The Daily Collegian
UPUA adds new liaisons to committee
By Kathleen Loughran
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
University Park Undergraduate
Association (UPUA) President
Christian Ragland established a
new method,
designed in an
effort to improve
communication
between student
organizations and
the student gov
ernment.
I, i 1
Ragland said
that with this ini
tiative, Michal
Berns will serve as the student life
and diversity director on UPUA’s
executive board, which has six
confirmed members and five to be
nominated in the fall.
Under Berns (senior-media
studies), 12 to 15 students will act
as liaisons for various student
organizations.
Ragland (senior-political sci-
Ragland
Story Corps to make stop in Bellefonte
By Sky Friedlander
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
StoiyCorps is coming to Central
Pennsylvania Bellefonte, to be
exact.
From Thursday to Sept. 4, a
Story Corps vehicle will be in
Bellefonte to record the stories of
pre-scheduled participants.
The nonprofit organization will
collect the stories of
Pennsylvanians to be preserved in
the American Folklife Center at
the Library of Congress and possi
bly for broadcast on the radio.
The first participants for the
local Story Corps will be family
members: Sue Paterno and her
granddaughter, Olivia, will kick off
the interviews, according to a
press release.
“Our mission is to provide
Americans of all backgrounds and
beliefs with the opportunity to
record, share and preserve the
stories of their lives," senior com
Penn State alumnus killed during York
By Brendan McNally
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Never missing a Penn State
football game or the tailgate with
his best Mends are only two of the
things that James Walmuth's
father remembers about his son’s
time at Penn State.
He would do everything he
could to get tickets for his Mends
from back home in York so they
could visit campus and enjoy the
game, his father said.
James Walmuth 111, Class of
2004, died on Wednesday after a
Lasers plead for
reduced sentences
By Patrick Walters
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PHILADELPHIA Defense attorneys for two men
convicted of first-degree murder in a police officer’s slay
ing pleaded with a jury Monday to spare their clients’
lives and sentence them to life in prison.
Levon Warner, 41, and Eric Floyd, 35, were convicted on
all counts last week in the May 3,2008, shooting death of
Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski after a bank robbery. The two
were in the getaway car when a third man, Howard Cain,
shot the pursuing Liczbinski. Cain died later that day in a
shootout with police.
The trial for Warner and Floyd lasted more than a
month. The penalty phase, which began Monday, is
expected to last at least a week.
Prosecutors on Monday argued that the men should be
executed, citing the fact that a police officer was killed,
that they endangered other people and that they have vio
lent criminal histories.
But the defense attorneys asked jurors to consider
that, even though both men have been convicted of first
degree murder, neither fired the shots that killed
Liczbinski and both have difficult life histories.
“You still don’t execute somebody who doesn’t pull the
trigger,” said Floyd’s attorney, Earl Kauffman. “You’ll
never hear anybody say Eric Floyd shot and killed any
body.”
As with the first part of the Mai, Floyd is watching the
penalty phase via closed-circuit TV in a courthouse holding
cell. He had been banished from the courtroom because he
punched one of his lawyers during juiy selection.
In their verdict last week, the jury found that Warner
and Floyd shared in the blame for the officer’s death,
which followed a daytime bank robbery inside a super
market in the city’s Port Richmond section.
Both men took part in the robbery and were in the get
away car when Cain got out and shot Liczbinski, who was
tailing them in his squad car.
9
Delivery Drivers
& all other staff positions
-■ 3
ence) said UPUA decided on this
method because it wants to
ensure that “student life and
diversity covers everything.”
“I have been examining the
executive board for the past two
years, and it just didn’t seem like it
was effective from my end, being a
former student life and diversity
chairman,” Ragland said. “[lt’s a]
nice formal way in having every
body in the same room and being
able to reach out to them fre
quently.”
Berns said she met with
Ragland to discuss and recruit the
current liaisons that they thought
would be best able to reach out to
student organizations. She said
they also wanted to make sure
that they had a liaison for each
aspect of student life and diversity.
“They’re able to reach out to a
lot more students than one person
can,” she said. “With this, we’re
able to make more students aware
of UPUA and how we can be there
munications coordinator Sacha
Evans said.
Story Corps has mobile booths
that travel around the entire coun
try.
The booths are there to record a
participant telling a story and the
set-up of the interviews is often
one person interviewing a loved
one, asking questions about one of
the participants’ lives.
Participants can schedule a
reservation with Story Corps,
Evans said.
The interview process takes
about an hour.
Many people come in pairs, but
if someone comes alone, a facilita
tor will guide the recording, she
said.
