Indiana Gazette from Indiana, Pennsylvania • 12

Page 12 Wednesday. February 5, 2003 3 ubinun CSnutte Fyock runs for sheriff Region He has training and experience as a police Grearms instructor and in drug investigations, bomb detection weapons identification and use, disaster management, narcotics identic fixation, sobriety testing, prison management and security proce-i dures. Pyock has also attended seminars and classes dealing with anti-terror- ism. He said he will continue training and working closely with emergency management in Indiana County and western Pennsylvania. He noted that he will try to make the sheriff's office more efficient to handle increased anti-terrorism duties, as well as the additional work-involved in adding a third judge to the county court and the likelihoot that the number of prisoners to be transported will increase.

Fyock, wife Barbara and daughter Anna live in White Township at the site of his parents' former business! Hilltop Dairy. He is a I960 graduate of Indiana, Area Senior High School and a lifer time resident of Indiana County. He has 30 years' experience in lavf enforcement, including service in the U.S. Army Military Police at misf stle bases and a tour in Vietnam from Robert Fyock has announced that he will seek the Republication nomination for sheriff of Indiana County in the May primary. Fyock serves as the chief county detective for the county district attorney, Robert Bell.

As chief detective, Pyock said in his announcement, he is responsible for special criminal investigations; managing and training other detectives; collaborating with local, state and federal law enforcement in criminal investigations; and making sure all detectives receive up-to-date training and maintain their required certifications. He is also a member of the county's drug and DUI task forces. The current sheriff, Don Beckwith, has said he will not run for re-election. The parties will nominate candidates to replace him in the May primary, and voters will elect a new sheriff to a four-year term in November. The salary for the sheriff will be $39,055 next year.

The department is responsible for security at the courthouse, county parks and airport; transportation of prisoners; and assisting other agencies and law enforcement in the county. "With these responsibilities, the sheriff needs to be a manager, trainer, law-enforcement officer and ad- 1 f. 1 VM' ROBERT FYOCK Seeks COP nomination rninistrator," Fyock said in his announcement. "1 have these qualifications." Before being named chief detective, Fyock served as warden of die Indiana County Jail and as deputy sheriff. In those positions, he was responsible for administration, personnel supervision, budget control, reporting and training.

Members of the Homer-Center High School mock trial team include, front row from left, Vanessa Gatskie and Megan Heise, both 14-year-old freshmen, and Hannah Stultz and Alaina Petrillo, both lS-year-old sophomores, and back row from left, Michael Bertig, a 17-year-old senior, faculty adviser Carol Occhuizzo, Indiana attorney-adviser Geoffrey Kugler, and Rachel Timpe, a 15-year-old sophomore. (Gazette photo by Michael Henninger Students judge mock trial as worthwhile experience seeks justice post psSSr ZY their confidence and self-assurance and ability to speak in front of others." Michael Bertig, a senior at Homer-Center, made eye contact with the jurors and delivered a well-prepared opening statement. "This is a case about taking responsibility for your own conduct," Bertig charged, urging the jury to find the fictional basketball coach "grossly negligent" for his player's plight. Bertig is a second-year member of the mock-trial team. "I wasn't too nervous Bertig said after the trial "I was prepared for it, I memorized it and it flowed well." Bertig said he has no immediate plans to become a lawyer but he has been accepted at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, which has a school of law.

"I enjoy law, and participating in this is a fun way of learning it," he added. Although the students were re- quired to follow every courtroom rule to the letter, court officials set aside many of the regulations normally followed in the Indiana County court. Cameras and tape recorders, normally taboo in court, were permitted. The jurors 10, rather than 12 were allowed to take notes. judge Gregory Olson, who' presided over the trial, encouraged spectators to applaud the teams when the trial was finished.

And the lawyers' speeches and witnesses' testimony, which are unlimited in length in real trials, were capped by time limits. Law clerks Amy Leonardo and Larissa Mc-Grew, the district mock-trial coordinators, occasionally held up time-cue cards to let the students know when to wind up certain segments of the trial. From opening arguments to livery of the verdict, the trial Iasttid'a refreshing 74 minutes. 1969 to 1971. ministrative office of Pennsylvania courts.

