Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 17

B-4 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Thursday, March 11, 1993 Crash rekindles school bus seat belt debate By Jim McKinnon State highway officials and school administrators said the accident involving the bus from the Albert Gallatin School District rekindled the debate about whether seat belts should be required on school buses. "Every time an accident like this does occur, the seat belt issue does come up." Sherri Landis, director of the Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania School Bus Association, said yesterday. "Rarely do children get killed on the school bus. More fatalities occur from motorists passing a stopped school bus and killing a child," she said. All school buses built since 1977 meet state safety requirements that minimize the need for seat belts, The highway was wet in most places, and snow-covered in other sections, and the surface was deceptively slick, PennDOT spokesman Ron Basescu said.

"The road's been quite a concern for us over a great number of years from a safety standpoint," Basescu said, adding that traffic had increased in recent years on the narrow, blacktop road, where the speed limit is between 40 mph and 45 mph. When the tractor-trailer started to skid, he said, it forced the salt truck off the road just before the truck collided with the bus at 857 and Gans Road. "The salt truck driver said that he was going too fast for that road," Basescu said. Landis said. But Tom Bryer, PennDOT's director of highway safety and traffic engineering, said the state favored "with reservations" the use of seat belts on school buses.

"We can see their benefits with the overall increase in seat belt usage. But in order to be truly effective, we think that a three-point system needs to be perfected," Bryer said. That means that belts need to be anchored in three places with restraints across the lap as well as the shoulder. Bryer said some studies had shown that lap belts were more dangerous than having no belts at all because they could force children into the backs of the seats in front of them. PennDOT helped fund a pro-am in the Fox Chapel Area Sslrool District in 1986 to determine.

worth of seat belts on buses, and The district now uses them on all'of 'its buses. Most districts, includfflgftl; bert Gallatin, do not. Superintendent John Ha'ddad said counselors and administrators in the district spent some of yesterday morning helping the Smithfield' students cope with the loss oHheir' classmate, Bradley ShaneyfelfcV 8, who died after being thrown ifcom the bus. The truck driver, Rickie Lee Walters, 39, of Charlotte, N.C,",'m'wa, pronounced dead at the NEWS DIGEST Man finds son dead at home A Homewood man found the body last night of his 35 year-old son in the first floor of the home they sometimes shared, police said. Detectives, who said the home may have been broken into, were investigating the death of Marcus Gould as an apparent homicide.

Officers were called to the two-story home at 7241 Finance St. about 9:45 last night. Gould frequently stayed with his father, Eddie, said police Cmdr. Ronald Freeman. i The home's front door was scuffed and dented, and part of the door frame was jarred loose.

Police, however, were unsure whether a burglary had occurred. Initial police reports said Gould was bleeding from the neck, but Freeman said how the man died wasn't clear. Golf course plan rejected Post-Gazette Start Wr ter Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board joined an investigation yesterday into what caused the brakes of a tractor- trailer to lock, causing it to skid into a Fayette County school bus Tuesday, killing a child and the truck driver. While investigators, including state police, searched for answers, the tragedy started anew a debate over why seat belts are not required on school buses. A spokesman for the Pennsylva nia Department of Transportation said road crews had been out salting Route 857 in Smithfield about 2 a.m.

and made a second pass on the road just before the 8 a.m. accident. 8 youths facing transfer to jail By Jim McKinnon Post-Gazette Staff Writer Eight youths whose foiled escape attempt from Shuman Juvenile Detention Center left a guard seriously injured last weekend may be transferred to a more secure facility. Alex Wilson, director at Shuman, said he had requested that juvenile court authorities review housing arrangements for those involved. And juvenile court Director Joseph Daugerdas said the youths faced a detention home review in a hearing scheduled today.

"The nature and the complexion of the institution has changed," Wilson said. "We don't have little kids here who are stealing hubcaps." The failed escape attempt began Friday when two residents staged a fight as a diversion, Wilson said. While a staff member tried to break up the fight, one of the eight accused youths used a metal object to rip the wire mesh covering a window. The object had been smuggled into the facility, Wilson said. Before anyone could escape, however, other staff members at Shuman came to help quell the disturbance.

In the scuffle, case worker Jeffrey Laing was struck and required 10 stitches to close a wound on the top of his head, Wilson said. Laing is among 24 full- and part-time workers who were hired to beef up security at Shuman, where the youths and the crimes they commit are becoming more violent, Wilson said. "We've had fights before, but they were just that. This, however, was definitely an attempt to escape." Wilson said about 40 percent of the 130 youths at Shuman had been charged with serious assault offenses and that seven had been accused of homicide. Wilson said the atmosphere would be less volatile if the more violent offenders were certified as adults and housed in the Allegheny County Jail.

