National Roundup

Ohio Woman is among 1st jurors at old, new courthouses COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio woman called to jury duty on the first day at a new county courthouse this week also was on the first jury at the old court building when it opened in 1973. Jury commissioner Gretchen Roberts in Columbus says 64-year-old Mary Evans beat odds that are "pretty astronomical." Registered voters are randomly picked by computer for jury service on given dates. Evans, of suburban Grove City, tells The Columbus Dispatch that it was "kind of cool" that she inaugurated both Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouses. She says each struck her as an impressive reflection of its time. Evans was seated last week on a jury for a domestic violence case when the new, $105 million courthouse opened. In 1973, she served on juries for rape and theft cases. Ohio P&G to settle Pampers diaper rash lawsuit CINCINNATI (AP) -- Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble says it has agreed to settle a lawsuit by parents who claimed a new version of Pampers diapers caused skin rashes and other problems for their babies. P&G will pay attorney fees, estimated at $2.7 million, and $1,000 to each child of 59 plaintiffs, under terms subject to final approval in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. The company also will spend $400,000 to create a pediatric resident training program and provide skin rash education, including on the Pampers website. P&G said it isn't paying the plaintiffs damages. The proposed settlement would end the legal action triggered by last year's launch of Dry Max, which P&G touted as thinner and more absorbent. Complaints about rashes spread quickly online but P&G said no link was found. Tennessee Jury awards $100K each for sexual bullying COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) -- Two mothers who claimed their sons were sexually bullied have won a lawsuit against the Wayne County schools and have been awarded $100,000 each. The women said the boys were humiliated in a locker room at Waynesboro Middle School when they joined the boys' basketball team in 2008. The youths were seventh-graders at the time and claimed they were hazed by boys in the eighth grade. A U.S. District Court jury in Columbia deliberated for about an hour Thursday and then awarded the families $100,000 each, The Tennessean newspaper reported. The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault and is not naming the boys or their families to protect their identities. One boy said he was held down by three students while another sodomized him with a felt-tip marker. The other said he was tricked into doing a blindfolded sit-up while one of the students stood above his face with his pants down. Defense lawyer Eddie Schmidt said the decision should be a warning that schools must stop bullying. "I think the practical impact is that schools and school officials are going to have to take bullying seriously and take proactive steps to prevent bullying, identify behavior that is bullying, watch the hot spots where bullying occurs, and when it does occur, take quick, effective remedial actions," he said. School system attorney John Schwalb asserted in his closing argument that school officials listened to the complaints and punished the boys responsible. Four eighth-graders on the team were sent to an alternative school for 11 days, removed from the basketball team and placed on probation after the incident came to light. However, the Wayne County Board of Education later reinstated the boys to the basketball team. Juvenile convictions against the four eighth-graders were tossed out after they appealed. The middle school basketball coach was charged with failure to report a sexual assault against a child, but the charge was dismissed. Maury Nation, an associated professor of human and organizational development at Vanderbilt University who studies bullying, said the pattern of abuse described in the lawsuit is serious enough to create an increased risk of mental health problems in the victims later in life. Nation said the lawsuit suggests that Wayne County failed to take a more proactive stance against bullying. "You're much more likely to get bullying behavior reported in schools that have adults who write off or don't actually discourage behavior. Students are very adept at picking up on the attitudes of adults in the building," Nation said. Schwalb said after the trial that it is too early to say whether the school system will appeal. Published: Mon, Jun 13, 2011