Roxborough

When Roxborough Memorial Hospital was sold to Tenet Healthcare Corp. 19 months ago for $23 million, hospital officials hoped they had assured the 115-bed institution's future and raised enough money to pay off its debts. But now the nonprofit organization that got the $23 million in the sale, known as Memorial Hospital, Roxborough, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Philadelphia, and hospital creditors do not expect to collect all they are owed. And while Tenet continues to operate the hospital, the for-profit hospital company is struggling under government investigations into its billing practices and numerous lawsuits.

A 34-year-old Roxborough man is accused of beating two elderly East Falls residents to death last week during a robbery. Mark Schultz, 34, of Conarroe Street near Pechin, was arrested yesterday at his home in connection with the beating deaths Thursday of Helen McDonald, 80, and Walt Wheatley, 65. Schultz was taken to homicide headquarters at the Police Administration Building, 8th and Race streets, where, police sources said, he admitted beating...

Scotty Mack, he's sure a speedy back. How speedy? Well, when Roxborough coach Cliff Hubbard timed his football players in the 40-yard dash at the start of workouts, the stopwatch read 4.2 seconds after Mack, without competition, scooted down the cinder track. Every player had to run two 40s, however. Surely Mack would not match the feat, especially with little rest. Mack ran, Hubbard clocked. Then the coach went into shock. "It wasn't that surprising to me," Mack said.

Roxborough's 7-5 victory over Northeast in the Public League baseball championship game yesterday at Frankford was "the craziest game I've ever been associated with," said Roxborough coach Cliff Hubbard. The game featured a triple play by Roxborough, two dramatic home runs, an official protest, a hitter who batted out of order, and a complete-game victory by a pitcher who improved his record to 10-0. "I was afraid to look away for a moment," Hubbard said. "I was afraid I would miss something.

A man died in a Monday morning fire in the city's Roxborough section. The fire broke out shortly after 5 a.m. at a three-story rowhouse on the 400 block of Conarroe Street and was under control at 5:27 a.m., according to Executive Fire Chief Daniel A. Williams. Smoke was coming out of the first floor when firefighters arrived, and two or more residents managed to escape, Williams said. The victim - the brother of a retired firefighter - was found dead on the first floor, where two smoke alarms had been disconnected, Williams said.

A taxicab hit a pedestrian and then crashed into a shoe store Thursday in Roxborough, police said. The taxi was traveling west on Leverington Avenue and turning left onto Ridge on a green light at 2:31 p.m. when it hit a 64-year-old man. Medics took him to Temple University Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. The taxi crashed into the front of Sneakertown at 6188 Ridge Ave., but no other injuries were reported. - Robert Moran

A 22-year-old man was killed Monday afternoon in a car accident in Roxborough, police said. The man was driving a Volkswagen on Henry Avenue near Monastery at 1:34 p.m. when he hit a curb and swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding head-on with another vehicle, spokeswoman Officer Tanya Little said. He was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:10 p.m. Police have not released the victim's identity. The driver of the other vehicle suffered only minor cuts and bruises, Little said, and was treated at Temple and released.

Chewed up in the first half and chewed out at halftime, Roxborough was left yesterday with a 21-8 loss to Washington that was especially tough to swallow. "I don't know if we were in awe of Washington at first or what, but we did not play at all in the first half," said Roxborough coach Cliff Hubbard, after his Indians reversed fields and outplayed the defending Public League champion Eagles in the final two periods. "We didn't block, we didn't tackle, we didn't play," he said.

One way or another, Derek Cunningham was assured four years ago of becoming involved in the heat of the 1987 Public Mid-City football race. There was Cunningham yesterday, helping Roxborough maneuver through a minefield called Simon Gratz, 12-0. But . . . "I was thinking of Central and Dobbins in elementary school," said the 6-3, 245-pound Cunningham, a senior tackle and outside linebacker. "My counselor messed things up. She was late getting my transcript together. By the time those schools got it, they said it was too late.

A 57-year-old Roxborough woman was hit by a city sanitation truck and fatally injured as she attempted to cross the street at Ridge Avenue and Green Lane early yesterday afternoon, police said. The woman, identified as Marie Gross of the 300 block of Gates Street, was crossing the intersection near her home when she was hit. Her hands were reportedly loaded with packages when she began to cross, west to east, near a bus stop and a bank. The truck, southbound on Ridge Avenue, hit and knocked her over its front wheels, severing one leg and almost cutting off the other.