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Oct. 14, 1993. Bill Clinton was in thefirst year of his presidency. Canadianshad just won the World Series(again). And in State College, the firstissue of Voices of CentralPennsylvania rolled off the press.
I believe that where we’ve been is asimportant as where we’re going. Sowe’ve dedicated a portion of this issueto the stories of the men and womenwho have watched over this paper.
This month, we hear from editorswho poured their time, energy andsometimes their own money intokeeping Voices a vibrant newspaper.
Art Goldschmidt, Voices founderand board member, recounts howVoices was founded from conflictbetween local activists and TheLionhearted.
Mike Casper, editor from 1994-
2001, writes about Voices in the pre-digital age, when the paper was stilldesigned by paste-up.
Elizabeth Goreham, editor from1996-1997, writes about how Voiceschanged her life.
Suzan Erem, managing editor from2003-2008, writes about pullingVoices back from the brink andrebuilding the paper as an institutionof citizen journalism.
Our inaugural issue covered storiesthat would be at home in today’spaper: hunger in Centre County,upcoming local elections, and areview of the Palmer Museum of Art.
This month, we examine how theGarman Theatre, a 120-year old operahouse in the Bellefonte HistoricDistrict, is destined for demolition.
We look at a celebration of localfood at the Boalsburg Farmers’Market’s Plow to Plate dinner.
A ProPublica investigation showsus how Pennsylvania’s universitiesare offering more financial aid towealthy students at the expense of theequally-qualified poor.
There are a thousand more stories
waiting to be told in Voices. And justas we have for the last 20 years, weneed your help.
Once you’ve read where we’ve been,come see where we’re going. As SuzanErem writes, “We never really knowthe ground we’re preparing for thosewho come after us.”
The best way to be a part of Voicesis to join us at our weekly writersmeetings every Wednesday, 6 p.m.,atWebster’s Cafe in State College.
Since that first copy came off thepress, Voices has not missed a singleissue — an amazing feat for a non-profit independent newspaper.
It is not only because of theHerculean efforts of the editors wehear from this month that Voices liveson.
Countless writers, volunteers anddonors have kept this newspaper alivewith the stories they’ve written, thefunds they’ve raised, and their beliefin the power of an independent press.
It is because of them that we areable to continue the mission set outfor us 20 years ago, and so it is tothem that we dedicate this issue.
Top Stories in This Issue
EDITORIAL BOARDManaging Editor
Sean Flynn
Politics and Economicsopen
Community and LifestylesKelly Johnson
University and Educationopen
EnvironmentBetsie Blumberg
Arts and Entertainmentopen
Opinionopen
WEBMASTERBill Eichman
ART and DESIGNRiordan James Flynn
Peter Warren (cover photo)
CIRCULATION MANAGERKevin Handwerk
ADVERTISING MANAGERMarisa Eichman
BOARD OF DIRECTORSPresident
Elaine [email protected]
SecretaryArthur Goldschmidt Jr.
TreasurerJulia Hix
Board members at largeBill Eichman
Chip [email protected]
Peter Morris
Jesse Barlow
© 2013 Voices of Central Pennsylvania, Inc.
October 2013
SPECIAL: 20TH ANNIVERSARY pages 3-6
POLITICS & ECONOMICS pages 7-12Death of a Theatre pg. 7STEVIESLAW: The LAGuide to Remodeling pg. 7
ENVIRONMENT pages 13-14BIRDWATCH: Hurricane birds pg. 13
COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLES pages 15-17Boalsburg Farmers’ Market pg. 15CAMPBELL: Guns and mental illness pg. 15
UNIVERSITY & EDUCATION pages 18-26Universities aid wealthy, leaving poor behind pg. 18LACHMAN: A guide to summary offenses pg. 18
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT pages 27-28STORYTELLER: In the Wilds of the Suburbs pg. 27REVIEW: Deltron 3030’s “Event II” pg. 28
OPINION pages 29-32ASK COSMO pg. 29WHITEY BLUE pg. 29News vs. Opinion in Voices pg. 30
LETTERS TO THE EDITORSend submissions to [email protected] encourages letters to the editor andopinion pieces commenting on local issues.Letters should be a maximum of 250 words;opinion pieces should be a maximum of 800words. We reserve the right to edit length. Due tospace limitations we cannot guaranteepublication. Letters become the property ofVoices.
ADVERTISING POLICYWrite to [email protected] for rateinformation. Only publication signifiesacceptance of an ad by Voices. Publication of anad does not imply endorsement orrecommendation by Voices of any product orservice. Deadline to reserve space is the 15th ofthe month. Cancellation of an ad by the customerafter the 15th incurs full charge. Voices acceptspolitical ads regardless of party or viewpoint.
SUPPORT VOICESVoices of Central Pennsylvania is a 501(c)3nonprofit volunteer organization. Your donationsand bequests keep Voices free and independent.Donate at voicesweb.org, or contact [email protected] for details.
CONTACT USVoices of Central Pennsylvania
133 E. Beaver AvenueState College, PA 16801
Thoughtful. Fearless. Free.
2 October 2013
Voices Advisory Council
Nick Brink
Jamie Campbell
Jane Childs
John Dickison
Elizabeth Kirchner
Bonnie Marshall
Curt Marshall
Mike McGough
Bob Potter
Bonnie K. Smeltzer
Susan Squier
Maria Sweet
Kim Tait
Mary Watson
Sue Werner
Greg Woodman
Lakshman Yapa
Celebrating 20 years of independent journalismBy SEAN FLYNNManaging [email protected]
When once the world seemed toface the prospect of nuclearannihilation (college kids, this wasbefore most of you were born), thequestion sometimes posed was, “Willwe survive?”
A humble monthly newspaper couldprobably ask that several times eachyear.
But if in time the world – or anewspaper – has escaped totaldisintegration, an infinitely moreinteresting question to ponder mightbe, “What if we survive?”
This is the question that Voices haslived and thrived inside of for 20years. Nevermind making ends meet.
Well, yes, there was that, too.I liked what I saw when I first
arrived at Voices in 1994. I didn’t seea cramped upstairs office where therewas barely room for chairs around thework table. I saw a roundtable ofsection editors and writers, alldedicated to producing a newspaperthat went further than other localpublications in seeking the truth,from politics and community toenvironmental issues and the arts.
In those days, the lead editorshiprotated among five section editors, sono one bore the burden alone. Oldfashioned paste-up was the rule,complete with roller and hot wax.
More than anything, there wasdynamic interpersonal chemistry.There were marvelous columnists,
and some from the first years are stillat it. Scores of communicationsstudents cut their journalistic teethon this independent rag.
