JUST SHORT: Top-seeded Blairsville saw its baseball season end Tuesday. Page 13
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Speakers: Don’t close Horace Mann By CHAUNCEY ROSS
chauncey@indianagazette.net
It wasn’t such a surprise, what Indiana Area school district residents had to say Tuesday at a public hearing on a school closing proposal. The mystery to some in
attendance is what area parents and taxpayers didn’t say. Similar hearings have drawn far more participation in the past, and based on the weight of the issue, a greater turnout was expected. Fewer than 20 spectators showed up for the hearing
in the Indiana Area Senior High School Auditorium and the 10 who spoke were united in opposition to the possibility that Horace Mann Elementary School could be shuttered. The hearing was a formality required by state school law, and the school board must
wait at least 90 days before making a decision. No school would be closed before the 2017-18 school year, board President Doug Steve said. The talk of closing a school, and the many reasons for and against it, has been a recurrent topic at
school board meetings for several years. The subject has been elevated in part because of the options presented by an ad hoc committee assigned this spring to explore the ways the elementary schools could be best configured. But the discussion moved
to the front burner when the Gov. Tom Wolf administration reopened the state’s school construction reimbursement program with more than $2 billion being offered for eligible projects. Since mid-April, the Indiana district has fast-tracked Continued on Page 12
Cosby to face trial in sexual assault case
A SOLDIER’S LIFE
By MARYCLAIRE DALE and MICHAEL R. SISAK
$1 million bail. A trial date was not immediately set. Associated Press Cosby, looking less frail NORRISTOWN — She than he did when he was called him “Mr. Cosby” arrested five months ago, and considered him a seemed unfazed by Distrusted friend and men- trict Judge Elizabeth McHugh’s decision. tor. “Mr. Cosby is not guilty But 20 minutes after Bill Cosby offered her three of any crime, and not one blue pills and told her to single fact presented by take them with the wine the commonwealth rebuts this truth,” he had set out, Anhis lawyers said drea Constand’s in a statement legs began to wobafterward. ble “like jelly,” her The hearing eyes went blurry was not the and her head face-to-face began to throb. confrontation Cosby helped between accuser her to a couch in and accused his living room, that some had where she later reBILL COSBY anticipated: alized he violated Constand, who her as she lay helplessly in a stupor, she is now a massage therapist in Toronto, was not in told police in 2005. On Tuesday, a judge or- the courtroom, and the dered Cosby, 78, to stand judge ruled that she did trial on sexual assault not have to testify at this charges on the strength of stage. Instead, prosecutors Constand’s decade-old police statement, sparing had portions of her 2005 the former Temple Uni- police statement read into versity employee the need the record. While authorities in reto testify at the prelimicent months have paranary hearing. Cosby could get 10 years phrased her account and in prison if convicted in quoted fragments, this the case, the only criminal was apparently the first charges brought against time that large sections of the comedian out of the her statement — or barrage of allegations that Cosby’s, for that matter — he drugged and molested were made public. Constand told police dozens of women over five decades. He is free on Continued on Page 12
TOM PEEL/Gazette
STUDENTS AT Horace Mann Elementary School set up a Civil War encampment Tuesday on the front lawn of the school in Indiana. Fifth-graders Kara Somerville, left, and Kaylee Mitchell sampled hardtack, a type of hard, dry biscuit used as rations. The event showed students what the life of a Civil War soldier was like and included a lesson by Chuck Spence, volunteer with the Indiana County Historical & Genealogical Society, on how medical issues were handled back then.
Man bilked Social Security, feds say By The Indiana Gazette
An Indiana County resident has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge of theft of government property, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced Tuesday. The one-count indictment named Carmen Donofrio, 62, of 1510 Church St., Indiana.
According to the indictment, from July 2013 through May 2015, Donofrio received approximately $16,577 in Supplemental Security Income to which he was not entitled because he had concealed a retirement account from the Social Security Administration. The law provides for a maximum total sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both. Under the Federal Sentencing
Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant. The Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, conducted the investigation leading to the indictment this case. An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed not guilty.
Anti-Trump protests turn violent outside N.M. rally
The Clarks to headline July 3 festivities
By JILL COLVIN and RUSSELL CONTRERAS Associated Press
By MARGARET WEAVER
mweaver@indianagazette.net
The Clarks will headline a concert on July 3 at Mack Park during a day of activities and family fun, according to organizers with the Star Spangled Charity Independence Day Celebration. The Pittsburgh-based band will play at the grandstand of the fairgrounds, with Chris Vipond & The Stanley Street Band as the opening act.
clarksonline.com
THE CLARKS will return to Indiana for a show on July 3. Gates to the grandstand open at 4:30 p.m., and the concert is set to begin at 5:30. Tickets are $20 and include VIP parking inside the facility.
Fireworks will end the evening after the concert. The Clarks are a local favorite and got their start in the fall of 1986 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Continued on Page 12
Index Classifieds ...............22, 23 Comics/TV....................19 Dear Abby .....................21
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In one of the presidential campaign year’s more grisly spectacles, protesters in New Mexico opposing Donald Trump’s candidacy threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at police officers, injuring several, and toppled trash cans and barricades. Police responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center. During the rally, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, who shouted, held up banners and resisted removal by security officers. The banners included the messages
Deaths
Entertainment ..............20 Family .............................8 Lottery.............................2 NASCAR ........................14 Sports.......................13-18 Today in History...........21 Viewpoint .......................6
59 80 Partly cloudy tonight. Showers Thursday. Page 2
Obituaries on Page 4 KASUN, Armeda (Lantelme), 93, Indiana LAWSON, Emilie Eileen, 74, Homer City PIERCE, Dorothy Morgan, 86, Winston-Salem, N.C. TAYLOR, M. “Eileene,” 93, Blairsville Late deaths PIRRONE, Fabrizio, 35, Indiana PRIBICKO, Aaron P., 34, Saltsburg
“Trump is Fascist” and “We’ve heard enough.” At one point, a female protester was physically dragged from the stands by security. Other protesters scuffled with security as they resisted removal from the convention center, which was packed with thousands of loud and cheering Trump supporters. Trump responded with his usual bluster, instructing security to remove the protesters and mocking their actions by Continued on Page 12
PAGE 7 • Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump each won primaries in Washington state Tuesday.
Inside FACING DEATH Nearly a year after the brutal shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at a Charleston, S.C., church, the U.S. Justice Department will seek the death penalty against the suspect. Page 7
ALL EVEN The Penguins beat Tampa Bay, 5-2, Tuesday to force a decisive Game 7 in the Eastern Conference hockey playoffs. Page 13
ART OF THE
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