County has highest
alcohol abuse rate
in Pennsylvania
By MARGARET ANN WALSH ,
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Centre County has the highest incidence of heavy
drinking in Pennsylvania, according to a study from the
Governor's Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
As a result, Centre Community Hospital, along with the
Drug and Alcohol Office of the Centre County Mental '
Health and Mental Retardation organization, is sponsoring
an Alcohol Awareness program to deal with the problem.
Although weekends, especially during the summer and
football season, are the worst time as far alcohol in the
emergency room is concerned, there is no major
connection between the University and the problem, said
Dr. Tom Bem, an emergency room physician at the
hospital.
"There are an unusually large amount of high school,
college and even junior high school students represented,"
he said.
But he added that many middle-aged and older citizens
also abuse alcohOl in the county.
The 3 1 / 2 -month awareness program, funded primarily by
the hospital, is a combination of media spots to acquaint
citizens' with the problems of alcohol abuse, speakers for
service clubs and distribution of bumper stickers, said
Tom Zyroll, hospital administrator of operations.
The program's primary purpose is to stimulate
community awareness that alcohol abuse does exist in the
county, Zyroll said. .
Cindy Hughes, an emergency room nurse at the hospital,
said the program has been in the planning stages since
May, when it was first proposed at Town Day, sponsored
by the Organization for Town Independent Students.
The impact of alcohol on emergency room treatments is
enormous,, Hughes said. The hospital must increase the
staff load on the weekends, which is when alcohol-related
incidents occur most often, she said.
The problem of heavy drinking is not restricted to
alcoholics -,- many of the emergency cases are ,' •
businessmen and upstanding citizens, Hughes said.
Hughes said she called the state Liquor Control Board
and asked how much alcohol is sold in the county:
"Without even looking it up, he told me 1,800 cases of
liqour are sold here each week," she said, "and that's not
even counting the beer distributors."
Bern said alcohol-related emergency cases fall into three
categories. ,
The first category is the toxic effects, heSaid. These are
the physical effects of the alcohol severe a ' minal
pain, internal bleeding, depression of the brai 'and vital
I s
functions that can lead to unconsciou.sne4 : 9 Oratory
problems and possible death.' '"
Peer pressure often leads to
..„. : ,- t ~. in a short period of fink
toxic effects ' are the m 1
-- •‘ C , l ,
..,.,:
... r i vy use of alcohol can
1 ; ode
• which are the second cl :ed
ency cases, Bern said. V_ ie
--,-M.Oftitimental capacities and gets into fights leading to
seriotii'injuries or, the drinker loses his sense of balance
and falls, which can result in fractured bones or even skull
injuries, he said.
The third category of alcohol-related emergency cases,
Bern said, is perhaps the most-well-known drunk
driving. Please see ALCOHOL ABUSE, Page 4.
Taxes: •
. ,
Real estate, income rates may increase, Fairbanks says
By CAROL ANDREWS Reagan is considering cutting the sharing, he said. However, "we have
and GENE GRYGO revenue sharing program beginning no firm information," he said.
Daily Collegian Staff Writers in fiscal year 1983, which will begin The tax increase may not be as
Local taxpayers may face an Oct. 1, 1982, and eliminating it entirely large if the municipality reduced its
increase in their real estate and by the end of 1984, Fairbanks said. programs or used another source of
income taxes, and a decrease in "If we were to lose the entire revenue to finance them, Fairbanks
services because of cuts in federal amount of revenue sharing and said.
revenue sharing and the overspending continued with the programs we have "Other sources of revenue we might
of the State College Municipal done in the past, the borough would .be able to use include selling property
Council, local officials said. have to raise its taxes," he said. owned by the borough or increasing
State College residents may face up "We will be notified of the cuts after rates on licenses and permits,"
to an 8-mill real estate tax increase in action by Congress," he said. Fairbanks said.
