Following the landmark affirmative action decision by the United States Supreme Court last June, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) efforts across the country have been under attack.  Supporters of the decision, feeling emboldened, have launched a barrage of efforts to expand the scope of the decision and eliminate DEI initiatives across all industries.  However, as Justice Sotomayor aptly pointed out in her dissenting opinion, “diversity is now a fundamental American value, housed in our varied and multicultural American community that only continues to grow.  The pursuit of racial diversity will go on.” In keeping with these words, the Indianapolis Bar Association has developed a new DEI-centered event titled: IndyBar Unites: A Morning of Meaningful Conversations...

Following the landmark affirmative action decision by the United States Supreme Court last June, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) efforts across the country have been under attack.  Supporters of the decision, feeling emboldened, have launched a barrage of efforts to expand the scope of the decision and eliminate DEI initiatives across all industries.  However, as Justice Sotomayor aptly pointed out in her dissenting opinion, “diversity is now a fundamental American value, housed in our varied and multicultural American community that only continues to grow.  The pursuit of racial diversity will go on.” In keeping with these words, the Indianapolis Bar Association has developed a new DEI-centered event titled: IndyBar Unites: A Morning of Meaningful Conversations...

It makes sense to begin this Olympic story in the early 1970s when I worked as a lifeguard, water safety instructor, and camp counselor at Camp Cory on Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

Flash forward 50 years to 4 a.m. in October 2022 at Lifetime Fitness Center in Castleton in Indianapolis. Approaching 70 years old, I’ve stayed active over the years with tennis, working out, and swimming between ½ and 1 mile every day.  At 4 a.m. I’m at the fitness center as the doors open. I do my workout before the pool opens at 5:00 a.m. for lap swimming.

Unfortunately, all too often, swimming is delayed because the lifeguard is late or fails to show up.  This happened so often that a few of us early risers decided that we would get certified as lifeguards so we could cover for each other and make sure the opening shifts were covered.

We went through the Red Cross certification process and became employed by Lifetime Fitness as instructors. I chose to work the 5-8am shifts Monday and Wednesday.

After working there for over a year I saw a small poster in the lifeguard room seeking volunteers for the upcoming Olympic swimming time trials.  The requirements to qualify, other than active lifeguard certification was a commitment to working a minimum of 6 shifts totaling a minimum of 24 hours as well as passing a lifeguard skills test, including CPR, AED (defibrillator), spinal injury extraction and much more.

Now 71 years old and retired from paid work as a lawyer but working about ½ time as a pro bono lawyer, I was able to commit to the required time.

The last hurdle was the skills test which took place at Zionsville High School at the end of May 2024.  The most challenging test was “rescuing” a full-size and weight dummy from the bottom of a 9-foot pool. I was able to save the dummy on my first attempt. All the other skills, such as CPR and use of the backboard for extraction had fortunately been covered during the monthly in-service training session at the fitness center and I was able to get approved for joining the Olympic trials lifeguard team.

Orientation at the Lucus Oil stadium was on June 1st, 2024. 

The football field converted into two giant Olympic pools was awe-inspiring.

The main stage for the competition is a beautiful 10-lane by 50-meter by 9-foot deep pool. It is separated by a large curtain from the even larger L-shaped practice pool which is filled with 1.3 million gallons of water.

Following a thorough briefing on our roles as lifeguards and the various protocols we must follow we were given our official lifeguard uniforms and rescue breathing apparatus. I look forward to the time trials next week with a sense of responsibility and excitement.

---

The time trials begin June 11th, 2024. However, before the time trials begin the Lucas Olympic pools are used to give swimmers one last chance to qualify to participate in the Olympic Time Trials by competing to obtain Olympic time trial qualifying times.  Over 400 swimmers, mostly high school and college swimmers attempted to qualify June 6th through June 8th.

My first shift as an Olympic lifeguard took place during this pre-time trials qualifying event on June 8th, 6:30-10:30 a.m. I wasn’t sure how long driving and parking would take and because I did not want to be late, I left my home in Broad Ripple a little after 5 am.  I got to the Luas Oil Stadium around 5:30 a.m. We were instructed to park on the south side of the stadium and walk to the northeast corner entrance of the stadium.

