THURSDAY April 5, 2001 Vol. 101 No. 155 20 pages SG names new seats after system glitch By Lynne Funk COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I lafl97@psu.edu Because of an error in the tallying system for the Undergraduate Student Government elections, the head of the Elections Commis sion announced a new list of town senators last night. Some senatorial candidates complained to the commission about the previous results of town senate because the total amount of votes was less than they had anticipated after talking to voters. "Some candidates came to me and said, `Look, I know at least five people who voted for me through paper ballots,' " said Online Voting and Tallying Commissioner Buck Thompson. Outside of the USG office, Head Elections Commissioner David Britz announced a new DERAILED: Lincoln Harberger (sophomore-architectural engineering) jumps his skateboard while Matt Keller (junior-architectural engineering) skateboards behind him. Skateboarders sometimes have a hard time finding a place to skate. I LOCAL, Page 6 Results of drunk driving case in question By Alex Weininger COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I axwl94@psu.edu The charges facing a Howard man accused of killing a woman and her unborn child may be dismissed today, depending on the court's interpretation of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling. Alfred Cantolina, 21, faces charges that include two counts of homicide by motor vehicle while driving under the influence, four counts of aggravated assault by motor vehicle while driving under the influence and other related charges. Cantolina is charged with killing 29-year-old Britt Barndt and her unborn child Nov. 18. Police said Cantolina's pickup turned left into Barndt's oncoming car, also injuring husband Gene Barndt, the couple's six-year-old daughter Inside Global warming divides EU, Bush European Union leaders yesterday said President Bush was "completely wrong" to pull out of a global warming agreement and promised to fight for the pact. I INTERNA TIONAL, Page 11 Alternative band gives wild show The well-polished Juliana Theory came to Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., with its rock-star hair cuts, tight tee-shirts and a professional style that made the crowd understand just how big these guys are get ting in the music scene. I ARTS IN REVIEW, Page 20 Men gymnasts defend title today Today at 1 p.m. at St. Johns Arena in Columbus, Ohio, the Penn Staste men's gymnastics team defends their NCAA title. They will be joined in the first session by No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Califor nia, No. 10 Massachusetts and No. 11 Tem ple. I SPORTS, Page 12 IN J list of town senators excluding some of the initial winners. Seven town senate candidates were falsely announced as winners on election night last week Nicholas Mahoney (junior-biology), Rob Kaplan (sophomore-labor and industrial rela tions), Kurt Unruh (junior-political science), Matthew Kutzler (sophomore-engineering), Beenu Puri (junior-international politics), Conor Moran (sophomore-political science) and Tom Murtaugh (sophomore-business administration) were found not to have won. Thompson explained that a glitch in the University Testing Services software system for paper ballots used by the commission this year significantly decreased the number of votes tallied for the town senate positions. The system this year included paper ballots and online voting. UTS scans all of the scant rons, the paper ballots, creating a file on the and a family friend. Barndt was eight months pregnant with a son she and her husband had already named Samuel. A preliminary hearing for the case was heard Dec. 6 and Cantolina was bound over on all charges except for two counts of aggravated assault. However, the results of the hearing and the charges that Cantolina faces are now in question, mainly because of a February court decision that dismissed the same charge in a similar accident involving the death of a woman's unborn baby. In 1997, a Westmoreland County man was accused of driving drunk and hitting a woman in the county who was 8 months pregnant. At the time, the Superior Court ruled the unborn child was technically "alive" and that TABLE OF CONTENTS Police Log Weather Calendar National Opinions International .9, 10, 11 Comics 19 Baseball 12 Crossword 19 CONTACT US Newsroom: 865-1828 Ads/Business: 865-2531 ON THE WEB www.colleglan.psu.edu 2 Sports 2 Scoreboard .. 3 Classifieds .... 16, 17 7, 9 Horoscope 16 .. 8 TV Listings 18 computer. It then combines that file with the online voting file. The error in software was in the combining of the two. "The original intent of this system was to supplement the paper ballots," Thompson said. "Everything has been fixed. If we decide to use this method next year, it's fixed," he added. The ballots for the town senate section were the only ballots that had problems because they had the option to pick multiple candidates. The presidential/vice presidential tickets were not affected. "We were worried with the low number of votes for senate, now we're not worried," Thompson said. After the commission investigated the sys- See USG, Page 4. under the state crimes code, a charge could be filed. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, however reversed the decision in February, dismissing the vehicular homicide while DUI charge and making the only charge Booth faced a DUI. Cantolina's attorney, Brian Manchester, filed two motions that questioned the suffi ciency of evidence presented at the prelimi nary hearing and questioned the charges involving the homicide by motor vehicle while DUI and the two counts left on aggra vated assault by motor vehicle while DUI. Manchester said because of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Booth case, he expects the homicide charge to be dismissed despite the term of Barndt's pregnancy "According to the result of the Booth case, See CASE, Page 4. Plans to plant seeds of tradition underway with Old Main willows By Lindsay Bosslett COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER 11ab325@psu.edu Since it was claimed by a lightening storm in 1923, there hasn't been much wind going through Old Willow. However, the Under graduate Student Government plans to change that. Sometime in the late 1800 s, Penn State's first president, Evan Pugh, returned from England bearing a clipping of a willow tree supposedly from the home of poet Alexander Pope. He planted it on the Willard Mall between his home and Old Main. It grew there until a storm killed it more than 75 years ago. Since then there have been several unsuc cessful attempts to plant saplings of Old Wil low, but USG plans to try again. "Old Willow is part of our Penn State tra dition," USG Town Sen. Andrew Pope said. "People say that our generation has fallen r--1, I PENN STATE ■ Lauren Applegate (sophomore-com munications) ■ Mike Fazio (junior-political science) ■ Stephanie Wood (junior-economics) ■ Mary Made Falcon (sophomore-edu cation) ■ Alicia Agnew (sophomore-business administration) ■ Bridget Van Osten (sophomore-busi ness administration) ■ Claudia Lum (freshman-premedicine) • Jennifer Radel (junior-administration of justice) ■ Tara Maurer (junior-political science) ■ Joe Petka (junior-political science) U.S. offers China regrets for crash WASHINGTON, D.C. The Bush admin istration offered Beijing a chorus of regrets but no apology for the collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter. China, still detaining 24 American crew members, said it was a step in the right direction amid signs that both sides wanted a face-saving resolution. President Bush, who issued a stern warn ing to Beijing a day earlier, had his advisers extend the olive branch yesterday. "We regret the loss of life of that Chinese pilot but now we need to move on," Secre tary of State Colin Powell said. "We need to bring this to a resolution and we're using every avenue available to us to talk to the Chinese side to exchange explanations and move on." White House press secretary Ari Fleisch er echoed Powell's remarks, saying "we have expressed our concern and our regrets about that incident," but he declined China's demand for an apology. In China, a Lawless' criticisms prompt bill proposal Rep. Josephs introduced a bill making threatening citizens by officials illegal. A fellow state lawmaker has taken aim at Rep. John Lawless, R-Montgomery, and his confrontational style. Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, has introduced a bill that would make it a crime for elected state officials to threaten citizens. Josephs drafted the bill in response to Lawless' highly publicized threat against a Penn State student earlier this year. The student, Bob Pickrell (junior-second ary education) sent Lawless an angry e mail in response to Lawless' critique of the Sex Faire and other such student events. Pickrell made fun of Lawless' facial defor mity the result of a brain tumor operation, a remark he later apologized for. out of old traditions, but this will show we still have pride in our school. It's a piece of history" And Old Willow is more than a tree. It's two stories in one. "There are two stories surrounding Old Willow," USG West Halls Sen. Justin Wade Blankenbicker said. "One is public and one is not-so public." The public story is simply the story of Pugh bringing the tree over to Penn State, known as the Farmer's High School at the time and planting it as a "Tree of Knowl edge." The not-so-public story is surrounded by mystery. When the tree still grew in the Willard Mall, students could be seen bowing to it when they went past. The only way to find out why a student bowed was to ask him or her in private. No third party could overhear the expla- See WILLOWS, Page 4. By Ron Fournier ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER By Daryl Lang COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I daryl@psu.edu WEATHER Page 2 TODAY: Sunshine, High 56 30 cents off campus ©2OOl Collegian Inc ■ Matt Trupkovich (junior-management) ■ Todd Ellis (senior-physics) ■ Joshua Sullivan (sophomore-liberal arts) ■ Michael Gallo (sophomore-political science) ■ Bryan McKinney (senior-junior-non degree) ■ Andrew Pope (junior-telecommunica tions) ■ Sean Clark (junior-political science) ■ Brendan Holloway (junior-finance) ■ Tie: Ti. Kokolis (junior-political sci ence) and Drew Mallick (junior-political science) similar regrets-but-no-apology formulation was offered to the nation's foreign minister by the U.S. ambassador. "The United States doesn't understand the reason for an apology," Fleischer said. "Our airplanes are operating in internation al airspace, and the United States did noth ing wrong." An apology would imply wrongdoing by the U.S., officials said, something Bush has not been willing to concede. Powell, in a little-noticed comment, had said Tuesday that the crash was "fatal for the pilot of the Chinese plane and I regret that.- But the remarks yesterday were the administration's most emphatic expres sions of sympathy, designed to set the course for a middle ground that could lead to the crew's release and allow both sides to escape dangerous diplomatic territory, offi cials said. Since the first day of the standoff, the president has steadily increased rhetorical pressure on the Chinese while leaving room See CRASH. Page 4 Upon reading the e-mail, Lawless phoned Pickrell in his dorm room and threatened to make sure that he never got a teaching job in Pennsylvania. - It's not a threat, it's a promise," Lawless reiterated in an exchange with President Graham Spanier during Penn State's House Appropriations Commit tee hearing in February. The exchange was fod der in the debate between Lawless and Spanier. Lawless read Pickrell's angry e-mail to the committee. Spanier responded with an e mail Pickrell had sent him about being afraid after Lawless' angry phone call. Josephs also sits on the appropriations committee. "If anyone is guilty of bad behavior, it is the lawmaker in using his power as an elected official to wreak revenge," Josephs said in a press release. A Penn State willow stands on Willard Mall The original was claimed in a storm in 1923. See BILL Page 4
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