Year of living dangerously
Paul Pozonsky
Tim McNerney
Vincent Kelley
A bank surveillance photo shows the man who robbed Citizens Bank inside the Giant Eagle in Strabane Square, then shot to death a Washington man who pursued him.
Rep. Jesse White
Washington County Commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan, Larry Maggi and Harlan Shober talk about the decision to hire Tyler Technologies to do the reassessment of Washington County properties. The property reassessment is the first since 1981 and will not go into effect until July 1, 2016.
FirstEnergy Corp.’s Mitchell Power Station in Union Township was one of two plants the company closed in the Mon Valley.
A Washington County sheriff’s deputy waits for David James McClelland to exit a vehicle prior to a preliminary hearing in Central Court in August 2011.
Diane McClelland leaves a courtroom at the end of the day’s testimony in her murder-conspiracy trial.
David Allen McClelland 57, is escorted to Washington County Courthouse, where he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of 92-year-old Evelyn Stepko.
Mayor Brenda Davis
Matt Staniszewski
The entrance to the Worstell impoundment in Cecil Township
A view of the press room at the Observer-Reporter
Criminal allegations that a former Washington County judge stole cocaine from evidence in drug cases before him was voted the top local story of 2013 by the editorial staff of the Observer-Reporter. The final chapter in the saga involving former Judge Paul Pozonsky has not yet been written because his case is still before the court and expected to be resolved in 2014.
Also receiving a large number of votes were the arrests of three men in the 2012 death of a Washington & Jefferson College football player during a robbery, and the death of a Washington man who was shot while trying to foil a robbery at a bank branch inside a South Strabane supermarket.
Here is this year’s complete list:
1. Less than a year after he resigned from the bench when it was revealed a grand jury was investigating his conduct, former Washington County Judge Paul Pozonsky returned to the area from his new home in Alaska to face accusations he stole cocaine evidence from criminal cases he presided over.
Pozonsky, 58, was charged May 23 with conflict of interest, theft, obstruction of justice, possession of a controlled substance and misapplying entrusted government property, and has since waived all pretrial hearings as he prepares his case for trial in 2014.
The state attorney general’s investigation and subsequent charges were a shocking fall from grace for the longtime and well-respected jurist.
Pozonsky, who grew up in the Cecil Township village of Muse, started his judicial career as a district magistrate in 1984. He spent 13 years working in the McDonald and Cecil areas before winning a seat as a Washington County Common Pleas Court judge in 1997. He won re-election to another 10-year term in 2007, but trouble soon followed.
In the spring of 2011, former District Attorney Steve Toprani said he heard from various sources of “curious practices” about how evidence in Pozonsky’s courtroom was being handled. Toprani eventually referred the matter to the state attorney general’s office, which launched the grand jury investigation.
In May 2012, the drug treatment program Pozonsky started years before was temporarily shut down and President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca suspended him from hearing any criminal cases. Pozonsky resigned from his seat on June 27, 2012, and moved to his new home near Anchorage, Alaska, with his wife, Sara.
Pozonsky is believed to still be living there while out of jail on $25,000 unsecured bond. A trial date has not yet been set.
2. Washington & Jefferson College football players were “surprised and relieved” in August upon learning city police had made three arrests in a robbery that ended in the death of a popular member of the team.
Those were the words expressed by Alex Baroffio, a senior wide receiver, adding his teammates were also happy police made headway in the homicide investigation into the death of Timothy McNerney of Butler.
Investigators used a global-positioning system to trace a cellphone stolen from McNerney on Oct. 4, 2012, to one of the suspects, and used that information to seek arrests.
McNerney, 21, and another player were allegedly assaulted by the suspects that morning as they walked back to campus after leaving a local tavern. McNerney, 21, who was a senior running back for the W&J Presidents, died from an injury to the back of his head suffered when he was knocked to the ground near South College and East Maiden streets.
Awaiting trial in the case in Washington County Court on charges of homicide, theft, robbery and conspiracy are: Adam R. Hankins, 24, of 348 Houston St., Washington; Troy LaMonte Simmons Jr., 23, of East Pittsburgh; and Eric Dante Wells, 25, of Pittsburgh and formerly of Washington. They are jailed without bond.
3. After hearing a scream while inside Giant Eagle at Strabane Square in South Strabane Township on Father’s Day, Vince “Mystro” Kelley and a friend saw a robber jump over the counter at the Citizens Bank inside the store and run for the door.
Moments later, Kelley would be shot to death as he tried to stop the robber who was making his getaway. Kelley and others chased the robber into the parking lot. When the robber turned and pointed a gun, Kelley continued to go after him. Kelley jumped into the back of the robber’s, white, four-door sedan. As Kelley reached for his knife, the robber shot him several times. The 45-year-old Washington man was pronounced dead a short time later.
The robber drove around the back of the grocery store and headed toward Route 19 and Interstate 70. Witnesses also reported seeing a dye pack activate inside the car. Investigators said the dye would have caused the robber discomfort as he made his getaway. The money also would have been damaged to the point of being unusable, either because of red dye or being charred when the pack exploded. Investigators called the robbery and shooting a “brazen, high-risk act.”
South Strabane Township police, the FBI and office of Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone continue to look for the man who shot Kelley.
The robber is described as being in his 20s or 30s, 5-foot-9 to 6 feet tall with a thin to medium build. He wore a full-face ski mask and straw hat. The robber also carried an umbrella to shield his identity. He put the money in a small, dark nylon bag with a shoulder strap. A $50,000 reward is still being offered for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the suspect.
