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No one injured in bedroom blaze
Fire leaves home
declared unsafe
for occupancy
By Ben Orcutt
and M.K. Luther
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 describ-
ing how he discovered the fire at 214
Lee St. “I was going to go to the bath-
room … 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
Gov. Kaine
optimistic
about final
budget deal
Obenshain critical about
use of federal funds to
plug $3.7 billion shortfall
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 legis-
Rich Cooley/Daily lators, which uses billions of
Brandon Licalzi, Front Royal volunteer firefighter, uses a hatchet to open the roof of a Lee dollars from the federal stim-
ulus package and some cuts
Street home in Front Royal that was heavily damaged by fire Friday morning. Below, Ker- to offset a $3.7 billion hole in
mit Gaither, a paid Warren County firefighter, takes a break after battling the blaze. the 2008-10 budget.
emergency personnel from the Front Without the money, school
Royal Volunteer Fire Department were systems were slated to absorb Kaine
on scene at the two-story stucco home some $500 million in cuts to
in four minutes. operational and capital
Upon arrival, crews discovered fire improvement budgets — a
coming out of second-floor windows, prospect that likely would
Mabie said. have led to layoffs.
The fire appears to have started in a “We’re not afraid to make
second-floor bedroom, gutting one room hard decisions,” Kaine said,
and causing additional heat and water noting that the financial mar-
damage, Mabie said. kets have rewarded the
Mabie estimated damage to the state’s fiscal diligence. Obenshain
house and contents between $110,000 “We were in the bond mar-
and $120,000. He said a building ket in November,” he said, and numerous
inspector declared the house unsafe for credit rating agencies “reaffirmed our AAA
occupancy and the Red Cross would be rating.”
assisting the DiSilvestries. The budget deal isn’t without its critics,
Firefighters had a good portion of the though.
blaze knocked down within 10 min- Using the stimulus to plug holes, rather
utes, Mabie said, adding that the fire than adjust state and local budgets to suit a
smaller economy with lower tax receipts
was marked under control in 20 min- “merely attempts to reschedule the day of
utes. There were no injuries to emer-
reckoning,” said Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-
gency personnel, the DiSilvestries, or Harrisonburg.
their two Rottweilers.
“In layman’s terms, the General Assembly
Lt. Gerry R. Maiatico, who is in charge
BUDGET, A2
of fire education for Warren County Fire
and Rescue, says in press release that
the smoke alarm in the DiSilvestri
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

Joblessness pushes
Cost causes states to rethink executions
toward double digits
By Jeannine Aversa
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Tolling grimly
higher, the recession snatched more
than 650,000 Americans’ jobs for a
record third straight month in Feb-
ruary 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 search-
ing for work — more than the popu-
lation of the entire state of Pennsyl-
vania.
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.
COVERAGE CONTINUES
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
RECESSION REPRIEVE
By Deborah Hastings
The Associated Press
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 sur-
veys. Tens of millions of dollars
cheaper, politicians are learning, dur-
ing a tumbling recession when nearly
every state faces job cuts and massive
deficits.
So an increasing number of them
are considering abolishing capital
AP/The Baltimore Sun punishment in favor of life imprison-
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

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