Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 7

JViltsburob jJost-tfuicllc Clinton may retreat from his stand on gays in the military EDITORIALS, PAGE B-2 Diet firms' advertising claims are weighed by the FTC BUSINESS, PAGE B-10 SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1993 PRICE PRESSURE 77e increase was requested because of rising prescription drug costs and the aging of Blue Cross customers. Another increase is expected to be sought next year. Blue Cross 665-Plus I9 to increase 31 ih(0O TOMHRITZ Putting players in their place By Tim Reeves Post-Gazette Harnsburg Correspondent The approximately 100,000 people who buy Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania's "65-Plus insurance soon will see their premiums increase by nearly one-third. The state Insurance Department approved a 31.3 percent rate increase yesterday for the 65-Plus I program, a Medicare-supplement policy for those over 65 that covers prescription drugs. Senior citizens will see their monthly premiums rise from $31.15 to $40.90 a month May 1, according to the Insurance Department, which regulates the rates charged by Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania.

A Blue Cross official said the rate increase would keep the 65-Plus I program solvent through year's end, but customers should anticipate another rate increase request next year. Keith Pitman, vice president for consumer products, said Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania had to transfer $1.2 million from its reserves in January and February to keep the program solvent. He said he expected another million Plus I program, according to Pitman and the Insurance Department. With no new policyholders, the pool of 65-Plus I subscribers is growing steadily older and less healthy, and thus using more benefits. Meanwhile, there are no new younger, healthier customers coming in to help absorb those costs, Pitman and the Insurance Department said.

A federal law put into place last year allows Blue Cross to offer medigap insurance only from a list of seven standardized policies. 65-Plus I is not one of those seven; shortfall before the new rates kick in May 1. 65-Plus I essentially is a supplement to a supplement. It covers prescription drugs, ambulance and nursing services that are not covered by Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania's standardized "medi-gap" Medigap policies, in turn, cover medical expenses that are not covered by the federal government's Medicare program. The rate increase was needed because of increasing prescription drug costs, and because Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania cannot accept new customers for its 65- that's why it cannot take on new customers.

Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania now sells three of the seven standardized policies, and none of the three include prescription drugs, Pitman said. He said the company might soon offer one of the medigap polices that includes prescription drugs. "It's still under discussion," Pitman said. In the meantime, Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania customers who are over 65 and want prescription-drug coverage, but do not now have 65-Plus must look elsewhere in the marketplace. rjhoops! Here we go if II a8aia Two more Pitt rt i iooroan piayers were arrested this week.

The charges were aggravated assault, resisting arrest, disorderly ft "eg. n.mvmnui.vmt ipiunn numnm mi j. y'lAX if A -V- v. vx. Ohio orders WTI to redo part of test By Don Hopey Post-Gazette Staff Writer The hazardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio, must redo part of its test burn before it is permitted to begin limited commercial operation.

The retest of one of nine parts in the eight-day trial burn at the Waste Technologies Industries incinerator is scheduled for Tuesday. "One of the sampling devices malfunctioned during the original trial burn and the data from that waste run is unusable," said Paul Anderson, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency district supervisor. "We knew the data wasn't good at the time of the test and put the incinerator's commercial operation on hold. It can't operate commercially until it completes the test." WTI was informed by letter yesterday of the Ohio agency's decision to require the retesting. The federal EPA and the Ohio Valley Air Authority joined in requiring the retest.

The original trial burn concluded early on March 18. Despite the retest, Anderson said, preliminary indications from eight of nine parts of the incinerator's trial burn show the incinerator was meeting government limits on emissions and waste-destruction levels. The Swiss-owned incinerator sits on the Ohio River, 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, near the juncture of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. An elementary school and residential area are adjacent to the site. WTI has agreed to repeat the segment of the trial burn designed to test the incinerator's ability to burn bulk solids and to determine how fast and at what SEE WTI, PAGE B-4 Wagner chides Murphy on his school allies i 0 tir'tv ill conduct and obstructing trattic.

But don't worry. Arrests or not, I'm not making any more wisecracks about the Pitt football team. Not after what happened the last time. The last time was in January, when two players were arrested (and later cleared) on drug charges. A few of my comments did not go over too well with some of the fans, boosters, alumni and particularly the Golden Panthers.

I'll tell you, those Golden Panthers can be rough. Johnny Majors ought to consider recruiting some of them. So no more cheap shots. As a matter of fact, I'm going to recant. Instead of criticizing the Pitt football team when one or more of its players get arrested, I'm going to help the Golden Panthers promote the team.

Maybe they will elect me man of the year next year. First, I want to clear up a few things that riled the Golden Panthers in January. Many of them wrote and demanded to know why I picked on the Pitt football team when a player got arrested but ignored the West Virginia, Penn State and Notre Dame football teams when one of their players got arrested. My answer, I thought then, was pretty simple. I work for a paper that is located in Pittsburgh and not in Morgantown, State College or South Bend, Ind.

But if that's not acceptable, let me put it this way. I realize that Pitt isn't the only football team whose players get arrested from time to time. But as far as covering West Virginia, Notre Dame and Penn State is concerned, we just don't have the space. But just to show you my heart's in the right place, I'm going to go to the High Command and suggest that we do this: Begin a regular "Football Player Arrests at a Glance" feature supplied with information gathered by Football Player Arrest bureaus that would be established in South Bend, Morgantown and State College. I would now like to outline my proposal to promote the Pitt football team and provide it with some of the things that it will desperately need as it approaches the 21st century.

Ironically, Coach Majors was just talking about this the other day. "We all have to address: Where are we going immediately," said the coach. "And No. 2, we must have a long-range plan that will take us into the 21st century with a first class program again." I couldn't agree more. And here is one way in which I think the coach's hopes and dreams for the future can reach fruition.

Allegheny County is building a brand new jail. I think it would be a great idea if the Golden Panthers used its money and muscle to buy an entire wing of the new jail, This wing could be reserved for the exclusive use of Pitt football players who might get arrested in the future. I'd be in favor of naming it the Former Chancellor Wesley Posvar Memorial Cell Range under whose tenure Pitt football player arrests began on a regular basis. Another good idea would be for the Golden Panthers to establish a special fund that could be used for emergency bail bond money when a Pitt football player is arrested. Now, please.

Don't get upset. I'm not trying to be negative. As a lot of Golden Panthers pointed out, only a few football players are arrested from time to time. Why blame the whole team for what a few do? I'm not. I'm not even blaming the ones who get arrested.

Let's look at it this way. Pitt hasn't had very good football teams for the past several years. So there's a lot of pressure on these young men to produce. And how do you produce? You practice until it hurts. Or until someone hurts, anyway.

Isn't it possible that when these players beat up that off-duty cop at the Original Hot Dog Shop and put him in the hospital, they were just sort of practicing off the field? Of course it was. But I sure hope the Pitt rifle team doesn't try the same thing. Tom Hritz's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. toL, "m- 1 By Dennis B. Roddy Post-Gazette Staff Writer Jack Wagner bashed mayoral front-runner Tom Murphy's legislative record yesterday and said Murphy was "in bed with the politicians of the school board." Wagner cast himself as the contest's political outsidera role Murphy had mastered in his low-budget, high-yield but unsuccessful run for mayor four years ago.

"I'm not the insider in this race," Wagner told members of the Pittsburgh High Technology Council. Questions from the floor centered on economic development, taxes and the city's schools. Wagner, the City Council president from Beechview, took a few early jabs at Murphy with a reference to "state government" and its failure to produce a local tax reform package. As he made the reference, Wagner motioned in Murphy's direction with both hands. SEE DEBATE, PAGE B-6 '--xm r1 Darrell SappPost-Gazette Moving up in his job Ron Rebel, the foreman for equipment operators at the county jail construction site, makes the 275-foot climb to the operator's cab of the tallest crane on the job.

He says that's the easy part. Story, Page B-4 Swisshelm Greonfield Park 'John Doe' testimony holds 2 in inmate's death Landslide victims get mountain of good will Hazelwood Glan Heights New Homestead Hill Hays 1 I 'T ll terrace Area of II yS detail JaJ Lincoln-, I By Jan Ackerman Post-Gazette Staff Writer To hide their identities, five key witnesses in the homicide case against two Allegheny County Jail inmates were allowed to testify under the moniker "John Doe" at a coroner's inquest. The five are inmates who feared that they would be harmed if other prisoners learned their identities, said Assistant District Attorney Kim Berkeley Clark. Their testimony yesterday produced enough circumstantial evidence to hold Shawn Burton, 25, and Melvin Goodwine, 26, for the strangulation March 9 of Seth Floyd, 25, whose death in his cell initially was labeled a suicide. Floyd, who was 6 feet tall and weighed 300 pounds, was found hanging by shoelaces from his bunk in the early afternoon.

Deputy Coroner Arthur G. Gilkes Jr. said the inmate witnesses placed the two defendants in Floyd's cell "in a position described as wrestling" shortly before his (Jeath. "He was making some efforts to free himself," Gilkes said about Floyd. Gilkes said there also was a short Keriod when someone else could ave entered the cell and attacked Floyd.

But the deputy coroner said that idea was countered by the testimony of John Doe III, an inmate who said he overheard Burton talking on the telephone about "fixing" someone from California. Floyd lived in Los Angeles until 1989. While it is unusual to allow witnesses to testify without identifying themselves, Clark said, the defendants didn't object because they know the inmates who testified against them. She said the witnesses would have to use their real names at trial. Gilkes held Goodwine and Burton, who were in jail on drug-related charges, for homicide.

City Magistrate Jake Williams held them for conspiracy. Clark withdrew a solicitation to SEE INMATE' PAGE B-6 ently so far, no government programs have been found to provide funds to remedy their situation. Until yesterday, Patty Heinold, her husband, John, and daughter, Tara, 6, were not sure what they were going to do, or if they would end up in a shelter. But publicity of their plight led to offers of a year's free rent from people who prefer to remain anonymous. One of the houses offered is near the Heinold's.

If they took that offer, their daughter, a first-grader at Mifflin Elementary School, would not have to switch schools. Another is on the North Side, owned by a family that is moving to Wilkes-Barre in June and is familiar with hard times, the owner said. A third house, a rowhouse on Borland Street, East Liberty, is available for as long as it's needed, the owner said. "Things are looking better," said John Heinold, 32. "The mortgage is SEE SLIDE, PAGE Ei-6 ByJohnM.R.

Bull Post-Gazette Staff Writer A landslide that caused the condemnation of a Hays family's home, and posed potential financial ruin, has prompted a flood of support from Good Samaritans. Publicity on the Heinold family's plight has lead to donations and offers of free rent on three homes. "There's a little bit of hope now," said Patty Heinold, 31, of Hays, a small city neighborhood tucked into the hillsides on the South shore of the Monongahela near Homestead. "Maybe a miracle will happen." On Monday, a landslide, presumably caused by the melting snow, hurled a couple of boulders against, and almost through, the wall of their living room off Baldwin Road. The city condemned the four-bedroom house as unsafe.

Inspectors fear more of the 170-foot hill behind the house will slip. The city will move the Heinold's belongings into storage on Monday. Aft The Heinold's insurance policy doesn't cover landslides, and appar-1 Michael FisherPosKiazelte.