Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • Page 5

Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Friday, February 4, 2000 5 Parole for Ashley man charged in baby's death extended three months By PAUL KRUPSKI Standard-Speaker 1 Distribution I Ices Alliance MffrirT iiMuii MMimFii 'in li IiIiim 'in i'i I al i Boyle said he called 911 and Tice fled out a back door into the woods. He was found by police walking along Route 309 and was taken into custody without incident and taken to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. Both Boyles said Tice wasn't harassing them and they didn't intend to pursue the charges before a magistrate. They said they didn't understand the definition of the charge when police asked if Tice had harassed them. Michael Boyle said they and other family members were suffering from bronchitis or other flu-like symptoms and were taking medication.

"We were all stressed out," Michael Boyle stated. "I punched him and thought he whacked me on the side of the head. We went to the police department to get the charges dropped and they said they wouldn't." Although the Boyles aren't pressing charges, Tice still faces a hearing before District Justice Ronald Swank of Mountaintop for a summary harassment citation issued by Wright Township Police. Burke found that Tice had violated a probation rule requiring him not to behave in a manner that threatens or presents a danger to him or others. The judge said the objective of parole was for Tice "to demonstrate an ability to rehabilitate himself outside the confines of prison.

You have a heightened responsibility to avoid situations WILKES-BARRE Joseph Tice of Ashley, who pleaded guilty last September to involuntary manslaughter in the bathtub drowning death of two-year-old Dominique Thomas, was found Thursday to be in technical violation of his parole by Judge Thomas Burke. Burke extended Tice's parole for involuntary manslaughter by three months as a result, which would have ended May 18. He had served seven months in prison and had been released on parole in October. Tice, 35, was arrested Jan. 2 and lodged after a domestic incident at the home of his mother and stepfather, Sylvia and Michael Boyle, on South Mountain Boulevard in Wright Township.

He was charged with harassment. Initially, police were told that Tice punched Michael Boyle during an argument at a family dinner. Boyle testified at Thursday's revocation hearing that Tice "made some remarks I didn't like. I guess I snapped out and hit him." Boyle said he slapped Tice, who fell down, and that he thought Tice had punched him as he was getting up. He said he later realized he wasn't punched and that Tice's head struck him as he was getting up, causing a black eye.

Tom Luongo, left, a representative of ABB, makes a point while announcing the alliance between his company and during a press conference at System Facility Center in the Humboldt Industrial Park. At right is Martha Herron, representing joins ABB to repair electrical equipment at Humboldt center By KENT JACKSON Standard-Speaker Jeanesville man gets jail time for third DUI offense that could result in confrontation." Burke advised that Tice "leave the house before a fight breaks out" in the future. He told Tice to obtain a copy of his psychological evaluation done by the Court Advocate Program and "follow through with treatment recommended. You're being released today to resume your parole status." When Burke finished speaking Tice said, "I don't understand what I did wrong." Tice was babysitting Thomas when she drowned. The girl's mother, Tamira Chapman, is in jail awaiting trial for involuntary manslaughter and related offenses for leaving the child with Tice.

A plea agreement accepted by Burke allowed Tice to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and no contest to reckless endanger-ment and endangering the welfare of children. Tice also agreed to testify against Chapman. Continental puts Marsicano back in flight schedule By DAVID FALCHEK Standard-Speaker Former Hazleton Mayor Michael Marsicano has his wings back. After being grounded for nearly a month, Continental Airlines has brought Marsicano, a pilot, back into the flight schedule. The airline grounded Marsicano in early January after accusations by his wife, Lanora Marsicano, of violent behavior and suicidal threats.

"As of Feb. 1, Mr. Marsicano has been returned to the flight schedule," said Continental Spokesperson Michele Treacy. "We are going to decline commenting any further." Initially, Treacy told reporters the airline would wait until the matter was fully investigated. But Marsicano never faced criminal accusations or an investigation.

Mrs. Marsicano's request for a protection from abuse order was a civil matter. Mrs. Marsicano did not file criminal charges. While a judge signed a temporary protection from abuse order, it was never served on Marsicano.

For two weeks following the judge's issuance of the PFA, Marsicano was not available. He showed up in court, however, on Jan. 13. By that time the Marsicanos appeared to have settled their dispute. Mrs.

Marsicano stopped pursuing the PFA, but never recanted her accusations. Airlines have had a heightened concern over suicidal pilots since the crash of Egypt Air 246. Investigators believe the pilot of the jet was suicidal. In court documents, Mrs. Marsicano accused Mr.

Marsicano of gun threats, physical abuse, psychological intimidation, and a threat of murdersuicide. Mrs. Marsicano wrote that Mr. Marsicano, who is a former state trooper, has at least 30 guns and "has threatened to kill me and himself." Mrs. Marsicano filed for divorce Dec.

