vol. 134 - no. 60 police search for falls creek...
TRANSCRIPT
Vol. 134 - No. 60
Partly sunny. Not as cool with highs in the upper 40s. Full report, A2
14 pagesClassified ......................... B4Comics ............................. A5Lifestyles ......................... A4Lottery ............................. A7Opinion ........................... A6Public Notices ............... B4Sports ............................... B1
75 Cents
• William P. Boyer, 96• James “Mike” Carns, 65• Harold Hand Jr., 68• Suzanne Nagle• Richard G. Seyler, 80
Police say charges against a 16-year-old boy who told police he acci-dentally shot his friend while “playing army” will be upgraded now that the victim has died. A7
Pirates winPitcher Wandy Rodri-
guez contributed a two-run homer and RBI single as the Pittsburgh Pirates got 29 hits Tuesday and routed the Toronto Blue Jays 22-5. B1
Search continuesThe desperate, multina-
tional hunt for Flight 370 resumed today across a re-mote stretch of the Indian Ocean after fierce winds and high waves that had forced a daylong halt eased considerably. B5
Teen charged
Online n This week’s online
poll question asks whether Pennsylvania should le-galize same-sex marriage. The poll is on our website at www.thecourierex-prerss.com
Tomorrow’s Forecast
Index
ObituariesA7
MORE INSIDE
Page B1
PRO SHOP & GOLF COURSEOpen For The Season!
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014
DuBOIS — A Falls Creek man eluded police twice Monday and Tuesday, evaded capture and re-mains at large.
DuBois-based state police say Dustin L. Douthit, 28, fled from a traffic stop in Reynoldsville Bor-ough around 9:20 p.m. Monday.
Borough police notified the state police, who determined that Dou-thit’s driver’s license is suspended.
They searched for him but were un-able to locate him.
Douthit was driving a blue 2005 Chevrolet Colorado extended cab pickup that has damage on its pas-senger’s side.
Around 8:40 a.m. Tuesday, Dou-thit’s vehicle was seen traveling north on Route 219 in Sandy Town-ship, Clearfield County.
Police initiated a traffic stop near
the Falls Creek Sheetz convenience store at the intersection with Route 830 but Douthit fled.
A chase began that went west on Route 830 into Falls Creek Borough. Police say Douthit fled at a very high rate of speed and committed several traffic violations as the chase con-tinued into Winslow and Washing-ton townships in Jefferson County.
Douthit entered private property
from Smithtown Road and traveled into a heavily wooded area. His pickup became disabled due to the terrain and he fled on foot.
A state police helicopter was brought in to assist in the search but police were unable to locate Douthit, who remained at large at presstime today.
The vehicle was removed from the scene.
Police search for Falls Creek man
A month after fire destroyed DuBois Country Club on Lakeside Avenue, plans are moving forward to clean up the site and begin the rebuilding process. The building that houses the pro shop was saved from the blaze, which began in the kitchen area of the main building. The fire, which caused damage estimated at $2.5 million, was ruled accidental. The club’s owners say they plan to rebuild. (Photo by Nick Hoffman)
By Katie Weidenboerner
ST MARYS — A man and a woman were arrested and jailed in separate incidents for allegedly possessing bath salts and being too impaired to respond to police.
Jacob Daniel Dilley, 20, 130 Poplar Road, St. Marys, is charged by St. Marys City police with possession of a controlled substance, pub-lic drunkenness and eight counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
On March 18, police and an undercover agent from the Attorney General’s of-fice saw Dilley having diffi-culty standing at the corner of Mark Street and Dippold Avenue.
According to the affida-vit of probable cause, “It was immediately apparent to both officers Dilley was highly impaired,” as he was not able to tell them the day or month or speak in complete sentences. While in the officers presence, he was also talking to rocks and burning his hand as he smoked a cigarette.
Dilley admitted to us-ing bath salts and was so impaired officers called an EMS unit.
In the backpack he was wearing, officers found a powdered substance that field-tested positive as bath salts, glass smoking pipes, baggies with white residue, digital scales and other drug paraphernalia.
Charges were filed March 18 with District Judge Mark Jacob in St. Marys. Bail was set at $30,000, cash, and Dilley was sent to the Elk County jail. He waived a preliminary hearing Tues-day and his case will be sent to the county Court of Com-mon Pleas for further dispo-sition.
At 11:26 a.m. March 20, a search warrant served by city police on behalf of the AG’s Office at the residence of Ashley Tara Bonfardine, 30, at 42 Dippold Ave..
According to police, Bon-fardine was found sitting on the couch with a hypodermic needle in her arm. Despite commands from officers, she continued to attempt to in-ject an unknown substance into her arm.
