Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 21

B-5 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1993 Idled students use I to assist the poor By Carmen J. lek Post-Gazette Stall Writer While Upper St. Clair teachers and residents marched on opposing picket lines over the past four weeks, a handful of high school students from the South Hills suburb found a way to put their unscheduled free time to constructive use. At least once a week, the six youths have spent the hours when they would have been in a classroom hanging plasterboard, reinforcing stairs and otherwise helping to renovate houses for low-income families in Braddock. I They have been serving as volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, an organization that renovates houses for those in need.

"It's a nice thing to do and it doesn't seem like work to us," Vijay Kapoor, 16, a junior at Upper St. Clair High School, said yesterday. "Essentially, they just showed up one day," said John Dykes, a construction supervisor with Habitat. "Weekdays are usually slow for us because we have problems getting workers. These guys have definitely filled a void for us.

I'm glad they're here Clad in sweat shirts and jeans, Vijay, his brother, Sanjay, 14, and their friends Andy Federle, 16; Alex Liu, 15; Brian Keane, 16; and Matt Karis, 16 put their energy to work yesterday on a three-story, -v' V'2 iV T'l Jl-' Vv y-' f- 7 I- iyMy Ail. -L P) Jt i it fcimnn Jll .111 lim II fiHIHHH yellow trame nouse on iviius aireei in rtraiiiiiii'M viiav and Anrtv helrted to reinforce the POUCECOURTS Death tied to compaction Body found amid waste paper. Pittsburgh detectives believe a 45-year-old man whose body was found amid waste paper at a Strip District recycling plant was killed when a bin in which he had been sleeping was dumped into a truck and compacted. The body was found yesterday morning by workers for Davidow Sons 26th and Smallman streets, as they moved paper on a conveyor belt for processing for recycling. His identity was being withheld pending notification of relatives.

The conveyor operator said that if the body had been on a lower conveyor belt, it would not have been seen, "and he would have ended up in the trash." i Police Cmdr. Ronald B. Freeman said detectives suspected that the victim had climbed into a trash bin to spend the night. Freemanaid he had seen five such deaths in the past two decades. Life term for Jail inmate Convicted in strangulation An Allegheny County Jail inmate was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for I the jailhouse killing of another inmate.

Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel sentenced Shawn Burton, 25, of Northview Heights, to the mandatory life term. He was convicted Tuesday in the strangulation of Seth Floyd, 25, formerly of Los Angeles, in what was believed to be the first homicide in the history of the jail. Another inmate, Melvin Goodwine, 27, of the North Side, was convicted of con-, spiracy in the case. No sentencing date has been set. Goodwine also faces 13 years in federal prison for bank robbery.

Phone bill review blocked Privacy at issue, judge says The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Washington Observer-Reporter cannot review Washington County cellular phone bills while the county appeals a ruling that the bills are public record. That's the decision of Judge John F. Bell of Washington County Common Pleas Court, who ruled Aug. 24 that the county must make the bills available for public review. Bell ruled yesterday that appellate Courts had to decide whether the privacy of people whose telephone numbers ap- eared on county bills would be violated the release of the records.

1 'i "The county, by its appeal, is frustrate ing the policy underlying the Right to Know Act," Post-Gazette attorney Perry Napdlitano said of the ruling. The Post-Gazette filed suit July 9 after Washington County Controller Paul Bel-castro refused to release full bills for the county's 21 cellular phones. Cover sheets reveal that the county spent about $25,000 over an 18-month period on cellular phone expenses, including nearly $7,000 for a portable and car phone used by Commissioner Metro Petrosky Jr. After the Post-Gazette requested access to the records June 4, Petrosky reimbursed the county $2,031 for personal calls he had made on his car phone since January 1992. Washington fraud plea McMurray agent admits to fraud A Washington County insurance agent has pleaded guilty to charges that he bilked 36 people out of $726,000 by per- suading them to invest in fraudulent insurance schemes.

Thomas H. Schneider, 48, of McMur- ray, entered the plea yesterday before U.S. District Judge Donald E. Ziegler. He remains free on bond until his sentencing hearing, set for Dec.

10. i'. Beaver man pleads guilty Robbed Lawrence County bank Beaver County man has admitted in federal court that he held up a Lawrence County bank after holding a gun to a teller's head earlier this year. William Sellers, also known as William Runner, 47, of Freedom, pleaded guilty ye'sterday before U.S.jDistrict Judge Alan N. BlochTHe was charged with bank robbery in the Feb.

