I The Behrend Beacon
American Airlines cancels thousands of flights
On Wednesday, American Airlines grounded
over 1,000 flights to have extra inspections on
their wiring. The cancellations encompass nearly
half of the airline’s schedule.
The type of craft in question is the MD-80
which is used by over a third of American’s 2,300
daily flights.
On Tuesday, the airline grounded 450 of its
flights for similar reasons.
The planes had received wiring inspections two
weeks ago, but the Federal Aviation
Administration has increased and intensified
safety inspections recently. The FAA stated they
were too lenient on inspections last year, after the
US House of Representatives’ Transportation
Committee found safety
hazards, in the form of
fuselage cracks, on planes
belonging to Southwest
City officials attempt to curb graffiti
By Adam Morton
contributing writer
atm 154 (a 1 psu.edu
Erie officials are cracking down on the
growing problem of graffiti throughout
the city. “The current graffiti problem in
Erie is the worst it has ever been,”
District Justice Tom Carney said at a
recent press conference with local Penn
State students. “It’s no wonder people
find it hard to take pride in our town, it’s
starting to look like we just don’t care.”
The current issue in Erie extends far
beyond the everyday places graffiti is
found such as bridges, overpasses and
vacant buildings. Instead, modem graffi
ti artists, or “taggers,” are targeting pri
vate businesses, institutions, and resi
dential property. “Taggers are not only
affecting the image of our town, but now
they are costing individuals a lot of
money." Carney said.
Erie City Council member Jessica
Horan-Kunco is leading the charge
against the graffiti problem. Kunco’s
concern is the negative image that is cre
ated by excessive graffiti. “People who
come into our town will think it’s full of
gangs and thugs” she said, “and Erie’s
tourism will suffer greatly if no one feels
safe within our city.”
Erie Mayor Joe Sinnot has teamed up
with Kunco by creating a ‘Graffiti Task
Jenkins endorses Obama
Continued from page 1
Jenkins told the audience of mostly col
lege students, with a few adults mixed in,
that after Obama graduated from college,
he was left with significant college
loans, just like they would be. In
Jenkins' appeal, he noted that people
making less that $75,000 per year would
receive a tax credit of $4,000 towards
their student loans.
Jenkins went on to describe why he
believes Obama is not your run-of-the
mill politician.
"This is a time when we have a politi
cian that respects what people think,” he
said.
As Jenkins finished his speech and a
long line formed for a meet and greet
session, Jenkins told the audience, “This
Source: CNN, BBC News
Force’ that consists of local volunteers
who wish to help make our town look
beautiful once more. Through the aid
and donations of local businesses like
Home Depot and Braendel Painting, the
task force has been successful in remov
ing a substantial amount of graffiti. “The
problem though, is that these ‘taggers’
are becoming more bold and daring,”
Carney said, “and the graffiti reappears
as quickly as it is removed.”
Carney believes that public awareness
plays an important role in the future pre
vention of graffiti. “It’s not like when I
was young and graffiti was just a slap on
the wrist,” he said.
Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice Act 33
allows for adolescents to be charged as
adults for significant crimes and Carney
thinks that the city’s youth needs to
know this. “I know it’s tough to be a kid
these days,” Carney admits, “but they
need to know they’re really playing with
fire.”
The penalties for graffiti in the Erie
area are as follows. A first offense that
consists of damage less than $250 is con
sidered criminal mischief and can carry a
$250 fine and/or 90 days in prison.
However, if the defaced property is a
school, church or financial institution the
offense climbs to institutional vandalism
which carries significant fines and con
siderable jail time.
is your time.”
The increased activity on college cam
puses seems to be having an effect. State
officials released the newest voter regis
tration numbers on April 7 noting an
eight percent increase in the number of
registered Democrats to 4.2 million in
the state. At the same time, the
Republican Party saw a decrease of
about two percent since last fall’s elec
tion.
New polls by Quinnipiac University
released last week show that Obama is
narrowing the gap in Pennsylvania. Last
month, Sen, Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
held an 11-point lead over Obama.
However, the newest polls show that
lead has slipped to just six points.
Airlines that west unnoticed due to lax inspec
tions.
