I The Behrend Beacon
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the ?me exercise theteot Diabridging The freedorn of speech, or of the press; or the I
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, - The Fitst Ariimemdment to the U.S.Constitution
The Behrend Beacon
by the students of Penn State Belli-end
HG lIRI \ I)
beacon
News Editor
Ashley Bressler
Assistant News Editors Assistant Humor Editor
Lenny Smith Jerry Pohl
Student Life Editors
Joshua Lane
Scott Muska
Penn State Erie,
The Behrend College
First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed Union Building
Station Road, Erie, PA 16563
Contact the Beacon at:
Telephone: (814) 898-6488
Fax: (814) 898-6019
Are Erie residents ready
The biggest positive is the swelling of
tax and other licensing revenues for
both the local municipal governments
and the state. Hopefully, some of this
money will be used to partially control
some of the problems that come with
casinos and casino-related business,
which are varied and many.
The state government and the gaming
industry have done an
effective job of down
playing the downside to
operating a casino. It's in
their best interest to do
so, for they stand to make
the most profit off its
operation. However, the
impact that casino gam
ing has had on other cities
is readily apparent.
Casinos make vast
amounts of money by
accepting it from every
day people, hoping and
sometimes desperate to
"make it big" despite having better odds
of getting struck by lightning. Joint
research from Purdue and Georgetown
Universities has shown that personal
bankruptcies skyrocket for residents
who live within 50 miles of a casino as
residents effectively hand their hard
earned dollars over directly to the
multi-billion dollar industry and receive
nothing in return. Every so often some-
By Patrick Webster
managing editor
The new Presque Isle Downs casino
opened on Wednesday to much fanfare
as thousands of people flocked to try
their luck on commercial gaming
machines while the opening chords of
"Viva Las Vegas" played in the back
ground. The Erie Times-News even
devoted three full pages in the first sec
tion of the Thursday newspaper, lauding
the quality of entertainment and con
struction of the casino. Presque Isle
Downs will no doubt change the Erie
area permanently, but at this point there
is no telling whether the overall change
in the long term will be positive or neg-
Subniissio
The Beeves welcomes readers
and commentary pieces can be
throaty to the Saigon office, Joe
tenon shotdd tie limited to 351
ed 10 700 WOrtht. The illotn „coact!
Christopher LaFuria, Editor in Chief
Patrick Webster, Managing Editor
Lindsay Snyder, Advertising Manager
Kim Young, Adviser
Sports Editors
Danielle Brown
Kara Struski
Opinion Editor
Janet Niedenberger
Humor Editor
Ben Raymond
Head Copy Editor
Rachael Conway
Copy Editors
Chris Brown
Janet Niedenberger
Jessica Samol
Photography Editor
Mike Sharkey
Any spokesman for the gaming
industry or our state and local govern
ments will be more than happy to tell
you the benefits of having that
sparkling new casino in town, loudly
and repeatedly. You don't need to listen
to them, though; the benefits are imme
diately apparent. Local businesses in
the area will see an increase in traffic as
locals and tourists spend more time in
the vicinity. More than six hundred
jobs were added with the construction
and operation of the casino, which helps
offset the recent closings and layoffs in
some of Erie's larger employers.
Gambling also has something of an
intrinsic tourism and entertainment
value.
• .
I d- 1
RINI ON
This week
Vice President Dick Cheney visited
Pakistan and Afghanistan last week in an
attempt to bolster support for the war
effort against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in
the region. While staying at the Bagram
Air Force Base in Afghanistan, a suicide
bomber staged an attack a mile away,
killing 23 people, and the Secret Service
ushered Cheney to safety. Hopefully it
served as a wake-up call to the Vice
President; if he and President Bush had
not focused on the Iraq war at the
expense of the 'real' war on terror in
Pakistan and Afghanistan, then suicide
bombers and a spring offensive wouldn't
be an issue there anymore.
However, the more important story
coming out of this trip provides real
insight to the thinking, or lack thereof, of
the Bush administration. The story I'm
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
If Liz can write about her random
thoughts during class, I figured I
could write a random rebuttal to an
article from last week's Beacon. I
know many of you think NASCAR is
a boring redneck sport, so I'll get that
out of the way first. In last week's
paper, Danielle Brown writes, "sever
al Toyota cars were accused of having
a foreign substance in their engines
that was supposed to help enhance
their performance." This is simply
not true. Not only was Michael
Waltrip's #55 Toyota the only Toyota
found with the illegal oxygenating
substance, but was the only Toyota
that failed pre-race inspection.
Following Brown's paragraph that
"several Toyota cars had a foreign
substance," she continues on to state
that, "NASCAR suspended the crew
chiefs for Matt Kenseth, Kasey
Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliot Sadler,"
implying that these drivers drive for
By Chris Brown
copy editor
talking about is the briefing to the press
corps after Cheney's meeting with the
President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.
The Bush administration refuses to dis
cuss what was said in the meeting but
many in the news media speculate that in
usual Cheney fashion, Musharraf was
subjected to a very stern warning by the
Vice-President; after the meeting, the
Pakistan government issued a statement
rebuking the visit saying, "Pakistan does
not accept dictation from any side or any
source."
