Using hand-held metal detectors, Players Nite Club confiscated about 14 knives from bar patrons last weekend, a regional manager of St. Moritz Security Services, Inc., said yesterday.

Guards employed by Pittsburgh-based St. Moritz Security, which provides security for nightclubs, were working at Club Love the night Penn State senior Michael Donahue was stabbed. However, guards weren't using metal detectors that night, Rick Payton, regional manager of the security service, said.

Most of the knives confiscated Friday and Saturday nights were pocketknives, Payton said.

The implementation of metal detectors is a safety measure the State College Police Department has pushed recently, following the death of Donahue on Feb. 19. Police said Josephy Alberto Ventura was found with a bloody kitchen knife with a 3-inch blade after the incident. He was charged with first- and third-degree murder.

Payton said his company has suggested metal detectors to Tony Sapia, the owner of Club Love, 129 1/2 S. Pugh St. Sapia is currently consulting his attorneys about the safety measure, Payton said.

"It makes sense to me. We don't want to alarm everyone in town, but every precaution that could be taken to stop a dangerous situation should be taken," Payton said.

Although pocketknives are legal, private businesses like bars can designate what kinds of materials are brought onto their property, State College Police Sgt. Mark Argiro said.

Players Nite Club, 112 W. College Ave., gave patrons the option of checking their knives at the door or leaving the bar.

"According to the guard that worked there, he said there were quite a few items they detected," Payton said. He added that the guards found about seven or eight knives each night.

Kevin Franklin, the general manager for Players Nite Club, said the owners have been discussing implementing metal detectors for about a year.

"We just tried it this last weekend, and we're going to continue with it," Franklin said. "That's probably going to be the way of the future."

Although he could not speak about why the owners decided to use metal detectors, he said some of the reasons could be the State College Police Department's recent promotion of metal detectors in bars and Donahue's death.

Franklin said he hasn't received any negative feedback about the change.

"So far, its been a great reaction," he said. "It went well. My employees are happy. It's a security peace of mind."

Payton said that in 1975, when the building Players Nite Club now occupies was called "Mr. C's" -- "one of the hottest discos on the East Coast," according to Payton -- there was an armed, uniformed guard standing at the door. But, because the club wasn't encountering any problems, the armed-guard position was fazed out, he said.