State briefs
Outside jurors ordered HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Venango County jury will decide the fate of a woman charged in the beating and slashing death of another woman.
The state Supreme Court on Friday ordered that jurors for the first-degree murder trial of Kristin Marie Edmundson, 21, of Duncansville, be chosen from outside Clearfield County, where the alleged slaying took place.
The court ruled jurors from outside Clearfield County are needed to ensure a fair trial in the high-profile case.
Edmundson and Marie Louise Seilhamer, 20, of Ashville, could face the death penalty if convicted in the May 5, 2001, death of Shari Lee Jackson, an emergency medical technician from Hollidaysburg.
Edmundson allegedly told a friend before the killing that Jackson was trying to “get on her girlfriend,” court documents said.
Prosecutors allege Seilhamer used a baseball bat to beat Jackson, while Edmundson slit her throat with a box cutter.
Jury selection for Edmundson’s trial is scheduled for January.
On Wednesday, Scott Custer, of Boswell, pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse for allegedly helping the women burn Jackson’s body and agreed to testify against Edmundson and Jackson.
Bills collected
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Threats of criminal charges and the possibility of having their good names trashed have apparently helped the city collect money from people who haven’t paid their garbage bills.
Officials in Johnstown, about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, say about three dozen people have paid a total of $6,000 to avoid punishments proposed to crack down on the city’s trash scofflaws.
The city loses about $100,000 a year because about 10 percent of residents don’t pay garbage collection bills, officials said. Most who don’t pay the $119 annual bill are renters, city Finance Director Joe Bunk said.
City officials have discussed sanctions such as filing theft-of-services charges or releasing a list of the top 10 garbage bill scofflaws to help collect the money.
Ferry sold
ERIE, Pa. (AP) – After more than six years sitting idle at a pier on Lake Erie, a former railcar ferry may get under way – but only because city officials are taking away its berth.
The long-dormant Viking I, owned by Contessa Cruise Lines of Brownsville, Wis., has been sold and could leave Presque Isle Bay soon, said Raymond Schreckengost, head of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority.
The 348-foot-long former railcar ferry has been docked at the bay since October 1996. In September, the Port Authority terminated the Viking I’s month-to-month lease.
Contessa brought the Viking to Erie in 1996 intending to begin a run between Erie and Port Stanley, Canada.
The Viking I is being forced from its berth to make way for the Lansdowne, a former ferry barge being converted into a floating restaurant.