I was the first lifeguard to arrive and went through security, got my credentials and meal ticket and waited there for the other 6 lifeguards for this shift to arrive.  The seven of us were all there before 6:30 and Jordan, our supervisor, escorted us through the maze of hallways and tunnels to the pool area. This pre-time trials shift was a great way to get a sense of what was expected of us as lifeguards and how the system worked.

Normally I work solo, lifeguarding on my own from 5-8 a.m. Two days a week at Lifetime Fitness Center and have never been part of an active lifeguard rotation. Here at the enormous Lucas Oil Stadium Olympic-size pools, I started my lifeguarding at position 2, one of the two lifeguard stations by the 10-lane, 50-meter-long, and 9-foot-deep competition pool.

The two positions by the competition pool are walking positions where the lifeguards are to walk back and forth along the long side of the pool during the 20-to-30-minute shifts.  There is one exception which is that if the event is being televised then the guard is to move away from the pool and sit in a folding chair off-camera about 30 feet away from the pool.

The guard from position one relieved me and my supervision, Jordan, guided me down the stairs, through a tunnel, and up the stairs to the even larger, 1.3-million-gallon practice pool to assume my position 3 location. 4 lifeguard chairs are surrounding the L-shaped practice pool and the guards rotate through the 4 locations. 

I soon learned the procedure for the changing of the guards:

- The arriving guard stands next to the chair facing the pool, holding the rescue tube horizontally.
- Wait while the leaving guard climbs down from the 6-foot-high chair.
- The leaving guard stands next to the chair facing the pool, holding the rescue tube horizontally.
- Wait while the arriving guard climbs up the 6-foot ladder to the high chair.
- The arriving guards let the leaving guard know that he is in position.
- The leaving guard moves to the next station.

After rotating through positions four, five, and six, I rotated out for my break, but since it was now a little after 10am, the new crop of 7 lifeguards had arrived and soon relieved our group of 7 lifeguards and Jordan escorted us back to the security station where we surrendered our credentials.

Next week when the time trials begin, there will be some procedural changes including photo credentials, Olympic time trial lifeguard shirts, and parking passes. My first time trial shift is a 5-hour shift from 7 a.m.-12 p.m. on June 13th.

After 4 hours of watching hundreds of talented swimmers warming up and competing for a rare spot on the US Olympic swim team, I drove over to the nearby Irsay YMCA for my 25-minute daily 1000-meter swim.

---

The volunteer entrance is in the northwest corner of the Lucas Oil Stadium. After going through the airport style bag check and magnetometer the next step is to pick up my credentials while a tag is attached to my bag to show that it has gone through security. After going through the magnetometer there are two large folding tables on the left with hundreds of neatly stacked hard plastic credentials on blue lanyards.  The credentials are organized by the volunteers’ roles. (Awards & Ceremonies, Athlete Massage Therapist, Basket Carrier, Deck Control, Doping Control, Last Call Room, Meet Administration & Time Trials, Participant Gifts, Printing Center, Registration, Volunteer Services and lifeguards). One side of the credentials has the schedule of events of the swimming trials, the other side has the volunteer’s name, photo, and role.

There are usually three volunteers in charge of distributing the credentials. In addition to being sorted by the volunteer role, the cards are also sorted by shift which makes it easier to locate the incoming volunteer’s credentials. On my last pass through security, I didn’t even have to give my name because my photo is on the 4” x 5” card and I was wearing a lifeguard shirt and shorts, and the card was sorted for the incoming shift.

In addition to the credentials, I was given a breakfast and lunch meal ticket, which is a different color each day. During the first couple of days, the group of incoming guards needed to be escorted from check-in, down the elevator to the event level and onto the pools.  That procedure quickly changed and incoming guards are encouraged to arrive early and head down to the hospitality room across from the elevators and have their meal before their shift starts. The meals have been great, usually with fresh fruit, hot entrees, and sides.  For example, one day breakfast was hash brown potatoes, scrambled eggs, sausage, and a variety of breakfast burritos another day.

