Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • Page 5

Standard-Speaker, Sunday, May 24, 1998 A5 STATE Hersheypark debuts $13 million coaster By ALIAH D. WRIGHT Associated Press Construction on the ride began last fall. "It is large elements like the loop and the immelman an acrobatic figure that makes it a more majestic experience." Hersheypark officials say they chose because their design offered more thrills and excitement. "It's very well known in the roller coaster industry," said Jeff Budgeon, managing director of planning, engineering and maintenance for the park. "It's the Cadillac of roller coaster builders." which claims to be the first firm to ever design inverted roller coasters, has built a total of 15 of the rides 10 in the United States and five in Japan and England.

But Bolliger calls Great Bear "the best ride I ever designed." Named for the largest constellation in the universe, Great Bear lifts passengers, legs dangling, 90 feet from the ground. Then it hurls them 120-feet through spirals at speeds of nearly 60 miles per hour. It then rolls into a loop, again taking riders more than 100 feet off the ground. At the top of the loop, riders roll out in an inverted position like a falling star into a 360-degree roll, a sense of weightlessness washes over them. It is not an experience for the faint-hearted.

Black netting hangs strategically beneath some portions of the ride, to catch riders' belongings as they hang upside down. rlf fit HERSHEY, Pa. Twelve-year-old Shelly Brooks held on tight, her feet dangling, as Hersheypark's newest and most expensive ride ever, an inverted roller coaster, shot through spirals, loops and corkscrews at nearly 60 miles per hour. It was the longest three minutes of her life. "I was just amazed," she said after exiting the ride with her sister during the park's sneak-preview day for employees, families and special guests earlier this week.

The park's regular season began May 9. Saturday was the first time the general public was allowed to ride the roller coaster. "At first it felt like I was going to fall out and it felt it like my feet were going to hit the bars so I just kept lifting my feet up," the Hershey resident said. At $13 million, Great Bear is worth every death-defying penny, roller coaster enthusiasts say. Inverted roller coasters are not new.

But at Hersheypark, the experience is made much more exciting by the fact that it intersects with four other rides, and at times, riders feel as if they may crash or be flung into other rides. "This was a very challenging site," the roller coaster's Swiss designer, Walter Bolliger, of Bolliger Mabillard said of building the roller coaster over and under the other rides. 1 'a- Vlk gy, KALIM A. BHATTI Associated Press attraction at Hersheypark in Hershey. It is the roller coaster that shoots through spirals, People ride the "Great the newest attri newest and most expensive ride ever, an invertec loops and corkscrews at nearly 60 miles per hour.

the newest re ride ever, an inverted Ridge arrives in Israel on first leg of trade mission ing abroad for the first time, while others are seeking to expand markets or maintain dealings with existing customers. The trade trip continues Tuesday in Scotland, where Ridge will tour a semiconductor research and design center. He then heads to Northern Ireland where he will visit Galen Holdings, a Belfast pharmaceutical firm that will open its first U.S. facility in Pennsylvania. Ridge is expected to meet with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahem and Irish education ministers in Dublin Thursday about forming technology partner-, ships between that country and Pennsylvania.

A seminar on high-tech workforce development is planned in Dublin, as is a meeting at Allied Irish Bank headquarters and a tour of the Guinness brewery. The bank has operations in the state and the parent company of Guinness sells products to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. I The trade mission is Ridge's fourth since becoming governor three years ago. He visited Japan, South Korea and Singapore last fall, Italy in early 1997, day, including opening Pennsylvania's first trade office in Jerusalem and meeting with Israeli trade officials, said Nell Abom, the governor's deputy director of communications. Later on Sunday, Ridge is scheduled to have a private dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S.

congressional leaders. He also will tour Jerusalem's old city and place a wreath at Yad Vashem, the national memorial honoring victims of the Holocaust. Some of the 15 companies participating are look Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel Gov. Tom Ridge arrived in Israel Saturday to begin the first leg of an eight-day trade mission aimed at strengthening Pennsylvania's economic ties overseas. Ridge is leading a delegation of business leaders, state government representatives and university officials who are seeking business opportunities abroad and want to encourage foreign companies to do business in the state.

The governor begins a full day of activities Sun 4 'zrLt I 'i i 1 You're at a Point in Your Life Where You Need to Choose a Health Care Plan Then You'll be Interested in What First Priority Health, the Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania HMO Has to Offer. i I MICHELLE KLEINAssociated Press Jillian Robbins is led from the Centre County Courtroom in Bellfonte Friday after reaching a plea agreement on charges stemming from a shooting on the Penn State University campus. Robbins pleaded guilty to third degree murder and trying to kill four other students on Sept. 17,1996. PSU sniper sentenced for '96 shootings By HEIDI RUSSELL Associated Press You're becoming more responsible every day.

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wounded. Two bullets missed two other students, instead hitting their backpacks. Senior Brendon Malovrh, then 21, wrestled the gun away from Ms. Robbins, who also had a knife. Malovrh dodged a slash of her knife and then stopped her leg from bleeding after she cut herself.

Mauser rifle equipped with a telescopic sight. At the time, friends said she was depressed about her failed marriage, had attempted suicide and had spent time in a mental institution. Killed was Melanie Spalla, a 21-year-old journalism major from Altoona. Another student, Nicholas Mensah, then 22, of Philadelphia, was shot and So, go ahead and climb the ladder of success, we're with you all of the way. Our First Priority Health Customer Service telephone hours will accommodate your active lifestyle, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m. Or, call your local sales representative. FIRST PRIORITY HEALTH I Subsidiary' BlueCross of Northeastern Pennsylvania Independent Licensees of the Blu Cross and Blue ShieW Association BELLEFONTE, Pa. As Jillian Robbins was led away to start her 30- to 60-year sentence for the sniper rampage that left a Penn State student dead, "her mother said her daughter does not belong in prison because of her ongoing battle with mental illness. "I cannot approve of violence, but as Jillian's mother, her reality is not like we see it.

She sees images and hears voices we don't. I'm not pleased with the plea agreement," said Lisa Robbins. Jillian Robbins, 21, pleaded guilty Friday to third-degree mur- der and trying to kill four other students in the Sept. 17, 1996 incident on the university's pus. The plea followed 20 months of psychiatric evaluations.

"This was never a case of who- dunit. It was, What do we do under the said William Costopoulus, one of Ms. Robbins' defense attorneys. "It I was not appropriate that she receive the death penalty." Centre County District Attor-'. ney Ray Gricar said he accepted the plea agreement because he was concerned a jury would find Ms.

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