Wellsboro Gazette (Newspaper) - January 18, 2006, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania Support our Troops 131STYEAR NO 15 WEDNESDAY JANUARY 1 PAM USPS Whats inside this issue feature Wellsboro hosts 8th annual Casey Spang tournament 1B the Gazette In the Marketplace vet honored posthumously Page 1 the Marketplace Outdoors Update on deer hunters survey by 10 the Marketplace Weather SATURDAY Mostly cloudy with rain possible In the afternoon Page 4 the Marketplace SECURING THE SCEME WHERE A FUGITIVE WAS CAPTURED Monday afternoon in are from left Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Roger Furlong and Cpl Tom Greene Chemung County fugitive taken at Charleston Township home by Bryan Q Robinson A Chemung County fugitive from justice was taken into custody Monday morning by Pennsylvania State Police at a Charleston Town ship home without incident However when police first ar rived at about at the residence at 41 Cornell the fu Matthew C Wheeler 29 of Horseheads repeatedly re fused requests by law enforce ment to exit the home and surren according to state police re ports At that point state police called in backup from both the Wellsboro and Mansfield police depart ments It looked pretty said a neighbor who asked not to be identified They had bulletproof vests and shields out and No shots were said Scott Henry public information officer when contacted Tuesday about the incident He said a handgun was found in the resi dence Eventually PSP personnel made entry into the home he was discovered hiding and was taken into custody without the report from state police read Wheeler was charged with one count each of fugitive from justice possession of a firearm false iden to law enforcement au and disorderly conduct ing He was arraigned on the charges and placed in the Tioga County Prison in lieu of bail He faces charges in vania as well as extradition back to Chemung County to answer charges there At this no point no else was said Henry However he said the incident was still under investigation Wheeler was wanted by the Chemung County Sheriffs Office on a warrant for assault and ag criminal contempt ac cording to the state police report In a telephone interview Tues day afternoon John Thweatt as sistant district attorney with the Chemung County District Attorneys office said Wheeler was originally indicted on two counts of assault in the second degree and one count of criminal contempt On May 2 2005 in West Elmira he allegedly entered the residence of an and during the course of an argu ment he threw an object at her She suffered injuries to her mouth and was treated at Medica Center and released He had appeared in court sev eral times for the incident but when on Nov 18 2005 he failed to appear for a hearing a warrant was issued for his arrest The war rant was issued Nov 21 2005 Thweatt said Police had been searching for said Henry We got informa tion that he was there in Charles ton If the case should go to trial Thweatt said assistant district attorney Anna Guardino would handle the case Guardino was out of the office on Tuesday afternoon Thweatt said he didnt know when Wheeler would be extra back to Chemung County In part it will depend on said Thweatt He said Wheeler could waive extradition but if he does not then Chemung County would have to file to receive an interstate warrant which could take 30 to 60 days He said while he could not com ment on the specifics he could confirm that Wheeler had been ar rested previously Fixing a hole where the rain gets in by Morrow In 1982 a study using a vari ety of methods was conducted in the borough of Wellsboro to deter mine where and how much storm water was infiltrating the sani tary sewer system The information that was gained and the subsequent recom became part of a study that was the basis for the sewer system renovations and treatment plant improvements completed in 1986 The 1982 study revealed among other things that there were 104 homes and businesses that sent storm water directly into the system through roof base ment or yard drains Over 20 years later little progress has been made toward eliminating these residential and commercial contributions of storm water to the system So as a letter to residents states borough officials are look ing for the cooperation of citizens in removing all contributions to the As borough engineer Scott Bray noted in a 2001 storm water infiltration and inflow report to the borough some level of is present in every sewer system with older systems more prone to the problem Many of the existing sewer lines in the borough were in stalled at a time when storm wa ter and sewer lines were com put in together Separation of these lines has been an ongo ing project and will continue Water gets into the system sev eral ways Infiltration is the wa ter typically groundwater that comes through cracks or joints when water tables are high In Please see COUNCIL page 3 Board concerned by utility costs at new high school by Morrow Electric and gas bills in the thousands of dollars each month are understandably a concern for Wellsboro Area School District board members and administra tors At last weeks board meeting Anna Vail questioned a monthly electric and a gas and though a majority of the board approved paying them she did not The district buys its gas in bulk for the year so that is for a portion of that purchase and not really not a true representation of usage said Business Administra tor Kim VanGorder There have been ongoing prob lems with the electric how ever School officials thought the high bills were because of a meter problem and that was corrected several months ago The district may get some en ergy solutions from Brian Towne business development manager with ChevronTexaco a division of Chevron Inc He has been working with the district on making the buildings more energy efficient and was at the Jan 10 meeting to talk with the board about that Every month Its supposed to be a brand new build ing Was it shoddy from the start or what Board president you dont do some thing about