WGRC Christian Radio

TREMONT – A 47-year-old Donaldson man was killed Saturday night in a crash on Route 209 in Schuylkill County. The crash happened just before nine p.m. in Reilly Township. Police say Kurt Rhein was killed when his vehicle hit some guardrails and then an embankment and a tree before coming to rest. He had to be cut free from the wreckage but died at the scene. Police say they are continuing their investigation into the crash.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

SAINT CLAIR -  Grief Counselors will be on hand today at the Pottsville High School as students mourn the death of a 16-year-old in a weekend crash that killed three people and injured another 16-year-old. The crash happened on Route 61 around 1:30 a.m. Saturday just north of Saint Clair. State police at Schuylkill Haven identified the driver, 19-year-old Shawn Centeleghe, of Friedensburg, and passenger 23-year-old Jason Engleman, of Pottsville, and 16-year-old Cassandra Snyder, of Pottsville, as those who died in the crash. A 16-year-old girl from New Philadelphia suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Police say none of the occupants of the car was wearing a seat belt when their car hit a guard rail, became airborne and smashed through a billboard, finally crashing into a tree ending up on its roof.
(WGRC)

MCCLURE – A Mifflinburg woman was taken to Geisinger Medical Center following a crash in Decatur Township, Mifflin County. The crash happened just after three Saturday afternoon on Route 522. Police say 64-year-old Darla Knause suffered moderate injuries when she drifted off the roadway and slide sideways into a utility pole, rolling her vehicle over. Crews had to cut the roof off her vehicle to free her.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

TREVORTON – A Trevorton man was taken to Geisinger Medical Center following a crash Saturday morning around four a.m. The crash happened on Route 3010 in Washington Township. Police say 24-year-old Jason Shearer went off the roadway and sheared off a utility pole and a tree. Police are continuing their investigation into the crash.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

SUNBURY  – A Sunbury woman was taken to Shamokin/Geisinger following a crash around four Saturday morning in Northumberland County. The crash happened on Route 4019.  Police say 41-year-old Tracy Ross was traveling to fast for the roadway condition when her vehicle slid off the roadway, hit an embankment and rolled over. Police say Ross suffered moderate injuries.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

HELFENSTEIN - Two teenagers trapped in a sedan following a rollover crash Friday on Helfenstein Road were rescued after emergency responders cut off the vehicle's roof. Five teens from the Shamokin area – one boy and four girls - were injured in the crash that was reported shortly after 3 p.m. when their car rolled on the roadway. Two teens were flown by helicopters and two others were taken to Geisinger by ambulances with what police called major injuries. The fifth victim was taken to the hospital by private vehicle. Police say that victim suffered minor injuries. Police say all five were believed to be in stable condition.
(WGRC)

SAINT CLAIR – A Wayne County man was flown to the Lehigh Valley Hospital after his rig crashed on Route 61 southbound near Saint Clair, Friday afternoon. The crash happened just after one p.m. in Blythe Township. Police say 25-year-old Richard Hefner of Lake Ariel had to be cut free from the cab of the truck and suffered major injuries. Police say the load in Hefner’s trailer shifted on a curve in the roadway and caused the rig to jack-knife and then roll over.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

DEER LAKE – Two people were taken to two hospitals following a crash near Deer Lake in Schuylkill County Saturday night. The crash happened on Route 61 just after nine p.m. Police say 80-year-old William Sherakas of New Philadelphia pulled out into the path of a vehicle driven by 56-year-old Tong Nguyen of Upper Darby.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

SUNBURY — An overheated extension cord was blamed for a fire that caused extensive damage to a couple’s home on North Third Street in Sunbury on Sunday. Frank and Linda Kingston were away from their house at 630 North Third Street when the fire began shortly after 1 p.m. Nobody was hurt in the blaze. Fire crews had the fire out in about two hours, but not before it did $130,000 in damage to the property. The Kingston’s are insured and are being helped by the American Red Cross.
(WGRC)

LOCK HAVEN - Hundreds of firemen from three counties battled a stubborn blaze at First Quality Tissue, 904 Woods Avenue in Lock Haven, for more than three hours on Sunday. The damage was contained to a small part of the paper machine that caught fire. Castanea Fire Chief John McKinney tells the Express, First Quality had a brief power outage, causing paper dust from one of the two paper machines in the complex to catch on fire. The fire then spread, causing firemen to search the area that houses the paper machine for any burning embers.
(WGRC)

MILTON – A Milton family of four is without a home after a Saturday night fire that started in the home’s garage. Fire officials say the fire in the 1300 block of Golf Course Road started in the attached garage of the home and a leaking gasoline tank on a lawn mower is suspected to have caused the fire. Fire crews from Milton and the surrounding area responded around eight p.m. There were no reported injuries. The blaze reportedly caused around $30,000 in damages. The American Red Cross is helping the family with food and clothing.
(WGRC)

BEAR GAP - A black man faking car trouble held a weapon to the chest of a 79-year-old Paxinos man Saturday evening, robbing him of his wallet and prescription pills. Police are looking for two people for questioning in the incident, Robert Smith and Melanie Guinther. Police believe the two robbed Irving Snyder, of Mountain Road, of around $2,500 in cash and over 300 Oxycontin pain killers. The two are alleged of showing up at Snyder’s home and asking to use his phone, then robbing him at knife point. Snyder was not injured.
(WGRC)

LOCK HAVEN – Police say the body of a man found at his home in Flemington Friday is believed to have died from a fall from a second story balcony. Police say 31-year-old Joshua Condo, of Woods Avenue, was found at his home Friday around Noon. Police are still investigating the death, with the results of an autopsy pending.
(WGRC)

MIDDLEBURG – Police are investigating a church break-in in Snyder County. The break-in happened sometime between eleven Friday morning and just after eight Saturday morning at the Wayside Bible Church located along Route 104 just north of Middleburg. Police say the bandits broke into the church through a side door and stole a safe containing around $60 dollars. The bandits also ransacked several other cabinets and storage units in the church and also broke a church window. Anyone with information on the break-in is asked to call state police, Selinsgrove.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

LEWISBURG - A burglary at a Union County riding club is under investigation.  State police in Milton say sometime over the past month, someone broke into two buildings at the Susquehanna Valley Riding Club along Gessner Road in Lewisburg through windows. Once inside, they took several portable radio systems as well as a PA system with a microphone. A total loss estimate was not released. Anyone with information on the break-in is asked to call state police, Milton.
(WGRC)

MILTON – A Lebanon County man has been charged with swindling about $4,000 dollars out of a Milton man in a home repair scam. Thirty-one-year-old Patrick Desantis of Annville was picked up Friday just before noon by State Police. Desantis had showed up at the victim’s home claiming to be on a crew that the 73-year-old man had contacted for property repairs. Desantis had collected the cash from the victim but not before police had a chance to investigate and arrest him. He now faces theft by deception charges.
(WGRC)

LEWISBURG — A Bloomsburg woman was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated and endangering the welfare of children after a police officer discovered her sleeping in a car parked at the Saint Mary’s Street Park in Lewisburg. Buffalo Valley Regional Police received a complaint that two people, Tracy Lapaglia and John Piccoletti, were acting like they were under the influence of drugs in a car parked near the Lewisburg Pool. Police found the pair around 7 p.m. on April 15, they were both sleeping. Police say the two came to the park with two children, but under questioning by police, said they didn’t know where the girls were.
(WGRC)

SUNBURY - A 27-year-old Sunbury woman charged with physically abusing her former boyfriend's 2-year-old son in January has decided to take her case to trial. April Baker, who previously planned to enter a guilty plea, told Northumberland County Judge William Wiest during a pre-trial conference Friday morning that she will seek a trial on felonies of endangering the welfare of children and aggravated assault and misdemeanors of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. Baker's former boyfriend, 26-year-old Jason Philhower,  of Sunbury, pleaded guilty in March to a felony of endangering the welfare of children and was immediately sentenced by Northumberland County President Judge Robert Sacavage to 6 to 23 1/2 months in the county prison. Baker is charged with holding Philhower's 2-year-old son upside down by the ankle and throwing him onto a couch, breaking his leg back in January at their apartment on Susquehanna Avenue in Sunbury.
(WGRC)

