart, resulting in irreversible brain damage. Within five minutes, McVeigh will take his last breath.\nMayes will then enter, check McVeigh's vital signs and pronounce him dead. Vigo County Coroner Susan Amos will sign the death certificate, which will list "lethal injection" as the cause of death and "homicide" as the manner.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Environmentalists weren't pleased when the Monroe County Council approved a tax-free bond for the controversial Canterbury Apartments project at its monthly meeting Tuesday. \nSo the several dozen in attendance seized control of the courthouse meeting room, which they occupied for an hour. Sheriff Steve Sharp, who was waiting to report to the council on finances, made no attempt to wrest the situation under control.\nInstead, he summoned three of his deputies, who stood watch outside the chamber while Monroe County Commissioner Brian O'Neil tried to calm down the indignant activists.\nAfter the vote came down, they loudly alleged the council was "in the pocket of developers" -- vowing to vote the offending councilmen out of office and throw themselves in front of the bulldozers that might set to work on the project as early as July.\n"I've tried every legal means available," said Eric White, a Bloomington resident. "I don't want to go to jail. But I'll use whatever means are available to save Bloomington from these greedy and short-sighted developers and their political surrogates."\nHerman & Associates, an Indianapolis-based developer, plans to build a 208-unit apartment complex, of which 174 units are designated affordable housing. It would involve clear-cutting most of Brown's Woods, a small forest surrounded by apartments on the east side of Ind. 37 near West Third Street.\nThe Indiana Housing Finance Authority has given its blessing to the proposed apartment complex, which would rent out one-bedroom units for $469 a month and two-bedroom units for $569. Tuesday's vote was the last barrier the developer needed to cross to qualify for $10 million in tax-exempt housing development bonds.\nIt was the council's second hearing on the matter, and public comment wasn't required before the vote. But Joni Reagan, council president, deferred to the six or seven dozen people who had showed up in opposition.\nOne after one, they filed up to the lecturn to decry what they saw as an assault on Bloomington's greenspace. Many questioned whether the project really constituted affordable housing, claiming they wouldn't be able cough up the rent.\n"I ask you to think generations into the future," said Mike Englert, who asked the councilmen if they had bothered to visit the site they were going to vote on. "I ask you to think about our grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren."\nThe environmentalists loudly cheered one another on, an uncommon practice during the generally staid council meetings. As the evening wore on, tensions flared and the words became more heated.\nOne man likened the project to prostitution.\n"The whore is the public," he said. "And when the whore doesn't want it, it's rape."\nAfter more than two hours had passed, the council finally made a motion to vote. To the wild applause of those gathered, councilman Mark Stoops spoke out against the project.\n"This gives the community nothing," he said. "And the developers get all the profits."\nBut Stoops and councilman Scott Wells, both liberal Democrats, were the only dissenting voices on the council. Most cited a need for more affordable housing in the Bloomington area, noting that the occupancy rate of apartments has been hovering around 98 percent -- a tight market.\n"I've lived in this community for all my life," said Democratic councilman David Hamilton, who sided with the majority in the 5-2 vote. "I've seen this community grow -- it's not stagnant."\nAfter the vote, the council disbanded.\nThe irate environmentalists rearranged all of the chairs in the room to form a circle, where they plotted civil disobedience and political strategy. When the council reentered after a 10-minute hiatus, the activists shouted them down. Reagan then rescheduled the rest of the meeting for next Tuesday.\nO'Neil told those gathered that they could remain in the chambers until 8:30, calming them down somewhat. He did his best to explain the situation -- the site of the project has been designated for multi-family housing since the 1970s.\n"I've voted to stop developments like this in the past," he said, repeatedly asking not to be interrupted. "And it always goes to court. We have to pick and choose what we'll fight -- the county only has so much money.\n"We can't spend it all in court"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
