Back in Happy Valley

Students to pay more

On this commencement weekend, Penn State graduates can be happy they won't have to pay the new student facilities fee.

The rest of the students will.

This came recommended by the administration and was passed unanimously by the trustees. Unanimously?

Does any trustee see what is hitting students and their families these days? Does any trustee wonder whether it might be best to cut back on something and not hit students with this right now?

Apparently not.

Great news to read in Happy Valley on this commencement weekend. Of course the students it applies to are long gone. Let's hope they at least find out about it online.

Graduating from PSU

What an achievement -- graduating from Penn State.

I remember it well, yes I really do. And I enjoy seeing the smiles of students at this time of year. They should be proud. They've completed a journey, with a long road ahead.

Congratulate them if you see them.

And since you're reading online, send them well wishes. We've made it easy for you with a "your turn."

Our Web site is read by tens of thousands of alumni, who remember it all so well. I hope these graduates who leave Happy Valley enjoy reading online just like many of you.

Well said on the Web

The story about Bald Eagle Area's success in the Centre County Envirothon is drawing attention and applause today.

Why not? It's good news and there was a good effort by all.

As often is the case, most comments left with the story are on point, but there are others, in this case one so far today that takes it way beyond the issue.

A Web reader expressed frustration with this and I applaud his/her post. Here it is:

"Why does anyone have to post any negative comments on a subject such as this? Each school did their best. Just congratulate the schools and students and leave the insults to yourselves. Stop sounding like a bunch of idiots!!"

Well said on the Web.

Our 'brutal' winters

Wonder what snow in May will do to our Happy Valley image?

An e-mail arrived yesterday from a Philly-area friend. It noted our "brutal" winters and how his son, who will attend Penn State starting in the fall semester, will not be a "happy camper" up here.

They don't get much snow in Philly, you see.

But we haven't been getting much here in Happy Valley either, certainly not as much as when I (and perhaps you) went to Penn State.

Nothing like those heavy snowfalls and brutal temps. Remember them well and those walks from East Halls to classes and town.

Now, we get some snow and some nasty ice. Too much ice, in fact, and it reminds me of my Harrisburg days in the worst way.

Don't worry. We don't get much in April or May, despite the four inches on Pine Grove Mountain Monday morning. It's beautiful today in Happy Valley. Enjoy it.

Quarter million fast

Web readers from afar may enjoy knowing that we're running some excerpts from lively online discussions in the paper. Today, for example, a few good comments about how driving habits are changing can be found with the printed editorial.

The comments, of course, allow us to get immediate feedback and often are excellent when they stay on the point of the issue. When they venture away from the point, they may be taken down and they certainly won't be published in the paper.

So that's a guideline, and thanks for posting comments and reading us online in a great way. We're past the quarter million mark in unique visitors for May already, and we thank you.

High honors

Our "Paycheck to Paycheck" series received high honors Monday night, as the work of Chris Rosenblum and Anne Danahy won the Roy Sprigle Memorial Award from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania.

The award is presented to what's judged the best writing entry from among a dozen categories open to newspapers and wire services with circulation less than 45,000.

The contest territory runs from here through western Pennsylvania, home to many newspapers, so this is quite an honor.

The "paycheck" reporters also won a Golden Quill in the enterprise/investigative series category. Our other Golden Quill winners are Jennifer Thomas, business writing for her report on liquor license transfers headlined "Pouring into the Centre Region," and Mike Joseph, continuing coverage for his reports on the environmental cleanup along Interstate 99.

This caps the spring award season and our totals end like this: 14 individual Keystone awards and the sweepstakes as the top paper in our division; two state cyberspace; 10 state Associated Press Managing Editors awards, and these Quills.

This is a significant haul, the most in any year for one of my papers, and our hard-working staff deserves great credit.

I applaud and support them, and if you're a regular blog reader you'll understand that very well.

Eich the adviser, interviewee

Curious guy that I am, I took a look through the Voices May issue since the monthly is big on comparing itself to us.

And I took a look because, as I noted in a previous blog post, two elected officials are on the Voices' advisory board. Wonder, I thought, what they could be advising?

I didn't get very far into Voices, just to Page 3, when I saw Jon Eich quoted. Eich, of course, is the county board of commissioners chairman and as I pointed out yesterday he's an adviser to Voices.

Yep, Eich was quoted in a story about the Bolton plant closing.

Bolton, you wonder? Didn't you just read about that and what has happened to its employees? You did, right here in a recent two-part series by Jennifer Thomas that brought strong reaction from readers.

Yet, here was Bolton again, in Voices, with Eich one of the featured interviews. Wonder if he advised Voices to do that story?

I guess the Voices version of the Bolton story was the "progressive" version, but putting that aside I continue to wonder about Eich's advisory role.

Wonder if next month they'll feature the voting machine and paper ballot issue? Coming to a Voices near you?

And wonder what Peter Morris, the other elected official on the advisory board, might be advising this "independent newspaper?"

I guess we'll all find out together.

How good is the legislature?

Day in and day out we have stories about excessive spending or incredible inaction by elected officials in Harrisburg.

Case in point is the story about taxpayers paying $15.6 million for a fleet of 3,650 vehicles for state employees. Here's that story, thanks to the Patriot-News, and tomorrow it will be the subject of our editorial. Enough said for now.

Case in point too is the story about how electric rates soon will skyrocket for Pennsylvania taxpayers. We're looking to Harrisburg for action on this and other issues. Here's that story, essentially what we reported on Page 1 a couple of months ago.

We could go on and on, but we'll pause and highlight a comment left by a Web reader with our Sunday editorial about the need for action on an energy policy. This reader clearly understands the situation in Harrisburg. Here's what he/she posted:

"If doing nothing is the measure of a good legislature, than Pennsylvania has the best legislature in the nation. Vote them all out of office."

Advising Voices

Voices, a printed monthly, seems fixated on comparing itself with us and telling all how much better it is.

It's not quite an apples to apples comparison, folks. We publish daily in print and constantly online, and we're read by eight out of 10 Centre Countians and more than a half million uniques monthly online.

I'm not going to spend time on the comparisons, but I am going to point out that Voices calls itself "Centre County's independent community newspaper" (meaning it's not corporate owned).

And I am going to point out and question why two elected officials are serving on Voices' advisory panel.

Jon Eich and Peter Morris were elected to the county commission and to State College Borough Council respectively in November. They shouldn't be advising a "newspaper," should they? Conflict, anyone?

Now I realize a Bellefonte Borough council member runs her own weekly paper, which trumpets good news all the time. That's conflict enough for me, but Eich and Morris apparently have raised it to a new level.

Voices wants to be a newspaper, so journalism ethics and standards should apply.

And if you play by those rules, Eich and Morris have crossed the line into public service.

What, no kid's day?

It takes my 7-year-old Colorado niece -- and many youngsters like her, I'm sure --- to sift through this adult world and ask pointed questions.

She uncorked this one yesterday just after telling me the secret about what she planned to buy mom for Mother's day:

"But why, why isn't there a kid's day? There's mom's day and dad's day but no kid's day. Why?"

Well she got me there. I started to point out how kids celebrate birthdays and adults really don't, but that didn't sound right even to me. She has a good point.

We decided to celebrate a kid's day this summer when we take her to Wyoming for Cheyenne Frontier Days. What better place for a western kid's day?