35 Percent Of Lehigh Students Creep Me Out

Students at Lehigh University had a presentation from Paul Sokolow the other day. Sokolow is “an expert on campus safety and high-risk student behavior” — whatever that means — and presented the students with a fun little game.

It’s called: Can you spot the rape? I suppose it’s kind of a Where’s Waldo for the college-aged set.

Paul Sokolow… called on Lehigh University students to be the jury in the case of two students who ended up having sex one night. Sokolow, who presented a lecture Thursday to Lehigh students on “Drunk Sex or Date Rape: Can You Tell the Difference,” prefaced the request by saying the case was true but the names were changed to protect identities. The audience played along.

He went on to tell the story of Todd and Amy. Amy went out to a party on her college campus and met Todd, who offered her five Jell-O shots containing 180-proof grain alcohol. Sokolow said Amy wasn’t aware how much alcohol the shots contained. They were three times stronger than the average drink.

Todd followed Amy back to her dorm room and had sex with her. When Amy woke up the next morning, she did not remember what had happened the night before but found a note Todd had left with his name and number, Sokolow said.

And 35 percent of the people in the room decided that Todd’s following her back to her dorm room was a-OK. (When given to middle-aged people, it’s usually only 10 percent.) Yeesh.

Students vote if drunk sex or date rape [The Express-Times]

Trendspotting: Animal Heads As A Message Of Discontent With The Recipient

There’s a new way to debate your enemies, and it has nothing to do with rational debate or even Internet blog wars. No, the new way to settle a score is to leave a head on someone’s porch.

It happened on Sunday in Cherry Hill when a pig’s head was left on a Cherry Hill activist’s front step. The woman, Alene Ammond, blamed her political enemies or possibly some kids, while the Inquirer suspected it was taken from Lord of the Flies.

But I suspect it’s more of a growing, awful trend. At Lehigh University, a deer’s head was found at the front of a campus group’s house. The head was left at the Umoja House, where “27 upperclassmen of diverse backgrounds” work “closely with the Office of Multicultural Affairs.” The article says students have dubbed it “the black house.”

Oh, goodie! First, a pig head on an activist’s house. Then, a deer head on a, uhh, multicultural house. Where will the trend lead next?

Head of animal found on campus [The Express-Times]

Leftovers: Amazing Paperboys Deliver!

• Yesterday, some would-be Bucks County robbers apparently didn’t know that paperboys don’t really carry any money, and they tried to rob them. The twin brothers ran away, but the suspects were later seen shooting paintballs at pedestrians. You know, when you rob the paperboy, you’ve sunk pretty low, but — as these men show — you can certainly go lower. [6 ABC]

• Police have released the surveillance video of the robbery at Alex’s Lemonade Stand. The video shows actual cancer cells ransacking the place! Gasp! [CBS 3]

• The Lehigh U. bank robber has gotten 22 months to 10 years in prison. Damn you, Party Poker! [AP/Metro]

• There is a push going on to ban hotel room porn. All together now: From my cold, dead hands. [Pandagon]

• Judge Lisa Richette was attacked for the third time in the last 20 years on a Philadelphia Center City streetcorner. On the plus side, the Daily News printed the word “bitch” (twice!) in a non-Byko column. [Daily News]

• Today in Metro: Talladega Nights is not just a stupid Will Ferrell movie, it’s the most important piece of satire since Jonathan Swift wielded his mighty pen. [Metro]

• And, finally, the Inquirer has discovered instant messaging. Just wait until they find out about that hip, new search engine Yahoo.com. [Inquirer]

Leftovers: JGT’s Big Top

• Be sure to check out Johnny Goodtimes’ Roadtrip Blog, which he’s doing for Traffic.com as a part of some promotion. You may remember that I posted this early last month. If this isn’t the strangest thing to come out of my blog, I don’t know what is. [Traffic.com Roadtrip]

• What’s scarier in this story: That Penndot managed to put up a sign that says TRUKC, or that said sign costs $3,100. Mhmmm, let’s go with the latter. [AP/NBC 10]

• The now ex-Lehigh student who robbed a bank last December has pled guilty. [AP/The Express-Times]

• The hottest fad in Philadelphia is, of course, barbershop. Baby on board, something, something, Burt Ward. [KYW 1060]

• The Tasty Baking Co. has sold out to the Donald. Well, sorta. The Donald paid Tastykake $1.4 million for the option to purchase the site. It’s like a personal seat license for a casino! [Daily News]

I think this is called ‘doubling down’

Hey, remember this kid? Sure you do! He’s the Lehigh University sophomore who was arrested on Dec. 9 for robbing a bank.

Now that was a story. President of the Class of 2008, son of a minister, in a frat — everything except the last one … hmm, actually, no, wait. All of those things make it pretty obvious he’d be an ass. But would little 19-year-old Greg Hogan a bank robber? Gee, it doesn’t seem like it. According to police, though, he confessed.

And, as you’re all waiting, here comes the defense: he owes thousands of dollars to online casinos. Eh, that’s not going to work, is it?

Actually, I’m rooting for the kid. With slots coming to down, if his defense works, this city just got a lot more interesting. Oh, and dangerous.

Lawyer Says Accused Robber Has Addiction [WFMZ-TV]
Dec. 12: Revenge of the nerd bank robber

Revenge of the nerd bank robber

See that guy to the left? He robbed a fucking bank. Allegedly. He even confessed, according to police. Yes, Lehigh University — close enough to write about, shush — Class of 2008 president Greg Hogan was arrested for robbing a bank on Friday.

Police said he entered the bank, demanded money and ended up with $2,871. He exited, got into his frat brother’s car and they returned to the fraternity house, presumably to swim around in a big pool of $20 bills.

He was arrested. His frat bro says he was an unknowing accomplice. What makes the story weirder is he was apparently really rich. The story from Lehigh’s student newspaper, The Brown & White, interviews several random shocked students, including one who wants you to know it wasn’t an accident: “You really have to go out of your way to rob a bank.”

I can’t disagree with that. But I do have a simple question: Who would actually think this kid could be threatening? Look at him! If I were a bank teller and he told me to stick ‘em up, I’d fall on the ground laughing. The only thing less threatening to me would be if I were a bank teller and Greg Gumble tried to rob me.

Class of 2008 president arrested in bank robbery [The Brown & White]