I The Behrend Beacon
Upstate New York blasted by snow
OSWEGO, New York: While many states in the northeast region have been dealing with well below
average temperatures and frequent winter storms this year, the city of Oswego in upstate New York
has been the recipient of more than its fair share of snow.
Oswego, a snow-belt town along the shore of Lake Ontario, has received over 72 inches of heavy
lake-effect snow by the last measurement on Thursday and forecasters expect the town to receive
another 20 to 28 inches through the weekend. City officials have declared a state of emergency and
struggle to keep main roads and fire hydrants open for emergency vehicles as the the snow continues
to fall in bursts as heavy as five inches per hour.
"We're just trying to keep on top of digging out the hydrants," said Oswego Fire Chief Ed Geers
"When you get 5 feet of snow in 24 hours, it's tough."
The winter storms and arctic cold temperatures covering the region have been officially blamed for
at least 20 deaths, and while temperatures are starting to inch upward again, it is of little comfort in
Oswego, where there is already too much snow to know what to do with and no end in sight.
"We're just trying to keep up. It's almost an unreal amount," said Oswego Mayor Randy Bateman.
"We catch up when it stops, but then it just comes again, even heavier."
Behrend hosts Random Acts
of Kindness Week in February
By Yvonne Folmar
contributing writer
Penn State Behrend's Sample Center
for Manners and Civility will be partici
pating in Random Acts of Kindness
Week, which is held from Feb. 12-18.
The goal of Random Acts
of Kindness Week is to get
more people involved in the
kindness revolution.
e random act of kindness
act 4xerformed by
someone you know or some
one you don't know to either
help or cheer up, for no rea
son other than out the kind
ness of one's heart," Dr. Rod
Troester, Associate Professor
of Speech Communication said. "It's
important because it reminds us of what
humans are like at their best.-
Random acts of kindness give people
the chance to put someone else's needs
ahead of their own.
The idea of a Random Acts of
Kindness Week began 25 years ago. In
1982, a missionary named Ann Herbert
penned a special phrase. "Practice ran-
dom kindness and senseless acts of beau- wonderful feeling inside. It is as though
ty." This message traveled across the something inside your body responds
United States from friend to family to and says, yes, this is how I ought to
"Note how good you feel after you
have- encouraged someone else.
No other argument is necessary to
suggest that we should never miss
the opportunity to give encourage
rent."
Janet Neff Sample Center C
for Armen 6' N..
stranger. During the Gulf War in 1991,
when people were feeling disconnected
about the growing violence in the world,
Conari Press collected stories of random
acts of kindness that demonstrated the
transformational power of simple kind
ness. Because it spoke out for the need
"When you carry
out acts of kindness
feeling InslAW!
- Harold Kushner
and student organizations around cam
pus, including the Lion Ambassadors
and the Student Government
Association, have agreed to serve as
"kindness police" and issue "tickets" in
the form of Bruno Bucks to those
observed committing random acts of
kindness.
As Harold Kushner once said, "When
you carry out acts of kindness you get a
- George 13wton Adams
of a less violent world,
the random acts of
kindness movement
was born. In February
1995 the first Random
Acts of Kindness Week,
took place, and since
then, the movement has
grown creating an
annual awareness each
February.
Twenty-five offices
Source: CNN.com, Yahoo! News
continued from page I
be taken for a full recovery, but without regular pap smears, the
signs could go unnoticed until it is too late," said McMahon.
Promoting women's health has been a great concern for
Behrend's Health and Wellness Center, and reaching college
women has been less than easy for the staff since they received
the drug in August of 2006. However, due to the national pub
licity, television commercials and Texas' new law, many stu
dents and their families have become interested in receiving
the vaccine at Behrend, says McMahon. "We have had a lot of
interest about the vaccine from both students and families.
Now our goal is to get the word out more, and let women know
they can receive it here, or if they have already begun their six
month process, they can finish it here too," said McMahon.
The vaccination process takes six months to complete, where
women w hiledo .. ll " . „given a l t9tal,4 tutee shoti The first
Apj,i,s4ixt4,,,tilen two months afterwards the second is given,
and then six months from the first shot, the third is given. The
cost of each immunization at the Health aria Wellness Center is
$l3O, but most insurance companies are now covering it.
McMahon said, "The shots are highly effective and act just like
any other anti-viral vaccine, but there are a few requirements.
Women cannot be pregnant when receiving the vaccine and
they should wait a few months after receiving their last shot
before becoming pregnant."
Some other ways women can protect themselves from cervi
cal cancer are to always use condoms during intercourse.
