6 Collegian Magazine Tuesday, March 30, 1982 Please It's spring once again and the grass is green, the sky is blue, all the birds are singing and the flowers are in bloom. .. • And aren't those flowers beautiful? Wouldn't a vase of them enhance any apartment or dorm? Or how about a flower for "that special someone"? • Well, think again because picking flowers grown on - campus is considered theft, according .to the 1980 edition of "Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Title 18, Crimes and Offenses." The flowers are defined as "movable property" by the statute. Picking flowers is considered a misdemeanor three if the damage involved is less than $5O. The offense could not be considered criminal mischief because the criminal mischief statute does not take dollar value into consideration, said Stewart Neff, a police supervisor for University Police Services. A misdemeanor -three is considered a criminal offense with a maximum penalty of a jail sentence of one year and/or a fine of $2,500, said Bob Mix, Centre County district attorney. The severity of the penalty would be "entirely at the judge's discretion," Mix said. A flower-nabber can be caught in the act by a University police officer or be reported by an observer. Academic and physical plant personnel are required to report any kind of damage to landscape or buildings as a matter of standard prdcedure, said Gerald Garbrick, manager of landscape operations "They (flowers) are there for everyone to enjoy, not for one person to pick and take to their room," he said. "We have no authority other than to observe and report," Garbrick said, although personnel are sometimes requested to go to court and testify as to costs involved. Cost is considered to be the amount of time required to replace or place "whatever has been removed or broken," Garbrick said. ', " .. .. 111 ... „ID .'..::: - :' • , • 5, , ,:-• , ~.,,,, 1 -: ~, , .•-- 2:.. ~. ~,, . 40 pr e . c. ~, ~;;,,),„•,„-,,,,,..\‘‘,. ili'-•,,5-4,:tt2'it-7,i.„....i:'' , , - Picking flowers on campus is illegal. Unfortunately,.then-Penn State newcomers Liz Knapp (3rd•liberal arts) and Tracey Childers (3rd business administration) didn't knoW that last summer. Fortunately, they didn't get caught. Or the By RITA McLAY Collegian Staff Writer f ,~, Or the roses. Or the daffodils. tulips. Landscape personnel had very few problems last year, he said. "Students seem to respect the beauty of the landscape," he said. • When a flower-picker is caught the thief is taken to police services and the appropriate forms are filled out and filed at the Sfate College Municipal Building, 118 S. Fraser St. The offender is scheduled for a hearing at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte. Only summary violations are handled at the South Pugh Street location, and flower snatching is a criminal offense. But the flower-filcher cannot be found guilty at the hearing. That is just a preliminary hearing where it is decided if there is enough evidence to arraign the light-fingered student before a judge or a court. The case is not closed even if the offender is put behind bars, though. "Many times things of that nature fall under University policy," said Bob McNi chbl, a police supervisor for University Police Services. And indeed it does. Donald T. Suit, director of the Office of Conduct Standards, said usually students are let off with a warning or put on probation. Blossom burglary is usually not very serious, he said, although there have been cases of students picking large batches of flowers and trying to sell them to students or the community. • "The punishment gets a little more severe then," Suit said. He said there is a policy against picking flowers on campus because "if you have 10 or 15 people doing that you don't have a flower bed anymore." Beautification of the campus landscape involves considerable monetary and time expenditure, McNichol said. "They put a lot of man hours 'on it," he said McNichol said enforcement of the policy is not very effective and most offenses would probably result in only a referral to the Office of Student Affairs. But without some kind of penalty against flower picking, "it ( the landscape) would get bare pretty quick," McNichol said. . •''." • ' •• , ' ~~ ,~ ~ .~ • • tet-- .4; Iti.' '' -• 4...-' •• : — A , tii , '',i4.-„, ':•• A' - . ".. ).t: ~,,, ' •,:st - . '''lo 4 * ), • 'a— • • ~'!,:ii,..:'t:!,,., daisi ~..n ;~- ~,f~`~ y . 0,„ ***-40 ,wkq Collegian photo • • , • I‘,/- \ • 4 t Y/"~. x •.. ~~~ 7• , • " ' r • ' Climbing Mount Nittany: A PSU tradition By CAROLINE CHURCHILL Collegian Staff Writei penn State seems to abound with student traditions, from being photo graphed on the Nittany Lion shrine to eating sticky buns at the diner after 2 a.m. But perhaps one of the oldest and most-cherished Penn State "musts" is a hike up Mount Nittany y It's not the climb that makes this tradi tion special, but the mountain itself. Mount Nittany, an 80-mile ridge stretching from the Centre Region to the Susquehanna River near Lewisburg, has become as much a part of Penn State as the alma mater. The 2,077-foot mountain, visible from any part of Happy Valley, has always been a haven for students interested in hiking, camping or just plain relaxing. Greg Zlock (12th-biology), president of the hiking division of the Penn State Out ing Club, said the club usually plans two trips up Mount Nittany during the year. The club kicks off Fall Term every year with a charge up the mountain as its opening event, Zlock said. The trip is open to anyone interested in climbing. This year more than 100 people participated, he said. After the hike, the club provides hot dogs and lemonade for everyone at the base of the mountain. Zlock said the club also camps at the top of the mountain every year on Halloween to wait for the "Great Pumpkin." "We haven't seen him yet," Zlock said. The club occasionally has a'work trip in the spring to blaze trails; even though it only needs to be done once every ten years, Zlock said. The hiking division of the Penn State Outing Club usually sponsors two trips up Mount Nittany each year. After the hikes, the club provides hot dogs and lemonade to those who survive: Tom Thwaites, associate professor of physics and adviser to the hiking division, said the outing club blazed the main trail up Mount - Nittany and named it the "White Trail" after the club's founder, Harold White. The White Trail starts • at the end of Mount Nittany Street in Lemont and is much easier to hike than other trails. Most , other trails, which run straight up and down the mountain, have been closed off 1000 Plaza Drive State College, PA 16801 81 4 / 2 38-3432 A.W. & Sons Enterprise because of erosion problems, Thwaites said. Camping is permitted on the part of the mountain owned by the Alumni Associa tion of the Lion's Paw senior society, he said. Association member J. Arthur Stober said Lion's Paw, an honorary society for outstanding senior student leaders, owns 535 acres at the top of the mountain and the rest is owned by private landholders. Lion's Paw has just finished the forma- 11111 C Move up to the Plaza, or start a new season at the top. Parkway Plaza offers living that is a comfortable, convenient and truly carefree experience. You can have your lifestyle reflect your good taste with a timely move up to the Plaza. Frankly, we have more to offer. Try our luxurious on-site swim club, 24 hr. "We Care" maintenance and convenience galore. The Plaza is close ' to bus lines and supplies ample private parking. A beautiful setting for all your summer entertaining and lazy days. Tirkway Taza Collegian Magazine Tuesday, March 30, 1982 7 tion of the Mount Nittany Conservancy, a non-profit organization to maintain and protect the mountain, said Stober, who is president of the conservancy. Last year the association spent $2,000 to spray the mountain against gyspy moths, Stober said. This year the conservancy . will take that project over. Stober said Phi Kappa Psi fraternity will be donating $l,OOO from the proceeds ebf • this year's Phi Psi 500 to the conservancy: E==l
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