Dec 14, 2016 3 min read

Just outside Canonsburg, four words greet drivers at the intersection of Adams Avenue and Morganza Road: “A Time For Peace.”

That message started flashing on an electronic sign owned by the borough fire department late last week, about a month after a Canonsburg man killed his pregnant wife and a borough police officer, and Mayor David Rhome is hoping people in the area will find comfort and inspiration in those words, which he’s given to a new initiative timed ahead of the holiday season.

“My hope is, ‘A Time For Peace’ is a time for people to get involved for the betterment of community,” Rhome said.

Michael Cwiklinski, 47, fatally shot Dalia Sabae, 28, early in the morning Nov. 10 and ambushed police who responded to a call of a domestic dispute at the 120 Woodcrest Drive duplex, killing 52-year-old Canonsburg Officer Scott Bashioum and wounding Officer James Saieva before turning the gun on himself.

Less than three weeks later, four robbery suspects’ standoff with police at a Smith Street home ended in their arrests.

Deacon Joe Cerenzia, of St. Patrick Catholic Parish, said his wife, Lisa Mark Cerenzia, and brother-in-law, Eric Mark, were looking for a theme for their sign at the same time Rhome had asked him about a way to rally people in the borough following the fatal shootings.

“I thought it was an appropriate thing for the holiday season, the Christmas season,” Cerenzia said. “And that was the reason they’ve used that phrasing for that theme in Canonsburg.”

Rhome said he’s met with a signmaker and plans to have 50 signs – the cost of which he’s covering himself – put up soon around the borough to start, adding that “hopefully that materializes into something more.”

Rhome wrote in a letter he submitted to the Observer-Reporter last week despite the recent incidents, “we have also witnessed the very best in the spirit of the people of our community, selflessly giving of themselves for others, especially members of our law enforcement personnel and first responders.”

A few blocks from the borough building, the slogan went up on the Walter Mark Agency sign on West Pike Street.

Rhome said he’s spoken with other clergy, too.

The Rev. Steven Parkhill said last week he planned to put the message on the marquee in front of South Canonsburg Church.

“I think everyone’s emotions are heightened, and when your emotions are heightened, it doesn’t take much to spark further unrest,” he said. “(Rhome’s) just trying to disarm that anxiety in people.”