Larsen tells probers he'll talk LARSEN FROM PAGE B-l Grippo is the owner of the Original Oyster House, Market Square, and has a law office at the same site. For such a high-profile case, Grippo appears to be a low-profile attorney. "To my knowledge, he hasn't practiced law in ages," said James I. Smith III, executive director of the Allegheny County Bar Association. Grippo could not be reached for comment Tuesday and yesterday.

In contrast to Larsen, Zappala and Cappy have chosen prominent, politically connected lawyers to represent them in the investigation. Zappala has retained Chester County lawyer William Lamb, the vice chairman of the state Republican Party. And Cappy is represented by Robert Cindrich of Pittsburgh, a former Democratic U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh and chairman of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission. Grippo notified investigators of Larsen's pending cooperation by letter and by telephone earlier this week, Dennis and Tierney said.

The message was somewhat cryptic. Grippo said Larsen intended to cooperate in "an investigation," Dennis and Tierney said. "It's not clear if it's our investigation, but at least we have been advised of that much and we're trying to pursue that," Dennis said. "I would assume it's our investigation," Tierney said. "I don't know of any others." It was not clear yesterday what motivated Larsen to cooperate.

Larsen could not be reached for comment yesterday. Pressure on Larsen to substantiate his allegations has been building. Critics also argued that the will of Mary Schenley, who donated the park land to the city 100 years ago, prevented the publicly owned course from being used for private profit, as Rosenbloom had proposed. She would have paid the city a yearly fee to lease it. Council will take a final vote Tuesday on her plan, but council members don't expect the result to change.

"The Rosenbloom plan has been defeated," said council President Jack Wagner, who cast one of the four votes against it. He favors a nonprofit plan by Carnegie Mellon University to run the course. Joining him were Bob O'Connor and Dan Cohen, who represent parts of Squirrel Hill, and Dan Onorato. Only Jim Ferlo voted for the privatization plan, while Gene Ricciardi abstained. Michelle Madoff and Duane Dar-kins were absent for the vote.

Rosenbloom blamed her defeat on council-by-district politics. "I think the worst thing that ever happened for this city was education gram. Students in the program are required to write or work with music and visual arts and then evaluate their work. In an eighth-grade creative writing class at Reizenstein Middle School in East Liberty, for example, students keep a portfolio of their writing, from which they are asked to select their best and worst work and explain their choices. "If they can do that in eighth grade and we continue to push that through high school, then we'll be able to provide colleges and businesses with students who are able to analyze complex issues and write investigative pieces, which is something youngsters are woefully unable to do now," said Stanley Herman, associate superintendent for curriculum and program development.

Emphasizing what students know, rather than how many classes they take, could give those in alternative schools like the Pittsburgh School for the Creative and Performing Arts more time in drama or music if they demonstrate understanding in other academic. What districts The school districts in Pennsylvania using an outcome based education approach, according to the Department of Education: Ambridge Area School District Altoona Area Vocational Technical School Berks County Area Vocational Technical Schools Boyertown School District, Berks County Burgettstown School District Daniel Boone School District, Berks County Danville School District, Montour County Dauphin County Area Vocational Technical Schools Ellwood City School District Fox Chapel School District Greenville Area School District, Mercer County Hatboro-Horsham School District, Montgomery County Hermitage School District, Mer- rt nrc. ormont; mayor won't rutt Schmotzer to leav- after 1 term in ByJimHosek Tn-State Sports News Service 1 Dormont Mayor Pat Schmptzer will not run for re-election this' ye'ar or for any other elected Schmotzer, 77, mayor for three years and a council member f6r JO years before that, refused to answer questions yesterday about her decision not to file for re-election "by Tuesday's deadline. But in a prepared statement; she said: "For the next 10 months, I will not be hampered by a primaryhd general election in which decisiorisT make as mayor may or may riot be construed as political." She said another reason not running was her continuing conflicts with council members, who "would rather deal with petty and mundane problems rather than substantive issues." She said council had "degraded Dormont's good name, and I can no longer tolerate that happening." Schmotzer's decision comes after a highly publicized fighLwith acting police Chief Russell McKib-ben and the council that appointed him. Schmotzer suspended McKibben shortly after his appointment in January after the two fought over a telephone in an office they shared at the time.

Council later voted to censure Schmotzer and reinstate McKibben. Yesterday, Common Pleas Judge Raymond Novak was to have held a preliminary hearing on an assault charge Schmotzer filed against McKibben. She said her thumbs sprained in the confrontation, '1- For 15 minutes, Novak leered Schmotzer and McKibben, at; one point pleading with them thaLlor the good of the people of Dormont and Allegheny County," they Should come to an agreement without having a hearing. But after meeting for close toan hour in the judge's chaitifte'fs; Schmotzer and McKibben couidwrt reach an agreement, so Novak rescheduled the preliminary hearing for April 23. McKibben said he would "settle' for nothing less than the cMtgCS, being dropped.

