Eileen Falkenberg, Editorial Page Editor
The Behrend Beacon
„ I , 7 h / ( „
News Editors
Courtney Straub
Justin Curry
Sports Editors
Kevin Fiorenzo
Amy Frizzell
Editorial Page Editor
Eileen Falkenberg
Features Editor
Erika Jarvis
Greek Life Editor
Eileen Falkenberg
Staff Photographers
Jeff Hankey
Heather Myers
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.
Contact The Beacon at:
Telephone: (814) 898-6488
Fax: (814) 898-6019
ISSN 1071-9288.
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 that week's issue. The
Beacon reserves the right to edit letters for length, content, libel,
spelling, and grammar.
Welcome to the so-called real worl
All of our lives we were taught that
there is no where to go but up. From the
time we were three we knew that there
was a procession we went through in
growing up. First we go from elemen
tary school to middle school, middle
school to high school and from there col
lege. What's left aft
but the real world al
ing for the rest of ou,
That sounds so unapt
and really makes mi
want to graduate
college any time sot
College is suppose
to be our time to gro'
learn about our po
tential job and start tc
get accustomed to Erika Jarvis
thr l led
,e so ca.. rea,
world. Don't forget
it's also four years to have some fun!
This is our time to become more inde-
pendent then we ever were
Also, a good majority of us are living
on our own, without our parents. Now
it's our turn to do our laundry and figure
out what we're doing for breakfast/
lunch/dinner, etc. We are expected to get
to classes on our own, do our work on
our own time, yet at the same time we
need to be active on campus as well. We
can't just dedicate our time here to our
studies. We have to build our resume to
show future employers that we are what
they like to call "well rounded" which
may consist of us joining a Greek orga
nization, working, volunteering and join
ing a special interest club, etc. Yet, ev
eryone oncampus at Behrend is expected
to be involved in more than just classes
and that's a Int to add on top of our stud
ies.
As a sophomore, I feel that I have had
a lot of familiarity with the whole col
lege experience. One thing that I can't
Welcome to Erie:
I've called Erie home my entire life, and
despite the steady cries of "Erie sucks" from
me, my friends and countless members of
Behrend's student body, I know there is a
front-porch community feel that makes Erie
attractive.
Erie's chummy, Middle-Ami
istence doesn't appeal to me,
been told it makes Erie a great
retire or raise a family.
That is if you can find a job.
Mayor Rick Filippi and
County Executive Rick
Schenker have taken on the
tough task of revitalizing our
dying rust-belt city and
making it a Mecca for busi
ness and culture. Unfortu
nately, with both business
and culture 100 miles away
in three directions, Erie will always have a
hard time being anything more than a sub
urb.
Editor in Chief
Lauren Packer
Managing Editor
Robert Wynne
Assistant Managing Editor
Scott Soltis
Zit ------- -------, ---' Calendar Page Editor
Amy Wilczynski
A&E Editor
Daniel J. Stasiewski
Healthy Living Editors
/. Courtney Straub
--
-- ~.r Erika Jarvis
THE BEHREND Adviser
Beacon Cathy L. Roan, Ph.D
Copy Editors
"A newspaper by the Carolyn M. Tellers
students for the students" Kristin Bowers
seem to get over is the whole concept of
studying, and tests. I understand what
tests are and we have to study for them,
but have you ever noticed how many
people either skip a class to study or pull
an all-nighter to study. All on top of us
being active on campus! So, how does
us in getting us ready for
world'?
between high school and
college that scared us so
much that we are acting like this just to
do well in school? The direction we're
running is no longer up, it's down. Are
our future employers going to let us take
a nap in the morning before we have to
do a presentation in the afternoon be
cause we didn't sleep the night before
because we were up working on it I
highly doubt it. So how do we start pre
paring ourselves now for such a situa
tion later on in life?
