Second student arrested in alleged burglary rin •
By MARCIA McGRATH
Collegian Staff Writer
A second University student has
been arrested in connection with a
far-reaching burglary ring and a
hearing for the first defendant was
postponed after seven more charges
were filed against him.
Investigating officer Ron
Schreffler said he expects as many
as 30 more arrests in the case, which
may extend from Massachusetts to
Florida. .
The arrests are the result of a ,
year-long investigation into a
Tension continues at embassy
London police stand vigil as officials in Libya free hostages
By MAUREEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
LONDON Libya lifted its siege of the British
Embassy in Tripoli yesterday, the Foreign Office said,
but British sharpshooters in London, kept their rifles
trained on the Libyan mission from which a gunman
attacked peaceful protesters.
A Foreign Office spokesman said British
Ambassador Oliver Miles and 24 other Britons were
given permission to leave the embassy in Tripoli ,
yesterday afternoon after being trapped, inside for
more than 24 hours.
"We welcome this," said the spokesman, who spoke
on condition he not be named. He said an unspecified
number'of those inside the embassy had left and that
Libyan guards were still outside the embassy.
In London, police released without charge four
Libyans who were detained Tuesday,after a gunman
sprayed submachine-gun fire from an upstairs
embassy window on exiles demonstrating against
Libyan leader Col. Moammar Khadafy. A British
policewoman was killed and 11 protesters were
wounded.
ABC news in New York reported last night that U.S.
intelligence sources told it that shortly before the
protest, an American spy.satellite had intercepted a
'radio message from the Libyan government telling the
embassy in London to use force in responding to the
denionstratorS.
"The U.S. government warned British authorities,
but by the time British authorities could respond, shots
had been fired," said the network, which did not name
New service sends '
greetings out to the
By NAN CRYSTAL ARENS
Collegian Staff Writer
If you are in the market for a
"spaced out" greeting card, a way
to tap into "planetary energy" or
just a way to communicate with the
stars, Teleplanet Services, Inc. of
Sunbury, Mass., has a product for
you.
For a $5 "launch fee," Teleplanet
Services, as part of its Space Shot
program, will beam a radio
message to the astronomical object
of your choice, Pat Smith, a
company spokeswoman, said.
"We're beaming messages into
space for people," Smith said, .
adding that there are three reasons
people might want to send a
Space Shot message.
First, the messages are creative
"high technology greeting cards."
After the Space Shot is radioed, a
certificate is sent that lists the
message, date, where it was sent
and when it will arrive at its
destination.
"Instead of sending the
predictable Valentine's Day card,
someone could send a' Space Shot to
Venus that says, 'See how far I'll go
to get the message across that I
love you!,' " said Stan Kaplan,
president of Teleplanet Services.
People interested in astrology
and tapping the mystic energies
associated with the planets might
also send a Space Shot to ask for
something for themselves or
someone else, Smith said.
A Space Shot to the moon might
bring you increased emotional
stability and protection according
to an information kit provided by
Teleplanet Services. Calling the
sun could bring a promotion or
raise and a Space Shot to Neptune
releases confusion, indecisiveness
or irresponsibility.
Another reason for sending a
Space Shot is to interact with the
Universe and send a greeting to any
extra-terrestrial life that might be
listening, Smith said.
Louis Winkler, assistant
professor of astononmy, said a
definite possibility exists that a
the
daily
burglary ring that stole whatever
buyers requested, said Clifford Lutz,
University Police Services
spokesman.
"They were a custom-order
burglary ring," he said.
The first arrest was in connection
with the theft of two electrical
engineering exams from the
University and the subsequent sale
of the tests.
YESTERDAY, Steven B. Brown,
21, of 333 W. Logan Ave., was
arrested and charged with two
counts of burglary in connection
the sources
State Department spokesman Brian Carlson said in
Washington he had no comment on the report.
.Yesterday, for the first time in the two-day standoff,
a Libyan diplomat left the building and went to the
Foreign Office. Muftah Fitouri, from the embassy's
political section, spent 40 minutes with the minister of
state, Richard Luce.
Luce reiterated Britain's demand that the diplomats
and revolutionary students holed up in the five-story
Georgian building should leave it, the Foreign Office
spokesman said.
Fitouri, the spokesm,p said, returned to the embassy
in London's elegant St.. James's Square to confer with
Khadafy's administration.
Police sent Arab:style meals into the embassy
yesterday, and nearby buildings remained evacuated.
Armed police were seen moving across the roof of the
surrounding structures and the embassy itself,
believed to still house the gunman.
Scotland Yard spokesman John Miller said sporadic
negotiations were conducted by telephone with those
inside the embassy..
Earlier, in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, Ambassador
Miles had been escorted by armed guards to see the
Libyan foreign minister.
Britain's Foreign Office said Libya also lifted a siege•
around the ambassador's residence, where Miles' wife,
Julia, - remained with their four children.
Seven other wives of British diplomats whose homes
had been encircled were also free to come and go, the
Foreign Office said, but the embassy and homes
remained under guard.
radio signal might. reach extra
terrestrial intelligence.
"We do expect to find intelligent
life forms out there," Winkler said.
"They probably couldn't detect the
(radio) 'signal over the
intergalactic noise."
Winkler said people should
choose a star like our sun if they
want to have a chance of their
Space Shot reaching intelligent life.
Star systems that have more than
one star tend not to have planets
associated with them, Winkler said.
"The planet gets kicked out when
it tries to form in a binary system,"
he said.
Stars that are much larger or
much smaller than our sun are also
unlikely to have intelligent life, he
added. Large hot stars do not live
long enough for, more advanced
forms of life to evolve. Small stars
like nearby Barnard's Star have
violent solar flares that would
disrupt life on a planet
"One minute the life would be
freezing and the next it would be
burning up because of the (stellar
flares)," Winkler said.
Barnard's Star, however, has two
planets orbiting it. Astronomers
believe .they are large gas worlds
much like Jupiter, he added.
olle • ian
with the April 1 theft of a microwave
oven from Fenske Laboratory and
the April 4 theft of nine cases of
carbonated beverages from the
Foods Building Warehouse, police
said.
The burglaries resulted in five
felony and three misdemeanor
charges.
Brown (senior-electrical
engineering), from Miramar, Fla.,
was arraigned before District
Justice Robert May and is being
held in Centre County Prison,
Bellefonte, in lieu of $20,000 bond. A
hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Space-ial'
universe
Planetary systems like our own
are also most likely to form around
stars that rotate slowly, Winkler
said.
Winkler said Tau Cetus, one of
the objects available for a
Space Shot, and Epsilon Eridanus
are two stars that could have
planetary systems capable of
supporting the evolution of
intelligent life.
Smith said Teleplanet and the
Space Shot idea grew out of
Kaplan's career in the
telecommunications industry •
combined with his fascination with
space.
"Few in our lifetime will be able
to travel in space," Kaplan said.
"What Space Shot does is provide
an affordable way to express that
longing to literally get out there in
the Universe."
"A radio message sent into deep
space goes on forever. It's a chance
for someone to have a tangible bit
of personal immortality," Kaplan
said.
The first Space Shot messages
will be sent from a radio tower in
Sunbury, Mass., on May 1, Kaplan
said.
Winkler said radio is chosen as a
medium for communication
A hearing for David E. Schmidt
(senior-nuclear engineering), who
was arrested April 5, was scheduled
for yesterday but postponed until
May .3 to give the defense time to
prepare its case against the
additional charges.
In addition to the Microwave.and
carbonated beverages thefts, new
charges against Schmidt involve a
set of master keys worth $250,000
stolen from the Maintenance
Building and a $3,000 computer
system taken from the Agricultural
Administration Building.
Both men were charged yesterday
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The sorrowful mother and sister of London police officer Yvonne Fletcher, who was killed outside the Libyan
Embassy yesterday, leave the police station where Fletcher was assigned.
because radio waves can escape
the earth's atmosphere. Also, radio
waves pass through the clouds of
dust that fill the spaces between
stars.
"You wouldn't want to choose
(visible) light, for example,
because it would be absorbed by the
dust," Winkler said.
Messages are sent in a binary
digital format much like those used
by computers that Kaplan said he
believes extra-terrestrial life forms
would recognize as intelligent in
origin. The transmissions are made
at a frequency of about 1,000 mega
hertz. This is close to the frequency
monitored by scientists in their
search for intelligent radio signals
from space, Kaplan said.
Space Shot uses a computer
program to calculate the positions
of astronomical objects and to
determine when they are in range
for transmission, Kaplan added.
Messages can only be sent when the
object is in• proper allignment with
the transmitter.
"I don't think Space Shot is quite
as way out as it seems at first,"
Kaplan said. "Are scientists who
monitor signals from outer space in
search of extra-terrestrial life way
out? What I'm doing for 'people is
providing them with a link with
outer space."
Winkler said scientists have
taken the initiative in contacting
extra-terrestrial life forms instead
of just listening passively. In 1974, a
radio message was sent from the
National Astronomy and
lonosphere Center radio telescope
at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The
message was aimed at the star
cluster M-13.
"We've also been sending
messages since the invention of
radio," Winkler said. Because the
ionisphere, the layer of the
atmosphere from which radio
signals are reflected, is inefficient,
99.9 percent of radio signals escape
into space.
Although no Space Shot messages
have yet been sent, Kaplan said
response to the new product has
been overwhelming.
Also, Kaplan said he anticipates
college students will be the prime
users of the new service.
"We expect our college
communities to be a prime target
the intelligente is there and
students are always looking for
something new and different."
with burglary, theft by unlawful
taking, receiving stolen property
and criminal conspiracy.
Schmidt, 21, of 707 Stuart Hall, has
been charged with a total of 17
felonies and eight misdemeanors.
The charges include the alleged
theft of two electrical engineering
exams, possession of instruments of
crime (lock picks), and possession,
sale, distribution, manufacture or
advertisement of intercepting
devices (wiretapping equipment)
Schmidt is in Centre County
Prison in lieu of $250,000 bond. He
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State House candidate
withdraws from race
By BEVERLY IVENS
Collegian Staff Writer
Because of extensive coverage
of his legal problems in the Centre
Daily Times, Philipsburg Mayor
Ira Smades announced yesterday
he has withdrawn from the 77th
District race for a seat in the state
House.
"They (the CDT) have gone out
of their way to dig things up about
me," he said.
Smades wrote a letter to the
CDT announcing his withdrawal
and sent a copy to The Daily
Collegian. In the letter, he wrote:
"You win. Despite the fact that I
have grown accustomed to seeing
my smiling face in the Centre
Daily Times on almost a daily
basis, I have decided to withdraw
from the race for State
Representative for the 77th
Legislative District."
Smades was named in two
federal tax lien notices and is
contesting a lawsuit filed by his
former law partner. He said the
CDT has taken investigative
journalism too far and that its
coverage of the candidates has
been unfair.
Smades' letter said CDT
reporter Jim Buzinski and CDT
State Editor Terry Dalton are
biased toward incumbent Rep.
Lynn Herman, R-Centre County
Buzinski said the accusation is
unfounded. Information used in
Thursday, April 19, 1984
Vol. 84, No. 163 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
©1984 Collegian Inc.
had been released April 11 when he
posted the $20,000 bond set for the
original charges.
Police have recovered between
$6,000 and $7,000 worth of the stolen
property including typewriters,
the computer system and a
refrigerator Schreffler said
The continuing investigation
involves undercover University
police and student and University
employee informants. Some
informants came forward as a result
of related stories in The Daily
Collegian, Schreffler said.
CDT stories about the lawsuits is
public record, he said.
"He's obviously upset by
adverse publicity about (the
lawsuits), but we think we were
just doing our jobs," Buzinski
said.
Merle McCalips, chairman of
the Centre County Democratic
Committee, said that Smades'
withdrawal will increase the
Democrats' chances of defeating
Herman.
"It gives us an opportunity to
get back into the race," McCalips
said.
McCalips said he suggested to
Smades last week that he consider
withdrawing because of the loss of
credibility.
"I didn't really believe he was a
viable candidate any longer."
Although rumors circulate that
Tom Ortenberg, now running as
Consumer Party candidate, would
be asked to replace Smades,
McCalips said, "I'm not sure how
seriously we would entertain that
idea."
The Centre County Democratic
by-laws say that a candidate must
be registered as a Democrat for at
least two years prior to an
election, which makes Ortenberg
ineligible, he said. The committee
has not selected another candidate
for the race, McCalips said.
Ortenberg said he was not sure
how Smades' withdrawal would
affect his chances in the race.
AP Laserphoto