State briefs
Student killed MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) – An Allegheny College student died in a fire in his off-campus apartment early Saturday.
Raymond Tricomi, 21, of Wadsworth, Ohio, died in the fire reported around 1:40 a.m. Saturday in his second-floor apartment, just south of the college campus, authorities said.
A state police fire marshal was investigating, but the cause of the blaze was not immediately known Saturday.
Residents in a third-floor apartment escaped uninjured. Tricomi’s two roommates and the occupants of a first-floor apartment weren’t home at the time, authorities said.
Tricomi was a senior majoring in communications arts.
Program goes national
SEWICKLEY, Pa. (AP) – A faith-based, sexual abstinence education program begun in Allegheny County is going national after receiving a $700,000 federal grant.
The Ohio Township-based Silver Ring Thing targets adolescents in the Pittsburgh area with music videos and comedy skits.
After free presentations held at churches and other gathering spots, teens get a silver ring and a Bible verse if they pay $12 and promise to abstain from sex.
The federal grant will let the group expand its budget to $1.7 million, as the program spreads to 75 other cities, including Boston, Columbia, S.C., and Minneapolis.
“From the very beginning, our vision wasn’t restricted to Pittsburgh,” said Denny Pattyn, Silver Ring Thing’s founder and director. “It was built as a model to be used in other cities, states and even countries.”
Programs like Silver Ring Thing are funded under a 1996 federal welfare reform act, which sets aside about $50 million a year to fund abstinence education programs for single people.
Inmate escapes
ALIQUIPPA, Pa. (AP) – A Beaver County Jail inmate overpowered and disarmed a constable, escaped from his vehicle and ran into an elderly woman’s home, authorities said.
Jeffery Alford, 27, of Aliquippa, was found hiding under the woman’s bed, ending the 25-minute ordeal in Aliquippa early Friday afternoon, police said.
Police said Alford was being driven to the county jail in neighboring Hopewell Township, when he overpowered Constable Michael Hutchinson.
Police said Hutchinson had leg shackles on Alford, but had cuffed the inmate’s hands in front of his body, rather than behind.
That enabled Alford to grab Hutchinson and his weapon, causing Hutchinson to lose control of his vehicle, police said.
Alford ran away after it crashed and forced his way into the home of a 72-year-old woman, who fled and was uninjured, police said.
Alford was found under the bed and the constable’s gun was found in the basement, stuffed between some towels and rags, police said.
It was not immediately clear if Alford, who remained jailed Saturday, had an attorney.
Hutchison was treated for cuts to his head, but declined comment.
Hospitals plan ahead
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Hospitals in 13 western Pennsylvania counties are planning ahead so they can better treat children in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster.
The planning goes hand-in-hand with issues addressed by 70 of the country’s top pediatric and emergency doctors who met in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.
Under the Region 13 program, hospitals will share personnel, supplies and strategies in the event of a disaster or attack.
For example, hospitals are given antidotes for substances such as nerve gas. But the doses in pre-filled, auto-injector needles are for adults and contain too much medicine for children; so hospitals must come up with special plans for how to treat children.
Also, some hospitals are arranging their emergency rooms so that parents and their children won’t have to be separated if they require treatment.
“Kids have a higher anxiety level,” said Dr. Sandra Herr, a pediatric emergency physician at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. “We have people that deal with children on a regular basis and we feel that we are well prepared to handle this type of emergency.”
AP-ES-02-23-03 1643EST