People can use the interviews to
learn about their loved ones,
Evans said.
Participants receive a CD of
their interview to keep and the
interview is also archived in the
Library of Congress. While partie-
gunshot wound proved fatal.
The York City Police
Department said Walmuth suf
fered a fatal gunshot wound to his
back at about 11 p.m. Wednesday
in York, Pa.
He was transported to York
Hospital where he was pro
nounced dead at 1:31 a.m.
Thursday, police said.
Witnesses of the shooting told
police that a group of men
approached Walmuth, 28, and told
him to hand over his cell phone,
police said.
One of the men who police
LOCAL & STATE
“[lt’s a] nice formal way in having everybody in
the same room and being able to reach out to
them frequently.”
for student groups. I will be meet
ing with the liaisons once a week
and passing along the information
they give me to the executive
board.”
Nick Mittereder, who will serve
as the arts affairs liaison, said he
became a liaison through
Ragland.
“My organization, Penn State
Thespians, was working with him
on how we could make student life
and diversity better,” Mittereder
(senior-broadcast journalism and
communication arts and science)
said. “And when he told me he was
running for president, I told him if
he needed help with the arts, I
Story Corps is set to make a stop in Bellefonte Thursday.
ipants can opt to not have their views on WPSU-FM, associate
story archived, about 99 percent WPSU producer for radio Emily
choose to, Evans said. Reddy said.
She said the archive has
accrued about 30,000 interviews
since 2003.
The radio station will run edited Friday “Morning Edition'
versions of some of the local inter- Evans said.
have identified as Jordan Wallick,
15 then shot Walmuth in the
back and ran away.
Wallick was arrested Friday
morning, police said.
More arrests are pending,
police said.
Walmuth was a York native and
graduated from Penn State
University Park with a double
major in history and English, his
father James Walmuth, Jr. said.
With the class load of a double
major, Walmuth spent the majority
of his free time at Penn State
studying, his father said.
would help. Then when he won, he
got me in touch with the student
life and diversity director.”
Though Mittereder said he is
not “entirely sure” what all his
goals are as a liaison, he does
want to ensure communication
between the student organiza
tions and UPUA.
“We want to open up communi
cation and make sure all students
and all organizations are heard,”
he said. “It’s my goal to do that for
the arts organizations. [We want
to] find out how student govern
ment can be an advocate for the
student organizations in the uni
versity.”
torv u
£
National Public Radio (NPR)
also airs a small portion of the
Story Corps interviews on the
“He spent a few minutes in a
Paterno Reading Room,"
Walmuth Jr., said.
On the night he was shot,
Walmuth was speaking with a
friend on his cell phone when
Wallick approached him, police
said.
He was sitting on a bench in an
area called the “Boat Basin" by
the comer of Clarke Avenue and
Grant Street, in York, police said.
Witnesses of the shooting were
able to positively identify Wallick
as the shooter, police said.
After graduating from Penn
But UPUA is not waiting until
fall to begin plans for student life
and diversity. Two conference
calls with a third scheduled for
later this week have already
been held, Ragland said.
Christian Ragland
UPUA president
About six of the Central
Pennsylvania interviews will end
up airing nationally, said Greg
Petersen, WPSU-FM station man
ager.
He said he hopes to get as many
local interviews to air on WPSU
FM as possible.
Petersen said public radio is a
great venue for StorvCorps
because "telling stories is what it's
all about."
"The shared experience is
sometimes closer than you think,"
Petersen said.
He thinks conversations
it
? J*
Courtesy of stanthonysf.org
between generations are very
"poignant," because it puts elders
and mentors in a different light, he
said.
Evans said people like to talk
about the biggest, most meaning
ful moments in their lives, like the
birth of a child, wedding or a trau
matic event.
" IWeJ are tiying to tell the story
of America," she said.
shooting
State, Walmuth was certified as a
paralegal and worked as a case
manager for the York County
District Attorney.
He began studying law at the
University of Pittsburgh School of
Law in August of 2009, W’almuth
Jr. said.
But he’ll always be a Penn
Stater, his father said.
"He really enjoyed his time at
Penn State." Walmuth’s father
said. "He was always proud to be a
Nittany Lion."
Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010 I
To e-mail reporter: krlslo6@psu.edu
Liaisons
1. Woman Affairs
2. Religious Affairs
3. Greek Life Affairs
4. Sports Liaison
5. Health Sen/ices Affairs
6. University and Alumni Affairs
7. Arts Affairs
8. International Student Affairs
9. LGBTQA Affairs
10. Multicultural Affairs
11. Community Service Affairs
To e-mail reporter: bwmsl47@psu.edu