8. Man arrested Deputies from the Hazleton substation of the Luzerne County Sheriffs Department on Wednesday arrested a Hazleton man who was wanted for failure to appear for incarceration. John Paul Hauck of Lyon Court was arrested at 11 a.m.' after he failed to appear at Luzerne County Correctional Facility, where he is serving a sentence on weekends. Deputies took him to the county prison. David Bensinger, an electrical equipment repairman at Systems Facility Center in Humboldt Industrial Park, works on a distribution transformer.

alliance with ABB will bring more work of this type to the facility. When Pennsylvanians starting choosing where to buy their electricity three years ago, their electric companies also had a choice. They could shrink to cut costs. Or they could grow, as Pennsylvania Power and Light will try to do by repairing transformers and other equipment for power companies in five states from its service center near Hazleton. To line up customers, formed an alliance with ABB Power, representatives of the two firms said Thursday.

ABB makes transformers, oil circuit reclosers and other equipment for power companies. It wanted a service center closer to customers in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. has 200 workers who fix their company's equipment, but who can do the same work for ABB's customers, too. It wanted more work for the decade-old maintenance center at the Humboldt Industrial Park southeast of Hazleton, where there is 300,000 square feet -enough space to fix equipment sent by ABB's customers. made a major investment to have this facility.

Other utilities didn't," Tom Luongo of ABB said. Luongo, a Scranton native, had to move out of state 20 years ago to find a good job, but he believes the alliance can keep some graduates in northeastern Pennsylvania. "It's exciting to come back here and maybe be part of an entity that we hope will create jobs," he said. ABB will hire one other engineer now, but future hiring at ABB and will depend on the business that the alliance brings to the maintenance center, Luongo said. He believes the alliance will find customers because deregulation has put more companies in the business of generating power.

Some power companies are spinoffs, cut loose by electric WILKES-BARRE A Jeanesville man, who fled from the scene of an early morning accident in Hazleton on Nov. 29, 1998, was sentenced Thursday to 90 days to a year in jail for a third offense of driving under the influence and driving while his license was suspended or revoked. James Franklin Schoch, 32, will be allowed to serve his minimum confinement on 45 consecutive weekends beginning Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. The 90 days for each offense will be served concurrently.

He was fined $300 for DUI and $1,000 for the DUI-related suspension violation. He was assessed 75 hours of community service work and will be subject to random testing, drug and alcohol evaluation and highway safety requirements. Schoch pleaded guilty Dec. 1. Police said he was found hiding in a stairwell of a garage at 11th Street and Sherman Court, after fleeing on foot from 11th and North Church Meeting on park set for Feb.

29 The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will hold a public meeting regarding the management of Nescopeck State Park on Feb. 29 at Penn State Hazleton. The date of the meeting was not included in an article about the meeting in Thursday's edition. The meeting will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in room 106 of the gymnasium building, which is on the upper level of the campus off Route 93 near the Interstate 81 junction.

Police streets, where his truck crashed into a utility pole. Schoch told police he didn't have a license and had consumed a couple of beers at two nearby bars. Police found two freshly opened cans of beer on the floorboard of the truck and apprehended a woman companion who had fled with Schoch. Police said Schoch refused to submit to a blood alcohol test at Hazleton General Hospital. The refusal will result in an automatic license suspension by the state Department of Transportation.

DA wants witness held in contempt WILKES-BARRE The Luzerne County District Attorney's Office wants a witness held in contempt of court for failing to honor a subpoena to testify against David Christina of Freeland. A court hearing was scheduled for Feb. 11 for Regina Frye, of Main Street, Jeddo, to show why she shouldn't be held in contempt and subject to punishment for disobeying the subpoena. Frye's absence from a probation revocation hearing for Christina, 29, on Jan. 28 resulted in the Commonwealth's petition being dismissed without prejudice, which would allow re-filing at a later date.

In a statement given to the Adult Probation Office, Frye accused Christina of breaking into her house on Jan. 6 at 7:45 p.m. She said he took her keys, hit, bit and tried to suffocate her. Frye claimed Christina inflicted numerous bruises, a black eye and broken blood vessels in her eye. At the Jan.

28 hearing, Judge Patrick Toole said he was "tired of people who want law enforcement to do everything; then don't want to stand up." Christina pleaded guilty May 12 to criminal attempt and conspiracy related to the theft of a spa from the Mountaintop business. He was sentenced to 24 months of probation. The DA's Office filed a petition to revoke his probation based on Frye's assault allegations. Northumberland man charged with burglarizing drug store companies that exited the generating business to concentrate on delivery. Others have small generating plants that Luongo said popped up as companies try their luck in the deregulated market.

"When they pop up, somebody has got to do the repairs," he said. As Luongo and Martha Herron discussed how the alliance positions their companies to make those repairs, a crane mounted atop a 55-foot ceiling lifted a transformer the size of a delivery van. In other rooms, workers repaired pole-sized transformers and electronic circuit breakers called oil circuit reclosers. WTien lights blink, an OCR usually stopped and started the power because of a minor problem, such as a tree limb touching a wire. If major problems develop, OCRs disconnect power to homes until repairs are made.

