BY BERNIE HORNICK
The Tribune-Democrat
January 03, 2009 11:32 pm
—
A hunter suspected of fatally kicking and beating a young Belsano father once made a name for himself championing his Johnstown neighborhood.
Stephen C. Shesko, 60, now of Seward, has fallen far since he was featured in a March 1999 Tribune-Democrat story as a spokesman for Woodvale. The former railroad worker is charged with criminal homicide and is free on $25,000 bond in the Nov. 26 death of Erick D. Melius.
A decade ago, he was lobbying City Hall for more goods and services for Woodvale. More than $5 million promised for rebuilding after the 1977 Flood was diverted to other neighborhoods, Shesko said.
“We’ve never gotten our fair share,” said Shesko, an activist who headed a group pushing for everything from codes enforcement to clean streets.
But Melius’ mom, Michaela Melius, said Shesko’s true character is as an unprovoked murderer.
“This man was out to kill something that day,” she wrote in a letter to The Tribune-Democrat. “As a grieving mother, all I can do is to trust in our judicial system.”
Melius and a friend were driving on a dirt road when they came upon two dozen bear hunters just over the Cambria County line in Indiana County.
Melius yelled at the hunters from the passenger side of the slow-moving van. When he shouted at Shesko, Shesko ran over and punched him a couple times through the open window.
State police said the van drove away but returned five minutes later. Melius got out and tried to punch a hunter seated in a truck, police said. Then, Shesko ran over, knocked Melius to the ground and punched and kicked him, police said. Members of the hunting party pulled Shesko away.
Melius died at home two days later after checking himself out of the hospital.
Michaela Melius said in a telephone interview that it all began innocently when her son called out to the hunters in the van, “Get anything?”
She said Shesko replied, “What the ---- do you care,” and things escalated from there.
“Although my pain is deep, I have been overwhelmed with the love and support from the community,” she said. Her son worked for the family’s Melius Construction and loved the outdoors, she said.
Court and newspaper records show that both the accused murderer and the victim had run-ins with the law, including:
• In October 1999, charges against Shesko and a Woodvale neighbor were dropped after they came to terms. Police said Shesko had threatened the man with a shotgun.
They had argued about a variety of issues including parking, harassing gestures and comments and criminal mischief.
• In 1973, Shesko pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and received six months’ probation.
• In August, Melius was sentenced to eight to 24 months in the county jail and fined $1,000 for a guilty plea to drug delivery. He was on house arrest – including time away for work, church and doctor and legal appointments – except for a one-month term for violating probation.
Police said he had sold methadone and a morphine-type opiate to an informant on May 1, 2007, for $160. The sale took place at an apartment on Route 422 in Blacklick Township.
• Melius was sentenced for DUI in Cambria and Indiana counties in 2000 and in 2005, respectively.
Shesko faces a preliminary hearing on the homicide charge at 1:15 p.m. Feb. 10 at the office of District Judge Susanne Steffee of Homer City.
His attorney is James Ecker of Pittsburgh.
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