“They killed Osama bin Laden,” said National Security Deputy Adviser for strategic communication Ben Rhodes.
Rhodes, a New York native who was in the city during the September 11 terrorist attacks was part of the 9/11 Commission that was responsible for trying to understand the tragic events. On Thursday he told more than 1600 students live how the Navy Seals were able to carry out this mission.
The Penn Manor’s library played host to the live stream from the National Security Council in Washington, D.C., where 40 students listened intently as Rhodes informed them of the events leading up to the raid on the al Qaeda leader.
Social studies teacher Donna Brady received an email from the Council Wednesday afternoon and set up the interactive session. Students were asked and encouraged to type questions to Rhodes, who answered the questions live.
Ben Rhodes of the National Security Council. Photo by Alex Blythe
“We weren’t 100 percent sure, but we were fairly certain (that Osama was there),” said Rhodes.
He explained that their intelligence was very good but that they had not received any type of visual confirmation. He also said that the President had received this intelligence last August.
The Seals carried out the mission late Sunday night.
“It was a very tense situation, we were worried about the U.S soldiers, their safety was our main concern,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes was in the situation room at the White House with President Obama while the operation was carried out.
They received real time updates during the mission, Rhodes said, and that,”minutes and hours and felt like days.”
Eventually they were able to relax once the troops had landed safely back on their base.
News of the events hit the the airwaves Sunday night, the man that had been on the run for nearly 10 years, and who we hold accountable for the most devastating attack in the history of the United States was brought to justice.
“[It shows] we can overcome challenges and were able to achieve justice.” said Rhodes.
As for possible retaliation, Rhodes did not seem too worried.
“Al Qaeda is the most dangerous threat in the world, in their history they have had one leader, Osama Bin laden, so we felt it was essential he be removed,” said Rhodes, in response to student’s question.
The original plan did not intend for Osama to be killed but the Seals on the mission deemed it a necessary course of action.
Rhodes noted that the threat level was not elevated by the department of Homeland Security.
Rhodes concluded by saying that, in the long run, the world will be a better place because it is rid of Osama bin Laden.
What’s full of flowers, occurs on the second Sunday of May and is often accidentally forgotten?
That’s right, Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day has only recently been connected to actual “mothers.” It began in ancient times with celebrations dedicated to goddesses and such figures in Greek, Egyptian and Roman civilizations. Christians designated a day to honor Mary, the mother of Jesus, on a Sunday in Lent.
The modernized idea of thanking your mother was brought to light in 1905 when a woman named Anna Jarvis began lobbying for the creation of a national day for mothers in order to celebrate the life of her mother and others across the country. A bill was passed in 1914 creating just that holiday.
Today, mothers, young and old, are honored with phone calls, flowers, jewelry, breakfast in bed and countless other things.
Sophomore Zac Burke wants to show his mom she is the greatest.
“[I will] probably go out to eat with her somewhere. Spend the day with her,” said Burke.
“Go out to dinner with my family and have a Mother’s Day picnic,” said junior Austin Richwine.
Steve Long's mom was there for him when he broke his wrists. Photo by Sarah Schaeffer
“Taking her out to dinner like all the time, but I work,” said senior Vennessa Nogueras.
“I am going to make [my mom] breakfast, get her a card…my dad buys it, but I sign it,” said freshman Matt Gue.
“We are going to take [my mom] out to lunch as a family,” said freshman Alisa Herr.
“My brother bought my mom flowers, he hid them in my room too,” said senior Brock Kauffman.
“I asked her and she said she didn’t want anything, so I’m going to make her breakfast,” said junior Samantha Smith.
“I’m getting her a gift card to go get her nails done because she never gets to do that,” said senior Bobby Rehm.
“My mom was like ‘Oh by the way, for Mother’s Day…’ so I bought her a cute pair of flip flops,” said junior Abby Talbot.
Some students have thought “outside the box” for past Mother’s Day celebrations.
“Made her breakfast and knitted her a sweater,” said senior Paul Slaugh.
Maddy Hess talks about her mom. Photo by Sarah Schaeffer
“I made breakfast in bed,” said sophomore Addison Myer.
“I washed her car,” said Nate Butcher.
Teachers, believe it or not, also have mothers with whom they celebrate the day.
“When my mother was alive I treated everyday like mothers day,” said librarian Sue Hostetter.
“My son in the Air Force gave me flowers,” said librarian Pam Yarnell.
“Yes, I’ve given [my mom] flowers,” said gym teacher Stephen Weidner.
