Tii i Dun Collegian Rossilvnne Skena liilitor-in-Chief Holly Colbo Business Manager About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Collegian are pub lished by Collegian Inc., an independent, nonprofit corpo ration with a board of direc tor composed of students, faculty and professionals. Pennsylvania State University students write and edit both papers and solicit advertising for them. Dunngthe fall and spring semesters as well as the second six-week summer session. The Daily Collegian publishes Monday through Friday. Issues are distributed by mail to other Penn State campuses and individual subscribers. Complaints: News and edito rial complaints should be pre sented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. Who we are The Daily Collegian’s edito rial opinion is determined by its Board of Opinion. with the editor holding final responsibility. 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Tolls logical but losing battle You’re humming along, driving through the beau tiful Keystone State, when you hit a pothole. And another. And then another. And then potholes upon potholes, as far as the eye can see. Perhaps that an exag geration; perhaps not. If a measure to toll Interstate 80 is enacted, Pennsylva nia could be looking at another $472 million in revenue. That’s a lot of potholes, bridges and gen eral transportation main tenance. Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Trans portation recently rejected a plan to toll 1-80, so that money will have to come Roethlisberger tarnishes reputation By Caitlin Cullerot Ben Roethlisberger may have dodged a legal bul let Monday when a Georgia district attorney announced he would not pur sue sexual assault charges against the quarterback, but his reputa tion didn’t exactly escape unscathed. Not that this is a new situation for Roethlisberger. MY OPINION It’s hard for me to think of the quarterback without shaking my head in disgust and I’m not 1 even an Eagles fan. He may be the Steelers’ golden boy, helping to lead the team to two Super Bowl titles in four years, but he makes it nearly impossible to overlook his off-field antics. Take his 2006 motorcycle acci dent. Steelers coach BiU Cowher cautioned him about the dan- gers of the motorcycle. But Roethlisberger went against the advice and ended up colliding with a Chrysler, breaking his jaw and nose, slicing open the back of his head and knocking out two teeth. To make matters worse, Roethlisberger wasn’t wearing a helmet apparently a common practice for him. In fact, he was quoted by ESPN prior to the accident as saying, “You’re just more free when you’re out there and there’s no helmet on.” Way to be a role model for your fans, buddy. Never mind the fact that Big Ben’s temporary license was from another source. Gov. Ed Rendell said that drivers should not regard this decision as a victory, and for the citi zens of Pennsylvania, he’s correct. 1-80 drivers won’t pay for upkeep, so where do you think that money will come from? The state in other words, you will have to find another way to pay. Tolling 1-80 would shift the cost to the people who benefit from the road, namely, the people who drive on it. This is not a novel concept. Other balanced. But for the sake of avoiding another budget mess, it’s time to move on try and quickly find an state, the Pennsylvania alternative solution. interstates are tolled. One state over in Ohio, 1-80 is a toll road. In our own expired at the time. Not only did he defy coach’s orders by self ishly putting his career and life in jeopardy; he did so while breaking the law. And then there are the rape allegations. In July 2009, a woman filed a civil suit against Roethlisberger, claiming he raped her in 2008 while he stayed at the hotel where she worked. Criminal charges were never brought against him, and he vehemently denies the incident, but the suit is still pending And that wasn’t the last of the allegations. On Monday, Roethlisberger was cleared of any legal wrong doing after a 20-year old college student accused him of raping her in a club bathroom in Georgia. According to several media outlets, the woman also sent a letter to the district attorney asking not to prosecute Roethlisberger because the trial would be a “very intrusive per sonal experience.” Despite no charges being brought against Roethlisberger, district attorney Fred Bright said in a statement Monday that Roethlisberger met the woman while bar-hopping. He then invit ed her and her sorority sisters into the VIP area of a club and bought shots for the group, Bright said. If true, what was he doing buying shots for an underage college girl in the first place? And why would he follow her into a bathroom, as Bright also indicated? Regardless of whether Roethlisberger had sex with the woman consensual or not Turnpike (1-76, which also runs across the state) is a toll road. It would not be unprece dented to toll 1-80 in Penn sylvania. Despite the fact that we’d like to see 1-80 tolled, at this point, the idea has little momentum. Support ers of the proposal would do best to turn their time and efforts to other mat ters. Maybe we’ll revisit this issue in the future, if, say, the state’s budget isn’t . IRS HAS A SHORT FORM he needs to stop putting himself in situations that reflect poorly on himself and his team. No good can come from hanging out with a bunch of underage college students. No good can come from ignoring your coach and riding your motorcycle with out a helmet. Even former Steelers quarter back Terry Bradshaw has criti cized Roethlisberger in the wake of his latest scandal. “He has got to realize who he is,” Bradshaw told reporters Monday. “He is an elite athlete in the National