1982 if President Reagan cuts the Fairbanks said sources in State College now receives about
revenue sharing program, Municipal , Washington have told him there may , $340,000 a year from .the federal
Manager Carl Fairbanks said. be al2 percent decrease in revenue Please see MUNICIPAL TAX, Page 4.
inside
• Egyptian police said yesterday
that gunmen in two cars sprayed
machlne-gun fire at the home of
Interior Minister Nabawy Ismail
Page 8
• The Expos, Dodgers and Yan
kees were each mini-playoff win
ners in major league baseball
Page 10
• Not doing anything on Satur•
day night? Try going backstage
live at NBC in New York... Page 16
weather
Morning fog and haze giving way
to partly sunny skies today with
high temperatures near 57 degrees.
Fair with fog developing late to
night. Low temperatures will be
around 42 degrees. Variable cloudi
ness and seasonably mild tomorrow
with high temperatures in the' low
60s.
—by Mark Stunder
the
daily
Love ya, Lions!
They came. They saw. They conquered. These fans were among the 84,473 spectators who came to
Beaver Stadium for Saturday's Homecoming game and witnessed the Lions' triumph over the
Boston College Eagles. And coupled with USC's loss to Arizona this weekend, could we really be No.l
'again? We won't know until tomorrow. Game coverage begins on Page 10, and Homecoming
coverage begins on Page 6.
Barry Commoner: A radical for all seasons
By JOHN SCHLANDER
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Barry Commoner, 1980 Consumer Party
presidential candidate, says he is a radical. But,
says Commoner, so is Pope John Paul 11.
Commoner said there is a similarity in Pope
John Paul's political beliefs and his own and
readily.accepted a radical label for himself.
Commoner said "radical" used to mean "getting
to the root" and he said that getting to root of
problems is precisely what he and the Pope are
doing.
Commoner, 64, a noted environmentalist and
author, is the founder of the Citizens Party. The
Citizens Party joined forces with the older
Consumer Party in Pennsylvania for the 1980
election and now may be thought of as the same
party, he said:
One of the party's main beliefs is that large
corporations are wrecking the nation's economy
and society and that these corporations must be
put under democratic controls. And, according
to Commoner, the Pope agrees.
"We have latched on to what I think will be the
basic political issue of the next generation.
"Our judgment is now supported by the
judgment of the Pope. You read his encyclical
olle • lan
and he talks specifically about what we've been
talking about workers taking over the
management of plants, and that sort of thing.
"If we're right, we'll become the majority
party. I have reason to believe that we're right."
But some say the the party is too idealistic
will people understand the issues and determine
right and wrong?
profile
"It's an act of faith," says Commoner.
Commoner's beliefs are certainly not in the
mainstream of current American political
thought. One way to capsulize his beliefs is to say
he believes almost everything that President
Reagan does not.
"What Reagan believes, I think, is baseless in
fact. It's very dangerous to the country. And
therefore I think he's a bad leader."
Reagan is probably Commoner's prime target
for cutting remarks. Asked if Reagan has done
Photo by Barbara Padryn
Tax task
in planning stage
By DINA DEFABO
•
and ELLYN HARLEY
•Daily Collegian Staff Writer •
A task force to study and propose solutions to the tax
problems of graduate students does not exist, contrary to a
story in last Monday's Daily Collegian.
The task force was proposed two weeks ago, but is still in
the developing stage, said Phill Gross, president of the
Graduate Student Association.
"We submitted a written proposal in outline form to
(James B. Bartoo, dean of the Graduate School), and he
was not negative," Gross said. "He was very helpful and'
instructive, and told us to work on it a little, put it in prose
form and bring it back to him."
Bartoo said yesterday that no conclusions about the
anything right in his first eight months of office,
Commoner said "Yes, he took a vacation."
Commoner questions almost everything
resembling current conservative thought. In
fact, Commoner said in an interview last week,
he does not even believe the popular notion that
the nation is in a conservative trend.
"Reagan has taken on himself this mandate.
But he is unwilling to debate it politically. None
of these conservative moves have really been
brought up before Congress.
"All he brought up before Congress was
cutting some expenditures and taxes without
saying for what purpose. He hasn't taken a
single, substantive right/left (wing) issue before
Congress. Because he's afraid to. He's not sure
he's going to win."
