Frank Charney's Sunday Postcard

August 21, 2005   

Frank Charney was not able to get in a post this week, but he suggested that we put an account here about the report in Saturday's Johnstown Tribune-Democrat about the death Friday morning resulting from an altercation at the Nanty Glo VFW. I had already linked the T-D report on the Home Page, but as daily newspaper reports tend to disappear from the worldwide web within a few days and this story is likely to be part of Nanty Glo's history, on Frank's suggestion I'm relating the main facts reported by the daily paper in the interests of putting them into the Nanty Glo Home Page's permanent record.

Report on alleged homicide in Nanty Glo

Bar fight kills fire chief was the Tribune-Democrat's heading to the story by Sandra K. Reabuck, with input by staff writer Julie Benamati. What follows is my own rewording of the main thrust of the report.

—Jon Kennedy

Ray Eugene Stringer, 43, chief of the Neptune Volunteer Fire Company in Tyrone, died early Friday from injuries sustained in a fistfight at the Nanty Glo VFW club. In Nanty Glo to attend the Central District Firemen's Convention that officially opened later Friday, Stringer was flown by medical helicopter to Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown, where he was pronounced dead at 2:24 a.m., seven minutes after arriving.

Nanty Glo police arrested 29-year-old George T. Lightcap IV, of Locust Street, charging him with criminal homicide and aggravated assault in the fire chief's death. Lightcap was held in the county jail without bond after arraignment before District Justice Mary Ann Zanghi of Vinco. The Tribune-Democrat reported that Lightcap had been seen pummeling Stringer after the victim was down, though apparently Stringer had thrown the first punch. "To the best of our knowledge, they didn't know each other," Cambria County District Attorney David Tulowitzki was quoted. "We have conflicting information (about) what they were arguing about."

The altercation reportedly occurred at about 1:10 a.m. in a hallway between the bar and an exit to the Veterans of Foreign Wars bar, the coronor said. "Stringer had been drinking at the bar, but there are conflicting reports on whether Lightcap also had been drinking there or had entered just before the two got into an argument," the Tribune-Democrat reported Kwiatkowski as saying. Police Officer William Hines said, "Without a doubt, both of them were drinking." Michele Lightcap, the accused man's sister, was reportedly working at the bar and had ordered Stringer to leave. As he was walking out, according to court papers, Stringer struck Lightcap, who then followed Stringer out and continued the fight.

Nanty Glo police said Lightcap left the bar after the fight but returned and was taken into custody. He was reportedly treated at an area hospital, but details were unavailable. "I can't believe I'm in handcuffs right now when I'm not the one that started this. Look at my face," Lightcap said after his arrest, according to court documents.

Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski said fire chief Stringer died as a result of asphyxiation caused by multiple blows to the head. The Tyrone man was described as divorced and being survived by two children. Stringer's blood-alcohol level was 0.2 percent, the coroner said. Lightcap's blood-alcohol numbers were unavailable.

The homicide was the first in Nanty Glo in 26 years, the newspaper reported. In October 1979, a Nanty Glo man was killed by two shotgun blasts as he left a dance at the VFW Hall.

Nanty Glo Mayor Thomas Cunningham called the homicide "a shocking event, a tragedy," and added, "We want to extend our sympathy to (Stringers's) family, friends, and fellow firemen." Borough Police Chief Robert Miller said, "We don't feel it was related to the convention." Though the Tribune-Democrat failed to mention whether Lightcap also is a fireman, a search of the Nanty Glo Fire Department website found no mention of him on its membership list.

Prosecutors will determine a more detailed charge to be filed based on the investigation now underway, Tulowitzki said, adding that the charge could range from involuntary manslaughter—a death resulting from gross or reckless negligence—up to first-degree murder. Lightcap's preliminary hearing is set for Monday, but may be delayed. Lightcap had been free on $2,500 bond following his arrest in April on a charge of selling heroin to an informant in Jackson Township. He has a prior criminal record of simple assault, drug delivery, and drunken-driving, all in 1995, according to the clerk of court's office.

latest additions  to the Nanty Glo Home Page

New gallery: Miners Memorial
Valley Videos: 3. Twin Rocks, 2. Miners Memorial, Vintondale, 1. Vintondale strip mine
Century-old Vintondale school photos
NGHS Class of '47, new photo, yearbook page
Looking for a 1943 Nanty Glo High School yearbook

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Complete index of Jon Kennedy's Jonal articles

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Top daily news stories linked from our sister webpage Xnmp, news that signifies

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Today's chuckle

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

—Sent by Trudy Myers

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Thought for today

The [two-] Party [political] System was founded on one national notion of fair play. It was the notion that folly and futility should be fairly divided between both sides.

— G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

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