There were colorful personalities,too, not least of these being theitinerant ad peddler, Mike Sletson. Ifhis compulsive horse-trading sellingstyle was exasperating, his raspy voiceand long list of merchants advertisingin the next issue were a staple andpart of the paper’s success for manyyears.
Mike would often point out theconservative merchants who keptcoming back. “He hates the pay-pah,”he’d say with a glint in his eye.
Times got lean labor-wise after afew years when various sectioneditors fell away; at one point it wasdown to two of us, then I was alone,
On Thursday, Oct. 14, 1993, a smallpickup truck came into State College,carrying about twenty thousandcopies of Voices’ first issue. Theycame as bundles of fifty copies, eachbundle being bound by a plastic cord.
One of my Middle East historystudents stood beside me when theyarrived. He taught me an oldnewspaper boys’ trick: Always turnover the cord. Then you can separatethe ends and, presto, the papers areunbound.
Ben Farahani, wherever you arenow, thanks! I have turned andseparated cords for twenty years.
Voices of Central Pennsylvaniabegan in a meeting convened jointlyby Dr. Alycia Chambers, then the
president of the local chapter of theNational Organization for Women,and me. It was held on July 26, 1993,in Schlow Memorial Library’s oldCommunity Room.
The women’s organization wasdeeply concerned about a fortnightlypublication called The Lionhearted,whose pages were filled with articles
opposing women and gays. The newspaper especially attacked
movements, mainly but notexclusively at Penn State, that foughtprejudice.
Its founder was a State Collegelawyer who was also an elected PennState trustee, Ben Novak. He hadcome to believe that campuspublications, especially The DailyCollegian, were too subservient to theadministration and faculty of theUniversity.
Novak hoped in 1990 to create aforum that would empower studentsto speak and write on behalf of theirown interests.
Even in its maiden issue, TheLionhearted was a mouthpiece forNovak’s views of what a universityshould be and for the complaints ofconservative students, who accusedtheir instructors of downgrading their
work to punish them for their politicaland religious convictions.
During its five years of existence,The Lionhearted evolved into a paperthat glorified a traditional image ofmasculinity—often printing PennState’s football schedule on its frontpage, even out of season.
When The Lionhearted printed acartoon depicting a Collegiancolumnist, an outspoken feminist,writing her column while wearing abikini and lying on a bed in a sexuallyprovocative pose, many of the campusfeminists were enraged.
They spotted the truck thatdelivered the copies of TheLionhearted to various drops on theUniversity Park campus and in StateCollege, followed it, scooped up the
3October 2013
GOLDSCHMIDT: The founding of VoicesBy Art GoldschmidtVoices Board of Directors / Voices [email protected]
CASPER: Answering the question “what if we survive?”By MIKE CASPERVoices Editor, [email protected]
see BEGINNINGS, pg. 5
see CASPER, pg. 6
The women’s organizationwas deeply concernedabout a fortnightlypublication called TheLionhearted, whose pageswere filled with articlesopposing women andgays.
There were marvelouscolumnists, and somefrom the first years arestill at it. Scores ofcommunications studentscut their journalistic teethon this independent rag.
4October 2013
When I took up Voices in 2003, itwas a ghost of its former self. Thefounders were mostly gone. TheLionhearted, the conservativenewspaper that was the originalimpetus for Voices, was long gone.
Ad reps Carl Ector and MikeStetson would walk in once a monthwith a fistful of dollars and ad copyscrawled on napkins.
Art Goldschmidt had doggedly keptfilling the managing editor spot overthe years, but he hadn’t a clue how toproduce a newspaper.
Now it was my turn. I opened themail my first day in the office to learnwe owed thousands and our bankaccount was empty. Art walked in as Iwas trying to catch my breath.
“Art, we need money,” I gasped.“And we need it now.”
“OK, I’ll go get some donations,” hesaid. Wow, I thought. How cool isthat?
I sat down at the old computer with
the bootleg software and dial-upconnection. I couldn’t find the ads.There was no filing system. Therewasn’t even enough bad writing oninane subjects to fill a 16-page paper.
Opinion blended over into news andback again. No one was demandinggood reporting or asking what definesnews. There was no sense of audienceand less of purpose. Birdwatch andCosmo were the only content, andwhy was a bird column in aprogressive paper, I wondered.
Art returned a few hours later. “Icollected some donations!” heannounced proudly. He handed me a$10, a $20 and a check for $50. (Oneof those was his.)
“Art, we’re going to have to dothings differently,” I said, and didn’ttake another deep breath for years.
My predecessor kept the paper
going best he could while finishingcollege. And thanks to every late nightthat former editors like Mike Casperand Elizabeth Goreham had put inlong before me, Voices was therewhen I came along.
Because of them, Voices nevermissed an issue in 20 years. We neverreally know the ground we’repreparing for those who come afterus.
But it was rough ground for sure. Iwas new in town. Activists werefighting other battles.
One day when I was ready to quit, anew friend told me others would stepup if I hung in there long enough.How could I put a paper outsuccessfully while people waited tosee if we were successful?
EREM: It takes a village to grow a paper like VoicesBy SUZAN EREMVoices Managing Editor, [email protected]
Above everything else, it has beenArt Goldschmidt’s commitment toVoices and his astonishing goodhumor in the face of every problemimaginable is the reason we are heretoday, celebrating the twentiethanniversary of Voices.
I am personally grateful becauseBut Art Goldschmidt and his editorstook a chance on me.
Beginning in 1996, I was the Natureand Science editor for Voices for morethan a year. The experience remainsone of great pride for me. I had movedfrom Texas to State College threeyears before, the new spouse of anenvironmental engineering professor.
Busy with my new family, I was stillunsure of any broader contribution I
could make. Now I am struck by howdirectly Voices contributed to greatchanges in my life.
Voices gave me the opportunity toexplore my new community from adifferent perspective.
Before I had much confidence inknowing the interests of the town,Voices entrusted me with thatresponsibility.
Being an editor was both hard workand highly satisfying. I had severalpainful lessons about how to writewell (almost impossible), theintricacies of grammar, and how far toconjecture.
The payoff came not just in workingat the craft but getting to know theother people. People with real writingtalent and experience made theirmonthly commitment look easy; they
inspired the rest of us. Money was always tight; Mike
Sletson was indefatigable at sellingads; he somehow knew which trees toshake to pay the printer for the nextedition.
It was a miracle each month. This was back in the previous
century, when production pages wereliterally pasted up. Stories come inlate, too long or too short. Ads, too,made for headaches that only a fewpeople could cure.
Production always ran down to thewire, and late. We would flip a coin todetermine who would drive the paperto the printer in Lewistown. On thoselong nights I formed friendships withpeople who are still important in mylife.
