The Eagle Eye

Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: News

Bryan Gentzyel and Kathy Richards are screwing on the lug-nuts as Caroline Sweeney (far left), Katelyn Roussous (middle) and Johnny Blough (right) look on.

Ten members of the Honors Program traveled to Annapolis, Md., last Thursday to attend the Northeast Regional Honors Council Conference, but the real adventure did not take place until the trip back to Lock Haven Sunday morning.
Professor Kathy Richards, the interim honors director and driver of one of the two university vans, pulled off to the side immediately after the van somehow got a flat tire. The flat tire would strand them on the side of Interstate 97 for nearly three hours.
"I was sitting in the front seat, and I saw the back right tire blow out," said Kristi Pearsall, a senior in the Honors Program who was traveling behind the first van. "She did a good job of keeping it under control and pulling over."
Upon inspecting the damaged tire amongst some slight rain, the students decided that it would be easier to use the spare from the other van rather than remove all of their luggage from the van with the flat.
"We spent nearly an hour trying to remove the tire from one van and then the other, but both of them were too corroded," said Kim Cox, a junior in the Honors Program who was soaking wet after laying underneath the spare tire. "There was no way we could have gotten them off without any tools."
Richards eventually called AAA, but the associate was of little help when one of the spare tires didn't fit, and he still couldn't remove the other.
"I asked him what we were supposed to do, and he basically told us that we'd have to figure it out on our own. Then he left," said Richards.
Bryan Gentzyel, a former student associate director who was driving the other van, finally drove to Wal-Mart to buy a spare tire.
"I had to buy it myself because the credit card the University issued us with the vans is only good for buying gas," he said.
After nearly three hours, the flat tire was finally replaced.
"The hole in that tire was huge," said Cox. "The tread was so worn down that I can't believe they let us drive over 400 miles on those."
Originally slated to return to Lock Haven around 2:30 pm, the vans pulled up to the Honors House just after 5 pm.
"That certainly was an interesting experience," said Johnny Blough, a junior in the program, "No one was impatient though, and we all worked well together to solve the problem."

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