Also, Commoner said, Reagan's political
methods have not been entirely proper. Using
Secretary of the Interior James Watt as an
example, Commoner, a staunch
environmentalist, said: "The big question is
`Why was a guy like that put in office?' And I
think the answer is that Reagan has adopted this
subversive approach of wrecking a government
program by putting a wrecker in charge.
Please see COMMONER, Page 3.
USG Senate to
vote on constitution
Executive Council could be eliminated
By ANNE CONNERS
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
The Undergraduate Student
Government could lose one of its
executive branches if a new USG
constitution is approved tonight's
meeting of the USG Senate meeting
The proposed constitution drops
the USG Executive Council from
USG and makes the USG Senate the
"representative voice of the student
body." Under the current USG
constitution, the council is the
representative voice of the student
body.
"Senators felt they were the most
representative group on campus and
they should be the student voice,"
said fraternity Senator Jim Krauss,
who headed the committee that
rewrote the constitution.
However, some members of the
Executive Council said they did not
think the senate could adequately
represent the needs of the entire
student body.
"As far as focus and knowledge on
specific areas, there's not a senator
in there who could know the needs of
black students as well as (Black
Caucus President) Avery Rose could
New group to study
women's concerns
By DINA DEFABO
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
An 18-member commission has
been established by University
President John W. Oswald to explore
the issues and concerns of women at
the University.
The primary purpose of the
University Commission for Women
is to "foster a climate supporting
academic success" of women,
Oswald said in a news release.
"I expect to meet with the
commission on occasion for mutual
discussion of issues affecting women
at Penn State," Oswald said. "I . am
confident that the University,
through the work of the CommissiOn
for Women, can influence
significantly the quality of life for all
members of the University
force
20°
Monday Oct. 12, 1981
Vol. 82, No. 57 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
or know the residence halls students'
needs probably as well as I could,"
said Chris Calkins, president of the
Association of Residence Hall
Students.
"Executive Council remains as
the representative voice of the
students if there is such a thing,"
he said.
Joe Stasik, president of the Penn
State University Veterans
Organization, also said the senate
does not have the resources to '
represent his organization.
"I don't think (the senate is)
representative of the whole student
body," he said. "They couldn't
argue my concerns or my
organization's concerns or Black
Caucus' concerns or ARHS'
concerns . . .
"They're asking too much of the
USG Senate," he said.
But Interfraternity Council
President Dave Dixon said he
thought the senate should be the
voice of the student body.
"I agree with making the senate a
viable organization and it'd be a step
in that direction," he said.
Please see COUNCIL, Page 4.
community.' - '
The commission is composed of
women faculty and staff members,
administrators and students.
Oswald said the commission will:
• Serve as a a central forum for
issues and concerns of women at the
University.
• Coordinate and provide
information for women's programs.
• Provide advice and
consultation or conduct special
studies when appropriate.
Jane E. McCormick, commission
chairwoman and assistant vice
president for student affairs, said
the commission will serve as a
central forum to receive input from
University women and to inform
women of pertinent issues.
Please see COMMISSION, Page 3.
proposed task force had been reached. He said, however,
that the proposal "seemed to have some merit."
Bartoo said the tax situation for graduate students is a
"perennial problem."
"For 20 years, at least, graduate assistants have had
occasional audits and this year they've had more than
usual," he said.
Bartoo said about 300 of the 2,200 graduate assistants at
the University have faced auditing this year. That, he said,
is a much higher figure than in past years when "not more
than a handful" were audited in any one year.
Gross said GSA Tax Committee Chairwoman Suzanne
Hausheer Babich and other members of GSA were very
happy with the idea of a task force because it could help
graduate students solve tax problems they have faced for
many years.
"We are all very happy with the idea because it would be
a major step," Gross said.
Babich, the source for last week's article, said she
understands that the tax force is still in the planning stage.
"I don't remember exactly what I said," she said.
Please see GSA, Page 3.
Barry Commoner