editors - Indiana Daily Student

PAGE 6
HELENE DELONE | IDS
Brandon and Natasha Eggers and their children Corbin and Ciara Prince are currently living in a room at the
Patriot Inn in Spencer. A March 1 fi re burned the Eggers’ home in Coal City shortly after they moved in.
» FIRE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
a source for the scent.
After a few hours of sleep,
Corbin saw smoke and fl ames
and ran into his parents’ bedroom
to wake them up.
“If it wasn’t for him, we’d
all be dead,” Natasha said.
An electrical fi re from a
wire behind a wall connecting
the living room, dining room
and kitchen that had been smoldering
for hours had burned
through and begun to devour
the four-bedroom house.
Natasha said she immediately
dialed 911 while Brandon attempted
to put out the fi re on
his own.
“I just grabbed the kids, a
picture of the family and ran to
the neighbors,” Natasha said.
The cost of damages are
still unknown because the Eggers
were not the offi cial owners;
they were renting to own the
house. Natasha said what was
not completely destroyed by the
fi re has smoke or water damage.
Among other issues, fl oorboards
have buckled, the ceiling
has holes in it from efforts
to put out the fi re, and all their
major appliances are unusable.
To add to their fi nancial problems,
on Tuesday the fuel pump
of their 2003 Grand Am broke
while they were on the way to
pick up Corbin from school.
The repairs cost $315 , and
the car is the family’s only
source of transportation.
“It was lucky that it broke
right in front of a mechanic’s
house,” Natasha said.
Because both Natasha and
Brandon are currently unemployed,
they do not have the
funds to quickly fi x the house
or pay for their hotel room.
Natasha said she had planned to
look for jobs later in the week
once they were settled in, but
since the fi re she hasn’t had the
time to try. Before becoming a
homemaker she was a certifi ed
nurse’s assistant, and she said
she’d like to get back to that
work if possible.
The local Red Cross paid for
the family to stay in a two-bed
room at the Patriot Inn in nearby
Spencer, Ind ., for several
nights, Natasha said.
“We actually just had someone
donate enough money to
pay for another few nights today,”
Natasha said.
However, without that funding,
the family’s other option
is to live in an unheated
RV donated by a local preacher.
It is parked next to their
charred home.
As of now, they have nowhere
to wash their clothes.
Despite their struggles, the
Eggers said they plan to move
back into the house when it
is fi xed.
COURTNEY DECKARD | IDS
TOP Men’s basketball head coach Tom Crean yells instructions to the
Hoosiers during their loss to Penn State in the fi rst round of the Big Ten
Tournament on Thursday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
ABOVE Freshman guard Victor Oladipo looks for an open teammate
during IU’s six point loss to the Nittany Lions.
I N D I A N A D A I L Y S T U D E N T | F R I D A Y , M A R C H 1 1 , 2 0 1 1
“We want to stay,” Natasha
said. “It was a life lesson, and
we’re not going to run from it.”
Since the fi re, the electrical
wires throughout the house
have been redone by a professional
electrician, which cost
the family an additional $1,800 .
Brandon said he is willing to
do any sort of labor to earn money
for repairs and bills. He said
he has experience with masonry
and electrical work, though he
is willing to mow lawns or do
any other work needed.
They set up donation cans at
several gas stations in the area,
including the Clay City County
Junction , Marathon gas stations
and the Spencer Circle K . Natasha
said they received a $25
check in one of the cans.
But they have to take the
cans down soon. They were
only allowed to keep them there
for a few days .
A Bloomington bank, The
Peoples State Bank , is also
helping the family raise funds.
Brandon said Red Cross volunteers
urged him to open a local
bank account where people
could donate funds for his
family . These donations can
be made online or at any of
the bank’s fi ve locations in
Bloomington.
“We’re used to helping other
people, not people helping us.
It’s just been a big slap in the
face,” Natasha said.
» BASKETBALL
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
consecutive misses late in the second
half as the Hoosiers tried to
close four- and six-point gaps .
“That’s what was open,” said
Watford, who was 1-of-4 from
deep and had one of the misses in
that span . “We take them with no
hesitation at all.”
IU all but neutralized PSU’s
leading scorer Talor Battle , holding
the senior guard to 3-of-12
shooting with four turnovers .
Penn State shot worse as a team
from the fi eld than IU, but the Nittany
Lions tallied 11 offensive rebounds
to IU’s four , capitalizing
with 17 second-chance points .
“I think we had a lot of mental
lapses on the rebounding end,”
Watford said. “A couple times we
didn’t hit guys and a couple times
tipped a couple balls out and got
long rebounds. It was a battle all
game, and they unfortunately won
the rebounds.”
Watford matched Brooks with
15 points to lead the team , but
he was only able to grab four rebounds
. Freshman guard Victor
Oladipo , who gave the team an
early spark off the bench, led the
team with six boards .
For IU, the season ends on yet
another bitter note. The Hoosiers
lost their last nine games to close
this year , and they lost 12 of their
last 13 games last season and their
last 10 games two years ago .
IU fi nished with just two more
victories than last season and one
less win in the Big Ten . One area
of improvement Crean said was
emphasized in offseason — rebounding
— bit the team Thursday
as it had all season. IU won
just two games when it lost the rebounding
battle this year .
But Crean said some of the improvements
the team made from
year-to-year aren’t as easily seen
on the court, but he’s seen them in
his time around the team.
“I’m not sure a year ago guys
would have understood playing
through some of the pain that
they played through this year,” he
said. “And I’m proud that they’ve
learned how to do that, and hopefully
that’s going to help them
down the road.”
