A View From The Lighthouse
Here's your gold
medal...just
kidding!
Andreea Raducan spent most ttt
her young life in Romitni,t tr,anin,e
to be a gymnast. As not po,pk ,
know, Raducan had to cUp 1110.1
of her childhood to her dream of
becoming a w orld class e\ nnLe.t
And all of the hard work had pad
off when she won a spot on the Ro
manian National Gvinnastics 'leant
for this year's Olympics in S dile\
Early in the week, Raducan helped
the Romanians win aCold medal in
the team gymnastics competition
and won herself a silver the %an!!
She was flying high heading into the
competition for the w onteri ; di
around gold medal 13111 suil
den') came down w ith a
slight fever. Sh e
went to her le,till
doctor, lochim ()amt. and
some over the comm.; meth, wt. , tU
alleviate the ,v mptoms then
went on to \A in the cold
Sounds like one heck of success
story for someone V, ho doesn't turn
17 until Saturda‘, doesn't it ' But
then her whole world proceeded
fall apart.
In routine drug testing after her
gold medal performance. Raducan
tested positive for pseudoephedi inc.
a substance banned by the Interna
tional Olympic Committee. w
was in the cold medicine !hid she
was given by her team )1' title
was stripped of her gold medal. and
her dreams were crushed.
Now I understand that the lot
trying to crack dow n on drug h.,. tw
Olympic athletes. People w t“,
competing in the gicalest
competition in the 1t 11(11
be using perforn
iance enhancing
drugs, but in R
e:•L! Ole
went way too tar. 10C dii
Francois Carrard said that the meth-
cation gave her no competitive ad
vantage. So why take awa . , her
medal for something given to her h%
her team doctor') The doctor w
punished (he was banned trout the
next two Olympics in Salt Lake
and Athens), but in reality d ws Ihdt
equal what RadllCall now ha , , to p,
through.
Her teammates, in a slim\ sun
port for her, ha% e returned all ot the
medals that they won. but this is hale
consolation. The it X' needs n le
think their ruling on this. Sometimes
THE BEHREND BEACON
published weekly /)V the ~ bid( of Pe rin trie, The HMI - end College
Editor-in-('hief
Managing Editor
mi, 'wet
News Editor
Liz Have
Editorial Page Editor
Katie
Features Editors
Karl Benue ci
Jermaine Math
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Deanna Strir,%ki
Sports Editor
Doug .S'mUll
Abbv bnig (I,lstarit
Wire Service Editor
Rob VV% UM'
Photo Editors
Je . ff Miller
Be( Wemilorl
Associate Editor
Chrivin, /Ale(A
Copy Editor
Paige Mile‘
Postal Information: The Beacon k
published weekly by the studenk of
Penn State Erie, The Behrend
College; First Floor, The J. Elmer
'Reed Union Building, Station Road,
Erie, PA 16563. The Beacon can he
reached by calling (814) 8984) ;X8 Or
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9288.
even the hest intentioned ideas can
lead iii the worst possible conse-
queni.cs,
\Via kind of of lect does this have
the games' When people around
he y1111(111111C in to watch an event.
does it walls mean anything when
!he ss inners ;lie announced:' Maybe
the) ,hould stop televising the
es ants and start televising the drug
ic-aing: at least then we would know
stile s ho the real winners were.
I hats it. we need a new Olympic
event I )rug Testing! The person
1 - 1(1se blood is closest chemically to
heirig s tier Wilts! With as interest
ing as these Olympics have been, at
least the 'I V ratings would go up a
But that is all the Olympics seem
to he any more -- one gigantic drug
test Can \nu remember that last
ulna on ICA ur watched something
shout the Olympics without hearing
something about drugs or "doping.''
It seems like the person who wins
di tesn' t get the media coverage any
mole. it's the person who gets
,u t yped of their title who gains the
tea M mes_:And since the Romanians
witn 111 three medals for the all
,ilollllti competition and they all gave
them hack, does the gold medal
in the competition mean anything'?
