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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Montoursville, Jersey Shore win
Page C-1
www.sungazette.com
Saturday, September 7, 2013
212th Year, No. 250
50¢ Newsstand
By JIM RUNKLE
[email protected]
(See OFFICER, Page A-5)
RASHELLE CAREY/Sun-Gazette
Above, Judge Nancy
Butts writes contributing factors to the rise
in heroin in Lycoming
County on a notepad
during a heroin task
force
discussion
Friday
at
the
Community
Theatre
League with government officials, doctors,
school officials and
clergy. At left, a news
clip played during the
task forceʼs meeting.
Task force’s 1st meeting
By JOSEPH STENDER
[email protected]
Seeing far too many individuals continuing to return
to courtrooms and, in some
instances, losing their lives
because of the “ever-increasing problem” of heroin in
the county, more than 60
people met Friday with the
newly created heroin task
force to try to find a solution
to the drug issue.
“It’s sad. It’s in our courtrooms every day,” said
Clinton County President
Judge Craig Miller.
Those in attendance —
including those representing the medical field, the
faith-based community,
school districts and local,
county and state government — spoke about how
the drug “destroys families,”
and how to prevent further
use.
“My concern is that if we
don’t take action, if we don’t
do something, if we just talk
about it, we will continue to
lose more and more lives,”
said Judge Marc F.
Lovecchio.
But as President Judge
Nancy L. Butts, who lead
the group in discussion,
noted with statistics, the
problem isn’t only plaguing
the county, but the entire
country.
Butts and others spoke
about how users are not a
certain group of people, but
the drug can affect those of
all races, ages and economic
levels.
Butts reported that
according to statistics, those
ages 12 to 49 who illegally
use prescription drugs are
19 times more likely to use
heroin.
The number of heroin
users in the United States
has grown from 161,000 in
2007 to 281,000 in 2011.
Lovecchio knows firsthand how the drug can
affect a family.
“I speak to you as someone who has lost a younger
brother to a heroin addiction,” he told the group.
He added that he had
many assumptions on who
used heroin, but he has
learned that many of those
assumptions turned out to
be wrong.
“I assumed that it wasn’t
a disease, that it was a
choice,” he said. “Certainly,
you choose to use but you
don’t choose to be an
addict.”
“We, as a community,
need to understand that our
assumptions over the years
… have been wrong,” he
said.
WASHINGTON — Employers are
sketching a hazy picture of the U.S. job market for the Federal Reserve to weigh in
deciding this month whether to reduce its
stimulus for the economy — and, if so, by
how much.
The economy added 169,000 jobs in August
but many fewer in June and July than previously thought. The unemployment rate fell to
7.3 percent, the lowest since 2008, but only
because more people stopped looking for work
and were no longer counted as unemployed.
All told, Friday’s report from the Labor
Department pointed to a lukewarm job mar-
WASHINGTON
—
Suggesting an uphill fight for
President Barack Obama,
House members staking out
positions are either opposed to
or leaning against his plan for a
U.S. military strike against
Syria by more than a 6-1 margin, a survey by The Associated
Press shows. The Senate is
more evenly divided ahead of its
vote next week.
Still, the situation is very
fluid. Nearly half of the 433member House and a third of the
100-member Senate remain
undecided.
By their
statements MORE COVERAGE:
or those of Syria sends
aides, only reinforcements to
30 members
of
the Christian village
See A-7
Republicanled
House
support intervention or are
leaning in favor of authorizing
the president to use force
against Syrian President
Bashar Assad’s government in
response to a chemical
weapons attack last month.
Some 192 House members
outright oppose U.S. involvement or are leaning against
authorization, according to the
AP survey.
(See UPHILL, Page A-7)
White House
plans efforts
to convince
lawmakers
ket: Hiring is steady but subpar. Much of
the growth is in lower-paying occupations.
And many people are giving up on their job
searches in frustration. The proportion of
Americans working or looking for work
reached its lowest point in 35 years.
(See MUDDLED, Page A-5)
(See PRESIDENT, Page A-7)
(See HEROIN, Page A-5)
Muddled jobs picture weighs on US
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press
ST.
PETERSBURG,
Russia (AP) — Beset by divisions at home and abroad,
President Barack Obama candidly acknowledged deep
challenges Friday in pursuing
support for a military strike
against Syria from international allies and the U.S.
Congress. He refused to say
whether he might act on his
own, a step that could have
major implications for the
U.S. as well as for the remainder of his presidency.
The White House laid out an
intense week of lobbying, with
Obama addressing the nation
from the White House Tuesday
night.
“I did not put this before
Congress just as a political
ploy or as symbolism,” Obama
said, adding that it would be a
mistake to talk about any
backup strategy before lawmakers vote on a use-of-force
resolution.
THE ECONOMY
MORE COVERAGE:
Price of oil hits 2-year high
See B-9
M
MILL HALL — The Keystone
Central School Board offered a
resounding vote of trust in the abilities of full-time school district Police
Officer Brandon Coleman on
Thursday night, deciding to allow
him to carry a .40-caliber Smith and
Wesson M&P pistol while on duty.
Also approved by a 7-2 vote was a
provision to arm other security personnel with nonlethal methods of
control, including tasers,
collapsible batons
and pepper
spray.
The latter action
was opposed
by board member
Charles Rosamilia, who
pointed to the $12,000 cost
attached to the move and suggested
that the district’s tight budget shouldn’t allow the purchase and training
required for that type of equipment.
Board member Smith Debbie
Smith, who voted for arming
Coleman, voted against the purchase of batons and such. After the
meeting, Smith said she believes the
possibility of using any of those
items against a student would be
incredibly rare, but she felt uncomfortable with that idea, however
remote it might be.
The first-time-ever arming of a
school district officer in Keystone
Central will occur after Officer
Coleman makes the purchase and
certifies with the weapon, and after
approval of a petition is granted by
President Clinton County President
Craig Miller.
No timetable was established for
activation of the new policy.
The cost of obtaining the gun and
certifying with it should not exceed
$1,400, according to the terms of the
school board’s decision.
The board’s second vote will allow
the equipping of its other four full-time
district security officers with an X26
Taser, duty belt, belt keepers, retention holster, pepper spray with holder
and (expandable) baton with holder.
The cost of that equipment,
accompanying certifications and
insurance, are not to exceed $13,000,
according to the board.
The board has discussed arming
officers at previous meetings, but
this was the first mention of an “official” policy approved on first reading.
A copy of the written policy was not
available earlier this week for publication, and only was provided to The
Express of Lock Haven and other
media Thursday about three hours
before the newspaper’s deadline.
In fact, there appeared to be some
confusion among the board members themselves as to what policy
had been presented to them because
Skeptics
dominate
in House
M
Officer Fight against heroin
to carry
gun in
schools
SYRIA
Tour examines wilderness restoration
By MARK MARONEY
[email protected]
MONTGOMERY — At
first glance, the marsh
repository for golfers’
balls at the 16th hole at
White Deer Golf Course,
resembles an overgrown,
unkept area where weeds
have taken over and
ground-keepers gave up.
Upon closer inspection
it’s actually a man-made
area with a beauty and
purpose all its own.
“They’re corridors of
experiences,” said Alice
Trowbridge
of
the
Susquehanna Greenway
Partnership, of what are
called buffer zones and
floodplain
restoration
areas, two of which were
highlighted Friday as
part of the Lycoming
County Chesapeake Bay
Tributary
Strategy
Advisory Committee fall
tour.
Situated deep in the
boundaries of the public
golf course near Route 15
lies the Black Hole Creek
Floodplain Restoration
Project, a wetlands that
soaks up runoff water
that otherwise would
rush into the main stem
of the creek and another
tributary and lead to pollution of the river from
nitrogen and other nutrients, a result of nature,
including goose dung.
Getting nutrients out
of the smaller waterways
becomes
important
because they dump into
the river, which flows
south and eventually
empties
into
the
Chesapeake Bay, a body
of water that the U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency has
long sought to clean up by
having
communities
MARK MARONEY/Sun-Gazette
reduce their nutrient content and sediment flows. The elevation of the tributary at Black Hole Creek
The Black Hole project Floodplain Restoration project on the White Deer
has become an economic Golf Courseʼs 16th Hole is about even with the
ground, allowing any spillover of water to soak
(See TOUR, Page A-5) into the nearby ground.
Good morning, Mahlon Gibson. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
From Page A-1
KEYSTONE CENTRAL SCHOOLS
Officer
to carry
gun in
schools
(From Page A-1)
there had been several
versions being examined,
and the cut-and-paste on
the final document apparently missed some paragraphs.
It was clear, however,
that the board had been
briefed on the final proposal, as they appeared
well versed on all the provisions.
Earlier school board
sessions had offered the
public and the board with
several options, and in all
those meetings, public
participation was lacking
despite the board’s efforts
to feature the upcoming
vote and request citizen
participation.
Coleman
himself
offered an overview of the
policies and recommendations at the meeting, and
emphasized that he, as the
only certified police officer,
will be the only school
resource officer qualified to
carry a handgun.
Remaining security
staff in the district are
attendance/security officers who have no arrest
powers but are charged
with keeping order at
events and throughout
the school day.
As chief school police
officer, Coleman is a certified officer with arrest
powers. He serves on
another police department.
Coleman also emphasized that nearby school
districts like Williamsport
and Bellefonte already
have armed officers. The
only difference here, he
said, is that Keystone
Central, with its expansive district, opted to
maintain its own law
enforcement
agency
instead of contracting
with local municipal officers for services.
Currently, the only difference between Coleman
and a municipal police
officer is that Coleman
does not carry a gun while
serving the school district.
The
new
policy
changes that.
A policy on “use of force
and
weapons”
also
approved by the board
Thursday night and outlines the situations in
which those tools are
allowed to be used by
security
personnel,
although not in great
detail.
In any case, the use of
such weapons is authorized to save the life of the
officer or any individuals
under his or her protection.
Firearms, according to
the new policy, may be
discharged only during
times when the life of the
officer or the life of another is threatened, or in
jeopardy of serious bodily
injury or death, or during
range practice and qualification, or to destroy an
animal that presents a
threat to safety or which
is injured, or to “affect a
lawful arrest for a felony
or serious misdemeanor
that is being committed in
plain view of the officer.”
Again, the specific situations are somewhat
vague, but Taser use is
also limited to protect the
life of the officer or others
in close proximity to the
incident, to subdue an
aggressive individual who
may or may not be armed,
or as a restraining device
in order to properly subdue a perpetrator.
In no section of the policy does it mention the word
“student” as equivalent to
a suspect, aggressive individual, or perpetrator.
Coleman acknowledged
that there could be circumstances where a student is
the subject of those police
actions, but added that in
almost every circumstance,
the response is gradual
and usually ends with the
student being “talked” out
of any criminal or violent
behavior.
Any discharge or a
weapon, accidental or otherwise, should generate a
report to the superintendent, state police, appropriate law enforcement
agency or designee.
Any press release also
accompanying the discharge of a weapon must
come from the superintendent, the board agreed.
Coleman said any investigation that leads to an
arrest will generate documents and these are governed by state open
records laws.
The question of school
security has preoccupied
schools across the country
since 27 people died at
Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Newtown,
Conn., sparking a national
debate about appropriate
responses to gun violence,
school security and related
matters. Gun control legislation - specifically the
expansion of background
checks for gun purchases gained momentum in
Congress
in
recent
months, but there was not
enough support among
House and Senate members for background
checks to become new law.
In every case, according to Superintendent
Kelly Hastings, only officers with proper training
and clearances would be
armed. In the meantime,
especially in the aftermath of the tragedy at
Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Connecticut last
year that led to the death
of teachers and elementary school students,
Keystone continues to
have lock-down practices
in all buildings and safety
plans are in place and
periodically reviewed.
Security updates and
improvements have been
made and an “immediate
notification” system has
been installed.
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Saturday, September 7, 2013
A-5
FBI: No specific threat to 9/11
WASHINGTON (AP)
— The government is
aware of no credible or specific information that
points to any terror plot
tied to the anniversary of
the September 2001
attacks, according to a new
confidential threat assessment from the FBI and
Homeland
Security
Department obtained by
The Associated Press.
The new assessment,
dated Thursday, said that
intelligence
agencies
remain concerned that alQaida and its affiliates are
committed to carrying out
attacks on Western tar-
gets. But it said there was
no information pointing to
any known plot. The bulletin made no mention of
Syria, even as President
Barack Obama sought congressional approval to use
military force against the
Syrian government.
Four Americans were
killed in an attack on the
U.S.
consulate
in
Benghazi, Libya, on last
year’s anniversary. Three
others were killed and
more than 260 others were
injured when two men set
off bombs near the finish
line of the popular Boston
Marathon in April.
Late coach’s family filing outlines claims
HARRISBURG (AP) —
The family of late Penn
State football coach Joe
Paterno and others suing
the NCAA on Friday filed a
new court document Friday
that expanded on how they
say they were harmed, from
making it harder to sell
Paterno memorabilia to
branding Penn State coaches with a “scarlet letter.”
The 92-page memorandum explained why they
think the judge should not
throw out their claims
against college sports’
governing body over the
punishment handed down
in the wake of a child sex
abuse scandal involving a
PSU SCANDAL
longtime Paterno assistant, Jerry Sandusky.
A courtroom proceeding is scheduled for late
next month as the NCAA
seeks dismissal of the
breach-of-contract,
defamation and civil conspiracy claim.
The plaintiffs said the
market has been diminished for items linked to
Paterno, once the winningest coach in Division I
football. A consent decree
between Penn State and
the NCAA a few months
after Paterno’s 2012
death stripped the coach
of the last 111 wins of his
career.
“That
Paterno
is
deceased ... does not mean
that college football fans
cannot still purchase footballs that were signed by
him,” they wrote. “But
they are less likely to do
so after the NCAA defendants’ publication of the
disparaging and baseless
statements made in the
consent decree.”
The consent decree
also imposes a $60 million
fine on the university,
temporarily reduced its
scholarships and banned
it from post-season play
for four years. The agreement followed the release
of Penn State’s scathing
internal review, led by former FBI director Louis
Freeh, into how school
officials handled complaints about Sandusky’s
behavior with boys in
1998 and 2001.
Freeh’s report said
high-ranking school officials, including Paterno,
“concealed critical facts”
about Sandusky because
they feared bad publicity.
Paterno
was
never
charged with wrongdoing
but three former school
officials are facing charges
in an alleged cover up.
Muddled jobs picture weighs on US
(From Page A-1)
The sluggish jobs report reflects
a U.S. economy that’s still struggling to accelerate. The economy
grew at a modest 2.5 percent annual rate from April through June,
and most analysts think it’s weakened since then.
The Fed has been buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds to try to keep home-loan
and other borrowing rates low. Many
economists have expected the central
bank to taper its monthly purchases
after it meets Sept. 17 and 18.
Friday’s data may lead the Fed to
slow its bond buying more gradually
than it might have otherwise.
“Soft employment gains only muddied the waters,” said James Marple,
an economist at TD Economics. “While
the data did not take September tapering off the table, it does suggest that
the Fed will use a lighter touch.”
Marple and some other economists say they now think the Fed
may announce this month that it’s
trimming its bond purchases by $10
billion rather than earlier expectations of $20 billion.
The revised job growth for June
and July shrank the previously
estimated gain for those months by
74,000. July’s gain is now estimated
at 104,000 — the fewest in more
than a year and down from a previous estimate of 162,000. June’s was
revised to 172,000 from 188,000.
In the past three months,
employers have added an average
of just 148,000 jobs. For the first
five months of the year, they had
added an average of 199,000.
Stock prices rose and fell through
the day as traders pondered the job
report’s impact on the Fed and tensions over the prospect of U.S. military action against Syria. The Dow
Jones industrial average finished
down nearly 15 points.
Heroin task force holds 1st meeting
RASHELLE CAREY/Sun-Gazette
Judge Marc Lovecchio speaks about the frequencey of heroin appearing in his cases during a heroin task force discussion Friday at
the Community Theatre League with government officials, doctors, school officials and
clergy.
(From Page A-1)
Medical physicians in
attendance explained that
illegal use of prescription
drugs can be a gateway to
heroin use because it
affects the brain in the
same way. And although
the high is the same from
both prescriptions and
heroin, the cost of each
draws more users to heroin.
City Police Capt.
Timothy Miller reported
that heroin can cost as low
as $8 a bag in the county.
He said he is troubled by
how easy it is to find the
drug.
“These kids can literally drive anywhere to get
it. That’s a huge problem,”
he said.
Lovecchio said that
when asked why they use
heroin, most in his courtroom respond that, “it’s
easy, it’s cheap and it feels
good.”
Charles E. Kiessling,
county coroner, reported
that there have been nine
drug-related deaths in the
county so far this year.
Emergency departments
deal with a significant
number of visits because
of substance abuse, as
well.
“It’s a significant problem and hopefully we can
come up with a plan to
reduce these numbers
and reduce these deaths,”
he said.
Many at the meeting
said that in curbing the
issue, there needs to be
educational opportunity
for the community to
learn the true effects of
the drug in order to prevent further use. The
county also needs a way of
getting help for current
users, others noted.
Butts noted that more
meetings will be scheduled to allow all individuals to contribute and move
forward with a plan of
action to implement programs.
Lovecchio compared
the problem to houses
after a storm — although
it looks fine from the outside, the problems are
more evident from the
inside.
“It destroyed my family,” he said. “It’s like the
perfect storm.”
Tour examines wilderness restoration project at golf course
(From Page A-1)
driver for the course Pro
Shop,
said
Megan
Lehman, environmental
planner for the Lycoming
County Department of
Planning
and
C o m m u n i t y
Development.
While Lehman halfjoked about the golfers’
swings coming up short or
going awry, she and
Andrew Korzon, a landscape designer with
LandStudies of Lititz,
were serious about the
benefits of such floodplains.
The projects at golf
course and along the
river’s
edge
at
Montgomery are products
of a National Fish and
Wildlife
Foundation
grant. The cost for the
floodplain restorations
were
estimated
at
$280,000, but the cost of
the project for Black Hole
Creek was $180,000, leaving money left over for the
Montgomery buffer zone,
according to Korzon. In
addition,
the
state
Department
of
Environmental Protection
also helped to fast-forward the permitting
process, Lehman said.
It works by the sediment and nutrient loads
in the water being
removed
naturally,
Korzon said. “It’s critical
to get the water out of the
channels and into the
floodplain,” he said. The
slower moving water
means less erosion and
that means less of the
sediment and nutrients
entering the streams and
river, he added.
Topsoil collected is
stored in a clump nearby
and golfers on carts entering or leaving the location
wouldn’t recognize the soil
depository that is overgrown with grass and
weeds.
Signs are situated
along the pathway prohibiting people from
walking into the floodplain and disturbing the
balance of nature.
“Look,” said Harvey
Katz, a retired National
Wildlife
and
Fish
Commission worker at
the Black Hole Creek
project, holding up muddy
golf balls.
The buffer zones
adjust to the season,
changing their look from
spring, to summer and
then fall and winter.
Newly planted seedlings
and grass that were as
short as the sprouts of
hair on a man’s crewcut
in the spring quickly
become waist-high with
greenery, colorful wildflowers and the flutter of
butterflies.
The riparian buffer at
Montgomery
Borough
Park has grown so densely in the borough that
Mayor Andrew Onufrak
II, while taking the tour,
discovered a marijuana
plant growing about
shoulder-high in the
thickness. He quickly
pulled it out of the
grounds and called police.
“It’s hemp,” Katz said
sniffing the sweet odor.
Deviating some from
the tour of the buffer
zones, during a committee meeting in between
visits, Katz said he is
writing an article on the
environmental pressures
in Loyalsock State Forest,
particularly the Rock Run
area, site of dispute
because of natural gas
drilling companies desire
to tap into the Marcellus
Shale play beneath land
in the state forest.
“These are ecological
services that nature has
given — without a bill,”
Katz said of the earth’s
natural wonder.
The buffers contain
native plant species such
as Eastern Redbud,
Swamp Milkwood, Black
Willow,
Winterberm,
Grey Dogwood, Soft Rush
and Marginal Woodfern.
Keeping and preserving Black Hole Creek is
vital for the health of the
river and nearby campground, according to
Becky Sanguedolce, president of the Blackhole
Creek
Watershed
Association and owner of
the campground that
draws tourists from
spring through fall, especially during the Little
League World Series.
Regarding the Black
Hole project, a tributary
that comes out of ground
owned by the Federal
Bureau of Prisons, has
piqued the interest of U.S.
Rep. Tom Marino, RCogan Station, who has
been asked to intercede.
The tributary on the
prison property that
sweeps into the floodplain
has goose feces in it and
adds to the nitrogen problem, Korzon said.
Katz said he has seen
evidence of mussels, with
shells as large as the
palm of a hand, in the
waterway near the golf
course hole.
The committee also
learned that while the
EPA reports the state
overall has surpassed its
overall milestone target
for removing phosphorus,
another nutrient that is
getting into water, one
that is costing waste-
water treatment plants to
remove, the state is on
track to meet its target for
nitrogen
reduction.
Sediment loads, however,
increased in 2011 and
2102.
For the borough, the
ground keep Adams
Creek from putting too
much nitrogen into the
waterways that must end
up being treated.
The vegetation adjacent to the river has roots
that create void spaces.
When water runoff occurs,
instead of its ponding and
flooding, it is absorbed in
the ground and filtered,
helping to recharge the
groundwater
supplies.
This process removes
nitrogen, slows runoff and
the erosion of soil.
The buffer zones also
connect people to the
river. Montgomery is one
of the rivertowns along
the 500-mile corridor of
the
Susquehanna
Greenway Partnership
projects, Trowbridge said.
“It helps us get back to
nature,” she said.
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
FREE
inside
South Williamsport, Loyalsock
Township among winners
Page B-1
www.sungazette.com
Saturday, September 28, 2013
212th Year, No. 271
50¢ Newsstand
Milton man,
32, killed in
Afghanistan
Heroin
task force
By MIKE REUTHER
[email protected]
Discussion sparks
ideas for outreach
By JOSEPH STENDER
[email protected]
Continuing the discussion on the increasing
heroin problem within
the county, the heroin
task force again called
upon a diverse group of
members of the community to meet Friday to
find ways to best combat
the problem.
President Judge
Nancy L. Butts, who
leads the task force,
broke the large group of
community members into
smaller groups based on
their specialty — law
enforcement, education,
social services, medical,
faith-based and community — in order to discuss
the “next best step” moving forward with action.
She also introduced
the group’s mission statement draft in order to
give it direction. She
announced that the mission of the group is to
“reduce the incidence of
substance abuse through
community education
and recovery options
directed towards the citizens and youth of
Lycoming County.”
JOSEPH STENDER/Sun-Gazette
Top, Dr. Ayaz Khan, of Pain Management of
Williamsport, right, discusses the medical side of
heroin use during a recent task force meeting. Above,
Dr. Portia Brandt, Muncy School District superintend(See DISCUSSION,
Page A-6) ent, left, makes a point during a small-group discussion period with fellow workers in education.
Methadone
examined
MILTON — A Northumberland County man
serving with the Army in Afghanistan died there
Thursday after being struck by enemy gunfire.
Staff Sgt. Thomas Allen Baysore Jr., 32, of
Milton, was killed by an enemy
combatant wearing an Afghan
National Army uniform who
opened fire on a group of soldiers,
according to the Department of
Defense.
Baysore, who was struck on the
left side of his neck, was taken to
his post aid station, where he succumbed to his wounds.
Baysore was assigned to Charlie BAYSORE
Co., 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry
Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st
Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky., as a squad
leader.
He joined the Army in June 2001 and was stationed at Camp Ederle, Italy, where he had a variety of assignments, including vehicle driver, rifleman, automatic rifleman, and fire team leader. He
was also assigned to the Harrisburg Recruiting
Battalion., Harrisburg, as a recruiter.
Following his assignment there, Baysore
arrived at Fort Campbell, Ky., in August 2010 and
was assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team,
101st Airborne Division.
This was his third deployment to Afghanistan.
He deployed once prior to arriving at Fort
Campbell, Ky., in 2005, and again with the Division
in 2010. He also deployed to Iraq in March 2003.
(See MILTON, Page A-7)
By ELIZABETH
REGAN
[email protected]
At Friday morning’s
second heroin task force
meeting, a group of medical experts discussed
ways the medical community could address the burgeoning local heroin crisis.
The discussion
branched to methadone
clinics, which helps wean
heroin and other opioid
addicts and eventually
JOSEPH STENDER/Sun-Gazette transition them into a life
President Judge Nancy L. Butts addresses the heroin task force during without drug abuse. A
Fridayʼs meeting. The group met to further discuss a plan of action on edu- methadone clinic recently
cating the public on the dangers of heroin use.
opened on Lycoming
Creek Road, and its fate
still is being discussed by
Old Lycoming Township
Supervisors, but “It’s most
likely staying and operatBy ELIZABETH
ing,” supervisor Chairman
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
REGAN
John Eck said. While he
[email protected]
he sees a need for it,
“The majority of people we deal with arenʼt said
he questions the location.
Much of the law
city residents.”
Heroin highs are
enforcement’s perspective
unlike any other, reachat Friday’s heroin task
City Police Capt. Tim Miller ing extreme levels of
force
meeting
at
euphoria, but methadone
Lycoming
County
blocks that high, said Dr.
Courthouse focused on ing or renting properties, properties, Miller said. Ayaz Khan, director of
the problem with rental he said.
Most are the same people his Pain Management
properties.
“Take the head off the “over and over,” police Lt. practice in Williamsport,
“It’s a rental-based snake” — look at where Brett Williams said.
and medical director at
crime problem,” city police many of the drug sellers
Some people from vari- Habit OPCO, a
Capt. Tim Miller said. are congregating, he said. ous larger cities come to methadone treatment
Many people they’re seeAbout 70 percent of all
ing with heroin are visit- calls come from rental (See POLICE, Page A-6)
(See USE, Page A-6)
(See OFFICIALS, Page A-6)
(See INCOME, Page A-7)
Officials: Public education key to curbing abuse
As the heroin task force continues
to look for avenues to curb the use of
heroin among all county residents,
many members of the group suggest-
ed that educating the entire public
was key to them being successful.
“Education is a key player in the
prevention aspect,” said Dr. Portia
Brandt, Muncy School District superintendent, during a small-group period at Friday’s task force meeting.
M
For those working in education,
many said the threat of eventual
heroin addiction is sitting in almost
every home — prescription drugs.
Many educators stated that it’s
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers
increased their spending slightly last month as
their income grew at the fastest pace in six months.
The figures point to only modest economic growth
in the July-September quarter.
Consumers’ spending on goods and services rose
0.3 percent in August, the Commerce Department
said Friday. That’s up from a 0.2
percent gain in July, which was MORE on
slightly more than the 0.1 per- the ECONOMY:
cent reported last month.
Income rose 0.4 percent in Stocks fall
August, the best gain since
See C-11
February and up from a 0.2 percent July increase. Private
wages and salaries rose 0.5 percent, while the government wages and salaries rose 0.2 percent.
The government figures would have been higher
if not for forced federal furloughs that reduced
wages and salaries by $7.3 billion.
Consumer spending drives 70 percent of economic activity. Many analysts say the increases are
not enough to accelerate economic growth in the
third quarter from the 2.5 percent annual rate in
the April-June quarter.
“With more money coming in, consumers spent
a little, just a little, more freely,” said Jennifer Lee,
senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital
Economics, predicts the economy is growing at an annual rate of 2 percent to 2.5 percent in the July-September
quarter. Still, the pickup in August could signal
stronger growth in the final three months of the year.
Other economists are less hopeful. Peter
Newland, an economist at Barclays, said that the
modest increase did not change Barclay’s forecast
for growth at a 1.7 percent rate.
Americans saved some of the extra money they
earned last month. The personal savings rate
edged up to 4.6 percent of after-tax income, a slight
improvement from 4.5 percent in July.
Police: ‘Rental-based crime problem’
By JOSEPH STENDER
[email protected]
Consumer spending,
income see increases
With shutdown looming, weekend showdown at the Capitol
WASHINGTON
—
Time running short, the
Democratic-controlled
Senate passed urgent legislation Friday to avert a
government shutdown,
and President Barack
Obama lectured House
Republicans to stop
“appeasing the tea party”
and quickly follow suit.
Conservative
House
rebels, using the shutdown threat to attack
Obama’s health care overhaul, showed no signs of
backing down.
First effects of a shutdown could show up as
early as Tuesday if
Congress fails to approve
money to keep the government going by the
Monday-midnight start of
the new fiscal year.
“Think about who you
are hurting” if government services are interrupted, the president said
at the White House, as
BUDGET BATTLE
MORE COVERAGE:
Jobs report possibly delayed; furloughs planned
House Speaker John
Boehner pondered his
next move in a fastunfolding showdown —
M
By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent
See A-6
vative insurgents.
Despite
Obama’s
appeal, the Senate-passed
measure faces a swift
demise in the House at
the hands of tea party
conservatives who are
adamantly opposed to
funding that the measure
not
only
between
Republicans
and
Democrats but between
GOP leaders and conser- (See WEEKEND, Page A-6)
Good morning, Erica Wagoner. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
A-6
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Saturday, September 28, 2013
Weekend showdown on budget at the Capitol
Jobs report may be
delayed by shutdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — The monthly U.S. jobs
report may not be released as scheduled next Friday
if the government partially shuts down.
The commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Erica Groshen, said in a memo Friday that the agency’s
operations will cease and its website will not be updated if
a shutdown occurs. But Groshen also said that the White
House could authorize the release of the jobs figures.
During a 1995 government shutdown, the Labor
Department issued a monthly report on inflation
because the government had already gathered the
data and didn’t want it to leak. Groshen says the
White House could take a similar step next week.
Government plans furloughs
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a third of
federal workers would be told to stay home if the
government shuts down, forcing the closure of
national parks from California to Maine and all the
Smithsonian museums. Low-to-moderate income
borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages could face delays.
These would be just some of the effects of a government shutdown that could furlough as many as
800,000 of the nation’s 2.1 million federal workers.
It could hit as early as Tuesday if a bitterly divided
Congress fails to approve a temporary spending bill
to keep the government running.
Supervisors at government agencies began
meetings Thursday to decide which employees
would continue to report to work and which would
be considered nonessential and told to stay home
under contingency plans ordered by the Office of
Management and Budget, or OMB.
Details about shutdown plans for each agency
were expected to be posted on the OMB and individual agency websites by Friday afternoon, according to union officials briefed on the process. Formal
furlough notices would be sent on Tuesday, the
beginning of the new fiscal year.
“Fifty percent of our members may be locked out
of work altogether during this shutdown,” said J.
David Cox Sr., president of the American
Federation of Government Employees.
(From Page A-1)
includes for the threeyear-old health care law.
The Senate’s 54-44 vote
was strictly along party
lines in favor of the bill,
which would keep the government operating routinely through Nov. 15.
The bill’s passage
masked a ferocious struggle for control of the
Republican Party pitting
Boehner and Senate
Leader Mitch McConnell
against rebels led by relatively junior lawmakers,
Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas
and Mike Lee of Utah and
a few dozen allies in the
House among them.
The outcome of that
contest — more than differences between the two
political parties — is likely to determine whether
the government shuts
down for the first time in
nearly two decades.
“We now move on to the
next stage of this battle,”
Cruz said shortly after the
Senate vote. He told
reporters he had had
numerous conversations
with fellow conservatives in
recent days, adding, “I am
confident the House of
Representatives will continue to stand its ground, continue to listen to the
American people and ... stop
this train wreck, this nightmare that is Obamacare.”
The House is scheduled to be in session both
Saturday and Sunday,
but it is unclear when it
will vote on a new bill to
avert a shutdown, and
what health care-related
items it will include.
Obama spoke more
than an hour later at the
White House, where he
said it was up to House
Republicans to follow the
Senate’s lead and prevent
a shutdown. He said the
struggle has nothing to do
with budget deficits, and
said if Republicans “have
specific ideas on how to
genuinely improve the
(health care) law rather
than gut it, rather than
delay, it rather than
repeal it, I am happy to
work with them.”
He also said even a
shutdown would not prevent the scheduled opening of so-called health
care exchanges next
Tuesday through which
millions of Americans will
be able to shop for coverage. “That’s a done deal,”
he said
Brendan Buck, a
spokesman for Boehner,
issued a statement in
response that said, “The
House will take action that
reflects the fundamental
fact that Americans don’t
want a government shutdown and they don’t want
the train wreck that is
O b a m a c a r e .
Grandstanding from the
president, who refuses to
even be a part of the
process, won’t bring
Congress any closer to a
resolution.”
Republican lawmakers
said Boehner had made it
clear he would continue to
seek health care-related
concessions from the
White House when the
House passes its next
shutdown-prevention legislation. But the rank and
file rebelled on Thursday
when leaders suggested
moving the main focus of
the effort to defund
Obamacare to a separate
bill rather than continue
to flirt with a shutdown.
There is little or no disagreement between the
House and Senate over
spending levels in the legislation now moving from
one side of the Capitol to
the other, and except for
health care, passage
might well be routine.
The bill provides funds at
an annual rate of slightly
more than $986 billion, in
keeping with an agreement
Obama
and
Republicans made two
years ago to restrain the
growth of a wide swath of
government
spending
from the Pentagon to the
nation’s parks.
Without separate legislation to make further
reductions,
across-theboard cuts will automatically take effect early next
year that will reduce the
level to $967 billion, and
Republicans are fond of
pointing out that the government is on track to
spend less on those programs for the second year
in a row — for the first time
since the Korean War.
But Republicans voted
unanimously against the
health care law when it
passed Congress, backed
lawsuits to challenge its
constitutionality,
and
some now seek to strangle
it before its final implementation begins next
Tuesday.
Cruz, Lee and several
tea party groups seized on
the
issue
during
Congress’ five week summer vacation, turning
“Defund Obamacare” into
a rallying cry backed by
television commercials,
public rallies and emails.
The result was a bruising week in the Senate in
which Cruz spoke for
slightly more than 21 hours
straight in hopes of swaying some votes his way,
only to lose by far on the
showdown
that
he
described as the crucial one.
That was a proposal by
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid to cut off
debate on the spending
bill, a move that also
meant Democrats needed
a mere majority of the
votes to restore money for
the health care law that
the House had omitted.
The vote was 79-19,
19 more than the 60
needed to cut off debate.
All 52 Democrats, two
independents and 25 of
44 Republicans voted in
favor. That included
McConnell and much of
the GOP leadership with
the exception of Sen.
Jerry Moran of Kansas,
who heads the party’s
campaign committee.
McConnell had said
repeatedly it made no
sense to block legislation
to prevent a shutdown
and defund Obamacare,
both
of
which
Republicans support.
Cruz and Lee argued
otherwise
in
what
amounted to a direct challenge to McConnell’s leadership, but drew the support of only 17 other
Republicans.
HEROIN TASK FORCE
Officials: Public education key to curbing abuse
(From Page A-1)
easy for anyone, especially
youth, to go into the medicine
cabinet of any home and take a
small amount of pills without
anyone noticing.
Geoffrey Arthur, executive
director of Valley Prevention
Services, explained that this is
even easier to do if the medication was prescribed years earlier
and the patient no longer uses it.
And with prescription drug
abuse serving as a gateway to
heroin. Christina Herman,
director of student services and
career
development
at
Loyalsock Township School
District, said it’s important more
than ever to get ahead of the
problem. Robert Grantier,
Loyalsock Township School
District, added that the cheap
cost of heroin compared to illegally purchasing prescription
drugs also makes it attractive.
But education of the dangers
of heroin use must reach further than just the youth, com-
munity members said. It must
be received by every resident,
regardless of background.
“It’s not a casual thing we
are talking about,” said Jim
Maiolo, a community member.
“It’s every ethnic group. It’s
every age group.”
During a large group discussion, Brandt added that it’s
important to make sure everyone knows it can happen anywhere and to anyone.
“’It won’t happen to me’ is an
attitude we need to (stop) right
away,” she said.
In order to get the message
out into the public, many suggested alternative venues, such
as high school athletic events
and movie theaters. As Brandt
explained, more people will
attend a high school football
game than an open house.
They suggested public
announcements talking about
the dangers of heroin during
such events.
Another suggestion was to
allow families of heroin addicts
Discussion sparks ideas for outreach
(From Page A-1)
“We need to start
doing things because if
we don’t, people will continue to die,” said Judge
Marc F. Lovecchio on the
importance of the group.
Groups were asked to
discuss what they see as
the problem and how best
to solve it.
Each group also elected
one representative to be a
part of the task force’s
steering committee.
After reconvening as a
group, each shared their
thoughts on the situation.
Many groups spoke about
how education was the key
to preventing further use.
Dr. Portia Brandt,
Muncy School District
superintendent,
explained the group
needs to find popular
venues to share their
message of the dangers of
heroin use.
Others agreed saying
that getting in front of
the problem is important.
And they stressed that all
members of the community need to receive the
education.
Jim Maiolo, a community member, suggested
that families of those
addicted to heroin or
recovered addicts speaking would be a powerful
program to offer to the
community.
County
District
Attorney
Eric
R.
Linhardt also mentioned
resurrecting DARE programs to inform the
youth of the dangers of
drug use.
Rev. Andy France,
Lycoming County Prison
chaplain, suggested a
panel of faith representatives in middle schools
to discuss the problem,
as well. He also said that
those strong in faith
could talk about their
struggles with substance
abuse during services.
He suggested a “substance-abuse Sunday”
where various churches
could reach out to the
community.
Carole
Gilberti,
regional director of
Community
Care
Behavioral Health, said
their field should be more
in the community, not
only diagnosing but starting discussions with residents.
With the medical field,
Bethany Engel, a physician assistant, added that
their group spoke on
building a multi-faceted
approach to further
addressing the handling
of addiction.
Linhardt added that
“more
aggressive
patrols” also were needed to keep an eye out for
the drug problem. But
like all things, he said, it
would take additional
funds to do many of the
proposals.
Lovecchio
also added that he would
like to increase testing
but, again, it would be
expensive.
Lovecchio noted that
when he asks addicts
how often they should be
tested they reply, “All the
time.”
A mother of an addict,
who declined to give her
name, also spoke about
the importance of giving
families an avenue to find
help for their family
member without putting
them “in the system.”
She said many times,
families are not sure who
to call for help with a problem they don’t completely
understand themselves.
Some members of the
task force suggested that
it should encourage business members to be a
part of the group, as they
also are affected by the
problem. Butts said that
all members of the community are welcome and
encouraged to join the
task force.
Others suggested creating a logo to make the
group more visible to the
public.
Lovecchio concluded
the meeting by saying
that it was “on the right
track.”
When asked, Butts
explained that having
such a diverse group was
important when building
the task force because it
is a community problem.
“Our community is not
just one type of group,”
she said.
Police: City faces ‘Rental-based crime problem’
(From Page A-1)
smaller cities such as
Wilkesbarre, Hazleton
and Altoona, not just
Williamsport, with illegal
drug activity, Williams
said.
Miller concurred. “The
majority of people we deal
with aren’t city residents,” he said.
When the drugs, such
as heroin, infiltrate the
city, it affects the local
community. “Our local
people are the ones that
are using,” Williams
said.
The large volume of
calls from drug activity at
rental properties requires
a large amount of the
force’s resources, and
detracts from the aggressive enforcement, creating a more reactive
approach instead, Miller
said. When officers are
involved in aggressive
management, they actively are looking for illegal
activity
and
target
resources based on statistics in areas where there
is more crime.
“It’s frustrating on the
enforcement
side,”
Williams said. “We’re
running from call to call
to call.”
Preventative measures
seem somewhat elusive
on the enforcement side.
Years ago, the police were
involved in the Drug
Abuse
Resistance
Education
program,
teaching students how to
resist peer pressure and
live productive drug- and
violence-free
lives.
Officers also used to be
involved
in
the
Williamsport-based
Community Alliance for
Progressive
Positive
Action.
No more, Williams
said. When funding dried
up, so did the feasibility of
those
interactions.
District Attorney Eric
Linhardt said more funding is needed for such programs, and treatment
options need to be
improved and expanded.
He confirmed there needs
to be more aggressive
patrols and endorsed
mass incarceration.
“Mass incarceration
works” and money should
be spent on it, Linhardt
said.
Lycoming
County
Commissioner and landlord Tony Mussare said
he supports some type of
ordinance to make landlords more accountable
for who is in their properties.
and former addicts to tell their
story.
“Those type of events are
where you really put a face on
(the problem),” commented
Charley Hall, district administrator for state Rep. Garth
Everett’s office.
The group said it will look at
all avenues to get the message
out into the public.