Schmotzer, not comment. Campaign J. has cornei Ly m. 'ifi in as target SIGN FROM PAGE B-l right turn. The turn takes them onto a bridge over 1-279.

More and larger signs are to be posted at other points near the "The problem has been that people detour off McKnight 1-279 onto East Street, come onto a straight, level, new concrete and think they can travel 35 to 50 miles per hour and make Jhat bend," city engineer Tony said. "If they're going faster than 10 to 15 miles per hour, they -won't make it." Kubit said he had watchedcars jump a traffic island and go ddwfi a Madison Avenue ramp toward oncoming traffic. As a temporary measure, the city erected a series of signs last fall, starting near St. Boniface Church, that gradually reduce the speed limit from 35 to 10 miles per liour. At least seven other warning signs were posted on the traffic island.

The last one was sheared off last week by a wayward vehicle, Peden said. "We had some dandy aedflents there until the city installecRhe extra signs and reduced the speed limit," said police Cmdr. George McComb of the North Side station. "Things are better now and, thank God, they're on the right track with those signs." McComb also blamed the intersection's layout, which calls for right turns just beyond the crest of a small hill. iv neighborhood elections of council members," she said.

"It's obvious the Squirrel Hill councilmen were voting for themselves. They want to be re-elected. They have to do what the neighbors want." She said Wagner joined them because he was running for mayor. She said she spent nearly 18 months working on her proposal before Carnegie Mellon entered the picture recently. Council members "are all psyched out on a nonexistent CMU proposal," she said.

"The process has been very, very unfair. It's a joke." O'Connor said that, at the very least, the city should operate the course, as it has done in the past. He included $80,000 in the 1993 budget for that purpose. But Reginald Young, city Parks Department director, said the Masloff administration didn't intend to do so. "There are no plans for the city to operate it this year," he said, noting that the course ran a deficit of $200,000 to $250,000 annually.

Young said the city would look into Carnegie Melton's offer. is growing subjects, Herman added. Critics have said there is no evidence to show OBE can be successful. "We like to see the results but no one has shown us that it works," said William Sloane, a top aide to Rep. Ron Gamble, D-Oakdale, leading opponent to the state's proposal.

He disputed the success stories, calling for independent verification instead. One of the most controversial goals in Pennsylvania "appreciating and understanding others" is a theme repeated in goals across the country. In Pennsylvania, critics say the goal would open the way to educators teaching tolerance for homosexuals. Other states and state education officials take a broader view. "There are a lot of people who feel with all the hate enmes in society that we won't survive as a society unless we respect others," said Joan Wallin of the Minnesota Department of Education.

Staff writer Carmen J. Lee contributed to this report. use method cer County Jefferson Morgan School District, Greene County Jenkintown School District, Montgomery County Kane Area School District, Mc-Kean and Elk counties Lancaster School District, Lancaster County Lancaster County Area Vocational Technical Schools Lebanon County Area Vocational Technical School Mars Area School District Mercer Cgunty Area Vocational Technical School Monessen City School District New Brighton School District North Allegheny School District Rochester Area School District Shade-Central City School District, Somerset County South Side Area School District Trinity Area School District West Mifflin School District First Amendment, had been violated. "I sort of get the impression that my mind works differently than other peoples'," Brown said. "This image for me is just a normal image.

I get these images every day. I wanted to shock people, but I didn't think I still had the touch. So this has been a great confidence builder for me." Robert Reteshka, a university spokesman, said the decision to ban the painting was made by students, not by William Harmon, vice chancellor of student affairs. "We're going to stand by the committee's decision," Reteshka said. "Some people would not object to the picture.

Some people would." Council vote irks developer By Tom Barnes Post-Gazette Staff Writer City Council has shot down a private developer's bid to take over the operation of the Schen-ley Park golf course. But after yesterday's vote, neither council nor the Masloff administration could say for sure whether the deficit-ridden city-owned facility would reopen this spring. Council voted 4-1 against developer Carol Rosenbloom's plan to spend $3.2 million to renovate the run-down 18 hole course and turn it into a redesigned nine-hole course with higher fees and a new driving range. The plan prompted vociferous opposition from Squirrel Hill neighbors who feared increased traffic and congestion. They didn't like plans to create a 100-car parking lot within the park and to light the proposed driving range at night.

Outcomes OBE FROM PAGE B-l them," Rowe said. In Missouri, students are tested on strictly academic outcome-style objectives. Test scores in almost every subject and grade increased significantly from 1987 to 1989 but' have more recently leveled out or dropped slightly, said Missouri education spokesman Jim Morris. In the Jenkintown School District, one of about 30 in Pennsylvania using the approach, Superintendent David R. Barrett said outcome based education had boosted the number of high-achieving students.

