Chillicothe Gazette from Chillicothe, Ohio • 3

Local and state news Lori McNelly, City Editor lmcnellynncogannett.com Thursday, July 7, 2005 Chillicothe Gazette 3A Briefs Democrats critical of Ney's dealings with lobbyist Ohio journalists rally to support colleagues Ohio journalists rallied Wednesday outside federal courthouses and stood in silence in support of two reporters threatened with jail for refusing to reveal their sources to a prosecutor. Recorder of Zanesville, said Sarah Fpinhpra pnmmit. tee snokeswoman. The ads cost I $4,000 and are Dart of a nationwide I who lobbied on behalf of six Indian tribes and their casino. Ney took a golf trip to Scotland in 2002 Abramoff sponsored.

Ney said in March he had been misled by Abramoff, who at the time was a board member for the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank based in Washington. House members are allowed to accept trips from outside groups but not from lobbyists. Ney has denied any wrongdoing. COLUMBUS (AP) The congressional election is 16 months but Democrats already have an eye on Republican Rep. Bob Ney, R-St.

Clairsville, who has come under fire for his association with an Indian tribe lobbyist. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took out ads Wednesday in two newspapers in Ney's eastern Ohio district. The full-page ads ran in editions of The Times-Reporter of Dover-New Philadelphia and the Times "Bob Ney's work in Congress is generating headlines on his ties to lobbyists, his foreign trips and his fight for Indian casinos," the ads say. "It's important for Ohio voters and families to know Congressman Ney does not represent their values in Washington," Feinberg said. Ney spokesman Brian Walsh said the ads expose the House Democrats' motives for criticizing Ney.

"Congressman Ney has felt all along that petty, partisan politics have been the driving force behind many of the ethics-related news stories we have seen recently, and this latest ad campaign only further proves that case," Walsh said. Ney was first elected in 1994 and has been re-elected five times. No Democrat has come forward to oppose him next year. campaign targeting Ney, Majority Leader Tom DeLay and four HQPB New York Times reported to be jailed for not revealing sources, Page SA. About 80 employees of the Dayton Daily News and 25 staff members from The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer conducted rallies.

others, she said. Ney Democrats have been critical of Ney for his association with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Getting it from all sides Briefs 4 "If reporters can be used as information pipelines to government authorities, that will chill their ability to do their jobs and it could, in some circumstances, put them in harm's way," said Jeff Bruce, editor of the Dayton Daily News. "This action imperils not only the press, but the rights of ordinary citizens." Reporters at The Columbus Dispatch observed a moment of silence, as did journalists at the Akron Beacon Journal, The (Canton) Repository and The (Massillon) Independent. Wednesday, Judith Miller of The New York Times was ordered jailed for refusing to divulge her source in an investigation of the Bush administration's leak of an undercover CIA operative's name. Matthew Cooper of Time magazine agreed to testify, saying his source gave him permission to discuss their conversation.

"We stand steadfast in our beliefs that anonymous sources are sometimes necessary in building a story," said Alan Miller, managing editor for news at the Dispatch. i 3 I fy. Marcus MailerGazette Maxton Barnhart, 9, enjoys a burst of cold water Wednesday afternoon from a large water gun operated by Willy Kerns, 9, left, and Harrison Taylor, 8, during a squirt gun fight at the Western School building on Mill Street. The children are enrolled in the Chillicothe City Schools Summer Latchkey program for second- through fifth-graders. Kid-safety locks may have trapped child in hot car BATAVIA A 4-year-old boy who died of heat stroke apparently climbed into the family car and then couldn't get out because of child-safety door locks, a prosecutor said.

Clermont County Prosecutor Donald White said the locks were engaged in the rear of the car where Andy Jones' father, Stephen, found him Monday evening. He said the boy could have climbed into the front seat to escape the car but probably didn't know that. Clermont County Coroner Brian Treon said preliminary autopsy results indicated the child died of hyperthermia a life-threatening condition caused by overexposure to heat. White said the child was supposed to be with an older sibling when the parents discovered he was missing. His father found the boy with his hand-held computerized game in the car parked outside their home near Batavia, 18 miles southeast of Cincinnati Sheriff A.J.

Rodenberg called the death a tragic accident. White said he did not anticipate any criminal charges. State: CSU funding better than most WILBERFORCE Ohio's top higher-education official is defending the funding of Central State University, an effort to counter calls for federal officials to reopen a discrimination complaint against the state. In a letter last week to the U.S. Education Department, Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Roderick G.W.

Chu asserted that Ohio "has long invested an extraordinary amount of funds" into Central State, even in financially tough periods. Central State President John Garland and the school's board of trustees have told the Education Department they believe the state's two-year budget signed last week by Gov. Bob Taft violates the agreement that settled the civil rights case. The budget cuts core funding for Central State next year by $821,000, or 4.75 percent That's the largest percentage cut among Ohio's 13 public universities, according to board of regents records. The state also cut $463,000 in Central State funding for 2007 and $125,000 for the school's water resources program.

Central State, about 15 miles east of Dayton, receives special supplemental state funding that goes beyond the per-student allocation to all state universities because of the school's small size and its mission to serve black students. Compiled from wire reports suit to court Government takes largest over power plant changes Under the gavel AEP has more than 5 million customers in 11 states. Its nine plants on trial are Muskingum River, Cardinal and Conesville in Ohio; Tanners Creek in Indiana; Amos, Kammer, Mitchell and Sporn in West Virginia; and Clinch River in Virginia. This case involves more plants than any of the lawsuits. On the ilet AEP: www.aep.com Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Duke Energy saying the power provider did not need the EPA's permission for improvements made between 1988 and 2000 at eight of its plants.

Sargus is not bound by that ruling because it affects a district outside Ohio. The Bush administration in 2002 and 2003 rewrote the EPA regulations Clinton used to sue the utilities. Those new regulations have been placed on hold while federal courts review challenges to them. Even so, Justice Department officials have continued during the Bush presidency to sue utilities. The government has settled nine cases against power generators it says will reduce emissions by 940,000 tons a year through the installation of $5.5 billion worth of pollution controls.

States suing AEP are New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maryland. The trial is expected to last about a week. It is not clear when Sargus will rule. common throughout the company and the industry, AEP lawyer Mike Miller said. "We will show that completion of projects like those here do not necessarily translate into increased generation or emissions," he said.

Bellas said the modifications extended the life expectancy of the plants built in the 1950s and '60s from 35 or 40 years to 50 or 60 years. The changes also made the plants more efficient so they could produce more electricity, which increased pollution, she said. U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus, hearing the case without a jury, ruled for the government in the first case to go to trial against Ohio Edison's WH. Sam-mis plant in eastern Ohio.

The company, owned by Akron-based FirstEnergy, later agreed to pay $1.1 billion on equipment to control emissions at Sammis and three other plants and $33.5 million in fines and environmental initiatives. A ruling in a similar case in Virginia gave a victory to a utility company last month. The 4th U.S. By ERICA RYAN Associated Press Writer COLUMBUS The nation's largest power generator broke clean air rules when it failed to cut emissions at plants in four states that foul the air in the Northeast and can make breathing more difficult, a federal lawyer said Wednesday. The case against Columbus-based American Electric Power that got started in federal court is the biggest among several filed in the waning days of the Clinton administration against utilities in the Midwest and South.

The government and eight states say AEP's refusal to install new pollution controls means the nine coal-fired plants continue to spew sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and soot that cause acid rain, smog and haze downwind from Ohio. The government says the pollutants lead to severe respiratory problems, including asthma and bronchitis. "The plaintiffs expect to establish that AEP's conduct has resulted in environmental harm," Leslie Bellas, an attorney with the Sitter gets 15 years to life in baby's death ELYRIA A baby sitter was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the death of a 5-month-old boy, who prosecutors said had a skull fracture from being shaken at the woman's home daycare. A jury last week convicted Melissa Dovala, a 33-year-old mother of two from Amherst, of murder. Lorain County Judge Edward Zaleski on Tuesday merged sentences for three lesser charges into the murder sentence.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mark Mahoney said the child, Riley Smath, was shaken in February 2004. Dovala didnt call 911 or seek medical assistance for the infant, Mahoney said. Riley died about 90 minutes after being taken to Amherst Hospital Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus determined the injury happened about three to five hours before Riley's death and could not have been inflicted by another child. Dovala had nine children in addition to Riley in her home the day of his death. Eileen Callahan-Smath told the judge her son's death has affected her extended family, not just the child's parents.

