1995 annual local news chronology

July 1995

• 3 -- The recent hiring of Jefferson Township's newest patrolman marked some firsts for the community's department. Elke Quinby, a 27-year-old German native, is not only the first woman, but the first foreigner, to join the force.
  
  
• 5 -- Former Grove City College President Dr. Jerry H. Combee was forced to resign over how he handled threatened sexual harassment charges by one college employee against another, according to a letter written by Combee's attorney to the college trustees.
  
  
• 7-- A shooting in Hubbard Township left one woman dead and her son in critical condition. Ann Serafino, 66, of 7296 Bedford Road, was shot to death at about 1:30 a.m. in her home; her son Charles, 39, was wounded. Police Chief Todd Coonce said he had no suspects.
  
  
• 12 -- A cooperative police force between Sharpsville and South Pymatuning Township may soon be a reality because of the borough's and township's approval of an agreement to map out funding.
  
  
• 13 -- One of Mercer County's largest interstate marijuana busts was thrown out of court. In a recent opinion, Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas T. Frampton ruled that the 27 pounds of marijuana found in a New York City woman's car could not be used as evidence. That ruling brought the dismissal of charges against 32-year-old Mayra A. Ventura.
  
  
• 18 -- Murder suspects Jason A. Getsy, Ben Hudach and Richard McNulty, all 19; and John J. Santine, 34, all of Hubbard, face possible execution in the shooting death of Ann Serafino and the wounding of her son, Charles, at their Hubbard Township home. Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said he would seek the death penalty.
  
  
• 19-- Dean Dairy Products and Teamsters Local 261 agreed to a tentative labor contract that will raise wages by $1.85 an hour over five years.
  
  
• 19 -- Michael Kelly, 29, of 251 Enterprise Road, Pine Township, was found dead in his Mercer County Jail cell where he was being held on criminal mischief and resisting arrest charges. Coroner J. Bradley McGonigle III ruled the death a suicide.
  
  
• 20 -- Nicholas Koufou, 37, California, was convicted of trying to bribe Detective Thomas A. Caputo of Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Department to get earlier cocaine delivery charges dismissed.
  
  
• 24 -- Businessman Jim Winner said through a spokesman that he is near a deal to buy the Whitmer-Smith building, 115 E. State St., Sharon, from Sherman Jubelirer, who formerly owned the ladies' and children's clothing store.
  
  
• 24 -- Sam Shilling, recently elected as business agent for Locals 206 and 268 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, said he looks forward to the challenge of finding more work for locals' 425 members. Shilling defeated Larry Hackett in a union election.
  
  
• 24-- Werner Co officials said an 80,000-square-foot expansion of their Sugar Grove Township plant could create up to 100 new jobs.
  
  
• 25 Betty Adams, 73, of 3000 Lakewood Manor Drive, Hermitage, was killed when a tractor-trailer plowed into the rear of her car on Route 19 in Springfield Township, state police said.
  
  
• 26 -- Manuel J. Moreno Sr., 65, formerly of Sharon, pleaded guilty to mail fraud in U.S. District Court, Pittsburgh, in connection with charges that he had defrauded investors of $1.2 million in an investment scam.

August 1995

• 1-- Sharpsville School Board hired Andrew Pollus as high school principal and named Kathleen Yeloushan as middle school principal.
  
  
• 1-- U.S. Rep. Phil English, Erie, R-21st District, signed a pledge to protect Medicare at the request of the Seniors Coalition of Mercer County.
  
  
• 2-- Sharon Regional Health System said it would break ground in the fall on a 2,400-square-foot addition to its hospital to provide more room for its cardiac catheterization service.
  
  
• 2-- Officials of Combined Tactical Systems Inc., Long Island, N.Y., said they plan to make nonlethal munitions products for law enforcement agencies at a Greene Township ammunition plant.
  
  
• 2-- Horizon Hospital System said it would ask state health officials to delay a review of the system's cardiac catheterization unit for at least a year. The state Department of Health earlier said Horizon had not performed enough of the procedures to maintain its certificate of need.
  
  
• 3-- Mary W. Williams, 46, of 432 Shenango St., Sharpsville, died in a crash when her car hit a pole, said Mercer County Coroner J. Bradley McGonigle III.
  
  
• 4 -- The Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation said it would sue the Lakeview Joint Sewer Authority for allegedly polluting Sandy Creek in Sandy Lake Township.
  
  
• 7 -- Jeffrey Williams, 35, of 271 Pulaski-Mercer Road, Shenango Township, died when his motorcycle slammed into downed tree limbs on Route 18 in Shenango Township.
  
  
• 9-- Daniel A. Eppley, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Horizon Hospital System, was fired Aug. 4, his attorney said, contradicting a Horizon news release.
  
  
• 25 -- Brookfield Trustees voted to back a fire department plan to start ambulance service in the township.
  
  
• 30 -- Internet surfers in western Mercer County can have access to the global computer network for a monthly fee but without telephone toll charges, Jack Morris, spokesman for PT Communications, Pymatuning Township, said.
  
  
• 25 -- William Weddell, 46, of 1350 Standard Ave., Masury died after he ran into the path of a car on South Irvine Avenue, Sharon, police said.
  
  
• 26 -- William C. Everhart was found guilty of third-degree murder in Mercer County Common Pleas Court for the March 12, 1994 slaying of 2-year-old Lisa Marie McGhee Dickson, of Sharon.
  
  
• 26 -- Temple R. North, 44, died in a car and tractor-trailer crash in Washington Township, Lawrence County, state police said.
  
  
• 29 -- Brookfield Teachers accepted a two-year contract, running through July 1, 1997 and giving teachers a total of 8.5 percent raises.
  
  
• 29-- Joseph Badger teachers and school board agreed on a three-year contract that gives teachers a 3 percent salary increase in each year.
  
  
• 29 -- Gerald R. Sackett Sr., 57, of 2047 Madison St., Hermitage, died when his truck ran off a road in Ashland County, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.
  
  
• 29 -- Charles J. Hayes, 22, of 114 S. Second St., Greenville, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison and 4 years' probation by Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Wherry. Hayes pleaded guilty to assault charges in connection with attacks last year on three Greenville-area women.
  
  
• 29 -- National City Corp., Cleveland, and Integra Financial Corp., Pittsburgh, said National City would acquire Integra in a $2.1 billion deal to create a company with assets of $50 billion.

September 1995

• 6 -- Wayne Titzel, 76, of 110 Columbia Ave., Greenville, was killed and his wife, Frances, 75, was in serious condition after a head-on crash on state Route 7 in Hartford, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.
  
  
• 11 -- Lewis M. Williams, formerly of Jamestown, was beaten to death in Sulphur, Ky. His 16-year-old daughter, Athena, and her 30-year-old boyfriend, Ronald Dean Barnard, were charged in a plot to collect $1.5 million in insurance and estate proceeds, police said.
  
  
• 14 -- James T. ``P.J.'' Teague, 20, of Farrell, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and third-degree murder. He had been charged with the June 26, 1994 slaying of Mattie L. West, Farrell.
  
  
• 15 -- The West Central Center for the Deaf said it will open a center in Hermitage to provide mental health services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
  
  
• 15 -- Administrators from Hermitage and Farrell said the two cities would jointly apply for $243,000 in state funds to buy a fire vehicle for each city.
  
  
• 15-- Cheryl DeMaria and Loree Schmidt, who bought the Fruit Mansion, 452 E. State St., Sharon, in March, sold the building to Daffin's Candies.
  
  
• 16 -- An ammonia leak and small fire at Greenville Dairy Solids, 53 Canal St., Greenville forced 250 people from thier homes and sent five people to the hospital.
  
  
• 18 Patricia Campbell, Hermitage, was crowned Miss Pennsylvania Teen USA in Monroville.
  
