2 I WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010 E F Pittsburg' to prevent crime through talk PITTSBURGH Pittsburgh authorities are hoping that bringing together crime victims and convicted criminals will help deter crime. The city hosted a meeting Tuesday of the Pittsburgh Initiative to Reduce Crime. The group is made up of police, community groups, judges, prosecutors, crime victims and known gang members. Police say the goal of the group is to identify dangerous gangs and let them know police will crack down on them if the violence doesn't stop. Officials hope bringing criminals face-to-face with their vic tims will send a powerful message about violence. They also provided gang members information on getting job training and treatment for substance abuse. Similar initiatives have been done across the country including Cincinnati and Boston. Demolition begins on homes hit by arson COATESVILLE An eastern Pennsylvania city plagued by a wave of arsons has gained control of fire-damaged prop erties on a hard-hit street.Coatesville officials voted Monday night to award a contract for the demolition of homes on Fleetwood Street. Ten homes on the street were damaged by arson in January 2009. Nine homeowners agreed to sign over their properties to the city for $l. That's in exchange for waiving their responsibility regard ing the demolition and receiving fire escrow funds. The council has selected A.J. Jurich Inc. as the bidder. City officials approved the bid of a cost not to exceed $229,000. Seven suspects were eventually arrested in connection with the rash of fires in Coatesville and nearby communities that began in February 2008. Police search for dumped body's identity PITTSBURGH Pittsburgh police are trying to identify the body of a woman that was found wrapped in plastic trash bags near a high school's trash bin. Emergency dispatchers say the body was found around 6 a.m. Tuesday, outside Langley High SchooL The school was empty at the time, but several hundred students later arrived for summer school classes. Police say the body showed signs of trauma. They had no other details. Pittsburgh homicide detectives and the Allegheny County medical examiner are investigating. Data processing company creates jobs CORAOPOLIS - Automatic Data Processing Inc. has opened its new facility in western Pennsylvania and announced plans to hire 400 people. The payroll company cut the ribbon Tuesday on its Coraopolis location, which is its second location in Allegheny County. The Roseland, N.J., based company also has a facility in eastern Pennsylvania in Allentown. The company now has 120 employess, and plans to hire 100 more in the next year and another 180 in the next two years. Most of those jobs will be telephone sales positions. Assembly member calls for shift in plans HARRISBURG -A state lawmaker from western Pennsylvania says legislators should set an example by lim iting their own pensions. Westmoreland County Republican Tim Krieger has intro duced a bill that would shift benefit plans for new and cur rent members of the General Assembly from set plans to defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s. Krieger says failure to pass it before the session ends in November will be evidence that lawmakers put their own interest before the public interest. Brett Marcy, a spokesman for Hopse Democrats, says Krieger is one of six members who voted in June against a measure aimed at bringing long-term financial stability to the public pension systems. Drilling company criticized over well HARRISBURG A consultant says a natural gas drilling company failed to use a proper pressure-control backup system before a well blowout in Pennsylvania last month. Consultant John Vittitow's report released Illesday also criticizes the drilling crew's lack of training and proper equipment testing. Vittitow says he knows of no company that would cut the same corners. Houston-based EOG Resources and its contractor, C.C. Forbes, are agreeing to pay maximum fines of more than $400,000 combined and to take a set of corrective actions. EOG says it regrets the blowout and will follow new oper ational procedures outlined by state regulators. Explosive gas and toxic wastewater blasted out of control for 16 hours at EOG's Marcellus Shale in rural Clearfield County in early June. No one was hurt. AOFollow us on Twitter for up-to-the-moment news www.twitter.com/dallycolleglan Collegian Collegian Inc. James Building, 123 S. Burrowes St., University Park, PA 16801-3882 The Daily Collegian Online, which can be found at www.psocollegan.com, is updat ed daily with the information published in the print edition. It also contains expand ed coverage, longer versions of some stories and letters, Web-only features and pre vious stories from our archives. Our site features full News and Business division list ings and e-mail addresses. News Dtvishm News, Opinions, Arts and Entertainment, Sports, Photo, Graphics, The Daily Collegian Online and The Weekly Collegian Phone: (814) 865-1828 Fax: (814) 863-1126 ■ noon to midnight Sunday; 10 a.m. to midnight Monday to Thursday Business Division Advertising, circulation, accounting and classifieds Phone: (814) 865-2531 Fax: (814) 865-3848 ■ 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Opinion/Web Editor Copy Desk Chief Assistant Copy Desk Chief News Editor News Chief Arts Chief Sports Co-Editor Sports Co-Editor Visual Editor Multimedia Editor Photo Editor Business Manager Advertising Manager Customer Service Manager Layout Manager Creative Manager Address 02009 Collegian Inc. On the World Wide Web Board of Editors .............Andrew