A-1 SATURDAY ONLY herald 091228jz YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN BLACK 0% 5% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 95% 100% Next page > Friday February 26, 2010 2 sections 28 pages Sharon, Pennsylvania Good morning, www.sharonherald.com Teagan Volume 146, Number 317 Weinel S ERVING THE S HENANGO V ALLEY AND M ERCER C OUNTY A REA FOR 145 YEARS 50 cents tablishe Es d I864 MASURY Lift ev’ry voice ... INSIDE Driver ˛ BUSINESS: A New Castle-based credit union has lost $3.4 million and must talk its overseers have no idea where the money about went. page A-6 fatality ˛ SPORTS: D-10 wrestling tourney opens tonight at Sharon High School visits and resumes Saturday. part of sentence page B-1 By Patrick Cooley ˛ OPINION: Sen. Scott Herald Staff Writer Brown’s vote to override A judge told Joshua a GOP filibuster shows Thompson on Thursday that he’ll vote his conscience, he will have to visit every high even if it bucks his party. school in the area to talk page A-4 about the consequences of driving too fast as part of his ˛ NEWS: President sentence for crashing his car Barack Obama and Re- on an icy road and causing publican leaders fight for the death of Alessa “Le Le” N. their competing visions of Norris, 16, of Brookfield on health care reform. Jan. 19, 2009. page A-3 Judge Ray Rice, Trumbull County East- ern District Tom Davidson/Herald ˛ RELIGION: Americans say Starbucks, Chili’s and Court, or- Children sing "Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing," also known as the Black National Anthem, at a program celebrating Black His- dered Thomp- tory Month at the Robert E. Chavers Center in Farrell. The kids heard a message Thursday from Roland Barksdale-Hall that bars are better places son, 19, of encouraged them to be dreamers, believers and achievers. than church to meet new 8196 Erie St., friends, according to a Masury, to FARRELL new survey. write a letter page A-8 of apology to Alessa Alessa’s family ˛ ALSO INSIDE: TV & En- and to finish Dream, tertainment magazine high school. Thompson was also fined $1,000 with $250 suspended, given 180 days in the Trumbull County Jail with 150 days suspended, had his believe, WORTH NOTING Ohio driver’s license confiscat- ed for 10 years and placed on probation for 5 years. Text-A-Tip Last month, he pleaded no Mercer County Crime contest to a misdemeanor ve- achieve Solvers and the Mercer Coun- hicular manslaughter charge. ty Chiefs of Police Association A presentencing investiga- Buhl Club on Sharpsville Av- have created Text-A-Tip for tion found at least two prior Speakers celebrate enue and then learning that speeding tickets on Thomp- people to anonymously text black heritage she, like other African-Ameri- message tips on police investi- son’s record, Rice said, adding cans, wasn’t welcome there. that there might have been gations. Text Tip477 and the By Tom Davidson Mrs. McKeithan spoke another one. Herald Staff Writer message to CRIMES — Alessa’s family had mixed from a podium in a corner of 274637. the gym at the Robert E. feelings about Thompson’s Farrell Mayor Olive McKei- sentence. than has personal memories Chavers Center on Federal “He should have gone to of America’s racist past. Born Street in Farrell, the former jail longer,” said Alyssa Norris, in Birmingham, Ala., when “black Buhl Club.” Alessa’s sister. She and her Jim Crow laws were still in Whites were welcome at a DEATHS mother, Denise Davidson, force, Mrs. McKeithan re- Black History Month celebra- wore t-shirts with Alessa’s pic- members riding on the bus tion held Thursday and a few Toby Jackson, 90, of 931 ture on it to court. with her mother from the attended. Although racial is- Julia Blvd., Farrell. Alyssa said she didn’t think Shenango Valley to Alabama sues remain, strides including Joseph P. Monda, 78, of Thompson had expressed re- for holidays and having to give the election of President 1330 Kimberly Road, Her- morse after her sister’s death. up her seat when a white per- Barack Obama, have many mitage, formerly of Hall Av- She tearfully told Rice that son needed one. talking of a “post-racial Ameri- enue, Sharon. she wanted a letter from She also remembers going ca.” Tom Davidson/Herald Thompson saying how sorry to school in Sharon and hear- While that day has yet to Quentin Malloy performs a mime routine during a Black he was, and that she wanted ing about the good things hap- come — Mrs. McKeithan ac- History Month program. Malloy was one of several perform- See FATALITY, page A-3 pening at the former Girls See DREAM, page A-3 ers at the event Thursday. INDEX Annie’s mailbox ..............A-10 MERCER COUNTY SHARON Business ..........................A-6 Classified..........................B-6 Cops: 1 hurt as fracas Comics ..........................A-11 Deadline looms to get Community......................A-10 Corrections........................A-2 draws crowd, gunfire Crossword ........................B-8 Dr. Gott ............................A-7 break on property tax By Courtney L. Anderson n’t fire it, he said. Horoscopes ....................A-11 Herald Staff Writer At least some of the people Jumble..............................B-8 By Matt Snyder dence and have their annual How much of a tax break involved made their way to Lotteries............................A-2 Herald Staff Writer property taxes reduced by a homeowners get depends on Police are investigating a Quinby where the crowd Obituaries ........................A-5 slice of the state’s gambling what slice of the pie their fracas Wednesday night in swelled to more than 20 peo- Opinion ............................A-4 Are you one of the hun- revenues. But a report from school district receives, and Sharon involving gunfire, ple, Menster said. Police, fire ........................A-2 dreds of thousands of Pennsyl- the office of state Auditor Gen- how many people have filed more than 20 people and an The problem involved peo- Public notices ..................B-8 vanians who hasn’t registered eral Jack Wagner says hun- their application. attempt to barricade a car that ple in the street and in a car, Sudoku ..........................B-10 left one person injured. he said. As the driver of the your home as a homestead or dreds of thousands of resi- If you have filed once for Sports ..............................B-1 Police Chief Mike Menster car tried to leave, members of farmstead exemption so you dents are missing out. the homestead or farmstead Theaters ........................A-10 exemption in Mercer County, said shots were fired shortly the crowd started piling can get the rebate on your lo- Statewide, the tax break av- TV grid ..............................B-9 and your home hasn’t after 6 p.m. in the 300 block of garbage toters in front of the Weather ............................A-2 cal property taxes? erages about $189, Wagner’s changed hands, you should Quinby Street, but no one was car to block it in, Menster If you are, get it in the mail. report said. In Mercer County, still receive the tax break. De- hit. said. It has to be postmarked by it ranges from $96 to $225, Forest said a school district or The incident started in the The car smashed through Monday, said the county’s DeForest said. county can occasionally hit the 300 block of Mesabi Street as the makeshift barricade and a Revenue Department chief Those amounts are deduct- “reset” button and require a confrontation among a few trash toter hit Nehemiah Michael DeForest. ed directly from your tax bill, everyone to register again, but people, Menster said. There Evans, 38, of Hermitage, with Pennsylvania homeowners so don’t expect to see a check was a physical fight and some- enough force that it caused a can register their primary resi- in the mail. See TAX, page A-2 one brandished a gun but did- See FRACAS, page A-2 CLOUDY: 32/22 Autumn McDonough Artman Elementary a-2 fill-in 7d herald 091228jz YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN BLACK 0% 5% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 95% 100% Next page > Sharon, Pa. February 26, 2010 Friday A-2 AccuWeather® 5-Day Forecast for Sharon SHARON WEST MIDDLESEX AREA TODAY TONIGHT SATURDAY Man gets up to 10 years No leads for sexual abuse of boy yet on By Matt Snyder eled criticisms at the victim’s told Sloan that while he may school fire, Cloudy, windy and Winds subsiding with Mostly cloudy with Herald Staff Writer mother. Common Pleas Judge have done good in his life, his cold with snow at snow showers snow showers Thomas R. Dobson would crimes had erased that. times A 13-year-old boy testified have none of that, and told her According to police, Sloan police say 32 22 35 25 before the court Thursday that they were in court because of began abusing the boy when Jon A. Sloan, the man being her son, not the boy’s mother. By Tom Davidson he was 9 years old. He mo- Herald Staff Writer SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY sentenced for sexually abusing In spite of Dobson’s warn- lested the boy at least 10 him, should not be given the ing, Sloan’s mother continued times since September 2005, Authorities are searching chance to molest anyone else. in trying to portray her son as until December 2008, when for leads to find out who start- “I don’t ever want to see a victim of women “who know Mercer County Children and ed a fire in a storage area of how to work him.” him again,” the boy said, read- Youth Services notified police, Luther Low Elementary ing from a prepared state- “Your son sexually abused court documents said.