Indiana Gazette from Indiana, Pennsylvania • 3

Wednesday, October 12, 2005 Page 3 State Specter says Bush is getting pounded over Miers kUUKKYft "VHKUIU sorry that on doctrinal grounds they (conservatives) don understand that she (Miers) cannot tip her hand on Roe. Sm. Jblaa Syacttr, Senate judiciaiy chairman in Miers' professional qualifications are excellent, but she lacks experience in constitutional law, Specter said. "The hearings will be focused on how she approaches constitutional issues, her capacity to handle them," he said. "Nobody's going to go easy on her.

I'm going to ask her a lot of White House counsel, to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He reiterated that he is looking into claims made by James Dobson, founder of the conservative group Focus on the family, that Dobson had private assurances from the White House that Miers is opposed to abortion. Dobson said Tuesday that he discussed Miers with Bush adviser Karl Rove on Oct. 1, two days before her nomination was announced. Dobson said Rove told him "that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally "We did not discuss Roe v.

Wade in any context or any other pending issue that will be considered by the court," Dobson said. He was speaking during a taping of his daily radio program, which is being broadcast Wednesday. Associated Press Writer PHILADELPHIA Conservatives are giving President Bush an unfair "piunmel-ing" over his selection of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter said Tuesday. The nomination has drawn criticism from conservatives who say Miers lacks proven conservative credentials and a judicial background. They want more information on whether she would vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v.

Wade decision that legalized abortion. "I'm really sorry that on doctrinal grounds they don't understand that she cannot tip her hand on Roe. I really think they're failing to understand a very basic constitutional principle of judicial BRIEFS TfctAMtciateaPra Family friend lolls woman, then himsdf CLAYS BURG A family friend shot and killed a woman and then turned the gun on himself Tuesday, police said. Kirsten Hoover, 28, of Al-toona, was shot to death in her mother's driveway icr Freedom Township, Blair County, between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., township police Chief John Reilly said.

John Newberry, 39, of Tyrone, was a friend of the woman and her husband, who was at. work at the time of the shooting. Police-were investigating the possibility that the man had a romantic interest In the woman, Reilly said. "That's what it sounds like," he said. "He would really have no other reason to do anything like this." "They're longtime friends, and apparently all three of them would go out pool-shooting and dart-throwing.

The husband didn't go out that often, but he apparently didn't have any qualms about tougn questions. Asked if Bush had chosen the best candidate, Specter said, "He has picked a candidate and our Job is to determine not whether she's the best 'qualified, but whether she's qualified." The president nominated Miers, his independence" Specter, said in an interview with reporters and editors from The Associated Press. "1 think the president is taking a tremendous pummeling on it unfairly. 1 think the stampede to judgment is not right," he said. Teacher faces cross-examination in trial on 'intelligent design' ARE YOU THINKING OP BUYING SELLING Mffim INVESTING Can A -Realtor Who cares!" mP TWl LYNN M.

KNAPKO 724-422-1383 NormaVhiteRealty 200 S. 7th Street, Indiana, PA 724-349-1501 product of an unidentified intelligent force, and that natural selection cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms. Brian Alters, an associate education professor at McGtll University in Montreal, was also expected to testify for the plaintiffs. The trial began ScpL 26 and is expected to last up to five weeks. has inexplicable "gaps," and refers students to a textbook called "Of Pandas and People" for more information.

Hie families contend the policy in effect promotes the Bible's view of creation, violating the constitutional separation of church and state. Intelligent design supporters argue that life on Earth was the FREE BLOOD PRESSURE ENJOY ty MARTHA RAFFAELf Associated Press Writer HARRISBURG A teacher who heads her high school's science department faced cross-examination in a federal trial today by lawyers defending a school board's decision to include "intelligent design" in its biology curriculum. The landmark trial over whether intelligent design can be taught as science in public schools recessed Thursday after a lawyer for eight families suing to have 'the concept removed from the curriculum questioned Dover High School science department chairwoman Bertha Spahr. Spahr, a chemistry teacher, testified Thursday that the science teachers objected to the curriculum change the board approved in October 2004, which requires students to hear a brief statement about intelligent design before classes on evolution. The statement says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact," I AUTUMN FOLIAGE 1 CHECK Oct.

13 10 am-5 pm CAnd Monthly The Second Thursday Of The Month) SIGHT-SEEING! FLIGHTS from Indiana County 3 Jimmy Stewart Airport Apothecary LORDY, LORDY LOOK WHO'S FORTY! If You See ANNIE MILLER Tomorrow, Wish Her HAPPY BIRTHDAY Love: Your Famn Damily tne two ot tnem going out alone without him," Reilly said. Rendell OKs warrant for man's execution HARR1SBURG Gov. Ed Rendell on Tuesday signed the death warrant of a Pittsburgh man who pleaded guilty to strangling a 12-year-old boy after sexually assaulting him in 1994. Leroy Fears, 43, an inmate at Greene state prison, was scheduled for a lethal injection on Dec. 8.

Fears, sentenced to death in 1995, said in a videotaped -confession that he molested Shawn Hagan in an area along the Monongahela River known as Hollow. He said he strangled Hagan after tlie boy threatened to tell his parents. Rendell has signed 42 death warrants since taking office in 2003, The three people executed in Pennsylvania since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978 ended their appeals voluntarily. As of Oct. 3, 224 men and five women were, on me state's death row, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Decommissioning set for nuclear plant Hours: 9 am-5 pm, Sat 9 am-1 pm 401 North 4th Street Indiana, PA 16701 Phone: 724-349-9170 d'CBSS One Of SAXTON The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Nov. 8 will mark the dc- commissioning of the former Saxton Nuclear Experimental Plant, whkh is finally clear of contamination following a 33-year, $70 million cleanup. Art Paynter, radiation safety officer for First Energy Nuclear Operating which now owns the site, briefed Bedford County Commis sioners on Tuesday about the 'site's clean bill of health. Satisfied that the site is cleaned up, the Saxton Nu- clear Citizens Task -Force.

formed in October 1995 to oversee the Last stages of the ''cleanup, also disbanded on Tuesday. Saxton Nuclear, the second privately owned nuclear reac The Nation's Best Health Plans. At UPMC Health Ran, our commitment to helping you I'we a long and healthy life is unparalleled and i shows. USAfens World Report and the National Committee for Quality Assurance iust ranked UPMC Health Plan as one of the top 50 health plans in the nation. We were given 5 out of 5 stars in both the Prevention and Treatment categories because we're looking out for you from the beginning.

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Call 1 -888-383-UPMC (8762) or vist www.upmcheathp'sn com. tor in the country, was run by Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corp. from 1962 to 1972. The 168-acre site about 90 miles east of Pittsburgh operated as a training facility for "nuclear plant workers who 'would go on to run full-sized plants, including Three Mile 'Island near Harrisburg. Man "gets life term for teen's murder PITTSBURGH A man urinated on a 16-year-old girl after stabbing her in the throat was convicted of first-degree murder.

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abuse ot a corpse. "I'm relieved," Carter's mother, Chris Brown, said. "It doesnt bring my daughter back, But ties out ot tne com munity and can't hurt any body elses child.