Local News
PennDOT denies crash liability
Others also sued by teacher's estate
HERMITAGE —
While PennDOT has denied liability in the death of a former Shenango Valley teacher and coach, two others sued by her estate said the suit is insufficient.
Melissa L. Miller, 35, of Lackawannock Township, died after her SUV hit an icy patch while eastbound on the Shenango Valley Freeway, Hermitage police said. The SUV hit an embankment and rolled several times, police said. Ms. Miller, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown while the SUV rolled, police said.
Ms. Miller, a Sharon native, was a Farrell Area Elementary School teacher and coached the West Middlesex High School volleyball team.
Cynthia L. Miller, Ms. Miller’s mother and administrator of her daughter’s estate, filed suit Dec. 10 charging wrongful death and negligence against:
PennDOT; UDE of Freedom, a limited partnership related to Universal Development Inc., Girard, Ohio, the developer of Stonegate Condominiums, a development just west of the crash site; Western Reserve Land Consultants Inc., Boardman, Ohio, which surveyed the Stonegate land and prepared development documents; Western Reserve employees Kerry L. Kampfer and Brad L. Goodballet; and RT Vernal Paving Co. Inc., North Lima, Ohio, which performed excavating and paving at Stonegate.
The suit said defects in the stormwater drainage system in the 2400 block of the freeway caused water to pool on the road and freeze.
Those associated with the Stonegate development failed to discover the problems in the stormwater drainage system, and UDE and Vernal failed to clear grates that kept debris out of the stormwater pipes that took the water off Stonegate’s roads, the suit said.
In its answer filed Jan. 27, PennDOT denied that it owns and maintains a storm water catch basin under the freeway. It admitted it has “legal duties” concerning the roadway, but did not go so far as to admit that it is responsible for maintaining the roadway.
PennDOT, represented by the state Attorney General’s Office, denied there were any defects to the stormwater drainage system, that another accident occurred at the same spot a week earlier, or that the motorist involved in the earlier crash contacted PennDOT to report it.
The agency also denied that it paved over a catch basin in 2005 or 2006, that it changed the drainage scheme under the road, or that the catch basin had overflowed onto the roadway when Ms. Miller’s crash occurred.
In its defense, PennDOT claimed immunity; that the accident’s causes were out of PennDOT’s control or participation; and that the alleged highway defect did not cause the crash, “only facilitated the happening of the accident.”
PennDOT also said the other defendants are liable and that, if PennDOT is found liable, they should share in the liability.
Vernal and UDE filed preliminary objections asking for full or partial dismissal based on the suit containing insufficient facts backing the allegations made against them.
Vernal attorney Mark R. Lane, Pittsburgh, said a judge should at least order Ms. Miller’s estate to be more specific.
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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
