State briefs
University files suit EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) – St. Francis University is suing a municipality for nearly $400,000 which the school contends it is owed for water and sewage service.
The university wants $382,032 from Loretto Borough and it wants Cambria County Court to oversee talks on future rates, billings and payments.
But Loretto officials said they’ve been paying.
“We have sent them payments every time. They just don’t cash the checks,” said Councilwoman Myrna Gongloff. She said St. Francis wants to raise the rates.
Nicholas Bentivegna, Loretto’s solicitor, said St. Francis is operating a public utility without a license and that only the state Public Utility Commission has the right to unilaterally set rates.
University attorney Dennis McGlynn said St. Francis sued after learning that Loretto Council wanted to use the money it owed for other projects in the borough of about 1,100 residents.
Frisbee fields studied
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Although the city is having financial troubles, it’s considering spending $100,000 to build three Ultimate Frisbee fields.
Mayor Tom Murphy proposed the idea Tuesday as part of the city’s 2003 capital budget. The council approved the budget, though it must also approve spending money for projects.
Councilman Alan Hertzberg said that while Pittsburgh needs to invest in recreation, now may not be the time, considering the projected $60 million deficit.
Craig Kwiecinski, the mayor’s spokesman, said the plan is part of Murphy’s ongoing efforts to create more outdoor playing fields.
Dara Stern, whose amateur women’s team, Pounce, competed in the Ultimate Frisbee national championships in Florida last year, said interest is growing. “The issue really is that there isn’t a lot of field space.”
Players typically use soccer or other fields. Pittsburgh doesn’t have fields specifically for Ultimate Frisbee.
Animals killed
PITTSBURGH (AP) – More than two dozen animals died at a high school after a malfunction caused the heating system to hit 116 degrees in biology labs over the weekend.
Officials at Keystone Oaks High School in suburban Pittsburgh said they suspected a glitch in the software that controls the thermostat.
The animals included two rabbits, a ball python, three corn snakes, one guinea pig, three rats, eight mice, six hamsters, two aquatic frogs and a betta fish. Maintenance workers discovered them before school on Monday morning.
The animals weren’t used for experiments, only for observation and as pets, said spokeswoman Ruth Hawk.
School officials had not determined Tuesday when or why the system malfunctioned.
Mansion’s future uncertain
YORK, Pa. (AP) – The future is uncertain of a landmark mansion that sustained $4 million in damage in a fire.
State Rep. Steve Stetler, D-York, a member of the board of The Hahn Home, called it “a beautiful structure that needs to be restored to its former glory.”
“This is a York County resource,” he said of the Tudor-style mansion, with its grand staircase and ornate stained-glass windows that became a nonprofit retirement home for unmarried, older women who lost their means of support.
However, board members will have to decide whether restoring the structure is feasible, officials said Tuesday.
The fire started Monday in a sitting room of the mansion, built in 1917 and 1918. The five women who lived there escaped safely but an employee helping residents get out of their burning home, was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
The fire was not believed to be suspicious, officials said.
Man charged
YORK, Pa. (AP) – A man is charged with murder after witnesses told police he held his victim by the arm while shooting her, authorities said.
Leandro Ortiz-Lugo, 34, of York, allegedly grabbed the woman with his left hand Tuesday while shooting her in the head and chest with a gun in his right hand, police said. She fell to the ground and he fired another round, police said.
Maria Del Carmen Perez-Santos, 34, of York, was pronounced dead at 5:20 a.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of Pilgrim’s Pride turkey processing plant in New Oxford. Ortiz-Lugo was arrested a short time later and charged with homicide and aggravated assault. He remained in Adams County Prison with no bail.
Pilgrim’s Pride manager David Boyer confirmed Ortiz-Lugo and Perez-Santos worked at the plant.
A preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 19.
Criminal cases rise
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – The region saw a 24 percent rise in criminal cases for 2002 from the year before, authorities said this week.
The total number of cases filed in College, Ferguson, Halfmoon and Patton townships grew to a rough sum of 8,309. The figure includes 717 criminal cases, an increase of 12 percent.
In State College, criminal cases grew from 832 in 2001 to 917 in 2002, a 10.2 percent rise from 2001.
Police and court officials attributed the boost to a range of factors, including a greater focus on proactive policing, an increasing population and a growing drug problem. But bolstered law-enforcement efforts topped their list.
“The more people call in suspicious activity or crimes in progress, the more that’s going to bolster your statistics,” State College police Officer Tony Lopinsky said.
Prison plan studied
SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) – County officials are mulling a proposal to privatize the Northumberland County Prison, a plan supporters say could help solve problems at the overcrowded and outdated facility.
Officials heard varying opinions on privatization during a presentation this week.
Larry Bickford of L. Robert Kimball and Associates, which worked on the State Correctional Institution at Coal Township and several other prison projects, offered three alternatives for Northumberland County: Construct a new, county-financed and owned prison; have a private entity finance and build a prison and lease it to the county, which would staff it; or have a private entity finance, build and staff the prison.
Bickford suggested the next step for the county is a needs assessment. Each department involved in the criminal justice system would be interviewed.
Nomination withdrawn
SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) – Northumberland County Judge William H. Wiest has withdrawn his nomination for the state Superior Court.
Wiest said Tuesday that he would have remained in the race if he would have received the Republican Party endorsement.
After meeting with party leaders, Wiest said he was led to believe he would have a better chance for the Superior Court in 2005, even though he still had support after the party endorsed three other candidates.
Wiest said he supports the three party-endorsed candidates: C. Grainger Bowman of Cumberland County; Susan Gantman of Montgomery County; and C. Palmer Dolbin of Schuylkill County.
Allegations leveled
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) – Three Republican candidates for Lancaster County commissioner have charged the incumbent of coercing them to withdraw from the race so he would be assured the GOP nomination.
Former county commissioner Jim Huber, Recorder of Deeds Steve McDonald and county Youth Intervention Center employee Scott Martin allege that Pete Shaub pressured them to withdraw. Martin filed a complaint against Shaub on Tuesday with the county ethics commission.
Shaub denies the allegations, saying his conversations with the trio were misinterpreted.
“To insinuate that anyone would encourage anyone else to drop out is ludicrous and totally contrary to the democratic process,” Shaub said. “I have not put any pressure on anyone.”