Distribution of Voices began each
month in the enclosed porch of Artand Louise Goldschmidt, where thethousands of papers were delivered.Many times the writers and editorswere pressed into service to help.
Art himself always took a full loadin his car, finding new outlets in townand on campus. We were all in ittogether, which felt good.
Because of my experience withVoices, my life changed.
I came to know and embrace StateCollege, even took a chance onrunning for public office and,somewhat to my surprise, won!
Unfortunately I had not developedthe ease of producing a wellresearched, well written article eachmonth and finally had to resign aseditor. Writing this makes me want torenew my involvement.
GOREHAM: Writing for Voices changed my lifeBy ELIZABETH GOREHAMVoices Editor, [email protected]
see EREM, pg. 5
Opinion blended overinto news and backagain. No one wasdemanding goodreporting or askingwhat defines news.There was no sense ofaudience and less ofpurpose.
But she was right. Slowly,community members and dedicatedstudents, some local, started to tricklein – Reidar Jensen, Carisa Cortez,Anne Marie Toccket, Ben Brewer, RayBryer, Obi Nwoke, Delia Guzman – toname a few early ones.
Ann Bolser did all of our accountinguntil we could afford to pay her.Voices veterans John Dickison andMike Casper sent people our way. Artalways pitched in. A newly-recruitedboard retired our debt. We reducedour printing costs and improvedquality with a new press. SuzanneWeinstein and Roxanne Toto joined
up and built a distribution systemthey ran for years.
They, Kevin Handwerk and scoresof volunteers took Voices from a lowof 2,000 papers downtown to 8,000to 12,000 distributed through morethan 400 sites county-wide.
Graphic designer Mali Campbell’swork drew new advertisers. BillEichman made the website sosuccessful firms from Boston werebuying ads.
Our readership topped 20,000.Meanwhile, scores of studentvolunteers and interns came throughlearning more, they said, than theyever had in class. Most gave theirwhole hearts to the effort.
Our goal was to amplify voices thatare often muted – workers, union
people, African Americans, Latinos,the LGBT community, women andanyone working to make a betterworld.
We asked questions no one elsewould of Penn State and our localofficials. We believed in the oldjournalistic adage of comforting theafflicted and afflicting thecomfortable.
Only Voices, with its fearless,community-based reporting, sociallyconscious donors and loyaladvertisers, could do it.
All that distribution, web work andcredible reporting paid off, and we
papers, piled them in front of Novak’slaw office on South Allen Street, andset them afire.
The bonfire attracted local andindeed national attention, eveninspiring an article in the Chronicle ofHigher Education.
Everyone agreed that studentsshould generally be free to expresstheir views on controversial issues inwriting. But opinions differed on thelimitations of good taste.
The most sensible response I readat the time was a letter to the CentreDaily Times, arguing that the sensibleway for progressives or feminists wasto publish their own periodical. I hadthought about this for some time.
In those days, I was suspicious ofpoliticized academics. I would havesubstituted “gender studies” for“women’s studies” and disparaged theuse of African and African-Americanstudies as a vehicle for Blackliberation.
I taught Middle East history andknew of the controversiessurrounding Orientalism, Zionism,and Arab studies.
But I was progressive enough tobelieve that African Americans,people of other races who hadsuffered discrimination in America,women, homosexuals, and religiousminorities needed a chance to speakfor their rights.
The National Organization forWomen envisaged publishing aperiodical called The Voice to advanceand defend feminist interests.
I thought that such a paper wouldprobably have limited appeal towriters and readers and might well beconfused with that well-known NewYork weekly, The Village Voice.
The library catalog showed morejournal titles bearing the name“Voice” than “Voices,” which had theadded advantage of permittingdiverse opinions on a variety of
issues.What did matter to the crowd of
60–70 activists who crowded into theCommunity Room on July 26 wasthat someone must publishsomething soon. Ben Novak actuallyattended our meeting and offered toinclude whatever we produced underthe aegis of The Lionhearted.
Doing this would have facilitatedour raising money, because he hadalready secured nonprofit status andeven a 501(c)(3) tax exemption forThe Lionhearted.
As I joked at the time, our paperwould have become the “LeftVentricle of The Lionhearted.” Thiswould certainly not have pleased thefeminists. We declined Novak’s offer.
Instead, we organized anAdministrative Committee, now
commonly known as our Board ofDirectors, to draw up a missionstatement and some bylaws and anEditorial Committee to parcel out thetasks of writing and producing thepaper.
As Suzan Erem writes in her article,I knew nothing about editing andproduction. Indeed, if anyone elsehad stepped up to direct theAdministrative Committee, I wouldhave stood aside.
All I wanted to do was write a fewarticles. I organized a Ways andMeans Committee, but we knewalmost nothing about fundraising orselling advertising.
Indeed, it was the leadership of ourfirst Editor-in-Chief, Bonny Farmer,and our Managing Editor, AngelaRogers, that set the direction forVoices.
I credit our survival to the influx ofthe many men and women who havejoined us over the years.
Their willingness to favorcooperation over competition, even atthe sacrifice of time and money theycould have spent in other ways, hasbeen the key to our continuity.
I will keep on unbinding thoseplastic cords as long as I can.
5October 2013
from EREM, pg. 4
from BEGINNINGS, pg. 3I credit our survival to the influx of the many men andwomen who have joined us over the years. Their willingness to favor cooperation over competition,even at the sacrifice of time and money they could havespent in other ways, has been the key to our continuity.
We asked questions noone else would of PennState and our localofficials. We believed inthe old journalistic adageof comforting the afflictedand afflicting thecomfortable.
see EREM, pg. 6
6October 2013
passing the production baton tomyself each month. But Voices had apersistent attraction, and more handscame on board.
Production day meant late nights,but there was never any question butthat the paper had to come out.
Part of the ritual in the early yearswas a late night drive with a wide boxof pasted up pages to Lewistown, anddriving up the hill to the back doorand the presses of the Sentinel. It’seasy to romanticize about now, butthe trek held a feeling ofaccomplishment.
I managed the finances for severalyears, too. We dreamed of being ableto pay everyone at least some tinysum for their work. We actually triedit for a month or two, but it wasn’t yetto be.
One day I got a call at home, late atnight, from a highly regardedprofessor of the solid state at Penn
State. Would Voices do a story on acertain top administrator who’d justbeen caught in hanky panky with arising star academic?
The paper’s diehards talked about itthe next day. This was our job,breaking stories of magnitude – ahard enough task already as amonthly vying with daily enterprises.
We checked our day job affiliations:we all happened to be at theuniversity – and decided that the longarm of Old Main was too long forcomfort.