When it’s a few minutes before my shift time I start the 300-foot walk through the wide hallways past doors labels, doping control, NBC, volunteer briefing, uniform room, and laundry through another security checkpoint alongside the 10-foot-high wall created by the 50-meter-long side of the practice pool and on to lifeguard check-in to be folded into the rotation. A blue tarp-like material surrounds the pool and there’s a location under the tarp to place our bags and select our red or blue rescue tube.  Equipped with my tube, rescue breather back, and wearing easy-to-kick-off sandals I head out to position one at the competition pool at my designated time.  This three-minute walk takes me through a fairly dark maze of scaffolding and blue tarp-constructed corridors under the competition pool deck.  The competition pool deck is 10 feet above the now-invisible former football field.  This height allows for the 9-foot-deep stainless-steel pool, pipes and support structure.

Halfway through the walk, there is an ongoing flat-screen TV promoting the construction process used by Myrtha Ilex, the manufacturer of the pool.  After the trials, the competition pool will be dismantled and sent to Fort Wayne and the even larger practice pool is destined to go to Costa Rica. I walk back and forth along one long side of the competition pool for my 20-minute shift before being relieved at 8:10 a.m.  Shifts change at 10 after, 30 after, and 50 after the hour.  Instead of walking around the pool to the other side of the pool, we are required to descend the stairs, navigate the under-deck maze, and come up a different set of stairs at the opposite corner of the pool for my next 20-minute shift. Then there is a break of either 20 or 40 minutes depending on the number of guards and number of open positions. When there are only a few swimmers only two or three of the practice pool positions may be filled.  The lifeguard chair for that shift makes that determination. 

Unlike the competition pool, the lifeguard positions on the practice are not walking positions.  The lifeguards are perched up in chairs over 6 feet above the pool for a better view of the 17 lanes of swimmers. There’s another break of 20 to 40 minutes after rotating through the practice pool positions.   Usually by this time the next shift of lifeguards arrives and the departing lifeguard returns his or her rescue tube and either heads out or goes to lunch depending on the time. 

Then back up the elevator to return the credentials and pick up the parking pass for which will be specific for the day of the guard’s next shift. As I head back to my car in my red and blue lifeguard uniform I pass through long lines of incoming spectators, with their clear bags, who are allowed entry at 10 a.m. for the preliminary heats which start at 11 a.m.

---

7:30 a.m. The water is still. Dozens of bags filled with the swimmer’s equipment are strewn around the deck of the practice pool, mostly up against the fence surrounding the pool which is 10 feet above the concrete floor of the stadium. Soon, the first swimmer will arrive and the quiet will be broken by the combination sound of a slap and splash.  Once the first athlete arrives the lifeguards are required to ascend into the chairs, although until more swimmers arrive only 2 of the 4 chairs are required to have guards.

The swimmers continue to trickle in and by 9 a.m. the pool and the deck are crowded with a small portion of the 1,002 athletes that qualified and came to Indianapolis to test their skill and endurance for one of the 52 available USA Olympic swim team spots. There’s not a lot of conversation between the swimmers getting ready to swim. Coaches will occasionally give their swimmers pointers regarding their wrist or hand position or other technical advice.

Most of the 17 lanes of the practice pool are designated for general warm-up and swimmers put in considerable time, often measured in hours, circling their lane. They are working on conditional and endurance as well as technical body mechanics. One common technique is to pause or freeze mid-stroke for half a second before continuing the stroke. Until 10:40 a.m. the swimmers are also allowed to use the 10-lane, 50-meter competition pool for warming up.  Coaches, stopwatch in hand, will keep pace with their swimmers along the size of the pool sometimes offering advice.

Helpful to observers who do not personally know the swimmer is the common practice of having the swimmer's last name, school name, and logo on their swimming caps.
At 10 am the relative quiet of the arena is broken as there is an announcement over the loudspeaker system that the facility is open to spectators here to watch the 11 a.m. preliminary heats.  These heats who will determine who will swim in the final swim on a subsequent evening beginning at 8 p.m. Guards are instructed to respect the swimmers' privacy and not converse with the athletes, be they famous or not.. There was one time during my 7 days of lifeguarding that a swimmer thanked me for being there and I did wish him good luck in his events.

As the end of the 11 Team Trials approaches there are fewer and fewer athletes around the pools as there are only a few events left.  On the final day of the competition, there are no preliminary races, and the women’s 50 meter and the men’s 1,500 meter are the last two events of the trials. On that last day, the 6 lifeguards with a 6 a.m. shift are allowed to swim in the practice pool because no one else is around. Unfortunately, my shift starts at 7:30 a.m. so I missed out in swimming in the Olympic trial pool.