"I have seen District Court 40-3-02 move from a manual record-keeping CVJlPm fft ntir nrocunl mmnntor tern, which is constantly being im proved ana made more elncient. Steffee said in her prepared anf. nouncement She has heard and disposed of, more than 3,000 traffic cases and several hundred criminal, civil and summary non-traffic criminal cases since taking office, according to hef announcement. She said she expects the caseload to increase with the addition this year of the White Township precincts, which include much of the retail and other business portions of the township. "I have already tried to make this transition easier for those persons and businesses involved by setting up meetings to answer all questions.

I and' my staff are always ready to help and assist during these times Of change," she in her announce merit. She serves on the board of the Armstrong-Indiana County Drug and Alcohol Commission and is a member of the District Special Court Judges Association of Pennsyh vania and the Indiana County Tasft Force on Domestic Violence. Homer property along Main Street for a senior-citizens or community center. Requested Dougherty, the solicitor, to draft a policy on open records to bring the borough into compIiJ ance with recent changes in state' laws. i Directed Dougherty to write art ordinance to change Race and Rose; avenues from one-way to two-wajf streets.

The council's vote in Januaryf to accept the Streets and Utilities Committee's recommendation fori the change was insufficient to enact the change, Buggey said. -ij SUSANNE V. STEFFEE Run on both ballots from her classes to run her' campaign. Before her appointment as district justice, she served as the office supervisor for District Court 40 -3-02 from 1991 until 2001. ShehasaUend-ed seminars on administration, caseload management, the district justice computer system and other court-related areas through the ad Indoor fiLrniture now banned outdoors to tighten ordinance Steffee District Justice Susanne V.

Steffee has announced her candidacy for Magisterial District 40-3-02 and will seek the nominations of both the Republican and Democratic parlies in the May primary. The district includes Homer City and Shelocta boroughs and the townships of Armstrong, Bnishval-ley, Buffington and Center and the southern precincts of White Township, Precincts 2, 3-1 and 3-2. Steffee was appointed district justice in October 2001 by Gov. Tom Ridge and was approved unanimously that month by the state Senate. She replaced her father, Michael Steffee, who retired last year.

Candidates for district justice can run on both ballots in the primary. After the parties nominate their candidates, voters will elect a district justice to a six-year term in November. District justices are paid an annual salary of $60,031. Susanne Steffee graduated from Iiomer-Center High School in, 1990 and Cambria-Rowe Business College in 1992 as a legal secretary. She completed the certification courses for district justices in 199(1 and has been recertified by the administrative office of Pennsylvania courts each year since.

She has attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania, with an interest in pre-law, and is on leave Council Continued from page 1 jective, he said. "We want to make it tighter," according to Buggey. The council acted on the matter at the request of borough resident Susan Plowcha, who wrote to the council a month ago to complain about a barking dog in her East Hm Street neighborhood. In other business, the council: Welcomed former Council-woman Arlene Barker to die panel. The council appointed her lan.

7 to fill the seat left vacant by Anthony Perman's resignation. Check out Today's Food Page: Page 24 Medical Center, Private Dining Near cafeteria Director Nutrition Food Serviced DtfSiL uWe want to make it tighter." Stanley Buggey, borough manager Elected David Myers as president, succeeding Perman, and chose Michael Gaydosh to serve as vice president in place of Myers. Authorized Buggey to ask the Indiana County Office of Planning and Development to perform a feasibility study for the use of the former Hotel Continued from page 1 ChiefWilliam Sutton told the council luesday. "I'm very pleased with the way these groups have conducted tiiems elves," Sutton said. "Everything's been handled very diplomatically so far." Sutton said he expects to see more demonstrations in Indiana as the Bush administration decides what acdon to take In Iraq.

