State briefs
Red Cross stays put JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) – The American Red Cross has decided not to move its $18 million regional headquarters to a site in downtown Johnstown, the latest blow to the distressed city.
The regional operation has outgrown its current location on Vine Street and fear of a flood was one of the reasons for not remaining in downtown, Thomas Angle, chief executive officer for the Greater Alleghenies Region, told the Johnstown Tribune-Review for Tuesday’s edition.
The new headquarters will be selected from five prospective sites, Angle said, though he declined to identify them.
Johnstown officials had lobbied the Red Cross to move to another site in the downtown area by offering $2.5 million in city, state and federal funding. U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Johnstown, was among many who sent letters of support.
Supporters said the Red Cross should remain in Johnstown because it’s where Red Cross founder Clara Barton worked during a flood in 1889.
The operation provides blood to 100 counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.
Auction planned
CRESSON, Pa. (AP) – A historical group hopes to save a 116-year-old summer cottage built by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie by auctioning off another property.
Cresson Area Historical Association will auction its Wayside House on Oct. 27 to help pay for renovations to the Victorian-style Braemer Cottage, which officials said has more historic value.
The Carnegies went to recuperate at the cottage after falling ill with pneumonia while coming from Europe. Andrew Carnegie’s brother and mother died while he was bedridden himself.
The Braemer Cottage, although blighted, is listed on the National Historic Registry and features rounded turrets on both sides and a grand interior staircase. The association purchased the house in 1990 for $15,000.
Selling the Wayside House is the association’s last-ditch effort for money after fund-raising efforts fell short, with $35,000 raised in 1995 paying for a state study that called for a $1 million preservation plan.
An appraisal of Wayside will be available at the time of the auction.
Renovation celebrated
HOMESTEAD, Pa. (AP) – State and federal officials Monday celebrated the completion of a $4.5 million renovation of the Bost Building, which served as headquarters of striking workers during the Battle of Homestead.
U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, who sponsored legislation that made the site a national park, stood alongside Gov. Mark Schweiker and other dignitaries at the event.
“It’s hard to imagine what was going on in this building 110 years ago,” Doyle said.
The 1892 labor standoff turned violent when Pinkerton guards hired by the Carnegie Steel Co. landed at the pump station at the mill to battle with striking workers. The strike is now considered a landmark event in the nation’s labor movement.
Homestead-based Steel Industry Heritage Corp. estimates that in years to come, a national park spanning the Monongahela River in Homestead, Rankin and Swissvale could generate more than $25 million annually to the local economy.
Club owner charged
JULIAN, Pa. (AP) – A strip-club owner has been charged with illegally serving alcohol in “dry” Huston Township, according to police records.
Larry Nagle, owner of The End Zone club, is denying charges that beer is served at the club. Two state police officers said they went to the club in June and were served draft beers. They also said they saw nude dancers performing.
A 1997 township referendum bans bottle clubs, businesses that admit 20 or more people and serve alcohol or allow alcohol to be brought in.
Nagle faces charges of operating a bottle club without voters’ approval and offering lewd entertainment within such a business.
“I have no comment on the whole thing other than we weren’t in violation,” he said. “We don’t have a liquor license and we’re not a bottle club.”
Embezzlement alleged
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. (AP) – A former employee of the Shippensburg Area Parks and Recreation Department has been charged with embezzling nearly $100,000 from the department between 1997 and 2001, officials said.
Donna Marie Kissinger, 34, was charged Friday with credit card fraud by Thomas A. Marino, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Federal officials said Kissinger may have embezzled as much as $99,834 from the department. They said she wrote checks to herself from the department account, converted department checks to her personal account and used the department credit card to acquire goods, services and cash advances.
Martin Carlson, an assistant U.S. Attorney, said Kissinger has signed an agreement pleading guilty to the charge of credit card fraud. She is free until she enters the plea in federal court at a later date.
Kissinger faces a maximum punishment of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the credit card fraud charge.
She could not be reached for comment Monday.
Boyfriend charged
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) – A 47-year-old woman is accused of stabbing her boyfriend more than a dozen times with a drill bit, according to court records.
Karen N. Heinrich is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and making terroristic threats. She is being held at Northampton County Prison.
Her boyfriend, Frederick Opp, 45, suffered 16 puncture wounds to his chest, back and arms during the alleged attack on Friday, officials said. He was treated at St. Luke’s Hospital in Fountain Hill and was discharged Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Police said they arrived at the home late on Friday night after receiving reports of a domestic dispute. Officers said when they entered, Opp was holding his arms up in a defensive position while Heinrich stood in front of him with a bloody drill bit.
Police said they then arrested Heinrich and took Opp to the hospital.
A preliminary hearing for Heinrich is scheduled on Oct. 8.
Woman strangled
READING, Pa. (AP) – A 69-year-old woman was beaten, raped and strangled in her Reading home, police said.
Gretta Gougler tried to fight off her attacker, but failed, police said. They said she was attacked between Friday and Saturday night.
“She was just a poor, innocent victim,” said Capt. Francis F. Drexler of the criminal investigations division.
Police said they went to the block for a different call and saw that Gougler’s door was open. They found her naked body inside the house.
Police had not found the intruder on Monday.