“I think we have to hit hard
with the message (of the dangers). Kids don’t know. Parents
don’t know,” Herman said.
Use of methadone explained
(From Page A-1)
center in Watsontown.
“(Heroin) is like a chemical heaven for patients
using it,” he said, but that
heaven quickly turns into a
ravaging hell. “Every time
you seek that high, you
need to keep increasing it
— two bags, four bags,
more.” Death hovers with
each increase, as overdose
is often the end conclusion.
True
treatment
requires a multifaceted
approach, Khan said.
Methadone treatment only
addresses 30 percent of the
problem — counseling is
the main component that
empowers and transforms
the patients’ lives, he said.
“We have to talk with
our patients — we can’t
just write prescriptions,”
Khan said.
Treatment addresses
not just the patients, but
their environment and
the whole family so triggers can become more
neutralized.
“The mind should control the body. ... That’s
why counseling is paramount. ... Until we know
what is right and wrong,
we won’t be able to get
over it,” he said.
However, there is the
risk of addicts stealing
methadone to sell it. After
three or four months of
treatment, patients can
earn a take-home privilege, Khan said.
One anonymous city resident in another focus group
said he’s seen the negative
side of such clinics.
“My experience is, you
can cop anything you
want,” he said. Problems
arise when “you put a
bunch of addicts together”
at these clinics.
Khan said there are
risks, but that’s why counseling is paramount to the
program, and each clinic
should be strictly run, and
patients should have at
least one year of drug abuse
prior to enrollment. Urine
testing is mandatory at
these clinics, he said, and
each drop of methadone is
accounted for. Khan said
his program is successful
and gets good results.
“I think methadone clinics, if run properly, do a
tremendous job in keeping
people away from drugs. It
goes a long way in preventing crimes, but again, it
has to be run properly. The
doctor has to have a sense
of community service. It
takes a lot of time, a lot of
courage,” Khan said.
Vivatrol is another
option, as it cancels out
the high and actually
gives a bad feeling,
retraining the brain in
how it associates pleasure
with opioids. But it is very
costly at about $1,000 per
shot once every three
months, and not many
providers are licensed to
do so, Khan said.
The benefit of Vivatrol
is it isn’t taken home, but
is administered by a
physician in shot form so
it can’t be sold.
Beyond
methadone
clinics, a more comprehensive approach in the
medical community is
needed, Khan said. Before
doctors prescribe any narcotics, urine testing
should be done, he said. In
order to prevent patients
from “doctor shopping”
where they go doctor to
doctor to get prescription
narcotics, the patients’
histories need to be more
accessible for each doctor
to cross-reference along
with an emergency room
database, he said.
“If we all start doing the
same thing, it will stop
(doctor shopping),” he said.
Imprisonment
also
works to keep people off
drugs, but Khan argued it
doesn’t
change
the
patients’ environments
once they get out.
www.sungazette.com
Saturday, February 1, 2014
213th Year, No. 32
50¢ Newsstand
Heroin Task
Force rolls
out strategy
Milk cow blues
By MORGAN MYERS
[email protected]
Some called drug addiction a plague;
others, a disease — but no matter what
they called it,
members of the
IN THEIR
newly-established
OWN WORDS
Heroin Task Force
came armed with
strategies to fight
“These
the lethal problem
Friday in the
people are
Lycoming County
our neighCourthouse.
bors,
friends
“Heroin is a
and
human
dead end. We want
beings. We
to know when and
how use starts.
need to give
What’s the root
them hope
cause in this area?
and light”
Why do people do
this?” Dr. Portia
Dr. Rene R.
Brandt,
chairwoman of the task
Rigal, chairman
force’s education
of the medical
subcommittee and
subcommittee
superintendent of
Muncy
School
District, said.
Drug overdoses
killed 18 people last year in Lycoming
County alone, according to Coroner
Charles Kiessling. Eight of those deaths
(See HEROIN, Page A-6)
Feds: Pipeline
poses no major
environmental
apprehensions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared a
major hurdle toward
approval Friday, a serious blow to environmentalists’ hopes that
President
Barack
Obama will block the
controversial
project
running more than
1,000
miles
from
Canada through the
KERRY
heart of the U.S.
The
State
Department reported no
major environmental
objections to the proposed
$7
billion
pipeline, which has
become a symbol of the
political debate over climate
change.
OBAMA
Republicans and some
oil- and gas-producing states in the U.S.
— as well as Canada’s minister of natural resources — cheered the report, but
(See FEDS, Page A-3)
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
Above, three-and-a-half-year-old Jersey cows Carrie, left, and Ollie take a closer look at the photographerʼs
camera Friday at Ernie Derr, Jr.ʼs Heavenʼs Blessings Dairy Farm near Linden, below.
Farmers fear fallout from legislation
By ELIZABETH REGAN
[email protected]
While U.S. Rep. Glenn
“GT” Thompson, R-Howard,
touts the five-year farm bill
the House passed
Wednesday and which the
Senate is expected to vote
on next week, representatives of some agriculture
coalitions are frustrated
that dairy farmers won’t be
as protected as they should
be.
“This farm bill is a big
win for the nation’s economy
and will support jobs across
(the state), while making
necessary reforms that will
save taxpayers billions,”
Thompson said upon the
bill’s passage.
However, Donna Hall,
who is part of Progressive
Agriculture Organization
and the National Family
Farm Coalition’s dairy subcommittee, said it leaves
dairy farmers out in the cold.
“This farm bill won’t save
our dairy farmers because it
doesn’t cover the cost of
actually producing the
milk,” said Hall, who dairy
farmed for 47 years in
Muncy with her husband.
Now they are crop farmers.
The bill creates the Dairy
Producer Margin Protection
Program, the main feature
of the new Farm Bill Dairy
Title.
“The margin protection
program is a new and
unique safety net program
that will provide dairy producers with indemnity payments when actual dairy
margins are below the margin coverage levels the producer chooses on an annual
basis,” according to
Congressional Quarterly.
While its focus is to “protect farm equity by guarding
against destructively low
margins,” it does not guarantee a profit to individual producers, and supports “producer margins, not prices.”
If passed, the program
will be established by Sept.
1.
However, Hall argues
this won’t keep dairy farmers from going out of business.
“This won’t insure that
the farmer gets his cost of
production. It will only
insure that his losses are
not as great,” Hall said.
Other costs, such as electricity, fuel, fertilizer, seed,
property taxes and more
aren’t factored into the margin insurance, she said.
“So this does not cover
the farmers’ cost to produce
that milk,” she said.
Hall also wants to see the
trade issue addressed in the
farm bill.
“Free trade is killing our
farmers. We need fair
trade,” she said. “If we don’t
address this, how can we
have any farm bill that’s
going to be beneficial? If we
don’t stop the surplus that’s
coming in here and dropping our farmers’ prices, or
impacting any supply we
have, how can you have a
fair farm bill?”
Meshoppen resident
Arden Tewksbury, manager
of Progressive Agriculture
Organization and chairman
of National Family Farm
Coalition’s dairy subcommittee, said while the farm bill
contains “many good
TSA to screen rail passengers for Super Bowl
FBI: Powder
mailed to hotels
appears harmless
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A
suspicious powder mailed to
several locations in New York
and New Jersey, including at
least five hotels near the site of
Sunday’s Super Bowl, appears
not to be dangerous, the FBI
said Friday.
The agency said further testing was being conducted on the
substance, but it is “within normal values.”
White powder also was found
in a letter sent to former New
York City Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani’s business in New York
(See FBI, Page A-6)
SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) — Fans
headed to the Super bowl will have
to travel light even to get on a
train headed to the game.
The Transportation Security
Administration said fans will not
be allowed on the rail line that
serves MetLife Stadium on
Sunday unless they show their
ticket to the game and adhere to
the NFL’s bag policy.
All fans boarding trains to the
stadium from Secaucus Junction
Station, the start of NJ Transit’s
6.8-mile line to the stadium in
East Rutherford, must pass
through a security checkpoint
manned by TSA agents, officials
said Friday.
Only people who show agents a
valid Super Bowl ticket will be
allowed to pass through the security checkpoint and board a train,
said John Durkin, special agent in
charge of the TSA Newark field
office.
Fans will only be allowed to
carry a small clutch bag or purse
that’s no bigger than 6.5 by 4.5
inches and a clear plastic bag
that’s about as big as a freezer
storage bag, per the NFL’s bag policy. TSA will not have a place to
store larger bags, and a person will
not be allowed to clear security
and get on the train with one.
The checkpoints started Friday
and will be random until Sunday,
when they turn mandatory for all
people taking the train to MetLife
Stadium. Friday agents were
swabbing women’s’ bags to check
for explosives.
Fans will also have to go
through metal detectors and regular security at the stadium as well.
In addition to providing an
added layer of safety for rail pas-
things,” it is lacking.
“Our dairy farmers have
really been left out of anything realistic to help them
out,” he said.
Tewksbury advocates a
new pricing formula based
on dairy farmers’ cost of
operation as “the present
one has no reference to their
cost whatsoever,” whereas
manufacturers do get
enough to cover their costs,
he said.
As Thompson is chairman of the House
Agriculture Subcommittee
on Conservation, Energy &
Forestry and a member of
the conference committee,
Tewksbury asked him to
introduce the Federal Milk
Marketing Improvement
Act. Whereas U.S. Sen.
Bob Casey, D-Scranton,
introduced it in the Senate,
Tewksbury said, it lacks
an introductory proponent
in the House, and
Thompson won’t introduce
it, said Parish Braden,
Thompson’s communications director.
“The dairy policy under
the new farm bill supports
producer margins, not
prices, which (Thompson)
believes is a fair and effective way to keep farms from
going under during hard
times and will bring more
stability to the industry over
the long term,” Braden said.
“(Thompson) is familiar
(See FARMERS, Page A-6)
CRIME & FOREIGN RELATIONS
Woman’s Italian conviction
may prompt extradition fight
WASHINGTON (AP) — Roman Polanski. Edward
Snowden. Manuel Noriega. Over the years, the famous
and the infamous have been caught up in the legal
process called extradition, which governs whether one country will turn over
fugitives from justice to another country.
It may ultimately be the turn of
Amanda Knox, whose murder conviction in the stabbing of her roommate
has been reinstated by an Italian court,
raising the specter of a long extradition
fight. She says she’ll never willingly go
KNOX
back to Italy.
The Knox case is special because it raises the question of whether the U.S. government would send one of
its own citizens to a foreign country to face a long prison
term.
The answer: It’s been done before, though in less
(See TSA, Page A-6)
Good morning, Cynthia Appleman. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
(See ITALIAN, Page A-6)
A-6
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Saturday, February 1, 2014
Italian conviction for American woman may prompt extradition fight
(From Page A-1)
high-profile cases involving the
governments
of
Canada,
Mexico and other nations.
The U.S. has extradition
treaties with more than 100
countries, including Italy, providing what would appear to be
a strong legal foundation in
favor of a request for Knox’s
return to Italy.
“It’s absolutely not the case
that an individual will not be
extradited just because they are
a U.S. citizen,” says Douglas
McNabb, an international criminal defense attorney and an
expert in international extradition law.
Time is on the side of Knox’s
lawyers. Proceedings could take
up to a year to play out in the
Italian courts.
If Italy were to file a provisional arrest warrant after the
Italian proceedings end, Knox’s
lawyers could take the U.S. government through a judicial
process in the courts and an
administrative process at the
State Department, which
would make the decision.
State Department deputy
spokeswoman Marie Harf
declined comment Friday when
asked whether the U.S. has
received an extradition request
for Knox from Italian authorities, saying that information is
“private and confidential.” She
said the State Department is
monitoring the case as it works
its way through the Italian
legal system but refused to provide further details, such as
whether Secretary of State
John Kerry would make the
final decision on Knox if Italy
asks for her to be returned.
The U.S. has had an extradition treaty with Italy since 1984
and has denied at least several
requests since then.
Mary Fan, a former federal
prosecutor, suggested that any
decision
by
the
State
Department on whether to
return Knox to Italy is “a matter of both law and politics.”
From a U.S. standpoint, the
case at first seems to raise questions about double jeopardy —
being tried twice for the same
offense, something that’s
barred
by
the
U.S.
Constitution. Knox was first
convicted, then acquitted, then,
on Thursday, the initial conviction was reinstated.
Some observers dismiss the
double-jeopardy
argument
because Knox’s acquittal was not
finalized by Italy’s highest court.
Questions also have been
raised about whether the State
Department might conduct a
review of the evidence and ultimately decide it doesn’t support
extradition. The treaty says the
country requesting extradition
shall provide a summary of the
facts and evidence in the case
that establish “a reasonable
basis to believe that the person
sought committed the offense.”
But Christopher Jenks, a former Army attorney who served
as a State Department legal
adviser and now teaches at
Southern
Methodist
University’s law school, said
that’s a low bar, and that there’s
“no reason why Italy wouldn’t be
able to put together a sufficient
extradition request.”
He also noted that although
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“Itʼs absolutely not the
case that an individual
will not be extradited
just because they are a
U.S. citizen.”
Douglas McNabb,
international criminal
defense attorney
any request would wind up
before a U.S. federal judge, the
court’s role would largely be to
ensure the paperwork is in
order and that basic requirements are met.
“She’s not going to be able to
relitigate ‘did she do it’ in a federal court,” he said. “Your
chances of anything coming of
that are slim to none.”
Some of the best-known
extradition battles have been
the reverse of what the Knox
case would be. Filmmaking legend Polanski, leaker Snowden
and Wikileaks founder Julian
Assange have been the targets
of U.S. efforts to bring them
back to this country.
Polanski, a French citizen,
fled to France before he was to
be sentenced in the U.S. for
having sex with a minor.
France does not extradite its
own citizens. Snowden fled
from Hong Kong, which has an
extradition treaty with the
U.S., to Russia, which doesn’t.
Noriega, once the strongman
who ran Panama, was extradited from the U.S. to France to
Panama to face various drugrelated criminal charges.
Assange
fled
to
the
Ecuadorean
Embassy
in
London. Ecuador’s “modern
leftist” government is having
difficult relations with the U.S.,
even though the two countries
have an extradition treaty.
Granted asylum, Assange was
avoiding extradition to Sweden
where he would face allegations
by two women of sexual
assault, which he denies.
SUPER BOWL SECURITY
FBI: Powder appears harmless
(From Page A-1)
City, where police said
preliminary tests showed
it posed no threat.
A federal law enforcement official, who wasn’t
authorized to comment
publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said
powder from one envelope
tested positive for baking
soda. It’s not clear where
that letter was sent.
H a c k e n s a c k
University
Medical
Center received a number
of people for evaluation
because they came in contact with the letters, but a
hospital spokeswoman
said there were no reported illnesses or injuries.
In New Jersey, the suspicious mailings went to
at least five hotels,
Carlstadt Police Detective
John Cleary said.
The mailings arrived
at an Econo Lodge in
Carlstadt, a Homestead
Suites hotel in East
Rutherford
and
a
Renaissance
Inn
in
Rutherford, Cleary said.
Investigators intercepted
additional envelopes from
a mail truck before they
reached a Holiday Inn
Express and Hampton
Inn in Carlstadt, he said.
TSA to screen rail passengers
(From Page A-1)
sengers, Durkin said the screening will
ensure fans can make it through stadium security more quickly. Durkin
would not say how many agents and
law enforcement personnel will be
working Sunday, but said security will
be visible and invisible.
Officials estimate between 12,000
and 15,000 passengers will ride the
train between the Secaucus station and
the stadium. Ten double-decker trains
capable of carrying up to 1,350 passengers each will run to the stadium.
“It is an attempt to streamline and
also ensure the safety of passengers,”
Durkin said at a news conference here
at the train station. “You’re not getting
on a train unless you have a game ticket.”
Durkin said agents will be looking
“for anything that could negatively
At the Homewood
Suites, General Manager
Thomas Martucci said the
letter sent to his motel
contained yellow powder
and a typed letter inside
referencing al-Qaida and
the Dallas FBI.
“It was nonsense,” he
said.
Lauren Wallace, a jet
company employee from
affect the safety of New Jersey Transit
passengers.”
New Jersey Transit Police Chief
Christopher Trucillo said riders would
be able to bring water bottles on the
train and there would be no pat-downs
of passengers.
Trucillo said officials are expecting
the heaviest flow of passengers to come
from New York’s Penn Station.
Robert and Catherine Caballero and
their two daughters were chosen for a
security check Friday while switching
trains between their home in
Middletown, N.J., and New York City.
Catherine Caballero said her purse
was swabbed, and her 16-year-old
daughter Rachel’s purse was also
searched.
“It feels secure,” Robert Caballero
said of the train station. “It’s a great
idea. In this day, unfortunately, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Los Angeles staying at the
Homewood Suites, said
she saw hazardous-material trucks outside and was
shooed back from the lobby
to her room around 11:15
a.m. by a hotel employee.
She said she was allowed
out of her room about 40
minutes later.
Police were called to
Giuliani’s firm near
Rockefeller Center after a
worker opened the suspicious letter addressed to
Giuliani around 10:30
a.m. Friday, police said.
Eight mailroom workers
underwent decontamination as a precaution.
A representative for
Giuliani’s firm said the
substance was found to be
nonhazardous.
Farmers fear fallout from legislation
(From Page A-1)
with the Federal Milk
Marketing Improvement
Act. This is a classic supply control proposal,
which
(Thompson)
believes has the potential
to create unintended consequences,
including
reduced growth and competition in the industry,
and higher costs for consumers. Overall, he
believes the new farm bill
provisions are a far superior policy for both farmers and consumers.”
Tewksbury fears small
dairy
farmers
may
become extinct.
“Yes, the farm bill is
necessary, yes it does a lot
of good ... but by God, we
have to give dairy farmers
a price to cover their cost,
to give them a fighting
chance. We’re going to
drive more and more family farms out of business
and put up more corporate farms,” Tewksbury
said.
However, Linden dairy
farmer Ernie Derr Jr.
said what you put into
farming is what you get
out of it.
“I started out with
nothing, and we worked
hard and tried to do
things the way they
should be done, and right
now we’re really doing
good,” Derr said. “I try to
find the good in everything, and we’re making a
good living.”
Adaptability is key to
farming success now, he
said. He started with 28
cows 28 years ago, and
now has 75.
“We don’t farm the
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
Jersey cows bed down in one of the barns at Ernie Derr, Jr.ʼs Heavenʼs
Blessings Dairy Farm near Linden Friday.
way we did 50 years ago.
That’s the biggest thing,
to keep up on the times
as much as you can
afford,” as farming tactics have changed, Derr
said.
Ultimately, he said, “I
can’t say anything negative about farming; I grew
my family up with it.”
Gary Hennip, of Rome,
who grew up on a dairy
farm in Bradford County
and worked as a herdsman for a county registered Holstein dairy farm,
is a Penn State Extension
dairy educator.
He noted the bill eliminates direct payments to
producers.
“Now we’ll rely more
on risk management,
which is an insurance-
type policy,” Hennip said.
According
to
Congressional Quarterly,
“Direct payments provide
farmers and other producers with fixed annual
payments based on their
farms’ historical crop production and do not vary
with crop prices or crop
yields.”
However, “There is
broad agreement that the
current payment programs unfairly favor certain commodities and
often provide assistance
regardless of whether it is
needed,” according to the
report.
Now, if prices dip too
low, farmers will need to
“be involved in this insurance-type program to get
paid,” Hennip said.
Craig Williams, of
Knoxville, who runs a
100-acre crop farm, and
serves as Penn State
Extension dairy educator
for Tioga County, said the
bill eliminates subsidies
for corn, while continuing
some subsidies for crop
insurance.
The corn subsidy elimination “is not as big an
impact on farmers as the
price of corn going up and
down,” Williams said.
For now, it’s a waitand-see game.
“We need to take a little time here to figure out
how this really affects us
now,” Williams said.
Sun-Gazette reporter
Cheryl A. Clarke contributed to this report.
MORGAN MYERS/Sun-Gazette
Vince Matteo, chairman of the task forceʼs business subcommittee, addresses the crowd.
Heroin Task Force
rolls out strategy
(From Page A-1)
were due to heroin,
Kiessling said.
“These people are our
neighbors, friends and
human beings. We need to
give them hope and light,”
Dr. Rene R. Rigal, chairman of the task force’s
medical subcommittee
and
physician
at
Susquehanna
Health
said.
Led by President
Judge Nancy Butts,
experts in faith, business,
medicine, education and
human services buzzed
with ideas for solving the
local heroin problem.
Public education and outreach was the primary
focus.
“All of us are working
with clients in addiction
or recovery. Who are the
missing populations and
how can we reach them?”
Mae-Ling Kranz, chairwoman of the human
service subcommittee and
co-director
of
Wise
Options said.
Using drug forfeiture
money, the district attorney’s office in consultation
with Impact Advertising
develop the task force’s
marketing strategy. In
addition to a logo and mission statement, the task
force has created brightlycolored help cards that
read, “Want to get clean
and sober? Here’s help: 1888-941-2721.”
“All calls are confidential,” Butts said.
The task force plans to
promote its mission and
helpline number in a myriad of ways: payroll
stuffers, informational
inserts in church bulletins
and even public service
announcements at movie
theaters and football
games.
“We have quick blurbs
that can be announced,”
Brandt said.
The task force also
identified strategies for
fighting
drug-related
crime by focusing on
rental properties. In collaboration with the city’s
Nuisance Property Task
Force, the law enforcement
subcommittee
brainstormed ways to discourage drug activity by
applying the Civil Use
Abatement Statute more
broadly.
“Stoops on front steps
on houses along Second
Street invite loitering. We
talked about removing
those
stoops,”
Law
E n f o r c e m e n t
Subcommittee Chair and
District Attorney Eric R.
Linhardt said.
Linhardt also hopes to
educate landlords about
how to attract quality tenants by drafting better
lease agreements.
In addition to heroin,
prescription drugs also is
a major concern of the
task force. For the first
time ever, prescription
drug overdose is the number one cause of death
among 18 to 32 year olds,
according Rigal.
“People should not
have a pharmacy in their
medicine cabinets and
trash cans are not the
answer. We need to make
prescription take-back
boxes more available to
c o n s u m e r s , ”
Commissioner
Jeff
Wheeland said.
State Sen. Gene Yaw,
R-Loyalsock Township,
who attended Friday’s
meeting, said his website
features a comprehensive
list of prescription takeback box locations.
Citing the likelihood of
future financial need,
members also discussed
possible funding sources
to keep the task force
going.
“We plan to register as
a nonprofit at Raise the
Region on March 12. Any
money raised there will be
put toward the Heroin
Task
Force,”
Shea
Madden, executive director of the West Branch
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Commission said.
The Heroin Task Force
will hold its next closed
meeting in March.
SUNDAY EDITION
WILLIAMSPORT SUN-GAZETTE
70+
IN SPORTS
IN OUTDOORS
Help Wanted
ads inside
today
County, region
full of wildlife
viewing spots
UConn
moves to
NCAA title
April 6, 2014
$1.75 Newsstand
213th Year, No. 96
'We're all paying'
Local heroin task force
holds public meeting
ROBERT PHILLIPS/Sun-Gazette
By SAMANTHA WALLACE
[email protected]
BOB PHILLIPS/Sun-Gazette
Lycoming
County
Judge
Marc
Lovecchio addresses the crowd at a
meeting Saturday dealing with the cityʼs
heroin epidemic.
“A storm is raging,” said
Lycoming County Judge Marc
Lovecchio, “and it continues to rage
on.”
That was the message at large
from the Lycoming County Heroin
Task Force community subcommittee when it held a public information and education meeting about
heroin and prescription drug abuse
Saturday evening.
About 80 people gathered at St.
Joseph the Worker’s Fleming
Center to hear from a wide range of
Peter R. Lynn, chairman of the
Lycoming College Board of Trustees,
right, bestows the medallion of the
offices of Lycoming College on Dr,.
Kent Trachte, the 15th president in its
200-year history.
speakers that included Mayor
Gabriel J. Campana, former addicts
and family members affected by
addiction.
“This is not just a Williamsport
Trachte inaugurated
as 15th president
of Lycoming College
By KRISTEN WRIGHT
[email protected]
(See COUNTY, Page A-6)
The Lycoming College campus was
filled with “Lyco pride” Saturday afternoon during the inauguration its new
president, Dr. Kent Trachte.
Faculty, staff, alumni, students, dignitaries and many more attended the ceremony in the campus recreation center.
The selection of Trachte was made by a
16-member search committee comprised
of trustees, faculty, staff, students and
alumni from of a nationwide pool of more
than 80 applicants.
Four candidates were selected by the
committee and recommended to the board
of trustees. Trachte’s selection was
(See TRACHTE, Page A-3)
Is ‘pulse signal’
from Flight 370?
By EILEEN NG
and NICK PERRY
Associated Press
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The death of actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman underscored a
troubling development: Heroin, long a
scourge of the back alleys of American life,
has
spread
across
the
country.
Northcentral Pennsylvania has not been
immune from what has been declared to be
a national epidemic. This is the first
installment in a multiple-day series.)
By AMY FORLITI
DAN SEWELL
NIGEL DUARA
Associated Press
O
n a beautiful Su
unday lasst
October, Detecttive Dan Douglas
urban Miinnesota
stood in a subu
n at a lifellesss 20home and looked down
year-old — a needle marrk in his arm, a
ake long
syringe in his pocket.. Itt didn't ta
an, fresh
for Douglas to realize thatt the ma
out of treatment, was his second heroin
overdose that day.
Welll, here
"You just drive away and go, 'W
p.
we go again,'" says thee veteran cop
In Butler County, Ohiio, heroin overdose
calls are so common thatt the longttime
he situa
ation to
EMS coordinator likens th
"coming in and eating breakfast — you
just kind of expect it to occcur." A local
month waiit. One
rehab facility has a six-m
school recently referred an 11-yeearr-old boy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In the May 6, 2013, file photo at top, a drug addict prepares
a needle to inject himself with heroin in front of a church in
the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. The death of actor Philip
Seymour Hoffman in February 2014 spotlighted the reality
that heroin is no longer limited to the back alleys of
American life. Once mainly a city phenomenon, the drug has
spread to the country and suburbs. In the Feb. 11, 2014,
photo below, Dr. Marcus Romanello, medical director for the
Fort Hamilton Hospital emergency room, checks equipment
in the emergency room of the hospital in Hamilton, Ohio.
The hospital saw 200 heroin overdose cases last year, and
countless related problems: abscesses from using unsterile
needles, heart-damaging endocarditis and potentially fatal
(See HEROIN, Page A-7) sepsis infections.
‘Geek the Library’
campaign promotes
community interests
Athletes geek their sport,
artists geek their medium. The James V.
Brown Library geeks the
community and wants
everyone to share what
they geek with others.
E
Lifestyle
PERTH, Australia — A Chinese ship
involved in the hunt for the missing
Malaysian jetliner reported hearing a
“pulse signal” Saturday in southern
Indian Ocean waters with the same frequency emitted by the plane’s data
recorders, as Malaysia vowed not to give
up the search for the aircraft.
The Australian government agency
coordinating the search for the missing
plane said early today that the electronic
pulse signals reportedly detected by the
Chinese ship are consistent with those of
an aircraft black box.
But retired Air Chief Marshal Angus
Houston, the head of the search coordination agency, said they “cannot verify any
connection” at this stage between the electronic signals and the missing Malaysia
Airlines Flight 370.
Military and civilian planes, ships with
deep-sea searching equipment and a
British nuclear submarine scoured a
remote patch of the southern Indian
Ocean off Australia’s west coast, in an
increasingly urgent hunt for debris and
the “black box” recorders that hold vital
information about Malaysia Airlines
Flight 370’s last hours.
After weeks of fruitless looking, the
multinational search team is racing
against time to find the sound-emitting
beacons in the flight and cockpit voice
recorders that could help unravel the mystery of the plane’s fate. The beacons in the
black boxes emit “pings” so they can be
more easily found, but the batteries only
last for about a month.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency
reported said the ship picked up a signal
(See IS, Page A-3)
INSIDE
Deaths
Page D-10
June Hill Cooper
Good morning, Charles Haynes.
Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
Visit our Web site at www.sungazette.com
... B-7
Annieʼs Mailbox..................E-6
Anniversaries .....................E-4
Editorial.............................A4/5
Lifestyle...............................E-1
Stocks...............................D4/5
Support groups ..................E-6
TV Listings .........................D-9
Weather..............................A-8
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Sunday, April 6, 2014
A-7
Heroin spreads misery across US
(From Page A-1)
who was shooting up intravenously.
Sheriff Richard Jones
has seen crack, methamphetamine
and
pills
plague his southwestern
Ohio community but calls
heroin a bigger scourge.
Children have been forced
into foster care because of
addicted parents; shoplifting rings have formed to
raise money to buy fixes.
"There are so many
residual effects," he says.
"And we're all paying for
it."
Heroin is spreading its
misery across America.
And communities everywhere are indeed paying.
The death of actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman
spotlighted the reality that
heroin is no longer limited
to the back alleys of
American life. Once mainly a city phenomenon, the
drug has spread — gripping postcard villages in
Vermont,
middle-class
enclaves outside Chicago,
the sleek urban core of
Portland, Ore., and places
in between and beyond.
Cocaine,
painkillers
and tranquilizers are all
used more than heroin,
and the latest federal overdose statistics show that in
2010 the vast majority of
drug overdose deaths
involved pharmaceuticals,
with heroin accounting for
less than 10 percent. But
heroin's escalation is troubling. Last month, U.S.
Attorney General Eric
Holder called the 45 percent increase in heroin
overdose deaths between
2006 and 2010 an "urgent
and growing public health
crisis."
In 2007, there were an
estimated 373,000 heroin
users in the U.S. By 2012,
the number was 669,000,
with the greatest increases
among those 18 to 25.
First-time users nearly
doubled in a six-year period ending in 2012, from
90,000 to 156,000.
Experts note that many
users turned to heroin
after a crackdown on prescription drug "pill mills"
made painkillers such as
OxyContin harder to find
and more costly. It's killing
because it can be extremely pure or laced with other
powerful narcotics. That,
coupled with a low tolerance once people start
using again after treatment, is catching addicts
off guard.
In hard-hit places,
police, doctors, parents
and former users are
struggling to find solutions
and save lives.
"I thought my suburban, middle-class family
was immune to drugs such
as this," says Valerie Pap,
who lost her son, Tanner,
to heroin in 2012 in Anoka
County, Minn., and speaks
out to try and help others.
"I've come to realize that
we are not immune. ...
Heroin will welcome anyone into its grasp."
MINNESOTA: TAKING
THE MESSAGE TO THE
MASSES
The
night
before
Valentine's Day, some 250
people filed into a church
in Spring Lake Park,
Minn. There were moms
and dads of addicts, as
well as children whose
parents brought them in
hopes of scaring them
away from smack.
From the stage, Dan
Douglas gripped a microphone as a photograph
appeared overhead on a
screen: A woman in the
fetal position on a bathroom floor. Then another:
A woman "on the nod" —
passed out with drug
paraphernalia and a shoe
near her face.
"You just don't win
with heroin," Douglas told
the crowd. "You die or you
go to jail."
It was the third such
forum held over two
weeks in Anoka County,
home to 335,000 people
north of Minneapolis.
Since 1999, 55 Anoka
County residents have
died from heroin-related
causes. Only one other
Minnesota county reported more heroin-related
deaths — 58 — and it has
a population three-and-ahalf times greater than
Anoka's.
Five years ago, county
officials were focused on
stamping out meth labs.
Then
investigators
noticed a climb in pharmacy robberies, and started finding Percocet and
OxyContin during routine
marijuana busts.
As prescription drug
abuse rose, so, too, did
crackdowns aimed at
shutting down pill mills
and increasing tracking of
prescriptions and pharmacy-hopping pill seekers. Users turned to heroin. "It hit us in the face in
the form of dead bodies,"
says Douglas.
Authorities are working to educate doctors
about the dangers of overprescribing painkillers
and are fighting to get
heroin off the streets. The
idea for the forums came
not from police but rather
from Pap, a third-grade
teacher whose youngest
son died of a heroin overdose.
Tanner graduated from
high school with honors.
In the fall of 2012, he was
pursuing a psychology
degree at the University
of
Minnesota,
and
dreamed of becoming a
drug counselor. He had
not, to his mother's knowledge, ever used drugs, and
certainly not heroin.
Then one day Tanner's
roommates found the 21year-old unconscious in
his bedroom.
Amid her grief, Pap
realized something needed to be done to educate
others. She met with
county officials, and soon
after the community
forums were developed.
At each, Pap shared her
family's story.
"Our lives have been
forever changed," she told
the crowd in Spring Lake
Park. "Heroin took it all
away,"
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this March 17, 1947, file photo, about 459 ounces of pure heroin valued at over $1 million in the
black market lies on table in Customs Enforcement Bureau in New York following seizure aboard the
French freighter Saint Tropez after its arrival in New York City from Marseilles. Cesar Negro,
Marseilles seaman, second from left, was arrested on charges of smuggling narcotics and Rene
Bruchard, second from right, the ship's linen keeper, is being held for questioning. Port Patrol
Officers Michael F. Munro, left; Arthur H. Cumming, center, and Lawrence F. Murray, right, are credited with discovering the heroin during a routine check of the seamen.
OHIO: OD ANTIDOTE
HELPS SAVE SOME
Brakes screech. The
hospital door flies open. A
panicked voice shouts:
"Help my friend!" An
unconscious young man,
in the throes of a heroin
overdose, is lifted onto a
gurney.
It's known as a "driveup, drop-off," and it's happened repeatedly at
Ohio's Fort Hamilton
Hospital. The staff's quick
response and a dose of
naloxone, an opiatereversing drug, bring
most patients back. Some
are put on ventilators. A
few never revive.
"We've certainly had
our share of deaths," says
Dr. Marcus Romanello,
head of the ER. "At least
five died that I am acutely
aware of ... because I personally cared for them."
Romanello joined the
hospital about two years
ago, just as the rise of
heroin was becoming
noticeable in Hamilton, a
blue-collar city of 60,000
people. Now it seems to be
reaching into nearly every
part of daily life.
"If you stood next to
somebody and just started
a conversation about heroin, you'd hear: 'Oh yeah,
my nephew's on heroin.
My next-door neighbor's
on heroin,'" says Candy
Murray Abbott, who
helped her own 27-yearold son through withdrawal.
Heroin-related deaths
have more than tripled in
Butler County, where
Hamilton is the county
seat. There were 55
deaths last year, and
within one two-week period, the city's emergency
paramedic units responded to 18 heroin overdoses.
Users run the gamut,
says
EMS
veteran
Jennifer Mason — from
streetwalkers to business
executives. They die in
cars, public parks, restaurant bathrooms.
Romanello's hospital
saw 200 heroin overdose
cases last year. Overdose
patients usually bounce
back quickly after given
naloxone, or Narcan. It
works by blocking the
brain receptors that opi-
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this March 17, 1984, file photo, Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Emily, get into a car as they are
escorted by private investigator Don Wiley outside the courthouse in Rapid City, S.D. Kennedy
received a suspended sentence and two years probation on his guilty plea to a charge of heroin possession.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this Feb. 2, 1979 file photo, New York City police carry the body of punk rock singer Sid Vicious
from an apartment in the Greenwich Village area of New York. Authorities said that Sid Vicious,
whose real name was John Simon Ritchie, died of an overdose of heroin he took at a party celebrating his release from prison the day before. He had been released on $50,000 bail pending trial in the
fatal stabbing of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
ates latch onto and helping
the body "remember" to
take in air.
At least 17 states and
the District of Columbia
allow Narcan to be distributed to the public, and bills
are pending in some states
to increase access to it. In
Ohio, a new law allows a
user's friends or relatives
to administer Narcan, on
condition that they call
911.
Romanello says his
patients
are
usually
relieved and grateful by
the time they leave his hospital. "They say, 'Thank
you for saving my life,' and
walk out the door. But
then, the withdrawal
symptoms start to kick in."
"You would think that
stopping breathing is hit-
ting rock bottom," adds
Mason.
"They
don't
remember that. ... You've
blocked the heroin, and
they have to have it. They
go back out to get more."
OREGON: A FORMER
ADDICT FIGHTS BACK
They smile down from
photos: recovering addicts
holding plates of food at a
group picnic last year.
From inside Central City
Concern in downtown
Portland, Ore., David
Fitzgerald looks over the
faces.
Are they all still sober?
Are they all still alive?
"Most of them," says
Fitzgerald, a former addict
who leads the mentor pro-
gram at the rehab clinic.
"Not all."
Heroin cut a gash
through
the
Pacific
Northwest in the 1990s.
Then prescription pills
took over until prices rose.
Now the percentage of
those in treatment for
heroin in Oregon is back up
to levels not seen since the
'90s — nearly 8,000 people
last year — and the addicts
are getting younger.
Central City's clients
reflect that. In 2008, 25
percent of them were
younger than 35. Last year
the number went to 40 percent.
The crop of younger
addicts presents a new
problem — finding appropriately aged mentors to
match them with. But
Fitzgerald has hope in 26year-old Felecia Padgett.
Before sobriety, Padgett
found herself selling heroin
to people younger than
herself, suburban kids
rolling up in their parents'
cars. Using heroin, she
says, was like "getting to
touch heaven."
Fitzgerald doesn't yet
have money to pay her, and
Padgett herself is still in
recovery. But she, and others like her, may play a
crucial role in confronting
the problem as the face of
Portland's heroin addiction
gets younger.
"A lot of them aren't
ready at a younger age,"
Fitzgerald says. "The drug
scene, it's fast ... it's different. It's harder than it
was."
Page C-1
Page B-1
www.sungazette.com
Monday, April 7, 2014
213th Year, No. 97
50¢ Newsstand
Police: Chase ends in fatal, self-inflicted gunshot
Possible connection to earlier murder under investigation
By PHILIP A. HOLMES
[email protected]
PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Shielding a womanʼs body from view, a sheet was
used to cover the driverʼs side of a car that
crashed into a structure in the 1800 block of East
Third Street about 10:45 a.m. Sunday. State
police said the driver suffered a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound as she was heading east and
being pursued by city police.
The body of an elderly city man was found
shot to death early
Sunday morning on
Fairview
Drive
in
Montoursville, according to state police.
“It has been ruled a
homicide. That is all I can
give out at this time
because we don’t want to
jeopardize this active
investigation,”
Sgt.
Michael Triponey, a crime
section supervisor, said.
The victim was identified as Edward Joseph
White Sr., 77, of 677
Cemetery St., police said.
“At this time, there
does not appear to be any
danger to the public in
relation to this investigation,” Trooper Tyson
Havens, the lead investigator, said. He did not
elaborate.
Several hours later,
Jacqueline Delguerico,
28, of 412 Anthony St.,
shot herself to death in
her car as she was traveling east in the 1800 block
of East Third Street
while being pursued by
city police, state police
said.
The woman’s car
careened out of control
and struck the front of a
building at Schneider’s
Valley Farms Dairy, 1860
E. Third St., about 10:45
a.m.
“We don’t know at this
point if there is a relationship between these two
deaths. That is part of our
investigation,” Triponey
said.
Montoursville police
initially were called to the
area of Fairview Drive
near Cedar Street to
investigate “a report of
person along the roadway” about 12:45 a.m.,
Triponey said.
“It
was
initially
believed that what they
were responding to was a
pedestrian struck by a
hit-run
driver.
Emergency
personnel
determined that the victim had been shot,”
Triponey said.
(See POLICE, Page A-3)
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The death of actor Philip
Seymour Hoffman underscored a troubling
development: Heroin, long a scourge of the
back alleys of American life, has spread across
the country. Northcentral Pennsylvania has
not been immune from what has been
declared to be a national epidemic.
This is the second installment in
a multiple-day series.)
PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
An accidental kitchen fire Sunday night
caused in excess of $60,000 damage to this
double home on Dartmouth Street in
DuBoistown. Three people, including the property owner, were displaced by the fire, which
took about 15 minutes to bring under control.
3 homeless after fire
By PHILIP A. HOLMES
[email protected]
Three people were left homeless Sunday night
after a kitchen fire erupted in a DuBoistown double
home at 123-125 Dartmouth St., according to borough Fire Chief Paul McKinley.
The fire broke out on the 123 side just before 7
(See 3 HOMELESS, Page A-6)
LEGISLATIVE TALLY
Gas impact fee use
among other votes
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Each Monday, the Sun-Gazette
summarizes major votes of the past week and, more
specifically, how our locally elected and appointed
officials voted on each matter. Watch for it each
Monday in the Sun-Gazette.)
