Two Facebook posts in my Newsfeed this morning back to back. I recommend reading the IU letter about the recent student's death.
Charlene Spierer's FB post:
"We continue to get information about the night Lauren disappeared but we are still waiting for the piece of information which will complete the puzzle and solve the mystery of what happened to our daughter. Someone knows where Lauren is and what happened the night she disappeared. Are you that person?"
Excerpt from IU officials' letter: "We call on our campus and our students to honor Rachael by dedicating themselves with their whole souls to Culture of Care. The Culture of Care effort acknowledges the certainty that students are often the only ones present when other students are in life-threatening situations. It calls on all of us to respond to those situations by erring always on the side of intervening and calling for help."
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=93710
I agree that the people, not just students, but all the people out in these bars and parties should practice this culture of care. One of the things they decided to do, however, to promote this is to place knitted sculptures on trees around these bars. Basically, colorful tree socks. Not to be mean, but these things are absolutely useless! Unless, of course, they place a big panic button on each tree.
Big money is at the center of all of this. If they placed members of LE on bikes and on foot patrol and do an organized, powerful presence up and down those streets, the bar goers would be safer. So what if they got more PIs, and the bars less money and more citations?! The laws in this state clearly are against serving drunks and public intoxication.
Kilroys started as a small bar and now they are making millions per month at 3 locations. They should willingly make contributions to keeping their clients, who are putting millions into their coffers, safe. But really. they don't give a fig about their clients.
Tree sculptures won't keep these clients safe. If they want to get really, really drunk then they should go back to their houses and apts and do so.
Only LE presence will stop this. These knitted tree sculptures are a perfect example of placating people with lip service and inane attempts of seeming
to care. The cops here are pretty cool about serious crackdowns and I think they could patrol the areas on foot without becoming overly oppressive. But
the crackdown should be severe on the bars. They need to expel the patrons they know are drug dealing and pestering people. They need to stop over serving. Kilroys may feel that they are a beloved institution that no one in Bloomington could do without, but in actuality, no one would miss them at all. The students would just go somewhere else.
Now that I'm on a soap box, would it surprise anyone to know that heroin is readily available in many of these bars? Not saying Kilroy's in particular, but
it's often easier to get, and being pressed on a younger crowd, than pot!
If they could stop the money talking, they might see the crimes walking.
I hope I'm wrong. 
