Indiana Gazette from Indiana, Pennsylvania • 4

a a a a a a a a a 4 Monday, May 6, 2002 REGION The Indiana Gazette Thomas L. "Tommy" Zettle, 27, of Thomas Zettle Obituaries Glenda Sarver Glenda M. (Steshoski) Sarver, 54, of Blairsville RD 4 died Saturday, May 4, 2002, at Latrobe Area Hospital. She was born Oct. 20, 1947, in Mount Pleasant, a daughter of Mrs.

Donald (Mabel) Brown and William A. Steshoski. Mrs. Sarver was active for many years in her son's school, coordinating the Reading is Fundamental (RIF) program and establishing and supervising a school science fair at Burrell Elementary School. She was a member of the Blairsville First Presbyterian Church.

With her husband, she owned and operated Glennie's Drive-In, an ice-cream shop and grill in Laurelville. Mrs. Sarver was also a former cmployee of Derry Area School District and the Blairsville Dispatch and, more recently, a student at Westmoreland County Community College, Chatham College and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She was named to the dean's list of those schools numerous times and was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa national academic honor society. She earned an associate's degree from WCCC and was pursuing a bachelor's degree in biology at IUP.

She was selected to participate in the Research Scholars program, during which she conducted experiments characterizing the ultradian biological clock of a protozoan, Paramecium, under the supervision of Dr. Robert Hinrichsen of IUP. Her results are currently in press. An avid gardener, artist, birder, amateur botanist and nature enthusiast, Mrs. Sarver was known for her insatiable curiosity and love oflearning.

She is survived by her mother, of Mount Pleasant RD her husband of 35 years, James R. Sarver; her son, Matthew J. Sarver, a recent graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.; two sisters: Pamela J. Marts, Latrobe, and Carol C. Halterman and her husband, Richard, Mount Pleasant RD2; and several nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Friends will be received today from 7 to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to p.m. at the Gaut-Bacha Funeral Horne Inc. in Pleasant Unity, where a funeral service will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. The Rev.

Roger D. Petersen will officiate. Interment will follow in Mount Joy Cemetery in Mount Pleasant Township. Garrison Carswell Garrison Henry Carswell, 16 days, of Evergreen, died Thursday, April 18, at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. He was born April 2, 2002, in Las Angeles, the son of Robert and Kelly Carswell.

Garrison is survived by his parents; one sister, Anna Rosemary; paternal grandmother Rosemary Carswell, Los Angeles; maternal grandparents Gary and Kaye Bird, Indiana; three uncles: Scott Klaus and his wife, Lordes, Northridge, Erik Klaus and his wife, Lisa, Forestville, and Christopher Bird, Iowa City, Iowa; an aunt, Anna Bird, Indiana; paternal grandmother Zelma Henry, Los Angeles; maternal great-grandmother Edith Olson, Amery, and six cousins. He was preceded in death by his paternal great-grandfather, Murray Henry; and maternal -grandparents Fred and Anna Bird, and Edhart Olson. A funeral service was held April 29 at the Evergreen Lutheran Church in Evergreen, with Pastor Vera Guebert Steward officiating. Memorial contributions are being accepted by Center for Discovery Learning, 7700 W. Woodard Drive, Lakewood, CO 80227.

John Blake John C. Blake, 92, of Commodore, died Sunday, May 5, 2002, at Miners Hospital in Hastings. Friends will be received Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Rairigh Funeral Home Ltd. in Hillsdale, where a funeral service will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m., with Fr.

Micah Kozoil officiating. Interment will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery in DuBois. DENINDOL PENNDO Star of: cellence Shawn TOP HONOREES Shawn Houck, left, safety press officer for the state Transportation Department's District 10 office, and John Serian, center, the department's assistant manager for maintenance in Indiana County, Friday received Stars of Excellence from state Transportation Secretary Brad Mallory, right. The star, the department's highest employee award, is presented for performance exceeding normal job descriptions.

Jim Struzzi; District 10's community-relations coordinator, said that each multicounty district typically has four or five Star of Excellence honorees each year. (Gazette photo by Tom Peel) Nursery products becoming a multimillion-dollar crop PHILADELPHIA (A.P) ---You might call it a growing industry a multibillion-dollar bouquet of crops that may come in pots rather than long rows in fields. Despite the drought, business is booming in nursery products such as begonias, pansies, petunias, azaleas, other annuals and perennials, and shade trees. And businesses such as nurseries, retail stores selling flowers and backyard goods, landscapers and similar finns have been collectively dubbed the "green industry." As a nation, "we're converting agricultural land into a different type of agricultural land," said George W. Hamilton senior turf-grass lecturer at Pennsylvania State University.

