Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 23

i 4 iiiWii B-4 PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2000 NEIGHBORHOODS Roddey's row office reforms draw criticism I A i Belle Vernon man charged in assaults of grandmother and neighbors ByAnnBelser Post-Gazette Staff Writer police arrested a 30-year-old man yesterday and accused him of assaulting his grandmother and a couple who lived near him in a trailer park in Belle Vernon. Police received a call at 9:16 a.m. from Pearl Kennedy, a resident of the Port Royal Trailer Park, who said that a neighbor was forcing his way into her house. By the time police arrived, the neighbor, Brian Capuano, had gotten into the house and assaulted Kennedy, 68, and Richard Want, 68, who also lives there. Wheri police went to Capuano's house down the street, they found the front door open and Capuano's 81-year-old grandmother, Kathleen Vought, lying face down on the living room floor, bleeding from her head.

Police said Vought, who lives with Capuano, had been beaten with a steel snow shovel. Kennedy told police she had closed the door on Capuano but he forced his way in. In an affidavit filed by police, Kennedy said that when Capuano forced his way through the door, she was spun around and fell against her stove, kitchen table and qhairs. Her left eye was cut, her face was bruised and she required stitches. Police said Capuano struck Kennedy and Want after entering and that he sustained an injury to his left eye.

Capuano was gone by the time police arrived at his house, but they said they found him in a nearby residence. His grandmother was Down to Allegheny General Hospital, where police said she was in serious condition. Capuano was being held in the Westmoreland County Jail last night on $200,00 bond. He has been charged with four counts of aggravated assault and one count of ject job applicants to civil service testing. Only those scoring in the top 10 percent could be hired.

New purchasing and contracting standards also would apply to the row officers in Roddey's proposed code. In addition, he proposes requiring row officers to work at least 35 hours a week. Crossey scheduled four more committee meetings last night, the third of which, set for April 1 1, will focus on the row officers. The next meeting, scheduled for March 14, will deal with the code's property assessment Roddey is seeking to abolish the county's bickering, seven-member property assessment board and replace it with a new seven-member panel in 2001, when the county-wide reassessment takes effect. The new board would handle assessment appeals but would no longer oversee the initial process of setting property values.

That would be taken over by an arm of county government Crossey said Roddey's plan would violate a 1997 Common Pleas Court ruling that removed assessments from the purview of county commissioners. Roddey maintains that the ruling doesn't apply since it predates the establishment of the county's home rule form of government, which replaced the three commissioners with an elected executive and council. The council committee did not take any action last night but intends to vote on recommended changes to Roddey's proposal at future meetings. The full council would consider the committee's recommendations May 2 and again on May 9, under a tentative schedule presented last night. Roddey presented his inch-thick, 150-page code to council last week.

The code outlines the duties of various elected and appointed officials, the organization and structure of government, personnel and procurement policies, and procedures for initiatives and referendums. Under the county charter, council has 90 days, or until May 15, to approve an administrative code. It would then go back to Roddey for his signature or veto. WuJ -1 iLI ManaaM i 3 It' ,1 I I k--v 4 1 A' "1 Tony TyePost-Gazette what will be a Staples store along Banksville Because Mathos, 53, of Lincoln Place has been in jail since his Christmas Day arrest 14 months ago, O'Toole ordered him processed for immediate release. Mathos also was sentenced to five years probation.

At his nonjury trial, Mathos testified that he feared for his life because Martin, 29, of the Hill District, was trying to bully and rob him at the Aces Deuces Lounge, Uptown. He said Martin threatened to stab him. "He kept coming at me with his hand in his pocket. Then I stuck him," Mathos testified. Mathos had no prior criminal record.

O'Toole ruled that while Mathos acted in self-defense, he did not have to use deadly force. Downtown DePalma to leave review board After serving more than two years of a four-year term, Citizen Police Review Board vice chairwoman Diane L.R. DePalma has announced her intention to leave the board later this year. DePalma, a retired city police commander who was among the board's original members, submitted her resignation last night during the review board's monthly meeting. Her resignation will take effect after the board's July meeting.

DePalma, 45, of Brighton Heights, said she has decided to leave the board in or loughed after June 30. The board voted 7-0 last night with one abstention and one member absent to give the teachers the required notice of the possible furloughs one semester before the furloughs would have to take effect. Board President Jean Dexheimer said she hopes the district can avoid fur-loughing the teachers, but the combination of the rising enrollment at the Thur-good Marshall Charter School, which the district has to pay for, and the district's financial problems means the teachers may have to lose their jobs to save money. "A lot of it depends on the registration in the fall," Dexheimer said. Monroeville Request to cut trees withdrawn A lumber company yesterday withdrew its request to cut about 1,000 trees from two sites on opposite sides of Route 286, the Golden Mile Highway.