I don't even know where to start in
finding a solution for this problem. Of
course we can do the obvious and start
studying for tests in advance, but some
times you don't have as much time as
you'd like. We could also get more sleep
before tests and presentations. But, I
know I'm a nervous wreck the night be
fore a test and I can't sleep.
I think we all need to take a breather
and realize that unfortunately the real
world isn't "seven strangers, picked to
Filippi and Schenker know this, and ev
ery political move they make, from saving
the inadequate public library system to de
veloping the bayfront, is directed at making
Erie livable for white-collar, big city
Daniel J. Stasiewski
had long eyed a Summit Township location.
With Gov. Ed Rendell pressing his "Slots
for Tots" campaign, using gambling revenues
Advertising Manager
Ryan Russell
[0 do well in one class we
ice our classes for the day
test, or our sleep. I know
sn't why we come to col
, or what we're supposed
he doing, but we can't help
This is what the college
udent does! I know not
!veryone is like this, but a
lot of kids are!
What happened to us
play
id tourists.
!cently there has been
in city government to
gambling complex
akefront industrial site
it formally housed In
ternational Paper.
The convention cen
ter and hotel once
slated to be part of
Erie's bay front are
now looking to re
locate to the IP
site. So is a
horse-track that
Friday, October 31, 2003
Florida's Governor should accept
the right to die in Schiavo case
The choice between life and death is a
serious matter and should be treated as
such. What it should not be is a political
battle or entertainment/publicity
show, which is what Gov
Bush and the parents of Terri
Schiavo are doing.
Terri Schiavo is living
in a persistent vegeta-
tive state and has not
been fully conscious
for 13 years. Three
out of five experts
agree that Schiavo
is in a permanently
vegetative state and has
no chance for reversibility or treatment.
Schiavo became this way after she suf
fered a heart attack and her brain was
deprived of oxygen. The reason behind
the heart attack is believed to be a chemi
cal imbalance due to an eating disorder.
Husband Michael Schiavo filed to have
his wife's feeding tube removed in 1998.
According to her husband, Terri Schiavo
expressed the wish to not live artificially
should she become incapacitated.
Michael Schiavo is the legal guardian of
Tern Schiavo. Florida law gives guard
ianship to the spouse.
Florida law also requires those seek
ing to remove a feeding tube to pass a
live in a house and have their lives taped."
Sometimes it feels that after college'we
just plateau and our procession of climb
ing higher is over, but it's not.
I think that we all need to take a class
in "Real World Education 101" before we
graduate so we can get hit with the things
we truly need to know about life after
college such the importance of
prioritization and how to adjust to a cor
porate lifestyle. Hopefully then we can
all realize what we need to do to con
tinue climbing that ladder we learned
about when we were younger.
Court correctly decides to let
doctors, patients discuss pot
courtesy of the
Detroit Free Press
The U.S. Supreme Court came
down on the side of compassion in
deciding that federal drug warriors
should back off from prosecuting
doctors who recommend marijuana
use for medical purposes.
The high court on Tuesday refused
to review a lower court decision that
the federal government cannot pun
ish doctors for discussing marijuana
use with their patients. Pot is most
often suggested to remedy the ex
treme nausea that accompanies treat
ment for cancers and AIDS. It is out
lawed by the federal government, but
nine states have provisions for medi
cal marijuana use. Michigan is not
the ponies,
to fund education in the midst of
Pennsylvania's budget crisis, the horse-track
could house enough gambling to resurrect the
Rat Pack. Give him time and the governor
will throw riverboat gambling into the mix.
A gambling complex anywhere in Erie is
going to hurt business, even the retail stores
that thrive in Erie's suburban atmosphere.
And as it stands now, the complex is going to
be right across the street from the Boys and
Girls Club of Erie's new home (field trip, any
one?).
I've been to Vegas and Niagara Falls, and
the 24-hour-party atmosphere is not some
thing that is going to bring business to Erie.
Gambling of any sort is setting up Erie to be
come a service-based tourist town, not the
neighborly community Filippi and other of
ficials claim they are trying to renew.
