The identity of a homicide victim from early Wednesday morning in Aliquippa has been identified! Beaver County Radio’s Sandy Giordano has this report:
BREAKING: Aliquippa Homicide Victim Identified! (Audio)
Category: News
Children left alone. Trial date for Mom has been set.
The bathtub completely full. An open window. Soaked Diapers, no additional clothing. No clean diapers to be found. That describes the conditions when 2 children under the age of 5 were found all alone in the Beaver Falls apartment by Salvation Army employees doing a welfare check. Police were notified. The mother, 27 yr old Kevonna Thomas came back after more than 1/2 hour. She has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and her trial is scheduled in October.
Search continues for Dana Penny
Police continue to search for 36 yr old Dana Penny who’s accused of participating in the home invasion that turned into a fatal shooting incident in Aliquippa. He is considered to be armed and dangerous.
During the early morning incident a neighbor Anthony Farley heard a woman crying for help as 2 men dressed in DEA shirts forced their way in. Farley approached & was shot. He returned fire and one of the intruders was shot & killed.
There’s an outstanding arrest warrant for Penny stemming from charges filed last month regarding possession of drugs & paraphernalia with intent to sell.
The investigation was turned over to State Police and they are asking that anyone with information regarding Penny or the shooting to call them at 724-773-7400.
WEATHER: BEAUTIFUL DAY IN BEAVER COUNTY
WEATHER for THURSDAY JULY 19, 2018
TODAY: A good deal of sunshine. High near 85F. Winds light and variable.
TONIGHT: Mainly clear. Low 66F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
FRIDAY: Some sun in the morning with increasing clouds during the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
SATURDAY: Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. High 79F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
SUNDAY: Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. High 79F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Girl hit by car–her Sister arrested
A 15-year-old girl jumped on the hood of a moving vehicle driven by her sister Wednesday night in Pittsburgh’s Fineview neighborhood, authorities said. She fell off and was hit shortly after 10 p.m. on Belleau Drive, according to investigators.
According to Police, the teenager was taken to a hospital in critical condition and was later upgraded to serious condition.
The 15-year-old’s sister was arrested after an altercation with police and faces charges of aggravated assault against police officers.
Jordan Brown’s Conviction overturned in 5-0 decision
The conviction of then 11-year old Lawrence County boy Jordan Brown, in the shotgun killing of his father’s pregnant fiancee has been overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The court ruled unanimously, 5-0, that there was not enough evidence to support the conviction. Brown is now 20 and has been free since turning 18.
Brown’s lead defense attorney, Dennis Elisco, said
“He’s exonerated from any responsibility for these two horrific crimes and he will have his record expunged and the charges dismissed,”
Brown was charged with the shotgun murder of his father’s fiance, inside the Brown family’s Lawrence County home. Kenzie Houk was more than eight months pregnant and asleep when she was shot in the back of her head with a shotgun.
The family of Kenzie Houk has so far declined to comment on the court’s decision.
Lewd Behavior at Buttermilk Falls
Four young women were swimming and sitting on the rocks at the Buttermilk Falls. They observed a man watching them from the bushes, performing a lewd act on himself and making motions for them to come over to his location. The victims told him they were calling the cops and he took off on a bicycle. Steven Bitcko, 27, of Beaver Falls was located by police on State Route 18 and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and narcotics. The accused was subsequently arrested and transported to Heritage Valley Hospital for testing. Charges will follow results.
70th Anniversary Moments – The Reeds, Dick and Jim.
This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948. To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.
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In 1967, the original owners of WBVP, Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Orderka sold the station to a company headquartered in Connecticut by the name of Hall Communications, which was formed just a few years earlier by newspaper column and comic strip syndicator, Robert Hall. Hall Communications continues to thrive in the radio industry and currently operates twenty one radio stations in six different markets. One of the reasons for their continued success is the contributions from the Reed Family. Specifically, a father and son. Dick Reed was part of the original operations when Hall Communications was formed and became the Vice President who ran the operation on a daily basis in the early days. Dick’s job was made somewhat easier because he had a great staff that he could count on, namely, his son, Jim Reed, who was a true “utility player” in the radio business who could build a studio, fix the equipment, and then host a radio show.
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Both Reeds would assist in the operations on WBVP and WWKS in Beaver Falls. Dick Reed was “The Big Boss” in the corporate office whom General Manager, Chris Shovlin would report to. Dick Reed would also come to town on occasion to meet with the staff and was a fixture at the annual Hall Communications convention meetings. Once a year, the executives at Hall would host a company wide gathering and training session in one of the cities where they owned radio stations and invite employees from all of their radio stations to attend. In 1984, that year’s event was held in Beaver Falls at the Holiday Inn, now known as Park Inn by Radisson, near the turnpike exit. People who attended that meeting still recall sales trainer, Tom Howard, doing a presentation for the sales people using orange colored bricks. Chris Shoviln remembered his interactions with the elder read and recounted them in the recently published book “Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA” : “Dick was an absolute gentleman. He ran the radio properties. Dick was the first Vice President of the company under Bob Hall. Nothing got to Bob Hall without going through Dick Reed. Dick Reed ruled with an iron fist, but he was one of the nicest, most generous, kind people I ever met. Just a tremendous guy. You could look him in the eye and know you were getting the truth. You could trust him. He wanted you to run the company like he ran his. They were great people. They were the best people”.
