The Behrend Beacon A View From The Lighthouse No more sex Although many people agree with the recent Supreme Court decision to limit nude dancing in I .t ie. the reasons behind the result arc stirring a controversy all by themselves. How much “covetage” is provided by the Ist amendment for businesses that allow completely nude dancers'.' Crime, morals, anti ethics have all managed to seep into the case, which has caused a difference of opinion in the justices decision, as well as a difference of opinion within our editorial staff. Yes, a vast majority of us were all in favor of the decision, as were the judges, and we think it was a good one. But lor what reason w as it a good decision? The judges have their reasons and st) do we. Here's the story Back in 1994 the city of Erie passed an ordinance that banned nude dancing. The ordinance was directed in part toward Nick Panos anti his business at that time, Kandyland. That establishment was eventually sold to a new owner who opened up "Kandy’s Dinner Theatre." The club was pretty much the same as its predecessor, except it was established at a new location. Legal battles between the city and the owners about Ist amendment rights continued until the ordinance eventually made it to the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. Here, in 1998, the ordinance was ruled unconstitutional by a 4-3 vote. How ever, the case made it to tire United States Supreme Court, and on March 29. they decided by a b-3 \ ote to put some clothes, well. at least some pasties, on the women in Erie. Here is the reasoning So. okay, the decision was made and we are all happy. Why arc we uorrving about how it was made? Obv lously there were many reasons as to whv the women should or should not be allowed to dance in the flesh, most ot which involved the Ist amendment. It is here that interpretation ol the 1 st amendment becomes an issue. According to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the Ist amendment does minimally protect nude dancing. But she said that the ordinance's "interest in combating the negative and secondary ettects associated with adult- enl e rl ain me n l establishments” outweighs Ist amendment concerns. She believes The Behrend Beacon publish'd weekly by the v indents of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College t -- v / /~ " // Advertising Manager Kim Zin k Business Manager Kristine Harakal Office Manager Brad Wiertel Distribution Manager Jet) Miller Advisors Robert Sped Jim 0 J.ouyhlin Postal Information: Ihe 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. and Kandy that by putting pasties and g-strings on the women, the erotic meaning is still there. Her viewpoint is that of a "legal" one, that is there’s only a little bit of coverage provided by the Ist amendment. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, as well as justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer agreed with O'Connor’s reasoning. Other supporters for the ban were Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia. However, they support the ordinance because they believe in "the traditional power of government to foster good morals...that nude public dancing itself is immoral.” One judge believed that Erie should evaluate what harms really are involved with dancing, although he did support the law. Two judges, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Paul Stevens did not support the law because they were worried about censorship and freedoms being limited too much. Stevens said, “[secondary effects] may justify the total suppression of protected speech.” Here are our thoughts... Most of us believe that nude dancing isn’t covered under the Ist amendment. Some believed strongly that nude dancing is "utterly disgusting." Most of our editorial staff members believe that a moral line needs to be drawn somewhere, and that women shouldn't be allowed to flash their stuff around. Why is there a need for those kind of places anyway? Well, that’s an issue we won’t attack at the moment. So there you have it. Many issues arise both legally and morally about the ban on nude dancing The divided reasons given by the Supreme Court Justices, as well as the Beacon staff, prove that this is an issue for which there are many different supporting arguments, but all in common agreement that Erie can ban nude dancing. Editor-in-Chief' Jasi-n Snvdcr Managing Editor Michael FrawUv News Editors Liz Hayes Karl Benacci Editorial Page Editor Katie Galley Features Editors Katie Brzepyszny Don# Smith Sports Editor Matt Wiertel Calendar Page Editor Nicole Greene Photo Editors Jeff. Miller Kevin Bruner (assistant) Associate Editors Libbie Johnson Becky Weindorf Rob Wynne better Policy: 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. Tuesday for inclusion in that week’s issue. Editorial The Voice Of Reason Another voting day down the drain Well I got all of that touchy feely crap out of my system last week, so life can get back to normal. The Pennsylvania primaries have come and gone, and again the people of this area seem to not have cared. What is the point of even having elections anymore, if no one is going to bother to vote? We could just throw all of the names of the people who want to run in a hat and pick out the winner. Hell, that would save a lot of time and energy, and it would end all of our problems with campaign fiance reform! But in reality, isn’t anyone else scared about the fact that voter turnout continues to drop lower and lower with each election? Think about it for a minute. Everyone complains that politicians are so corrupt, and we all ask each other how these people ever got into office to begin with. We elected them! And the people who scream about how horrible politics is today are the This Is Earth. Have We Met? What’s in a name? 1 am about to disclose some very persona! information about myself, information that could conceivably result in ridicule from you, my fellow peers. So please, try to be gentle in your comments. OK, here goes: I like the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast. And l’rn not referring specifically to the Disney version that everyone knows; I like the story line itself. 