47 No. 4
By RABYIA AHMED
Staff Reporter
RZAIO9@PSU.EDU
He was a Peace Corps volunteer
for two years in Los Andes,
Ecuador. He served as the
agricultural extension agent,
where he worked with farmers and
women’s groups. His main interests
lie in drugs and terrorism, but in
Latin America as well
“The Peace Corps was a great
experience,” said Michael Kenney,
assistant professor of public policy.
“1 really learned a loi.”
His own experiments with drugs
in his youth sparked his interest
for them. In fact, working with
the farmers in Los Andes, he was
on the Columbia border where
they dealt with drugs a lot. Using
the organizational theory, which
investigates human organizations to
better understand their structures,
functions and properties to enhance
their productivity and satisfaction,
as stated in the international society
for complexity, information and
design encyclopedia, he was able
to help the farmers with their drug
problems. He applied the same
theory when 9/11 happened in the
United States.
Kenney described the country
as a developing country but very
beautiful. And the people were very
good to him, he said with a smile on
his face. “Very friendly
and inviting.”
One incident he said he will
never forget as a Peace Corps
volunteer, was when he wanted to
get educational books for the groups
he worked with. He ordered several
books for free from the United
States. When they finally arrived,
the postman told him that he had to
pay an “exorbitant” tax.
“The point of ordering those
books was because of the fact that
they were free,” said Kenney. “But
adding that ridiculous amount of tax
to them really defeated
the purpose.”
So, knowing there was no way he
was going to pay the tax, he looked
to his friend standing next to him
and said, “get ready.” Kenney told
the postman that he wanted to see
the books before he would pay the
tax. As the postman gave him the
books for “inspection,” Kenney’s
friend and he ran off as fast as they
could without paying the tax. Of
course, later Kenney was contacted
by the Peace Corps about the matter
and was told to pay what he owed to
the postman. Luckily, he only had to
pay a significantly reduced tax, one
that was much more affordable.
“A lot of corruption goes on
sometimes, and they get away with
Please see KENNEY on page 4
INDEX:
ITAL^I
Plans
By JAN MURPHY
The Patriot-News
It would cost more for a bottle of
water, a haircut and a set of Hershey
Bears tickets so Penn State University
tuition could go down if state Sen.
Joe Conti has his way.
The retiring Bucks County
Republican wants to remove the
exemption of 11 items from the state’s
sales tax to reduce the university’s
tuition and fees by 60 percent.
Penn State would be one of the
first - if not the first - universities
in the country to have this type of
arrangement with its state government,
said Dennis Jones, president of the
National Center for Higher Education
Management Systems.
Conti said he knows the idea stands
about as much chance of passing in
final weeks of this legislative session
as Joe Patemo’s Nittany Lions
have of going to a national
championship game this season.
But Conti also thinks it’s worth
getting the conversation started
to try to rid Penn State of its title
as the nation’s
public university.
“For a few cents more on a bottle of
water or a tax on your dry cleaning,
when you weigh thal versus 60 percent
reduction in tuition for Penn State ...
it’s something for future legislatures
and the governor to consider as
they try to maintain the cost of
college tuition in
Pennsylvania,” Conti said.
As with other public-funded
universities, Penn State officials
come to Harrisburg annually to
ask lawmakers for more
World meets over ozone
By RITA BEAMISH
Associated Press
Nations working to save the earth’s
protective ozone layer agreed Friday
to let the United States use thousands
of tons of the pest-killing chemical
methyl bromide
They modestly
pared the Bush
administration’s
requested
allotment of
the powerful
fumigant, which
is banned for
all but the most
critical uses.
The members
of the Montreal
Protocol,
meeting in New
Delhi, India,
sparedtheUnited
States steeper
cuts that were
recommended
by the treaty’s
own technical
panel. The
decision applies
to methyl
bromide use
for 2008 on
The hole in the ozone layer is increasing due to continued usage of harmful
pesticides. The United States looks to decrease their stockpile of such chemicals
American
crops such as
strawberries,
peppers and tomatoes
The United States sought approval
for nearly 7,100 (6,415 metric tons) of
methyl bromide. The nations settled
on just over 5,900 tons (5,356 metric
Police Report
Opinion
to tax you to help
money. They usually get
more, but tuition still goes up.
Old Main stands proud at University Park. Sen. Joe Conti proposes to start taxing non-taxed items
such as dry cleaning and haircuts in the hopes it will raise more money for the Penn State system,
lowering tuition and fees campuswide as much as 60 percent.
expensive
This year, Penn
$258 million
a 4.5 percent increase, to
support its operating budget.
Tuition rose by 5.6 percent at
University Park in State College
and by 2.9 percent at its other
19 campuses.
Conti knows the routine well.
He sits on the university’s board of
trustees
He is a Penn State alum. And as
tons). Despite the existence of U.S.
stockpiles far exceeding that amount,
the treaty members said chemical
companies can meet the need by
manufacturing more than 5,000 tons
(4,595 metric tons) of new methyl
bromide, said Michael Williams,
spokesman for the meeting. The
stockpiles would be drawn down to
meet the rest of the agreed-on use.
The United States and other
countries signed the 1987 Montreal
November 6, 2006
received
money,
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Club News 6 - 7
he makes his exit from a Senate that
annually votes on money for Penn
State, he wants to wave goodbye
with a blue-and-white flag.
Conti figures his proposal would
raise more than $BOO million a year
for the university.
