Herald-Standard picks stories of the year
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ exhilarating march to victory in Super Bowl XL was a really big story in the region in 2006, but there were other important and memorable stories that unfolded in the region, too. Recently, the editors of the Herald-Standard voted on what they viewed were the top stories for the past year as nominated by the entire news staff. The following is a look back at the topics they considered to be most important in the newspaper’s readership area.
No slots at Nemacolin
In November, just weeks before the Pennsylvania Gaming Board was set to announce the recipients of the state’s slots licenses, officials from Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa in Farmington withdrew its application.
The resort had been virtually assured a resort license for up to 500 slot machines, and plans were under way to utilize the former Woodlands Outdoor World store for the casino.
In making the announcement, Nemacolin Woodlands representatives said the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board had insisted that patrons make a $25 payment to gamble each time they visited the casino, while it wanted patrons to make a $25 annual payment instead. Jeff Nobers, spokesman for Nemacolin Woodlands, said after a fiscal analysis in which the best-case scenarios were breaking even, it would not have been a good business decision for the resort.
The decision disappointed community leaders because an opportunity to bring additional revenue into Fayette County apparently has been lost.
Although there are only two resort licenses available statewide, for a time only two southwestern Pennsylvania resorts applied for them. Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion had decided against pursuing a license in October because of Major League Baseball’s prohibition against teams owning casinos. The Nutting family, which owns the Pittsburgh Pirates, had bought the resort earlier this year.
Last year for 84 Classic
In mid-September, the area bade farewell to the PGA Tour after four years of the world’s greatest golfers, some very busy roads and some of the most exciting musical acts to grace a Fayette County stage.
The 84 Lumber Classic, held for a final time in 2006 at Mystic Rock golf course at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa in Farmington, saw two-time PGA Tour winner Ben Curtis hoist the Fat Bird trophy, joining J.L. Lewis, Vijay Singh and Jason Gore as the champions during the tournament’s stint in Wharton Township.
Record-setting crowds walked the manicured grounds at the sprawling resort watching the likes of John Daly, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and Michelle Wie do battle, and where concerts by the Black Eyed Peas and the PovertyNeck Hillbillies culminated performances over the course of the tournament that included the Doobie Brothers, Leann Womack and Smash Mouth.
During the September event, the county again reaped the fiscal benefits of the more than 150,000 golf fans flooding the region for the tournament with local businesses and area charities cashing in one last time on the promotional value of the national event.
Steelers ‘Super’ again
In February, the region was gripped in a football frenzy when the Pittsburgh Steelers rattled off eight straight victories, including three improbable road wins in the playoffs against Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver to earn their fifth Super Bowl title by defeating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 in Super Bowl XL.
While the team became the first in NFL history to win the Super Bowl going into the playoffs as a sixth seed, the outpouring of support from area fans rivaled the incredible play on the field, with thousands of black and gold faithful pouring into Detroit, Mich., for the big game.
More than 75 percent of the Super Bowl crowd supported the Steelers and an estimated 30,000 additional fans made the trip to the Motor City to simply be near the team and tailgate outside the event.
In the weeks following the historic victory that finally earned the franchise the much-anticipated “one for the thumb,” the fans love for the team overflowed one more time when more than 250,000 rabid, “Terrible Towel” waving enthusiasts inundated downtown Pittsburgh to celebrate with the team.
Pay raise fallout
A decision made in the middle of the night without debate by the state lawmakers to significantly boost their own salaries led to the defeat of three legislative leaders.
State Rep. Mike Veon of Beaver County, former House Democratic whip, was defeated in the November election. Senate Pro Tempore Bob Jubelirer of Altoona and Senate Republican leader Chip Brightbill of Lebanon County were defeated in the Republican primary.
Pay raise activists attributed the defeats to the pay raise issue. Veon was the only legislator to vote against repealing the raise. When it was all said and done, 50 new state representatives will take office this year.
Locally, state Rep. H. William DeWeese (D-Waynesburg) lost his home county of Greene and won based on receiving support from Fayette and Washington county voters. DeWeese was a strong supporter of the pay raise and voted once against repealing it before finally voting in favor of the repeal.
Brownsville hospital closes
Brownsville General Hospital Inc. unexpectedly closed its doors in January.
After several months of layoffs and contract issues, Brownsville General Hospital Inc. chief executive officer Gary Gosai announced Jan. 5 that the hospital would be closing in 90 days. Three days later, the hospital signs were covered with blue plastic, patients were moved out and a new CEO, Harry Cancelmi, was reading a prepared statement that the hospital had turned its license in to the state Department of Health. The hospital was closed permanently.
Just a few weeks later, on Jan. 24, the for-profit board of directors declared bankruptcy and the matter has been in federal court ever since. All of the furnishings and equipment at the hospital was auctioned in July, with the nonprofit owners of the building buying back essential items. The nonprofit board has restored laboratory services to the facility and has vowed to reopen the hospital as a nonprofit, community-run facility.
Local soldiers killed
Three area soldiers were killed in 2006 while serving with the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Afghanistan.
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corp. Steven Phillips, 27, of Spraggs, was serving with the 6th Marine Regiment in Iraq for nearly a year when he died in February in a non-combat vehicle accident.
His former teachers remembered the 1996 graduate of Waynesburg Central High School as an intelligent, well-rounded and nice young man.
“He was the epitome of a student any teacher would want in class,” said his English teacher, Debbie Longstreth.
U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Christopher C. Rafferty, 37, of Brownsville, was serving with the 37th Engineering Battalion in Afghanistan in July when an insurgent’s bullet fatally struck him in the neck.
Rafferty, a Bethlehem-Center High School graduate, joined the military in 1988.