Wide-spread gambling is not going to save
Erie. Because I do remember a time when
enticing large corporations like National Fuel
Gas with tax incentives was the city and
high legal bar, one which includes pro
viding "clear and convincing evidence
of a patient's intent." Michael Schiavo
has passed this test several times
by numerous Florida courts. The
parents of Terri Schiavo are con
testing that she never expressed
anything of the sorts.
Lauren Packer
convincing evidence
of Terri Schiavo's wish not to live arti
ficially, and a circuit court judge ordered
the removal of the feeding tube, then
why do the parents of Schiavo and Gov.
Jeb Bush want to prolong this poor
woman's death?
Respect for life includes recognizing
not just when it exists but when it ceases
to be meaningful.
It seems sad to me that Gov. Bush has
stepped in to play, if you will, "God."
The Florida legislature, under pressure
from Bush, authorized a law giving the
governor power to overturn the circuit
court ruling. The law went into effect
six days after Schiavo's feeding tube
among them, although the issue
might come up here and elsewhere,
following the court's ruling.
The Bush administration argued
that public health not the First
Amendment free-speech rights of
doctors or patients was at stake.
Federal drug czar John Walters re
gards marijuana as a "gateway drug"
leading to harder stuff and believes
that supporters of its medical use are
really trying to take a first step to
ward legalization.
The scientific community doesn't
agree fully on the medicinal value of
cannabis, but several prominent
groups, including the American
Academy of Family Physicians, have
recognized its anti-nausea properties.
Doctors don't recommend it lightly,
win a slum
county officials' main focus, I don't under
stand were this sudden sense of hopeless
ness has come from
The mayor seems more than willing to
turn Erie into the Sin City of the Great Lakes.
Despite the enjoyment I get every time
Filippi pisses off the Old Erie Democrats sit
ting on City Council with his fresh ideas, I
can't say his current plan to sacrifice prime
commercial real estate for a gambling com
plex already separately planned for other
parts of the community is the right one.
Erie will grow. It's stupid to assume a
Great Lakes city with a ready port, scenic
bayfront, and, as bland as it sounds, exten
sive infrastructure can just shrivel and die.
Creating a gambling complex would be like
slipping arsenic into an IV solution. If a
poverty-stricken, service town is what Erie
wants then roll them bones, but as soon as I
graduate I, like other graduates from the three
area colleges, will be looking for a job out
side of this town.
However, if experts
agree she has no chance
for survival, her hus
band has passed the
objectionable view of
the court and they
have found clear and
The Behrend Beacon
was removed and signs of organ failure
were beginning to show. Schiavo's doc
tors and lawyers testify that the introduc
tion of fluids after a week without food
or water could just make her suffer
Why make a woman suffer like this?
Gov. Bush and the Schiavos must real
ize that Terri Schiavo's body, and impor
tantly her wish to not live artificially,
should be respected. A critical decision
made by Michael Schiavo to respect his
wife's wish, and one made by hundreds
at hospitals across the U.S. every day,
has been made into a publicity show
down.
Terri Shiavo's parents and Bush have
no right to use this case a political foot
ball to toss back and forth between them
and the Florida courts. Bush certainly
was out of line when he stepped on the
toes of the circuit court and overruled
their ruling. The reinsertion order of the
feeding tube was a constitutional viola
tion of the separation of powers.
In the 1990 Cruzan Supreme Court
case, the court ruled in favor of a patient's
right to die 5-4. Now with Bush's order,
Americans can't even be sure that their
wishes to die will he upheld. The major
advances made by this court ruling will
take a step backwards if Bush's insertion
but only as a way to make life toler
able for some patients, including
those who don't have much life left.
Synthetic versions of marijuana in
pill form cost far more and must be
swallowed, an impossibility for some
patients. If states are willing to allow
it, the federal government should let
them be and concentrate on more
pressing drug issues: busting those
who deal in large quantities of harder
drugs.
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~~~ ~s4
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