Fire guts apartment at Berwick-area eatery

BRIAR CREEK TWP. -- Several customers were seated at the bar inside Castawayz Bar & Grill just after noon Saturday, when fire broke out in the rear of the building, a landmark that dates to the 1800s. Mark Harmon was mowing the lawn outside the business when he spotted smoke rising from the eves above a second-floor apartment at the rear of the building. Harmon rushed to the downstairs apartment to alert tenant Joe Kowalski about the fire. Then Harmon ran out front to the bar and told owner Mick Kowalski, who was behind the bar serving customers, to "get everyone out."

What we're working on: August 30

Here's a look at the stories that are keeping our reporters busy: * The witnesses agree that one man punched another, but just who started this road-rage dustup? * Rifle in hand, a man allegedly menaces his neighbors. * The father of quadruplets is hauled before a judge for threatening an older child, charges say. * A jailed heroin suspect says she's going through withdrawal and tells a judge, "I'd like to go back to bed." * Wounded in war, a vet recalls, "I thought I wasn't going to make it." Tomorrow he turns 90.

Dad charged after baby dies in hot car

PHOENIX (AP) -- A 31-year-old father whose infant son died after being left in a parked car in the Phoenix summertime heat was smoking marijuana next to the car with a co-worker part of the time, police said. Daniel Bryant Gray, 31, was booked into a Maricopa County jail late Thursday, charged with manslaughter and child abuse, Sgt. Tommy Thompson said. Police earlier said 3-month-old Jamison Dean Gray died after his father went on Wednesday, his day off, to check on business at a northeast Phoenix sports bar and restaurant where he worked as a kitchen manager.

Bloody man a mystery near Benton

BENTON TWP. -- Police are trying to find out why a blood-drenched man was standing by the side of a rural road Wednesday afternoon. Brad Miccio, 17, Benton, spotted the man near Steinruck Road here Wednesday afternoon and stopped to help around 3:30 p.m. But Miccio couldn't understand the man, who appeared to have been stabbed in the chest and was speaking Spanish, he said. Miccio flagged down a pair of volunteer firefighters, who called for an ambulance. Police said responders set up a landing zone at the Orangeville ball fields to fly the injured man to the hospital.

Police seek 4 fugitives from Coal Twp. juvenile facility

COAL TWP. - Police say four residents of the Secure Building at Northwestern Academy attacked an employee, stole his keys and then locked him in a room early Wednesday before fleeing. Now police are looking for: * Sean Watson, 19, Eighth Street, Bowie, Md. * David Rosario, 18, Ninth Street, Reading * a 16-year-old male from Washington, D.C. * and a 15-year-old male from the Harrisburg area.

Police walk in on bubbling meth pot

BERWICK -- Four suspects tried to run when police busted a meth operation in Berwick this morning, but their flight failed, officers say. A mother and son were among the total of six defendants taken into custody before 8 a.m. at 530 W. Front St. Police found four pots of meth in the freezer in the apartment, including one that was still bubbling, according to charges. The suspects: * Deb Hoskins, 52; * her son, Kenneth McCollum, 33; * James Eveland, 24; * Levi Whitesell, 30; * Ron Scharpnick, 33; * Kelly Bromley, 29.

Tips lead to meth labs in Salem, Catawissa area

SALEM TWP -- Two people were arrested Tuesday after probation officers got a tip that they were making methamphetamine together, officials said. Scott P. Trivelpiece, 54, of 47 Mill Road, was already on probation for drug possession after police found he was carrying meth May 21, said Don Coleman, chief adult probation officer. Trivelpiece signed his probation rules just last week, which included giving probation officers permission to search his house, Coleman said.

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