May 10, 2014 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:

Gas well water money

to dry up permanently

WAYNESBURG – Borough officials will have to permanently bid farewell to the short-lived windfall generated through the treatment of gas well water, a borough engineer told council Monday.

For over a year, the borough’s sewage treatment plant accepted a large amount of waste water, which is a by-product of drilling natural gas wells. Drilling companies paid the borough $530,000 for the service last year until the state Department of Environmental Protection stopped the practice in October.

DEP was responding to elevated contamination on the Monongahela River and ordered that all treatment plants drastically reduce the amount of waste water treated. Borough officials were hopeful that the reduction was temporary and the treatment plant could get back in business once new regulations were established.

That will apparently never happen because the recently released treatment requirements would make the practice cost prohibitive, said Arthur Bowser of Fayette Engineering.

Last year, council considered an upgrade to the treatment plant so it could treat more water. A pre-treatment tank was expected to cost about $500,000, but it would more than double the plant’s capacity. Bowser said those plans should be abandoned because of the more stringent regulations.

Storm floods roads,

downs trees in Morris Twp.

SYCAMORE – A strong storm late Tuesday afternoon dumped about three inches of rain in two hours on a relatively small area of Morris Township, downing trees and flooding area roads.

The rain began falling about 5 p.m. and seemed to be concentrated in an area between Sycamore and Nineveh.

“It rained like the dickens here for about an hour,” said Bob Andrew, whose rain gauge at his home in Nineveh measured 2 1/2 inches. “The clouds just seemed to hang here and didn’t move,” he said.

Andrew said the storm was not accompanied by heavy winds, “just thunder and lightning.” He also said from what he had heard even more rain fell south of the Nineveh area.

The deluge apparently effected a relatively small area.

Reactions mixed concerning

removal of parking meters

WAYNESBURG – Reaction to Waynesburg Borough removing parking meter from the main thoroughfare in March has been met with mixed reactions from motorists and businesses.

As one main street wag commented, “Some people would complain if we hung them with a new rope.”

Borough council voted March 13 to remove meters form High Street and cross streets, primarily for economic reasons. The old meters were breaking, and the borough cannot afford to replace them.

It also was pointed out by Police Chief Tim Hawfield that vandals were using the meters as piggy banks. Hardly a weekend passed without some meters being broken into and money taken.

Westminster baseball team defeats Jackets for title

Westminster won the West Penn Conference baseball crown by sweeping both sides of a doubleheader with Waynesburg College, 6-3 and 5-3.

In the opener, the Yellow Jackets of coach Bill Hardisty drew first blood when Art Sutton got on base by an error at shortstop advanced on a wild pitch and an infield out and scored on Mark Lewis’ single.