Local News
UPDATE: Snow helps in nabbing would-be burglar, cops say
MERCER — If you’ve spent this winter cursing the ice and snow, then how about a tip of the hat to Old Man Winter — he may have helped nab a burglar on Monday.
Chad Anthony Combs, 38, of 224 S. Otter St., Mercer, kicked in the back door of an Apache Trail home in Coolspring Township after knocking and getting no answer, state police said. He ran away when he realized a 17-year-old girl was inside.
Combs tried to high-tail it out of the residential neighborhood, but his van got stuck in the snow.
He allegedly asked the 17-year-old, who had locked a screen door because Combs had already kicked in the other one, if he could come in and call for some help.
She told him she had a cell phone and had already called 911, police said. The girl actually couldn’t get the cell working properly, but had texted her mother so that she could call police instead.
Combs managed to get his van unstuck and drove off, police said. A trooper found him some distance away with a damaged back tire.
Combs faces charges of burglary, criminal trespass, and criminal mischief before District Judge Lorinda L. Hinch, Mercer.
In November, state police said daytime burglaries were happening in Findley, Jackson, Worth, and Wolf Creek townships, all near Coolspring Township. Police have not said if Combs is linked to these burglaries.
In the township burglaries, suspects would knock on the doors of empty-looking homes and give excuses if someone answered. If it was empty, they forced their way in, police said.
Mercer Police Chief David Fockler wouldn’t say if he suspected Combs was connected to recent rash of burglaries in the borough.
Fockler is letting state police conduct their investigation, but burglaries in the borough have continued over the last several months. Another one on Friday happened on Vogan Drive, Fockler said, bringing the total number up to about nine.
Other burglaries happened in homes on Pitt, Butler, Home, and Market streets, which had been broken into for cash and prescription painkillers, Fockler said.
He has said in the past that these borough burglaries are possibly linked to the ones in the township.
Combs is currently in Mercer County Jail on $100,000 bond.
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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
