Pavilion reservations

Pavilion reservations
NORTH LIMA -- The Beaver Township Park Board will begin accepting pavilion reservations Jan. 2.
Reservations are $40 for residents and $70 for nonresidents.
For more information, call the township park information line at (330) 549-9552.
East Liverpool project
LISBON -- The Columbiana County Engineer's office will conduct a public meeting to report its findings on the research and surveying of Penn Avenue in East Liverpool and Liverpool Township at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The meeting will be at the St. Clair Township administration building on Pugh Road.
Gene therapy research
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- University researchers at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh are receiving $1.02 million over the next four years from the National Institutes of Health to create safer methods for using gene therapy.
"Traditionally, gene therapy involves transferring genes by using viruses that could infect cells, release the DNA and take over the cells' machinery to produce the desirable proteins to fight a variety of diseases or for tissue-engineering purposes," said Prashant Kumta, a professor of materials science and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon.
Kumta is working with Charles Sfeir, an assistant professor of oral medicine and pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, to conduct gene delivery without the use of viruses.
Preserving history
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- A historian would like to see a disappearing part of the city's industrial past preserved.
More than a dozen buildings, some dating to 1898, are to be torn down as part of the biggest demolition project in Erie's history -- the dismantling of the old Hammermill Paper Co. site. International Paper purchased the mill in 1986 and closed it in May 2002, eliminating 775 jobs.
"Hammermill was more than an employer for many Erie people, particularly on the east side," said William P. Garvey, a historian and president of Mercyhurst College. "It was a way of life. It was a critical element in the immigrant population of this city."
Americans "are experts at destroying our past," said Garvey, who also wrote a book about Hammermill.
He would like to see a smokestack or machinery kept from the Hammermill Paper Co. site, if not a museum.
Diocesan investigation
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) -- The Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese has followed through on accusations involving 16 priests and 37 victims in the past 50 years, according to Bishop Joseph Adamec.
Three priests are deceased, eight have been suspended from public ministry, four are being reviewed by the Pope and one has been dismissed as a priest, according to a recent letter from Adamec to the diocese's 110,000 Roman Catholics. Accusations against 11 other priests couldn't be substantiated, he said.
Charges have been substantiated against 2.5 percent of the clergy during the past 50 years, Adamec said.
The survey will be part of a national report from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops scheduled for release in February.