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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011
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THE TIMES LEADER
3 Republicans to plead guilty in probe Ex-aides to former Pa. House Speaker John Perzel will make plea bargain agreement. By PETER JACKSON Associated Press
HARRISBURG — Three exaides to former state House Speaker John Perzel are expected to plead guilty this week in exchange for their cooperation in prosecuting other Republican defendants in a corruption probe, the state Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday. The expected pleas will come less than three weeks before jury selection is slated to begin in Dauphin County court in the consolidated trial of the Republican defendants. They include Perzel,
of Philadelphia, and another former high-ranking state representative, Brett Feese of Lycoming County, who also had served as chief counsel for the House GOP caucus. Scheduled to enter pleas Wednesday are Samuel “Buzz” Stokes, 68, a Philadelphia man who is a former employee of the state House of Representatives and Perzel’s brother-in-law, and Don McClintock, 43, a former Perzel campaign aide, the attorney general’s office said. Paul Towhey, 40, of Blue Bell, one of two former Perzel chiefs of staff charged in the case, is scheduled to enter a plea Friday before the same judge. Each of the three was originally charged with at least two dozen counts of conflict of interest, theft and conspiracy. The pleas
Courtdale buying no-parking signs
Ordinance restricting parking at municipal lot not in effect until posted. By CAMILLE FIOTI Times Leader Correspondent
COURTDALE – Council voted Tuesday to purchase signs for the municipal parking lot, stating parking commercial vehicles in the lot is prohibited. An ordinance that restricts parking to residential and borough vehicles only was passed at last month’s meeting but will not go into effect until the signs are posted, which should be within two weeks, council said. Council President Carl Hodorowski said residents have been complaining they can’t find a parking spot when they visit the borough building to pay their taxes or sewer bills. “There are about six big trucks always in our parking lot,” he said. Once the signs are in place, violators will be towed and fined at owner’s expense, he added. Council member Debbie Youngblood asked Hodorowski if the borough has a dumping or littering ordinance. She complained about the gas cans and other miscellaneous objects that are scattered across the grass next to the lot. The objects belong to Steven Zomerfeld, who runs a tree removal business out of his home, adjacent to the lot. Zomerfeld attended the meeting. He objected to Youngblood’s
remarks that his collection was “junk” and should be cleaned up. He fired back, by telling her that she should clean up her own front yard. “You haven’t even seen my yard,” Youngblood said. After the meeting, Zomerfeld said he is being constantly harassed and singled out by council and the police department for parking his trucks in the lot. He said he has received more than 30 citations for parking in the lot and along Blackman Street, which runs behind his property. “Ours are the only vehicles that they’re targeting,” he said. Council looked over snapshots provided by a resident showing illegal dumping on a private property on Helen Court. Hodorowski said he is not sure if the borough has an ordinance on dumping and littering, and said he would pass the photos on to the police department and the borough’s code enforcement officer, Andy Kratz.. In another matter, Hodorowski told council the borough’s backhoe needs a new transmission. An estimate he received to replace the transmission is $4,894. Council voted to authorize Hodorowski to solicit three estimates for the repairs. Trimming overgrown brush on Corby Road was interrupted recently due to breakage of the borough’s weed whacker and leaf blower. Council voted to purchase a new weed whacker for $369 and a new leaf blower for $319. Liquid fuels funds will be used for the purchases.
Services held for slain officer The Associated Press
FREEMANSBURG — Mourners paid tribute Tuesday to a police officer killed in the line of duty last week as a motorcade escorted the coffin through the small Pennsylvania town he served and funeral services drew 1,000 law enforcement officials from at least three states. Private and public services were held for Freemansburg police officer Robert Lasso, who was remembered as a great cop and devoted father. “Protect and serve — those are
POLICE BLOTTER
not just words, they really represent the life of Robert Lasso,” the Rev. Richard Teitsworth said at Northampton County Community College, where some 2,000 people attended a public memorial. “The law enforcement fraternity honors one of their own who gave the supreme sacrifice.” Added Lasso’s police chief, George Bruneio: “Those who knew Robert know how much we lost.” Lasso, who had been on the force nine years, was shot in the head while investigating a report of a domestic disturbance.
POLITICAL BRIEF
when he was struck by a red pickup, the driver of which then fled the scene, according to televised reports. As of press time Monday night, Shovlin was in stable condition and being transferred from the emergency room to a patient room at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center. Although Pittston police were said to be seeking information on the incident, they did not return messages left at the police department, nor did they reply to a request through Luzerne County 911 to return a call to a reporter.
WILKES-BARRE – The regular 6th District Republican Committee meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at GOP Headquarters, 41 S. Main St., across from the Park & Lock.
WILKES-BARRE – City police reported the following: • Police said Rochelle Hubbert, of New Alexander Street, and Latisha Aiken, of Beekman Street, Wilkes-Barre, were cited
Pickup hits firefighter outside fire station PITTSTON – A city fire fighter was the victim of a hit-andrun outside the fire station on Monday at around 2:30 p.m. Michael Shovlin was tending to housekeeping duties outside the firehouse on Kennedy Street
are expected to include felonies, said Attorney General’s office spokesman Nils Frederiksen. Robert Donatoni, a West Chester lawyer representing Stokes, said his client plans to plead guilty to two counts, but declined to specify the charges. A telephone message left for Towhey’s lawyer was not immediately returned. Court records do not list an attorney for McClintock, and no one answered the phone at his home address in Vorhees, N.J. The trial of the other GOP defendants is expected to last several months. Jury selection is set to start Sept. 6, and the trial is expected to being Sept. 12. Prosecutors allege that House GOP leaders and staff members spent millions of taxpayer dollars on computer technology to ille-
gally gain the advantage in political campaigns. They say Perzel aggressively accumulated power and that he punished fellow Republicans who voted against him on legislation with “dirty tricks” that included taxpayer-paid robocalls to tarnish their image among their constituents. Perzel, long one of the state GOP’s most prodigious fundraisers and campaign strategists, gave up the speaker’s rostrum in 2007 after Democrats won control of the House and was ousted from the House in the 2010 election. He insists he is innocent and has questioned the motives of GOP Gov. Tom Corbett, who as attorney general had launched the ongoing legislative investigation in early 2007. Perzel’s lawyer, Brian J. McMo-
nagle of Philadelphia, did not immediately return a telephone message left Tuesday by The Associated Press. The investigation also resulted in the arrests of 15 current and former Democratic legislators and aides, including three who were convicted at trial and seven who pleaded guilty. Former Rep. Mike Veon of Beaver County, formerly the House Democratic whip, and one of his ex-aides, Brett Cott, are serving prison terms after being convicted of conspiracy, theft and conflict of interest stemming from what prosecutors described as a wide-ranging scheme to use legislative employees and other public resources for electioneering. Three other Democrats are awaiting trial.
Tobacco firms sue FDA
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DETAILS LOTTERY MIDDAY DRAWING DAILY NUMBER – 4-2-8 BIG 4 – 1-3-8-3 QUINTO – 0-9-4-9-2 TREASURE HUNT 04-13-23-24-28 NIGHTLY DRAWING DAILY NUMBER – 4-0-5 BIG 4 – 9-5-7-3 QUINTO – 7-4-3-8-4 CASH 5 11-18-24-28-34 MEGA MILLIONS 04-38-41-42-43 MEGA BALL 44 HARRISBURG – Two players matched all five winning numbers drawn in Tuesday’s “Pennsylvania Cash 5” game so the jackpot will be worth $125,000. They each received $262,196. Lottery officials said 154 players matched four numbers and won $223.50 each; 5,581 players matched three numbers and won $10 each; and 64,353 players matched two numbers and won $1 each.
OBITUARIES Biggs, Theodore Jr. Dopko, Joseph Hurst, Richard Kolodziej, Arlene Matusek, Anne Musto, Richard Reese, Kathleen Slusser, James Stecco, Ann Sworen, Mary Waschek, Joseph Willis, Michael Page 8A
AP PHOTO
Two of nine new warning labels cigarette makers will have to use by the fall of 2012 are shown. Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the federal government Tuesday.
Graphic labels upset companies By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the federal government Tuesday over new graphic cigarette labels that include the sewnup corpse of a smoker and a picture of diseased lungs, saying the warnings violate their free speech rights and will cost millions of dollars to print. The companies, led by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co., said the warnings no longer simply convey facts to allow people to make a decision whether to smoke. They instead force them to put government antismoking advocacy more prominently on their packs than their own brands, the companies say. They want a judge to stop the labels. “Never before in the United States have producers of a lawful product been required to use their own packaging and advertising to convey an emotionally-charged government message urging adult consumers to shun their products,” the companies wrote in the with disorderly conduct and harassment after police responded to a report of a fight at Hubbert’s home at 5:14 p.m. Tuesday. Hubbert told police Aiken came to her home and began yelling at her, that she struck Aiken in the face with a closed fist and that Aiken pulled a pistol on her and bit her daughter on the left arm, police said. Police said they found no weapon at the scene. • Police cited Claudette Roberts, of East Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre, with scattering rubbish after Debbie Saracino, of 72 S. Sherman St., reported on Monday that someone left a bag of trash on a lot she owns across from her home. Police said items in the bag belonged to Roberts. • Police said simple assault charges would be filed against
The tobacco companies said the corpse photo is actually an actor with a fake scar, while the healthy lungs were sanitized to make the diseased organ look worse.
lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The FDA refused to comment, saying the agency does not discuss pending litigation. But when she announced the new labels in June, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called them frank and honest warnings about the dangers of smoking. The FDA approved nine new warnings to rotate on cigarette packs. They will be printed on the entire top half, front and back, of the packaging. The new warnings also must constitute 20 percent of any cigarette advertising. They also all include a number for stopsmoking hotline One warning label is a picture of Johnny Lassiter, of South Welles Street, Wilkes-Barre, after police responded on Tuesday afternoon to a report of domestic violence at 69 S. Hancock St., Apartment 1, where resident Tonya Washington told them that Lassiter knocked on her door and, after she answered it, he argued with her guest, Courtney Souder, who lives at the same address as Lassiter. Washington told police Lassiter struck Souder in the face six or seven times and knocked her to the ground before Washington broke up the fight and Lassiter fled, police said. PITTSTON – A man was arraigned Tuesday on charges he conspired to rob a man. Michael Scott Gentner, 28, of Rock Street, Hughestown, was arraigned in Wilkes-Barre Central Court on three counts of
a corpse with its chest sewed up and the words: “Smoking can kill you.” Another label has a picture of a healthy pair of lungs beside a yellow and black pair with a warning that smoking causes fatal lung disease. The lawsuit said the images were manipulated to be especially emotional. The tobacco companies said the corpse photo is actually an actor with a fake scar, while the healthy lungs were sanitized to make the diseased organ look worse. The companies also said the new labels will cost them millions of dollars for new equipment so they can frequently change from warning to warning and designers to make sure the labels meet federal requirements while maintaining some distinction among brands. Joining R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard in the suit are Commonwealth Brands Inc., Liggett Group LLC and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company Inc. Altria Group Inc., parent company of the nation’s largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, is not a part of the lawsuit.
robbery, and one count each of criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen property. He was jailed at the county prison for lack of $30,000 bail. Police allege Gentner and Jeremy Asay, 24, of Stanton Street, West Pittston, conspired to use a knife to rob a man walking on South Main Street on March 4, 2010, according to the criminal complaint. The two men got away with $11 that Gentner used to buy a 12-pack of beer, police alleged. Asay pleaded guilty to a single count of robbery in a negotiated plea agreement with prosecutors. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 15 by Luzerne County Judge David Lupas. A preliminary hearing for Gentner is scheduled on Aug. 24 before District Judge Fred Pierantoni III in Pittston.
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