Dec 6, 2014 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:

WAYNESBURG – Students at Margaret Bell Miller Middle School have been busy writing, collecting, creating and reaching out to hospitalized soldiers recovering from combat wounds.

The students are contributing to the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization that tries to help severely injured veterans as they return home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The greatest casualty is being forgotten,” said teacher Brad Monas, referring to the Wounded Warrior Project’s motto. “We don’t want these guys to be forgotten.”

Language arts teachers at the middle school assigned a letter-writing assignment last month and the students drafted about 450 thank you letters that were sent to three Army hospitals.

Patients’ lips often become chapped because of dry conditions at the hospital. So, the students collected and mailed 1,109 sticks of lip balm that will be included in care packages distributed to the injured soldiers. A donation from Waynesburg Giant Eagle supplied the bulk of the lip balm.

Students will create Christmas cards to lift soldiers’ spirits around the holidays. Monas said he has other ideas to encourage students to contribute throughout the year.

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W.Va. may let Consol

discharge into stream

West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection may soon let Consol Energy resume pumping mine water from its Blacksville No. 2 Mine into Dunkard Creek, a practice that stopped during the fish kill in September.

Consol has said water in the Blacksville No. 2 mine is approaching critical levels and it’s worried about the safety of underground miners.

The company stopped pumping water from the mine into the creek Sept. 17 after fish and other aquatic life in the stream began to die.

State and federal environmental agencies believe golden algae, an algae normally found in saltwater, caused the fish kill along a 43-mile section of the stream. They also say high levels of total dissolve solids in the creek water contributed to the algae bloom.

Patrick Campbell, assistant director for water and waste management for West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, said at a public meeting last week that the agency and Consol were attempting to work out a solution to the problem of water in the mine.

Blacksville No. 2 mine water “historically” has contained high levels of TDS, Pennsylvania DEP spokeswoman Helen Humphreys said last week. Consol maintains the higher levels are apparently naturally present in parts of the coal reserve.

Though the mine treats water for acidity and certain heavy metals, it does not treat for TDS. The company is under a compliance order from West Virginia DEP to reduce TDS levels from the mine by 2013.

Study: Greene residents

sickened by pollution

PITTSBURGH – An environmental study released Tuesday claims that pollution in Greene County is making people sick, and the state and federal government have failed to enforce laws that would improve the situation.

“Greene County is a real-world example of what happens when the state government and the federal government fail to do their jobs,” said Erik Olson, who co-authored the report as a senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), based in Washington, D.C.

The study, entitled “Pollution Unchecked,” faults federal agencies and the state Department of Environmental Protection for insufficient pollution monitoring and poor enforcement of environmental laws.

DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty said the study brings up some important issues, but “there’s no reason for the people of Greene County to panic.”

Many of the issues brought up in the report will be addressed through Gov. Ed Rendell’s Growing Greener II proposal, she said. Lawmakers have not yet passed the measure, but it may be on the spring ballot.

“The Legislature is failing the people of Pennsylvania by dragging their feet on that legislation,” McGinty said.

Three groups sponsored “Pollution Unchecked.” Representatives from the NRDC, Pennsylvania Environmental Council of Pittsburgh and Monongahela Riverkeeper in Waynesburg discussed pollution’s effects on Greene County at a news conference at Carnegie Science Center.

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Robena memorial a reminder miners did not die in vain

CARMICHAELS – Every day on his way to work, Gene Zvolenski crosses the Masontown Bridge, and just past the shadows of the huge towers of the Hatfield Power Plant, he glances to his right.

There, about 50 yards off Route 21 in Monongahela Township, is a granite monument honoring the 37 miners who died 42 years ago, Dec. 6, 1962, in an explosion at Robena Mine’s Frosty Run Shaft.

Zvolenski was 9 years old and living in Palmer, Fayette County, when he lost his father, Paul, in that explosion.

“I can’t help but look,” Zvolenski said Monday, just prior to the beginning of the annual memorial service sponsored by District 2 and Robena UMWA Local 6321 that remembers and honors those who died.

More than 100 UMWA officials, friends and family stood in a light drizzle to pay tribute to those who Edward D. Yankovich, president of UMWA District 2, said, “Left to go to work on that snowy and cold day and had no idea what was in store for them.”

After 42 years since that brief and violent moment tragically altered the lives of 37 families, the sorrow and pain is still etched on the faces of relatives and friends of those who died.

Although attending this ceremony every year evokes many sad memories, Zvolenski said, “I am still glad to come here because I see so many familiar faces. The brotherhood of coal miners is very strong.”

Waynesburg College

names new president

WAYNESBURG – Timothy Thyreen, vice president of Waynesburg College, was named the school’s 14th president during a ribbon cutting ceremony for a sports medicine department.

The announcement appeared to be a surprise to many in the audience and ended a long selection process, which began several months ago when Dr. Thomas Mills resigned to accept the presidency of Cumberland College in Tennessee.

Thyreen, an Ohio native, is currently in his seventh year at Waynesburg College. He previously served the school as admissions director and dean of students. Before coming to Waynesburg College, he taught psychology ay Baldwin High School and was head football coach there. In addition to his other duties at Waynesburg College, he was the defensive coordinator for the football team.

Blasting prohibited near

Waynesburg Central school

The Central Greene School building authority denied permission to blast out a sewerage line behind the new Waynesburg Central High School, by a plumbing contractor at the vo-technical high school.

The problem arose last month as the Met Plumbing Co. of Pittsburgh encountered some extremely hard rock directly under the proposed sewer line leading across one corner and then behind the high school.

Permission to blast was approved in one set of “specs” while another set disallowed blasting, according to the plumbing contractor. He added that the bids were offered according to the specs approving blasting.