I Friday, Nov. 12, 2010
Council of Governments talks Schlow budget
By Anita Modi
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
While the 2011 Centre Region
Council of Governments budget
awaits approval, the breakdown of
funding for the Schlow Centre
Region Library has been an issue
of contention, State College
Borough Council member Peter
Morris said.
The issue stems from whether
the State College Borough and
College Township should include
on-campus students in their resi
dent counties. The majority of on
campus students live within the
boundaries of State College, while
those living in East Halls techni
cally fall under the jurisdiction of
College Township, Council of
Governments Executive Director
Jim Steff said.
Computer Store
giveaways help
promote charity
By Paul McMullen
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Students began bombarding the Penn State Computer
Store at 10:30 a.m. Thursday with handfuls of canned
goods and toys they exchanged for a free set of head
phones.
The contributions were made during a combined
Marine Toys for Tots and food drive, which was held in
conjunction with the celebration of the Computer Store's
20 years of serving the Penn State community. Carly Day
(freshman-journalism) stood in the middle of the line with
two large cans of Campbell’s soup. She said she was excit
ed for the opportunity to help those in need while con
tributing to a need of her own her headphone collection.
“Since I am a headphone junkie, this was an awesome
opportunity to help out the community and increase my
headphone collection,” she said. “It's awesome that the
Computer Store helped a lot of people contribute some
thing small so that students could ultimately make a posi
tive difference in the community."
In all, the drive collected 70 toys that will go directly to
the local Marine Toys for Tots campaign, and five large
boxes of canned food that will benefit local food banks.
Computer Store manager J. J. Murphy said. Students and
faculty donated well past the previously set 1 p.m. dead
line. Headphone company iFrogz passed out all of the 50
sets of headphones to those who contributed toys, but
there were still not enough donors to take all of the 200
sets of ear buds that were available.
But Murphy said the contributions that were made will
be enough to help those in need.
“Any little handout that people are willing to contribute
means the world to those who are unable to provide for
themselves, regardless of the size of the contribution,” he
said. “Even if one person came, that means one less fam
ily has to go hungry.”
Organizers of the drive said they believe the level of par
ticipation proves the Penn State community is willing to
help those who are in need, especially during a rough time
of the year.
Building on the success of the event and providing stu
dents with opportunities to give back is something the
Computer Store would like to make a tradition, said Robin
Becker, the Computer Store’s general manager.
“The best part of this event was to see people waiting in
line simply to help make people's holiday season brighter,”
she said. “The fact that the store was able to have a part
feels great.”
Library spending for each
municipality is based on its resi
dents’ percentage of borrowed
items from the Schlow Library,
Steff said. Fbr example, if State
College residents take out 10 per
cent of the library’s borrowed
items, the borough is responsible
for paying 10 percent of the
library’s budget.
Currently, thousands of on-cam
pus students are permitted to
apply for library canis and check
out books, DVDs and other mate
rial at the Schlow Library without
what they borrow being counted
toward either the borough’s or
College Township’s overall per
centage.
Because the council could not
come to a consensus as to how on
campus students should be count
ed, two different formulas will be
To email reporter: phmso3o@psu.edu
used to calculate each municipali
ty’s contribution to the library’s
budget, Steff said. Ferguson
Township’s contribution will be
based on its suggested formula,
which includes on-campus stu
dents. whereas the other five
municipalities will pay their
shares based on a formula that
does not include on-campus stu
dents.
The library’s operating budget
increased from $2,097,520 in 2010
to $2,175,704 for 2011, due to both
increased maintenance costs and
decreased state aid to libraries
across Pennsylvania, Steff said.
At the local level, however. Steff
said the library receives ample
support.
"Were lucky' in that there's a lot
of financial support for the local
libraries in this region," he said.
Quidditch team to chase Snitch in NYC
Penn State students will
compete in the annual
Quidditch World Cup.
By Jessica Tully
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
Twenty-three Penn State students
will battle broom-to-broom this week
end in the fourth annual Quidditch
World Cup but only one team will
fly away in victoiy
In the Quidditch World Cup, sched
uled for Saturday and Sunday at De
Witt Clinton Park in New York, there
will be 757 athletes on 47 teams com
peting from across the United States
and Canada.
International Quidditch
Association Commissioner Alex
Benepe adapted "Muggle Quidditch"
from J.K Rowling's “Harry Potter"
book series at Middlebury College in
2005.
The sport has since launched into a
worldwide phenomenon with teams
formed in North America, South
America, Asia. Europe and Australia.
“The media is really jazzed about
the 2010 World Cup," Benepe said.
“The pre-registered list already
includes MTV CBS, CNN. Time
Magazine. AFR NHK, SBS and many
more."
Last year's webcast of the
Quidditch World Cup had more than
100,000 views. Benepe said.
In addition to the media coverage
of the event, "Fox & Friends" asked
the Penn State Quidditch team to par-
Council to vote on budget for new parks
By Anita Modi
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
For more than a month, the Centre
Region Council of Governments has
worked to draft a 2011 budget accept
able to six municipalities: the State
College Borough. College Township.