Football League. He’s got an image problem right now. Best thing to do is never put yourself in that position again. When you’re through playing football, do whatever you want to do, but right now, stay clean.” There’s no doubt Roethlisberger is one of this generation’s great quarterbacks, and he’ll certainly be remem bered long after his football career ends. But, right now, his status as a player witEnthe NFL should be jeopardy. Roethlisberger met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell Tuesday to discuss his actions, and Goodell must come down hard on him if he’s ever going to change his ways and avoid prob lematic situations. With all these serious allega tions under his belt, it seems Roethlisberger will more likely be remembered for his off-the field antics than his two Super Bowl rings. Caltlin Cullerot is a senior majoring in journalism and is the Collegian's Wednesday columnist. Her e-mail address is cmcs2l7@psu.edu. Life experiences most important aspect of college By Brittany Fortese /t’s 1 ip.m.. and the sun is shining. Change into a fun, summery dress and call my friends to daylong. Walk dawn the street, show our IDs (which they now know my backup ID as the girl with the awkward smile). Scan the area for people we know and pidl up a plastic red chair to the small, white, wrought iron tables. Sit down and enjoy the indescribable, college environment. Day 23 of 55 Days. Check. Here it is. the nostalgic memoir of the last 55 days up until graduation (today you're reading this, and it's now 24 days). Much to my surprise (based on little to no income, counting change, borrowing from friends and finding money in random pock ets), I have ever so willingly been spending my last days at the marketing phenomena, "55 days at Cafe." Yes, along with more than 100 other people. I have been going to Cafe 210 West every day to: 1. Say we did it and 2. Get our names on a plaque showing we achieved this feat. When I tell people I'm doing it, many of the responses are just plain “Why?" and “I don’t have enough money for that." But. my dad’s response was my favorite: "Are you kidding me?" in somewhat of a disgruntled tone of confusion about college drinking. Well here is the answer: just because. Because looking back, I know I will have been part of a tradition for years to come and you know how Penn State is with tradi tions. Not to mention my family would be so mad if I passed up the opportunity to keep up a tradition. I’m Italian. I know that all of the times there and the conversations I had will be some of the very best in my life. But, most importantly, it is an experience. This is more than the last 55 days lead ing up to graduation. It's looking back on everything that I have learned, all the places that I went (ROMA, RO MA MA, especially), and all the people whose lives I’ve touched (you’re welcome). What have I learned? If we’re being honest here, I can say I have learned far more in my experi ences than I have in my classrooms. Personally, I think that’s a greater advan tage in life. Life is a series of experiences. You live, you learn. Right, Alanis? This is not to say, however, that I did not learn anything in my classes. I did, and I am so grateful to have been given this opportunity to come to Penn State, an experience in and of itself. But I cannot help but think about everything else I have learned that I feel is superior to my class room studies. These experiences are what stick out in my head. This is the idea of “55 Days" to take advantage of the experi ences around you. Had I not been a part of Penn State and these experiences, I never would have learned half of what I know now. I realize that it’s not getting a job that’s important (I had initially intended to be a vagabond but that idea got shot down pretty quick by my mom), it’s if you’re happy at the job no mat ter what it is. It’s about not settling for less than you deserve. I realize that living your life and being a part of it along with having real people around you are what’s impor tant. Everything else will fall into place. This has come from many days of stressing out and worrying about what I’m going to do after graduation, but in the end, I always snap back into focus about what’s really important. Experiencing life rather than going through the motions of things you have to do is what is most important. The relationships with people and the pleasure of life are what I’ve learned to focus on. Thanks, Cafe, for providing me with an invaluable experience, a very low bank account and a couple more calories in my diet. It was worth it. Brittany Fortese is a senior majoring in journalism and is a Collegian designer. Her email address is befsol7@psu.edu. Correction The letter “Pope’s reaction to incidents damages Catholic Church” on Tuesday’s Opinion Page incorrectly stated the class of writer Sean Felton. He is a sophomore in architectural engineering. Hardwood Hits Apparently, it was a move made back in December. Blogs were nonetheless abuzz this morning about Penn State pulling out of next season’s 76 Classic. Penn State sports information direc tor Brian Siegrist posted a statement via Twitter in response to the amount of chatter. Siegrist said the Nittany Lions decided to leave the tournament in December, but the 76 Classic just showed the change on its Web site this morning. ESPN media contact Jenny Zimmerman confirmed via 76 Classic organizers that Penn State requested to be removed from the tournament in December. Read more from the men’s basketball blog Hardwood Hits and the rest of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucolleglan.coiii/blogs. MY OPINION
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