From Staff Reports
Locally elected and appointed officials voted on
the following matters in the past week:
Guns a hot
commodity
By PHILIP A.
HOLMES
[email protected]
A
t an alarming
rate, city
patrol officers are coming
across handguns in
the wrong hands.
“On the 4 p.m.-tomidnight shift
alone, our officers
seized 22 firearms
in the first three
months of this
year,” Assistant Police
Chief Tim Miller said
recently.
“In many of these
cases, the officers
encountered these
guns while conducting
drug investigations,
specifically heroin,”
Miller said.
“I believe this is a
spin-off of the heroin epidemic.
Since January, it’s like our street
officers are seeing an explosion of
guns out there,” he added.
“Officers responding to routine
calls are encountering guns (in
the wrong hands) more and more.
It’s scary for the police as well as
• The House voted 248-179 to pass the Save
American Workers Act of 2014,
which redefines full-time
employees as those who work
40 hours a week, instead of
the Affordable Care Act’s 30hour definition. It awaits a
Senate vote. Voting yes were
U.S. Reps. Tom Marino, R-Cogan Station, and Glenn
“GT” Thompson, R-Howard.
(See GAS, Page A-6)
Rain, above-average
temperatures coming
By MIKE REUTHER
[email protected]
After a wet start to the week, sunny skies and
above average temperatures will prevail for the local
area.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a 100
percent chance of rain today into this evening.
And, the rain could be heavy at times.
“I don’t think we are talking about flooding or anything like that,” said forecaster Kevin Fitzgerald. “By
afternoon, I think the rain will start and then taper off
(See WET, Page A-7)
(See GUNS, Page A-6)
Heroin addicts face barriers to treatment
By MEGHAN BARR
Associated Press
Federal
for the public,”
Miller said.
During any
three-month period, city police
could routinely
recover 10 guns,
Miller said, quickly adding: “To
me, that’s a high number.”
Miller said heroin addiction is
driving people to do things to support their habit, including stealing and selling guns.
Old Lycoming Township Police
Chief
William Solomon
concurred, saying:
“Guns are a good
trade commodity
in the drug world.”
Although he
was not able to
provide statistics,
Solomon said his officers are routinely encountering
people possessing stolen handguns.
“Officers clearly have to be
more vigilant. No one is safe,”
Solomon said.
“We’re seeing more and more
cases in which guns that were
stolen in Bradford and Tioga
counties end up being sold in this
area for heroin,” Solomon said.
“It’s clearly not just a problem
N
EW YORK — As the
ranks of heroin users
rise, increasing numbers
of addicts are looking for help but
are failing to find it — because
there are no beds in packed facilities, treatment is hugely expensive and insurance companies
won’t pay for inpatient rehab.
Some users overcome their
addictions in spite of the obstacles.
But many, like Salvatore
Marchese, struggle and fail.
In the course of Marchese’s
five-year battle with heroin, the
Blackwood, N.J., man was repeatedly denied admission to treatment facilities, often because his
insurance company wouldn’t cover
the cost. Then one night in June
2010, a strung-out Marchese went
to the emergency room seeking
help. The doctors shook their
heads: Heroin withdrawal is not
life-threatening, they said, and we
can’t admit you. They gave him an
IV flush, and sent him home.
Marchese, then 26, and his sis(See HEROIN, Page A-6)
News figure says Israel a good investment
By MIKE REUTHER
[email protected]
Israel is not only a
great friend of the U.S.,
it’s also a nation that can
be a good investment for
businesses and individuals.
Gil
Tamary,
Washington bureau chief
for Israel’s Channel 10
News, said U.S. businessmen such as Warren
Buffett are among those
who see the benefits of
investing there.
Tamary,
keynote
speaker at the annual
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“No other nation in
the world feels so
much connection to
the United States
than Israel.”
Journalist Gil Tamary
Central
Pennsylvania
State of Israel Bonds
Dinner at the Community
Arts Center Sunday,
shared some of his
insights about his native
country and its relations
with the U.S.
“No other nation in the
world feels so much connection to the United States
than Israel,” he said.
It’s the kind of place
where one can encounter
a cab driver talking about
topics
such
as
ObamaCare.
For many Israelis,
their country is like the
51st state of the U.S., he
said.
“We really feel the
friendship of this great
country,” Tamary said.
Good morning, Richard Caracio. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
Tamary, who has
reported on the Camp
David Accords and interviewed such prominent
figures as Israeli Prime
Minister
Benjamin
Netanyahu and former
U.S. Secretary of Sate
Condoleezza Rice, noted
that among the American
companies forming business ties in Israel are
Google, IBM and Apple.
He recalled an interview with Warren Buffett,
questioning him as to why
(See JOURNALIST,
Page A-3)
A-6
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Monday, April 7, 2014
3 homeless after DuBoistown fire
(From Page A-1)
p.m., but smoke already was
“rolling out from under the
eaves on both sides of the
house,” fire Capt. Nathan
Maynard said.
The property is owned a
woman who lives in the 123
side. A boyfriend and girlfriend
rent the other half from her,
McKinley said. Investigators
could only provide the last
names of those displaced. The
owner was identified only as
Tillet, and her renters were
identified only as Frisco and his
girlfriend, Baumann.
It was believed that Tillet
called in the fire. She safely
escaped the house, McKinley
said. The couple next door were
not home.
The fire destroyed Tillet’s
kitchen and cause extensive
smoke and heat damage
throughout the rest of the first
floor, McKinley said.
]Firefighters from the borough and South Williamsport
donned self-contained breathing apparatus and advanced
hoses through the front doors of
both homes.
Additional manpower and
equipment from the city,
Woodward, Old Lycoming and
Loyalsock townships also
responded to the scene. The
bulk of the fire was knocked
down in about 15 minutes.
The caused of the fire was
ruled accidental, McKinley
said, adding that it was “electrical in nature.”
All three victims were staying with relatives or friends,
McKinley said. The couple
could be back in their house by
the end of the week, but the
home owner will likely be displaced for several weeks.
McKinley said damage could
be as high as $80,000. Both the
property owner and the tenants
had fire insurance, he added.
Gas impact fee use among other votes taken during week
(From Page A-1)
• The Senate vote 6435 to pass a bill to amend
the Social Security Act to
extend Medicare payments to physicians and
other provisions of the
Medicare and Medicaid
programs. U.S. Sen. Bob
Casey, D-Scranton, voted
yes. U.S. Sen. Pat
Toomey,
R-Zionsville,
voted no.
State
• The House voted
200-0 to approve a resolution establishing the task
force on opioid prescription drug proliferation
and its impact on heroin
use in the commonwealth, and creating an
advisory
committee.
Voting yes were state
Reps. Garth Everett, RMuncy, Matt Baker, RWellsboro, Michael K.
Hanna
Sr.,
D-Lock
Haven,
and
Rick
Mirabito,
DWilliamsport.
• The House voted
199-0 to pass a resolution
directing the Legislative
Budget and Finance
Committee to study the
issue of specialty tier prescription drug pricing in
Pennsylvania. Everett,
Baker,
Hanna
and
Mirabito voted yes.
• The Senate voted 480 to pass an amendment
regarding child protective
services, further providing for definitions; providing for electronic reporting and for regulations;
creating a statewide central register and file of
unfounded reports; establishes a statewide toll-free
telephone number; continuous availability of
department and for disposition of complaints
received, and more. State
Sen. Joe Scarnati, RBrockway voted yes.
State Sen. Gene Yaw, RLoyalsock Township, did
not vote.
County
• Lycoming County
commissioners voted 3-0
to commit $104,000 of
natural gas drilling
impact funds to River
Valley Transit’s compressed natural gas fueling stations. Voting yes
were Jeff Wheeland, Tony
Mussare and Ernie
Larson.
• Lycoming County
Water
and
Sewer
Authority voted 5-0 to
approve an extension to
September to use the
$25,194
Community
Development Block Grant
funding from 2009 to give
qualifying DuBoistown
homeowners more time to
finish sewer lateral work.
Voting yes were Paul
Wentzler, Donald Konkle,
Jan Ransdorf, James
Carpenter and Richard
Haas. Mary Bennardi,
Charles Hall, Robert
Hippenstiel and Scott
Slocum were absent.
Municipal
• City Council voted 70 to allow the city Bureau
of Fire to receive a decontamination vehicle for use
in poison gas and chemical incidents from the
North Central Regional
Task Force. There is no
cost to city taxpayers in
the transferral. Voting in
favor
were
Council
President Bill Hall, Liz
Miele, Bonnie Katz,
Jonathan Williamson,
Don Noviello, Randall J.
Allison and N. Clifford
“Skip” Smith.
• Muncy Borough
Council voted 5-0 to
approve the borough’s
2013-14 insurance bill of
$8,990 for the Muncy
Creek Community Fire
Co. Voting yes were
Richard Baker, Dana
Bertin, Ed Feigels, Karen
Richards and Elaine
McAleer. Council members Matilda Noviello and
Linda Stein were absent.
•
DuBoistown
Borough Council voted 60 to allow the purchase of
a new Husqvarna K760
Power Cutter at a cost not
to exceed $899, and to
allow up to $8,000 in
materials to repair a sinking
pothole
at
Duboistown Community
Park. Voting yes were
James Barger, Norman
Cowden, Charles Frey,
Jennie Miller, Michael
Wall and Eric Fausey.
•
Jersey
Shore
Borough
Council
approved
engineering
design plans by Larson
Design Group for a public
access reiver project.
Voting yes were Paul
Garrett, Janet Barnhart,
Marguerite Dyroff, John
Pisarcik,
Barbara
Schmouder, and Kenneth
Scheesley. Sean Simcox
and Deborah Colocino
were absent.
School District
• Williamsport Area
School Board voted 8-0 to
remove absent board
member
Chester
Peterman, due to unexplained absences for the
month of February and
March. Vote yes were
Lori Baer, Karen Confer,
David
Stone,
Jeren
Milliken, Jane Penman,
Nicholas Grimes, Robin
Knauth.
Spencer
Sweeting and Chester
Peterman were absent.
Guns a hot commodity
(From Page A-1)
in Williamsport, but it’s an issue all
across the state and the country,”
Solomon said.
Miller said officers are dealing with
not only more people possessing stolen
guns, “but we also encounter cases in
which people who own guns legally are
involved in criminal activity.”
“We’re also seeing more drug dealers
in possession of handguns. If they don’t
have the guns right on them, they have
them in their vehicles or in their
homes,” Miller said.
Both Miller and Solomon are imploring legal gun owners “to do a better job
of securing their weapons.”
It is imperative that gun owners
know where their weapons are at all
times, Miller said.
“In recent years, people have been
buying more and more guns legally, but
too often they stash them away, tuck
them away and that’s the end of it. Too
often we recover a weapon only to find
the owner hasn’t seen it in months and
was never aware that it was stolen,”
Miller said.
PHILLIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Displayed are four guns seized recently by city police.
He and Solomon encourage gun owners to put their weapons in gun safes
that are not easily seen.
“Make a list of all your firearms,
with their serial numbers, and put that
list in a safe place. When you discover
one of your firearms missing or stolen,
notify the police at once,” Solomon said.
Miller and Solomon said a gun
owner should never leave any weapon
in their vehicle unattended.
“People have to be more pro-active in
securing their legally owned weapons,”
Miller said.
South Williamsport Police Chief
Robert Hetner said his department also
is seeing a hike in the number of calls
involving guns.
“Yes, we’re seeing more stolen guns
on the streets, but what we’re also deal-
ing with is more incidents in which people who are carrying guns legally are
pulling their weapons, often times
unnecessarily,” Hetner said.
“Our officers are sent to a routine
disturbance, and when they arrive,
they suddenly find someone pointing a
gun at someone,” Hetner said. “I understand that the person may feel threatened or justified in pulling a gun, but a
lot of times it really isn’t necessary.
What they have done, really, is just
escalate a situation to a very dangerous
level, dangerous for the public and the
responding officers,” Hetner said.
Just a few days ago, borough police
responded to a disturbance at a bar.
When the officer arrived, he was faced
with a tense situation in which a man
was pointing a gun at another person,
Hetner said.
The incident was quickly diffused.
No one was injured and no one was
charged, he said.
“That was a potentially dangerous
situation for everyone involved.
Something could have gone terribly
wrong,” he said.
Heroin addicts face barriers to treatment
(From Page A-1)
ter called multiple inpatient clinics
only to be told: We have no beds.
Eventually, Marchese found space at
a facility but was released 17 days
later when his public funding ran
out. Less than three months later,
Marchese was found dead of an overdose in his mother’s car.
“Heroin is life-threatening,” said
his mother, Patty DiRenzo. “We’re
losing kids every day from it.”
Of the 23.1 million Americans
who needed treatment for drugs or
alcohol in 2012, only 2.5 million people received aid at a specialty facility,
according to the federal Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration. Heroin addicts are a
small slice of overall drug users, but
their numbers nearly doubled from
2007 to 2012, to 669,000. The number treated for heroin also increased,
from 277,000 to 450,000.
At issue is whether these addicts
are getting the treatment they need
to successfully beat their habits.
Advocates say they are not, partly
because the insurance industry has
not come to grips with the dangers of
heroin withdrawal and its aftermath.
It is true that, unlike withdrawal
from dependencies on alcohol or benzodiazepines like Xanax, heroin
withdrawal does not kill. But it is so
horrible — users feel like their bones
are breaking and fluids leak from
every orifice — that many are drawn
back to the drug, with fatal consequences.
Even if addicts survive withdrawal, they often relapse if they fail to
make it into treatment. That’s when
many overdoses happen, because
they try to use as much heroin as
they did before, and their newly
drug-free bodies can’t handle it.
Because withdrawal is not directly deadly, most insurance companies
won’t pay for inpatient rehab, said
Anthony Rizzuto, a provider rela-
tions representative at Seafield
Center, a clinic on Long Island. They
either claim that the addict does not
meet the “criteria for medical necessity” — that inpatient care would be
an inappropriate treatment — or
require that the user first try outpatient rehab.
“Ninety-nine-point-nine percent
of the time, we hear ‘denied,’”
Rizzuto said. “And then we go to an
appeal process. And we get denied
again.”
Susan Pisano, a spokeswoman for
America’s Health Insurance Plans,
the trade association that represents
the health insurance industry,
defended the industry’s practices.
“Health insurers rely on evidencebased standards of care that look at:
what is the right level of coverage,
the right site of coverage, the right
combination of treatments,” she said.
There is debate over the best way
to get clean, but most addiction
experts agree that inpatient care is
often essential for full-blown addicts.
While most insurance policies allow
coverage of up to 30 days, nobody
gets all 30, said Tom McLellan, CEO
of the nonprofit Treatment Research
Institute in Philadelphia who served
as deputy drug czar under President
Barack Obama. The average duration is 11 to 14 days.
“It’s not enough time. And what
do you do?” McClellan said. “If the
treatment program calls you up and
says, ‘Your loved one is half-treated,
we’d like to keep him for another two
weeks,’ you take out a mortgage on
your house and you cover it.”
Elizabeth Thompson’s parents did
just that to pay for her treatment in
eight inpatient facilities beginning at
age 16. It wasn’t until she spent several months at a long-term facility in
Florida that she successfully stayed
clean.
“It almost didn’t matter so much
what they did there ... but just taking
me out of my environment and keep-
ing me in a place that was really difficult to use,” said Thompson, 30, a
policy coordinator for the Drug Policy
Alliance in New Jersey.
The cost of three to five days of
heroin detoxification alone is around
$3,000, Rizzuto said. The average
cost of a 30-day inpatient stay is
about $30,000, while outpatient programs typically cost $1,000 per
month. Most clinics require payment
upfront if insurance can’t be used.
There are about 12,000 addiction
treatment programs nationwide,
according to McLellan’s organization. Of those, about 10 percent are
residential facilities, about 80 percent are outpatient programs and
about 10 percent are methadone clinics. Two-thirds of all treatment programs are nonprofit programs funded by government grants, McLellan
said. When the grants run out, programs are forced to put patients on a
waiting list.
In New York, a bill pending in the
Legislature would amend the state’s
insurance law to force providers to
approve authorization and payment
of substance abuse care that is
deemed necessary by a doctor. That
means the only prerequisite for
receiving drug abuse treatment
would be a doctor’s referral, preventing insurance companies from denying treatment based on a complicated set of guidelines. A similar law
was passed in Pennsylvania years
ago.
Eventually, the federal Affordable
Care Act should improve treatment
for heroin addicts because up to 5
million people with drug and alcohol
problems are eligible for insurance
coverage under the law. But it will
likely take years before insurance
companies fully comply with the law,
McClellan said.
“And meanwhile,” he said, “people
will die. That’s not melodramatic.
That’s a fact.”
Fast facts: obstacles
to heroin sobriety
By The Associated Press
Treatment facilities are packed. Inpatient
rehab is costly. Insurance companies have
refused coverage. Addicts looking to get clean
from heroin often face an uphill battle. A quick
look at the process, and some of the obstacles to
getting sober:
WITHDRAWAL: Once in withdrawal,
users feel like their bones are breaking. Fluids
leak from every orifice. They sweat and get the
chills and shakes. The withdrawal itself doesn’t
kill, but if addicts can’t persevere, they often go
back to heroin, with lowered tolerance, and
many overdose.
LACK OF BEDS: The number of people
using heroin in the U.S. nearly doubled from
2007 to 2012 to some 669,000 people, and more
people are also now seeking treatment. But of
the 23.1 million Americans who needed treatment for drugs or alcohol in 2012, only 2.5 million people received aid at a specialty facility.
There simply aren’t enough beds at treatment
facilities to meet the demand. There are about
12,000 addiction treatment programs nationwide, according to the nonprofit Treatment
Research Institute in Philadelphia. Of those,
about 10 percent are residential facilities, about
80 percent are outpatient programs and about
10 percent are methadone clinics.
INSURANCE BATTLES: While most
insurance policies state that they allow coverage of up to 30 days in a residential drug treatment center, nobody actually gets those 30
days, said Tom McLellan, CEO of the
Treatment Research Institute. The average
duration in residential care is 11 to 14 days.
THE COST: A 30-day inpatient stay can
cost as little as $5,000, but the average cost is
about $30,000. The cost of heroin detoxification
alone, which usually takes three to five days, is
around $3,000. Most clinics require payment
upfront if insurance can’t be used.
Page D-1
Page C-1
www.sungazette.com
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
213th Year, No. 98
50¢ Newsstand
More details
released in
2 shootings
By PHILIP A. HOLMES
[email protected]
By SAMANTHA WALLACE
[email protected]
The West Branch Drug and
Alcohol Abuse Commission and the
Recovery Community Initiative, a
newly-formed support group in the
Williamsport area, held a special
screening of the documentary film
“The Anonymous People” Monday
evening, to raise awareness not only
about drug and alcohol abuse, but
about the lifelong process of recovery.
More than 23 million Americans
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The death
of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman
underscored a troubling development: Heroin, long a scourge of
the back alleys of American life,
has spread across the country.
Northcentral Pennsylvania has
not been immune from what has
been declared to be a national
epidemic. This is the third installment in a multiple-day series.)
live in long-term recovery, but many ment in the United States.
choose to remain anonymous
The event, however, had a noticebecause of the negative social stig- ably positive feel.
ma of addiction. The film explores
“If ever there was proof of widethe reasons behind that stigma, as
well as the history of addiction treat(See NEW, Page A-5)
By ELIZABETH REGAN
[email protected]
M
Investigators believe that Jacqueline DelGuerico,
the woman who committed suicide Sunday morning
on East Third Street while being chased by police,
may have killed the elderly man whose body was
dumped late Saturday night along Fairview Drive in
Montoursville.
“I have probable cause to believe that the victim
was (shot) inside DelGuerico’s car, possibly by
DelGuerico,” state Trooper Tyson
MORE COVERAGE: Havens, the lead investigator, said
in court papers.
State police
The body of Edward Joseph
and court items White Sr., 77, of 677 Cemetery St.,
was found near Fairview Drive and
See B-3
Cherry Street about 11:30 p.m.
Saturday. The time was incorrect in
Monday’s edition.
Montoursville police initially believed that White
had been struck by a hit-run driver.
Still breathing but unconscious, White was rushed
to the Williamsport Regional Medical Center, where
he was pronounced dead 90 minutes later.
At the emergency room, officials discovered that
White had been shot in the head and hip, Havens
said. At that time, state police took over the investigation.
Surveillance video reviewed by police showed that
White spent part of Saturday night with DelGuerico,
28, whom White referred to as “his girlfriend” in a
telephone conversation with a nephew, Havens said
in an affidavit.
New community group launched
The truth someone lives in becomes their
reality, and eventually, their destiny.
Nick Perillo believed a lie, a lie that wrapped
its warm arms around his soul, entwining him
in its sweet kisses, flooding his being with
euphoria, a euphoria that simply made him feel
OK.
And that was enough. From day one, he was
hooked on the lie of heroin.
Perillo grew up in a small, brick row-house
development in Wilmington, Del., and played
army with half a dozen neighborhood kids who
went through school together. They started
hanging out at one of their homes because alcohol was readily available there, and they’d
smoke and drink.
One of the friends ran into someone from
Philadelphia who introduced the friend to heroin, who in turn brought it to the group back
home. Perillo resisted for a time but succumbed
one day with his friend in the restroom of a gas
station. His friend took half a bag of heroin — a
nickel bag back then — cooked it up and injected it into Perillo’s arm.
“I felt this warmth, this warm feeling rushing
through my body,” Perillo said. “It just kept coming and coming and coming.”
Nausea hit him, and he vomited. But the
euphoria kept flowing. “It was such a euphoric
feeling of not worrying about nothing ... And
(See DOPE, Page A-5)
(See MORE, Page A-5)
South board
improves on
budget deficit
Nick Perillo believed a lie, a lie that
wrapped its warm arms around his soul,
entwining him in its sweet kisses, flooding
his being with euphoria, a euphoria that
simply made him feel OK. And that was
enough. From day one, he was hooked on
the lie of heroin.
By KRISTEN WRIGHT
[email protected]
The South Williamsport Area School Board was
told during Monday night’s meeting that with additional costs added to the preliminary budget, and
some staff changes to cut costs, the district is looking
a $445,763 deficit for the 2014-15 school year.
Superintendent Dr.
Mark Stamm said the
deficit was $463,382 in
March.
In explaining how
the current figure was
achieved, Stamm said
he had to factor in custodial increases, additional special education costs,
additional computer services and increased costs on
earned income, which increased the deficit to
$531,431.
Stamm said the district will hire a new special
education teacher, which he believes is much-needed. He also said the district will be able to eliminate
half of a physical education teacher by removing
physical education courses with low enrollment
rates and instead focus on courses with the high
enrollment rates.
He also said some teachers in the district will
(See SOUTH, Page A-4)
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
on drug abuse issues, calls its
use “epidemic, no question
Some states are rep
porting a about it.” The attorney generrisse in heroin use as many
al’s office says most of its curddicts shift from more costly
ad
rent drug cases are heroinan
nd harder-to-get prescription related, and the office has
opiiates to this cheaper alterna- made more than 300 heroin
tiv
ve. A look at what’ss happen- arrests since the start of 2013.
g in Pennsylvania:
ing
This year, about two dozen
deaths in Pittsburgh and surTHE PROBLEM:
rounding counties were blamed
Law enforcement officials
an
nd health professiona
als agree on heroin laced with the
painkiller fentanyl.
— heroin use is on thee rise in
Deb Beck of the Drug and
Peennsylvania.
Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, RAlcohol Service Providers
Beensalem, a leading lawmaker Organization says the current
By The Associated Press
rise in heroin use appears to
differ from previous patterns.
“Heroin prevalence would come
and go and then simmer back
down again,” Beck said. “I’m
not sure that’s going to happen
this time because the prescription medication is driving the
heroin problem.”
THE NUMBERS:
Hard numbers on heroin use
and deaths are difficult to come
by in Pennsylvania. The 201213 annual report from the state
(See HEROIN, Page A-5)
STATE
Corbett approves millions to fight child abuse Advocates: Uninsured
By PETER JACKSON
Associated Press
HARRISBURG — Gov.
Tom Corbett signed legislation Monday designed to
step up efforts to prevent
child
abuse
in
Pennsylvania by doubling
the fee for duplicate birth
certificates, which would
raise nearly $4 million a
year.
The main bill is expect-
ed to provide nearother professionals
ly $3 million to the
who are required
Pennsylvania
by law to report
Commission
on
suspected abuse.
Crime
and
For the year
Delinquency
as
starting July 1,
grant money for
when the law
child-advocacy
takes effect, DPW
centers and multi- CORBETT will receive all the
disciplinary invesnew fee money to
tigative teams, and $1 mil- pay for mandatory reportlion for the Department of ing training and other
Public Welfare to use to child abuse prevention
train doctors, teachers and costs.
The bill also establishes
an advisory committee
that will work with the
crime commission in
awarding the grants.
The expanded use of
regional child advocacy
centers was recommended
by a legislative task force
that was established soon
after Jerry Sandusky, the
former Penn State assis-
at ‘breaking point’ too
By MARC LEVY
Associated Press
HARRISBURG — Advocates for the poor and
uninsured gathered Monday in the Pennsylvania
Capitol to throw back Gov. Tom Corbett’s words at
him after he warned that he was at his “breaking
point” over the federal government’s apparent
resistance to conditions he wants before accepting
billions of Medicaid expansion dollars.
(See CORBETT, Page A-4)
Good morning, Mildred Gaverick. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
(See ADVOCATES, Page A-4)
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Tuesday, April 8, 2014
‘DOPE IS A LIE’
(From Page A-1)
because it felt so good, I wanted the
other half of the bag,” he said.
He was 13.
Now
60
and
a
recent
Williamsport resident, he’s been
clean from heroin for about 15 years,
but it was a long, rough road getting
to this point, battling relapse after
relapse.
From the moment he took his
first hit, heroin seemed to fill the
void. “As soon as I did it, I just knew
that it was my everything,” he said.
“I found something I never had
before: (heroin was) my mother, my
wife, my lover, my everything. When
I had children, they came second.”
Perillo lived afraid, not of the
heroin, but rather of the fear that
drew him so irresistibly to it. Even
though people told him he was
smart and handsome, he couldn’t
believe it, and suffered social anxiety.
His father’s alcoholism watered
that fear, and it grew mingled with
hatred and resentment as Perillo
watched his father yell and throw
things at his mother. “The only time
I saw my dad was when I’d wake up
to him arguing with my mom,
watching him from the banister
throw a TV at her,” he said. His
father had a great persona in public
and people always told Perillo what
a great man his father was.
When he got older, he realized his
mother played a role by staying, and
he started to resent her, too. “I was
full of hate, anger and resentment,”
Perillo said. “The dope took it all
away. I didn’t care.”
Perillo first was locked up at 18.
There he met even more connections
for the drug and learned a new
trade: forgery. He bounced in and
out of prison and spent about 15
years in prison for burglaries, forgeries and thefts. “The forgeries
helped because I had grown such a
dependence on heroin, I needed
$200 a day,” he said.
He also earned his GED in prison
and became president of the toastmasters (public speaking) club,
boosting his confidence.
After years of being caught in the
web of heroin’s caress and clutches,
he recognized it for what it was. The
lie revealed was this: it made him
feel OK while destroying him.
It was a cold day in Philadelphia
and he had a train ticket in his pocket. He had moved to the city when he
was 16. At 45, he wanted to get
away and got on a train headed to
Virginia. He fell asleep, woke up in
the Carolinas and decided to head
out to Florida.
“I ran out of my heroin I had left
on the train and started over. I had
$200 in my pocket” and no idea how
to begin anew, Perillo said.
It was a rough start, as crack
came into play in Miami, and he still
was drinking. After “going all out”
on crack, he got sick of that same
cycle, too.
He’s been clean since and moved
to Jersey Shore with his wife,
Amanda, in October, to be near family, then moved to Williamsport.
But his happy ending is tainted
with the reality he built all those
years. Though he’s free from heroin,
it’s left cruel traces.
Cirrhosis of the liver.
Hepatitis C.
Cancer of the liver.
And doctors recently found a
tumor in his throat. Tests are pending.
“All in the name of the lie that
you’re OK, and you’re not,” he said.
He felt healthy for years, but got
the cancer and hepatitis diagnoses
about five months ago.
His father died at age 51 of lung
cancer and it haunts Perillo now
with his turn of events, as he waits
on a liver transplant list.
But within all this, something
remarkable happened. “This is one
of the times in my life when a big
issue has confronted me — ‘You got
cancer’ — and I didn’t think of a
drink or a drug,” Perillo said with an
incredulous smile, his blue eyes
wide.
Instead, he took a different
stance. “It can either be ‘poor me,’ or
say, ‘f—- you, cancer,’ and I choose
‘f—- you, cancer. You’re not getting
me, you’re just not going to do it.’ It’s
gotta be God, it’s gotta be something
better than me, because if I took control over me, I’d f—- it all up, that’s
what I do. I do it well,” Perillo said,
his resonate voice rasping.
He took a breath and silence settled in to fill the space his words created.
“I sit back and say, ‘Holy s—-, I
didn’t even think of getting drunk.’
And that is so normal, but I am 60
years old, experiencing something
normal, and feeling good about it,”
he said.
Now, he has a renewed purpose.
“I’m on a mission to take a negative
and turn it into a positive,” Perillo
said. “I just figure it’s time to give
back.”
He wants to show that recovery is
possible.
“If I can go away knowing I did
everything I can to help one person
see a different way, and it is possible
to get off of heroin, then I’m cool with
(that),” he said.
To further his efforts, he is a
member of the Community
Committee on the Lycoming County
Heroin Task Force.
Today’s heroin epidemic echoes
from a time past. “It’s a different era,
but it’s the same feeling, the same
actions,” he said. “The general public
reaction is different today than it
was then, but the bottom line is the
misery is the same.”
He knows a “dope fiend” when he
sees it: “The face drops, the muscles
loosen in the face, the eyes are
glassy,” he said. “I’ve yet to see a
heroin addict smiling; their muscles
relax from the opioid. There’s just
the look,” and the itching and resulting sores.
He knows young people look at
him and think that could never happen to them, that they feel invincible. “It can and will happen to you”
once heroin has its claws in them, he
said. “This is where you’re going to
start. I can’t say when, but I can tell
you by what you’re doing, this is
what you’re going to get.”
Heroin leads to one path. “It is
you, I am you and you are me, and
damn it, it is going to happen to
you,” Perillo said. “What you destroy
along the way, if you live long
enough, you’ll regret it. ...
“Your loved ones are the first victims because they’re the people who
are there for you and love you and
are the easiest targets — until they
give you tough love or you take them
down the toilet because they love
you. ... Nobody sits down and says,
‘Let me destroy my mom’s life, my
sister’s life.’ You’re the apple of your
gram’s eye, and there you are,
locked up. Your name’s in the paper
with your upstanding local family
where everybody knows everybody,
and that’s what it is here in these little towns, these small communities.
...
“That’s the way it is, and anybody
who thinks it won’t happen is
wrong.”
But anyone who can recognize
the truth about heroin has hope.
“Heroin is a lie, and it took me a long
time to realize (it) because of the
false sense of security, of reality, of
everything because you think everything’s OK in that addictive phase of
it. It’s a lie — you do it and you think
it’s good. There’s nothing good about
it — it’s poison, it’s a lie, it’s a devil,
it’s waiting to take you down,”
Perillo said.
“I’m not a thief, liar or con artist,
but addicted, I’m all that,” he said.
When he’s clean, “I’m a good person.
I’m a recovering alcoholic and drug
addict who has to stay away from a
drink or a drug one day at a time,
sometimes one minute at a time.”
Those moments consist of choices
to not isolate himself, to keep being
honest with himself, to not make
excuses, to ask for help, to reach for
the phone instead of a drink.
Otherwise, relapse hovers. “You
start the process of using before you
use,” with the above choices, he said.
It’s a scary feeling to remember
how tenuous recovery can be. “It
takes a lifetime to build it up, and
not long at all to lose it,” he said.
A key part is forgiveness. “If I
start holding resentments, if I start
looking at the negatives, what good
does that do? The person it affects
the most is me because I can feed off
that. I could find any excuse to get
loaded,” Perillo said.
No matter what happens in the
end, he knows one thing. “I’m a miracle. There is a God,” he said.
And finally, after years of unrest
and unsettled fears that heroin
could never resolve, he has found
peace. “I feel good about myself
today,” he said.
A-5
5 things to know about
heroin use, getting help
By The Associated Press
Long a scourge of the back alleys of American
life, heroin is spreading across the country. The
death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman in February
only underscored a problem many American communities already were combatting: the rising use of —
and deaths from — heroin. Here are five things to
know about this issue.
1. RISING USE IN RECENT YEARS
The number of past-year heroin users in the U.S.
has risen from 373,000 in 2007 to 669,000 in 2012,
according to the federal Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA.
2. OVERDOSE DEATHS WORRY DOJ
Overdose deaths involving heroin rose 45 percent
between 2006 and 2010, according to the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy. U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder recently described the
problem as “an urgent and growing public health crisis,” as he called for more first responders to carry an
antidote that can reverse the effects of a heroin overdose. But federal statistics also show that in 2010,
heroin accounted for less than 10 percent of all drug
overdose deaths.
3. STARTING “OLDER”
The average age for those using heroin for the
first time was 23, according to a 2012 national survey
sponsored by SAMHSA. In contrast, it was about 18
for marijuana, 19 for LSD and 20 for cocaine.
4. HARDER TO FIND
Heroin is considered far more difficult to obtain
than other drugs for younger people. In 2012, nearly
half of those 12 to 17 in the national SAMHSA survey
said it would be “fairly easy” or “very easy” for them
to get marijuana. Only about 1 in 10 said heroin
would be that readily available. The 2012 survey also
found that from 2002 to 2012, all drugs — marijuana,
cocaine, crack, LSD and heroin — became less
available. In that 10-year period, the availability of
heroin fell from nearly 16 percent to 10 percent.
5. HOTLINES AND HELP
The Partnership at Drugfree.org has a toll-free
helpline — 1-855-378-4373 (DRUGFREE) — that
offers assistance to families concerned about a
teenʼs drug use or drinking. Trained specialists can
help parents outline plans for prevention, intervention
and other services. They also can direct parents to
local and national resources. The English-Spanish
helpline is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 am to
6:00 p.m. Eastern time. SAMHSA has a 24-hour hotline — 1-800-662-HELP (4357) — and a directory of
more than 11,000 alcohol and drug addiction treatment facilities and programs at
http://www.findtreatment.samhsa.gov .
HEROIN USE TAKING
A TOLL ON
PENNSYLVANIA
(From Page A-1)
hol Programs said heroin has been rising in popularity. Four years ago, 20 percent of those newly
admitted for drug treatment cited heroin as their
primary substance of abuse. The rate has increased
to 23.5 percent. The attorney general’s office says
Pennsylvania has about 40,000 heroin users.
THE RESPONSE:
Bills are pending in the Legislature to establish
a prescription drug database to track opiates and
discourage doctor and pharmacist shopping; to give
police, firefighters and family members access to
the heroin-overdose antidote naloxone; and to provide limited immunity from legal liability to people
who call for help when someone is overdosing.
New Recovery Community Initiative group launched
(From Page A-1)
spread support for recovery, it’s this,” said
initiative co-founder who only referred to
himself as Bruce, as he welcomed the
crowd.
The initiative had its official launch at
the screening, which was intended to be “a
jumping off point,” Alexa Hibbler, another
co-founder, said.
“We want to get our name out there
and let people know that we’re here, and
that we’ll be holding future events,” she
said.
The initiative aims to be a resource for
those in recovery by offering a supportive
network made up of both individuals —
many of whom are in recovery themselves
— and community resources, such as the
West Branch Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Commission.
The idea of providing a strong community for those in recovery is essential in
helping someone maintain their sobriety,
demonstrated over and over again during
the film in the thousands of local, grass
roots groups — such as the initiative —
springing up all over the country.
Some of the programs meet in community centers or church basements. Some
take place in prisons, others in high
schools and even on college campuses, but
their goal is the same.
“(We) want to be an entity that helps
people utilize other sources,” Hibbler said.
“We want people in recovery to know that
they’re not alone and that they have
options, they have support.”
Roughly 350 people gathered to watch
the film, many of whom were there in support of family members in recovery.
“My daughter has been in recovery for
a year and a half,” said one woman, who
asked not to be identified. “She heard
about it and told me and I came to support
her.”
One young woman said that her
Narcotics Anonymous sponsor recommended she see the film. Another young
man had a similar experience with his
sponsor.
With its launch, the initiative has plans
in the works for the coming year, not the
least of which is attaining nonprofit status. That, Hibbler said, is the “No. 1 goal
right now.”
Like most things, however, it costs
money. An application for nonprofit status
can range from $400 to $850, depending
on the group’s expected yearly gross
receipts.
“Getting that nonprofit organization
status is really important,” Hibbler said.
She said donations collected Monday
will go toward the cost of the application
and the next event the group will hold.
She added that the group also has
events planned for the coming months,
when warmer weather settles in, although
she didn’t give any specifics just yet.
For
more
information
visit
www.facebook.com/RecoveryCommunityI
nitiative.
More details released in weekend shootings that claimed the lives of 2
(From Page A-1)
Police did not offer any more
specific information about the
relationship between the two.
Video from Wal-Mart in
Montoursville showed White
arriving alone at the department
store just before 9 p.m., Havens
said. “He shops in the store,
makes a purchase and then sits
on a bench,” the investigator said.
He is seen leaving the store at
9:36 p.m. with a woman, later
identified as DelGuerico. “The
two appear to be arguing for
three minutes in the store’s parking lot before leaving in
DelGuerico’s Mitsubishi sedan,”
Haven said, adding that the
woman got behind the wheel
while White is seen getting in the
passenger side.
White lived with a nephew
and the two talked on the telephone at about 10 p.m., Havens
said.
White told his nephew that he
was “running a little late” and
that he was with “his girlfriend,”
Havens said.
Police said they also have
reviewed video taken earlier
Saturday night at an eatery in
Loyalsock Township where
White and DelGuerico were seen
together.
Wal-Mart video also shows
DelGuerico returning to the store
about 1:40 a.m. Sunday, less than
an hour after Miller was declared
dead at the hospital.
After making a purchase,
“DelGuerico can be seen returning to her car and fixing what
appeared to a be a broken front
passenger window,” Haven said.
Near where White’s body was
found, police had “discovered
pieces of broken glass,” he said.
During their investigation,
police spoke with a Montoursville
resident who was driving along
Fairview Drive just minutes
before White’s body was discovered.
The motorist told police he
remembered seeing a Mitsubishi
parked “partially on the berm
and partially on the roadway, facing south. The driver, who did not
stop, noticed the car’s backup
lights activate and then go back
off,” Havens said.
Hours after his death, White’s
Pontiac Grand Am was located at
the Wal-Mart parking lot,
Havens said.
Police also learned there
already was an arrest warrant
for DelGuerico, of 412 Anthony
St., for absconding from her state
parole officer. She was on parole
for receiving stolen property.
Also, DelGuerico was suspected of stealing a handgun from her
boyfriend, Michael Northrop, in
late March, an investigation
being conducted by South
Williamsport police, Havens said.
Area police were told Sunday
morning to be on the lookout for
the woman and her car.
City Patrolman Jason Dockey
was on routine patrol when he
spotted DelGuerico driving her
car near Washington Boulevard
and Franklin Street about 10:30
a.m. The officer activated his
cruiser’s emergency lights and
siren in an attempt to stop the
woman, but she did not pull over.
The pursuit continued on
numerous streets before ending
in the 1800 block of East Third
St., where DelGuerico took a gun
and shot herself as she still was
driving, Havens said. The car
crashed into a building at
Schneider Valley Farms Dairy,
causing minor damage to the
structure.
Havens confirmed that a
handgun was recovered at the
woman’s feet. He did not say if
the gun was the one stolen from
Northrop.
“A suicide note was found on
the left rear seat” and written for
a family member, Havens said.
He did not disclose its contents.
“There was an apparent bullet
hole in the interior passenger
side door. There also was dry
blood on the passenger seat head
rest, but the passenger seat itself
appears to have been wiped
clean,” Havens said.
There also was “a large
amount of dry blood” near the
passenger door, he added.
Late Sunday afternoon, state
troopers, armed with a search
warrant, went to DelGuerico’s
Anthony Street home in the city
looking for any additional evidence that might connect her
with White’s death.
Among the items police were
looking for were White’s wallet,
Social Security card and driver’s
license,
Havens
said.
Investigators also were looking
for “any and all cleaning products” that might have been used
to clean DelGuerico’s car.
No information was available
Monday night on what police
seized from the house.
