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