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TOP TEN OF 2006: Politics, murder among year's biggest stories

By Walt Frank, wfrank@altoonamirror.com

The primary election defeat of a longtime state senator and the conviction of an illegal alien for three murders outside an Altoona club were selected as the top local stories of 2006. The Top 10 stories were voted on by the Mirror editorial staff. The following is a look at those stories:

1. Eichelberger defeats Jubelirer

Blair County Commissioner John H. Eichelberger Jr. defeated incumbent Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer, R-Blair, in the May 16 primary election.

The loss of Jubelirer, who served as state senator from the 30th District for 32 years, was called a “traumatic shock wave, the likes we haven’t seen in decades” and a “stunning upset” by political analysts.

Jubelirer and Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill lost their primary races. The last time a state Senate leader lost was in 1964.

One analyst said a middle-of-the-night passage of a big pay raise for lawmakers and judges, orchestrated with Jubelirer’s help in 2005, and nine months of media stories about legislative perks played a key role in those defeats.

Jubelirer, who lost a three-way race by 8 percentage points — Huntingdon County businessman C. Arnold McClure was the third candidate — acknowledged that the pay raise played a role in his defeat.

Eichelberger went on to defeat Democrat Greg Morris, an Altoona businessman, in the Nov. 7 general election.

Jubelirer said farewell to his Senate colleagues Nov. 21 and broke down when he read a note from one of his four grandchildren. He finished his farewell in tears.

2. Padilla conviction

In September, a Cumberland County jury found Miguel Padilla, 27, a Mexican national and illegal alien, guilty on three counts of first-degree murder and recommended the death penalty for the Aug. 28, 2005, shooting deaths of three people at the United Veterans Association on Union Avenue.

Those killed were Alfred Mignogna, UVA Club owner, Fredrick Rickabaugh, a doorman, and Stephen Heiss, a patron.

In November, Padilla surprised Blair County Judge Hiram Carpenter and his attorneys with a petition that will delay his expected death sentence and could result in a new sentencing hearing.

The petition, prepared with the assistance of the Mexican government, requests withdrawal of his no-contest plea to a gun charge stemming from the killings.

In the petition, Padilla claimed that Public Defender Donald E. Speice, his trial attorney, and Ed Blanarik, who represented him during the death penalty phase, convinced him against his will to plead no contest to the gun offense.

The gun charge in question was severed from the trial because Carpenter didn’t want jurors to know that Padilla is an illegal alien.

On Dec. 26, Speice and Blanarik said they wanted to quit the case and that their representation of Padilla is a conflict of interest in view of Padilla’s most recent complaints.

If they withdraw from the case, Carpenter must appoint a lawyer and decide if Padilla can withdraw his plea to the gun charge.

While the conviction on the murder charges stands, failure to get a conviction on possession of a weapon by an illegal alien could jeopardize the jury’s death sentence.

In the meantime, Heiss’ mother, Sandra Miller of Altoona, filed an injury notice on behalf of her son for $121 million.

A federal tort claim was filed on behalf of Miller and her son’s estate.

The civil lawsuit notice, filed by attorney Arthur Cohen of Hollidaysburg, blames the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for allowing Padilla to remain in the United States.

3. Logan Town Centre opens

The long-awaited Logan Town Centre shopping plaza — the largest free-standing shopping center between Pittsburgh and King of Prussia — opened in 2006.

When the project was announced in January 2000, the site at the 17th Street interchange of Interstate 99 was covered with brush, trees and a pad where cement was mixed for Interstate 99 construction.

Reading-based Boscov’s Department Store became the first retailer to open Aug. 4 and was followed by stores including Best Buy, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Barnes and Noble.

When completed by late 2007, Logan Town Centre will feature about 50 stores, including several restaurants, said local developer Greg Morris, who along with his wife, Shannon, are general partners of MM Altoona Associates Limited Partnership, which owns the complex.

Morris organized the Logan Township 17th Street Limited Partnership, which initiated the project.

