State briefs
Grant expected HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) – Blair County will receive a state grant to help build an addition to its county jail, which should help alleviate overcrowding.
The state allocated several million dollars for prison projects, which were awarded though competitive grants. Pennsylvania counties submitted 30 applications for the money.
Competition was tough, according to Blair County Commissioner John H. Eichelberger Jr. and Blair County Prison Warden John O’Connor. Blair County will receive $435,650.
Although the commissioners had hoped to receive $1 million so 32 cells could be built, plans will likely be scaled back to 23 cells.
The county’s inmate population stood at 260 on Monday – 15 more than state authorities want – and has been at more than 300 inmates. The last prison expansion was 20 years ago.
Conviction upheld
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The state Superior Court has upheld the murder conviction and sentence of a man who shot a police officer, ruling the sentence was not excessive.
The court “basically affirmed it in every respect,” McKean County District Attorney Michelle Alfieri said Monday, the day the court issued its ruling.
Timothy Williams, 22, is serving a 22- to 47-year prison sentence for third-degree murder in the February 1999 death of Steve Jerman, a police officer in Kane Borough, McKean County.
Jerman, 46, was shot after he stopped Williams along U.S. Route 6. Police said Williams had been tailgating another car and swerving.
In June, Williams’ attorney, Samuel Stretton, argued before a Superior Court panel that the sentence was excessive and that it didn’t consider Williams’ rehabilitative needs.
Stretton had also claimed Williams should have been able to use a self-defense strategy, but that the trial judge wouldn’t allow it.
Because Williams was drunk and injured, he didn’t remember the shooting, Stretton said. But the fact that Jerman fired five bullets while Williams shot once indicates Jerman used excessive force, Stretton argued.
Policy enforced
EAST CONEMAUGH, Pa. (AP) – Officials in a Cambria County borough have started enforcing a controversial policy requiring part-time officers to leave their borough-owned firearms at the station after their shifts.
Most officers in East Conemaugh are part time. The requirement excludes only the chief and the captain, the only full-time officers.
While the requirement has been criticized by the union representing the part-time officers, borough officials defended the plan.
Borough officials said one part-time officer didn’t work a single shift last year, but still had a borough gun. They also pointed out that a police officer in neighboring Johnstown is charged with murdering his girlfriend, likely with his service gun.
“They’re our weapons and our insurance company said that they highly recommend we keep the weapons in the station,” said Councilman Tony Fabina.
Some part-time officers have filed grievances, claiming they are being discriminated against. Critics said the policy could jeopardize part-time officers because criminals with a grudge could attack them after their shifts.
Hearing waived
NEWPORT, Pa. (AP) – A woman accused of lying to emergency dispatchers in order to get help for her son’s dying dog said she was hysterical at the time and will not fight the charge against her.
Cynthia Dianne Holleran, of Newport, waived a preliminary hearing before a district justice on Monday. She said she plans to plead guilty.
“I made a mistake. … I’m very sorry about the whole thing,” Holleran said. “What I did wasn’t out of malice or mischief. I was hysterical.”
She has been charged with making false alarms to agencies of public safety.
On July 20, police said, she called 911 dispatchers and reported that a 3-year-old child had stopped breathing.
But police said that when rescue personnel arrived they found out that the patient was a dog.
Holleran’s husband said that, while his wife was on the phone with dispatchers, he shouted across the room that the patient was a dog.
The dog had stopped breathing and eventually died.
Worker killed
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) – A construction worker from Texas was killed when he was run over by a piece of heavy equipment as he tried to keep it from rolling down a hill, authorities said.
Robert Sikes, 42, was pronounced dead at the scene in Upper Fairfield Township around 1 p.m. Monday, according to Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Keissling Jr. He said Sikes died from massive blunt force injuries to his chest and head.
Sikes, who was working on a project with Sheehan Construction Co., apparently fell from a boom as he tried to stop the piece of equipment, authorities said.
He was then run over by the vehicle’s tracks.
Keissling said that Sikes was killed instantly.
Funding received
EASTON, Pa. (AP) – Northampton County Prison officials have received a state grant to help finish an expansion of the jail.
The state Department of Corrections has awarded the county $435,650.
“We have good news for a change,” said Ann McHale, the county council’s prison liaison.
Corrections Director H. James Smith said the money would likely go toward paying for furniture and computers to go in the $22.8 million jail annex.
But the grant money could come with complications.
Tom Jones, vice chairman of the Easton Redevelopment Authority, said that using state or federal money means the county has to have a detailed historic impact study because it infringes on the Easton Historic District.
“It brings in the state history code,” Jones said.
The state Historical and Museum Commission regulates construction in national historic districts.
Suspect charged
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) – A man has been charged with weapons violations and other charges for pointing a gun at another car during an incident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, authorities said.
Robert Anthony Bolles, 37, brandished a pistol after he and another driver exchanged obscene gestures on the northeast extension of the turnpike on Sunday morning, authorities said.
State police arrested Bolles in Lower Macungie Township shortly after the alleged incident.
A five-car accident then occurred near where the arrest was made as drivers looked to see what was going on, police said.
Bolles was arraigned on charges of recklessly endangering another person, aggravated assault, carrying a firearm without a license and other charges.
He was sent to Bucks County Prison on $10,000 bail.
Order appealed
LEHIGHTON, Pa. (AP) – The Mahoning Speedway has appealed an order by Mahoning Township supervisors that it stop running morning practices at the track.
The township supervisors last month ordered the track’s owners to stop the practice, saying it violated township law.
The track’s permit said that racing can only be held after 1 p.m. on Saturday or Sunday, or on other specified occasions, township officials said.
Raceway owner Charles Pollock said he immediately abided by the order, but that he is appealing because he thinks the morning activities are not a violation.
“It was just a test-and-tuning session for cars that have rookie drivers or mechanical trouble so that their cars could be fixed in time for our Saturday night races,” Pollock said.