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psucollegian.com
Published independently by students at Penn State @dallycollegian
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Vol: iii No. 15 Thursday, July . 2, 2010 30 coats aft campus
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Project mistaken as bomb
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0. .4. - • -= \ By Brendan McNally accidentally left on Old Main's came to the scene to observe or After the suspicious package
. , t-, patio when a group of high school take pictures of police activity was taken away police reopened
%i - - , a - COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
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-- ;7" students put down their belong- The unopened cardboard box the area for pedestrian traffic.
After finding a suspicious pack- ings to take a picture in front of on the southeastern side of Old The box contained a conductiv
.
age at about 1 p.m. Wednesday Old Main. Main sat on the patio's ledge until ity meter made by high school
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N , , near Old Main, police cordoned off The building was not evacuat- about 2 p.m. when two officers students in a Penn State summer
`'.- the area and called in the Centre ed, Penn State university spokes- approached the box, looked camp, Powers said.
Two men are wanted for questioning.
Police
follow
leads
By Brendan McNally
CO! I FGIAN STAFF WRITER
Police released four images
and a video from video
surveillance footage yesterday
of two men police are calling
"persons of interest - in connec
tion to their investigation of
Sunday's arson that destroyed a
State College Police Department
cruiser
Police did not say the men
were suspects in the case but
said they would like to speak
with them because they were
nearby around the time of the
fire.
According to police, the arson
occurred Sunday morning at
about 3:23 a.m. when an
unmarked police cruiser parked
to the rear of the State College
Borough Municipal Building was
intentionally set on fire and
destroyed.
An "accelerant .. caused the
tire to spread more quickly than
usual, police said.
The fire began at the front of
the vehicle and spread toward
the back of it before the Alpha
Fire Company extinguished the
flames, police said.
The front at the vehicle was
completely charred and the
tires were burned away. police
said.
Police said the footage was
taken from a parking garage
within close proximity to the
arson hut did not disclose which
Police are describing the two
men in the footage as white
males in their late teens.
One of the men seen on cam
era has dark hair and was on
video wearing a gray T-shirt. tan
shorts and dark sneakers. police
said.
The other man has lighter
hair and was on the video wear
ing a gray T-shirt. camouflage
shorts and white sneakers,
police said.
On Tuesday police connected
Sunday's arson with another act
of arson against a police vehicle
that occurred June 21. police
said.
In the June 21 incident, police
found a flaming box on the hood
of a marked police vehicle that
was also parked behind the
municipal building, police said.
An officer noticed that fire
quickly and was able to extin
guish it before any major dam
aged to the vehicle occurred,
police said.
Upon further examination of
the extinguished box, police said
the box was actually a home
made bomb made from house
hold items.
Police did not say what new
evidence if any led them to
connect the two arsons.
To e-mail reporter:
bwmsl47@psu.edu
Students dive deep
Courtesy of Fitch Best
Erika Roach swims during an open
water training dive Monday.
County Bomb Squad only to woman Lisa Powers said. hut uni
find that the package contained a versity officials sent out a
high school student's science PSUTXT alert at about 1:15 p.m.
project. that read, "Suspicious package
The project an electrical found on Old Main patio. Police on
meter made in an Eberly College scene. Avoid area."
of Science summer' camp was Students, faculty and visitors
Todd Foster, 42, re-canes a chair Wednesday morning at Centre Peace, 3013 Benner Pike
Inmates
By Brendan McNally .
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Centre Peace offers Centre
County inmates three things: the
chance to learn new skills. to
make a contribution to the com
munity and maybe most impor
tantly. to gain a new appreciation
for themselves.
Centre Peace, 3013 Benner
Pike. takes contributions of old
furniture and household items
from the community and teaches
inmates the carpentry skills
Café waits for new location
Steph Witt/Collegian
Meder-Wilgus speaks at the store.
By Kathleen Loughran
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
It's a world only few have the
chance to discover a world hid
den by the ocean's depths.
But Sarah Richer is one of the
few people who have delved deep
into the water.
As president of the Nittany
Divers Penn State's scuba div
ing club Richer (junior-biologi
cal engineering) has been on mul
tiple dives. She said she has been
reconstruct lives
needed to repair and refurbish
the items, Centre Peace
Executive Director Thom
Brewster said. Then, he said, the
organization sells the items back
to customers at a reasonable
cost.