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The younger Reed, Jim, was enlisted by his father to traverse out to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania from company headquarters in New England and help out with moving WBVP and WWKS to a new building, which continues to serve as the physical location of the company, around 1980. That project also included the huge task of remodeling some dentist offices in the upstairs floor of the radio station headquarters into a collection of four broadcast and recording studios, along with an engineering and technical room, conference room and work areas for the announcers. The first floor of the structure at 1316 7th avenue, that previously existed as Sakraidas Dress Shop, was converted into office space for the sales and business department with Jim Reed’s help and oversight. Jim Reed and his fellow engineering team members including Ed Monskie, Wayne Gignac, Jerry Bowers and Bob King also installed a revolutionary device in the radio industry at the time, a programmable computer like giant machine with five reel to reel tape players and dozens of individual
tape cartridge slots known as a “16M Basic A Automation System”. The
new room-sized contraption produced the music and played recorded segments of the announcers and mixed in commercials as directed, without the need for constant human interaction over the airwaves of WWKS, or Kiss 107 F.M. as it was known at the time.
Jim Reed would also host air shows and help with remote broadcasts during his stays in Beaver Falls. His father, Dick Reed continued to run the show at the Hall Communications corporate offices as Group Manager out East and was the one who facilitated the sale and handled the negotiations with Ted and Marilee Ruscitti, who bought WBVP and WWKS from Hall in 1985.
“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by Abbey Carpet and Floor, Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, Aliquippa Giant Eagle, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Auto Mall, Beaver Valley Sheet Metal, Castlebrook Development, The Community College Of Beaver County, Farmers Building and Savings Bank, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican food, The Health Huts, Kitchen City, Laughlin Insurance Agency, Rochester Manor and Villa and Young’s Jewelry and Coins.
Bradys Run Main Road Set For Spring 2019 Repair
Beaver County Commissioners Dan Camp and Sandie Egley (Tony Amadio is still at home recovering from back surgery) heard from solicitor Garen Fedeles that Penndot will repair the main road thru Bradys Run Park in Spring 2019. Fedeles has requested that Penndot leave traffic patterns alone until after the maple syrup festival and the opening of trout season scheduled for April 6 and 13. Penndot told Fedeles repair work on the road, which is sagging at one point, will take three months.
Jordon Brown Conviction Overturned by PA State Supreme Court
Court overturns then-11-year-old boy’s conviction in slaying
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s highest court on Wednesday overturned the conviction of a then-11-year-old boy in the 2009 shotgun slaying of his father’s pregnant fiancée, saying prosecutors had not provided enough evidence to support it.
The state Supreme Court’s 5-0 ruling clears Jordan Brown of wrongdoing, his lawyers say, in the slaying of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk, who was eight months pregnant when she was found dead in the family’s rural western Pennsylvania farmhouse.
It reversed a finding by a juvenile court judge in Lawrence County, upheld by a state appellate court, that Brown was guilty of first-degree murder and homicide of an unborn child.
Justices attacked the evidence as insufficient, saying among other things that trial testimony pointing to a shotgun in Brown’s bedroom as the murder weapon “supported an equally reasonable conclusion” that it wasn’t the murder weapon.
Houk was found lying in bed in a pool of blood with a shotgun blast to the back of her head, according to court papers. Brown, now 20, was tried as a juvenile after his lawyers fought a judge’s original decision to try him as an adult.
A lawyer for Brown, Kate Burdick, said Brown — referred to in court papers as J.B. — has maintained his innocence since the murder and has now received “long overdue justice.”
“While we can’t give J.B. his childhood back, we are glad the Supreme Court has cleared his name so that he can move forward with a productive life,” Burdick said.
The state attorney general’s office, which was handling the appeal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Burdick would not discuss Brown’s whereabouts, only saying that he was not in custody and that he had met all his treatment goals. In 2016, a judge put Brown on probation and in the custody of an uncle, who lives in Ohio.
Burdick said charging Brown again for the same crime would violate the “double jeopardy” clause of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits trying someone twice for the same crime.
Brown’s lawyers have battled the case to the Supreme Court before, in 2014 winning an order granting them a new chance to argue there was insufficient evidence to convict him.
Houk’s daughters — ages 4 and 7 at the time — went to live with their grandparents, and it was youngest who found her mom’s dead body, telling a member of a tree service crew that had arrived at the property to finish collecting firewood they had cut the previous day from a wooded area in front of the house.
On the day of the murder, Chris Brown, Jordan’s father, had already gone to work, leaving Houk with Jordan and the two girls before Jordan Brown and the older daughter went to catch the school bus.