By Phoenix Wissemann
Last week you may have noticed at the
entrance to campus several people huddled up
in blankets trying to keep warm. They stood,
paced, and sat on the side-walk. No, they
were not homeless work study students. They
were counting cars entering and exiting cam
pus. This was done as part of the process of
getting a traffic light.
The Student Government Association
has been lobbying for a traffic light at the exit
from campus. Several accidents have taken
place since the Fall Semester began at the end
of August. There has been four major acci
dents and several minor fender benders since
that time. The SGA recognized the need for
a traffic light and decided to take immediate
action.
The day after the committee was formed,
the members were already busy. Chairing this
committee was Phoenix Wissemann. Other
members included Davne McAfee and Joe
Spado. Action began by calling Pennsylvania
Department ofTransportation in Wilkes-Barre.
Penn DOT gave the SGA the needed
information to get a tratfic light installed.
Sugarloaf township would have to request
that Penn DOT perform a traffic study of the
intersection. If it met one of the thirteen
requirements, a light would have to be in
stalled. The cost would be charged to
Sugarloaf. Sugarloaf, however, did not want
to bear the burden of the cost. If the study was
conducted, and a need for the light was found
but not installed, then Sugarloaf could be held
civilly responsible for the next accident that
took place. For this reason the township did
not want a traffic studv.
The next step was to get in touch with
Safety at Penn
By Janice D. Hayes
Penn State Hazleton is thought of as
one of the safest campuses in the Penn State
system, but last week the students’ safety was
almost violated when there was an attempted
attack on a student at the campus. Safety is
very important to Penn State University, it has
24 hour Police Services and tries to insure the
safety of its students whenever possible.
When talking with students about the
attempted attack several students stated that
they felt they were safe here except the cam
pus needs more lighting in some areas. Phoe
nix Wissemann, a student as Penn State
the Sugarloaf Police Department. Chief
Crawford of the West Hazleton Police De
partment said that a traffic light "would be
very beneficial." The committee asked for the
reports of the accidents that had taken place at
the intersection. Response was slow and
missing information such as medical reports.
Information received was limited to the
accidents that only the Chief responded to.
None of the records of his men were included
in his report.
Chief Crawford, Penn DOT was again
called and it was determined that the State
Police could not request that a study be done
of the intersection. Another road to get a
traffic light had turned into a dead end.
The next step included speaking to the
administration. Karl Krone, Director of Busi
ness Services, was contacted and helped in
the SGA’s effort. He photocopied a letter
from Dr. James J. Staudenmeier to the
Sugarloaf Solicitor. The letter requested
Sugarloaf to ask for a traffic study of the
intersection be done. The Sugarloaf attorney,
James A. Schneider, had replied in the nega
tive, saying that they would not request a
study unless Penn State agreed to pav for the
light. He had over-estimated the cost of the
light at $lOO,OOO. Later he was quoted saying
that in his experiences with these situations,
that the cost of the light could be as high as
$115,000. It was at this time the issue was
taken to higher government offices.
The SGA called State Senator Raphael
Musto. Musto’s office set up a meeting be
tween Penn DOT, the Sugaloaf Attorney,
Penn State Hazleton’s SGA and the Senator.
The SGA received only two days notice, and
State Hazleton Under Attack
Hazleton said, “The campus police do a fan
tastic job for the campus, if anything goes
wrong 1 know that they will be right there to
give a hand.”
There are no facts concerning the at
tack. The University does stress to exercise
caution and try to walk with a buddy or group
of friends in the later evening hours. Joe
Spado, president of Student Government
Association said, “Right now there are no
facts. Everyone in the administration building
has a deep concern. All parties are working to
fmd out exactly what happened.” Everyone
roun
Students count cars as part of a traffic
survey last week.
thus had only one day to notify the administra
tion of the meeting date and time. Dr.
Staudenmeier was unfortunately unable to
attend this meeting but sent Mr. Krone in his
spot as the faculty advisor. With only one
working day left before the meeting, the SGA
was short on preparation time.
Mrs. Paula Callerv made the time to
• *'
meet with McAfee and Wissemann before the
meeting. They expressed their expectations
and concerns. Paula offered suggestions for
positive publicity, how to express our views
on the issue, and how to get them across to our
audience. Dan Darrow supplied several use
ful photos of one of the accidents. These were
utilized to show the severity of the accidents
at this intersection.
All of this help brought about positive
results. The meeting was attended by Mr.
Light continued on Page 5
from residence life to the administration is
doing their best to make sure that they get to
the bottom of what occurred this past week on
the campus.
Heather Freeland, was released after
being treated at the Hazleton General Hospi
tal, said hospital personnel. Students are en
couraged to use the University marked paths
to ensure their protection. Some students feel
that the one way to improve safety conditions
would be to provide an escort service and a
self-defense class as an ESACT requirement.
These requests are being discussed.
orne