The OCRs themselves need repairs every eight years. They cost $6,000 each, and has 13,000 of them. "So we don't want to just throw them away," Al Richen-bacher, the manager for system shop, said. Neither does the Niagara Mohawk power company in Upstate New York. Niagara Mohawk became one of the alliance's first customers, and its OCRs already were at the maintenance center awaiting repair on Thursday.

Even before forming the alliance, contracted with other companies to test equipment, such as rubber gloves worn to guard against electrocution. The rubber hands extend from racks, and on Thursday symbolized two companies reaching for customers. One employee went back in and reset the alarm, but it continued to sound. Store owner John DeBalko and McAdoo police Sgt. Russell Palmer then went inside and found the suspect standing in a corner of a rear storage area.

Palmer was assisted by Kline police Lt. John Petrilla, police said. Cosgrove had several tools in his possession when arrested. He apparently entered the store between 8 and 9 p.m. and hid while employees were closing up for the night, Kline police said.

A Northumberland County man was charged with burglary following the break-in of a drug store in Kline Township Wednesday. Jeffrey S. Cosgrove, 33, of Coal Township, near Shamokin, was also charged with criminal trespass and possessing instruments of crime, Kline police said. He was arraigned before District Justice William Reilly in Pottsville and jailed in the Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of $15,000 bail. A hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m.

next Thursday before District Justice Andrew B. Zelonis in Tamaqua. Kline police said an alarm sounded in the Standard Drug Store at 322 S. Hancock St. as four employees were walking toward their cars after closing the store at 9 p.m.

The Standard Speaker will pay $10 for the best news tip of the week. If you know of some For Correct Time Temp. W) Standard thing newsworthy phone 455-3636 any time, day or night, seven days a week. Call Today 455-3636 -C- bpeaker Up to 5,500 gallons of gasoline spilled from ruptured pipeline Carmon said the cleanup efforts Jackson are focusing on the recovery of spilled gasoline and monitoring water supplies. The meeting was held to talk to people about their health concerns, Carmon said.

Of chief concern to DEP is the possibility of contamination of groundwater supplies by MTBE. "Methyl tertiary-butyl ether" is one of literally hundreds of chemicals contained in gasoline. Others include benzene, a known carcinogen. The dangers of MTBE were explained in a recent episode of the CBS News show 60 Minutes. That episode and the pipeline spill prompted Carbon County Commissioner Tom Gerhard to urge municipal water authorities and private well owners in his county to regularly monitor their water supplies for contamination.

MTBE, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a "volatile, flammable, and colorless liquid that is highly soluble in water. It has been used as a gasoline additive since 1979, initially to reduce engine knock by increasing the octane of fuel. Now, however, it is used as a fuel oxygenate to improve air quality, according to an EPA fact sheet. the contamination problem is, he added.

The ruptured pipeline was reported to Sun Pipeline at 8:30 a.m. The leak was discovered by a Sun Pipeline employee was checking an installation on Chase Road near state Route 309 and the flow of fuel through the line was shut off about one hour later from another location. Three streams were contaminated by the spilled fuel, a tributary to Brown's Creek, Brown's Creek itself and Huntsville Creek, Carmon said. The Brown's Creek tributary suffered the worst contamination and dead fish and other aquatic wildlife have been found in that stream, Carmon said. Huntsville Creek suffered the least damage, Carmon said.

A "couple of hundred" people attended a recent public meeting conducted by DEP at the Jackson Township firehouse to discuss possible impacts from the spill on private wells. He said a follow-up meeting will be scheduled but that he expects fewer people will attend that meeting since many of their concerns were alleviated at the first meeting. By ALAN C. GREGORY Standard-Speaker I Sun Pipeline Co. believes 4,500 to 5,500 gallons of gasoline spilled from a ruptured pipeline in Jackson Township Jan.

19, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said Thursday. Mark Carmon of DEP's regional office in Wilkes-Barre said the agency had asked a vice president of Sun Pipeline for an estimate and that was the "number" the company provided. The Philadelphia-based company has had cleanup crews at the scene north of Plymouth since the day of the incident and has made bottled water available to people who live near the pipeline. Carmon said four or five residents have installed carbon-activated water filters in their homes. DEP, meanwhile, has continued to monitor the groundwater and surface waters in the area.

More than 60 samples were taken last week alone, Carmon said. The testing will help determine "how big" Sun Pipeline has already installed a groundwater cleanup system and DEP has issued a permit for an air stripper with a carbon-based filter system. "Inversion dams" were installed in the early stages of the cleanup process to trap gasoline spilled into the creeks. Gasoline floats on water. Carmon noted that even a minute amount of gasoline spilled onto the ground, even during such benign activities as refueling a lawnmower, can end up contaminating groundwater.

If a person spills gasoline that contains MTBE, the chemical is "going to get in your well water. "A lot of work was done very quickly" on the cleanup immediately after the incident, Cannon said the day after the spill. The contaminated soil needs to be removed and the cleanup will be pretty involved it's not going to happen overnight.".