Local News
UPDATE: Church member charged in arson
Set fire to house, investigators say
PINE TOWNSHIP — A parishioner of a Pine Township church told his pastor and police that he started a fire that destroyed a house on the church property, state police said.
Philip J. McCamey, 38, of Slippery Rock Township, Butler County, was arrested Tuesday at home on charges of arson and criminal mischief, police said.
The fire started at 7:57 a.m. Sunday in the home directly behind Church of the Epiphany Episcopal Church, 870 Liberty St. Ext., police said. Fire consumed about 75 percent of the exterior structure, and police estimated the loss at about $100,000.
State police called the building the church parsonage, but Pine Township Volunteer Fire Chief Christopher Holmes said no one lived there.
“It was a ranch house that was used for storage,” Holmes said.
McCamey was angry the pastor was not living in the house, Trooper Brian Crouch, a fire marshal, told the Associated Press.
Many books were stored in the house, and the church planned to sell them as a fundraiser, Crouch told the Associated Press.
State police determined the fire has been intentionally set Monday, and received a statement the next day from the Rev. Geoffrey M. Wild that McCamey had admitted to him that he set the fire, police said.
McCamey told police Tuesday that the lighter he used to start the blaze was in a church storage room, where police retrieved it, police said.
McCamey was arraigned by District Judge D. Neil McEwen, Pine Township, and sent to Mercer County Jail for failing to post bond. His preliminary hearing was set for Wednesday.
A message left with the church was not returned.
Holmes said the blaze had a head start on firefighters.
“I was in there within three minutes and it was well involved,” he said.
Holmes said he was surprised to learn that the fire was intentionally set, and angered that someone would jeopardize lives of firefighters “for no reason.”
Firefighters from Grove City, Harrisville, Springfield Township and Mercer assisted.
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Court nixes ruling man is sexually violent predator
State Superior Court has denied a local judge’s request to issue a precedential opinion in a rape case.
Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge John C. Reed had ruled that Chad S. Thompson, 24, formerly of Stoneboro, is a sexually violent predator, but Superior Court said in a 2-1 decision July 8 that an expert’s testimony was insufficient to back that declaration.
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Stacey wants to continue fight over razed home
Raymond Stacey has requests pending in three courts as he presses his long-running attempt to prosecute the city of Hermitage and those he believes are responsible for illegally demolishing his parents’ house.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, on April 29 quashed an appeal because Stacey did not file his argument brief and appendix of supporting documents.
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Burglars strike while residents sleep
Several Shenango Valley residents’ homes were broken into overnight Tuesday and Wednesday while they slept.
Two burglaries in Sharon involved people entering open windows.
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
Hermitage commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday to increase sanitary user fees.
Residents tapped into the Hermitage Municipal Authority lines now pay $95 a quarter. That rate will bump up to $105 a quarter on Jan. 1, under the proposed rate hike.
Two more hikes on Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2013, will result in the rates increasing 50 percent from the current fee. -
Water is on at Forrest Brooke
Water service has been restored at Forrest Brooke Manufactured Home Community after well problems left the 165-unit complex dry Tuesday.
A boil and conserve water advisory has been issued by the DEP and will remain in place until tests confirm the water is safe to drink, Forrest Brooke’s manager Pete Havens said.
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Storm damages trees, wires
Thunderstorms ripped through parts of Mercer and neighboring counties Wednesday night, downing trees and wires and keeping rescue workers on their toes.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher shortly after 8 p.m. said they were busy with calls across the northern part of the county. He said there had been a few reports of trees falling on homes.
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City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
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Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
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Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
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City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
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Court nixes ruling man is sexually violent predator
