Society Member Rianne O'Rourke's bike Vandalized by an Unknown Canine Assailant

May 15, 2007 -- Society Member Rianne O'Rourke, 30, was riding through the neighborhood on her silver and candy blue 2001 Trek 8000 WSD -- a gift from her husband Rob -- when she became thirsty. Locking up her bike on the sidewalk, Rianne ran into the Starbucks at 56th & Illinois for some bottled water. She returned moments later to discover the front wheel of her bike had been urinated upon.

"It was disgusting," reported a tearful O'Rourke. "A big hot stinky puddle of dog [urine] all over the front tire. I mean, I just love to ride. I'm very serious about it. From May to mid-October I'm out there on the streets two or three times a week. From Butler all the way to Nora along the Canal path and the Monon, from our place over on Kessler up to the Art Center, over to Bazbeaux on Tuesday nights for our girl's night out -- I am all over the Village on this bike! It's brand new! And some jerk just let's his dog whiz like a leaky firehose all over the place. I just don't get it! Why aren't the police watching for these maniacs?"

Several other reports have been filed reporting this type of vandalism. It is unknown if the markings are the work of a single animal, or a pack of dogs working in conjunction.

"The number of these incidents has been growing in the past few months," says Detective Andy Panozzi of the IMPD. "It's just a sad situation. We tell the girls not to leave their bikes unattended -- you know, have a friend or attractive stranger watch the bike. Or, if they're alone we tell them to lock the wheel to the frame of the bike and then throw the entire bike up onto the hood of any old station wagon or crappy pickup truck parked on the street -- then at least the bike is well out of range of your average mid-sized dog, though still vulnerable to your Great Danes and your Borzois, and the occasional Red Cambodian Climbing Hound you see sometimes here in the Village. If there is still a concern, we suggest just driving or taking a cab to your final destination. It's ugly -- I know, the urination and all .... but this is the kind of stuff that happens in a city the size of Indianapolis. It's a real disgrace, but what're ya gonna do?"

A police report was filed in this case. As of press time, no suspects had been arrested.

*Editor's Note: Ms. O'Rourke is not related to the Society's Executive Director, Abigail Kendrick O'Rourke