There are other last-day changes.  As a fundraiser, about 3 dozen master swimmers with a wide range of ages and abilities paid $250 for the opportunity to take a 45-minute swim clinic in the competition pool taught by one of the athletes who competed in the Olympic trials. Following this clinic, the athlete gave another clinic to a similar number of middle school-aged swimming hopefuls.  Adding to the excitement another couple of the Olympic trial athletes joined in with the swimmers providing a model for the students to follow.

My 2-week experience was topped off by coming back to the stadium that evening of the last days to watch the women’s 50-meter and the men’s 1,500-meter finals from excellent seats in the lowest section behind the swimmer’s starting blocks. The Indiana Sports Corp provided the tickets for their volunteers. We were given 4 tickets so my wife and I brought our next-door neighbors with us.  The neighbor is Steve Dayton, a 1971 national biking champion who could and did appreciate the riveting split-second testing of the competitors with being part of the USA swim team as the prize.

This was the first time I was able to actually watch the competition as my shifts were too early in the day.  The lights and noise and flashiness were in stark contrast to the generally quiet and contemplative hours that precede the actual race. Hopefully, I’ll be able to repeat this experience in 4 years if the team trials return to Indy.
 

By: Eric Buetens, Attorney at Law

If you want to learn more about the USA Swim Trials, join us for Navigating the Legal Waters to the Paris Olympics hosted at the Indiana Convention Center on Friday, June 21 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. You can register for the event here.

It makes sense to begin this Olympic story in the early 1970s when I worked as a lifeguard, water safety instructor, and camp counselor at Camp Cory on Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

Flash forward 50 years to 4 a.m. in October 2022 at Lifetime Fitness Center in Castleton in Indianapolis. Approaching 70 years old, I’ve stayed active over the years with tennis, working out, and swimming between ½ and 1 mile every day.  At 4 a.m. I’m at the fitness center as the doors open. I do my workout before the pool opens at 5:00 a.m. for lap swimming.

Unfortunately, all too often, swimming is delayed because the lifeguard is late or fails to show up.  This happened so often that a few of us early risers decided that we would get certified as lifeguards so we could cover for each other and make sure the opening shifts were covered.

We went through the Red Cross certification process and became employed by Lifetime Fitness as instructors. I chose to work the 5-8am shifts Monday and Wednesday.

After working there for over a year I saw a small poster in the lifeguard room seeking volunteers for the upcoming Olympic swimming time trials.  The requirements to qualify, other than active lifeguard certification was a commitment to working a minimum of 6 shifts totaling a minimum of 24 hours as well as passing a lifeguard skills test, including CPR, AED (defibrillator), spinal injury extraction and much more.

Now 71 years old and retired from paid work as a lawyer but working about ½ time as a pro bono lawyer, I was able to commit to the required time.

The last hurdle was the skills test which took place at Zionsville High School at the end of May 2024.  The most challenging test was “rescuing” a full-size and weight dummy from the bottom of a 9-foot pool. I was able to save the dummy on my first attempt. All the other skills, such as CPR and use of the backboard for extraction had fortunately been covered during the monthly in-service training session at the fitness center and I was able to get approved for joining the Olympic trials lifeguard team.

Orientation at the Lucus Oil stadium was on June 1st, 2024. 

The football field converted into two giant Olympic pools was awe-inspiring.

The main stage for the competition is a beautiful 10-lane by 50-meter by 9-foot deep pool. It is separated by a large curtain from the even larger L-shaped practice pool which is filled with 1.3 million gallons of water.

Following a thorough briefing on our roles as lifeguards and the various protocols we must follow we were given our official lifeguard uniforms and rescue breathing apparatus. I look forward to the time trials next week with a sense of responsibility and excitement.

---

The time trials begin June 11th, 2024. However, before the time trials begin the Lucas Olympic pools are used to give swimmers one last chance to qualify to participate in the Olympic Time Trials by competing to obtain Olympic time trial qualifying times.  Over 400 swimmers, mostly high school and college swimmers attempted to qualify June 6th through June 8th.

