The Daily Item from Sunbury, Pennsylvania • 3

The Daily Item Saturday, November 1 97 Page A3 SBate I Nation NEWS IN BRIEF CRIME Police: Stoned teem Milled ml 4 p3 Guard accused of abducting his kids surrenders 7 A i OIL CITY, Pa. (AP) A teen- ager was high on marijuana when he sexually assaulted a 4-year-old girl and threw her into a ravine, where she hit her head on chunks of concrete and BLYTHE, Calif. An Ironwopd State Prison guard accused of abducting his three children in Pennsylvania surrendered tp Blythe police and awaited extradition, authorities said, 1 Andrew Smith, 34, allegedly forced his way into his estranged wife's home in Erie, on Oct: 24, pointed a gun in the faee of baby sitter Edward Richardsonj'and took his children, ages 6, 10 arid 12: vV' -'v Smith surrendered to Blythe police Monday night and he remained, in custody Friday in Riverside pending extradition. died, his father Despite these A trical engineering classes at a vocational school. -He snapped after Shenee and two 4-ycar-old friends began playfully, taunting and striking him with a stick at their housing development, the father said his syn told him.

Before confessing and leading to her body, life-boy joined the scores of volunteers searching for her and even hugged mother to comfort her. At his arraignment, he sobbed as his father hugged him and stroked his hair. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The teen-ager's drug use probably did not cause the attack because actions, his son is "not a monster," Ralbh Bowen said, "He knows what he did was wrong and how bad it was," he said.

"He's really broken up." Bowen's son Shenee Freeman Body found lr 1 i) marijuana typically has a calming effect, a drug counselor said, but the djug may have impaired his judgv ment. Also, marijuana users tend to grow irritable when the sedative effect wears off, said Michael, Flaherty, vice president ol: St. Francis Hospital's Division of" Psychiatric and Addiction Services. But Bowen likely psychology" ical problems beyond drug use, he said. The boy lived with'his father across town but was in Shenee's-housing development Wednesday because he was a friend of Shenee's neighbor, Shaun Williamson, said Williamson's wife, yngie.

Bowen. Shenee's mother was visiting inside the Williamsons' home while Shenee played outside with Williamson's son and another girl. After the boy cut himself and went, inside, Bowen took Shenee into the Nicholas, 17, has been charged with homicide in the death of Shenee Freeman. Her body was found' Thursday, 12 hours after a search began, buried under leaves not quite a football field's length away from her home. She had been sexually assaulted and died of blunt force trauma to the head, Venango County Coroner John Greggs said The city planned to proceed with trick-or-treating, scheduled for 2 p.m.

to 4 p.m. today. Oil City has held the Halloween event in daylight since Shauna Howe, 11, was abducted and killed Oct. 27, 1992 five years ago, almost to the day. Nobody was ever arrested.

Nicholas Bowen was agitated before the crime Wednesday because he had just been suspended from school, his father told The Derrick of Oil City in Friday's editions. The teen-ager was a senior at Oil City High School and took elec- Associated Press photo Nicholas Bowen, 17, is handcuffed as he is led away from arraignment on charges in the murder of four-year-old Shenee Freeman in Oil City, early Thursday. Bowen told police he threw Shenee off a cliff and led them to the body Thursday in a wooded area. woods with him as the other girl looked on, neighbors said. Angie Williamson described Bowen as never thought he was dangerous.

Jl Erie Courity District Attorney Joe Conti said Smith faces charges of aggravated assault, terrorist threats, reckless endangerment and child endangerment. Smith, a California.Dcpartment of Corrections guard, was on vacation at the time of that alleged abduction. He said the children came willingly. Smith also said he picked up the children because his estranged wife, Mary Louise Smith, had threatened to keep their children from him. Rescued from fire, woman pleads guilty to arson JIM THORPE, Pa.

A woman rescued from a Weatherly house fire in May had used her uncle's belongings to start the blaze in a suicide attempt, officials said. One of her rescuers was the district justice who later arraigned her. Jacqueline Wanamaker, 43, pleaded guilty to an arson charge Thursday in Carbon Count Court. Judge Richard W. Webb deferred sentencing.

Weatherly Police Brian Cara, who gave Mrs. Wanamaker a hug, asked the judge to give her probation instead of jail time. Authorities said the woman was despondent over placing her uncle in a nursing home and had just argued with her husband when she used the uncle's belongings including his living will to set her home ablaze. Boy going home after receiving second heart PITTSBURGH A7-year-old boy who had a second heart attached earlier this month was healthy enough to leave the hospital Friday, a week ahead of schedule. Christopher, whbse parents declined to give a last name, had no complications in his 16 days of recovery, said Dean Walters, spokesman for Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh.

"The doctors are very pleased with his progress," Walters said. Christopher is among roughly 20 pediatric patients worldwide to receive a second heart since the developed in the mid-1980s, and he is one'of the youngest, surgeons said. The boy will have two hearts beating at different rates for the rest of his life. Seven sentenced in student's alcohol death CUMBERLAND, Md. Seven former and current Frostburg State University students were convicted Friday of selling alcohol without a license to a freshman who drank himself to death at a fraternity party.

Prosecutors, however, dropped the more serious charges of manslaughter and reckless endangerment as part of a plea agreement. Allegheny County Circuit Judge J. Frederick Sharer gave each of the defendants 90-day suspended jail sentences. He also sentenced each to five years probation, and ordered each to pay a $1,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service. Sharer said he was convinced the state could not have proven the men were directly responsible for the death of John E.

Stinner, 20, of Glassport, Pa. Stinner was found dead in his dormitory room last Nov. 9 with a .34 percent blood alcohol level, more than three times the level at which some6ne is considered to be legally intoxicated. Community groups take over seized properties PHILADELPHIA One was a garage that housed a drug king- pin's car collection, the other a restaurant that hid a ljeroin and cocaine operation. v-c Attorney General Janet Reno on Friday handed the deeds for over to North Philadelphia community groups that fight crime by giving youngsters a place to go.

7- "They have provided children in the neighborhood with' a safe haven," Reno said, citing Community United Neighbors Against -Drugs and United Neighbors Against Drugs, Miriam Colon, who founded CUNAD eight years ago, said she plans to expand after-school programs that try to prevent drug and alcohol abuse and family violence. State offers new AIDS drug HARRISBURG The Ridge administration is to begin offering a new AIDS drug under its Special Pharmaceutical Benefits Program. frio; rfrvif. ran annlv to take Viraceot. one of a eroup FATALITY Nichols trial may begin on Monday Rig broadsides school hiis Bus driver dies, 27 students injured, on foggy road The Dallas Morning News DENVER Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Terry Nichols bombing trial met privately with U.S.

District Judge Richard Matsch Friday to prepare for opening statements Monday and the start of testimony. 'Several motions, filed by both sides, were to be considered Friday'. But both lead prosecutor Larry Mackey and lead defense counsel Michael Tigar declined to discuss the outcome. A jury of seven women and five men was selected Thursday and will be sworn in along with six alternates on Monday. Then, Mackey will deliver the government's opening statement, followed by Tigar.

county schools, said it was clear at 6 a.m. when the decision was made not to delay classes, and the fog rolled in 45 minutes later when it was too late to do anything. Some nearby school district did delay classes. Bus driver Wardell John Brice 61, of Easton, died at the scene. Puey Leon Lamb, 57'a driver for Trucking of Shannon, was charged with failure to grant the right of way, as well as driving too fast for conditions.

Police Chief Walter Chase said. Chase did not know how fast the truck was going or if it ran a red light. "What he told me was that it was zero, visibility out there," President Bill Ethridge said. "He's OK, tfut he's really shaken up about the Ethridge would not comment on the charges against Lamb, who is from Okolona, Miss. "ESTON, Md.

(AP) A tractor-trailer broad-sided a school bus Friday morning on a fog-shroud-ed hjghway, killing the bus driver and sending more than two dozen children to the hospital. The bus was crossing U.S. 50 about 7:30 a.m. when it was hit oYi the driver's side, nearly severing the front of the bus. The bus was carrying 32 students, most heading to elementary schools.

Of the 27 tak.en to hospitals, 10 were admitted, mostly for broken bones. The truck driver was charged with going too fast for the road conditions. But some parents also blamed the school system for not delaying classes because of the fog. "They had no business having school on time and I'm not the only one that feels that way," said Bill Sinclair, whose 12-year-old son suffered bumps and bruises. George Pringle, transportation supervisor for the We put all our of drugs called protease inhibitors, which have revolutionized AIDS Li care in the past year.

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