6—The Daily Collegian Wednesday, Oct. 4,1D78 * uOV'JI * a , Photos by Randy Woodbury David Erdman, a former University student, hides his face while being es corted by deputy sheriff Byron Hall from the Centre County Prison to Centre County Court in Bellefonte yesterday morning. Erdman pleaded, guilty to charges ranging from burglary to police impersonation, which could result in a maximum sentence of 80 years imprisonment and $122,000 in fines. Swimmer sets record in 51-hour marathon FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (UPD “Swimming Nun” Stella Taylor endured stinging man-of-war, brushes with sharks, nausea and facial swelling for two and a half days, but finally surrendered Tuesday to the Gulf Stream and gave up her attempt to swim from the Bahamas to Florida. She ended the marathon swim after 51 hours, a new endurance record for women but still 20 miles short of the Florida coast, when she found she was unable to break out of the Gulf Stream’s strong northward current. ,“We didn’t want to see her suffer any more,” said Joe Edwards. “She wanted to continue, but we finally convinced her it was futile. She was losing ground and had been since 8 a.m.” Miss Taylor began her swim from Orange Cay, a tiny Friday and Saturday ■*" ,-IQKF rfytii '‘if DISCO 10pm-2am /] unteer* ' i: Ufa,'*. i'.iHrAit Bahamian island in the Bermuda Triangle, at 1:41 a.m. Sunday. She climbed out of the water at 1:41 p.m. Tuesday, swollen, burned and exhausted, but still with enough strength to blow a kiss to her escort boat and crew. Although she failed to reach her goal, Miss Taylor’s 51-hour swim was an unsurpassed physical achievement, just nine hours shy of the men’s swim ming endurance record. Miss Taylor surpassed her mid-August attempt to cross the Gulf Stream by 19 Vi hours and exceeded the time for Diana Nyad, who had failed two months ago to swim from Cuba to Florida, by 9>/ 2 hours. The attempt lasted through two frightful nights of swimming without a shark cage in the Gulf Stream where, marauding" sharks feed. At least three times, Ex-student may get 80 years By LYNNE REESE Daily Collegian Staff Writer A former University student who impersonated women and used false police identification and equipment, such as flashing red lights on a car, to fool victims pleaded guilty to charges against him at a hearing in Centre County Common Pleas Court yesterday. David A. Erdman was charged with two counts of burglary, five counts of impersonating a public servant, one count of robbery, one count of felonious restraint, two counts of theft and one count of in decent assault. The maximum sentence Erdman could receive under these charges, would be 80 years imprisonment and a fine of $122,000. State College Police officer Garry Kuhn testified at the hearing that Erdman broke into Leonessa' By Meiko, 270 W. Hamilton Ave., on January 6 and stole women’s clothing valued at $2,000. The following morning, he broke into Mr. Charles, Inc., 124 S. Allen St., and stole more women’s clothing valued at more than $5,000, Kuhnsaid. Kuhn also said Erdman stopped a car by using flashing red lights. He approached the car, showed false police identification and asked the victim to get out of the car. He made her get into his vehicle, where he sprayed her in the face with a type of mace, drove her out to Fox Hollow Road and then let her go. University Police Services officer Ronald Sheffler testified that on May 11,1977, Erdman, dressed in women’s clothing, approached a female student in Parking Lot Green B and asked her to give him a ride to a gas station. Once inside the car he hand- David Erdman cuffed one of her hands. Unable to bind her other hand, Erdman struck the victim in the back of the head, causing her to strike the gearshift, cutting her nose. He then fled the scene on foot, Sheffler said. Additional crimes charged against Erdman were described in a report by state police Corporal Jan Hoff master, which included im personating an officer on two dif ferent dates, February 2 and April 11. Erdman -has not yet entered a plea on five additional charges against him. Centre County Common Pleas Judge Richard M. Sharp accepted Erdman’s guilty plea and turned the case over to the Adult Prohibition Department of Centre County for pre sentence investigation. sharks began circling her. A 10-foot man-eating tiger shark menaced within 10 feet before being chased away by safety divers. A school of six small, but still dangerous sharks began circling her and had to be chased away by divers. A persistent 5-foot shark had to be killed by a diver armed with a “bang stick,” a rod that delivers an ex plosive charge directly to the shark. Miss Taylor was plagued by painful stings from Portugese men-of-war the entire swim, with one of the jellyfish-like creatures once hurting her so badly she cried out in pain. The 46-year-old Fort Lauderdale woman, who had studied in a convent but left before taking final vows, doggedly kept up her 70 strokes a minute almost to the end. , jail “I see they finally got Stroll’s on tap.” Y'k For the real beer lover. Rape prevention and defense to ByPAULAFROKE Daily Collegian Staff Writer Preventive and defensive techniques that can greatly reduce a woman’s chances of being raped will be taught in an eight-week course beginning later this month, sponsored by the Association of Residence Hall Students. “There are at least 268 ways of how to stay completely away from any physical confrontation,” said Tom Bagwell, the developer of the course. “Most of these techniques are things that people would never even think of, but they’re things that could save their lives,” he said; Bagwell, a senior at La Roche College in Pittsburgh, said he developed the course because he felt that most of the other existing rape-prevention programs are ineffective. Generally such programs deal with only a few aspects of the whole problem of rape, he said, while a knowlege of the entire situation is necessary if a woman is to protect herself effectively. Bagwell’s course deals not only with defense techniques against the' actual rape but.also with preventive measures a woman can take to prevent the rape from ever occurring, and steps she should follow if she is assaulted. One popular myth, he said, is that the best defense a woman can take is to “lie back and enjoy it,” because struggling will only make the rapist more likely to hurt her. While it is true that thoughtless struggle will probably make the situation worse, he said, efficient resistance can be very effective. There are only eight basic methods by which a rapist will attack his victim, Bagwell said, and he can teach women eight responses which will effectively combat any attack. The techniques, which utilize the same movements a woman uses in her everyday life, require no greater strength than what is necessary to wash a car. Probably the greatest obstacle in preventing rape is combating the Panhel approves change The Panhellenic Council voted Monday night to support a measure that would change the student referendum, percentage needed to amend the Un dergraduate Student Government constitution to 25 percent. Currently a 40 percent student vote is needed. USG needs a positive two-thirds vote from all executive councils to allow referendum by 25 percent. Also, Panhel will sponsor a run-a-thon for leukemia Sunday, Oct. 8, at the cross country track at Westerly Parkway Junior High, Panhel President Jeanne Borkowski said. THE STROH BREWERY COMPANY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN © 1978 be taught * illusions the public holds about the porblem, Bagwell said. “Rape is a crime that society can control by wiping out the myths and by educating the people,” he said. People tend to deny that rape can happen to them or that it might occur in their community, he said, and when it does happen they reason that it was the victim’s fault. “The biggest myth in the world is that a girl who was raped was asking for it bw the way she dressed or acted,” he said. Until society is willing to accept the existence of the problem, he said, the police system’s effectiveness is greatly limited. If the public continues to refuse to face the fact that rape has been the fastest-growing crime in the United States during the last 10 years, little can be done to educate women on how to protect themselves effectively, he said. . “Rape cannot be prevented merely by police control and lights on the streets. Only the girl can protect herself,” he said. Because rape generally does not occur in a classroom situation, Bagwell said the course will involve going out into the parking lots, elevators and laundry rooms in order to give participants a more realistic feeling of what they could experience. , The cost of the, course, which wni consist of eight two-and-one-half-hour sessions, is $25. In addition to Bagwell’s traveling expenses and the costs of course materials, the fee will coyer a small profit for himself. Becase of this, he said, the University is reluctant to hold the program oh campus, afltl therefore the location and exact starting date have not yet been set. Bagwell urged any students who might be interested in the course to contact ARHS to express their support. “The woman on campus must,be aware that rape can happen to them, v Ae said. “Rape is like jello; it creeps into the cracks until you cannot escape it.” A $3 entry fee will entitle all runnertlfo t-shirts, Borkowski said. Students may sign up for the run-a-thon from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day this .week in the ground floor HUB. Borkowski said the three-mile run is competitive and runners will be put in one of three divisions according to ii'Jteir ages, and trophies will be awarded. Plans were finalized for the Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council to assist Colloquy in sponsoring speaker Bob Woodward, the Washington Post reporter who helped uncover the Watergate scandal, on Oct 16. P
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