I The Behrend Beacon Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Ammendment to the U.s. Constitution Behrend vandalism scandalism When I was younger, there were several rules that my parents tried to impress upon me. The general "golden rules" that every parent attempts to teach their children. Among them were: do not cheat, steal or lie and respect other people and their property. All of these I've tried to follow as much as possible, but nobody is perfect, including myself. That being said I have noticed a common trend on our campus: vandalism. That's not to say that vandalism isn't a nationwide problem because it happens every where. Walk into the restroom of your local Giant Eagle or Country Fair and I'm sure you'll see various messages scratched into the plaster with a key. The same holds true for our campus. However, should we be held to a higher standard? This is a university of high er learning and with higher learning should come respect of property. Administrators spend a large por tion of time beautifying our campus. They plant trees, grow grass, pave old walkways and install bridges. Despite all of the aesthetic improvements stu dents continue to destroy or deface cam Over one million children murdered By Annie Gianoglio editoral columnist A story like that would have generated senate hearings, law enforcement investigations, and an outcry from the American people, but because the children in question are unborn it is not only legal it is accepted by many Americans, though that number is shrinking. Using the supposed right to privacy, a right not mentioned in the constitution, pro-abortion activists have sanctioned the murder of over 1,000,000 children a year for over 30 years. The activists claim to be pro-choice, as long as that choice is abortion, but women have many other choices in the reproduction process such as abstinence, birth con trol pills, condoms and many other contraception sys tems. These choices should be made before sexual activ ity is engaged in. How can the deaths of over 30,000,000 children be justified because someone can be responsi ble enough to take a pill once a day or remember to wear The Behrend Beacon Published "Weekly by the students of Penn State brie HIfHRI.NI) .DeaCOn Assistant News Editor Patrick Webster Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Contact the Beacon at: First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed Telephone: (814) 898-6488 Union Building Fax: (814) 898-6019 Station Road, Erie, PA 16563 Republican House Majority Leader By Robert Frank managing editor Annie Sevin, Editor in Chief Rob Frank, Managing Editor Courtney Kaplin, Advertising Manager Jerry Pohl, Public Relations Manager Kim Young, Adviser News Editor Jennifer Haighl Sports Editor Chris LaFuria Opinion Editor Chris Hvizdak Cartoonist Zack Mcmz Photography Editor Michelle Vera Snroviec Take any Saturday morning after major parties in the apartment quad. You can’t walk outside with sandals on because of broken beer bottles. Littered about the quad you will find solo cups and napkins, crushed beer cans, broken tree limbs and vomit. In a world where respect comes up short, shouldn't we as students be teaching respect to one another? It is frustrating to sec students litter when they have trash cans and dumpsters in several locations around campus. It’s also sad to see maintenance workers hav ing to clean up cigarette butts and beer cans left behind because someone was too lazy to walk 20 extra steps to a trash can. What students don't realize is that we pay for those workers to clean the quad and we also pay to have extra officers on duty during the weekends. This is going to eventually lead to Police and Safety tighten ing down security the vandalism, and let’s face it. PNS has been quite the apartment quad on the weekends. It should be every student’s responsibility to call out those responsible for littering. If you see someone throw a cup or can on the ground tell them to pick it up. Don’t allow a few individuals to ruin the campus for the rest of us. iropert a condom? If someone proposed that we kill every person who sexually transmitted AIDS or HIV to another person there would be a maelstrom of outrage. But if the result of your irresponsibility is a child we can kill it. Children do not pose a threat to the lives of their parents, but AIDS is a life-threatening ailment and the financial burden of AIDS is far greater than the cost of a child. This is an illustration in how ridiculous it is to defend something as heinous as the killing of innocent children just so people can engage in sexual activity without responsibility. Most everyone reading this is probably thinking “what about rape?” When a woman is raped, it is extremely important that she go to the hospital. If she does not go, then it will be next to impossible for a woman to win any rape charge. When a woman goes to the hospital and states that she has been raped, an immediate DNC is per formed which will prevent conception from ever occur ring. AH human life is sacred and should be protected, except for the terrorists, including the unborn. Student Life Editor KJ Margraff Jr. Calendar Editor Siobhan Conwav Humor Editor Jerry Pohl Copy Editors Kate Kelecseny Rachael Conway Allison Gray Traeie Kendziora PINION —™« * * 4TIONS 4*E NT “A democracy more is nothing than mob where fifty-one percent of the people take away of rights other nine.” -Thomas Jefferson ZACK MENTZ A country divided under God If you thought it was last year, you were wrong. The pro longed debate about whether or not the phrase "under God” belongs in the Pledge of Allegiance has begun again. In San Franscico, Michael Newdow is suing the public school system for a second time with exact ly the same charges, claiming that the phrase is unconstitutional. This time, he's not doing it for the sake of his own daughter, but for three sets of anonomous parents. This case was already dismissed once last year and it is silly that we are seeing the exact same thing hap pening this year. We have a justice system that prevents criminals from being tried more than once; the civil courts should have a similar limita tion. Can’t we ail j list get along ? I have recently had an epiphany. Thinking back to my first year here at Behrend, I realized just how much oxygen I wasted fighting the pop vs. soda “Holy War.” I was so dead set against saying “pop” that, looking back now, I probably made an idiot of myself over such a minuscule topic. I’m noticing more and more just how many pointless arguments like this one exist on the Behrend cam pus. The point of going to college is to meet new people and to expand your horizons, yet at most times people are too busy pushing their own cultural preferences (i.e. soda vs. pop, Little Deb vs. rule, The Beacon welcomes read ers to share their views on this page. may the Letters and commentary pieces can be submitted by email to opinion@psu.edu or directly to the Beacon office, located in the Reed Building. the forty- Letters should be limited to 350 words and commentaries should be limited to 700 words. The more concise the submission, the less we will be forced to edit it for space concerns and the more likely we are to run the submission. • 9 Beacon Thumbs Up - Tasty stuffed pretzels at Brunos. - $llOO raised by the Date Auction for Special Olympics. - The mysterious late night piano player in McGarvey commons. Beacon Thumbs Down - Bruno’s closing at 11p.m. - The Lioncash+ system at the Buffalo Road Sheetz not being installed. - Bad cell phone reception in the basement of the Reed building. By Jasmine Lee editoral columnist By KJ Margraff Jr. student life editor Friday, Septmeber 30, 2005 They are asking to censor the Pledge of Allegiance. Schpol chjj dren, already haycJhe right to refuse to recite the pledge. It is unneces sary to change how the pledge is written. America was formed for the sake of freedom. This includes the freedom of artists and writers. Giving in to these ridiculous claims is equivalent to stealing these rights from hundreds of artists, writers, poets and singers—all the creative people that make this country great. The phrase is not unconstitutional; this country was founded on Christian beliefs beginning with the Declaration of Independence's "all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalien able rights." Even if you do not share the beliefs set forth by these documents, they are a part of our history as a nation. We forget our history at our own peril. Tastykake or Sheetz vs. Wawa) neglecting to try anything new. And as you can see from my edito rial last week, (What’s my beef? Well, I’ll tell you), we are all guilty of this crime every once in a while, even myself. If you page through your friends’ facebook groups you’ll see groups such as “Wawa rocks my socks off’ or “I drink pop, not soda”. Could we be letting these subjects get out of hand? So this week, why not try saying soda instead of pop for once or making a late night “Sheetz run” with your Pittsburgh pals? One surefire way to experience some thing new would be to go home with your roommate one weekend. Try something different for once; you just might like it. All < submissions include the writer’s year in school, major and name as The Beacon does not publish anonymous letters. Deadline for any submission is 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon for inclusion in the Friday issue. All submissions are considered, but because of space limitations, some may not be published. Ail _ submissions must include consent to be edited before they can be edited for publication.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers