WEDNESDAY April 5, 2000 Vol. 100 No. 162 26 pages Spring Week to end term on high note ■ The Interfraternity and Panhellenic councils' annual festival kicks off today with Crazy Games. By Colleen Hyland COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Flu' people are wanted. Spring Week 2000, an annual festival sponsored by the Interfraternity and Pan hellenic councils, kicks off today and runs through Sunday. The theme for this year's event, "Rm People Wanted," was chosen by the over all Spring Week committee because they felt that it best reflected their goals for the week. "We felt it most clearly showed the fun, lighthearted theme for spring," said Courtney Spangler, overall public rela tions chair for this year's Spring Week. "Spring Week is a chance to bring the entire community together, celebrate the warm weather and wind up the semester on a positive note." Spring Week 2000 will start at 4 p.m. today with the first set of Crazy Games on the HUB Lawn, followed by the Kickoff Party and Evening Madness at 7 p.m. This year's Kickoff Party includes free food and drink and a performance by local music favorite Bluesuedegroove. "When Gays Move Into Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" will be the highlighted event on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Schwab Auditorium. The program, which features speakers Joe Bertolino and Bil Leipold, was spon sored by the greek councils at Penn State two years ago and received a great response. Panhellenic Council President Erika London attended the program then and is looking forward to attending it again this year. "It is very interactive. They allow you to ask questions about the issues they are focusing on," London said. Fraternity Row will play host to more Crazy Games, the Chariot Races and a block party with a disc jockey Friday. Reg istration for Crazy Games begins at 2:15 p.m. and the chariots start rolling down East Fairmount Avenue at 4:30 p.m. "We encourage everyone to attend the block party on Friday and opening events on Wednesday," said Laurie DiMucci, overall Spring Week chair. "We want a lot of people to come out and have a good time without drinking." The National Pan-Hellenic Council's annual Stepshow will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. in the White Building. "NPHC plans for the Stepshow all year," DiMucci said. "Going to the show gives members of the other councils a chance to see what NPHC works on and to see one of the things that is very impor tant to them." Wrapping up the week's events Sunday will be the AIDS Project AIDS Walk, which begins at 1 p.m., and the Spring Week Awards Ceremony at 7 p.m. on the HUB Lawn. Registration for the AIDS Walk will begin at 11 a.m. at Central Parklet. "It is the ultimate way to serve the com munity," Spangler said. "It is a chance for everyone to walk together for a good cause." KC. Parker, the AIDS Walk liason for Spring Week, said she hopes this year's walk grows in more ways than in the amount of money raised. "I hope that it grows further as a walk in Centre County and that it raises awareness on campus and gets people educated about AIDS," Parker said. DiMucci anticipates this week's events will bring out more people than even "We are hoping to bring out a lot of people so they see what we do. Not many people know what the week is all about," DiMuc ci said. PennDOT says state roads improved By Dana Irwin COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Pennsylvania drivers are having the smoothest ride in years, according to state officials. The Pennsylvania Department of Trans portation announced last week that ride quality on Pennsylvania interstates improved dramatically last year. State roadways surpassed the national standard for ride smoothness and made Pennsylvania history, according to a press release from Gov. Tbm Ridge's office. PennDOT uses a worldwide standard for measuring pavement smoothness called the International Roughness Index that meas ures pavement roughness in terms of the number of inches per mile that a laser jumps as it is driven across the interstate. Lower scores on the index scale equal better road 111121:wit seated a value of 88 SO loge it 1999, beating the national standard T I Campus voter turnout an increase from 1999 By Stephenie Steitzer COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Jamie Schirk said she had good intentions to vote during yesterday's primary elections, but she simply forgot. "I was just oblivious to the date," Schirk (senior-philosophy) said as she was walking near Alumni Hall in the HUB-Robeson Cul tural Center the voting precinct for many on-campus students. However, Schirk added laughingly, "I can tell you when all of my papers are due." According to the unofficial vote tallies, Schirk was among a number of other stu dents who neglected to vote yesterday. U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum smiles after voting in the primary yesterday in Verona Keith Sr U.S. Rep. Ron Klink leaves the voting booth after casting his vote yesterday in Murrysville Local nominees anticipate challenging November race By Lily Henning COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Despite predictable wins in yesterday's primaries, local nominees are anticipating a lively run in the November elections. As the only candidates in their parties seeking a nomination for the 77th district state House seat, Democrat Donald Hahn and Republican incumbent Lynn Herman slid through yesterday's primary race with ease. Hahn received 1,693 votes and Herman 2,639 to win their parties' nomination in an unofficial count last night. The story was the same for the 171st district state House seat. Guy Patterson captured the Democratic nomination and incumbent Kerry Henning- Tara Liddell/Collegian though state roads have improved immensely, some feel local roads, such as University Drive, seen here, still need improvements. of 92 in 1998. Ridge has allotted $6 billion to road construction and improvements in the last three years, and the roads are the smoothest in PennDOrs 30-year history, according to the release. "Gov. Ridge promised that his administra- 1 11 \ PUBUSHED INDEPENDENTLY BY STUDENTS AT PENN STATE With an unofficial total of 68 votes cast at the four on-campus precincts in the HUB, this year's primary faired much better for number of votes than last year's April elec tion. The 1999 primaries saw seven votes on campus, while the general election in the same year saw 397 total votes. However, on a large scale, Darren Robert son, Undergraduate Student Government director of town affairs, said the numbers could be better. "It's a relatively low turnout compared to other primaries," he said. Robertson. who is the judge of elections See VOTER TURNOUT, Page 14 . hoff again received the Republican nomina tion in a field clear of challengers. The race in November might be a differ ent story for State College attorneys Hahn and Patterson. who both acknowledged the difficulty of being Democrats in a largely Republican area. Running against incumbents, however. could be the biggest challenge. "It will defi nitely be uphill against him," Hahn said of Herman. "The money favors the incumbents as they get access to a lot of the lobbyists' money. Plus, there's the name recognition factor." Patterson's echoed Hahn's sentiments, but said the race would be decided not by how much money the candidates had, but how they chose to use it. Lion would work hard to make Pennsylvania roads smoother, and that's exactly what Pen n Dot is delivering," said PennDOT secretary Bradley L Mallory in the release. While Penn Dot is boasting about road services, some students are questioning the results. "I would disagree with that (the index score)," Katie Leech (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said. Leech, who drives mainly in Pennsylvania, added she does not see an improvement. Pennsylvania's highway system is the fifth largest in the nation, and the more than 1,200 miles of interstate roadways is under going "one of the most ambitious road-resur facing efforts in state history" Mallory said in the release. Although overall state road quality might be improving, some feel local county roads are still in need of the benefits from the nearly billion spent annually on Pennsyl vania interstates. Keith Srakocic/Associated Press See PENNDOT, Page 14 County's voter turnout in recent elections 1998 primary election 1998 general election 1999 primary election 1999 general election 2000 primary election Source: Centre CounV Board of ElecUons Primary balloting light as Pa. picks nominees By Peter Jackson ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER PHILADELPHIA Al Gore and George W. Bush won largely symbolic victories yes terday in Pennsylvania's presidential pri mary after visits that set the stage for a gen eral-election campaign that could hinge on which candidate carries the state. The victories were expected for the Demo cratic vice president and the Republican gov ernor of Texas, who outpolled several former competitors who dropped out of the primary race after it was too late to delete their names from the ballot. With unofficial returns from 3 percent of the 9,404 precincts, Bush had 74 percent of the vote, or 8,089 votes, to defeat three for mer GOP competitors: John McCain with 22 percent, or 2,408 votes, Steve Forbes with 3 percent. or 293 votes, and Gary Bauer with 1 percent, or 155 votes. Gore received 77 percent, or 16,476 votes, in the Democratic primary, compared to 18 percent, or 3,832 votes, for former candidate Bill Bradley and 5 percent, or 1,116 votes, for perennial candidate Lyndon H. Laßouche Jr. Across the state, elections officials report ed a light turnout. "Since much of tne bailyhoos Ir.:ve been taken out of the ir evidential race, we're not expecting much turnout," said Philadelphia's Deputy City Commissioner Ed Schulgen. "The weather isn't helping either." Gore and Bush, who both campaigned in the Philadelphia area yesterday. had won more than enough delegates to win the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations by mid-March. But both consid er Pennsylvania and its 23 electoral votes crucial to their general-election prospects. Bush, accompanied by Gov. Tom Ridge, convened a roundtable discussion on educa tion at Abington Senior High School