MORE THAN 1,000 PEOPLE RIOT AT PENN STATE

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- More than 1,000 young people lit fires, toppled
street lights, wrecked motor vehicles and injured 16 police officers early
Sunday morning in the worst rioting ever in the borough.

At least 20 people were arrested in the Beaver Avenue riot, which police
said was fueled by alcohol. Local police had to wait 2 1/2 hours for
reinforcements from state police from other counties to arrive before they
charged in riot gear to break up the melee.

``In my 15 years on the force, this was the scariest moment in my life,''
said State College Police Lt. Thomas Hart.

The downtown rampage was far uglier than in previous episodes involving
victory celebrations over Penn State football games, police said. They
described it as the worst rioting ever in the borough's history, and said
that they were pelted with rocks, bottles, bricks, light fixtures, lamp
posts and tree limbs.

At its height Sunday, an estimated 1,500 people -- possibly more -- were
involved, with fires lit, 33 street lights torn down and street signs
destroyed, three storefront windows smashed and motor vehicles damaged, all
in the Beaver Avenue and Locust Lane area, according to State College police.

The riot occurred as tens of thousands of people converged on State College
this weekend for the 1998 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.
Saturday is typically the busiest day for the five-day festival, which
combines an art sidewalk sale with music and other performances. It
typically attracts thousands of Penn State students and recent graduates
for a summer reunion.

Police and eyewitnesses offered differing accounts on what apparently
started the riot about 1:30 a.m. -- when bars let out -- and what
transpired during the next few hours.

According to police, the riot began when they noticed a crowd of about 150
forming on the 300 block of East Beaver Avenue at Locust Lane, where there
are high-rise apartments with balconies. Someone threw a trash can onto the
street, and the crowd continued to grow and set fires and cause other
damage, police said.

Some eyewitnesses, however, said the problems began when police confiscated
a small plastic ``party ball'' used to hold beer from two men who were
kicking it around. The two men got the party ball back, which excited
nearby revelers. The riot grew out of that incident as the crowds grew
around the revelers.

Eyewitnesses also reported seeing public nudity and urination during the
incident. One eyewitness said one man in his 20s, with dark, slicked back
hair and wearing a white tank top, urged people to participate, shouting
``People, join in! There are no repercussions!''

Eyewitnesses also said police initially were near the crowd of rowdies,
then moved away, forming a line around the immediate area. About 4 a.m.,
police charged in, they said, firing tear gas, striking some of the crowd
with their billy clubs and using pepper spray. Firefighters also used hoses
to spray people on nearby balconies to get them inside, they said -- but
police said firefighters targeted fires, not people. The crowd quickly
dispersed after police moved in, they said.

People smashed the storefront of Castle Software and Computer Systems and
may have taken computer equipment. Police did not have any reports on what,
if anything, was stolen.

``I left the store at about 3 a.m. because it looked like the police had
everything under control,'' said Todd Taylor, technician at Castle
Software. ``When I came back in the morning the door was mangled and the
window was smashed.''

Preliminary damage estimate as of early Sunday was $50,000, police said. At
least vehicles sustained about $5,000 damage each.

``This is another example of the problem associated with alcohol abuse,''
State College Police Chief Tom King said in a prepared statement. ``Without
alcohol, this situation would never have occurred.''

As of Sunday, no alcohol-related charges were filed against any of the
people arrested in the riot. Police said they did not give any blood
alcohol tests.

Streets re-opened as of 8 a.m., and the last day of the arts festival
proceeded as planned. It did not appear that the rioting affected the
sidewalk sale area of the arts festival.

Of the 20 people arrested, 11 were Penn State students, State College
police said. More arrests are expected. Penn State President Graham Spanier
heard about the commotion as it was in progress. He went into the heart of
the riots to observe the situation.

``I heard they were throwing things out of the windows and certain students
were involved,'' Spanier said. ``I arrived at about 2:30 a.m. and thought
perhaps I could be of some help. I tried to assist the borough and the
police.''

Penn State police said they were holding more than 20 people in custody for
processing around 6:30 a.m. They were brought to the police station in the
Eisenhower Parking Deck and kept on a Centre Area Transportation Authority
bus. Some had been in custody about three hours already.

The rioting started along Beaver Avenue in an area nicknamed ``Beaver
Canyon'' and ``Beaver Alley'' because of the high-rise apartments that rise
on either side of the street, according to initial reports.

Rioters tore down street lights and used the heavy metal poles to smash
storefront windows and vehicle windshields.

``They were throwing kegs out of the windows,'' said Rebecca Seweryn, a
Penn State senior. ``They were throwing furniture off of the balconies and
into the fire.''

Tom Harmon, director of Penn State police services, said he did not know
what the rioters might be charged with, but said that State College police
were consulting with Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar.

``The crowd was predominately young adults, but there are so many visitors
in town it's not accurate to say they were all (Penn State) students,''
Harmon said.

``This is probably the disorder with the most property damage of any
incident I can remember in my 25 years at Penn State,'' Harmon said. ``It
was very ugly in terms of the crowd's behavior toward police. The officers
early on, when we were just lined up across the road and before we moved on
the crowd, took a lot of flying objects.''

Of the police injuries, a state police lieutenant was seriously cut, and
one Ferguson Township officer was hurt, Harmon said. One Penn State officer
was getting his wrist X-rayed.

``I have not heard that any rioters were seriously injured,'' he said. Some
of the rioters were sprayed with pepper spray, he said.

About 120 local and state police in riot gear swarmed to the scene. State
police from as far away as Bedford and Lewistown were called in. Besides
State College and Penn State police departments, police came from
Bellefonte, Ferguson Township, Patton Township and Spring Township police
departments. Alpha Fire Company, Alpha Community Ambulance, Allegheny Power
and Centre Area Transportation Authority also helped, State College police
reported.

Penn State police had 16 officers on the scene. They also covered State
College police's routine calls during the riot.

The scene quieted down after 5 a.m. By 6 a.m., the only cars on Beaver
Avenue belonged to police. State police wearing helmets walked the streets.
Cars and pedestrians were blocked off from the Beaver Canyon area.

A few bystanders hovered on the corners beyond the barricades, but
otherwise, the streets were empty.

People in handcuffs were being led quietly onto a CATA bus from the Penn
State police station in the Eisenhower Parking Deck.

King said in a news conference he will ask Spanier to take academic action
against Penn State students involved in the rioting. Spanier said while it
is not routine to take such action against students for criminal activity
outside of the academic arena, he is not ruling it out.

``Generally, criminal activities are handled separately from academic
sanctions,'' said Spanier. ``We do not pose academic sanctions if the
problem is not academically related, but we have a Judicial Affairs Office
and they will review these cases.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski