6 I Friday, Sept. 24, 2010
Zoning talks continue
By Anita Modi
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Henry Sahakian has big plans
for a little plot on East Beaver
Avenue, which was once home to
more than 50 fraternity brothers.
Currently, 254 E. Beaver Ave. is
designated as an R 2 zone by the
Borough of State College, mean
ing that in addition to fraternity
housing, the property may host
single family dwellings, elderly
housing, churches, daycares,
community centers, offices, nurs
ing homes or private schools.
But Sahakian, the landowner
and proposed developer of the
plot, has something different in
mind.
State College Zoning Officer
Herman Slaybaugh said
Sahakian planned to tear down
the existing fraternity house to
erect an eight-story building in its
place. The first two floors would
be reserved for parking and com
mercial use, while the six floors
above would host 42 units of new
student housing.
The landowner submitted a
rezoning request to the borough
council, who passed it along to the
planning commission in July for
its review and recommendation.
Author reads to packed house
By Hannah Rishel
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Susan Orlean discovered a love
for skeet shooting, waded waist
deep in a swamp looking for
orchids and delved into the mind
of a 10-year-old boy through her
work as a nonfiction writer.
Orlean concluded her Steven
Fisher Writer-in-Residence pro
gram at Penn State this week
with a reading of her work
Thursday evening to a packed
Foster Auditorium.
Orlean currently writes for
“The New Yorker." Her novel,
“The Orchid Thief,” was modified
into Spike Jonze’s movie
“Adaptation.”
Orlean spent the past week
mentoring graduate and under
graduate classes in the creative
writing program as part of the
Writer-in-Residence program.
She also gave some advice to
journalists and writers during her
reading.
Orlean told the audience that
the amazing thing about being
passionate is that it makes you do
things that you didn’t think you
could, such as wading waist-deep
in a swamp or firing a double bar
rel shotgun for the first time.
Jonathan Morrow enjoyed
Orlean’s excerpt from her current
project, a biography of Rin Tin
Tin, the name given to several
German shepherds featured on
film, radio and television. She
spoke about her experience in
search of the birthplace and
grave of the first dog named Rin
Tin Tin.
“I liked hearing something
from her that I haven’t heard
before,” Morrow said.
Morrow (junior-political sci
ence and economics) became a
fan of Orlean’s when he was
‘Project’ fights for sheriff’s powers
By Nick Manella
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Thursday night members of the
9-12 Project of Central Pa. contin
ued work on the “Sheriff Project,”
a cause taken up to fight against
the reduction of sheriffs’ powers
in law enforcement.
Currently, sheriffs do not
answer to state and local legisla
tors, the only state law enforce
ment agency in Pennsylvania to
hold such a distinction.
Centre County Sheriff Denny
Nau spoke at the meeting about
the importance of maintaining
sheriff positions.
“Local and state law enforce
ment agencies want to take away
sheriffs’ ability to enforce com
mon law rather than have to
answer to legislators,” Nau said.
To show the bias against sher
iffs by other law enforcement
agencies, Nau recited one partic
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Should the commission agree to
the rezoning, the borough council
will hold a formal hearing to col
lect public opinions before official
ly voting on the item, Slaybaugh
said.
Over the past couple months,
the commission has come to the
consensus to issue a rezoning,
but cannot decide what zoning
category would be most appropri
ate for the space. This new zoning
category would determine the
density of people allowed in the
building and the overall height.
The commission held a meet
ing Thursday night to further dis
cuss the proposed design, but did
not vote on any of the parameters.
However, one thing is for sure
some of the commission mem
bers and local residents alike are
hesitant to allow more student
housing on East Beaver Avenue.
“We’re just getting too student
dense at that end of town,”
Cynthia Carpenter, a commission
member" said. “There's not
enough of a mix.”
