The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 9

The Pittsburgh Press Section Tuesday, November 5, 1991 2 Catty Coaamicnl memtoeirs attack 8.5 water rate Mke would add $7.21 to the quarterly bill of a customer using 28,000 gallons. If approved, it will bring the cumulative increase in water rates since the authority's creation in May 1984 to 120 percent. Two City Council members, one of whom sits on the authority board, assailed the proposed increase yesterday. "I think it's outrageous. It's nothing more than a back-door tax increase by the (MaslofD administration," Councilman Jim Ferlo said.

He urged abolition of the authority and a return of ratemak-ing powers to council. Councilman Gene Ricciardi, one of seven authority board members, said he will vote against the increase. But he predicted the board's majority, controlled by Mayor Sophie Masloff, would approve it, "The political reality is that if Masloff wants the rate hike, she's going to get the rate hike," Ricciardi said. Masloff said annual increases were expected when the authority was created to finance $200 million in capital improvements to the city water and sewer system. She denied the proposed increase is a substitute for higher taxes.

Ricciardi contended the authority is continuing to overpay the city for leasing the water system. In addition to reimbursements for direct and indirect costs, the authority will pay the city $4.4 million next year, he said. Eliminating the additional payment would enable the authority to those of comparable systems. Under present rates, customers of Pennsylvania-American Water Co. would pay about $117 per quarter for 28,000 gallons.

Hayllar denied that water revenues are being used to balance the city budget. Dawn Botsford, the authority's executive director, said the increase is needed because of plummeting interest earnings and lower-than-expected revenues this year. The increase will bring in an estimated $3.6 million, she said. maintain its current rates, he said. Ricciardi said Masloff should cut city services, trim costs or even raise taxes rather than draw extra revenue from the authority.

"To me, (the rate increase) is a hidden tax increase," he said. The proposed increase would bring the quarterly bill for 28,000 gallons to $91.17. The same amount of water cost $41.45 before the authority was established. Ben Hayllar, city finance director and an authority board member, said city rates would remain below Masloff ready to run again i I if'' W7' -is 1 By Jon Schmitz The Pittsburgh Press Today, it's Harris Wofford vs. Dick Thornburgh.

Next November, it'll likely be President Bush vs. who knows? And the year after that, Mayor Sophie Masloff expects to have her name on voting machines again. Approaching her 74th birthday next month, Masloff says she is not slowing down and expects to seek re-election in 1993. Masloff yesterday said she won't make a formal announcement until after next year's presidential campaign. But she's making it no secret in the interim.

"I've been saying it publicly to anybody who ever asked me. It's no big scoop," she said. "I've started a lot of things. I have a lot of things going," Masloff said, mentioning the Crawford Square housing development in the Hill District, the Pittsburgh Technology Center in Oakland and the city's plans for a new Public Safety building, Downtown. "People say, 'You've started all these projects.

Do you expect to be here to finish I always say yes. It's a matter of ensuring that the people we deal with have confidence in me. "At the moment, I feel great. I haven't even had a cold knock on wood." Masloff, who has been mayor since the death of Mayor Richard Caliguiri in May 1988, also said she is certain of at least one Democratic foe. "I know for sure (state Rep.) Tom Murphy's going to run against me." New Castle $1.5 million A jury in U.S.

District Court has ordered Browning-Ferris Industries to pay a Lawrence County man more than $1.5 million for injuries he received when a BFI refuse truck slammed into his car more than four years ago. Jurors deliberated about two hours before returning the verdict late Friday for Richard A. Young, 38, of New Castle. His wife, Mary Ann, 34, was awarded $150,000 for loss of consortium. Young, a former welder for CSX Transportation, was struck broadside by a BFI refuse truck early By Jon Schmitz The Pittsburgh Press The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority board is scheduled to vote Friday on a proposed 8.5 percent water rate increase for next And if that isn't tough enough for customers to swallow, the authority's fiscal forecast is for 8.5 percent increases in each of the following three years.

The proposed Jan. 1 increase Connelley school changes studied By Christine Vorce The Pittsburgh Press If the Connelley Skill Learning Center were just another Pittsburgh public school, its financial appetite might be easier to handle. But Connelley's programs and students more than 1,000 adults who learn vocational and basic education skills at the Uptown facility put the school in a class by itself, Pittsburgh school directors say. As a result, board members agreed last night to have Superintendent Richard C. Wallace start talks with the district teachers' union on restructuring Connelley's operations and finances.

The goal is to reduce the $2 million yearly subsidy the district gives the school. The board did not specify what contractual work rules it wants to address. But Connelley Principal Alfred Fascetti said after the meeting the biggest problems are "bumping" rules that use seniority and area of certification to determine which teachers are assigned to a class, and a school calendar that does not coincide with the demands of employers or adult students. "I need a little more flexibility," he said. Please see Connelley, B4 GM loses $975,000 lawsuit By Lawrence Walsh The Pittsburgh Press A federal court jury has ordered General Motors to pay $975,000 to a Jefferson County man seriously injured in an automobile accident in 1985.