1 like the Disney version, true, but I also enjoy the various other ways that it has been told. Yes, it’s true, tolks other than those at Disney tell stories that can be found enjoyable. Beauty and the Beast is not a Disney original. In fact, few of the Disney stories are original. They are either taken directly from existing fairy tales or meshed together from several works. Either way, I’m willing to bet that few of the works the company puts out are 100 % original. But I still find the Disney versions enjoyable. I admit, 1 own my own copy of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast , as well as their Little Merntaid, Lion King, and a few others. I enjoy the way that they have presented the story. They have done a quality job in retelling stories that probably have no original author. Back in the old days, stories were told The View From M Giving the gift of life Every eight weeks, 1 have the op portunity to give the gift of life. No, I don’t die every eight weeks and reincarnate myself in order to distribute my organs to those in need - that is something that will only happen once with me. But since I am eighteen, and because my weight is over 110 (I won’t tell how much), 1 go to the Community Blood Bank and let the nurses poke and pinch for a vein - I’m a life line for someone in need. This might be a typical blood giv ing day: 1 make sure to eat when 1 get up in the morning, or at least make sure that 1 eat something healthy and filling before driving to the blood bank. When 1 get there, I march myself straight into the blood bank, where the ladies al ready know me by name and social security number. I get to till out a questionnaire and the nurse asks me more questions, and I sign my ques tionnaire. That’s the painless part. Next up is testing my iron, and the nurse cleans the side of my middle finger with an alcohol swab, and takes out a white plastic thing that looks like a big tack that you put on a corkboard. I close my eyes, and a tiny razor punctures the fat part of my finger, making it ooze. A tiny tube catches the blood, and APRIL 7, 2000 one who don’t vote. The best way to fix politics is to elect better people to office. If you don’t like a candidate then vote against him, or do a write in vote, but at least get out there and What happens when it gets to the point where only 10% of the people come out and vote? Some wacko like Pat Buchanan will be able to get himself elected, because we are all too apathetic to stop him. Boy, that’s the kinda future to look forward to. verbally. Many originated from myths or fables, stories told to teach children and society at large lessons. And they are still enjoyable today. So do we fault Disney because they retold a story in an enjoyable fashion, rather than making an entirely new one? I don’t. So, if anyone retells a story - a story that seems to have no original author and the public at large enjoys the story, what’s the problem, right? Then why does it matter if Shakespeare was the original creator of his plays? He is retelling tales that we already knew. So, okay, the man wasn’t original. 1 guarantee if I rewrote the tale of Macßeth or Romeo and Juliet, no one would read it. Why? Because 1 am not a brilliant writer. Notice the key word in that sentence: writer. We read Shakespeare because the the nurse drips the blood into a blu ish fluid, and the blood coagulates and sinks to the bottom within fif teen seconds. I have good iron. I always choose my left arm. If you look at it, it’s got a real juicy vein on it, so the nurses won’t have to use a cuff to make the blood pump a little faster. 1 lie back in the cushy chair, with my feet el evated above my heart, and the nurse asks if I’m allergic to iodine. I say no and she starts swabbing my arm vigorously with iodine, up and down and back and forth. Another orange substance is swabbed over the vein, and I accidentally catch a glimpse of the needle that is about to invade my arm. “Big pinch,” the nurse says, and OUCH! It stings, sure, but after they tape the tube to my arm so the needle won’t move in my vein, I Now I’ve heard all of the excuses why people don’t vote: “it takes too long, I don’t have the time, I’m too lazy to get out of bed.” And everyone keeps coming up with ideas to make it easier to vote. Now, while I think that voting on weekends or voting by internet are good ideas, I really don’t think it will increase voter turnout. The only way you can get Americans to do anything, even if it is something they could benefit from, is to give something to them for doing it. If the government gave away a free t-shirt for voting, turnout would go way up, and it would prove how pathetic we have become. Unlike most people in Erie, I went out on Tuesday and cast my ballot. One of my friends asked me as I was walking out the door to go vote why I was even going to bother, my vote wouldn’t count anyway. How do people get that idea in their heads? Whose vote counts then? Last time I man was a genius with the English