I'm sure the new gold medal win
ner, N.lllO really placed fourth over
is so happy running around
\Li earning, "everyone gave the med
als hack so I won! Yippie!'
As these Olympics begin to wind
down. here is one thought to keep in
mind. The Olympics are supposed
to ard people who overcome all
advenity It) he the best in the world
at their sport. Well right now there
Is \ ming w ()man from Romania
\\ ho pertormed with a cold and le
vet to win a gold medal, and it was
taken away. What do the Olympics
stand I or again?
MEM=
Public Relations Manager
tier Pol
encourages letters to the editor.
I Alters should include the address,
phone number, semester standing
and major of the writer. Writers can
mail letters to behrcoll2@aol.com.
I.elrt' • must he received no later
than p.m. Tuesday for inclusion
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d ertising Manager
k ini Ai( k
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A risone Harakal
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Kevin Bruner
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tfelt+vi Proba
Advisor
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The Beacon
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More parking problems addressed
I read through random articles of The Behrend
Beacon every week. Last week I could not help
but notice an article entitled "Parking Problems
Being Addressed." In this article, the news
editor discussed an interview with William
Donahue, Manager of Safety and Security at
Penn State Behrend. There were a few
comments that caught my attention, and I was
irritated enough to write about them.
Mr. Donahue is quoted: "Anyone who says we
don't have adequate parking on campus is
confusing 'adequate' with 'convenient', and they
are nut the same thing." A statement that does
absolutely nothing except attempt to refute the
fact that there is a parking problem on campus
that the COLLEGE has let get out of control. I
would also argue that the statement I hear most
often isn't that we don't have adequate parking:
rather, we don't have adequate parking where it
is needed. I, personally, have not had the
Land of the free, and home of the greedy
Have you ever seen the commercial for
the WB with the little Napoleon cartoon?
It has this little guy in a military outfit
pointing at a map with a stick, saying
"Want it, got it, got it, want it, need it, got
" While I'm not sure what it
it, got it
was supposed to say about the WB, I think
it does say something about the American
mentality.
Let me ask you this: how many CD players
do you have'? If your house is anything like
mine, you have about four or five at least one
diskman, a little boom box or two, at least one
major stereo unit, and maybe a car CD player.
You probably also have a computer which plays
musical CDs (my family is stoically ignoring the
Information Age and we don't have our own
computer ... yet).
Another question: what's in your family
garage? I bet the original plan was to put the
cars (notice the plural) in there, but there is no
longer enough room because it is so full of other
junk. The garage, basement, attic, gameroom,
maybe even a shed or two they are all full of
toys and things used for entertainment value that
haven't seen the light of day in years. The old
Nintendo, the older Atari, the skis, the bicycles,
the canoe, the old furniture, the old VCR and the
old microwave, the long-outgrown quad, the
snowmobile, the pool equipment and toys, the
yard games, and Halloween decorations that are
so hard to get to that you just buy more every
year and add to the pile. They are all hiding in
there, reminders of past whims, waiting to
buried under the next wave of trendy sporting
goods and cast-off victims of home remodeling.
Okay, one final question: have you ever seen
an ad for something and said to yourself or your
friends, "I don't care what that costs, I'm going
to buy it tomorrow." Or you find out your
favorite band is coming to town and, even
though you don't have the money, you are
totally committed to going, instantly? What the
hell, you always have that Penn State Alumni
Association credit card. Looks like Joe Pa will
score again!
So what's my point? Everything that I've just
mentioned sounds pretty normal, right? Well,
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
privilege of Police and Safety making my
commute more organised by dkerting ine to a
parking lot an entire campus away from my class.
I haven't had much trouble finding a decent spot
to park relatively close to where I need to be, hut
the idea that commuters altering their assn al times
can remedy parking problems is a Band-Aid at
best. Mr. Donahue has apparent]) suggested that
students arrive 5 to It) minutes earlier. and we
could all avoid traffic jams. Again. this is a
statement that says absolutely nothing shout
solutions and seems to make student beha% Jou the
root of the problem. It seenis Mr. Donahue is
confusing 'discussing' a problem s ith actual!)