My first shift as an Olympic lifeguard took place during this pre-time trials qualifying event on June 8th, 6:30-10:30 a.m. I wasn’t sure how long driving and parking would take and because I did not want to be late, I left my home in Broad Ripple a little after 5 am.  I got to the Luas Oil Stadium around 5:30 a.m. We were instructed to park on the south side of the stadium and walk to the northeast corner entrance of the stadium.

I was the first lifeguard to arrive and went through security, got my credentials and meal ticket and waited there for the other 6 lifeguards for this shift to arrive.  The seven of us were all there before 6:30 and Jordan, our supervisor, escorted us through the maze of hallways and tunnels to the pool area. This pre-time trials shift was a great way to get a sense of what was expected of us as lifeguards and how the system worked.

Normally I work solo, lifeguarding on my own from 5-8 a.m. Two days a week at Lifetime Fitness Center and have never been part of an active lifeguard rotation. Here at the enormous Lucas Oil Stadium Olympic-size pools, I started my lifeguarding at position 2, one of the two lifeguard stations by the 10-lane, 50-meter-long, and 9-foot-deep competition pool.

The two positions by the competition pool are walking positions where the lifeguards are to walk back and forth along the long side of the pool during the 20-to-30-minute shifts.  There is one exception which is that if the event is being televised then the guard is to move away from the pool and sit in a folding chair off-camera about 30 feet away from the pool.

The guard from position one relieved me and my supervision, Jordan, guided me down the stairs, through a tunnel, and up the stairs to the even larger, 1.3-million-gallon practice pool to assume my position 3 location. 4 lifeguard chairs are surrounding the L-shaped practice pool and the guards rotate through the 4 locations. 

I soon learned the procedure for the changing of the guards:

- The arriving guard stands next to the chair facing the pool, holding the rescue tube horizontally.
- Wait while the leaving guard climbs down from the 6-foot-high chair.
- The leaving guard stands next to the chair facing the pool, holding the rescue tube horizontally.
- Wait while the arriving guard climbs up the 6-foot ladder to the high chair.
- The arriving guards let the leaving guard know that he is in position.
- The leaving guard moves to the next station.

After rotating through positions four, five, and six, I rotated out for my break, but since it was now a little after 10am, the new crop of 7 lifeguards had arrived and soon relieved our group of 7 lifeguards and Jordan escorted us back to the security station where we surrendered our credentials.

Next week when the time trials begin, there will be some procedural changes including photo credentials, Olympic time trial lifeguard shirts, and parking passes. My first time trial shift is a 5-hour shift from 7 a.m.-12 p.m. on June 13th.

After 4 hours of watching hundreds of talented swimmers warming up and competing for a rare spot on the US Olympic swim team, I drove over to the nearby Irsay YMCA for my 25-minute daily 1000-meter swim.

---

The volunteer entrance is in the northwest corner of the Lucas Oil Stadium. After going through the airport style bag check and magnetometer the next step is to pick up my credentials while a tag is attached to my bag to show that it has gone through security. After going through the magnetometer there are two large folding tables on the left with hundreds of neatly stacked hard plastic credentials on blue lanyards.  The credentials are organized by the volunteers’ roles. (Awards & Ceremonies, Athlete Massage Therapist, Basket Carrier, Deck Control, Doping Control, Last Call Room, Meet Administration & Time Trials, Participant Gifts, Printing Center, Registration, Volunteer Services and lifeguards). One side of the credentials has the schedule of events of the swimming trials, the other side has the volunteer’s name, photo, and role.

There are usually three volunteers in charge of distributing the credentials. In addition to being sorted by the volunteer role, the cards are also sorted by shift which makes it easier to locate the incoming volunteer’s credentials. On my last pass through security, I didn’t even have to give my name because my photo is on the 4” x 5” card and I was wearing a lifeguard shirt and shorts, and the card was sorted for the incoming shift.

In addition to the credentials, I was given a breakfast and lunch meal ticket, which is a different color each day. During the first couple of days, the group of incoming guards needed to be escorted from check-in, down the elevator to the event level and onto the pools.  That procedure quickly changed and incoming guards are encouraged to arrive early and head down to the hospitality room across from the elevators and have their meal before their shift starts. The meals have been great, usually with fresh fruit, hot entrees, and sides.  For example, one day breakfast was hash brown potatoes, scrambled eggs, sausage, and a variety of breakfast burritos another day.

