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Vol. 135 - No. 103
Mostly sunny. Very warm with highs in the low-er 80s.
Full report, A2
14 pages
Classi� ed ......................... B5
Comics ............................. A5
Lifestyles ......................... A4
Lottery ............................. A7
Opinion ........................... A6
Public Notices ............... B5
Sports ............................... B1
$1.00
•ChristineGunther,82•CashHinderliter,44•ConstanceLalley,67
The Brockway Area School Board adopted the proposed fi nal budget for 2015-16 in the amount of $14,559,228.00 with the plan to advertise it now and give fi nal approval later in June. A2
Man drowns
trying to
rescue catAuthorities identifi ed
a man who drowned in a northern Illinois lake while trying to save a cat. A7
Customers get huge water bills
Faulty radio-controlled water meters multiplied some customers’ bills by as much as six times, lead-ing the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to cut off service or threaten to do so, according to a lawsuit. A8
Brockway school board OKs
proposed budget
Tomorrow’s Forecast
Index
ObituariesA7
MORE INSIDE
Page B3
By Elaine Haskins
DuBOIS — The future of Sabula and Treasure Lake fi re companies was discussed at a public meeting Tuesday at the Tri-County Church.
“We are here this evening to introduce you to the North Point Volunteer Fire Co. — a member of the Sandy Township Volunteer Fire Department,” Dana Smith, president of the Sandy Township Volunteer Fire Department, said to about 30-plus audience members interested in the future plans for fi re protection for property owners of Sandy Township and surround-ing areas. “This new company has been formed from two existing Sandy Township Volunteer Fire Depart-ment companies — those being Sabula Volunteer Fire Co. and Treasure Lake Volunteer Fire Co.,” Smith said.Smith said the purpose of the meeting was not to debate wheth-er this union is a good idea or if it should not be done.“It’s a done deal,” he said. “Al-though there are still a few admin-istrative actions needing fi nalized, the stations previously known as Sabula and Treasure Lake have already begun functioning opera-tionally as a single company. Over the next few months, the transition will be completed, legally, function-ally and administratively. So this evening, I will not entertain debate regarding the viability or wisdom of this decision.”First, Smith stressed the make-up of the Sandy Township Volun-
teer Fire Department: There will be four companies but one depart-ment.“Secondly, I want to assure you these decisions were not made lightly, nor were they made by one individual or a small group of indi-viduals,” Smith said.Smith said the process had in-put from Sandy Township Manager Dave Monella, the township volun-teer fi re department board of direc-tors, including: Smith, then acting Chief Bill Beers Jr. and current Chief John Hallowell.Further, there was a committee comprised of members from both Sabula Fire Co. and Treasure Lake Fire Co., along with assistance
from D. Robert Brady II, who is a local government policy specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic De-velopment.“This situation is not unique to our community,” Smith said. “Vol-unteer fi re departments across our country, our state and our entire nation are in trouble. Volunteerism seems to be a thing of the past. Memberships continue to decline and those who are members are getting older. Fire departments are being asked to do more and more.“Also, like so many things in our lives today, the costs continue to rise, but the funding continues to
Sabula, Treasure Lake fire companies merge to form North Point Fire Co.
By Julie Benamati
MCGEES MILLS – After advertising three different times for bids to repair the historic McGees Mills Cov-ered Bridge near Mahaffey, Clearfield County Com-missioners finally received two repair offers to open at Tuesday’s meeting.The McGees Mills Cov-ered Bridge is a historic Burr Arch truss wooden covered bridge. It is a 109-foot bridge built in 1873 over the West Branch of the Susquehanna River at an original cost of $175. It was listed on the National Reg-ister of Historic Places in 1988.
The county’s only cov-ered bridge was renovated in 1978 and again in the mid-1990s following heavy snowfall damage. It is locat-ed near Mahaffey on Route 219, just south of the inter-section with Route 36.The bridge is owned and maintained by the county and is opened to daily traf-fic. The bridge has been extensively reinforced with heavy steel mending plates at the joints of the Burr arches, and angle irons and mending plates on the other wooden timbers, and a five foot high wall of laminated
County commissioners discuss repair work forhistoric covered bridge
By Nick Hoffman
DuBOIS — The DuBois City Coun-cil pledged the city’s support in the an-nual Community Days celebration Fri-day and Saturday, June 12-13.Organized and staged by the Du-Bois Volunteer Fire Department, Com-munity Days is a two-day celebration centered in DuBois City Park that of-fers a wide variety of events.Jeff Baronick outlined some of this year’s highlight’s at Tuesday’s council meeting, including:• An inaugural 5K race on and along city streets beginning at 8:30 a.m. Sat-urday, June 13. Registration informa-tion is available online at duboisfi re.com under the Community Days tab.• A Super Bowl reunion at 12:30 p.m. Saturday featuring Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famers Franco Harris and Jack Ham along with Rocky Ble-ier. The trio will also serve as grand marshals for the Firemen’s Parade.• Johnny Angel and the Halos will be in town Friday night.• No Bad Ju Ju will perform Satur-day night.• The Bear Mountain wildlife show from Texas.• Chris McDaniel, a one-man Wild West Show from Texas.• A two-person circus from Vermont.• XPOGO, an extreme Pogo show.• A drum and bugle competition that is bigger than last year’s.• The Firemen’s Parade at 5 p.m. Saturday. This year’s parade has at least 10 high school bands and seven drum and bugle corps.• The fi reworks extravaganza Sat-urday night by Zambelli’s Fireworks, sponsored by Dr. Joe Valigorsky and Toni Cherry and Dr. Mark Piasio and Paula Cherry.Baronick said that in organiz-ing and staging the event each year, “It takes a village to put this on.” He singled out the efforts of Bobbi Shaffer and Marla Minns in putting the event together.All Community Days events are free, he noted. The council approved the request to have the city police and street depart-ments assist, as they have each year.Fire Chief Bill Boyle gave the de-partment’s report for April, which fea-tured 22 calls, including fi ve structure fi res, four fi re alarms, one motor ve-hicle accident, one rescue, one carbon monoxide alarm, two calls for downed wires, one odor investigation, four mu-tual aid response and two “others.”Boyle’s son, William, an Eagle Scout
DuBois Councilfocuses onCommunity Days June 12-13
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2015
Shown are the fire trucks from the Sabula Fire Co., left, and the Treasure Lake Fire Co., right, which were parked in the lot of the Tri-County Church Tuesday while a meeting was being held inside to discuss the future of the two companies of the Sandy Township Fire Department. Although there are still a few administrative actions needing finalized, the stations previously known as Sabula and Treasure Lake have already begun functioning operation-ally as a single company known as North Point Fire Co. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
This historic covered bridge located in McGees Mills may receive some needed repairs soon. Clearfield County Commissioners opened two sealed bids at Tuesday’s meeting and for-warded them to the county’s engineer for examination. The bid could be awarded as soon as next Tuesday. (Photo by Julie Benamati)
The future merger of Sabula and Treasure Lake fire companies was dis-cussed at a public meeting Tuesday at the Tri-County Church. Standing at the podium are Sabula Fire Co. Station 39 Fire Chief Jonathan Uren, left, and Sandy Township Fire Department President Dana Smith. Members of the new company, North Point Volunteer Fire Co., which has been formed from the two existing fire companies, Sabula and Treasure Lake, were in-troduced and were wearing green and white shirts. Uren will serve as the fire chief for North Point. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
Sandy Township
Clearfield Co.
See Covered, Page A7
See Fire, Page A7 See DuBois, Page A7
A1 Front Page