“I buy her flowers. I tell her I love her,” said P.E. teacher Billie Jo Atkins.
Many students have positive feelings towards their moms.
“I admire her,” said Taylor Breidenbaugh.
“I love her,” said Emily Hess
“She’s always there for me,” said Caitlyn Whirt.
“She’s the best,” Kael Miller said.
“She’s pretty chill,” said Alex LaFrance.
Some students shared their favorite “Mom Memories.”
“Yeah, me and my mom went to the moon last mother’s day. It was stellar!” said Cassie Funk.
Taylor Goldberg admires her mom for starting a group that raises money for people fighting breast cancer. Photo by Sarah Schaeffer
“My mom and I would sit in parking lots and make fun of random people, it was very fun,” said Kira Klaassen.
“The other month, my mom randomly decided to celebrate a birthday party for a one-year-old; she made me dress up as a character from Yo Gabba Gabba, The orange one with one eye,” said junior Bryer Rehm.
Miller said her favorite “Mom Memory” is very sentimental for her.
“I went hiking with my mom about 4 or 5 months before she got into a motorcycle accident, she hasn’t quite been the same since then,” she said.
“When she started the Help The Fight foundation that raises money for people fighting breast cancer,” said junior Taylor Goldberg.
“The day I broke both of my wrists my mom came booking down the hill yelling ‘What did you do?!'” said sophomore Steve Long.
“The day I had my shoe fall off and she yanked me out of the street because a truck was coming. The truck hit my shoe and it flew up and hit me in the forehead,” said Cody Beaner.
“The day my mom bought me a necklace and explained what it meant to her,” said senior Maddy Hess.
You have one notification. click. Friend request. click. Confirm or deny?
Chose wisely because you don’t know who your real “friends” are.
Kids are able to escaspe school bullies when they get home, at least that used to be the case. But technology, most namely Facebook, has changed this.
“It’s a growing problem,” said Penn Manor Student Assistance Program (SAP) leader Darrin Donmoyer, while discussing the use of Facebook as a new means of bullying.
This problem was highlighted when a former Penn Manor student, Iian Michaele Pierce, was charged with intimidation of a witness and criminal conspiracy via a social network site.
Mug shot of Gueressi courtesy of lancaster online
Police say Pierce recruited two 17-year old students, one from Elizabethtown High School the other from Penn Manor High School, to intimidate the victim/witness in an alleged rape case.
The rape case involved another former Penn Manor student, Dominick Guerrisi, who is charged with rape, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors with the selling of alcohol and unlawful contact with a minor, according to Lancaster City police.
Both young men are charged with felonies.
Not a “status” that will get many “likes.”
Lancaster Detective Aaron Harnish worked on the case, and explored the internet aspect of the investigation.
Harnish explained the process of looking for information via social networking websites.
“What we’ll do, a lot of times names of interest have social networking sites and if they do we will review those sites for info,” said Harnish.
Using internet outlets to aid investigations is becoming more of a common practice.
“We will look for anything that will provide us information,” said Harnish.
He said that using social networking sites is a growing trend among law enforcement officers but “mostly the younger ones.”
In the case of Dominic Gueressi and the subsequent charges for Facebook intimidation of a witness, Harnish declined making specific comments on the case but predicted “within the next year it should come to a resolution.”
As for the cyber bullying problem Harnish said,”We don’t receive many reports but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t taking place.”
While the case of Pierce and Guerrisi is an extreme example, bullying on Facebook and through other media outlets is becoming more the norm. The National Crime Prevention Council says research shows more than 40 percent of young people have been cyber bullied.
And teens don’t seem to be aware of the effects of putting their rage on the Internet.
“You can say so much, but people don’t realize what you can get in trouble for,” added Donmoyer.
Penn Manor school resource officer Jason Hottenstein said he assisted the Lancaster Police with the investigation of Guerrisi.
“Kids need to realize more than anything, once you hit send or comment, it’s out there,” said Hottenstein.
He also said that bullying through social networking is a growing problem.
Hottenstein said that while the cases are related they will be tried completely seperate.
“Ian’s case will be first, which will actually benefit him,” Hottenstein explained. If Guerrisi was found guilty before Pierce’s case it would look bad for Pierce according to Hottenstein.
“Dom’s case could take years to settle because it’s a major crime,” Hottenstein said.
While cyber bullying usually takes place outside of school it becomes a school issue when the things said online carry on into the school.
“It is my belief that for the school to take action some form of it has to spill over into the actual school,” said Donmoyer.