  
• 18-- Michael Diehl, 8, of 219 Kinsman Road, West Salem Township, died in a fire at his father's home.
  
  
• 19 -- A water restriction order was eased for Jamestown residents who had been asked to conserve water because of a shortage.
  
  
• 22 -- John D. Palermo, 45, of 517 McCleery St., died when he was struck by a car on Route 58 in Delaware Township, police said.
  
  
• 27 -- Downtown Sharon's heavy hitters -- city businessmen -- lined up to oppose a liquor license at a proposed restaurant and coffeehouse on Chestnut Avenue.
  
  
• 29-- Valley View Department Store will close after 36 years in business, president J.V. Ferrara said.
  
  
• 30-- Julia Karns, school nurse at Commodore Perry School, was named Pennsylvania's School Nurse of the Year.

October 1995

• 3 -- New Wilmington businessmen John McKinley and Bill Kingery, owners of Iron Bridge Inn and Rachel's Roadhouse, both Springfield Township, said they would start a chain of upscale steakhouses, called Remington's American Grille.
  
  
• 5 -- John G. Sava, superintendent of Farrell Area School District, received the 1995 Excellence in Education Award from the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals.
  
  
• 10 -- State officials said the owners of the Jonas Pierce house, 60 Shenango St., Sharpsville, would not get a Keystone Grant through the borough for historical preservation of the house.
  
  
• 11 -- Jamestown officials said a new floor for the town reservoir and pump repairs corrected water leakage problems.
  
  
• 14 -- Members of Pennsylvania Sportsmen's Association Inc., picketed the Greenville office of state Sen. Robert D. Robbins, demanding repeal of a new gun law.
  
  
• 17-- The proposed merger between South Pymatuning Township and the Sharpsville police departments was called off by the township supervisors. ``The cost that was going to be saved didn't justify the merger,'' Supervisor Robert Bortner said.
  
  
• 19-- Patrolman Jerome ``Soup'' Campbell resigned from Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Department in the face of criminal charges. Campbell allegedly took photographs of a nude female prisoner, according to charges filed by the Mercer County sheriff.
  
  
• 20-- Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Department and its police union agreed to a three-year contract.
  
  
• 24-- A $40,000 study commissioned by Mercer County Prison Board recommended creation of a county probation and parole department, a department of corrections and expansion of the existing intermediate punishment program instead of a new county jail.
  
  
• 25-- Manuel Moreno, 67, formerly of Sharon, was sentenced to 27 months in prison by a federal judge in Pittsburgh. Moreno had been convicted on fraud charges in a scheme that cost Mercer and Butler county investors $1.2 million.
  
  
• 25 -- Reynolds teachers and school directors ratified a six-year contract that will raise the top of the salary scale to $49,742 in 1999-2000.
  
  
• 26-- Katie Yoder, 80, Spring Road, Springfield Township, died when the buggy she and family members were riding in on Route 19 near Leesburg was struck from the rear by a pickup driven by a West Salem Township man.
  
  
• 26-- Council candidate Andrew Paul Kurelko alleged that a group of Sharon men -- including some members of council, the school board and the police and fire departments -- attended a recent fund-raiser featuring female strippers.

November 1995

• 1 -- Horizon Hospital System announced plans for a three-year, $6 million renovation project at both its Greenville and Shenango Valley hospitals, including the reopening in 1996 of a maternity ward in Farrell.
  
  
• 1 -- Dr. Joseph Morelli, chief of the medical staff at Horizon Hospital System, Greenville, said he was troubled by the duplication of services among hospitals in the county.
  
  
• 1 -- William C. Everhart, Sharon, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison for the 1994 death of his girlfriend's daughter, 2-year-old Lisa Marie McGhee Dickson.
  
  
• 3 -- Richard D. Chiodo, 47, of 260 Euclid Ave., Sharon, was one of two truck drivers killed in an accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Monroeville, Pa.
  
  
• 3 -- Lowe's Home Centers will build an $8 million retail store in Hermitage, just east of Hermitage Hills Plaza, Glimcher Group, a Pittsburgh developer, said.
  
  
• 7 -- Farrell council listened to complaints from citizens that its goal of keeping city streets clear of troublemakers interferes with the average person's right to be on those streets.
  
  
• 8-- Brookfield voters ousted Trustee William H. Lordo by a 400-vote margin. Replacing him is Janalyn Kay Saloom.
  
  
• 8 -- Mercer County voters chose incumbent Democrat Olivia Lazor and Republicans Dick Stevenson and Cloyd E. ``Gene'' Brenneman as county commissioners, ousting incumbent Democrat Joseph F. Fragle.
  
  
• 8 -- Thomas R. Dobson, 41, Coolspring Township, topped state Rep. Michael C. Gruitza in the race for Mercer County Common Pleas judge.
  
  
• 9 -- Sharpsville council said it wants South Pymatuning Township supervisors to reconsider plans to merge their police departments.
  
  
• 9 -- James Teague, 20, of Farrell, was sentenced to a 20- to 40-year prison term for the June 1994 bludgeoning death of Mattie L. West.
  
  
• 10 -- Becky Hall, a Sharon teacher, was recently named Educator of the Year for Excellence in Special Education by the state Department of Education's Right to Education Task Force.
  
  
• 10 -- Rod Wilt, Sugar Grove Township, announced that he is running for the state House. His father, Roy W. Wilt, retired in 1988 after serving three decades in the House and state Senate.
  
  
• 13 -- Brookfield Fire Department began its ambulance service with one full-time and eight part-time paramedic/firefighters.
  
  
• 15 -- First National Bank of Pennsylvania announced it will build a five-story, $6 million headquarters in Hermitage near East State Street and Hermitage Road.
  
  
• 16-- Grover Garrett Jr., 63, of 7 S. Wood St., Greenville died when his car was hit by a tanker on Route 18 in West Fallowfield Township, Crawford County, police said.
  
  
• 21 -- Lakeview teachers and school directors signed a four-year contract providing for average annual raises of 4.29 percent.
  
  
• 22 -- Mellon Bank's Sharon branch was robbed by a man who told the teller he had a gun, police said.
  
  
• 22 -- James ``Coon'' Bauer, 35, of Yankee Ridge Road, Lackawannock Township, won the $1,000-a-week-for-life game, a Pennsylvania Lottery spokesperson said.
  
  
• 23 -- Roger B. Smith, 48, of East Lackawannock Township, pleaded guilty in Mercer County Common Pleas Court to three counts of corrupting the morals of a minor. The founder of Keystone Christian Academy had been accused of molesting young girls in his school office.
  
  
• 27 -- Family and friends of Robert M. ``Gabby'' Donaldson were keeping a close eye on his Brookfield mobile home, hoping that the man who has been missing since Nov. 21 would return.
  
  
• 28 -- Brian M. Paoletta, 22, of 532 Hull St., Sharon, was sentenced to 2 to 5 years in prison -- the maximum allowed -- on a charge of vehicular homicide for the Dec. 15 death of Curtiss D. Juillerat of Youngstown.

December 1995

• 1 -- Michael ``Mickey'' Monus, co-founder of Phar-Mor Inc., was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for a fraud and embezzlement scheme that sent the discount drugstore chain into bankruptcy court.
  
  
• 5 -- Hermitage School Board voted 12-4 to borrow $5 million as part of the financing for massive repairs at Hickory High School.
  
  
• 5 -- South Pymatuning Township supervisors appointed Mark Presley of 6472 Lakeside Drive as supervisor to replace Robert Bortner, who resigned. Presley works for the township road department
  
  
• 6 -- Gov. Tom Ridge announced the approval of a $1.25 million grant that will be used to build an access road and to bring water and sewers into a proposed 100-acre industrial park near Interstate 79 and Route 62 in Jackson Township.
  
  
• 7 -- William M. Reznor, was promoted by Gov. Tom Ridge after less than a year of serving as an advisor on corrections policy. Ridge appointed Reznor Deputy Secretary Commissioner for Intergovernmental Relations in the State Department of Corrections.
  
  
• 8 -- Dr. Graham B. Spanier, president of Pennsylvania State University, said during a visit that the Shenango Campus will not close. Spanier was on a tour of the university's 23 locations.
  
  
• 8 -- Richard P. Glenn, 32, of 102 E. Poplar St., Grove City, died early Friday shortly after being flown to Presbyterian University Hospital, Pittsburgh, following an accident in Sandy Lake.
  
  
• 8 -- A new business will open in the soon-to-be-closed Valley View Department Store, Brookfield. President J.V. Ferrara said he intends to reopen the building March 1 as an antique mall and even sooner as an exposition center.
  
  
• 12 -- Caparo Steel Co. said in a news release that Anthony W. Kurley Jr., had been named president and chief operating officer in an executive reshuffling at its Farrell steel plant. Kurley Jr., replaced Jim Riley as chief operating officer, said Chuck Emmenegger, chief executive officer of Caparo Inc., the U.S. holding company for British-based Caparo Industries. Riley will remain as vice president of operations, the release said.
  
  
• 15-- Wolfgang Jansen was sentenced Dec. 4 to 5 years' probation, 2 months of home detention and 400 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay restitution of $209,356. The former president and vice chairman of Sharon Steel Corp. had earlier pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston, S.C., in a bank fraud case involving Citadel Federal.
  
  
• 17 -- A 19-year-old Stoneboro-area man was killed in a single-car crash in Pymatuning Township. Frankie R. Lumley Jr., 2851 Sandy Lake-Grove City Road, apparently lost control of the car he was driving on Rutledge Road, police said.
  
  
• 18 -- An official for AmeriHost confirmed Monday that the Chicago firm will build a $2.4 million hotel near Grove City Factory Shops in Springfield Township.
  
  
• 19 -- A blizzard that dumped nearly a foot of snow Tuesday made driving miserable, forced some schools to close or start late and wreaked havoc with store hours and deliveries. The only major accidents reported were on Interstate 80.
  
  
• 21 -- A 95-year-old West Salem Township man died in Horizon Hospital System, Greenville, Thursday after being trapped in his burning home. Herman Lenkner of 227 Orangeville Road had been pulled out by his son, Norman, who lives nearby. A heart attack brought on by the fire was given as the cause of death.
  
  
• 21 -- The Queen of Hearts, a ``bring your own bottle'' club in West Salem Township that featured exotic dancers, was gutted by fire Thursday. Owners plan to remodel.
  
  
• 22 -- Sharon may be looking to withdraw from Mercer County 911 because council members say it's costing the city too much money to be part of the emergency calling system. The story ran Friday.
  
  
• 23 -- Certain Sawhill Tubular Division retirees have had their health insurance terminated as a result of another company going bankrupt, according to a story Saturday.
  
  
• 25 -- Nate Smalley, 19, Grove City, got a second liver transplant Christmas Eve morning and was doing well, according to his grandmother, Virginia Turner of Wolf Creek Township. Smalley, the son of Ed and Jenny Smalley, had his first transplant late Dec. 21 in Presbyterian University Hospital, Pittsburgh, but had been given 24 to 48 hours to live when the organ failed the next day.
  
  
• 28-- Roger B. Smith, founder of the former Keystone Christian Academy, Hermitage, was sentenced to serve 6 to 23 months in the Mercer County Jail on three counts of corrupting the morals of a minor.
  
  
• 29 -- A small plane crashed into the frozen Shenango River Lake near Clark, killing the only person aboard, said Don Zochert, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's Great Lakes Region in Chicago. Dan Rivers, 38, of Norton, Ohio, was killed in the crash.