He justifies directing that money
only to Penn State by citing a 2004
economic-impact study that shows
every dollar put into PSU yields a
$l9 return for the state’s economy.
Plus, he said, as the state’s largest
university with 83,000 students
Protocol promising to end methyl
bromide’s use in wealthy countries
by 2005. Developing countries have
a longer timeline to phase it out.
Failing to meet the deadline, the
United States since has received
annual exemptions allowing methyl
bromide’s
agreement is bad news for the ozone
layer and bad news for our health,”
said David Doniger, climate policy
director of the Natural Resources
Please see OZONE on page 4
Don’t be afraid to ask Zack
BSU real talk forum
Students face off on soccer field regulations
Dick’s Picks
enrolled, it has a presence in all 67
counties through its 20 campuses
and cooperative
rates, he said.
Penn State also
receives $B3 million
for such things as
its medical school,
Penn College of
Technology and
agriculture research
that Conti would want preserved.
Camp
crime
With only two violent crimes
reported in 2005, Penn State
Harrisburg students and staff
continue to keep campus crime
rates low.
“I never really hear of any crimes
happening on our campus,” said
Shirin Adams, Communications,
whose hometown is Philadelphia. “1
think the campus police are keeping
our campus very safe.”
Out of about 3,700 students
enrolled at PSH, there was only one
reported weapons possession and
one reported sexual offense last year.
The remaining 36 repotted crimes
included theft, vandalism, driving
under the influence, underage
drinking, disorderly conduct
and vagrancy.
continued use
specific
Florida and
other heavily
agricultural
states. Other
According to Chief Kev in Stoehr of
the PSH campus police, crime rates
are only as accurate as the people
reporting the crimes. Sometimes,
people don’t know the differences
between crimes. For example, a
student could accidentally report
a crime as a misdemeanor, such as
theft, when that crime was really a
felony, such as burglary. Regardless,
Stoehr is pleased with PSH’s low
crime rate.
nations have
received
far smaller
exemptions.
The New
Delhi decision
brought
immediate
criticism from
a leading U.S.
environmental
“If theft is the worst thing that
happens here, well, 1 don’t like it,
but 1 can live with it,” said Stoehr.
Stoehr has been with different
municipal departments for 20 years
and the PSH police for the last 10.
The worst crime he has witnessed
at PSH was an aggravated assault
which occurred on his fourth day on
the job 10 years ago. Stoehr received
a call from a man telling him another
man had a knife and was attempting
to rob him in the Olmsted parking
lot. The man with the knife held it
to the victim’s throat. When Stoehr
arrived, he discovered the men knew
advocate
attending
the
who
there
session,
said
should
be tio new
production,
given the large
stockpiles.
Campus Calendar.... 7
Sports 8 - 9
extension
“Not that the
of
University
Pittsburgh
Temple aren’t
deserving,” Conti
said. “But Penn
State is uniquely
sized and tasked,
frankly, by the
state government,”
The $258
million Penn State
receives from the
state to upport its
operating budget
could be directed
to the other public
funded colleges
and universities to
lower their tuition
By JORDAN WISKEMANN
Staff Reporter
JLWIO62@PSU.EDU
PSU
Officials at other state-funded
instifutions didn’t embrace Conti’s
plan. Spokesmen for two of them
- Pittsburgh and the 14-school State
System of Higher Education - chose
not to comment.
Temple University spokesman
Hillel Hoffman said he welcomed
the proposal, but only in the sense of
hoping it would lead to a “discussion
that might lead to a comprehensive
plan for increasing state support
for Pennsylvania’s public colleges
and universities.”
Not surprisingly, Stephen
MacC’arthy, Penn State’s vice
president for university relations,
liked it.
“We support the idea of a dedicated
funding source and appreciate
his main focus on making higher
education more affordable,”
MacCarthy said.
Penn State student government
leader Nick Stathes of Delaware
County said he would favor the
idea if the money came directly to
students in the form of a tax credit or
some other direct payment.
“If you throw another huge
allocation to the university, there’s
no incentive to spend it correctly,”
he said.
and community
tes relatively low
each other and had been in the same
car together. There were no injuries
and neither of the men had any
relations to the school.
Stoehr explained that some factors
in PSH crimes are our location and
our openness to the public.
“There’s a turnpike behind us,
interstates around us and an airport
across the street, so there’s a lot of
traffic through this area,” said Stoehr.
“Also, we’re an open campus. We
invite the public onto campus which is
great, but sometimes that opens us up
to people we don’t necessarily want
here. That can cause problems.”
Not including Stoehr, there are six
full-time officers and four part-time
officers who work for the campus
police. All are experienced. The
part-time officers also work for other
municipalities outside of the school.
Aside from campus safety,
Middletown itself has low crime
rates, especially compared to
those of neighboring cities, such
as Harrisburg.
Chief Keith Reismiller of the
Middletown police said Middletown
is not as urban or as populated as
Harrisburg and has mostly rural areas
on its southern borders.
Reismiller said the Middletown
police try to be proactive rather than
reactive in preventing crime. For
example, according to Reismiller, if
a person who lives in Middletown is
convicted of certain offenses, such as
drug related offenses, the Middletow n
police notify- that person’s landlord
and do their best to have that
person evicted.
“My job is to make Middletown the
safest place 1 can,” said Reismiller.
The FBl’s Crime in the United
States 2005 Report (CIUS) shows
that Middeltown had only 33 violent
crimes reported last year. That means
only about 4 people out of every
thousand were victims of violent
crime in Middletown.
Please see SAFE on page 4
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