`solving' one.
I cannot tell you how happy I am, as all
commuters should he, to hear of Mr. Donahue's
"tentative plans" to begin routimi commuters to
the ARC lot once it
opens in (ktober. flow earls'
should we arrive then, Mr. Donithue:' Maybe the
Beyond the Ch
Colored Lights
Liz Haves
that's my
point. It IS
normal, and
maybe that's
the problem. We seem to live in a
society where we are so accustomed to eventually
getting whatever we want that we take it as our
God-given right to acquire. So what if we
already have a perfectly fine CD player now we
can get a state-of-the-art Mp..). player. So what if
our VCR works fine and all of our movies are on
videocassette a DVD player is the latest wave in
technology. Yeah, it'll cost a hit now to upgrade,
but it will be worth it in the end. Right?
It seems that Manifest Destiny has become our
way of life. We are Americans, and we are
therefore entitled to own whatever we want as
long as we are willing to pay the cost. It's pretty
hypocritical, if you think about it: we complain
about how all these conglomerates own every
thing and don't give the little guy a break; we tell
ourselves that we don't vote because politicians
only listen to those who pay the big bucks to fund
their campaigns; we sneer at people like Bill
Gates and Donald Trump because they use their
money as they please. And yet, wouldn't any one
of us do the same thing if given the chance?
Don't we already do it on a smaller scale?
I have brought this topic up before, and have
usually been met with the argument that we are
entitled to what we have because we have worked
for it. We fought many a battle to get the govern
ment and economy we wanted, our ancestors
broke their backs building our cities and indus
tries, we have been a powerful force in defending
others who supposedly want the same things as
we do. So why shouldn't we reap the benefits
from our labors?
I'm not saying that we shouldn't, exactly. But
whose to say that some other country hasn't
fought or toiled or defench'il And
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2000
College should consider building a parking
lot somewhere near 1-90, and we commuters
can just walk from there every morning.
Bring your tennis shoes.
Alas, Mr. Donahue has said there are many
proposals being discussed, hut our hopes are
immediately dashed as no definite plans have
been made - shocker. I'm personally rooting
for the parking deck idea, hut I am not
holding my breath. I can't help but ask the
same loaded question, "What's being done
about parking?" I also can't help but wonder
something else where do YOU park, Mr.
Donahue, and how long does it take you to
walk to your office every morning?
Samuel Delp
MIS 05
diligently as we have'? I am not going to pick
apart every country on the earth and site all
the wars, both literal and figurative, that
they've fought, but I'm reasonably certain
that there must he other people who have
earned the same rights to possess as we have
it such rights exists. So why are we the only
ones in the world who seem to take our
"rights" for granted?
I am not a sociologist or a philosopher, or
even someone who has any education in this
type of argument. But it seems to me that we
are breeding a society of people who are so
consumed with ownership for the sake of
ownership that everything else that should
matter gets lost in the shuffle. We don't buy
a piece of art because it really affected us
emotionally; we buy it because we want to
hang it on the wall where all of our guests
will be able to 000 h and aaah over it. We
don't send people postcards because we were
thinking of them while on vacation; we send
them to show off the great places we got to
go while they were sitting behind their desks
at work. We don't drive a nice car because of
the gas mileage or the comfort it affords; we
drive it so that all the other drivers on the
road can drool on their steering wheels when
we zip by
I don't have a solution, as usual. I am
guilty of the same things I'm preaching
against I have many CD players, a two-
story garage packed full of stuff that will
never he used, and a coaxed credit card bill
that I will probably never pay off, much to
my mother's consternation. I have bought
things that I couldn't afford and will doubt
lessly do it again. I just thought that it might
be interesting to note that while the Monroe
Doctrine has met with criticism in my
American history classes, the basic principles
it set up are alive and well in our society. We
view the world as one big resource that we
are the sole beneficiaries of, and we assume
no one will ever be able to take that away
from us. Let's just hope that we aren't being
delusional.
r,..
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