Bedford County Inquirer (Newspaper) - November 22, 1996, Bedford, Pennsylvania Combined with the Everett Republican ESTABLISHED 1812 183RD YEAR 16 NOVEMBER USPS 04772000 SINGLE COPY 35 CENTS Manhunt under way for Bank Trust bandit BRADLEY By Elizabeth Coyle Gazette Staff Writer The Richard Street branch of Johnstown Bank and Trust was robbed about A search continued day night for a white male who pointed a handgun at a teller and demanded The who escaped with an undisclosed amount of ran two blocks to a waiting cle and fled in an unknown Bedford Borough Police Officer Doug Diehl Bedford Borough State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are following leads to capture the he The suspect is a white about with a slender Bradley files suit against university PHILADELPHIA AP Oust ed from his tenured faculty posi tion at Temple University last novelist David Bradley has accused the university of age and race According to his Jonathan Bradley a Bed ford County native and author of The has filed com plaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the state Human Rela tions The professor was fired after Continued on Page 8 NBC signs pact with teachers LOYSBURG Nearly two years of stalemated salary ations between the Northern Bed ford County School Board and the districts teachers union has been settled and a contract extension The 74member NBC Education Association and the board agreed to pay raises for this year and retroactive for the 199596 and to annual salary increases through the 19992000 The union accepted the pact Tuesday afternoon and the board approved the measure by a 53 vote at Tuesday nights regular Board members Michael Donald Saber and Leslie Zimmer man opposed the contract and John Ritchey was The raises settled con tract reopener negotiations that began early in which was the midpoint of a fouryear contract that took affect 1993 and was set to expire The reopener provision in the agreement permitted the teachers to negotiate their salaries for the final two years in the The whose average salary was about were seeking raises of in 199596 and in The board was offering in both Under terms of the new all retroactive salaries will be dis bursed during the second semester of this school The new average salary will be Beginning in the 199798 the starting salary schedule will be lowered to As an a teacher hired in 199798 at step one would have added to his or her salary in 199899 and another in making the salary for An employee hired at step one in 199899 would have added to his or her salary in 1999 making the salary in He was wearing a green jacket and blue jeans at the time of the Diehl Police believe the robber acted He drove to the 200 block of North Richard Street in a older model pickup truck where he parked the He used a mountain probably trans ported in the bed of the to go about two blocks to the police He was Diehl but the teller saw brown He used a red bandanna to conceal the described as a black semiautomatic He demanded large bills and was only in the bank for a matter of Diehl The robber fled through the garage area of Mini A standing about 10 feet saw the rob ber race across Railroad Street and up Huntingdon the alley between Thrift Drug and Traffic Control Tech The mechanic said he didnt think much about and believed the man was chasing someone else down the Bank man ager Robert Koontz came out and asked if anyone had seen the sus The witness said the guy really took off once he reached the Two dogs from Maryland State Polices Bloodhound Search Team tracked the robbers scent trail up a private drive to the spot on 233 Richard where the vehicle was Three witnesses saw the bike leaning against the trucks tail gate as early as eight minutes before the robbery Diehl The suspect wasnt in the truck and police arent sure where he was in the minutes leading up to his ride to the The robber left behind a teal Murray 26inch mountain Police had no report of a stolen bicycle or a stolen pickup truck as of Wednesday Diehl The suspect is probably out of the Diehl said Wednesday The Bank and Trust Jody could not be reached for Her sister Anita who waited patiently outside the bank during the said Jody was so shook who recently moved to was back in town where she still has a Bank and Trust She had just pulled into the bank when she saw the police cars She was unable to talk to her sister immediately but later called the I never remem ber her work number but I remembered it Bowers A state police helicopter searched the Marylands K 9 unit used a bloodhound and German Shepherd to track the scent from the bike to the North Richard Street State troopers and borough police conducted a house search for about 90 min utes until police learned about the pickup truck on North Diehl Tracking dogs handled by Emmons Smith of Saxton were out of the area on another assign Diehl The blood hound search was delayed about two hours until two Maryland teams arrived about Authorities have sent a mes on Page 8 Fields declared in default Springs developer has 30 days to produce financial backing By Sharyn Maust Gazette Associate Editor The Bedford County Redevelop ment Authority has declared the Bedford Springs Hotel developer in default of his The authority decided Monday that The Bedford Springs Develop ment defaulted by failing to produce the money needed to carry out the The corporation headed by Mar cus Fields has 30 days to correct the by producing enough money to satisfy the special condi tions attached to the states million The state wants assur ances that Fields has enough money to complete the project before it releases any more grant money for environmental remedia tion or hotel FIELDS The authority has spent the past two months trying to ate changes in the 11monthold redevelopment contract with who reportedly contended that he couldnt complete his financing before owning the prop When the contract was signed in December authority mem bers were satisfied that Fields could produce the socalled second million to carry out the hotel That assurance was a letter of interest from a financial Nearly one year has passed without any appreciable progress The authority can only conclude the developer is without sufficient County Redevelopment Authority institution that said it would pro vide a mortgage once