Fatality

WHAT IS wrong with Americans today? The military fatality list has hit 1,000 while President Bush continues his threat to rid the globe of all terrorists (meaning more deaths), while the Medicare premiums are set to increase in 2005 and while high-level college graduates are encountering jobless situations. The military death toll, continuing problems with health care and the flight of jobs overseas evidently leave little impression on the public. What does it take for Americans to realize that we cannot afford four more years of President Bush?

When a child on the Department of Human Services' watch is killed by a caregiver, city and state officials comb through case files and interview social workers to find out what went wrong. But the public never hears the results of those investigations. Officials say the so-called "death reviews" are kept confidential by law to protect children, families and witnesses. Critics contend that the secrecy serves another end: to shield the agency from embarrassment and accountability.

Two people were killed in a one-car accident Monday when their car hit a curb in the 1400 block of North Longacre Boulevard and caromed into a cast-iron utility pole, police said. Speeding may have been a factor in the accident, which occurred about 6:30 a.m., but police are not sure why the car went out of control, Police Chief Donald J. Molineux said. The crash is under investigation. The identities of the victims were being withheld yesterday pending an examination by the Delaware County Medical Examiner's Office.

One down, one to go. That was the news in Atlantic County yesterday, as officials glowed over today's scheduled reopening of one of the two major bridges washed out in last week's torrential rainfall. The bridge, on Route 559 at the Sugar Hill intersection at Route 40, is scheduled to open at 3:30 p.m. "They were working around the clock, 24 hours a day," said Mike Schurman, deputy emergency management coordinator in Atlantic County. "This is tremendous news for Hamilton Township people that have had one big traffic nightmare.

DRUNKEN driving stories, like those in the July 16 Daily News ("Vehicle Device Thwarts DUI Offenders" and "Losing Control: Philly Beset by High Rate of Drunken Driving"), make headlines every day. Groups like MADD relentlessly remind Americans that the abuse of alcohol continues to be a huge problem on our roadways and, as a result, the most drastic measures are needed. Though truly "drunken" driving is a serious issue, much of the reported problem is little more than PR. Consider fatality statistics.

Most people here in Mifflin County call it the Missing Link. Some call the 4.3-mile stretch of U.S. Route 322 the Bermuda Triangle of highways. In 16 years, 15 people who have entered it have not come out alive. And dozens of people each year are crippled and maimed in accidents on it. The latest fatality occurred Oct. 24. Raymond Erney, grandfather of Rutgers University quarterback Scott Erney, drove up from Florida to see his grandson pass against Penn State. Erney never made it back to Florida.

Delaware County's privately run prison has come under the scrutiny of county investigators, and the company that runs the facility was scrambling to examine its policies and identify any missteps after five questionable inmate deaths in the last five months, officials said. Four deaths - a heroin overdose, two apparent suicides and an unexplained fatality - are under review by Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green. The fifth death, from a fistfight, was investigated earlier this year, but no charges were filed.

Police are investigating how NASCAR driver Jason Leffler died Wednesday night at the Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, including whether a mechanical failure contributed to the fatal crash. New Jersey state police said Leffler, 37, of Long Beach, Calif., lost control of his sprint car, which hit the wall and rolled over several times. "He was extricated in a very bad condition," Lt. Stephen Jones said Thursday. Leffler, a 12-year NASCAR veteran, was competing for a $7,000 prize in a sprint car race on Bridgeport's 5/8-mile dirt track.

CLEVELAND - Cleveland police fired a sergeant and meted out demotions and suspensions Tuesday for a car chase last year that involved five dozen cruisers, 137 rounds of ammunition fired by 13 officers, and the death of two people who, it turned out, were probably unarmed. A captain and lieutenant were demoted, and nine sergeants got suspensions ranging from one day to 30 days. They and the fired sergeant will appeal their punishment, according to Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8, which represents police supervisors.

A popular Chester County teenager eager to begin his second year of art school died early Friday morning in a one-vehicle car crash. Oscar "Okie" G. Regalado, 19, of Kennett Square, one of two passengers in a 1999 Audi driven by Alexander B. Moore, 19, of West Chester, was taken by helicopter to Crosier Chester Medical Center, where he died of his injuries, police said Saturday. Moore and the other passenger, Justin P. Stearn, 19, of West Chester, sustained moderate injuries, police said.