Aug 23, 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:

Sen. Specter visits Waynesburg

WAYNESBURG – U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter addressed issues ranging from energy to terrorism and the protection of civil liberties during a town meeting Thursday at Waynesburg University.

The Republican senator from Pennsylvania, first elected in 1980, recently completed chemotherapy for a recurrence of Hodgkin’s disease.

Specter told the audience of about 35 people he is doing well and even joked about his lack of hair. “I get more comments on my hair style these days than I do on my positions on public policy,” he said.

Before answering questions from those in attendance, Specter spoke about several issues of interest to him. The first was energy and the high price of gasoline.

Specter said one action the country can take to address the issue of high prices is to revoke the anti-trust exemptions afforded OPEC nations, which now meet privately to set oil production levels.

He also said he favors drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, which he believes can be done while still protecting the environment, and developing alternative energies and clean coal technologies.

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Modern-day pilgrim makes journey through Greene

ROGERSVILLE – Drivers on their way to work on Tuesday morning might have spotted a tall, robed figure striding through Rogersville on state Route 18/21.

The details of his dress were startling against the backdrop of Victorian houses, casual American dressers and passing vehicles – hooded robe, wooden staff and thick sandals keeping a steady pace.

Curiosity won out over being late for work for one West Greene resident, who found the nearest place to turn around and drove back to find out what the heck Gandalf, the wizard in the Lord of the Rings movie, was doing out here in the boonies. His snowy beard covered his neck and chest, and he walked like he had some special place to go.

Meet Pilgrim George, not of Middle Earth, but of this earth, just passing through, as he has for more than 30 years.

He had left the highway and was sitting in the flowery grasses beside the creek, drinking water from a plastic bottle and being entertained by a young gray tabby cat who was delighted to find a fellow sojourner taking his ease in the natural world.

Power plant gets OK from Cumberland zoning board

CARMICHAELS – Cumberland Township Zoning Board did its part Monday to clear the way for a power plant in Nemacolin.

Project planners from Wellington Development LLC of Fairmont, W.Va., spent about 45 minutes in the second day of testimony answering board members’ questions concerning the environmental and economic impact the 525-megawatt plant will have on the area.

Those concerns were sufficiently addressed, apparently, since the measure to approve the special exception request passed 4-0, with board member Jerry Simkovic abstaining. Simkovic said he wanted to vote on the measure, but since he couldn’t make it to the first part of the hearing Aug. 11, board Solicitor Tim Logan recommended he not participate in the decision-making.

Wellington, along with Mather Recovery Systems LLC, intend to break ground on the power plant next summer. Construction will take about four years, and when it is operational, the plant will convert coal-mining wastes, found in Nemacolin and other sites, into electricity.

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Storms wreak havoc on southeastern part of county

GARARDS FORT – For most people in Greene County, the thunderstorms that rolled through the area late Tuesday and Wednesday amounted to a little rain, some lightning and maybe a brief power outage.

Residents of the southeastern part of the county tell a different story.

Numerous downed trees wiped out electricity, damaged several houses and made driving through some areas miserable. Classes in Southeastern Greene School District were canceled Wednesday.

A tree slammed into Donelda Self’s mobile home on Pump Station Road about 3 p.m. Wednesday. The blow destroyed the trailer, but the elderly occupant emerged unscathed.

“All we cared about was the she was not hurt,” said Self’s daughter, Maxine Darr.

Fortunately, Self was sitting on her living room couch when the storm hit, not resting in her bedroom. The large tree crushed the bedroom and hallway areas of the trailer and knocked it off its foundation.

The family had a major clean up before them Thursday, but neighbors and passersby made the task a little easier.

“We had 15 to 20 people down there today. There were some people there we didn’t even know helping,” Darr said. “I know my mother just thanks everyone for all they did for her.”

Down the road from Self’s mobile home, trees fell all around a house owned by Alice Wise-Sarapa’s son. Branches broke off the drain spout on the side of the porch and caused some minor damage elsewhere on the structure, but the house managed to avoid a direct hit.

Greene County drying up

WAYNESBURG-Many Greene County farmers are now finding themselves in the same situation they were in before rain at the end of July ending a long period of drought.

Although rain has fallen this month in many areas of southwestern Pennsylvania, it seems to have pretty much passed over Greene County.

Scattered rain that has been reported has covered only small areas.

Rainfall measurements recorded at the Waynesburg Sewage Plant show that only 0.13 of an inch has fallen during August.

Total rainfall recorded at the plant for July was 2.69 inches, according to plant manager Sam McCullough.

“We’re right back to where we were before that rain,” said Greene County extension agent Bill Brown.

“The drought is over in some places, so you don’t hear so much about it, but it is very real here.”

Vo-tech bids are received in Harrisburg

Low bids totaling $1,385,188 were received at Harrisburg Tuesday for constructions at the Greene County vocational technical school.

County Superintendent of schools William H. Hartley, who was in Harrisburg for the bid opening by the state public school building authority, said the total was below construction estimates.

“We are very well pleased with the results,” he said, indicating that a meeting of the Greene County School Board will be held Saturday evening to consider accepting the bids.

The school is to be built east of Waynesburg on a tract adjoining the new high school to the Central Greene District, with all five districts in the county participating in its erection and operation through the county school board.

It will contain rooms for teaching 11 vocational technical subjects, with the capacity of the building being 400 students.

Boys and girls from senior high schools in the county will be eligible to attend on a half- time basis while attending their regular academic classes.