CFD to dedicate new equipment at CarmelFest
Current in Carmel

On July 4 at 3 p.m. the Carmel Fire Department will be conducting a New Fire Apparatus Dedication and Fire Grant Presentation at their Headquarters Station at 2 Civic Square in Carmel.   
 

The fire department will receive and dedicate 3 new pieces of equipment that include:  a new Ladder Truck 41, new Ambulance 41, and new EMS cart.  These new vehicles will be dedicated and christened in true firefighting fashion and tradition by wetting them down with a firefighter hose line then allowing firefighters, staff, and the public to dry them off with complimentary commemorative chamois type towels.  The vehicles are then pushed back into the fire station bay.  The current Ladder 41 and Ambulance 41 will be retired to reserve status. 
 

Likewise, a $10,000 grant with be presented to Carmel Fire Department from Liberty Mutual Insurance. This grant was awarded to the Carmel Fire Department after placing first place in a nationwide contest against other fire departments.  The department qualified with having the most people complete a web-based fire safety quiz.  The Carmel Fire Department is greatly appreciative to everyone who participated with completing a fire safety quiz that made awarding this grant possible.  The Carmel Fire Department plans to purchase a tabletop Hazard House to use to teach children and adults home fire safety. 
 

 Come join the Carmel Fire Department and celebrate the dedication of our communities new fire apparatus and fire grant.

Arts center's celebrations to be detailed June 6
Current in Carmel

Executive Director Steven B. Libman and Artistic Director Michael Feinstein will hold a press briefing to announce community events planned for The Palladium’s grand opening in January 2011. 

WHAT: 
The press briefing on Sunday, June 6 will provide an opportunity for the media to learn about the opening activities planned for The Palladium at The Center for the Performing Arts, opening in January 2011. The event will be held in front of the South Entrance of The Palladium and will include remarks by Executive Director Steven B. Libman, Artistic Director Michael Feinstein, Mayor James Brainard and Palladium Architect David M. Schwarz. The event is open to the working press and the general public. 

WHO: 
Steven B. Libman, Executive Director 
Michael Feinstein, Artistic Director 
James Brainard, City of Carmel Mayor 
David M. Schwarz, Palladium architect

WHEN: 
Sunday, June 6 at 2 p.m.

WHERE:

The Palladium at City Center Drive and Third Avenue SW, Carmel

Carmel basketball players charged with misdemeanors
By Elizabeth Noel
Current in Carmel

At a press conference Monday, Hamilton County prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp announced that four former basketball players at Carmel High School, all seniors, were indicted on misdemeanor charges stemming from their purported harassment of teammates. 

 John Laskowski was charged with three counts of criminal recklessness. Oscar Falodun was charged with one count battery and two counts of criminal recklessness. Brandon Hoge was charged with two counts of battery and one count of criminal recklessness. Robert Kitzinger was charged with two counts of battery and two counts of criminal recklessness.  None of the former players is a student at CHS. Each was expelled at the first report of possible illegal activities, but Hamilton County Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp said arrangements have been made for them to graduate.

The purported perpetrators are to report to Hamilton County Jail, where they may elect to post bond. The maximum penalty for criminal recklessness 180 days in prison or $3,000, and the maximum penalty for battery is one year in prison or $5,000. 

 The players were kicked off the basketball team after several harassment incidents in January surfaced. One incident occurred on Jan. 8, when, according to the indictment, all four players were alleged to have been involved in “grabbing” and “holding” two students in the team's locker room. The other occurred on a team bus on Jan. 22, when Kitzinger and Hoge were said to have touched a player in a “rude, insolent or angry manner.”

 Leerkamp said her principal objective was to remain ethical. She would not go into detail about the actions of the alleged perpetrators to avoid further embarrassing the victims and “re-victimizing” them, but she said that the incidents were “beyond hazing” and “out of control.”

 Both Leerkamp and Hendricks County Prosecutor Patricia Baldwin, who represents the geographical territory where the bus crime is alleged to have occurred, said charging the players with misdemeanors rather than felonies was “not a cop out.” Leerkamp said that it was important to separate rumor and innuendo from fact throughout the prosecution process. The court interviewed more than 57 witnesses over 12 days. 
 

“I wasn't sure what was right; that's why I had the process with the grand jury,” Leerkamp said. “But I very much respect (the grand jury’s) decisions.”