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Trixie Lifestyle Feature

A Day in the Life: by Muffie Exeter-Rawlings

06:30 AM	I rise and shine early today, since its Friday. Normally I wouldn't get up so early, but for some reason on Fridays I feel extra peppy. Maybe its because I don't have a lot to do at work on Friday, or because I'm planning to meet my best friends Kate and Kaitlyn out for drinks and dinner tonight
07:00 AM	I take Kegger, my boyfriend's two year old chocolate lab for a run around the neighborhood. Chad is out of town on some bizarre consulting assignment in San Francisco for the next week, so it's up to me to take care of the dog. I just hope Chad doesn't turn gay or anything while in California.
07:42 AM	I'm almost ready to head home when a garbage truck nearly sideswipes me coming out of an alley near my corner. They should put some rules on how and when those idiots can be in Broad Ripple if you ask me!
08:35 AM	After showering and getting dressed, I run into the Starbucks at Broad Ripple Ave & Guilford to get my coffee and something to eat. I have to wait in a line almost eight people deep, and there seem to be some disgruntled construction workers ahead of me. I ponder what the day might bring....
08:45 AM	I try to find a seat in the crowded seating area by the fireplace. I almost spill my Double Tall Latte all over my Banana Republic blouse when I notice the beautiful artwork on the walls! Taylor Anne Smith has work in here and it's pretty darn good! It's nice that Starbucks supports local talent.
10:30 AM	I leave my office near the Fashion Mall and run over to Nordstrom to buy a new outfit for tomorrow night. I just didn't have the time to get to the dry cleaners this week, and I'm running out of clothes. Besides, I deserve a nice new outfit. I'm going out with one of Chad's best friends from college tomorrow and I need to look attractive!
11:35 AM	I'm shocked. I was in the washroom reading Nuvo, and I overhear some senior managers discussing the possible reorganization of my department! After waiting for the shock to wear off, I decide that I need to start formulating a plan to boost myself a few more steps closer to the top of the public relations food chain (where I belong, of course). I have so much to ponder that when I finally left the washroom, I looked at my watch and wow! I was in there for almost 45 minutes!
12:30 PM	I leave the office to meet my friend Emily (from College) at Champps for lunch. I just love that place.. They make the best tuna melt .... it's just sooooo good! We spend an hour gossiping about the last two months living in Broad Ripple . For some odd reason, Emily thinks she wants to move to New York. I try to convince her that New York is scummy and dirty.. That she really has a place here in Indy. Especially since she scored with a cute little one bedroom bungalow near 56th & Primrose.
02:05 PM	After lunch, I run over to Nordstrom again, this time because I forgot to look at the new Ray Bans that I had my heart set on ever since my best friend Lilly showed me hers last weekend. They will look soooo good at the beach this summer!
03:10 PM	Back at office, I find this scummy looking IT guy Jermone in my cube doing something at my computer. I hope he's not downloading child porn or something weird like that. I give him my best shocked/unhappy look to let him know that I don't appreciate people using my computer without me knowing about it. He says he is responding to a call I made nearly a week ago regarding Powerpoint, which didn't have the newest designer templates that one of my coworkers somehow already had before I did. I told him that I was going to the washroom and, like, could he just be finished by the time I got back?
03:30 PM	I take a moment to place a conference call to my best friends Kate and Kaitlyn, both of whom work at a big advertising agency. We quickly discuss our plans for tonight: we're going to meet at 7:00 at the OPT's and play it by ear from there.
04:04 PM	I set out to create my five year career plan, a suggestion from my yoga teacher Jenny, who says that putting something in writing is the only way for the angels up above to see it. I decide that within the next year, I am going to do whatever it takes to oust my boss. I figure it might take that long.
05:45 PM	I always make it a point to stay at the office later than any of my colleagues, just so they notice that I work harder than they do. I feel that subtle hints are better than being direct.
06:00 PM	I head back to the Village by way of Whole Foods in Nora. I need more soy milk and those little chocolate tins from Belgium. And it's already 6 o'clock! Why don't they just put a Whole Foods down in the Village?!? This is sooooo inconvenient.
07:00 PM	I shop at Turandot and the Bungalow and after a while I then pop over to Niche before running into Kate getting out of a taxi across the street by La Jolla. We look at the hottest new dresses together at Niche (everyone wants them, I already have two!) and then head over to OPT's where Kaitlyn is eagerly awaiting our arrival.
01:00 AM	After nearly six hours of drinking, I stagger home. I just love living soooo close!

New York has Grenwich Village. Paris has the Left Bank. We have Broad Ripple! ~ by Jill Sheridan Ransburg

Established in 1837, Broad Ripple was originally an independent municipality. It was annexed to the City of Indianapolis in 1922. It currently hosts an active social scene fueled by the near presence of Butler University which is an active incubator ground for new Trixies.

And yes, there is even a left bank to hang out along in Broad Ripple. Take that Paris! Broad Ripple is also gathering place for artists, musicians, Starbucks baristas, cute families, upwardly mobile graduates from major Midwestern Universities, and by extension a well-connected and socially active army of Trixies. Watch your back Greenwich Village!

Both the left and right banks of the Central Canal have their own character, but the southern bank has the majority of the shops and restaurants, with the right bank having the housing that morphed from the old summer cottages. The left bank of the Canal is where busy Trixies can be seen jogging, double parking their SUVs for a quick spin into Starbucks, shopping for cute clothes or dining on grilled salmon and avocado salads at trendy bistros like Midtown Grill or Petite Chou.

An early settler who observed that this location along the White River was the widest in the region and that many crocodiles would attack local monkeys swimming in the waters, creating ripples and foaming eddies in the otherwise placid river, apparently named Broad Ripple. (recent member Kaitlyn Ellsworth Binford believes the Monkey’s Tail bar on Westfield may have been named for this historical curiousity) The monkeys and crocodiles are long gone now due to the typhoid outbreak of 1841, but the name stuck. True story. Things have to be named somehow.

Flash forward to present day Broad Ripple and you will find a little settlement that was once an independent village, but in time was absorbed into the city of Indianapolis.

Today's Broad Ripple is a definite put on the brakes kind of place. The housing off the commercial strip reflects the early history of the village. At one time harried city residents used to come out to Broad Ripple to enjoy a boat ride, amusement rides from a long gone amusement park, and spend time relaxing at some of the summer cottages built by well-off residents of times gone by.