In Guerrisi’s case, he is a former Penn Manor student, some students protested his charges by wearing “Free Dom” shirts which they were promptly asked to remove them.
Sophomore Jacii Killian wore the “Free Dom” shirt.
“I represented for Dom because he is one of my closest friends,” said Killian.
Killian was asked to removed the “Free Dom” shirt, the next day she wore a “Freedom” shirt which she also had to remove, then two days later she said she wore a first amendment shirt and she was suspended for a day for wearing the shirt.
A similar incident occurred in Massachusetts when 15-year-old Phoebe Prince was bullied in person, online and through a variety of media sources which eventually led to her taking her own life.
Other incidents of cyber bullying have occurred on Facebook to some of Penn Manor students.
“Sometimes people make fun of me cause the way I look, it really hurts my feelings and I just wish there was something I could do about it,” said one Penn Manor students who asked to remain anonymous.
Penn Manor junior Megan Schlegelmilch says she has been repeatedly bullied on Facebook.
“It happens all the time,” said Schlegelmilch, “people call me a slut because they can’t say it to my face.”
Another junior, Alyssa Thompson, says she has been harassed multiple times by the same person.
“He messages me once a month saying stuff like when he sees me he wants throw up,” said Thompson.
All three said they never reported any such harassment to the school.
This recent series may be a disturbing trend but it’s too early to determine the extent, according to isafe.org 42 percent of kids have been bullied online and 35 percent of kids have been threatened online. This survey was conducted in 2003 so all indications point to these numbers being low.
In this new media-based era, one click can change everything.
“Once you hit send it’s out there,” said Donmoyer.
May has finally rolled around and summer is so close most students can taste it.
Usually this is the time when attention spans become shorter, grades drop and motivation decreases. For some students, however, this is a very important time of the year. It’s AP test season and students have worked all year in hopes of scoring a 5. AP tests can be stressful so a lot of students are doing the most they can to prepare.
Natasha Fletcher is taking two AP classes, Literature and Biology. Her tests are coming up and she said she has begun preparing for both.
“For bio I’m studying outside of class. I feel more prepared for lit,” Fletcher said.
While many students are taking time outside of class to prepare for their tests, a lot are reviewing in class as well.
“We’ve been reviewing in class ever since we finished the curriculum, which was about two months ago,” said Veronica Willig, referring to her AP Calculus class.
Eric Bear has also been spending time in class preparing for his AP French test that will take place on May 10.
AP exam study guides. Photo credit voice.paly.net
“We do a lot of listening and recording of native speaking to prepare for the listening portion of the exam. We write a lot of essays that are timed,” said Bear.
Students have spent their whole school year learning loads of information they’ll need to be ready for their AP exam. And even though it’s a lot to remember, many students feel confident about their upcoming test.
Conor Snow takes AP US History and will take his test on May 6. He said he’s been getting review packets in class to prepare and believes he will get at least a 4.
“I think I’ll do fine,” Snow said.
Jenna Santaniello prepared for her AP Literature exam and felt confident.
“I’m not really nervous,” Santaniello said.
Students aren’t the only ones who feel stressed when AP test season rolls around. Teachers also worry about the scores their students will achieve.
AP Psychology teacher Maria Vita is confident that her students were prepared for their exam on May 2 and she encouraged her students to believe they’ll do well.
“Expect a 5 and nothing less. That’s the only thing to do on this test, except also do your very best,” Vita said.
The Broad Street Bullies and the Big Bad Bruins are back at it again.
With the Philadelphia Flyers coming off of a seven-game series knocking out the Buffalo Sabres, they’ve now dug themselves a hole, going down 0-3 in the series against the Boston Bruins. Sound familiar?
Tim Thomas (left) celebrates their overtime win with David Krejci. Photo by Matt Slocum.
Last year, the two teams played each other in the Eastern Conference Finals and just as it is now, the Bruins went up three games to none. Although Flyers prevailed in the end going on a four game win streak to take the series. Will this be deja vu for the Flyers, or will the Bruins squeak out one more win to sweep the series?
Most hope the Flyers come back to win, but all agree this is not an easy task.
“Thomas is having a great series for the Bruins,” said senior Mark Curtin. “He has 52 saves in the second game alone. Flyers need to improve their forechecking and take advantage of extra man opportunities.”
Not everybody bandwagons with the Flyers, “I like the Penguins so I’m glad the Flyers are down,” said teacher Erick Dutchess.
With the Penguins out of the series Mr. Dutchess can only hope the beloved Flyers fall at the feet of the Bruins.
