Pope cancels
Sarajevo visit, fearing
for residents’ safety
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r ol. 95, No. 41 26 Pages ©1994 Collegian Inc.
Police
'spot' student crime
Editor's Note: This is the first of a
four-part series that will run every
Wednesday examining how crimes
committed in college affect peo
ple’s futures.
By SCOTT PERRY
Collegian Staff Writer
Ten years ago a former Univer
sity student was approached by a
fraternity member known as
“Spot,” who repeatedly asked the
student to put him in touch with a
drug dealer the student knew so he
could obtain some amphetamines.
The former student, who wished
USG Senate vacancy problem still unresolved
By ERIN STROUT
Collegian Staff Writer
Every Tuesday night the Undergraduate
Student Government Senate sits around a table
among vacant seats that need to be filled, but
for some former senators, the problem ruhs a
little deeper than lack of time.
Mary Gildea resigned last week from the
Pollock senate sett die was elected to last
Spring Semester raising the number of sen
ate vacancies to six. Being required to be on
two committees, going to senate and arda gov
ernment meetidcs and keeping office boors left
littis time for anything else, die said.
But aside from the time commitment, Gildea
wftMnUSG that
made it diffietdt for her to stay.
Sports | Weather
informants
to remain anonymous because he
is currently trying to get the inci
dent expunged from his records,
refused to get in touch with the
dealer because he only knew the
person from seeing him at occa
sional parties. But after six months
of repeated requests from Spot,
the former student agreed to put
Spot in touch with the dealer.
The dealer, Spot and Spot’s
friend completed the deal pur
chasing one-eighth of an ounce of
amphetamines. As the deal was
being conducted, the former stu
dent stayed downstairs, trying to
separate himself from the trans
action.
Spot turned out to be a police
informant and Spot’s friend turned
out to be an undercover police
officer. After the initial deal was
completed, the police officer
allegedly harassed the former stu-
“USG could do a lot of improving,” she said.
“They have a lot of ideas and say things, but
don’t act on diem. I don’t really want to be a
part of something like that.”
The senate needs to show students it can see
projects through, Gildea said. Because of the
tension between USG and students, it may be
hard to fill the seats, she added.
“USG has to start getting things done
backing .up their words,” Gildea said. “Then
maybe a lot of people will be wishing they were
senators.”
USG Senate President Josh Bokee said it is
too soon to say that the senate this year won’t
wenmpHsh their projects. Members are going
to set the qgenda for the group this weekend,
ghrisg gfcett the focus and direction pint sen
ates did not have, he said.
Wednesday, Sept 7,1994
; Yaiif steps through the Boardof Pardons
These arethe steps in _L_ , 5At the hearing
' We process toget4 At the review three out of five
misdemeanors erased hearing, two out of must \
'ftamaNteaHl."*' '• five board members approve the request.
, must agree to give it
1 Send a self- , a public hearing. s 6lf this is ”
addressed, stamped accomplished, the
• envelope to the Board ■ Tm~ , application is sent to
of Pardons with a $4
check . 3 Once the \ the governors f |
” application is filled
2 The application out and returned,
will then be sent to MB the applicant will be «j 7lt will either be B
L - fteappjfean^
dent for several months and even
tually arrested him.
■ ■■
Now the former University stu
dent’s life is altered. Despite his
Penn State bachelor’s degree in
psychology and a master’s degree
in social work, this mark on his
record has alerted potential
employers and he has had con
cerns about not being able to find
a job, said John Lord, secretary of
the state Board of Pardons.
USG, King unveil
housing petition
By ERIN STROUT
Collegian Staff Writer
Hoping to pack a room in the
municipal building, the Under
graduate Student Government
unveiled a petition to repeal the
three-unrelated-person occupancy
limit and present it to the State
College Planning Commission.
The petition, circulated at the
USG Senate meeting last night,
will be presented to the Planning
Commission Sept. 22, said USG-
President Mike King, who added
that he hopes for a large student
turnout at the meeting.
“In two weeks the battle will be
joined and I’m looking forward to
it,” King said. “We need to pack
the house.”
In June, the Coalition of State
College Neighborhood Associations
proposed to the council that they
limit student housing in residential
neighborhoods. The associations
claimed students were destroying
the quiet atmosphere of their
neighborhoods.
King protested the proposal and
developed a square-footage coun
Cubans fly to Panama
First wave of refugees volunteers to leave
By TONY WINTON
Associated Press Writer
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL
BASE, Cuba The first Cuban
refugees to be moved out of the
overflowing tent city on this
U.S. military base were put aboard
planes yesterday for Panama. All
100 were volunteers.
“We approached the Cuban camp
leaders and told them of our plans
and 100 came up immediately,”
said Marine Lt. Pete Mitchell, a
spokesman for the joint military
group running the Guantanamo
refugee camp.
Cubans are being transferred to
On Aug. 18, the former Univer
sity student, along with another
former student who was caught
selling drugs in a similar manner,
came before the state Board of
Pardons. Both former students
said their applications have been
passed by the board and sent to the
governor for final approval.
To erase criminal charges from
a person’s record, people can apply
for a pardon by completing an
Please see CRIME, Page 12.
“It adds to the new feel and direction,” Bokee
said. “They are eager and excited, and it builds
a feeling of optimism.”
And Heather Wesley, chairwoman of the
Senate Appointment Review Board, said when
students apply to be senators, the time com
mitment involved is made dett.
“A lot of people ask right off the bat,” she
said. “We let them know exactly what’s
involved.”
USG seeks senators who are familiar with
campus issues, Wesley said.
But retention has been a long-term senate
problem. Flv? of the 18 current senators served
on the senate before this year, but Bokee is the
only one who has served * fail term.
*1 certainly cspnot give reasons for why
Please see USG, Page 12.
Published independently by students at Penn State
Boroughfibusing
terproposal. The counterproposal
lifts the three-unrelated-person
occupancy limit and allows the
number of occupants to be deter
mined by the size of the house.
“We’re not being unrealistic,”
King said. “If this argument was
based on logic we’d win.”
USG will circulate the petitions
among students during the next
week in hopes that at least 1,300
signatures are gathered, said Mike
Burcik, chairman of the govern
ment relations council. The sen
ators will each try to collect
90 signatures by next week’s sen
ate dieeting, he added.
According to the petition, those
signing it are supporting “a new
zoning law based on how much
space is available, rather than
what type of person you are.”
Students living on campus
should also get involved, Burcik
said, because the campus is not
refugee camps in the jungles of
Panama to make room at the naval
base for more of their countrymen.
Many of the Cubans flown to
Panama aboard two Air Force C
-130s held hands and embraced as
they waited to board. They said
they were optimistic that condi
tions at the Panama refugee camp
would be better than in Guantana
mo and that it would be easier to
stay in touch with their relatives
from Panama.
“By going to Panama, I am one
step closer to my eventual desti
nation the United States,” said
Eduardo Barbero Guelcon Toledo.
He said he was at sea on a raft for
Abortion polarizes
population meeting
By RITA BEAMISH
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt Delegates at
the U.N. population conference
made a breakthrough yesterday on
the heated issue of abortion, but
the Vatican refused to go along
with the compromise.
The abortion debate has
entangled efforts to draft a 20-year
plan to slow the world’s population
growth. The hard-fought negotia
tions yesterday dealt with a single
paragraph in the 113-page draft
report.
Delegates from the 182 nations
attainting the conference are to
give the section final consideration
today.
There’s never been more sup
port for language in this section of
the document than there exists
right now,’’ said U.S. delegate
David Harwood, a senior policy
adviser to the State Department.
Tim United States supports the
compromise, while the European
Union, Norway and Sweden said it
was tim “rock bottom” of what
they would accept, Harwood said.
Iran, Pakistan and Benin, which
previously sided with the Vatican
on abortion, accepted the lan
guage.
The compromise paragraph
would urge all governments to deal
with the health impact of unsafe
abortion as a major public health
concern. It would also urge gov
ernments to reduce the need for
atiolrtion by expanding and
improving family planning serv
ices.
The revision adds that abortion
should never be “promoted” as a
their only community and even
tually the majority will move into
town.
Borough councilman Tom Dau
bert said the petition will impact
the council’s decision.
“But life is a compromise,” he
said. “You can’t allow SO students
to live in a house.”
The petition quoted Daubert as
supposedly saying, “We never
make an example out of anybody. I
think it’s time we throw some
people out in the snow.”
King alleges Daubert made the
statement at an Aug. 25 Planning
Commission meeting.
But Daubert denies making the
statement.
“That’s an absolute lie,” Daubert
said. “That is absolutely stupid.”
King said USG has decided the
quote will not appear on the peti
tions.
“Rather than defeat the purpose
of the petition, we decided to
strike the quote.” he said. “It’s
more important that we don’t lose
sight of the real issues.”
Collegian Staff Writer Christine
L. Miller contributed to this report
four days before being rescued by
the Coast Guard.
The Cubans going to Panama
didn’t make much of a dent in the
numbers being held at this
U.S. base, where Cuban boat peo
ple have been taken since mid-
August, when the United States
reversed its policy of automatical
ly granting asylum to Cuban refu
gees.
At roll call yesterday,
23,231 Cubans were being housed
at Guantanamo, and 3,720 more
were en route after being picked
up from rafts and small boats in
the Straits of Florida.
Please see CUBA, Page 12.
“method of family planning.” It
says women who have “unwanted
pregnancies” should have access
to reliable information and com
passionate counseling.
There is no longer a reference to
“sexual health education.” The
revision also cuts out a plea to
governments to review their laws
and policies on abortion, and elim
inates a call to consider women’s
health “rather than relying on
criminal codes and punitive mea
sures.”
Despite the Holy See’s opposi
tion to the compromise, a Vatican
official who spoke on condition of.
anonymity praised the “strong
negative connotations” attached to
abortion in the text.
Third-world countries
face more basic issues
On another issue, the Vatican
won a concession from the United
States, which agreed Tuesday to a
call for a parental role in guiding
adolescents on “sexual and repro
ductive matters.”
Vice President A 1 Gore, head of
the U.S. delegation, tried to shift
attention from the abortion debate,
and sought to put the best face on
a meeting with the leader of the
Vatican delegation earlier in the
day.
“I think they’re finally under
standing what we’ve said all
along,” he told The Associated
Press.
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