Lack of courtesy
on the roadways
G. Love and
6 - 4 Bojangles
Ryan Anthony
\,_,
We are all college students. Therefore, 3
a.m. phone calls are not too much out of the
ordinary. You know how the conversations
You: (groggily) "Hello."
Your friend: (slurring) "Hey! I'm drunk.
What are you doing? Come over and party!"
At this point you hang up on your drunken
buddy and fall back asleep, thinking nothing
more of it.
Now imagine your parents getting the 3
a.m. phone call. It's doubtful they have
friends who call them this late, so there is
probably another reason for the call.
Imagine your parents waking up for a phone
call in the middle of the night with a police
officer on the other end telling them their
son or daughter was in an accident caused
by a drunk driver.
I am coming off of the best summer of
my life. After two months of working my
butt off, I hopped on a plane and spent five
weeks exploring Europe. I initially planned
on using this first editorial to tell you all
about it. Unfortunately, events of this past
weekend have changed that and I feel the
need to impart my opinion on something
else.
Early last Saturday morning or late last
Friday night (whichever you prefer), an
intoxicated student driving up Jordan Road
plowed into a Police and Safety officer
pulling out of a parking lot. The student's
high speed caused the officer's car to
crumple and sail 100 feet up the hill. The
student was flown by Lifestar to an area
hospital, where he was in serious condition.
You always hear about the drunk drivers
being the ones receiving the lesser ill, but
when you are not wearing a seatbelt, your
head is bound to end up on the other side of
the windshield. The officer, fortunately, was
only slightly injured.
I don't want to sound like an overbearing
parent, but please! I cannot understand for
the life of me why people do this. What
makes a person who clearly knows he has
been drinking get behind the wheel of a two
ton automobile.... especially if this person is
underage?
I find it hard to believe that people are
too DUMB to not know their limits. I am
sure we have all heard at some point in time
someone bragging about how they drove
home, despite being completely wasted.
How does a person take pride in this? It is
STUPID. Do these people not realize that
they are not the only ones out there on the
roads? It's not like they are getting behind
the wheel of a go-cart. Statistics say that on
any given weekend, one in 10 drivers has
been drinking. An out-of-control car
traveling 30 miles per hour can do a lot of
damage.
Pennsylvania's "zero tolerance" law
allows minors a blood-alcohol level of .02—
how that is zero, I don't know. Regardless,
keep in mind that for most people this is only
one drink. So what if you just have one drink
and feel like you can drive home safely?
What if something happens while you are
driving home and it is not even your fault?
You are the one underage with a blood
alcohol content above the legal limit. You
are the one who will face the consequences
for years to come.
And that's just from one drink. What if
you have a few more and then decide to get
behind the wheel? These consequences, as
proved time and again, are often disastrous.
The legal limit in Pennsylvania for adults is
.10, but I am not talking about adults in this
article. I'm talking about the sheer stupidity
of minors, driving under the influence of
alcohol.
I understand that we have only been back
at school for two weeks and everyone is
anxious to have fun with their friends they
didn't see all summer, but please do it
responsibly. I see no problem with any
student having fun with a beer or two, even
if the student is not of legal age. The thing I
have a problem with is when drunkenness
gets out of control. Please know your limits
and NEVER attempt to drive when you've
been drinking. There is no shame in handing
over your keys to someone else. Keep in
mind the rest of us sober folks who are
driving on the same roads as you.
Anthony's column appears every
three weeks.
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Things to do in Erie #3: Fun with road construction
Attitude problem
Paige Miles
Ong in the pa,senger
seat of a 1992 (POS) Ford Tempo, heading
west on a major Erie highway. The four of us
occupying the car cannot find anything either
worthwhile or fun to do that doesn't require
large sums of money (anything over a dol
lar). In front of us. the highway, once four
lanes, is shut down to two lanes by a series of
orange- and white-striped rectangle barriers.
Those barriers must he calling out to the driver
as he accelerates to 70 mph and takes out the
first one in the row. It is loud. I am waiting
for the window to shatter.
When I do finally open my eyes, I ask where
the barrier went and what happened to it. "Dis
integrated," replies the driver. "Simply disin
tegrated."
I am not sure if this only occurred in Erie,
or across Pennsylvania this summer, hut it
seemed as if there was an unusually large
amount of road construction. A normal three-
Coming attraction: A new 'real world'
s to, Caught in the
`Spyder' Web
Jason Snyder
411$11"1
College campuses all over the country
seem to have a different name for us. They
call us "fourth-year students," or "students
in their seventh semester." The most com
mon and widespread name is "seniors,"
which comes with the understanding that we
are college seniors as opposed to high school
"kids." I, however, have a new name for
fourth-year, seventh-semester seniors...we
are students of "the real world."
