Allegheny County property owners whose property values shot up this year after being reduced on appeal in 2001 can breathe easier for the next three years. About 13,500 of those homeowners, who already got to keep the lower value for this year’s tax bills but had filed 2002 appeals, will keep the lower value through 2005, the county Board of Assessment Appeals and Review decided Thursday. Notices should go out to the affected homeowners during the next two weeks. Board Chairman Kevin McKeegan said those values will still be subject to appeal over the next three years, however, if taxing bodies believe values are too low. For another 14,000 homeowners, whose 2002 values also went up after being reduced on appeal the year before, McKeegan said their cases are being reviewed by the county Office of Property Assessment for possible changes, based on any mistakes in property descriptions on the county’s real estate computers. After the county sends revised values on those homes, owners will be free to appeal before the board and automatically get to keep their 2001 values if they wish, McKeegan said. Opening of entrance postponed for now Monday’s reopening of the Stanwix Street entrance to the Fort Pitt Bridge is postponed indefinitely because of problems with the delivery of materials. The ramp will continue to be open during the afternoon rush hour, from 3 to 7 p.m. and will remain open until midnight on Nov. 22, which is Light Up Night. It was anticipated to open 24 hours a day starting at 3 p.m. on Monday. A new date for an around-the-clock opening has not been scheduled. Also, the inbound Fort Pitt Tunnel restrictions ended Wednesday. The inbound tunnel will be clear until the beginning of February. It will close on March 29. However, Trumbull Corp. may close the inbound tunnel for a night periodically, as needed. Officer injured leading procession A Pittsburgh police officer was injured Thursday while leading a funeral procession when a woman drove her car into the officer’s motorcycle. Officer Ron Cerminara, who is assigned to the city traffic squad, remained in good condition at Allegheny General Hospital following the crash. Cerminara was leading a procession for former city Patrolman Ed Alexander into a cemetery in Baldwin Borough yesterday morning when the elderly driver broadsided Cerminara’s bike, throwing the officer to the ground, police spokeswoman Tammy Ewin said. The driver, whom police did not identify, was not injured and is not facing any charges, Ewin said. The city accident investigation unit and Baldwin police are probing the crash. Midland man indicted on child-porn charges A former pizza shop owner who was arrested earlier this year by police in Beaver County on charges of taking sexually explicit photographs of a 15-year-old girl and posting them on the Internet was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on the same charges. William P. Monac III, 37, of Ohio Avenue, Midland, was indicted on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, prosecutors said. Monac is accused of taking the pictures in July 1999 and having them on his computer when it was searched in July 2001, prosecutors said. Monac is still facing state and local charges in Beaver County, including those of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Monac is the son of William P. Monac II, who was the chief of police in Midland in the 1980s. PSU student charged with endangering child A Penn State student faces charges after she left her 18-month-old child with friends while she went to a party — and her friends later showed up at the party after leaving the child at home, police said. Amanda Guzman, 22, left the child with her sorority sisters about 3 a.m. on Saturday, police said, and she drove to a party. But later, her friends showed up at the party without the child, and Guzman asked them if they had locked the door of the apartment, police said. One of Guzman’s neighbors called police after discovering the child screaming in the hallway of the apartment building, authorities said. Guzman told police she thought the child would be fine if the door was locked, police said. She is being charged with endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 18 in Centre County Court. HUD grant addresses lead paint project Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey has announced the county has received a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address lead paint hazards. The grant will be used to investigate 20 municipalities in the county. Municipalities will be selected based on the number of children in those communities who have elevated lead-levels in their blood system. The grant will be matched by $4.5 million from several local private and public organizations. Money from the grant will be used to inspect and test homes for lead-based paint hazards, remediate lead hazards, test children for elevated lead levels, and relocate families temporarily during lead hazard removal. The grant also will provide training for lead-removal workers and train low-income residents to become educators about lead hazards. Prison guard killed during drill accident A prison guard at the State Correctional Institution-Greene near Waynesburg was killed by a vehicle driven by another prison employee during a drill, officials said. Corrections Officer David Bowser, 32, of Carmichaels, was pronounced dead on arrival at Greene County Memorial Hospital where he was taken after the accident about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, prison officials said. Corrections employee Linda Casner, 48, of Dilliner, was driving the vehicle that hit Bowser, said Susan McNaughton, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. Bowser was a member of the Corrections Emergency Response Team that responds to dangerous incidents at the maximum security facility and Casner is a licensed practical nurse, McNaughton said. He was jogging along a road as part of a group training drill when Casner struck him with a vehicle, officials said. Troopers said the group was jogging in formation while Bowser called cadence from the left side of the formation. Probation, restitution ordered in check scheme A Uniontown man who stole $9,113 in government benefits was sentenced in federal court Thursday to three years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution. Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond sentenced Chad E. Riggin, 26, and ordered him to repay all of the $9,113. In October 2001, Riggin was indicted for scheming to collect government benefits for which he was not entitled. Riggin stole the money by forging the signature of the payee, Gerald Riggin, on the back of nine United States Treasury checks. Prosecutors did not indicate in a press release the relationship between the Riggins. The Social Security Administration, office of inspector general, led the investigation of Riggin. AIDS Task Force campaign begins Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. joined members of the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force Thursday to announce the start of the group’s annual fund-raising campaign. The task force also announced the receipt of a grant from the Office of Minority Health that will be used to start a collaborative program to improve access to health-care for blacks. Donations to the task force will be used to fund the Hill/East Access and Prevention Project, The Hill District and East Side Community Collaborations and the Seven Project. The University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work is working with the task force to operate the programs. Witnesses sought after body found The body of a man was found Thursday night on the front porch of a home on Lawton Street in Penn Hills. Penn Hills police Lt. Dennis Poland said police were called about 8 p.m. after neighbors reported hearing some sort of disturbance at the home in the 7100 block of Lawton Street near the intersection with Runnette Street. The man appeared to have been shot in the face, Poland said. It was not clear if the man lived at the home and his identity was not immediately available. Allegheny County homicide detectives and Penn Hills police were going door to door in the neighborhood to see if residents saw or heard anything.

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