TERRE HAUTE -- Paul Howell, whose daughter Karan Shepard died in the blast that ripped apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, wanted to hear words of remorse.\nThey never came.\nDefiant and stone-faced even at the end, convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh remained silent as a lethal chemical cocktail coursed through his veins Monday morning. \n"What I was hoping for is that we could see some kind of 'I'm sorry,'" Howell said shortly after viewing the execution in person. "You know, something like that."\nStill, McVeigh's execution soothed Howell's grief and gave him some sense of resolution, a sentiment echoed by other relatives of victims.\n"My emotions were that it was just a big relief," he said. "Just a big sigh came over my body and it felt real good."\nWarden Henry Lappin announced that the man who took 168 lives -- and left so many other bitter and broken -- was pronounced dead at 7:14 a.m. McVeigh declined to make a final statement. \nThe decorated Gulf War veteran, who was 33 years old, instead released a few hand-written stanzas of "Invictus," a 19th-century poem about stoicism in the face of adversity.\nIt closes with the lines: "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul."\nMedia pool representatives said McVeigh, who was responsible for the worst act of terrorism on U.S. soil, failed to show any emotion after technicians inserted a needle in his right leg. He died with his eyes open.\n"The last time I saw Tim McVeigh was in a courtroom in Oklahoma City," said Linda Cavanaugh of KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City. "He had changed markedly -- he was paler, he was thinner, he did not have the same look of arrogance."\nAfter receiving his last rites from the penitentiary chaplain, McVeigh was strapped down to the gurney and covered with a white sheet. A camera hung just above the gurney, transmitting a live feed on a closed circuit to 232 survivors and relatives of victims in Oklahoma City. \nIn Terre Haute, more than 24 people witnessed the first execution carried out by the federal government in 38 years -- including two survivors and eight family members of victims.\nAfter the restraints were secured, a needle was stuck into McVeigh's right thigh.\nThen the green curtains rolled back.\n"He deliberately lifted up his head and looked at each of us one by one," said Susan Carlson of WLS Radio in Chicago. "He took the time to make eye contact."\n"He seemed to be resigned to his fate, that this was what had to be done, that what happened today was all part of his plan. He almost looked proud of what happened."\nStraining his neck against the restraints, McVeigh attempted to squint through a tinted window into the room where the relatives sat.\n"I wished there might have been some eye contact so he would know he didn't know he didn't break our spirit," said Anthony Scott, who survived the bombing but saw eight of his closest friends die.\nLappin asked McVeigh if he had a final statement -- about 20 seconds of silence followed. The warden then recited the charges on which McVeigh was convicted -- conspiracy, using a weapon of mass destruction and eight counts of murder.\nU.S. Marshall Frank Anderson picked up the red phone to ensure that no last-minute stay had been granted. After a brief exchange, he gave the final authorization.\nThe drugs were administered at 7:10 a.m.\nRex W. Huppke of the Associated Press said McVeigh's eyes rolled back once the first drug took effect. After four minutes, his lips turned blue and skin appeared jaundiced. He puffed heavily, trying to draw breath.\nVigo County Deputy Coroner Kevin Mayes, escorted into the death chamber by prison guards, then pronounced him dead. \n"The most remarkable thing to me was how remarkably subtle the process was in which he slipped from life to death," said Crocker Stephenson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "There was no point in which he looked as if he turned a corner." \nMost witnesses testify that his carefully planned execution contrasted sharply with the chaotic horror McVeigh unleased six years ago with a rented Ryder van filled with 7,000 pounds of fertilizer and explosives.\n"He didn't suffer at all," said Sue Ashford, who survived the bombing. "The man just went to sleep, or as I said, the monster did. I think they should have done the same thing to him as he did in Oklahoma."\nIn the days leading up to the execution, McVeigh told those closest to him that he still felt that the bombing had been a justified retaliation against the federal government for FBI raids at Waco and Ruby Ridge. \nIn a letter to the Buffalo News, his hometown newspaper, he said he was "sorry those people had to lose their lives. But that's the nature of the beast. It's understood going in what the human toll will be."\nAt noon Sunday, McVeigh ate his last meal: two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
MARTINSVILLE -- Tommy Pruitt desperately wanted to avoid going back to jail. \nBut now he's looking at life in prison.\nAfter being pulled over early afternoon Thursday by Sgt. Daniel Starnes, Pruitt initiated a fierce gun battle at near-point blank range. Both men were severely wounded in the exchange.\nStarnes, a warrant officer with the Morgan County Sheriff's Department, stopped Pruitt on suspicion of a suspended license at about 12:30 p.m. on Wilbur Road, three miles west of Martinsville. Pruitt later told police he had been driving to Mooresville to cash a check.\nStarnes, who was accompanied by his 19-year-old son Ryan, asked Pruitt for identification, which he took back to his squad car to process. He then returned and ordered Pruitt to step out of his vehicle with his hands in the air.\nPruitt confessed to Indiana State Police investigators Friday that he then burst out of the car with a .45-caliber Ruger semiautomatic handgun he had stolen from the MC Sports in Bloomington last Saturday. An ex-con, Pruitt isn't allowed to legally possess firearms. \nHe told Starnes to drop his weapon and leave, police said. Starnes kept his hand near his still-holstered .40-caliber pistol. Starnes repeatedly asked him to move his hand away from his gun. \nPanicking, Pruitt fired an errant shot at Ryan in the passenger seat of the squad car, assuming he was another armed officer. The bullet grazed Ryan's right side, injuring him slightly. \nStanding about seven feet away from Starnes, Pruitt then fired seven shots at him, hitting him five times. Four shots lodged in his torso and another shattered the bones in his hand. Although he was bleeding heavily, Starnes managed to unload all 12 rounds from his sidearm.