McMahon recommends using a non-spermicidal, plain latex
condom because the condoms with spermicide have been
known to cause more damage then good. She also recommends
using spermicidal foam, (which is applied to the female geni
talia) along with a non-spermicidal, plain latex condom, which
Students comment on White House changes
Thirteen Cabinet agencies want to increase financial aid for
lower-income college students. To do this, they will cut
President Bush's funding request for foreign aid and closing
military bases. House
Republicans have scorned
Democrats plans to advance
the huge $463.5 billion plan
through the House on
Wednesday without giving
Republicans or rank and file
Democrats a chance to offer
changes in an
Appropriations Committee
session or on the floor.
Democrats, such as
Appropriations Committee
Chairman David Obey of
Wisconsin, fired back by
saying Republicans will not
make tough budget choices
like this before the election.
The bill would freeze
most federal accounts at
2006 levels. There would
be exceptions so agencies
can avoid hiring freezes,
and for programs favored by
Democrats like health,
research, and education
ings suc
for veterans and active-duty military use $lO to $l2 billion,
which is put together by staff aids freezing other accounts. The
veterans would get $3.5 billion dollars over last year, while
active duty and their families will get a 6% increase.
The National Institutes of Health will get a $260 million
budget increase, which is about 2 percent. While the FBI,
which is now facing hiring curbs, would get a $2OO million
increase to its $6OO million budget already.
The Pell Grant for lower-income college students would
increase by $260 to $4,310, which is the first increase since
r•i
:.),
Indonesia swamped with flood rains
JAKARTA, Indonesia: The country of Indonesia is accustomed to yearly cycles of rain and flooding,
but this year the rain isn t stopping.
The capital city of Jakarta has been consistently flooded for a week, with its population 0112 mil
lion crammed into schools and other government-opened refuge sites as the rain continues to fall and
re-flood the city every time a clean-up effort is started. Some residents venture out into waist-deep
mud to try to salvage anything that might have survived in their devastated homes.
"We spent yesterday mopping and scrubbing and now the waters have come again," said Haji Jajan,
a Health Ministry worker struggling to stay ahead of the spreading flood area.
Other officials, both those in Indonesia and in the international community, are concerned that con
stant poor conditions and an inability to dispose of garbage during the flood will soon lead to an
uncontrollable spread of disease.
"City officials have to start cleaning the debris if they want to prevent the spread of diseases," said
Chef Rustam Pakaya of the Health Ministry Crisis Center.
The flood has devastated over 100,000 acres of densely populated city space and neighboring farm
areas around the Indonesian capital. Even the places where the flood waters have receded, they have
deposited contaminated mud up to four feet deep.
By Amanda Aurand
staff writer
Behrend students speak out:
Tuzynsld, 19, nmalirement " It's not
fair."
Smith, 19, PR "I think that it's not
fan . just because oy
40renats
make
enough frione**4 (SfijAfi'igi4;fititptibut the
tuition vonles-fiviii6y pooket."
Burcigette, 19, - auguistry,#4 It's just not
fah' fgr anYoni."
Governor Rick Perry's recent decision made it mandatory for
school-age girls in Texas to be vaccinated for HPV.
will protect against pregnancy as well as sexually transmitted
diseases.
"Our mission is to educate," said McMahon, and any student
who wishes to receive more information about the HPV vac
cine or to schedule an appointment to receive the vaccine can
either stop by the Health and Wellness Center located in the
Carriage House or call (814) 898-6217. There is no cost for
students to simply discuss their health with any of the Nurse
Practitioners, who are more than willing to secure the health of
the students.
People are pressing for big boosts to fight against AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis overseas, which won a $1.3 billion
increase to $4.5 billion. That's enough to fund the President's
$225 million ambition to fight malaria and increase the Global
fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to $724 million.
Some of Bush's initiatives,
Domenici won in a disagree
ment over the funding to build an Energy Department plant in
South Carolina to convert the excess plutonium into a commer
cial nuclear fuel. The price of the project keeps rising from the
earlier estimates, but the House lawmakers succeeded in delay
ing disbursement of funding until Aug. 1.
This has helped committees that were going to be getting
cut, which now won't be because of the freezing of the 2006
salary, but has hurt projects for lawmakers' districts and states,
which now have to be erased.
Friday, February 9, 2007
such as a $5.5 billion request to
start closing some military bases,
which passed two years ago, took
some heavy hits. The Deputy
Defense Secretary Gordon
England states that this "could
result in postponing scheduled
redeployments from overseas sta
tions to the United States." The
Army plans to boost overseas
deployment in smaller fighting
units.
They also cut $3 billion from
Bush's base closing request, but
may make up for the $lOO billion
plus funding bill scheduled to
advance in the spring.
This bill has taken the
Democrats many weeks to put
together, with little to no input
from the Republicans, but more
from the old-line GOP senators
such as Thad Cochran of
Mississippi and Pete Domenici of
New Mexico.