But that didn’t stop our caninecolumnist, Cosmo, from referencingthe gentleman’s high post directly, soany loyal reader of the pup’s worldlywise advice column could follow.Today that administrator is elsewhereand the rising star oversees a college.
Voices has taken great strides sincethen. It has not only broken countlessstories that other media had themuscle but lacked the heart for. Overtime it has even made those mediaoutlets more straight shooting in theirreporting.
And it still has one thing over theothers: it’s independent of any owneror corporate interest.
Is there a future for Voices as welook forward into the next 20 years?You bet there is.
So don’t sit too long marveling atour collective survival. Stand and bepart of what’s next.
began to affect policy while alsocelebrating artists and community-builders across the region.
The upward momentum continued.The 2006 senatorial campaigngalvanized progressives and forgeddeep friendships that helped grow ourbase.
Approval of our 501(c)(3)application expanded our fundraisingcapacity. Bob Potter showed us howto build our board of directors.
Affinity Connection helped us reachsupporters better, vaulting us intofinancial viability.
Webster’s Bookstore became thephysical space to our written space.Our spring Fun!Raiser, generouslysupported by India Pavilion andothers, became an annual celebrationof social and economic justice. Evenour naysayers were beginning to seethe value of a truly free press.
By 2010, we had no debt, a healthybank account and owned our softwareand hardware outright.
We regularly published a 36-pagepaper, with color, and a monthlyemail to more than 3,000 peoplehighlighting stories and upcomingevents.
Ad representative Marisa Eichmanwas making a (small) wage, mentoredby local media guru and boardmember Mike McGough.
Our Free Press Fund donorscommitted support for a managingeditor for three years, commitments Igarnered one at a time, to give Voicestime to transition to the next phase.
Our advisory council of communityleaders showed supporters thatVoices was a valued part of a vibrantdemocracy. We were paying a fewsmall stipends to our hardworkingvolunteers.
In addition to workers’, civil andwomen’s rights stories, we werepublishing issues on food and farms,and the only printed guides to
community nonprofits and localCommunity Supported Agriculturefarms.
But this requires ongoingrelationships with sources,advertisers, readers willing to saythey “saw it in Voices,” reporters whowill ask good questions and learnfrom mistakes, editors who will take
writers to task, donors digging deep,professors sending students our wayand more.
Centre County, more people musttake on a piece of it now or you willlose your Voices for good.
We were only one part of a largerhistory. I thank Art Goldschmidt forhis tenacious desire to keep Voicesalive, and the hundreds of volunteersI met for the privilege of working withthem, the long hours and the heartylaughs, the passionate debates andthe late nights finishing pages.
They are some of the toughest, mostdedicated and decent people I haveever known.
Now it’s up to you, the nextgeneration of free thinkers, to growsomething even greater. Happy 20th,Voices!
Suzan Erem lives in Iowa with herhusband Paul Durrenberger,daughter Ayshe Yeager, and amenagerie of dogs and birds. Visitthem virtually at dracohill.org.
from CASPER, pg. 3 from EREM, pg. 5
Production day meant latenights, but there wasnever any question butthat the paper had tocome out.
In addition to workers’,civil and women’s rightsstories, we werepublishing issues on foodand farms, and the onlyprinted guides tocommunity nonprofits andlocal CommunitySupported Agriculture.
Many of you have met Myron—-thefiery red-headed math whizz whomade a fortune betting on the ponies.Around this time each year Myrongoes to ground for a few weeks.“Recharging,” Myron says. “No.”“Hatching,” his wife Marsha insists.Marsha is not shy about correctingMyron. I was not surprised that Ihadn’t heard from Myron for a weekor so, but I was shocked when Marsha
called. Marsha hasn’t called me in theforty some odd years we have knowneach other. Years ago we decided tolimit conversation to: “How are you?”and “The kids?”
The only thing we see eye to eye onis the need to keep Myron suitablycontained, so other attempts at smalltalk inevitably lead to screamingfights.
Our conversation was short. Shemanaged to choke out the words“Myron is wearing a tool belt,” beforebreaking down. I left work
immediately and sprinted the elevenblocks to Myron’s. You might well askwhy.
Do you remember back inelementary school, when certainchildren were taken aside and told—-with respect to something like thesecond grade play—-“don’t sing, justmouth the words.” Well, I was inshop classes with Myron at ThomasJefferson High School in the depths ofBrooklyn.
And while we all recognize thatsome people are handy and some
people are not, our shop teacher wasquick to realize that a hammer inMyron’s hand became a weapon ofmass destruction.
In shop class, Myron was takenaside and told that the only way hewould pass the course was bywatching it unfold. He was told not toopen his tool box and, for goodmeasure, not to sing.
I arrived too late. I tripped over his
With a stroke of his pen, CentreCounty Judge Thomas Kistlercondemned the 123 year-old GarmanTheatre, once a cultural cornerstoneof Centre County, to demolition.
Judge Kistler’s decision was theculmination of more than a year ofuncertainty surrounding the fate ofthe Garman Theatre, which has stoodin Bellefonte since 1890.
The theatre is part of the BellefonteHistoric District, which comprises themajority of downtown Bellefonte andis listed on the National Register ofHistoric Places.
The ruling dealt a severe blow to theplans of the Bellefonte Historical andCultural Association (BHCA), whichintends to restore the Garman andtransform it into an arts and culturalcenter.
Instead, the Bellefonte AreaIndustrial Development Authority(BAIDA) chose to sell the Garman tothe Progress Development Group(PDG), a State College developmentgroup that plans to demolish thebuilding and construct workforce
housing in its place.The BHCA has filed a motion
requesting that the court keep PDGfrom demolishing the Garman whilethe rulings are challenged.
The Theatre BurnsThe Garman Theatre was severely
damaged when the neighboring HotelDo-De caught fire in the earlymorning hours of Sept. 9, 2012. Thefire was determined to be arson, butno suspects have been charged.
Bellefonte Fire Chief Tim Schrefflerwas on scene for the fire and wasinvolved in the subsequentinvestigation.
“You read the transcripts, and itdoesn’t give you an idea of how bad itwas. You have to see it” to understandthe extent of the damage, Schrefflersaid.
“There was considerable damagefrom that fire, considerable waterdamage within the lower area of thebuilding, significant amounts of moldand degradation of the interior,” hesaid.
The fire was the latest of a longstring of setbacks for the Garman,which has spent the last 50 years as a
warehouse, a part-time movie theatre,or simply sitting vacant.
The owners had encounteredsignificant financial difficulties, andwere in the midst of bankruptcyproceedings with banks from out ofstate.
Even before the fire, the buildinghad already seriously degraded.
“The building was empty, the roofwas leaking and basically the property
7October 2013
The death of a theater: Bellefonte’s Garman dilemmaBy SEAN FLYNNManaging [email protected]
Photo by Peter Warren // Special to VoicesThe Garman Theatre has been a source of contention since it was damaged in a fire on September 9,2012. After the fire, the Garman Theatre was fenced off and the windows boarded to keep tresspassersand curious bystanders out of the building.
STEVIESLAW: The LAGuide to Remodeling Your HomeBy STEVE DEUTSCHVoices [email protected]
see GARMAN, pg. 9
see STEVIESLAW, pg. 8
11October 2013
Conservatorship and BAIDAUnder the law, a conservator would
need to be appointed for the Garmanproperty. This conservator wouldhear plans and ultimately decide thefate of the building.
While the law allows for severaldifferent types of organizations tofulfill the role of conservator,Bellefonte officials felt BAIDA was agood fit for conservatorship.
“It was up and running, it was activeas a body, it’s currently doing what wecall the waterfront project, and it’sreally more or less a redevelopmentauthority. So it seemed to be a goodfit, that this property would beoverseen by a redevelopmentauthority,” Stewart said.
So on March 1, in a hearing thatlasted just under two hours, the courtgranted conservatorship of theGarman to BAIDA.
This was a decision with whichNorth says the BHCA disagrees.
“This is another issue we have:conservatorship, in its traditionalsense, is not the wheelhouse of an
IDA-type organization. They’re not anappropriate type of organization to behandling this.”
While the conservatorshipeliminated the financial loadsurrounding the property, the BHCAquestions whether BAIDA shouldhave been granted conservatorship.
North and Mary Vollero, mediaspokeperson for BHCA, stated thatthe BHCA will seek to overturnBAIDA’s conservatorship and willitself apply for conservatorship.
North believes that BAIDA shirkedits responsibilities as conservator,which he believes involve stabilizingthe building.
In an email to Voices, North wrote“In this case, that means put a roof onthe building. BAIDA (obviously) didnot do this and astonishingly passedthis responsibility on to the developerwith a wink and a nod.”
In fact, the borough attempted tostabilize the building, but met whaofficials characterized as fiercetaxpayer resistance.
The fire heavily damaged theGarman’s roof and interior walls, andleft the building completely open to
the elements. Faced with a long winter, the
borough considered emergency roofrepairs that would stabilize thebuilding and prevent further damage.
“On the day of the fire, one of thefire members said he thought thedamage was in the $25-$50,000range,” Stewart said. But contractorsestimated it would cost more than$150,000 to repair the roof, far morethan initially speculated.
Some Bellefonte citizens, who sawmajor repairs on a private buildingwith no clear future as a waste oftaxpayer funds, voiced theiropposition to the plan.
“The taxpayers were reading thepapers and called their councilmembers and said ‘don’t do this,’don’t spend this kind of money on aprivate building. They were beingsarcastic and saying ‘if you’re gonnafix that, why don’t you put a roof onmy house,” Stewart said.
One Bellefonte resident sent anemail which read in part, “If I did nothave fire insurance and my roofburned off, I am pretty sure thatBellefonte Borough would not installa new roof for me. That is why I amwise enough to have insurance.Although a sad story, the owner(s) ofthe Garman should be responsible forthe repairs.”
North said the BHCA’s future legalaction would focus on what hecharacterized as BAIDA’s continuedfailure to fulfil its duties asconservator.
“A lot of necessary actions, a lot oflegal steps that needed to be taken,both on the part of the IDA and thedeveloper simply were either skipped,ignored, and so on. We would just liketo see this process handled properly.”
Whether or not North’s assessmentis correct, legal reviews of therelevant legislation have identifiedhistoric buildings as much morecomplicated to address byconservatorship than their more
mundanecounterparts“Properties that are historically
certified or in historic districts can beconsidered for Conservatorship, butthe petitioner must be aware thathistorical certification is likely torequire more time and funding, andmay preclude a plan to demolish abuilding,” according to theImplementation and Best PracticesManual written by Regional HousingLegal Services.
The BHCA was present at the May15 BAIDA meeting, where the BHCAand Progress Development Grouppresented their plan to BAIDA.
At that meeting, Mr. Kervandjian ofthe PDG said “Buildings don’t buildcommunities, but families buildcommunities,” according to theminutes.
PDG publicly presented its plan to“rebuild the shell” of the CadillacBuilding, which was deemedstructurally sound. The developerwould raze the Garman and Do-De,and erect 32 housing units “pricedbetween $600 and $1000/mo,” withadditional commercial space available
Photo by Peter Warren // Special to VoicesFrom this vantage point, both the Garman and the Hotel Do-De (with white window boards) can be seen.In addition to the Garman theatre and the Hotel Do-De bar, this area also provided multiple Bellefonteresidents with long-term apartment-style housing.
The BHCA gathered morethan 2,000 signatures onpetitions calling for therestoration of theGarman, commissioned aprofessional evaluation ofthe costs needed torestore the building, andraised nearly $250,000from private donorstoward stabilizing andrestoring the site.
see GARMAN, pg. 12
from GARMAN, pg. 10
Hurricane season is upon us! Thepotentially devastating effects ofthese storms on human populationsare well known, as we witnessedrecently with the passage ofHurricanes Katrina (2005) and Sandy(2012).
While I have no intention tominimize the suffering thathurricanes have bought to people, thefocus of this article will be on birds.
Birds are particularly vulnerable tohurricanes. One of the main reasonsis due to their small size. Most birdsweigh only a few ounces at most.Others, such as hummingbirds andwarblers top out at under an ounce.
As such, birds are no match forstorms featuring 90 mile per hourwinds and torrential rain.
Perhaps the main feature ofhurricanes that expose birds to graverisk is timing.
The Atlantic hurricane seasonextends from June 1st through Oct.30th. The most powerful (andpotentially most damaging) stormsoccur in September and October. Thishappens to be the peak of fallmigration. For birds caught up in apassing hurricane, mortality rates canbe high.
That being said, birds have adapteda number of strategies over the courseof their evolution to help them survivesevere weather.
Some strong fliers, such aswhimbrels and godwits, may roll thedice and simply fly through the storm.
Smaller birds and weaker fliers maytake more measured approaches. Themost effective strategy is to avoid thestorm in the first place. While birdsdo not have the luxury of receiving anevacuation notice from their localemergency management agency, they
do have the ability to sensechanges in barometricpressure that signal theimpending arrival of storms.This gives them theopportunity to steer clear of astorm’s path or to seek shelter.
For other birds, shelter maynot be an option. This isparticularly true for birdsmigrating over open water orfor pelagic birds, which spendtheir lives at sea.
For these birds, the beststrategy may be to ride it outin the eye of the storm whereconditions are calmer andsimply wait for the storm todissipate.
