Ben Kundman, Editorial Page Editor
behrcoll2@aol.com
The Behrend Beacon I
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News Editor
Erin McCarty
Asst. News Editor
Kevin Fallon
Sports Editor
Mike Bello
Asst. Sports Editor
Kate Levdansky Petrikis
Editorisl Page Editor
Ben Kundman
Features Editor
Karl Benacci
A&E Editor
Jeanine Noce
Wire Service Editor
Guy Reschenthaler
Staff Photographer
Jeff Hankey
Office Manager
Jason Alward
/ 1 THE PEMRF.MC
The Beacon is published
weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie,
the Behrend College;
First Floor, The J. Elmer
Reed Union Building, Station
Road, Erie, PA 16563.
The Beacon can be reached by
calling (814) 898-6488 or
(814) 898-6019 (FAX).
ISSN 1071-9288.
, 1
The View From the Lighthouse
The trail through Wintergreen Gorge is an invalu
able resource of both College and the
Wesleyville area. Many students pick Behrend be
cause of the variety of outdoor recreational activities
available on campus, as well
its close proximity to the city
Erie. In years past, scores of
people could be seen walking
their dogs, jogging, or cycling
through the beautiful lower
gorge section past its serene
babbling brook.
Unfortunately, with the con
struction of the new Eastside
Access highway, comes the
destruction of our beautiful Wintergreen Gorge.
Penn Dot chose this as the route because it would
destroy 12 houses, the fewest number of all possible
paths.
In a recent eco-terror attack on the Wintergreen
Gorge construction site, a $500,000 crane was de
stroyed and several trees were “spiked.” Spiking is a
technique used by eco-terrorists to prevent trees from
being cut down by driving a metal spike into them.
Although this method can be effective at preventing
trees from being downed, it is potentially fatal to the
logger when pieces of the spike and/or chainsaw chain
go shooting through the air like grenade shrapnel.
Members of the E.L.F, or Earth Liberation Front,
claimed responsibility for these actions although
leaders of the E.L.F. deny direct responsibility in the
attacks.
Terror is defined as “violence (as bombing) commit
ted by groups in order to intimidate a population or
government into granting their demands.” The attack
at the gorge was not a harmless attempt to increase
public awareness of the environmental damage the
Access highway will cause. It was an assault on work
place safety, and a physical threat to workers who have
little say in their companies’ environmental practices.
The recent eco-terror attack at the gorge could not
have possibly come at a worse time. Our nation is
currently involved in a war on terror, and sentiment
for any cause that uses violence to extol a political
cause is at an all-time low. The path for the Eastside
Access highway was chosen two or more years ago. If
political action would have been taken prior to the
decision to make a road or before the choosing of a
final route, a reasonable compromise could have been
reached that would have minimally impacted the
environment, as well as the community. Using violent
means to raise environmental awareness at this point
in time will only slow down the completion of the
project, not reverse it.
It is absolutely imperative that we as a nation
and as a world do everything possible to conserve
natural resources. However, violent means only tar
nish the reputation of environmentalists in the eyes of
the public.
Edltor-in-Chief
Robert Wynne
Managing Editor
Rebecca Weindorf
Professional Publication Mgr.
Dave Richards
Advisor
Mr. John Kerwin
The Beacon encourages
letters to the editor. Letters
should include the address,
phone number, semester
standing, and major of the
writer. Writers can mail letters
to behrcoll2@aol.com. Letters
must be received no later than
5 p.m. Monday for inclusion in
Business Manager
Paige Miles
Advertising Managers
Libbie Johnson
Melissa Powell
Angela Rush
Public Relations Manager
Kelly Walsh
Distribution Manager
Eric Kiser
Calendar Page Editor
Erinn Hansen
Health Page Editor
Sarah Orr
Humor Page Editor
Ben Kundman
Associate Editor
Jennie Ellison
Technical Support
Doug Butterworth
“Professionalism
with a Person i
that week’s issue
EDITORIAL
Poodles in Booties
tOh, you didn’t know? eve ntually headed weston 12" 1
| ■ Street. As time went on, the
tfenacci other brothers took breaks,
Features ediior sitting in the car, yet I refused,
because I have never taken a
break in the three years I have done
t \ji the walk, and I wanted to make it a
four-year streak when I graduate.
Anyway, as I walked I thought it
would be really cool to stroll all the
way to my pizza shop near my house
in Fairview. I didn’t think it would
happen in a four-hour shift, but it
appeared obtainable when I reached
the stoplight prior to Walnut Creek
Hill on Route 5. The other brothers
got in the car and I ran (not
continuously—l took two walking
breaks) to the pizza shop, where I had
a brother take pictures of me in front
of the shop, as customers stared at me
as if I was on some sort of narcotic.
After the pictures, I ran to the nearby
fire hall. It was at that moment the
What’s up? My fraternity had
itsannual charity walk this past week.
