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.