"If you didn't put turf grass or ornamental shrubs out in front of your yard, what would you put?" Penn State researchers last year reported that the green industry contributed $3.3 billion to Pennsylvania's economy and employed 107,000 people directly or through spin-off services, such as trucking or banking, making it the state's second-largest farm sector after the dairy industry. The industry produces at least $50 billion in economic output in the United States, is expanding up to 7 percent a year, and puts 1.6 million people to work, The Philadelphia Inquirer said, citing various trade and economic estimates. Federal statistics indicate employment in landscaping and horticultural employment grew at double the rate of overall employment through the 1990s. Although the study was partially funded by $25,000 from the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Associa- tion, researchers said their work was independent and the funding had no influence on the findings. New Jersey state statistics indicate vegetables are no longer the leading farm product; for several years, nurscry crops have been the largest revenue producer, especially in a belt of nurseries and greenhouses in Cumberland County.

"I've heard people say the largest crop in the U.S. is sod, because it's everywhere," said Linda Hutton, chief of the environmental, economics and demographics branch of the National Agriculture Statistics Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Flowers, potted plants and grasses "are valid crops" 1 because they generate sales, use land, need fertilizers, and drive economic activity, she said. "It seems to be an expanding market.

Every time we turn around we wonder where it all goes," said Denny Blew, chief operating officer of the 100-employee Centerton Nursery Inc. in Bridgeton. "People in the U.S. have moved beyond the state of necessities and now they are into the mode of wants." Steve Hutton, president of Chester County's ConardPyle known for its "Star Roses" brand of garden roses, compared the growing sophistication for plant buying and gardening to what happened in the wine industry, where growing appreciation led to higher sales. "We are in the sweet spot of demographics," Hutton said.

"Our best customer is a woman between the age of 45 and 60, and there are more oft them every day." Gene therapy making comeback ALAMEDA, Calif. Companies pursuing gene therapy cures are quietly regaining lost momentum and claiming vindication after experiments in France apparently helped rid four "bubble boys" of their immune deficiency diseases. Alameda-based Avigen is one such business. It recently received federal approval to resume human tests on Coagulin-B, its gene therapy for hemophilia. Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.

of nearby Richmond, Calif. is another. Its gene therapy for several different cancers, including pancreatic and colorectal, are in human trials. The positive publicity is a welcome change for gene therapy researchers who believe their field was hyped beyond reality in its infancy a decade ago only to be unfairly disparaged after Jesse Gelsinger, 18, died in September 1999 during a gene therapy experiment at the University of Pennsylvania. By PAUL ELIAS AP Biotechnology Writer Several other clinical trials involving gene therapy also were tainted with accusations of sloppiness and suspended after Gelsinger's death, believed to be caused by a massive immune system reaction to the gene therapy.

But plenty of human testing, such as at Onyx, continued without interruption. "After all the trauma, things now appear to have turned the corner for us," said Dr. W. French Anderson of the University of Southern California, who performed the world's first gene therapy attempt in 1990. "Some people left the field.

But those that stayed are starting to make real progress." Gene therapy research aims to cure everything from simple, one-gene defects like hemophilia to complicated diseases like cancer by injecting helpful DNA into patients. For some patients, gene therapy is their last chance. "It has dramatically improved my life," said Rev. Charles Wilson, 58, of Charlotte, N.C., who suffers from Deaths elsewhere By The Associated Press Dale Hyldahl ARLINGTON, Wash. Dale Hyldahl, who trained dolphins that appeared in television shows and movies in the 1950s, died April 20.

He was 69. In three years of training dolphins at the popular marine park, Hyldahl helped teach an animal named Flippy to jump through hoops, beg for food, kiss trainers and stand on its tail in the water. Flippy and other dolphins under Hyldahl's tutelage became the stars of the television series "Sea Hunt," starring Lloyd Bridges and filmed at Marineland. The dolphins also featured in the "Flippers" movie and TV show. Eric Louis McKitrick NEW YORK Eric Louis McKitrick, a Columbia University historian who wrote about the evolution of West gets to 30 years in prison Punxsutawney RD 5 died Saturday, 4, 2002, at Punxsutawney Area Hospital.

