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VOL. 136 — NO. 31

THURSDAY,DECEMBER 18, 2014

75 CENTS

[L-V photo by Evanne Gareis]

FIRST CHRISTMAS — Eight-month-old Bryce Stewart of Rimersburg closely in-spects Santa Claus during a visit at the Rimersburg Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas event last Saturday. For more photos from the event, see Page A-12 and our Facebook page.

Due to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, The Leader-Vindicator will be published one day earlier during the next two weeks.

The L-V will be available for sale, and arrive in the mail for local subscribers, on Wednesday, Dec. 24 and Wednesday, Dec. 31.

The Leader-Vindicator offices will be closed on Thursdays, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

To accommodate the earlier production schedule, the following deadlines have been advanced:

• Church and social news, and letters to the edi-tor — Noon on Fridays, Dec. 19 and 26.

• Regular news items — noon on Mondays, Dec. 22 and 29.

• Classified advertising — 11 a.m. on Mondays, Dec. 22 and 29.

• Display advertising — Noon on Mondays, Dec. 22 and 29.

The L-V to publish early

[L-V photo by Josh Walzak]

THE NEW 2015 Ford ambulance arrived at the East Brady Area Ambulance Co. Monday morning. On hand to welcome the new ve-hicle were (from left to right): borough secre-tary Sandy Steiner and ambulance service personnel Laura Hogan, Bill Verner, Jenni-fer Switzer and Roxan Duttine.

FLANKED BY FAMILY and friends, former long-time

Union basketball coach Don Stemmerich was honored be-

tween Friday night’s games at Union High School.

[Photo by Shelly Atzeni]

By RICH RHOADESL-V Sports Editor

RIMERSBURG – Don Stemm-erich was eight years old when Dr. James Naismith died in November 1939.

The inventor of basketball passed away while the man who built a basketball power at Union High School was still running around Wilkinsburg playing every sport he could find.

Some 75 years later, the now 83-year-old Stemmerich was honored for his 38-year coaching career that came to an end back in 1993. Last Friday night in front of a packed house at the aptly named “Stem-merich Gymnasium” at Union, Stemmerich’s career was celebrat-ed by many of his former players, including those who were on his first district championship team of 1959, last district title squad of 1981 and the two state runner-up teams from 1967 and 1974.

While his career record of 638-288 with 12 league championships, nine district titles, three runner-up finishes and 14 trips to the state playoffs is more than enough to honor, Stemmerich is beloved for much more than wins or titles. His lengthy resume includes local vol-unteer work and a stint as Rimers-

Union family continues to look up to Coach Stemm

[Continued on Page A-6]

NEW BETHLEHEM – More than 50 people were charged with narcotics trafficking after a two-day drug bust in Clarion and Armstrong counties.

The product of more than sev-en months of investigations, and with the cooperation of numer-ous state, county and local law enforcement agencies, the drug busts took place last Thursday in Armstrong County and last

Friday in Clarion County.A total of 24 people were

charged for selling drugs in Armstrong County, while an ad-ditional 29 were busted for drug sales in Clarion County.

Clarion County District At-torney Mark Aaron said that because there were 53 warrants issued in two counties, the op-eration had to be conducted over two days.

“The activities of the last two days are an example of what can be done when law enforcement agencies cooperate regardless of county or municipal borders,” Aaron said, explaining that the heroin sold in Clarion County is “imported” from elsewhere. “Over the past two days, we have addressed the heroin trav-eling up the Route 28 corridor into Clarion County, as well as

heroin coming from Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cleveland.”

Aaron credited the coopera-tion of Armstrong County Dis-trict Attorney Scott Andreassi and state Attorney General Kathleen Kane for helping to make the effort a success.

In addition to heroin, sev-eral of the people arrested were charged with trafficking subox-one, which is an opiate used to

treat heroin addiction.“Suboxone is routinely di-

verted from treatment into the illegal drug trade where the ad-dictions and lives destroyed are exactly the same as heroin,” Aaron said.

The majority of the people charged in Clarion County are from the southern end of the county, while those charged in

More than 50 nabbed in drug raids

[Continued on Page A-8]

It’s almost here — Christ-mas is just one week away, and what a busy, fun and festive time it will be here in our area.

There’s still time to see the 20-plus decorated trees at the New Bethle-hem Christmas Village Committee’s Festival of Trees, located in the former Family Dollar storefront at the plaza. The display will conclude its season with hours of 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, and 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Also in the area, the Springside Baptist Church carries on the tradition of a Living Nativity this Fri-day evening from 6 to 8 [Continued on Page A-3]

By JOSH WALZAKL-V Editor

EAST BRADY – Santa’s sleigh couldn’t accommo-date something as large as an ambulance, so instead, the Man in Red rode into East Brady Monday morn-ing in the new ambulance that the riverfront commu-nity has had on its wish list for several years.

Members of the East Brady Area Ambulance Co. and borough officials were on hand at 9 a.m. Monday as the new ambulance ar-rived in town — with not only Santa in the passen-ger seat, but a full escort from local fire trucks.

The new 2015-model Ford E450 replaces the service’s 2001 Ford Medtec ambulance which has had mechanical problems for several years.

With the help of East Brady Borough Council and borough secretary Sandy Steiner, the ambu-lance service applied for grants to fund the pur-

chase of a new ambulance. In 2012, their grant ap-plication was denied; but in 2013, the organization

was awarded $154,000 to-ward the new vehicle and a defibrillator.

Santa delivers new ambulance for EB

[Continued on Page A-11]

By EVANNE GAREISL-V Staff Writer

HAWTHORN – With the winter months upon us, most outside work is on hold until the spring.

The Hawthorn Red-bank-Redbank Municipal Authority took time dur-ing its regular meeting on Monday to give an update on the ongoing Hawthorn/Redbank/Fairmount City sewer project.

The multi-million dol-lar project is headed by Senate Engineering and receives half of its fund-ing from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) and the other half from a

payback loan.The entire project is

broken down into three phases.

Work on Phase 1, which includes Hawthorn, Alcola and Sherman Heights, be-gan last January by Chiv-ers Construction, and was estimated at $9 million.

According to HRRMA engineer Mike Malak, all of the sewer lines for this phase are in, and all that remains is the restoration work, which will be com-pleted in the spring.

“We issued a substan-tial completion letter, as well as a change-order for a time extension for Chiv-ers to complete that res-

HRRMA offers updates on sewer project

[Continued on Page A-5]

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