And at the Ellwood City Area School District, Superintendent Francis Keller Jr. said a decade of an outcome based approach had increased standardized test scores and had sent more students on to college. At the Brownsville Area School District, which critics cite, OBE was discontinued in 1989 after about four years. Not because it failed, said Superintendent Dexston R. Reed, but because teachers couldn't agree on what outcomes to use.

"I don't see a great difference in the way we've always taught," said veteran teacher Patricia Minges, who teaches sixth grade at the Keith Valley Middle School in the Hatboro-Horsham School District near Philadelphia. "Years ago, the classroom was very teacher-oriented. The teacher's aim was to teach," she said. "Over the years, it has become more student-oriented, where the aim now is that the student will learn." Minges said she often tied lessons to real-life situations, forcing students to go beyond memorizing multiplication tables to problem solving, such as determining which restaurant offers the best deal. "It's higher-level thinking," she said.

Pittsburgh Public Schools officials are putting the principles of outcome based education to work through the district's Propel pro Artist to sue PAINTING FROM PAGE B-l tee rejected the picture for "its depiction of sexual harassment and its degradation of women." But Brown said the five-member student committee simply told him the picture was "obscene." Walczak said a judge would have to declare the work obscene in order for the painting to be banned legally on those grounds. Committee members told Brown that they could not hang the picture where it could be seen through gallery windows and that if it was displayed, a disclaimer would have to be placed on gallery doors. Brown insists that his work merely reflects what happens to women. I Perks cut recommended A state House committee unanimously approved a report yesterday recommending changes to the chamber's rules and perquisites, including limiting lawmakers' allowances for expenses and car leases. But a few members of the House Select Committee on Rules Review said the report did not go far enough.

The committee recommended barring lawmakers from collecting their daily $88 expense allowance if they did not travel more than 35 miles to do business. Members traveling less than 35 miles could collect $26, the daily subsistence rate set by the Internal Revenue Service. The recommendations still allow members to collect up to $650 a month for car leases, but members who accept the lease reimbursement could not also be paid for mileage and car repair expenses, as they do now. Ideas for Sears site The Sears Roebuck and Co. site in East Liberty should be redeveloped as a commercial center, either as a new department store, a strip mall or a mixed-use center that would include some educational and social programs, neighbors said last night.

TWore than 100 people attended an East Liberty Development Inc. meeting held to gather community suggestions on how to use the six-acre site. Sears is closing its 64-year-old store March 31 and has indicated that it has several potential buyers. Most speakers at the meeting said some type of retail use should bemaintained. Surcharge to be sought West Deer's three-member board of elected auditors announced plans last night to initiate court action against three former supervisors and the township's finance clerk to recover a $9,313 payment to former Manager Maria Phelps.

George Tymas, the auditors' chairman, revealed the impending action while reading details of an amendment to the board's 1991 audit of West Deer's finances. The amendment, which resulted from a nine-month investigation of the propriety of the payment, concluded that it was not properly authorized by the township supervisors. Phelps received the money when she left the position in December 1991. Tymas said the auditors would ask Common Pleas Court to surcharge past and present supervisors James McCaskey, Matthew Arena and Andrew Burch, along with township Finance Clerk Cheryl Finn. McCaskey, who has since replaced Phelps as manager, said the payment was part of a severance agreement for Phelps.

Apparent jail suicide An inmate at the Allegheny County Jail was found hanged Tuesday, apparently the second suicide at the facility in a week. "It's been deemed a suicide, but it is under investigation," said Deputy Warden James Gregg, who discovered the body of Seth Floyd hanging in a cell about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. County homicide detectives are conducting the investigation. Floyd, 25, of Village Avenue in Broadhead Manor, had been in jail since Feb.

6. He faced charges that included robbery, burglary, conspiracy and terroristic threats. Warden Charles Kozakiewicz said it appeared that Floyd hanged himself with shoelaces and a small piece of sheet. NOTED ivtiohapl Knmichak. general manager of Christian FM radio sta tion WPIT until its purcnase mis year by a rival Christian network, was recently honored by a resolution at the National Religious PmaHpactprs' annual conven tion in Los Angeles.

An employee of the station ior id yeaia, nc icuwiua in Pittsburgh and produces a Ukrainian radio show for WPIT-AM. over exclusion from show "It's unfortunate in this society that women are victimized. Women are raped, abused, molested. You can't show a woman being victimized in a painting anymore. The artist is accused of sexism instead of the sexism he is trying to fight.

I don't really consider myself a feminist, but definitely an advocate for women's rights. I don't know who I'm harassing." Brown said his painting "was just about one woman being victimized." A woman who answered the phone at the Pitt Program Council office said none of the students could be reached because Pitt was on spring break. Walczak said Brown's right to free expression, guaranteed by the.