His mother, Sandy Rafferty Hustava, said her son died while insuring the safety of those in his command.
“He saved three other soldiers that day,” she said. “He had gone to check on his men to make sure they were OK.”
U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Shelby J. Feniello, 25, of Connellsville, was killed in October when a roadside bomb exploded as he and two other Marines were rushing to help their fellow soldiers in Iraq.
The 1999 graduate of Connellsville Area High School enlisted in the Marine Corps in May 2004 and had returned for a second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed.
T-ball coach guilty, appeals
Following an arrest that captured international attention, Dunbar T-ball coach Mark Downs Jr. was convicted and sentenced to one to six years in prison for bribing a player on his team to bean an autistic teammate.
Downs, 29, maintained his innocence during the September trial in Fayette County Court, but jurors convicted him of conspiracy to commit simple assault and corruption of a minor for offering Keith Reese Jr. $25 to hit Harry Bowers with a baseball before a June 2005 playoff game.
Both boys were members of his Falcons Little League team. One throw hit Bowers in the ear, and another in the groin, and he did not play in the game. Bowers’ mother found out and went to state police after league officials cleared Downs of wrongdoing.
Jurors acquitted Downs of solicitation to commit aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.
Following his October sentencing, Downs’ attorney successfully petitioned for bail pending an appeal of the convictions. The case is now before the state Superior Court.
Former Pechin’s burns
A Fayette County landmark known for its 19-cent hamburgers and hodge-podge of stores was destroyed by fire in June.
The original location of Pechin Shopping Village in Dunbar was reduced to rubble after fire swept through the complex.
Seventeen fire companies from throughout the county were on the scene to maintain the blaze that sent black clouds of smoke into the air that could be spotted miles away.
The fire drew hundreds of on-lookers who had to often take measures to avoid inhaling the smoke while they watched the fire consume the wooden structures.
In 1947, founder Sullivan “Sully” D’Amico started the business in the basement of a home at the shopping village entrance.
The grocery store drew customers from other states and the attention of the Wall Street Journal and National Enquirer because of its low-cost hamburger and nickel-cup of coffee initiated by D’Amico. He died in 2005.
The complex stores had relocated to the former Laurel Mall on Route 119 in Dunbar Township prior to the fire.
The cause of the blaze was ruled accidental.
Firefighters charged
Two South Connellsville volunteer firefighters, sons of the borough police chief, were charged in August with allegedly setting a trio of fires in wooded areas of the borough over a period of two days in 2005.
Robert Helms, 22, and his brother, Michael Helms, 27, were similarly charged with arson and risking a catastrophe in connection with the fires that police estimated caused the destruction of more than 60 acres of wooded property in the Casparis area. Investigators valued the damage at $75,000.
Both men are awaiting trial in Fayette County Court.
Team helps at Sago Mine
In a year of record deaths underground, the Sago Mine disaster, which took the lives of 12 men, hit home in January when five members of Greene County’s Enlow Fork Mine Rescue Team went underground in search of their fellow miners.
The dedicated rescuers said they would have given their lives to save the 13 trapped men if it weren’t for exhausting their oxygen supply, causing them to turn back for fresh air. One miner, Randal McCloy, survived.
But first, team members discovered the miners’ mine cars and breathing apparatuses, a sign that they were close to their goal.
At home, it was a waiting game for the wives of those sent underground for the January rescue mission.
Ginger Geisel of Farmington awaited news of the progress of her husband, Bernie Geisel, and formed a phone chain with Carmichaels resident Debra Henry, whose husband, Rodney Henry, traveled with the team to the West Virginia mine as its trainer.
The phone connection proved to be important in helping the families through their personal involvement in a tragedy that captured the attention of people from around the country and the world.
Connellsville turns 200
Residents of Connellsville celebrated the city’s 200th anniversary in grand style in April with a morning parade that lasted into the afternoon, and they then spent the remainder of the day visiting with friends and taking part in a variety of activities hosted by the bicentennial committee.
Numerous dignitaries, including Gov. Ed Rendell; retired Maj. Gen. Walter F. Pudlowski Jr., former acting director of the Army National Guard and commanding general of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard 28th Division; and former Pittsburgh Steelers star receiver Lynn Swann joined parade grand marshal Wally Schroyer, a World War II veteran and prisoner of war and a Connellsville football standout, on the parade route that drew several thousand people to the city.
During the official bicentennial celebration, the Connellsville Rotary Club presented the city with a Victorian-style clock that was installed in Veterans Plaza, adjacent to the municipal building.
Throughout the year, the city has celebrated its heritage with church tours, an oldies dance and musical concerts. New Haven Hose Volunteer Fire Co. also hosted the Fayette County Firemen’s Association convention as part of the yearlong festivities.
A souvenir book has been published to document the bicentennial celebration.
Mahoney filling Roberts’ seat
Uniontown businessman Timothy S. Mahoney defeated Fayette County Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites in the spring primary on his way to become the next state representative for the 51st Legislative District.
In his victory, Mahoney defeated Vicites by more than 1,000 votes. Vicites, serving in his third term as county commissioner and currently the only Democrat on the board, had been top vote getter in the past.
During the campaign, Mahoney went on the offensive, calling Vicites the highest taxing commissioner in history and a career politician. Vicites opted to stay positive and didn’t address Mahoney’s claims. Mahoney, under the slogan of honest leadership, also criticized Gary Gearing for having the Fayette Building in the Keystone Opportunity Zone and not paying taxes on it.
After winning the primary, Mahoney said he was slightly surprised of the margin of victory but added that his campaign team worked really hard. He went on to defeat John “Sonny” Mikita in the general election. Mahoney will replace state Rep. Larry Roberts, who opted not to seek an eighth term in office.