The down side of thisstrategy is that the birds mayspend several days flyingwithout ample opportunity tofeed. In addition, once thestorm subsides, birds mayfind that they have beendisplaced long distances overland. This further exposesthem to the risks ofdehydration, starvation andpredation.
Over the years, hurricanesand tropical storms haveborne a number of vagrantpelagic and coastal birds tocentral Pennsylvania. Riversand open bodies of water, suchas lakes and reservoirs, seemto be focal points where these birdscongregate, perhaps because theymost closely resemble the bird’snative habitat.
Last year, during Hurricane Sandy,several members of the State CollegeBird Club (myself included) venturedout to Bald Eagle State Park inHoward.
A variety of storm-displaced birdswere observed in the park, including a
pair of Pomarine jaegers.Pomarine jaegers are members of
the skua family. They are most closelyrelated to and superficially resemblegulls.
They are similar in size to thefamiliar ring-billed gull. Pomarinescome in both light and dark colormorphs, but the light-morphs makeup the vast majority.
The light-morph birds have whiteunderparts that are accented by a
blackish-brown collar. The back andhead are also blackish-brown.
Dark-morph birds are uniformlyblackish-brown. Pomarines also havea pale-colored sheath covering thebase of their otherwise dark bill.
The most distinctive feature of thePomarine is its large central spoon-shaped tail feathers that extend
13October 2013
BIRDWATCH: Hurricane Birds in Central Pa.By JOE VERICAVoices [email protected]
Photo by Patrick Coin // Creative CommonsA Pomarine jager (Stercorarius pomarinus) soars over the waters of Hatteras, N.C. Pomarine jagers often winter inwarmer coastal areas, like the Carolinas in the east and the coast of California in the west.
see BIRDWATCH, pg. 14
It was a Saturday night in StateCollege. I was stopped at the corner ofBeaver Ave. and Burrowes St. Thelight turned green and I put my footon the gas pedal.
All of a sudden a drunk Penn Statestudent stumbled off the curb andright in my path. I slammed on thebrake just in time.
He then continued to lurch his wayacross the street, oblivious to howclose he came to death.
This year, approximately 2000 ofthe 44,000 students at UniversityPark will be charged with a summaryoffense, most of them related toalcohol consumption.
Let me thank Community Relations
Officer Kelly Aston of the StateCollege Borough Police Department,and Magisterial District JudgeCarmine Prestia. They provided muchof the information for this article.
What are summary offenses?Summary offenses are criminal
charges. They are less serious thanmisdemeanor or felony charges.
The table to the right details theeight most frequent summaryoffenses in State College Borough,College Township, and HarrisTownship for 2012. The number ofsummary citations issued by the PennState Police is slightly fewer.
Here is a brief description of each ofthese common offenses.
Shauniqua Epps was the sort ofstudent that so many colleges say theywant.
She was a high achiever, graduatingfrom high school with a 3.8 GPA andranking among the top students inher class. She served as secretary,then president, of the studentgovernment. She played varsitybasketball and softball. Her high-school guidance counselor, in a letterof recommendation, wrote that Eppswas “an unusual young lady” with“both drive and determination.”
Epps, 19, was also needy.Her family lives in subsidized
housing in South Philadelphia, andher father died when she was in thirdgrade. Her mother is on SocialSecurity disability, which provides thefamily $698 a month, records show.
Neither of her parents finished highschool.
Epps, who is African-American,made it her goal to be the first in herfamily to attend college.
“I did volunteering. I didinternships. I did great in school. Iwas always good with people,” saidEpps, who has a broad smile and acheerful manner. “I thoughteverything was going to go my way.”
At first, it looked that way.Epps was admitted to three
colleges, all public institutions inPennsylvania. She was awarded themaximum Pell grant, federal funds
intended for needy students. She alsoqualified for the maximum state grantfor needy Pennsylvania students.
None of the three schools Epps wasadmitted to gave her a single dollar ofaid.
To attend her dream school,Lincoln University, Epps would havehad to come up with about $4,000per year, after maxing out on federalloans — close to half of what hermother receives from Social Security.
It was money her family didn’thave, she said.
Public colleges and universitieswere generally founded and funded to
give students in their states access toan affordable college education.
They have long served as a vitalpathway for students from modestmeans and those who are the first intheir families to attend college.
But many public universities, facedwith their own financial shortfalls, areincreasingly leaving low-incomestudents behind — including striverslike Epps.
It’s not just that colleges arecontinuously pushing up stickerprices. Public universities have alsobeen shifting their aid, giving less tothe poorest students and more to thewealthiest.
A ProPublica analysis of new datafrom the U.S. Department ofEducation shows that from 1996through 2012, public colleges and
LACHMAN: A Student’s Guide to Summary OffensesBy STEVE LACHMANVoices [email protected]
18October 2013
It’s not just that colleges are continuously pushing up stickerprices. Public universities have also been shifting their aid,giving less to the poorest students and more to the wealthiest.
8 Most Common Summary Offenses in StateCollege, College Twp., and Harris Twp (2012)
Offense No.Underage Drinking 489Public Drunkenness 324Disorderly Conduct 322Public Urination 273Open Container of Alcohol 178Excessive Noise 133Criminal Mischief 127Harassment 63
Universities aid the wealthy, leaving poor behindBy Marian WangProPublica
see AID, pg. 21
see OFFENSES, pg. 19
according to an analysis of Pell-grantdata by Tom Mortenson, a seniorscholar at the nonprofit Pell Institute.The task of educating low-incomestudents has increasingly fallen tocommunity colleges and for-profitschools.
Epps’ top choice, officially known asThe Lincoln University, is about anhour’s drive from Philadelphia, andwas one of the nation’s firsthistorically black colleges. Founded in1854 to serve African-Americansexcluded from other colleges, theschool became a public institution inthe early 1970s, when the statelegislature deemed its mission to be“completely compatible with theneeds of the Commonwealth.”
All of the school’s own aid typicallygoes toward athletic or merit-basedscholarships, regardless of students’needs. In the 2009-10 budget, forinstance, most of the roughly $3million in institutional aid went to
four specific “merit-based”scholarships — and the rest toathletics, international students, andstudy abroad, according to datasupplied by Lincoln. The only need-based aid available to students isthrough separate donor-supportedscholarships, some of which areearmarked for needy students, saiduniversity spokesman Eric Webb.
Aid given based on merit or otherfactors could still go to needystudents, but that doesn’t appear tobe happening much at Lincoln.
Data made available by thenonprofit Institute for College Access& Success show that 84 percent of theschool’s grant dollars in the 2009-10school year did not go to meetingstudents’ needs. (The data does notinclude athletic scholarships andcertain other forms of aid.)
