Star-Gazette from Elmira, New York • 9

LOCALREGION Star-Gazette, Saturday, October 1 3, 1 990 3B ID N.Y., PA. Bill to eliminate widow's tax vetoed by Casey The Associated Press can create financial hardship for lower-and middle-income families, they say. Casey said he would work with legislators and interest groups to come up with a bill that would provide help to "those people for whom this tax constitutes an unconscionable economic burden" at a traumatic time. Loeper characterized the veto as "the type of faulty policy decision Pennsylva-nians may see more frequently from this administration because of the deep budget hole the governor has dug. Rather than confess there is a fiscal problem, the governor will continue to contrive reasons for rejecting worthwhile legislation." The bill also included an overhaul of political showdown with Republican gubernatorial candidate Barbara Hafer, who said she would have signed the bill.

Senate Majority Leader F. Joseph Loep-er, R-Delaware, said Casey "trampled the concerns of Pennsylvania's elderly" by rejecting the bill. In his veto message. Casey said he would have signed the bill if it would have helped poor widows. Rather, he said, the legislation "would provide a $30 million tax break for about 1,000 of our wealthiest residents." Supporters argued that the tax places an unfair burden on widows and widowers at a time of personal grief.

It also the state's guardianship laws, which regu- I late the care of incompetent residents. Under the current guardianship lawa person can be declared incompetent without being present at the court hearing. Once a guardian is appointed, there is no system of checks and balances that guard against abuse, supporters of the proposed reform said. The bill would have allowed for limited guardianship, ensured the person's rights are protected and provided for a review of the guardianship arrangement Casey also called for the Legislature to pass a new bill that changed the guardian guidelines. HARRISBURG Gov.

Robert P. Casey on Friday vetoed a bill that would have eliminated the state's so-called widow's tax, prompting immediate criticism from Senate Republicans. Casey, who waited until shortly before 8 p.m. to announce the action, called the legislation "a giveaway to the rich." The 6 percent tax is paid by surviving spouses on inherited property or assets that are not in joint ownership. Under the bill, the tax would have been reduced by 1 percent each year until it was eliminated by mid-1996.

The action sets the stage for a potential Testimony: Murder suspect regularly asked about killings V. JACK'. "I asked him if he felt anxious or excited as he left the area," Grant said. "He said no and paused, then he said 'business as i Shawcross repeated that phrase several times as he was questioned, Grant said. "I asked him if he knew at the time he was killing these girls that it was wrong.

He said yes, but it didn't matter, that it was business as usual," Grant said. Shawcross' attorneys have said they will use an insanity defense. To prove legal Insanity in New York, the defense must show that i Shawcross either did not know the nature or consequences of what he was doing, or did not know that his actions were wrong. Shawcross said he thought about the women affer he killed them or experienced re-morse, Grant said. "He said he was able to blank out bad things." Other police officers have fied that Shawcross said he felt remorse after at least one of the killings.

At the time of the Rochester slayings, Shawcross, 45, was parole after serving 15 years prison for killing a child. fll rvj'-K ins 1 1 1 1 Mil I I I 1 The Associated Press ROCHESTER An accused serial killer said he often stopped at a doughnut shop and asked police officers how their investigation of the slayings was going, a state police lieutenant testified Friday. Arthur J. Shawcross, charged with murdering 10 women over the past two years, said he often dropped in at a Dunkin' Donuts frequented by police officers, Lt. John E.

Grant said. "He said they would come in and he would ask them how the cases were going. I said, 'Were you playing with the police? Was this a He said, 'No. Business as Grant said he questioned Shawcross late on the evening of Jan. 4, after the parolee had confessed to the string of slayings.

Shawcross told Grant he deliberately hid the bodies of his victims, Grant said. Shawcross said he would have buried all the bodies in one mass grave, but didn't have a shovel. After killing each of the women, Shawcross said he would ride around with them in the car until he found a location that "looked good" to dump the body, Grant said. possible." Initially, a pathologist attributed Gryziec's death to a stab wound. But Gryziec's son Martin found a spent shell casing in the dining room after police finished searching the house for evidence and turned it over to a detective.

The detective reportedly said, "Let's not mention this to anyone for the time being." Cretaro said the detective was not keeping evidence from the investigation. It was done "for fear the weapon would disappear," he said. Gryziec's body was exhumed New mall to open Subcontractor Bill Calkins of Renovations Unlimited, an Ohio-based firm, gives a last-minute polish to a near-century old wooden carousel that is the centerpiece of Pyramid developer Robert Congel's newest mall in Syracuse. The giant mall is scheduled to open Monday. they're close to solving murder case 6 charged in Mafia operation PHILADELPHIA A two-count indictment unsealed Friday charges six Philadelphia men with running a $3 million bookmaking operation for the Mafia.

From 1983 through mid-1987, the betting business operated seven days a week, every week of the year and had gross receipts of more than $2,000 daily except on football weekends, when the ring would handle $400,000, the indictment says. The indictment charges Salva-tore D. Puleio, Louis J. Morelli, Robert A. Canzanese, Garry Ia-connelli, Ralph P.

Abbruzzi and John J. Palumbo. As unindicted co-conspirators, the indictment names mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, Joseph Pungitore and Thomas Del Giorno and identifies them as owners of the gambling ring. All three have been convicted on various other state and federal charges since 1987. NAACP official's son loses job OSSINING, N.Y.

The son of state NAACP President Hazel Dukes was fired from his job at the Ossining Correctional Facility after he allegedly stabbed a fellow worker with a screwdriver, authorities said Friday. Ronald Dukes, 40, a recreation program leader at the facility, got into an argument with Luis Mar-cano, 36, another recreation program leader, at the gym at Tappan, the prison's medium security section, according to State Police Investigator Lt. Angelo Abreu. Store boycott called by union HARRISBURG The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union on Friday urged customers to boycott Giant and Martins food stores until officials treat workers fairly. Union leaders said Giant and Martins, both owned by the Netherlands-based company Ahold, wants to force American workers to help pay for their health care costs while benefits for its foreign employees are fully paid.

"Expecting workers in America to have a co-pay where there wasn't one before is blatantly unfair," said Carl Huber, president of Pittsburgh Local 23, which represents 23,000 workers. "We think that's pathetic. Gunshots meant to scare robbers NEW YORK A 56-year-old Harlem grandfather told police he only fired his unlicensed gun on a subway platform to scare two men who were robbing another man, a prosecutor said Friday before a Judge set bail at $1,000. Cecil Frazier of West 114th Street, a cook, pleaded innocent in Criminal Court in Manhattan to criminal possession of a weapon. Judge Micki A.

Scherer set bail at $1,000, less than the $2,500 requested by Assistant District Attorney Thomas Higgins. He was expected to make bail. Workers urged to remain calm STATE COLLEGE, Pa. Workers on an office's front lines should choose soft words and smiles over snarls and snottiness as their weapons for calming crabby customers, a Penn State University professor says. About 30 workers traveled from aroiind the state to learn the fine art of catching flak Friday.

"The main thing is learning how to listen without being defensive yourself," speech communications professor Coleen Carron DeLong said. "Remember, like the proverb says, a gentle answer turns away wrath." Deadly snakes sold by stores NEW YORK A chain of pet stores has been selling venomous Oriental water snakes mistakenly labeled as harmless garter snakes, city health officials said Friday. The snakes, called rednecked keelbacks, may bite if they are handled, and their bite can be fatal if not treated, said health department spokesman Peter Lynn. The department believes that 50 of the snakes have been purchased by the Petland Discount Inc. chain, and some were sold as red head garter snakes, Lynn said.

Police say The Associated Press ROME, N.Y. Police say they may be close to unraveling a 14-year-old murder publicized nationally this week on the television show Unsolved Mysteries. On Wednesday night, the show featured a re-enactment of the murder of Stanley Gryziec. Gry-ziec was 59 when he was shot and killed Nov. 6, 1976, in his home in south Rome.

His wife, Esther, was tied up in the kitchen while two men ransacked the house. She died two years later of natural causes. Rome Deputy Police Chief Da vid Combs confirmed Friday that investigators had a strong suspect. "We think we know who did it, but we're not at liberty to talk about his whereabouts," Police Chief Edward Cretaro said Thursday. "That was the whole purpose of the show, to get more information, to button it up." The program generated about 150 telephone calls nationwide from people offering information on the crime, Cretafo said.

However, Cretaro said his department did not have enough evidence to convict that suspect of a crime. and a second autopsy was Dec. 3, 1976, which revi vealed the bullet. Tha information was not made public until 1980. A picture of Charles-' Bucrzinski, a man who may hojd clues to the murder, was shown" on the broadcast.

It was the first'' time it has been publicly rjs-vealed police were searching for': him. Cretaro said he thoughf Bucrzinski was interviewed by police soon after the murder and; now they want to talk to hinv; again. He is believed to be near Phoenix, Ariz. vV v3r if BP '4 The Associated Press "We have enough to indict, but probably not enough to convict," Cretaro said. "We don't want to indict without a conviction." Composite sketches of the two suspects were shown on the show, which revealed several pieces of information that had not been made public before.