Robinson Heather Schmelzien .......Jena Ekdahl Steph Wits Board of Managers Extended forecast at Weather. Today: Tonight * Tomorrow: • Hlgh 87 Low 66 HI 90 40 campusweathersentat.com Courtesy of Campus Weather Service Officials deny race issues LE 4 VIOYNE Local officials in a central Pennsylvania suburb said Tuesday that new municipal pool policies were imposed to deal with overcrowding and were not designed to discourage minority patrons. The Lemoyne borough manager and council president held a news conference to defend charging high er entrance fees and lowering how many people can use the pool at any given time. They said racial profiling at the newly rebuilt pool would not be tolerated. The pool, located directly across the Susquehanna River from down town Harrisburg, was the subject of complaints from local residents at public meetings twice in the past week. The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported that some people attrib uted rude behavior to minorities and people from outside Lemoyne, and that one woman said lifeguards were afraid to discipline minority customers. "We've had various reports of some younger folks, mainly young males, acting inappropriately, roughhousing, using foul language and things that would detract from a real family environment," said Webster's From Page 1 and others that could be available at a later time, due to current occupa tion. "Things are in the air," Alessandrine said. "Things are cir cling the airport and nothing's on the ground." As the DSCID works to keep the bookstore in the downtown area, Webster's patrons are raising sup port for the bookstore within the community. Joel Solkoff, a patron and support er of the café and bookstore, spoke about Webster's and the impact the store has on the community at the State College Borough Council meeting Monday night. Solkoff requested a resolution rec ognizing the importance of Webster's to the area and asked the council to enter into communica tions with the building landlord and tenant Law From Page 1 "Well, I think students are already brought the requirement to the they are excited that students will [buying books online], so I don't attention of the Penn State have more ways to work with lower think it will affect anything," Lindo Administrative Council for ing the cost of higher education. said. Undergraduate Education and ISBN numbers should have been urged the university to quickly adopt made publicly available by the uni- the regulations, Ragland said. Gift installing a slide from the third floor science) says he's excited to see of the Willard Building to the outside what the final gift will be. mall to save time and lighten sprits. Other graduating seniors said From Page 1. A creative idea, Ford said, but not they are looking forward to the said but sometimes the proposals appropriate for a class gift. process as well. Senior Ema are too creative to be feasible. Some students said they were Gaubaite suggested expanding a "One that's really popular that will excited to work on the class gift. current Penn State landmark that get submitted by five or six people University Park Undergraduate everyone can recognize. every year that at least from our Association (UPUA) President "We should have another fish scope of the project isn't going to Christian Ragland said the senior tank," Gaubaite (senior-economics) happen is a live Nittany Lion," class gift was something that never said. Ford said. really hit him as an underclassman. Freshmen From Page 1 and the loss of Senior Week were a few of the issues the students asked Ragland. "My job as an elected official is to express those concerns," Ragland said. "My motto is 'No days off."' Ragland also explained some of the things UPUA accomplished last semester, including the White Loop extension and the Last Stop concert on the HUB lawn. Working with all of the other student presidents from each Penn State student group was another benefit Ragland described about his position in charge of UPUA. psucollegian.com "You have the opportunity to meet with all these different leaders on campus," Ragland said. "You can affect small change and let it grow into bigger changes." Derek Aschman (freshman-divi sion of undergraduate studies) attended Tuesday's meeting without any political background in high Elizabeth Murphy .—....Alex Weisler ...Jared Shanker .....Katie Sullivan ....Edgar Ramirez Kevin Chilli Laura Nichols Chris Zook Meyers From Page 1 Because few students are in town during summer, Punt said the BJC was going to wait to release Meyers' performance date. But since Meyers will host The ESPYs at 9 tonight, the BJC decided to release the information. Landis ...Kelsey Thompson Alissa Nemzer Julia Brondani Brittany Thrush Danielle Meyers "It's a pretty big deal for him to be hosting that show," Punt said. Though Punt has never seen Meyers perform live, Punt said he LOCAL By Mark Scolforo ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER Another year, a student proposed But now Ragland (senior-political To e-mail reporter: mers2oo@psu.edu "If you come to the pool on an any average day, and look at the people here, you will see an absolute picture of diversity." Robert Ihlein, the borough manager. He said local police were increas ing their visits to the pool and life guards have been instructed on how to react to misbehavior. Borough council president John Judson, a retired surgeon, said the pool has welcomed people of all races this season. "If you come to this pool on any average day, and look at the people here, you will see an absolute pic ture of diversity" Judson said. Any borough