Black Forest Broadcasting

 

Greenhouse and garage damaged by fire in Coudersport….DUI charges pending against driver in one-vehicle crash in Jones Township….Alabama man accused of vandalism in Elk County…Free child ID kits being made available to parents…..

Potter County

Coudersport volunteer firefighters responded to a structure fire off of East Second Street Tuesday afternoon. A greenhouse and garage behind Hersey’s market were involved. Assisted at the scene by the following:

Port Allegany 3 – RIT

CDSPT Boro PD

CDSPT PSP

Dept 49 – Cdspt Amb

Roulette  – 46

Galeton – 10

Shinglehouse – 39 Stood by at Coudersport

While several other departments stood by for mutual aid companies. In all 30 members of Department 48 answered the call and in total approximately 55 firefighters All units were back in service before 5:30 pm. There were no Injuries reported and the fire was ruled undetermined in nature with a cost estimate of approximately $50-70,000 and the buildings are insured and the business remains open.

Elk County

Serious injuries were reported for a Penfield driver who is facing DUI charges following a one-vehicle crash last Monday in Jones Township. According to state police 46 year old Gregory Cirigliano was going north on Burning Well Road when his Jeep Wrangler crossed to the opposite lane, ran over a guard rail  and bounced to the other side. The driver was taken to UPMC Altoona by ambulance.

Criminal mischief charges are pending against an Alabama man for an incident taking place Sunday just before noon in Ridgway Township. Troopers claim the suspect, whose name was withheld, damaged a yard on Long Level Road with his 2003 Ford F250 Supercab.

Statewide

 Free child identification kits could be made available to parents to help relocate missing children under legislation introduced recently  by Senators Camera Bartolotta (R-46) and Scott Martin (R-13).

Senate Bill 460, known as the Child Reunification Act, would give parents a critical tool to help law enforcement identify missing children and return them safely to their families. The kits would include inkless fingerprinting materials, DNA collection swabs and other information that can be used to help identify a child in case of an emergency.

Both Senators emphasized that the personal information collected in the kits would only be held by parents and would not be entered into any sort of state or national database. The bill prohibits school districts from retaining the information and specifies that the identification kits are not a public record.

Under the bill, the kits would be distributed by school districts for all students in first grade at no cost to parents. Bartolotta and Martin have been working on the legislation for several months since they first announced the plan in October.

The Child Reunification Act is part of a national grassroots effort to expand child identification programs. The community safety initiative was started by the American Football Coaches Association in 1997 in response to the abduction of Amber Hagerman, for whom the Amber Alert was named.

Across the nation, these efforts have been known as the Greene-Trumka Child Reunification Act, honoring the longtime support of Pittsburgh Steelers legend Joe Greene and the late AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka.

The legislation was designated SB 460 in recognition of the estimated 460,000 children per year who go missing in the United States each year.