GEORGE JUNIOR Locals want fugitive alerts

The neighbors said they will bring up the safety issue again.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Some residents near George Junior Republic asked the institution several years ago for a warning system that would alert neighbors when a juvenile escapes from the detention/education center.
Nothing was put into place, but that request will be made again in light of the slaying of a George Junior staff member Monday, allegedly at the hands of two escaping teens, said Allen Lambert of Irishtown Road.
The delay in getting a warning system in place "is as much our fault as theirs," Lambert said, noting that the group never pushed the issue after the first attempt.
Escapes are not uncommon from the facility, which has no fences or gates. Most of the 480 juvenile boys housed there are sent there by a court for some offense. The average stay is eight to nine months.
The institution had about 30 escapes in 2002, and the numbers appear to be about the same for 2003, said Rick Losasso, chief executive officer.
Monday's escape was the fourth this month, said the Pennsylvania State Police, who reported one boy fled Nov. 1 and three others ran away the next day. Two of them fled together, stealing a car from a Grove City man to make their getaway, police said.
Authorities said Wayne L. Urey Jr., 43, of West Market Street, Mercer, an evening child-care worker who had worked at George Junior for 12 years, was strangled by two residents of the housing cottage he was supervising Sunday night.
They stole his pickup truck keys and fled to Pittsburgh where they surrendered to police Monday afternoon, police said.
Fear of escapees
The suspects, identified as Anthony Machicote, 17, of North Versailles, Pa., and Jeremy Melvin, 16, of McKeesport, were later arraigned as adults on homicide, robbery, assault and other charges. They are in Mercer County jail without bond pending a Nov. 19 hearing.
Staff members have access to a panic alarm they can carry with them, but Losasso said Urey wasn't carrying his when he was attacked.
It was the first homicide in George Junior's 94-year history, Losasso said.
Residents living near the institution fear the same fate could befall one of them, and they wouldn't even know a fugitive was on the loose because no warning system is in place.
"I feel bad for [Urey], but it could just have easily been a neighbor," said Lucy Sack who lives on Irishtown Road.
"We had hoped that we could get someone over there to call one neighbor," she said of the effort to create a telephone chain warning system in which the institution would call one or more neighbors who would then call others and quickly spread the word of an escape.
"They tend to come over our way when they're going toward Pittsburgh," she said, noting Irishtown Road stands between George Junior and nearby Interstate 79.
Phone-chain system
Losasso, who has been chief executive officer at the institution only since January 2002, said he was unaware of the previous effort to get an early-warning system in place.
Although he can see logistical problems implementing a successful phone-chain system, he said he isn't adverse to talking about the idea.
He pointed out that people already call the institution when they see someone of school age walking away from the facility. State police are also notified immediately, he said.
Pamela Huzzy of Irishtown Road said she suggested several years ago that George Junior implement a siren warning system so neighbors would know of an escape, but the institution didn't give much of a response.
Huzzy said their family car was stolen from outside their garage on an Easter Sunday morning by a George Junior fugitive. It was later recovered, severely damaged, in Cleveland, she said.