The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page B01

INSIDE News in Brief Obituaries Weather 4 10 11 Philadelphia Its Suburbs SECTION THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2004 West Wk iPfnlaMpfna Unquirer WWW.PHILLY.COM Pa. agency approves city budget John Grogan The overseer of Philadelphia finances voted unanimously, but warned of risks that could quickly erase the $109,000 surplus. the body by June 1 to give staff members time to examine the numbers. As a result of the delay, PICA'S staff did not release a budget report to accompany the board members' decision. A draft report called the plans responsible but warned of several risks that could quickly erase the $3.4 billion budget's slim $109,000 surplus.

But because members could not agree on the language of the report, it was not released. Among the risks cited in the draft: excessive costs associated with new contracts currently under negotiation with three municipal employee unions, rising pension-plan costs, financial trouble at Philadelphia Gas Works, and tax cuts passed by City Council that extend beyond the spending plan's five-year window. A last-minute proposal by Street that helped balance the budget also drew PICA scrutiny over the last week. Street reduced spending on police overtime by about $4 million. Because police overtime spending has repeat-See BUDGET on B9 By Michael Currie Schaffer INQUIRER STAFF WRITER The state board that oversees Philadelphia finances gave its stamp of approval yesterday to the city's spending plans, bringing to an end a four-month budget battle that was one of the most contentious in memory.

A rejection from the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority could have effectively crippled the city's ability to spend money. But in a unanimous vote, the authority's five board members deemed the budget and five-year plans that Mayor Street approved last week balanced and reasonable. Yesterday's vote was unusual because it took place a week after the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1. The city was supposed to have presented its budget documents to The stirring power of one brutal death Ex-Morgan executives plead not guilty The two are accused of making payments to lawyer Ronald A. White in order to receive city contracts.

The killing ofPorchia Bennett changed the way the city searches for at-risk families. By Julie Stoiber INQUIRER STAFF WRITER She was just a little girl, so frail that when a rescue worker lifted her body, her pants slipped down. Yet Porchia Bennett starved, whipped and smothered in a South Philadelphia apartment last summer proved to be a powerhouse. The murder of the 3-year-old upend-, ed the city's $600 million-a-year, child-welfare behemoth, which in the disquieting weeks after her death launched an overhaul of the way it searches for at-risk children and responds bo hotline tf.nnrrs. A detective app.n- By Joseph A.

Slobodzian INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Two former J.R Morgan investment bankers pleaded not guilty yesterday to federal wire-fraud charges involving payments they allegedly made to lawyer and power broker Ronald A. White to do business with the City of Philadelphia. Charles LeCroy, 49, of Winter Park, the former managing director of Morgan's Southeast regional office, and Anthony C. Snell, 44, of Smyrna, one of LeCroy's vice presidents, were each arraigned on two wire-fraud counts in brief appearances in federal court in Center City. Each was released by U.S.

Magistrate Judge Peter B. Scuderi after signing unsecured $100,000 bonds. Neither man commented after the hearing, except to say they would defend themselves at trial. Their lawyers also had no comment. LeCroy and Snell are among three defendants from outside the Philadelphia area who were indicted June 29 with White, 54, and former Philadelphia treasurer Corey Kemp, 34, in what prosecutors say was a pay-for-See PLEAS on B8 cy was hired to help track 310 missing families.

New guidelines, for investigating abuse have Rhetoric demeans real rights struggle Move over, persecuted saints and heroes. There's a new martyr in town. In case you were not aware of it, the Rev. Frank D. McCracken, the Reading minister snared in the far-reaching pay-to-play investigation, is not just another run-of-the-mill criminal defendant who stands accused of ripping off the very people who most trusted him, his own congregation.

That's just what the Government capital would have you believe. That's what The Man has trumped up. The truth, McCracken is not shy about boasting, is that he is a martyred hero in the tradition of Jesus Christ, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and others who died for their convictions.

The minister is not being prosecuted for allegedly conspiring with former Philadelphia City Treasurer Corey Kemp to pad bills, set up shell accounts, and skim off money meant for church repairs; not at all. He's being persecuted for the color of his skin. As he told The Inquirer's Mark Faz-lollah this week: "If the government wants to persecute me, it's the government that persecuted Jesus." Say what? I guess that explains all those toga-clad FBI agents running around lately. I knew we shouldn't have let Pontius Pilate hijack the federal corruption probe. But wait, there's more.

Opening old wounds "It's the government that persecuted Martin Luther King. It's the government that persecuted Marcus Garvey. It's the government that persecuted Nelson Mandela." And while we're glomming on to tragic heroes, let's not forget Gandhi and Joan of Arc, too. "This is the government that allowed blacks to be enslaved. This is the government that allowed my ancestors to be raped," he told Fazlol-lah.

"This is not new." No, corruption in Pennsylvania is not new. Nor is the art of dodging blame. But McCracken may have just set new heights of public scapegoating. Jesus? King? Garvey? Mandela? Slavery? Rape? You might be scratching your head, asking what on earth any of it has to do with the charges against him? The answer is nothing at all. There's an old saw that states: "When the law is on your side, argue the law.

