1st newsletter

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Compiled by Tom Spalding & Jill Phillips from staff & wire reports.

Top of the news
Gregg Appliances swings to profit in 2nd quarter
Indianapolis-based Gregg Appliances Inc. swung to a profit of $3.5 million in its second quarter, up from a loss of $4.2 million for the same period a year ago. Total sales at its H.H. Gregg and Fine Lines stores increased 11.7 percent to $237.7 million from $212.9 million. The company attributed the increase to the addition of 10 stores during the past 12 months and an increase in comparable store sales of 1.2 percent from the same period a year ago. The comparable store sales performance was driven by gains in major appliances, bedding and video, with flat panel television sales growth outpacing the sales decline in projection and tube televisions, the company said in a statement.


Click here to read it.

Special assignment: The trial of Jill Behrman's killer

By Tom Spalding
tom.spalding@indystar.com

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. -- For the first time since his arrest, prosecutors
today laid out what appears to be the prime reason why John R. Myers
II is linked to the 2000 slaying of IU student Jill Behrman: Myers'
guilty conscience.

Records unsealed by the Morgan County Superior Court during the first
day of Myers' murder trial show he implicated himself to his
grandmother and a former jail cellmate.

Myers, according to the records, told his grandmother Betty Swafford
in late 2004: "If the authorities knew what I have done, I would go to
prison for the rest of my life."

And in May 2005 after an unrelated arrest, the records show, Myers
told an inmate at Monroe County Jail: "I wouldn't have done it if the
(expletive deleted) would have done what I told her."

Behrman, 19, vanished May 31, 2000 after a morning bicycle ride in the
Bloomington area. Her remains were found in March 2003 in a remote,
rural area of Morgan County. Despite national attention and several
people identified as "persons of interest" the case grew cold.

Myers was arrested in April after a grand jury was convened in Morgan
County to examine the evidence.

No evidence linking Myers to the murder had been publicly released.
Myers, who turns 31 Tuesday, has plead not guilty.

Attorneys on both sides today are arguing a variety of motions and it
remains undetermined whether the court records that describe Myers'
comments to others will be admitted by Judge Christopher Burnham.

The records go on to say that Myers had the time and the ability to
have been involved in Behrman's disappearance.

The records show that investigators in June 2000 had privately
identified Myers as a suspect because of strange behavior on and after
Behrman's disappearance, but that investigators turned their focus to
other potential suspects.

But Myers eventually turned into the state police investigators' No. 1 target.

"His state of mind at the time (is) relevant to establish the
defendant's identity and motive to commit the crime of murder as well
as to negate the defendant's explanation for his actions and behavior
the day Jill Behrman came up missing," the records show.

Myers' attorney, Patrick V. Baker, is seeking to block the records
from being admitted. He told Burnham there is no proof that Myers
killed Behrman and the statements are "speculation and innuendo."

But Robert Cline, chief deputy prosecutor for Morgan County, told the
judge today: "The statements from the defendant clearly imply guilt."

The opening statements from attorneys are scheduled to begin later
today. The 12-person jury is expected to listen to weeks of
testimony.

Through the roof! Hailstorm claims soar

This was a REALLY fun story that affected a lot of people but didn't attract a lot of attention. The Good Friday hailstorm will go down as one of the costliest weather events in state history: 177,000 Central Indiana residents have filed claims totaling $560 million for auto and home repairs. http://www.angieslist.com/AngiesList/visitor/PressDetail.aspx?i=511

Brownsburg Home: It fosters independence

One of the Brownsburg homes I wrote: In Dolores Moon's Brownsburg home, everything is within arm's reach -- and a tap from her elbow on a black button automatically opens an interior door in case her hands are full with groceries.

Despite being in a wheelchair, the 72-year-old has complete independence. Every room in her condominium south of Main Street -- from the kitchen to the baths to the bedroom -- was either modified or custom-built to suit her needs.

A reaction from my editor:Wonderful piece on the disabled woman and her (awesome) home in Brownsburg AM. I read every word, including her tips from her tipsheet on designing a home for the wheelchair-bound. -- Thanks Tom! Neill