We walked through Erie County,
where my brothers and I walked in
four hour shifts to complete the 100
+ mile extravaganza. I walked a total
of 60 miles, give or take a few. After
the walk was completed I limped back
to my apartment and I fell into a
hibernation of unmatched fatigue in
order to heal my sore body.
Moving on, I not only saw a few
cool things on the walk, but I also
learned a few neat things:
1) Goals are fun. I had the first shift
of the walk; we began at Behrend and
Need to aet some
Send letters* bot
. to
The Middle East needs to I
J n’t believe
'rything you help you find J
s os roommate and
Housing always
makes the
Kevin Fallon LtcU?
One person
AjrM. Nchvs l:dfk>r puts down
they like Jay
Z, and someone else says they listen
to Garth Brooks. They get put
together because Housing figures
they both like music.
Well, Great Britain is Housing in
this case. It supports the Zionism
mqvement and gives the Jews some
colonial holdings in the Middle East
and calls it Israel. I guess Britain
thought the Jews and the Arabs would
get along because they both liked
religion.
Does anyone know what the hell is
going on in the Middle East? 1 see
Israel and Palestine in the headlines
everyday, so it must be important. But
no one seems to really know the story
here. All anyone knows is they both
need to take a chill pill.
My job as a journalist is to inform
the public on what is going on in this
wacky world. So 1 decided to figure
this whole mess out and break it down
in terms college students can relate
to. So for your educational benefit,
here is the college student’s Middle
East crash course:
It’s sometime after World War 11,
and the Arabs are just chillin’ in their
Middle East dorm, listening to Pink
Floyd while watching the Wizard of
Oz, when they get a knock on their
door. It’s the Jews.
See, the Jews just survived the war,
many of them were refugees fleeing
concentration camps. A movement
called Zionism was pushing for a
Jewish state for those Jews seeking
refuge from persecution.
Anyhow, you know when you fill
That damned Saddam
JLook, here’s how it is
Guy
Reschenthaler
Let’s face it; peace in the Middle
East has about a 1 percent chance of
ever happening in our lifetime.
You’ve got the Israelis who marched
into that hellhole over there and
showed the Palestinians what was up.
You’ve got the Palestinians all upset
because they are too backward and so
unorganized that they can not fight off
the Israelis. Their hatred and con
tempt for one another dates far back.
They have been fighting since they
learned how to throw punches and
stones.
Futile as it may be, for image and
worldwide public opinion, it is impor
tant for the U.S. to make some at
tempts at bringing peace to the two
camps. Hopefully, we do not sell out
the pro-West Israelis.
Friday, April 12, 2002
Now the Jews and the Arabs are
living in the same dorm but they don’t
get along. Many people wonder
where this hatred comes from.
Obviously, the Arabs liked having the
dorm all to themselves and don’t like
the idea of sharing it. But it starts to
really go sour when Israel drinks
Palestine’s last beer from the mini-
fridge.
Palestine is like, “Dude, why did
you take my beer?”
And Israel is like, “Oh, I didn’t
know it was yours.”
And then Palestine is like, “I’m the
only one who lives:here besides you.
So who else could it belong to? Come
■ ... /e cannot Jictators
Newsvvm* edjf.oi . . ...
or terrorist cells just
chillin’ over in the desert
waiting to hit Uncle Sam with a “sur
prise.” For our security we must be
pro-active and take out these threats.
The first rogue that comes to mind
is our Desert Storm punching bag,
Saddam Hussein. Hate is a strong
word, but I hate this guy. He rules
with an iron fist over his people, of
ten testing biological weapons on en
tire villages. He puts down rebellions
with massacres and lives lavishly
while his people starve.
Not only is this Stalin wannabe a
threat to his homeland, but to ours.
He has a growing arsenal of mass de
struction and an extreme, fanatical,
hatred of the U.S. Now put these two
together and the letters B-A-D come
to mind for the U-S-A.
Many say that we should have
taken this maniac out during the Gulf
War. We all have perfect hindsight
but we really should not have re
moved Hussein. During the war we
behrc
Our main concern,
however, should be roll
ing back anti-American
rogues.
W have di
next shift of brothers drove up to
relieve us of walking. As stupid as it
sounds, I found great personal
enjoyment while attempting to reach
the pizza place. But hey, I walked
from Behrend to a place in Fairview
in four hours, which is crazy. Making
far—fetched goals is fun. Why not
make a few of your own and attempt
to complete them?
2) Erie isn’t so bad. Aside from
the weather, I don’t think Erie is that
terrible. I further appreciated the town
after walking through it on my first
and fifth shift. The city is bigger than
I originally believed, is rather clean
(minus some litter) and most of the
people are decent (except for the
white trash who flicked us off).
3) Being healthy rules. Hey, I’m
not Mr. Universe like some of the
guys who work out at the Junker
-Center, but I am in decent shape. On
the walk, I further had an appreciation
ke totally ch
on man, that's messed up.”
