Capitol times. (Middletown, Pa.) 1982-2013, September 12, 1990, Image 5
TOPIC OF CONVERSATION... BUG TRAPS BEHIND OLMSTED Victoria Cuscino Everyone gazed curiously at the bags on-sticks behind Olmsted for the first 2 weeks of school and wanted to know what purpose the structures served. So the Cap Times did some investigative reporting and asked "What are these structures?", "What purpose do they serve?" and "How do they work?" The best place to learn answers to student concerns is to ask SGA, right? "Ask the engineering department," said Andy Hilt, SGA president. Ok...sounds like a good lead. Ron Heggs, SDCET major: "a bag for getting rid of skunks. A skunk approaches it and there's an odor that skunks can't take. And once he smells it, he goes away." Charles Wall, SDCET major: "It looks like a stick with a bag on it...a light maybe." Tom Roginski, EET major: "Looks like a big McDonald's bag growing mold specimens? Tim Marsh, MET major: "Looks like more of the sculptures leftover from Earth Day." Well, what about other departments? Dan Smelas, criminal justice major: "specimen from the dining hall used as a laboratory experiment." Senta Smite, public policy major: "a bird dropping cathcher." Huan Nguyen, humanities/ business major: "a device to tell which way the wind is blowing...either that or Maintenance put them up to use as a slalom course when they cut the grass." Donna Sumner, humanities/ business major: "a sculpture in the sculpture garden." Well, back to SGA. "They're Japanese beetle traps," said Amy Killeen, Humanities Senator. After some persuasion our president agreed to explain how a bag-on-a-stick traps the beetles. "(The bag) sends a phermone that makes them (beetles) sexually excited. They come and dive in...fall into the water and drown." You're close, Andy! Clarence Hardaway of Maintenance explained the reason for the bags-on sticks decorating the back lawn. The bags are Japanese beetle traps that contain sex phermones. "Japanese beetles feed off over 300 plants in the area," said Hardaway. The reason for the traps is to "control them and keep our garden beautiful...keep them from feeding on our foilage," Hardaway said. The Japanese beetle only has a life span of 4- 6 weeks--usually between July and August--so the bags only remain on the lawn during those times. This is why students may not have seen the bag-on sticks in past years. Maintenance removes the structures when the beetles' The uoice of WPSH--63 ...Wants you Play your favorite music on our new compact disc players. Stop by W-343, call 948-6396, or watch for our weekly meeting! This is where Rock'n Roil begins, and neuer ends... CAMPUS Why Drive When You Can Walk to The PENN STATE PROUD IN every Wee. Might Bar Hours 2:oopm I:4sam CALL AHEAD FOR TAKE-OUT 115 W. Harrrisburg Pike Middletown, PA 17057 Penn State Harrisburg... AM to become a DJ! September 12, 1990, CAPITAL TIMES SUNBURST 10 - 1:145 Kitchen Hours s:ooam 9:45pm phone 944-4895