Ballistics tests will be done on
a bullet recovered from White’s
body to see if was fired from the
same gun DelGuerico used to end
her life, police said. Results are
not likely to be known for several
weeks.
FREE
INSIDE
Page C-1
Page D-1
www.sungazette.com
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
213th Year, No. 99
50¢ Newsstand
Mix of sun, rain
expected through
coming weekend
The family nest
By MARK MARONEY
[email protected]
It’s time to take that long walk, leaving winter
behind, and perhaps catch a lunar eclipse next
Tuesday morning.
The National Weather Service in State College
says while the days ahead may include a mixture of
sunshine and scattered showers, the average daily
high temperatures are supposed to range in the mid60s to close to 70 degrees, after today, which is indicative of the changing season.
It’s a weekend ahead filled with plenty of opportunity to go to outdoor and religious activities, including
the opening of trout season at 8 a.m. and a visit from
the Easter bunny at Brandon Park at 2 p.m. on
Saturday
Palm Sunday services will be held at area churches on Sunday, Passover starts on Monday and the
first lunar eclipse of the year may be partially viewable Tuesday morning.
The city’s annual Christy Haberstroh Easter Egg
Hunt should be rain-free, according to the forecast.
The pre-Easter festivities begin near the Dr.
Kenneth Cooper Bandshell and is for children infant
up to age 10. Organizers have asked attendees to
bring their baskets or bags and said children too
young to hunt for eggs on their own will be handed
baskets filled with surprises.
The forecast indicates temperatures will be in the
60s and skies clear and sunny for the event.
On Palm Sunday, temperatures are expected to
reach near 70 degrees and skies are expected to
remain clear.
With the start of Passover Monday, there is a 30
percent chance of showers and temperatures may
A pair of Bald Eagles,
above, sit in their nest
overlooking the
Susquehanna River in
Williamsport after feeding their hatchlings on
Saturday. At left, one
of them files away.
DAVE KENNEDY
/Sun-Gazette
Correspondent
(See MIX, Page A-6)
STOCK PHOTO
DA: Deadly
force justified
By PHILIP A. HOLMES
[email protected]
An early morning shooting last summer that
claimed the life of 32-year-old Michael Lee
Woodhead in another man’s home in Woodward
Township has been ruled “justified,” according to
Lycoming County District Attorney Eric R.
Linhardt.
Kevin Eugene Bennardi, 45, of 59 Wither Hollow
Lane, has been cleared in the shooting death that
occurred inside his home about 12:30 a.m. on June
27, Linhardt said.
“After a review of all the evidence, I am satisfied
that Mr. Bennardi acted in self-defense and that he
reasonably feared for his life,” Linhardt said.
(See DA, Page A-5)
Energy firms want
role in shale case
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The death of actor Philip Seymour
Hoffman underscored a troubling development: Heroin,
long a scourge of the back alleys of American life, has
spread across the country. Northcentral Pennsylvania has
not been immune from what has been declared to be a
national epidemic. This is the fourth installment in a multiple-day series.)
By MIKE REUTHER
[email protected]
L
ycoming County
Coroner Charlles
Kiessling Jr. hass seen
first hand how heroin has
ripped a path of devastattion
through the community,
d theeir
impacting victims and
families.
gated
Last year, he investtig
eight deaths as the result of
heroin overdoses.
“Which is the hig
ghest we’ve
had in several yearss,” he said.
But that hardly tells the
whole story.
He said there weeree an additional 19 deaths causeed by a
drug or a combination
n of drugs
that could have inclu
uded heroin
or prescription medica
ations durring 2013.
By MARK SCOLFORO
Associated Press
“Why would you put something in
n your body that is bad
for you?” he asked.
One reason for what appears
to be a riise in heroin use is the
cheap street sales price for the
drug, he said.
Deatths from heroin and
other opioids don’t account for
the number of people who
POINT PLEASANT, N.J. —
On an icy night in January, a
man entered a grocery store
here, walked past the displays of
cake mix and paper towels, and
went into the bathroom, where
he injected himself with heroin.
Hours later, the man was
found dead in the bathroom with
a needle still in his arm, authorities said. They believe he was
one of more than 80 people
across the country who have
died after injecting heroin laced
with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate.
As the number of people who
(See ENERGY, Page A-6)
(See HE
EROIIN, Page A-6
6)
ʻKiller heroinʼ causing fatal overdoses
By KATIE ZEZIMA
Associated Press
HARRISBURG — The energy industry wants a
Pennsylvania state court to let
it play a formal role in sorting
out the loose ends left to resolve
after a landmark court decision
on a new state law designed to
modernize oil and gas drilling
regulations.
A hearing is scheduled for
today in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg over
use, and fatally overdose on,
heroin has risen in recent years,
authorities are seeing the return
of an alarming development:
heroin that, often unbeknownst
to the user, is spiked with fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a narcotic that is
Bacon prices rise after
virus kills baby pigs
By M.L. JOHNSON
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — A virus never before seen in
the U.S. has killed millions of baby pigs in less than
a year, and with little known about how it spreads
or how to stop it, it’s threatening pork production
and pushing up prices by 10 percent or more.
(See KILLER, Page A-6)
Good morning, Henry Thomas. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
(See BACON, Page A-6)
A-6
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Wednesday, April 9, 2014
From Page A-1
Mix of sun, rain Heroin hardly a stranger to county
expected through
coming weekend
(From Page A-1)
climb into the mid-60s.
The first significant celestial event of the year takes
place for viewers Tuesday with a lunar eclipse, when the
moon will be eclipsed by Earth’s shadow. The event
should be visible across the Western Hemisphere if
there are no clouds blocking the moon’s view. The phase
will last 78 minutes.
The moon will rise in the western Pacific, so only the
last half of the eclipse will be visible. The eclipse also
may damage a NASA spacecraft that’s been circling the
moon since fall.
As for the remainder of this work and school week,
look for sun today, with a high temperature of 57
degrees.
On Thursday, it should be a mild 67 degrees, but with
breezes, some of which may gust up to 20 mph or more.
Friday may include showers, that could spur the
growth of May flowers. There is a 50 percent chance of
showers during the day and showers in the evening.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
(From Page A-1)
are merely users.
And, of course, many people who
end up in the emergency room due
to a drug overdose live to see another day.
The Williamsport Regional
Medical Center ER is no stranger to
heroin cases.
Last year, 44 patients were
treated for overdoses of the drug,
according to figures provided by
Susquehanna Health.
That number was down slightly
from 2012 when 47 people ended up
in the ER for overdoses.
However, with 12 patients having already been treated for overdoses in the first three months of
this year, the hospital is on a pace
to exceed that number.
Kiessling estimated that so far
this year he’s investigated at least a
half dozen deaths caused by heroin
overdose or some combination of
drugs.
What’s disturbing about heroin,
he said, is that many users never
are able to kick the habit.
And even those who do are in for
a tough journey.
Dr. Margaret Jarvis, a psychiatrist and medical director at
Marworth Treatment Center in
Waverly noted the disturbing rise
in the use and addiction to different
opioids in recent years.
Heroin, for one, has become
much purer, and it no longer is necessary to inject to get the high from
the drug that many crave.
“We’ve been treating people for
all kinds of opiates,” she said.
“There does seem to be a bit of a
trend, that someone who uses heroin started with pain pills. Their
supply runs out, they turn to heroin.”
Opioids produce a sense of
euphoria by affecting regions of the
brain that mediate pleasure.
At one time, young people who
experimented with drugs were more
inclined to smoke marijuana or alcohol, she said. Now, increasing numbers of them are turning to pharmaceutical opioids such as OxyContin
or Percocet.
Jarvis said many young people
are getting their pharmaceuticals
from their own families and friends.
Feeding into the whole problem,
Jarvis believes, is the number of
physicians who are quite readily
prescribing opiate pharmaceuticals
to treat pain.
“I find it extraordinarily sad and
frustrating,” she said. “Particularly
as we see this younger demographic
using. They seem to be extremely
resistant to living without chemicals”
But the drug use cuts across all
demographics, she added.
“Drug dealers aren’t stupid,” she
said. “They know what their clientele wants, and they make it readily
available.”
But many people don’t have to go
out on the street to find their drugs
of choice.
People with health insurance are
common victims of addiction,
according to Jarvis.
“That speaks to kids who are still
on family insurance plans,” she
said.
Killer drug causing fatal overdoses
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this March 20 photo, a sign near a gas well
drilling site is visible near a road in Pulaski. The
gas drilling company Hilcorp working the well
has asked state officials to invoke a 1961 law in
the rural area and allow Utica Shale well bores
under the property of four landowners who have
not signed leases.
Energy firms want
role in shale case
(From Page A-1)
the request to intervene by the Pennsylvania
Independent Oil and Gas Association, the Marcellus
Shale Coalition and the American Petroleum Institute.
The loose ends are left over after the state Supreme
Court late last year struck down new restrictions on
local governments’ ability to control drilling activity in
the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation.
Meanwhile, the state and other parties that are
already in the case filed briefs last week that lay out
their arguments about what should happen next, in
advance of a hearing before the full Commonwealth
Court on May 14.
Last month, Commonwealth Court Judge Dan
Pellegrini ordered the sides to lay out the issues that
remain to be resolved: whether people who use water
wells should be notified if there are nearby chemical
spills related to drilling; whether the Public Utility
Commission must review local ordinances on the logistics of drilling; if gas transportation or storage companies still have authority to take private land; and if doctors can disclose the contents of chemicals used in the
hydraulic fracturing process to their patients and others.
None of the parties are currently claiming that the
entire law must be thrown out because of the high court
ruling, an issue known as severability. That means the
impact fee that has been generating more than $200
million annually for drilling communities and state
agencies and grant programs is likely to remain in place.
In a statement Tuesday, the American Petroleum
Institute said it is seeking to intervene in the case
because “there are significant questions regarding the
certainty of investments and ability for the natural gas
industry to develop across the commonwealth.”
Jordan Yeager, a lawyer for the municipalities and
others who successfully challenged the law, said that if
the energy industry is allowed to join the case it will
have a limited impact.
“If they do intervene, they’re not going to be able to
undo orders that have been entered, and they’re not
going to be able to delay the consideration of the rest of
the case,” Yeager said Tuesday.
The utility commission’s role in reviewing local ordinances as they pertain to the logistics of drilling — as
opposed to the location of wells — is important because
the agency’s decisions would affect the ability of municipalities to collect their share of the impact fees.
The Supreme Court ruling means local governments
will be able to determine where drilling can occur, but
there remains a question about who will determine
technical regulations.
“We think the statute still requires the PUC to do
some review of some local ordinances, and it’s a question of whether we do or don’t, or which ones,” said the
commission’s lawyer, Matt Haverstick.
The Department of Environmental Protection
argued in its filing last week that the utility commission still has an important role to play under authority
that dates back to a previously existing law, the Oil and
Gas Act.
Commonwealth Court, the agency’s lawyers argued,
“has repeatedly recognized that state law may, and frequently does, pre-empt municipalities from exercising
control over operations where the statutory scheme
controls or otherwise reserves those powers unto the
commonwealth.”
In its brief on behalf of the commonwealth, the attorney general’s office argued that the companies’ eminent
domain power and the restrictions on physicians are
both constitutional.
“The Supreme Court’s decision affirms the right of
municipalities to engage in zoning to protect their interests and the interests of their residents under the
Environmental Rights Amendment,” the attorney general’s office wrote.
(From Page A-1)
typically administered to
people in chronic pain,
including end-stage cancer
patients. It is also used as
an anesthetic. It is considered 80 times more powerful than morphine and can
kill by inhibiting breathing.
“The dealers push this
as being a super high,
which it is, but it's also
lethal,”
said
Ellen
Unterwald, director of the
Center for Substance
Abuse Research at the
Temple University School
of Medicine. Users typically don’t know how much
fentanyl is mixed in, and
she said just a small
amount can be fatal
because the drug is so
potent.
“A very small amount
can exert a very significant
effect,” said Eric Strain,
director of the Center for
Substance
Abuse
Treatment and Research
at
Johns
Hopkins
University.
In Maryland, at least 37
people have died from the
combined drugs, according
to
the
Maryland
Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene. In western Pennsylvania, authorities said they have caused
at least 22 deaths. In
Rhode Island, there have
been at least 25 fentanylrelated deaths, though
health officials are unsure
how many of those cases
also involved heroin. And
in Vermont state police
have warned that pure
fentanyl is being sold as
heroin.
After actor Philip
Seymour Hoffman was
found dead with a syringe
in his arm, investigators in
New York tested the heroin found in his apartment
for fentanyl but found that
it did not include the additive.
With more and more
addicts turning to heroin
because crackdowns on
powerful prescription opiate painkillers have made
them more expensive and
inaccessible, there is concern that more people may
be exposed to fentanyllaced heroin during this
wave than in previous
ones, including in 2006
when hundreds of people
from
Chicago
to
Philadelphia died after
injecting the drugs.
In January the Drug
E n f o r c e m e n t
Administration put out a
bulletin warning local
authorities of what it
dubbed “killer heroin,” a
mixture that was up to
half fentanyl. It urged first
responders to “exercise
extreme caution” when
coming into contact with
any heroin because fentanyl can be absorbed
through the skin.
It is unclear where the
fentanyl is coming from. It
is typically only distributed in hospitals. It can be
administered in the form
of a patch, a drip or a lollipop, which patients in
pain suck on.
Heroin dealers put socalled stamps on the bags
that hold their product,
allowing users to discern
among different batches.
Oftentimes they are product logos. Authorities said
bags bearing the stamps
“Bud Light,” “Theraflu”
and "Income Tax" have
tested positive for fentanyl.
“A lot of those people
thought that Bud Light
was really hot, it's really
good stuff, it sends you
over the edge,” said Ocean
County, N.J., prosecutor
Joseph Coronato. “It's a
marketing tool, almost.”
Ocean County has been
besieged by heroin and
prescription drug overdoses in the past two years. In
2012 there were 53 overdoses in the county that
hugs the Jersey Shore, and
last year there were 112.
“The demand is so high.
That's the problem that's
out there,” Coronato said.
T.J. Smith, a police
spokesman
in
Anne
Arundel County, Md., said
there have been four cases
within the last year of
heroin found with fentanyl in it — an “unusually high number,” he said.
Smith said heroin — both
pure and laced with fentanyl — is driving a major
increase in property
crime. He said the drug
has undergone a major
change in the past year,
with more potentially
fatal doses found with fentanyl.
“It's a different heroin
now,” Smith said. “You
can't use that same
amount of heroin that you
used a year ago, because
now it has a fentanyl kick
in it.”
Bacon prices rise after virus kills baby pigs
(From Page A-1)
Scientists think porcine
epidemic diarrhea, which
does not infect humans or
other animals, came from
China, but they don’t
know how it got into the
country or spread to 27
states since last May. The
federal government is
looking into how such
viruses might spread,
while the pork industry,
wary of future outbreaks,
has committed $1.7 million to research the disease.
The U.S. is both a top
producer and exporter of
pork, but production could
decline about 7 percent
this year compared to last
— the biggest drop in
more than 30 years,
according to a recent
report from Rabobank,
which focuses on the food,
beverage and agribusiness
industries.
Already, prices have
shot up: A pound of bacon
averaged
$5.46
in
February, 13 percent more
than a year ago, according
to the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Ham and
chops have gone up too,
although not as much.
Farmer and longtime
veterinarian Craig Rowles
did all he could to prevent
PED from spreading to his
farm in Iowa, the nation’s
top pork producer and the
state hardest hit by the
disease. He trained workers to spot symptoms, had
them shower and change
clothing before entering
barns and limited deliveries and visitors.
Despite his best efforts,
the
deadly
diarrhea
attacked in November,
killing 13,000 animals in a
matter of weeks, most of
them less than 2 weeks
old. The farm produces
about 150,000 pigs each
year.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this July 9, 2009, file photo Dr. Craig Rowles
stands with hogs in one of his Carroll, Iowa, hog
buildings. The longtime veterinarian did all he
could to prevent porcine epidemic diarrhea from
spreading to his farm, but despite his best efforts
the deadly diarrhea attacked in November 2013,
killing 13,000 animals.
Estimates of how many
pigs have died in the past
year vary, ranging from at
least 2.7 million to more
than 6 million. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture
says the die-off has had a
hand in shrinking the
nation’s pig herd by 3 percent to about 63 million
pigs.
Diarrhea affects pigs like
people: Symptoms that are
uncomfortable in adults
become life-threatening in
newborns that dehydrate
quickly. The best chance at
saving young pigs is to
wean them and then pump
them with clear fluids that
hydrate them without taxing their intestines. But
nothing could be done for
the youngest ones except
euthanasia.
“It’s very difficult for the
people who are working the
barns at that point,”
Rowles said. “... No one
wants to go to work today
and think about making
the decision of baby pigs
that need to be humanely
euthanized because they
can’t get up anymore.
Those are very hard days.”
PED thrives in cold
weather, so the death toll in
the U.S. has soared since
December.
The first reports came
from the Midwest, and the
states most affected are
those with the largest
share of the nation’s pigs:
Iowa, Minnesota, North
Carolina and Illinois. The
disease also has spread to
Canada and Mexico.
Some
states
now
require a veterinarian to
certify that pigs coming in
are virus-free, while China,
which has seen repeated
outbreaks since the 1980s,
has asked the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
to similarly vouch for animals shipped overseas.
Companies are racing
to develop a vaccine, but
the federal government
has yet to approve one.
While the mass deaths
have been a blow for farmers, the financial impact to
them may be limited
because pork prices are
rising to make up for the
loss of animals.
It takes about six
months for a hog to reach
market weight so the supply will be short for a
while. Smithfield Foods,
one of the nation’s largest
pork processors, has cut
some plant shifts to four
days per week in North
Carolina, and those in the
Midwest are likely to do so
later this spring, said
Steve Meyer, an Iowabased economist and pork
industry consultant.
Smithfield
Foods
declined to comment.
In the end, consumers
will be most affected,
Meyer said, with pork
prices likely to be 10 percent higher overall this
summer than a year ago.
“We’re all used to:
‘We’ve got plenty of food,
it’s cheap. We’ll eat what
we want to,’” Meyer said.
“We Americans are very
spoiled by that, but this is
one of those times that
we’re going to find out that
when one of these things
hits, it costs us a lot of
money.”
FREE
inside
Page B-1
Page A-3
www.sungazette.com
Saturday, July 19, 2014
213th Year, No. 200
50¢ Newsstand
IN WILLIAMSPORT
Gunshot victim
found in yard
A gunshot victim, believed to be in his mid to late
teens, was recovering at a trauma center after he
was shot at an unknown location in the city early
Friday morning, city police confirmed.
Police and paramedics rushed to the area of
Herdic Street and Horton Alley, south of High and
Campbell streets, for a reported gunshot victim just
before 1 a.m.
Investigators found the wounded teen in a yard,
police said, adding that it appeared that the victim
may have been dropped off there.
Taken initially to the Williamsport Regional
Medical Center by ambulance, the teen was transferred to a trauma center.
Police said it was believed the victim suffered a
single gunshot to the hip. Investigators were looking
into the possibility that he may have been shot in a
vehicle.
No other details were available. No arrest had
been made as of Friday night.
Task force hears
new guidelines
for prescriptions
By SAMANTHA WALLACE
[email protected]
The Lycoming County Heroin Task Force heard
from several of its subcommittees Friday, including
the medical subcommittee, which had news regarding prescription drugs.
Dr. Rene Rigal, city Board of Health officer and a
pain management specialist with Susquehanna
Health, presented new prescription guidelines that
recently were adopted by the Pennsylvania Medical
Society.
There are two sets of guidelines, he explained, one
for emergency room care and one for other medical
providers.
“Prescription drugs are the portal of entry for
heroin use, but we have to ask ourselves why they’re
being abused if they are legally prescribed,” he said.
“That can only mean one
thing: that the doctor is not
IN THEIR
prescribing them accurately,
OWN WORDS
or is overprescribing.”
Some of the emergency
room guidelines call for a limit
“If we can
control that, it of seven days on prescriptions
for opioids and for the attendwould be
ing doctor to first consider
enormously
non-opioid medications.
helpful.”
They also say that ER
providers should not prescribe
drugs
like
Dr. Rene Rigal, long-acting
OxyContin, extended-release
city Board of morphine, or methadone.
Health
Rigal called the tendency of
doctors to prescribe opioids
without considering other
options or doing a more thorough history of the
patient a “happy pens” approach.
He said that it’s especially troubling for a health
care system like Susquehanna Health, which is the
largest provider of care in Williamsport and writes
between 60 and 70 percent of opioid prescriptions in
the area.
“If we can control that, it would be enormously
helpful,” he said.
Rigal also said that Susquehanna Health is considering implementing the guidelines, which he
called “a very important first step,” as a companywide policy.
The group also heard from the youth subcommittee,
By MIKE REUTHER
[email protected]
People recall Jim Bressler as someone who liked to
get his hands dirty digging up stones.
Bressler, who died earlier this month at age 99,
loved the great outdoors, embracing hunting, fishing
and calling to wild turkeys.
An educator and a man of many interests and pursuits, Bressler had a rich life that he shared with
others.
He died July 8 at the age of 99, but his legacy lives on.
Robert Rinn, 90, formerly of Muncy, has many
fond memories of Bressler.
“I shared many, many campfires with Jim,” he
said. “We camped together. We hunted together. We
fished together.”
Rinn still marvels at Bressler’s knowledge of local
archaeology.
The two of them would be in the outdoors, and
ulltimately, Bressler would be poking at the earth,
drredging up rocks.
“He was passionate about archaeology and geoloy,” Rinn said.
gy
It was Bressler whoo led the way to forming the
Soociety of Pennsylvania Archaeology, North Central
hapter 8, more than 50 years ago.
Ch
“Jim was the father of archaeology here,” said
Noorth Central Chapter President Thomas “Tank”
aird. “I was very imprressed with his knowledge.”
Ba
Baird said he often consults Bressler’s books on
arrchaeology.
Many of Bressler’s finds are housed in the Thomas
T.. Taber Museum of the Lycoming County Historical
Soociety where they wiill remain for future generatiions.
(See LOCAL, Page A-5)
(See TASK, Page A-5)
SUN-GAZETTE File Photo
Provided by PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Coming down the page from top, James P.
Bressler in 1966; at the 2006 dedication of
the James P. Bressler American Indian
Gallery at the Thomas T. Taber Museum;
next to the walking trail sign on Canfield
Island in 2002; working with Williamsport
Technical Institute students in 1950.
Fair president reflects on another year Credible probe sought
For 10 days the
Lycoming County Fair
has provided a multitude
of experiences for residents of all ages and
interests. For those in
search of a savory snack,
a plethora of artery-clogging eats, like fudgedipped bacon, were being
created at every turn.
Children, for the price
of only $6, could glide
down a towering slide and
fly high on a swing ride,
far surpassing their
swing set at home, or simulate car crashes in
which, thanks to the
bumpers, leave everyone
inflicted with nothing but
a sense of fun.
There was daily free
entertainment to engage
guests. These productions
ranged from musical performances, to acrobatic
sensations and a late
night fireworks display. If
one felt the desire to satisfy their primal enjoyment
of watching objects crash
into each other, there
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“It makes us look
forward to the
future of the fair.”
Fair Board President
Dale LeVan
were multiple opportunities to see a demolition
derby in the grandstand.
Swarms of fairgoers
in downing of airliner
have entered the gates in
search of a good time. And
fair-volunteer Rod Miller,
who has been working the
entrance gates throughout the entire event, is
happy with the crowd.
“The weather has been
pretty
cooperative,”
Miller observed, “And the
crowds are getting larger
and larger.”
Lycoming County Fair
President Dale LeVan
agrees with a smile.
“Our numbers are run-
ROZSYPNE, Ukraine (AP) — World leaders
demanded Friday that pro-Russia rebels who control
the eastern Ukraine crash site of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 give MORE COVERAGE:
immediate, unfettered access to
independent investigators to deter- U.S.: What was
mine who shot down the plane.
Russia’s role?
At an emergency meeting of the
See A-5
U.N. Security Council, the U.S.
pointed blame at the separatists,
saying Washington believes the jetliner carrying 298
people, including 80 children, likely was downed by
an SA-11 missile, and “we cannot rule out technical
assistance from Russian personnel.”
(See FAIR, Page A-5)
(See CREDIBLE, Page A-5)
Good morning, Shirley Hartranft. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
M
By JENNIFER COOPER
[email protected]
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Saturday, July 19, 2014
A-5
Credible probe sought in downing of plane over Ukraine
(From Page A-1)
Both the White House
and the Kremlin called
for peace talks in the conflict between Ukrainian
government forces and
Russian-speaking separatists who seek closer
ties to Moscow. Heavy
fighting was reported less
than 60 miles from the
crash site, with an estimated 20 civilians reported killed.
Emergency workers
and local coal miners
recovered bodies from
grasslands and fields of
sunflowers, where the
wreckage of the Boeing
777 fell Thursday.
About 30 officials,
mostly
from
the
Organization of Security
and
Cooperation
in
Europe, arrived at the
crash site between the villages of Rozsypne and
Hrabove, about 25 miles
from the Russian border.
The rebels allowed the
team to perform a very
partial and superficial
inspection. While the delegation was leaving
under orders from the
armed overseers, two
Ukrainian members lingered to look at a fragment of the plane by a
roadside, only for a militiaman to fire a warning
shot in the air with his
Kalashnikov.
The dead passengers
were from nearly a dozen
nations — including vacationers, students and a
group heading to an AIDS
conference in Australia —
when the plane was shot
down Thursday while flying from Amsterdam to
Kuala Lumpur.
President
Barack
Obama, disclosing that
one American was among
those killed, called it “a
global tragedy.”
“An Asian airliner was
destroyed in European skies
filled with citizens from
many countries, so there
has to be a credible international investigation into
what happened,” he said.
In Kiev, Ukrainian
Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk vented his
anger in calling for an
international investigation.
“We ask all respective
governments ... to support
the Ukrainian government to bring to justice all
these bastards who committed this international
crime,” he said.
All sides in the conflict
— the Ukrainian government, the pro-Russia
US: Can’t rule out
Russian role in crash
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Flowers are arranged in a makeshift memorial Friday during a vigil for victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Philadelphia.
rebels they are fighting
and the Russian government that Ukraine accuses of supporting the
rebels — denied shooting
down the plane. Moscow
also denies backing the
rebels.
Russian
Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov
dismissed accusations
that Moscow could be
behind the attack.
“Regarding
those
claims from Kiev that we
allegedly did it ourselves:
I have not heard a truthful statement from Kiev
for months,” he told the
Rossiya 24 television
channel.
At
the
Security
Council,
U.S.
Ambassador Samantha
Power said the missile
was likely fired from a
rebel-held area near the
Russian border.
Power said that early
Thursday, a journalist
saw an SA-11 system —
known in Russia as a Buk
missile system — in separatist-controlled territory
near Snizhne, “and separatists were spotted hours
before the incident with
an SA-11 SAM system
close to the site where the
plane came down.”
“Separatists initially
claimed responsibility for
shooting down a military
transport plane, and
claimed responsibility
and posted videos that
are now being connected
to the Malaysian Airlines
crash,”
Power
said.
“Separatist leaders also
boasted on social media
about shooting down a
plane, but later deleted
these messages.”
“Because of the techni-
cal complexity of the SA-11,
it is unlikely that the separatists could effectively
operate the system without
assistance from knowledgeable personnel. Thus, we
cannot rule out technical
assistance from Russian
personnel in operating the
systems,” she said.
Russian Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin did not
respond to the U.S. allegations.
Ukraine’s
Interior
Ministry released a video
purporting to show a
truck carrying the Buk
missile launcher it said
was used to fire on the
plane with one of its four
missiles apparently missing. The ministry said the
video was shot by a police
surveillance squad at
dawn Friday as the truck
headed
toward
the
Russian border.
There was no way to
independently verify the
video.
The entire Security
Council called for “a full,
thorough and independent international investigation, in accordance with
international civil aviation guidelines, and for
appropriate accountability.” It stressed the need
for “immediate access by
investigators to the crash
site to determine the
cause of the incident.”
Obama also called for
such an investigation,
adding: “The eyes of the
world are on eastern
Ukraine, and we are
going to make sure that
the truth is out.”
He also called for a
cease-fire in the conflict
between the separatists
and Ukrainian forces. At
a Kremlin meeting,
Russian
President
Vladimir Putin urged
that “all sides in the conflict should halt their
fighting and enter into
peaceful talks,” according
to an official website.
On Thursday, Putin
blamed Ukraine for the
crash, saying Kiev was
responsible for the unrest
in its Russian-speaking
eastern regions. But he
didn’t accuse Ukraine of
shooting the plane down
and didn’t address the
key question of whether
Russia gave the rebels
such a powerful missile.
Ukraine’s state aviation service closed the airspace Friday over two
border regions gripped by
separatist fighting —
Donetsk and Luhansk —
and Russian airlines suspended all flights over
Ukraine.
Luhansk, a rebel
stronghold northeast of
Hrabove, saw sustained
fighting
Friday
as
Ukrainian government
forces reportedly retook
part of the city from the
rebels.
City officials estimated
at least 20 civilians had
been killed in shelling.
One resident told The
Associated Press that
street-to-street fighting
had continued into the
night.
Defense
Minister
Valeriy Heletey said government troops had
retaken the southeast
section of the city.
There was uncertainty
over whether Flight 17’s
flight data and cockpit
voice recorders had been
recovered.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Samantha
Power told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security
Council on Friday that the United States cannot rule
out that Russia helped in the launch of the surface-toair missile that shot down a Malaysia Airlines jet over
eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
Power said the U.S. believes the plane was likely
downed by an SA-11 missile fired from an area in
eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. She said Russia has provided SA-11s and
other heavy weapons to the separatists.
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who
called the emergency meeting, was more emphatic on
assessing blame for the crash.
“It is clear where responsibility lies: with the senseless violence of armed separatists and with those who
have supported, equipped and advised them,” he said.
“The council must be united in condemning these
actions, and in demanding that these groups disarm,
desist from violence and intimidation and engage in
dialogue through the democratic mechanisms that
are available to them.”
The Malaysian jet was flying at a cruising altitude
of 33,000 feet from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on
an established flight corridor when it was shot down
Thursday, Power said.
She said that early Thursday a Western reporter
reported an SA-11 system in separatist-controlled territory near Snizhne, “and separatists were spotted
hours before the incident with an SA-11 SAM system
close to the site where the plane came down.” Power
didn’t identify the reporter. But on Thursday, AP
journalists saw a rocket launcher near Snizhne.
“Separatists initially claimed responsibility for shooting down a military transport plane, and claimed responsibility and posted videos that are now being connected to
the Malaysian Airlines crash,” Power said. “Separatist
leaders also boasted on social media about shooting down
a plane, but later deleted these messages.”
“Because of the technical complexity of the SA-11,
it is unlikely that the separatists could effectively
operate the system without assistance from knowledgeable personnel. Thus, we cannot rule out technical assistance from Russian personnel in operating
the systems,” she said.
Power said Ukraine also has SA-11 missiles but
the United States is not aware of any in the area
where the plane was shot down.
She said the downing of the Malaysian airlines jet also
follows a pattern of attacks on aircraft by the separatists
in June and very recently on Monday and Wednesday.
“If indeed Russian-backed separatists were behind
this attack on a civilian airliner, they and their backers would have good reason to cover up evidence of
their crime,” Power told the council. “Thus it is
extremely important than an investigation be commenced immediately.”
Power called for a cease-fire by Russia, proRussian separatists and Ukraine so investigators can
immediately get to the site.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin did not
respond to the U.S. allegations but called for an international commission to investigate the crash.
He asked why Ukraine allowed civilian aircraft to
fly over an area where military clashes and airstrikes
were taking place, and where anti-aircraft systems
were operating, and called on investigators to also
determine whether Ukraine met its international
obligation to ensure the safety of the flying public and
“prevent disasters from occurring.”
“Today, Kiev declared a full closure of the airspace
in the conducting of the so-called anti-terrorist operation,” Churkin said. “Why couldn’t this have been
done earlier, not later when (there were) hundreds of
victims?”
IN LYCOMING COUNTY
Fair president reflects on another year
(From Page A-1)
ning a bit over what we did last
year, even with the couple days
of rain,” LeVan said, “It makes us
look forward to the future of the
fair.”
LeVan always is looking
ahead to next year — and even
years beyond. In fact, the
Hansen’s Spectacular Acrobatic
Sensations, who were a big
crowd-pleaser this year, already
have been booked for the 2016
fair. But mostly LeVan takes
notes throughout the week on
small improvements or updates
for next fair season. Another part
of his duty as president is traveling to other fairs around the
state.
“Last year I went to 15 different fairs, meeting a lot of people
comparing notes,” LeVan shares,
“It’s fun work.”
This year’s fair had a few
changes from last year’s event.
Typically there is a discount for
senior citizens. But LeVan, being
unhappy with the number of seniors in attendance, mandated a
Senior Citizen’s day. Admission
was free to seniors Wednesday
until 4 p.m. And he is satisfied
with the turnout.
“We had a good crowd. A lot of
seniors came out,” LeVan shared,
“They just loved it.”
To LeVan’s joy, one of his own
was recognized for his outstanding years of dedication to the
Lycoming County Fair.
Friday night, before the Youth
Livestock Sale, the fair administrator for the state Department
of Agriculture, Barron “Boots”
Hetherington awarded fair
employee James “Rocky” Reed
with the “Outstanding Fair
Ambassador of the Year Award.”
“Rocky deserves recognition
for all the incredible things he’s
done for this fair,” Hetherington
said.
The staff of the 144th Annual
Lycoming County Fair enjoy
their work and consider this year
a great success.
“It’s a lot of work but it’s also a
lot of fun,” LeVan said, “We really enjoy it.”
Local ‘father of archaeology’ fondly remembered
(From Page A-1)
“He’s laid a foundation
for West Branch archaeology,” Baird said. “He lived
here. He put it down on
paper and it’s been
invaluable — for archaeology and the public.”
During a 2011 interview with the SunGazette, Bressler was
asked what it was about
archaeology that so interested him.
“I can’t stand the
unknown,” he said. “You
try to make sense of it.”
That same year, the
North Central Chapter 8
bestowed upon Bressler a
lifetime
achievement
award. He was a member
of a number of other
archeological and historical organizations during
his life.
It was perhaps only fit-
ting that Bressler, a man
curious and knowledgeable about various subjects, had a long career as
an educator.
A native of Hegins,
Schuylkill County, and a
graduate of Penn State
University, he took a job
as teacher at the
Williamsport Technical
Institute, which later
became
Williamsport
Area
Community
College,
then
Pennsylvania College of
Technology.
While
there,
he
became head of the
English Department and
later served as the
school’s dean of Applied
Arts and Sciences and
director of Vocational
Education.
“He was interested in a
lot of things,” Rinn said.
“He kept up to date. You
couldn’t talk about anything that he didn’t know
a lot about it.”
Bressler’s
nephew,
Paul Allvord of South
Williamsport, said his
uncle loved to share his
knowledge with others.
He fondly recalled
campfires in Cascade
Township where Bressler
had some property.
There, the family would
gather to hear Bressler
regale and educate everyone with his stories.
“He was a very, very
generous man,” he said
“He loved teaching. He
just always wanted to
share his knowledge.”
Rinn said Bressler had
a true understanding of
the outdoors.
“He knew about flora
and fauna. He could recite
Latin names of rocks,” he
said. “He would tell me
about pieces of stone I’d
found.”
He called Bressler just
a great guy to be with.
Rinn
recalled
Bressler’s expertise at
turkey calling.
“He’d talk to the
turkeys while we were
walking through the
woods, and they would
answer him,” he said.
In his later years,
Bressler was unable to
enjoy the outdoors he so
loved. He suffered a
stroke in 2006.
“I think it saddened
him in later years he
couldn’t get out,” Allvord
said.
He took part in a number of excavations of local
archeological
sites,
including at Canfield
Island in Loyalsock
Township.
Fittingly, a 90th birth-
day party was thrown for
him there, according to
Allvord.
The James P. Bressler
Heritage
Trail
on
Canfield Island and the
James
P.
Bressler
American Indian Gallery
at Thomas T. Taber
Museum are named in his
honor.
“They thought very
highly of him at the Taber
Museum,” Baird said.
“We all share in his legacy. He left an indelible
mark.”
Rinn said Bressler
never wanted any praise
for his accomplishments.
“He was just a great,
great person,” Rinn said.
Bressler, whose funeral is at 3 p.m. today at
Faith Alliance Church on
Bottle Run Road, would
have turned 100 on Aug.
13.
Task force hears
new guidelines
for prescriptions
(From Page A-1)
which, despite summer
vacation, has been busy.
“We’re trying to get our
message out further, not
just with T-shirts, but
with more engagement,”
said Natalie Lamoreaux, a
2014 graduate of Muncy
High School.
The committee gave
several updates on some of
their ongoing projects, the
largest of which is a float
planned for the Little
League Grand Slam
Parade on Aug. 13.
Several meetings have
been held by the committee, Lamoreaux said, and a
design has been decided
upon.
The black-and-red float
will feature members of
Students
Against
Destructive
Decisions
from the eight local school
districts and St. John
Neumann engaging in
“anti-drug” activities.
“For example, I play a
lot of softball, so I’ll be
holding softball equipment,” Lamoreaux said.
“Drums, music, dance,
whatever activities that
our members are involved
with, we’ll represent it on
the float.”
She said that the parade
provides a perfect opportunity to spread the message
of spending time on positive activites in order to
avoid getting involved with
alcohol and drugs.
“It’s on a world stage,
basically,” she said. “What
better way to get our message out there?”
FREE
inside
Page D-3
Page B-1
www.sungazette.com
Friday, September 19, 2014
213th Year, No. 261
50¢ Newsstand
Love Center to stay open until Sept. 30
By JENNIFER COOPER action, with the announce- Howard St., closes, the tal” and the American on Friday, but that has vides to 550 households a
[email protected]
ment Thursday that the Jersey Shore Ministerium Rescue Workers was in been extended to the end of month.
center will remain open
until Sept. 30.
After the soup kitchen
and food pantry run by the
American
Rescue
Workers, located at 115
JERSEY SHORE —
Word that the Love Center
here would be closing at
week’s end prompted a
host of churches into
and Central Pennsylvania
Food Bank are dedicated
to filling the void in the
community.
The Love Center’s
financial figures are “bru-
“dire straits” to keep the
soup kitchen open, according to a letter from the
Rescue Workers.
The center originally
was notified it would close
the month.
“Our goal is to keep a
This gives the commu- food pantry and kitchen in
nity a little more time to the Jersey Shore commuput a plan in action that nity,” the Rev. Helen
can help fill the void of the
(See LOVE, Page A-5)
food boxes the center pro-
In the courts
Experts,
defendant
on stand
Crash kills 1
By MARK MARONEY
[email protected]
MUNCY — A 24-year-old woman
was killed Thursday afternoon when
her car and a pickup truck collided in
front of the Wendy’s Restaurant on
Route 405 in Muncy Creek Township,
according to state police.
Kyla
R.
Toboz,
of
South
Williamsport, and the daughter of a
state police supervisor, was pronounced
dead at the scene by Lycoming County
(See CRASH, Page A-5)
By TORY IRWIN
[email protected]
The prosecution called in
the experts for Thursday’s
installment of the ongoing
homicide trial for Jason
Gardner, while Gardner
took the stand himself on
behalf of the defense.
Gardner is accused of
shooting and killing former Pennsylvania College
of Technology student
Terrell Henderson-Littles
after a drug deal gone
wrong. Gardner and fellow gang member Mirad
Shabazz allegedly were
attempting to rob
Henderson-Littles when
he was shot and killed.
Police turned to evidence that can’t be seen
by the naked eye during
the course of the investigation. For this, testing is
done by forensic scientists
in state police locations
across the state. Those
who did this testing
offered their testimony to
the court.
Ellwood Spencer Jr., a
firearm and toolmark
examiner, studied the
sawed-down shotgun,
nicknamed “Bishop,”
linked to the crime and
the trace evidence that a
weapon could possibly
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
leave behind. Spencer tes- Jason Gardner, right, is escorted into the Lycoming County Courthouse by the
tified that he found lead
Lycoming County Sheriif's Department Wednesday morning before Gardner's third
residue in a possible bulday of his trial.
let hole that police found
at the scene of the alleged
murder. Discharged bullets generally will leave a
lead discharge, he said,
but when asked by the
defense, he did say that
SUNBURY (AP) — A newlywed couple
“Even if they each serve 50 years, they
there was no way to be
still will not feel any guilt or sympathy,”
whose Craigslist ad lured a stranger to his
certain that the lead was
said Holly LaFerrara, the victim’s sister.
death were sentenced Thursday to life in
left from a weapon.
