Indiana Gazette from Indiana, Pennsylvania • Page 11

By The Associated Press Farmer dies after tractor flips over CLEARVILLE, tractor has flipped over in Bedford County and fatally crushed its owner, who was moving hay. Authorities said Paul Vignola, 56, was working with a front-end loader at about 10 a.m. Wednesday on his farm in Monroe Township when his tractor became unbalanced and landed upside-down on top of him. A friend, Loyd Dodson, said he saw the back of the tractor lift up, and he yelled for Vignola to get out of the tractor. "He's a big guy, and it's not easy to get out of those tractors," Dodson said.

"He just didn't have enough time to get out." Dodson had been Vignola's friend for 25 years and had worked for him for 14 years. "It's a terrible loss because he was a good friend of mine," Dodson said. The Office of the Coroner determined Vignola died of internal injuries. Police charge husband in stabbing BUENA VISTA, Pa. Police answering a call about a domestic dispute found a woman's stabbed body on her living room couch and arrested and jailed her husband.

George Lipchey, 42, of Elizabeth Township was charged Wednesday with criminal homicide in the murder of Georgia Lipchey, 31. Township Police Chief Charles Tennant said Lipchey called for an ambulance at 6:39 a.m., saying there had been an argument at his home. When police arrived, he led them to his wife's body. In the basement, they found a knife believed to be the murder weapon. She had been stabbed several times, Tennant said.

Also in the home were the couple's two children, a 6-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy. They are now staying with relatives. DA's wife seeks protection from spouse WAYNESBURG, Pa. The wife of Greene County District Attorney David F. Pollock is seeking court protection from her husband, contending he pushed her down July 24 during a quarrel.

Lisa M. Pollock filed for the temporary protection order Wednesday in Greene County Common Pleas Court. Judge H. Terry Grimes granted the order and scheduled a Sept. 8 hearing.

David Pollock said in a short statement that he was "humiliated" by his wife's decision to publicly air their private lives. She said he pushed her backwards onto the wood floor of their home and that when she tried to get up, he pushed her down a second time, knocking her into an iron radiator. Pollock said his wife was distraught over his decision to seek custody of their two children. Walkers discover body in reservoir JAMESTOWN, Pa. Walkers have found the body of a man in the Pymatuning State Park reservoir, where he had been seen walking on a bridge two days earlier.

Police said a group of people walking in the area spotted the body of Phillip Lipscomb, 44, of Jamestown, Mercer County, under the bridge Wednesday. Authorities believe Lipscomb lost his footing, fell in the water and drowned. He was last seen alive Sunday night at the reservoir, which is on the Ohio line. (jazette Thursday, August 31, 11 Democrats come calling with phone card By RICH KIRKPATRICK Associated Press Writer HARRISBURG Look out MCI and Sprint. Here comes the Democratic Party.

In a move he said is "blazing new trails," state party chairman Mark Singel announced Wednesday that Democrats will be selling 122.95 phone cards to raise money. The state party apparently is the first in the nation to sell prepaid telephone calling cards. The card is worth 57 minutes of calling time and promises to save buyers 50 percent on long distance charges and 65 percent on pay phone charges. The card comes with the party logo and a choice of three scenes: the state Capitol, Independence Hall and Pittsburgh's skyline. Singel said the party will get a cut from the sale of each card, although he didn't have details.

An ad campaign to build sales is also being considered. Despite recent news accounts about Democrats being dispirited and White House officials being unable to agree on a theme for 1996, Singel contends the party "is on a roll." "It's time to celebrate," Singe! told reporters in his party headquarters office. "It's time to celebrate the revitalization of a party we know is the party of the people and the- party that speaks for working families." The party is also banking on President Clinton's senior aide George Stephanopoulos to help draw contributors to a reception and gala in Harrisburg and Hershey Sept. 8. Tickets for the reception are $50 each and for the gala $175 per person or $300 per couple.

Parents reject amnesia victim By EILEEN LOH Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS It's not the happy ending friends had anticipated for "Gigi," an amnesia victim who spent six months searching for her identity. Gigi finally learned this week that she is Belinda Lin, 31, a medical secretary from Wilmington, Del. But she still can't remember anything about herself and her relatives in northwestern Pennsylvania aren't sure they want her back. "I feel like after all this, now we know who she is and there's still no closure to it," said Cheryl Lear, patient advocate at Southeast Louisiana Hospital, where Gigi lived for months. "What she's going to do now I have no idea." She said Wednesday that Miss Lin was in seclusion and did not want to be interviewed.

Nothing has jogged her memory. Lear also said nothing explains the amnesia, although Lin had been diagnosed as schizophrenic at age 18 and had not been taking anti-psychotic medication for years. Gigi was found wandering in New Orleans Feb. 18. She spent six weeks in a hospital and then four months in the psychiatric clinic, trying to establish her identity.

