YELLOW JACKET
Page B4
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Region
Waynesburg officials, residents fed up with Marcellus Shale trucks By Sandor Mecs Staff Writer With the growth of the gas drilling industry in Southwestern Pennsylvania heralded as a sort of renaissance, what proponents have publicized as an economic revolution has also swept up small communities at a faster pace than some would like. Apart from the continuous frenzy of environmentalist attacks on the fracking procedure, residents in small towns such as Waynesburg have complained about the more immediate concern of company truckers. Melody Longstreth, executive director of the Waynesburg Chamber of Commerce, said that tons of mirrors have been shaved off the doors of cars and pickup trucks parallel parked along the street by industry truckers. As head of the club for local small businesses, she said that the
Christians gather in Pitt. Continued from B3 cool restaurants or the zoo.” Multiple delegates from all around the country will be showing up for the week long event. There will be youth delegates, mostly college students; there will be seminary students that will be delegates as well as the elders and pastors from across the country. All of them will partake in voting on items concerning the church. The Convocation resolves controversies in the church, is responsible for matters of common concern for the whole church and serves as a symbol of unity for the church. According to the General Assembly’s website, “The combined insights of all those on assembly committees become the recom-
problem has reached such proportions that the Christian bookstore across from the post office has already erected concrete barricades outside their store to keep trucks from turning right onto the curb. “That intersection by the post office makes the truckers turn such a hard curve that they would come up onto the curb and destroy the sewage line there,” she said. “It’s a brick street, made for horse and buggies. It’s not made for the weight of these trucks.” According to Longstreth, it is not only the residents’ livelihoods that stand to be marred by the trucking, but their traditions as well. “I’ve been here since 1986, and I’ve always worked on the Christmas Parade,” Longstreth said. “We got word through one of the borough council meetings
mendations to the whole assembly. If they are approved, they guide the church in the years to come.” While the Convocation is being held inside the Convention Center, other things will be going on with the Convocation that volunteers can help with. “I have been urging students, faulty, anyone, to volunteer,” said Merry. “I am looking for students to man the Windham Hotel. They are going to have all of the youth delegates at that hotel. Delegates and their families don’t want to go downstairs and see an old lady and ask ‘Where should we go to eat?’ They need to know what the young people want to do and I figured only young people are going to be the best at helping with that.” To volunteer to assist with the event, sign up by going to the Committee on Local Arrangements’ website.
that Chief [Hawfield] wanted us to move it because during the Veterans’ Day Parade traffic was a nightmare within the detour. Huge public outcry: ‘Well we don’t care where those drillers….’ and, ‘We aren’t changing our traditions for those drillers.’ Michele and I started making phone calls to these companies saying ‘Hey, on Saturday at 2 p.m., you’re not going to be able to make it through town.” However, Longstreth said that the traffic has been due mainly to
pipeline construction, and that once that project is finished, relations between residents and drilling companies should be less troubled. “I think eventually we will coexist. I think when what’s happening now dies down, and we go into the collection phase [referring to the upcoming state impact tax], things will be much better,” Longstreth said. Until then, the high flow of truckers through the area will still risk not only property, but potentially lives as well.
Mayor Blair Zimmerman said that truckers have acted haphazardly in the past when working together. “If they’re caravanning and they’re going to a certain site, if there’s three trucks and one of them goes through a red light or a yellow, the others will go through a red light. They don’t stop,” he said. Zimmerman also said that he has appealed to higher authorities to rein in the truckers. “We had a meeting with PennDot, in front of all the companies,
and some of the problems we raised were the damages; we’ve lost a lot of signs, trucks hitting the sidewalk causing damage. You can walk around town and see all of the sidewalks we’ve lost.” According to Zimmerman, in spite of all this his gut feeling was that they came to show that they cared and feel good, but it was only Public Relations. “No one’s approached me since that meeting and said ‘Hey, can we sit down and talk?’ Chesapeake just gave a grant for $10,000 to the playground, but again, I want stuff fixed first and then they can do that stuff,” he said. “I know they want to do some positive community stuff, but I want them to fix the stuff first that the taxpayers don’t have to get first. That’s why I want to get a game plan. We initiated, they came around, but it seemed like it fell on deaf ears.”
Ramp Fest to be held Continued from B3 high with chili, sauerkraut, coleslaw, onions and ramps. Throughout the weekend, admission and parking is free to guests. Attendees also have the opportunity to sign up at the Mason-Dixon Park booth for a chance to win door prizes and enter in a raffle for a handmade powder horn and a hunting knife. Although the festival is officially from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
File Photo
Crowds flocked to the vendors at last year’s Ramp Festival. This year’s festival promises more food, fun, music and much more at Mason-Dixon park in Mt. Morris. each day, participants are invited to arrive an hour early for a Sunday church service. For
more information, directions or a full list of ramp foods available, email Ammons at
keeperoftheland@aol.c om or visit w w w. m a s o n d i x o n park.net.
Hammer-In fest held Continued from B2 would add more structures and put their own foundry in. They made parts for river boats, coal mines and just about anything that anyone would need. They actually had a hardware store above the foundry where people could purchase parts that they needed.” The Young family stayed in business until around 1965, Blystone said. “The Greene County Historical Society, through Farley Toothman and Bob Campbell, discovered the place and purchased the building and all the artifacts. It belonged to the historical society until three years ago, when Rivers of Steel purchased it,” Blystone said. “This organization is able to write grants and get money for the building, and
Photo by Chad Green
The Appalachian Blacksmith’s Association from Morgantown, W.Va., and the Pittsburgh Area Artists-Blacksmiths Association gave demonstrations at the event. they actually just put a new roof on the structure. They’ve definitely saved it.” Moreira believes that the people who attended the Hammer-In not only had a fun time, but learned something as well.
“I think that what they [the festival-goers] take away is just a sense of the county’s history and the region’s history,” she said. “Also, seeing the blacksmith’s demonstrations, they just get a sense of how things
used to be – how back then not everything was made super-quickly. It took time. I think that everyone involved and everyone who attended was able to get a sense of connection to their heritage and their history.”