“They completely lack empathy. They have
Serologist Linda Marie prison without parole by a judge who said
no conscience, no remorse and no moral
their
“permanent
removal”
from
society
is
Comeroski tests subcompass.
stances that could be bod- appropriate.
“They lack the most basic element of
Neither
19-year-old
Miranda
Barbour
nor
ily fluids for police inveshumanity,” she said. “These are two fundaher 22-year-old husband, Elytte, displayed
tigations. She told the
emotion as they sat with their lawyers in the mentally flawed people who are rotten to the
court she received a pair
Pennsylvania courtroom while some of the
core.”
of pants belonging to
Elytte Barbour read a written apology in
victim’s relatives described the grief and pain
Gardner which tested
they
have
experienced
since
the
Nov.
11
positive for blood stains.
(See 2 GET, Page A-5)
murder.
(See EXPERTS, Page A-5)
Legislation that would
grant immunity to certain
drug overdose responders
and provide emergency personnel with a drug to counter
the effects of heroin and
drugs like it passed the state
House of Representatives
Wednesday after a vote of
194-0.
The bill, sponsored by
state Sen. Dominic Pileggi, RChester, was returned to the
“We can save countless lives by seeing that
treatment takes priority in emergency situations.”
Rep. Mike Hanna Sr., D-Lock Haven
Senate for consideration of
House amendments.
Referred to by some as the
“Good Samaritan” bill, the
legislation seeks to allay the
fear of prosecution for certain
drug crimes for those who are
with an individual suffering
from a drug overdose, including parole and probation violators.
“We’ve all read stories
AROUND
the STATE
(See ALLEGED, Page A-5)
Senate votes
to aid rebels
(See BILL, Page A-5)
(See SENATE, Page A-5)
Good morning, Sally Ireland. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
M
where people were dropped
off or rolled out of a car at the
emergency room because people were afraid to inform the
authorities,” said state Sen.
Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock
Township, who co-sponsored
the bill.
If the bill becomes law, certain conditions must be met
for an individual to be granted immunity.
“It’s not blanket immunity
by any means,” said state
Bill gives immunity to aiding drug overdoses
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
SCRANTON (AP) — Pennsylvania
State Police have reopened roads in
rural northeastern Pennsylvania after
swarming the area in a
search for the man
charged with killing a
trooper.
Monroe
County
emergency
officials
said late Tuesday that a temporary
shelter for residents who couldn’t get to
their homes because of the heavy police
activity in Barrett Township is shutting
down.
Police are looking for 31-year-old Eric
Frein (green). He’s charged with
ambushing a state police barracks last
week, killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and
wounding another trooper.
Authorities searched an area around
Frein’s parents’ home. They’re not saying what led them to the area.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the heat
of an election campaign, Congress
cleared the way for the U.S. military to
train and equip Syrian rebels for a war
against Islamic State militants
Thursday night, reluctant ratification of a MORE COVERAGE:
new strategy that
President
Barack Plot in Australia
Obama
outlined foiled
scarcely a week ago.
See B-8
The 78-22 Senate
vote sent Obama legislation that also provides funding for the
government after the end of the budget
year on Sept. 30, eliminating any threat
of a shutdown. The House approved the
bill on Wednesday.
In an appearance at the White House
soon after the vote, Obama said he was
pleased that a majority of both
Republicans and Democrats had supported the legislation. “I believe we’re
strongest as a nation when the president and Congress work together,” he
said. Noting the killing of two
Americans by the Islamic State group,
he said that “as Americans we do not
give in to fear” and would not be put off
by such brutal tactics.
In the Senate, 44 Democrats, 33
Republicans and one independent voted
for the bill, while nine Democrats, 12
Republicans and one independent
opposed it.
The issue created new fault lines for
this fall’s elections for control of the
Senate as well as the 2016 race for the
White House.
“Intervention that destabilizes the
Middle East is a mistake. And yet, here
2 get life for ‘Craigslist killing’
By NICO SALVATORI
[email protected]
Alleged cop
killer hunted
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Friday, September 19, 2014
A-5
Experts, defendant
Senate votes 78-22 to aid Syrian rebels testify in county trial
THE ISLAMIC STATE
(From Page A-1)
we are again, wading into a civil
war,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
laying down a marker for
Republican presidential primaries
still more than a year distant.
Sen. Mark Begich, in a difficult
re-election campaign, said, “I disagree with my president” on the wisdom of having the U.S. military
become involved. “It is time for the
Arab countries to step up and get
over their regional differences” and
be more aggressive in the fight
against terrorists, the Alaska
Democrat said, drawing a quick
rebuttal from Republican rival Dan
Sullivan.
For a second straight day, the
administration dispatched topranking officials to reassure lawmakers — and the public — that no
U.S. ground combat operation was
in the offing. Obama made the
same promise in an address to the
nation eight days ago laying out his
new policy — and repeated it
Thursday night. His new strategy
includes increased airstrikes in
Iraq and the possibility of strikes in
Syria.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
told one House committee that
Obama “is not going to order
American combat ground forces into
that area.”
Alleged cop killer hunted in Pike County area
(From Page A-1)
Frein was placed on the
FBI’s 10 most wanted list
Thursday, hours after
Dickson’s funeral drew
thousands of law enforcement officials from around
the country.
Barrett Township is
about 20 miles away from
the Blooming Grove barracks, where Dickson was
killed and Trooper Alex
Douglass was wounded in
last week’s late-night
ambush.
A state police spokeswoman, Trooper Morgan
Crummy, declined to comment on the search late
Thursday.
“We are following up on
all tips and leads as they
come to us and at this
point have no new information
currently
to
release,” she said.
As the manhunt continued, eulogists at his funeral called Dickson an
impeccable officer who put
his family first.
Dickson “was no ordinary trooper,” police
Commissioner
Frank
Noonan told hundreds of
mourners gathered at St.
Peter’s Cathedral in
Scranton.
The
days
since
Dickson’s slaying have
been “a whirlwind ...
fueled by stress and gallons of coffee,” Noonan
said.
Mourners
attending
Dickson’s funeral Mass
gathered “in sorrow, disbelief and anger,” the Rev.
Thomas Muldowney said,
but he asked them to focus
on the positive impact that
Dickson made during his
life.
Dickson, a Marine
Corps veteran who joined
the state police in 2007,
had worked as a patrol
unit supervisor in the barracks since June.
Crash in Muncy Creek Township kills 1
(From Page A-1)
Coroner
Charles
E.
Kiessling Jr. of injuries she
suffered in the 3:15 p.m.
crash, police said.
From a stopped position on Nedig’s Drive,
which leads to the
entrances of Wendy’s and
Muncy Bank and Trust,
Toboz, driving a Pontiac
Sunfire, pulled out on to
Route 405 into the path of
a northbound GMC Sierra,
driven by Bonnie M. Gray,
62, of Hughesville, Trooper
Johnathan Buynak said,
Toboz, who was wearing a seat belt, was turning to head toward Muncy
while Gray was traveling
toward Hughesville.
“Both vehicles rotated
counter-clockwise,”
Buynak said.
Gray was treated at
Muncy Valley Hospital for
minor injuries, he added.
Volunteer firefighters
PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
A young South Williamsport woman driving the Pontiac Sunfire at right was
killed when the car and a pickup truck collided on Route 405 in Muncy
Creek Township on Thursday afternoon.
from Muncy Area responded to the crash as did paramedics. Several state
troopers also responded to
assist Buynak with his
investigation.
Toboz’s father, Sgt.
Shawn Toboz, is a supervi-
sor in the Staff Division at
the Montoursville barracks.
A section of Route 405
was closed for a short period of time while troopers
took measurements and
photographs of the scene.
Volunteer fire police, as
well as representatives
from the state Department
of Transportation assisted
with traffic control.
Sun-Gazette reporter
Philip A. Holmes contributed to this story.
Love Center to stay open until Sept. 30
(From Page A-1)
Learn,
of
Trinity
Methodist Church, said.
“There are a lot of moving
parts right now but we
want a place in Jersey
Shore that people can go
Monday through Friday
for a meal and food distribution.”
Multiple churches have
offered
locations
for
replacement but any
action will require board
approval. Until then, there
is no replacement in
Jersey Shore for the Love
Center and any new location will need to be updated to accommodate the job.
“We are in the beginning stages of a joined
effort by the community,”
Learn said.
The staffing of any temporary soup kitchen and
food pantry would consist
completely of volunteers.
The state will purchase
equipment and other supplies from the Love Center,
with the guidance of the
Department of Agriculture,
and redistributing the
items to soup kitchens and
pantries that help to fill the
void in the area.
The
Central
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
Members of the United Churches of Lycoming
County meets at the New Covenant UCC in
Williamsport on Thursday morning. One of the
agenda items discussed the closing of the Love
Center in Jersey Shore and its impact on the
community.
Pennsylvania Food Bank
is working with the ministerium to hit the ground
running during the crisis
that has blindsided Jersey
Shore.
“We are commited to
the community and in the
next few months we will be
dedicated to live out our
mission of fighting hunger,
improving
lives
and
strengthening communities,” said Jamie Caputo,
development and community relations director for
the Northern Tier of
Central
Pennsylvania
Food Bank.
Heaters from the center
were purchased by the
Jersey Shore Ministerium
and will continue to be
loaned out as needed.
Multiple churches in the
community already have
promised funds for a future
establishment and the
United
Churches
of
Lycoming County has offered
to help in anyway it can.
The
Central
Pennyslvania Food Bank
will begin distributing food
in Jersey Shore in October
with the assistance of ministerium
volunteers,
though an exact date hasn’t been set yet.
Though there is no precise plan in place to make
up for what will be a large
impact to people in need in
Jersey Shore, the community is showing its willingness to help. There have
been multiple meetings
this week by the ministerium and meetings will continue next week as well.
“All the churches are
commited to making sure
people don’t go without what
they need,” Pastor Charlie
Winkelman, president of the
Jersey Shore Ministerium,
said. “We’re going to do
whatever it takes so that
people get the food and help
that they need.”
Winkelman said he is
very encouraged by the
willingness of the community and what the ministerium really needs now is
funding.
Community members
who would like to help can
contact Dennis Buttorff,
treasurer of the ministerium, at 570-398-1909.
Bill gives immunity to aiding drug overdoses
(From Page A-1)
Rep. Mike Hanna Sr., DLock Haven. “However, we
can save countless lives by
seeing that treatment
takes priority in emergency situations.”
According to the bill,
the individual who reports
the overdose must provide
full cooperation with the
authorities and must stay
with the victim until emergency personnel arrives.
“This
measure
is
intended to encourage
those who are with someone experiencing a potential drug overdose to contact the appropriate
authorities to help prevent
serious injury or death,”
said state Rep. Garth
Everett, R-Muncy. “There
are documented cases
where such actions were
not taken due to fear of
arrest.”
Those
documented
cases were heard at several heroin-related hearings
held across the state by the
Center
for
Rural
Pennsylvania in recent
months, according to state
Rep. Rick Mirabito, DWilliamsport.
“It has caused way too
many tragic deaths,”
Mirabito said of heroin.
“We must do all we can to
prevent people from dying
from an overdose, and
Senate Bill 1164 provides
ways to hopefully do
that.”
When the bill passed
the Senate in Dec. after a
50-0 vote, it did not include
any provisions that would
arm emergency personnel
with the drug naloxone,
which quickly counters the
effects of an overdose
induced by an opioid, such
as heroin. Those provisions later were added in
the House to authorize the
use of the drug only after
emergency personnel has
undergone the proper
training.
“Allowing law enforcement officers and firefighters, who are often the first
responders at the scene, to
obtain and administer
naloxone .. .. will undoubtedly save lives,” Mirabito
said.
On Tuesday, the Center
for Rural Pennsylvania
will hold a press conference in Harrisburg to
release its report on the
state’s heroin crisis.
According to Yaw, who
is chairman of the Center,
the report is the result of
the 15 hours of testimony
that took place during the
Center’s four hearings.
It identifies legislative
action needed to combat
the heroin epidemic as
well as 20 issues that need
further
“evaluation,
research and action.”
“Heroin and opioid
abuse has no geographical
boundaries,” Yaw said.
“This is an epidemic affecting individuals of every
age, gender, race, and
background across the
state.”
(From Page A-1)
The blood sample was
sent on to DNA expert
Joseph Kukosky, who testified that one area of the
pants tested positive for
Gardner’s DNA. Other
areas of the pants had
DNA belonging to multiple
individuals,
but
not
enough was present to run
a test to determine who
the DNA belonged to.
Kukosy also received
DNA swabs taken from
the shotgun, but stated
that there was an insufficient amount of DNA to
test.
Following expert testimony, the prosecution concluded their case by playing audio from two phone
calls Gardner made while
he was in prison. In the
first call, Gardner chose
his words carefully, as he
was aware of the call being
recorded. He said he didn’t
want to say anything
incriminating.
He told his friend that
he needed help with something in Williamsport,
then proceeded to say
“Bishop is up here, too.”
When his friend inquired
about the identity of
Bishop, Gardner said that
he “was in the car with me
and Rad (Shabazz) that
day. He’s short.”
In the second call,
Gardner told his friend
that he would have to read
his lips when he visited
the prison, as Gardner
was aware that visitations
also are recorded by the
prison.
The defense began their
argument by calling
Gardner to the stand.
Defense
attorney
Robert
Hoffa
asked
Gardner why he was talking about the Bishop on
the phone. Gardner said
that while in prison, he
had received word from
Shabazz through a messenger that Shabazz wanted Gardner to get the gun.
Gardner said he believed
the gun could possibly
have some of Shabazz’s
DNA on it and could prove
his innocence, so he tried
to get his friend to pick up
the gun so he could take it
to police.
Gardner provided his
account of the events that
transpired that evening.
At the time of the incident,
he was attempting to get
away from gang life, he
said. He told the court that
the conspiracy to rob
Henderson-Littles that
Shabazz testified to earlier
in the trial was a lie.
Gardner said that he
made
contact
with
Henderson-Littles
on
Shontay Payton’s phone,
as said before, but that
once contact was made
with Henderson-Littles,
Gardner put in headphones to listen to music.
He testifed that at the
time of the shooting, he
was turned away from
Shabazz and HendersonLittles and was searching
for a wi-fi connection so he
could use his own phone to
text someone.
When he heard the
shot, he fled the scene.
“I just ran because I
thought I was getting shot
at,” he said.
Fear played a large
part in his willingness to
talk to police about the
night. Gardner told the
court that he knew
Shabazz had a history of
violence, and he feared
retaliation if he told police
what had happened after
Shabazz specifically told
him not to talk to police.
He said this was the reason that he initially lied to
officers about his identity
when they came to his
aunt’s house in Easton
and why he lied during his
first interview with police
in Easton.
Gardner had a change
of heart on the way to
Williamsport when he
thought of a cousin who he
had lost to gun violence, he
said. He opened up in his
second interview, but said
he wouldn’t point the finger at Shabazz because he
did not see the gun being
fired.
Gardner told that court
that he received a letter
from Shabazz’s girlfriend,
Tiffany Hernandez, during
his incarceration. The let-
2 get life for
‘Craigslist killing’
(From Page A-1)
court, but said he could
not explain his participating in what he
acknowledged was “a
senseless crime.”
“It is not the person
who I am,” he said. “It’s
not the person I want to
be.”
Miranda Barbour didn’t address the judge.
The couple pleaded
guilty last month to second-degree
murder,
which carries a mandatory life sentence, in a
plea deal that ruled out
the death penalty.
They were married in
North Carolina and
moved to Pennsylvania
about three weeks before
they met up with the victim, Troy LaFerrara, 42,
when he responded to an
ad offering female companionship.
On the day LaFerrara
was killed, Miranda
Barbour picked him up a
mall in Selinsgrove,
Pennsylvania, and drove
to the town of Sunbury
while Elytte hid on the
back seat under a blanket. Once they parked,
Elytte Barbour emerged
from his hiding place
and held a cord tight
against
LaFerrara’s
neck while his petite
wife stabbed LaFerrara
about 20 times. They
dumped his body in an
alley.
Miranda
initially
denied
knowing
LaFerrara,
but
changed her story when
police obtained records
showing that the last
call to his cellphone
came
from
hers,
authorities said.
Elytte Barbour told
police the couple killed
LaFerrara because they
wanted to kill someone
together.
In April, Miranda
Barbour gained some
notoriety when she
claimed in an interview
with the Sunbury newspaper, The Daily Item,
that she had killed at
least 22 other people in
Alaska, Texas, North
Carolina and California
over six years as part of
her involvement in a
satanic cult. But checks
by police have failed to
substantiate
her
claims.
In a Monday telephone interview with
The Daily Item from
prison,
Miranda
Barbour stood by her
claim about the murders
in other states.
ter asked him to “take the
rap” for Shabazz, because
Shabazz had a worse criminal record and Gardner
would get less jail time, he
said. Gardner said he
threw the letter away after
reading it, but Hoffa
showed the court a log of
letters received at the
prison
that
showed
Gardner had in fact gotten
a letter from Hernandez.
Hoffa asked Gardner
about the testimony
offered by Gage Wood, who
stated earlier in the trial
that Gardner had spoken
to him in the prison and
dubbed himself a “shooter”
during their conversation.
Gardner said that Wood’s
testimony was false and
that conversation never
took place.
Prosecuting attorney
Aaron Biichle questioned
some of Gardner’s actions.
“Nothing on that gun
could incriminate you, but
you didn’t try to turn it
over to police,” Biichle
said.
Gardner again cited his
fear as his reason for not
talking to police.
Biichle also found it odd
that Gardner threw away
the note from Hernandez
instead of giving it to a
prison officer.
The defense closed its
argument
following
Gardner’s testimony.
The trial will resume
with closing remarks at
8:30 a.m. in Judge Nancy
Butts’ court room followed
by jury deliberation.
Page D-1
Page B-1
Page C-1
www.sungazette.com
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
213th Year, No. 266
50¢ Newsstand
IN THE COURTS
Park shooter will
serve at least 15
years in state prison
Vicious epidemic
By TORY IRWIN
[email protected]
A man arrested in the July 2012
fatal shooting at Flanigan Park
pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 to 30
years in state prison Tuesday.
According to the Lycoming
County District Attorney’s office, Qu
Mar D. Moore, 24, of 802 Hepburn
St., was charged with Raymarr
MOORE
Alford for pulling handguns and firing at Kevan Connelly and his brother, Braheem,
(See PARK, Page A-5)
Jury gives ‘not guilty’
verdict in rape trial
By TORY IRWIN
[email protected]
Judge Marc Lovecchio’s courtroom was emotionally charged when a jury found a local man not
guilty on charges of rape and sexual assault
Tuesday.
David Johnson was accused of raping an unconscious former Pennsylvania College of Technology
student after she left a party on Oct. 6, 2011.
When the jury foreman announced the innocent
verdict, the alleged victim burst into tears.
Lovecchio had to temporarily halt proceedings
because of the disruption.
The young woman could not move and had to be
(See JURY, Page A-5)
Filmmaker: Ambush
suspect was odd but
did not seem a threat
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press
Eric Frein obsessively collected military memorabilia, dismissed his fellow war re-enactors as dilettantes, and took his hobby so seriously that he spoke
French during a simulated Vietnam War-era interrogation, according to a filmmaker who interviewed
the man now suspected of ambushing a
Pennsylvania State Police barracks.
Frein appears in an upcoming documentary
about Vietnam re-enactors called “Vietnam
Appreciation Day,” identifying himself by name and
saying that re-enactments are “about teaching the
public and showing the equipment that was used,
talking about the history of it all.”
Frein, 31, is charged with killing Cpl. Bryon
Dickson and injuring another trooper in the Sept. 12
ambush outside a rural barracks. He has managed
to elude hundreds of law enforcement officials looking for him in the heavily wooded Pocono Mountains
(See FILMMAKER, Page A-5)
NICO SALVATORI/Sun-Gazette
The Center for Rural Pennsylvania held a press conference at the state capitol building Tuesday and
released its findings based on the four hearings it held statewide over the summer about the stateʼs
growing heroin epidemic. Above are state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, agency chairman;
state Rep. Garth Everett, R-Muncy, treasurer; and state Rep. Rick Mirabito, D-Williamsport, board
member.
Center proposes measures to combat heroin
By NICO SALVATORI
[email protected]
HARRISBURG — In the rare
occurrence that heavy heroin abuse
doesn’t take an addict’s life, it will
erode his or her self-esteem and
morals nonetheless.
“And eventually, it removes your
soul,” said state Sen. John
Wozniak, D-Johnstown, in the state
capitol building during a Tuesday
press conference where the Center
for Rural Pennsylvania released its
report on the four statewide hearings it held over the summer that
featured personal and expert testimony about Pennsylvania’s growing
heroin epidemic.
Those hearings revealed that
abuse of heroin and other opioid
drugs has no geographic or socioeconomic boundaries, according to
state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock
Township, chairman of the bipartisan agency.
“When I was a young person,
you identified heroin with a specific
group that was someplace else,”
said state Rep. Garth Everett, RMuncy, treasurer of the orginization.
Yaw told the media that 80 percent of heroin users began their
addiction by abusing prescription
drugs, and the number of deaths as
a result of drug overdoses now
exceeds traffic fatalities.
That is true nationwide and in
Pennsylvania, according to the
report, which outlines measures to
prevent and appropriately treat
drug abuse.
Those measures include action
at the law enforcement and legislative levels, as well as in schools and
local communities.
“Everyone has to be involved,”
Yaw said.
According to the report, the
agency suggests increased state
funding for intermediate punish
(See CENTER, Page A-5)
Obama gets boost for coalition-building efforts
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent
NEW YORK — For President Barack Obama, the
participation of five Arab nations in airstrikes in Syria
has shifted the tenor of his three-day diplomatic mission at the United Nations, allowing him to use the
unexpected cooperation to mobilize reluctant other
nations to join the fight against Islamic State militants.
It’s a marked change for a president who has been on
the defensive about his ability to form a coalition and
who had been expected to show up at the U.N. with few
public commitments from allies around the world.
“The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the
world that this is not America’s fight alone,” Obama
said at the White House before departing for New York.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and
Bahrain all launched airstrikes alongside U.S. planes,
with Qatar playing a supporting role.
Senior administration officials said the coalition was
quietly solidified in recent days following Secretary of
State John Kerry’s flurry of meetings with regional
partners and Obama’s phone calls to the monarchs of
Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Obama gave the go-ahead for
the Pentagon to launch strikes in Syria for the first time
last Thursday after being briefed by military leaders at
U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida.
While officials said the timing of the strikes was not
(See OBAMA, Page A-5)
Court case manager: ‘Treatment is only going to last so long’
EDITOR’S NOTE: During the month of
September, National Recovery Month, the SunGazette will offer a special “What’s on your
mind?” series. In each installment, we will interview somebody who has been touched in some
way by the national heroin epidemic. Watch for it
on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.)
By ROBERT PHILLIPS
[email protected]
Functioning like a switchboard operator,
Sarah Guistina helps “connect”
those in recovery so they can be
successful.
“Treatment is only going to last
so long,” Guistina said. “The connections they make are important
and they can count on them after
treatment is over.
“Having those connections with
people can really help someone in recovery.”
Guistina’s work at the West
Branch Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Commission as a treatment court case manager
involves helping recovering addicts get “connected” with support groups and other beneficial
organizations.
“We’re the first stop. We assess the level of
care the person needs in order to make a successful recovery,” Guistina said. “We screen and
assess patients to determine that level.”
The level of care required is individualized
and some may need care that falls outside the
recovery realm as well, she said.
“It’s difficult to focus on treatment if the person is homeless or
needs help with child care so they
can
attending
treatment,”
Guistina said. “So we help them
find those resources that fall outside the drug and alcohol recovery
process.”
Guistina says she also encourages those in
recovery to remain in contact with their “sponsor.”
“We encourage them to stay connected to their
sponsor, or someone who has been through the
recovery process,” she said. “A sponsor has the
recovery experience and can help them
attend meetings and provide advice.”
There’s no shortage of sponsors either,
Guistina explained.
“We see it a lot,” she said. “Those who
have been through the programs want to
give back. It’s a win-win for them. They
get to see where they’ve come from and it
gives them a chance to help someone
get clean.”
With a decade’s worth of experience Guistina cannot over-emphasize the importance of staying
connected.
“The most successful people
are those who make connections while in recovery,”
Guistina said. “Those who
make connections are doing the
right thing.”
WANT TO GIVE US YOUR 2 CENTS? Visit www.sungazette.com
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From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Wednesday, September 24, 2014
A-5
Center proposes measures to combat heroin epidemic
(From Page A-1)
ment treatment programs,
which provide strict supervision of those convicted of
a crime.
Yaw said first-time
offenders who turn to
theft to feed their drug
habits often aren’t eligible
for intermediate punishment, a sentence that
could prevent further
abuse.
“It costs a heck of a lot
more to keep a person in
prison ... than it is to do
the programs that are
necessary,” Wozniak said.
“We have them. We just
have to find the revenues.”
Another measure to
prevent and reduce heroin
abuse includes eliminating “doctor shopping,” a
practice by which patients
who are addicted to controlled substances obtain
them
from
multiple
providers without the
providers’ knowledge.
Yaw said legislation
sponsored by state Sen.
Patricia
Vance,
RMechanicsburg, would
establish a prescription
drug monitoring program
to better identify prescription fraud.
State Rep. Matt Baker,
R-Wellsboro, is the sponsor of similar legislation in
the House.
“We have to change the
cultural perspective that
for every pain in life, there
is a prescription drug,”
said state Rep. Rick
Mirabito, D-Williamsport,
a board member.
Mirabito said a decision
made more than a decade
ago by the Food and Drug
Administration to allow
direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription
drugs on television set “up
a cultural norm of how we
address the problems we
have in our lives.”
“For the past 15 years,”
he continued, “our young
kids actually have been
bombarded with billions
and billions of dollars of
advertising.”
Yaw praised other
bipartisan legislation that
would grant immunity
from prosecution for certain drug crimes to those
in the presence of a drug
overdose who respond to it
appropriately.
The “Good Samaritan”
bill also would provide
emergency personnel with
naloxone, a drug that
counteracts the dangerous
effects of heroin during an
overdose.
Yaw said police officers
should be equipped with
the drug as they often are
the first to respond to an
incident.
The bill recently was
returned to the Senate for
consideration of House
amendments.
Filmmaker: Ambush suspect was odd but did not seem a threat Park shooter
(From Page A-1)
of northeastern Pennsylvania.
The documentary’s director,
Patrick Bresnan, recalled Frein as
odd and aloof, segregating himself
from the other re-enactors.
Frein and two of his friends
“kind of viewed the other re-enactors as, in their words, playing
cowboys and Indians,” Bresnan
told The Associated Press on
Tuesday. “‘They are playing war,’
is what he says, ‘and we’re here
because we want to preserve the
history of war and we want to
meet veterans and we want to catalogue their stories.’”
Frein made sure every detail of
his look was just right, Bresnan
said, and lost himself in the simulated battles that featured
authentic period military rifles
firing blanks.
“If you saw Eric go through the
woods, it was very scary,” he said.
“He was absolutely serious when
he was going through the brush,
hunting Viet Cong at these reenactments.”
The director added he did not
feel Frein posed an actual threat.
“With Eric and his friends,
they are so much more educated
than the average re-enactor that
we figured they were too smart to
harm anyone,” he said.
Police have called Frein a survivalist with a vendetta against
law enforcement. They believe
he’s hiding in the woods where he
grew up and his parents still live.
But there was no indication
Tuesday that authorities are
imminently close to catching him.
Frein
attended
East
Stroudsburg University for one
semester as a history student in
2005 and then again for two
semesters in 2011 and 2012 as a
chemistry major, but he didn’t
graduate, said Brenda Friday, a
university spokeswoman. He also
attended classes off and on at
Northampton Community College
from 2008 to 2013 but never
received a degree, said spokeswoman Heidi Butler.
Frein once worked as a parttime, seasonal employee at the
Boy Scouts of America’s Camp
Minsi in the Poconos, according to
Craig Poland, scout executive
with the Minsi Trails Council.
As the search for Frein continued, NBC’s “Today” show aired
footage
from
“Vietnam
sentenced
Appreciation Day.” In one clip,
Frein talked about the difficult
terrain where one of the re-enact- (From Page A-1)
ments took place — an eerie prelude to the real-life manhunt play- following a fight at the
ing out in the area around basketball courts.
Kevan Connelly was
Canadensis, where authorities
have been closing roads and resi- struck by gunshots and
dents have been unable to get died shortly after at
back to their homes due to the Williamsport Regional
Medical Center.
heavy police presence.
Moore was sentenced
Though Bresnan last saw
Frein in 2011, the director by Judge Nancy L. Butts
remembered Frein and his friends to serve 15 to 30 years in
state prison.
clearly.
In April, Moore’s co“They really identified with the
soldiers of Vietnam because they defendant, Alford, was
came back to the U.S. and were convicted of first-degree
rejects from society,” Bresnan murder, conspiracy and
said. “Eric and his friends defi- aggravated assault folnitely identified with the under- lowing a weeklong jury
trial. District Attorney
dogs and rejects.”
Eric Linhardt led the
prosecution on the case.
During the trial, bullet
casings fired from at least
two guns and video from
a bus that showed Alford
and Moore fleeing the
(From Page A-1)
under unspecified terms, park were presented as
that seemed to be chang- evidence.
intended to coincide with
ing.
the start of the annual
At the time of the
Turkish
President shooting, over 100 people
U.N. gathering, the miliRecep Tayyip Erdogan, were in the park. Several
tary action quickly became
also in New York for the witnesses testified that
a focal point as Obama and
U.N.
meetings,
said they could place Moore
other
world
leaders
Tuesday he was consider- and Alford at the park.
arrived in New York.
ing expanding support for
Obama met Tuesday
Alford’s sentencing is
Western and Arab opera- scheduled for Nov. 10.
afternoon with a group
tions against the Islamic Under the state’s senthat included representaState group to include mil- tencing guidelines, he
tives from the five Arab
itary involvement.
nations that participated
could receive from 35
U.S. Secretary of State years to life in prison.
in the overnight strikes.
John Kerry said he expectAfter thanking them for
“I am pleased that
ed a more robust role for both of the individuals
their cooperation, he cauTurkey. And Erdogan said responsible for Kevan
tioned that the military
later, according to Turkey’s Connelly’s death have
foray into Syria “is obviDHA news agency, “Of now been held to account.
ously not the end of the
course, we will do our part. It has been a long two
effort but this is the beginGod willing, we will also years getting to this
ning.”
discuss it together with our point,” Linhardt told the
Among the leaders who
government.”
joined in the meeting was
Sun-Gazette.
“Nations like Turkey
new Iraqi Prime Minister
“I know that the
have their own clear, vest- Connelly family is grateHaider al-Abadi, who took
ed personal interest in con- ful for the countless
office earlier this month.
fronting the threat that’s hours of hard work that
Obama and al-Abadi will
posed by ISIL,” White this office and the
also hold a one-on-one
House spokesman Josh Williamsport Bureau of
meeting Wednesday.
Earnest said. “All of the Police have given on
Kathleen Hicks, a forASSOCIATED PRESS mayhem and havoc that behalf of their family, and
mer Pentagon official, said
the Arab participation Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, right, ISIL is wreaking in Iraq I am grateful that I have
could galvanize other chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appear before the Senate Armed and in Syria is right on been able to play a part in
nations that have been Services Committee, the first in a series of high-profile Capitol Hill hearings Turkey’s doorstep. And it’s giving them a sense of
wary of joining the effort. that will measure the presidentʼs ability to rally congressional support for certainly not in their inter- justice,” he added.
“It
really
helps President Barack Obamaʼs strategy to combat Islamic State extremists in est for all that instability
and violence to be occurEuropeans and others to Iraq and Syria
ring so close to their borsee that it’s not just going
to be perceived as just a launched by the president, with one of the many in launching airstrikes in der.”
The president will also
Western action,” said understanding that this is names used for group.
Iraq, and Saudi Arabia volHicks, who is now senior just one step in what must
The U.S. began launch- unteered to host U.S.-led chair an unusual U.N.
vice president at the be a larger effort to destroy ing targeted airstrikes training missions for Security Council meeting
Wednesday at which memCenter for Strategic and and defeat this terrorist against Islamic State Syrian rebels.
International Studies, a organization,”
House group targets in Iraq in
Even with the actions bers are expected to adopt
Washington-based think Speaker John Boehner, R- August. Following the from Arab nations, the a resolution that would
tank.
Ohio said.
group’s brutal beheading of U.S. is seeking to rally require all countries to preThe joint U.S.-Arab
Senate Minority Leader two American journalists, other partners for future vent the recruitment and
UNITED NATIONS
airstrikes won Obama rare Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as well as the formation of cooperation, particularly transport of would-be forsupport from Republicans concurred, saying, “These the new Iraqi government, Turkey, a U.S. ally and eign fighters preparing to (AP) — In the first interwho have been pressing strikes against ISIL and Obama pledged to expand NATO member. Turkish join terrorist groups such national test for his climate-change strategy,
him to be more aggressive the engagement of our the campaign — but only officials have resisted join- as the Islamic State.
in going after the Islamic regional allies are impor- as part of a broad coalition. ing the coalition, citing the
However,
Obama President Barack Obama
State group, which has tant steps in defeating
However, before this safety of 49 hostages that administration officials pressed world leaders
moved with ease across the ISIL and I support these week, there were few coun- had been held by the have acknowledged that Tuesday to follow the
blurred border between ongoing
U.N. resolutions can be United States’ lead on
efforts.” tries that had made specif- Islamic State group.
Iraq and Syria.
But with the hostages notoriously difficult to the issue, even as a
McConnell referred to the ic military commitments.
United Nations summit
“I support the airstrikes Islamic State militants France has joined the U.S. released last weekend enforce.
revealed the many obstacles that still stand in the
way of wider agreements
to reduce heat-trapping
pollution.
“The United States
has made ambitious
(From Page A-1)
street to see what was going on. After talking al contact with her when he originally spoke investments in clean
energy and ambitious
assisted by her father to leave the court room. to the alleged victim, Vogel called police and to police.
In her closing argument, public defender reductions in our carbon
He told his daughter, “That’s OK, honey. I the young woman was transported to the hosJeana Longo asked the jury to consider the emissions,” Obama said.
hope it doesn’t happen to any of their chil- pital.
A rape kit DNA test found Johnson’s definition of the rape charge when making “Today I call on all coundren.”
Johnson and his mother waited in the semen inside the victim, Assistant District their decision. She said the prosecution had tries to join us, not next
courtroom for the young woman and her fam- Attorney Melissa Kalaus of the prosecution to show that the young woman was uncon- year or the year after
said.
scious or unaware during the incident and that, but right now.
ily to leave the court house before exiting.
Before the test was performed, Johnson that Johnson knew that she was unconscious Because no nation can
The former Penn College student was
intoxicated at the time of the incident and voluntarily went to the city police station and or unaware and disregarded that knowledge. meet this global threat
“An unconscious person doesn’t walk up alone.”
testified to the court that her memory of the spoke to Agent Kevin Stiles. Video of the
But none of the
evening faded under a black cloud after play- interview was shown during the trial. In the stairs,” she said. “All the evidence shows
pledges
made
at
ing a game of beer pong at the party. Johnson video, Johnson tells Stiles that he did not there’s no way he thought she was unconTuesday’s one-day meethave sex with the young woman and that scious.”
was not at the party.
Kalaus countered that a rational person’s ing was binding.
She told the court the next thing she knew, they had no genital contact. He said the
The largest-ever gathshe woke up in bed in Johnson’s attic with her young woman came to his house in the early common sense would have indicated otherering of world leaders to
pants removed. Confused and disoriented hours of Oct. 7, 2011, knocked on his door and wise during her closing statement.
She quoted Johnson saying in his police discuss climate was
from the unknown surroundings, she quickly walked up the stairs to his attic. She removed
put on her pants and gathered her purse, her pants and climbed into his bed, he said. interviews that the young woman’s breath designed to lay the
finding that she was missing her cellphone Johnson told Stiles he slept next to the young smelled of alcohol and vomit, and that she groundwork for a new
woman, but that was the extent of their con- was clearly intoxicated. She said the young global climate-change
and car keys.
woman going to a stranger’s house and walk- treaty.
The woman said she asked the man, “Did tact.
It also revealed the
After the DNA test results came in, a war- ing in were signals that she was in an altered
you (expletive deleted) me?”
She said Johnson replied, “I tried to, but rant for Johnson’s arrest was issued and he state of mind, and that someone using rea- sharp differences that
divide countries on matonce again was interviewed by Stiles. A video sonable judgment would have realized that.
you wouldn’t let me.”
“He saw her alone and wanted to take ters such as deforestaShe left the residence and began arguing of that interview showed that Johnson admitwith Johnson in the street. Johnson’s neigh- ted that they did fool around, but he was advantage of her vulnerability,” Kalaus said. tion, carbon pollution
Following the verdict, Johnson was set and methane leaks from
bor at the time, Holly Vogel, testified that she unsure if he penetrated the young woman
oil and gas production.
heard a disturbance and came out to the and so he believed that he had not had sexu- free.
Obama gets boost for coalition-building efforts
Obama urges
world to
follow US lead
on climate
Jury gives ‘not guilty’ verdict in rape
Day 113 of secrecy
Page B-1
Page D-1
www.sungazette.com
Saturday, May 9, 2015
214th Year, No. 129
50¢ Newsstand
Prison population increased in April
By NICO SALVATORI
[email protected]
Overcrowding at the
Lycoming County Prison
hit a record high for 2015
last month.
Prison Warden Kevin
DeParlos reported Friday
at the monthly meeting of
the county prison board
that the peak number of
inmates in April, including those at the prerelease center and out-ofcounty transfers, was 424.
In March, that figure
was 400, and in February
it was 378.
The prison and prerelease center have a total
capacity of 392.
Overcrowding transfers reached a yearly high
as well at 37 for the
month of April. In March,
there were 12.
The county is working
to reduce the recidivism
rate through its Reentry
Services Center, where
nonviolent
offenders
report daily for education
and job training and now
through
a
state
grant
that DeParlos
announced Friday
to help prison
inmates transition
back into society.
The $9,975 grant from
the state Commission on
Crime and
Delinquency
will go toward
developing
a
“game plan” for
inmates in anticipation of being
released, at which
point the plan will be
coordinated through the
county’s adult probation
office, according to Chris
Ebner, deputy warden of
inmate services.
“It should help break
down some barriers when
they reenter the community,” Ebner said.
In other business
Friday, the board praised
(See PRISON, Page A-5)
Soaring to new heights
Heroin Task Force transitions into Project Bald Eagle
By TORY IRWIN
[email protected]
As the community
continues to deal with
narcotic abuse, the
Heroin Task Force is
transforming into a new
nonprofit dubbed Project
Bald Eagle, with the goal
of soaring to new heights
in drug prevention.
That was the messaged delivered during an
editorial board Friday
with Lycoming County
President Judge Nancy
Butts, who will continue
with the new entity as
board vice chairwoman;
Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour,
president of Pennsylvania
College of Technology,
who will serve as board
chairwoman; and Dr.
Beth McMahon, professor
in the department of
health science at Lock
Haven University, who
has been named executive director and will
work with Project Bald
Eagle through December
of this year on loan from
the university.
CARA MORNINGSTAR/Sun-Gazette
Dr. Beth McMahon; Nancy Butts, president judge; and Dr. Davie Gilmour, president of Pennsylvania
College of Technology, met with the Sun-Gazette to talk about Project Bald Eagle in Williamsport on
Friday.
Project Bald Eagle will
focus on community education and the goal of stepping in during the early
stages of drug abuse, act-
ing as a hub to link those
in need with the right
services to aid them. A
goal of the organization is
to monitor and collect sur-
veillance data to analyze
and address substance
abuse in the county.
Even in the transition,
the group will retain the
subcommittees of the
Heroin Task Force, and
all members have been
invited to stay on and
continue their work with
Project Bald Eagle.
“We needed a vehicle
to take it to the next
level,” Gilmour said of
the Heroin Task Force.
The organization will
be launched with
$100,000 in funding,
with donations of
$25,000 each from
Pennsylvania College of
Technology, Lycoming
College, Susquehanna
Health and Lycoming
County. The money will
help the nonprofit with
start-up costs, and the
group will look for ways
to sustain itself through
grant funding.
Changing models will
facilitate raising funds,
something that Butts
could not do as the head
of the Heroin Task Force
due to her position as
county president judge.
