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Tuesday, June 11, 2002

RICHLAND: Go-cart accident kills girl

A teen-age girl was killed yesterday afternoon when the go-cart she was driving was struck by a sport utility vehicle.

The Allegheny County coroner's office identified the girl as Darci Lin, 13, a student at Pine-Richland Middle School. Richland police Sgt. Charles Seibert said Lin entered the intersection of Grandview Drive and Oak Hill Road and was struck.

Lin was flown by helicopter to Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m., the coroner's office said.

Seibert said that the go-cart belonged to the girl's family, and that the vehicles are not legal for street use. Lin was not wearing a helmet.

Allegheny County homicide detectives are investigating the accident. Seibert said he did not expect charges to be filed against the driver of the SUV. An autopsy will be performed tomorrow.

BUTLER COUNTY: Cross marks 1918 victims

A granite and silver cross has replaced a weathered wooden cross that marked the mass graves of 1918 influenza victims in Western Pennsylvania.

The cross, which was made out of a railroad tie more than 80 years ago, will still stand behind the new monument at the graves in Winfield.

When the new cross was dedicated Sunday, officials also unveiled a historical marker a few yards away to indicate the path to the site.

The immigrants became ill before they became members of a church and couldn't be buried on church land, said Drenda Gostkowski, a library employee.

FOREST COUNTY: Body found; son missing

The body of a Pennsylvania man who died during a fishing trip in Canada has been found.

Fredrick C. Frey, 75, of Tionesta, Forest County, was found in Katawagami Lake in northeastern Ontario on Sunday, police said. His son, Fredrick W. Frey, 41, is still missing but presumed dead.

The Freys' 14-foot aluminum boat was found capsized near two floating lifejackets about 200 feet off shore in 5-foot swells, police said.

ERIE COUNTY: Death ruled accidental

A coroner has ruled that the death of a man who was electrocuted while trying to climb into his workplace through a window was accidental.

Adam Joseph Rich, 19, of Girard, came into contact with power lines Saturday as he tried to gain access to a building via the second floor.

Rich tried to climb through the window because he did not have keys when he reported to work, Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook said. Rich was found at the Girard Industrial Commons by a security guard, who had begun looking for him after he failed to report to work.

Police continue to investigate.

More woe for prosecutor

A prosecutor forced to resign from the Erie County district attorney's office two months ago because of an undisclosed conflict of interest in a high-profile murder case may have attempted to influence the prosecution of a friend two years earlier.

John Moore was ordered to take a leave by District Attorney Brad Foulk after a ranger at Presque Isle State Park told him Moore might be trying to sway the outcome of a sex sting in August 2000.

According to Moore, he called the ranger who made the arrest and told him that he knew the man.

"I don't know whether I said I would like to see the charges dropped or resolved as quickly as possible," Moore told the Erie Times-News. "It was probably some combination of the two."

Moore said he offered to resign when confronted by Foulk, but Foulk instead ordered him to take several days off.

Then in April, the trial of a man accused of killing his 2-year-old daughter by setting fire to his house was postponed indefinitely when defense attorneys pointed out that Moore had represented the defendant in child support matters on previous occasions.

Prosecutors had said Stephen Treiber set fire to his Millcreek Township home so he wouldn't have to pay child support.

The issue was raised the day the trial was to begin and after a jury from outside the county had been selected and bused in due to the notoriety of the case in Erie.

A judge disqualified the district attorney's office from prosecuting the case and the state attorney general's office has since taken over prosecution.