language. He could say things in ways no one alive today can. I bet that there are a lot more people out there who have picked up a copy of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar than there are people who open up a textbook and read about Caesar. And if someone else had written a story before Shake, why aren’t we reading what that shmuck wrote? Because Shake wrote it better. Et tu, Brute ? “Ah, but how do we know Shakespeare reajly wrote the plays?” you ask. Who cares who wrote them? No one knows who wrote Beowulf] but every English major has read it. It is still a classic, regardless of authorship. Maybe the Earl of Oxford did write Othello. Does that mean we should stop reading it? Just because Shake may or may not have written a play doesn’t make the work itself any less dynamic. I hear people whining all the time about how they can’t possibly read something that may not really be written by the person it’s accredited to. Hey, I’d be a lot more worried about the author of the Holy Bible than I would the author of Hamlet. It is my conclusion that anyone who uses the above arguments to discount Shakespeare’s works is Here start squeezing the rubber tube they give me to fill up a 450 ml bag. And it really doesn’t sting any- Well, then they watch you fill up the bag, tell you when to stop squeezing, fill some test tubes for testing your blood, and they patch you up good. And the best part: free food and drinks, which you must eat and drink before leaving. They won’t let you leave for at least ten minutes after giving blood - you never know what’s going to happen after giving blood. This is why I devoted half my column to the procedure: many people refuse to give blood because of ignorance. Hey, if you don’t weigh enough, it’s a health risk to give blood and you shouldn’t do it! But so far, I’ve given six or seven pints of blood to someone in need of it. I’m an 0+ donor, which means anyone can use my blood - I’m a universal donor. The major ity of people are o+, but then again, AB’s are the least common, and they usually need that type of blood pretty bad, too. There is al ways a shortage of donors! About two weeks ago, the blood bank came to Behrend and they collected over sixty pints of blood. Only sixty! Out of how many checked, they still counted everyone’s votes, so my vote did count. Now I may have had little effect on the outcome. I am a registered Republican, and there was not much for me to vote for in this primary, but my vote still counted. I have voted in every election I could since I turned 18. Why do I vote? Because I want to make a difference, and in our system the first step toward making a difference is casting a vote. While I am writing this, the SGA elections for next year are taking place right upstairs, and they are on track to set a record for voter turnout. No matter who wins, the SGA has scored a great victory. The students care again, and are proving it by voting. It this is any indication of what next year will be like, Behrend will become the best school in the Penn State system. And it all started with a simple vote. My congratulations to whoever wins. simply trying to get out of reading them because that person is simply too dumb or lazy to attempt to read something not written by Dr. Seuss (not that I’m putting down the creator of the Cat in the Hat - mad props to him, as well). I have a news flash for you people, and you know who you are: it doesn’t matter who wrote Romeo and Juliet. You aren’t going to escape high school without reading it, or at least watching the movie. Even if the Oxfordians are right and their Earl did pen some of Shake’s works, the work itself is still going to be a classic. Even if Dr. Lilley wrote the plays, you’ll have to read them, and not just because he’s the Dean. So shut up, pull out the dictionary, and start taking notes. You are allowed to dislike what you are reading, but try to at least come up with a concrete argument as to why you don’t like it. Then we’ll talk. Here’s a hint for those who are having some difficulty with the works. Try to see how many times he alludes to sex. He does it a lot. And we all know how obsessed we college students are with sex. Prove it to someone by showing them how you read Shakespeare and found all these deep allusions to sex. They won’t know whether to be upset or amazed. people that are eligible to give blood on campus! Sixty people are a lot, but many included staff, fac ulty and non-Penn Staters. So many students on campus can give blood, and I’ll tell you a little secret - af ter you give blood, you feel a whole lot better. It’s even a relaxing ex perience, once you know what’s going on. I used to work in a hospi tal, and knowing that the blood in the transfusion bags was somebody else’s, donated, gives me a good feeling about donating blood. If you’ve got blood, give it. If you’ve got questions, ask them - the nurses know people can be ner vous about it. Giving blood doesn’t affect my physical health, but some times you can get a little nauseated, dizzy, or have a headache after wards. It’s just a risk you have to take. And the fear of the big needle was something I had to overcome, too - needles hurt, OK. It’ll hurt whatever way you look at it. But don’t hold back and give excuses. Try something new - relax from ev erything you have to do before the end of the semester. Give blood to day. The Community Blood Bank is the only one in Erie County - if you have questions on hours, pro cedures, directions, anything - call them at (814) 456-4206. PAGE 8
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers