Volume 111 - No. 101 TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2013 50¢ Newsstand

—Sports—

—Index—

—Weather—

—Editorial—

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Partly sunny, thenmostly cloudy with a70 percent chanceof rain showers andthunderstorms. Windgusts up to 25 mph.

Mostly cloudy with a40 percent chanceof rain showers andthunderstorms. Windgusts up to 25 mph.

Highs in the upper 60s.

Today

Tomorrow

Political Cartoons;Guest Editorials;

Commentary;Letters to the Editor.

See Page 4

What’sInside

Classified . . . . . . . . . 17-18Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . 16Entertainment . . . . . . . . . 9Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Lifestyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Local News . . . . . . . . 1,3,5Lottery Results . . . . . . . . 3Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-15Sudoku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Greater Latrobe, Ligo-nier Valley sweepFranklin Regional,

Derry Area, respective-ly, in exhibition trackand field meets; GL’s

Kissell falls in quarterfi-nals of WPIAL tennissingles; Indiana Area

hands Trojans first sec-tion baseball loss; Tro-jans cruise past Our

Lady of Sacred Heartin exhibition boys’ vol-leyball match; formerDA standout AlyssaPalenchar sets High

Point University (N.C.)outdoor pole-vault

record; GL baseballfalls to .500 in sectionloss to Penn-Trafford.

See Pages 11-14

Latrobe BulletinLatrobe Bulletin

Photos by Chris UlicneBrittany Dando and her fellow Greater Latrobe Junior High School students wait inline to sample some cookies created by Westmoreland County Community Col-lege (WCCC) students as part of WCCC’s Destination College event held Mondayat its main campus in Youngwood. More photos on Pages 10, 18.

A+ Campaign forGLSD thrives under

strong leadership

Derry Borough hires firm for zoning, code enforcementBY MARIE MCCANDLESS

Bulletin News EditorDerry Borough Council Monday hired

BIU (Building Inspection Underwriters) tohandle the borough's zoning, UCC (Uni-versal Construction Code), occupancyrental inspection and code enforcement forone year.

BIU just completed a 45-day contractwith the borough and council memberswere satisfied with its performance.

Council member Joseph Morton com-mented that in the 45-day period, BIU

“had quick response. They were very pro-fessional.”

Before hiring BIU, council heard fromprevious zoning officer Robert C.Sieminkewicz Jr. and UCC inspectorMerle Musick. Steve Kozar was perform-ing occupancy rental inspection. The bor-ough did not have a code enforcement offi-cer.

Council president Kristine Melvilleabstained on the votes to terminateSieminkewicz, Musick and Kozar and hireBIU. Council members Chad Fabian, Mor-

ton, Jim Ritenour, Nelie Smith and AllenSkopp all voted yes on all motions. Coun-cil member Jim Struble was absent.

Melville thanked Sieminkewicz,Musick and Kozar for the work they havedone for the borough in the past.

The agreement with BIU will save theborough approximately $5,200 a year,since the BIU deal is not costing the tax-payers. Applicants pay fees, which havenot changed, for permits. Those fees aresplit 80-20 with the borough, and the bor-ough still receives any fines that may be

levied on violations.Melville emphasized, “Council does

not have a list of potential violations.Council is not riding around making lists.It will be fully done through BIU.”

She said BIU will respond to com-plaints and also go through town and issuewarnings when violations are found, suchas junk in yards, dilapidated structures andother major issues. The main focus will beon dangerous structures and occupancy

Ethics complaint filed against Latrobe councilman

A Latrobe police officer has filed a complaint against a city coun-cilman, according to news outlets.

The Tribune-Review reports that Off. Michelle Preston of theLatrobe Police Department has filed an ethics complaint againstLatrobe City Council member Fabian Giovannagelo.

Allegedly, Giovannagelo sought to have Preston fired after shereported a reckless driving incident committed by Giovannagelo’sson.

Giovannagelo’s son, Nico, 21, reportedly was driving erraticallywhile responded to a fire alarm on Feb. 21.

Online records do not show any traffic citations filed against NicoGiovannagelo this year, although he has been cited with several sum-mary driving offenses in the past few years.

Sources indicated that the Latrobe Volunteer Fire Department sus-pended Giovannagelo for this year’s incident.

Fabian Giovannagelo reportedly met with city manager AlexGraziani, and requested Preston be fired.

Robert Caruso, acting executive director of the PennsylvaniaState Ethics Commission, could not confirm or deny the existence ofPreston’s complaint.

Policy dictates a 60-day preliminary inquiry if the complaint fallswithin the commission’s jurisdiction. The commission can thendecide to open a full investigation, which could span up to 360 days.

After the commission reaches a conclusion, both the complainantand the subject would be notified, and news outlets would receive afinal order containing finding of facts, discussions and conclusions.

Both Latrobe Police Chief James Bumar and Off. Robert Derk, arepresentative of the Latrobe Police Negotiations Committee,defended Preston. They noted that politics will not influence theactions of the police department.

Giovannagelo will seek the Democratic nomination in May forLatrobe mayor.

Giovannagelo, Graziani, Bumar and Derk did not respond to theLatrobe Bulletin when they were sought for comment.

