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Vol. 134 - No. 50
Cloudy then becoming mostly sunny. Brisk and much colder with highs around 15. Wind chill val-ues as low as 20 below.
Full report, A3
14 pagesClassified ......................... B5Comics ............................. B4Lifestyles ......................... A4Lottery ............................. A7Opinion ........................... A6Public Notices ............... B5Sports ............................... B1
75 Cents
• Thomas Jay Gaul, 82• Merle E. Keister, 88•Adrienne J. Stucke, 19
Lux, a 22-pound part-Himalayan cat that at-tacked a seven-month old baby. Portland police had to be called in to subdue the 22-pound house cat that trapped its owners inside their bedroom after attacking their baby. A7
CandidatesAs state officials closed
the door Tuesday on can-didate petitions for Penn-sylvania’s May 20 primary ballot, Republican Gov. Tom Corbett faced not only a critical crowd of would-be Democrat chal-lengers, but now a GOP foe at the opposite end of the political spectrum. A8
Missing planeMore than four days af-
ter a jetliner went missing en route to Beijing, author-ities said they didn’t know which direction the plane carrying 239 passengers was heading when it disap-peared. B6
House catattacks owners
Tomorrow’s Forecast
Index
ObituariesA7
MORE INSIDE
Page B1
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014
By Nick Hoffman
DuBOIS — Mother Na-ture prepared to throw the kitchen sink at westcen-tral Pennsylvania today with rain, sleet, snow, high winds, blowing and drifting snow, falling temperatures and subzero wind chills after teasing the region with springlike 60-degree warmth Tuesday.
The National Weather Service issued winter weath-er and wind chill advisories through midday Thursday for up to 6 inches of snow and wind chill readings as low as 20 below.
After a balmy day Tues-day, rain overspread the area this morning and was forecast to turn to snow. Forecasters said 3-6 inches will fall in Elk and Jefferson counties while 2-4 inches are expected in Clearfield County.
The heaviest snow will fall this afternoon and eve-ning and, combined with rapidly falling tempera-tures, will create hazardous driving conditions.
After starting the day with temperatures in the low and mid-40s, forecast-ers say those readings will plunge to near zero over-night. Combined with winds
gusting as high as 40 mph, wind chill readings will be as low as 20 below zero, cre-ating a danger of frostbite or hypothermia for anyone ex-posed for any length of time who does not bundle up.
High temperatures Thursday, under partly to mostly sunny skies, will only recover into the teens and lows Thursday night will again be in the single digits in most areas.
The weather will relax Friday with sunny skies and temperatures forecast to re-bound into the 40s.
The storm responsible for the latest winter onslaught
Tri-County Area couldsee more winter weather
CLEARFIELD — A DuBois man convicted of making metham-phetamines in his home was given a lengthy state sentence Tuesday in Clearfield County Court.
Steven Sunealitis, 53, 1233 S. Main St., DuBois, was found guilty of manufacturing with intent to deliver methamphetamines, ille-gal dumping of methamphetamine waste, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia at a trial in January.
He was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to eight to 16 years in prison.
Ammerman noted that the reasons for the eight-year minimum sentence were the weight of the drugs and fact that Sunealitis was previously convict-ed of making methamphetamine. In August 2006, he was sentenced to four to eight years in prison for possession with intent to deliver methamphet-amine, possession of red phosphorous and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Prior to sentencing Tuesday, Su-nealitis told Ammerman, “I deserve to get what I get” and admitted he is
an addict who needs help. He said he made bad choices and
if he had started going to Alcoholics Anony-mous when he was released from prison before, he might not be back in court. He is now attending AA meeting regularly and said he will continue to do so for the rest of
his life.The charges stem from an inci-
dent at the Sunealitis residence in DuBois May 13 when a parole offi-
cer discovered he had been making methamphetamines.
At the trial, James Shuttleworth, a parole agent with the Pennsylva-nia Board of Probation and Parole, testified that Sunealitis said he was making his own meth using the “shake ‘n bake” method. Sunealitis told him he could turn two boxes of cold tablets into 4 grams of metham-phetamine in two hours.