Ferguson Township. Halfmoon
Township. Harris Township and
Patton Township
The budget provides for communi
ty services, including refuse and
recycling collection, fire protection
and building code administration.
Most of the provisions slightly fluctu
ate from year to year based on
changes in state aid and mainte
nance costs. COG Executive Director
Jim Steff said.
The Regional Parks capital des
ignated to pay for the development of
three regional parks close to campus
has caused the most debate
among council members.
State College Borough Council
member James Rosenberger, a
member of the Council of
Government's parks capital commit
tee. said the regional parks program
includes State College Borough.
College Township, Ferguson
Township. Harris Township and
L OCAL
Ben Shipman (freshman-international politics) throws a ball past Tim
Gonzalez (freshman-physics) during Quidditch practice in October.
tieipate in a Quidditch demonstration
that will be filmed Sunday morning.
This is the first year Penn State's
Three Broomsticks Quidditch team is
competing in the World Cup.
'lt s going to be so fun to meet so
many people who love the same thing
that I do. This is the World Cup it's
going to be huge," said Kelly
Gambocurta (sophomore-advertis
ing*. a member of the team.
The Penn State Quidditch team
created its uniform last weekend in
preparation for the tournament: a
navy tank-top with the Three
Broomsticks logo and a white Velcro
cape that features the Penn State
Nittany Lion, captain Mary Beth
Henrv said.
The IQA will provide broomsticks
and other necessary equipment.
Henry (junior-theatre design and
Patton Township. The five municipal
ities have collectively set aside
$31(7.693 each year for the past four
years for the project, splitting that
amount based on each municipality's
population, income and assessed val
ues. he said.
The municipalities have debated
how much money the program
should set aside for the project this
vear.
Some municipalities want to
increase the capital designated for
the parks' development to $475,000,
w hile others don't favor adding to the
usual amount.
The council's finance committee
came to a compromise and selected
$425,000 as the Regional Parks capi
tal for the 2011 Council of
Governments budget.
The first phase of development is
planned to cost $7.5 million,
Rosenberger said, and includes the
costs of leveling current playing
fields, building roads and parking
lots, setting up restroom facilities and
creating baseball and soccer fields.
He said work on the three regional
parks will start next year, when the
council will begin to borrow money
and put out development contracts
for completing phase one tasks on
"Most regions in Pennsylvania library’s services especially its
don t see the level of support our free DVD and eßook rentals and
municipalities have here.” WiFi network.
Cathy Alloway, director of “There are a certain number of
Schlow Centre Region Library, students who like to study here for
said that over the past two years the coziness of the building,”
the library has lost at least Alloway said. “We serve them in a
$112,000 in state income and lost different way than the Pattee
two staff members as a result. Patemo library on campus this
While fundraising efforts and is not where you would find a jour
grants have replaced the majority nal about acrylic polymer bond
of lost state aid, the library is ask- ing."
ing the council for a 2.8 to 2.9 per- The 2011 Council of
cent budget increase to pay for Governments Budget will be
second-floor shelving upgrades voted on by representatives from
and parking improvements, each of the six Centre Region
among other projects this year. municipalities at its next general
Alloway said the library doesn’t forum meeting at 7:30 p.m. on
distinguish between off-campus Monday, Nov. 22.
Penn State students and perma- The meeting will be open to the
nent borough residents, but more public,
than 2.000 on-campus students
have library cards and use the
The Daily Collegian
To e-mail reporter: arms373@psu.edu
technology) said. Penn State is sched
uled to compete against the
University of Massachusetts-
Amherst. Virginia Commonwealth
University and a high school team.
The top 24 teams by point differential
will advance to a single-elimination
bracket on Sunday, Henrv said.
Additionally, the US. movie pre
miere of "Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallow s" is Monday in New
York. Some Penn State students will
stay in the city for the premiere in the
hopes of meeting some of the actors
in the movie.
“I really want to meet Alan
Rickman, who plays Severn's 1 Snape,”
said Leah Levine, (freshman-biologi
cal anthropology), a member of the
team. "Snape is such a complex char
acter and I love all of the different lay
ers to him."
each site.
The program has acquired 200
acres of land over the years to create
Oak Hall Park in State College.
Whitehall Road Park in Ferguson
Township and the Hess Softball Field
Complex in Harris Township. If
development starts next year as
planned, the parks should be ready
for recreational use by residents in a
few years. Steff said.
Hess Softball Field Complex is cur
rently being used, but will be renovat
ed to address safety concerns.
“This was a long-term plan to pro
vide excellent facilities for the Centre
Region's organized sports activities,"
Rosenberger said. "No one looks
back and regrets preserving and
developing parks for the community
just think about Central Park in
New York."
The 2011 Council of Governments
budget, including the $425,000 budget
for the development of the three
regional parks, will be voted on by
council members at the next General
Forum meeting at 7:30 p.m. on
Monday, Nov. 22.
The meeting will be open to the
public.
To e-mail reporter: arms373@psu.edu