The Valley Independent from Monessen, Pennsylvania • Page 3

Valley REGION if F. A WWW.VALLEYINDEPENDENT.COM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2008 Valley briefs Two injured in separate accidents The wintry weather is being blamed for at least two accidents on local roads Thursday night and Friday. At 9:10 p.m. Thursday on 1-70 West in North Belle Vernon, three vehicles were involved in a crash. A car driven by Kellie Kostelac of Charleroi struck the guide rail, crossed both lanes of the highway and struck the concrete barrier.

Monica Liming Hu of Hillsborough was unable to avoid Kostelac's car and the two vehicles collided in the left lane. Liming Hu's car then struck a car operated by Erik Maglas of Washington in the right lane, state police said. Kostelac was transported by ambulance to Mon Valley Hospital. The 1-70 westbound lanes were closed for about 45 minutes. In Long Branch, Karen O'Black of Belle Vernon was injured when she lost control of her car at 9:05 a.m.

Friday on Dally Road. Southwest Regional police said her SUV slid out of control near Chestnut Street and struck a tree. O'Black was transported to Jefferson Regional Hospital. Roscoe firefighters assisted at the scene. 4th Superdelegate endorses Obama HARRISBURG, Pa.

(AP) A fourth Pennsylvania has endorsed Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. Leon Lynch, a retired vice president of the Steelworkers union from Pittsburgh, announced his endorsement in a statement released by the Illinois senator's campaign. In the statement, Lynch says Obama is the only candidate he's met capable of motivating and leading the American people in a new direction. Obama has previously been endorsed by three other Pennsylvania superdelegates. Thirteen have endorsed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and the other nine selected so far remain neutral.A Fayette County man will spend up to 30 years in prison following his conviction on rape and sex assault charges.

Normalville man sentenced in sex case James Scott Nicholson, 43, of Normalville has been sentenced to 13 to 30 years in state prison. Nicholson forced a 19- year-old woman to have sexual intercourse with him on Aug. 17 at a location off Connor Road in Saltlick Township, according to a police affidavit. Police said the two had gone to a truck pull in Somerset County. As they were driving home, Nicholson offered the woman $700 to have sex with him, then sexually assaulted her when she declined.

Nicholson is listed as a sex offender on the state's Megan's Law registry. Court records show he pleaded guilty to indecent assault in a case involving a juvenile victim in 1996. Judge John F. Wagner Jr. imposed the sentence earlier this month, after Nicholson's conviction at trial.

WAVW.valleyindependent.com www.valleyindependent.com www.vaUeyindependent.com www.vaUeyindependent.CQm www.valleyindependent.com www.valleyindependent.coEQ THF Rl 111X1 I HI ULULUJ Ringgold High School graduate Dan Drnach is living his childhood dream at Universal Studios in Orlando, where he is a full-time musician and entertainer. He's shown here portraying "Elwood" of "The Blues Brothers." Ringgold grad living dream by getting paid to perform By STACY WOLFORD Staff Writer When Dan Drnach was just 14, he told his family he wanted to make money playing the guitar. Not long after his 19th birthday, he called his dad from Florida. "I told him I just got paid and all I've done is play guitar," he said. Drnach, a 1999 Ringgold High i School graduate, is living! his childhood'! dream at Studios Orlando where he is a Dmach 1 1 -11 musician and entertainer.

He portrays "Elwood Blues" of "The Blues Brothers" at Universal Studios, as well as other characters. Drnach, 26, son of Linda and Daniel Drnach, of Donora, got his first taste of performing during, musicals and plays at Ringgold. "I always knew that I wanted somehow to be performing on stage," he said. After graduating from high school, he moved to Florida, and stayed with his grandparents while he looked for a job. He landed a job singing and playing guitar at Busch Gardens in Tampa.

ex A weekly look at people who left the Valley He worked at the amusement park for five years and met his girlfriend, Raney Delp. The couple decided to move to Orlando so she could accept a job as a culinary manager at SeaWorld. That's when he decided to audition for a job at Universal Studios in 2005. Drnach said he was excited to have the opportunity to play one-half of "The Blues Brothers." Elwood Blues was portrayed by Dan Akroyd in the 1980 musical comedy. Although he is much younger than the music he sings, Drnach said he has always been a fan of the blues and songs from his parents' generation.

"I credit my music taste to my dad," he grew up listening to his music and my favorite band is 'The Drnach said the amusement park stages five shows per day, seven days per week. Although he doesn't perform every day, he said that the cast has to train and rehearse long hours for their shows. He has also played Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo cartoon and a werewolf character during the Halloween season. He admits sometimes his job gets a little monotonous, but he says they must perform top-notch all the time as the park hosts thousands of people daily from around the world. When he's not performing at Universal Studios, Drnach performs in a Blues Brothers tribute band, called "Beyond Belushi." Although life is good, he says' he misses his riome- tdwn, especially the Changing seasons.

"It's too hot here and I miss the landscape (of the Mid-Mon Valley)," he said. "It's too flat," he said of the Sunshine State. "But most importantly, I miss my family." Drnach is in Donora this weekend, visiting his family, which includes his sister, Amy Bader, and her children, Sam, 2, and Lucy, 5- rnonths old, of Philadelphia, and his grandparents, Joseph and Margaret Drnach, of Clairton, and Richard and Penny Wright, of Florida, formerly of Monongahela, who provided a place for him to stay when he decided to move there. "I'm looking forward to coming home and everyone," he said from Florida at mid-week. Police: Man with bombs threatened state trooper Dana McCall was cited by the officer for a minor crime two years ago.

