Serving the Northern Shenandoah Valley
Playing with the pros
Region, B1 ®
HANDLEY LOSES AT STATES Sports, C1
Saturday
copyright © 2009 Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc.
Teens face competition Valley Scene, D1
Gov. Kaine optimistic about final budget deal
No one injured in bedroom blaze Fire leaves home declared unsafe for occupancy By Ben Orcutt and M.K. Luther
Obenshain critical about use of federal funds to plug $3.7 billion shortfall
Daily Staff Writers
FRONT ROYAL — The swift actions of an 8-year-old boy may have saved his family on Friday, when he told his parents that their Lee Street house was on fire. “My ears are super good and I felt some of this humidity going in,” Stephen DiSilvestri III said in describing how he discovered the fire at 214 Lee St. “I was going to go to the bathroom … and what happened was, it was fire in mom’s room.” Stephen said he saw matches under his parents’ bed that were “popping.” His parents were awake, but had been sleeping downstairs. They said the matches were antique, with no striking mechanism on the box. “I was the one who saved the whole family,” Stephen said. Stephen’s sister, Elizabeth, 6, said she was in her bedroom and realized there was a fire “cause I was sweating a lot.” After their son told them about the fire, Rosemary DiSilvestri, 46, said, “We looked up the stairs and there was smoke and Steve ran upstairs and got Elizabeth because she was screaming in her room and I called 911 and we just got out.” Stephen DiSilvestri Jr., 44, said the upstairs was engulfed with flames and smoke. “The bedroom was just really flames and the smoke locked my lungs up,” he said. “I couldn’t even breathe. I just had to go find Lizzy in her room full of smoke. I don’t even know how I grabbed her, and I just flew down those steps.” Warren County Fire and Rescue Chief Richard E. Mabie says in a press release that the cause of the fire is under investigation, but that it is “believed to have started with human involvement without criminal intent.” Neither of the DiSilvestri children said they started the fire. Mabie said in an interview that the call was dispatched at 10:25 a.m. and
March 7, 2009 50¢
By Garren Shipley Daily Staff Writer
Most of the hard decisions about Virginia’s budget are “in the rear-view mirror, not the windshield,” according to Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. But that could change if the state and national economies don’t improve soon. Speaking to reporters on a conference call Friday afternoon, Kaine said he was pleased with the final budget deal reached by legislators, which uses billions of dollars from the federal stimulus package and some cuts to offset a $3.7 billion hole in the 2008-10 budget. Without the money, school systems were slated to absorb Kaine some $500 million in cuts to operational and capital improvement budgets — a prospect that likely would have led to layoffs. “We’re not afraid to make hard decisions,” Kaine said, noting that the financial markets have rewarded the state’s fiscal diligence. Obenshain “We were in the bond market in November,” he said, and numerous credit rating agencies “reaffirmed our AAA rating.” The budget deal isn’t without its critics, though. Using the stimulus to plug holes, rather than adjust state and local budgets to suit a smaller economy with lower tax receipts “merely attempts to reschedule the day of reckoning,” said Sen. Mark Obenshain, RHarrisonburg. “In layman’s terms, the General Assembly
Rich Cooley/Daily
Brandon Licalzi, Front Royal volunteer firefighter, uses a hatchet to open the roof of a Lee Street home in Front Royal that was heavily damaged by fire Friday morning. Below, Kermit Gaither, a paid Warren County firefighter, takes a break after battling the blaze. emergency personnel from the Front Royal Volunteer Fire Department were on scene at the two-story stucco home in four minutes. Upon arrival, crews discovered fire coming out of second-floor windows, Mabie said. The fire appears to have started in a second-floor bedroom, gutting one room and causing additional heat and water damage, Mabie said. Mabie estimated damage to the house and contents between $110,000 and $120,000. He said a building inspector declared the house unsafe for occupancy and the Red Cross would be assisting the DiSilvestries. Firefighters had a good portion of the blaze knocked down within 10 minutes, Mabie said, adding that the fire was marked under control in 20 minutes. There were no injuries to emergency personnel, the DiSilvestries, or their two Rottweilers. Lt. Gerry R. Maiatico, who is in charge of fire education for Warren County Fire and Rescue, says in press release that the smoke alarm in the DiSilvestri
BUDGET, A2
FIRE, A2
“I COULDN’T EVEN BREATHE. I JUST HAD TO GO FIND LIZZY IN HER ROOM FULL OF SMOKE. I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW I GRABBED HER, AND I JUST FLEW DOWN THOSE STEPS.” STEPHEN DISILVESTRI JR.,
ON RESCUING HIS DAUGHTER DURING A FIRE IN THEIR HOME
RECESSION REPRIEVE
Joblessness pushes Cost causes states to rethink executions toward double digits By Deborah Hastings The Associated Press
By Jeannine Aversa The Associated Press
COVERAGE CONTINUES
WASHINGTON — Tolling grimly higher, the recession snatched more than 650,000 Americans’ jobs for a record third straight month in February as unemployment climbed to a quarter-century peak of 8.1 percent and surged toward even more wrenching double digits. The human carnage from the recession, well into its second year, now stands at 4.4 million lost jobs. Some 12.5 million people are searching for work — more than the population of the entire state of Pennsylvania. No one seems immune: The jobless rate for college graduates has hit its highest point on record, just like the rate for people lacking high school diplomas.
R Delivering the bad news weighs heavily on people. E1 R Sense of security shattered by massive layoffs in all industries. E1 Employers also are holding hours down and freezing or cutting pay as the recession eats into sales and profits. If part-time workers who can’t find full-time jobs are counted in, along with those who have simply given up looking, the rate would be 14.8 percent, the highest in records going back to 1994. The wintertime blizzard of layoffs — nearly 2 million lost jobs in just three months — is destroying any hope for an economic turnaround this year while feeding insecurities JOBLESSNESS, A2
Contact us 6
T
57789 15269
9
Front Royal 636-6188 Strasburg 465-5137
Woodstock 459-3729 Winchester 662-5868
After decades of moral arguments reaching biblical proportions, after long, twisted journeys to the nation’s highest court and back, the death penalty may be abandoned by several states for a reason having nothing to do with right or wrong: Money. Turns out, it is cheaper to imprison killers for life than to execute them, according to a series of recent surveys. Tens of millions of dollars cheaper, politicians are learning, during a tumbling recession when nearly every state faces job cuts and massive deficits. So an increasing number of them are considering abolishing capital punishment in favor of life imprisonAP/The Baltimore Sun ment, not on principle but out of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley grimaces as he concludes his presenta- financial necessity. tion to repeal the state’s death penalty before the Senate Judicial Pro“It’s 10 times more expensive to kill ceedings Committee in Annapolis, Md., on Feb. 18. EXECUTIONS, A2
PARTLY CLOUDY
High in the upper 60s. Tonight, low in the mid-40s.
Weather, A6
Region, B1 Sports, C1 Valley Scene, D1 Abby, D2 Bridge, F8 Business, E1 Classifieds, F1
Comics, F8 Comment, A4 Crossword, F8 Donohue, D2 Heloise, D2 Obituaries, B4 TV/Movies, C6
44 pages T