Arson suspect captured with lighter, fluid
DANVILLE -- A Danville man doused the steps of an apartment building with lighter fluid Wednesday night and set it ablaze with nine people inside.
Jeffery Lynn Shearer, 64, of 218 Mill St., had a lighter in his hand and an open can of lighter fluid in his back pocket when police caught him coming out of the building at 12 Pine St., said police.
Shearer had been arguing with one of the tenants in the building around 10:30 p.m. and soaked the carpeted steps with fluid before igniting it, said police.
A resident stomped out the flames while others called 9-1-1, said police.
Woman flown to hospital after wreck
BLOOMSBURG -- A Benton woman was taken to the hospital by helicopter after suffering multiple seizures following a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Central and Fifth Street Hollow roads.
Suncha Rhone, 52, of Old Tioga Turnpike, was headed north on Central Road when she attempted to make a left turn onto Fifth Street Hollow Road in her green 2010 Volkswagon Beetle around 11:45 a.m., said Scott Township officer Jon Yaskiewicz.
Water company to top $20M on new plant
BLOOMSBURG - United Water plans to spend more than $20 million to build a new water treatment plant that should keep working through a flood, it announced on Wednesday.
The company plans to buy the Irondale Inn property across the road from its current plant on Irondale Road and construct a new plant there, said Nancy Trushell, director of engineering for United Water.
Pa. man sues cops, DA for being run over in cuffs
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A Pennsylvania man who contends he was run over by a drunken driver while he was in custody and lying handcuffed in a road has sued police and county prosecutors.
Jerry Ray, 48, of Pittsburgh, was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication on Oct. 16, 2011. Ray was handcuffed and police laid him down in a traffic lane on a major downtown intersection, albeit about 2:15 a.m., according to a police report cited by his lawyer, Gary Ogg.
"By their own report, he's in custody, they have him lying in the street, and he's run over by a drunk driver," Ogg said Tuesday.
Town picks a member of its force as chief
BLOOMSBURG -- The town has picked its next police chief, and it's a longtime veteran of the town force.
After a statewide search, town council voted unanimously to name Sgt. Roger Van Loan as the next chief, at a salary of $75,000.
Van Loan has served as acting chief since June, when Police Chief Leo Sokoloski retired to take a job at Elizabethtown College.
We'll have more in Tuesday's edition.
Troubled relationship sparked cop's suicide, sister says
CLARKS SUMMIT -- A former Millville police officer spent her final hours with her on-again, off-again boyfriend and was parked outside his home when she killed herself, according to her family.
Aydan Yaman, who also worked as a Columbia County sheriff's deputy, had been dating an EMT from Clarks Summit, said older sister, Aylin. The couple had a tumultuous relationship, according to Aylin, 30
"They were fighting all the time ... She was under a lot of stress," the sister said.
Bank scammers turn to texting, bank official says
BERWICK -- A scam text message sent out to area cell-phone owners Sunday appears to be aimed at stealing their bank account information, a local bank official said.
If you received a message purportedly from First Keystone Community Bank warning of debit card issues, the best thing you could do is delete and ignore it, said Matt Prosseda, the bank president. No one should call the number listed in the fake text, he said.
The message seemed like it was sent to "random people" with cell phone numbers starting 570-204 - a Bloomsburg exchange, he said.
CO scare brings fire crew to Berwick Theatre
BERWICK - High levels of carbon monoxide sickened a few of the people watching "Despicable Me 2" at the Berwick Theatre on Friday Night, the moviehouse owner said.
Joe DiAugustine said Friday was the first time that the theater had turned on its heating system, and he and Fire Chief Bill Coolbaugh both said a blockage in the chimney or furnace flue could be to blame. The theater's Facebook page later said that an animal nest had been found in a furnace flue, and the "problem is being remediated and chimney swept."
Ping-pong ball starts Main Street fire, students say
BLOOMSBURG -- A mattress and box spring fire in the old Hotel Magee on Friday afternoon started when a man attempting to get a dent out of a beer pong ball with a lighter ignited it instead and dropped it, his roommate and fire officials said.
When the men in the apartment tried to stomp on the ball to extinguish it, the ball rolled under a nearby bed, which started on fire, said Kenneth Gillis, a resident of the student housing at the hotel.
The roommates attempted to move the mattress and box spring and then emptied a fire extinguisher on it, said Deputy Fire Chief Scott McBride.