Feb 8, 2014 5 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:

Repairs force register,

recorder closures

Work that continues at Greene County Courthouse to repair water damage caused by a broken sprinkler pipe will require the register and recorder’s office to close partially beginning late next week.

The office partially will close at noon Feb. 19 and will reopen at noon Feb. 24 as workers replace ceilings and carpeting and paint walls. “We ask that the public please be patient,” said Tom Headlee, register and recorder.

During the partial closing, the office’s staff will relocate to the second floor and still will be able to receive and record deeds, estates and other documents, Headlee said.

The office’s public computers and deed books will be available in the third-floor law library for anyone wanting to access information. Index books also will be available.

The register and recorder’s office was significantly damaged Jan. 17 after a two-inch pipe in the sprinkler system in the attic burst and flooded the rooms below.

The office has remained open, though those having to use deed books for their research have had to go to the third floor law library, where the books are being stored

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Streetscape project’s cost

to businesses still unclear

WAYNESBURG – The borough’s long-anticipated streetscape project will go to bid in July, but questions remain about how much property owners along its five-block route will have to contribute.

Waynesburg officials and business owners discussed the situation at the council meeting Monday.

The borough and the downtown revitalization group Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful have about $1.6 million in state grants that will pay to bury utility lines and pay for other improvements.

However, property owners will be responsible for the cost of hooking up their buildings, from their property lines to the meters. They will have to pay for any necessary upgrades to the electrical systems in their buildings as well.

Municipalities discuss

statewide building code

WAYNESBURG – A state law that will become effective before the end of the year will require all new construction to conform to a statewide building code.

How the law will be implemented and the role municipalities can play in its enforcement was discussed at a meeting Tuesday by Greene County Association of Township Officials.

Pennsylvania Construction Code Act, Act 45 of 1999, requires all new construction to conform to a uniform building code drafted by the state Department of Labor and Industry based on an industry standard known as the International Building Code.

The law gives each municipality the choice of enforcing the code itself or jointly with other municipalities. A municipality, in addition, can “opt out” and leave enforcement of the code up to someone else.

Pennsylvania is one of the last states to implement a statewide building code, Andree said. Though the law was adopted in 1999, it took the state Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) four years to develop the regulations.

Pennsylvania’s law covers new construction, alterations, additions and major repairs to homes and commercial buildings but exempts agricultural buildings, manufactured housing and minor building repairs.

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Cumberland miners

face schedule cuts

RAG American Coal Holding Inc. will idle the longwall mining machine at its RAG Cumberland Resources LP’s Cumberland Mine near Kirby, resulting in reduced work schedules for mine employees during the next few months.

The idling of the longwall, expected to take effect next week and continue through mid-May, comes following a disagreement between RAG and federal regulators involving the mine’s longwall ventilation plan.

“Cumberland is taking this unprecedented action because the Mine Safety and Health Administration is enforcing a new interpretation of the ventilation regulations relative to monitoring for air quality in the bleeder system of Cumberland,” said Sam Cario, general manager, in a released statement.

The ventilation plan for the current longwall panel was approved by MSHA in December. However, the agency subsequently “imposed a different interpretations of the ventilation regulations” causing the mine to intermittently idle the longwall, the company said.

“We certainly respect MSHA’s mission and will always work closely with them, but our plan was consistent with the manner of ventilating dozens of previous longwall panels,” Cario said.

County nets wettest

January since ’82

WAYNESBURG – Despite unseasonably warm temperatures and the lack of significant snow during January, the first 31 days of 1989 were the wettest Greene County has experienced since 1982.

Records kept for the U.S. Weather Bureau by Sam McCullough at the Waynesburg sewage disposal plant, show that 1.72 inches of rain fell during January.

That is the highest amount of precipitation for the first month of the year since 3.14 inches were recorded in 1982.

During the same month last year, when Pennsylvania and much of the nation suffered through a drought, McCullough’s instruments recorded 1.65 inches of rain and snowfall.

During January 1987, 1.62 inches of precipitation were measured.

Firemen end 11-day vigil

at mine shaft

Mt. Morris Volunteer Fire Company has ended an 11-day vigil at the Humphrey Mine shaft of Consolidation Coal Co. at Mt. Morris.

Fire Chief Bob R. Delaney reported more than 1,000 man hours logged from the time of the beginning of the fire at 6:40 Tuesday, Jan. 28, until the fire was finally extinguished on Feb. 7.

More than 100 miners came to the surface in a short time after the fire occurred, with the remaining 12 being rescued in a few hours, thus averting a tragedy at the mine.

The pumper had worked continuously for the 11 days, and at one time the truck ran for 96 hours without a shutdown.