Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 15

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1993 PoliceCourts "What I like the most right now is the freedom and the security the fact that I never have to worry." it If. I Hi 1 i Shooting charge pending McKeesport officer to surrender An off-duty McKeesport police officer who fatally shot a drunken motorist after a 5-mile chase through three towns was expected to turn himself in to authorities today and be charged with involuntary manslaughter. Officer Javan Wilson III testified before a coroner's jury Sept. 15 that the motorist, Anthony Walton Jr. of Versailles, narrowly missed hitting another McKeesport officer with his car and then twice tried to run Wilson over before the shooting Aug.

12. The jury, however, said it found probable cause that Walton's death resulted from gross negligence and reckless behavior. Deputy District Attorney W. Christopher Conrad said a warrant was issued for Wilson's arrest yesterday after District Attorney Bob Colville reviewed the facts in the case. f.

Inmate tied to jail death Prisoner relates conversation An Allegheny County Jail inmate testi-' fied yesterday in Common Pleas Court that one of the two men accused of killing inmate Seth Floyd in his cell March 9 ac- knowledged hip involvement in Floyd's death. Gregory McKinney, who did not enter i the jail until a week after Floyd's death, said defendant Shawn Burton told him in May that Floyd was "choked with a plas-i tic bag and then he was suffocated. McKinney said Burton told him he had entered Floyd's cell and hit him, and "someone else grabbed him around his legs" before he was choked to death. Burton, 25, of Northview Heights, and Melvin Goodwine, 27, of the North Side, are charged with killing Floyd, 25, of Westgate Village. i Teen runs out of space Shuman escape effort fails A teen-ager attempted to escape through the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center's ceiling Wednesday night, but his effort' failed when he realized there was no way out.

The youth managed to punch a hole in the ceiling of his room and climb through it about 11:30 Wednesday night. Staff i members discovered the boy hiding in the crawl space, and he voluntarily came down about an hour later after realizing there was no way to get out, said Alex i Wilson, director of Shuman. The ceiling had been replastered and because the repaired area was fragile, the boy was able to punch a hole with his fist, Wilson said. i Outdoor ad bill is due for vote Ferlo says he'll bring his controversial bill up on Wednesday By Tom Barnes Post-Gazette Staff Writer Pittsburgh City Council has bickered long enough about billboards it's time to vote, Jim Ferlo says. Ferlo, the councilman behind a two-year-old campaign to limit the height and size of new billboards in Pittsburgh, said he will bring his proposal up for a preliminary vote on Wednesday.

His comments came yesterday after yet another council hearing on billboard limitations, where arguments similar to those used at previous hearings were voiced by billboard advocates and opponents. Ferlo's billboard-restriction measure won preliminary approval from council last April. Five council members, the bare majority needed, voted for it. But then it was altered slightly, forcing it to go back to the city Planning Commission in June and to come up for a second vote now. However, one of the council members who supported the bill in April, Michelle Madoff, isn't here.

She's in South Carolina, reportedly recovering from stress. Ferlo said he was hoping that Councilman Christopher Smith, who wasn't on council in April, would supply the fifth vote needed for passage Wednesday. Officials of Martin Media the city's largest billboard firm, are lobbying Smith to oppose Ferlo's bill. Ferlo said he expects Mayor Mas-loff to veto the bill if it is passed by council. He noted that Fred Frank, the lawyer for Martin Media, is close to Masloff, having served as her campaign treasurer.

Frank denied that his campaign role would influence Masloff on this issue. Ferlo said that if the bill were vetoed, he would urge Madoff to return to Pittsburgh to provide the sixth vote needed to override a veto. Tom Martin of California, owner of Martin Media, urged council yesterday to kill Ferlo's bill, saying it "puts a stranglehold on this business," which provides jobs for sign painters and a low-cost way for small companies to advertise. Martin agreed that current rules, which allow billboards to be up to 1,200 square feet in size, are too liberal, but said Ferlo's bill "goes too far." It would reduce signs to no more than 378 square feet in commercial districts and 750 square feet in industrial zones. John Murdoch, a longtime billboard critic from Friendship, urged enactment of limits on sign size and height.