Fields owned the But the state Office of Budget attached 16 conditions to its grant Primary among them was a demand that the developer have a working capital loan not just for the arbitrary Continued on Page 8 Cyclists body found in river By Stephen Ferris Gazette Staff Writer RIDDLESBURG The body of Will McMurtrie was found Monday evening in the Branch of the Juniata a few hundred yards downstream from where he wrecked a motorcycle Sunday A massive search involving about 100 volunteer state sheriff search and res cue helicopters and family and friends ended with the ery of the 28 yearold Saxton mans Tim Six Mile Run Volunteer Fire Department said dogs made several hits along the portion of the river near the accident McMurtrie and his friend Joey Mor who was riding an were traveling along an abandoned railroad bed which parallels the McMurtrie struck a downed was thrown from the bike and sustained a head police McMurtrie was unable to so Morgan went for He but McMurtrie wasnt police Hinish said searchers scoured a 10to 15square mile area around the but found no signs of the husband and A state police helicopter a Search and Rescue team from Roaring Spring private plane owner Tom Black divers WELL AND KELLY McMURTRIE Ferris Will Renee and his Sue await of the from Blair and Hunt ingdon counties a Civil Air Patrol ground search team dogs trained in air and ground scent detection Bedford County Emergency Management and many area search and rescue and fire departments were involved in the The victims Renee and his Sue were among those who were nervously waiting at the Saxton fire station for Putt said McMurtrie and his wife Kelly have two and 18 He was a self employed building They said the victim grew up hunting in the area and knows it He also is an experienced motorcycle although he bought the one he wrecked only about two weeks Putt said she talked to who said he propped up McMurtrie against a tree before going for McMurtrie was dazed following the Putt Chronology of Fields role in Springs project Events leading up to Bedford Springs devel oper Marcus Fields corporation being declared in default by the Bedford County Redevelop ment Authority on Monday May The Bedford County Rede velopment Authority picked BOCA Internation al headed by Marcus Fields as the Springs des The selection was made from a list of initial followed sions from two of three October 1994 The name of the designat ed developer was changed to The Bedford Springs Development headed by Marcus During the Fields financial arrangements with a South Carolina partner fell December 1994 Bedford County Com missioners signed a contract with the state Office of Budget for a million From July 1994 until July the authority waited for Fields to post million to the project and provide assurances of another The authority then set an August deadline for Fields to meet the terms of the pro posed redevelopment September 1995 When the money wasnt the authority dropped Fields as designated Fields filed a saying his financial search would be crippled if he wasnt the sole designated devel The authority bowed to the request for a 60day extension of the designation and the lawsuit was The Dauphin County Gen eral Authority entered the picture to reno vate and operate the Bedford Spring golf and in subsequent contract Dauphin posted million of the redevelop ment contracts first December 1995 The state Office of Bud get decided not to spend any grant money on the golf The 16 special conditions were Continued on Page 8 Harpster given 5to 10year prison term By Stephen Ferris Gazette Staff Writer Jason Adam was sentenced to serve five to 10 years in a state prison followed by 10 years of probation for the 1995 murder of his 17yearold Dustin Wesley Harpster wept at but said nothing during Common Pleas Court Judge Daniel imposition of the sentence late Monday In an 9 plea Harpster pleaded no contest to District Attorney Tom Ling had requested a 10year jail He said the sentence should have included more jail but the 10 years of probation was more than he thought would be Howsare said he took into con sideration age and lack of a previous criminal Harpster was 14 years old when the incident occurred at his fami lys mobile home in Colerain Town ship where Davidson had been I see things in this record that concern me about Howsare Referring to a presentence report prepared by the Bedford County probation Harpster admitted to trafficking marijuana and Howsare Harpster also mentioned in the suing everybody and tak ing everything they Howsare The attitude you I havent heard any remorse except but youre facing incarcera Howsare The judge said Harpster had been living with You had some control over your Howsare observing that Harpster was supposed to be in school the day the shooting took Harpster cried during a state ment made by public defender Ronald Keeler before the sentence was handed Keeler said Harpster had great affection for He lost his He lost his The loss can never be rec Keeler Harpster will be transferred from the Bedford County where he was sent after he entered his plea to Camp Hill State Correctional From he will be transferred to another state A trail was scheduled to begin in late Jury selection was to begin 21 and Howsare allot ted court time through 30 for the Keeler was going to argue the shooting was according to previously filed Harpster and Davidson wanted to go hunting that but the gun cabinet was locked and the defen dant didnt have A neighbor drove him to Diesel where his father and he retrieved the They returned to the trailer and loaded Harp sters statements to state police include two different versions of an accidental In subsequent he said he shot Davidson because he threatened to kill and torture parents because he cooperated with a police burglary investigation led to the arrest of Rusty Harpster confessed to three September 1995 burglaries and implicated four accomplices including Price and Wesley Aaron of Burggraf fatally shot himself in the head 23 after wounding an Altoona police officer who was attempting to arrested him on a Bedford County parole violation The burglary charges were not pursued because Harpster would not cooperate further in the according to a nolle motion filed by Ling on June 17 after the defendant was charged with killing