The model for Project
Bald Eagle is based on a
similar program in North
Carolina called Project
Lazarus, which emphasizes community partici-
(See HEROIN, Page A-5)
Governor, Senate GOP leader face off over fate of 12 nominees
HARRISBURG (AP) —
Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor and Republican Senate
leader traded harsh words
Friday over the fate of 12 gubernatorial nominations that have
been stuck in limbo since
January.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced
Thursday he had sent the nominees and five others to the
Senate, referring to a deal with
Majority Leader
Jake Corman for
them to be considered.
Corman,
RBellefonte,
responded Friday
with a news release
that accused the
WOLF
governor of a “complete mischaracterization” and
said his staff told the governor’s
aides he hadn’t agreed to
the process.
“Never in
my 17 years
in the Senate
has a governor
—
CORMAN Republican
or Democrat
— shown this type of disrespect
for a member of the General
TRANSPORTATION
More public sessions to explain
county bridge projects coming
By JENNIFER COOPER
[email protected]
An open house held Monday by
Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners and
the
state
Department
of
Transportation was just the beginning
of efforts to inform the public on the
Rapid Bridge Rehabilitation project
that will include rebuilding three
bridges in Lycoming County this year.
Outreach began on Monday with an
open house in which Dan Galvin,
Walsh Construction information manager, provided a construction schedule
for the three bridges and a map displaying the detour that traffic will take
during reconstruction of the one of the
bridges.
Bridges being replaced in the county
this year include two between June
and October along Route 44 over Antes
Creek and Route 2050 over Little
Muncy Creek and a third to be replaced
between August and December at
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“ Weʼre happy to go to regularly
scheduled township meetings
and things like that, if thatʼs
what the public wants. ”
Dan Galvin,
Walsh Construction
Route 2002 over White Deer Hole
Creek.
While constructing the new bridge
over Little Muncy Creek, the route will
have to be closed and traffic will be
detoured.
The 4.3-mile detour will use Route
118 and German, Bomboy and Salem
School House roads while crews build
the new structure.
(See MORE, Page A-5)
Assembly,” Corman said.
Corman said he did not commit the Senate to confirming
the 12, but Wolf’s press release
said only that he looked forward to the nominees advancing. He also thanked Corman
for working together on a compromise.
Wolf
spokesman
Jeff
Sheridan accused Corman of
breaking his word, calling it
part of a pattern that indicates
Corman isn’t willing to work
with Wolf.
“The governor comes from
the business world, where an
agreement means something,
and it means something in the
real world, too,” Sheridan said
Friday. “Going back on your
word may be acceptable in
(See GOVERNOR, Page A-5)
Mother’s Day likely to be humid
By ALYSSA MANEVAL
[email protected]
Mom has a chance to
get plenty of sunshine
this weekend as people
find ways to celebrate the
women in their lives on
Sunday for Mother’s Day.
“It looks to be very
summer-like, but not
record-breaking,” said
Aaron Tyburski, National
Weather Service meteorologist.
Temperatures
this
weekend will be in the
mid-80s, he said.
“We’ll feel the humidity,” Tyburski said. “That
will increase this weekend.”
The humidity could set
off showers and thunderstorms Sunday.
“It’s going to be a hot
and humid weekend,”
Tyburski said. “Very reminiscent of July instead of
CARA MORNINGSTAR/Sun-Gazette
Motherʼs Day flowers displayed at the flower tent
in front of the Lycoming Mall in Pennsdale on
(See MOTHER’S, Page A-5) Friday
Good morning, Krista Andrews. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
From Page A-1/World
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Saturday, May 9, 2015
A-5
Iraq signs up 1,000 recruits to fight Islamic State
MORE in WORLD:
Saudi coalition warns Yemeni
rebels
See A-7
M
AMIRIYAT FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi
authorities on Friday
signed up the first batch
of 1,000 recruits for a new
Sunni militia to help its
security forces take back
the
western
Anbar
province from the Islamic
State group, after years of
reluctance to arm and
train the tribal fighters.
The newly appointed
governor
of
Anbar
province, Souhaib al-Ani,
told the recruits that it
was the start of the liberation of the province, an
estimated 65 percent of
which has been under
control of the Islamic
State for the last year and
a half.
“Today is not like any
other day, today is the
beginning of the end for
those who have wreaked
havoc on our homes,” alAni told the recruits
arrayed before him under
the hot sun before an
audience of military and
tribal leaders.
“This is not like any
other day because all of
Iraq stands with you,” he
added, speaking at the
ceremony in the town of
Amiriyat Fallujah, a few
miles south of the main
IS-stronghold in Anbar,
the city of Falluja.
Anbar’s Sunni tribes
were key to defeating al-
Qaida in 2006 but afterwards, the Shiite-dominated government of
Prime Minister Nouri alMaliki cut funding to
these Sunni forces. Many
were later targeted and
killed when the Islamic
State swept into the
province.
Repeated requests by
tribal leaders for funds
and arms were ignored, in
part because the government distrusted the
Sunnis, claiming many
sympathized with the
Islamic State.
In contrast, the state
has invested heavily in
Shiite militias, known as
Popular
Mobilization
Units, which have played
a major role in fighting
the Islamic State around
Baghdad and in other
provinces.
Iraq’s new Prime
Minister, Haider alAbadi, has been more
open to arming the
Sunnis and authorized
the creation of a 6,000strong
Popular
Mobilization Unit in
Anbar.
Friday’s recruits are
all from the Albu Eissa
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunni tribal volunteers stand in formation Friday during their graduation
ceremony in the town of Amiriyat al-Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
tribe based in the town of
Amiriyat
al-Fallujah,
which for the past year
has been battling Islamic
State forces based in their
stronghold of Fallujah,
just 30 kilometers to the
north.
Sheikh Rajeh Barakat,
a tribal leader and member of the Anbar provincial council said in the
beginning some Sunnis
supported the Islamic
State, because of their
anger at Maliki’s government, but most did not
and were now eager to
fight the well-armed
extremists.
“Once they realized the
government really wanted to do something about
the Islamic State, they
started volunteering,” he
explained, predicting that
many more Sunnis would
join this militia to help
drive the IS out.
Iraq’s Sunnis are also
sensitive about demands
by Shiite militias, many
of which are Iranianbacked, to participate in
the fight against the
Islamic State in Anbar —
something critics say
could severely alienate
the Sunnis.
Qais al-Ghazali, the
head of the Asaib Ahl alHaq, said last week that
his Shiite militia was
ready to help in the fight
in Anbar even though the
prime minister and the
United States opposed it.
Barakat said that the
tribes didn’t need the help
of the Shiite militias,
which many Sunnis have
accused of carrying out
atrocities against civilians during their opera-
tions.
“If we receive the same
type of weapons as the
southern
Popular
Mobilization Units, we
can do the job on our
own,” he said, referring to
the Shiite militias, which
hail from the predominantly Shiite south. “We
find it bizarre to see the
kinds of weapons they get
compared to the light
weapons we get.”
The new recruits will
be given a 10-day training
course before joining the
fight, said the governor,
in light of their long experience fighting already.
All new recruits will be
vetted by a committee
including a top military
general, the deputy head
of
the
Popular
Mobilization Units and
the Anbar governor himself.
The main fight against
the Islamic State will
likely still be carried out
by elite army units, but
the militias will be playing an important role in
holding territory taken
back from the Islamic
State.
One of the main goals
of any fight will be
Fallujah, a stronghold of
al-Qaida 10 years ago and
one of the first cities
taken by the Islamic
State in January 2014.
Governor, GOP leader face UN: Why France didn’t probe
off over fate of 12 nominees child sex abuse claims earlier?
(From Page A-1)
Harrisburg, especially
when you’ve been here for
17 years as Corman has,
but that is why people
have a distaste for
Harrisburg.”
The stalemate dates to
the waning days of
Republican Gov. Tom
Corbett’s term, when
Corbett made nominations that Wolf moved to
halt shortly after he took
office, and at the same
time fired Erik Arneson,
who Corbett had just
appointed to the head of
the Office of Open
Records. Arneson’s firing
is the subject of a pending
state court case also that
pits Wolf against the
Senate Republicans.
In
early
March,
Corman
aide
Dave
Thomas told Senate
Republicans they had
reached a deal to return
12 of the 28 Corbett nominations to Wolf so that he
could pick new nominees.
Thomas said Friday that
Mary Isenhour, the governor’s legislative affairs
secretary, insisted their
deal was that the Senate
would confirm all 12.
“I had multiple conversations
with
Mary
Isenhour this week, and
in every conversation she
said they believe our part
of the deal was that we
agreed to confirm whoever they sent over,”
Thomas said.
Isenhour disputed his
account. She said she told
Thomas earlier this week
that the administration
wanted to send the
Senate the 12 nominations and Thomas asked
for more time. By
Thursday, the administration sent them over.
“Never once did I say
that we expected them to
confirm,” Isenhour said. “I
mean, we hope they will
be confirmed.”
Corman spokeswoman
Jennifer Kocher said
Friday that Wolf has taken
actions without giving
Senate Republicans the
courtesy of advanced notice.
“It’s just interesting
that
the
campaign
speeches that the governor makes don’t match
the actions of the governor,” Kocher said. “He
talks about working
together, but yet he just
continues to play politics.
He claims to be a different
kind of governor, and the
way that this is different
is that no other governor
would have shown such
disrespect for the members of the General
Assembly.”
The 17 names that
Wolf submitted to the
Senate on Thursday
include people to serve on
the state boards of education and parole, the state
university system board
and the boards of Temple
and Pitt.
The dispute come as
Wolf’s Cabinet nominees
are moving through the
Senate’s
confirmation
process, and senators
have indicated at least
one of them, acting State
Police
Commissioner
Marcus Brown, may not
have the votes to be confirmed.
UNITED NATIONS
(AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations called Friday for
an impartial investigation into the way that
child sexual abuse allegations against French soldiers in the Central
African Republic have
been
handled.
Meanwhile, the U.N.
human rights chief asked
why France didn’t move
more quickly to pursue
the claims.
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights,
Zeid Raad al-Hussein,
made his first public comments on the case since it
was first reported late last
month. His office has
come under criticism for
suspending the staffer
who leaked the abuse
claims to French authorities. A U.N. tribunal overturned the suspension
this week.
Questions
remain
about why it took several
months for U.N. and
French investigations to
come to light and where
the accused French soldiers are now.
On Thursday, the
Paris prosecutor’s office
said the “U.N. hierarchy”
had rejected French
efforts to hear from the
author of a report containing the allegations. On
Friday, the spokesman for
the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric,
described a back-andforth with French judicial
authorities over the issue
that lasted from midOctober to March 30,
when the U.N. handed
over a redacted copy of
the report.
U.S.
Ambassador
Samantha Power told
reporters that the sexual
abuse allegations are
“very credible and very
disturbing” and said that
“when allegations like
these are made, speed is
essential.”
The French soldiers
were in Central African
Republic responding to
deadly violence between
Christians and Muslims.
Residents of a camp for
displaced persons in the
country’s capital, Bangui,
have told The Associated
Press that French soldiers
tasked with protecting
civilians had sexually
abused boys as young as 9
years old.
More public sessions to explain
county bridge projects coming
(From Page A-1)
Galvin said this open
house was the just the
start of informing the
public on this project and
Plenary Walsh Keystone
Partners will hold more
informational sessions
this year.
“We are willing to work
with the community.
We’re happy to go to regularly scheduled township
meetings and things like
that, if that’s what the
public wants,” he said.
There was a lack of
attendance at the initial
open house held at the
Holiday Inn, 100 Pine St.,
that Galvin believed was
probably due to lack of
awareness, not lack of
interest.
When asked if the timing or location of the open
house could have contributed to low attendance, Galvin said they
were going to run into
timing conflicts and it will
be always be inconvenient
for someone.
“I thought there was
plenty of notice but if not,
we’re willing to work with
people,” he said. “This is
just the beginning of outreach.”
Heroin Task Force transitions
(From Page A-1)
pation.
“The why’s easy ... but
it’s how to get on the
ground and make an
impact that’s challenging,” McMahon said. “The
community will determine the what.”
Needs expressed by
those in the recovery community, law enforcement
and medical professionals
will help to dictate the
direction Project Bald
Eagles takes as it looks to
meet needs in the community.
But the group’s not
looking to double up in
areas that are already
being addressed.
“We want to complement what’s already
being done,” McMahon
said.
Part of working with
the resources already
available is to make the
public aware of what programs exist.
“I hear it every time at
community meetings: ‘I
didn’t know who to call,’ ”
Butts said. “With the education component ... we’re
sharing
who
the
resources are for everybody.”
The organization is not
looking to take the place
of law enforcement or the
criminal justice system,
Butts said, and Project
Bald Eagle will not affect
the issue of holding people
accountable.
Rather, as McMahon
explained, it simply opens
doors for people in the
community to be part of
the solution as Project
Bald Eagle continues to
tackle the complex issue
of substance abuse and
addiction.
In the next few
months, Gilmour said, the
group is looking to put its
name out there.
“Everywhere you go
you’ll find a sign ... or find
something to tell you
what Project Bald Eagle
is and where to go,” she
said.
As the group continues to develop, it wouldn’t mind being a model
for other organizations in
the state, but for now are
just
focusing
on
Lycoming
County,
Gilmour said.
Above all, it’s just looking to make a difference.
“Project Bald Eagle is
giving our community the
power to be free,” Gilmour
said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A duck sits on its eggs Friday in the outdoor classroom space of Alexander
B. Good Elementary School. The weather over the weekend is expected to
be hot, with rain possible Sunday.
Mother’s Day likely to be humid
(From Page A-1)
early May.”
The average temperature for this time of year
is around 70 degrees. The
record high was in the low
90s, he said.
“We won’t be threatening that,” Tyburski said.
“It still will be warm and
humid.”
Looking ahead, it
seems the area will settle
in with at least the normal
temperatures, he said.
“Even if there’s a cool
snap, that would still
keep temperatures in the
60s,” Tyburski said. “It
wouldn’t be anything like
we dealt with in the
springtime. We’re out of
the woods for that.”
The sun higher in the
sky and longer days make
it difficult to get cold air,
he said.
May has only seen .2
inches of rain, which is
about 1/2 inch below the
average for the month.
For the year, 9.55 inches
has fallen, about 2 1/2
inches below normal for
the year, he said.
“The really rainy April
helped,” Tyburski said.
“The
beginning
of
January and February
were very cold, but not
much in the way of precipitation ... April was a
relatively wet April, but
it’s not enough to bring us
back just yet.”
The rainwater levels
below normal are not a
cause for concern yet, he
said.
With the green leaves
appearing this week in
the forests, the trees will
be taking in a lot of
groundwater, creating a
need for a little bit more
precipitation in the next
month or so, he said.
Prison population increased in April
(From Page A-1)
some cost-savings measure the county is implementing.
County
President
Judge Nancy Butts said
the county more than ever
is using video conferencing for guilty pleas, saving
overtime hours and cutting down on transportation costs when a defen-
dant is housed outside of
the county, such as in
Philadelphia.
Sheriff Mark Lusk said
it is often a 10-hour
process to retrieve an
inmate
from
Philadelphia.
In addition, the board
heard from work crew
supervisor Daniel Knerr
who told of a recent proj-
ect at Susquehanna State
Park, where pre-release
inmates helped build 20
picnic tables.
Carey Entz-Rine, a
watershed specialist with
the county conservation
district, also was present
and told the board about a
successful stream restoration project that inmates
worked on.
Day 172 of secrecy
Page C-1
Page D-1
www.sungazette.com
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
214th Year, No. 188
50¢ Newsstand
GOP accuses governor of playing politics
HARRISBURG (AP) —
Leaders of the Republican
majority that controls the
Pennsylvania Legislature
are telling Democratic
Gov. Tom Wolf that his
veto of a GOP budget plan
puts politics above govern-
STATE BUDGET
ing and that it’s up to him
to produce an alternative
that lawmakers will support.
The Republican floor
Professor:
Addiction
is a disease
leaders of the state House
and Senate met with Wolf
on Monday before staff
members of both parties
resumed
closed-door
budget talks.
Wolf vetoed the GOP
budget last week, saying it
would spend too little on
education, add to the state’s
deficit and exclude other
priorities, such as a tax on
natural gas production.
Republican leaders in
both houses signed a letter
to Wolf on Monday defend-
ing their no-tax-increase
budget and saying taxpayers won’t support the higher revenues he wants.
Significant differences
remain between Wolf and
leaders of the Republicancontrolled
Legislature
over taxes and spending.
The Republicans passed a
$30.2 billion, no-new-taxes
budget bill that authorizes
$1.1 billion in new spending, primarily for rising
(See GOP, Page A-5)
Mule variations
By NICO SALVATORI
[email protected]
The abuse of prescription drugs and
other opioids like heroin continues to
claim lives in Lycoming County and
around the nation. Since 2010, 53 people
in the county have died from overdosing
on an opioid,
and local emergency
rooms
IN THEIR
have accepted
OWN WORDS
more than 150
drug overdose
victims on the
“ Who would
take an alcoholic verge of death,
to figwho just came in according
ures from the
for a DUI and put county coroner’s
him back in the
office and local
bar? ”
hospitals.
The
total
Dr. Beth number of peoMcMahon, ple who abuse
drugs is much
executive higher, and yet,
director of only one out of
Project Bald eight individuals
need treatEagle who
ment in the area
actually receive
it. Project Bald
Eagle, a nonprofit that evolved recently
from the Lycoming County Heroin Task
Force, is looking to change that.
Dr. Beth McMahon, executive director
of the organization and a health science
professor at Lock Haven University, said
part of the problem is that drug addicts
lack the resources that are readily available to sufferers of other diseases.
“Addiction is a disease, not a flaw,”
McMahon told members of the
Williamsport Rotary Club on Monday at
a Genetti Hotel luncheon, referencing
the perception, not based in any science,
that drug addiction is a moral failing.
She said changing the way drug users
are perceived by society and processed
at hospitals could help more people
recover from drug abuse.
“If I went in there because of an
attempted suicide, where would they
put me?” she said. “I would have a room
immediately. If I went to the hospital
(See PROFESSOR, Page A-5)
MARK MARONEY/Sun-Gazette
Vietnam War veteran Charlie Peters, 70, of Owosso, Michigan, pulls up along Lycoming Creek Road near Old
Lycoming Township, holding the reins of his mules, Tom and Jerry, Monday morning.
Vietnam War veteran logs hundreds of miles on
wagon in campaign to raise awareness of veterans
By MARK MARONEY
[email protected]
Many people found themselves doing a double take
Monday when a Vietnam
War veteran rode a wagon
hitched to two mules into
Williamsport to raise awareness for military veterans
and thank them for their
service to the nation.
Charlie Peters, 70, of
Owosso, Michigan, kept a
tight hold to the reins as his
mules, Tom and Jerry,
pulled the wagon serving as
his home away from home.
It was decorated with military regalia, and he was en
route to New Holland before
planning to return west and
head to New Hope, Ohio, for
a horse auction.
Peters, who served during the war in the Navy in a
flight squadron at Danang
base, drew the attention of
passersby such as Joy
Friese, of Cogan Station, on
Lycoming Road near Old
Lycoming Township.
“I just had to stop by and
take a photograph.”
“As a veteran I certainly
value what my brother veterans have done,” said Dr.
Robert Frederickson, a citybased dentist who was a cap-
tain in the Army, serving from
1971 to 1974, who drove down
Route 15 toward White Deer
trying to shake Peters’ hand.
“I would like to see a lot
more respect shown for veterans and for someone to
take his personal time to
make a statement I think he
needs to get some recognition,” Frederickson said.
(See VIETNAM, Page A-5)
Iran pushes for end to arms
After ‘no’ wins, Greece’s prime embargo under nuclear deal
GREEK BAILOUT
minister looks to rebuild talks
ATHENS, Greece (AP)
— Despite triumphing in
a popular vote against
austerity, Greece on
Monday faced the urgent
need to heal its ties with
European creditors and
reach a financial rescue
deal that might prevent
it from falling out of the
euro — possibly within
days.
Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras won big in
Sunday’s referendum, in
which 60 percent of
Greeks rejected the economic measures creditors
had
proposed
in
exchange for loans the
country needs to remain
afloat. He also received
the rare backing of opposition parties to restart
bailout negotiations.
But his bolstered man-
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Outgoing Greek Finance Minister Yanis
Varoufakis tries to leave on his motorcycle surrounded by media, after his resignation in
Athens Monday.
date to push for better
concessions from creditors hit the hard reality of
the country’s deteriorat(See AFTER, Page A-5)
VIENNA (AP) — A
day before the new deadline for a nuclear accord,
Iran pushed on Monday
for an end to the U.N.
arms embargo on the
country — a parallel deal
that the United States
opposes as it seeks to
limit Tehran’s Mideast
power and influence.
Speaking on the eve of
an already-extended target date for a complete
agreement, a senior
Iranian official and a U.S.
official said Iran and the
six world powers it is
negotiating with are also
working on a U.N. resolution that would endorse
any future nuclear deal.
Lifting the arms
embargo would be separate from a long-term
accord that foresees limits on Iran’s nuclear programs in exchange for
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“ If the hard choices get made in the next
couple of days, and made quickly, we could
get an agreement this week. ”
Secretary of State John Kerry
relief from crippling economic sanctions on the
Islamic Republic. But
Iran also sees existing
U.N. resolutions affecting
Iran’s nuclear program
and the accompanying
sanctions as unjust and
illegal. It has insisted
that those resolutions be
lifted since the start of
international negotiations nearly a decade ago
to limit its nuclear-arms
making capability.
After world powers
and Iran reached a
framework pact in April,
Good morning, Audiss Johnson. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
the U.S. said “important
restrictions on conventional arms and ballistic
missiles” would be incorporated in any new U.N.
guidelines for Iran. It also
said “a new U.N. Security
Council resolution ... will
endorse” any deal.
Negotiators and some
foreign ministers of the
six world powers plus
Iran gathered in Vienna
to complete a comprehensive nuclear deal by June
30. When they couldn’t
(See IRAN, Page A-5)
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Tuesday, July 7, 2015
A-5
President at Pentagon for meetings on Islamic State
WASHINGTON (AP)
— President Barack
Obama made a rare visit
to the Pentagon Monday
to get an update from military leaders on the campaign against the Islamic
State.
Obama’s
meetings
with top Pentagon officials and other national
security advisers follow a
wave
of
weekend
airstrikes by the U.S.-led
coalition in eastern
Syria. The coalition says
it was one of the most
sustained aerial operations carried out in Syria
to date.
Ahead of Obama’s
meetings, the White
House sharply criticized
Senate Republicans for
failing to confirm Adam
Szubin, Obama’s nominee to be the Treasury
undersecretary responsi-
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“ Itʼs time for Republicans in the Senate to do
their jobs for a change. ”
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest
ble for choking off funding to groups like IS.
White House spokesman
Josh
Earnest
said
Republicans had refused
to “even give him the
time of day for a hearing” since Obama nomi-
nated Szubin in April,
adding that the Senate
should confirm him
before lawmakers go
home for their annual
August recess.
“It’s
time
for
Republicans in the Senate
to do their jobs for a
change,” Earnest said.
The president has
insisted he will not send
U.S. troops into combat to
fight the Islamic State in
Iraq or Syria. However,
he has acknowledged
that the U.S. lacks a
“complete strategy” for
training Iraqi troops to
carry out ground missions.
Efforts to train Syrian
rebels are also sputtering.
Fewer than 100 rebels are
being trained by the U.S.,
far fewer than the goal of
producing 5,400 fighters a
year.
After ‘no’ wins, prime minister looks to rebuild talks
(From Page A-1)
ing finances, with the banks
facing the risk of collapse within days unless a rescue deal is
reached.
In a sign that he hopes to
reach a deal as soon as possible,
Tsipras appointed a new mildmannered finance minister to
lead talks with bailout creditors
and replace Yanis Varoufakis,
the hard-talking professor who
clashed regularly with his
European counterparts.
Euclid Tsakalotos, a 55-yearold economist, appears more
willing to reach a compromise
with creditors and will be tested
as soon as Tuesday, when he
will meet the other 18 eurozone
finance ministers in Brussels.
That meeting is meant to
seek the basis for a deal that
European leaders, including
Tsipras, might discuss at an
emergency summit later in the
day. Ahead of the summit,
Tsipras spoke by phone with
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel.
Greece’s financial situation
is getting more difficult by the
day. It had to close the banks
last week to prevent their collapse in the face of a run, and
imposed limits on cash withdrawals and transfers.
Greek banks remained
closed Monday, with only a few
branches opening for pensioners to receive emergency assistance. Louka Katseli, head of
the Greek Bank Association,
said she expected banks to
remain closed for at least two
more days.
The government is expected
to extend the restrictions on
withdrawals
after
the
European Central Bank makes
a decision later Monday on cash
support for Greek banks.
The ECB has frozen the
amount of credit it allows
Greek banks to draw on, even
though their cash requirements
are growing as people rush to
withdraw what money they
can.
Analysts say that if the ECB
keeps the amount of credit on
hold, Greek banks will come
under increasing pressure and
the government could have to
make the limits on cash withdrawals even tougher.
The ongoing Greek drama
hurt stocks around the world,
particularly in Europe. The
losses were not as great as some
had feared, however, suggesting investors think that a
Greek exit from the euro, while
devastating for the country and
destabilizing in Europe, would
be manageable for the global
economy.
“The ‘no’ vote in Greece’s ref-
erendum on Sunday dramatically increases the risk of a slide
toward a disorderly Greek exit
from the eurozone,” ratings
agency Fitch said.
“An agreement between
Greece and its official creditors
remains possible, but time is
short and the risk of policy missteps, or that the two sides simply cannot agree a deal, is
high.”
With all ballots counted, 61.3
percent of voters in Sunday’s
referendum said “no” to the
question of whether they would
accept creditors’ proposed
measures.
Tsipras has agreed to imposing more harsh austerity measures, following a six-year recession, but wants eurozone
lenders to grant the country
better terms for bailout debt
repayments.
“The prime minister is ...
committed to starting a fundamental debate on dealing with
the problem of sustainability of
the Greek national debt,” a
statement signed by the government and three proEuropean opposition parties
said.
European officials appear to
be split on Greece’s demand for
easier debt repayment.
France’s finance minister,
Michel Sapin, indicated that
discussing Greece’s debt is not
taboo, saying the country could
not recover with its current
obligations “in the months and
years to come.”
Germany, however, remains
highly reluctant to discuss debt
relief.
Finance
Ministry
spokesman Martin Jaeger said
Germany’s “position is wellknown ... a debt cut is not an
issue for us.”
Iran pushes for end to arms embargo
(From Page A-1)
reach agreement by then,
they agreed to extend the
deadline to July 7. But
many core issues remain,
and an announcement on
Tuesday is unlikely.
While the discussions
have been focused on uranium stockpiles and the
timing for lifting economic sanctions, Iran’s longstanding desire to have
MARK MARONEY/Sun-Gazette the arms embargo lifted
The notes of appreciation adorn the wagon at the signing of a deal is
pulled by Vietnam War veteran Charlie Peters another wrinkle thrown
who drove through Williamsport Monday en into the mix.
Russia and China have
route to New Holland this week.
expressed support for lifting
the embargo, which was
imposed in 2007 as part of a
series of penalties over
Iran’s nuclear program.
Vietnam War veteran logs
miles on wagon in campaign
to raise awareness of veterans
(From Page A-1)
For Peters, the treks on
the wagon started after a
pivotal meeting he had
with a shopkeeper three
years ago while he was on
vacation with his wife in
Florida. In the antique
store at St. Petersburg,
Florida, Peters said he
saw a dinner plate with a
Navy emblem on it. “I
asked the guy how much
he wanted for it,” Peters
said. “He asked me if I
was a veteran,” and
Peters said he’d served in
the Navy in Vietnam. “He
told me, ‘Thank you for
your service’ and he handed me the plate,” Peters
said.
“It had been 45 years
since anyone had said that
to me,” Peters said, tearing up as he recalled those
words of appreciation. Too
often, upon return from
the war, veterans who
served in Southeast Asia
were shunned, some spit
upon at the airports and
called vile names such as
baby-killer.
“I still talk to him,”
Peters said of his forever
friend, LeRoy Williams.
After that chance
encounter with an appreciative person, Peters and
his
wife,
Herminia,
returned
home
to
Michigan.
“I told Herminia I
would do the same for
every veteran I met,” he
said.
He built the wagon,
customized it with the
comforts of home, including a bed and a rear window to see sunrises, and
bought two mules. On the
way to his father’s grave,
his rig was hit by a driver
near Ozark, Arkansas,
and the mules were killed.
Peters suffered broken
ribs, a separated shoulder
and learned he had kidney cancer.
He
returned
to
Michigan where the kid-
ney was removed and he
was put on a clinical trial
to battle the cancer.
After buying two new
mules, Tom and Jerry, he
restored the broken
wagon and set off to visit
his father again.
During that trip Peters
was in Indiana when one
of the mules started to
lose a shoe. “Nothing was
around but two farm
houses,” he said. Peters
said he pulled into the
driveway and met a
young man mowing grass.
“Do you have any idea
of where there is a farrier?” Peters asked the
man.
“Are you serious?” the
man said. “You’re parked
in a farrier’s driveway, the
only one in the county.”
Five minutes later the
blacksmith put the shoe
on and a half hour later
Peters was on his way
south.
“He wouldn’t take a
penny,” Peters said.
“Somebody wanted me to
make that trip and he
took care of me.”
On July 4, 2014, Peters
said he made it to the
cemetery where his father
was buried.
“I got down on my
knees and quietly said,
‘Thank you for your service, Bob.’ ”
R.B. Peters had served
in occupied Japan and
Germany in the Army
and died eight years
before his vacation in
Florida.
Over the weekend,
Peters said he pulled the
wagon into a wooded area
and tried to sleep but
heard the exploding fireworks in the distance,
especially on Saturday as
the rains cleared out.
“I’m loving what I do
and have a veteran of the
day every day on my
Facebook page,” he said.
“I love them all and thank
them every day.”
But the U.S. doesn’t
want the arms ban ended
because it could allow
Tehran to expand its military
assistance
for
Syrian President Bashar
Assad’s embattled government, for the Houthi
rebels in Yemen and for
Hezbollah in Lebanon. It
also would increase
already strong opposition
to the deal in Congress
and in Israel.
Lifting the embargo is
one of the important issues
being discussed, the
Iranian official said. “There
should not be any place for
the arms embargo.”
The Iranian official
briefed reporters on the
condition that he not be
named. The U.S. official
spoke on condition of
anonymity because the
official wasn’t authorized
to discuss the negotiations publicly.
Iran wants to have a
hand in shaping any
Security Council resolution endorsing a comprehensive nuclear deal, the
Iranian official added. He
offered no details, but said
Iran is interested in wording that shifts the critical
tone of previous resolutions passed over Tehran’s
nuclear program.
The Iranian official
spoke of good progress on
some issues. But at the
same time, he said some
disputes may have to be
resolved by the foreign
ministers of Iran, the
United States, Russia,
China, Britain, France
and Germany. All seven
were either in Vienna by
Monday or planned to
arrive during the day.
Even with the added
diplomatic muscle, it was
unclear if there would be a
pact. On the ninth day of
talks
Sunday,
U.S.
Secretary of State John
Kerry said the negotiations “could go either way.”
“If the hard choices get
made in the next couple of
days, and made quickly,
we could get an agreement this week,” Kerry
said. “But if they are not
made, we will not.”
Professor: Addiction is a disease
(From Page A-1)
because I had a heart
attack, I’d have a cardiologist and a physical therapist. If end up in the
emergency room because
of a heroin overdose … I
get put back out into the
community in which I
overdosed. Who would
take an alcoholic who just
came in for a DUI and put
him back in the bar?”
Currently there is no
system in place at local hospitals to comfortably move
overdose victims into detox
and then into a rehabilitation program, according to
McMahon. Lacking also is
funding for such programs,
the best of which require a
significant time commitment. Compounding that
problem is the fact that it is
difficult for addicts in programs to continue treatment.
“Other than the criminal justice system, we
don’t really have a way to
coerce people to stay in
counseling,”
said
Lycoming
County
President Judge Nancy
Butts, vice chairwoman
NICO SALVATORI/Sun-Gazette
Dr. Beth McMahon spoke about local efforts to
curtail drug abuse and overdoses to members of
the Williamsport Rotary Club on Monday at a
Genetti Hotel luncheon. She is a health science
professor at Lock Haven University and executive director of Project Bald Eagle, a nonprofit
that evolved from the Lycoming County Heroin
Task Force.
on Project Bald Eagle’s
board of directors.
McMahon added that
the organization is trying
to raise funds for a
“warm handoff” program,
whereby recovery specialists would be available to drug abuse victims immediately after
an overdose.
Preventing drug abuse
in the first place also is a
goal of Project Bald Eagle.
The organization is trying
to change the way people
approach their problems.
McMahon and Butts said
that medication isn’t
always the answer, even
if it is prescribed by a doctor. A study conducted
last year by the Center for
Rural Pennsylvania, a
legislative agency of the
Pennsylvania General
Assembly, revealed that
80 percent of heroin users
in the state became
addicted by abusing prescription drugs.
“We live in a nation of
prescription
drugs,”
McMahon said, adding
that interviews with
school nurses showed
that more young people
than ever are using prescription drugs.
It is far too common for
doctors to prescribe
painkillers just to keep
patients happy and maintain high satisfaction ratings, Butts said.
Doctors often are pressured to show quantifiable results, one Rotarian
added.
One way to curtail
abuse is by getting old
prescriptions out of the
home and away from
children, McMahon said.
Project Bald Eagle has
teamed up with local
pharmacies to inform
customers about where
they can properly dispose
of old and expired drugs.
“There needs to be a
collective front,” she said.
GOP accuses governor of playing politics
(From Page A-1)
public pension and health
care costs and to boost
education aid. Every
Democratic
lawmaker
opposed the bill. The
Republicans’ budget plan
was nearly $1.5 billion
lower than Wolf’s, a difference explained primarily
by the GOP’s smaller
offering of education aid
and its use of one-time
payment delays. Wolf
wants a new, $1 billion
severance
tax
on
Marcellus Shale natural
gas production and a grab-
bag of other tax increases
to reverse deep cuts in
education aid and to wipe
out a long-term budget
deficit. Republicans say
the privatization of the
state’s wine and liquor
system could bring in $220
million annually; Wolf
said it is unwise to sell a
valuable asset and risk
higher prices and less
selection for consumers.
Wolf is expected to veto
a plan Republicans passed
to end the traditional pension benefit for most
future public school and
state government employ-
ees by directing them into
401(k)-style retirement
plans. Every Democratic
lawmaker opposed it. Wolf
has said he opposed the
Republican plan, although
Wolf and lawmakers say it
is important to squeeze
savings out of the debt-ridden systems that cover
about 370,000 workers.
To override Wolf’s
veto, Republicans need a
two-thirds majority in
both houses — a threshold that would require
Democratic votes. The
absence of a budget this
early in the fiscal year
was not expected to have
an immediate effect on
services because agencies can tap surpluses
and special funds. But
the situation could deteriorate if the impasse
drags on. Historically,
the state has lost the
authority to pay its vendors, including counties
and nonprofit organizations that administer
much of the state’s social
safety net. It also has
been unable to release
aid to schools, early
childhood centers and
universities.
D-2
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Attorney
General’s
defense
aggressive
in hearing
Airshow to
return for
10th year
Red hot
By NICO SALVATORI
[email protected]
The skies above the Lycoming
County fairgrounds in Hughesville
next month
will
once
IF YOU GO
again be populated by hot
WHAT: 10th annual
air balloons,
Balloonfest, Air Show,
skydivers
and So Much More!
and
stunt
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 9
p l a n e s .
p.m., Sept. 12
Hosted by
Lycoming
WHERE: Lycoming
C o u n t y
County fairgrounds at
Rotary clubs
1 E. Park St.,
and co-sponHughesville
sored by the
Williamsport
Sun-Gazette,
the Balloonfest, Air Show, and So Much
More will return for a 10th year on
Sept. 12.
(See AIRSHOW, Page A-5)
(See ATTORNEY,
Page A-5)
M
M
M
NORRISTOWN
—
Accusations that the
state’s attorney general
used her
position to
smear a
civil rights
leader’s
reputation
are moot
because he
h
a
d
already
KANE
been the
subject of negative newspaper articles, her lawyer
argued Monday at her
preliminary hearing.
Gerald Shargel, who
once represented New
York City mobsters,
sparred with a suburban
Philadelphia judge as he
tried to chip away at official oppression charges
against Attorney General
Kathleen Kane.
Kane, a 49-year-old firstterm Democrat, is accused
of leaking secret grand jury
information to the press,
lying under oath and ordering aides to illegally snoop
through computer files to
keep tabs on an investigation into the leak.
District
Judge
Catherine Rebar is expected to decide whether to
send all or some of the
charges to trial.
The judge tangled with
Shargel as he attempted
to use his cross-examination of a top Kane aide as
a platform to argue
M
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
and MARK SCOLFORO
Associated Press
DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Correspondent
Mid-Atlantic fans cheer for their team before the start of their game against the
Southeast team during the 2015 Little League World Series at in South Williamsport.
Fans fill South Side stadium up
By JENNIFER COOPER
[email protected]
Promising forecast for Series weather
By MARK MARONEY
When Lamade Stadium’s
[email protected]
40,000 seats were blanketed in
a sea of red T-shirts supportThe seven-day forecast from the National Weather
ing the Mid-Atlantic champion
Service bodes well for those attending and playing in the
Red Land Little Leaguers
Little League World Series in South Williamsport.
from Lewisberry at Sunday
A high-pressure system has parked itself over the
night’s game, it was hard to
Lamade and Volunteer stadiums and the rest of the city and
believe the team is from a
region and should bring almost spring-like days and cool and
town of a mere 362 people.
clear nights, according to Elyse Hagner, a meteorologist with
When a booming “We are
— Red Land” chant during the
(See PROMISING, Page A-5)
game versus Southeast champ
Taylors, South Carolina,
That energetic sound prosounds like it’s pulled straight Titans” or “We Are Marshall,”
that population statistic is
from an inspirational sports
(See FANS, Page A-5)
movie such as “Remember the even more unbelievable.
Hearings examine
toll heroin takes
By NICO SALVATORI
[email protected]
An agency of the Pennsylvania
Legislature headed by state Sen. Gene
Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, continues
to raise awareness about and seek
solutions to the abuse of heroin and
other opioids in the state.
The Center for Rural Pennsylvania
just wrapped up a second round of public hearings seeking personal stories as
well as testimony from experts and law
enforcement about the heroin epidemic.
“The
Center
for
Rural
Pennsylvania is leading the way to
educate policymakers, inform the public, and enhance current policies in
Pennsylvania related to heroin and
opioid addiction treatment,” Yaw said.
“To date, the Center has received over
(See HEARING, Page A-5)
China weighs down US, other economies
By ALEX VEIGA and STEVE
ROTHWELL
AP Business Writers
Kidney donated
Page B-1
Day 221 of secrecy
U.S. stocks slumped again
Monday, with the Dow Jones
industrial average plunging more
than 1,000 points at one point in a
sell-off that sent a shiver of fear
from Wall Street to Main Street.
Stocks regained some of that
ground as the day wore on, but the
Dow Jones industrial average finished the day down 588 points. The
slump — part of a global wave of
selling triggered by the slowdown
MORE COVERAGE:
China’s tremors could weaken world’s
major economies
See B-6
M
Caring
to share
in China — reflected uncertainty
among investors over where to put
their money when the world’s second-largest economy is in a slide.
“What’s a company that’s doing
business with China actually worth
right now? When you’re not sure,
you tend to sell,” said JJ Kinahan,
TD Ameritrade’s chief strategist.
The Standard & Poor’s 500
Good morning, David Werner. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
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index also fell sharply shortly after
the opening bell, entering “correction” territory — Wall Street jargon
for a drop of 10 percent or more
from a recent peak. The last market correction was nearly four years
ago.
U.S. Treasurys surged as
investors bought less risky assets.
Oil prices fell. But investors also
saw opportunity, moving fast and
early to snap up some bargains.
That helped trim some of the market’s earlier losses.
(See CHINA, Page A-5)
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Tuesday, August 25, 2015
A-5
Fans fill South Side stadium up
President caught between
Clinton, Biden ambitions
(From Page A-1)
ducing goosebumps up and
down spectators’ arms
wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated fans of
the
southern
Pennsylvania team showing up for the boys.