Bucksaw Lumber Co. of Home, Indiana County, faxed the withdrawal to Monroeville council just before a special hearing was set to begin yesterday. The project was turned down by council in June because of landslide activity at the 53-acre site. In November, Bucksaw asked council to reconsider the request and the municipality advised the company to submit a new application. It is not clear when or if Bucksaw will reapply.

By Jeffrey Cohan Post-Gazette Staff Writer The first serious clash between Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey and the Democrat-controlled County Council appears imminent. Mike Crossey, chairman of the council committee that is reviewing Roddey's pro- Eosed administrative code, said last night will fight the Republican's plans to impose a merit-based hiring system on the county's row offices and to reconfigure the property assessment board. "This administrative code steps way beyond what the law allows," Crossey said, after his five-member committee's first meeting. In attempting to limit the autonomy of the county's 10 row offices, Roddey is taking a back-door approach to eliminating them, in violation of a state law that bars Allegheny County from abolishing its row offices until May 2003 at the earliest, Crossey, D-Mt Lebanon, charged. The councilman advocated exempting the row officers, all but one of whom are Democrats, from all administrative code provisions.

Committee member Charles Martoni, D-Swissvale, said he agreed with Crossey. Committee member Dave Fawcett, R-Oakmont, said he didn't. Roddey, interviewed outside the meeting, insisted he has the right to impose the same standards on row officers that he proposes for the rest of county government. "If the row officers would like to withdraw from the county, operate on their own budget, have their own pension plan, that's fine, Roddey said. "But as long as they are part of the county, as long as we're funding them, as long as they're part of our pension plan, then they should be part of the county government." The row officers, all elected, are the jury commissioners, the prothonotary, clerk of courts, recorder of deeds, register of wills, controller, treasurer, district attorney, sheriff and coroner.

Seeking to curtail patronage in county hiring, Roddey proposes in his code to sub der to devote more time to her family, her job and her obligations as a volunteer for a program that aids homeless children. She is manager for the project to develop Allegheny County's regional booking centers but said she expects to take another job with the county's emergency management agency when the booking center project wraps up in March. DePalma said she is delaying her departure from the board to provide time for City Council and Mayor Murphy to consider and select a replacement She was sworn in as a board member in October 1997, three months after she retired from the city police bureau. Also last night, the board dismissed 14 complaints filed against police officers and continued four others for further investigation. Garfield Police looking for missing girl Police are looking for a 12-year-old Garfield girl who has been missing since 10 a.m.

Sunday. Sgt. Paul McComb said Patricia Williams left her Columbo Street home by herself to visit a home on Chauncey Street in the Hill District but she apparently didn't get there. "We're concerned because she doesn't have a history of running away," McComb said. "It raises a red flag for us, especially because she's been missing this long." WEST Rochester Borough Frank Dodson named to council Council last night chose Frank Dodson to fill the vacant Ward 3 seat.

Dodson, husband of Councilwoman Anna Dodson, replaces James Barr, who resigned when he moved away. In other business, the borough was notified by the Flags Across America Committee that Rochester has been chosen as a site for a giant flag. A 30- by 60-foot flag will be installed on a 120-foot stainless steel pole at Rochester Riverfront Park, where the Beaver River meets the Ohio. Montour High school closed tomorrow Classes have been canceled tomorrow at Montour High School because of a bomb threat attached to a lavatory wall last Thursday. The threat was directed at the high school building on Clever Road and indicated that it would be carried out tomorrow.

The school cancellation was announced in a letter sent home with parents yesterday. Superintendent Joseph KarUk said, "Even though we believe this threat to be attention-getting behavior and a copycat of 8trt Journal Pennsylvania) Call fi FREE Custom 4722 Liberty Going up Workers erect a wall of concrete blocks at Road yesterday. enough evidence to hold the case for trial. On two other occasions, the hearing was postponed because the prosecution's witness was not available to testify. Lawrenceville Probe continues in plasterer's death The Allegheny County coroner's office has not determined whether the death of a 71-year-old plaster worker after a confrontation at a Lawrenceville home was homicide.

The coroner's office concluded that Richard Ernest of the South Side suffered a heart attack Monday after a dispute with homeowner Craig Galvez, who was unhappy with the quality of the plastering work at his house. Galvez was charged with three counts of simple assault after pulling a shotgun on Ernest and his two sons. Ernest collapsed in his son's truck as they were driving away from the incident. Uptown Man convicted in stabbing is freed Gary Mathos, convicted in December of manslaughter, was set free yesterday after having served the minimum sentence. Common Pleas Judge Lawrence J.

O'-Toole yesterday sentenced Mathos to 11 to 23 months in jail for the Dec. 24, 1998, stabbing death of Anthony Martin. Galloway contends he did not shoot Anderson, who was 43. Jurors heard four days of prosecution testimony and one day of defense testimony yesterday. Common Pleas Judge John E.

Blahovec scheduled closing arguments for this morning. Edgewood Time extended on sewer cleanup The town has reached an agreement with the state on time frames and expenses for cleanup of the Nine Mile Run sewer system. At last night's council meeting, officials moved to accept a Department of Environmental Protection consent decree that extends the deadline for sewer repairs from 2001 to 2004. The decree also sets limits on the amount of money Edgewood, along with Swissvale, Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh, must spend to ensure that storm water is not flowing into the sanitary sewers, causing pollution along the watershed. Manager John Marquart said Edge-wood has completed dye testing all 13,000 homes in the borough at a cost of $43,000.

He said 24 percent had down spouts illegally connected to sanitary sewers and the next step would be seeing that homeowners correct the problems. Wilkinsburg Schools 1 1 teachers may be laid off Eleven Wilkinsburg teachers will receive notification that they may be fur- McComb said Williams was last seen wearing a black jacket with "NEW YORK" written across the front and with a red and white collar. The girl was also wearing blue jeans. Williams is black, 5-foot-3, 89 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. McComb said she sometimes wears glasses but wasn't wearing them when she left her home.

Police are asking anyone with information about her whereabouts to call 412-665-4020. Mayor fires department head Mayor Murphy fired Public Works Department Director Ralph Kraszewski yesterday, nearly seven months after he went on disability leave. Murphy sent a letter to Kraszewski and City Council saying that he had fired the director "because I believe that we do not share a common philosophical approach to the management and operations" of the department. KraszewsW, of Brookline, took a six-month leave from the director's job in August to recuperate from heart surgery. Former General Services Director Guy Costa has been the acting director since Kraszewski went on leave.

Mayoral spokesman Craig Kwiecinski said he would not comment on the firing since it is a personnel matter. similar threats in other area schools, I still feel it is necessary to close the high school on Thursday." Karlik said students will make up the lost day. The district's three elementary schools and the David E. Williams Middle School will remain open tomorrow. Karlik said the district is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

The high school has about 1,000 students from Ingram, Kennedy, Pennsbury Village, Robinson and Thornburg. Carnegie Man guilty of weapons offense A Carnegie man pleaded guilty yesterday to illegally possessing dangerous explosives and guns at his residence in the presence of his 10-year-old son. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors withdrew a charge of child endangerment against Joseph Stasik, 49. Stasik, of Sarah Street had been sched- uled for trial yesterday when he agreed to plead guilty to the single count. Common Pleas Judge Lester G.

Nauhaus sentenced Stasik to 2'h years' probation and ordered him to continue mental health treatments and abstain from using alcohol or drugs not prescribed by a doctor. Carnegie police, responding to a complaint about a disturbance at Stasik's residence, went there July 28 and found a stockpile of armaments and fireworks, including more than 30 firearms and materials used to make pipe bombs. City Downtown Homicide charges withdrawn Homicide charges against a North Side man were withdrawn yesterday because the prosecution's chief witness could not be located to testify at a coroner's inquest Allegheny County Deputy Coroner Timothy G. Uhrich ordered Frederick Tait, 22, immediately released from Al-legeny County Jail. Tait and Gregory O'Neal, also 22 and from the North Side, were charged with the Dec.

13 slaying of Jai Juan Hooten, 21, an acquaintance of theirs also from the North Side. Deputy District Attorney Edward Borokowski said he expected to refile the charge after the witness is located. Borkowski said the witness, who was not identified, will likely be picked up on an outstanding arrest warrant for drug charges. Yesterday marked the fourth time Tait appeared for an inquest on the same homicide charge. Uhrich previously ruled there was not EAST Penn Hills One killed in accident One person was killed and two others were injured in a head-on collision between a car and a sport utility vehicle in Penn Hills last night.

The crash occurred about 10:15 p.m. on Allegheny River Boulevard near Na-dine Road. The names of the people involved were not released last night. New Kensington Jury to weigh man's fate The fate of a New Kensington man accused of killing another in a dispute over a drug sale is expected to be placed in the hands of a jury today in Greensburg. Denard Galloway is accused of shooting Terry Anderson of West Deer outside Loco's bar in New Kensington on Feb.

6, 1999. Galloway, 34, could be sentenced to death if the jury convicts him of first-degree murder. Westmoreland County prosecutors claim Galloway and another man who has never been identified shot and killed Anderson because Anderson bought some cocaine from Galloway but underpaid him by $51. run EftBVAiiiivie vMkh run i vwni a ICW FIXED Loans available for Purchase or Refinance N0 We specialize In Debt Consolidations programs available for A-F Credit Commercial Property Loans Available PEOPLES EOIIITY MORTGAGE INC. Over 30 years experience Licensed by pa Dept.

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