So Palestine gets revenge by
stealing Israel’s clothes when it is in
the shower, and Israel has to walk
back to the room wrapped up in the
shower curtain.
All this leads to two major wars that
Israel wins, and is able to expand its
territory.
But Palestine does not give up and
keeps fighting. The rest of the world
becomes fed up with it because they
all have Ba.m. classes and can’t get
any sleep. So they decide to just.
divide the room into two by drawing
a line down the middle. This is mostly
done through peace talks set up by the
U.S. and Bill Clinton, who is like an
upset R.A.
And it almost works. But Palestine
wants the return of its refugees and
Israel would not allow this, so peace
was not achieved.
Where does that leave the Middle
East today? It leaves it real messed
up, that’s what. Basically, Israel and
Palestine are in a stalemate and the
violence continues.
If you want to know the reason for
the strong anti-American sentiment in
the Middle East, it’s because the U.S.
supports Israel. However, Bush needs
Arab support if he wants to continue
his war on terror against Iraq.
So the question for the U.S. is: how
can peace be reached so that the U.S.
maintains its interest with Israel and
also is supported by the Arab world?
Good luck trying to figure that one
out. As Mick Jagger once said, “You
had to keep our Arab allies happy.
They would never have stood for the
toppling of an Arab government.
The times have changed, however,
and we now realize we cannot cater
to the desires of a rogue nation. A
nation is either with us or against us.
We can, if we wanted, just go into
Iraq and topple the government —we
are that powerful. Assistance from
Turkey and Saudi Arabia would be
preferred because we would need to
use our military bases on their soil but
if not, no big deal.
Hussein has long offered asylum to
anti-American terrorists. At one
point, he offered asylum to Osama bin
Laden himself. He has lent support
to these groups, as well. In 1998, he
closed the gates on UN weapons in
spectors. It doesn’t take an Einstein
to think, “Hey, he kicked out the in
spectors —perhaps he is making more
biological weapons.” He may even
have the capabilities of making
nuclear weapons in a few years. This
man needs to be stopped. When one
looks at the facts this becomes clear
cut. Saddam Hussein poses a big
threat to our nation. The sooner he is
gone, the better.
The Behrend Beacon
for my health when I observed a few
of my other brothers hiding in the car
to avoid walking because they were
tired. Also, I didn’t feel half that bad
when the walk was over (until the
lactic acid ruled my legs). I admit,
most people won’t walk continuously
for hours, but I realized being healthy
is important and everyone should
maintain and appreciate their health
as much as possible.
4) Poodles that are dressed in hats
and boots are cool. Especially when
they’re relieving themselves on a
sidewalk in front of the North East
Dairy Mart Sorry, my bad. I keep
forgetting this article isn’t for the
humor page.
In conclusion, I urge all of you to
set goals, enjoy Erie, get in shape, and
dress all your animals in specially
made garments. Thank you.
Benacci’s column appears
every three weeks.
II out
can’t always get what you want.”
The first step for peace needs to be
a cease-fire on both sides. Both
nations must realize that all this
killing is not good for anyone. A
cease-fire will not solve the problem
but it will at least stop the killing for
the time being, and hopefully allow
some dialog to occur.
The key to solving the problem in
the Middle East lies in compromise.
However, this is not something either
side is willing to do. The United States
Deeds to take an unbiased role in the
peace process and come up with a fair
solution.
If the United States really wants this
problem fixed, it needs to flex its
foreign aid muscle. Israel gets about
one-fifth of all U.S. foreign aid, more
than any other country. So far Israel
has ignored the U.S. Who is the boss
in this relationship?
I am not saying that the U.S. needs
to ignore its political interest in Israel.
However, it needs to recognize it has
an equal interest in the Arab world,
as well. As long as Palestine and
Israel are in conflict, so is the United
States. The U.S. needs to help settle
this so it can get on with business in
the Middle East, namely getting rid
of Saddam Hussein.
I’m sorry that I can’t come up with
any easy answers here, but at least
now you know what the heck is going
Fallon’s column appears
every three weeks.
By taking out the cruel dictator we
would send a message of power to the
rest of the Arab world and the other
nations in the Axis of Evil. The next
power-hungry anti-Western dictator,
the next hostile Muslim fundamental
ist would think twice about messing
with the red, white, and blue. We
could say, “North Korea, Iraq, go
ahead and hit us with an attack but
your punishment will be the same as
Saddam’s.” A good solid offense is
the best defense. Let’s start uvswing
our big stick.
Look here’s how it is: Hussein is a
threat. We need to take him out. By
doing this we would be making the
world a safer place and send a mes
sage to other anti-American rogues.
They’d take a look at Afghanistan and
Iraq and say, “Now, do we really want
to do this?” And if they do, just take
them out. The time has come for the
U.S. to stay in the ring and continue
to deal out knockout blows.
Reschenthaler’s column
appears every three weeks.
Page 5
-£l