We heard our parents tell us more than a
thousand times about this "real world."
Whenever a night came when two essays
if;• . °4
minute drive home from work often turned
into a 45-minute wait on Water Street in 90-
degree weather (with air conditioning on the
fritz). Some genius decided to repave Buf
falo Road (which I at least agree is a good
idea since my CD-player would com
pletely shut down from the bumps when
driving the stretch from Giant Eagle to
Auto Zone).
i .lin it
When Buffalo Road was finally paved, it
seemed there would be some relief. No, some
one else decided to put sidewalks in. Seems
like a small task, right? Nope. Sure, the side
walks were placed and the world appeared
happy again, but two days later, the new side
walks were removed. Okay, so Penn Dot
changed its mind. No biggie. Waste our tax
dollars; we're used to it. Maybe it's a good
idea; an unusually large amount of people do
walk along Buffalo Road. (I highly respect
these individuals; I would be scared out of
my mind to make that trek, especially during
rush hour.) What gives the impression to be a
simple task has turned into World War 111 be
tween Penn Dot and motorists.
Sidewalks aren't the only menace to road
warriors on Buffalo Road. The traffic light at
the intersection of Saltsman and Buffalo roads
is broken more than it is functional, which
causes construction workers to navigate and
( , )11.11nnist
that your eyes rolled in
stinctively into the back of your head, and in
a bothered voice, you would insist, "This is
not the real world."
Well, it is. And why deny it? We act as if
there is some sort of negative connotation to
go along with the phrase "the real world."
We assume everything that goes along with
the real world is burdensome and unevent
ful. Seniors are beginning to understand that
these accusations are false.
The real world means that you and your
best friend from fourth grade can finally go
to the bars and have a couple of beers. It
means you can be a little freer with your lan
guage in front of your parents, without fear
Friday, September 7, 2001
were due, one project was
to be completed and work
just happened to schedule
you from 3 p.m. to 11
p.m., your parents would
chime in with those
dreaded words, "Wel
come to the real world."
That's about the time
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The Hot Debate of The Week
Cruel or crucial?
Pluripotent stem cell research is vital to
science and advancement in health care. It
could help to understand complex events
occurring during human development.
making it possible to identity the factors
involved in cellular decision-making process.
This may also lead to understanding some
of our most serious medical conditions, such
as cancer and birth defects that are due to
.
abnormal CO specialVatlon and cell (I v isi on.
Stem cell <''. ' .ell could change the devel
opment otiarugs and how we test them fir
safety. Medication§ could initially he tested
using human cell lines. Only the (hugs that
are safe and appear to have beneficial effect':
in cell line testing would he further tested in
laboratory animals and human subjects.
The most potential of stem cells is the gen
eration of cells and tissue for "cell therapies."
Donated organs and tissues are often used to
replace destroyed tissue. Unfortunately,
people suffering from these disorders out
number the organs available for transplant.
Instead, transplant of healthy heart muscle
cells provides hope for patients whose hearts
cannot pump adequately. The hope is devel
oping heart muscle cells from human stem
cells and transplanting them into the biding
heart in order to correct the function of the
failing heart.
Stem cells offer the possibility of . renew
able sources of replacement cells and tissue
to treat diseases, conditions, and disabilities
including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's dis
eases, Type I Diabetes, spinal cord tunny,
stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoar
thritis and rheumatoid arthritis. If von w crc
suffering, and this was the cur c. kiln von
welcome it with open arms?
Every week, two editors from the Awl, Input
email suggestions for the hot topi, .‘eml
Fighting over something with your friends?
Want to see it debated in the newspaper? Send
us your idea and we will debate it in our
'Hot Debate of the Week' discussion:
behrcoll2@aoLcom
direct traffic themselves t eel had for
Penn Dot employees. Yes, they ale making
fairly decent money, but they are pitting their
lives at risk with every car that goes by. Not
to mention that the sweltering heat and hu
midity isn't very pleasant either. I hatie seen
more middle fingers from consti action \\.
ers in the past four months than I have seen
from cranky teenagers in sports cars in my
life. In fact, in the intensity and stress of con
struction, I believe my middle finger has been
more practical than any other part of my body
as well.
