Vt. trucker’s homicide case moves on in Pennsylvania: Times Argus Online

Vt. trucker’s homicide case moves on in Pennsylvania

July 18, 2008

By Pete Bosak Centre Daily Times

BELLEFONTE, Pa, — The commonwealth’s of Pennsylvania’s case against a Vermont truck driver accused of vehicular homicide in a fatal crash last year moved forward Tuesday after several key legal victories and the chance that once-suppressed toxicology results could return as evidence.

Peter Carrara of North Clarendon originally was accused of being under the influence of methamphetamine on May 22, 2007, when his tractor-trailer hauling memorial headstones crashed into, then rolled over, a car on state Route 64. The crash killed 57-year-old Bonnie Weaver, who died in the fire that consumed her mangled car.

But toxicology results showing Carrara, a driver for Bellavance Trucking of Barre. had methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system at the time of the crash were suppressed after a judge agreed with defense attorney Brian Manchester that the search warrant used by state police to obtain the results was inaccurate and therefore illegal.

But Centre County District Attorney Steve Sloane won victories on several points Tuesday during a hearing before Centre County President Judge David E. Grine:

Both Sloane and Manchester agreed on a stipulation that Weaver burned to death, but left it up to Judge Grine to decide whether a jury will hear that. Manchester said that fact would prejudice a jury against his client, while Sloane thinks a jury deserves to know the victim did not die as a direct result of the crash.

Grine confirmed that data from the rig’s “black box,” or event data recorder, is admissible. According to the recorder, Carrara’s tractor-trailer was traveling at 68 mph when he slammed into Weaver’s car, said Ronald Baade, an expert with Commonwealth Transportation Consultants, who testified at Tuesday’s hearing. The speed limit was 55 mph.

Grine told Sloane to provide him with a brief on a federal statute Sloane believes will bring back into evidence the toxicology test results showing Carrara was using meth at the time of the crash.

“It’s looking as strong as it ever looked,” Sloane said afterward. “And we may have one more piece of the puzzle.”

Carrara was traveling south on Route 64 behind Weaver’s car, when Weaver signaled that she would turn right onto Snydertown Road, police said. Carrara conceded, to avoid slowing his 44-ton loaded rig, he crossed over the solid yellow line and into the oncoming lane to pass Weaver on the left.

But the Oldsmobile changed direction, cutting back onto the roadway and into the path of the rig in an attempt to turn left onto Hublersburg Road, police said.

“I still have a solid case,” Manchester said. “The woman turned in front of my client. If she wouldn’t have turned in front of him, that accident would not have happened. The speed of my client didn’t matter.”

Sloane said it does, and that it helps to prove his vehicular homicide case.

Sloane said to prove vehicular homicide, he must show Carrara committed a traffic violation and that he did so in such a negligent and reckless manner so that it led to her death. And Sloane is still trying to get the toxicology tests back in so as to re-file dismissed charges of vehicular homicide while under the influence.

“If we are successful at that,” Sloane said, “I wouldn’t want to be Mr. Carrara, facing all this evidence, being a professional driver and having to explain this.”

Carrara also is charged with involuntary manslaughter and summary offenses. The case could go to trial as early as August.

Bloomberg.com: Energy

U.S. Fuel Use Drops Most in 17 Years in 1st Half 2008, API Says

By Margot Habiby

July 18 (Bloomberg) — U.S. fuel consumption fell 3 percent in the first half of 2008, the biggest decline for the period in 17 years, as high prices and a slowing economy curbed demand, an oil industry report today showed.

Deliveries of petroleum products declined to an average 20.08 million barrels a day through June, American Petroleum Institute said in a monthly report. Gasoline deliveries fell 1.7 percent, the first “significant” decline in 17 years.

Fuel demand fell as prices for crude oil, gasoline and heating oil futures reached records. The higher prices helped send the U.S. economy to its weakest six-months of growth in five years, according to the Commerce Department. Oil has averaged $100.10 a barrel in the past 12 months, up 58 percent from a year earlier, and reached a record $147.27 on July 11.