Danny Briere celebrates a goal for the Flyers. Photo from NyDailyNews.com
But, there are still some students who have faith in the Flyers.
Junior Brandon Schuman thinks things can turn around.
“Tim Thomas right now is unstoppable,” Schuman said. “If they play like they did in game two, they shouldn’t have much trouble with the rest of the series. The Flyers just need to capitalize on their opportunities.”
Austin Rowley, a junior at Penn Manor, is also hoping for a turnaround.
“Right now, they can’t get past Thomas,” Rowley said. “Ryan Miller [Sabres] was different. He was a solid, technical goalie whereas Thomas is all over the place, but I have faith in the Flyers. They seem to play better with adversity and their back against the wall.”
The heroes of the world come together to help protect us and help us survive everyday. Firefighters, EMTs, fire police, law enforcement.
Some of them are walking the halls of Penn Manor.
You can’t miss them during an emergency, they’re the ones who have the buzzers buzzing and the pagers beeping.
But why do the junior fire fighters or EMS students carry those silly little pagers around during school. If all they do is make a bunch of noise during class?
“I carry them around for the calls we get. I don’t want to miss anything.” Said Darren Pickel of the Highville fire company.
One of the female volunteer firefighters in Penn Manor is Allison Rohrbach, a junior, doesn’t use a pager. She gets text messages when there is an emergency.
“It has been three years since I started at Pequea Fire Company, and now I am moving to Refton to start my next chapter,” said Rohrbach
The National Fire Protection Agency estimated that there were 1,148,100 firefighters in the U.S. as of 2009. Also, 29 percent of the fire fighters took firefighting up as a career. There are also 71 percent volunteer firefighters out of that 1,148,100.
More than 40 percent of fire companies provide EMS services, while 41 percent don’t provide any EMS services at all.
“I grew up in it,” said Joey McMillan about volunteering as a firefighter in the Penn Manor community.
McMillan spends most of his free time training and volunteering with the Rawlinsville Fire Company, located in Holtwood, Pa.
The hardest part of being a volunteer firefighter is “seeing death,” said McMillan.
Even though this may be a volunteering job, it is still a big part of the lives of many young men and women at Penn Manor.
Although some of the more violent and severe racial acts are not commonly expressed anymore, the verbal and “brainwashed” antics are still alive today.
There was a recent case where an 8-year-old South African girl told Ted Koppel on Nightline her disturbing outlook on the subject.
“White people are better than black people. Whites know more, have more and get more. I wish I was white but I am not,” the girl said – again… 8 years old.
Racism is a developed set of attitudes that include antagonism based on the supposed superiority of one group or the supposed inferiority of another group, based solely on skin color or race.
“I hate racism,” said Quay Hanna, a Penn Manor club leader, activist and author who gets kids talking about racial issues in an effort to ease tensions. “It’s artificial.”
YWCA Logo, Stand Against Racism
According to Hanna, racism runs in a four to five year cycle at Penn Manor. If racial discord is bad from a new freshman class, Hanna explained, it doesn’t start again until that same freshman class are seniors and more mature.
In high school, Hanna was considered racist.
“There is an underlining prejudice,” he said, adding, “you weren’t offended unless you were that race.”
When college hit, he had to watch what he said around certain people because he wasn’t sure whether or not they would take offense to it.
Hanna and other racist friends called black people “shallwesays” instead of the “N” word, so no one would know what they were talking about.
Between his junior and senior year, Hanna started feeling guilty for living two lives because he was friends with a couple of young black men.
There are many reasons why people become racist.
One of the main reason why people become racist are because of their family and friends. Being surrounded by racism and learning to think that’s the right way to be is going to make you live that way.
In my opinion family or friends shouldn’t try to influence their children to become like themselves. They should try to encourage them to do better and explore different cultures, expanding their knowledge about other ethnicities.
Xenophobia, meaning the fear of people who are different, is another reason why a lot of people become racist. They’re not able to adjust to changes and/or different characteristics between certain people.
According to humanrightsfirst.org, the race most targeted for hate crimes in the world are African Americans.
In 2007-2008, many of these attacks were reported in Germany.
In Berlin, on March 2, 2008, a young woman screaming racial slurs pushed a dark-skinned man into the path of an oncoming train. The 19-year-old victim, luckily, was able to jump back onto the platform in time, with the help of two bystanders.
There are still some very cruel and hateful people in this world. Honestly some people just need to get over themselves. Even if everyone was the same skin tone or ethnicity, we would not all get along, just for the simple fact that we are all different and have different personalities.
