PAGE 6 In the last issue of the Reader, we ran a letter written to us by Allen Kerchner. In it, Mr. Kerchner blasts us for our coverage of the bungled SGA elections and me in particular for my editorial concerning the matter. Kerchner makes several points in expressing his dissatisfaction with both the news article and the editorial. He first accuses our reporter, Sherry Lukoski of “fail(ing) to make sure her facts were accurate.” He then berates her for attributing him with telling presidential candidate Sue Bretherick what vote count criteria had been used last year. If Kerchner would check his facts (and read the article carefully), he will find that Sherry correctly attributed Mark Fey with the remark (re, “Fey said the ballots were treated separately last year.”) Kerchner then tears into yours truly for using “Hearsay and not...factual evidence” as the basis for my editorial. He attacks me for not being present at the court hearing on the matter, and thus not having the facts. In truth, I could not attend, but instead relied on the written court opinion as a record of the action. Although I intended to take a copy of the opinion along home with me, I found I had to have the permission of Kerchner himself to have a copy made. He refused me that permission. As a result, I had to scribble down some notes and quotes from the copy posted on the student affairs bulletin board and rely on this for my editorial (and Sherry’s article). Armed with those notes, a copy of the SGA minutes from that April 8 meeting, a copy of Sherry’s prepublication article, and a copy of the SGA Constitution, I set to work on that offensive editorial. I made it a point in my writing to try to stick to the facts in dealing with the facts. Kerchner also says I made other comments backed-up with only hearsay. But he doesn’t tell us what they were. I’m still waiting to find out. Kerchner then concludes in an emotional frenzy, screaming that “the C.C. Reader, therefore, BLEW IT!” And then goes on to say that “this has not been the first time, either!!” (Note the double exclamation marks) Well, Al, what did we blow that we blew before? Kerchner accuses the Reader staff of being nothing but muckrakers and mudslingers, and apparently feels we do nothing good for this campus. By intimation, he says the Reader staff cares not a whit for this school, and delights in attacking those who do. Finally, despite my obvious attempts in the original editorial to not produce a scapegoat, and to demonstrate that the elections bungle was a professional collective mistake by all those involved, Kerchner tries to dump it all in the laps of “one or two people." thereby passing the buck in a classic political move. I’m not one normally given to emotional outbursts, but this time, I feel wholly justified in stating that Allen Kerchner (not Alan Kirschner) BLEW IT ROYALLY!! (Note the double exclamation marks). His arrogance in dismissing the Reader as useless reminds me of an attitude held by many self-righteous, uncaring “student leaders” I have run into during my collegiate career. But Allen is an honorable man. We on the Reader, especially those who have half-killed themselves at times during the year just to get this rag out, would be the last to “knock-down” Kerchner’s "hard-working organizations.” We applaud all students, even him, who have taken enough interest to care to do things for Capitol, but it is our duty as the student newspaper to point our peers’, as well as administration’s faults. We do this with no malice intended, and we expect that our student leaders, who are true leaders, can accept constructive criticism as such; without injecting malice that was never meant, and attacking those who are trying to help them. In the words of ex-SGA President Mike McAllister and ex-VP Russ Hogg, “Students must be collective if they are to be effective, misunderstanding in our own ranks can only lead to downfall.” The Reader Replies J.S.B C.C. READER ITSQNbY WQRDS... feeling impulses from all over my body, legs don’t want to bring me where I want to go -mind too /angled to keep me there, have to get below it all. just close my eyes and slide - underneath, too much to do, plans to be made, directions to be followed, pace beyond me now - where has my strength gone? all those years of having it together - disappeared? doesn't my past mean anything? I've got to get beyond it, cause /... ... can’t sit back and get below it. I've got to be higher. Mr. Bigshot? today i found a nickel my life has Just grown. five fold Gary B. Macchioni EGoaDDDjpS BY TONNIEMAC BEYOND MT. NITTANY ON A CLEAR DAY, ONE BRIGHT SATURDAY IN EARLY MAY FIFTEEN VETERANS GOT UP AT DAWN, WET GRASS AND BASES COVERED THE LAWN. TWAS FOUR IN THE AFTER, THREE WINS UNDER THE SUN, WHEN THE FIRST DRINK’N HAD BEGUN. PRIDE AND DISCIPLINE ACCOMPANIED THE QUICK FEET, 'CAUSE BOYS FROM CAPITOL COULD NOT BE BEAT. BARBARA, LINDA & CAROLE, FEEL’N NO PAIN, PLENTY OF ACTION AT THE VETS OLE MAIN. BEER, MUSIC, MEN AND BOYS, LOVELY DOLLS WERE PLAYFUL TOYS. A MISTY NIGHT AND AN INCH OF RAIN, SUNDAY MORNING CALL WAS ALL IN VAIN. GAMES DELAYED BECAUSE OF MUD, no THE UMPIRES HAD TOO MUCH BUD. SIX WINS, ONE LOSS AND EIGHTY SEVEN RUNS, THE TEAM TROPHY CLIMAXED THE FUN THE CHAMPIONSHIP COMMENT IS HERE TO STAY, WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY. “No Title, No Name” Hey man, tyya/ewa/ I'm glad the way I am. /77~m So leave me alone, / • Because I don't want to go home, tA* */ViS]A, I want to be where there are flowers and trees, ff I want to be where there’s no problems for me. I want to lie and make love among the leaves, In a place where there is no one except you and me. I love the sounds of the birds and the bees, And admire the beauty of nature that I see. Let me swing from the vines that hang from the trees, Let me live a Life that is free. I only have one Lite to live; And to only one God, worship I give. John Roscioli MAY 15, 1975
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