Pitts

A date, a time and a place have been set for the first, and perhaps the only, debate between State Rep. Joseph Pitts (R., Chester) and his challenger, Chris Ross. But who will moderate this debate is still very much up in the air. Pitts said Tuesday that, as far as he was concerned, the Unionville- Chadds Ford Taxpayers Association will moderate the debate, which will be held 7:30 p.m. April 20 at the Charles S. Patton Middle School. The Ross camp, while finding much to admire about the taxpayers' organization, said the group was unacceptable in the role of moderator.

About 20 people gathered outside Rep. Joseph R. Pitts' office on Lancaster Avenue yesterday morning to protest his refusal to support a bill to ban commercial logging in national forests. Leading the protest was John A. Keslick Jr., who said he was a tree biologist. He spoke as protesters held signs and cheered and passing drivers honked to show support. "We would like to see the laws change to take the commercial interests out," Keslick said. "We need to separate our forests from our tree farms.

State Rep. Joseph Pitts said yesterday that his GOP opponent, Fred Null, may have violated the state Ethics Act in connection with a $22 million public road project in Chester County. Null dismissed the accusation as a "a total red herring. " "What I really perceive Joe trying to do here is in the last week of the campaign turning to 'The Big Lie,' " Null said. Pitts, a 20-year incumbent, had largely ignored Null's attacks on him up to yesterday. However, during a news conference at the West Bradford Township Building, he struck back, accusing Null of conducting a "very ugly and vicious campaign" in the 158th District.

"Everybody knew but me. " - Liza Minnelli, on the sexual orientation of ex-husband Peter Allen Does this sound like a woman washin' a man right out of her hair? "Not only is Brad Pitt beyond reproach," Gwyneth Paltrow announced this week, "but he is a man of extreme integrity and goodness. " Well, thank you, Miss Thing. Paltrow, who issued the above statement to columnist Liz Smith, is apparently trying to defuse rumors that she called off her engagement to Pitt last month after she caught him eyeing other gals.

FORGET THE OSCARS, the Emmys, even People magazine's most beautiful people list. Here are the winners of Hollywood's most important honor. Best bottom. Husband and wife fitness experts Majid and Ahnjel Ali, who have been rating superstar behinds since 1999, have named their 2004 picks for the best and worst butts in Hollywood, according to Wireless Flash. This year, "Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell of the Bootie," say Britney Spears is at the top for females. The deliciously muscular "Troy" star Brad Pitt is No. 1 among the men. Majid says scrawny celebutante Paris Hilton's posterior is the worst among celebrity women.

For Tyrone Pitts, the events that led to becoming the senior captain of the 1987-88 Penn Quakers began on a Camden sidewalk nine years ago. "I was in seventh grade when we got evicted from our house," Pitts said. "You can imagine the feeling I had. You come out of your house and see your things lying on the sidewalk. That feeling that hit me that day was something that I'd never like to come back to me again. From then on, I was kind of determined to succeed. " After the eviction, Pitts was sent to live with an uncle and aunt in Lindenwold, N.J. The move was to be temporary, until his family, which included 10 children, found permanent shelter and could be reunited.

It appears two primary election results will force two additional votes. Unofficial results Wednesday showed Uwchlan's Bob Yorczyk got enough write-in support to get on the Democratic ballot to challenge U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts for his 16th Congressional District seat. Pitts would have run unopposed if Yorczyk didn't receive at least 1,000 votes. Coatesville residents also forced another vote by defeating incumbent City Council member Edward Simpson Jr., who had been named the council's vice president last week in a shakeup that ousted the council's president.

State Rep. Joseph Pitts, the Republican front-runner in the 16th Congressional District race, signed a pledge yesterday morning in Lancaster saying that, if elected, he would not vote to raise taxes. The "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," crafted by a conservative organization called Americans for Tax Reform, states that the signer will oppose efforts to increase income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses. It also opposes any further reduction or elimination of deductions and credits unless matched dollar for dollar by reduced tax rates.

State Rep. Joseph R. Pitts claimed victory last night in a five-way race for the Republican nomination to succeed 20-year veteran U.S. Rep. Robert S. Walker as congressman from Pennsylvania's deeply conservative 16th District in Chester and Lancaster Counties. Elsewhere in the Philadelphia suburbs, three Republican congressmen regained their party's nominations. Freshman U.S. Rep. Jon D. Fox of the 13th District, comprising most of Montgomery County, was unopposed in yesterday's GOP primary.

