.. . # o ‘ 0 , il lt . ,0 • 4 . ## f ' , „ 3>. .''''''''C'it.;::::•::,,., ': . f . . . • ....... ..'..:..=,,. .. , 4vw. ; „ •" - • •• .. t :. .'" - N Men's swim team, . N ~. I e .. e .s. 4 ' ' Page 10 • - . • .....,-, '--- • --- ft • ',... • •-•'' 1 . ..?..2.... ~._. . • -- •• • -•.-- - - 'The Emperor's . . . .. ~ .. ~..„....,,.... .. . . -• . ~ .:•• *": " ''''' Aor i' . as I i.-I ' . ` - - -.....- ..... : -'.'''-' '.• .:. Journey,' Page 8‘ - li . ► lll 4 , -.. ,. 1016i4ii 1 .1, i != I . '''' ..'.'::',. • off' . :€ , T1,:4 , •. ... giguastworio. ,,, ~„,..,,„„.._ ..,. . Friday, January 28, 2005 Spoto attends Men's National Team tErmt By Samantha Cibula sports co-editor Athletes dream of showing their tal ents to the best coaches in the nation and then competing against top ranked ath letes. Freshman water polo player An thony Spoto had the opportunity to do just that. Spoto and Head Water Polo coach Joe Tristan flew to the USA Water Polo Na tional Training Center in Los Alamitos, Cal., for the Men's National Team try out on Jan. 21 - 23. Spoto was one of 35 water polo play ers invited to the three day tryout. Dur ing the tryout, Spoto was the lone Divi sion 111 athlete in the water. the rest of the athletes were Division I power house players from colleges like UCLA, Pepperdine, UC Berkeley and Long Beach. Spoto once again was in a category of his own being the youngest player and the only East Coast player at tryouts. "An East Coast DIII athlete shows up for the National Team tryouts and he definitely needs to earn his respect," said Tristan. Current Men's National Team Coach Guy Baker, Men's Assistant National Team Coach Dan Luison and 1996, 2000 Student Affairs considers expanding bus service By Dan Snedden assistant news editor The Office of Student Affairs is cur rently negotiating with the Erie Metro politan Transport Authority to provide ad ditional times and routes for Behrend stu dents. Behrend has nearly 1,700 on campus students, 852 of whom have vehicles. The number of residents with vehicles has been increasing by two percent per year. With a majority of residents driving, stu dents wonder if a new contract is neces sary. "If more than fifty percent of students have vehicles, they don't require public transportation," said Randy Martell, PSYCH 06. "I don't have a vehicle but I believe that bus coverage is more than suf ficient." Inside air $ A pa Diving, SPORTS, Page 10 Jewish Association of Behrend, STUDENT LIFE, Page 7 CONTENTS News 1-3 Editorial 4 Student Life 7-8 Sports 9-10 CONTACT US Newsroom: 898-6488 Fax: 898-6019 E-mail: behrendbeacon@aol.com Our offices are located down stairs in the Reed Union Building. Spoto, middle, traveled with his coach to the USA Water Polo National Training Center in Los Alamitos, Cal., and tried out for the Men's National Team. Olympian Kyle Kopp ran the tryouts. During the tryouts, Baker stressed you had to work as a team. "I knew I was in a win-win situation, even if I didn't make the team because I was being coached and evaluated by some of the best coaches that have ever been in the game," said Spoto. Spoto's capabilities were put to test di Of the students interviewed, nearly all were opposed to the idea of expanding bus coverage. "We spent all of that money on bike racks for a reason," said Zack Mentz, SE BD 06. "How about instead of spending our money on frivolous things that a se lect number of students, use we lower the tuition?" Even students that used the bus believe that coverage is more than sufficient. "I rode the bus last year; it was conve nient, but I only saw three or four Behrend students getting on or off at any given time," said Tom McCarty, PLSC 04. Despite the opposition to the idea, there are students who view the idea favorably. "We need more coverage, but we shouldn't have to pay for it:" said Tanya Doggwiler, COMBA 02. "If it's public A digital rendering of the completed REDC. The 20 month project is nearing the end of its seventh month. The architect of the building is Weber Murphy Fox. REDC construction on track By Bradley Stewart news editor The large site of mud, concrete and metal along Jordan Road continues to de velop. The construction of the Research and Economic Development Center is a 20 month project. Seven and a half months have passed and, according to Geoffrey Scott, the project manager of E. E. Austin & Son, even with the bad weather, progress is right where it should be. "It's about 35 percent complete," said Scott. "We might be a few days behind, but that's nothing we can't make up once the weather improves." With temperatures in the 20s and be low, construction slows. Ice and snow creates working conditions that can be dangerous for laborers. On a day where temperatures are low, E.E. Austin might have only two or three A Penn State Erie Student Publication jt , _ ,J 5 rectly upon his arrival. "When he got out there, the guys were playing the best polo they could play," said Tristan. "There were no breaks, no room to slack or let up." Spoto's skills ranked among the top 40 percent. Many of the guys there were coming straight out of NCAA Water Polo Championships or finishing their season transportation our tax money should be covering it and the coverage isn't that good anyways. One time when I took the bus, I ended up getting stranded on a creepy sidew4lk fox. about 45 minutes one night." Behrend used to have a private bus in an attempt to serve the transportation needs of the students. Called the "Blue Bus," it was discontinued in 2001 due to mechanical problems and lack of inter est. While there may be many students who look unfavorably upon the idea of increas ing bus coverage, it has several benefits. "Working with EMTA would be cheaper than what we can do," said Ken Miller, director of Student Affairs. "We've heard enough from students about bringing a bus in that we reached .:..,,... . ............,., ..:- 2....' ::.. ..: ......1tik......':. workers on site. On a warmer day, they might have 50 or more. On Jan. 20, veteran employee of Easley & Rivers, Steve Wilkinson, was working in the basement of Areal . The site is separated into four different ar eas. Areal is close to completion. "I've been doing this kind of work for 26 years," said Wilkinson, seemingly unaffected by the harsh Erie weather. Easley & Rivers is responsible for the interior of the building. E.E. Austin & Son, an Erie based com pany celebrating its 99th year in opera tion, is the general contractor of the project. As the general contractor, the company receives the largest percentage of funds and is responsible for the foun dation and im t lit 1 ,4 ald ing, as well as a number of other tasks. More than a dozen subcontractors handle different aspects of the construc tion. The four biggest are Renick Bros., while Spoto was coming out of the middle of his swim season. DIII Spoto shined during the third day of tryouts when the athletes were split into three separate teams to scrimmage. Spoto displayed hard core talent during the scrimmage scoring a team high of three goals. "His team started to look to him to score goals," said Tristan. "Some of the guys were getting mad that a DIII guy was scoring on them, and that's when he earned respect." Spoto didn't make the team, but he turned heads of some of the best water polo coaches in the nation. "The UC Berkeley coach personally congratulated him and Doug Peabody the Jr. National Team coach was asking questions about Anthony," said Tristan. Spoto is still eligible to play on the Jr. National Team if asked to tryout for the team. The Jr. National Team would give Spoto more experience on a national level. He could also tryout for the Pre miere League which is a summer league on the national level. The experience itself will help Spoto as he gears up for next season. "I learned the game they play is so much quicker and has more skills in volved," said Spoto. "I will work on rais ing my game to the next level." out to EMTA and said; 'can you do this?' It's in our best interest to have students ride it because if they don't, they'll dis- continue it." Student Affairs is Wtaing, 14,,,e iPand the bus service to include a direct route to the mall, Wal-Mart and many other loca tions in Erie and Harborcreek. A re vamped bus service could also lead to the alleviation of some parking problems. "The bus issue really draws in the is sue of parking," said Miller "It's a real balance between adding additional park ing, allowing additional cars and there will probably be changes down the road for where residents will park. I guess the best way to describe it is that we're kind of lost in that tug of war between cars and parking and using the bus service." IVAN who handle heating; Doan Pyramid who deal with the electrical aspects; Rabe En vironmental takes care of the plumbing; Simplex Grinnell handles fire preven tion. "A lot of it is just not stepping on each other's feet," said Scott. E.E. Austin and the respective subcon tractors meet at least once a week to dis cuss progress and any dilemmas. Every other Thursday, E.E. Austin, Penn State Erie and the Department of General Ser vices, a governmental entity, meet to dis cuss progress as well. When the REDC is completed, it will cover approximately 160,000 square feet and provide 17 classrooms and 100 of- "Every day is something different," said Scott, a graduate of Penn State. Scott graduated from University Park in 2002 with a degree in civil engineering. He spent his first two years at Behrend. Vol. LII No. 18 Reality Check Baltimore bound Erin Ahlgren staff writer Reality Check, a volunteer organiza tion open to all students, is heading to Baltimore, Md. this spring break. As an alternative Spring Break, the group will have the opportunity to work with children and the elderly with the help of Maryland's Catholic Charities. The group will leave March 6 and re turn March 11. While in Baltimore, the students will volunteer at Our Daily Bread, a center created to provide hot meals and other services for those who are in need; and at Sarah's House. a shelter that provides housing, counsel ing and child care to help people in need "move toward independent function- Students will have breakfast and lunch with those in need at Our Daily Bread the first few days. At Sarah's House, the students will prepare and serve food for dinner one of the nights, decorate and host a bingo party, clean apartments, mentor school children and even help with childcare. On the 10th, after helping out at Sarah's House, the students will get to go to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The president of Reality Check. De' Adra Walker, ELISH 06, is "...excited about going to Baltimore because some thing unexpected always happens." She recalls the last Alternative Spring Break trip to Nashville, Tenn., where the students volunteered to set up apart ments for immigrants. They were sent to a warehouse full of furnishings for the apartments and had to organize all the furniture. For any other items that were needed, they made a list and went to the local Wal-Mart to buy them. They had help loading everything on to a truck to take to the apartments. where they set up all the furniture. As a freshmen, Reality Check was "one of the first organizations" De' Adra looked in to. She hopes the group is able to travel to the west coast to California or even South America someday. The group currently has 10 members. REALITY CHECK, continued on Page Project manager Geoff Scott standing in the first floor, south section of Areal. When the weather was warm. the area was a pit of mud. First floor, north is close to comple tion. Wall supports are up and the walls will soon follow.
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