He said billboards "are making this city ugly," comparing them to "the plague of locusts that descended on the pharoahs in Egypt." Darrell SappPost-Gazette Raymond and Sylvia Raveglia, of Baldwin Borough, hold their first check for $1 ,442,355.10 for winning the state's $52.1 million Super 7 lottery jackpot last month. The couple held the sole winning ticket and will get 25 more annual installments. "What I like the most right now is the freedom and the security, the fact that I never have to worry," Mrs. Raveglia said. "I haven't really thought much about anything else other than maybe buying a new house." 7 county school districts headed for crisis, state says By Bohdan Hodiak Post-Gazette Staff Writer The state Education Department has identified 52 school districts as being heading toward financial crises.

Yesterday, the House Education Committee held a hearing in Clairton to listen to the plight of seven of them. The bulk of the testimony came from the Clairton and Sto-Rox districts, the only ones in Pennsylvania designated by the state as financially distressed and being, as a result, were inadequate because they were designed to deal with problems resulting from mismanagement of the schools, not with the problem of an eroding tax base. Ten years ago, for example, the overall value of taxable property in the Clairton district was $50 million. Now it is $24 million. That means each mill of taxation last year brought in only $24,806 in Clairton.

In Duquesne, a mill raises $20,968, and in i Sto-Rox, $49,819. By comparison, in Bethel Park a mill brings in $256,040, in Chartiers Valley, $185,960, and in North Allegheny, $465,259. "We don't have an inkling on what we are going to do," said Felix Fusco, president of Clairton's elected school board, which has Superintendent Carmen A. Sarnicola said the high cost was due in part to the high percentage of students designated for special education programs 24 percent, Fusco said. A change in the state's method of funding special education, made during the 1991-92 budget year, drove Clairton's special education costs up by almost $1 million, Sarnicola said.

Another of Clairton's problems is that it is paying off a $23 million loan that was used to build its education center a decade ago. In Sto-Rox, the district will spend $1.3. million this year on special education, with the state contributing $500,000, said Carl DeJulio, director of that district's special education program. "We need to look at other ways of organizing districts for districts to collaborate together," Cowell said. Legislation to entice districts to merge has been floated in Harrisburg for more than three years, yet nothing has happened, he said.

Any merger plans need to preserve "public ownership," where students and parents feel a school to be theirs. Report shows intoxication Greene County official faces hearing Greene County District Attorney David Pollock was intoxicated when his pickup track hit a garbage truck earlier this month, a police laboratory report said. No one was injured in the accident on Sept. 11 at 12:10 a.m. in Waynesburg.

i The level of alcohol in blood samples taken from Pollock soon after the accident was .16, police said. A person is legally intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of .10. Waynesburg police Chief Tim Hawfield said Pollock called police to report the accident. Pollock, 38, faces a hearing on: Oct. 13 at 10 a.m.

before District Justice John Watson. run by appointed control boards. Five others in the county are headed fori trouble, according to the state, which identi- fied them as Wilkinsburg, South Allegheny, East Allegheny, Cornell and Elizabeth Forward. "This is a crisis that demands attention now," said the committee's chairman, Rep. Ronald Cowell, D-Wilkins.

There are no provisions in state law to help districts on the state's "early warning" list, Cowell said. "All that the department can do is warn them," He said he believed present state laws for helping financially troubled districts been replaced by a state-appointed board of control. He said the district would run out of operating funds in March. Despite state figures showing Clairton's school taxes to be the highest among 501 districts statewide when ranked by taxpayers' ability to pay, the district did not qualify for some state money because its per-pupil costs were in the top 15 percent in the state. Clairton spends $5,862 a year per student.

EtOUHH THE LllVOnS News From Your Neighborhood Benjamin said in an interview that she refused an offer to settle for half the $9,488.22. During the interview, she played the recording of Mink on her answering machine, saying the tape was evidence that he acknowledged the debt. North Side 2 funds begun for children of slain driver A fund has been established to handle the immediate needs of the children of Jay Weiss, 34, the father of three who was killed earlier this month while delivering pizza on the North Side. "Money is needed to buy clothing, shoes and other items for the children," Carole Hogan of Brighton Heights, a neighbor of the Weiss family, said yesterday. Donations can be sent to the Weiss Children Benefit Fund, Box 6605, Pittsburgh 15212.

The children, Jamie, 14, Jennifer, 12, and Jay 8, are living with their uncle and aunt, John and Diana Weiss of Observatory Hill, who have four children of their own. A fund to take care of the long-term needs of Jay Weiss' children, primarily their education after high school, has been established by Brighton Road Presbyterian Church, 3737 Brighton Road, Pittsburgh 15212. Checks should be made out to Brighton Road Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Bill Venable said. Pair waive hearing 1 Millvale couple robbery suspects A man and a woman from Millvale who last week were charged in two armed robberies, waived their preliminary hearing yesterday.

