State briefs
Branding opposed STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – Borough officials voted 6-1 against a proposal that would limit the practice of branding, the latest wave of body modification that involves burning the skin to create scars.
The proposed ordinance, rejected by the borough council on Tuesday night, would have limited the “body modification” practice to physicians only.
“You can’t protect people from their own stupidity,” Councilman Jim Meyer said in voting against the ordinance.
Chris Prybyla, a body piercer and brander with Tattoo Marks Studio II in State College, praised the decision and offered to work with health department officials, who are now charged with adding branding to existing tattoo and piercing regulations.
“I hope this raises the bar for all the body art studios in town, and we can make things even more safe for our clients,” he said.
Check delivered
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Mark S. Schweiker hand-delivered a check for $6 million Tuesday to the Pennsylvania Academy of Music for its new recital hall and education building.
“The Pennsylvania Academy of Music has already established itself as a first-class facility,” Schweiker said. “With this investment, we expect bigger and better things for the academy.”
The nonprofit academy has already raised $6 million in required matching funds toward the construction of a new brick-and-glass building to be located downtown.
The grant money will be used to build a new 350-seat recital hall and recording studio with additional space for education, said academy co-founders and world-renowned duo pianists, husband and wife Michael Jamanis and Frances Veri.
Overpass planned
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) – A temporary overpass may be erected to restore traffic along the Fruitville Pike bridge, a major link to the city that was closed for safety reasons.
During a meeting with 25 municipal and Amtrak officials Tuesday, state Department of Transportation engineer Mike Sisson said other options include rebuilding the entire bridge at once, which would allow one lane to be open for traffic, or building the bridge in sections, two lanes at a time.
Both options would allow traffic to return to the bridge by May 26 and would likely be completed in fall 2003.
Erecting a temporary span would enable traffic to cross into and out of the city by March, but Sisson said that option would add a year to the bridge reconstruction project.
State officials ordered the span closed Nov. 12 after inspectors found cracks in a support pier, making it unsafe.
Address remembered
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) – Lynne Cheney was on hand at a ceremony honoring the 139th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and the dedication of the National Cemetery.
In remarks before about 800 people in attendance, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney recounted the bravery of those who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.
“Brave men and women remind us of the element of contingency in history,” she said Tuesday. “And this realization is crucial because it underlies understanding of how precious our freedom is and how well worth defending.”
Also in attendance were protesters from a group called the Carlisle Peace College, who held signs decrying a potential war with Iraq.
“We want to show concern at the change of path of righteousness our nation is taking, planning to invade a country that has not attacked us,” said group spokesman Ben Price, who recently ran for the 19th Congressional District seat for the Green Party.
Infant buried
WOOLRICH, Pa. (AP) – Some three dozen people turned out to pay their respects to the baby boy found dead this month in a pile of garbage at the Clinton County Landfill.
The unidentified infant, who was given the name Aaron by Clinton County Coroner Donald G. Walker, was buried Tuesday in a donated burial plot, inside a tiny donated coffin adorned with flowers provided by strangers.
“Something like this is not supposed to happen here,” said the Rev. Norman Evans of the Woolrich United Methodist Church. “Not here where there are small communities of friends and neighbors, where we think evil is supposed to be held at bay.”
The investigation into the death continues, with an emphasis on finding the baby’s mother. Police have been canvassing the Lycoming and Clinton County areas since the newborn was found Nov. 5.
An autopsy revealed the baby was born alive and died of asphyxiation.
Celebration planned
READING, Pa. (AP) – Reading Regional Airport has slated a yearlong series of events to celebrate the 100th anniversary next year of the Wright brothers’ historic flight
The events begin on Dec. 7 with “Christmas in the Air 2002,” offering free plane rides to children. Other events will include picnics, drive-in movies, fly-in breakfasts, historic displays and other events, many aimed at the public and others aimed at pilots, aircraft owners and even shoppers in the “Centennial of Flight” series.
Airport business tenants spokesman Peter Malashevitz said the rides are part of the national “Young Eagles Program,” which has a goal of giving more than one million children an aircraft ride before the Dec. 17, 2003, anniversary of the Wright brothers’ 12-second flight.
