Category: default || By jt3y

The Valley Mirror has a story this week about people running stop signs on Braddock Avenue in Swissvale. Apparently, police are cracking down after one fatal pedestrian accident and several near misses.

Well, Swissvale is like a stroll through a deserted meadow compared with some places. Remember what I wrote a few months ago about Florida drivers? Dateline, St. Petersburg, Fla.:

A 93-year-old driver apparently suffering from dementia fatally struck a pedestrian, then continued driving through a toll booth with the man's body on his windshield, police said.

Ralph Parker of Pinellas Park drove for three miles Wednesday night after striking the 52-year-old pedestrian with his gold 2002 Chevrolet Malibu, severing the man's right leg, police said.

A toll taker on the Sunshine Skyway saw the body stuck through Parker's windshield and notified police, Traffic Homicide Investigator Michael Jockers said.

More here from the St. Pete Times. Authorities say that they are unlikely to charge Mr. Parker because he didn't even know what day it was when they stopped him, nor where he was driving to.

Police have taken his driver's license, however. Which was last renewed by Florida's DMV in 2003.

Welcome to Florida: Now run for your life!

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Speaking of the cops, and bad drivers, we have another Mon-Yough speedtrap report for you. Picksberg police have been observed running a speed check at the north end of the Glenwood Bridge (the Hazelwood side), particularly during evening rush hour, while the cops in Our Fair City have been watching Fifth Avenue in the East End, between Hartman Street and the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge (mostly after sunset).

You have been warned: Get the lead out of your feet!

Also, the new signs designating the Fifteenth Avenue Bridge as the Senator Albert V. Belan Bridge are up, though they were covered with canvas the last time I checked. Not sure when they're going to be unveiled. (This weekend, maybe? Or have they already been revealed? Reports to the Almanac are most welcome.)

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Of all of the stories about Our Fair City (perhaps hereinafter I'll abbreviate that as "OFC") I'd like to see make the news in India and Australia, the continuing sad tale of the fetuses stacked in Robert Winston Jr.'s garage wasn't one of them.

If you don't already know, Winston, former operator of Newman-Winston Memorial Chapel, is headed for trial. Jonathan Silver's story in the P-G tracks the saga of how a man who was once a pillar of the business and professional communities wound up involved in a sordid mess.

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To Do This Weekend: Penn State McKeesport Campus will host high school students, transfer students and returning adult students for the second annual Penn State Day tomorrow. The event kicks off at 9 a.m. in the Student Community Center. Information on degree programs, admissions strategies, financial aid opportunities, student organizations and athletics will be available, along with campus tours, photos and face painting, a free T-shirt and a tailgate lunch. Call 412-675-9010 or register online. ... There's country line dancing tonight at the Palisades, Fifth Avenue at Water Street. (Yee-haw!) Call 412-678-6979. ...