The Daily Police might seize shop The Gopper’s Pizza shop could be seized after the owner was found to be selling marijuana. By Megan McKeever COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | mmmsol4@psu.edu A local man arrested for selling drugs from his State College pizze ria may have his property seized, the State College Police Depart ment said. A property or vehicle can be seized if an owner sells drugs from the property, and police said Mark Regopoulos, 42, owner of The Gop per’s Pizza, 114 Hetzel St., fits the criteria for such a seizure. On Aug. 31, police charged Regopoulos and three of his employees with selling marijuana from his establishment to a confi dential informant. The informant worked at Gop per’s during a yearlong investiga tion and bought marijuana from Regopoulos on multiple occasions. He is charged with six counts of delivery of marijuana, three counts of criminal use of a communication facility and three counts of posses sion of a controlled substance, according to court documents. Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira said the com monwealth is looking into a seizure of his property, but nothing has been finalized, adding that it needs to be determined whether the property was bought under Regopoulos’ name. Regopoulos said last week that his property is for sale, and he has lowered the price to sell it “quick ly.” Regopoulos said that he has prospective buyers and believes the property will be sold by Octo ber. Regopoulos said last week that he has owned the pizza shop since October 2000. Centre County Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall said that usually a property is not seized until after the accused has been sentenced, which means the com monwealth may not have enough time to seize his property. Once a property is sold, it can no longer be seized, Madeira said. “At that point, we would have to go after whatever assets he took from the sale,” he said. Regopoulos’ attorney, Andrew Shubin, said last week that the property was for sale “before [Regopoulos] was charged.” Regopoulos is set to appear in court Nov. 20 for his pretrial. Shubin and Regopoulos could not be reached for comment before press time. Appointment of attorney general seen as favorable By Jennifer Lynch COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | jrls4s@psu.edu After President George W. Bush announced his nomination of Michael B. Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as the next U.S. attorney general yesterday, local politicians and campus political groups said the choice was a step in the right direction. Mukasey has received praise from both political parties for his “thoughtful and fair handling” of past high-profile terrorism-related cases, according to a White House Today: Tonight: f ''N Tomorrow: forecast | WEATHER, Page 2. rml r j Briefs 2 Comics J 5 whos- occ iq-jo .. . vveauier :»» s\j u»« High 77 Contents:^....... j c™-* si£S2,r* David Walker^Coilegian Amanda Greenly (senior-social studies eductation) reads while waiting for Michigan tickets at the BJC. Students partake in Constitution Day Kimberly Timinski (junior-fine arts) writes on the giant cubes in front of the Palmer press release. If confirmed by the Senate, Mukasey would bring with him a lifetime of legal expertise as an attorney and as well as 18 years of experience as a federal judge. “He has potential, but I’m cau tiously optimistic,” said Alex Weller, president of the Penn State College Libertarians. “While I like that he supported the right to a lawyer for enemy combatants in the case of Jose Padilla, his support for the Patriot Act concerns me.” Gonzales resigned from the attor ney general position on Aug. 27 after See APPOINTMENT, Page 2. Ticket fever hits town Students began lining up Sunday night for a chance to get Michigan tickets. By Margaret Miceli COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER j mcmso9B@psu.edu If this morning is the first you know of it, chances are you won’t be getting tickets to the Michigan game. In an effort to be first in line for today’s first-come, first-served away game ticket sale, some students began lining up days early at Gate B of the Bryce Jordan Center. The number of students in line for tickets topped 130 by 7:30 p.m. yesterday. About 200 tickets will go on sale at 7 a.m. today. Courtesy of The Associated Press Mukasey is shown at his nomination. Published independently by students at Penn State www.collegian.psu.edu The first students, a group of seven or eight, arrived at about 8 p.m. Sun day evening, just hours after a press release on Penn State Live announced the sale would begin Tuesday morning. “We happened to check PSU Live and saw that it said ‘if line forms beforehand’ [on the announcement about the ticket sale],” said Michael Barrish (senior-international poli tics). “We figured that