Herb Sharpe, 53, decided to watch the Penn State-Temple basketball game March 23 at the coffee shop where his roommate works. When it was over, he stopped at the ATM machine on the corner of Hiester Street and Beaver Avenue.

"I was really kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time," Sharpe, a State College resident for more than 30 years, said of that night.

Sharpe did not expect to go to the hospital. And he did not expect to have surgery to repair damage to ligaments in his knees.

Sharpe saw the crowd gathered on Beaver Avenue that night and asked some students what was going on. The students explained that some people had gathered in "Beaver Canyon" after the basketball game. But they told Sharpe the crowd was rather celebratory despite the loss. They also said police were present, but they were posing for pictures and joining in Penn State chants.

But then the atmosphere changed.

"I saw two streetlights rocking back and forth," Sharpe said. "That's when I thought, 'Oh shit.' "

Sharpe was knocked to the ground after a crowd of people ran down Hiester Street to avoid being pepper sprayed by police during Penn State's third riot in four years. He was knocked over and fell onto a piece of pressure-treated lumber. A group of people, most likely students, helped him to a safe area and protected him until his roommate came to take him to the hospital. An ambulance would not have been able to navigate its way through the tumultuous situation, Sharpe said.

The ligaments in his knees were cleanly torn, and because of the injury Sharpe will have to endure a recovery process that will last anywhere from six to nine months, forcing him to miss work. The injury put him in a wheelchair, causing simple things like getting out of bed or making a pot of coffee to become long, uncomfortable ordeals.

Despite the inconvenience of the injury and medical costs that could become "astronomical," Sharpe has not developed a vendetta against students.

"I don't hate students, because I was a student," he said. "When I was a student we went out and drank and partied, but we never got violent." Sharpe said he does not think the person who pushed him did so deliberately.

But some area and town residents are not so quick to excuse rioters.

William Kunkle of Port Matilda said at an April 2 meeting of the State College Borough Council that any students convicted of any riot-related crimes, even if the students are innocent bystanders, should be subject to expulsion from Penn State.

Other residents expressed not only resentment toward students but fear as well. At the same April 2 meeting, State College resident H.W. Bernard said that he would not walk down Beaver Avenue anymore because of the objects thrown off balconies.

"Even when somebody throws a bottle at a police officer, he throws it at all of us," Bernard said during the meeting, which was convened in an effort to bring students and townspeople together to offer riot prevention suggestions.

Earlier this year, the council came up with 44 suggestions for riot prevention. The suggestions were compiled by borough staff and about 24 local citizens. Among other things, they called for stiffer penalties for rioters, balcony control, more police, free movies on weekends, modified bus services and parking changes.

But Sharpe, a Penn State alumnus who has worked as an apartment manager in State College and as a police officer in Patton Township, does not think stricter penalties or rules are in order — but that a better understanding of students and potential rioters is.

"I'm not a Ph.D., but I'm older, smarter and educated with richness of life experience," Sharpe said. He said students now tend to make the news not because of activism, but because of violence.

"Students today have nothing they can grab onto and say, 'This is our challenge, this is our goal,' " Sharpe said. He said that when he was a student the Vietnam War was going on and students around the country were united in protest of it. "We had violence in the streets, but we let our anger out in constructive ways," he said. "Things have changed. Life is more stressful. People today demand more and want it quicker."

He said violence in the media might also make students think it is acceptable to riot.

"We see so much of that stuff," Sharpe said. "It is in our lives constantly. Society thinks we see it, which makes it okay, so we do it."

Sharpe thinks the majority of students are nice, caring and respectful.

"The percent of students causing the problem are small, and it only takes a few," he said.

He wanted to thank the students that helped him after the incident that injured him.

"Without them, I wouldn't be sitting here today," he said.

Concerning police response to the riot, Sharpe said that police were in a catch-22 situation and did what they had to do.

"They're damned if they do and damned if they don't," Sharpe said. "They have to control the order to prevent property damage. They probably waited for as long as they could."

Sharpe also said that the main reason the riots are so dangerous is because Beaver Avenue is a major traffic artery for State College. He said coincidences might make a bad situation worse. If there was a fire down the street, or someone on the other side of town had a heart attack, fire trucks or ambulances would never get through.

"You can't block a major throughway," Sharpe said. "It's dangerous to block that street for any length of time."

He said if he were a police officer at the riot, he would have been afraid.

"We are not a big city with mass murder, bank robbery and assault. I'm not just saying this because I am a town resident. I don't really feel they [the police] have it out for the students. They are just doing their job," Sharpe said.

But Sharpe said a lot of residents do not share his sentiments.

"They are concerned with their kids seeing it (violence) in their hometown. Some won't let their kids go downtown anymore and that is even during the afternoon. They need to know they can go downtown and feel safe," he said. "I would say most townspeople are pretty angry.

Stephen Fink, a State College resident, spoke at the council meeting last week, as did Sharpe. His point of view differed from Sharpe's, but he said he didn't mean to seem anti-student at the meeting.

"I just blew off a bit of steam," Fink said. "I was the first one there and the last one to speak.

"Overall the riots are symptoms of a bigger problem," he said. "I'm not really sure what that problem is. There is a sore somewhere that needs to be healed."

Sharpe said that if another riot occurred, the consequences would be grave.

"From the feeling I got from the borough council meeting, I strongly feel that if this happens again somebody is going to get hurt. And I'm talking students. The townspeople are fed up," Sharpe said. "I would hate to think this would ever happen again. I don't want to see any blood shed. It's senseless."

To prevent future riots, Sharpe said, "student involvement will be a key issue."

He said that maybe students could have helped clean up the area of the riot the morning after instead of the borough having to do so.

Fink said he blames the borough for the riots as much as the students. He proposed sweeping ideas for crowd control and prevention of riots at the meeting.

"They should condemn the three (apartment) buildings (on East Beaver Avenue) and use one of them — instead of building the new Taj Mahal municipal building," he said, referring to the new municipal building the borough is currently constructing on the 200 block of South Allen Street. "They could use the other two as prisons instead of building a new prison.

"I see the borough as responsible for the sore," Fink said. "It was their greed to get the money from those apartment buildings."

Fink also said a good place to start riot prevention would be for students studying law enforcement to get involved with the police.

"They (law enforcement students) could do something positive for the community," he said.

Fink also mentioned using fire hoses filled with permanent ink to stop a riot.

"The fire hose idea is crowd suppression," Fink said. "Do I think students suck and should be hosed to death? No."

Fink cited alcohol as a major cause of the riots.

"There is an alcohol problem," he said. "Alcohol is the number one abused drug in the world. They try to get rid of everything but the booze."

Fink said that if the town were dry, then perhaps riots would never happen in the first place. He suggested that instead of having bars in town where people could drink, apartment buildings or fraternities could keep a few kegs in their basements. Then students could stay in one place and only have to remember "what elevator button to push."

But Fink acknowledged his proposal is unrealistic, citing the failed attempt at prohibition in the 1920s.

"As soon as you mention getting rid of booze, people look at you like you live on Mars," Fink said.

Sharpe said perhaps a specific place, such as a field, could possibly be designated as an area where students could go blow off steam instead of "Beaver Canyon."

"You could take all the beer and whiskey you want," he said, "but you wouldn't be able to leave until the morning."

As a town resident, Fink has come to terms with the riots.

"I've learned to live with them," he said. "We need to treat the symptoms and control it at best."

Sharpe wants to do whatever he can to combat the riots.

"I've dedicated my life to give something back," he said. "Maybe I wouldn't have paid attention if this (injury) didn't happen to me. I'd like to meet with President Spanier if it could be arranged."

Sharpe said he would do whatever it takes to make sure that there is never another riot in State College.

"Maybe that could be my legacy," he said.