Michael Roeckel, vice-chair
man of the planning commission,
said the high concentration of stu
dent housing at the east end of
town not only threatens the bal
ance of students to locals, but also
Peter Tesoriero/Collegian
Susan Orlean reads excerpts from her books Thursday night.
assigned to read “The Orchid
Thief" in one of his classes. He
has since read more of her work
on his own.
Cyndy Bober, who attended the
event for her English class, said
that her favorite story Orlean
read was “The American Male at
Age 10.” In the article, she wrote
about her experience following
around a normal 10-year-old boy,
who called the girls in his class
“gross" and made spider webs
with his father’s fishing line in his
backyard to capture his dog.
“It’s about a typical childhood,"
Bober (freshman-bioengineering)
said. “It reminded me of stuff with
my brother.”
Brittany Truscott decided to
come to the event at the sugges
tion of her English teacher
because she's considering a
minor in the subject.
She said her favorite excerpt
ular narrative in which police offi
cers sided with a man charged
with dealing drugs against sher
iffs, pointing out procedural mis
takes the sheriffs involved in the
case made.
In the near future, the 9-12
Project has scheduled to have
local candidates in to talk to mem
bers, in addition to more sheriffs
from across Pennsylvania. Both
meetings are free and open to the
public.
President Peter Trippett also
announced the group would be
attempting to increase their pub
licity as the Nov. 2 elections draw
near.
Trippett ran down ways for
members to support their choice
of candidates, touching on every
thing from calling in to radio
shows to working ballot booths.
Scott Stout, a candidate for
state representative in the 76th
district, which includes part of
Understanding
Peace of mind
Improved grades
This is the power of quality notes.
LOCAL
threatens the safety of the stu
dents.
“There are too many students
in too small of an area, which
gives us problems with riots and
rowdy behavior during football
game weekends,” he said.
Sahakian presented the com
mission with a student incentive
plan, which consisted of perform
ance standards that would ensure
the safety of its residents. The
ideas included cameras for secu
rity, centralized entranceways
and a resident manager.
Balconies and architectural
designs that could facilitate
climbing would be prohibited to
prevent students from getting
hurt if intoxicated.
While the plan did not convince
the commission to approve stu
dent housing outright, it did pres
ent possibilities for making exist
ing student housing safer.
"These measures would pre
vent behavioral problems, so the
commission may want to make
everyone do these things, as
well,” Slaybaugh said. “The com
mission might put out an ordi
nance and apply these standards
across the board.”
To e-mail reporter: arms373@psu.edu
“It makes me want
to read the book
and see the movie
now.”
Brittany Truscott
premedicine
freshman
Orlean read was from “The
Orchid Thief.”
“It makes me want to read the
book and see the movie now,”
Truscott (freshman-premedicine)
said.
Orlean took questions from the
audience after her reading, telling
the audience that she loves
•Adaptation” and that working for
“The New Yorker” is closer to a
graduate library than a news
room, among other things.
To e-mail reporter: hmrso27@psu.edu
Centre County, also spoke to the
crowd. Stout, who is running as a
member of the Constitutional
Party, described himself as some
one “people who don’t like politi
cians should vote for, because I’m
not one of them.”
The 9-12 Project was launched
by TV personality Glenn Beck to
“bring us all back to the place we
were on Sept. 12,2001... we were
not obsessed with red states, blue
states or political parties.
We were united as Americans,
standing together to protect the
values and principles of the great
est nation ever created,” Beck
said.
The “9-12” stands for both the
day after Sept. 11,2001, and the 9
principles and 12 values the
group believes they share with
the original founding fathers of
the United States.
To email reporter: nwmso7o@psu.edu
Andrew Dunheimer/Collegian
Candidate Mike Pipe, 0-Pa., sits in his Centre County office. Pipe is in
support of restricting corporate influence on political elections.
Candidate backs
constitutional bill
Michael Pipe supports a
proposed bill that would
restrict corporate influ
ence on elections.