meant a line would form.” The group called the police to ask if a group was allowed to set up their tent, Barrish said. The police said they couldn’t, so they slept on the concrete in front of Gate B, finally pitching their tent at about 5:15 Mon day morning. “We were the beginning and end of The Writer’s Block exhibit in front of the Palmer Art Museum invited students to scrawl their opinions with chalk on large black cubes. Signs in front of the blocks posed questions such as “Should the Ten Command ments be posted in public spaces?” and “Is federal funding for abortion a violation of the Constitution?” A particularly contentious question was “Do you feel that the war in Iraq is justified?” with chalk-written responses ranging from “Getting rid of a terrorism funding murderous tyrant - what do you think?” to “No - bring my little brother home.” Alexis Opp (freshman-engineering) agreed that the blocks were eye-catching. “Everyone’s been looking at it whenever I walk through here,” she said. “I think it’s pretty cool.” Eight orange panels on the raised grass bed near the Thomas Building presented both pro and con points of views on the death penalty. The panels were arranged so that the messages - “Cruel & Unusual?” and “Just & Necessary?” - only became clear from two specific loca tions. An orange sign to the side read “Are you listening?” and provided information on the death penalty. Architecture students in a first-year seminar, A&A 104 (Art & Design Studio II), came up with the ideas for all three events, professor Peter Aeschbacher said. They then designed and built the orange panels, blocks and wave-like lounge, he added. The project helped students think about how to make See CONSTITUTION, Page 2. Mollie Pritchett/Collegian Museum Penn State rising in diversity rankings By Arianna Davis COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | agdsoo6@psu.edu Vice Provost for Educational Equity. A recent review of Penn State’s Assistant vice provost Victoria ongoing diversity initiatives has Sanchez said she believes the plan shown an increase of more than has contributed positively to increas -1,000 minority students in the last ing a diverse environment at the uni year, resulting in several high rank- versity. ings for the university. “We’re seeing much more interest A midpoint review of Penn State’s and commitment across the cam second “Framework to Foster Diver- pus,” Sanchez said. “I think the sity” which was designed for 2004 to framework is an opportunity for 2009, was released in a report to everybody to benefit in the commu- Penn State’s Board of Ihistees Sept, nity.” 7. The framework, which was a fol- the line for a while,” Barrish said, adding that the line really began to grow after noon Monday. By 7:30 p.m. yesterday, about 11 tents were pitched in an orderly line directly in front of Gate B. The num ber of people waiting for tickets led Mike Krueger (junior-finance) to start a list marking each student’s spot in line. “We started this list at about 3:30 to offset confusion tomorrow morning,” Krueger said, adding that he was number 106 of about 139. Krueger and Nisang Shah (senior accounting) also said that to keep the list current, they will be taking roll call at about 2 a.m. Every student who signed up for a ticket must be present at 2 a.m. or they will be See FEVER, Page 2. By Margaret Miceli COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | mcmso9B@psu.edu Constitution Day isn’t just about reading a copy of the Constitution anymore. In celebration of the national holiday yesterday, stu dents participated in a series of events aimed at engag ing citizens in constitutional debate At the “Illicit Lit erature Lounge” in front of Pattee Library, students in ENGL 474 (Lit erary Public Spheres) and CAS 506 (Contemporary Rhetorical Theory) stood on top of a wave-like structure reading excerpts from banned books. “Students can read whatever they like, which seems to me in keeping with the First Amendment,” said Rosa Eberly, professor of both classes. Throughout the day, students read excerpts from books such as Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Frequently challenged or banned books were also displayed, along with the reasons why they were con troversial, including The Catcher in the Rye (sex), Lord of the Flies (racism) and 1984 (politics). “Now, in the early 21st century, it’s easy to forget that people were once Wiled for reading and writing books,” Eberly said, “so the connection between this and Con stitution Day is claiming our right to read, write and think for ourselves.” low-up to the original plan created in 1998, was created by the Office of the Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007 On the Web k For more photos, visit: www.colleglan.psu.edu See RANKINGS, Page 2.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers