Nov 30, 2013 6 min read

A look at some of the headlines gracing the pages of the Observer-Reporter and Waynesburg Republican this week in Greene County history:

Aiming at a perfect hunt

WAYNESBURG – With chilly temperatures and biting wind gusts, most people probably considered Monday’s weather rather awful, but for the hundreds of blaze orange-clad hunters who spent the day in the woods of Washington and Greene counties, the conditions were nearly perfect.

Monday, the first day of deer rifle season, is an unofficial holiday in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Most schools were closed, and many adults took the day off work to try their luck at nabbing a monster deer.

“All the hunters seem to be having a good time, as long as they can stand the weather,” said Dan Sitler, a wildlife conservation officer who monitors northern Washington County for the state Game Commission.

Temperatures were in the 30s Monday, but the wind chill made it feel like the mercury was stuck in the 20s or lower. However, most hunters know how to dress to keep warm and those who were willing to ride out the cold were often rewarded, Sitler said.

“I saw a lot of really nice-sized deer. It’s much better than last (year’s opening day), when it was warm and raining and just miserable,” Sitler said.

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Waynesburg couple honored for coalfield advocacy

Murray and Laurine Williams of Waynesburg recently received an award for advocating for citizens’ rights, public policy and the protection of the environment in the coalfield region of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Center for Coalfield Justice gave the couple the 2008 Wyona Coleman Award at a banquet last month at Lone Pine Community Center.

According to CCJ, the Williamses have been trailblazers when it comes to the protection of historic properties from mine subsidence. Their historic Thomas Kent Jr. farmhouse in Franklin Township was undermined in 2001.

They also have encouraged neighbors and others facing undermining to be proactive in protecting their properties against subsidence damage. They taught others how to document pre-mining conditions in order to record the scope and extent of mine operators’ repair work.

The Williamses fought to protect an area in Washington County over the New Century Mine, a location where the state Department of Environmental Protection said panels could not be mined if that would dewater the local streams, according to Center for Coalfield Justice.

Their interest started in part because of damage done to Laurel Run below the couple’s farm, which Laurine subsequently renamed “Laurel Doesn’t Run,” after mining caused the stream to run dry. The Williams were constant in their advocacy to DEP regarding the need to protect this and other water sources.

The award is named for Wyona Coleman, a founding member of Tri-State Citizens Mining Network, the former name of Center for Coalfield Justice. She died in 2005.

County pleads for FEMA aid

More than 380 homes and businesses were damaged on Nov. 19 when heavy rains caused streams throughout Greene County to overflow their banks, according to the initial damage report prepared by the county emergency management office.

The office has submitted the initial report to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which it hopes will provide emergency disaster relief to area home and business owners.

County emergency management staff, with the assistance of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, had gone out on the days following the flood to assess the extent of flood damage.

The office determined that 220 single-family homes, 95 mobile homes and 72 businesses received damage as a result of the flood waters, said Jeff Marshall, the county’s emergency management director.

“We had substantial damage, mostly in the central part of the county, but also throughout the county,” he said. A dollar figure for the damage has not yet been determined.

A team from FEMA also visited the county last Tuesday to view the flood damage, Marshall said. FEMA divided into three teams and two of the teams came back with estimates “extremely close” to the county’s, Marshall said.

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Clarksville solves snow removal problem

With the first of the winter’s storms already upon us, a few people in Clarksville were concerned about the status of snow removal in the borough Friday.

Morgan Township, the contractor that previously plowed Clarkville streets, no longer will offer its services to the town, but Mayor Sam Benyi said residents shouldn’t worry.

“It’s already been taken care of. We hired someone local to plow the streets instead,” Benyi said.

Jim Gayman, Morgan Township supervisor, said Clarksville officials were told last spring that if the borough’s manhole covers were not made level with the street, the township would not plow the borough’s streets.

“Well, the manholes were not corrected and we will not plow,” Gayman said Friday.

Clarksville and Morgan had an agreement that Morgan would provide snow removal services to the borough for a fee.

“When there is a large snowfall, our drivers can’t see the manhole covers and we have damaged some of our equipment in the past,” Gayman said. “One time the cutting edge of the plow blade was torn off. We are just not going to tear up our machines,” Gayman said.

Clarksville’s roads might have been an issue for Morgan Township’s snow plows in previous years, but Benyi contends that problems with a borough resident might be the real reason behind the agreement’s elimination.

West Greene negotiations may take turn for worse

ROGERSVILLE – Talks between teachers and the West Greene School Board may have taken a turn for the worse, said a negotiator of the West Greene Education Association after the Nov. 22 unsuccessful bargaining session.

Teacher negotiator Dan Scannell said the association, in addition to having its new salary proposal rejected, began picking up on what he called “bad signs” from the board.

During the Nov. 22 session, the association presented a new five-year salary proposal lowering its wage request in the first two years.

Under the proposal, annual raises would amount to $1,800, $2,000, $2,300, $2,300 and $2,400, taking into account a reduction in steps on the salary scale. Its last offer had asked for raises of $2,100 and $2,200 in the first two years.

New off-street parking area slated for Waynesburg

The Waynesburg Parking Authority accepted a joint offer from two bonding firms for the $180,000 bond issue it is negotiating to finance construction of a new off-street parking lot in the borough’s business district.

The lot, which is to provide 72 parking spaces, will be developed at the corner of West High and Morris streets on a lot measuring 10 by 120 feet. A service station owned by Atlantic-Richfield and a commercial building owned by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bernhart, will be purchased for $114,000.

Under the plan, the borough will “sell” the authority the two existing off-street parking lots, approximating $8,000 will be paid off by the authority through the bond issue.