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.