He was born Jan. 14, 1975, in Warren, the son of Giles S. and Theresa (Westover-Zettle) Myers. Mr. Zettle was a member of SS.

Cosmas Damian Roman Catholic Church, Punxsutawney. He was a graduate of Punxsutawney Area High School and the Pennsylvania School Technology, Williamsport, where he carned a degree in machining. He was a member of the National Rifle Association and was an avid hunter and fisherman. He was employed as a machinist at Jefferson Machine. He was formerly employed by Miller Bros.

Machine, Brookville. Surviving are his parents, Punxsutawney; paternal grandmother Mary Myers, Clymer; maternal grandparents Coletta and Thomas Westover, Ridgway; two brothers and two sisters: Gregory S. Myers, Deltona, Christopher L. Myers, Renee, wife of John Zettle-Sterling, Grand Rapids, 'and Dawn M. Myers, Hanover; and special friend Jennifer Stamler, Rossiter.

He was preceded in death by his father, James Michael Zettle; Cone sister, Leanne Zettle; Cecelia Zettle and Carl Myers; and several cousins. Friends will be received today from to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 2 to 4 Kand 7 to 9 p.rn. at the McCabe Funerral Home, Punxsutawney. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Wednesday at 11 a.m.

at SS. Cosmas Damian with the Rev. Father John Bauer as celebrant. Interment will be in St. Leo Cemetery, Ridgway.

Ruth Herbert Ruth E. Herbert, 87, of Timblin, formerly of Buffalo, N.Y., died Monday, 29, 2002, in Mulberry Square Care and Rehabilitation Center, Punxsutawney, She was born March 29, 1915, in BRochester, N.Y., the daughter of and Emily Hurd. Mrs. Herbert was a retired licensed nurse. She is survived by two daughters, Jean Eddy of Cheektowaga, N.Y., Dolores Ilickman of Buffalo, and by several grandchildren.

Mrs. Herbert was preceded in death by her husband. A funeral service was held Friday at -Pifer Funeral Home in Punxsutawney, and burial was at Mount -Olivet Cemetery in Tonawanda, N.Y. Pifer Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Gertrude Ferguson Gertrude N.

Ferguson, 68, of Kent, died Saturday, May 4, 2002, at Scenery Hill Manor Nursing Home. She was born Aug. 26, 1933, in Conemaugh Township, Indiana County, the daughter of William Eugene and Ida Gertrude Campbell Ferguson. Miss Ferguson lived most of her life in Kent and was the credit manager for McCreary Tire Rubber and Spe: cialty Tire for 47 years. She was a member of the First Church of God in Indiana, where she was treasurer and Sunday School secretary.

She was an avid baseball fan and had gone to 47 consecutive Pittsburgh Pirates home openers. She is survived by two brothers: Eugene Milton Ferguson and his wife, Pat, Blairsville; and James Warren Ferguson and his wife, Helen, Kent; seven nieces and nephews; 10 great-nieces and great-nephews; and a number of cousins. Miss Ferguson was preceded in death by her parents and one infant niece. Friends will be received Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Robinson-Lyde Indiana, where a neral service will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m., with the Rev.

John A. Swanger officiating. Interment will be in Oakland Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 1011 Old Salem Road, Greensburg, PA 15601. Mary Buck Mary L.

Buck, 71, of Iselin, Saltsburg RD 1, died Sunday, May 5, 2002, at Indiana Hospital. Friends will be received Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Curran Funeral Home in Saltsburg, where a funeral service will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. with Fr. Larry Kulick officiating.

Interment will be in Iselin Cemetery. A complete obituary will be lished Tuesday. Tomorrow's funerals RAY, Daniel 7 p.m., Richard C. Stuart Funeral Home, Armagh RESSLER, Mervin 11 a.m., Kenneth A. Stuart Funeral Home, New Florence STRINI, Peter Dominic, II a.m., St.

Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Gettysburg Continued from page 1 old stepbrother, Christopher Williams, read handwritten statements in hushed voices, and Williamson's cousin, Sean Morrissey, read a statement on behalf of Williamson's mother, Wanda. "Maybe if I had convinced him to attend college closer to home, he would still be alive," Morrissey read. "I am angry for the injustice of his lost potential, angry for his unfulfilled dreams. and angry that (West) tried to blame the victims." On Feb. 15, an Indiana County jury convicted West of all charges filed by borough police.