The program also suggested that police botched the investigation and hinted at a possible cov-erup, saying that some "crucial evidence" in the case is missing. Cretaro said he was not aware that any physical evidence was missing, but said "anything's overturned must be declared. The alternate panelists had been dismissed Wednesday afternoon when deliberations began. Evseroff said he would ask the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court to order Owens to dismiss the indictment against Stressler. Stressler, 22, is accused of murder, manslaughter, riot, assault and other crimes in the Aug.

23, 1989, racially motivated slaying of Hawkins, who was 16. At the news conference, Evseroff said he believed the Jury would have acquitted Stressler of all the counts except one misdemeanor, fourth-degree criminal Eossession of a weapon a aseball bat. Cuomo's press secretary; Woman allegedly refused to sign statement over fire at murder site The Associated Press participating in the burning of the bodies. She refused to sign it," Chandler said. The statement, which Tompkins County District Attorney George M.

Dentes read into the court record this week, shows that from the time of her arrest, Kinge denied being at the Harris house despite the fact that the gas can allegedly bears her fingerprints. Kinge's son, 33-year-old Michael Kinge, was shot to death Feb. 7 when police raided his duplex outside Ithaca. Police say Michael King, shot the Harrises Warren, 39; Dolores, 40. Shelby, 15; and Marc, 11 the night of Dec.

22. Shirley Kinge, 55, who lived next door to her son, is accused of setting a fire in the Harrises house the morning of Dec. 23 and of using Dolores Harris' credit card later that day. She was arrested in the February police raid. The trial recessed Friday and resumes private job he would leave state government after the Nov.

6 election and fore the end of the year. 1 2 Uti PATRIOTIC BUY PRODUCTS JJP1 MADE IN THE U.S.A. a TODAY ITHACA A state police investigator who interrogated Shirley Kinge testified at her trial that she refused to sign a statement after he accused her of setting a fire at the home were the Harris family was killed. H. Karl Chandler, a senior investigator with the New York State Police, said Thursday, his second day on the stand, that Kinge was cooperative during questioning after her arrest.

But Kinge's attitude changed near the end of the five-hour interview, when Chandler accused her of setting a Dec. 23 fire at the Harrises' suburban Ithaca home, Chandler said. "I asked her how her fingerprints possibly got on that can," Chandler said, referring to a gas can found in the Harrises' living room, bearing Kinge's fingerprints. "I was accusing her of being in the house, of resigning for The Associated Press ALBANY Gov. Mario Cuomo's press secretary and counselor, Gary Fryer, said Friday that he was resigning his state post to become a vice president with an insurance company.

Fryer, 39, has held the state job since July 1987 and has worked in the governor's press office since 1983. The Cuomo aide, the governor's third press secretary, said he would be joining The Lawrence Group, a Schenectady, N.Y.-based company with 900 employees and operations in 40 states and three countries. Fryer said OPENING 0, rainn iui 7T7r EVE1M mom 0f Lawyer wants mistrial HOTWN ST A. Diwicrwi "TJTT Vl The Associated Press NEW YORK The lawyer for Bensonhurst murder defendant Charles Stressler said Friday he would seek to have the mistrial of his client overturned on appeal and the charges against Stressler dismissed. "I believe he would have been acquitted of everything, save the bats," the attorney, Jacob B.

Evse-roff, said at a news conference. Stressler, who prosecutors say handed out bats to the mob of whites that surrounded Yusuf Hawkins, said he felt like he "got the short end of the stick." "I feel cheated, like I wasn't given a fair shot at a fair trial, which I think I'm entitled to, and I'm shocked with the way it came about," Stressler said. Brooklyn state Supreme Court Justice Thaddeus Owens declared a mistrial late Thursday following a courtroom outburst by a Juror, who accused the father of Hawkins of staring at her and trying to intimidate her. The juror, Lydia Bermudez, later told the judge and lawyers involved in the case that she could not remain impartial and she was removed from the panel. Both sides agreed to accept a verdict from an 11 -person jury, and deliberations continued.

However, after several hours, Owens ruled that the defendant could not waive his right to a 12-member jury and that a mistrial EVERYBODY THAT KNOWS A CHILD! Tr'xAav ID-nfl a.m. n.m. Jk Saturday 10:00 a.m. 3:00 p.m. CLOSED SUNDAYS Compiled from wire reports..