“Higher pump prices and a slowing economy were undoubtedly factors” in the slowdown in fuel demand, Ron Planting, an analyst with the Washington-based institute who helped prepare the report, said in a release. “At 20.08 million barrels per day, total demand was the lowest in three years.”

The average price for regular gasoline at the pump touched an all-time high of $4.114 a gallon July 16, according to AAA, the biggest U.S. motorist organization. The average price was $4.105 a gallon today.

Gasoline consumption averaged 9.06 million barrels a day during the first six months of the year, the API report showed. Deliveries in June were an average 9.2 million barrels a day, down 3.2 percent from a year earlier.

Diesel Demand

The drop in fuel use was lessened in the second quarter by rising demand for diesel, the report showed. In June, consumption of distillate fuels, including diesel and heating oil, averaged 4.27 million barrels a day, up 3.4 percent from June 2007. Overall deliveries in the first half of the year were down 1.2 percent at 4.21 million barrels a day.

Jet-fuel consumption averaged 1.6 million barrels a day in the year through June, a 1.2 percent decline from a year earlier.

The U.S. has produced 5.1 million barrels a day of crude oil so far this year, down 2.2 percent from the same period in 2007, according to the institute. Output of 5.1 million barrels a day in June was down 47 percent from the peak of 9.6 million barrels a day in 1970.

Crude oil imports fell 2.5 percent from a year ago, and gasoline imports dropped about 10 percent, the report said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net.

Danbury cops bust illegal liquor, tobacco sales - NewsTimes.com

DANBURY — Two illegal immigrants were arrested Wednesday night as a result of an investigation into illegal liquor and tobacco sales from a Rowan Street address, police said.
Arrested were Milton Galarza, 34, and Julia Rodriguez, 45, both of the same Rowan Street address. Galarza was charged with unlicensed sale of cigarettes, keeping liquor with intent to sell, disposing liquor without a permit, and unauthorized sale of alcohol.

Rodriguez was charged with second-degree forgery.

Both were held on $5,000 bonds and arraigned Thursday in Superior Court.

According to court documents, a judge set bonds for Rodriguez and Galarza at $2,500, though immigration agents placed detainers on both, meaning they’d be held even if they posted bail.

A probable cause report in the court files for both said police executed a search and seizure warrant for 18 Rowan St. about 8:03 p.m. Thursday with the assistance of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Before executing the warrant, the police report said, an undercover Danbury police officer went to the apartment and bought seven bottles of beer and 10 cigarettes from Galarza.

When police executed the warrant, the report said, they detained four Hispanic males and one Hispanic female in the apartment at the time.

The undercover officer identified Galarza as the man who sold him the beer and cigarettes, and identified Rodriguez as a woman who sold him alcohol and tobacco last Thursday, the report said.

A search of the apartment found several 30-packs, 12-packs and loose cans of beer, along with records of occupancy at the apartment for Galarza and fraudulent permanent resident and Social Security cards for Rodriguez, according to the report.
Immigration agents determined Galarza was listed as a “voluntary return,” meaning he was stopped at the Mexico border while trying to enter the United States and agreed to return to Mexico, the report said.

Immigration agents ran the names of the three other men detained and found no record of illegal entry for any of them. The three were then released at the scene, according to the report.