Chester County Republicans tried last night to unite behind a single candidate for the 16th House District, but in a nail-biter finish, state Rep. Joseph Pitts fell five votes short of the endorsement. He and Commissioners Chairwoman Karen Martynick will each proceed to the April 23 primary wearing the label of Chester County GOP recommended candidate. State Sen. James Gerlach of the 44th District finished third in the race for the endorsement and dropped out after the second ballot, as party bylaws require.

The voluminous archives of the late U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter are heading west. Philadelphia University, which has custody, has struck a deal with the University of Pittsburgh to process, preserve, and digitize significant portions of Specter's material, officials announced Monday. The job is huge. Imagine 2,700 boxes of papers, photographs, audio and video materials, and memorabilia. That's enough to fill 337 four-drawer filing cabinets, notes Michael Dabrishus, Pitt's assistant university librarian.

PITTSBURGH - As bad as the inexplicable last-second loss at Seton Hall 6 days earlier was, this one actually might sting even more. On Sunday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center, Villanova wasted a chance to beat a nationally ranked team for the second straight weekend. If the Wildcats - who bracketologists seem to agree are about as on-the-bubble as you can get - don't hear their name called on Selection Sunday, they could well look back at their 73-64 overtime loss to Pitt as the game that proved to be the difference.

The Saturday morning nudge from his father, James Jones, would awaken 8-year-old Jaryd Jones-Smith about the time the sun was rising over his South Jersey home. Along with Jones-Smith's younger sister, Alicia, father and son would leave the Woodstown house for a weekly jog around a 3.3-mile route. "At first, it felt like torture," Jones-Smith said. "But after a while, you got used to it and it became natural. " Now a hulking, 6-foot-7, 320-pound offensive tackle at West Catholic, Jones-Smith will sign a letter of intent on Wednesday, national signing day, to accept a football scholarship to Pittsburgh.

AND NOW, in other non-Chip Kelly news . . . This was one of those games that Villanova probably needed to get, if it wants to make something out of the season: against Pittsburgh, which also went 5-13 last season in the Big East, Wednesday night at the Pavilion, a place the Wildcats rarely used to lose. And with just over 5 minutes to go, it was there for the taking. James Bell had just tied the game on a breakaway dunk off a steal. Unfortunately, that would turn out to be his team's last points.

Villanova had played some promising basketball through its first three Big East games, overcoming inconsistent shooting and turnovers with strong rebounding and gritty defense. But with Pittsburgh at the Pavilion on Wednesday night, the Wildcats weren't able to do what they had been doing well and shut down offensively in the final five-plus minutes, going scoreless and dropping a 58-43 decision to the Panthers. The Wildcats (11-6, 2-2 Big East), who lost their second in a row after a seven-game winning streak, scored their fewest points ever in the Pavilion, which opened in 1986.

SOME PROSPECTS milk the recruiting process for all it's worth. And then there's Jaryd "Burger" Jones-Smith, star football lineman at West Catholic High. He's rather reserved and the last thing he craves is nonstop attention. So, while 11 schools made offers, only two received visits. Final verdict: Pitt beat Virginia. "My family and I thought Pitt was the best place for me," said Jones-Smith, who announced his decision Tuesday afternoon in West's auditorium. "I'll get the best of both worlds there - sports and academics.

Jaryd Jones-Smith, West Catholic's 6-foot-7, 320-pound offensive lineman, flipped a few pages in his spiral notebook on Tuesday afternoon before he found his place. Somewhere in his physics book was the short speech he wrote before he would announce his oral commitment to Pittsburgh, a school he officially visited in December with his mother. "I have a free eighth period," Jones-Smith said. "So I had a little bit of time to write it. " Jones-Smith projects to be an offensive tackle at Pittsburgh.

George Washington defensive end Justin Moody gave an oral commitment Tuesday to the University of Pittsburgh. The 6-foot-3, 279-pounder unofficially visited Pitt in early December. He also weighed offers from Temple and Purdue. The commitment is nonbinding, and Washington coach Ron Cohen said he was unsure whether Moody would visit other schools. "He's a great athlete and a young man that has a great passion for the game of football," said Cohen, who traveled with Moody to Pittsburgh.

Cashmere Wright scored 18 points, Sean Kilpatrick added 16, and No. 14 Cincinnati surged past No. 24 Pittsburgh, 70-61, on Monday in Pittsburgh. The Bearcats (13-1, 1-0 Big East) bounced back from a loss to New Mexico on Thursday by dominating the Panthers over the final 20 minutes. Cincinnati trailed by as many as eight points early but used a 14-2 run midway through the second half to take control. Talib Zanna led Pitt (12-2, 0-1) with 16 points and Lamar Patterson had 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists, but the Panthers missed all 10 of their three-point shots as their eight-game winning streak ended with a thud.