At Epps’ second choice, MillersvilleUniversity of Pennsylvania, two-thirds of aid dollars in 2010-11 wentto students who had no documentedneed for it, according to the latestdata available. (East StroudsburgUniversity of Pennsylvania, the thirdschool that accepted Epps, did notprovide a breakdown of institutionalgrant aid.)
Why have public universities acrossthe nation shifted their aid?
“For some schools, they’re trying toclimb to the top of the rankings. Forother schools, it’s more about revenuegeneration,” said Don Hossler, aprofessor of educational leadershipand policy studies at IndianaUniversity at Bloomington.
To achieve these goals, schools usetheir aid to draw wealthier students —especially those from out of state, whowill pay more in tuition — or higher-achieving students, whose scores willgive the colleges a boost in therankings.
Private colleges have been usingsuch tactics aggressively for sometime. But in recent years, many publiccolleges have sought to catch up,
doing what the industry calls“financial-aid leveraging.”
The math can work like this:Instead of offering, say, $12,000 to anespecially needy student, a schoolmight choose to leverage its aid bygiving $3,000 discounts to fourstudents with less need, each of whomscored high on the SAT, who togetherwill bring in more tuition dollars thanthe needier student.
Those discounts are often offered toprospective students as “merit aid.”
Despite its name, “merit aid isn’talways going to the very beststudents,” Hossler said. “It’s anintentional strategy to help offset theloss of state support.”
Hossler knows this world firsthand.For years, he carried out suchstrategies as vice chancellor forenrollment services at IndianaUniversity.
“One of my charges was to go afterwhat I would call pretty good out-of-state students,” he said. “Notvaledictorians, not the top of theclass. Students who you didn’t have togive thousands and thousands ofdollars to in order to get them to
22October 2013
The math can work like this:Instead of offering, say,$12,000 to an especiallyneedy student, a schoolmight choose to leverage itsaid by giving $3,000discounts to four studentswith less need, each ofwhom scored high on theSAT, who together will bringin more tuition dollars thanthe needier student.
At Epps’ second choice,Millersville University ofPennsylvania, two-thirds ofaid dollars in 2010-11 wentto students who had nodocumented need for it,according to the latest dataavailable.
from AID, pg. 21
see AID, pg. 23
between a 360 and 460 on the mathsection of the SAT. In 2012, half ofstudents scored between 410 and490.
The boost in scores has been noaccident, according to Jennings. Hesaid it was a mandate from the Boardof Trustees.
“They wanted to increase the SATaverages of students coming toLincoln,” Jennings said.
And what about students who mayhave once been a natural fit but aren’thitting the higher scores? The schoolstill wants to serve some of them —“because of our historical mission,”explained Jennings. But Lincoln hasalso increasingly been “trying to steerthat lower tier of students — students
who need much more help — intocommunity colleges,” he said.
Jennings doesn’t see this as adeparture from the school’s missionto provide public access. “Absolutelynot,” he said. “That’s why you havecommunity colleges. They, too, arepublic institutions, and we have builtcollaborative relationships withthem.” He added that the schoolrecently launched a campaign to raisemore money for scholarships, some ofwhich will go to providing more need-based aid.
Like Lincoln, both MillersvilleUniversity and East StroudsburgUniversity — the two other collegesthat accepted Epps — have createdstrategic planning documents thatinclude language reflecting a desire tomove up academically.
In a 2010-15 strategic planningdocument, East StroudsburgUniversity outlined the goals ofbecoming “more selective in each newyear” as well as fostering “strategicalignment of financial aid” to betterattract top students.
“High-achieving and access are notmutually exclusive,” saidspokeswoman Brenda Friday. “Assuch, we look for and recruit studentswho present both. We also recruitthese groups separately. There arefunding possibilities available forboth groups of students.”
East Stroudsburg and otherregional public colleges are in a toughspot. Many don’t have very much aidto give, and most serve a higherpercentage of needy students thanmore prestigious public flagshipuniversities, which have more moneyfrom endowments, research andfundraising. It’s a commonphenomenon in higher education –students with less money relegated toinstitutions with less money.
In Pennsylvania, as in most states,public higher education has facedsteep cuts, especially since the mostrecent recession. Over the last fiveyears, the state has cut funds forhigher education by 18 percent. Atpublic institutions, that’s worked outto about $2,000 less in state and localsupport per student — a 32percentage-point drop, according to
data from the State Higher EducationExecutive Officers.
“All the arrows point in a directionthat shows what we are out doing nowis raising revenue. The old businessmodel has sort of broken down,” saidPatrick Callan, president of theHigher Education Policy Institute andformerly the head of state higher-education boards and commissions inMontana, Washington and California.
“There have probably been nowinners from all of this,” Callan said.“But the biggest losers were thosewho were disadvantaged on the frontend.”
In high school, Epps went by thenickname “Neeks” with most of herfriends. They were a mixed group.Some, like her, fostered hopes ofattending college. Others just wantedto finish school and get a job.
Though she loved high school, Eppssaid that looking back she realizesthat despite her own efforts, shedidn’t get the best education.
About a third of the students at herhigh school didn’t graduate. After sheleft, the school was among roughlytwo dozen shuttered by thechronically underfunded SchoolDistrict of Philadelphia.
“On a couple of levels, systems arefailing these students,” said Ann-Therese Ortiz, who worked with Epps
24October 2013
Lincoln has also increasingly been “trying to steer thatlower tier of students — students who need much morehelp — into community colleges,” he said.
Jennings doesn’t see this as a departure from the school’smission to provide public access. “Absolutely not,” hesaid. “That’s why you have community colleges. They, too,are public institutions, and we have built collaborativerelationships with them.”
Elizabeth GorehamFOR MAYOR
VOTE
5NOV
Extensive Experience.
Effective Leadership.Exceptional Community
Service.
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from AID, pg. 23
see AID, pg. 25
“In a way, four-year colleges areasking two-year colleges to do thedirty work of selecting who’s worthyof a four-year college,” the PellInstitute’s Tom Mortenson said. Indoing so, four-year colleges are not“taking on the responsibility from thebeginning when they’re freshmen andmaking a real commitment to thesestudents.”
But colleges — even those with anexplicit public mission — havemounting incentives to avoidstudents like Epps. Carnevale pointsto the dawning of what’s known as the“accountability movement” — aneffort by states to reform highereducation by tying funding for publiccolleges to student outcomes and
graduation rates. Last month,President Barack Obama announcedthat the federal government wouldalso be moving in a similar direction— and hopes to eventually tie federalaid to certain performance measures.