When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When neither the law nor the facts are on your side, holler." McCracken is hollering his head off these days, hoping something sticks that will divert the public's attention away from the evidence against him. And so he gives us the martyr's sob story, the evil Government, and the race card all rolled shamelessly into one. In the process, he sullies the memory of some truly great humans and some truly tragic chapters in history. Does any reasonable person of any race seriously believe that federal investigators, deeply in pursuit of Philadelphia-based corruption, would arbitrarily reach up into the hinterlands of Berks County, to a congregation in the faded mill town of Reading, to pluck out an unsuspecting black minister for racial persecution? Please, Rev.

McCracken, spare us the tortured histrionics. Conspiracy of greed The charges against the minister are very specific. His indictment alleges he and Kemp, a member of his congregation, looted their church, St. James Chapel Church of God in Christ, and a state welfare-to-work program. It alleges they diverted much of a $116,000 bank loan and a $48,000 state grant to the church for their own enrichment.

Investigators allegedly caught McCracken and Kemp on tape discussing plans to steer $50,000 of the church loan into a planned racetrack casino. Isn't it enchanting to know Pennsylvania's fledgling racino industry is already drawing such discriminating investors? McCracken's too-loud protests notwithstanding, this case is not about Jesus or Dr. King or racism or slavery. It's about corruption and greed. In his attempt to obfuscate, he insults everyone who has ever suffered real prejudice, and he cheapens the ongoing battle for racial equality.

Defendants come in all shapes and colors. This one happens to be black. That he hides behind his race and trots out painful ghosts from our collective past instead of standing on the merits of his own behavior is perhaps the biggest travesty of all. been drafted. Her death set legal wheels whirring at the Criminal Justice Center and the Federal Courthouse.

It sent her mother, her aunt, and her aunt's boyfriend to f5f T4i prison awaiting trial. It spurred an outraged suburban legislator to investigate the second-largest city department, Human Services, Wanted: A spokesman to deal with corruption-probe questions. B8. Gov. McGreevey blasts New Jersey's chief federal prosecutor.

B8. which is responsible for protecting abused and neglected children. Porchia was discovered Aug. 17 in a one-room hellhole that held three other little girls: her sisters, each bearing her own scars and each a witness to the last savage acts that killed the baby of the family. Even now, the slaying of Porchia, who was remembered at her funeral for her "big beautiful smile that would melt your heart," still rattles seasoned lawyers and child advocates.

Yesterday was Porchia's birthday. She would have turned 4. "It devastates you," said Cheryl Ran-See PORCHIA on B6 Porchia Bennett, 3, was found in her home Aug. 1 7 by police responding to a 91 1 call. Her tiny, broken body was wedged between a wall and a mattress.

Arson charges thrown out in Delimar case INSIDE K0Z approval reignites worry over vacancies By Dwayne Campbell INQUIRER STAFF WRITER The signs, with bold letters and contact phone numbers, stand along roads and industrial parks throughout lower Bucks County: 10,000 square feet available for commer hanging last weekend, when the General Assembly left for summer recess without acting on the requests. Opponents of the state program, including competing business owners and neighboring municipalities, say a KOZ is a license to lure ELIZABETH ROBERTSON Inquirer Suburban Staff After more than 50 years of gambling with weather and volatile markets, Fred Smith Orchards in Washington Township may call it quits. B8. A judge ruled it could not be proved that Carolyn Correa set a fire before stealing a child. By Brendan McCarthy INQUIRER STAFF WRITER A judge yesterday dismissed arson and four other fire-related charges against the woman accused of the 1997 kidnapping of Feltonville infant Delimar Vera.

Carolyn Correa, 42, still faces kidnapping, burglary and other charges, but will not be charged with setting the house fire, which prosecutors argue was a ruse to steal the then-10-day-old girl. Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn Engel Temin decided to throw out the arson charges because fire experts could not conclude that the mid-December blaze was deliberate. Investigators had said the fire was ignited by improper use of an extension cord. Delimar's remains were never found and a death certificate was never issued to her parents, Luzaida Cuevas and Pedro Vera. Officials believed that the child was consumed in the one-alarm fire.

The District Attorney's Office has 30 days to appeal Judge Temin's ruling. Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman See CORREA on B7 New construction regulations require Bryn Mawr and Lankenau Hospitals to expand their campuses. B2. The Falls Twp. approval may or may not lead to jobs, and the status of two Philadelphia sites remains unresolved.

away their industrial and warehouse tenants. Kevin Flynn whose Flynn Co. real estate firm owns the Bucks County Business Park in Falls Township, said the last three years had been tough on the leasing business "and this doesn't make it better." The Flynn Co. has been cial use; 100,000 square feet for warehouses; hundreds more available for office, medical, and light and heavy industrial uses. Some of the signs have been there for years, marking the empty spaces long before U.S.

Steel's campaign to bring a tax-free Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone to the Fairless Works site in Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice president, visiting to bestow a children's book award, says she welcomes Sen. John Edwards N.C.) to the race. B3. trying to lease 100,000 square feet of warehouse space at Route 1 and Interstate 95 for more than a year. "Fourteen years from now, people are going to be screaming.

They'll be looking at these new buildings on the See KOZ on B9 Falls Township turned into a pitched battle. The official Bucks County debate ended with last month's state approval of the Falls zone. Two sites seeking the opportunity zone designation in Philadelphia, meanwhile, were left Leonard Abrams, 73, a Center City periodontist and bicycling enthusiast. Bll. Contact John Grogan at 610-313-8132 or jgroganphillynews.com.

Read his recent work at http:go.philly.comgrogan..