The Daily News from Lebanon, Pennsylvania • 1

Lebanon 272-5611 Hershey 838-6345 Palmyra 833-5345 Pine Grove 345-8312 i Toll-Free 1-800-457-5929 i Info-Line 272-5000 Sound Off 272-5000 Ext 1060 Classified Mail 272-5000 Box Ext- 8005 JJ. 35 per copy $1,25 on Sunday $3.35 weekly (single copy) 53.00 weekly (home delivery) Serving the Lebanon Valley since 1072 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1994 122ND year no. 209 I LEBANON, PA. i i i ing. You eliminated from the face of this planet a daughter, mother and sister, Walter said.

It really is a pity, Mr. Kennedy, that you cannot face what happened in 1993, the judge said before delivering the sentence. I love her now and I always will, Kennedy said about his wife in a rambling statement to the court Even though Walter denied Kennedys request to address members of Sandra Kennedys family who were in the courtroom, Kennedy persisted and blamed them for his troubled life after moving to Lebanon County. He said his wifes parents had messed up her life. The district attorneys office did not seek the death penalty in the case but argued that Kennedy intentionally killed his wife.

I love him regardless of what he did, Greta Defibaugh, Kennedys mother, told the judge. Im sorry Sandy had to suffer," she said, but added that she thinks the verdict was unfair. She said her son had been denied a stable family life while he was growing up. Former district attorney Daniel G. Ehr- By LES STEWART Staff Writer Steve M.

Kennedy, still bitterly blaming his in-laws and the news media for his troubles, was sentenced this morning to life imprisonment for the brutal beating and stabbing death of his 34-year-old estranged wife, Sandra, in Jonestown on Jan. 6, 1993. Kennedy, 42, was found guilty of first-degree murder by Judge John Walter on March 11. He had pleaded guilty March 7 to a general homicide charge; a four-day hearing was conducted before Walter so the judge could determine the degree of guilt Kennedy beat his wife with a 15-inch pipe and Kennedy then stabbed her 50 times with kitchen knives, police and court records indicate. This was as vulgar, as monstrous, barbaric, savage, bestial, malevolent stone-hearted an act as could be performed by anybody, Walter told Kennedy this morn investigators she consented to having sex with hun that morning at his Maple btreet apartment.

Walter last month dismissed a charge of retaliation against a victim that had been filed against Kennedy. Kennedy had been charged with raping his wife on the morning of Jan. 6, 1993. Mrs. Kennedy had gone to police and filed rape and assault charges against her estranged husband.

Prosecutors contended Kennedy killed hi wife in retaliation for the filing of the criminal charges. At his sentencing this morning, Kennedy again verbally attacked his in-laws, blaming them for the disintegration of his marriage. He accused them of running Sandra Kennedys life. Kennedys mother said her son and daughter-in-law could have had a happy life if Sandra Kennedys parents had not interfered in their lives. Kennedy blamed a Harrisburg newspaper for quashing his political career as a Lower Swatara Township commissioner when it reported that he had a criminal record that Included, among other things, stabbing his first wife.

good, who prosecuted the case, said he had a difficult time understanding how Mrs. Kennedys parents could be held responsible for her death. Her parents didn't speak in court today but had submitted victim-impact statements to Walter. Kennedys court-appointed defense attorney, Bob Keys contended last month that Kennedy went to his wife's apartment to disfigure her, but couldnt stop himself from killing her because he has a personality disorder. Kennedy provided a tape-recorded statement to state police investigator Douglas Jackson and chief county detective Michael Wahmann in Oklahoma on Jan.

9, 1993, in which he admitted killing his wife. Kennedy had been picked up the day before, hitchhiking along an interstate highway. On the tape recording, Kennedy told investigators he beat his wife with a pipe and then "lost it when she told him that she loved him. The damned knives kept breaking off," Kennedy said on the tape, which was played in court last month. Kennedy denied raping his wife; he told i 'V 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 Daily tows 4 Phoio Steve M.

Kennedy blames in-laws, press i a I 5 i i i i 4 AT A GLANCE Local robbery on TV tonight Tonights episode of NBCs Unsolved Mysteries is scheduled to feature a segment on the bank robber that hit Meridian Banks Campbelltown branch on May 24, 1993, firing shots at several surveillance cameras before fleeing in a blue, four-door Ford Taurus with New Jersey license plates. The one-hour show will be aired on channels 3 and 8 at 8 p.m. Glenn R. Bonczek, bank robbery coordinator for the Harrisburg FBI resident agency, said the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police submitted a joint proposal to several television shows before Unsolved Mysteries chose to do the program. We got some pretty good photos out of the Campbelltown robbery, Bonczek said.