9 armed holdup of the Integra Bank branch in Wampum. 2 admit fraud, tax evasion pair eluded tax on diesel fuel Two mpn herame the first vesterdav in Bob DonaldsonPost-Gazette front steps of the houSei with thick wooden planks while Alex, Brian and Matt hung plasterboard on the basement ceiling. Sanjay sanded down dry wall compound in each room of the house, a task that left him covered from head to toe with a fine, white dust. i The youths said the work was an outgrowth of a school volunteer program they joined in the last school year and participated in through the summer. They had planned to continue their volunteer work on weekends after school started.

But when the teachers strike extended their vacation time, they decided working on houses during the week would be a welcome alternative to sitting at "A iot of others wantedxo corne with us but we could Only fit stfmany people in the Upper St. Clair high school juniors, from left, Alex Liu, Matt Karis and Brian Keane hang wallboard in the basement of a house on Mill Street in Braddock yesterday. ent. I have to give them a lot of credit." Brian, however, acknowledged that he car," Alex said. the past four weeks, they've made up in The youths added that the renovation heart, Dykes said.

work not onlv cave them the opportunity to "Thev set on a iob and thev plug away at did have another motivation tor volunteer- help others but also helped them to leam it. We've had other high school students ing. THfttc onnH skills that will come in handy later. work with us and they've lost interest after With a grin he said, It Iooks good on a And what they've lacked in ability over the first 10 minutes. These guys are differ- college resume.

Jail plan denounced in Beaver sess their needs and then choose a site based on those needs. It picked this site and then tried to figure put what its needs were." Williams and his fellow board members will hear more testimony today and will have until mid-November to decide whether to grant the county its variances. "I can't believe the animosity, the animus, I see on the part of the county commissioners on this issue," said Beaver resident the Rev. Paul Wierman, pastor at Park Presbyterian Church. "A jailj could just as easily be built outside the towns, in a campus-type setting, where it would have room to grow and the prisoners could enjoy the green grass and air." Rebekah Schreffler is a free-lance writer who lives in New Brighton.

woman said from the middle of the room. "Let's get this meeting moving." Williams was impassive as Beaver solicitor John Petrush made an emotional appeal to the board, citing the fears of fellow citizens about prisoners living among them. "Don't you think the risk increases the closer a dangerous criminal is allowed to be to his potential victims?" he asked. Petrush went on to attack the county commissioners' insistence on placing the new jail on the site of the old one, and its apparent disregard for restrictions on building height and the distance between building fronts and sidewalks. The most current proposal, termed "Plan most of the borough's sidewalk-setbacK rules, but its 102-foot-tall roof towers over the zoning law's 35-foot limit.

"The county put the cart before the horse here," Petrush declared. "They didn't as Lawyers, engineers, jail wardens and about 50 Beaver residents filled the hall for a zoning hearing, waiting to hear Beaver County Solicitor Dale Fouse ask the board to allow a variance on zoning rules now blocking construction of a proposed $22.5 million downtown jailhouse. The borough of Beaver opposes the variance. Residents who waited long to air objections to the jail project were miffed at the slow-paced review of sewage planning modules, engineering studies and blueprints that stretched through the day. After a deputy jail warden attested to the dangerous crowding at the 134-year-old building, an engineer reviewed in tedious detail two proposals for a new jail proposed for the same site.

"This is all things we've heard before," a By Rebekah Schrefflbr Roger Williams' eight years on Beaver's Zoning Board have been a monthly round of quick, quiet meetings where he and three other men approve porch additions and remodeling projects. But Thursday morning, the 3-year-old county jail controversy landed on the folding table at the borough building. Around the EIivers News From Your Neighborhood yhat prosecutors say will be a long line of Other Life Chains will form in Beaver, Butler, Connells-ville, Cranberry, Everson, Greensburg and Uniontown, Cindrich said. Edgewood Thieman gets Senate OK as U.S. attorney The U.S.

Senate unanimously approved the nomination yesterday of Frederick W. Thieman to be U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Thieman, 42, a Democrat from Edgewood, has been interim U.S. attorney since Aug.

16, when he replaced Republican Thomas W. Corbett Jr. President Clinton now must sign off on Theiman's appointment. He is expected to be sworn in as U.S. attorney in about a week.

