The Interfraternity Council (IFC) executive vice president informed members of the State College Borough Council last night about a program to curb excessive drinking habits of students.

The presentation, given by Drew Conly, took place because of a recent vote by the Town-Gown Partnership Against Dangerous Drinking to give $7,500 of its leftover $25,000 budget to the IFC. The partnership is a group of people from the Penn State campus and the community interested in alternative forms of recreation. The money would aid funding for Training for Intervention Procedures (TIPS), a group that teaches students about the dangers of excessive drinking.

TIPS, a program originally designed to teach service employees to spot drunken behavior and dangerous drinking habits, is now being incorporated into the IFC, said borough manager Tom Fountaine. "We're training people to look out for each other," Conly said. "How to be more safe about it."

Conly said the university has been working with the IFC to request a grant from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board for an additional $150,000 to incorporate TIPS into the First-Year Testing, Counseling and Advising Program (FTCAP). "Young students coming into college are at risk for dangerous drinking," he said.

Mayor Bill Welch said the IFC didn't ask for a specific amount of money, but once the partnership saw what TIPS was doing, it decided it needed the remaining budget money.

"The major expense are the booklets," Conly said. He said during the standard three-hour TIPS seminar, those who attend follow along in booklets.

Conly said attendees of the seminar learn how to determine whether an individual is drunken by looking for warning signs and behavioral clues like slurred speech and the breakdown of the individual's inhibitions. The final exam, a requirement of the program, is inside the booklet. "Each one is effectively destroyed," he said. Conly added most people also opt to keep the booklets after the seminars to refer back to.

Borough Council member Cathy Dauler said although TIPS was brought up at an earlier meeting with certain council members and IFC representatives, only a few minutes were spent discussing the program.

"I thought it was commendable that the IFC is reaching out to members of council," she said.

Borough Council members also voted at last night's meeting to file a Declaration of Taking for the properties located from 201 to 213 W. Beaver Ave. where the Medical Arts building is currently located.

Borough solicitor Terry Williams said the State College Borough wants to straighten the intersection of Fraser Street and West Beaver Avenue, possibly by the end of 2005.

Currently, the intersection does not form 90 degree angles. To realign the intersection, the properties need to be acquired by the borough so they can be destroyed to make way for a new section of Fraser Street, Williams said.

Williams said it would be a couple of months before the declaration is filed. An appraiser would then determine the value of the property.

"If it's worth $1, then you'd pay the owner $1 and be entitled to the property," he said.

Once the declaration is filed, the property owner has 30 days to file a preliminary objection, which can halt the sale, Williams said. However, once money exchanges hands, the property is the borough's.