State briefs
Plans shelved SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) – Amid opposition from pilots, officials in a western Pennsylvania county unanimously voted to shelve plans to build what a developer said could have been the state’s largest wind farm.
Somerset County zoning officials on Monday rejected a proposal to allow Stonycreek Windpower LLC to erect eight windmills near the county’s airport as part of a $70 million, 30-turbine wind farm about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Without the turbines near the airport, Stonycreek Windpower officials said the project may not be worth it.
“Basically, it’s there or nowhere,” said Robert Gardner, vice president of Leawood, Kan.-based Generation Resources Holding Co., the parent company of Stonycreek Windpower.
Pilots opposed the proposed wind farm, saying the 387-foot-tall windmills would lie within restricted airspace and make takeoffs and landings at the airport dangerous.
County officials also said the turbines would endanger plans to pave a grass runway and would make the runway unsafe for larger planes.
FAA officials have said that the wind turbines about two miles from an airport don’t constitute a threat as long as they are equipped with warning lights.
Work continues
UNION CITY, Pa. (AP) – More than 200 workers will stay on the job for another month at an Ethan Allen furniture plant because the plant is the only one that can make certain finishes.
Workers and officials in Union City had expected Monday to be the last day of operations at the plant, about 20 miles south of Erie.
But the plant, one of three scheduled to be closed by the Danbury, Conn., furniture maker, will stay open until May 22 because it is the only plant that can produce tables with ultraviolet finishes.
“The operations we have are unique to any other plant in the company. Until we have that going somewhere else, we’re going to stay up and running,” said plant manager Mark Peters.
The plant’s closure, announced in February, is the latest economic sting felt in Union City, a town of 3,500 that has also lost jobs from a school, hospital, another furniture plant and a hardwood company closing down.
Trial delayed
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The trial of a former police chief accused of stealing money seized as evidence in drug cases has been delayed.
Allegheny County Judge Raymond Novak on Monday pushed back former Wilkinsburg police Chief Gerald Brewer’s trial until June 10.
Brewer, 49, who now lives in Jupiter, Fla., is charged with stealing more than $20,000 from an evidence safe in the suburban Pittsburgh police department from 1999 until his resignation in December 2000.
The district attorney’s office began investigating Brewer after two Wilkinsburg police officers discovered money seized as drug evidence missing from the safe in Brewer’s office in May 2000.
According to an indictment, Brewer often played video poker and went to a West Virginia racetrack twice a month. Financial records showed he had “a mountain of debt,” authorities have said.
Brewer’s lawyer has maintained the former chief’s innocence, saying the missing cash is the result of poor bookkeeping.
Policy approved
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – State College Borough Council has approved a policy that lays out how surveillance cameras can be used by the borough.
The policy, which passed on a 4-3 vote, paves the way for the borough to purchase and install closed-circuit television cameras in the area of downtown known as Beaver Canyon, which has been the site of several riots and other late-night disturbances.
“I really believe that we have to do this now because we have an ongoing problem. It isn’t just a few weekends a year, it’s all the time,” council member Catherine Dauler said.
Matt Ritsko, a Penn State sophomore and Undergraduate Student Government Senator, said after the vote that he was disappointed.
“I think it’s kind of sad. We addressed our concerns. We addressed our opinions. And I felt it fell on deaf ears,” Ritsko said.
Council members expressed their concerns, too.
“It’s a very serious matter for a local government to consider purchasing cameras to observe its own citizens. I think this is something that should only be considered when everything else has been tried. We have a problem on Beaver Avenue, but everything else has not been tried,” council member Elizabeth Goreham said
Job fairs planned
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – Officials are planning job fairs, and school districts and municipalities are tallying expected revenue losses after hundreds of employees lost their jobs at the Corning Asahi picture-tube plant.
The state Department of Labor and Industry scheduled meetings Thursday at the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology in Pleasant Gap to help the first wave of jobless start over.
Corning Inc. announced last week it would close operations entirely at its College Township plant by the end of June, eliminating 1,000 jobs. The plant has already laid off about 350 people.
The State College Area and Bald Eagle Area school districts were home to about 150 Corning employees each last year.
Dennis Younkin, business manager for the State College Area School District, said the tax losses to the six-municipality district would amount to about $100,000. The district’s proposed budget next year is $79 million.
Project planned
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) – Manheim Township School District officials expect to unveil design plans for a planned $66 million school renovation project within two months, and community members are concerned about what the final design may hold.
About 15 parents and residents attended last week’s school board meeting, urging members to spare no expense when it comes to sports.
“The reason we’re here is the rumor mill has it that the things being discussed will not include much for the athletic venues,” resident Monica Wilson said.
In December, the board voted to have architects draft plans to renovate one section of the school and build a 200,000-square-foot addition containing classrooms, a gymnasium and an auditorium.
The price tag includes razing older sections of the building but does not include a new indoor swimming pool. If a new pool is needed, the project would cost another $3 million to $5 million.
District officials have said they hope the new high school is completed for the 2006-07 school year.
Ex-firefighter sentenced
EASTON, Pa. (AP) – Tatamy Volunteer Fire Company didn’t have money for training its firefighters, so Thomas L. Howey Jr. decided to take matters into his own hands.
With the help of three friends, the 19-year-old volunteer firefighter from Easton set multiple blazes last year so he and the other volunteers could extinguish them.
Howey was sentenced Monday to six years of probation. Northampton County Judge Edward G. Smith ordered him to pay nearly $53,000, which is his share of the cost to replace buildings he set on fire, including a shed, garage and barn.
Howey pleaded guilty to one count of arson, although he admitted to setting four structure fires and two brush fires.
“We thought of it as a training purpose at the time,” Howey told the judge Monday.
Gunfire recounted
READING, Pa. (AP) – A mayoral candidate caught in a shootout this weekend had just registered two men to vote before they drew guns and opened fire on a van, police said Monday.
Evelyn W. Morrison said she was campaigning Saturday when the gunbattle erupted. Morrison was pushed to safety by a man in a nearby barbershop.
“I find the activities that took place there appalling,” said Police Chief Charles R. Broad. “I understand the plight of the people of Reading because I live here and my family lives here, too. That’s why I’m concerned about crime, and why we are doing everything we can to make it safe here.”
Morrison said she was standing on the steps of the barbershop about 11:30 a.m. and registered the two young men to vote.
“These boys were very attentive,” Morrison said. “We were talking about the history of voting and why it is important to vote. Then I took a step to go into the barbershop after signing them up and I heard this barrage of gunfire.”