en ergy costs youre basically paying the utility com panies a Towne said Were here to complement to add to show you how to get things done We design it we spec it we build He explained that under the 1996 Guaranteed Energy Savings Act districts working with com panies like ChevronTexaco are guaranteed that the cost of en work is less than the savings or we write you a The district has allocated million in work to be done by the company That work can range from recom for different kinds of lighting to largescale solutions such as a different heating system for the old high school The boards frustration with the energy costs was apparent from President Jeff plea to Towne Cant you come in here and see whats wrong with this building he asked Its supposed to be a brand new building Was it shoddy from the start or what Why didnt we have someone like you here when the architect was designing this asked Dennis Youll have to ask your archi said Towne Crumb added that the district should have had someone looking at blueprints and telling us this is not what you He noted that contractors bid the specs then make their money on change orders In related business the board rejected as too high all bids re for Phase II construction the renovation of the old high school Were at a crossroads we cant sit on said Al Bieber Vail suggested soliciting re quests for proposals for a new ar Superintendent Phil Waber as that the district would have an auditorium the construc tion of which is part of the Phase II project and suggested a board workshop session before making any decisions That will be held Jan 23 at 6 In other business the board Heard a presentation from Jody Weeder and Brian Murphy on obtaining new high speed internet service through BLaST Intermediate Unit 17 The IU through and agreement with Verizon is offering a regional wide area network system for its member districts The system will connect the participating districts with each other and give those districts faster internet as well as future savings opportunities in computer application technical support and tele phone costs The cost will be about more a year than the mately the district pays annu ally now for internet and re lated services The board approved the service agreement between BLaST and the district it will run from July 1 of this year to June 2011 Accepted the resignation of board member Jim has moved from the area The board has 30 days the Jan 10 date of acceptance to fill the position Had a long discussion about the propriety of giving financial assistance to students for senior projects The discussion began with a request on the agenda to approve a student activity ac count for a new club Students Against Violence Everywhere which has been started by a ninth grade student as her se project Clubs often have ac counts to keep track of funding but in this case high school principal Pat Hewitt explained he had provided the student with a small amount of money from the soda machine fund to purchase some items for the club Board members did not seem to think that was a good precedent to set but ultimately approved establishing the ac count They discussed the possi bility of having the student pay back the money but it was not clear whether they would make it a requirement Approved changing the culi nary arts program from four years to three years Approved restructuring the science progression for high school students to require earth and space science for all freshmen and biology for all effec tive with the 200607 freshman class Local soldier Kandy Stocum returns home from Iraq for visit by Bryan Q Robinson Kandy Stocum recently returned home from Iraq to visit with family and friends She returned to the on Jan 3 and was scheduled to return to Iraq tomorrow Jan 19 Stocum who is in the Army National Guard is sta at west of Baghdad where she is an auto mated logistical supply specialist What that means she said in laymens term is that she makes sure the troops get the supplies they need such as parts for ve and the vehicles them selves I work at the place where the troops will be she said Her home unit 728th Main Support Battalion in Lock Haven but she is attached with the 228th Forward Support Bat talion from Bethlehem She has been in Iraq since June Stocum is married to Jason Stocum 31 The couple work at WalMart in Mansfield Kandy has worked with the company for 12 years Jason four years On Sept 21 2005 the two cel their third anniversary although she was in Iraq and he was back here in the states Asked what it meant to be able to see his wife for a couple of weeks after being apart for so long he said It means a Her Sylvia Brewer grandparents Vernon and Jessie Van Ness and aunt Linda Wilkerson all live at Park Hill Manor in Wellsboro The Van Nesses will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in April Like Jason they also were glad to see Kandy home even if only for a short time Its said Brewer I wish she didnt have to go back We miss Its very good to have her agreed However she added she under stood why she needed to be over seas She does to us proud to know shes defending her said Wilkerson Added Brewer I know shes in Gods hands and hes going to take care of We think shes doing a good said Vernon Van Ness a World War II veteran He served in the Army Air Force from December 1942 to February 1946 For her part Kandy ates the support she receives not only from her family both here in Wellsboro and in Arizona but also from others like the local Wal Mart and the Goodies for Our Troops nonprofit organization at Park Hill Manor The organization which is made up entirely of volunteers many from the manor sends pack ages of goodies monthly to troops mostly based out of the Wellsboro National Guard Readi Please see STOCUM page 3 HANDY STOCUM OF serves with the Army national 228th Forward Support Battalion from Iraq She emailed this picture to family and friends Tn November 2005 from the base listening to an mp3 player I wanted to send this one because is the first time I have heard music that I actually she wrote
