SUV hits Amish buggy

SUV hits Amish buggy
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police said an Amish man from Hartstown was seriously injured when his horse-drawn buggy went left of center and was hit by an SUV on Beatty School Road, Salem Township.
Edward Byler of Pine Road was flown to St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, where he was in critical condition. Police said his buggy was westbound around 2:50 a.m. today when it collided head-on with an eastbound vehicle driven by Terra Ann Turner of Union Street, Grove City. Turner and two of her four passengers suffered minor injuries in the crash. Police said Byler's horse was killed in the accident.
Eljer idling begins
SALEM -- About 40 workers at the Eljer Plumbingware Co. plant will be idled today as the company begins a shutdown that will conclude May 31.
Next week about 60 more workers will be put out of work when the plant's finishing department closes, Frank Rayl, union president, said today.
That will leave about 140 workers on the job until the plant closes.
Jacuzzi Brands, the West Palm Beach, Fla., parent company of Eljer, has said the closing is the result of rising manufacturing costs.
Workers have said the company is shipping its jobs to China.
Cast-iron plumbing products are made at the South Ellsworth Avenue plant.
Guilty in shootings
MERCER, Pa. -- A Commodore Perry High School senior accused of shooting a .22-caliber rifle at cars has pleaded guilty to three counts of propulsion of a missile into a vehicle and three counts of recklessly endangering another person.
Police said Timothy R. Lackey, 19, of Hadley Road, Clarks Mills, admitted his participation in the shootings when he was arrested in February. Authorities said at the time that he and a 15-year-old boy were shooting the rifle from the window of a home Lackey had rented at the corner of Airport Road and Pa. Route 358.
Bullets hit at least three vehicles, but no one was injured. Lackey entered formal guilty pleas in Mercer County Common Pleas Court this week. He remains free on bond and will be sentenced later. The juvenile involved was charged in juvenile court.
JFK assassination speech
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Dr. Cyril Wecht of Pittsburgh will talk at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Scottish Rite Cathedral about the assassination of President Kennedy. Tickets cost $5, and all proceeds will go to the 32nd Degree Masons' Learning Center for Dyslexic Children now being established in New Castle. Tickets will be sold at the door. Wecht is a renowned doctor, lawyer and forensic pathologist.
Republican Party leader
SALEM -- City businessman Charlie Presley has been elected chairman of the Salem-Perry Republican party.
Presley already serves on the executive and finance committees of the Columbiana County Republican Party and as a county port authority board member.
A 25-year travel industry veteran, Presley owns Group Leaders of America in Salem. The business also has an office in Lexington, Ky.
PSU graduation speaker
SHARON, Pa. -- State Sen. Robert Robbins of Greenville, R-50th, will speak at Penn State Shenango's Spring Commencement at 7:30 tonight in the Penn State Theatre. He will address 82 graduating students from the campus' associate and baccalaureate degree programs as well as from the first graduating class in its master of education in teaching and curriculum program.
Robbins was a teacher at Greenville High School before entering politics in the early 1980s. He completed two tours of duty in Vietnam and earned more than a dozen medals, including the Soldier's Medal for Heroism, the Bronze Star for Valor, Army Commendation Medals for Valor and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
Water is safe now
YOUNGSTOWN -- A boil-water alert has been lifted for those affected by service interruption Monday when crews relocated a line as part of the 711 connector project. The water has been declared safe to drink for those in the 2400 and 2500 blocks of Belmont Avenue, plus all tenants of Union Square Plaza.