Vehicles

Recently Philadelphia Gas Works, along with neighboring utilities, Philadelphia Electric Company, UGI Corporation, and Delmarva Power, sponsored a two-day Natural Gas Vehicle Symposium to highlight the benefits of natural gas as a vehicular fuel. The symposium was designed primarily for fleet owners and operators who will be required to add cleaner operating vehicles to their fleets under the terms of the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990. Together with the world-wide focus on environmental matters, it is timely to review what PGW is doing to help to develop a market for clean burning natural gas vehicles.

A Doylestown Borough resident woke up Sunday to the noise of escaping air. Looking out his window onto North West Street, he saw someone running from the direction of his Volkswagen Golf - on which three tires had just been slashed. After a closer look at the car, the man saw the word pope scratched into the hood. Six other vehicles were similarly vandalized Sunday. The switchboard at the borough police station lit up as five reports came in about 3:30 a.m. Only one other car had pope scratched into it. The remaining two reports came in later that day. Only one vehicle owner gave police a damage estimate.

The Pemberton Borough Council voted unanimously Monday night to table an proposed ordinance that would prohibit abandoned vehicles from being stored on public or private property. At the suggestion of Councilman William Emmons, the council decided that the proposed law was too vague and that there may be special cases in which the abandoned vehicles would not detract from the character of the rural community. "We need to make the ordinance clear so there's no misunderstanding," said Mayor F. Lyman Simpkins.

In an effort to prevent old cars from becoming eyesores, the Hi-Nella Borough Council has approved restrictions on the length of time residents may store dismantled vehicles on their property. The ordinance, approved unanimously by the six-member council Tuesday, prohibits residents from storing an unregistered or partly dismantled vehicle anywhere on their property for more than three days. Outside parking of more than three such vehicles for more than seven days is banned. The ordinance, which was introduced Dec. 16, also makes it illegal to store such vehicles within 30 feet of municipal streets or county roads.

When a new 1988 Ford Bronco was discovered in a shopping center parking lot last week, the people who run Sheehy Ford thought it might be a good idea to take inventory to see if any other cars belonging to them were missing. In so doing, the dealership made another, far more remarkable discovery. Fourteen new and used vehicles, estimated to be worth at least $182,000, had been stolen from the lot of the dealership, at Roosevelt Boulevard north of Welsh Road. "Until (the inventory)

About two dozen passenger vehicles were damaged this morning by vandals who slashed tires, doused cars with a corrosive chemical and dumped sugar in gas tanks in the Overbrook section, police said. Capt. Melvin Singleton, commander of the 19th Police District, said tires were slashed on 17 cars and the paint on seven other passengers vehicles had been stripped away by an acid-like substance. Some cars also had sugar in the gas tanks, he said. A Fire Department Hazmat Unit was called to the scene to scrape off some of the corrosive chemical for testing.

Two people were hurt and seven vehicles damaged yesterday in two accidents on a Delaware County bridge that were caused by icy roads and that backed up morning rush-hour traffic on Interstate 95 for about five miles, police said. Tinicum Township police said the accidents happened about 7:10 a.m. in the four northbound lanes of I-95 when a van driven by Bobby Andrews, 28, of the 2400 block of Bowers Street, Wilmington, spun out of control on the ice- slickened Bartram Avenue overpass.

Grief-stricken residents in Whitman Park were already coping with the loss of a slain neighbor when many of them awoke yesterday, the day of Anthony DeMarco's funeral, to find that their cars had been vandalized. Fifty-six vehicles on Jackson and Wolf streets between 2nd and 3rd in the South Philadelphia neighborhood were doused with a chemical, possibly acetone or paint thinner, police said. Police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers said the vandalism occurred at 2:50 a.m. and appeared to be a random act not related to Friday's homicide.

Crews on Sunday cleared stranded vehicles from a nine-mile stretch of Interstate 80 in Northwestern Pennsylvania a day after whiteout conditions led to chain-reaction crashes involving 50 or more vehicles. Three people killed in the crashes were identified as Michael Maluk, 70, of Greenville, Mercer County, and a married couple, Robert and Rita Duffy, of the Pittsburgh suburb of West View, Venango County Deputy Coroner Chris Hile said. - AP

The tow-truck drivers found one of the cars they'd been sent after, a 1986 Mazda 323 with an expired tag and a phony inspection sticker. It was wedged between two Chevys. No problem. The men hooked a chain around the Mazda's frame and pulled the car away from the curb. The work backed up traffic in the 5200 block of Duffield Street in Frankford, but the Philadelphia Police Department wanted the car towed. The Mazda was one of 210 abandoned, unsafe or illegally parked vehicles that had been ticketed for removal last Wednesday and Thursday in the 15th Police District.

A police officer was struck by a vehicle Friday night in Chester County, authorities said. The Tredyffrin Township officer was hit by the vehicle about 8:10 p.m. at 73 Old Eagle School Rd., authorities said. The vehicle did not leave the scene. The officer, whose condition was not immediately available, was to be transported to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The accident was under investigation. — Robert Moran

TWO PEOPLE were killed in Fort Washington Monday afternoon, when they were hit by a car as they tried pushing a disabled vehicle along the northbound lanes of Route 309 near the Camp Hill overpass, State Police said. A 54-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man were hit from behind by a Lexus SUV as they were trying to push a Lincoln Town Car onto the shoulder, according to reports. Authorities did not identify them Monday night. The woman who was driving the Lexus was reportedly taken to Abington Memorial Hospital.

DARAA, Syria - A roadside bomb hit a Syrian military truck Wednesday just seconds after the head of the U.N. observer team drove by in a convoy, demonstrating the fragility of the international plan to end the country's bloodshed. In Washington, President Obama took steps to extend sanctions against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, saying Syria posed an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security and diplomatic goals. The attack, which the regime said wounded 10 Syrian soldiers, emphasized the limits of the international community's plan to use unarmed observers to promote a cease-fire between government troops and rebels trying to topple Assad.

A 36-year-old Bucks County man was killed early Sunday after his motorcycle struck another vehicle in the 3600 block of Kensington Avenue. Police did not release the man's name. A police spokesman said the motorcyclist hit a vehicle from behind at 2:44 a.m. and was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital at 3:13. - Jennifer Lin

Tires on 10 cars were flattened overnight in the Holmesburg neighborhood that has been at the epicenter of the recent spate of tires slashings. Police said vehicles in the area of Aldine and Erdrick Streets were targeted in the latest slashing spree, which discovered about 5 a.m. Since October, tires have been slashed on scores of vehicles, many in the Holmesburg/Mayfair area. Much of the damage has been concentrated on Aldine and Teesdale Streets, where some residents have been hit multiple times.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission announced Monday it will hold a forum May 31 in Philadelphia to examine policy issues related to the increased use of vehicles powered by electricity and natural gas. Pennsylvania has become a center of natural gas production because of the Marcellus Shale formation, PUC Chairman Robert F. Powelson said in a statement. "This activity, the corresponding drop in electric generation prices coupled with the appreciation of oil prices, has clarified the need for the PUC to explore policies and regulatory frameworks that can support investments in natural gas and electric vehicles.

TRENTON - A top state lawmaker is questioning whether the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission charges customers too much for services, and says officials should discuss lowering fees and returning money to taxpayers. Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D., Passaic), vice chairman of the Budget Committee, said during a transportation budget hearing last week the proposed 2013 budget for the commission calls for collecting $1.1 billion from motor vehicle customers. Only about a third of that, $344 million, would go to pay for services.

The cream puff at the Philadelphia Parking Authority's auto auction was the 2000 Volvo C70 convertible. The cloth top looked nearly new, and, though the leather seats needed a scrub, the interior was otherwise remarkably fresh. For prospective bidders, it showed far better than the tired Plymouth Neons and 1990s Crown Vics sharing the impound lot underneath I-95. And it was proof you can find a drivable car among the thousands of vehicles the city seizes and auctions off each year.

About two dozen passenger vehicles were damaged this morning by vandals who slashed tires, doused cars with a corrosive chemical and dumped sugar in gas tanks in the Overbrook section, police said. Capt. Melvin Singleton, commander of the 19th Police District, said tires were slashed on 17 cars and the paint on seven other passengers vehicles had been stripped away by an acid-like substance. Some cars also had sugar in the gas tanks, he said. A Fire Department Hazmat Unit was called to the scene to scrape off some of the corrosive chemical for testing.

A DAY AFTER a 21-year-old man was arrested for slashing tires in Northeast Philadelphia, vandals early Wednesday damaged more than a dozen cars with a caustic chemical in Crescentville. The latest spree was reported about 4:30 a.m. on Van Kirk Street near Bingham. Initial reports indicated that an acid-like caustic liquid was thrown on more than a dozen cars, damaging their paint. Vehicles in various Northeast neighborhoods have been vandalized since October, causing thousands of dollars in damage.