State briefs
Complaints roll in ERIE, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is getting more complaints than usual about a planned rate increase by National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp.
The utility wants to increase rates 6.9 percent, an increase that would cost the average homeowner $9.95 a month.
But what’s really got customers angry is a surcharge that will cost customers more if their gas consumption drops, PUC officials said.
Customers are complaining that the higher prices are forcing them to use less gas, and that the surcharge will penalize them when they do that.
The utility said it is merely trying to find a way to pay for fixed costs like salaries and maintenance.
National Fuel has more than 200,000 customers in 14 northwestern Pennsylvania counties.
The PUC will hold a conference in Pittsburgh on Thursday to determine when and where to hold public hearings on the rate increase.
Tower to be repaired
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Officials with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh plan to save a clock tower, but it will take a few months and about $2 million.
The tower on the library’s Allegheny Regional branch on the city’s North Side was hit by lightning April 7. The bolt blew a hole in the roof and falling granite ripped through a second-floor lecture hall and wiped out the building’s heating and cooling system.
The city owns the building and leases it to the library, which has been closed since the lightning strike.
Insurance will pay for the damage, but it’s unclear how long it will take to fix. The building, which opened in 1890, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
OT adds up
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Overtime costs at the Allegheny County Jail are again on a pace to cost the county about $3 million.
County manager Jim Flynn said a large number of officers on medical or family leave are behind the overtime surge. If the county can figure out a way for some of those workers to get back to work, it will save overtime, he said.
Eighty-six correctional officers are on leave, or about 19 percent of the jail’s 454 guards.
Flynn said he realizes the jail environment is dangerous, but the percentage of workers on leave at the jail far exceeds that in other county departments.
Two guards have already earned more than their annual salary due to overtime, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Monday.
Video court set
SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) – Somerset County police will soon avoid late-night cross-county drives to take suspects to be arraigned.
The county is experimenting with Web cameras and computer software and expects to be able to offer video arraignments by September.
Right now, if someone is arrested at odd hours, police must drive the suspect to whichever of the county’s five district judges is on-call for overnight duty.
With video technology, the police and the suspect will be able to have the arraignment at police headquarters.
Twenty-five counties in the state are already doing video arraignments or are in the process of getting the equipment to do it.
Bridges planned
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) – Talleyrand Park may be getting a historic bridge – as well as a new span.
The borough is looking into acquiring the 93-foot-long Platt truss bridge that now crosses Penns Creek. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is replacing the 1886 bridge, which is made from cast and wrought iron.
Borough council members have not approved any expenses for the project yet, but assistant borough manager Sue Hannegan said the span would be part of the pedestrian walkway that is called for in Bellefonte’s waterfront redevelopment plans.
Commissioner Chris Exarchos said logistical issues remain, including funding and getting the bridge to the park, but the results will be worth it. “It’s going to add to the waterfront project,” Exarchos said.
PennDOT spokeswoman Marla Fannin said the state plans to replace the bridge in 2007. If Bellefonte does not end up taking it, Bucknell University may be allowed to have the span for study.
The park may also get a 32-foot-long bridge made of red maple and steel made by a doctoral student at Penn State. Hannegan said the bridge could cross the outflow of Spring Creek to connect the new and older sections of the park.
Woman meets hero
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A woman who had been in a fiery car wreck six weeks ago met the man who pulled her to safety.
Amy Green, 25, met will Bill Sombo, who is a police officer, volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician, at a restaurant Sunday night to thank him.
“You’re my guardian angel,” she told him. “Nothing I can ever say or do will be sufficient to express my gratitude.”
Green, a receptionist, was driving west on the turnpike on May 19 when a big rig on the side of the road pulled out and struck her car, state police said. Sombo, heading in the opposite direction, heard the crash and saw Green’s car burst into flames.
Sombo pulled Green, who was unconscious, from her car and, assisted by a bystander, carried her to safety. Sombo also used four extinguishers from other truck drivers to try to put out the fire.
“Seeing Amy tonight is great,” he said. “I gave her a tight hug and told her it’s OK to cry.”
Drive-in to open
YORK, Pa. (AP) – Business-owners and the York Expo Center are hoping to tap into feelings of nostalgia with a new drive-in movie theater opening Friday.
The theater will use fairgrounds space that is dormant for much of the year and a temporary, inflatable screen that measures 60 feet by 36 feet.
Moviegoers will be able to watch from their cars or from the grandstands. Plans call for films to be shown Wednesday through Sunday until Labor Day, and Fridays and Saturdays in September and October.
“There’s a market for this, and people really miss the drive-ins,” said Ronald Vastola, vice president of the York County-based Exclusive Collectibles Inc., one of the companies behind the theater.
The screen, which resembles a giant air mattress, stands up on its own after it is inflated and is anchored by ropes. Movies will be shown on one side and multimedia advertisements to cars driving by will be shown on the other.
“It’s the fact that you don’t have many drive-ins around anymore,” said York Expo Center marketing coordinator Steve Bohn. “It’s something we all grew up with. I’d find it hard to believe that someone 30-plus years old didn’t go to a drive-in at least once.”
Cell phone ban sought
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Principals in the Allentown School District have asked the school board to consider banning cell phones, saying they are contributing to such problems as cheating and drug dealing in their schools.
The principals told members that the current policy, which requires that cell phones be turned off and stored in lockers, is a joke.
“Students are texting friends, cheating on exams, teachers have to stop class to search book bags,” said Keith Falko, principal of Allen High School. “Phones are ringing and teachers can’t identify where the ring is coming from. The next thing you know, the class is halfway over.”
Falko said there were 1,100 situations in which officials had to deal with cell phones from November 2005 to June.
Karl Foerster, former assistant principal at Raub Middle School and now principal of Trexler Middle School, said at last month’s board hearing that he was once bitten when he tried to take away a cell phone from a student.
Board members called for a review of how far they can go in imposing fines and penalties and whether a complete ban is an option.
Eagles protected
LANGHORNE, Pa. (AP) – A family of bald eagles is nesting in Core Creek Park in Lower Bucks county, but don’t even think about trying to get a look at them.
Bucks County commissioners have declared 150 acres around the nest in the Middletown Township park a no-trespassing zone. Anyone found disturbing the nest is subject to a fine of as much as $2,500.
County Parks Director William Mitchell called for the zone, saying many people have approached the nest over the past few months. Some have even tossed rocks at the nest, which is in a tree about 75 feet above the ground, to try to make the eagles fly, he said.
“We’ve had people who have come up to us and demanded to be taken to the nest,” Mitchell said. He said two adult birds and two fledglings live in the nest.
The no-trespassing zone will be in effect from Feb. 1 to Aug. 1, the prime mating and hatching season, until at least 2011. The zone must be maintained for years because it takes at least two years for the eagles to establish the nest and produce eggs, Mitchell said.
The bald eagle has been protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since 1966. There are 110 known bald eagle nests in Pennsylvania, said Jerry Feaser, spokesman for the state Game Commission, and a new inventory is being done this summer.