I sure hope it will generate some additional leads. The robbery re-enactment was filmed on location at Meridians Campbelltown branch and will lead the robbery segment Sterling layoffs Sterling Winthrop Inc. recently laid off 45 managers and support staff in a move to streamline operations at its Myerstown manufacturing plant Story on page 19. Bill would pinpoint deadbeats By ERIC EBELING Staff Writer Domestic relations offices across the state would have an easier time recovering birthing expenses from fathers of Illegitimate babies under legislation proposed by Sen. David Brightbill.

Brightbill, a Republican who represents Lebanon County and portions of Berks and Lehigh counties, said that Senate Bill 1418 would help the state recoup more than $14 million a year in birthing costs. Currently, fathers of babies born out of wedlock are required to pay for all birthing expenses In-curred through medical-assistance programs. County domestic relations offices collect these expenses as part of a state-mandated support order. But, Brightbill said, a "glitch" in the system makes it very difficult for the state Department of Public Welfare to track down the fathers who owe money, since that information is not recorded by the office. The data has not been available," Brightbill said.

Its a mechanical thing that they dont bother to do. His bill would require the Department of Public Welfare to provide county domestic relations offices with certain expense information on births paid for by welfare. The counties then would use the data to track down the fathers. Payment of the expenses would come through court-ordered wage attachments, he said. Brightbill said that he first heard of the payment oversight when he received a letter from Jeanne A.

Earnshaw, who works for the Lebanon County Domestic Relations Office. I was surprised when Jeanne contacted me, because I never knew that this problem existed, he said. This is the type of glitch that should be hanclled administratively by the legislature." Taxpayers currently bear the brunt of these unpaid births, he said, which can tally costs in excess of $14 million a year. wl BnghttxN The Daily New Lebanon Rock Company's office on Prescott Road was quiet today. The business was sold Tuesday to Pcnnsy Supply which fired everyone employed by Lebanon Rock.

Business deal leaves employees out in cold INDEX But, he said, the office has no way of retrieving, by company, how many people come to the office. Pennsy Supply which was sold last year to Dublin, Ireland based CRH bought Elco Concrete Products in the mid-1980s, an employee said. The area where the businesses operate, originally called Calcite Quarries, has been sold several times over the years, a former employee told the News. Lebanon Rock Co. sold high-calcium crushed limestone to pre-mixed concrete manufacturers, according to a former employee.

Elco Concrete sells ready-mix concrete and concrete block, according to a Chamber of Commerce business directory. Elco employs about 50 people, according to the directory. ployee said, referring to the joint Elco ConcreteLebanon Rock operation. Pennsy owned one (business) and half of Lebanon Rock. Yesterday Pennsy acquired all of Lebanon Rock and fired us all.

A woman who answered the phone at the Lebanon Rock Co. office this morning referred all questions to Pennsy Supplys corporate office in Harrisburg. The spokesman for Pennsy was in a meeting this morning and did not return calls to the News before presstime. Several employees were already searching for new jobs or were on their way to file unemployment claims this morning, according to family members, all of whom said the news of the sale and subsequent firings were a shock. Ed Adams, manager of the state Job Center in Lebanon, said this morning that as far as he knew none of Lebanon Rocks employees had completed claim forms for benefits.

By JOHN IIOWER Staff Writer A business deal culminated Tuesday with all the employees of a stone quarry in eastern Lebanon County losing their jobs. Lebanon Rock which operated on the same site as Elco Concrete Products Inc. on Prescott Road, effectively ceased operations Tuesday afternoon when Harrisburg-based Pennsy Supply which also owns Elco Concrete, bought the company. According to Daily News sources, about II employees were fired. Included in the firings, the source said, was one employee who was with the company about 25 years and lived on the site.

One of the former employees, who asked not to be named, said they were given the word Tuesday around 3 p.m. that they no longer had jobs with Lebanon Rock Co. The whole quarry didnt shut down, the em Business 19 Classified 20-23 Comics 18 Editorial 4 Entertainment 10 Info-Line 22 Lifestyles 9, 10 Obituaries 2 Sound Off 7 Sports 13-15 TV 10 Weather 7 Included in todays paper are advertising supplements for Hesss Department Store, Pizza Hut and Sterling. If you dont receive them, please call our customer service department at 272-5611 before 6 p.m. info-line Directory on page 22.

1 Good Response! The customer who placed the following ad in The Daily News classified section reported a good response! Kittens Get New Home In Days Free to good home 2 8ach White cats Neutered and declaimed Cali xxx-xxx-xxxx Call The Daily News Classified Advertising Department today at 274-3474 to place your ad. 1.