Titusville Herald (Newspaper) - October 16, 1997, Titusville, Pennsylvania Established June 14 1865 Oldest Daily Newspaper in Pennsylvania Some Sun Partly sunny and cool today High 50 to 55 Tonight mostly clear and cold with frost likely Low in the lower 30s Fri day partly sunny and still cool High 50 to 55 TITUSVILLE PA THURSDAY MORNING OCTOBER 161997 50 CENTS Suspect Tested Before Going To Trial by Gwen Albers A Titusville man accused of holding his elderly mother hos tage is being evaluated at War ren State Hospital to see if he is competent to stand trial Doctors also are trying to de termine if Jon Scott Dibble was legally insane when he allegedly held his mother for eight hours on July 11 and forced her to take his medication attorney Stephen Hall said Wednesday Hall a public defender for Craw ford County is representing Dibble The was taken to the mental hospital about a month ago but Hall said he had no idea how long Dibble might be there The suspect reportedly has a history of mental illness Once Dibble is released from Warren State a hearing may be held before a judge who would determine whether he is able to stand trial Hall and the district attorney will present evidence including the hospitals findings during the hearing If he does stand trial and a mental insanity illness defense is presented that could ulti mately be for a jurys considera tion Hall said According to Titusville police Dibble of 511 W Spruce Street tied his mother to a bed in her home and held a knife to her throat while threatening to kill her The suspect allegedly hid his mothers telephone and ripped the lines from the wall Dibbles father who was out of the state that day became concerned when he was unable to contact his wife He called neighbors who telephoned po lice Police arrested Dibble at his home without incident Jet Has Close Call With Plane NEW YORK AP Ground radar showed a clear path for a Swissair passenger jumbo jet But the planes cockpit alarm sounded and the pilot stopped his climb missing a small private plane by the length of a home run In the incident late Sunday just south of Lakehurst NJ the 747 jet showed up on air controllers radar in New York but there was no sign of the Piper on the scopes The small plane was evidently in what controllers call a cone of silence above a new tance radar system being in stalled around the country The system was activated Sept 17 but after Sundays in the old radar which is still operational has been turned back on and is operating simultaneous with the new radar Frank Hatfield eastern region air traffic manager said at a Federal Aviation Adminis tration briefing Wednesday We have to make adjust ments said Barry Boshnack acting assistant manager for airway facilities He maintained it was not a significant prob lem Hatfield said the Swissair plane which had taken off from Philadelphia had been cleared to climb to 23000 feet In todays Herald you will find advertising supplements from Little Caesars Tool Sale Agway Pizza Hut Some inserts are zoned at j Advertisers request Company Gets Loan Plastics Firm Expanding Will Create 14 Jobs by Jon Sherman A Titusville company thats expanding was among several Erie and Crawford county busi to receive loan from the state on day Oil Creek Plastics received to help pay for a expansion thats ex to create 14 jobs within three years Samuel A McCullough sec of the state Department of Community and Economic De velopment made the presenta tion in Corry where a loan went to Northwestern Pennsylvania Rail Authority for buying a diesel engine three passenger cars and a bulk plas tics trailer Enterprise Zone loans total ling million were awarded in both counties Oil Creek Plastics which pro duces plastic pipe for industry will build a new employee park ing lot install B concrete pad for storage add a sys tem and vacuum tanks and up grade the electrical system Michael Allyn executive di rector of Titusville Redevelop ment Authority said Oil Creek Plastics customers come from across the nation Mexico and Canada They Oil Creek Plastics take pride in the quality of the work ethic in the Titusville area and have chosen to remain in Titusville rather than to relo cate to areas closer to its cus tomer base Allyn said Other loans were for machinery and equipment to Viking Plastics Inc Corry to Belco Tool and Manufacturing Inc Meadville to help finance a new 6300 building and buy machinery and equipment to Crawford Coun ty Properties Inc for improving the former facility at Crawford County Industrial Park Meadville to Tool and Design Corp Meadville to ex tend Bessemer Street to French Creek Parkway to Foamex LP Corry for polyurethane recy cling equipment Funds for the loans are ad ministered through the rede velopment authorities of Corry Meadville and Titusville Repayments will go into a revolving fund so the money can be lent to other businesses to relocate improve or expand LOANS AWARDED Michael Allyn left executive director of Titusville Redevelopment Authority meets with Samuel A McCullough state secretary of the Department of Community and Development in Corry on Wednesday Director Pitches His Concerns Reacts to Boy Killed While Selling Paper for School by Holly Matthews When Dr Richard Meader heard a New Jersey boy was murdered while selling wrapping paper for his schools PTA he worried about Titusville young sters involved in similar pro Meader who is president of Titusville Area School Board discussed his concerns with school directors during Mondays meeting He also learned that students and their parents selling things to raise money are taught procedure a We dont want to think something like the New Jersey incident can happen in our town Meader said noting pre cautions are a necessity Eddie Werner 11 of Toms River NJ was going door to door alone when he flashed a wad of bills to friends A who answered the knock at the door was accused of strangling Eddie and dragging his body into the woods He apparently killed