Friday, February 22, 2008 BehrendLive webcams broadcast activity over the Internet Many students at Bruno's are unaware that they are being watched on a live webcam for broadcast over the Internet. Behrend class visits Erie City Council By Jeremy Korwek humor editor jdk5(KW(« psu.edu A man comparing the smoking ban to the tire to energy plant by attempting to light a cigarette, a women claiming the office of children and youth kidnaped and exploited her grandson and a classmate interviewing the Governor of Pennsylvania. These are just some of the things that Kim Young's Comm 260 W class didn't expect to encounter when they went to report on the Feb. 6 Erie City Council meeting. The students did however expect to hear opposition to the pro posed "tires to energy plant" which is to be built on the old International Paper site in east Erie. The students heard several citizens speak out against the tire plant, one even called it "eco logical racism." The students in the 260 W class began to see at least one side of the story that they needed to report on. With notebooks and pens at the ready they began the task of inter viewing the members of the opposition, one of which was Randy Barnes. A salesman by trade. Barnes is one of the key members of K.E.E.P. otherwise know as Keep Eric's Environment Protected. With his two minutes of time w ith council up. Barnes fielded questions from the class of journalism students. "Why did you decide to fight the plant?" "Could the owners do any thing to change your mind?" "What should go at the IP site if not the power plant 0 " These are just some of the questions that stu dents asked Barnes in their efforts to find out more. Not only did the students interview Barnes, hut they also interviewed Geophysics professor from Clarion University. Dr. Frank Vento. The students soon heard from Dr. Vcnto that he believes that the plant is based on "voodoo science." With that quote, and others much like it the students were ready with half the story. First, they had to make a slight detour and interview Governor Ed Rendell. Unknown to the vast majority of the stu dents Governor Rendell was in Erie to reveal his 2008-2009 budget and stimulus package. While there he answered several questions from reporters and even took the time to be inter viewed by Comm 260 W student Angela D'Aurora. In her inter view. D'Aurora, learned more about the Governor's budget and his endorsement for the 2008 election. With the Governor's press conference over the class began to draft their articles. The next Thursday Erie City Council President Curtis Jones ir. attended the 260 W class and shared his viewpoints on Erie Renewable Energy's plans for the IP site. With questions about his opinion on the possible pollution, his feelings about the com ing election, and the recent shooting in lowa the students took the entire class time for the mock press conference. To wrap up their experiences the students of the past week and a half, they began work on their own articles for class and perhaps even The Behrend Beacon. Behrend student dancers prepare for 46 hours of THON By Mark Nardo staff writer manso92@psu.edu This weekend Penn State’s Interfraternity/ Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON), the largest student-run philanthropy in the world will take place. THON has raised over $46 million in the past three decades for families, children, and the Four Diamonds Fund at the Hershey Medical Center. The fund has helped many people and has supported medical research at the Hershey Medical Center. This year, Penn State Behrend adopted their first THON family, the Dorers. Their daughter. Rylee Dorer, was diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoma in Oct. of 2007 and a portion of money raised at this year's THON will go to help the Dorer family with hospi tal expenses as well as Rylee’s treatments. News Opinion,. Humor.... DEHEHD DEflCOn Contents ...1-3 Entertainment 4 Student Life... 5 Music A Penn State Behrend Student Publication By Marcus Yeagley staff writer mjys()l2C»'psu.edu Behrend students may be surprised to learn that their actions in Bruno's and the east side of campus are being broadcast freely over the Internet through the use of two controllable webcams hosted on the Penn State Behrend website. Since Nov. 2 of last fall, the two cameras have been accessible through the Admissions and Financial Aid section of the school site. Users can click on "BehrendLive Webcam" in an information sidebar to view either a feed from inside Bruno's or a feed from a camera mount ed on the Junker Center. The Bruno's feed allows users to focus on four areas of the establishment: two cashiers on the right side, the laptop counters, the Bruno’s Java section and a general overview of the Which way? That way! .jcgan McGrcgor/THK BE:. The 'White Out’ student section at the men’s basketball game against Lake Erie College