The Daily Item from Sunbury, Pennsylvania • 1

(iCB flB UII? The IMEy Item Thursday June 4, 1998 Volume LXI.No. 155.V Serving the Susquehanna Valley 50 cents daily $1.50 Sunday home delivery $2.80 ES UNION-SNYDER COUNTIES Valley picks up pieces after storms JunigeMp By Robert B. Swift Ullaway News Service Daily Item file photo After a six-month wait Louise Knight's judge post was confirmed Wednesday. Daily photo by Rots Krtbb Charles Wargo repairs the porch roof on a neighbor's home In Lamplight Acres in Kulpmont Wednesday, as clear evidence of twister damage Is in foreground, i Homes, power, lines, trees, State Correctional Institute hit by twisters HARRISBURG Louise Knight is set to become the first woman judge on the Union-Snyder County bench following a Senate vote Wednesday to confirm her to the post. Knight was among a batch of 25 nominees confirmed en masse on a unanimous vote.

Included in the package were nominees for a statewide court seat, two Philadelphia court seats, positions on various state boards and county offices. Knight's nomination had been before the Senate for six months, but confirmation took longer than many expected. The delay has been blamed on political horsetrading, and word finally came earlier this week that the Senate was ready to confirm a number of nominees as it wraps up business in preparation for a summer Now the stage is set for Knight to be sworn in as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Gov. Tom Ridge is to sign her commission and a swearing-in ceremony will be held in Lewisburg.

Knight, 53, is a Mifflinburg resident who has been solicitor for Lewisburg Area School District and the Lewisburg zoning hearing board. She was nominated Nov. 26 by Ridge to fill the vacancy until a new judge is elected to a full 10-year term in 1999. Knight's salary will be $104,000 annually. The court vacancy has existed since August 1997 when Judge Wayne Bromfield resigned to work in the private sector.

Judge Harold Woelfel Jr. has presided alone over criminal cases in the two counties and a backlog is developing. By staff reporters INSIDE sal Mifflinburg resident eager to begin By Belinda L. Farley Staff reporter A unanimous vote of the state Senate Wednesday confirmed the judicial nomination of Louise Knight to fill a vacancy on the Union-Snyder. County bench one week before the body is scheduled to recess for the summer.

Knight was already on her way to Harrisburg on Wednesday morning to Please see KNIGHT. A8 SUNBURY A tornado with winds churning at around 90 miles per hour cut a quarter-mile path from Irish Valley to Mount Carmel area Tuesday night, the National Weather Service confirmed Wednesday. The F-l tornado, the second-least severe level of tornado, left behind a tangle of downed trees and power lines, power outages and some damage to homes in eastern Northumberland County. "We had an F-l tornado go through the borough of Kulpmont," said Myron Turlis, director of Emergency Services for the eastern Northumberland Weather Service stands by warningsPage A2 County borough. "It was confirmed by the National Weather Service out of State College." The tornado struck at about 10 p.m., on a night when the NWS Doppler radar detected a rash of twisters throughout Central Pennsylvania.

While there were some reports of witnesses spotting a few funnel clouds in Northumberland and Snyder counties, the NWS only confirmed the one in eastern Northumberland County as of Please see TORNADO, A2 More storm damage in the village of Strong, Mount Carmel Township. SCIENCE MILITARY Missile may not thwart asteroid, study shows LEWINSKY INVESTIGATION New defense team reaches out to Starr Lewisburg Marine pleads guilty in trainee beating By Jane E. Allen The Associated Press By Larry Margasak The Associated Press i during the Senate investigation of former Sen. Robert Packwood, R-Ore. Prosecutors could gain in their investigation of President Clinton if deterrent." At a minimum, scientists would 'have to have good knowledge about the particular asteroid's size, shape and structure to make a difference, he said.

NASA spends $3 million a year for researchers to identify asteroids that are, approaching Earth. It. expects to spend $1 bfllion over the next decade to send spacecraft to asteroids to determine their composition. That, in turn, could help the Pentagon and the Energy Department design weapons to deflect or destroy threatening asteroids. The nuclear approach calls to mind two summer movies, "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon." In both, astronauts set out to avert cosmic collisions by detonating explo-B Please see MISSILE, A8 LOS ANGELES Nudging an Earth-bound asteroid off course or blasting it to bits with a nuclear-tipped missile could be more complicated than scientists or Hollywood ever imagined.

In a study published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, scientists created computer simulations of what would happen if an asteroid were hit by an object with a force equivalent to a 17-kiloton bomb. Their conclusion, according to Eric Asphaug. an astronomer at the University of California at Santa Cruz: "It's a lot more difficult to nudge these asteroids around than we thought. More work needs to be done before we can decide whether nuclear warhcaJfs provide a viable Plato Cecrw ris Replacement WASHINGTON Moving quickly in an effort to ward off an indictment, Monica Lewinsky's new defense team has contacted prosecutors in a prelude to negotiations for an immunity deal, legal sources said Wednesday. While the initial contacts could not be characterized as negotiations, serious talks were on the horizon, said sources familiar with the development, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Starr is well acquainted with Lewinsky's new lawyers, Plato Cachcris and Jacob Stein. In fact. Stein and Starr worked with each other, although in different roles, Pastran, now awaits court-martial related to the Dec. 17 beating of Marine Pvt. (now Pfc.) Macicj Lugowski, 20, of Brooklyn.

N. Y. The beating ruptured Lugowski's spleen and caused internal bleeding that yearly killed him. Pastran, 25, of Pharr, Texas, is charged with conspiracy, maiming, hazing violations, cruelty and maltreatment, obstruction of justice, communicating a threat and multiple counts of wrongfully advising Marines to assault other Marines. Earlier proceedings disclosed that Gough and Pvt.

Jacob Isaacs, also 18, of McKee, asked other Please see LEWISBURG, A8 LOUISVILLE. Ky. (AP) A fourth Marine who allegedly participated in the December beating of a fellow trainee has pleaded guilty to charges that will keep him in prison for nine months. Pvt. John Clough.

18, of Lewisburg, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy, making provoking gestures, assault consummated by battery, solicitation and violating the Marine Corps ban on hazing. Clough also received a bad-conduct discharge and was commanded to forfeit all pay and allowances, lie was sentenced at Parris Island, C. Another Marine, Sgt. Salvador they secure Lewinsky's cooperation through Cacheris and Stein, something they could not do with the former intern's first lawyer, William Ginsburg. Please see LEWINSKY, A6 wmmmmmmmmmaimm mmmmtammmmmmmmm mmmmmmtmmmmmmmim mmmmmmmmmmmmammmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmm wmmmmmmmmmmt WEATHER INDEX LOCAL SPORTS LOTTERY DEATHS Advice17 Shikellamy School crhaHa-c a Pennsylvania becker, Nj4A AlmanacB2 District's new rtlfarf Wednesday Chloe Vcl comicsre teacher's contract Daily Number HSjzuue Entertainment ouarantees the Lewisburg 16-2 fr 5.5 nJK CL Opin.onA7 Peaca staff 3 rout Of Mifflinburg JNiC- Big 4 51K earner scoreboardcs per in American Legion 'TT 8-2-2-1 VoSSST m-RQ I nMQ WheeisE1-8 PkI baseball at Bucknell Cash 5 Laura DO LU.H3 worldNatlonA2-5 ine next tour years.

University. 2-7-11-35-39 91, Northumberland Complete reportBS 48 pages, 6 sections Pago B1 Page C1 I I Complete reportB2 ObituariesB7.