So, what is the good out of all of this black
top evil? Road construction is fun, as at ore
mentioned. I am in no way suggesting that
anyone in any way should hinder the hard
work that Penn Dot employees do, hut road
construction games do provide the best stress
relief. For example, I have been told many
tales over the past few months of SU Vs and
pickup trucks that have been seen swerving
to hit the orange and white rectangle harriers.
At first, one would think they just suck at driv
ing or have had a few too many Labatt's. But
no, they are just entertaining themselves. No
tice the lack of orange road cones lately'?
That's because every red-blooded teenager in
Erie has stolen one, which has led to the ex
tinction of road cones in Erie County.
of getting that "look" that every parent seems
to have. It means that high school buddies
are beginning to send out wedding invitations
and baby announcements. It means that you
can finally leave your jobs at McDonald's,
K-mart or Ponderosa and work at places that
actually interest you. It means you can move
out of your parents' house and finally buy
all that junk food that Mom used to tell you
would rot your teeth.
What is so bad about that'?
The real world is the transition limn It)-
page papers, group projects, final ex any.. ex
tracurricular activities and part-time johs to
eight-hour workdays in an environment of
your choosing. The transition is a time where
everything seems to speed up. Decisions be
come a little more important. And you fi
nally realize that whatever you do now has a
direct correlation to where you will he in five
years. You are finally rewarded for the l
years of education that you thought would
never end.
Three months ago, I was a 20-year ()Id
college junior, living at home with a part-
Stem cell research is inhumane and cruel.
Through research of the topic one will come
to find that scientists are taking living em
hryos and using them tor scientific purposes.
From a religious point of view, this is man-
~laurhtrr
The process of this research is, after a
woman has had an abortion she is given the
option of letting the science use the embryo
tot the research, or being rid of it. Not only
does this promote abortion, this glorifies it!
Scientists also have no idea whether these
stem cells can be useful at all. lentil recently
they had been getting these cells from healthy
human ortians and Hood. Their research in
this concluded that stem cells from healthy
organs and blood was only marginally help
ful. What if the research of embryos turns out
to he just as effective'? flow much human life
are they ready to waste'?
As I was reading through some articles
online, I ran across something that piqued my
interest. In one interview on CNN with Eliza
beth Cohen, a group participant in this inter
view is quoted as saying, "You can take these
ernhryos and turn them into any type of hu
man tissue you need, inject it into the organ
that is damaged, and the cell will repair it
self .' This sounds quite a hit like cloning to
me. In this case, we are letting the scientists
play God, which may someday prove to he
destructive I believe that stem cell research
should he disapproved by President Bush and
idl scientists researching it should he stopped.
NAL Ilavev
Thal i.‘ hot. cailichb. and slat) on' encouraged to
2(0'001, ,qpi
But what happens to these cones when they
disappear from their home on the pavement?
The) end up in parking lots, blocking off
school entrances, rerouting traffic, etc. (I am
not in any way attempting to portray myself
as guilty, I just happen to,know of people who
do these stunts.) And last, it has been recently
discovered that the road harriers with the
blinkers oil top make great lamps when elec
tricity hills just get too darn high. As an added
benefit, they shut off with a swift kick.
Maybe the annoyances of the road construc
tion do outweigh the fun aspects for now, hut
soon we'll all have nice smooth roads
again...until next summer. My solution? Do
the construction at night. It saves motorists
gas, it saves stress, and maybe it keeps the
PennDut workers a little more happy.
Finally, my dear friend who owns the
Tempo has become bored with running over
barriers. His next goal is to somehow ramp
the bridge that is missing on Route 5 in North
Fast. Good luck, lion. Leave me out of this
Miles' column appears every three
weeks.
time job in the restaurant business, and a full
time joh as editor-in-chief of this paper,
thinking the two most important things in life
involved a perfect Beacon and a perfect Bea-
Today, I am a legal drinker, working part
time at the Erie Times-News, living away
from li(inie for the first time ever, and un
derstanding that the two most important
things in life involve resumes and interviews.
I've jumped on a ride that isn't slowing
down. It is an adventure moving from the
daily grind of part-time jobs and pointless
general education classes to working at a job
that will affect my future and an education
that will prepare me for my time in the real
world.
So, the next time my parents welcome me
to their world, 1 will take it as a compliment.
Because in a contest between yesterday and
the real world, I will take the latter of the
two choices anytime.
Snyder's column appears every
three weeks.
The Behrend Beacon
Page 7
E.Carr