The Greater Latrobe Partners in Education Foundation, an inde-pendent, nonprofit organization formed to support Greater LatrobeSchool District, announced that, to date, 100 percent of all GreaterLatrobe School District Board of Directors and school administrators,as well as 80 percent of all district employees have made charitable giftcommitments to support the A+ Campaign for Greater Latrobe SchoolDistrict.

“These important leadership gifts, combined with 100-percent par-ticipation from the GLPIEF Board of Directors and Campaign Com-mittee, which is leading the effort, truly show the broad support acrossthe district,” said Maryann White, GLPIEF president. “Our communityhas already helped build an incredible school system,” White said. “TheA+ Campaign will bring great value to our educational system for manyyears to come through enhancements to Academics, Arts and Athleticsand builds upon the tradition of excellence for all three A’s.”

“The response from those closest to the students and families weserve has been nothing short of phenomenal,” White said. “Such a highpercentage of participation shows how strongly our communitybelieves in the importance of creating a world-class educational experi-ence for Greater Latrobe's next generation.”

While the A+ campaign has only completed the leadership phase,White said well over half of the campaign objective has already beencommitted. White attributes this strong early support to the rich tradi-tion of philanthropic involvement in GLSD by Greater Latrobe resi-dents, corporations and foundations.

Greater Latrobe School District teacher Anne Carrollshowcases new GLOBAL classroom instructionaltools to Krista Plows and Jacob Shaulis. The A+ Cam-paign will provide needed technology in every class-room throughout Greater Latrobe School District.

BY CHRIS ULICNEBulletin Staff Writer

It's never too early for students to start thinking about their futures— especially if they intend to go to college.

That was the primary message at an event hosted Monday by West-moreland County Community College (WCCC) at its main campus inYoungwood, during which approximately 350 students from GreaterLatrobe Junior High School got a glimpse into the life awaiting themshould they choose to continue their education beyond high school.

The program, dubbed Destination College, was split up into threeparts — Destination Fun, Destination Explore and Destination Advicefor Your Future — all of which were designed to help the students learnmore about the different facets of the college experience.

For Destination Fun, a panel of 10 current WCCC students from var-ious disciplines told their stories and offered advice on how to best pre-pare for a post-secondary education.

The one thing that was immediately clear is that they all feel it'simportant for students to start thinking about college early, becauseplanning is a big factor in determining success.

"Get involved now, because colleges will look at what you did inhigh school," said panel member Raeanne Schultz, a WCCC student.

Student panelist Megan Laughlin recommended that high school

GL junior high students get a taste of college life

Miss 4th of July

Pageant signup ends

April 22The Latrobe 4th of July

Celebration Committeeannounced that there will be aMiss 4th of July Pageant thisyear, scheduled for 6 p.m. Sun-day, June 16, at GreaterLatrobe Senior High SchoolAuditorium.

At least 15 contestants areregistered to date. The last datefor anyone to register isabsolutely 6 p.m. Monday,April 22, at the White EaglesClub, Weldon Street entrance,upstairs. All registration formswill be filled out there andadditional pageant informationwill be discussed that evening.

If anyone else is thinking ofregistering this is the time to doit. Practice will start everyMonday evening until the pag-eant.

Committee chair CarolGreenawalt announced thisyear’s parade theme is "ATrib-ute to Honor Our Local Busi-ness and Industry.”

In support of that theme, thehonorary grand marshal for the

Neighborhood Watch meetingplanned Thursday in Derry

The Derry Borough Neighborhood Watch will meet 7 p.m.Thursday, April 18, on the second floor of Derry Borough Munici-pal Building, 114 E. 2nd Ave.

Organizer Barry Smith said anyone interested in reporting anysuspicious activity in their neighborhood is welcome to attend. Hesaid school will soon be out for the summer, and extra eyes and earsare needed to prevent crime.

Triple-murderjury selectionunder way

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) —Jury selection has begun for awestern Pennsylvania mancharged with murdering hismother, sister and elderly auntfour years ago at the automobileglass shop he owned.

Westmoreland County DistrictAttorney John Peck says 52-year-old Kevin Murphy, of Cone-maugh Township, killed thewomen on April 23, 2009because they disapproved of hisrelationship with a marriedwoman.

Investigators say Murphy toldthem he brought a handgun to thegarage earlier that day but denieskilling his mother, 69-year-oldDoris Murphy, his 43-year-oldsister Kris Murphy and his aunt,81-year-old Edith Tietge.

Instead, the defense is expect-ed to argue that someone elsekilled the women at the shop inLoyalhanna Township. The juryattorneys began selecting Mon-day will be bused to the crimescene so they can examine it aspart of the trial.

Ryan Moore of WCCC shows students from GreaterLatrobe Junior High School how to create a culinarywork of art from an apple, slicing it and fitting thepieces together to form the shape of a bird.

Greater Latrobe Junior High School students KatieLawrence and Sami Ferrenberg take a whiff of someherbs to try to identify them during an exercise atMonday’s Destination College event at WestmorelandCounty Community College (WCCC).

(See Derry on Page 3)

(See GL junior on Page 3)

(See A+ Campaign on Page 3)

(See Miss 4th on Page 3)