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Thursday, June 27, 2002

DORMONT: Salesman accused of rape

A door-to-door salesman hawking cleaning supplies in the South Hills was arrested yesterday and accused of raping a 14-year-old girl earlier this month.

Allegheny County Police superintendent Ken Fulton said that Deon Bowens, 23, of Richmond, Va., was selling cleaning supplies for Austin Diversified Products on June 18 on New Haven Avenue when he came to a home where a 14-year-old girl was babysitting.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Bowens came to the house to demonstrate a product he was selling. The girl told him to come back another time because she was babysitting and the homeowners were away. Bowens persisted, asking the girl for a glass of water. When the girl went to get Bowens a glass of water and tend to a crying baby, Bowens entered the home, picked up the girl from behind and carried her to a couch where he raped her, the affidavit said.

Detectives Thomas Ianachione and Joseph Cawley arrested Bowens yesterday. Bowens told police that the encounter was consensual.

Fulton said that Bowens will face charges of rape, sexual assault, statutory sexual assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors. A preliminary hearing date has not yet been set. Bowens is being held in the Allegheny County Jail.

MCKEESPORT SCHOOLS: Board cuts taxes

The school board voted 8-1 last night to adopt a budget for the coming year that will cut the district's real estate tax by almost a half-mill.

Under the spending plan, the real estate tax rate will decrease from 18.48 mills to 18.14 mills to meet a cap on windfall profits resulting from the 2001 county reassessment. The district will use about $1.4 million in surplus funds to balance the $45,486,091 budget, which is 2.43 percent greater than this year's.

CANONSBURG: Driver charged in fatality

State police yesterday arrested a Canonsburg man in connection with two accidents Monday that left one man dead and another person injured.

Gregory J. Martin, 52, of Paxton Road was charged with vehicular homicide, drunken driving and other charges in the death of William R. Beck, 55, of Amity.

He also is accused of causing a second accident a short time later that left Marci Kirchner, 37, of Cecil, injured.

State police said Martin was going south on Interstate 79 when he swerved into the passing lane and struck Beck's vehicle, causing it to flip on the Canonsburg exit ramp.

Martin drove onto the same exit ramp and then struck Kirchner's vehicle, causing it to overturn.

FAYETTE COUNTY: Gas leak closes road

State police closed Route 40 in Fayette County for more than an hour yesterday after chlorine gas began leaking from a Pennsylvania American Water Co. plant in Menallen.

Water company officials discovered the gas was leaking from a hose inside the plant at 10:30 a.m., county emergency officials said. No nearby homes were evacuated, but troopers closed Route 40 between Searights Crossroads and the Route 40 Diner. Motorists were detoured to other local roads.

Members of the county's hazardous-materials team shut off the leaking hose and the road was reopened about an hour later.

BRENTWOOD: 2 workers go home

Two construction workers who suffered electrical shock when a tower scaffold came in contact with a high-voltage power line at a Brentwood construction site Tuesday morning were released from Mercy Hospital yesterday.

Joseph Scott Taylor, 34, of Charleroi, suffered burns and electrical shock in the 10:42 a.m. accident at the construction site of Brentwood Towne Square in Brentwood. Christopher Guty, 22, of Uniontown, suffered electrical shock, said hospital spokeswoman Linda Ross.

Dale Haslett, 29, of South Park, the crane operator who was moving the scaffold, remains in critical condition at Mercy's burn unit. He was burned over 60 percent of his body.

FAYETTE COUNTY: Fire hall, truck damaged

A suspicious fire extensively damaged the social hall of a Fayette County fire company yesterday and destroyed at least one of two old fire trucks that had been parked inside.

Isabella Fire Chief Steve Dugan, who lives near the fire company's social hall on First Street in Luzerne, spotted smoke coming from the eaves of the building at 9 a.m. yesterday. He notified 911, prompting six fire companies to respond.

Dugan said the shell of the building was not destroyed and may be rebuilt. But he said damage was heavy.

The cause of the blaze has not been determined, but firefighters said it was suspicious. A state police fire marshal is investigating.