CRESSON – Mount Aloysius College has been named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service learning and civic engagement.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual honor roll award, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental justice.

The corporation oversees the honor roll in collaboration with the federal departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.

Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors including the scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.

“We are always glad to have the generosity and compassion of our students and faculty recognized,” said Sister Helen Marie Burns, vice president for mission integration. “Mount Aloysius College is built on a tradition of service and concern for justice, and hopefully our students will learn the value of these virtues in their own lives and will continue to serve and to give long after they graduate.”



Johnstown man found guilty of luring girl

BEDFORD – A Johnstown man was convicted by a Bedford County jury of luring a 6-year-old girl into a structure, a first-degree misdemeanor, District Attorney William Higgins said Thursday.

Robert Knipple Jr., 49, an unemployed resident of Bertmin Street, will be sentenced April 26.

The jury took just 15 minutes to convict Knipple of the incident that occurred July 4 during a picnic on a Bedford County farm.

Higgins said Knipple, who was at the event as the guest of a relative, gave the girl money and told her to come inside a barn to play some games. The child told her mother, who went into the barn and found Knipple with his zipper and pants undone.

Knipple said he wanted to be alone in the barn to smoke some marijuana.

Knipple is free on unsecured bond awaiting sentencing, but is required to report weekly to the Bedford County probation office for drug testing.



City resident charged in porn investigation

JOHNSTOWN – A Johnstown man is among 12 people facing charges as a result of a child pornography investigation by the state police Southwest Computer Crime Task Force.

James Lubitz, 36, was among four men arrested Thursday and arraigned before District Judge Susanne Steffee of Homer City. Unsecured bail of $20,000 was set on each defendant, police said.

A Clearfield County man, Richard Prew, 38, of DuBois, was another of those four. The other two are from Pittsburgh.

Police said arrest warrants have been issued for six other people. Charges are imminent against two others, police said.

The names of those eight haven’t been released.

The 12 were identified as suspects during its Operation Roundup. The cases are unrelated yet similar in nature, police said.

The charges were the result of undercover downloads of child pornography that were obtained through a software program in which computer users can share files, police said.



Cambria fugitive captured in Texas

EBENSBURG – The U.S. Marshals Western Pennsylvania Fugitive Task Force said that Cambria County fugitive Richard Craig Hatfield Jr. was arrested in Fredericksburg, Texas, on Monday.

Hatfield was charged in October 2000 with robbery, criminal conspiracy, theft, receiving stolen property, and simple assault.

He pleaded guilty on June 28, 2001, in Cambria County court to robbery and theft by unlawful taking.

Hatfield was sentenced to five to 10 years in jail.

In August 2008, he was granted a three-week furlough.

At the conclusion of the furlough, Hatfield did not report back to the prison. He has been a fugitive since 2008.

Hatfield is being held in Gillespie County, Texas, awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania.



Allegheny controller endorses Hafer

INDIANA – Allegheny County Controller Mark Patrick Flaherty has endorsed Barbara Hafer of Indiana for the vacant seat in the 12th Congressional District.

Flaherty has been the county’s elected controller since 2004.

“I know Barbara Hafer, and more importantly the voters of our district know her,” Flaherty said. “She has been through the process already and she has been vetted and approved by the people she seeks to represent.”

Hafer said she was “honored and pleased” by Flaherty’s endorsement and stressed that his support would be important in her race.

“Mark Patrick Flaherty is an intelligent and honest public servant,” Hafer said. “He knows good government, and his endorsement validates the years I spent as state treasurer and auditor general, fighting to make government more open and efficient.”

“Barbara is the best candidate for Congress in the

12th district,” Flaherty said. “But she also has the best chance to win what will be a hard-fought election.”



Consumer fair offering financial tips

JOHNSTOWN – As part of national consumer week activities, the state attorney general’s Bureau of Consumer Protection will host a free consumer fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at The Galleria in Richland Township.

Representatives from the bureau and the American Association of Retired Persons will be available to provide information and answer questions.

The theme, “Dollars and Sense,” is meant to encourage consumers of all ages to become savvy on financial issues and be alert for scams.

Those unable to attend can get information at www.attorneygeneral.gov.



Team tennis tourney begins tonight

EBENSBURG – The borough’s third annual team tennis tournament, a competition for adults and juniors, takes place this weekend.

First-round matches begin at 6 this evening and action continues all day Saturday at the Ebensburg Tennis Center. Admission is free for spectators.

The format follows world team tennis rules under which men and women compete together on a team.

The event combines singles, doubles and mixed doubles and draws people from throughout the region.