For one Pa. couple, things went from bad to worse

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, February, 2007 | by Diane Mastrull

Laurie and Maurice Aburdene should have known their trip home wasn't going to go smoothly when they got into their car at Philadelphia International Airport Wednesday afternoon and found the battery dead.

It would get much worse for the Lewisburg couple.

Back from three weeks at the University of Liverpool in England, where Maurice, 60, an electrical engineering professor at Bucknell University, had been doing research, the Aburdenes set out for home in their 1995 Nissan Maxima after getting a jump.

They had passed the Lansdale exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension when a flashing sign instructed motorists to turn on the turnpike's radio station. They learned their normal route - Interstate 80 west - was closed due to the snow. The message...