News Record from North Hills, Pennsylvania • Page 10

News News Record Wednesday, Jan. 11, 1996 A9 Rossi: Wife intends to sue officials Prom Page A1 fffnv- requests: That Sherrie Rossi be deemed legally incompetent at the time of the August -preliminary hearing in which she emphatically accused her husband, She has since recanted. O'Brien granted prosecutor Dave Hepiing's request to admit into evidence the transcript of that preliminary hearing. When Ecker asked Sherrie Rossie whether she remembered being questioned by him in Butler district court, she responded, "not a lot," adding that she was extremely upset and confused at the time and has since experienced memory flashbacks that exonerate her husband. "1 know the face that I saw, and it wasn't my husband," she said.

Sherrie Rossi, 34, has written a letter of intent to sue Butler County commissioners, the district attorney's office and state attorney general Ernie Preate, claiming they have denied her right to 'reunite with her husband and two young children. She also said she did not remember asking Butler County Judge Thomas Doerr, in August for a pro- FromWPXI-TV The Rev. Richard Rossi, appearing Tuesday on the syndicated television show "A Current Affair," says he did not attack his wife. tection-from-abuse order, which he granted, then later rescinded at her request That the trial site be moved because of sensational coverage since the June 24 attack in which Sherrie Rossi was nearly beaten to death with a blunt instrument Kellie Abbott of Freeport testified that she was hired by Rossi's lawyers to call 100 people on the county voter registration list to see if they were prejudiced by coverage of the case. Of the 26 who responded, 24 id they had heard of Richard and bi.

erne Rossi; 25 said they were aware of Richard Rossi's claim that a man who looks like him assaulted Sherrie; 24 said they knew the minister had been charged; and 15 slid they believed he was guilty. Rossi's attorneys submitted numerous newspaper clips and a video of broadcast news coverage of the case. When O'Brien was asked when he might rule on the other requests, he said "in the future." The six troopers to testify at the closed hearing were John Creed, Yvonne Simms, Frank Kendesky, Joseph Katabatich, Walter Harriet and Corp. Christopher Walsh, The only other person to testify at the closed hearing was Andre DeStefano, a parishioner at Rossi's First Love Church in Adams. After state police responded to Rossi's 911 call from the Connoquenessing home of Bob Beiber, Rossi attempted to call DeStefano in private, which police refused to allow him to do.

a Pena vows to move quickly on air safety Gannett News Service WASHINGTON: Transportation Secretary Federico Pena Tuesday pledged quick action on dozens of the recommendations that came out of a government-industry summit on commercial aviation safety. "We're changing the way we do business," he told nearly 1,000 air safety experts at the end of the two- day session, That was heartening to some who had worked until 3 hashing out safety ideas in six working groups. The concerns are real and must be addressed," said Northwest Airlines pilot Ted Mallory, who headed a group looking into crew training. "Let's fix the problem." The summit came up with about 540 safety ideas, the most important 70 of which will be ranked by priority and, if possible, adopted by the government or the airlines. Pena praised the ideas as coming from "the best minds in the world." He promised that the Federal Aviation Administration will "refocus its efforts on safety" and strive to make new safety technologies available to U.S.

airlines and flight controllers. The FAA by March 24 will finish rewriting its rules to make training and flight procedures standard for all aircraft with more than nine seats, Pena said. The rules for small com- Recommendations Among recommendations from the airline summit's six working groups on commercial air safety: Crew training: Speed up implementation of advanced training; use more simulators; schedule rest to combat pilot itioue. Flight operations: Improve training for Federal Aviation Administration inspectors, standardize airport runway signs. Controllers and'weather: Standardize phraseology; require English-only communication; teach pilots more meteorology.

Aircraft maintenance: Improve training rcreate a program to detect and report mistakes. Emerging technologies: Install cockpit devices for displaying aircraft's position at airport; Improve aircraft de-icing systems; develop technology to prevent runway collisions. Safety data analysis: Encourage airline programs for workers to share timely data in- house and with other airlines; protect those reporting safety concerns. muter aircraft and large airliners are now separate. Pena called on the industry to help move safety to the forefront, saying the "goal of zero accidents is a shared responsibility." He asked airlines to undertake within 30 days a special internal safety audit of their own companies, apart from inspections the FAA already is conducting.

He also suggested that each airline create an independent safety office that reports to senior management and develop a plan to improve flight-operations safety. FAA chief David Hinson, who promised to accelerate improvements in aviation training programs, said, "We came here to listen, to learn, and we have done so." No estimates were given on how much the new safety measures would cost airlines or the government. Several recommendations called for tax credits or incentives to encourage airlines to make the necessary changes. The conference was called after seven U.S. airline accidents last year Transportation that killed 264.

One of them, the Oct. 31 crash in Indiana of a European- built ATR aircraft, prompted the FAA to restrict use of those planes in icy conditions. The FAA is waiting to see test results from its engineers before deciding whether to act on ATR's request to lift the restrictions, Hinson said. Some at the conference pointed out that aviation technology has made accidents relatively rare and that human performance was a factor in 75 percent of all airline accidents. "It is training, training, training that will have the biggest impact," Hinson said.

Several pilot unions said the recommendations don't adequately address pilot fatigue, which they said is a continuing hazard. The FAA is considering allowing some pilots on long-haul flights to sleep 30 minutes while another pilot flies the plane. "When the government proposes that pilots have to take a nap, that should indicate there's a problem," said James Bishop of the Regional Airline Pilots Association. "This conference totally avoided the issue." Manufacturer cancels contraceptive sponge The Associated Press NEW YORK: The maker of the Today Sponge, once the most popular over-the-counter contraceptive for women, is discontinuing the product, saying it can't meet stringent new government safety rules. Whitehall-Robins Healthcare, which voluntarily suspended production of the sponges last year, said Tuesday that it would cost too much to upgrade its manufacturing plant to meet the rules, Whitehall-Robins is the only maker of contraceptive sponges in the world.

The Food and Drug Administration last year questioned the purity of water and air at the plant where the are made. A spokesman said Tuesday that the agency was follow- inf? longstanding safety guidelines. Birth control advocates bemoaned the loss of the sponge, saying it fur- restricts contraceptive choices women can control. Health The decision is likely to have little impact on Whitehall-Robins, a division of the drug and food conglomerate American Home Products Corp. At its peak in 1993, the sponge garnered about $17 million in annual sales out of American Home's $8 billion.

The sponge was introduced in 1983. It was more popular than sper- micides and suppositories because it could be inserted into the vagina up to 24 hours before sex. By 1993 it -had about 29 percent of the $62 million market for female over-the- counter contraceptives. However, its appeal was limited by a relatively high 8 percent failure rate, even with perfect use. Its mar- -ket share of all femaJe contraceptives peaked at around 2 percent Whitehall-Robins said.

Cabot shooting leaves one dead Staff report CABOT: The apparent shooting death of a man was being investigated as a homicide early today in this Butler County village east of Saxonburg, state police said. A second man involved in the apparent shooting was being treated at an area hospital for injuries from an altercation that might have led to the shooting, but he was not shot, police said. Officials from the county coroner's office and investigators were investigating the shooting in a mobile home or. Railroad Street as late as 4 am. Police wouldn't release the name of the man killed or the man injured.

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