Chambersburg

Alice I. Benedict, 94, of 6800 Nunnery Road, Waynesboro, Pa., died Wednesday, April 10, 2013, in her home. The family will receive friends from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday in Grove-Bowersox Funeral Home, Waynesboro. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday in Brown's Mill Meeting House, Chambersburg, Pa. Burial will follow in Mount Zion Cemetery, near Quincy, Pa.

Junior G. Starr, 86, of Falling Spring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Chambersburg, Pa. and formerly of Greencastle, Pa., died Tuesday, April 9, 2013, at the nursing center. The family will receive friends Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Harold M. Zimmerman and Son Funeral Home, Greencastle. The service will be Monday at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in Parklawns Memorial Gardens, Chambersburg.

Monday, April 8, 2013 PREP BASEBALL North Hagerstown remained unbeaten in the MVAL Antietam Conference with a 4-2 win over Catoctin and Cougars ace Alex Kennedy on Monday. The Hubs (7-0, 5-0) touched Kennedy for a single run in the bottom of the second inning on singles by Zane Schreiber and John Britton and a balk by Kennedy. North scored three times in the fifth inning on five straight singles, including an RBI single by Andrew Yacyk, and sacrifice fly by Britton.

Standing below the steps of the Franklin County Courthouse at courthouse plaza, 250 people rallied in support of their right to bear arms at Saturday's Second Amendment Freedom Rally in Chambersburg. Some held “Don't Tread on Me” signs, while others displayed guns on their hips or held rifles. “I'm glad I'm at a rally where I could bring my own gun,” said Ted Weaver, one of six speakers at the rally. “More and more, the Second Amendment is being stomped on.” Weaver, who was raised in Maryland and is chief executive officer and founder of Responsibly Armed, said he is disappointed by the strict changes in the gun laws in Maryland in the aftermath of December's massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Edna Irene Watkins, 97, of Hagerstown, Md., died Tuesday, April 2, 2013, at Ravenwood Assisted Living. Born Feb. 25, 1916, in Leitersburg, Md., she was the daughter of the late H. Buhrman and Anna E. Neff Beard. She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Charles Albert Watkins, on Nov. 14, 2006. She was a 1935 graduate of Hagerstown High School. She worked in various jobs in the Hagerstown area, and worked with her father in the grocery business. She was a life member of Trinity Lutheran Church.

A child exploitation investigation involving a former Chambersburg Area Senior High School teacher so far has not indicated he perpetrated any physical sex crimes against victims, the lead investigator said Tuesday. Jeffrey Schmutzler was arrested March 21 at his Fayetteville, Pa., home by federal agents. The Spanish teacher submitted his resignation Tuesday morning, according to school officials. Schmutzler remains incarcerated on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography.

The Franklin County 912 Patriots will host a “Second Amendment Freedom Rally” on Saturday, April 6, from noon to 2 p.m. adjacent to the old courthouse in downtown Chambersburg. The event will feature numerous speakers discussing the importance of protecting the Second Amendment, according to a news release. State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, will be one of the featured speakers. Metcalfe is the primary sponsor of House Bill 357, known as the Right to Bear Arms Protection Act. That legislation would nullify any new federal gun control measures in Pennsylvania, according to the news release.

Ronald L. Kauffman, 70, of State Line, Pa., died unexpectedly at 3:51 p.m. Thursday, March 21, 2013, at Chambersburg (Pa.) Hospital. Born Feb. 19, 1943, in Waynesboro, Pa., he was the son of the late Oliver D. and Hazel I. (Snyder) Kauffman. He graduated from Quincy High School with the Class of 1961.   He married Phyllis (White) Kauffman on Feb. 17, 1995, in Hagerstown, Md. Ronald was employed as an engine tester for Mack Trucks, dedicating 45 1/2 years and many long hours to a job and a company he highly respected.

Attorneys' actions leading up to and at trial in 1998 underwent hours of questioning Thursday as a death row inmate seeks modifications to his conviction and sentence. Albert E. Reid, 64, formerly of Biglerville, Pa., was found guilty in the Dec. 27, 1996, killing of his estranged wife, Carla Reid, and her 14-year-old daughter Deidra Moore in a Sollenberger Road home outside Chambersburg. He has filed claims of inadequate performance from his attorneys, improper jury instructions and prosecutorial misconduct under the Post Conviction Relief Act. On Thursday morning, Reid's current attorney, Keisha Hudson, questioned one of his trial attorneys, Stephen Kulla of Waynesboro, Pa., about his choices and decisions.

Federal prosecutors said Thursday a Chambersburg Area Senior High School teacher used a computer program to superimpose the faces of students on child pornography, which he then sent to others. Jeffrey Schmutzler was arrested at his Fayetteville, Pa., home Thursday and appeared before Chief Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson in Harrisburg, Pa., on charges of distribution and receipt of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors, according to the Associated Press and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.