CAMPUS SAFETY
Student rescued from Wintergreen Gorge
CONNOR SATTELY
vditor-in-i hit'l
A week after being rescued
from a cliff in Wintergreen
Gorge, Behrend Junior Kyle
Reilly is still feeling the effects
of his harrowing experience.
Last Sunday, Reilly, a psy
chology major, got stuck climb
ing a steep section of the
Wintergreen Gorge cliff called
the Devil’s Backbone. Emer
gency crews were called to the
scene and Reilly spent over an
hour and a half on the cliff side
before he was rescued.
Reilly was hiking through the
gorge with two friends and his
girlfriend, Julia Kanaitis, when
he decided to climb one of the
steeper parts of the hill known
as Devil’s Backbone.
“I’ve climbed a ton of the hills
and cliffs back there before,”
Reilly said. “I’ve gotten to the
top all the time. This section of
the cliff looked doable, but I got
to a point where there was a
ninety-degree cliff. It would
have been literally impossible
to continue, without ropes.”
Looking back, a steep grade
and sharp rocks prohibited him
from backtracking. After
roughly 20 minutes of trying to
find a safe way out, he decided
the safest option was to call 9-
1-1.
He did so, and was instructed
to stay calm and stay put. The
crews got to him after about a
half hour, and shortly, a rescuer
rappelled down to him and fit
ted him with a harness. At that
point, Reilly had been on the
cliff for over an hour.
Rope crews at the top of the
hill pulled Reilly and his res
cuer to the top. Since he had no
major injuries, Reilly was
cleared to leave after a few
checks of his vitals and some
paperwork.
WOMENS’S TENNIS
Lady Lions win Behrend invitational
LAUREN LIEBDZINSKI
staff writer
This past weekend at
Behrend’s tennis invitational,
the women’s tennis team (6-3,
2-1) went on an undefeated
home stand to defend the
Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
The Lady Lions took first place in their own invitational with strong play from all of its athletes.
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iniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Firefighters in the Ohio parking lot following the rescue of Behrend student Kyle Reilly
“If I could do it
again, I just would
have chosen a
different route.”
Kyle Reilly
Junior/Psychology
Perhaps a larger challenge
than the cliff, though, has been
dealing with fellow students.
Behrend Invitational title.
Five teams traveled to chal
lenge the Lady Lions on their
home court and five teams
went home with their tails be
tween their legs.
Behrend defeated Geneva 5-
0 and Bethany 3-2 to advance to
index
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Engineering 10
Sports 11-12
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far more pictures of the
gorge rescue
Since the incident, which was
covered on several major news
outlets in Erie, some classmates
and friends have been less than
kind following the event.
“Some people have been
pretty immature, rude, laugh
ing at me and making fun,” he
said.
Already, though, it has
the championship match to bat
tle against Alfred University.
Behrend beat Alfred 4-1.
“Alfred played well and beat
Frostburg [State],” said head
coach Jeff Barger. “ [They] did
not carry that over to our
match. We did lift our [playing]
Registered Member
Associated Collegiate Press
calmed down some, and he is
returning to regular life at
school. He says that prayer was
a major force in keeping him
calm on the cliff side, and that
his faith will play a big part in
moving onward.
“In retrospect, 1 overesti
mated my abilities,” he said.
“People have climbed that cliff
before, but not on that section.
If I could do it again, I just
would have chosen a different
route.”
level and played, for the most
part, like I feel we can play."
Sophomore Arica Christman
led the women’s team with an
8-1 win in the first single's
match.
“I was really glad 1 won this
year, because I lost to the same
person last year,” said Christ
man. “We did really well de
fending our title at the Behrend
Invitational, and it was great
that we could keep our record
going.
“As a whole unit, I think we
did ok,” Barger said. “I tried to
play all 15 players at some time
during the week, and it worked
out ok.”
The women’s tennis team is
expected to roll through the
AMCC Conference. There are
still some holes in the Lady
Lions’ game, though.
The team’s biggest competi
tion in the conference will be
Frostburg State, who beat
Behrend 5-4 a day before the
Behrend Invitational.
“We expect to win the rest of
our games,” said sophomore
Megan Noschese. “Frostburg
State is our biggest competi
tion, now, because they beat us.
We expect to beat them the
next time around, as long as we
stay focused and don’t play
sloppy.”
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HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Seven Behrend students test
positive lor type A influenza
School waiting for
HINI test results;
no “swine flu” yet
Seven Behrend students have
tested positive for Type A In
fluenza, according to a Behrend
press release. Additional test
ing is underway to determine if
these students have the much
publicized HINI “swine flu”
virus.
According to the press re
lease, four students tested pos
itive for Type A Flu at the
Health and Wellness Center,
and three additional students
reported that other physicians
tested them.
All seven students chose to
leave campus and recover at
home, following self-isolation
guidelines most teachers in
cluded in their syllabi this year.
The Health and Wellness center
has been seeing students who
have Influenza-like illness, but
have tested negative for Type A
CAMPUS CONSTRUCTION
Ashley Bemis / The Behrend Beacon
Students will soon have a new lounge in Reed in which to study.
New Reed lounge to offer
relaxation, entertainment
HEATHER MCGOVERN
news editor
This Spring, the bottom floor
of Reed will transform into the
next hotspot for students to
hang out. The computer kiosk
area, which was recently filled
with tables and chairs, will be
come a lounge with TVs, game
stations, and couches.
Brad Kovalcik, SGA Presi
dent and co-chair of the Stu
dent Facility Fee Committee on
SGA, says, “the renovation is
not going to start until May
[2olo], and it will be done over
the summer so it will be done
before students return from
summer vacation.”
The lounge will occupy the
space between where the com
puter kiosks used to be and the
Student Activities office.
According to Ken Miller, Di
rector of Student Affairs, the
existing radio station, WPSE,
which is a commercial station,
is moving out of the building
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Forecast courtesy Matthew Alto , weather editor
MIKE O. WEHRER
new** editor
Influenza, according the press
release
“We are encouraging Penn
State Behrend students to come
to Health and Wellness for
treatment rather than self-diag
nosing,” said Pasky McMahon,
of the Behrend Health and
Wellness Center. “It started this
past weekend, we saw a couple
yesterday and we’ve seen more
today and according the CDC
has stated, we're probably
going to see more in the next
couple of weeks as far as to
what those numbers will be, it’s
a guessing game."
“We’re prepared to help stu
dents who need medications to
help them feel better,” McMa
hon said, “even though a lot of
the stuff that we’ve using is
OTC, the items we have here
are less expensive; a lot of stu
dents can’t get off campus to
get medications.”
HINI Influenza is one of sev
eral types of Type A Influenza,
according to the CDC website.
Among the others of this type
are Avian Flu and the Annual
Flu.
next year. It will be demolished
over the summer.
Kovalcik says WPSE is going
to be relocating to Erie Hall or
Knowledge Park. The walls of
the current radio station will be
torn down to create a larger
area for a lounge.
According to Miller, the cur
rent area of the radio station
will hold three large screen TVs
with seating around each..
“[TVs] would be locked up
for students’ use so if you
wanted to kill some time in be
tween classes, you can come in,
go to the RUB desk, give them
your I.D. and check out the Fast
and Furious or whatever game
you want to play," says Miller.
Kovalcik said that the RUB
desk will become more of a stu
dent resource center instead of
a place where people go to get
directions when they first ar
rive onto campus.
see REED LOUNGE on page A
Sunday
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