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Friday, November 18, 1994     Page: 2A

WILKES-BARRE — A Shickshinny auto dealer whose auto inspection certificate
was temporarily suspended in September admitted Thursday in Luzerne County
Court that he failed to follow proper procedures when he inspected his own tow
truck.
   
But John Hasay’s lawyer, Basil Russin, said that if his client was guilty,
it was only of a minor deviation from the rules, and not enough to warrant a
year-long suspension.
    Hasay, father of Republican state Rep. George Hasay and Shickshinny
magistrate John E. Hasay, had his inspection certificate suspended in
September. State Transportation Department officials issued the year-long
suspension after state police charged that Hasay illegally issued an
inspection certificate without inspecting his truck.
   
On Thursday, Judge Michael Conahan said he would issue a ruling on the
PennDOT suspension in about two weeks.
   
The charge stems from a July 1993 incident in which Hasay drove a tow truck
to the scene of a Shickshinny accident. A state trooper on the scene told
Hasay that his inspection sticker had expired in April and wouldn’t let him
pass.
   
Hasay returned to his business, Hasay Chevrolet, slapped an inspection
sticker on the windshield and returned to the accident scene five minutes
later.
   
The trooper, Eric Wolfgang, later told a state police inspector to
investigate Hasay’s claim that he had inspected the vehicle that day. The
inspector, Trooper Francis E. Keating, went to Hasay’s garage two months later
and cited Hasay for fraudulent inspection.
   
Luzerne County Judge Gifford S. Cappellini later threw out the $169 ticket
because too much time had passed between the incident and Keating’s
investigation.