\nHe hit Pruitt in the side and chest seven times, sending him to the ground.\nAfter the smoke had cleared, Starnes staggered back to his car and radioed for help.\nRyan -- a criminal justice major at Vincennes University -- popped the trunk of his father's car and retrieved a shotgun. He kept it trained on Pruitt until officers arrived on the scene. \nStarnes was taken by helicopter to Indianapolis where he was admitted to Methodist Hospital in critical condition. A hospital spokesman said Sunday that he's now in stable condition, with "a long way to go."\nDuring surgery, three feet of his intestines had to be removed because of damage inflicted by one of the several shots to his torso. But doctors said Starnes resumed breathing on his own Friday and appeared headed to a full recovery. \nThe community has come forward with an outpouring of concern and donations to Starnes's family, Chief Deputy Volitta Fritsche said.\n"We have been overwhelmed with the public response," she said. "We deeply appreciate all of your prayers."\nPruitt was taken to Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis, where he is in critical condition. Morgan County Superior Court Judge Thomas Gray issued an arrest warrant, and Pruitt has been moved to the detention unit until his condition allows him to be taken to the county jail.\nPruitt, Fritsche said, has a "lengthy" criminal record that includes a conviction for armed robbery.\nIndiana State Police Detective Rick Lang coaxed a confession out of Pruitt Friday morning. In his statement, he told Lang he felt paranoid about the police after breaking into the Bloomington MC Sports June 9 and stealing three handguns. He kept a police scanner in his car and decided he didn't want to serve another prison term after he heard Starnes running his plates, Lang said.\nAt the end of the interview, Lang asked Pruitt why he stopped firing. He had several rounds left in his clip, and police later found another loaded firearm in his car.\nHis response: "I thought he'd been hit enough and so had I, so I just quit."\nMorgan County Prosecutor Terry Iacoli charged Pruitt with two class A felony counts of attempted murder, three counts of receiving stolen property, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and possession of a handgun without a license. Pruitt could also be charged for robbery in Monroe County, but Prosecutor Carl Salzman said Sunday he won't make a decision until he receives the police report this week.\nStill, Iacoli said Pruitt, 39, would likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Cook Group Inc., the Bloomington-based medical supplies titan, is getting back to basics -- minimally invasive medical devices such as stents and catheters.\nCompany officials announced Wednesday that Cook has sold its pharmaceutical branch to Baxter Healthcare Inc. for $219 million in cash and stocks. The Deerfield, Ill.,-based pharmaceutical giant reported $6.9 billion in sales last year. \n"Cook Group has always recognized the tremendous potential for growth in our contract pharmaceutical business," said Phyllis McCullough, executive vice president of operation for Cook Group Inc. "Our decision to sell that portion of our business to Baxter will ensure that the pharmaceutical business we started reaches its fullest potential."\nBaxter plans on adding the Cook business to its medical delivery systems unit, which reported $2.7 billion in international sales last year. Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions packages and labels prescription drugs in vials and pre-filled syringes.\nBaxter hopes to cement its position as a full-line provider in the intravenous and other drug-delivery markets, said David Drohan, a corporate vice president. The move was received favorably by Wall Street -- Baxter stock rose 40 cents Wednesday to a 52-week high of $52.67.\nAs part of the deal, Baxter will buy Cook's 11-acre manufacturing and office site on Curry Pike in Bloomington. The property includes a newly expanded 120,000 square-foot state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. Cook officials said its headquarters will be moved to a corporate campus at a nearby industrial site.\nBaxter plans on retaining the 300 employees at the site. They were notified of the change in ownership Wednesday morning.\n"We talked about what to expect for the future," said Jerry Arthur, president of Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions. "There was a lot of very positive excitement."\nEventually, Baxter hopes to expand the facility and bring more jobs into Bloomington.\n"We already want to add additional employees and three new buildings, all at the Curry Pike campus," said Joel Ture, Baxter's General Manager and Vice President of Drug Delivery Systems. "And we hope to keep growing and keep building."\nCook expanded into the pharmaceutical business in 1982. Recently, the privately owned company has decided to refocus its efforts on its core medical device business. The deal is subject to anti-trust statutes, but company officials on both sides said they hope to have regulatory approval by September.