American Airline's Chief executive, Gerard
Arpey, said in a statement, “We continue to
inspect every airplane to ensure we are in total
agreement with the specifications of the direc
tive. We will get back to a full schedule as quick
ly as possible.” .
American Airlines is not the only airline being
forced to conduct extra inspections, Delta,
Southwest and United have all also pounded
flights for inspection, but nowhere near the
amount American has.
American Airlines stated that mane of its flights
may be grounded in the near future. As of
Wednesday, only 30 planes were back in opera
tion.
NEW.
However, Carney does not believe that
these penalties are always necessary.
Erie officials are working on a program
that allows ‘taggers’ who are caught to
adopt that building for a year. This
means that once a “tagger” is through
cleaning up their mess, they must contin
ue to maintain the building by cleaning
any future graffiti that appears.
“Through this method,” Carney said,
“combined with good behavior, we don’t
have to throw kids in jail to teach them a
lesson.”
“Ignorance and apathy are the major
problems in today’s society,” Carney
said, “if you lay down and play dead;
they’re going to walk all over you.” He
added, “Every thousand mile journey
starts with the first step,” he added, and
hopefully the ‘Graffiti Task Force’ can
be that step.
Many of Professor Kim Young’s jour
nalism students will be participating in a
graffiti clean-up that is scheduled for
April 19. Anyone interested in volun
teering is encouraged to contact her for
further information. Professor Young
can be reached by phone at (814) 898-
6394 or e-mail kjylO@psu.edu.
As an added incentive, Carney said
that he would be willing to write a rec
ommendation of character merit for any
student who participates in the clean-up.
Behrend
students
remember
Virginia Tech
massacre
Continued from page 1.
on a killing spree,” said Calvin
Schmader, a freshman business major.
“It would be unfair to prosecute some
one for something they have yet to com-
A mere four days later is the eigth
anniversary of the shooting at
Columbine High School, when two stu
dents killed 12 of their classmates and
one of their teachers, before taking their
own lives. Columbine was considered
the worst school shooting in history,
until Virginia Tech.
Since the late nineties, there has been
a dramatic rise in the number of school
shootings. There were eight school
shootings between 1997 and 1999, and
five have already occurred in 2008 (all in
the month of February), the most that has
ever happened in a single year.
The only school shooting to occur near
the Erie area was the shooting at Parker
Middle School in Edinboro,
Pennsylvania in 1998. The shooter,
Andrew Wurst was only 14 at the time.
Wurst brought a firearm to a restaurant
hosting a school dance which left one
dead, three wounded. The owner of the
restaurant then drew a shotgun on Wurst,
keeping him at gunpoint for 11 minutes
until authorities arrived.
Cl
O
Protests plague Olympic torch relay
Protests have plagued the Olympic torch relay
across the globe. The protestors ate criticizing
China’s crackdown in Tibet, and their support of
Sudan in light of the years-long massacre in
Darfur.
In Paris, die last leg of the relay was cut short
due to the unrest Despite the presence of 3,000
police along the route, the teach had to be extin*
guished three times and eventually taken on a
bus to the end point of the relay. One protestor
tried to grab die torch itself and was immediate
ly arrested and thrown to die ground by a police
officer.
In San Francisco, protestors climbed, the
Golden Gate bridge and hung banners, reading
“One World One Dream," and “Free Tibet.” The
tench’s route was shortened before the relay
began, for security reasons. The first torchbearer
was forced to take shelter in a warehouse due to
Lack of Obama visits to the Erie
area could cost him the primary
Continued from page 1.
“His campaign is probably going to
focus a lot on the Philadelphia area in
turning out who he is sure will support
him,” stated Speel when asked what
other Pennsylvania locations may be
drawing focus away from Erie for
Obama. “I’m sure he is going to make
another visit to Pittsburgh because in the
city of Pittsburgh he will do well.”
“[Hillary] should not be winning Erie
County by a landslide and if he cam
paigned here and came personally for a
couple visits, my guess is he would have
a chance to win Erie County."
Senator Clinton’s case for becoming
the Democratic Presidential nominee
could ride on Pennsylvania and depend
ing on how or if she wins the state, sev
eral scenarios could play out.
