Brown and White Vol. 113 No. 7

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 113 no 7 tuesday september 27 2005 all the lehigh news first 1 south side slots bring mixed reactions by jaclyn eldridge assistant news editor marisa enrico 07 said the casino will improve bethlehem i think it will really clean up the area enrico said it's most definitely not a bad thing john valentino 06 said he thought that the casino would bring in more tax revenue making the area nicer and improving students views of south bethlehem i think it will make rela tions better and students will be more likely to interact wiui south bethlehem valentino said sansanelli said a nicer south bethlehem doesn't mean increased interaction between local residents and lehigh stu dents i feel like most students and south bethlehem residents have no desire to intermingle she said sansanelli did say however that the casino will provide more hang-out options for stu dents people over 21 will like to go to the bars she said i think it will be good there's not much for them to do on campus valentino said the casino might make lehigh more attractive to prospective stu dents and their parents he said if the casino and the mall the bethlehem city council may have voted in favor of gambling but lehigh students have mixed emotions when it comes to the possible effects that the casino may have on lehigh and the sur rounding area many students said that the casino will have positive reper cussions for the city people from new jersey will come here to spend money and create jobs rachel sansanelli 07 said i think it will take in a lot of people improved the area around lehigh students would be more likely to apply some students however said the casino might keep stu dents away from lehigh arthur mallet 06 said par ents would be particularly turned off by the idea of hav ing a casino in such close prox imity to campus i think they'd be upset because their first thought would be of las vegas mallet said they wouldn't take the time to realize that it's only slots their first instinct would be to think gambling gambling is bad i don't want my kid being around that aileen naylor oh agreed that a casino is a turnoff a casino is not usually the kind of upscale attraction you want to create naylor said mallet said he isn't interest ed in playing the slots i personally wouldn't go he said everyone likes to play cards and poker no one will like to play slots students won't really benefit from it naylor said only some peo ple will be interested in slots some people will be attracted to it she said if gambling is your thing then you will want to take part in it but not everyone will be inter ested wage rally attracts 80 by a.j berends b&w photo by b.j shepard attendees clamor to raise pennsylvania minimum wage minimum-wage job is a constant struggle and will continue to be until wages are raised i just want to pay for my basics and keep a roof over my head french said now that takes guts said allan jennings director of the community action committee of the lehigh valley of french's speech rally attendees are fighting to pass a bill that would increase the minimum wage to 6 immediately 6.75 in january 2006 and 7.15 in january 2007 the proposal was modeled after similar plans made in new jersey and new york french said the increase would benefit low-wage workers like herself i worked out my budget and if i made just 7 an hour i news writer would be able to cover my necessities french said vicki steckel of the lehigh valley association of community organizations for reform now said a single par ent with one child needs to make about 15.42 an hour to run a household sandi vito of the pennsylvania department of labor and industry represented governor edward g rendell governor rendell is sup portive of this bill vito said he knows that minimum wage needs to be raised and it needs to be raised now french said knowing that the governor is in support of the cause made her optimistic for the future i see a lot of opportunity in more than 80 people includ ing four state legislators and numerous county leaders attended a rally on e sth street thursday afternoon in support of raising pennsylvania's mini mum wage the current federal mini mum wage is 5.15 this figure has not increased since 1997 even though the cost of living has gone up significantly seventeen states including new jersey delaware and new york have minimum wages higher than the federal wage pennsylvania workers are fight ing to join their neighbors in having a higher minimum wage according to cathy french an employee at mcdonald's on union boulevard working a a bill in the state legislature seeks to increase the minimum wage which hasn't increased since 1997 from 5.15 to 6 an hour rally attendees hope to raise the wage to 7.15 by january 2007 poet calls for charity change after katrina by christie jephson news writer poet and political activist adrienne rich said there is a need for ciiarity and change on wednesday night referring to hurricane katrina and our gov ernment's response to the disas ter rich was originally sched uled to come to lehigh for a poetry reading but the event took on a dual role after katrina when she agreed to add a fundraiser she is simply an extremely caring and humane person with a long history of concern for the underprivileged in america and around the world english professor bob watts said the poetry reading held in packard laboratory auditorium had a turnout of about 200 people including stu dents faculty and members of the bethlehem community rich read both published and unpublished poems covering topics such as dissatisfaction with government sexuality feminism and poverty a poem tided fox was well-received the poem had such a beau tiful visual quality and listening was a very sensual experience religion professor lenore weissler said i could almost feel the fur as she described it the poem was extremely pow erful after reading the poem there is no one story and one story only rich dis closed her inspiration for writ ing it a lot of this poem i got from sitting in airport lounges and listening rich said i do that a lot rich explained unlike some see rich page 4 see rally page 4 sports 14-16 news 1-6 track 14 theta xi concert 2 lewandowski 16 ropes course 3 pink day ws^^i^^bs^^i science intelligent design 7 jwfet bethlehem steel ft 1 b tours 9 m^m^mj^m check the web site for vl^w^3br online exclusives pho l^ißf jkuill :^ tos and features in iiwtkmfwu^bmnawmsm bw.lehigh.edu