LAWRENCE COUNTY Commissioners designate Adamo as county warden

Adamo has been a deputy sheriff for the county for four years.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Charles H. Adamo, a former Democratic candidate for Lawrence County sheriff, has been named the new warden at the county jail.
Adamo, who recently conceded the May primary to Perry Quahliero, begins his new duties Friday. Until then, he will continue serving as deputy warden under acting warden Mark Schaas.
County commissioners, at their weekly public meeting Tuesday, said the prison board had intended to meet last week to make Adamo's appointment official.
But because that meeting was canceled, board members chose the new warden by circulating a memo and signing off on the appointment. The commissioners, along with the president judge, county controller, county sheriff and district attorney, serve on the prison board.
Adamo has been a deputy sheriff for the county since 2001. He is also a retired state trooper. He is one of 18 candidates who applied for the warden's post. He was named deputy warden last month.
Reason for replacement
Schaas, who also applied for the warden's position, dropped out of the running to accept a job elsewhere. His resignation becomes effective Friday.
Earlier this year, the prison board moved Schaas from the deputy warden's spot to acting warden after former jail warden Mark Fellows resigned.
Fellows was appointed warden in January 2003, but quit in the midst of several controversial episodes including inmate assaults, fires at the jail, and an increase in the number of inmates going to the hospital, which contributed to higher medical bills.
Also, a suicide and an inmate death resulting from an apparent drug overdose were reported. The work-release program was also discontinued after it was discovered inmates were smuggling drugs into the jail, officials said.
Prison board members have said problems at the jail have subsided since Schaas took over as acting warden.