Conan ■ W from his 10-month hiatus ■ V A k to late ■ B H | T Arts in Review | page 14 Vol- 111 No. 87 : Tw*d»y. W«nr, 2<lo 30 cemts off eawyat Local blind respond By Mike Hricik COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Local advocates for the blind say they commend the National Federation of the Blind’s com plaint against Penn State, which alleges civil rights violations against the visually impaired. Happy Valley NFB Treasurer Michelle Michaels said the move by her organization’s Baltimore based national headquarters is not meant to antagonize the uni versity. “It’s not so much that we want Former student killed on duty By Zach Geiger COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER On the drive home from a hunting trip in North Carolina. Walter “Deef James, Jr. received a call from his former Penn State adviser about Grove his old room- “You better pull over," the adviser said. That phone call was how James first heard Pennsylvania Wildlife Conservation Officer David Grove, 31, of Fairfield, Pa., had been killed in the line of duty at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. “He had a love for wildlife and conservation/’ James said. “That’s why he was doing it he loved it." The last time a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer was fatally shot in the line of duty was Nov. 7, 1915, when Game Protector Joseph McHugh was killed in Carbon County, accord ing to a press release from the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Grove, a 2004 Penn State grad uate with a bachelor's degree in wildlife and fisheries science, was on patrol in Adams County when he was fatally shot while investigating reports of night time shooting and poaching activity off of Shriver Road in Freedom Township. Following Grove’s death. Christopher Lynn Johnson, 27. of Ifoirfield, Pa., was arrested in connection with the shooting. Johnson was charged with criminal homicide, second degree felony possession of a prohibited firearm, third-degree felony charges of flight to avoid apprehension and carrying a firearm without a license, according to court documents. Johnson is currently incarcer ated in the Adams County Adult Correctional Facility and no bail has been set. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18., according to court documents. On Monday the Pennsylvania state flag on the Old Main lawn was at half-mast to honor Grove, Penn State spokeswoman Jill Shockey said. “We are shocked and sad dened by the killing of WCO Grove,” Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe said in a press release. “He was a bright, young officer who was See STUDENT, Page 2. Police gather at the scene where David Grove was shot to death in Freedom Township, Pa. to cause a problem. It's more just equal access," Michaels, Class of 2002, said. “The technology’s out there and we want to put it to use.” The complaint accuses Penn State of unlawful discrimination toward blind students through restricting access to PNC Bank ATMs, the ANGEL course man agement system and classroom equipment. Michaels said changes to ANGEL would be minor, pertain ing to “only a few lines of HTML ” coding, but NFB needed to act for Penn State officials to take notice KeUy Rootes-Murdy/Coliegian Michael Dußois, Class of 2004, escapes from a straitjacket on top of a 6-foot unicycle in front of a crowd in the HUB Monday afternoon. The surprise event was sponsered by the Student Programming Association. SPA solo circus surprises HUB By David Strader COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER No tents, no clowns just a one-man circus. The Student Programming Association hosted multi-talent ed circus artist Michael Dußois, Class of 2004, for “SPA’s Surprise HUB Event" on Monday after noon. Dußois's performance incor porated juggling, unicycling and other feats of dexterity. Dußois kept things dangerous. Penn State alumnus starts vinyl record label By David Strader COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Starting a record label and working with your favorite bands: It’s a music lover’s dream. Steve Kelly, Class of 2006, recently branched out from his position at Sony Music Entertainment to co-found an independent record label, Sinking Ship Records in August. The label is currently produc ing and distributing vinyl records for its first signed band, A Great Big Pile of Leaves. Kelly said the idea for Sinking Ship Records came to be when he of accessibility problems. The NFB is the largest and old est blind association in the United States. The organization filed the com plaint with the Philadelphia-based US. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Friday after Michaels said members of her local chapter appealed to the national branch. Happy Valley NFB Vice President and current student Alyssa Bates said during her time at the university, she and her See BLIND. Page 2. too, as he escaped from a strait jacket atop a five-foot unicycle and juggled machetes on a tightrope. Amy Mcßride (freshman- English) said Dußois’ show was enjoyably stressful. “It’s kind of scary to watch,” she said. "It was really cool though.” Tanner Sweeney (junior-film and video), a unicyclist himself, said he took particular interest in Dußois’ unicycling. “Unicycling to me is purely and two Sony Music Entertainment co-workers, Jonathan Mabb and Charlie Scott, discussed their woes with the music industry. “We saw a lot of the costs that go into production, and we won dered why you would pay a pro ducer that much when you proba bly won’t recoup that cost,” Kelly said. “It just gets ridiculous when you see people like Kesha. Where’s the art in that?” Mabb, 26, of Astoria, N.Y., said these shortcomings are the inspi ration behind Sinking Ship Records. “The industry is a sinking Penn State criticisms The National Federation of the Blind called for an investigation of Penn State Friday. Penn State s persistent failure to abide by the iaw has resulted in gratuitously denying its blind students and faculty equal access to information and thereby to an equal education opportunity. While students have indicated that the keys on the device were accessible, they are not able to independently read either the screen at the front of the room or the LCD display on the "clicker," which provides response confirmation and status messages. Source: NFB complaint Heather Schmelzlen/Collegian sport, but it does have an enter tainment aspect.” Sweeney said. "I’m definitely glad he's here and doing his thing.” On the safer side, Dußois jug gled seven rubber balls simulta neously a feat George Prutzman (junior-electrical engi neering) said was very impres sive. “I can do a little bit of juggling myself, but nothing like that,” he said. Dußois was rarely alone on See SPA, Page 2. ship,” Mabb said. “But if the ship is going down, we’d prefer to be at the helm." Scott, 27, also of Astoria, N.Y., said the trio wanted to bypass unnecessarily high production costs by working with bands that were able to record independent ly. With recording costs mini mized, Kelly said the goal is to provide a high-quality vinyl press ing. This was the case for A Great Big Pile of Leaves. “We wanted to make a nice pressing of this album because A, it’s our first project, and B, we See LABEL Page 2. West End sees push By Anita Modi COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER The prospect of increased stu dent housing was brought up repeatedly at the State College Borough Council meeting Monday night as council mem bers debated several agenda items. Council members first consid ered the West End Zoning Report, originally received by the State College Planning Commission in 2008. recom mended to the borough council in 2009 and discussed at a public hearing on Nov. 1. On Monday night, the council members agreed to send the West End Zoning Report back to the planning commission for a final review but not before making a few comments. Council member Silvi Lawrence commented on the parking layout proposed in the West End Zoning Ordinance, noting that the current setup would overwhelm West End backyards with parking. "I'm concerned that we ll end up with continuous parking across the backyards of all the properties in the West End and there won’t be an ounce of green space at all,” Lawrence said. “The whole idea of the West End was to make the area more peo ple-friendly, but it seems like we’re giving the whole place over to parking." Council member Peter Morris said another issue would pre vent him from voting on the ordi nance when it returns to council for an official decision in January. “It’s an accepted piece of wis dom that the West End will be almost 100 percent students, with a higher density than it has now,” Morris said. "I'm opposed to keeping it as a student ghetto. Our original idea was to have 50 percent student and 50 percent non-student residents.” “What’s needed now is not a new zoning law, but a public-pri vate partnership putting in development of student and non student housing and office space,” he said. Student housing was brought up again as the council turned to the next item on the meeting’s agenda: the Redevelopment Authority’s report and recom mendation for the Verizon build ing, 224 S. Allen St. State College Planning Director Carl Hess said the 10,500 square foot site is current ly zoned as commercial incen tive property and is rented on a temporary basis. It is located within a district that encourages mixed-use development including owner occupied housing and rental housing alike. He said the rede velopment authority plans to allow adult-oriented retail, eat ing and drinking uses on the ground floor of the building, with office and residential space occupying the six floors above. See WEST END, Page 2. Steve Kelly, Class of 2006, co founded a vinyl record label.
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