Michael John Zukowski, 27, and Joyce Lynn Baker, 38, are accused of robbing the Long John Silver's restaurant about 7 p.m. Aug. 14 on Route 8 in Hampton. The two also are charged with the robbery 90 minutes earlier of Chi Chi's restaurant on McKnight Road, Ross. The two waived their hearing, scheduled yesterday before District Justice Mark B.

Devlin in Ross. Guilty plea entered Wilkinsburg man admits assault A Wilkinsburg man who went on a shooting spree in January pleaded guilty yesterday to aggravated assault, simple assault, receiving stolen property and gun charges. Michael Wilkes, 20, admitted that he fired shots at a car on a Wilkinsburg street, at police officers and at a party in separate incidents in January, said Deputy District Attorney Michael Ahwesh. Senior Common Pleas Judge Henry R. Smith Jr.

has not set a sentencing date for Wilkes. Probation in cocaine case Wexford man pleads guilty A Wexford man was sentenced in U.S. District Court yesterday to five years of probation after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine in the North Hills. Craig J. Gardner, 36, of Pine Creek Road, received the sentence from Senior Judge Barron P.

McCune. Gardner was accused of being part of a drug-trafficking ring that distributed more than 25 kilograms of cocaine from 1987 through August 1992. Wilkinsburg March Against Drugs, which began hold-, ing demonstrations since this summer, plans to distribute free information, and information on AIDS prevention also will be available. At 7 p.m., residents are invited to meet at the borough building and participate in a march against drugs. South Side Vietnam vets start drive for war memorial The South Side Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commit- tee began its fund-raising efforts last night at the Market House, a community center.

The group is trying to raise at least $30,000 to build a memorial at East Carson and 18th streets in what is now a vacant lot. The city plans to convert the property into a parking area and has donated a portion of the lot for the memorial, said Glenn Connor, vice president of the committee. The committee estimated that it would take 18 to 24 months to raise enough money for the project, Connor said. The memorial, to be made of black granite and bronze, will pay tribute to South Siders killed in action during the Vietnam War. Tax deductible contributions can be mailed to: The South Side Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee, P.O.

Box 10794, Pittsburgh 15203. Monongahela Church slates 40th sale of antiques and junk For the past four decades, others' old junk has been a treasure for Bethel A.M.E. Church in Monongahela. The church at Seventh and Main streets is holding its 40th annual antique sale and bazaar next month, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

on Oct. 11 and 12. Corn fritters and sausage will be featured at lunchtime both days, along with homemade soup and croissant sandwiches. Dinner on Oct. 11 will feature chicken pot pie, followed by beef stroganoff the next night Proceeds from past bazaars have provided for capital improvements for the 160-year-old church.

Greensburg Westmoreland County delays police hirings The Westmoreland County Salary Board has delayed action on increasing the size of the park police force. Such a move had been recommended as part of stepped-up security measures to be implemented this year at the courthouse complex in Greensburg. A proposal to create jobs for four patrol officers and one sergeant died for lack of a motion when the board met yesterday. The positions, which together would have cost more than $97,000 plus fringe benefits annually, were to be part of a package that also includes walk-through metal detectors, a package scanner, closed-circuit television and restricted use of entrances in the three-building complex. The new equipment is expected to cost more than $149,000.

Richard F. Vidmer, chairman of the Board of Commissioners, said the matter of an expanded police force was not dead and that he expected it to be re-introduced later. North Huntingdon Rep. Klink sued over campaign debt U.S. Rep.

Ron Mink's broadcast-quality voice is heard on a phone answering machine: "Hello, Patrice! I got another letter from you today concerning our account I would like to be able to settle this matter and get it behind us," the congressman says. But there has been no settlement, and a Highland Park woman went to Common Pleas Court this week with her claim that Mink, D-North Huntingdon, owed her $9,488.22. for campaign fund-raising work. Patrice Benjamin says she worked for 4Vi months this year to "develop and implement" a fund-raising campaign for the TV anchorman-turned-congressman. She said Mink never paid her, prompting her to resign April 17.

Joe Brimmeier, Mink's district director, said the congressman's staff had tried on numerous occasions to reach a settlement with Benjamin. Wilkinsburg Community Day is tomorrow evening Wilkinsburg community day will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow in the parking lot of the Wilkinsburg Boys Club at 813 South Ave. The free activities will include games, food booths and a petting zoo..