When it’s a few minutes before my shift time I start the 300-foot walk through the wide hallways past doors labels, doping control, NBC, volunteer briefing, uniform room, and laundry through another security checkpoint alongside the 10-foot-high wall created by the 50-meter-long side of the practice pool and on to lifeguard check-in to be folded into the rotation. A blue tarp-like material surrounds the pool and there’s a location under the tarp to place our bags and select our red or blue rescue tube.  Equipped with my tube, rescue breather back, and wearing easy-to-kick-off sandals I head out to position one at the competition pool at my designated time.  This three-minute walk takes me through a fairly dark maze of scaffolding and blue tarp-constructed corridors under the competition pool deck.  The competition pool deck is 10 feet above the now-invisible former football field.  This height allows for the 9-foot-deep stainless-steel pool, pipes and support structure.

Halfway through the walk, there is an ongoing flat-screen TV promoting the construction process used by Myrtha Ilex, the manufacturer of the pool.  After the trials, the competition pool will be dismantled and sent to Fort Wayne and the even larger practice pool is destined to go to Costa Rica. I walk back and forth along one long side of the competition pool for my 20-minute shift before being relieved at 8:10 a.m.  Shifts change at 10 after, 30 after, and 50 after the hour.  Instead of walking around the pool to the other side of the pool, we are required to descend the stairs, navigate the under-deck maze, and come up a different set of stairs at the opposite corner of the pool for my next 20-minute shift. Then there is a break of either 20 or 40 minutes depending on the number of guards and number of open positions. When there are only a few swimmers only two or three of the practice pool positions may be filled.  The lifeguard chair for that shift makes that determination. 

Unlike the competition pool, the lifeguard positions on the practice are not walking positions.  The lifeguards are perched up in chairs over 6 feet above the pool for a better view of the 17 lanes of swimmers. There’s another break of 20 to 40 minutes after rotating through the practice pool positions.   Usually by this time the next shift of lifeguards arrives and the departing lifeguard returns his or her rescue tube and either heads out or goes to lunch depending on the time. 

Then back up the elevator to return the credentials and pick up the parking pass for which will be specific for the day of the guard’s next shift. As I head back to my car in my red and blue lifeguard uniform I pass through long lines of incoming spectators, with their clear bags, who are allowed entry at 10 a.m. for the preliminary heats which start at 11 a.m.

---

7:30 a.m. The water is still. Dozens of bags filled with the swimmer’s equipment are strewn around the deck of the practice pool, mostly up against the fence surrounding the pool which is 10 feet above the concrete floor of the stadium. Soon, the first swimmer will arrive and the quiet will be broken by the combination sound of a slap and splash.  Once the first athlete arrives the lifeguards are required to ascend into the chairs, although until more swimmers arrive only 2 of the 4 chairs are required to have guards.

The swimmers continue to trickle in and by 9 a.m. the pool and the deck are crowded with a small portion of the 1,002 athletes that qualified and came to Indianapolis to test their skill and endurance for one of the 52 available USA Olympic swim team spots. There’s not a lot of conversation between the swimmers getting ready to swim. Coaches will occasionally give their swimmers pointers regarding their wrist or hand position or other technical advice.

Most of the 17 lanes of the practice pool are designated for general warm-up and swimmers put in considerable time, often measured in hours, circling their lane. They are working on conditional and endurance as well as technical body mechanics. One common technique is to pause or freeze mid-stroke for half a second before continuing the stroke. Until 10:40 a.m. the swimmers are also allowed to use the 10-lane, 50-meter competition pool for warming up.  Coaches, stopwatch in hand, will keep pace with their swimmers along the size of the pool sometimes offering advice.

Helpful to observers who do not personally know the swimmer is the common practice of having the swimmer's last name, school name, and logo on their swimming caps.
At 10 am the relative quiet of the arena is broken as there is an announcement over the loudspeaker system that the facility is open to spectators here to watch the 11 a.m. preliminary heats.  These heats who will determine who will swim in the final swim on a subsequent evening beginning at 8 p.m. Guards are instructed to respect the swimmers' privacy and not converse with the athletes, be they famous or not.. There was one time during my 7 days of lifeguarding that a swimmer thanked me for being there and I did wish him good luck in his events.

