Dec 22, 2012 3 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:

Giving locks of love

CARMICHAELS – A child’s first haircut is a coming-of-age milestone that normally occurs by the kid’s third birthday.

The Hathaway sisters of Jefferson, 13-year-old Sarah and 12-year-old Rachael, waited a bit longer for their first trips to the beauty shop. They had their locks snipped for the first time Friday at Sheer Expressions in Carmichaels.

The girls will donate the fruits of their wait, a pair of 10-inch-long, freshly cut ponytails, to the Locks of Love organization, which provides wigs to children who lost their hair due to medical conditions.

“We both decided if we ever got our hair cut, we were going to donate it to Locks of Love,” Sarah said.

Area merchants reflect

on holiday shopping season

WAYNESBURG – The Christmas shopping traffic that flowed through Greene County’s tiny specialty shops couldn’t compare to the sheer volume seen in the malls and big-box department stores, which are found 30 miles to the north and south of Waynesburg.

Nevertheless, whether holiday sales were sluggish, soaring or about the same, the four weeks following Thanksgiving amounted to a busy period for many county merchants.

Willa Brooks of the Carol Lee Shop said that she and her cash register seemed to be working a lot harder this year than during the holiday season of a year ago.

“Thank goodness, it’s better than last year. But, to be honest with you, I don’t think it could get much worse,” Brooks said.

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Mining causes ground

to drop, water to rise

WAYNESBURG – The week before Christmas, a longwall mining machine crept its way under the property of Arnie Bowser of Pickock Road, about six miles south of Waynesburg.

The coal mining activity by RAG Emerald Resources generated the expected subsidence under his house, “but nothing much to speak of,” Bowser said.

On Christmas Eve, though, there was plenty to speak of.

Bowser began to notice that water was covering his back yard. “It was just coming up through the ground,” he said. It started percolating to the surface near a fence line about 30 yards from his house. It wasn’t too long, however, until the water covered his entire back year and surrounded his house on three sides.

What happened was that the area behind the house was in the middle of a longwall panel and the machine hit a sinkhole, causing all that groundwater to come to the surface.

Firm remains hopeful

plant will be constructed

WAYNESBURG – Although a recent state Public Utility Commission order has caused concern among developers of a proposed coal-burning power plant at the Shannopin Mine, a spokesman for the developers said he believes the project still will move ahead.

The PUC granted approval Sept. 25 to a project application submitted by Milesburg energy Inc. for construction of a 43-megawatt cogeneration plant in Centre.

The approval could have an effect on the Shannopin project, an 80-megawatt facility being developed by the Mon Valley Energy Corp., because both Shannopin and Milesburg will sell power to West Penn Power Co.

Emergency cardiac unit slated for local hospital

Plans for the installation of an emergency cardiac care unit at Greene County Memorial Hospital have received a substantial boost through a $4,000 contribution from the Women’s Auxiliary to the hospital.

Hospital administrator Eugene Strosser said a substantial portion of the donation will go toward the cardiac unit, while the balance will be set aside in a capital fund for other necessary improvements in the future.