Young Boys

By Marcia Gelbart Authorities said Sunday the two boys wounded by stray bullets as they played outside Saturday afternoon in Southwest Philadelphia are brothers. Police would not release their names because they are minors. A 2-year-old boy, who was struck once in the groin, is in critical condition at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His older brother, who is 8, was hit twice in the buttocks and is in stable condition at the same hospital. The supposed target of the shooting, a 19-year-old male, was also wounded, police said.

Last year, Priscilla Dawson, principal of Blaine Elementary School in North Philadelphia, recognized a need and found a solution to it - right before her eyes. As she watched fathers coming to the school for parent-teacher meetings or to pick up their children, she realized they might be able to provide guidance to the many male students from female-headed households. The result was "Men of Blaine" a support group for boys at the school. This week's hero, Baba-A Adeyward-I, whose daughters attend Blaine, is an active member.

As the black middle class in Philadelphia and elsewhere in the nation emerges socially and economically, it has tended to become ever more distant from the ghetto communities of its origin. This absence has led to the diminution of an extremely important source of moral and social leadership within the ghetto community. In pursuit of status and employment opportunities and out of a sense of genuine concern for their survival, members of the black middle class and those who aspire to it tend increasingly to leave the ghetto behind.

They come into the city from their suburban homes and troll the streets of Kensington and Frankford, searching in the shadows of the El for their prey. They find willing boys, pick them up in their cars and take them to their suburban lairs. The boys are given money, treated to dinner, but then they must take care of the sexual needs of their hosts. This is how officers of the Philadelphia police sex crimes unit describe the activities of pedophiles, usually successful middle-aged men from the other side of the city limits who have found easy pickings in the neighborhood around Bridge and Pratt streets.

The Philadelphia Police Department has launched an internal investigation into why two young boys were held in police custody for almost 19 hours following their arrest Wednesday for allegedly stealing eggs from a tractor- trailer in North Philadelphia, authorities said yesterday. While Francisco Rivera, 10, and Luis Franco, 12, were held at the 24th Police District at Front and Westmoreland Streets, neither was given any food, police said. In addition, Rivera, who is required to take daily doses of medication for nerves, depression and insomnia, was not given any of his prescriptions, despite repeated requests by his family to have the drugs administered.

A 19-year-old Frankford man yesterday pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting five girls and pleaded "no contest" to molesting five boys in a series of attacks on children last year. "Psychologically, he didn't want to admit to having sex with boys," Assistant District Attorney Gina Smith said, explaining the no-contest pleas. "From the prosecution's standpoint, it's a distinction without a difference" that will not affect his sentence. Common Pleas Court Judge Amanda Cooperman accepted the pleas from Lamar Zamichieli and found him guilty of all of the charges.

A school janitor was arrested yesterday and charged with molesting young boys in his Browns Mills home, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. James E. Dilbeck, 30, head custodian of the Joseph Stackhouse School in Pemberton Township, is accused of sexually assaulting four boys, ages 7 through 11, from January to March. None of the alleged victims attended the school where Dilbeck worked. They do, however, attend Pemberton Township schools, according to district spokesman Eric Talarico.

For two years, Chris Morris had dreaded this conversation - the one where he would tell his two young boys that their mother was going to die of breast cancer. He'd read whatever advice he could find and had even asked the staff of Peter's Place, a program for bereaved children, for help. Nothing felt right to him and, on the day he decided he had to tell them - their mother was already in an inpatient hospice - he spent hours reading and thinking. Here he was telling kids who still believed in Santa Claus that their mother was dying.

She was his teacher, a source of knowledge, an object of respect, but that didn't stop the high school freshman from having sexual fantasies about her. And in those fantasies, Paul Lorenzo found a sense of his own power. "She was older, attractive, a good-looking woman," said Lorenzo, now 26 and a Philadelphia police officer. Later, after he became an adult, Lorenzo ran into his former teacher. The attraction was still there. "When we finally did get together, it felt great.

A 53-year-old Newtown Square man known for his sophisticated Halloween displays was sentenced yesterday in Delaware County Court to 2 1/2 to five years in prison for taking nude photographs of young boys. William Joseph Stravinsky Jr., a former systems supervisor for Unisys Corp. in Malvern, had pleaded guilty in April to two counts of indecent assault involving boys ages 12 and 14 and five counts of sexual abuse of children stemming from photographs he took of young boys between 1994 and his arrest in April 2001.