POTTSVILLE – A Marion Heights man accused of aggravated assault, kidnapping , burglary and a list of other charges is on trial today in Schuylkill County for the September 2011 incident in Girardville. Thirty-two-year-old Kyle Kent, is charged with the break-in and beating of his wife Melissa Kent. Police say he drug the woman from her home in Girardville to his vehicle and continued to assault her after arriving in the Aristes area. Kent is on trial before Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin.
(WGRC)

SUNBURY - The attorney for a former Shamokin Area Elementary School teacher accused of being drunk when he allegedly drove into a group of teens in March near Mount Carmel and fled the scene plans to challenge the seriousness of some of the injuries suffered by the victims in an attempt to have several of the offenses withdrawn. A pre-trial conference scheduled for Friday morning for 38-year-old Victor Swaboski III, of Mount Carmel, was continued by Northumberland County Judge Charles Saylor to allow Attorney Arlen Day II of Pottsville to file motions in the case that challenges some of the offenses filed against Swaboski by Mount Carmel Township police. Swaboski, who officially resigned from his teaching position May 4, was charged with multiple offenses relating to a March 28 accident on Beaverdale Highway near Mount Carmel Area Elementary School in which his Jeep allegedly hit five Mount Carmel area teens who were walking and biking near the road. Multiple witnesses said they watched as Swaboski fled the scene and drove into Mount Carmel Borough to avoid being caught. He was taken into custody by police minutes after the crash as he attempted to hide in the woods near his home.
(WGRC)

WILLIAMSPORT – Police in Williamsport say they have arrested a Philadelphia man on Friday on drug counts. Members of the Lycoming County Drug Task Force began surveillance on the EconoLodge Hotel room of 24-year-old Demetrious Washington on Friday, spotting a woman going into the room and coming out a minute later. She was pulled over and four bags of heroin were found in the car.  Police then took Washington into custody, and searched his room finding about $14,000 dollars worth of heroin, $3,000 dollars in cash and various other drug items. He was charged and is jailed in Lycoming County Prison.
(WGRC)

BURNHAM - Agents from the Child Predator Unit of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office arrested a Burnham man and charged him with two dozen felonies. Sixty-five-year-old Jack Stewart was taken before District Judge Aaron Gingrich for arraignment on Thursday and is free on bail. Police say Stewart is alleged to have engaged in lewd acts via webcam with someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl, but who was instead an agent with the Child Predator Unit.
(WGRC)

HARRISBURG - Jerry Sandusky’s case reached the state Supreme Court on Friday. Attorneys representing the former Penn State football coach asked Pennsylvania’s highest court to consider their request to delay the case. The Associated Press reports, on Friday, the Superior Court in Harrisburg turned down Sandusky’s appeal to delay the trial, which is scheduled to start with jury selection Tuesday.
(WGRC)

HARRISBURG — A Dauphin County judge has given the attorneys for former Penn State administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz more time to review documents from the prosecution and file pre-trial discovery requests. Meanwhile, a request to dismiss a failure to report abuse charge against the two men remains outstanding. Judge Todd Hoover granted a two-week delay on Friday, the same day he conducted a 30-minute closed-door meeting with attorneys in the case. Curley and Schultz are charged in Dauphin County with perjury and failure to report child abuse. The perjury charges come from testimony the two gave to the grand jury investigating Jerry Sandusky. Curley and Schultz maintain their innocence and have asked the court to throw out the failure to report charge, arguing the 10-year statute of limitations has passed.
(WGRC)

BELLEFONTE - Police and county officials say they’re prepared. Hotels are filling up. And many in the community are ready to see the trial that sparked national attention begin — and end. Barring a last-minute delay or plea bargain, the Jerry Sandusky trial will be under way Tuesday with the beginning of jury selection. Centre County and local officials said they’re ready and eager to put it behind them. County Commissioner Chris Exarchos said the big issue, logistically, for the county is not the trial itself, but handling the media that it has drawn. Bellefonte Police Chief Shawn Weaver and other local officials had planned for the influx of media, with some expected to stay for the whole trial, which could take several weeks.
(WGRC)