cheered as the Lions defeated the Storm 70-65 After another school shooting, campus security reviewed Bv Walaa Ahmad staff writer wmalo9@psu.edu Colleges and universities across the country including Penn State Behrend are once again reevaluating security policies in the wake of the recent shootings at Northern Illinois University. John Ream, director of business operations at Behrend, said the college continues to assess its security. One of the most important security measures Ream said involves text messaging. “There are many implements to keep our campus safe," said Ream. At first we look at the range of an See CAMPUS on page 2 THON is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 and doesn’t end until 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24. THON will be broadcasted live via Internet and will be watched by more than 22 countries around the world. All of the dancers are required to stay awake and active for the whole 46 hours of the event. During the 46 hours, no sleeping or sitting is allowed. Of the 700 students dancing in THON this year, four Behrend students will be participating in the event at Penn State University Park’s Bryce Jordan Center. Molly Thomas. Erin Kiesel, Elton Armady, and Linh Nguyen will represent Behrend at this year's event as teams 111 and 112. Thomas has been involved with THON for two years now, however, this will be her first year ...6 ...7 ...8 See BEHREND on page 2. Erin Kiesel ’ Linh Nguyen, Elton Armady and Molly Thomas will represent Behrend at this year s THON We are now on the Web! Visit us online at www.thebehrendbeacon.com tables throughout the restaurant. The Junker feed has a general view of the east side of cam pus set up with three presets for the Penn State Lion statue, the REDC and the Smith Chapel. The Junker feed also has a button for users who wish to capture a screenshot. Mary-Ellen Madigan. Director of the Admissions and Financial Aid Department, is responsible for the establishment of the cam eras. Striving for them to use to market to prospective students. Madigan stated that the cameras were placed where they are for specif ic reasons, such as ease of wiring, but most importantly because they tend to have a high amount of student traffic. Madigan plans on eventually creating a page where students can send a message to their rela tives. friends, or anyone else over the webcam in a sort of "Hi Mom!" space. "1 think it is a fun family tool for students to say 'hi' to family, friends, whatever." she said. Thefts from Dobbins increasing By Angelica Stoltzfus staff writer anssls4@psu.edu Dobbins Hall is a widely used, all-you can-eat. student dining hall. Like most facil- ities on campus, you are required to present your PSU ID before entering and pay a cer tain amount for each meal. Dobbins offers a special brunch at 11 a.m.. and remains open Sunday to Friday until 7 p.m. The meals are divided up and vary with each week. They also offer coffee and fountain drinks. The dining hall is an exceptionally larger than every other place to eat on campus, not to mention it offers all the food and more, offered at other various cafes on campus. Recently, however, students have been caught in the act of stealing spoons, bowls, mugs, trays, and of course, food. Vol. LIV No. XVI In response to learning about the webcam, a cashier at Bruno's. Gerri Gallagher, said she wanted to show it to her kids so they could see her workplace. Sophomore Brandon Babb said he heard there was a camera hut has never looked at it. "It's kind of creepy.” Babb said. "Why would anyone w'ant to watch?" "I think it's actually pretty cool." said sopho more Garrett W'atkins. who knew there was a live camera feed in Bruno's. "I think it's pretty cool to log on and see what everyone is up to." The webcam inside Bruno's is not the only camera in the eatery . Security cameras over cash registers and around the restaurant are main tained by Police and Safety and are used often to catch illegal transactions and theft. The web earns were put in place after a year of price negotiation and placement decisions. The total cost for the two cameras w as 53.300. Alanna Steeura. a current cmploxcc at Dobbins who said. "Working at Dobs is not that bad. blit you would be surprised at what you see the students doing." Aeeording to Steeura. it's relative!} casv to steal at Dobbins beeause students are elcver and hardly ever get eaught. "People steal the trays especially anil use them to go sledding down the hills around campus." Steeura admitted. Reeently. students have been eaught taking empty lunch bags in vv ith them and leaving with those bags stuffed full of food and other materials. Randy Geering. Head of Housing and Food Serviee at Penn State Behrend. was surprised to hear that stealing is becoming a bigger issue. He was kind to inform See THEFT on piitfi
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