By the time he appears in court on Friday, 12-year-old Gerald McNeal will have been in custody for 10 days for doing what he thought a big brother should do. His little brother, Isaac, 9, meanwhile, has been racked with guilt and feels responsible for the serious criminal charges that his brother faces because of Isaac's toy gun. "Mostly, I was crying because if I never would have bring it this would have never happened," said Isaac....

The scion of a prominent Chester County family apparently committed suicide in a federal jail cell hours before he was expected to plead guilty to taking teenage boys overseas and sexually molesting them. John Charles Ware, 47, was found unresponsive at 8 p.m. Sunday in his cell at the Federal Detention Center in Center City and was rushed to Jefferson University Hospital, where he died early Monday. Darren Howard, spokesman for the center, said Ware apparently took his own life.

To know Dale Petrovitch is to know his generosity, his employees say. And that goes beyond competitive wages, health benefits, and 401(k) matches. Their boss has been known to spring for their kids' wedding and prom limousines, provide for special needs of their ailing family members, and fund local school programs. So when Petrovitch decided to essentially hand the family business over to his workforce of 30 at the close of 2011, it didn't necessarily surprise his employees as much as it terrified some of them because of the enhanced responsibility it put on them for the company's survival.

For two years, Chris Morris had dreaded this conversation - the one where he would tell his two young boys that their mother was going to die of breast cancer. He'd read whatever advice he could find and had even asked the staff of Peter's Place, a program for bereaved children, for help. Nothing felt right to him and, on the day he decided he had to tell them - their mother was already in an inpatient hospice - he spent hours reading and thinking. Here he was telling kids who still believed in Santa Claus that their mother was dying.

Former Pennsylvania State University coach Jerry Sandusky's nationally televised denial that he had sexually abused children drew scathing reviews Tuesday from legal experts. One defense lawyer and former prosecutor called the interview "a prosecutor's dream. " Another pronounced the move "idiotic. " Others argued that amid a steadily growing chorus of damaging news, Sandusky had little choice but to speak out publicly. "This is the new reality of criminal cases," said Dennis J. Cogan, a prominent defense lawyer who faced hordes of reporters when he defended former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo on corruption and fraud charges in a case that dragged on for years.

Jerry Sandusky acknowledged Monday that he used to shower and "horse around" with young boys, but the former Pennsylvania State University coach said he had never molested any children. In a telephone interview with NBC News' Bob Costas - his first since his arrest this month - the former defensive coordinator maintained his innocence on charges that he sexually assaulted eight youths he met through his charity, the Second Mile. "I could say that I have done some of those things.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Insurgents in southern Afghanistan hanged an 8-year-old boy six days after abducting him, the Afghan government said Sunday. The boy's captors had demanded that his father, a police officer, supply them with a police vehicle and he refused, according to a statement from President Hamid Karzai's office. The militants hanged the boy Friday in Helmand province's Gereshk district. "President Karzai both strongly condemns this act and rejects it as a brutal and cowardly crime that is not acceptable in any religion or culture," the statement said.

By Marcia Gelbart Authorities said Sunday the two boys wounded by stray bullets as they played outside Saturday afternoon in Southwest Philadelphia are brothers. Police would not release their names because they are minors. A 2-year-old boy, who was struck once in the groin, is in critical condition at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His older brother, who is 8, was hit twice in the buttocks and is in stable condition at the same hospital. The supposed target of the shooting, a 19-year-old male, was also wounded, police said.

A hit-and-run accident killed a Bucks County woman early yesterday on Route 13 in Bristol Township. Jennifer Harley, 28, of Fairless Hills, the mother of two young boys, was struck about 3:05 a.m. while walking with a male friend near Bristol Cemetery, police said. Hours later, an attorney called authorities and said his client, a 27-year-old woman, had been the driver, police said. The vehicle, a Dodge Durango, was found at the woman's home in Levittown. No charges had been filed pending an investigation, police said.

The rule on cool Niffle is what your friends and neighbors, girlfriends and wives, boyfriends and husbands - anybody sharper than me - call the cool stuff in the NFL. Get it? N-F-L. Niffle. You blend the letters to a make a cool-sounding word. Niffle. Now you know. It's what people you love call the cool stuff in the NFL. Namath wanting to kiss Suzy Kolber. That's cool. Unitas' high-tops. Cool. (Look that one up, young boys.) Brady's women. Cool. Brady's drop-back. Cool.