Centre County Correctional
Facility inmates take courses
designed around nonviolent con
flict resolution while getting to
work in the shop doing "mean
ingful work," he said.
The courses and sense of
responsibility make a world of
By Paul OsolniA
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Webster's Bookstore Cafe
owner said the store's new loca
tion could be determined any day
now, as the bookstore is in negoti
ations with several possible loca
tions.
Elaine Meder-Wilgus, Web
ster's owner, said she would like
to see the new lueat;on become
available within the next nine
days as the bookstore's cur-
into scuba exploration
"I think it has better visibility
certified since 2003 because her and nice things to see, and it also
entire family is certified, so they has stuff for non-divers to do, so if
enjoy going on dives while on you want to take your non-certi
vacation, she said. fled friends it's fun."
"I think it's really cool to see Rich Best from Sunken
things that most people in the Treasure Scuba Center in nearby
world only get to see through Jersey Shore, Pa., said scuba
glass," she said. See SCUBA, Page 2.
inside, and then carried it away.
Two officers were visible from
the Old Main lawn guarding
either side of the patio, while
another officer stood at the top of
the stairs in front of the doors to
the building.
difference in many inmates' atti
tudes, Centre Peace Treasurer
Peter Shaw said.
"If ( inmates i want to have a
good feeling about others. they
first have to have a good feeling
about themselves, - Shaw said.
But Brewer said Centre
Peace's mission of changing tra
ditional incarceration just put
ting inmates behind bars with lit
tle contact with the outside world
wouldn't be possible without
the Penn State community.
See INMATES, Page 2
rent location at 128 S. Allen St. is
losing its lease after falling
behind on rent.
"I'm working on it every
minute of every day" Meder-
Wilgus said. "I feel very positive
about this right now, but I don't
want to jinx it."
Downtown State College
Improvement District (DSCID)
Director Jody Alessandrine said
he has discussed the possibility of
several locations with Meder-
See WEBSTER'S. Page 2.
Richer said her favorite place
to visit with the Nittany Divers is
Dutch Springs in Bethlehem, Pa.
"I think it's worth the drive,"
she said.
The meter was a small, black
plastic box with an electronic
numerical display and wires pro
truding from it.
Powers said the university fol
lows a protocol for dealing with
See BOMB. Page 2.
OPP
talks
energy
Eco-Action
discusses coal
By Micah 1/Vintner
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
Penn State student leaders
met with an Office of Physical
Plant (OPP) official Wednesday
morning to discuss the environ
mental impacts of the universi
ty's \Vest Campus Steam Plant.
which uses coal to heat the
entire campus.
Penn State environmental
activist groups Eco-Action and
Beyond Coal argued against the
use of coal as a means of supply
ing enemy to the Penn State
campus.
Wednesday's meeting with
Steve Maruszewski, deputy
associate vice president for OPP
was the result of earlier delays in
discussion.
- There was supposed to be a
meeting a month ago with the
[Penn State! Board of Trustees
about retrofitting the steam
plant." Eco-Action Vice
President Stefan Nagy said.
He said the board never men
tioned the steam plant.
Nagy (junior-economics, ener
gy business and finance) said the
goal of the meeting with OPP
was to discuss why the steam
plant had not been brought up
before.
The delay in discussion was
caused due to new regulations
on coal plants and power plants
that require them to meet higher
environmentally friendly stan
dards, Nagy said. Now, OPP is
being forced to wait to "take
action" while these regulations
are being finalized and tested.
Nagy said.
OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin
said a changeover from coal to
new energy is something that
will require a lot of money and
time.
"We want to find an alternative
to coal and to do it in stages over
a few years so we don't buy into
the wrong solution," Ruskin said.
About six percent of the uni
versity's electricity is generated
at the West Campus Steam
Plant, while almost 100 percent
of the heat is generated there,
Ruskin said.
"Penn State has been using
coal to heat this campus for
about 70 years now," he said.
- We meet all government stan
dards. We meet all regulations."
Ruskin said OPP has been
working with Eco-Action to try to
find a good solution to the steam
plant issue.
But that solution can't come
soon enough for Nagy.
See OPP, Page 2.
Students protest the USE of coal
at Penn State last year.