the boy for the money Dennis Ledebur principal at Main Street and Cherrytree El schools said although there is no written board policy there is a procedure for parent teacher group fundraisers Information is sent home for parents to share with their chil dren We want this students to be to do what their par ents allow them to do he said Ledebur explained that par ents are asked to oversee their childrens projects and it is rec they sell to relatives friends and neighbors There are no goals or quotas in the fundraising projects he added Funds raised by PTG projects go toward things like field trips and school assemblies Elemen tary schools traditionally have one fundraiser a year There are other projects but these involve events such as the sale of Tshirts he said Ledebur stressed that the children are not given quotas and they have the personal op tion whether to participate in sales Those who dont sell are not thought less of and they do not miss out on any of the activi ties he said Sometimes prizes are in and they are specifically for take part in sales St Titus Elementary Schools council also sponsors one fundraiser each year that involves students sell ing items Toni Carlson president of the St Titus PTC said parents and students are given oral and written instructions that stu dents should approach only peo ple they know and only with their parents permission There are no quotas and children do not have to ipate in the projects Mrs Carlson said the sales campaigns are usually at the be ginning of each school year and geared to keeping tuition down As a group we raise a por tion of the tuition so everyone benefits she said The major fundraiser for the school is the annual Santas Workshop at the Christian Ac Center which will be held Nov 7 and 8 Mrs Carlson acknowledged that the yearly sales promotions are not trie thing to do but we cannot find an other project which will replace the money they bring in She said the money raised through projects is necessary to keep the school running People cant afford to pay higher tuition she said UP Hill on his on Wednesday Riding a bike Ceaser left San Francisco in and plans to hit New York City within 10 days w W miles northwestern hills are nothing compared to what he encountered in Wyoming s Big Horn Mountains where he rode 15 miles on a grade Herald photo by Gwen Alters Tionesta Man Dies In Crash A Tionesta woman whose husband was killed in a hicle crash on Tuesday in Farm ington Township Clarion Coun ty remained in a Pittsburgh hospital on Wednesday Virginia Schneider 75 was in critical condition at Mercy Hospital Her husband Lester 76 was pronounced dead at the scene at pm by Chief Deputy Cor oner Joseph Rupert said state police Shippenville He died from head injuries Charles Herman 59 and his passenger Elva Herman 56 both of Tionesta were flown to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh Both were in fair condition on Wednesday night Police said Herman was northbound on Pine Hollow Road and hit Schneiders south bound truck at the crest of a hill Clinton Placed At Events WASHINGTON AP With the veil lifted on nearly 100 hours of his fundraising video tapes President Clinton was shown Wednesday fraternizing with controversial Democratic donors and candidly acknowledg ing he benefited from ads that werent supposed to directly help his campaign In the Washington version of a movie premiere Republican investigators huddled in their offices across the Capitol scour ing the tapes for evidence of fundraising wrongdoings while reporters got their own narrated screening at the White House The tapes which only recently turned up show Clinton alongside Charlie Trie John Huang Pauline Kan and other Democratic fundraisers whose activities in the last election thrust their party into controversy In one clip among the 158 events detailed on the tapes Clinton is shown hailing Huang as my good friend In another he reminisces with donors about his friendship with Trie an Arkansas restaurateur turned Washington fundraiser Soon it will be 20 years since I had my first meal with Charlie Trie Clinton said to a hotel room full of donors on May 13 1996 At the time neither one of us could afford the ticket to this dinner Ridge Has Not Signed Death Warrants As Promised HARRISBURG AP Tom Ridge has not signed execution warrants for a dozen condemned murderers whose cases he used while a candidate for governor to question whether his oppo nent was liberal on crime During his campaign Ridge distributed a list of 21 convicted killers whose death warrants he said Democratic nominee Mark Singel had failed to sign while serving as acting governor The campaign characterized Singels lack of action as unfair to Pennsylvania crime victims Ridge has signed death war rants the document that starts the execution process for seven of the inmates the campaign listed Former Gov Robert P Casey signed warrants for two others before leaving of fice All 12 of the remaining in mates on the list now have ap peals pending in various courts Ridges office said Wednesday Ridge will not sign death war rants for inmates with active appeals because courts rou tinely block executions until the appeals have been settled Singel was Caseys lieutenant governor and served as acting governor for six months in 1993 while Casey was recovering from transplant surgery Singel signed one execution warrant as acting governor the Ridge cam said he failed to sign 74 others As a candidate Ridge repeat edly and harshly criticized Sin gel for failing to sign execution warrants as acting governor and as a member of the state Pardons Board for voting to pardon criminals serving life sentences Ridge said he would be tougher on criminals Of the 12 inmates mentioned by the campaign nine filed their appeals since Ridge took office and six of those did so more than a year later The trend of inmates now fil ing prompt appeals is a result of Governor Ridge signing death warrants Reeves said
