This and that: A some-people’s-spring-break edition
Accolades for hero from last summer fire rescue. More chatter about one LSC board member’s search for ‘woke’ classroom materials. And pouring one out for a Purdue, Indiana punk legend
Today’s edition is sponsored by the Center for C-SPAN Scholarship & Engagement, which will host its spring Conversation with Brian Lamb April 5. Brian Lamb, C-SPAN founder, will interview Edna Greene Medford, vice president of the Abraham Lincoln Institute and professor emeritus at Howard University. Medford will share from her upcoming book, “TRAIL: An African American Family’s Generational Pursuit of Justice and Equality in the Nineteenth Century,” which uncovers the struggles and triumphs of William Trail as he escaped enslavement in the South and navigated the judicial system to find freedom in Indiana. To sign up for seats in Purdue’s Fowler Hall, click the links below.
A few notes for a mid-morning Tuesday …
HERO’S REWARD: The congratulations for Nick Bostic kept coming this week, named as one of 15 to receive the Carnegie Medal, among the highest honors for civilians who risk injury or death to save others. The Carnegie Hero Fund released its latest list, including Bostic, this week. Bostic, 25, was pizza delivery driver in July 2022 when he stopped at the sight of a fire on Union Street, went in and helped usher out children before first responders were on the scene. Once outside, family members said a 6-year-old remain inside. He went back in, found her and retreated upstairs away from the flames. He broke out a second-floor window and leapt to safety while holding a 6-year-old girl who’d been trapped by the smoke and fire. Here are stories from the family (“After the fire: ‘I feel like he was God sent’”) and from Bostic (“Hailed a hero in fire rescue, Nick Bostic tells his story”) in the days after the fire and rescue.
ICYMI, THE LSC BOARD MEMBER’S PURSUIT OF ‘WOKE’ BOOKS IN LAFAYETTE CLASSROOMS: This story, published Friday in Based Lafayette, was still generating some buzz after the weekend, even as Lafayette schools settled into spring break. A request from new LSC school board member Chuck Hockema filtered through the superintendent to principals to classroom teachers to start gathering a list of books used for whole group instruction. Hockema’s goal: To find out whether teachers are sneaking in LGBTQ themes or other what he considers to be “woke” concepts beyond the stated curriculum. Superintendent Les Huddle said the request came from Hockema, one of seven LSC board members, alone. Here’s the story for more from Hockema, teachers and school board members: “LSC board member, looking for ‘woke’ agendas, asks teachers to list all books in classrooms.”
Here were a few more comments from over the weekend.
From Brent Clemenz, LSC school board president: “I echo statements from both Les Huddle and Dr. (Bob) Stwalley in (Friday’s) post. The request to review curriculum came solely from Mr. Hockema. I also was not aware of this request until Thursday evening. The Freedom of Information Act provides this access to the public, and Mr. Hockema's public comments after his election indicated he would be looking into curriculum. His position on the board may lead some to believe he has the power to make changes. He has one vote on a board of seven. The board overall is committed to supporting and encouraging our excellent faculty.”
And this was from across the Wabash River, via Shawn Greiner, West Lafayette Community School Corp. superintendent:
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WARRANT ISSUED IN ATTORNEY’S ATTEMPTED SEXUAL BATTERY CHARGE: A judge ruled Friday that there was probable cause to arrest Earl McCoy, a Lafayette attorney, on a felony charge of attempted sexual battery, filed this month and stemming from a May 2022 incident in a conference room in his downtown offices. The order from Heather Barajas, a special judge from Montgomery County appointed by the Indiana Supreme Court last week, set a $2,000 bond. McCoy, who ran unsuccessfully for prosecutor in 2018 and for Circuit Court judge in 2014, was accused of trying to force a former employee to touch him after hours in his law firm’s conference room after some after-hours drinks in a nearby tavern. Since the charges were filed March 15, McCoy hasn’t commented. As of Monday evening, he hadn’t turned himself in. In recent months, McCoy also had been a prominent figure recently as an on-air legal analyst for WLFI-TV18’s coverage of the trial of Richard Allen, a Delphi man charged in the 2017 murders of Delphi teens Abby Williams and Libby German. For more, here’s earlier coverage: “Special prosecutor files attempted sexual battery charge against Lafayette attorney.”
SATTLER AT TCHA: Old J&C colleague Dave Sattler, who produced weekly editorial cartoons for the Journal & Courier for just shy of 50 years, will be at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association Thursday night to talk about his work and about the Lafayette history that inspired it. In the past year, Sattler started drawing again, posting his work on his Substack,
's “My View From Here … And Before.” (It’s free to subscribe.) The talk, featuring cartoons that published and ones that didn’t (yes, I’m available to fact check on Sattler’s stories about some of those unpublished gems), starts at 6 p.m. Thursday at The History Center, 522 Columbia St., in downtown Lafayette. Admission: Free.
OTHER READS …
The Associated Press had a number of updates as information rolled out after a former student’s rampage the killed three adults and three elementary students at The Covenant School, a private school in Nashville, Tennessee. Here’s a way into AP’s coverage.
Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Whitney Downard has this piece about how Senate Bill 480 – one that would limit parents’ ability to make medical decisions about their transgender children – cleared the Indiana House Monday on a 65-30 vote, sending it to Gov. Holcomb’s desk. (Among the votes for House members with districts in Tippecanoe County: Reps. Mark Genda and Heath VanNatter, both Republicans) voted yes; Reps. Chris Campbell and Sheila Klinker, both Democrats, voted no. Rep. Sharon Negele, a Republican, was absent. Campbell said after the vote: “Many of these families have spent years working through the process of accessing this medically necessary care, and not only does Senate Bill 480 ban all gender-affirming care for minors moving forward, it cruelly halts the treatments that have already been implemented.”) Here’s Downard’s story from the House floor: “Bill eliminating parents’ authority over medical decisions heads to governor.”
Indianapolis Star reporter Kayla Dwyer picked up a new role for former Purdue President Mitch Daniels as a senior adviser for the Liberty Fund, an education foundation based in Carmel. Here’s the story: “Mitch Daniels lands new gig at Carmel education foundation.”
AND, FINALLY …: Ahead of a 2016 reunion Dow Jones and the Industrials, orchestrated at The Spot Tavern to mark the release of the seminal Purdue punk band’s retrospective called “Can’t Stand the Midwest 1979-1981,” guitarist Greg Horn told the Purdue Exponent: “Imagine how boring Purdue is now, and multiply that by 10.” For Purdue grads and Greater Lafayette residents of a certain vintage (Read: The Stabilizer generation), Dow Jones and the Industrials made things a lot less boring. Sad news, though, this week with word that Horn died. Tributes piled among those who shared bills with his bands over the years.
Here’s more on Dow Jones, if you want to look back on some of the Hoosier punk roots Horn had a big hand in next to the West Lafayette campus. And here’s a version of “I Can’t Stand the Midwest.”
Thanks to the Center for C-SPAN Scholarship & Engagement for its sponsorship help for today’s edition of Based in Lafayette.
THANKS FOR SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT, LOCAL REPORTING.
Tips or story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com. Also on Twitter and Instagram.
Meow?
...sigh