Documents say Bonfar-dine was highly impaired and required medical atten-tion.
During the search, offi-
St. Marysresidentsarrestedon drugcharges
By Kimberly Finnigan
CLEARFIELD — The May 20 primary will have voters in three Clearfield County precincts casting their ballots at new loca-tions.
At their meeting Tues-day, the commissioners ap-proved relocating the polling locations.
Last week, Director of Elections Dawn Graham an-nounced the relocations.
The 5th Ward polling lo-cation in the City of DuBois, presently located at the St. Joseph’s Church Hall on South Avenue, will be relo-cated to the Goodwill Fire Co. on State Street.
The Plymptonville poll-ing location in Lawrence
Township, presently located at the Florian Banquet Hall, will be moved to the Expo I building in the Clearfield County Fairgrounds.
Morris Township’s Sec-ond Precinct polling loca-tion, presently located at St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church on Fulton Street, will be relocated to the Mor-ris Township municipal building on Oak Grove Road in Morrisdale.
Graham said the election office received no objections, comments or concerns.
Also at the meeting, the commissioners heard from Robin Kuleck of the Penn State Cooperative Exten-sion. Kuleck said she is in charge of the Strong Woman Program, which provides strength training for mid-
dle-aged and elderly women. She said the program, which lasts about 12 weeks, helps to prevent osteoporosis and had 210 participants be-tween the ages of 40-91.
Kuleck said she is also involved with the expanded food and nutrition project, which helps lower income families with children learn about proper nutrition and also the dining with diabetes program, which monitors di-abetic patients over a period of three months and checks how their sugar levels are maintained long-term.
Kuleck said the programs are available in Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson and McKean counties and part of Cam-eron County. She said more information can be found at http://extension.psu.edu or
by calling 765-7878.In other business, the
commissioners approved • Proclaiming April as
“Child Abuse Prevention Month.”
• The Victims of Juve-nile Offenders Grant in the amount of $9,327.
• Advertising for bids for a re-roofing project at the 911 Center.
• Aerial spraying opera-tions with Helicopter Appli-cators Inc., for gypsy moth spraying.
• A memorandum of un-derstanding with the federal prison at Loretto.
• An engagement let-ter with Johnston, Nelson, Shimmel and Thomas for triennial financial state-ments of the County 911 fund for 2010-13.
Voting locations change in three Clearfield County precincts
By Kimberly Finnigan
CLEARFIELD — With the last vestiges of winter continuing to hang around, the Clearfield Area School District is adjusting the school calen-dar to account for days missed due to winter weather.
The school board approved changes to the school calendar Monday.
The last student day and gradua-tion will be June 10. Students will still have a one-hour early dismissal April 17 for Easter vacation. They will also have Monday, May 26, off for Memorial Day.
The board also approved the calen-dar for the next year. The first day of school will be Aug. 26. Students will be out of school Sept. 1, Oct. 13, Nov. 27
and Dec. 2 for Act 80 teacher in-service days; Nov. 27-Dec. 2 for Thanksgiving/deer season; Dec. 22-Jan. 2 for Christ-mas; Jan. 19, Marin Luther King Jr. Day; Feb. 13, 16, winter break; April 2-7 Easter vacation and May 25, Me-morial Day.
The last student day and graduation will be June 5 and a teacher’s in-ser-vice day will be held June 8.
In other business, the board ap-proved
• The retirement of teachers Alan Murphy, Dan Kennedy, Bonnie Boyce, Cindy Collins, Forrest Campman, Dana Greiner, Mary Hindman, Paul Jeffries, Vickie Morgan, Sarah Laux, Kathryn Cillo, Donna Moore, Nan-nette Rougeux, Brenda Bowes, Beth Helsel, Melody Read, Joy Lhota, Vir-
ginia Spencer, Patti Pagnotto, Rebec-ca Short, Dennis Zelenky, Margaret Hand, Mike Gill, Karen Beish, Debo-rah Graham, Joan Irwin, Connie Hep-fer, Sally Ireland, Sharon Fye, Debora Crowley, Sharon Stiles and Robin Lu-madue.
• The retirements of support staff members, Cathy Sones, Sue Rumfola Pat Partash, Lynne Peacock, Carol Eamigh, Debbie Rickard, Mary Curry, Judy Merritts, Rose Leavy, Dealyn Taylor, Kathy Luzier, Neva Shirey, Raymond Rougeux, and Barbara Chnupa.
• Hiring Scott Wink, school bus driver, Sarah Cima, substitute teach-er, Loretta Fontenoy, substitute caf-eteria worker, clerical and classroom assistant and Wanda Smith, substitute summer cleaner and custodian.
Clearfield Area School District adjusts school calendar to end school June 10
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