By JOE MANDAE As.wiatci Writer PITTSBURGH A man who allegedly played violent recordings over the phone to a state trooper was accused of stockpiling materials to make bombs and having instructions on bomb making, booby traps and poisoning devices. Dana D. McCall, 58, threatened to harm the trooper, apparently because the officer cited McCall for a minor crime two years ago, state police said in announcing his arrest Friday. McCall was arrested Wednesday when state and federal agents raided his home in Ashland Township, about 60 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Authorities found bomb- making material, including 18 containers of black powder, 90 feet of detonating fuse, an empty hand grenade and 32 metal pipe bomb-like devices, according to a 12-page criminal complaint.

Literature on bombs, booby traps and devices used to deliver poison were also found, the complaint said. State police and agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives got a warrant to search McCall's house after they traced seven calls from his cell phone to the trooper's home between Feb. 4 and Tuesday. During three of the calls, sound from a prerecorded movie clip was played that included language about "relentless, excruciating pain," the sound of gunfire and dialogue about killing a police officer, the complaint said. The trooper, who works at the Clarion barracks, is married with two small children.

Nobody answered the telephone at McCall's residence Friday. His attorney, John F. Marshall, declined to comment on the charges, but said he planned to ask that a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 26 be postponed. Jamie LeVier, a state police spokesman, would not detail McCall's alleged dealings with the trooper, but online court records show the trooper had cited McCall for criminal mischief for damaging property in 2006.

McCall was found guilty and fined $275. SANTORI Kitchen Bath Complete Kitchen Bathroom Remodeling Featuring One Of Family Owneii Operated Aristokraft TRY 1119 Broad Belle Vernon Muii-KH lUuiu-5pni Sut. lUuni-2jiui (724) 929-4737 sentence for Washington landscaper Patrick Jason Stollar was convicted of stabbing Upper St. Clair woman to death. PITTSBURGH (AP) A landscaper convicted of robbing and killing an elderly Allegheny County woman in June 2003 was sentenced to death on Friday.

Jurors deliberated for about six hours before deciding that Patrick Jason Stollar, 29, of Washington, should die by lethal iiijection for stabbing Jean Heck, 78, to death at her Upper St. Clair home outside Pittsburgh. The same jury took just 40 minutes Wednesday to reject Stollar's defense that he was mentally impaired at the time and found him guilty of first-degree murder. Prosecutors said Stollar attacked Heck when she told him she didn't need him to do any more landscaping work. Stollar represented himself during the trial but was assisted by court-appointed attorney James DePasquale during the penalty phase.

DePasquale said that had he represented Stollar throughout, the defendant would have pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and gone directly to the penalty phase. "The thing about Patrick Stollar's type of mental illness is, the only people who care about it is your mother and your brother," DePasquale said. "For everybody else, he's nothing but a jerk." Heck died of strangulation and stab wounds. In a taped confession played for jurors, Stollar told investigators that he kicked Heck's face and stomped on her head. "I think Patrick Stollar leaving the impression of his work boot on Jean Heck's face, I just think that image spoke volumes and it spoke more eloquently than anything I could say in my closing," Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli said.

Heck's daughter, Andrea Kostella, said the family was "incredibly happy" with the verdict. "I feel the jury really paid my mother final tribute when they rendered this verdict of death," she said. Estranged wife charged in fatal stabbing in Trafford IHbune-Review News Service A Trafford man implicated his estranged wife in a call to 911 as he was bleeding to death from 1 a stab wound on the couple's 25th wedding anniversary last year, according to evidence presented at a preliminary hearing Thursday. After the hearing, Penn Township District Judge Helen Kistler ordered Deborah Shawley, 43, of 1208 Electric East Pittsburgh, held for trial on a charge of criminal homicide in the Oct. 23 death of Robert Shawley, 52, of 316 Duqucsne Ave.

A tape of Robert Shawley 1 call to 911 was played in the courtroom yesterday, which was packed with friends and family members of both the defendant and the Some put their heads down and wept as the 911 call Robert Shawloy made from his home was played. "I need to go to the hospital real quick. I've been stabbed and I'm real bad," Shawley said. "Somebody stabbed me with a knife and I'm bleeding real bad. "It was my estranged wife," Shawley said.

"She stabbed me with a knife and ran out the door." Robert Shnwley was pronounced dead later that night at Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville. Westmoreland County Detective Galilei testified that the cause of Shawley's death as ruled by forensic pathologist Cyril H. Wecht was homicide caused by a single stab wound to his right shoulder and client area. Shawley's arraignment is scheduled for April 18. She remains in Westmoreland County Prison.

COMING MARCH 2008 PENNSYLVANIA GAREniver I This quarterly publication, Pennsylvania Caregiver Magazine, will help educate, inform and assist local caregivers i with useful tools and information to assist I in the support and care 1 of loved ones with varying types of needs. For more information, to advertise, or to receive copies 01 distribution at your business contact Katie Donegan at 724-779-6944. The Deadline for the premier issue is: February 2008. To receive a FREE subscription to Pennsylvania Caregiver Magazine, fill out the information below and mail to: PA Caregiver, Trib Total Media 535 Keystone Drive, Warrendale, PA 15086 Name: City: E-mail: State: Finding Solutions for Care Givers.