Unless policymakers build in someincentives to take on more students atthe margins, the accountabilitymovement could drive schools further
away from low-income and minoritypopulations, which have lowergraduation rates overall, Carnevalesaid. “The whole logic of this industry— and the reform of it as well —excludes low-income and minoritystudents.”
While colleges strive to enrollwealthier and better-performingstudents, the demographics of thenation’s high-school graduates aremoving in a different direction: As agroup, tomorrow’s high-schoolgraduates will be more raciallydiverse and more low-income thantoday’s.
“There is a significantmisalignment. And I think themisalignment’s going to continue togrow,” said David Tandberg, anassistant professor of highereducation at Florida State Universitywho previously worked in thePennsylvania Department ofEducation.
“The public really, really benefitsfrom a first-generation student goingto college. All sorts of wonderfuloutcomes come from that,” Tandbergsaid.
A more educated workforce has
widespread benefits: It leads to moreearning power for those whograduate, a stronger tax base for thestate, and greater potential foreconomic growth in the future.
Public universities have the task of“balancing institutional striving withthe public’s needs,” Tandberg said,which “are often two very differentthings.”
Epps still remembers going out andbuying a new button-down shirt,slacks and dress shoes the nightbefore her high-school graduation.She remembers the nervousness shefelt the next morning, and the tinge ofsadness.
“I was going to miss my friends. Wehad been together for four years, andwe were all going in differentdirections,” she said. “I didn’t knowhow life was going to turn out.”
At graduation, in her white cap andgown, she was the mistress ofceremonies, introducing each of thespeakers and making sure theceremony flowed. She read out thetheme of the year’s graduation, arephrasing of a Thoreau quote: “Goconfidently in the direction of yourdreams. Live the life you haveimagined.”
She’s certainly trying. Communitycollege started up again last week.Epps has already signed up for a fullschedule of six classes.
A year from now, she hopes totransfer, finally, to a four-year stateschool and eventually to get abachelor’s degree. She’s thinking shemight want to study accounting.
26October 2013
from AID, pg. 25 “In a way, four-year colleges are asking two-year collegesto do the dirty work of selecting who’s worthy of a four-year college,” the Pell Institute’s Tom Mortenson said. Indoing so, four-year colleges are not “taking on theresponsibility from the beginning when they’re freshmenand making a real commitment to these students.”
Unless policymakers build in some incentives to take on morestudents at the margins, the accountability movement coulddrive schools further away from low-income and minoritypopulations, which have lower graduation rates overall,Carnevale said. “The whole logic of this industry — and thereform of it as well — excludes low-income and minoritystudents.”
Voices publishes with volunteerwriters that strive to get all the factsright surrounding a story and not justthe ones that we find convenient. Thisis what keeps Voices vital andtrustworthy.
Our new editor is working reallyhard to build a team of reporters, ableto work on stories that just can’t becovered by the daily news media:stories that require in-depth research,careful fact checking and that assure avoice for the voiceless.
After all, that is part of our mission.So it may not surprise you to see thatmost of these stories aim to shed lightwhere there is darkness, to challengethe status quo, to equip ourcommunity with real facts, and to
hold our elected officials accountable. Our news section is separate from
our opinion section and we all shouldbe able to recognize the difference.Likewise, our advertising departmentfunctions completely independentlyfrom our managing editor’s task ofcreating content for the paper. Whenthose two become blurred, we havefailed our mission.
We all realize that selectivelychoosing facts can change opinionsabout a situation, but we won’t giveequal time to fringe opinions in a falseattempt to appear balanced.Objectivism still requires truth.
We have a long history of puttinginformation into your hands andletting you decide what you think. Ihope we can continue thatrelationship for a long time.
After all, Voices is celebrating a big
milestone with this issue.It’s been 20 years since the first
publication of Voices hit the streetsand there are far too many folks whoplayed a part in that to mention themall, but you know who you are.
And we can’t forget to thank ourreaders, our donors, our cheerleaders,our volunteers, our staff, and thecommunity that cares about Voices.
Here’s to shining another 20 yearsof light.
the humper or the humpee. Ourfemale dog humps our female cat,and they’re both fixed.
But they’re also adult, and they’reboth consenting to it. Dairy cows
hump other cows, and that’s how wetell one of the ladies is in heat andcan be successfully inseminated.
It’s different with people. Here’sthe short version: if you haveunprocessed feelings, and you needto use your genitalia to expressthem, whether your equipment isinboard or outboard, you are on theshit list of nearly everyoneeverywhere.
I hope the perpetrators will beable to stop doing what they do,make reparations where possible tothose they have harmed, and helpguide their fellow sufferers awayfrom that path. I hope the victimscan find peace and healing.
This ain’t no party, this ain’t nodisco, this ain’t no foolin’ around. Ifthe defenseless can’t defendthemselves, then those who are ableto need to step in, and this startswith pointing out that it’s not aboutsex, it’s about sick and criminal.Let’s build a reputation for vigilantdecency, rather than placating
everyone’s denial.
Dear Cosmo,Is Penn State becoming a “Nanny
State?” My roommate and I gotalcohol charges after the footballgame last month. Like we were theonly ones partying! Since we areboth under 21, they made us attendthat BASICS class at the healthservice. They said it was supposedto be non-judgmental, but we didn’thave ANY choice in the matter.
They said we were guilty and hadto attend, and that felt prettyjudgmental. We also had to pay$200 each. That REALLY feltjudgmental.
The counselor or social worker orden mother or whatever she wassaid we needed look at our drinkinghabits and try to “reduce our risks.”Like how we can avoid the cops?
Another student who claimed hetotally quit drinking last year told usthat if we had a problem withdrinking, “you should avoid people
places and things.” How does thatmake sense? How is that evenpossible? Those things areeverywhere! We’re all adults here,why can’t they just leave us alone?Signed, Cheers, Dog!
Dear Boos, Hound,You got me there – I don’t know of
many mature adults who say, “Whycan’t they just leave us alone?” Yourfriend said you had to stay awayfrom nouns? Good luck writingcollege papers without them.Persons, places and things come inpretty handy in nearly everysentence. Rare, indeed, are theoccasions I can utter a completesentence without using nouns.
There are there the interjections:Yikes! Ouch! Whoa! Hey! or As if!Then there are random adjectives.Ridiculous. Snappy! Adorable.Sketchy.
30October 2013
from Cosmo, pg. 29
see Cosmo, pg. 31
If the defenseless can’tdefend themselves, thenthose who are able to needto step in, and this startswith pointing out that it’s notabout sex, it’s about sick andcriminal. Let’s build areputation for vigilantdecency, rather thanplacating everyone’s denial.
The difference between news and opinion mattersBy ELAINE MEDER-WILGUSPresident, Voices Board of [email protected]
