Bloomington Herald-Times
November 4, 2009
Wishard hospital project gets green light from Indy voters
Associated Press
November 4, 2009
Wishard Memorial Hospital officials say they are ready to move ahead with building a new $754 million hospital in downtown Indianapolis after voters approved a referendum backing the project.
Unofficial results from the Marion County Election Board show that 83 percent of voters supported the proposal. That is with more than half the precincts counted from Tuesday's election.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard called it a great result for the city.
Republican state Sen. Scott Schneider opposed the proposal, saying he is concerned Wishard will need additional county property tax revenue for the project.
Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County president Matthew Gutwein says construction work could start in the spring.
Wishard has the state's largest burn center and is a Level 1 trauma center.
Man accused of raping IU student put on leave from UPS
By Laura Lane
November 3, 2009, last update: 11/3 @ 2:37 pm
A 50-year-old executive arrested and charged with raping an Indiana University student over homecoming weekend has been put on leave from his position as a UPS vice president because of the allegation against him.
Mark W. Samoline, who lives in Duluth, Ga., appeared in court Monday after bonding out of the Monroe County Jail after posting 10 percent of his $20,000 bond. He was formally charged with rape, which carries a possible jail term of six to 20 years.
According to a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, UPS spokesman Norman Black said Samoline, who has worked for UPS since 1994, was put on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. He said it has not been determined if he will be paid while off work.
Samoline also is a reserve officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
The 21-year-old victim said she was drunk and passed out and awoke to realize Samoline had sexually assaulted her. He claims the sex was consensual.
Georgia man out on bond in rape case
50-year-old accused of raping intoxicated 21-year-old IU student
By Laura Lane
November 2, 2009, last update: 11/3 @ 2:03 pm
A 50-year-old Georgia man charged with raping an intoxicated 21-year-old Indiana University student Oct. 18 while he was in town for IU's homecoming celebration agreed Monday to give a blood sample to be tested for any communicable diseases he could have passed on to the woman who made the claim against him.
Mark W. Samoline, an international UPS executive and a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, appeared in court Monday morning before Monroe Circuit Judge Teresa Harper. He had just been booked into jail, and bonded out immediately after posting 10 percent of a $20,000 surety bond. Deputy Prosecutor Rebecca Veidlinger asked that Samoline's bond be increased to $100,000, but Harper denied the request.
The judge said that since Samoline has just one prior conviction -- for reckless driving -- and since he holds a responsible job as a vice president for UPS, and also because he has two daughters who live in Indiana, she does not consider him a flight risk. "I see no reason to increase the bond," Harper said. Then she looked right at Samoline. "Don't let me down, sir."
She then issued a no-contact order, which means Samoline can have no direct or indirect contact with the woman. Defense attorney Geoff Grodner said a friend of the woman has posted "unpleasant messages" on Samoline's Facebook page. He told the judge his client would not be responding to any comments made or connecting with that or any other social networking system.
During the hearing, the judge initially said Samoline had to turn over his passport. But Grodner said he will fight that request, saying his client has to spend two weeks in Japan in February as part of his military commitment. "He is scheduled to serve with our U.S. military," Grodner said. "Certainly two weeks for military service is further evidence he is not a flight risk."
Samoline was formally charged with rape, a felony punishable by six to 20 years in prison, during an initial hearing Monday afternoon.
His accuser said she was drunk and asleep when she awoke in her home on East Eighth Street and realized Samoline had engaged in sex with her without her consent. In a statement to police, Samoline acknowledged the incident had occurred but said the sex was consensual.
He told a detective he was remorseful about the incident and for not using a condom.
A warrant was issued for Samoline's arrest on Oct. 26, but a clerical error caused it to be canceled. It was reinstated on Oct. 30, and Samoline drove from Georgia to Indiana Sunday and turned himself in at the jail the next morning.
Men and Women of Color Leadership Conference next week at IU
By Andy Graham
November 3, 2009, last update: 11/3 @ 4:42 pm
Having a family of color in the White House lends a natural context to this year's Men and Women of Color Leadership Conference set for Nov. 13-14 at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.
This year's conference theme is "Bridging the Gap: Building upon the 2008 Election."
And this year marks the first time the Men of Color Leadership Conference, which began as a student-founded event in 2004, and the Women of Color Leadership Conference, established last year, will be conducted jointly.
"The theme works as a metaphor for a couple of things, I think," Patrick Smith, executive director of IU's Office of Mentoring Services and Leadership Development, said Monday. "We'll explore the implications and ramifications of the 2008 presidential election, what it all means in terms of the profound effect it had in bringing disparate people together. And we're bridging a gender gap by bringing together two wonderful conferences, previously held at different times of year, to discuss the issues."
Featured speakers will include Jeff Johnson, Black Entertainment Television journalist and former National Youth Director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Monroe Circuit Judge Valeri Haughton, IU professor Khalil Muhammad and authors Robert Jackson and Tajuana Butler.
Andrew Wallace, a partner and a certified public accountant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, will open the Friday general session with a presentation on leadership for success in a global economy at 7 p.m. Friday at Kelley's Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center, the specific conference site.
Smith said conference themes will include academic excellence, career development, diversity awareness, empowerment, and issues of politics and culture. He noted Barack Obama's election provides a historic springboard for discussions.
"We had President Obama's campaign and election platform looking to bring people of all ethnicities together, with some common purposes and goals, and we're living in historic times," Smith said. "Look at Sonia Sotomayor, a Latina woman, on the Supreme Court. Look at the President's cabinet, how diverse it is. Look at Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice serving at the cabinet level in President (George W.) Bush's administration.
"But many people seem to think we live in a post-racial society and that's far from the truth. The incident with (Harvard professor Henry Louis) Gates is an example that we still have some things to talk out and overcome. We still need to have a deep, continuing conversation about race. I do think this time, right now, is at least the beginning of that conversation."
Smith hopes the conference will contribute to that conversation and enable participants to constructive tools back to their own communities and institutions.
In addition to students from IU campuses, participants will represent Eastern Illinois University, Ivy Tech Community College, Manchester College (Indiana), Duquesne University, Southeast Missouri State and the University of Alabama-Birmingham, as well as two historically black colleges, Clark-Atlanta University and Huston-Tillotson University of Austin, Texas.
Registration fees are $20 for high school students, $30 for college students and $55 for community professionals. Smith said the Monroe County Community School Corp. plans to have around 50 high school students in attendance. Registration and check-in starts 8:30 a.m. Friday for the high school sessions at the Godfrey center. To register for the conference online or obtain additional information, visit http://www.iub.edu/~moc/.