“If Obama can win Pennsylvania,
you’re probably going to see the remain
ing uncommitted superdelegates come to
his side and Hillary Clinton’s mathemat
ical chance of winning the nomination
will drop to almost nil very quickly...if
DiVecchio speaks to Behrend
classes about proposed
community college plan
Continued from page 1
being able to fill gaps in the workforce
within two or three years, and even
bringing new companies into the city.
The Erie executive board has a unique
setting in mind, aiming to start off the
college without a centralized campus.
Students would enroll in the college, pay
community college-priced tuition, and
take classes through the four-year
schools in the Erie area. The board said
that since four-year schools are expect
ing a sudden drop in student applications
after the year 2008, a new pool of stu
dents would be beneficial.
Yet when pressed about the financial
strain the four-year colleges would
endure from taking in a large group of
students for a fraction of the tuition,
DiVecchio admitted that there would be
“some competitive pinches.” Since 30
percent of Behrend students are Erie res
idents, there could be an overlap of stu
dents who might be able to take the same
classes at Behrend for a sliver of the
price.
Mary-Ellen Madigan, Director of
Admissions at Behrend, said that the
impact on Behrend would depend on the
setup of the community college. If the
community college housed its own class
es and focused on technological skills,
Behrend would be able to be involved
without much risk. Madigan said that she
would like to see the community college
in place as a stepping-stone to a four
year college, functioning to boost ill-pre
pared high school students up to a more
rigorous level.
However, if the community college
“farmed out” classes to other colleges, as
DiVecchio seems to be planning,
Friday, April 11, 2008
the sheer number of protestors, but re-emerged a
half hour later a mile down the route.
Many of the individuals involved with the
relay have aired concerns about thejp&le*# mem
guarding the torch. Lord Coe, a footer Olympic
champion and head of the otganiziis committee
for the 2012 games said‘They tried to push me
out of die way three times. They did not speak
English. They were thugs.”
Chinese officials have scrutinized dm protes
tors, claiming drey are nying to steal toe spot
light from a historical event for their self inter
ests. Despite the Chinese government's criti
cism, the protestors are the om» coming out on
top as the International Olympic Committee is
considering cancelling the rest of the relays
across the globe, but as of press time no such
decision has been announced.
she wins by less than five percent...at
that point some of the superdelegates
may also start going to Obama’s side,"
Speel said.
If Hillary wins by a larger margin,
between five and ten percent, then the
contest between her and her Illinois
opponent will likely continue relatively
unchanged. “If she wins Pennsylvania by
a large margin, by over 10 percent, then
obviously she is still going and she has a
case to make,” Speel stated.
The associate professor also postulat
ed another reason for why Obama may
simply be biding his time, waiting for the
opportune time to hit the Erie area.
“In order to win Pennsylvania it is
actually better that he not have momen
tum now because expectations for his
campaign would rise and if she did
somehow win Pennsylvania it would be
an even bigger win for her... They like the
fact that he is five to ten percent behind
now so that if he can somehow win on
April 22 that would doom Hillary
Clinton’s presidency.”
Madigan predicted some problems. First
of all, the community college would
have to make up for any money that
Behrend would lose from a reduced
tuition. Secondly, the community college
would have to be Middle-State accredit
ed, or the credits would not count for
Behrend as they might some other
schools in the area.
In fact, Erie developed a similar con
cept for a technical school in 1991. The
Northwest Pennsylvania Technical
Institute was “intended to function as a
school ‘without walls,’ i.e., without a
campus. Classes were to be provided by
public, private and non-profit providers
with which NPTI had cooperative agree
ments,” according the summary report
on Northwest Pennsylvania Technical
Institute and Wrightco Technologies Inc,
which was released Oct. 2003.
The NPIT graduated 10 students in the
10 years before it shut down, although it
turned out considerably more “technical
skills certificates.” The college was
never audited by the state until 2003,
when it was discovered that the NPIT
owed the Commonwealth $l6 million.
Behrend students are less than enthusi
astic about the potential arrangement.
Many are concerned about classroom
space, saying that it is already difficult to
register for all of their classes. Another
concern is how much of Behrend’s
resources they would be sharing. “Are
they basically able to mooch off our stuff
without paying our prices?” asks Ahmed
Abdalla, Behrend freshman. Current
freshman at Behrend would still be
enrolled in 2010, when the community
college is supposed to be in place.