I | TMEffiST SERIES FEATURING I ■ ■ f ■ I tHE OF THE PENN STATE JL 111 ■ J waicrs voileybail team |pase 8 Ceremony held for new tower Airport dedicates new facility By Zach Geiger COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Mother Nature may have grounded the outdoor portion of the ribbon cutting ceremony, but the cold could not delay the dedi cation of University Park Airport's new control tower on Tuesday. Instead of a ceremony on the runway tarmac, the group in attendance which included Penn State President Graham Spanier and Sen. Jake Gorman. R-Centre filled the General Sarah Finnegan/Collegian The Phi Kappa Theta house displays its holiday decorations during the Holiday Lights Tour, a community outreach event held Tuesday night. Fraternities light up community By Christina Gallagher and Jessica Tully FOR THF. COLLEGIAN State College residents young and old came together to cele brate the holiday season by tour ing 30 fraternity houses in the third annual Holiday Lights Tour on Tuesday night. The Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils and Off- Campus Student Union spon sored the night as a community outreach event. Former NFL star performs atPSU By Hannah Rishel COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER A former National Football League player has to struggle with what is more important: his lifelong goal or his relationship with his older brother. , Bo Eason performed his one man show “Runt of the Litter'' Tuesday night in Schwab Auditorium. i The play takes place in a locker poom, prior to a football game that will decide which team will play in the Super Bowl. Eason’s charac ter has been working to play in Jhe Super Bowl since he was 9 years old. The only thing standing between him and his life-long goal is his older brother. “Runt of the Litter," which was also written by Eason, was inspired but an event that almost happened to him while he was playing for the Houston Oilers in Aviation Terminal of the State College airport, 2535 Airport Rd. The control tower is scheduled to open on Jan. 15 of next year, air port director Bryan Rodgers said. The addition of a control tower will improve safety at the facility and will be an asset to the eco nomic development of the region by allowing for larger flights in and out of the airport, he said. "The control tower will dramat ically enhance safety for aircrafts that operate at University Park Airport," Rodgers said. Assistant Airport Director Ed The tour began at Acacia fra ternity. where participants escaped the bitter cold and were welcomed with hot chocolate, food. holiday music and Christmas decorations as they waited for the buses to whisk them away on a magical adven ture of lights. Buses transported about 200 people throughout the night to various fraternity houses, some of which had interior decorations in addition to exterior holiday lights. The houses with indoor holiday Former Houston Oiler Bo Eason performs his one-man show "Runt of the Litter" on Tuesday night in Schwab Auditorium. the 80s. The Oilers were sched uled to play against the New England Patriots, for whom Eason’s older brother played quarterback. The game was called off due to a strike, but the idea of facing off against his brother haunted Eason, which led him to writing “Runt of the Litter” once he got into acting after retiring from the NFL. The show takes Eason's char acter from 45 minutes before kick Andrew Dunheimer/Collegian Penn State President Graham Spanier points out how the runway lights work from the new control tower at University Park Airport. Foster said the tower will employ of controlled airspace within a six air traffic controllers when it five-mile radius of State College, opens next year. Two operators he said. and a supervisor will staff the Now the airport which tower and provide about 18 hours See AIRPORT. Page 2. displays also invited the tour- Not only did Beta Theta Pi fea goers inside their homes. ture lights outside, Pat Samanns Acacia fraternity President (sophomore-business) dressed Chip Ray said the Holiday Lights up in a Santa suit to greet tour Tour is a great community sen - goers as they entered the house, ice activity, especially for the kids Once the participants entered the in the neighborhoods surround- house, they said they were all ing fraternity row. impressed bv the 23' 9" Christmas "As a little kid. 1 liked to see tree, which was on display, houses decorated like a winter "The houses were pretty wonderland. This is a great expe- because of the Christmas trees," rience for little kids it's like said Halie Gummo, 7, of being at the North Pole for them," Bellefonte. Ray (sophomore-engineering) State College Mayor Elizabeth said. See TOUR, Page 2. off until the end of the game. In the beginning, he talks about his team a team of "common men who do uncommon things" and his mother, who sends him infor mation about every player on the opposing team prior to all his games. As the play progresses, Eason talks about getting into football, wanting to make his father proud and competing with his older brother. While Eason trained as a See RUNT. Page 2. Royster remembers record-setting career By Andrew J. Cassavell COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Curt Warner and Evan Royster will forever be linked in Penn State history. Warner was the man with the school s all-time rushing record until late October. Royster was the one chasing him. Sunday, at the annual Quarterback Club team banquet, the two met for the first time. "I got a chance to meet him, finally,” said Warner, who talked with Royster before the banquet, then gave a speech in which he acknowledged Royster’s accom plishments early on. “I’ve watched his career from afar. It was nice to talk with him person to-person." And it’s been quite a career for the fifth-year senior from Fairfax, Va. He is the all-time leading rush er at a school that churns out top tier tailbacks. He’s just the sev enth back to rush for more than 1,000 yards in two different sea sons at Penn State and needs 84 yards in the Outback Bowl to become the school’s first three time 1,000-yard rusher PSU helps staff cope With its health care plan uncertain, Penn State is working to help its employees with changes. By Mike Hricik COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER While negotiations surround ing the expiration of the Highmark Blue Shield PPOBlue plan with Geisinger Health System stall, the Penn State Office of Human Resources and Highmark are setting up resources to help university employees cope with the possi ble changes. These resources include a new web page, a "transition to care” plan for those with long lasting medical conditions and an Employee Special Assistance F\md for faculty and staff with financial difficulties. Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger unexpectedly declined the extension of Highmark's PPOBlue plan, the health insur ance plan of the university, last week after Dec. 31. Geisinger Manager of Clinical Enterprise Communications Marcy Marshall said the health system cites Highmark’s con tract renewal terms as the rea son for the conflict. If the two do not reach an agreement, Penn State employ ees using Geisinger will face out of-network fees starting Jan. 1, 2011. Highmark and Geisinger rep resentatives said they could not comment on ongoing negotia- One-third of Penn State’s $250 million health care budget goes to employees under Geisinger Health System. The new web page, ohr.psu.edu/benefits, includes frequently asked questions, con tact information and updates on negotiations, said Billie Willits, associate vice president for strategic initiatives in finance and business. She said the site should pro vide employees with peace of mind during a prospective diffi cult transition. “We intend to keep our faculty See HEALTH CARE, Page 2. Chloe Elmer/Collegian Evan Royster is the all-time lead ing rusher at Penn State. Royster’s critics and there are quite a few of them down play those achievements on a regular basis. So , too, does Evan Royster The introverted Royster has avoided talk about his legacy and his personal accomplishments throughout the season. Now, one See ROYSTER, Page 2.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers