Page 4
The Case
S.G.A. had proposed arming
"the regular Campus Police
Force with guns." It also stated
that "the five Campus Police
are trained and
well
police
officers, 'as well or better
qualified' than any municipal
police."
And, in our poll itself, which
is reprinted in this issue for all
to read, it was stated simply
that there was a proposal to
"recommend that the Campus
Police Force be armed with
guns." Don't distort the facts.
As to who conducted our
poll, it was clearly stated in the
issue in which the poll was
published that it was conducted
by the C.C.Reader. You say
that only the last paragraph
hinted that the poll was not
conducted by the S.G.A.. Are
you such egotists as to think
that, whenever a poll is
conducted, people assume it is
Here Is A Story That
UP Pa. - Jeanette Robinson
lifts the wire mesh on the
washtub and peers over the
rim. She reaches in and singles
out one of the inhabitants,
lifting him gently.
"You know, I never even
saw a cockroach till I came to
work at the Pennsylvania State
University," she says. "I don't
mind picking them up as long as
they don't crawl past my wrist.
Actually, they're fascinating
creatures, being able to survive
as they do under adverse
conditions and mate in capiiv
ity.
"Now; look at this one, "Mrs.
Robinson continues, stepping
away from the row of shelves
that line the small 'rearing
room'. "You see how almost
white he is and how soft his
skin is? That's because he
molted about an hour ago,"
Molting, Mrs. Robinson
explains, occurs periodically in
young cockroaches when they
shed their hard shell and grow
a new one. During the few
hours it takes the new coat to
harden the insect is susceptible
to cannibalism by his fellows.
This won't happen if the colony
has been fed and isn't
overcrowded.
As she talks about her
charges the vistor glances
warily around at the odd
assortment of steel washtubs,
large tin containers and jars
Against
otherwise? Or that they are
stupid enough to think that
what was one week "the most
)opular thing since central
mating" (February 10), be
cime the next week (February
17) the most unpopular thing
since bubonic plague? Don't
distort the facts.
Your survey did indeed
have a great "Scare Potential".
In your letter you state "There
have been three burglaries
within a thirty day period on
campus." Would that your
survey had been so concise and
objective. And speaking of your
survey, why don't you make its
wording public, as we have
with ours? Are you embar
rassed?
And why indeed did the
S.G.A. request that the survey
be kept out of the paper? I was
present at the February 2
meeting, and the reason you
,ur letter is or" - one of
A.?
all covered with chessecloth or
wire mesh to keep in the
roaches, black , widow spiders,
crickets and flies, and to keep
out pests such as mites.
The setting is the insect
rearing room of the Depart
ment of Entomology at the
University. For the last 12
years Mrs. Robinson has been
raising the insects needed for
classroom work and for
researchers' experiments. Her
work is varied from growing
insect cultures to preparing
slides, developing film, setting
up labs and aiding faculty
members in their experiments.
"I really enjoy my job," she
says, "although I guess if I were
only rearing the insects I Would
have become bored long ago. I
have to keep busy."
That's been true both at
work and in her 'leisure' time.
Although her looks belie her
age Mrs. Robinson is the
mother of nine and grand
mother of 13. A widow, she
lives on a small farm about 25
miles from the University with
her youngest child, a 16 - year -
old son.
Eight years ago she was
elected auditor of her commun
ity, Boggs Township, and is
now into her second term. She
studies voice and organ, sang in
a choral group for a couple of
years, sews, crochets, tends to
her vegatable garden in
C.C. Reader
Guns On Campus Cont.
the two. Yes, you did not want
to advertise the fact that the
Campus Police were unarmed.
But it was made quite clear,
both at the meeting in public
and to me in private, that, if
Drs. South or McDermott
found out about this idea, they
would stop it before it got off
the ground. Chuck Alesky
stated at that meeting that, if
-Dr. South found out about the
survey "it's gonna get stopped
here and die." Ray, Kitty and
Carol made perfectly clear to
me the next day that Dr. South
was, to many students,
"intimidating", and that he "has
ways" of stopping the proposal.
And that's the main reason you
didn't want it published. Don't
distort the facts.
Next, you claim to quote
some arguments against arm
ing "our" campus police. You're
liars. The quotes you give are
taken, verbatim, from an article
Will Really
summer, and to her animals all
year long.
She and son, Rhodes, havre
a Shetland Pony, an appaloosa
horse, a Jersey cow and five
Holstein heifers.
"We're farm people," Mrs.
Robinson says. "We love
animals, even though they're
expensive to raise and keep us
tied down. I guess I just like
caring for living things. At
home it's my animals; at work,
my insects."
At the University one of her
most important duties is taking
care of the rearing room, she
adds. Successful cultures de
pend on clean, healthy speci
mens.
Every couple of days she
makes sure the insects have
fresh food and water, and once
in six weeks she changes their
containers. In between she
performs the varied duties that
make her job interesting.
"If one of the professors
needs a certain number of a
specific species of cockroach of
a particular age," she explains,
"he tells me in advance and I
grow them for him. We culture
seven orders of insects and 21
species of cockroaches."
Unavoidably she lapses into
a scientific terminology that
makes her visitor interrupt
now and then for a layman's
definition. Her voice is soft,
relaxed and assured, tinged
by H.E. Van Benthuysen
entitled "Armed Does Not
Necessarily Mean Dangerous",
which appeared in the Campus
Laws Enforcement Journal,
November-December,l976. You
know this, because you gave us
the article. These quotations
don't deal with our situation,
they're just general arguments.
Don't distort the facts. The
next three pages of your letter
are, totally, 100 percent,
quotations from this article.
You don't say this. You write as
if you interviewed the Colorado
State University Police Chief,
and are quoting him. You don't
say that this is from someone
else's article. You can probably
even be sued for infringement
of copyright. Don't distort the
facts.
As to your crime figures.
Out of 161 complaints, two
were burglaries, four were
thefts. There were no assaults,
vandalisms, disorderly con-
This is the Reader survey
mentioned in the above article.
GUNS ON THE CAMPUS
Tht- last issue of the C.C.
Reader dated February 10,
1977 carried a report of a
proposal by the S.G.A. to
tecommend that the Campus
Police Force be armed with
guns.
This survey is designed to
ask your opinion.
.Sex
Name..
Student ❑ Staff ❑ Faculty ❑
If student. term standing ❑
Residing on campus ❑
Off campus ❑ Dorm. ❑
Meade Heights 0
Day student ❑
Night student ❑
Do you support that security
forces on campus should carry
guns?
Bug You
with infectious enthusiasm.
Although originally she had
no background for the work she
now does, thanks to the man
who hired her, trained her and
is still her boss; and thanks to
the fact that she has taken
courses in entomology, math,
chemistry and the biological
sciences, she is today some
thing of an expert on the
insects she cares for. Not long
ago she spoke before a group of
pest control experts on the care
and rearing of cockroaches.
She's also become well
acquainted with black widow
spiders since her boss, Dr.
Thomas Smyth Jr., is an insect
physiologist currently studing
insect nervous systems. Dr.
Smyth is using black widow
spider venom on cockroaches.
The deadly black widow
doesn't scare her, Mrs.
Robinson says, because she
handles them with insect
forceps, and before removing
the venom the spider is chilled
to make it immobile.
Her work, she says, is
challenging and makes her feel
she's doing something_worth
while.
"The more you work with
insects, the more you apprec
iate them, she asys. "When you
think of how small they are and
of how they survive under
adverse conditions, it's truly
marvelous."
March 3, 1977
From Pg. 3
ducts, or indecent assaults, by
your own figures. This is six out
of 161. What were the other
155? Obviously, they weren't
serious. What were they? Don't
distort the facts.
And, finally, why talk to the
District Attorney? He has no
authority over this matter, and
he told you so himself. The fact
is, there is a University
directive prohibiting any se
curity forces on any Penn State
campus from carrying a lethal
weapon. This directive has
been in effect since "approxi
mately 1956", according to Mr.
David E. Stormer, the Security
Chief at University Park.
So, my friends, there you
have the facts. All the facts, not
distortions, lies and half-truths.
The next time you write
something for our paper, get
things straight before you
submit them. We run a serious
newspaper here, not a sensa
tionalist tabloid.
_Yes ❑ No ❑ Neutral ❑
Why?
Letters Cont.
protect themselves.
What the people saying
"prove to me that our officers
need guns" are really saying is
"show me an officer who has
been shot down because he had
.no defense. then I'll say guns
are necessary." I say, let's not
wait for a tragedy. let's be
prepared if anything should
happen. Face it, ,a-police force
with no guns is a joke in a
society filled with guns. Let's
worry about getting guns away
from criminals, not policemen.
Gun control is the answer we
are looking for, not the
disarming of the Police. Let's
put everything into its proper
perspective and alleviate the
problems of guns one step at a
time. The disarming of police
men is not a good starting
point.'
Thank you.