As the end of the 11 Team Trials approaches there are fewer and fewer athletes around the pools as there are only a few events left.  On the final day of the competition, there are no preliminary races, and the women’s 50 meter and the men’s 1,500 meter are the last two events of the trials. On that last day, the 6 lifeguards with a 6 a.m. shift are allowed to swim in the practice pool because no one else is around. Unfortunately, my shift starts at 7:30 a.m. so I missed out in swimming in the Olympic trial pool.

There are other last-day changes.  As a fundraiser, about 3 dozen master swimmers with a wide range of ages and abilities paid $250 for the opportunity to take a 45-minute swim clinic in the competition pool taught by one of the athletes who competed in the Olympic trials. Following this clinic, the athlete gave another clinic to a similar number of middle school-aged swimming hopefuls.  Adding to the excitement another couple of the Olympic trial athletes joined in with the swimmers providing a model for the students to follow.

My 2-week experience was topped off by coming back to the stadium that evening of the last days to watch the women’s 50-meter and the men’s 1,500-meter finals from excellent seats in the lowest section behind the swimmer’s starting blocks. The Indiana Sports Corp provided the tickets for their volunteers. We were given 4 tickets so my wife and I brought our next-door neighbors with us.  The neighbor is Steve Dayton, a 1971 national biking champion who could and did appreciate the riveting split-second testing of the competitors with being part of the USA swim team as the prize.

This was the first time I was able to actually watch the competition as my shifts were too early in the day.  The lights and noise and flashiness were in stark contrast to the generally quiet and contemplative hours that precede the actual race. Hopefully, I’ll be able to repeat this experience in 4 years if the team trials return to Indy.
 

By: Eric Buetens, Attorney at Law

If you want to learn more about the USA Swim Trials, join us for Navigating the Legal Waters to the Paris Olympics hosted at the Indiana Convention Center on Friday, June 21 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. You can register for the event here.

SUMMARY: The Indianapolis Bar Association (“IndyBar”) has learned of recent public statements attacking the Marion County criminal justice system generally, and the Honorable Mark D. Stoner specifically. These statements come in the wake of Judge Stoner’s sentencing of Elliahs Dorsey (“Dorsey”), the individual charged in the April 2020 shooting death of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (“IMPD”) Officer Breann Leath. Officer Leath was tragically shot to death after responding to a call regarding a disturbance between a male and a female. After hours of deliberation, Dorsey’s jury acquitted him of Murder. The jury found Dorsey Guilty but Mentally Ill of lesser included offenses. After Dorsey’s sentence was pronounced, some made statements that either implied or outright erroneously stated that Judge Stoner inappropriately sentenced Dorsey to far less than the maximum sentence in the killing of Officer Leath. Some made remarks in the local media that dangerous offenders can shoot anyone and simply say they have a mental health problem, and they will receive a “sweetheart” sentence. This rhetoric is dangerous, and it is false.

For the killing of Officer Leath, the Court was limited to only a six-year sentence based on what the jury found Dorsey guilty of. When judges sentence offenders convicted of crimes, they are limited by the statutory sentencing guidelines for the crime. When deciding on an appropriate sentence, judges are required to start in the middle of that range and then consider specific statutory factors, called mitigating and aggravating factors, when deciding whether to impose a harsher sentence or a lighter sentence. The sentence Judge Stoner imposed on Dorsey for the count of Reckless Homicide was nine months shy of the maximum sentence allowed under the law. There is no statutory aggravator to enable judges to impose a harsher sentence on Reckless Homicide when the victim is a police officer who is killed in the line of duty. Dorsey’s total sentence for the crimes he committed in April 2020 was 45 years and 118 days, 30 years of which is to be executed in prison followed by 15 years of probation where the Court will monitor Dorsey’s behavior and mental health condition. Should Dorsey not abide by the conditions of his mental health probation, he could be sent back to prison to serve the remainder of his 15-year term of probation.

It is understandable that officers and citizens are aggrieved by the fact that the shooter was not sentenced to a much longer period of incarceration. However, misrepresenting the facts and the law to cast blame on a specific judge and the courts at large is misplaced. If reckless homicide of a police officer should carry with it a harsher sentence than the maximum of six years it currently carries, we have a responsibility to inform our legislators on this issue and to advocate for changes to the law. Only in uniting to better protect our community at large are we able to affect positive change. 