Of course the Bush administration
denied this, but the way they denied these
accusations highlights their relationship
with the press and how it operates in a
cloud of secrecy. When trying to discred
it these claims, Cheney agreed to speak to
the press, but only under the condition
that he be quoted as a 'senior Bush
Administration Official.' His plan might
have worked, but while commenting to
the press, he referred to himself in the
first person. While speaking as the 'sen
ior official,' Cheney said, "I've seen
some press reporting that says Cheney
went in to beat up on them, to threaten
them, but that's not the way I work." In
a press briefing today, White House Press
Secretary Tony Snow refused to admit
that the quote could be attributed to
Cheney even after many news media
reported the slip up by Cheney.
This is just one more instance in which
the Bush Administration tried to sway
Toyota. Actually, Kenseth drives a
Chevrolet and the others drive
Dodges.
The article then quotes Brian
Kundrod, who states "NASCAR is an
American sport, and American cars
should be the only ones allowed to
drive." Dodge, a branch of
Germany's Daimler-Chrysler, is cur
rently no more American than Toyota.
And ironically, the Toyota Camry is
the only car featured in NASCAR that
is made in America. The Ford Fusion
is made in Mexico, the Chevy Monte
Carlo and Dodge Charger in Canada,
and the Toyota Camry in Georgetown,
Kentucky, right here in the good ole
US of A. Toyota has already been
accepted and embraced in the
Craftsman Truck Series, especially
after dominating last year's season. I
am confident that the Nextel Cup will
follow suit and will come to accept
that Toyota is here to stay.
-Patrick Krott
English
for this
one will come out with a big win, but
this is necessary...if no one won, peo
ple would stop coming. Therefore,
wins are highly publicized and odds are
nowhere to be seen. The Times-News
even helped, printing stories of people
winning up to $lO,OOO on the opening
day, the better to lure more lemmings
into the water. The net effect of this
dd push an already
inomically border-
Le-depressed region
'n further down
tile Harrisburg and
massive corpora-
Ins reap the benefits.
:ime is always an
;ue when the conse-
nces of casino busi-
is are discussed.
e huge amounts of
►ney changing hands
the creation of a
nsient population
unfamiliar with their
surroundings creates opportunities for
enterprising criminals to take advantage
of, from your basic muggings for cash
to more elaborate schemes to leech
money from locals and tourists in other
ways. The results vary from city to city,
largely depending on how a city uses
the increased revenue associated with
the operating casino. Cities that imme
diately reinvest their windfall funds in
in politics
public opinion by intentionally leaking
information or speaking anonymously
(see pre-Iraq invasion intelligence). The
reason he had to speak under a pseudo
nym is obvious. When a Vice-President
goes on the record time and again telling
the public we are winning in Iraq, some
thing has to give and in this case it was
his credibility. No one can give any legit
imacy to him anymore and that forces
him to pretend to be someone else when
speaking to the press. If the people were
skeptical of information coming from
unnamed sources in the Bush administra
tion, no one is going to believe them now.
This week the Bush administration
announced that the United States would
attend a mid-east conference that
includes Iran and Syria. Topic of discus
sion: what to do about Iraq. This is the
highest level talks between the United
States, Syria, and Iran in more than two
years. This seems to be a change in the
Administration's refusal to negotiate with
the two countries, but officials in the
Bush Administration refuse to admit this.
They maintain that they are not softening
their stance because the US would only
be `observing' the talks. Why can't Bush
just admit he made mistakes in Iraq?
History would be much kinder to him if
he could show that he has learned from
his mistakes instead of trying to convince
the public this has been his plan all along.
Need an extra-cur
ricular for your
resume? Bored, and
have nothing better
to do? Like to corn
fit into any of the
above, then should
you definitely write
an opinion article!
Whether it's a letter
to the editor, of
regular old opinion
article, your submis
sions are always
welcome! Just send
them to
• ,
'On2l9@psu.edu,
casino?
police and public safety measures have
largely avoided the stigma of increased
crime, ensuring the continuing increas
es in tax and business revenue as the
public perceives the casino to be "safe."
Most other cities instead see drastic
increases in related crime rates.
Some residents living within a mile or
so of Presque Isle Downs have already
noticed some negative results: their
water, sewage and power bills are going
through the roof as they are being
charged for infrastructure improve
ments to increase the volume of service
for these utilities that they didn't need
or ask for. Traffic in the area is also
rapidly worsening.
If you've ever been to Las Vegas or
Niagara Falls, you also know that casi
nos can be wholly depressing places to
visit. Once you get past the glitter and
bright lights, it can be discomforting to
walk in and see that little old lady with
bleary red eyes clutching her cup full of
quarters as she feeds her life savings
into a slot machine twenty-five cents at
a time.
Like every other city that opts to open
a casino, the final verdict as to whether
it was a good idea or a bad idea will
take years to decide. Even then, it's
only a matter of whether the local posi
tive benefits outweigh the negatives,
and that's up to you to decide.
Friday, March 2, 2007