worker who engages in racial profiling will be fired, he said. Wein said the season began with a fee structure lower than last year's and lower than nearby pools. He said the lower fees helped draw unexpectedly large crowds, particu larly on weekends. Slightly higher fees during peri ods of peak usage took effect Illesday, and the pool lowered its capacity limit from 293 people to 260 to address concerns and improve safety. "It's an incredible show of support ... " Elaine Meder-Wilgus Owner of Webster's While council members were unwilling to interfere with private matters concerning the two parties, the council would allow him to write up a draft stating Webster's signifi cance to the community Solkoff said. Solkoff said he will work with bor ough council member Peter Morris a frequent patron of the book store to draft the proposed reso lution. "It would not ask for anything more substantial than a statement on the part of the council that Webster's Bookstore Café has served for over a decade as a central part of this community," Solkoff said. 'And that it hopes that [Webster's] can continue to serve the residents of downtown State College." versity in March, but were only The current UPUA administra released last week, Lennartz said. tion worked to complete the initia- Former Academic Affairs five. Committee chairman Sam Lowener Ragland and Lennartz both said school and wanted to learn more about UPUA. "I don't have much of an idea of what student government does," Aschman said. "But I'm interested in getting involved." Alt (sophomore-communication arts and sciences) explained all of the different opportunities freshmen have to get involved in student gov ernment, including summer posi tions as freshmen representatives. Even if freshmen students do not win a representative position, there are other ways to get involved in stu dent government early on such as the internship program with UPUA offleinlq, Alt said. "You can learn about UPUA and work under an executive board, assembly, or committee member," Alt said. "It's beneficial to learn about UPUA and then run for a position in the spring." In addition to his role as student body president, Ragland is also a Learning Edge Academic Program thinks the comedian will be "hilari ous." "I know he is extremely intelligent and funny," Punt said. "And we won't hold it against him that he's a Northwestern grad... he's in the Big 10 brotherhood." Tickets for the general public go on sale at 10 a.m. on July 30 for $27.50. They can be purchased at the Eisenhower Auditorium, Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, BJC, Penn State Altoona Campus and online at ticketmaster.com or bjc.psu.edu. Attendees may also THE DAILY COLLEGIAN John Judson Lemonyne Borough Council President Stanley Lawson of the Greater Harrisburg NAACP said he was concerned the borough was pricing blacks and Latinos out of using the pool. "It puzzles me that they're going to raise the price just to keep the criminal element out it just does n't make sense to me," Lawson said. "Who is the criminal element? Hispanics and blacks?" The 55-year-old pool was rebuilt last summer at the expense of $750,000, including state grant money. Last year, the Valley Club in pre dominantly white Huntingdon Valley, a Philadelphia suburb, was sued by the Justice Department and investigated by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission after canceling a contract and asking a camp group of mostly black children not to return to its pool. The club filed for bankruptcy amid the uproar and was sold at auction in May of this year to a Jewish synagogue. "Solidarity for Webster's Bookstore Café," a Facebook group created to organize supporters for Webster's, will hold a meeting at the café tonight at 6. The group will talk about possible ideas for fundraising and gathering letters of support to give to Meder- Wilgus. Daniel Hickey, the group's cre ator, said the group is meant to rally support from Penn State students and professors who have left State College for the summer but still care about the bookstore. Meder-Wilgus said the "Save Webster's Bookstore Cafe" petition has received more than 3,000 signa tures from patrons who wish to see the store remain open. "It's an incredible show of support in a little less than a week," Meder- Wilgus said. Meder-Wilgus said the fundraiser will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday at the bookstore. To e-mail reporter: prosoo4@psu.edu To e-mail reporter bwmsl47@psu.edu, mers2oo@psu.edu (LEAP) mentor. Itvo of Ragland's students were in attendance at 'ibesday's meeting to learn how to potentially follow in the footsteps of their mentor. Having Ragland as a mentor is a positive experience because Tyler Wentz (freshman-political science) and Curtis Houck (freshman-politi cal science) get to see their student body president in both a leadership role and as an average student, the two said. The meeting was a success and introduced student government to the freshmen in a relaxed atmos phere, Houck said. "After this meeting, I definitely see a couple places where I can fit in," Houck said. At the end, Ragland stressed the need for the students to get involved in student government from the start "All of us want to be visible so that when we leave here, it's in good hands," Ragland said. To e-mail reporter zjgsol2@psu.edu call (814) 865-5555 for tickets To e-mail reporter krlslo6@puLedu If you go What Seth Meyers perform ance Where: Bryce Jordan Center When: 8 p.m. September 17 Details: Tickets are $27.50 or $9.99 with student ID
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers