B-C superintendent still on the job
Bethlehem-Center School Board made no decision regarding the employment status of its superintendent, who was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and related offenses, the district’s solicitor said.
It would be premature to suspend Linda M. Marcolini, 55, because she has yet to appear for a hearing on the charges filed by police in South Fayette Township in Allegheny County, Beth-Center solicitor James T. Davis said.
“No action has been taken,” Davis said Tuesday, a day after Marcolini’s charges became public.
South Fayette police filed two DUI charges, as well as counts of reckless driving and driving on the wrong side of the road, against Marcolini Dec. 29, more than two weeks after she was accused of DUI when her vehicle collided with another on Oakridge Road, near Dutch Hill Road, court records state.
Police said Marcolini, of Northridge Drive in South Fayette, first said she didn’t know how the crash occurred about 6:30 p.m. Dec. 12. The officer who responded to the crash scene made note she was chewing several pieces of mint gum and “was unsteady on her feet,” according to the affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint.
“As Marcolini spoke, she seemed confused on basic questions,” the officer stated in the affidavit.
The officer asked her a second time, while she was in an ambulance, how the accident occurred, and she reportedly replied her vehicle struck the other car as she rounded a bend, adding she was returning home from a late meeting at work.
“I asked Marcolini if she had any alcohol prior to driving, and she stated no,” the officer said in the court record.
Later, while she was being examined in St. Clair Hospital’s emergency room, police informed her she was suspected of DUI and blood was drawn for a chemical analysis.
“Marcolini then stated that she had two glasses of wine and that she was attempting to make a phone call when the crash occurred,” the record states.
Police said tests showed she had a blood-alcohol content of 0.174 percent, more than double the 0.08 percent limit in Pennsylvania.
Marcolini could not be reached Tuesday for comment. She is scheduled to appear before District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet in Bridgeville for her preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. Feb. 9.