In 2005, his group sold the project to Echo Developers of Pittsburgh, which formed Echo Altoona Associates to finish and operate the complex.

Echo no longer is involved with Logan Town Centre.

4. Tyrone Hospital files for bankruptcy

Tyrone Hospital and its subsidiary, Tyrone Medical Associates, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sept. 29, claiming up to $1 million in debts.

According to petitions filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, each claimed to have assets of less than $50,000 and debts from $500,000 to $1 million.

The hospital has remained open, and patients continue to have full access to all services the hospital provides.

The declaration followed financial strains placed on the hospital during the year.

In February, a Blair County jury handed down a $4 million medical malpractice verdict against the hospital.

In June, two former employees alleged in a federal lawsuit that Tyrone Hospital submitted fraudulent billings to government agencies and paid kickbacks to doctors to refer patients to the facility.

In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Johnstown, former Chief Executive Officer Thomas Bartlett and former Human Resources Director Kimberly Gummo claimed their employment was terminated after blowing the whistle on the hospital and others.

Also in June, the hospital announced it was closing its obstetrics unit and ending its administration contract with Quorum Health Resources in an attempt to save money.

5. City Council adopts illegal aliens ordinance

Altoona City Council adopted an ordinance Sept. 27 designed to make it difficult for illegal aliens to stay in the city.

The ordinance, introduced in August and based on legislation adopted by Hazleton, called for license suspensions and fines for businesses that hire and landlords who rent to illegal aliens.

Mayor Wayne Hippo had said the council should pass an ordinance in response to the Aug. 28, 2005, murders of three people by illegal alien Miguel Padilla outside the United Veterans Association on Union Avenue and as a preventive for the problems illegals may begin to cause.

Enforcement of the ordinance, which began Oct. 8, was contested by many, including the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

In a a letter on the diocese Web site, Bishop Joseph V. Adamec warned that the church would not cooperate with a provision of the ordinance.

The provision limits agencies providing emergency aid for illegals to a period not to exceed 30 days.

Adamec opposed the ordinance overall because it has the potential “of putting families out on the street,” he said in the letter.

6. Fortson pleads guilty to two murders

In December, Mount Union native Nathan Fortson entered guilty pleas to two murders.

Fortson entered a guilty plea Dec. 20 in Cambria County Court for the murder of Velda Malloy. On Dec. 21, he entered a guilty plea in Huntingdon County Court for the murder of Dale Zunich.

As a result of the plea agreements, the 27-year-old Fortson will spend the rest of his life in prison without chance for parole.

Before Fortson killed Malloy, 74, of Munster Township — who was reported missing May 25 — he kidnapped her and drove around with her tied up in the trunk of her car as he tried to use her ATM card to get cash, even stopping to pick up a friend for a trip to a beer distributor.

Malloy’s body was recovered May 30 from the edge of a pond in Munster Township. She died as a result of a neck fracture. A box-cutter was found with her body, along with a stolen Ruger .44 magnum.

Zunich, 38, of Altoona, who was a friend of Fortson’s family, was killed May 28 because Fortson wanted his truck to go look for a girlfriend.

The abandoned truck was discovered by a Shirley Township property owner May 29.

State police troopers found Zunich’s body nearby, buried beneath a thin layer of dirt and leaves. Fortson bound and strangled Zunich with a rope and then cut his throat.

7. Accused dognapper arrested

The founder of Tipton-based Dogs Deserve Better was ordered to stand trial in Blair County Court in connection with the Sept. 11 theft of a dog from a Freedom Township home.

Theft and receiving stolen property charges against Tammy Sneath Grimes, 42, of Tyrone RR 5 were moved to court after an hourlong hearing before Magisterial District Judge Craig E. Ormsby.

Grimes pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The incident occurred after Kim Eicher, a Freedom Township woman, thought that Jake, a 19-year-old German shepherd/ lab mix, had died after she saw her neighbor’s dog lying on the ground for three days and unable to get up.

After failing to get a response from the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society, Eicher called Grimes, who then took Jake to a veterinarian for treatment without permission, an act Freedom Township police said is a theft.

Jake, whom Grimes calls Doogie, belongs to Steve and Lori Arnold, who say they want the dog back. Grimes has refused to return the dog.

The case generated nationwide attention.

Activists sent more than 100 e-mails to the Mirror after a story ran Sept. 13, some claiming media bias with others praising balanced reporting. Phone calls came from as far away as Seattle.

8. City Council adopts trash collection reform

After years of sporadic discussion, Altoona City Council Dec. 18 adopted a measure for trash-collection reform, unlike what it envisioned originally.

Instead of a single-hauler contract for lower rates, the council approved a nonbinding understanding with haulers.

The understanding probably won’t help efficiency or rates, but it will preserve the haulers’ businesses and their customer services.

It reflects the overwhelming support of residents for the 13 independent haulers against a single-hauler contract.

Some provisions of the understanding: a 25-cents-per-ton surcharge on waste dumped at hauler Dave Burgmeier’s transfer station; continued payment by haulers of city license fees; creation of zones in which all haulers pick up trash on a designated day to limit cans and bags on curbs and make enforcement easier; coordination of haulers’ customer lists to enforce a pre-existing requirement that landlords have haulers for their units; and designation of a city liaison to work with haulers.

In July, a consultant hired by the city to study options for collecting trash recommended replacing the private subscription system with a single-hauler contract.

Haulers objected, saying a single contract would betray them after their investment into the current system, diminish free enterprise, discriminate against small business, impinge on freedom of choice for residents and deprive customers of special services.

9. Reassessment and tax increase coming

Blair County commissioners, struggling to produce a balanced budget for 2007, said they finally may move forward with long-awaited reassessment and require property owners to pay the multimillion-dollar cost.

Meanwhile, to balance the 2007 budget, commissioners approved a 7.13-mill increase in real estate taxes to support the $61 million spending plan.

The original spending plan introduced Dec. 8 had a 5-mill tax increase plus a $5 head tax. Commissioners later dropped the head tax idea because of a lack of time to meet the logistics of getting it implemented.

While introducing the initial budget figures, commissioners said that reassessment — which has been estimated at a minimum of $3 million — is needed and will be initiated in 2007.

Because the county’s last property assessment was in 1958, it has been criticized as outdated, unfair and restrictive.

To begin reassessment, commissioners will have to hire an agency that would assign tax appraisers to visit every property in the county, collect information about the properties’ features and use that and other information to calculate values.

Those values, like the ones established in 1958, will be used by counties, municipalities and school districts to figure property tax bills.

10. Blandburg burning body case

Police arrested Torone Dixon and two alleged Blair County associates after the body of James “J” Tucker was found burning April 27 near a dirt road in Reade Township, Cambria County.

State police said Dixon, 25, gunned down Tucker in a drug-related murder, and Damian M. Pierce, 31, of Altoona and John E. Mease, 28, of Bellwood robbed the 22-year-old and dragged his fatally wounded body to a secluded area away from the road, where they set him on fire.

Tucker, named in a police search warrant application as a drug dealer, had more than $2,000 and several ounces of crack cocaine taken from him in the process.

Pierce and Mease later were charged with murder for aiding or abetting a homicide. However, in November, they entered guilty pleas to criminal conspiracy to robbery and aiding in the consummation of a crime, which could get them up to 27 years behind bars, but the agreement spared them of the possibility of homicide convictions.

Christina DeStefano, 20, who was with Tucker the night of the murder and was considered missing for more than a week, was charged with helping Tucker’s accused killers rob him.

Dixon was shot and killed Sept. 22 by a crisis team at Cambria County Prison after he took a corrections officer hostage with a self-made knife.

The officer and an inmate in a nearby locked cell also were injured in the incident.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.