— Key Club to hand out books at parade

Greater Johnstown High School students will entertain the crowd in more ways than one during the Halloween parade tonight in Johns-

town.

In addition to the marching band and cheerleaders performing, the school’s Key Club and other students will distribute Disney books to elementary-aged children in the crowd, said high school Principal Michael Vuckovich.

Pupils from the district’s two elementary schools will help Key Club members with the books.

The books were acquired through a grant from Target and Walmart stores and First Book, a nonprofit organization that helps children to read.

Vuckovich said the district is excited about being part of a program that helps to improve reading skills in children.

Career fair slated at Andrews center

The Commonwealth Technical Institute at the Hiram G. Andrews Center will host its ninth annual Career and Transition Fair in honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month today and Friday.

Today’s session will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Friday’s session will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Prospective students and parents, transition specialists and special education teachers are invited to attend.

Visitors will tour the facility and learn about state-of-the-art technology and equipment that Commonwealth Technical Institute students use for training.

Exhibits by the institute’s training programs and support services will be presented, and staff and students will be available to answer questions.

Commonwealth Technical Institute is part of the state Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and provides a comprehensive program of services that features the integration

of education, counseling,

evaluation and physical restoration in a barrier-free environment.

Students charged with selling drugs in dorm

ALTOONA – Two students at Penn State’s Altoona campus have been charged with selling marijuana from their dormitory room and around the campus.

Two other students may be charged as a result of the investigation.

Dylan McKenzie Davis, 19, of Ellicott City, Md., and Nigel Alexander Fender, 18, of Frederick, Md., were charged with delivery of the drug and other offenses by the state’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation.

The bureau, along with the Altoona, Logan Township and campus police departments, executed a search warrant of the dormitory room Monday.

Authorities said they seized five ounces of marijuana,

$925 cash, and drug paraphernalia.

While at the apartment, authorities said they arrested two students with New York addresses who bought marijuana from Davis.

Those charges are pending.

Damage could reach millions in plant fire

INDIANA – A state police fire marshal is searching for the cause of a massive fire that likely caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage to an Indiana County printing plant.

The fire at Creps United Publications just outside Indiana was reported about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and burned for much of the day.

Smoke from the fire was visible for miles.

Though ink used at the plant is soy-based and not flammable, barrels of flammable solvents and lubricants used on printing presses fueled the fire, along with large volumes of paper.

About 50 employees got out safely.

The company spent $9.5 mil­lion on a new press in 2001.

Managing partner Jacob Creps said Wednesday he didn’t know whether any equipment can be salvaged.

The company prints bulk inserts and brochures for newspapers.

Teacher suffers burns in science class

DERRY – Students were evacuated from a Westmoreland County high school after a science teacher was hurt by a chemical reaction during a class.

Officials with Derry Area School District said the incident happened late Wednesday morning in a chemistry lab at the school.

The teacher was taken by ambulance to a hospital for treatment of burns to his face and neck.

The school hasn’t released details of his condition, but the man’s father told local reporters that his son is “doing well.”

One student also suffered minor burns but was released to his parents.

Another was injured when she fell while leaving the scene.

Authorities said they’re still investigating what went wrong with the experiment.

UPS driver crashes after deer leaps in

GREENSBURG – State police said a United Parcel Service driver was hurt Wednesday morning when a deer jumped through his windshield and thrashed about in the cab of his truck, causing it to crash.

Trooper Steven Limani, the spokesman for the Greensburg barracks near where the crash occurred, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the incident happened near an on-ramp to Route 30.

Limani said the driver, 29-year-old Justin Kubecki, was disoriented but didn’t appear to be badly hurt.

He was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital as a precaution, police said.

The crash caused the truck to cross from the eastbound lanes of the highway into the westbound lanes before the truck tipped onto its side, Limani said.

The accident occurred about 6:30 a.m.

No other vehicles were struck and nobody else was hurt.

Man accused of causing stepson’s cycle crash

MARKLEYSBURG – A Fayette County man has been charged with trying to kill his stepson by running his motorcycle off a road with a pickup while the suspect was living with the victim’s estranged wife.

A defense attorney for Timothy Rockwell, 47, of Markleysburg, did not immediately return a call for comment on the charges.

A preliminary hearing for Rockwell is set for Nov. 28.

Police said Alan Rockwell, 37, told them the suspect was his uncle before also becoming his stepfather by marrying the younger man’s mother.

Both men were estranged from their wives when Timothy Rockwell allegedly drove his pickup into the path of Alan Rockwell’s motorcycle, causing it to crash April 3, police said.

Defense attorney Jeremy Davis said Timothy Rockwell didn’t know who was riding the motorcycle and denies trying to kill his stepson, saying, “It was an accident, if anything.

 

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