4. State Rep. Jesse White, who first won election in 2006 in part because of the backlash from the controversial legislative pay raise, faced intense scrutiny when he admitted to posting numerous anonymous comments attacking the Marcellus Shale industry and even some constituents through online message boards.
White posted the comments under various fictitious names, including one mocking a Cecil Township woman, on blogs, Facebook and the Observer-Reporter’s website.
White’s online persona was revealed in May when a television report linked his personal Internet protocol address to anonymous comments on a Marcellus Shale blog. The O-R’s staff also linked him to comments made on the newspaper’s website that ripped drilling industry officials and even fellow Democrats.
District attorneys in Washington and Dauphin counties investigated his actions, but no charges are expected to be filed against him for his behavior. White, who dismissed calls for him to resign his seat, now faces multiple challengers in the Democratic primary next year in his reconfigured 46th state House district.
5. Although they fought court battles for five years, Washington County Commission Chairman Larry Maggi announced in August that he and his colleagues on the three-member board had “run out of options” and were ready to award a $6.9 million contract to Tyler Technologies of Moraine, Ohio, to conduct a reassessment of all real estate in the county, the first in more than 30 years.
The first team of data collectors fanned out in Washington’s Fifth Ward neighborhood in September.
The Washington and McGuffey school districts took their demand for a reassessment to Washington County Court in 2008, and the matter went back and forth between county court, Commonwealth Court and the state Supreme Court. Had the commissioners chosen not to reassess, they would have been facing a contempt-of-court hearing.
6. Two of the region’s longtime power stations became powerless stations Oct. 18.
FirstEnergy Corp. pulled the plug on Mitchell Power Station in Washington County and Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station in Greene, putting 380 employees out of work. The Akron, Ohio-based company announced the decision July 9, three months ahead of closure.
Coal was the culprit again. FirstEnergy deactivated the coal-fired plants because of the high cost of bringing them into compliance with current and, likely, future Environmental Protection Agency standards.
This was another roundhouse right to the once proud and prodigious Mon Valley, which over the past 30 years also has endured the demise of steel and other heavy industries. Now these electricity-generating sites along the Monongahela River are gone, with most who worked there. Mitchell, in Union Township, was built in 1949, Hatfield’s Ferry opened in 1969 in Monongahela Township, near Carmichaels.
7. A Coal Center mother and her stepson were convicted this year for their roles in the robbery and slaying of their 92-year-old neighbor, bringing the total to three members of the McClelland family who are behind bars for the crimes.
David James McClelland, 38, a former police officer also of Coal Center, was convicted April 9 in a jury trial before Judge John F. DiSalle of second-degree homicide, dealing in the proceeds of crimes, receiving stolen property and conspiracy in the stabbing death of the widowed Evelyn Stepko.
His stepmother, Diane McClelland, was convicted May 1 before the same judge on charges of conspiracy to commit homicide, burglary, theft and dealing with the proceeds of the crime and a separate count of receiving stolen property.
Her husband, David A. McClelland, 59, pleaded guilty in October 2012 to first-degree homicide and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The elder McClelland stabbed Stepko twice in the neck during a robbery and struggle in her 1076 Pike Run Drive home July 17 or 18, 2011. Prosecutors said the McClellands stole hundreds of thousands of old musty dollars from the shut-in and spent lavishly on gambling, car purchases, property and guns.
The younger McClelland is appealing his life sentence. His stepmother collapsed in court when she was sentenced to 24 ½ to 49 years in prison, a punishment she, too, has appealed.
8. Matt Staniszewski’s two-term tenure as a Washington councilman came to an end when voters ousted him from his seat after the polarizing figure accepted a prominent government job in New Castle that required him to move to the Lawrence County city.
Staniszewski began working as New Castle’s economic development director in September and was required to establish residency there by March. But, even with that residency requirement, Staniszewski kept his name on the Washington City Council ballot and continued running for his seat.
Staniszewski lost his re-election bid in November and will be replaced next year by political newcomer Tracie Rotunda Graham. His eight years in office were marked by a simmering feud with Mayor Brenda Davis and an ill-advised message using the city’s electronic alert system that was fodder for national late-night comedy shows.
9. Natural gas drilling company Range Resources faced ongoing criticism for continuing to operate several Marcellus Shale water impoundments in Cecil and Mt. Pleasant townships.
A group of Cecil officials and residents have called for the restoration of Range’s Worstell impoundment on Swihart Road. The state Department of Environmental Protection received backlash last summer for meeting privately with Cecil supervisors to discuss the future of the impoundment, which the department determined could operate indefinitely. Several days later, three Cecil supervisors met privately with Range officials, reversing an earlier decision related to pending litigation. Similarly, Mt. Pleasant officials faced criticism for meeting privately with Range officials in October.
Some Mt. Pleasant residents lodged complaints against Range regarding several impoundments they claimed were causing environmental damage and violating township zoning ordinances.
10. In August, the Observer-Reporter ceased printing operations in Washington, opting instead to outsource printing the daily newspaper to presses owned by the Wheeling Intelligencer. The decision represented a historic transition for the O-R, which had been printed in Washington since the newspaper’s 1808 founding.
Observer-Reporter Publisher Tom Northrop said continuing to use an aging press that was dedicated only to publishing the daily newspaper and the O-R’s weekly newspaper, The Almanac, no longer made economic sense. The press run had swindled to two hours a night five nights a week, and four hours each of the other two nights.
The decision to outsource, which necessitated cutting 15 full-time and 23 part-time positions, followed a continuing trend in the newspaper industry, which has been for newspapers to build large-scale printing plants that contract to print numerous papers and run as around-the-clock operations.