in subur ban Philadelphia and later huddled privately with Latino leaders in north Philadelphia. Gore met with 80 mostly older Philadelphi ans at a city community center and announced a plan to increase Social Security for women and blasted Bush's proposal to allow private retirement accounts in the Social Security system. "If he gets his hands on America's retire ment system, it will quickly become a system of social insecurity" Gore said. He added the race will depend on his abili ty to capture the independent votes and mobilize Democratic voters. "I'm going to live and die by the Independent vote," Pat terson said. Hahn said he hopes to attract both Demo cratic and Republican voters. would prefer to have a message that appeals to both Democrats and Republicans. I'm not really thinking of this as a partisan race," he said. -I'm hoping that I can appeal across party lines." Herman said he is thankful for his biparti san support. "I try to represent all the people of my district regardless of their party affilia tion. I'm very fortunate to have people from different parties and of all different social and economic backgrounds supporting me." Inside Rainy Days Penn State's baseball team managed to pull off both games of a doubleheader against Cornell. Despite the rain and cold weather, the team still tallied 25 runs in the two games I SPORTS, Page 15 Ups and downs The stock market went into a stomach churning rout yesterday, with the Nasdaq composite index and Dow Jones industrials each dropping more than 500 points. Most stocks, however, ended the day with only moderate losses. I NATIONAL, Page 8 Red hot One of the year's most anticipated tours will hit State College tonight as Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Foo Fighters per form at the Bryce Jordan Center. This past summer the Chili Peppers released its newest album, Californication, and also won a Grammy for the popular song, "Scar Tissue." I ENTERTAINMENT, Page 10 30 cents off campus ©2OOO Collegian Inc Bush, Gore take state, Page 14 Bush responded, can't think of a better reform than allowing women to manage their own personal savings accounts." The most hotly contested statewide race was for the Democratic nomination to chal lenge Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, who won the GOP nomination with no oppo sition. Three of the six candidates U.S. Rep. Ron Klink. former state labor secretary Tom Foley and state Sen. Allyson Schwartz were considered contenders With 4 percent of the precincts reporting, Klink had 36 percent, or 8,454 votes, Foley had 29 percent, or 6,828 votes, and Schwartz had 25 percent, or 5,858 votes. Among the other candidates, all Philadelphia-area lawyers, Robert Rovner had 5 percent, Mur ray Levin had 3 percent and Phil Berg had 2 percent. The only other statewide contest was for the Democratic nomination for attorney gen eral. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli had 52 percent, or 9,582 votes, while Jim Eisenhower, a Philadelphia lawyer and distant relative of the former Republican president, had 48 percent, or 8,889 votes, according to returns from 4 per cent of the precincts. The three incumbent row officers Republican Attorney General Mike Fisher, Republican Treasurer Barbara Hafer and Democratic Auditor General Robert P Casey Jr. won their parties' nominations without opposition. Also nominated without opposition were Catherine Baker Knoll, a Democrat who is challenging Hafer, and state Rep. Katie True, a Republican who is challenging Casey for auditor general. All of the state's 21 U.S. House seats are up for election this year. Closely watched was the five-way Republican contest for the 19th Congressional District seat long held by Rep. William F. Goodling, who is retiring, and an eight-way Democratic race in the 4th District seat being vacated by Klink. The parties also were selecting nominees for a dozen open seats in the state House of Representatives, where Democrats hope to regain control after a five-year hiatus. Herman added he is looking forward to the contest Hahn will present in the fall, but feels confident in his constituent support. Herman and Hahn both said they support increased state support for public education. Herman added he advocates increased state funding for Penn State and for Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency Hahn said he will focus on local develop ment issues in his campaign as well. "A lot of outside development money will be coming into the area, and we need to be selective as to how it develops," Hahn said. Benninghoff is taking his Democratic chal lenger for the 171st district seat seriously. Yesterday, the incumbent campaigned steadily, visiting 12 voting precincts to drum up support and attract voters to the polls. TABLE OF CONTENTS Police Log Weather . Calendar National International . Entertainment Opinions CONTACT US Newsroom: 865-1828 Business: 865-2531 ON 111 E WEB www.collegian.psu.edu WEATHER Page 2 TODAY: Mix of sun and clouds Michelle OlenoskVCollegian ... . 2 Sports 15 . . . . 2 Scoreboard 17 ... . 3 Horoscope 22 ..6, 8 Classifieds 22, 23 ..8, 9 TV Ustings 24 . .. 10 Crossword 25 12, 13 Conics 25