STATE
PITTSBURGH — Police are hunting for vandals who spray painted messages near a Jesus statue and on eight tombstones in a Pittsburgh-area church cemetery.
Parishioners and the pastor of Ave Marie Catholic Church in Bentleyville discovered the graffiti when they arrived for Mass on Sunday.
Rev. Gary Krummert says an X has been sprayed on one of the tombstones. He says paint covers images of the deceased on other tombstones and several letters have been painted next to a Jesus statue. The message "You R Wrong" has been painted on the road leading to the entrance gate.
Police say the spray paint is the same as that used in graffiti recently found in a nearby park.
ERIE — The frozen body of an unidentified man has been found in the woods near Erie.State police say the body was found in the woods in Summit Township behind a store. The man's identity was unknown on Sunday. Police say he may have been a transient living in the area.Police say the death is not considered suspicious at this time.
ALIQUIPPA — Plans to build a multimillion dollar ethanol plant have apparently been ditched.Pittsburgh-based Sunnyside Ethanol LLC had proposed building the ethanol plant and waste coal electrical facility on about 80 acres in Aliquippa. The plant was to be on land that once housed a sprawling steel facility.Chuck Betters is one of the property owners. He says the credit crisis and the drop in gasoline prices apparently played a role in Sunnyside's decision to halt its plans.Betters says Sunnyside had a sales option for the property, but it expired.Sunnyside officials have said they are having difficulty securing funding for the Aliquippa plant.