In other action, the council: Denied, mainly for safety concerns, curb cuts along Philadelphia Street in front of the former Barclay's Hardware store and at the Fraternal Order of Eagles lower parking lot The council did agree conceptually with the construction of school-bus turnout lanes along North Fifth and Chestnut streets at the Indiana Area junior High School, if the Indiana Area School District decides to include the lanes in its renovation plans for the school Created the Wastewater Treat Continued from page 1 however, to learn the point scores for individual performances in the courtroom. Hie points, not the verdict, determine which teams advance in the competition. "It was nerve-wracking, but I liked it a lot," said sophomore Hannah Stultz, who took the role of the injured basketball player in the trial. The hardest work, she said, was memorizing her testimony and preparing for cross-examination by Central Cambria's mock lawyers. "For almost all of these kids, tills is not their only extracurricular activity," said Indiana attorney Geoff Kugler, a professional adviser to the Homer-Center learn.

"I'm amazed that they are as good as they are, considering all the other things they are doing. "I think it builds confidence, and I see it especially in the kids that are coming up through the program. You can see the change they make from one year to the next. You see Tiles found vulnerable Continued from page 1 knocked off or broken by insulation falling from the fuel tank and from other debris. In a follow-up to the report, Fischbeck said he studied debris strikes during the first 50 shuttle launches and concluded that about 25 thermal riles per flight sustained damage of at least one inch.

The analysis found that the most vulnerable parts of the shuttle were the undersides of the wings close to the fuselage and right under the crew compartment NASA experts said that data from Columbia shows a sudden temperature rise a marker for failed tiles in the left wheel well, an area Fischbecks report said was a critical risk. Fischbeck's report said that a key problem faced by NASA was training technicians to glue tiles on the hull of the space shuttle and then test the strength of the bonding. An adhesive used far the tiles hardened more quickly if it was wet, and the report said NASA found one technician helping the process along by spitting into the glue. The wetting, however, compromised the bond. To find loose tiles, workers conducted a pull test, using a special machine, but the study found this technique missed some problems.

The best method was a 'wiggle test that only experienced technicians learned to do, the study found. Loose riles are more easily knocked off by falling debris. Investigators searching for clues to Columbia's loss are focusing on a 214-pound, 20-inch chunk of foam insulation chat fell from the shuttle's external tank moments after liftoff and stuck the underside of the wing, possibly damaging the tiles. The shuttle was traveling at 2h times the speed of sound at the time, or just over 1,900 mph. Michael Kostclnik, NASA's deputy associate administrator for spaceflight, said that foam insulation has peeled off during earlier launches, but none was the size of the chunk that went sailing off Columbia's fuel tank.

Fischbeck said NASA has made improvements in protecting and maintaining the tile system since his study. ment Reserve Account to hold $600 from the sale of each sewer tap in the borough and White Township. The money will be used for future expansion of the borough's wastewater treatment plant and could offset the need for future rate increases. The borough manager, Jim Gladkosky, said $36,600 from the sale of 61 sewer taps last year in White Township can be deposited into the new account. Heard Darryl Butler of Indiana, who uses a motorized scooter, say mat handicap accessibility at some street corners in downtown Indiana is hampered because snow is not being removed.

Butler also said access ramps for wheel chairs at some downtown street comers arc not adequate or safe. David Kirk, the borough's code-enforcement officer, later in the meeting said that anyone seeing situations weather-related or not that do not meet the borough's codes should bring those situations to the attention of borough officials. Date: February 11 Time: 6pm to 8pm Location: Indiana Regional Room 3, Instructor: Brenda Shilling, 3QCOC ptions A funeral service today doesn't need to be like one of yesterday. That is, unless you want it to be. To fit the changing needs of those we serve, we have developed a full range of options from which you may choose, so you can create the funeral of your choice.

200! LuMf It AjHocUtt. off Weight Loss A no nonsense educational series explaining the ABCs of permanent, healthy weight loss: Activity Behavior Modification Caloric Intake No special food or equipment needed. Two hours of lecture with handout materials and shopping guides provided. Cost: $30 includes meal To register: Call Indiana Regional Medical Center's Scheduling Center at 724-357-7075 or toll free at 1-877-444-2778 This program may be postponed or canceled due to low enrollment. It is sponsored by Indiana Regional Medical Center and Indiana Healthcare Richard T.

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