The jury of five women and one man deliberated nine hours over two days before deciding in favor of Bany Temchulla, 33, a welder who lives in Punxsutawney. The verdict Friday afternoon concluded a 10-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge Donald E. Ziegler. Temchulla was driving home about 30 mph between 1 and 2 a.m.

June 9 on Wright Road, a two-lane rural dirt road about eight miles east of Punxsutawney when he fell asleep at the wheel. His 1977 Olds-mobile Cutlass ran off the road, up an embankment and rolled over on its roof. The roof separated from the metal frame around the driver's door. Temchulla, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, was injured when the impact forced his head up through the opening in the roof. He was pinned in the wreckage for more than five hours.

The left side of his face, from the jaw line to the hair line, was shredded. Part of his face is paralyzed. Plastic surgeons have been able to repair some of the damage. Anthony Sances, a bio-mechanical engineer from the University of Michigan, testified that Temchulla "would have walked away from the accident" if the roof support system hadn't collapsed. Sances said GM's roof design was defective.

In reaching their verdict, the jurors rejected GM attorney Carl A. Eck's argument that the design wasn't defective and that Temchulla was injured when centrifugal forces forced his head out the driver's side window. Eck described the verdict as "high" and said GM is considering an appeal. Temchulla's attorney, William S. Schweers said he will ask the judge to award more than $400,000 in delay damages because GM "failed to make a reasonable offer to settle the case." Judges can award such damages when 1f'; 'Mj-.

'mjiv. Al FuchsThe Pittsburgh Press Camera shy Penny, a Magellanic penguin, strayed from the limelight briefly during a photo session yesterday at the Pittsburgh School for the Blind in Oakland, where representatives of the Busch Gardens and Sea World parks in Florida were visiting as part of an educational program on animal conservation. Mayor Sophie Masloff Wants 2nd term Murphy could not be reached for comment. Another potential challenger, city Council President Jack Wagner, said it was important for the mayor to announce re-election plans "to make sure she isn't a lame duck." Wagner said he will review his mayoral prospects next year. "I will make an in-depth analysis of how I'm viewed as a mayoral candidate and go from there.

I have a lot of good ideas for the city, some of which can be implemented from council and some of which can only be implemented from the mayor's office." Masloff said she has been raising money for 1993 and expects to have her next fund-raising event early next year. She defeated four Democratic challengers, including Murphy, in the May 1989 primary and was elected that November. man wins injury case July 14, 1987, in Hillsville, Lawrence County. The truck was pulling out of a side street onto the town's main thoroughfare when the accident occurred. According to court papers, Young later sought treatment for a neck and lower back injury.

The suit said Young has been unable to work since the accident. Young's attorney, Emil DiNardo of Buffalo, N.Y., said his client earned about $30,000 a year before the accident. BFI attorney John Hooper could not be reached for comment. said. "It wouldn't be fun anymore," Brositz and three friends took up skydiving after reading about it in magazines.

Brositz also enjoyed ice skating and skiing, but those sports just weren't as thrilling. "It's definitely the most adrenaline-pumping." His adrenaline was pumping Oct. 20, when his main chute didn't open. "It was like one long piece of string." He then grabbed for the cord to'. open the smaller emergency chute.

"You knew you'd either pull out the handle or you were a dead man." The emergency parachute; worked, but left him with little control over the fall. "I thought I'd be all right until I saw I was headed for the Brositz lay on the ground about 20 minutes before help arrived. He said he had no feeling in his legs. Now, the feeling has returned, and he's looking forward to walking. The accident may mean Brositz, ah electrical engineering major, will graduate one or two semesters later than he planned.

But he added he's too happy about going home to dwell on thai "I'll enjoy getting out of here." Fallen sky diver anxious to getfeet on ground By Davidson Taylor The Pittsburgh Press Mark Brositz of Baldwin Borough had been skydiving for VA years for the fun and excitement of it. On Oct. 20 over New Sewickley, Beaver County, Brositz stepped out of an airplane for his 14 th jump. It wasn't fun but it was exciting. After his main parachute- failed to open, Brositz yanked the cord for his emergency chute, then drifted into a clump of trees.

The chute snagged on branches, and Brositz was left dangling, unhurt, 30 or 40 feet above ground. "For five seconds I thought I'd be all right until it slipped and let go," the 21-year-old University of Pittsburgh senior said yesterday from his bed at Presbyterian University Hospital. He is expected to be released from the hospital sometime this week following two operations to correct a broken hip and spine. Metal rods were placed in Bro-sitz's back, and metal plates and screws were attached to his hip, said Dr. Gary Gruen, chief of orthopedic trauma at the hospital.

Brositz will spend the next three months in a wheelchair, then he will need six months of therapy before 1 Greg LanierThe Pittsburgh Press is "pretty much over" from the old school." He doesn't have to worry about Brositz: "I think my (skydiving) career is pretty much over," he Injured Mark Brositz says his skydiving career he fully recovers, Gruen said. "I don't recommend for my mo- Although Brositz should be phys- torcyclists to go back to motorcy- ically able to skydive again, Gruen cling, or my parachutists to go back said he won't recommend it. to parachuting," Gruen said. "I'm 91 0.