News

SATURDAY JUNE 18 2016

CENTREDAILY.COM

3A

CHARLESTON CHURCH SHOOTINGS ANNIVERSARY

Mourners
remember
victims
BY BRUCE SMITH

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C.

South Carolinas governor somberly held up programs from the funerals of

the victims of the Charleston church shootings,
saying Friday during a
memorial service that the
faith of those victims
showed how to heal in the
aftermath of still another
mass shooting.
As for me, I will forever
know that there are angels
on Earth, said Gov. Nikki
Haley during a three-hour
service that was alternately
somber and then punctuated by joyous singing.
Friday was the anniversary of the shooting
deaths of nine black parishioners during a Bible
study at Emanuel AME
Church. A white man, Dylann Roof, faces charges in
both state and federal
courts and prosecutors in
each are seeking the death
penalty.
Haley, who attended the
funerals of all the victims,
said she got to know the
families of both those who
were killed and the three
survivors in the days and
weeks following the shootings.
There hasnt been a day

since June 17, 2015, that I

havent thought about the
12, she said.
She recalled each victim,
sometimes with gentle
humor, as she showed the
funeral programs she says
she keeps as reminders.
The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor had the
voice of an angel, she
said.
Haley recalled state Sen.
Clementa Pinckney, the
Emanuel pastor who was
slain as a gentle giant
and a man who never
talked about what he was
against. He always spoke
about what he was for.
Haley said that in the
wake of the shootings
after which many family
members of the victims
said they forgave Roof, the
suspect charged in the
deaths the people of
South Carolina didnt
have protests, they had
vigils. They didnt have
riots, they had hugs.
The College of Charlestons TD Arena, where
the service was held, sits
about 5,000 people and
was about half full. The
stage was lined with the
pictures of the nine people
killed. Above each were the
words Still Speaking from
Eternity.

NABIL K. MARK nmark@centredaily.com

A truck carries two engines away from the site of a plane crash near the University Park Airport.

FROM PAGE 1A

CRASH
trees were snapped in half
amid the wreckage.
A bulldozer used to plow
access through the trees for
rescue and recovery efforts
also stood silent, mere
yards from a large Penn
State cornfield. Later in the
day, the planes engines
were transported from the
scene for further inspection. The National Transportation Safety Board said
Thursday night its investigation to determine the
cause of the crash could
take up to a year.
According to Aero National President Thomas

Pizzuti, the journey started

about 7:30 a.m. at the
Washington County Airport.
Look at trip information
available online from Flight
Aware, and you see that
was normal. The plane
made a round trip to UPA
every month when Arffa, a
well-regarded opthalmalogical surgeon who had
won awards for the videos
he made demonstrating
techniques, visited State
College to share his skills.
Orners own LinkedIn
page shows he had a flight
history that stretched back
to 1987, but even before
that, he studied at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics in the 1970s.
His resume showed him

working for Aero National

since 2013.
Gary was an experienced pilot and had flown
this scheduled charter with
Dr. Arffa on numerous
occasions, Pizzuti said in a
statement.
In calls Thursday, the
mood was somber in both
Arffas own Bridgeville
office and the Nittany Eye
Associates offices. NEAs
Windmere office, where he
was scheduled to perform
Lasik procedures Thursday,
was closed.
Another Centre County
eye doctor expressed her
sorrow responding to the
story of his death on the
Centre Daily Times website.
Dr. Arffa was a respect-

ed colleague for over 20

years, wrote Tracy Sepich,
of Restore Eye Care.
Thousands of people,
including myself, have him
to thank for the vision they
enjoy, from Lasik to corneal transplants. My
prayers go out to Bob and
his family.
The NTSB investigation
into the crash continues. A
preliminary report is expected in about a week. A
complete report could take
a year.
Coroner Scott Sayers
said in a release Friday that
autopsy results and microscopic tissue analysis are
pending but are not expected for weeks.

FROM PAGE 1A

ORLANDO

CRUISE

Shared grief,
loss brings
city together

orange and white Falcons

rolled down the road accompanied by gratuitously
revving engines.
Bretton and Jamie Beard
sat on the edge of the sidewalk with their young son
Camden, who appeared
absolutely delighted by the
variety of motor vehicles
headed his way.
The family is relatively
new to the Bellefonte area,
and Friday was their first
time at the cruise, which
they heard about through
Facebook.
Its pretty fun. Its great
entertainment for a 4-yearold, Jamie Beard said.
Even at a young age,
Camden knows what he
likes in a set of wheels. He
was impressed by a car that
had flames painted on the
sides and would have liked
nothing more than to see it
come around the corner
again.
I like it when they rev
their engines. They are
really loud, Camden said.
Over on West Howard
Street, there were a variety
of food trucks stationed in
the parking lot near First
National Bank. The food
and beverage choices were
many pierogies, tacos
and lemonade, just to
name a few but Jerry
Albright and Laura Welch
had settled on cheese fries.
Albright grew up in Bellefonte and has been to the
cruise many times. He has

BY JASON DEAREN

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, FLA.

ERIC SMITH For the Centre Daily Times

A Polaris Spider, above, and a classic Dodge Super Bee, below, were among the cars and
motorcycles that could be seen on Friday night in Bellefonte for the 28th annual
Bellefonte Cruise.

high aspirations for this

weekend.
Im hoping I can find
one of my dream cars a
69 Charger, Albright said.

He is in the process of
rebuilding a 1979 Suzuki
GS550L, which sat idle for
more than a decade before
the owner sold it to him

Ryan: Republicans should

follow conscience on Trump
BY MATTHEW DALY

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON

House Speaker Paul

Ryan says Republican lawmakers should follow their
conscience in deciding
whether or not to support
Donald Trump, the GOPs
presumptive nominee for
president.
The Wisconsin Republican told NBCs Meet the
Press that the last thing I
would do is tell anybody to

do something thats contrary

to their conscience. Of
course I wouldnt do that.
Ryan, who has given a
tepid endorsement to
Trump, said he understands he is in a very
strange situation to be
supporting the partys presumptive nominee while
not urging his fellow lawmakers to follow suit. But
he said Trump is a very
unique nominee.
Ryan is the highest elected Republican official and
the official chairman of the

Republican convention
next month. He stunned
the political world in May
when he held back his
endorsement of Trump
before grudgingly offering
his support earlier this
month. Since then, Ryan
has been critical of Trump,
calling the candidates
complaints about the impartiality of a judge of
Mexican heritage a textbook definition of a racist
comment and reiterating
his opposition to Trumps
proposal to temporarily ban

last year.
Theres not too many of
them around, Albright
said.
Once hes finished restoring the bike, he hopes to
be riding it down Allegheny
Street with the rest of the
classics during the next
cruise.
From Albrights perspective, there is much to enjoy
about classic cars, from the
sound of the engine to the
shade of paint.
Every year theres new
classics or more classics,
Albright said.
Frank Ready:
814-231-4620, @fjready

all foreign Muslims from

entering the United States.
As speaker of the House,
Ryan said he feels a
responsibility not to lead
some chasm in the middle
of our party that would
hurt GOP chances to win
the White House.
Ryan was interviewed
Thursday for Sundays
Meet the Press. An excerpt was released Friday.
Trump, speaking Friday at
a packed convention center
in The Woodlands, Texas,
not far from Houston, tried
to play down the rift in the
party and bragged about the
money hes raised in fundraisers across the state over
the past two days, including
an event Friday in San Antonio.

Orlando Strong banners hung from porches

and bridges, hotel workers
wore purple T-shirts with
Orlando United on them
and shock gave way to grief
in this tourist city as more
families buried their loved
ones Friday.
Some longtime residents
say they have been moved
by how the nightclub massacre that left 49 clubgoers
dead has brought the city
together.
I thought this was a
very cold city, and now I
know its a warm city, said
Monica Roggiero, 49, before she walked into the
funeral of her co-worker
Anthony Luis Laureano
Disla. I thought because
of the tourism that no one
stayed here that long. Its
amazed me how our community has gotten so
close.
Pallbearers loaded Dislas body into a white
hearse. A procession of
dozens of cars accompanied the casket, and Disla
was buried at a downtown
Orlando cemetery under a
blue tarp surrounded by
flowers.
Mourners wore T-shirts
with Dislas picture, and
remembered him as an
amazing soul who was
the life of the party and
who motivated anyone he
was around.
He was a breath of fresh
air when he walked in the
room, Roggiero said.
A few blocks away, more
than 100 people filled
another funeral home to
remember Peter Ommy
Gonzalez-Cruz and Gilberto Ramon Silva, best
friends who died together
at Pulse. They came with
rainbow flags tied to their
car antennas and several
wore T-shirts with pictures

of Gonzalez-Cruz, who
went by the nickname
Ommy.
It was the third funeral
Jose Torres attended this
week. Gonzalez-Cruz and
Silva were two of his six
friends who died in the
massacre. Torres plans to
attend another funeral
Saturday.
All they wanted to do
was dance and have a good
time, said Torres, who
lives in Orlando. Its been
an emotionally hard week.
I watched the news and
saw all the faces of my
friends. I cant believe they
are dead now.
Karla Cabrera grew up
with Silva in Manati, Puerto Rico, and she followed
him when he moved to
Orlando.
I admired his loyalty,
she said. He was super
kind and someone I could
always count on. He was
the best friend I ever had.
My circle of friends is not a
circle anymore.
Investigators were still
gathering evidence and
analyzing cellphone location data to piece together
gunman Omar Mateens
activities leading up to the
shooting, which also
wounded more than 50
people.
A shooting survivor told
The Associated Press on
Friday that when he saw a
picture of Mateen on television the day after the
shooting, he recognized
him as the same man he
saw having a drink at the
bar earlier in the night.
His account could not
immediately be verified.
The FBI declined to comment and has not provided
a timeline accounting for
Mateens movements that
night.
Felipe Marrero told The
AP his account in an interview from his hospital
bed.