Ask any Trixie you see jogging the Monon Trail or power shopping at Pitaya or Niche, and I'm sure you will probably hear that Broad Ripple is very much a place physically and mentally. Physically, Broad Ripple is on a human scale: it's meant for walking, hanging out in bars, grabbing a quick Starbucks, or zooming through in a BMW on the way north to the Fashion Mall.

If you are more inclined for movement to relieve stress and see the surroundings, the Monon Trail, a former railroad line turned running and biking path, and the Central Canal Towpath can take you through the varied scene of buildings and houses to a green landscape and restful waters. Our Village is connected to the Museum of Art on the southwest boundary and the Indy Arts Center to the north. Trixies are virtually surrounded by art, music, bars, cute little bistros, shopping and coffee shops. What a glorious time to be alive!

You can really argue that Broad Ripple is a work of art itself, constantly evolving as it has for over a hundred and fifty years into some place that can be appreciated by the downtown or suburban sprawl-exhausted road warrior or the family looking for a fun way to spend the day.

That is where the mental part of Broad Ripple comes in. Broad Ripple is very much a reminder of more simple times, but unlike the early settlers, we in the 21st Century get to enjoy all the conveniences and few of the problems. Thank you early settlers for taking care of the ugly problems, like Mud and Malaria, before our arrival! If only you could clean up a few sketchy characters hanging out along the Canal by the Monon Bridge and those pesky meter maids who gave my Mini Cooper a ticket last week!

Come and walk the streets of Broad Ripple Village, grab a Starbucks, steer clear of sketchy types and let your mind relax and expand with the variety, going from a ripple to a wave.

Come Ride in my Jetta - the "Rough Area"

- by Amanda Brooks Baker

Last week, my boyfriend Mark and I went condo shopping together in the "hip" Monon Trail District, just north of our wonderful Village. After an hour's debate, we decided that we were willing to stray slightly north of the Strip in order to find less-expensive housing, and hoping that we could still live within a stone's throw of the Fresh Market on College Avenue (all the girls in the the village shop there). Mark and I hopped into my Jetta and zoomed off north on College toward Westfield Boulevard. Usually, when we're both in the car, and driving my Jetta versus his Lexus, he drives. But today, he wanted to jump out and pick up a Chai Tea at Hubbard & Cravens, so I drove. We stopped at Hubbard, and then Mark popped out with his cute college-educated grin at Einstein Bagels to get us some bialys.

As we approached our first stop, a quaint row of newly-built condominiums along the Monon near the Indy Arts Center, we quickly jetted into a nearby Gas Station on College to review the listing and the map. We decided to make our first stop a new construction duplex with polished concrete countertops and a Jacuzzi bath. As I powered up the Jetta and prepared to leave, I noticed this guy in a gigantic SUV has blocked us in. Apparently, I pulled the Jetta into a gas lane, and he was waiting to fill up. Well, that wasn't my fault, he'd just have to move. I leaned out the window and gave him a quick glance, and yelled out that we wanted to back up and leave.

He yelled back that I should move forward, that this was a through lane. No way, not in my book. There was a big white-trash station wagon right in front of me, and I was not going to wait for them to get their cigarettes and Skoal (or whatever they chew) from the Gas Station's store, and then wait for them to mosey on out. This guy was going to move...

I stuck my hand out the window and signaled that I was going to back up and yelled that he had better back up too. No Go. He sat there grinning at me. How dare he! I looked over at Mark, who was just sitting there. Good help he was in this time of dire need. I look back at the SUV-driving slug, and---can you believe this???---he had pulled out a a camera and started shooting pictures of me and my car through his window. Who knows what he might be planning to do with the pictures?? For all I know, he could be copying down my license plate with plans to vandalize my cute pre-War Meridian Kessler home! I was outraged! I looked over at my other hand, and realized that I was gripping my Starbucks cup so hard that it was beginning to crush. I yanked my hand out the window, looked back at this idiot, and gave him my meanest dirty glance coupled with the best finger I could muster. If he was going to take my picture, I was going to make sure he got me at my best!

After the finger and a few honks on the horn, the guy starts laughing uncontrollably and backs up. I race the Jetta's engine as I screech out of there. Needless to say, I decided at that moment to limit our condo search to the friendly confines of the Lower Village and steer clear of the "rough area" up near the Arts Center.

Good luck this week navigating your way around our lovely Village!