Brett Bailor of the Erie Crime Lab explained that meth can be made “with a simple recipe and household items that most people have in their
Meth lab draws prison termDuBois
SUNEALITIS
Winter weather and wind chill advisories are in effect for the Tri-County Area through midday Thursday while areas north and west are under winter storm warnings. In New York, the area from Jamestown through Buffalo to Rochester is under a blizzard warning. (National Weather Service graphic)
By Katie Weidenboerner
RIDGWAY — The Ridgway Area School District is facing some obsta-cles with its 2014-15 budget, includ-ing retirement costs, salaries and cyber school costs.
“These are the things the board has been looking at and why it’s been a slow process,” finance Manager Brent Rhoads said. “It’s nobody’s fault. These are the costs we incur.”
In January, the board passed a resolution saying it would not raise taxes above a state index limit, which would be a 1-mill increase in Ridgway’s case. That would equal a $25 real estate tax increase for the owner of a $50,000 property.
After Tuesday’s meeting, Rhoads said the administration will likely encourage the board to adopt that increase.
Currently, the levy on taxpayers in the district is 34.6 mills, mean-
ing the owner of a $50,000 property pays about $865 in real estate tax-es. Residents also pay property and other taxes to Elk County and the municipality in which they live.
Retirement costsRetirement costs are one of the
biggest challenges Ridgway, like all districts across the state, faces.
In 2010-11, the district’s retirement costs were $367,000. That amount has increased each year since and, for next year, is projected to be $1,283,736, or
$254,545 more than this year.Rhoads explained that the state
sets the district’s rate of retirement contributions.
“Those numbers are really af-fecting us,” Rhoads said. “And that’s only one of our expenditures.”
While the state shares in the district’s costs, Rhoads said half of that $254,454 equates to a 1-mill tax increase, which could be spent on other expenses like the addition
Ridgway School District faces budget obstacles
By Kimberly Finnigan
CLEARFIELD — Rep-resentatives of Penn High-lands Clearfield addressed concerns Tuesday about the decision to close the mater-nity ward.
Gary Macionce, president of the Clearfield Campus of Penn Highlands, told the county commissioners about the decision and clarified some rumors.
Macionce said Penn High-lands Clearfield will close the Armstrong Birthing Center maternity ward April 7. Patients of Dr. Thomas A. Carnevale, Clearfield’s only obstetrician, will deliver their babies at the materni-ty center of Penn Highlands DuBois. Carnevale will join the obstetricians at that hos-pital in a call schedule.
He will continue to pro-vide gynecological, prena-tal and postnatal care at his office in Clearfield. The Healthy Beginnings prena-tal program for income-eli-gible mothers will continue to be offered at Penn High-
lands Clearfield.Macionce said mothers
needing care for an emer-gency birth will get that care at the emergency de-partment in Clearfield, where the staff is trained to handle such cases.
Macionce said the deci-sion to close the maternity department was based on clinical and financial viabil-ity of operating the unit with only one obstetrician.
“Obstetrics is very poorly reimbursed (by the state),” Macionce said. “One doctor managing obstetrics is not a sustainable model. The department must be able to provide services 365 days a year and it can’t be done with only one doctor.”
Other factors that led to the closing of the unit in-cluded declining reimburse-ment from insurance, rising costs to operate the service and a declining number of births. Macionce said there have been fewer than 200
Penn Highlandsrepresentatives addressmaternity ward closure
A project intended to help alleviate problems with Schofield Street in Curwensville Borough has only resulted in more. At Monday’s meeting, the Curwensville Borough Council discussed the project. (CE file photo)
By Kimberly Finnigan
CURWENSVILLE — Curwensville is still look-ing for a solution to problems with its Schofield Street project.
The council discussed the
project at its meeting Mon-day and tried to come up with the best way to handle the problems.
Councilwoman Mary El-len Read said the council either needs to bring its concerns to Hess and Fisher Engineering or meet with
both the engineers and the contractor who did the work.
Read said the paving is an issue and needs redone because it was done after the Oct. 1 deadline.
She said Allen “Tuffy” Stevens and Councilman
Curwensville Council discusses problems with Schofield Street project
Clearfield
See Maternity, Page A7
See Charges, Page A7
See Winter, Page A7
See Ridgway, Page A7
See Street, Page A7
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