"Besides our pain and grief, my husband and I have had the hardest time watching our nieces and nephews mourn the death of their little cousin," Callahan-Smath said. Dovala maintains her innocence and will appeal the verdict, her mother said. Compiled from wire reports Agenda TODAY Bainbridge Village Council, 7 p.m., city building. Franklin Township Board of Trustees, 5 p.m., Wilson Run Township Pleasant Valley Regional Sewer District, 7 p.m., district office. Bainbridge Village Council, public hearing on the budget for the next fiscal year ending Dec.

31 2006, 7 p.m., city building, 118 E. Main Bainbridge. Chillicothe City Schools Board of Education, special meeting, 5:30 p.m., westeraAdministra-tion Offices, 235 Cherry St. Jefferson Township Board of Trustees, 7 p.m., township building. FRIDAY Adena Local School District Board of Education, special meeting, 6:30 p.m., board conference room.

Correction Rolling Thunder Ohio Chapter 3, a Prisoners Of War, Missing In Action and Veterans Awareness service organization, helped make the American Legion Post 757s June 11 homecoming celebration a success with donations from the organization. The organization's title was incorrectly listed on Page 3B of Friday's Gazette. The Gazette regrets the error. government's environmental enforcement section, said in opening statements. AEP and the utilities have argued the work done on the plants was routine maintenance, which doesn't trigger the requirements for expensive pollution controls.

AEP could be required to pay billions of dollars for pollution controls and millions of dollars in penalties if it violated the Clean Air Act. The work done at the plants was Ironton resident documenting lost art in river What's going on in the world? 3 i i i 1 4 "WW T-' i "We have all of this art 400, 500 and 600 years old. What kind of value can we put on it? I think it's priceless, and I want to save the best of these so your grand kids and my grand kids can come and see them." Steve Shaffer GREENBOTTOM, W.Va. Low water in the Ohio River this summer has exposed petroglyphs that are rarely seen. With the evening's sun glowing orange one day last week, Steve Shaffer waded out barefoot into the clear, shallow water.

His feet moved across the sandstone to a carving of a foot. "I think these are a lot more exciting than even Indian mounds because this is specific communication," Shaffer said of the art work in a horseshoe bend in the Ohio River between Huntington and Point Pleasant, one of more than half a dozen known American Indian rock art sites located along the Ohio. The site includes a geometric design and animal drawings on the sandstone. The lack of rainfall this spring and summer is letting Shaffer, an Ironton, Ohio, resident and author, get a good look at the petroglyphs for the first time in more than three years. "If we are going to find anything else, this is going to be the summer," said Shaffer, who wiped away the silt from the old etch- II in i 'r Vi.

researching and writing in preparation for his first documentary film, "Written in Stone; A Documentary Exploring the Prehistoric Native American Rock Art of the Ohio River Valley." His work already has unearthed video documentation of the once-famous Indian's Head Rock, a landmark for steamboaters that had not been seen since 1920 when the Ohio River was dammed. The rock is now 14 feet below the river's surface. "We have all of this art 400, 500 and 600 years old," Shaffer said. "What kind of value can we put on it? I think it's priceless, and I want to save the best of these so your grand kids and my grand kids can come and see them." ings. "They will be in and out for the rest of the summer." The site is believed to have been left by ancestors of the Shawnee.

Shaffer said some of the petroglyphs in the area have been found by accident. A giant rock filled with art of birds and human and animal stick-figures, as well as geometric designs, was found in Ceredo in 1975 about 40 feet from the Ohio River shore. At the time, it was covered with about 15 feet of silt kicked up when a crew was dredging for a barge mooring. That petroglyph, thought to be one of the largest and best preserved in the United States, now is at the Ceredo Historical Museum. Shaffer has spent the past five years and his own money AP Matt Veith reads a newspaper Wednesday as he takes a lunch break in Cincinnati..