U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford, nominated him. Allegheny, Washington Counties Old newspapers, magazines, catalogs wanted A recycling collection program for newsprint and magazines will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

tomorrow at the following four sites: McCandless 350 Cumberland Road, in the gravel parking lot between North Allegheny Intermediate High School and McKnight Elementary School. Harmarville On Gulf Lab Road in the UPARC parking lot. Whitehall 100 Borough Park Drive, at the parking lot for the tennis courts and swimming pool in the Municipal Complex. Washington Washington Mall at Route 19 and Interstate 70. The following materials will be accepted: newspapers with all inserts, magazines and mail order and department store catalogs.

Telephone books, boxes, paper and plastic bags, string and twine will not be accepted. The Allegheny Washington County Old Newsprint and Magazine Recycling lYogram is suppported by BFI Waste Systems, Chambers Development Company Tri-Val-ley Waste Systems and Waste Management of Pittsburgh. 1 Braddock Hills Councilmcn, others sue to halt land purchase Three Braddock Hills council members and two council candidates are seeking a court injunction to prevent the borough from spending $170,000 to buy land for a park. f. i t' During a special towri meeting last night, councilmen Robert Henkel, Albert Kvoriak and Robert French informed the audience of about 70 people of the legal action they took on Tuesday in Common Pleas Court.

Named as defendants are the borough and council members John Vaskov, Marilyn Stevens, Leonard Cunic and Peter Zentner, who voted Sept. 9 to buy the 21.5-acre parcel off Brinton Road, near Columbia Avenue. Henkel, Kvorjak and Frenph opposed the purchase, contending that the borough could not afford it. During last night's meeting, Henkel told the crowd that the borough had an option last year to buy the land, but that the option expired in December 1992. He said the issue did not come again until the Sept.

9 meeting. Kvorjak said the purchase would be financially disastrous for the borough, which has about $497,000 its general fund. If the purchase goes through, the fund would have about $31,000 at the end of the year, not enough to cover any unforseen expenditures that might occur. Hill District Black voter registration drive tomorrow The Black Political Empowerment Project will hold a fund-raising event tonight and a voter registration campaign tomorrow, i The project, founded by community activist Tim Stevens in the mid-1980s to increase black political involvement, is a joint effort of the Pittsburgh branch of the National Association for thetAdvancement of Colored Peo pie, the Urban League of Pittsburgh and others. The fund -raising event, called a "cabaret celebration," will begin at 9 tonight at thefeouthern Platter Restaurant and Convention Center, 6947 Kelly Homewood.

The voter registration campaign will be held from 9:30 detendants pleading guilty tor meir roies in a massive scheme to evade taxes on diesel fuel. The pair, Gurinder "Gary" Grewal and fehima S. Ranmal, operated a truck stop iin Austintown, Ohio, that was part of network of outlets across the country partici pating in the diesel fuel scheme. Grewal, 25, of Chicago, and Ranmal, 44, of Stamford, each pleaded dniiitu in II District Cmirt to one count a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

tomorrow in Arlington Heights, Beltz-hoover, Braddock, East Liberty, the Hill District, Homestead, Homewood and other locations. Sewickley Borough losing its manager Nov. 5 Sewickley Borough Manager Donald Sandor will resign Nov. 5 to become city manager of Oskaloosa, Iowa. Sandor, 42, said he, his wife, Susan, and their three sons wanted to be closer to their families.

"We're Illinois natives and lived in Iowa for seven years, so the move gets us closer to family," Sandor for me professionally, Oskaloosa is a larger community with more services." Oskaloosa, which is about 50 miles southeast of Des Moines, has a population of Sewickley's is 4.100. In Oksaloosa, Sandor will oversee 80 employees, as opposed to Sewickley's 16. He moved to Sewickley from Charleston, W.Va., to take the borough manager's post in June 1992. Oakland Abortion foes planning Life Chains Life Chain, a kind of hands-across-your-community, will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday in protest of abortion rights.

"This is our day to publicly say that we can rely on politicians, protests, pickets or passage of laws to bring an end to the slaughter of the innocent," said Helen Cindnch, the event's chairwoman. She said one chain would begin at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and extend up Fifth and Forbes avenues to Squirrel Hill. She said more than 60 churches were participating. 6f conspiracy to defraud the Internal Rev enue Service ana to commit wire rrauu. The charges against Grewal and Ranmal are the first in Pittsburgh since the U.S.

attorney's office here coordinated a Series of raids last October in the investigation. The raids, which began Oct. 20, in yolved 200 agents who raided more than 60 locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New The scheme is anchored on the substitution of oil for diesel fuel. Diesel fuel and heating oil are virtually identical, but diesel tuel is suojeci to sun ieaerai and state motor fuel taxes. 1.