Witnesses testified that West, a former supervisor for Communications Commerce in Indiana, drank beer at a downtown Indiana tavern and left at closing time that morning. Police told the jury that West admitted he had been drinking when they found him, the wrecked cars and the fatally injured students at the intersection in a residential area at about 2:10 a.m. West sped through the stop sign at 67 mph, a state police accident analyst testified. An expert pathologist hired by the district attorney's office calculated that West's blood-alcohol level was 0.145 percent. An expert hired by the defense countered that there was not enough evidence to prove West's blood alcohot level was over the legal! limit, 0.10 percent, at the moment of the accident.

The defense attorneys also argued that Conley was partly to blame for the wreck because his car's headlights weren't in use. Martin today ordered West to serve consecutive sentences of to 10 years for each of two counts of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, six months to two years for having an accident involving death while driving without a license, and to four years for each of two counts of vehicular homicide. Martin issued concurrent jail terms of one to two years for each of two counts of involuntary manslaughter, two months to two years for driving under the influence and 15 to 30 days for possession of marijuana. West was fined $300 for DUI and a total of $525 for five other traffic violations. West, who was jailed from February until December, was given credit for time served.

West's defense attorneys, Harry Ruprecht and John Linkosky, have 10 days to file appeals. Standoff ends peacefully heart disease. In 1998, his doctors told him after two bypass operations that there was nothing they could do to relieve the 25 daily angina attacks he suffered. So in 1999, Wilson enrolled in an experimental gene therapy program in Boston where doctors injected the gene for vascular endothelial growth factor into areas of dead heart muscle. Today, Wilson said he occasionally suffers two mild angina attacks in a day.

"I couldn't walk more than 100 yards before gene therapy," he said. "Now I'm back to normal." The hope is that one or two injections every few years of helpful genes delivered using harmless versions of viruses known as "vectors" because they are adept at entering cells can replace the daily and weekly injections some diseases now require. The four bubble boys, who suffered from the deadly severe combined immunodeficiency, were given gene therapy in 1999 and 2000 when they were babies. All four, followed for up to 2 years, are thriving. PINE GROVE MILLS, Pa.

(AP) A man fired a shotgun at police during an eight-hour standoff Sunday morning that ended with his peaceful surrender, authorities said. No one was injured. Josh M. Steffen, 23, of State College, was charged with attempted homicide and related offenses and held in Cente County Prison on $400,000 bail. Two Ferguson Township police officers went to the Pennwood North apartment complex about 2 a.m.

to respond to a domestic dispute, authorities said. Police pulled Steffen's girlfriend out of the apartment and tried to coax him to surrender, but he fired a shotgun and the blast missed officers by about 18 inches, authorities said. Cemetery cleanup set PLUMVILLE Volunteers are needed to help clean up the Beraccha Cemetery in Plumville on Wednesday and Saturday. Rain dates are Wednesday, May 15, and Saturday, May 18. Money is also needed to help pay for mowing during the summer.

Donations may be sent to Treasurer John Gandolfi, 132 Main Marion Center, PA 15759. the American republic, died April 24. He was 82. McKitrick was best known for his book, "Andrew Jackson and Reconstruction" and co-authored "The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800." Both books are still in print. McKitrick also wrote about slavery and the Old South, as well as the creation of the American party system.

In 1960, he joined the history faculty at Columbia. He retired as an emeritus professor of history in 1989. Sir Peter Shepheard PHILADELPHIA Sir Peter Shepheard, a British architect and University of Pennsylvania architecture professor whose landscaping designs served royals and the public alike, died April 11 at his London home. He was 80. Shepheard becarne visiting professor of landscape architecture at Penn in 1957.

He was dean of its Graduate School of Fine Arts from 1971 to 1979. Shepheard was a former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1972 and was knighted in 1980 for services to architecture. He designed munition factories during World War I and then worked on the Greater London Plan. His landscape designs grace the London Zoo and various public gardens. Shepheard also designed gardens for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

After the war, he formed Shepheard, Epstein Hunter. The finn's clients included Oxford University, the University of Ghana and the London Zoo. At Longwood Gardens in suburban Philadelphia, he designed a glass roof for the renovation of the East Conservatory. HEARING AIDS Hearing Aid Dispensing Repairs Hearing Testing Speech Therapy Provider For Most Insurances Satisfaction Guaranteed Audiological Associates Speech A spectrum of fua-service care for all your spocch and hearing acods 270 Philadelphia Indiana, PA 724-463-EARS (3277) Thomas D. Licensed Todd, M.S..

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