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.