Some residents of the
small town of Lewisberry
lined up 12 hours before
the team’s 7 p.m. game
Sunday to secure their
tickets. The free tickets
were gone before 11 a.m.
“We were here at about
7 a.m. and there were a few
people in front of us,” Chris
Shettel, a Lewisberry
native, said. “My brother
was mad because they
aren’t from Red Land.”
Shettel reminded her
brother, Fred Anderson,
that not only is their
hometown behind the
Little Leaguers, but those
13 boys are feeling support
from all over the country.
Shettel’s group drove in
for the Mid-Atlantic team
and chose to camp out
instead of stay in a hotel.
“We
were
sitting
around our campfire last
night talking about all of
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Barack Obama
is the man in the
middle,
caught
between the White
House aspirations
of two of his closest
advisers:
Vice
President Joe Biden and
former Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
For months, White
House officials expected
Clinton
to
be
the
Democratic nominee in
the 2016 election. Some of
Obama’s top political
advisers moved to New
York to run her campaign
and Obama appeared to
give his tacit approval,
saying she would be an
“excellent president.”
But that bet on Clinton
suddenly looks less certain.
With Biden weighing his
own presidential run more
seriously amid signs of
weakness in Clinton’s campaign, the White House
faces the prospect of a family feud over who will become
heir to Obama’s legacy.
“Certainly he’s got something at stake here,” White
House spokesman Josh
Promising forecast for Series weather
(From Page A-1)
the National Weather Service in State
College.
Normally, the high temperature for
the week is 80 degrees or above, but on
most of the days, starting today, the daytime highs will be in the mid- to-upper70s, with nights in the 60s and dropping
into the upper 50s.
Look today for conditions to be stellar. The sun will shine, and it should
reach a high of 78. Winds will be light at
5 to 8 mph and conditions tonight will
remain clear, cool, as the mercury drops.
While Wednesday might include a
very slight chance of showers after noon,
according to Hagner, the day also should
remain sunny, with a high near 76.
the athletes who were
drafted from Red Land
High School, and there’s
21 of them,” she said.
“They’ve always had a
really great program.”
It’s easy for Red Land
supporters to see professional potential in this year’s
Pennsylvania state champions, especially in pitcher
Cole Wagner, who has had
23 home runs in 18 games.
Any chance of precipitation will be 20
percent, she said. Wednesday night will
be partly cloudy, with a low about 55.
Thursday also is expected to be mostly sunny, with a high near 74 with a low
that night of 54 with clear skies.
Friday should be clear with a high of 78
and clear for the Williamsport Welcomes
the World festival downtown from 5 to 9
p.m. The low should be 55 degrees.
Saturday will be sunny, with a high
near 82 and a low of 60.
Conditions for world championship
day on Sunday should be mostly sunny,
with a high of 84, and with a little more
humidity arriving. A slight chance of a
quick shower in the afternoon is possible,
but it’s a 30-percent chance, Hagner said.
Wagner’s
reputation
preceded
him
in
Lewisberry’s Sunday night
victory over South Carolina,
when he was intentionally
walked three times.
Mid-Atlantic’s
next
challenger
will
be
Southwest Region champion Pearland, Texas, at 8
p.m.
Wednesday
at
Lamade Stadium — and
there’s no doubt the South
Williamsport stadium, as
well as the hill, will be
filled with roaring Red
fans dressed in shirts that
ask “Why not us?”
Though the team from
Lewisberry may have
arrived asking, “Why not
us,” with each successful
inning, and as confidence
builds, they’re telling
everyone watching “We
are — Red Land.”
Earnest said Monday of
Obama’s interest in the
2016 election.
Biden’s recent
overtures to donors
and Democratic officials have led to palpable awkwardness
in the West Wing as aides —
many with close ties to
Clinton, the vice president
or both — try to maintain
impartiality.
Earnest raised the
prospect that Obama could
endorse a candidate in the
Democratic primary, though
others close to the president
say it’s unlikely he’d publicly
put his thumb on the scale if
Clinton and Biden were
locked in a close contest.
Obama and Clinton long
ago turned their political
rivalry from the 2008 primary into an alliance.
Meanwhile, Obama and
Biden appear to have developed a genuine friendship
during their six-and-a-half
years in the White House.
Earnest said Obama viewed
his selection of Biden as a
running mate as the
smartest decision of his
political career.
China weighs down US stock indexes, other economies
(From Page A-1)
The Dow fell 588.47
points, or 3.6 percent, to
15,871.28. The S&P 500
index slid 77.68 points, or
3.9 percent, to 1,893.21.
The Nasdaq composite
shed 179.79 points, or 3.8
percent, to 4,526.25 points.
The three indexes are
down for the year.
“There is a lot of fear in
the
markets,”
said
Bernard Aw, market
strategist at IG.
The sell-off triggered
worries in corporate boardrooms, in government capitals and among ordinary
Americans young and old
who have been saving for
retirement or a down payment on a house.
Heightened
concern
about a slowdown in China
already had shaken markets around the world on
Friday, driving the U.S.
stock market sharply lower.
The rout continued Monday
as China’s main stock index
sank 8.5 percent.
The Dow plummeted
1,089 points within the first
four minutes of trading as
traders dumped shares.
But the fire sale was shortlived. A wave of buying cut
the Dow’s losses by half just
five minutes later.
The U.S. market slide
was broad. The 10 sectors in
the S&P 500 headed lower,
with energy stocks recording the biggest decline, 5.2
percent, amid a continued
slump in the price of oil. The
sector is down almost 25
percent this year.
Newfield Exploration
was down the most among
stocks in the S&P 500,
shedding $3.19, or 10.4
percent, to $27.63. AGL
Resources led among the
gainers, rising $13.55, or
28.3 percent, to $61.41.
Stocks have been on a
bull run of more for more
than six years, after bottoming out in March 2009
in the aftermath of the
financial crisis and the
Great Recession.
China growth concerns
aside, U.S. stocks have
been primed for a sell-off
for several months, said
Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist and economist for Wells Capital
Management.
CENTER FOR RURAL PENNSYLVANIA
Hearings examine toll heroin takes
(From Page A-1)
30 hours of verbal testimony and 350 pages of
written testimony from 90
presenters. The Center
has certainly taken a
leadership role in this
fight.”
The initial set of hearings concluded in a
lengthy report released
in September of last
year that detailed the
heroin problem and proposed legislative solutions to it. A second
report is expected to be
released in the fall,
according to Yaw.
The first report noted
that approximately 80 percent of heroin addicts in
the state began their
addiction by abusing prescription
drugs
and
painkillers.
The problem, though,
isn’t
unique
to
Pennsylvania.
“Other states in the
country are reporting an
increase in heroin use as
addicts are shifting from
more costly prescription
opioids to cheaper alternatives,” Yaw said.
Pennsylvania has made
some progress in addressing the problem of pre-
PHOTO PROVIDED
Jack Whelan, Delaware County district attorney,
testifies about the heroin epidemic during a hearing last week hosted by the Center for Rural
Pennsylvania in York.
scription drug abuse.
The agency’s first
report advocated for legislation that would prevent
abusers from seeking prescriptions from multiple
doctors without their
knowledge in a practice
referred to as “doctor shopping.” The bill became law
last year, establishing a
statewide database for
doctors to monitor the history of a patient’s use of
prescription drugs.
“This second round of
public hearings reaffirmed
that the rise in heroin and
opioid abuse has no geographic boundaries, and
crosses all socioeconomic
groups, all ages and all
races,” Yaw added. “Those
affected could be someone’s brother, sister, child,
parent or grandparent. No
one is immune from this
disease.”
“I’ve been of the view
since late last year that
this market is in a vulnerable position,” he said. “It’s
gone almost straight up for
six years.”
Stocks have kept climbing even as corporate
earnings growth has
slowed. The price-earnings ratio for the S&P 500,
a measure of how much
investors are willing to
pay for each dollar of company earnings, climbed as
high as 17.2 in March.
That was the highest level
in at least a decade,
according to data from
FactSet.
Oil prices, commodities
and the currencies of many
developing countries also
tumbled Monday on con-
cerns that a sharp slowdown
in China might hurt economic growth around the globe.
Benchmark U.S. crude
dropped $2.21 to $38.24 a
barrel in New York. Metals
also ended the day lower.
Gold fell $6 to $1,153 an
ounce and silver declined 54
cents to $14.76 an ounce.
Worries about a Chinafueled global economic
slump sent markets overseas lower, as well.
In Europe, Germany’s
DAX fell 4.7 percent, while
the CAC-40 in France slid
5.4 percent. The FTSE 100
index of leading British
shares dropped 4.7 percent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei
fell 4.6 percent, its worst
one-day drop since in over
2 1/2 years. Hong Kong’s
Hang Seng index fell 5.2
percent, Australia’s S&P
ASX/200 slid 4.1 percent
and South Korea’s Kospi
lost 2.5 percent.
The Shanghai index suffered its biggest percentage
decline in 8 1/2 years. The
market has lost all of its
gains for 2015, though it
still is more than 40 percent
above its level a year ago.
Underlying the gloom
in China is the growing
conviction that policymakers and regulators may
lack the means to stem the
losses in that nation. The
country is facing a slowdown in economic growth,
the banking system is
short of cash and investors
are pulling money out of
the country, experts note.
Airshow to return for 10th year
(From Page A-1)
But just as in past
years, you won’t have to
crane your neck to witness
all of the show’s acrobatic
feats. Some of its signature
and most popular events
— featuring BMX bikers
and drag racers on ATVs
— will take place on solid
ground.
“Many people comment
‘I can sit on my deck and
watch,’ but they truly have
no idea of everything they
are
missing,”
Sandy
Spencer, event chairwoman, recently told the
Sun-Gazette. “The ATV
drag races attract quite a
following.”
Chris Bender, who
organizes
the
races,
expects a large turnout of
riders this year. He
belongs
to
Central
Pennsylvania Sleds and
Treads, a local powersports club whose many
members will participate
in the race. But Bender
said anyone with an ATV
can register on the day of
the show.
“I personally think this
is going to be a big year,”
Bender said. “There’s been
a lot of word of mouth.
Everyone is hyped up, getting their machines ready
and racing quite often.”
Bender, 32, used to
work in the powersports
industry. He said racing
ATVs, and watching them
race, is a great way to
relieve stress.
“It gets you out of that
day-to-day routine of waking up and going to work,”
he said. “I stick my helmet
on, strap on my goggles
and I’m not thinking
about anything else but
what’s at hand. I think it’s
the same for a lot of people. They use it to blow off
some steam.”
Spencer said the BMX
bikers, from Dialed Action
Sports Team, of New
Jersey, also are a big hit at
the show.
“They are scheduled to
perform three times
throughout
the
day:
jumps, flips and more,” she
said. “They are very interactive with the audience
and the guys are great
about signing T-shirts.”
Brian Cunningham,
owner of Dialed Action,
loves bringing his riders to
the show every year.
“The event is really
fun,” he said. “It’s always
cool to see the balloons go
up.”
Cunningham, 33, who
founded the company
about seven years ago,
said his riders, about 10 in
all,
have
anywhere
between 10 and 15 years of
experience. Some of them
have participated in the X
Games, an extreme sports
competition with global
recognition.
Cunningham got into
the sport as a teenager and
decided to start the company because of his passion
for it.
“I wanted to do something on my own, not work
a typical 9-to-5 job,” he
said.
This year at the airshow Cunningham will
bring along three of his
riders and three ramps.
He will serve as the
announcer.
There also will be
music, puppeteers, magicians, radio-controlled aircraft, and food and crafts
at the event.
“The Kingdom Kidz
puppet shows are always
so much fun for the kids
and adults alike,” Spencer
said.
A laser light show, a
first for the festival, will
close out the day.
For more information
about admission prices,
the cost of a balloon ride,
and the schedule of events,
go to lcrotary.com
Attorney General’s defense aggressive in preliminary hearing
(From Page A-1)
against the oppression charges.
Shargel contended that former Philadelphia NAACP head
J. Whyatt Mondesire already
lost his reputation when articles
dating to 2010 alleged issues
with his finances. Shargel said
Mondesire couldn’t lose his reputation a second time.
Kane is accused of leaking a
confidential grand jury memo
and transcript related to the
Mondesire
case
to
a
Philadelphia
Daily
News
reporter to embarrass rival prosecutors involved in the case.
“I’m not here as a potted
plant. I’m here to represent my
client,” Shargel said, as Rebar
attempted to rein him in with a
reminder of the looser rules of
evidence and lower burden of
proof at a preliminary hearing.
Mondesire wasn’t charged
with a crime.
Detective Paul Bradbury,
who investigated Kane, said the
leak caused Mondesire “great
personal distress and distress to
his family” and forced him to
close his charity when donations
dried up after the newspaper
story.
Montgomery County prosecutors charged Kane this month
following the recommendations
of a grand jury.
A perjury conviction alone
could land Kane in prison for up
to seven years.
Special Agent David Peifer,
who’s in charge of special investigations for Kane’s office, testified he provided her with a copy
of a transcript related to
Mondesire months before it
appeared in a Daily News article
last year.
Peifer also testified that he
had a copy of a memo related to
a confidential case emailed to
her last summer.
Kane told a grand jury last
November she had never seen
the memo, Bradbury testified.
Kane didn’t comment to
reporters Monday as she followed an entourage of law
enforcement agents and her
twin sister into the courtroom.
She hasn’t entered a plea but
has said publicly that she committed no crimes in a long feud
with rival prosecutors, including
top deputies who had left her
office.
According to prosecutors,
Kane increasingly focused on
lawyers who challenged her
decisions, including career prosecutor Frank Fina, who revived
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“ Iʼm not here as a
potted plant. Iʼm here to
represent my client. ”
Gerald Shargel, lawyer for
state Attorney General
Kathleen Kane
a statehouse corruption case
after moving to the Philadelphia
district attorney’s office.
“This is war,” Kane wrote in a
March 2014 email, according to
the criminal affidavit, which
describes
an
almost
Shakespearean level of intrigue,
jealousy and vengeance inside
the normally staid attorney gen-
eral’s office.
Kane has dismissed the probe
as unfair backlash over her challenge to what she calls the oldboys’ network in state government.
She is the first woman elected
attorney
general
in
Pennsylvania, and she has
called out former lawyers in the
office and even a Supreme Court
justice in a probe of pornography
circulated on state email. The
justice stepped down over the
images.
Kane bound into office as a
rising political star in 2013
before internal feuds burst into
view in the media.
After Kane was charged,
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and
other fellow Democrats urged
her to step down. She has vowed
to remain in office.
WILLIAMSPORT SUN-GAZETTE
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Page B-1
LOCAL
MiniTHON fun
Group sets 1st
symposium on
local heroin fight
By ANNE REINER
[email protected]
Project Bald Eagle will host its inaugural Open
Nest Symposium, “Understanding the Heroin
Epidemic” at the Community Arts Center to discuss
the fight against Lycoming County’s heroin epidemic.
The free event will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday and is
open to the public.
Speaking at the symposium will be Dr. Bradley
Miller, program director for
family medicine residency,
and Dr. Cheryl Stayton,
director of behavioral health
services,
Susquehanna
Health, who will present “Understanding the Opioid
Disorder.” Also speaking will be Dr. Amanda
Wilson, president and CEO of CleanSlate Centers,
who will talk about “An Evidence-Based Approach
to Treatment.”
This will be the first of four educational events
that will run quarterly throughout the year. Future
symposiums will host different speakers and will be
held at town halls throughout the county, Steve
Shope, executive director of Project Bald Eagle, said.
While future events will be smaller, Shope said
he expects more than 1,000 attendees at
Wednesday’s symposium.
“Education is key,” Shope told the Sun-Gazette.
“Most people don’t feel that they are vulnerable to
the heroin epidemic. They think that they are somehow impervious to this.”
Shope strongly encouraged families and students
to attend the symposium, calling heroin the “single
greatest threat to community health in
Pennsylvania.”
The goal of the symposium is to educate community leaders and average community members about
the dangers the illicit drug presents, while also
removing society’s stigma from heroin users.
“These people are being ostracized,” Shope said,
referring to those addicted. “This is an illness, and
we’ve got to treat it like an illness.”
Heroin addiction does not discriminate between
age and social status, according to Project Bald
Eagle. Four out of 5 heroin users began their addiction with a prescription opioid medication they got
from their doctor, friend or family member to treat
pain.
Opioids affect opioid receptors in the body. Once
these receptors become damaged, they do not heal.
When someone becomes addicted and can no longer
Top and lower right,
South Williamsport Area
High School students
dance during MiniTHON
at the school on Friday.
The fifth annual
MiniTHON Dance for a
Cure,
modeled after the big
event at Penn State,
featured students
dancing for 12 straight
hours from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Right center, South
Williamsport Area High
School seventh-grader
Alayna McGovern, 13,
tries out an inflatable
slide.
The event raised
$27,017.53, with
donations still being
accepted until the end of
May. This brings the
total from the event for
the Four Diamonds Fund
to over $125,000. The
money raised will be
donated to Penn State
Hershey Children's
Hospital and Four
Diamonds Fund. Along
with dancing, students
participated in volleyball, kickboxing, zumba,
yoga, karaoke and
various competitions.
(See GROUP, Page B-3)
County Democrats’
Jefferson-Jackson Day
Dinner is coming up
WHAT: Lycoming
County open house for
floodplain issues
WHEN: 6 to 8 p.m.
Wednesday
WHERE: Pennsdale
Civic Center, 261 Village
Road, Pennsdale
M
M
M
IF YOU GO
O
M
The public is invited to attend an open house hosted by Lycoming County this week that will address
floodplain issues, such as flood insurance and the
county’s new flood maps.
It will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at
the Pennsdale Civic Center, 261 Village Road,
Pennsdale.
Residents can get information about their specific
property, ask questions about insurance and apply
for upcoming county projects, said Fran McJunkin,
deputy director of GIS/Assessment in the county
department of planning and community development.
She said state and federal officials, as well as engineers who worked on the updated maps, will be available at the open house to answer questions.
M
HARRISBURG
(AP) — Democratic
lawmakers are urging
Gov. Tom Wolf to
approve enough aid to
keep schools and agricultural
extension
offices from closing
and back off his threat
to veto Republican
spending legislation
he opposes.
They pressed Wolf
on Monday amid
doubt over whether
the Democratic governor’s veto of a $6.6 billion package could
withstand an override
vote.
State Rep. Michael
Carroll,
of
Hughestown, said he
wants Wolf to release
enough money to keep
schools open through
the school year.
But he also said
Republicans haven’t
yet been willing to
deliver enough school
aid to stop persistent
local property tax
increases.
Open house set for floodplain questions
M
Dems urge
Wolf to relent
on veto threat
M M
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY
Sun-Gazette
The annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, hosted
by the Lycoming County Democrats, is slated for
April 2 at the Holiday Inn, 100 Pine St.
Festivities will begin at 5 p.m. with a social hour,
and dinner will be served at 6 p.m.
Special speakers for
this major fundraiser for
the Democratic Party
include state Auditor
General
Eugene
DePasquale, who will
address the ongoing
budget impasse.
Also, Democratic candidate for Attorney General
Josh Shapiro, currently a county commissioner in
Montgomery County, will
speak about his camIF YOU GO
paign as well as about
the current state of
affairs in the attorney
WHAT: Jeffersongeneral’s office.
Jackson Day Dinner
Shapiro also is the
WHEN: 5 p.m. April 2
chairman of the state
WHERE: Holiday Inn,
Commission on Crime
100 Pine St.
and Delinquency.
The evening will
include a special tribute to the late Allen Ertel, who was the Lycoming
County delegate to the Democratic Convention.
A former U.S. congressman, Ertel was very active
politically and in the community.
For reservation information, contact Scott
Aderhold, party treasurer, at [email protected].
Ex-trooper who killed 2
had filed for bankruptcy
HARRISBURG. (AP)
— A retired Pennsylvania
trooper who fatally shot
two turnpike employees
at a toll plaza, then was
killed trying to unload
money from a toll collection vehicle, had filed for
bankruptcy last year
after running up huge
credit card debt, bankruptcy records show.
Clarence Briggs, 54,
killed toll collector Danny
Crouse and Ronald Heist,
a former police officer
working as security, at a
rural toll plaza about 60
miles west of Harrisburg,
police said.
Police said Briggs was
shot in an exchange of
gunfire with a state trooper after driving the tollcollection vehicle to a spot
nearby where his own car
was parked.
Court records show
Briggs and his wife,
DANIEL ZOMPOGNA/PennLive.com via AP
(See EX-TROOPER, Police investigate at exit 180 off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Sunday
Page B-3) in Fort Littleton.
Local/State
Group sets symposium on heroin
(From Page B-1)
get prescription opioids, he or she often will turn to
heroin because it is a cheap, readily available opioid,
the organization said.
Forty or more people in Lycoming County overdose
on opioids each month.
For more about Project Bald Eagle, a nonprofit
organization that is leading coalition efforts to stem the
tide of the heroin epidemic through education, prevention, treatment, enforcement and data monitoring, visit
www.ProjectBaldEagle.com
or
email
[email protected].
Ex-trooper filed for bankruptcy
(From Page B-1)
Donna, had debts of
$315,000, a good chunk of it
owed to credit card companies, when they sought
bankruptcy protection in
March 2015. Their bankruptcy lawyer, Chad Julius,
said the couple’s repayment
plan had been approved
and they were making the
required installments.
“I didn’t know him well,
but I did meet with him
several times,” Julius said.
“The man that I met with
was certainly not capable of
the crimes that were committed. I’m in shock.”
Briggs had been accused
of domestic violence in
2014. Court records show
that charges of simple
assault and harassment
were dismissed, however,
four months after they were
filed.
Court records show the
victim in the case was
Donna Briggs, who told
investigators that Briggs
had broken down the
locked door of a bedroom in
their home as she hid during an argument, then
caused an injury by hitting
her in the head.
His defense lawyer,
Corky Goldstein, said the
matter was settled before a
district justice.
“My records indicate
that he never had any criminal problems before that
domestic dispute. I have not
seen or heard anything
about him until the horrible
events of yesterday,”
Goldstein said.
Briggs joined the state
police in 1988 and spent his
entire career working out of
the Newville station, which
patrols the turnpike. State
pension records indicate he
withdrew $112,000 upon
retirement in 2012 and was
collecting a $5,200-a-month
pension.
His bankruptcy filing
said he had been working
as a range master at a suburban Harrisburg facility
for a weapons manufacturer.
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Tuesday, March 22, 2016
B-3
Toomey gets hit over Trump, Obama nominee
HARRISBURG (AP) —
Democrats worked to
apply pressure Monday on
Republican U.S. Sen. Pat
Toomey, trying to tie him
to Donald Trump and
accusing him of obstructionism in the battle over
filling the Supreme Court
vacancy.
Meanwhile, Toomey
can expect demonstrators
to appear at his public
events and offices around
Pennsylvania in the next
two weeks while the
Senate is in recess, urging
him to consider President
Barack Obama’s high
court nominee.
One of Toomey’s potential Democratic opponents
in the fall election, Katie
McGinty, used the term
“the Trump-Toomey team”
during a Pennsylvania
Press Club appearance
Monday in which she
hardly mentioned her
opponents in a four-way
primary race.
“A Supreme Court hostile to the policies that
would help the middle
class is the last thing
struggling families need,
but that’s what we are destined to get if we end up
with a Trump-Toomey
ticket,” McGinty told the
luncheon.
Toomey, she said, has
not denounced Trump over
the Republican front-runner’s “hateful” attacks, and
“in Pat Toomey’s world,
President Trump picks a
Supreme Court justice and
Sen. Toomey votes ‘yes.’ ”
Toomey’s
campaign
shot back at McGinty, saying she “has run out of
things to say about her
own record, so she’s throwing mud at Pat Toomey.”
Also running for the
Democratic nomination is
Braddock Mayor John
Fetterman, former U.S.
Rep. Joe Sestak, and Joe
Vodvarka, a semi-retired
owner of a spring manufacturing shop outside
Pittsburgh.
The primary election is
April 26.
Toomey, who is running
for a second six-year term,
has maintained that he
wants to wait for the next
president to take office
before the Senate considers a high court nominee.
Toomey has said he will
support the Republican
presidential nominee, even
if it is Trump.
Still, Toomey has been
critical of Trump’s pledge
to bar Muslims from entering the United States, his
equivocating over former
Ku Klux Klan leader
David Duke’s support and
his retweeting a quote
attributed
to
Benito
Mussolini, the 20th century fascist dictator of Italy.
In statements through
his campaign’s Twitter
account, Toomey said on
Dec. 8, “Trump is wrong.
We should not have a religious test for admission to
U.S. We should have a
security test, and it should
be bullet proof.” On Feb.
28, he wrote on Twitter,
“Trump comments on
KKK/Mussolini
appalling.”
Toomey had endorsed
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
for president, but Rubio
dropped out of the primary
race.
On
Monday,
Pat
Millham of the liberal
group Americans United
for Change, said he
expects demonstrations at
every Toomey office and
public
event
in
Pennsylvania in the coming days.
Small groups of demonstrators greeted Toomey in
State College during a private event Monday morning and later waved signs
outside the 12-story federal building in downtown
Harrisburg where Toomey
has a district office.
Easter
Sale Thru
April 2nd
Lawyer: No new charges against professor
PHILADELPHIA (AP)
— A lawyer for a Temple
University professor who
had been accused of
scheming to provide secret
U.S. technology to China
says federal prosecutors
won’t refile charges after
they dropped the case
against him last year.
Defense
attorney
Michael Schwartz told
The Philadelphia Inquirer
federal prosecutors have
informed Xi Xiaoxing’s
defense team they won’t
file new charges and will
return his seized property.
Xi had contended that
investigators misunderstood the science the case
was based on when they
charged him with wire
fraud.
Prosecutors
dropped the case after
receiving
“additional
information.”
Xi was chairman of the
university’s
physics
department until his
arrest.
He remains a faculty
member.
He is a naturalized
U.S. citizen born in
China.
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Day 479 of secrecy
Page C-1
Page D-1
www.sungazette.com
Monday, May 9, 2016
215th Year, No. 130
50¢ Newsstand
Training begins
Project Bald Eagle
kicks off educational
outreach for drugs
By MIKE REUTHER
[email protected]
M
Project Bald Eagle has stepped up its drug treatment and awareness efforts with educational outreach
toward helping drug addicts.
On Thursday, several
people attended the first of
several classes to learn
about administering naloxone to heroin overdose victims.
“Thank you for coming,”
Project Bald Eagle
Executive Director Steve
Shope said to those attendMORE COVERAGE:
ing the initial session.
Shope said for many
Drug shoot-up rooms get
people, heroin addiction is a
serious look in US
See A-5 very real part of their lives.
“My son is a heroin
addict,” said Tammy Selleck, who was among a half
dozen people attending the Thursday evening class.
“He overdosed at one point.”
Selleck said she learned about the classes after
attending one of the Project Bald Eagle outreach sessions in the community.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
Shope said up to 65 people will be trained over the
Terry Austin, of South Williamsport, practices next few weeks, made possible through a
administering naloxone during a course at
Williamsport Regional Medical Center Thursday.
(See OVERDOSE, Page A-5)
Warmer temperatures
in forecast this week
CITY FIRE
By CARA MORNINGSTAR
[email protected]
Settlements covered
’71 sex abuse claim
against Sandusky
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
The Associated Press
Penn State’s legal settlements with Jerry
Sandusky’s accusers cover alleged abuse dating to
1971, which was 40 years before his arrest, the university said Sunday, providing the first confirmation
of the time frame of abuse claims that have led to big
payouts.
The disclosure came as Penn State President Eric
Barron decried newly revealed allegations that former football coach Joe Paterno was told in 1976 that
Sandusky had sexually abused a child and that two
assistant coaches witnessed either inappropriate or
sexual contact in the late 1980s. Paterno, who died in
2012, had said the first time he had received a complaint against Sandusky was in 2001.
Barron said the accusations were unsubstantiated, and suggested that the university is being subjected unfairly to what he called rumor and innuendo.
Responding to questions about the president’s
statement and claims against the school, university
(See SETTLEMENTS, Page A-5)
LEGISLATIVE TALLY
State House OKs displays
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Each Monday, the Sun-Gazette
summarizes major votes of the past week and, more
specifically, how our locally elected and appointed
officials voted on each matter. Watch for it each
Monday in the Sun-Gazette.)
From Staff Reports
M
This week should see temperatures mostly around
the 70s, according to Joe Ceiu, a meteorologist with
the National Weather Service in State College
Today’s high temperature will be about 68 degrees
and the low will be about 42 degrees.
“It should be a fairly nice day with generally clear
skies,” Ceiu said.
Later tonight will see more
MORE COVERAGE: cloudy skies.
5-day forecast,
“It’ll begin to cloud up tonight
night
and Tuesday morning as an
statistics
approaching warm front moves
See A-8
through the region,” Ceiu said. “It
could bring some precipitation
Tuesday.”
The chance of rain on Tuesday, however, is small.
“It’s really just a slight chance ... We’ll have some
moisture with some cloudy skies through
Wednesday, low level moisture with cloudy skies,” he
said.
Tuesday’s high temperatures will be in the upper
60s with lows in the upper 40s.
Wednesday will have partly cloudy skies with
high temperatures in the mid-70s and lows in the
upper 50s.
Thursday will have cloudy skies with high temperatures in the mid-70s and lows in the upper 50s.
Although Friday also will have high temperatures
in the mid-70s and lows in the upper 50s, there’s a
chance of rain.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
In this August 1999 photo, Penn State head
football coach Joe Paterno, right, stands with
defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during
Penn State Media Day at State College.
(See WARMER, Page A-5)
Locally elected and appointed officials voted on
the following matters in the past week:
Federal
MARK MARONEY/Sun-Gazette
City firefighters responded to an apartment
house fire in the 1200 block of Anne Street about
1 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived, the house was
engulfed in flames and smoke, but was ruled
under control by 2:22 a.m. No injuries were
reported. The cause of the fire remains under
investigation and a fire official said no further
details would provided until today when a chief
returns to duty. No neighboring houses appeared
to be damaged by the blaze.
• The U.S. Senate did not
vote on any bills this week.
• The U.S. House voted
224-181
to
pass
the
Scholarships for Opportunity
and Results Reauthorization
Act,
or
the
SOAR
Reauthorization Act, which repeals the D.C.
Opportunity
Scholarship
Program
School
Certification Requirements Act, as contained in the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 and ensures
(See STATE, Page A-5)
Woman talks about time in Billtown, faith, moving
oped a lot of friends here over the
years,” said Kelly, a retired receptionist
from the Center of Independent Living.
Kelly has had to deal with some
painful tragic losses in her
By PHILIP A. HOLMES
life. She lost one son,
[email protected]
Sylvester, at the age of 54
in 2004 due to a medical
When Brooklyn, New York, native
Rose Kelly moved from that city to this problem and a second son,
Eric, died the following
area in her early 50s in 1991, she soon
year at the age of 37
fell in love with Williamsport.
because of a suspected
“I’ve loved the mountains. I’ve met
blood clot. Her third son, Al, survives.
good people here in Williamsport,” the
“I’m a strong woman. I still smile,”
75-year-old woman, who likes to be
called Rose K, said in a recent interview said Rose, adding that her faith in God
has helped her through the tough times.
downtown.
“Every morning I say my prayers
“When I came here, I saw
Williamsport as the land of opportunity. before I leave home. I believe in God. My
faith is strong in the Lord,” the woman
I’ve just loved it here.
Williamsport is surrounded said.
“I start the day with a plea — ‘Please
by such beauty. I’ve devel(EDITOR’S NOTE: Each Monday, the
Sun-Gazette asks somebody in the area,
“What’s on your mind?” If you have a
topic you would like to share, contact us
at [email protected].)
help me, Lord, get through this day
because these streets are violent.’ You
never know what can happen in your
life throughout the day,” said Kelly,
whose right leg was
amputated in 1977
because of a medical
issue.
“It’s rough today.
You’ve got to have a lot of
faith and remain
strong, strong, strong
in the Lord,” she said.
Kelly reflected upon her life
here the last 24 years as she
gets ready to move later this
summer to South Carolina to
be with a widowed daughterin-law who needs her.
She sees Williamsport as
a caring, loving community.
WANT TO GIVE US YOUR 2 CENTS? Visit www.sungazette.com
Good morning, Malisa Schaffer. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
“I’ve met a lot of good people here. I
will miss all my friends very much,” she
added.
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Monday, May 9, 2016
A-5
Settlements
WAR ON DRUGS
(From Page A-1)
spokesman Lawrence Lokman told The Associated
Press he could confirm that the earliest year of alleged
abuse covered in Penn State’s settlements is 1971.
Sandusky graduated from Penn State in 1965 and
returned as a full-time defensive coach in 1969.
The university has paid out more than $90 million to
settle more than 30 civil claims involving Sandusky,
now 72 and serving a lengthy prison sentence for the
sexual abuse of 10 children. The trial involved only allegations dating as far back as the mid-1990s.
The settlements, including the one covering the 1971
allegation, were reached after Sandusky’s 2012 conviction. But few details have been provided on the payouts
by either the school or lawyers for those who said
Sandusky victimized them.
The allegations about Paterno and the assistant
coaches were cited in a ruling last week by Philadelphia
Judge Gary Glazer in litigation between an insurance
company and Penn State over how much of the settlement costs the school must bear.
The insurers cited an allegation that a boy had told
the longtime Penn State football coach in 1976 that he
had been molested by Sandusky. The court document
also cited statements, from those claiming they had
been Sandusky’s victims, that two unidentified assistant coaches had said they witnessed inappropriate
contact between Sandusky and children in the late
1980s.
Barron wrote the university community Sunday
that he was “appalled by the rumor, innuendo and rush
to judgment” following Glazer’s disclosure of some allegations made against Paterno and some of his assistants.
Barron said those allegations, and others raised in
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
some news reports in recent days, are “unsubstantiated
Tammy Selleck, of Cogan Station, left, and Lisa Hamm, of Williamsport, practice assembling the and unsupported by any evidence other than a claim by
aerosol that administers the treatment for a heroin overdose during a course at Williamsport an alleged victim.”
Regional Medical Center Thursday. This is the first time the course is offered with training in admin“Coach Paterno is not alive to refute them. His famistering naloxone to overdosed heroin patients.
ily has denied them,” Barron said.
Overdose treatment training begins
(From Page A-1)
Pennsylvania Commission
on Crime and Delinquency
grant.
Shope noted that the
class attendees were the
first in Lycoming County
to be trained in the use of
the heroin overdose drug,
naloxone.
“You are making history,” he said.
Albert Morrison, a
Susquehanna
Health
advanced cardiac life support/CPR instructor, went
over the steps involved in
responding to overdose victims.
Class attendees learned
the signs of opiate overdose, which can be manifested in a victim by pale
facial features, limp body,
gurgling noises or vomiting, slow breathing, and
an inability to speak or be
awakened.
Naloxone, administered
to reverse the effects of
heroin or other opioids to
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
Steve Shope, executive director of Project Bald
Eagle, shows the opoid overdose kit that is given
to each student in the course, which includes a
section on administering naloxone to overdosed
heroin patients.
overdose victims, works by drug
usually
works
blocking opiate receptor between two and five minsites.
utes, and must be adminisMorrison noted that the tered a second time if the
victim remains unresponsive.
Most overdoses in the
U.S. are due to opioid toxicity or poisoning from
drugs such as heroin or
prescription pain relievers,
often in combination with
other substances.
Naloxone will not treat
overdose of stimulants
such as cocaine and
amphetamines, benzodiazepines, barbiturates or
clonidine.
Attendees later tried
out the steps involved in
administering the drugs to
mannequins.
CPR education also was
included in the training.
Last year, 24 people
died from drug overdoses
in Lycoming County, and
officials expect that number to grow in 2016.
Morrison noted that
some emergency responders in Lycoming County
are equipped with naloxone.
Shoot-up rooms get serious look
By The Associated Press
Across the United States, heroin
and other drug users have died in
alleys behind convenience stores, on
city sidewalks and in the bathrooms
of fast-food joints — because no one
was around to save them when they
overdosed.
An alarming 47,000 American
overdose deaths in 2014 has pushed
elected leaders from coast to coast to
consider government-sanctioned
sites where heroin users can shoot
up under the supervision of a doctor
or nurse who can administer an
antidote if necessary.
“Things are getting out of control.
We have to find things we can do for
people who are addicted now,” said
New York state Assemblywoman
Linda Rosenthal, who is working on
legislation to allow supervised injection sites that also would include
space for treatment services. “The
idea shouldn’t be dismissed out of
hand.”
Critics of the war on drugs have
long talked about the need for a new
approach to addiction, but the idea
for supervised injection sites is now
coming from state lawmakers in
New
York,
Maryland
and
California, and city officials in
Seattle, San Francisco and Ithaca,
New York.
While such sites have operated
for years in places such as Canada,
the Netherlands and Australia, they
face legal and political challenges in
the U.S.
“It’s a dangerous idea,” said John
Walters, drug czar under President
George W. Bush. “It’s advocated by
people who seem to think that the
way we should help sick people is by
keeping them sick, but comfortably
Warmer
temperatures
in forecast
sick.”
At
Sydney’s
Medically
Supervised Injecting Centre, more
than 5,900 people have overdosed
since it opened in 2001. No one has
died. It’s the same at Insite in
Vancouver, British Columbia. About
20 overdoses happen there every
week, but the facility has yet to
record a death.
Sydney’s facility is tucked
between a hostel and a Chinese
restaurant in the red-light district.
Up to 16 users can shoot up in the
injection room, which resembles a
doctor’s office. Staffers are not
allowed to administer drugs, though
clean needles are provided.
After users get their fix, clients
head to a second room with a
warmer feel. Colored Christmas
lights hang from the ceiling; books
and magazines line the shelves.
Clients can relax with coffee or tea
or talk to staff. Some stay for 15
minutes; others spend hours. They
leave through a back door to protect
their privacy.
An Amsterdam clinic — one of
three in the Dutch capital — goes
even further, distributing free, government-paid heroin to long-term
addicts so they don’t have to commit
a crime to pay for their fix.
In Vancouver, Insite offers
patients treatment services just up
the stairs from where they shoot up.
Rhea Jean spoke to the AP after
recently injecting herself there. She
felt nauseous and ran outside to the
curb to vomit. Her face covered with
scabs, the longtime heroin user
looks far older than her 33 years.
“It’s a great place for active users
in full-blown addiction. It links you
up to other programs,” said Jean,
who hasn’t sought treatment
(From Page A-1)
“The best chance of precipitation
is probably Friday. It’s hard to say
when it will hit exactly,” Ceiu said.
“It could be early Friday or late
Friday. Basically, there’s a chance
of rain some time on Friday.”
through Insite.
The Vancouver facility was targeted for closure by Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and his
Conservative Party. The case went
to the Supreme Court of Canada,
which in 2011 told the government
to issue an exemption to the drug
laws allowing Insite to operate.
In the U.S., which for decades has
treated addiction as a law enforcement issue, the biggest hurdle
remains federal law, which makes
such facilities illegal. Supporters say
officials in the nation’s capital could
grant an exemption or adopt a
hands-off approach similar to the
federal government’s response to
state medical marijuana programs.
Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy
adviser to the Obama administration, put the chances of injection
sites getting approval anytime soon
at zero.
“These facilities send a message
that there is a safe use, and I don’t
think there is any safe use of heroin,”
said
California
state
Assemblyman Tom Lackey, who
spent 28 years as a California
Highway Patrolman. He opposes
legislation there to allow state and
local health departments to allow
supervised clinics.
In Maryland, state House of
Delegates member Dan Morhaim is
an emergency physician who has
administered the overdose antidote
Narcan “many, many times.” He
sees his bill for supervised injection
sites as just one of many creative
approaches.
“It’s not going to cure everyone.
I’m not unrealistic,” he said. “But
moving people from more dangerous
behavior to less dangerous behavior
is progress.”
The weekend temperatures are
expected to be lower.
“For the weekend, we have a
cold front moving through, so temperatures will drop Saturday and
Sunday. You’re looking at cooler
temperatures,” Ceiu said.
State House OKs displays
(From Page A-1)
students are eligible for the Opportunity Scholarships
Program. Voting yes are U.S. Reps. Tom Marino, RCogan Station, and Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Howard.
State
• The House voted 179-20 to pass legislation to allow
public schools to display “In God We Trust” and the Bill
of Rights in classrooms and other areas in public school
buildings. Voting yes are state Reps. Jeff Wheeland, RLoyalsock Township; Garth Everett, R-Muncy; Tina
Pickett, R-Towanda; Matt Baker, R-Wellsboro; and
Michael K. Hanna Sr., D-Lock Haven.
• The Senate was not in session last week.
County
• The Lycoming County commissioners voted 2-0 to
approve an amendment to an agreement with Larson
Design Group for the design of the Timber Run Access
Road. Voting yes were Commissioners Rick Mirabito
and Tony Mussare.
• The Lycoming County Water and Sewer Authority
unanimously voted to approve a two-year service contract renewal with HACH Partnership at $17,378 for
2016 and $17,986 for 2017. Voting yes were Paul
Wentzler, Jan Ransdorf, Donald Konkle, Michael
Miller, Charles Hall, Robert Hippenstiel, James
Carpenter, Frank Forsha and Victor Marquardt.
Municipal
• Montoursville Borough Council approved the
floodplain management ordinance that complies with
the regulations of the Federal Management Agency’s
regulations. It also unanimously voted to allow the
state Department of Environmental Protection to clean
and inspect the borough’s reservoirs for $5,760. Voting
were David Moyer, Christopher Lucas, Tina Kline, Eric
Greenway, Mark Tillson and Rosemary Holmes.
School District
• Williamsport Area School Board is considering
doing real estate assessment appeals for properties sold
in the district in the last three years. This would allow
the district to increase revenue without increasing
taxes for everyone. It will vote on the matter during its
next meeting.
Winning Powerball ticket
sold in Trenton, New Jersey
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)
— Someone is holding onto
the
sole
winning
Powerball ticket that was
sold in New Jersey and the
jackpot was at $429.6 million, lottery officials said
Sunday.
Only
one
ticket
matched all six numbers
in Saturday night’s drawing,
said
Powerball
spokeswoman Kelly Cripe.
The winning Powerball
numbers were 5-25-26-4466 and the Powerball
number was 9.
Lottery officials in New
Jersey said Sunday afternoon that the winning
ticket was sold at a 7Eleven store in Trenton,
the state’s capital city. It
was purchased as a cash
ticket and is valued at
Ceiu said the cold front will drop
temperatures around 10 degrees.
“For Williamsport, it’ll be low to
mid-60s for both Saturday and
Sunday, though that’s subject to
change,” he said.
He said with the cold front
$284 million.
The ticket holder has
not yet come forward to
claim the prize.
“We have never had a
winning ticket this big, not
even close,” said Marcelo
Chilel, who works at the
store where the winning
ticket was sold. Chilel said
he and his colleagues are
“amazed” that it happened.
Chilel said that when
he heard the ticket was
sold in Mercer County, he
thought it would be great
if it was sold at the store
where he works. And
when he found out that
was the case, he says he
felt very happy for the customer.
“It’s great that they got
it here,” he said.
comes colder air, which makes for
a chance of rain.
“There’s a chance for maybe
some precipitation for Saturday.
I’d say there’s a better chance of
rain Saturday than Sunday,” he
said.
Day 532 of secrecy
Page C-1
Page D-5
www.sungazette.com
Friday, July 1, 2016
215th Year, No. 183
50¢ Newsstand
Lawmakers react as budget goes to governor
By ANNE REINER
[email protected]
final passage in
March, and the
legislature then
went straight into
HARRISBURG (AP) — The Pennsylvania the next year’s
Legislature on Thursday sent Democratic Gov. Tom budget discussion.
Wolf the main budget bill with hours to spare before
Everett continthe start of the new fiscal year, but left undone the ued to have confichallenge of figuring out how to raise more than $1 dence the budget
WHEELAND
EVERETT
billion in new revenues to fund it.
would pass and
The House approved the more than $31.5 billion voted to approve it
spending package that boosts public school support by Thursday night. He said there is “still a pretty good
$200 million and directs new money to tackle the legislators are more will- fight going on” in the
ing to be flexible and make House, and while he is less
(See SPENDING, Page A-5) compromises this time than willing to support the
high spending, he anticiaround.
State
Rep.
Jeff pates it will pass on time.
diligent of a job as we did further down the line,”
The Senate’s amendlast year, it’s just that we Everett said. Last year’s Wheeland, R-Loyalsock
started in a position much budget bill was given Township, agreed that ment to the budget
Plan moves to next step
It’s still a lot of money,
but the budget will pass on
time, local legislators say.
The past week’s last
stitch in a bare knuckles
budget battle is drawing to
a close as the House considers the Senate’s amended budget bill. It is not as
long and drawn out as the
2015-16 budget impasse,
but legislators are fighting
just as hard for this budget, according to state Rep.
Garth Everett, R-Muncy.
“I believe we did as
Drug addicts
contributing
to prison’s
big numbers
Dry days
By SETH NOLAN
[email protected]
The Lycoming County Prison is swamped
with an overcrowding dilemma due in large part
to the heroin epidemic running rampant
throughout the community, according to county
commissioners.
Commissioners Jack McKernan and Rick
Mirabito spoke during their Thursday morning
meeting about their
desire to find alternate
treatment
options for heroin
addicts, outside of the
local prison.
“There is a relationship between the heroin/opioid problem and the
overcrowding issue at the
jail,” Mirabito said. He added that their desire is
to “find a way to separate some of the folks at the
prison who have heroin and opioid problems
before…. they get deep into the criminal
process.”
The two commissioners met with Gary
Tennis, the secretary at the Department of Drug
and Alcohol Programs for the state, to discuss
possible treatment options for the county. The
meeting was encouraging, according to
McKernan.
“It was a good conversation and he sounded
SETH NOLAN/Sun-Gazette
Robert More stands in his cornfield to show the height of the rows.
Anti-terror raids, funerals follow Turkey attack
ISTANBUL (AP) — As
the death toll from the
Istanbul airport attack rose
Thursday to 44, a senior
Turkish official said the
three suicide bombers who
carried it out were from
Russia, Uzbekistan and
Kyrgyzstan, and Turkish
police raided Istanbul
neighborhoods for suspects
linked to the Islamic State
group.
Turkish authorities say all
information suggests the
Tuesday night attack on
Ataturk Airport, one of the
world’s busiest, was the work
of IS, which boasted this week
of having cells in Turkey,
among other countries.
Police raided 16 locations
in three neighborhoods on
both the Asian and
European sides of the city
that sprawls across the
Bosporus Strait, rounding
up 13 people suspected of
having links to IS.
There was no immediate
claim of responsibility by
the militant group, which
has used Turkey to establish itself in neighboring
Syria and Iraq. IS has
repeatedly
threatened
(See LAWMAKERS,
Page A-5)
Lack of rainfall
a worry for
many farmers
By ANNE REINER
[email protected]
(See ADDICTS, Page A-5)
increased
spending
by
over $95 million, according
to Wheeland,
who
already
voted against
the
House’s
original
budget
YAW
p r o p o s a l
because its spending was
too high.
Everett and Wheeland
believe the possibilities are
high that Gov. Tom Wolf
also will approve the budg-
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police officers monitor busy traffic Thursday at the
entrance of the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. A senior
Turkish official said the three suicide bombers who
carried out the Tuesday night attack on Ataturk
Airport, were from Russia, Uzbekistan and
Kyrgyzstan, and police raided neighborhoods
looking for suspects linked to the Islamic State
group.
Turkey in its propaganda,
and the NATO member has
blamed IS for several major
bombings in the past year in
both Ankara and Istanbul.
Across Istanbul and
beyond, funerals were held
for the airport victims
Thursday, and heartbroken
families sobbed as they bid
their loved ones farewell,
including several local airport workers.
Nilsu Ozmeric wept over
the coffin of her fiance,
Jusuf Haznedaroglu, a 32year-old airport worker who
was fatally wounded while
waiting for a bus to go
home.
“The wedding was next
week,” sobbed his mother,
Area farmers are
struggling through a lasting dry season affecting
the yield of crops that
annually are decreasing
in price.
The idea of a mild winter may seem great to
almost everyone besides
the farmers who have to
adapt to it in the spring.
This has been a challenging season because it
got nice very early followed by a cold front.
Then it got dry when people were planting early
because of how nice it
was, said Michael
Sherman, executive director for the Lycoming
County Farm Service
Agency.
“The past winter was a
very mild winter and
what it did was gave
insects a head start,”
Sherman said. “And when
the seed went out in the
ground it was cold and
damp and that didn’t permit the seeds to grow.”
This season has seen a
massive increase in the
need to replant corn and
soybeans because of those
conditions, Sherman said.
(See LACK, Page A-5)
AROUND THE REGION
Hughesville, Picture
Rocks reach deal
on police coverage
Cervinye Haznedaroglu, as
visitors offered condolences.
A video obtained by the
Turkish
newspaper
Haberturk purported to
show a police officer asking
one of the suicide bombers
for identification before he
was subsequently shot by
the attacker. The video
shows the alleged police officer, in short sleeves,
approaching a man dressed
in black. The man in black
then appears to shoot the
officer, who falls to the
ground. The Associated
Press was not able to independently verify the location of the video or the
sequence of events.
A Turkish senior official,
who spoke on condition of
anonymity because government regulations did not
authorize him to talk to the
media, said the attackers
were from Russia and the
Central Asian nations of
Uzbekistan
and
Kyrgyzstan.
A medical team was
working around the clock to
PICTURE ROCKS — Starting today, the
700 residents of the borough have the comfort
of knowing they have added police protection.
Borough Council Thursday adopted an
ordinance to allow Hughesville Borough Police
Department officers to provide limited patrol,
respond to any police emergency and provide
speed checks for the next six months.
Under an experimental intergovernmental
agreement that was signed and made into an
ordinance, which can be revisited by council in
December, the borough begins its coverage
today, with the nearby borough police planning to do ride throughs, patrol for speeders
and respond in case of a police emergency
whenever someone calls the Lycoming County
911 Communications Center.
Hughesville lies just three miles south of
the community.
The ordinance's passage is the next legal
step after the two boroughs reached the mutually acceptable terms last month.
State police have provided such response for
(See ANTI-TERROR,
Page A-5)
(See HUGHESVILLE, Page A-5)
Good morning, Shirley Getz. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
By MARK MARONEY
[email protected]
From Page A-1/State
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Friday, July 1, 2016
A-5
Man dies after crashing into Wysox Township creek bed
TOWANDA — Michael W.
Byrd, Jr., 20, of Sayre, died
Wednesday when he crashed
his car on Route 187, Wysox
Township, according to state
police.
State police here said they
were advised by a motorist
that there was damage to a
guard rail along the road south
of Route 427.
When police arrived, Byrd’s
2002 Chevrolet Blazer was
located in a creek bed about 20
feet below the roadway on the
east side.
He was pronounced dead at
the scene, police said.
An approximate time of the
crash has not yet been determined.
According to police, Byrd,
who was not wearing a seat
belt, exited the roadway on the
east side, hitting the guard
rail, traveled down the
embankment, hit another
embankment and came to a
final rest in the creekbed.
Police are investigating
whether alcohol or drugs were
a factor in the crash, but did
say that speed appeared to
have been a contributing factor.
Addicts contributing Bill to combat child sex abuse passes Senate
to prison’s numbers
(From Page A-1)
receptive to either further discussion or possibly coming
to Lycoming County to talk about helping us out,”
McKernan said.
Mirabito said the commissioners are not considering
building a new prison right now, and would like to
exhaust all other options first.
Previous projections for building a new prison put
the project at roughly $40 million.
In other business, the commissioners unanimously
approved final disbursement of $50,000 for the Homes
in Need Program with STEP Inc. This is the third payment of a $150,000 guarantee in accordance with the
Optional Affordable Housing Funds act of 1992, that
distinguishes money for this specific purpose, according
to Mya Toon, chief procurement officer for the county.
The commissioners also announced that during their
next Thursday meeting they will be holding a public
hearing to provide an opportunity for community members to discuss Pennsylvania College of Technology’s
$60 million bond refinancing effort.
According to the Tax Equity and Fiscal
Responsibility Act of 1982, a hearing is required by the
IRS so that the public will have an opportunity to comment on tax-exempt funds.
The commissioners present were Mirabito and
McKernan. Tony Mussare was absent.
The next commissioners meeting will be at 10 a.m.
on Tuesday.
Anti-terror raids, funerals
follow bombing at airport
(From Page A-1)
identify the suicide attackers, the official said, noting
their bodies had suffered
extensive damage.
Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign
Ministry denied that an
attacker came from that
country. Asked about the
possible involvement of a
Russian in the attacks,
Kremlin
spokesman
Dmitry Peskov said he had
no information on that and
there was no comment
either from Uzbekistan.
Russian
President
Vladimir Putin has said
between 5,000 and 7,000
people from Russia and
other nations of the former
Soviet Union have joined
the Islamic State group in
Syria and Iraq. People
from Chechnya and other
provinces in Russia’s
volatile North Caucasus
region have had a visible
presence among Islamic
State fighters.
Turkish state media
said the death toll in the
attack rose to 44 after a 25year-old airport worker
succumbed to his wounds.
Interior Minister Efkan
Ala said the dead included
19 foreigners. Officials said
94 of the over 230 people
reported wounded in the
attack were still hospitalized.
Two memorial services
for victims were held at
the airport, one of them
honoring taxi drivers slain
in the attack. Five funer-
HARRISBURG (AP) —
The Pennsylvania Senate
voted
unanimously
Thursday to lift time limits for some perpetrators
of child sexual abuse to be
sued by their victims and
prosecuted by authorities,
amid
fresh
Roman
Catholic Church scandals
in Pennsylvania that
have inflamed a push for
the legislation.
However, the Senate
also rejected a provision
approved overwhelmingly
in April by the House to
restore the ability of onetime-child victims to sue
for damages if they are
now older than the current legal age limit of 30.
That provision has
been hotly debated, particularly with prosecutors
in Pennsylvania uncovering a long-running scandal in the AltoonaJohnstown Diocese and
states increasingly providing that window to victims who are now older.
But the provision ran
into concerns from senators that it would conflict
with Pennsylvania’s constitutional case law, and
it was opposed by the
Pennsylvania Catholic
Conference
and
the
Insurance Federation of
Pennsylvania, which represents for-profit insurers.
Spending plan moves to next step
(From Page A-1)
state’s opioid drug crisis by
a vote of 144 to 54.
“We’ve been working in
a bipartisan manner, let’s
continue,” Appropriations
Chairman Bill Adolph, RSpringfield, told members.
“Now is the time, take the
ball over the goal line. This
budget is a compromise —
it’s not everything that
everyone wanted.”
Some of 45 House
Republicans who voted
against the bill along with
nine Democrats made
clear its increase in spending and the prospect of
new taxes were not at all
what they want.
“I feel like I’ve stepped
into an episode of ‘The
Twilight Zone,’ ” said Rep.
Dan Truitt, R-East Goshen
Township. “We’re about to
vote on a bill to spend $31.6
billion and we literally
don’t know where we’re
going to get the money.”
Wolf has 10 days to
decide what to do about
the bill, which he did not
negotiate ahead of time,
adding time pressure to
touchy revenue negotiations that could easily
derail the budget.
The governor issued a
statement after the vote
that was generally supportive but cautioned he
would not sign the main
budget bill without a “sustainable revenue package
to pay for it.”
Among the revenue
sources under consideration are higher tobacco
taxes, money from tax
delinquents, expansion of
legalized gambling and
changes to how wine and
liquor are sold.
Some senators have
questioned proposed revenue assumptions as overly
optimistic and raised doubts
about House legislation to
expand casino-style gambling to airports, off-track
als were held elsewhere,
including for four members of the Amiri family.
Abdulmumin
Amiri
escaped death because he
went to look for a taxi
while his relatives watched
their luggage. “At that
time, the bomb went off,”
he told The Associated
Press. “I was about four or
five meters away,” or 13 to
16 feet.
At the funeral for
Ferhat Akkaya, who had
gone to the airport to see
off a friend, his wife and
three children sobbed as
they clutched his coffin in
the northern province of
Ordu. His relatives railed
against Turkish authorities, blaming them for failing to ensure airport security.
“Damn it! The state
should hear our voices and
take the necessary precautions,”
said
Ferhat
Kabakci, the victim’s
brother-in-law. “Now a
widow and three orphans
have been left behind. Who
will look after them?”
In Paris, the Eiffel
Tower was illuminated in
the red-and-white colors of
the Turkish flag to honor
the victims in Istanbul.
The U.N. Security
Council condemned the
attack, saying that any
acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable and (From Page A-1)
are “one of the most serious
The dry spell is even
threats to international
affecting livestock. “I have
peace and security.”
livestock myself and I don’t
usually have to feed hay
until later in the summer,
but I may need to go to a
storage feed already,”
Sherman said.
After last year’s probborough, with any fines lems with too much rain,
collected to be returned to the tough season strikes at
the borough general fund. an even more crucial time
The police won't be as pricing for crops, already
enforcing building code in danger of decreased
issues.
yield, also have been
Some others on council steadily decreasing.
are hopeful the concept
“Prices to put the crop in
will work out.
the
ground
haven’t
Councilwoman Kacey decreased, but the price a
Hess said the added securi- farmer gets for it has,”
ty also would probably give Sherman explained. “A
residents "peace of mind," couple of years ago the high
when they see the marked for corn was $7. Last year’s
cruiser or vehicle from the was $3.80 and this year it
nearby borough.
may be $3.50.”
Such patrol is expected
Despite all of the disadto also make drivers more vantages farmers face this
alert as they travel season, some are simply
through and around the used to having to be versaborough.
tile.
The 911 Center is
Robert More, a thirdaware and prepared for generation farmer in
those callers asking for Montgomery, planted his
assistance
from
the crops in the middle of April.
Hughesville police.
But he planted them deepThe extra police patrol er than most.
is also expected to cut
His corn and soybeans
down on any vandalism of are both ahead given the
the parks or public proper- challenges this year.
ties.
“Because of how dry it
Nobody from the public was, I planted mine threewas at the meeting to com- eighths of an inch deeper
ment. No one on the board than I normally do to get
was against the proposal.
the seeds in the moist
Lawmakers react
(From Page A-1)
et, but “who knows,” Wheeland added.
Everett expects that the governor is waiting to see
where the money for the budget is coming from.
However the House expected to finalize this process
by Thursday evening’s vote, according to Everett.
State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, also
agreed that the governor would probably sign the
budget saying that “When the governor takes a close
look at it I think he will sign it.”
The bulk of the spending increase from the Senate
will go to basic education, special education, prekindergarten and higher education, according to
State Sen. Joe Scarnati, R-Brockway.
“Senate Bill 1073 (the budget) makes substantial
investments in education and vital state services —
helping to strengthen our Commonwealth,” Scarnati
said.
State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, is
content with the Senate’s version of the budget, saying “under these circumstances it’s a pretty good
budget.”
He understands legislator’s frustration with high
costs but emphasized that each year the cost of government will go up, and the money to accommodate it
must come from somewhere.
However, Yaw added that increasing funds to education is a necessary cost. The House version of the
budget provided a flat increase to education across the
board, but the Senate increased certain amounts to
certain areas.
“We can’t short change that aspect just to pay other
bills,” he said.
Wheeland said his frustration with the budget lies
with money spent on Medicaid expansion, pensions
for school teachers and government employees, health
care and drug costs raised by court expenses.
“When do we start looking at cuts, rather than
going to the taxpayer for constant increases and taxation,” he said.
Wheeland voted no on the approval of the budget
Thursday evening.
betting parlors and casinoowned websites. The bill
would make Pennsylvania
the fourth state to authorize
internet gambling.
Details have not been
made public about a proposal to generate new
taxes from cigarettes and
other tobacco products.
“There still remains to
be seen how anyone’s
going to pay for this budget, because we don’t have
currently the revenues on
track to pay for it without
legislation that hasn’t
been revealed to the general membership,” said Rep.
Daryl
Metcalfe,
RCranberry Township.
Senate Majority Leader
Jake
Corman,
RBellefonte, said he was
determined to avoid a
repeat of the budget standoff with Wolf during the
governor’s first year, a
costly and embarrassing
fiasco that only ended a
few months ago when Wolf
allowed legislation to take
effect without his signature.
“Talks continue to be
cordial and progress,”
Corman said. “We are
working hard to arrive at a
revenue plan that provides
additional money for the
state without asking taxpayers for more income or
sales taxes.”
The budget bill that
passed Thursday amounts
to a 5 percent increase, or
$1.5 billion, and forces significant concessions from
Wolf. The higher spending
is driven primarily by pension obligations, prisons
and human services, as
well as a 3 percent
increase in aid to public
school operations and
instruction. It also contains a $39 million
increase in support for colleges and universities, a
2.5 percent jump.
Rep. Mike Sturla, DLancaster, said he was
voting for the bill but was
not enthusiastic about it.
“This is the first budget
bill in five years that doesn’t increase the structural
deficit,” Sturla said. “It
doesn’t reduce it, but it
doesn’t increase it, and
that’s a step forward.”
The
Legislature’s
Independent Fiscal Office
has projected the deficit to
be $1.8 billion in the 201617 fiscal year.
Others said they were
pleased with money to cut a
waiting list for services for
the disabled, and to fund
three cadet classes at the
state police academy that
will produce 180 troopers.
The plan leaves unanswered the question of how
the state will pay for what
could be billions of dollars
in borrowing for school
construction costs in the
coming years.
Lack of rainfall a worry for many farmers in region
Hughesville, Picture Rocks
reach deal on police service
(From Page A-1)
this borough and have
done periodic speed checks,
especially on Route 220,
where the speed limit is 35
miles per hour, but they
can't give the more immediate response or expanded
coverage needed should a
resident need a police officer when he or she dials
911, according to William
Dorman, borough secretary.
The issue evolved in
January when the council
was alerted to complaints
about how fast traffic,
much of it related to heavy
truck traffic, was traveling
through the borough’s
main street, which also is
Route 220.
Councilman Matthew
Charles noted at the meeting that trucks are riding
through at 60 miles per hour
and drivers riding their
Jake brakes to the bridge
crossing the Muncy Creek.
The contract provides
incentive for the nearby
borough police with their
rate of $50 per hour. But it
also gives assurance to this
SETH NOLAN/Sun-Gazette
Robert Moreʼs soybean field, healthy and ahead of schedule.
zone,” he said. “Many of the
farmers had to replant
their crop because if it’s not
in that moist zone, the
seeds won’t germinate.”
More said he’s seen
more corn and soybeans
replanted this year than he
has in the last five years.
Most farmers become
versatile, but are mostly
dependent on weather in
the end.
Given the stretch of the
dry spell, some crops in the
area were relieved by the
strong storms that passed
through on Tuesday.
“The storm was a salvation,” said More. “We got
three-fourths of an inch of
rain and it was pretty wide-
ly spread around this area
so it helped everyone out,”
More said.
Before the storm, the
area was two inches off the
mark for the average rainfall of June, More said.
The storm helped More
and other local crops in that
area, but Tuesday’s storm
was spotty, Sherman said.
“It helped, but it all
depends on where you
were. For example, we got
rain in Williamsport, but in
Jersey Shore, there wasn’t
any,” he said. “And the 10day forecast doesn’t bring
much relief to the people
who didn’t get any rain
from that storm.”
Farmers agree that
there’s not much they can
do to combat long periods of
dry weather. “All it takes is
one good storm to change
the season,” said Tom
Styer, a local farmer who
was also helped by
Tuesday’s storm. “You just
have to keep hoping for
good weather, but there’s
not much else you can do.”
Farms close to the river
have access to irrigation,
but others don’t have that,
Sherman said.
“It’s difficult, but there’s
not really much we can do
other than wait to get rain
to plant or plant deeper.
But I think with this latest
storm, we’ll be good for
another week or so.”
FREE
INSIDE
Day 552 of secrecy
Page C-1
www.sungazette.com
Thursday, July 21, 2016
215th Year, No. 203
50¢ Newsstand
Businessmen suggest $65 million project in Muncy
By PAT CROSSLEY
Sun-Gazette Correspondent
MUNCY — The possibility
of a new life for an old industrial property in Muncy was a
topic of discussion at the Muncy
Borough Council meeting
Monday night.
Robert Van Naarden and
Zane Crowley, of Delta Thermo
Energy Inc., presented council
with their ideas for using the
old Sprout Waldron, or Andritz,
building on Sherman Street to
house their waste-to-energy
business. The process entails
taking municipal waste and
sewage sludge and turning it
into steam or electricity.
Van Naarden and Crowley
(See BUSINESSMEN,
Page A-6)
Outspoken
LEGISLATION
Casey: Bill to
help teenage
opioid abuse
needs funding
SPROUT WALDRON SITE
Sal Vitko, of Williamsport,
comments during a policing and community open
forum at the City Alliance
Church on Wednesday.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
By ANNE REINER
[email protected]
A federal bill claims to have the
resources to address opioid abuse, but
without funding it will have little effect,
according to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.
“You can’t make a program work
with magic,” Casey, D-Scranton, said
Wednesday morning at a news conference in the Executive Plaza on Pine
Street. “You have to have dollars.”
The Comprehensive Addiction and
Recovery
Act asks
IN THEIR OWN WORDS for $600
million in
funding,
“Itʼs an epidemic
but, while
we canʼt enforce
the bill
our way out of.”
passed,
funding
Chief David Young for it yet
Williamsport Bureau has to be
of Police approved.
Casey
u r g e d
people to
call their congressmen and ask for passage of the funding portion of the bill.
The bill focuses on a number of opioid abuse problems and seeks to curb
addiction among children and
teenagers. It has passed the U.S.
House and Senate and next will be sent
to President Obama.
There is lots of evidence that more
help is needed to fight the opioid addiction problem locally.
Dr. John N. Boll Jr., assistant director of the Williamsport Family
Medicine Center, said the hospital has
seen a 40 percent increase in teenage
overdoses, and often this is the result of
prescription medication they receive
from a friend or relative.
The overdoses happen when they
continue “trying to get a better high
and then keep escalating.”
Additionally, Boll said a child’s mind
is in a state of development until
between the ages of 21 and 24, thus
making them more susceptible to
addiction and abuse.
Williamsport Bureau of Police Chief
David Young said the county continues
to see a rise in drug distribution and he
urged family and friends to keep an eye
(See CASEY, Page A-6)
City police aim to bridge gaps and
build trust among black community
By MARK MARONEY
[email protected]
City teenager Salvatore White feels
safe, but these days he has concerns
about some cops and the color of his
skin.
“I feel safe and feel the city environment is safe, but police as an institution can be disingenous,” said the 17year-old black youth, who becomes a
senior this fall at Williamsport Area
High School.
White is the type of individual the
Beloved Community Council’s open
dialogue on police and community relations was trying to reach Wednesday
night at City Alliance Church, 380 W.
Fourth St.
The event brought out more than
100 individuals who listened to ways to
bridge gaps and build trust between
city police and the community, in particular, its black members.
“It’s good for race relations and
police,” White said, listening to city
police Chief David Young promise his
department will be more engaging,
when resources and time permits, and
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
No endorsement from Cruz;
congratulations but that’s all
CLEVELAND — Undercutting calls
for Republican unity, Texas Sen. Ted
Cruz stubbornly withheld his endorsement from Donald Trump Wednesday
night as he addressed the GOP convention, ignoring noisy pleas from delegates
and instead encouraging Americans to
“vote your conscience” in November.
In a surreal moment, Trump unexpectedly walked into the arena as Cruz
was wrapping up his remarks.
Delegates chanted Trump’s name, then
erupted in a chorus of boos when Cruz
continued to resist their appeals.
“Vote for candidates up and down
the ticket who you trust to defend our
MORE COVERAGE:
Clinton eyes Ag Sec. Vilsack as potential
running mate . . . . . . . . . . .
See A-8
M
By JULIE PACE and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press
freedom and to be faithful to the
Constitution,” Cruz said. While he
backed some of Trump’s policy proposals, including building a wall along the
U.S.-Mexico border, he mentioned the
GOP nominee by name only once.
Cruz’s decision to accept a speaking
role at the convention but not explicitly
endorse Trump was remarkable, and
underscored the deep divisions still
coursing through the GOP. It also
(See NO, Page A-6)
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
Spencer Sweeting, pastor of the City Alliance Church, left, questions
Williamsport Police Chief David J. Young, center, and Mayor Gabriel J.
Campana, during Wednesdayʼs forum.
to Lycoming County District Attorney
Eric R. Linhardt, who said open dialogue is a two-way street.
“When you have a block party, don’t
be afraid to invite a police officer,”
Linhardt said.
(See POLICE, Page A-6)
Hope Enterprises’ chief
to retire in the spring
By MEGAN E. BLOOM
[email protected]
In the early years of his
career, the organization
served only two counties.
After 17 years of service at
Under his direction, Hope
Hope Enterprises Inc., its
grew to reach seven counties
president, Jim Campbell, will
by absorbing two other entiretire next spring.
ties that were helping people
Campbell entered the
with disabilities.
position in August 1999 after CAMPBELL
The Columbia Montour
serving for nearly a decade
Snyder Union Service System
on the board of directors. Before merged with Hope Enterprises in
working for the organization, he said 2007, expanding its residential prowas in the public school system as a grams. In 2012, the Children’s
special education teacher and admin- Development Center became part of
istrator.
the organization, which provided
He always has enjoyed helping more services for youth.
people with disabilities reach their
“We weren’t looking to grow; peomaximum potential. Campbell said ple reached out to us to be a part of
he has an interest in helping those
who need assistance.
(See PRESIDENT, Page A-6)
Good morning, Paul Heise. Thank you for subscribing to the Sun-Gazette!
A-6
From Page A-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Thursday, July 21, 2016
Businessmen suggest $65 million project in Muncy
(From Page A-1)
assured council that the process
is environmentally friendly and
meets or exceeds all U.S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency standards.
On hand at the meeting were
Lycoming
County
Commissioners Jack McKernan
and Rick Mirabito, who urged
council to consider the company’s proposal because of the jobs
that would be created.
“How do we attract jobs to
municipalities with aging infrastructure,” Mirabito said. He
noted that ventures like this
“make the community resilient
for economic downturns.”
“Try to keep an open mind to
the benefits to the community,”
he said. “This is environmentally clean and not every day do
we get 50 to 80 jobs and a $65
million construction project,” he
added.
Councilwoman Linda Stein
agreed with the commissioner:
“We have these possibilities to
repurpose older buildings and
we have a developer with some
money in his pockets.”
She added that even though
the council has questions about
the project, “this is an opportunity we can positively consider.”
Council members were
divided in their opinions on the
project.
Unlike
Stein,
Councilwoman Tillie Noviello
noted that it’s really the borough residents who have to
want it, and her fellow
Councilwoman Karen Richards
questioned, “Why Muncy?”
“Ultimately, it’s up to the
people in the community,”
Noviello said. “We do our due
diligence to question.”
If the response by citizens
present at the meeting was any
indication, public opinion could
be divided as well. One resident
noted that she was opposed to
having an industry again operating in a residential area while
another resident said, “I think
it’s a great idea.”
Although Van Naarden and
Crowley presented their proposal to council, it was not to
seek approval for the project
but rather for a guarantee of
incoming feedstock, or waste, in
order to proceed with locating
the plant in the borough.
No action was taken, but
council decided to consider the
project after further research.
In other business, council
approved a payment of $4,200
to Lester Hauck for work done
cleaning debris from under the
Main Street bridge.
The council also agreed to
contract
with
Dolittle
Construction for replacement
shutters for the Muncy Public
Library. Cost for the project is
$5,392.
Council approved a motion
to transfer the borough’s 1995
Kodiak dump truck to the West
Branch Sewer Authority to pay
in-full for sewer work done in
the borough.
A request from Police Chief
James Dorman to purchase a
set of used vehicle scales at a
cost of $1,500 was approved by
council. The scales will enable
the police department to check
for overweight vehicles in the
borough. The chief stressed
that this is for the safety of the
motoring public and not for the
fines that could be realized from
violations.
At the request of Karen
Richards, who represented herself as a citizen of the community and not as a councilwoman,
council visited the borough’s
sidewalk ordinance and who is
authorized to enforce it.
After discussion, it was
decided that it basically is a
“huge can of worms,” according
to Noviello, and that nothing in
the ordinance has been
enforced so far.
The council agreed to begin
advertising rescinding the sidewalk ordinance in order to
begin formulating a new ordinance that is enforceable.
The next meeting of council
will be at 7 p.m. Aug. 2 at
Borough
Hall,
14
N.
Washington St.
Police aim to bridge gaps
(From Page A-1)
Spencer Sweeting, pastor of the church and
member of the Beloved
Community Council, a
group that espouses the
teachings of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., who
preached and practiced
nonviolence leading to
social change, hoped the
activity would plant a
seed in the city.
The city isn’t without
its troublemakers, including those within police
departments, attendees
said.
“There are a few bad
apples in every bunch,”
said Pastor Dorothy
Anderson,
of
Love
Unlimited Ministries.
Anderson, who has
lived in the city for the
past 26 years, said as a
resident she feels safe,
and police play a major
role in making her feel
that way, but there are
incidents in which black
city residents are fearful,
suspicious and angry.
Tensions within the
community can arise and
escalate if those with a
certain mindset or a lack
of understanding go down
a path that allows violent
thinking and demonization, according to Jeff
LeCrone, a member of the
Beloved
Community
Council and director of
Spiritual
Life
and
Community Service at
Lycoming College.
Young said his department is striving to battle
crime, much of it a result
of the heroin epidemic,
while trying to have its
officers apply principles
such as the “golden rule.”
“I find if you give
respect, you get respect,”
Young said.
Sweeting asked Young
and Linhardt how the
community’s blacks could
address real concerns
mirrored around the
nation.
“We feel unfairly targeted,” Sweeting said.
“How can we heal that
division?”
“A lot has to do with
perception,” Young said.
Building trust, engaging
in conversation and
ensuring the community
understands the role of
police will go a long way,
he said.
Sadly, escalation of
deadly shootings on police
and by police on citizens
isn’t waning.
“I have never seen the
amount of violence in
such a short period as
this,” Young said. “Our
job is to preserve the
peace and we can’t preserve peace if we are
becoming a target.”
Mayor Gabriel J.
Campana said community alliances will continue
to be strengthened under
his administration. Police
soon will be visiting summer daycamps, he said.
Young said when
resources and time permits, his department will
continue to engage itself
in the community. He
said he wants to see if the
yearly open house of the
Williamsport Bureau of
Police at City Hall can be
held once every six
months.
Linhardt and the others said the faith-based
community can make a
difference.
He said as his office
works to prevent crime as
much as prosecute those
accused of it, the county
juvenile probation and
Children and Youth
departments, both of
which deal with children
at risk, continue to
change young lives.
Linhardt said organizations and non-profits
such as Firetree Place,
which is at the former
Center, 600 Campbell St.,
and Community Alliance
for Progressive Positive
Action, or CAPPA, also
provide the necessary
instruction that can and
does make a difference in
the community.
“When I see mentoring
from these organization,
you won’t see their files
cross my desk,” Linhardt
said.
“I think it’s a great
start,” Young said of the
dialogue
exchanged
inside the sanctuary. “We
have a relationship built,
but we can make it
stronger.”
ANNE REINER/Sun-Gazette
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, left, listens as Dr. John N. Boll Jr., assistant director of the Williamsport Family Medical Center, speaks about the
rising opioid abuse among teenagers, during a news conference at the
Executive Plaza on Pine Street Wednesday morning.
Casey: Bill to help teenage
opioid abuse needs funding
(From Page A-1)
on teenagers as well as others who have
been prescribed pain medication.
“If something seems wrong, there most
likely is something wrong,” Young said.
He said “it’s an epidemic we can’t
enforce our way out of” and urged education in opioid abuse among community members.
County commissioners also asked for
funding that would support building
facilities to house those struggling with
addiction, instead of placing them in the
already overcrowded county prison.
Casey said the federal bill does not
include funding for those type of programs, but he said other options might
help.
“We need bills that can stand alone so
that there are no politics in it,” said
Commissioner Tony Mussare. “This isn’t
something that should be political. We
need this money right now.”
He stressed his frustration with bills
that can be passed but provide no funding, and so are useless.
President of Hope Enterprises
announces his retirement plans
(From Page A-1)
their life,” he said.
During the merging
process with both organizations, board of directors
Chairwoman
Lauren
Bryson said that with
Campbell’s
vision,
patience and diligence,
Hope Enterprises’ mission continued to be realized.
“Under his leadership
and team, they have done
an incredible job to provide services and improve
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette efficiencies,” she said.
By growing the organiA panel consisting of, from left, Vanessa Hunter, Jeff LeCrone, Richard
zation, it is able to meet
James and Tony White attend a policing forum on Wednesday.
the needs of the people it
serves, Campbell said.
Growth has been significant, he said. The
organization now serves
over 800 people daily and
is working with a $25 million budget.
“The best way to grow
is by meeting people’s
needs,” he said.
Though he is retiring,
Campbell said he has
enjoyed everything about
being president of the
organization. He said he
liked seeing people develop physically, intellectually
and
emotionally
through its programs.
With the help of a committed staff, people are
able to be helped each and
every day.
Bryson said Campbell
has been a true leader,
despite the ups and downs,
through his supportive and
patient nature.
Through his guidance,
the organization has been
able to prosper to where it
is today, she said.
Campbell’s retirement
plans consist of being a
full-time grandfather and
spending more time with
his friends and family.
No endorsement from Cruz; congratulations but that’s all
(From Page A-1)
raised questions about why the
Trump campaign invited Cruz
to speak — in a headlining role,
no less — without getting him
to agree to an endorsement.
The stunning moment
upended what had been the
convention’s most successful
night. Taking the stage shortly
after Cruz, former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich tried to
explain away the senator’s lack
of support for the nominee.
“Ted Cruz said you can vote
your conscience for anyone who
will uphold the Constitution,”
he said. “In this election there is
only one candidate who will
uphold the Constitution.”
Later, Trump was turning to
his newly named running mate
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence to
close Day 3 of the convention on
a more unifying note. A favorite
of evangelicals, Pence was
expected to urge conservatives
to shed their unease about
Trump by explaining why he
chose to partner with a man
who is his opposite in temperament, experience and in some
cases, policy.
The gulf between Pence’s
hearty embrace of Trump and
Cruz’s reluctance is emblematic
of the turmoil still roiling the
GOP.
Trump did get a boost from
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker,
one of the 16 Republicans
whose White House dreams
were vanquished during the
primary. Still, Walker suggested he was driven as much by a
desire to keep Democrat Hillary
Clinton out of the White House
as admiration for his party’s
nominee.
“Let me be clear: a vote for
anyone other than Donald
Trump in November is a vote for
Hillary Clinton,” Walker said.
After two nights of low-energy speeches, the crowd packed
into the arena was noticeably
more energetic Wednesday
night, dancing in the aisles and
waving signs reading, “America
Deserves Better Than Hillary.”
Lynne Patton, a longtime
Trump employee, spoke movingly about the businessman’s
strong family. Patton, who is
black, said she was proud to support Trump “not just in spite of
the color of my skin, but in fact
because of the color of my skin.”
Trump’s campaign had
hoped that by the convention’s
end, voters would look past the
gathering’s rough start, including the plagiarism charge
involving Melania Trump’s
opening address. After 36 hours
of denials, the campaign moved
to put the matter to rest
Wednesday, releasing a statement from a speechwriter who
took blame for including lines
from a Michelle Obama speech
in the remarks.
Trump, who will address the
convention tonight, cheered on
the night’s proceedings via
Twitter.
After
Walker’s
remarks, Trump wrote, “Great
speech!”
Campaign officials see
Pence’s address as an important opportunity to reassure
lingering doubts about Trump.
In a show of unity, he is being
introduced by House Speaker
Paul Ryan, a lukewarm Trump
supporter, and lay out his reasons for partnering with the
celebrity businessman who is in
many ways his opposite.
While Pence is expected to
make the case that Clinton is
unfit for the White House, officials said his speech will not be
a full-throated takedown in the
style of earlier speakers.
Cruz was harshly critical of
Trump in the waning weeks of
their primary battle, calling the
businessman a “pathological
liar” and “utterly amoral.” He
arrived in Cleveland with an
eye on his own political future,
holding a rally with hundreds
of supporters who greeted him
with chants of “2020” — suggesting Cruz’s backers have no
interest in seeing Trump
become a two-term president.
In his convention address,
Cruz spoke at length about the
recent stretch of violence across
the country. He urged
Americans to fight for the families of five police officers killed
in his hometown of Dallas, as
well as the family of Alton
Sterling, a black man killed by
police in Louisiana.
While Trump has dominated
campaign coverage for months,
Clinton has been the negative
star of the GOP convention.
Speakers have painted an apocalyptic vision of America if she
should win and have aggressively challenged her character.
While Clinton has been a target
of GOP ire for decades, the
harshness of the attacks has
been striking.