NFL star wide-out escorted from a female’s car at gunpoint. What now for the Pittsburgh Steelers?
At 1:30 a.m Hines Ward was allegedly a passenger in a woman’s car that got pulled over by Los Angeles police.
Hines and a woman friend were stopped in North Hollywood on their way home from a restaurant because she had reported the car stolen.
Wide out Hines Ward was calmed down during a Ravens football game. Photo courtesy
Sgt. Maria Morrison, who was involved in the case stated, “She had gone somewhere, misparked it, reported it stolen and found it later,” but failed to cancel the police report.
Ward was supposedly held at gunpoint by police for only a few moments, but he was released without being arrested, police said.
However, the two weren’t able to be released until the woman was able to prove the car was hers.
The Steelers’ organization have been experiencing issues with holding their players back from the media this week.
Starting running back Rashard Mendenhall just came off the best year of his career in the previous football season, but has been staring in the media by comparing the NFL players to slaves along with criticizing those who celebrate Osama bin Laden’s death.
According to USAToday, some other Steelers continued to distance themselves from Rashard Mendenhall.
The organization has yet to be interviewed over the Ward incident.
That was the time remaining in the second half of the April 13 game against Hempfield when Mariah Dimm snatched Penn Manor’s heart with her second goal. Now it’s time for payback.
Wednesday night Hempfield tied Cedar Crest 1-1, leaving them four points behind Penn Manor, and giving the Comets their first Section One Title since 2006. This has the girls ecstatic, especially the nine seniors who have yet to acquire a title. The girls also qualified for districts for the 13th consecutive year.
This rivalry has been around for years and Penn Manor’s not looking to end the regular season with Hempfield having its number. The last game took place at night, and it was a defensive battle with most of the game knotted at 1-1. In closing seconds Dimm got past the Penn Manor defense to receive a feed from a teammate and just slipped it by goalie Veronica Willig to seal the game with 14 seconds left.
At that time head Coach Bill Zapata said, “It’s a tough way to lose.”
Hempfield's Mariah Dimm and Penn Manor Lindsay Hutchinson in April 13th's game. Dimm dropped both goals in that game and clinched it with her goal with 14 seconds left. Photo courtesy of Lancsports.com
The Comets (11-2 in section, 14-2-1 overall) are looking to end the season on the best note possible and it’s important to them to beat the Black Knights.
Assistant coach Jason Hottenstein has been around for many seasons and Hempfield’s important to him.
“That’s why we play and coach…to beat Hempfield,” said Hottenstein
“They’ve reached goal number one and that’s all they wanted from the start of the year every one of them will tell you they couldn’t of got there without the rest of the team,” said Hottenstein.
Tonight the girls are looking to send a message.
Junior Sara Bennis said, “Now, it’s just more personal.”
“I’m really pumped because going into the game champs…It couldn’t get much better than that,” said senior Meg Wilson
“I’m excited because knowing we lost is going to make us come out stronger,” added another senior Emily Hess.
They all agreed that even though they own the Section one title, they still have a large goal in mind. One of the Comet’s strong offensive players Lindsay Hutchinson recognizes her sister Emily’s defensive presence and enjoys being on the same team with her.
“It was great to be a part of it especially since it’s my last year with my sister,” said Lindsay.
“We have the best defense in the L-L,” she also added.
Be sure to come out and support the nine seniors at 7 p.m. tonight at Comet Field. It’s sure to be another battle.
After shaking off a couple disappointing losses, the volleyball team had really hit their stride.
With the regular season coming to a close, these two games will be crucial in deciding who gets second in the section and if everything goes Penn Manor’s way, second in the league.
“I think we are playing well. We are coming together as a team and we are playing like it,” said Devon Reis a sophomore middle hitter.
Led by junior twins Dylan and Cheyenne Weber, the Comets are picking up their game with a very important week coming up when they play Hempfield and Ephrata.
Dylan Weber getting a kill against McCaskey. Photo Credit: Tornadoalley.com
“Cheyenne is doing a really good job spreading the ball around and tricking the blockers where the ball is going,” said Reis.
Dylan Weber, having a first team all league year, is leading the Lancaster-Lebanon league in kills and doesn’t seem to be looking back.
“If we get in the opponents’ head we will keep our streak going into playoffs,” said Reis.
The Comets hope to ride their five-game winning streak into the last week of the season and clinch the number two spot in the section.
“If we keep second in the section, we won’t have to play Hempfield as soon in leagues,” said Reis.
The Comets have improved to 7-2 in the section and 8-3 overall after last weeks victory over Cedar Crest.