Drug suspects arrested
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – More than two dozen people were arrested on drug charges Tuesday as state, Allentown and Lehigh County officers conducted a citywide drug sweep.
Allentown vice squad officers, state troopers and members of the Lehigh County Drug Task Force on Tuesday served arrest warrants they had obtained through two months of investigation and undercover drug buys, police said.
Executive Assistant Chief Joseph Blackburn described the 25 people arrested as low- and midlevel dealers.
The effort, in which police were assisted by a National Guard helicopter, coincided with a visit from Gov. Mark Schweiker, who was in Allentown to discuss his Weed and Seed program, an urban revitalization effort that combines law enforcement with community development.
Suit filed
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The owners of a now-closed Allentown nightclub have filed a federal lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board that claims the club was singled out because its clientele were minorities.
Filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of Kirit S. Patel, Chandrakant S. Patel and Yakov Shiryak, the suit names former LCB Chairman John E. Jones and other liquor control board officials as defendants.
According to the document, the three men opened the Volcano nightclub in September 1999. The club was placed on the state’s nuisance bar list in April 2002 after receiving four citations, LCB spokeswoman Donna Pinkham said.
Lawyers for the Patels and Shiryak claim that state liquor control officers repeatedly singled out the club, which the suit says catered to blacks and Hispanics.
Pinkham said the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Traffic increases
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Local air traffic is beginning to increase again after serious slumps since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to George Doughty, executive director of Lehigh Valley International Airport.
October figures were up 4.5 percent from a year ago, he said.
“The trend has shifted from decline to advance,” he said. However, the year-to-date figures still show a 17 percent slump from the same period last year.
Doughty, speaking Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority board, said Southeast Airways and its $59 flights to Orlando, Fla., have helped LVIA’s numbers.
More than 2,000 travelers used Southeast to travel from LVIA in October, and a similar number used it to get to the Lehigh Valley last month. Service began over the summer.
Custodian advances
LEBANON, Pa. (AP) – In six years, Francis Fiorentino has gone from custodian to assistant principal of Cedar Crest Middle School.
“If there is an American dream, this guy has lived it,” said Thomas Sherk, director of secondary education, who was a middle-school principal when Fiorentino worked nights as a custodian.
Fiorentino, 39, was a laborer at Hershey Foods Corp.’s San Giorgio pasta plant in Lebanon when he took the custodian job nine years ago so he could attend school during the day. For three years, he worked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., then drove an hour away to Millersville University, where he took more than a full course load so he could graduate in less than four years.
After graduation, he was hired at Union Canal Elementary School, where he teaches fifth grade. He then went to Temple University for his principal’s certificate and he was named assistant principal this week by the Cornwall-Lebanon School Board. Fiorentino will assume his new duties in January.
Quality studied
YORK, Pa. (AP) – A high dropout rate and low test scores of Hispanic students in York are spurring community leaders to investigate education quality at city schools.
Parents and community members are looking to arrange a meeting with the York City School Board to discuss the issues recently brought to light in meetings with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
Among the concerns are the school district’s dropout rate, scoring disparities on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exam and the ratio of Hispanic staff members to Hispanic students.
Alex Ramos, the Spanish American Center’s executive director, hopes a meeting can be arranged for early December.
“It’s not only about what they can do, but we also want to know how we can help,” Ramos said. He said he doesn’t want the issues raised to be viewed purely in racial terms but in improving the quality of education for all students.
Apology issued
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) – A former white supremacist delivered an anti-hate message to Scranton High School students, saying the birth of his son turned his life around.
“I’m here today to apologize and take responsibility for my actions,” former Aryan Nations spokesman Floyd Cochran told 300 students Tuesday.
Cochran, 45, is the founder of Education & Vigilance, a group that monitors and exposes white supremacist activity.
In ten years, hate groups in Pennsylvania have increased from fewer than six to more than 30, he said.
He was 15 when he became involved with white-power groups. He changed after his second son, now 12, was born with a cleft palate and lip.
Aryan Nations officials called him a “genetic aberration” and said he should be euthanized. Now Cochran speaks out against racism, despite having his life and property threatened by white supremacist groups.
“I didn’t have fear as a racist, I’m not going to have it now,” he said. “I think responsibility and character go hand in hand. If you accept responsibility, you have character.”