Newspapers of Fayette County

“This was a community that was very different from many other communities in Northeast Iowa,” said the Rev. Stephen Brackett. “There was a possibility for opportunity to take place, but it was at the expense of the dignity of other people who were trying to make life better for themselves and their families.”
Some of the Hispanic immigrants operate their own businesses, leading many in the community to believe they had acquired U.S. citizenship.
When the kosher meatpacking plant, Agriprocessors was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement May 12, most who live here, would have never imagined a third of the plant’s work force was living in the country illegally.
“They’ve been trying to stay under the radar. They don’t complain at work. They don’t want to be in touch with any legal system for fear of being arrested and deported,” said Brackett, pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Postville. “There’s no question these people are trying to do their best. In some cases its been 14 years since they’ve arrived … and yet the employer that hired them gets no consequences (beyond the loss of production)” Brackett said.
“That doesn’t give (large corporations like Agriprocessors) any incentive to follow the law.”
The pastor’s comments came during a telephone conference of faith and labor leaders, who called for immigration policy reform.
Gideon Aronoff, president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society; Rosalind Spigel, acting director of the Jewish Labor Committee and Rabbi Morris Allen, founder of the new kosher ethical certification initiative Hekhsher Tzedek joined Brackett in the teleconference Wednesday.
“The ICE raid in Postville has returned Postville to the state it was in 15 years ago,” said Brackett. “All of the work we have done to embrace the diversity of our community, and all of the efforts to build up our community have been destroyed overnight.”
The majority of the 390 employees arrested are Guatemalan and Pentecostal Christian. Most are not members of any of the three churches striving to feed, clothe and support them.
Spigel of the Jewish Labor Committee, commented, “Just as the immigrant workers at Agriprocessors need to answer to the law, so should the employers. Employers who threaten and harass their workers, short their pay, put their health and safety at risk, and hire children must be brought into compliance with the law and face the consequences of their actions. The conditions under which documented and undocumented workers endured were clearly contrary to Jewish values.”
Said Rabbi Morris Allen, “. . .we have begun to become a people that appears more concerned about the lung of a cow and to determine if the meat will be ‘glatt or non-glatt’ (types of kosher meat), and have turned a blind eye to the dignity of the worker who is processing that meat. That is particularly true when that worker is a non-documented worker who has no ability to give voice to the indignity they must endure.”
“The government’s handling of the Agriprocessors raid sends a strong message to undocumented workers that it simply does not pay to speak out against labor abuses and exploitation. Rather than investigating serious allegations against the company, the government has criminalized these workers and put them on the fast-track to deportation,” said Patty Kupfer, manager of Partnerships for America’s Voice, which hosted last week’s teleconference.
Brackett responded to a question about the Hispanic women arrested at Agriprocessors but later released by ICE, but with GPS tracking devices on their ankles because they had family to care for. He said he believes the first court date for any of the women, is in October.
“They are told they cannot work. They’re essentially left here destitute. Our food pantry is now serving in some cases, 250 people a week instead of 30. They have children to care for. Most of them have a spouse who is incarcerated, serving five month terms.”
Brackett said enormous pressure is being put on the community. “I can’t imagine what these families would be enduring if not for the support of the town.”
Aronoff, of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said, “The situation for Agriprocessors and the immigrants should be seen by the Jewish community as a wake-up call to all communities to improve their “Postvilles.” This is a crisis facing local communities around the U.S.”
“People have no problem giving aid to flood victims,” said Rev. Brackett, comparing that human suffering with the emotion in Postville. “If we have to ask first are they legal or not we’ve lost some of our humanity.” The pastor said he seeks for a bipartisan Congressional delegation to visit Postville to witness what he called a lack of action by government to enforce immigration policy.
President Bush flew over Cedar Rapids and saw the devastation caused by flooding. It would have been nice if he’d come up here. It’s time to have a backbone on the issue.”
Brackett continued, “The only people capable of fixing this are in Washington D.C. If employers become the gatekeepers of whether or not somebody is legal or illegal, if employers are held accountable for hiring workers, then illegal workers could not be hired. Suddenly we’d have businesses screaming to the government: you need to issue more work visas. There would be more chance of effecting change.”
Agriprocessors issued a news release indicating it hired a former U.S. attorney to improve its compliance with labor laws.
The group, America’s Voice, which hosted the telephonic conference, seeks broad immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million immigrants working and living in the U.S. without legal status.

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