Altoona Mirror from Altoona, Pennsylvania • Page 10

Page Aid AHoona Mirror, Thursday, October 20. limn Affirmative Action rips S. Alleghenies council By Phil Ray Staff Writer Two reprosenlatives of the Greater Johnstown Affirmative Action Council on Wednesday charged that the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission has done very little for minority business development, in violation of a 1985 agreement between the two organizations. James White, a member of the Affirmative Action Board, and Alien P. Andrews, its executive director, said (he U.S.

Department of Labor has been asked to reopen a 1984 discrimination case against the commission. But White and Andrews expressed the desire to amicably settle the disagreement. Many of the members of the Executive Board were stunned by the discussion. More than half the county commissioners on (he board were not aware of the conciliatory agreement between Affirmative Action and the local economic development commission. That agreement was signed by Andrews and former Southern Alleghenies director Stephen C.

Mandes. Basically the agreement said the Southern Alleghenies was to develop a five-year plan to help minorities find jobs and start businesses, and the Affirmative Action organization was to have a major part in carrying out the plan. Almost nothing has happened in the past four years, charged White, and that is why the case before the Department of Labor has been reopened. The Southern Alleghenies on Wednesday talked to White and Andrews for about an hour and finally decided to assign a member of the Southern Alleghenies staff, Patrick Milter, to search for funds to carry out the minority business program. Money, White said, has been the key reason why the minority business development program floundered.

Every time the Affirmative Action group discussed money, members of the Southern Alleghenies Executive Board scattered, White said. He said Affirmative Action two years ago presented a plan under which it asked for $66,000 to get the program started, "It's an issue of money. We don't have it," said Blair County Commissioner John 3. Ebersole, chairman of Executive Board. "There are ways to get money While said.

Whiles noted that in five years there has been no money for minority business development; but, he said, pointing to the meeting room, the Southern Alleghenies found the funds for a new building. He said the commission has "a lot of commitment on paper." Andrews explained mat the issue goes back to 1984, when the Southern Alleghenies was embroiled in a bitter battle over who should management the dislocated workers progam. Affirmative Action at the same time was upset because another Johnstown-based agency, United Way, was awarded more than $1 million in jobs money. Affirmative Action was awarded nothing even though its applications for program money received very high ratings. At that point, Affirmative Action was asked to apply to become the manager of the dislocated workers program.

Eventually the agency stepped aside to allow another agency to take the dislocated workers program. They did this after Mandes and the board agreed to the five-year minority business development program effort. While White and Andrews presented their case to the board Wednesday, the minority representative on the Southern Alleghenies Executive Board, Donald Witherspoon of Altoona, was becoming increasingly upset because he top has submitted a proprosal to aid minorities in Blair County, which has received little attention. mad," was the only comment Witherspoon had after the meeting on Wednesday. Court upholds death sentence for axe spurned lover Mirror photo by J.D.

Cavrlch WORKERS APPLY a Dryvit finish on the had to be removed because they had warped AHoona Area Public Library Wednesday, and were in danger of falling. Work is being The Dryvit is replacing marble slabs which done by contractor Maurice Lawruk Inc. PHILADELPHIA (AP) The state Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for a spurned lover- turned-murderer who argued his confession should not have been used as evidence and he was not competent to stand trial. In another ruling, the court also upheld the death penalty for a man who hacked a fellow bus passenger to death with an ax. The decisions have no impact for now because Gov.

Robert P. Casey is signing no new death warrants until the state Supreme Court rules on another case attacking the underlying constitutionality of the death penalty law. In an automatic appeal handed down Wednesday, the Supreme Court reviewed the death sentence for Robert Logan, convicted ax murderer. Logan had argued (hat his confession should not have been used in the trial, he was not compe- tent to stand trial and a reasonable doubt to his sanity existed. Chief Justice Robert N.C.

Nix, however dissented from the majority, saying Logan was not competent. "The record, replete with evidence of his self-destructive mental illness, stands as a mockery of our criminal justice system," Nix said. Nix said the case should be sent back to a lower court trial once Logan is competent. Logan, 28, was convicted in 1982 of first-degree murder and possession of an instrument of crime and sentenced to death for hacking Roosevelt Tilson, 26, to death on a bus owned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. The men did not know each other.

Shortly after police arrived at the bus, Logan burst out: "I did it; I'm glad I did it; I will get 10 years for it, but I hope he dies." Logan was read an abbreviated version of his rights while a police officer tried to restrain him. Later, at Philadelphia police headquarters, he was read his rights twice in full before signing a confession, according to court records. The court said he was sane and competent to stand trial because he knew he had killed someone and was aware that he could go to jail, In another case decided Wednesday, the court denied Flprencio Rolan's appeal. He was convicted in May 19M of shooting Paulino Santiago in an abandoned house in Philadelphia. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen A.

Zappala rejected the court's ruling that Rolan's previous conviction for burglary was an aggravating circumstance warranting a death sentence. Is your baby covered? Get a Pru-Review. Owner of 35 cats has trouble finding place free of pet laws NORTH BRADDOCK (AP) Linda Asher says she searched two years for a neighborhood that would welcome her 35 cats, but a new pet ordinance has her house- hunting again. "I intentionally came here because there are so many people who have pets," Mrs. Asher, 47, said.

Borough Council on Tuesday night approved an ordinance limiting to five the number of dogs, cats and other mammals kept as pets in a single residence. It also prohibits animals from running loose, requires vaccination and licensing, and provides for the impounding and disposal of unclaimed animals. The ordinance takes effect 30 days after it is signed by Mayor Norman Irvin. "This is an issue of not wanting me here on this property," said Mrs. Asher, who moved to Ridge Avenue from nearby Braddock with her cats last year, when the neighborhood had no pet-limiting ordinance.

Ursula Heaverly, wife of former Councilman and Tax Collector James Heaverly, fought for the ordinance after she and other Ridge Avenue residents complained about Mrs. Asher's cats. "You'd have to live next door to it like I do to appreciate what we've been through," Mrs. Heaverly said. "Those cats, they're everywhere.

We couldn't even sit outside, the smell was so bad. It was just unbearable this summer when the temperatures were so high and there was no breeze," she said. But Mrs. Asher, an employment counselor for the state Welfare Department, said she is the one who suffers because she forced to keep her cats confined indoors to avoid verbal abuse from her neighbors. She said her neighbors have a vendetta against her that involves "a lot more than just cats." She said some neighbors are angry because she installed a cyclone fence around her property.

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