SUMMARY: The Indianapolis Bar Association (“IndyBar”) has learned of recent public statements attacking the Marion County criminal justice system generally, and the Honorable Mark D. Stoner specifically. These statements come in the wake of Judge Stoner’s sentencing of Elliahs Dorsey (“Dorsey”), the individual charged in the April 2020 shooting death of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (“IMPD”) Officer Breann Leath. Officer Leath was tragically shot to death after responding to a call regarding a disturbance between a male and a female. After hours of deliberation, Dorsey’s jury acquitted him of Murder. The jury found Dorsey Guilty but Mentally Ill of lesser included offenses. After Dorsey’s sentence was pronounced, some made statements that either implied or outright erroneously stated that Judge Stoner inappropriately sentenced Dorsey to far less than the maximum sentence in the killing of Officer Leath. Some made remarks in the local media that dangerous offenders can shoot anyone and simply say they have a mental health problem, and they will receive a “sweetheart” sentence. This rhetoric is dangerous, and it is false.

For the killing of Officer Leath, the Court was limited to only a six-year sentence based on what the jury found Dorsey guilty of. When judges sentence offenders convicted of crimes, they are limited by the statutory sentencing guidelines for the crime. When deciding on an appropriate sentence, judges are required to start in the middle of that range and then consider specific statutory factors, called mitigating and aggravating factors, when deciding whether to impose a harsher sentence or a lighter sentence. The sentence Judge Stoner imposed on Dorsey for the count of Reckless Homicide was nine months shy of the maximum sentence allowed under the law. There is no statutory aggravator to enable judges to impose a harsher sentence on Reckless Homicide when the victim is a police officer who is killed in the line of duty. Dorsey’s total sentence for the crimes he committed in April 2020 was 45 years and 118 days, 30 years of which is to be executed in prison followed by 15 years of probation where the Court will monitor Dorsey’s behavior and mental health condition. Should Dorsey not abide by the conditions of his mental health probation, he could be sent back to prison to serve the remainder of his 15-year term of probation.

It is understandable that officers and citizens are aggrieved by the fact that the shooter was not sentenced to a much longer period of incarceration. However, misrepresenting the facts and the law to cast blame on a specific judge and the courts at large is misplaced. If reckless homicide of a police officer should carry with it a harsher sentence than the maximum of six years it currently carries, we have a responsibility to inform our legislators on this issue and to advocate for changes to the law. Only in uniting to better protect our community at large are we able to affect positive change. 

The Marion County Circuit Court is accepting resumes for a full-time Juvenile Magistrate. This position will begin on June 17, 2024 and will comprise of approximately 70% of juvenile paternity Title IV-D work and approximately 30% of general civil litigation work. The juvenile magistrate work will entail presiding over the Title IV-D establishment docket.  The civil work will include presiding over name change dockets, civil protective order cases, real estate cases such as quiet title cases, and a limited general civil litigation docket.

If you’re interested, you can read more about the opportunity and apply here. Applications are due by midnight April 24.

The Marion County Circuit Court is accepting resumes for a full-time Juvenile Magistrate. This position will begin on June 17, 2024 and will comprise of approximately 70% of juvenile paternity Title IV-D work and approximately 30% of general civil litigation work. The juvenile magistrate work will entail presiding over the Title IV-D establishment docket.  The civil work will include presiding over name change dockets, civil protective order cases, real estate cases such as quiet title cases, and a limited general civil litigation docket.

If you’re interested, you can read more about the opportunity and apply here. Applications are due by midnight April 24.

With all of the expectations lawyers face (especially early in their careers), it can be hard to carve out time away from learning to practice the law and break away from the billable hour to identify leadership opportunities where legal skills can provide a meaningful benefit for the Indianapolis community. The IndyBar Bar Leader Series program provides the perfect solution. 

With all of the expectations lawyers face (especially early in their careers), it can be hard to carve out time away from learning to practice the law and break away from the billable hour to identify leadership opportunities where legal skills can provide a meaningful benefit for the Indianapolis community. The IndyBar Bar Leader Series program provides the perfect solution.