At the time, she told The Associated Press: "I'm feeling alone. No support, no family, no friends." When the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" broadcast her story last week, a call from a former The newspaper quoted Lin, a Presbyterian minister, as saying, "I'm not going to spend the money to go down there if she does not remember us. She is of legal age, and I don't know if I want to bring her home when there are such emotional problems." The former Belinda Lin isn't rushing back to her old life either. "This morning, I said 'Do I call you Belinda Lear said, "and she said, 'No way. My name is Clinton's campaign has scheduled the president for a Sept.

18 funoVrais- er in Philadelphia. The state party has retired about half-ef its $200,000 debt and will repay the rest by the end of the year, Singel said. Repeating a theme he used in his unsuccessful gubernatorial election last year, Singel said a moderate, friend-of-working-people's message is a must for Democrats. "We have to reassert ourselves and remind people that we're the good guys," he said. "And we're not the people who are catering to the rich." As for Gov.

Tom Ridge, -who beat him in the November election, Singel said he's done a "mediocre" job so far. Singel faulted Ridge for a "heavy- handed and clumsy" effort on his major policy initiative, school choice. The plan, to offer grants to parents to send their children to public, private or parochial schools, fell five votes short in the House in June despite Ridge's intense lobbying. But Singel said being governor is "a growing experience. I think there is still plenty of time for the governor and his Republican majorities to work their will.

They just haven't done a very good job of it so far." BELINDA LIN Known as "Gigi" co-worker, Nancy Lawrence of New Castle, led to her identification, which was confirmed by dental records this week. Her parents, Stanley and Carolyn Lin of Edinboro, learned in February that their daughter had disappeared, but did not notify police, Lear said. Lear said Lin had spoken with her parents, and was depressed and angry afterward. The Lins did not answer phone calls to their home Wednesday. Her father told The Times-Picayune newspaper that he would "like to find out what happened to her that was so terrible that she decided she had to forget everything." INDIANA EYE CARE DR.

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The two groups were among the at a hearing on a constitutional amendment to replace elec- tion of statewide judges with merit selection. Three regional nominating commissions would recommend candidates for statewide courts to the governor. The Supreme Court would have to have at least one member each of the regions and the Superior and Commonwealth Courts would be split among the three 'regions. "It represents an erosion of fundamental principles of democracy, self-government and freedom," AFL-CIO president Bill George said in prepared remarks. Merit selection would deny people their right to select judges, make the process less public and create a system dominated by a few special interests, George said.

Since the courts rule on issues such as workers' compensation, jobless benefits, strike injunctions and prevailing wages, judges must be directly accountable to the people, George said. Added Joanna Hamill Flum, the trial lawyers' president: "We continue to believe that the phrase 'merit selection' is merely a 'sound bite' cleverly concocted by those who wish to deprive Pennsylvania citizens of basic rights." Presenting the opposite argument was former Superior Court President Judge Edmund Spaeth, who said popular election of statewide judges is "a politically bossed system that masquerades as an instrument of the popular will." A longtime champion of merit selection, Spaeth declined to seek retention to Superior Court in 1985 because of his distaste for m.m.ng politics and the courts. Now chairman of a reform group, Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, Spaeth said people are mistaken if they think judicial elections reflect a deliberate decision by voters. His own election in 1975 was by "political chance." he said. The Democratic Party had his name on sample ballots and he benefited from a hotly contested mayoral race in Philadelphia.

His margin from the city was enough to carry him statewide. "To say it was an exercise of the popular is nonsense," Spaeth said. Merit selection, used by 33 states, produces a more diverse judiciary and avoids ethical problems, especially when judicial candidates have to raise contributions from lawyers who may later have cases before the judges, Spaeth said. "The time has come for something to be done," he added. Rep.

Daniel Clark, R-Juniata, the subcommittee chairman and prime sponsor of the legislation, said the guarantee of regional representation should draw added support in the Legislature for merit selection. He expects the proposal to move to the House floor in September. Merit selection has come up repeatedly, but has not won approval in the required two consecutive legislative sessions. The issue may finally clear the Legislature because it has the support of Gov. Tom Ridge and Republicans now control both the House and Senate, said Lynn Marks, executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts.

A better grass roots effort has been mounted as well, she said. She noted that PMC feels statewide merit selection rather than regional merit selection would address the problems of geographic imbalance on the appeals courts. The Senate has a statewide merit selection proposal, but even majority Republicans are divided on it, said David Atkinson, a spokesman for Senate President Pro Tern Robert Jubelirer of Blair County. 20 -50 OFF Bridal Gowns Bridesmaid's Gowns Mother's Flower Girls' Gowns Special Occasion Dresses Bridal Sweet 1-800-714-2WED Downtown Punx'y 814-938-5997 Open: TUBS. Wed.

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