IUSA
REDACTED
IU won’t reveal where student fees are going
BY ALEX BENSON AND
BEN PHELPS
alebenso@indiana.edu
phelpsb@indiana.edu
IU policy doesn’t allow the
release of full records detailing
where mandatory student fees are
being spent.
This includes the ledgers of
the IU Student Association or
any other student organization,
so it is not clear if IUSA executives
have given money to their
own companies this year.
Last year, however, the Indiana
Daily Student obtained
a non-redacted 2009-10 IUSA
ledger, which revealed that two
companies owned by members
of the executive branch received
IUSA funds.
LiveArrive LLC, owned by
then-Transportation Chief Ilya
Rekhter, received $15,000 and
Neil Kelty’s Thrive44 Strategy
Group received two checks totaling
more than $700.
» GRANTS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
IU sophomore Ashley Wever
is one of 202,000 students in Indiana
who received a Pell Grant
last year .
“The amount went up recently,
I don’t know why it’s decreasing
now as tuition costs are growing,”
Wever said. “The government
should be driven by education because
that’s what people base job
requirements on.”
Wever received the maximum
award and is also eligible for other
grants, but she said she still
needs to take out about half of her
tuition costs in loans.
“If all my grants get cut, then
all I have is loans,” Wever said.
“I will have to take the amount
that got cut out in loans and then
end up paying more back in interest.
Either I go into debt, or my
family does.”
While Wever said she received
a refund check of $970 from the
» WILLIS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The source said the woman
hit Willis in the head and he
laughed. When Willis leaned
down to pick up the headphones
the female student had knocked
off, she slapped him across the
head, according to the source.
That’s when Willis told the
woman to leave.
According to the source, Willis
and the woman never went
into the bedroom. The source
also said the woman didn’t have
any belongings at Willis’ residence,
disputing her statement
that Willis threw her belongings
at her.
After fi ling a protective
The document was used in
an impeachment petition against
Kelty, IUSA’s chief of staff, that
recently went before the IUSA
Congress and the Supreme Court.
In October, when the IDS requested
the ledger for the fi rst
time, Assistant Dean of Students
Steve Veldkamp said, “All
student government records are
open to the public.”
But when the IDS requested
the 2010-11 ledger last month,
IUSA Treasurer Sierra Hsieh said
she must work with IU Legal,
which concluded that some parts
of the documents couldn’t be disclosed
due to restrictions in the
Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act.
FERPA is a federal law that
sets requirements and guidelines
for releasing student records and
information. If a university is
found to have routinely violated
FERPA, it could lose federal
funding.
The full ledgers list recipients
bursar last year, an amount greater
than the expected decrease in
the Pell Grant, she said the money
was still helpful.
“It paid for my books,” Wever
said. “If I didn’t have that
money, I would just have to forget
about those books or only
buy the ones I absolutely need.
Any other money I get back goes
right to paying off my loans. I
could be $40,000 in debt by the
time I graduate.”
Ball State University sophomore
Sara Jones said she does not
have the option to rely on loans to
cover her tuition.
“My family has bad credit,”
Jones said. “And I’m included in
that. I can’t get the loans I need
to cover my schooling, so I don’t
know what I would do without
the grants I receive.”
Jones said she currently works
two part-time jobs and does not
know where she would fi nd the
time to pick up another one if her
Pell Grant was reduced.
order 30 days after the alleged
incident, the student fi rst went to
Middle Way House , which assists
victims of domestic violence.
According to court records, the
woman was accompanied by two
friends. Staffers at the Middle
Way house told the student to go
to the emergency room.
The source said records at
Middle Way House describe two
friends carrying the student, but at
the hospital, she had no one carry
her according to hospital records.
The student said she received a
wheelchair, but the hospital said
she declined the wheelchair and
left under her own power, according
to court documents.
According to the source,
the student refused to have
of money, how it’s distributed, its
amount and when it’s mailed.
The 2010-11 ledger did not
list which students were reimbursed,
nor which companies received
checks. IUSA budgets
show what category of money
is being spent, but not where the
money ends up.
Beth Cate, IU’s associate general
counsel, said IU can’t release
records it believes could be used
to identify a student.
According to the state’s Access
to Public Records Act, documents
like these should be open
record, but the statute also states
releases can’t violate federal law
such as FERPA.
The IUSA documents not being
released include some related
to the GPS bus tracking debate,
such as disclosures of confl ict of
interest or commitment.
This means any student organization,
including IUSA, could
be using money without disclosing
the details to the public.
“I have at least another two
years until I graduate,” Jones
said. “I’m scared that what it
would come down to is I would
have to drop out and work full
time for a while.”
Maralee Clayton , associate director
of fi nancial aid at BSU said
the Federal Pell Grant is one of
the most important programs to
help the neediest students at most
universities.
Clayton said almost 6,000
students at BSU receive the Pell
Grant, but the cut will probably
force a majority of the students to
rely more on student loans.
Clayton said she is waiting
anxiously to fi nd out from the
federal government what kind of
cuts students can expect so that
she can prepare to help them.
“I want to tell all students to
make sure they follow through
and get their applications in on
time,” Clayton said. “That way,
they can secure money from
other sources as needed.”
the hospital collaborate with
Middle Way House on the
confl icting reports.
The emergency room report
acquired through court documents
showed that the student
complained of pain in her lower
back, right knee and neck.
She had no bruising or broken
bones.
But according to court documents
from a visit to a doctor
later that week, she developed
bruises on her right elbow, left
upper arm and right knee.
Willis, an Indianapolis native
and former Franklin Central
High School standout , won
the Indiana Mr. Football award
in 2007 . He missed most of last
season with a knee injury.