BELLEFONTE - Jury selection is set for today for three separate Centre County trials including cases involving rape, an aggravated assault and a vehicular homicide. Jury selection will start in the trial of 36-year-old Cenk Esenbel, of Flushing, New York. Esenbel is charged with homicide by vehicle in connection with a fatal tractor-trailer crash in October on Interstate 80. Police said Esenbel's rig rear-ended a dump truck in Marion Township, pushing the truck off the road and onto its side. The truck's driver, 24-year-old Kyle Royer, was killed. After the crash, police said they learned that Esenbel was driving with a suspended license. Jury selection will also be underway for the trial for a Huntingdon County woman accused of crashing her car in College Township last July after allegedly huffing from an aerosol can. Thirty-nine-year-old Julie Dick-Carson is facing felony counts of aggravated assault while driving under the influence and child endangerment. Police say her car with her one-year-old boy in the back was airborne for about 90 feet before slamming into a group of trees along Spring Creek. And jury selection will also begin on June 4 for former Penn State University wrestler Andrew Long, who is facing attempted rape charges for an incident with the mother of a friend last August.
(WGRC)

JERSEY SHORE – Friday was the deadline for residents of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park near Jersey Shore to vacate the park as Aqua PVR looks to set up a water withdrawal site for the natural gas industry. But for some residents, the have refused to leave and have gone from residents to trespassers. A handful of residents continue to live at the park and say they “can't leave. They can't afford it." The remaining residents say the $2,500 the company offered residents as an incentive to move doesn't come close to covering the cost of moving. Friday morning, supporters of residents, many of them anti-gas industry activists, converged on the park. About 50 people were at the park, manning barricades blocking the two roads entering the park or holding signs along nearby Route 220. Those at the barricades said they will block any construction crews who attempt to enter the park. Meanwhile company officials hope residents will leave on their own and not have to take legal action.
(WGRC)

DANVILLE — Money raised across 32 counties, netted Geisinger $2.2 million from its Children’s Miracle Network Telethon. The telethon, which took place from 9 p.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday, is the end of an entire year’s worth of fundraising from employee and community groups. The total raised last year was $2.1 million. Each of the 32 participating counties has a Geisinger pediatric clinic located in it.
(WGRC)

BLOOMSBURG - The Geisinger Orthopedic Institute will host speed and agility camps for student athletes from June 18 through July 20, 2012. The camps will provide a safe yet demanding environment in which athletes, ages 8 through 18 can enhance their speed, agility, mobility and strength. Week-long sessions for football, field hockey, soccer and basketball will be held at Bloomsburg High School’s practice football field at 1200 Railroad Street. The cost for the camps is $50 per athlete. For more information or to register, visit geisingersportsmed.com.
(WGRC)

HERSHEY - Two Pennsylvania State Police troopers, who risked their lives in separate incidents, were honored Friday with the State Police Medal of Honor, one trooper is from the Montoursville,barracks in Lycoming County. Corporal Brad Eisenhower, of Montoursville, received the honor during an awards ceremony at the State Police Academy in Hershey. Eisenhower received the award for helping a young mother and her two children who were stranded on the roof of their home by rising floodwaters of Tropical Storm Lee in September. The home was about 200 feet out in the water. All the surrounding homes and structures had already been washed away and flooding conditions prevented the use of a conventional rescue boat. While awaiting a hovercraft, Eisenhower tied a rope around himself as another trooper held onto the other end. The swift-moving water was impossible to navigate, and Eisenhower was swept into the water but was pulled to safety. The hovercraft arrived and Eisenhower joined the crew, helping to get the woman and her children to safety.
(WGRC)

HARRISBURG - State Representative Mike Fleck will hold a news conference on legislation he sponsored to ensure accountability of charter and cyber schools in Pennsylvania. There are currently more than 50,000 students enrolled in charter and cyber schools, but according to Fleck, regulation and guidance of these schools have gone largely unaddressed. The news conference is scheduled today in the Main Rotunda at the state Capitol.
(WGRC)