By Nick Manella
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Congressional candidate and
Penn State alumnus Michael
Pipe, D-Pa., recently announced
his support of a constitutional
amendment that would restrict
corporate influence on political
elections.
Pipe is running in
Pennsylvania’s fifth congression
al district, which includes Centre
County and most of central
Pennsylvania, against incumbent
Glenn Thompson, R-Pa.
In January, the Supreme Court
ruled that corporations can
spend an unlimited amount of
money to fund political cam
paigns money that could
potentially obliterate the less
extravagant campaign of the
opposing candidate.
the decision also incited out
rage in political organizations
like Public Citizen, a prominent
consumer advocacy group.
Different religions
gather for Peace Day
By Brendan McNally
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Students from across the reli
gious spectrum Muslims,
Christians, Mormons, atheists
and others gathered in the
Pasquerilla Spiritual Center’s
Memorial Room Thursday night
to celebrate the International
Day of Peace.
The Penn State Center for
Ethics and Religious Affairs
(CERA) hosted the event in
observance of International Day
of Peace a holiday designated
by the United Nations. The holi
day is held on Sept. 21 each year.
About 11 students and faculty
sat in a circle and shared their
religions’ views on the impor
tance of peace at the event.
Some told stories to illustrate
their points while others read
passages from holy books or sang
songs of peace.
Beth Bradley, the assistant
director of CERA, said bringing
together different religions to
share viewpoints usually shows
the similarities of those religions
rather than their differences.
Bradley said that religion and
spirituality is important to
understand yourself some
thing she said is critical for world
peace.
“If more people in positions of
power took the time to get to
know themselves, decisions may
be made a lot differently,” she
said
Vera Zorkina (sophomore-divi
sion of undergraduate studies), a
member of the Penn State
Atheist-Agnostic Association,
said she thinks its important for
her to learn about and under
stand other religions.
She said that she’s sad she
The Daily Collegian
“Corporations already rule the
roost in Washington,” said Robert
Weissman, president of Public
Citizen.
“We applaud candidates who
stand up and say this must be
stopped.”
A statement released by Public
Citizen used Exxon Mobil as an
example of the sway big corpora
tions can have on elections.
According to the statement, if
Exxon Mobil used 10 percent of
its 2009 profits to influence politi
cal elections, it would add up to
more than the money spent by
the Obama campaign, McCain
campaign, every House of
Representative and Senate cam
paign and every state legislator
campaign combined.
Some Penn State students are
also opposed to corporate influ
ence in Washington.
“The government is meant to
regulate people and corporations
alike,” Tyler Laubach (sopho
more-chemical engineering)
said. “It’s unfair to give one a big
ger voice than the other.”
Pipe is one of 62 congressional
candidates who pledged to sup
port the amendment.
To email reporter: nwmso7o@psu.edu
“I can’t understand
how someone could
hate or hurt in the
name of religion.”
Vera Zorkina
sophomore - division of under
graduate studies
won’t ever understand the “love
of a god” or how people’s emo
tions about religion could lead
people to violence.
“I can’t understand how some
one could hate or hurt in the
name of religion,” she said.
Everyone at the event agreed
that learning about other reli
gions is the first step toward
bringing peace and consensus.
Dena Gazza, CERA wedding
planner and financial assistant,
said being open to other religions
makes for a more fulfilling spiri
tual experience.
Gazza said she used to be a
“hardcore Catholic” but has
opened up to experiencing more
viewpoints.
“It’s important to keep an open
mind,” she said. “I feel more at
peace now than I did when I was
like that.”
Sidra Maryam, secretary of the
Muslim Student Organization,
said the Islamic tradition of say
ing “salam,” or “peace to you,”
exemplifies the Muslim view of
peace.
In Islam, if someone greets
another with “salam” the other
must answer back with the same,
which creates an environment of
goodwill and peace, Maryam
(junior-industrial engineering)
said.
To e-mail reporter: bwmsl47@psu.edu