May 17, 2002 4 min read

Scowl: If Montel Williams can offer DNA testing to the sexually promiscuous guests who frequent his talk show to sort out the paternity of babies whose parent have gotten themselves into this mess, why can’t the government work faster to nab rapists? A Senate Judiciary subcommittee this week heard testimony that indicates state and local governments are shelving rather than testing DNA samples taken from rape victims, and that they are failing to enter DNA samples into a data base.

While more states are collecting DNA from felons, laboratory funding has not increased to keep up with the workload. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said a 1999 government report found at least 180,000 untested rape kits in police departments and laboratories and that more recent estimates put that number around 500,000.

Rape victims deserve better treatment by law enforcement in tracking down their assailants.

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Scowl: On rare occasions blown deadlines have cost prosecutors dearly in having judges dismiss cases because the defendants rights to speedy trials were violated.

These decisions smart and should keep prosecutors on their toes. Therefore it is difficult to understand how Fayette County District Attorney Nancy Vernon missed filing a brief before the state Superior Court on a high profile case.

Vernon was bucking the local bench when she filed an appeal in which Judge Gerald Solomon dismissed aggravated assault while driving under the influence charges against Donald Miller of Fayette City. Vernon believed that Solomon was wrong and that a jury should hear allegations that Miller’s alleged drunkenness contributed to a June 19,2000 accident along Route 51 in Perryopolis that injured a state police officer on his was to report for duty. Miller’s attorney claimed Vernon blew the deadline for filing a brief. Those documents were filed following a motion by the defense to dismiss the appeal. Was this belated filing an anomaly? Are deadlines blown on other cases?

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Wow: Fay-Penn Economic Development’s executive vice president Mike Krajovic lays claim to the agency’s involvement in completing 164 economic development projects that resulted in investment of about $179 million in public funds and $589 million in private funds.

Those number were given out during a dinner this week that celebrated Fay-Penn’s first decade. There will be those who will sing praises of Fay-Penn’s work and those who will criticize Krajovic’s numbers and find fault with anything Fay-Penn is involved with.

Reality generally falls somewhere in the middle.

Love him or despise him, Fay-Penn, the only real economic development game in the county, would not have been formed or have any accomplishments to list without the vision and support of Robert Eberly. Eberly and the Eberly Foundation have pumped millions into Fay-Penn to create programs that aid existing industries and work toward attracting new ones.

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Scowl: All the roads in Greene County must be in tip-top shape. At least that is what the public must think as not a one showed up this week for a hearing on highway and bridge projects scheduled for the next four years under the state Transportation Improvement Program.

The plan is devised with input from transportation and elected officials, but the third component of the public, those folks who travel along Greene’s road, remained absent from the process. Perhaps residents don’t understand how important it is to voice suggestions during these hearings. If a project isn’t brought up now it is not likely to ever be considered.

Scowl: How’s this for an excuse by elected officials for not handling the public’s business in public.

When German Township residents questioned supervisors about purchasing $99,000 in equipment through a state program without any announcement or discussion at prior meetings, supervisor Bob Belch said, “It wouldn’t make a difference if we did. It’s the same people here every month.” Huh?

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Scowl: Add this one to the files of overreaction. A 13-year-old California boy faces up to eight years in juvenile hall for hitting another boy with a spitball.

According to an Associated Press report the boy was waiting in line for a gym locker, when he rolled a gum wrapper around his finger, put it in his mouth and spit it out. It hit another seventh grader in the eye, causing enough damage that the boy needed surgery. It was an act worth punishment. But a felony conviction and eight years locked up?