Apr 6, 2013 4 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:

Planners grant conditional

tire plant approval

WAYNESBURG – Greene County Planning Commission granted conditional final approval Monday to plans by the RJ Lee Group to construct a tire recycling plant at Paisley Industrial Park.

The company intends to build the plant on a 10-acre site in the Cumberland Township industrial park to recycle tires using its patented “depolymerization” process.

Clarence Randall Jr. of Delta-Energy, a subsidiary of RJ Lee, said the process involves heating the shredded tires and adding a catalyst to break down the tire material into its various components.

The end products are a heating oil; carbon black, a material used to produce new tires and other rubber products; and a gas with a high heating value that can be used in the recycling process, he said. The plant will use only shredded tire, Randall said. No whole tires will be stored on site.

SCI-Greene guards can

continue uniform tribute

WAYNESBURG – Corrections officers at the state Correctional Institution at Greene will be permitted, at least for now, to wear crossed flag pins without the accompanying ribbons to show support for fellow employees serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Several officers at the prison began wearing crossed flag pins backed by a yellow ribbon about two weeks ago to show support for troops.

The state Department of Corrections asked the officers to remove the pins last Wednesday, saying they violated the department’s uniform policy.

Employees continued to wear the pins until Friday, when they agreed to take them off while the department again reviewed the matter, said Diane DeMarco, business agent for the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, which represents 520 employees at SCI-Greene.

The employees were informed by DOC Tuesday that they would be allowed to wear the crossed flag pins but not the accompanying yellow ribbon, DeMarco said. The association intends to contact the department to clarify the decision regarding the ribbon, she added.

DeMarco said she had not had a chance to gauge employees’ reaction to the decision. Several , however, want the department to review an incident in which one supervisor allegedly made “unprofessional” remarks to an officer wearing a pin, she said.

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Patriotism comes easy

for workers in Jefferson

JEFFERSON – The numerous flags and yellow ribbons that decorate the manufacturing floor of the former Flushing Shirt Co. are not the only reasons the Jefferson plant has seemed a bit more patriotic of late.

Workers at the plant, owned by Cincinnati-based Fechheimer Brothers, have long had a connection with the military. That’s because they produce about 150,000 uniform shirts a year for the U.S. Navy.

Waynesburg must prove it’s eligible for $79,859 block grant

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough will be required to prove that more than 51 percent of its residents fall into the low-to-moderate income bracket before it will be permitted to use its 1987 community development grant as part of funding for upgrading the borough sewage treatment plant.

The borough is one of many municipalities in 43 Pennsylvania counties that are caught in the middle of a dispute between federal and state bureaucracies over data to be used in making sure that community improvement projects funded under the program serve a majority of needy people.

As a result of the dispute, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has frozen $7.6 million in 1987 community development grants, including the $79,859 allocated to Waynesburg.

Ryerson camps open

Camping facilities officially opened Wednesday at Ryerson Station State Park. They will remain open through Dec. 20.

W.M. Patton, park superintendent, said the entire 1,104-acre park in Richhill Township near Ryerson Station, will be available for public use for the Memorial Day weekend.

The camp sites for 50 tents and trailers covers an area of about eight acres.

The park’s 62-acre lake will be open to anglers for the beginning of trout season. The lake, built on the Dunkard branch of Wheeling Creek, has a boat ramp and a dock with 300-foot frontage, parking space for 37 cars and 22 trailers.