Mar 22, 2007 By Rebekah Sungala 2 min read

POINT MARION – Borough council announced Wednesday that volunteers are needed to serve on a community shelter team. Commander Dewey Hughes of the American Legion in Point Marion told council that volunteers must undergo training before being named to the team.

“The more volunteers we have the better,” Hughes said.

The Red Cross will hold an all-day training session from 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. May 10 at the American Legion, located at 109 Railroad St.

Council designated the American Legion as an emergency shelter during a borough meeting Feb. 21.

Anyone wishing to participate in the class and become a member of the community shelter team is asked to call Hughes at the American Legion at 724-725-9033 or at home at 724-725-0233.

In unrelated business, council announced the borough will honor its youth during the month of May by giving away certificates of appreciation to those who exemplify leadership skills through community service.

Councilman Dewey Stillwagon said the borough needs to acknowledge the young people in the borough who do good.

“I would like to see the young, deserving people in our community acknowledged,” he said. “They are our future.”

Council agreed to send out letters to clubs, social organizations and churches in the borough, asking each organization to nominate deserving youth.

The certificates will be handed out in May during the Point Marion Regatta.

As for other matters, council said the borough is continuing to work with the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in regards to the Point Marion Bridge Replacement Project.

The bridge connects Fayette and Greene counties by linking the borough and Dunkard Township. Plans call for the current bridge, a cantilevered-truss structure bridge that spans the Monongahela River, to be replaced with a through-truss bridge.

During the last borough meeting, council gave permission for PennDOT to install lights on the bridge. As is procedure, PennDOT said it would buy and install the lights for the bridge if the borough agreed to pay the electric bill and future maintenance costs associated with the lights.

Council President Ted Shaffer said then that state Rep. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, awarded the borough a $21,000 grant and that some of the grant money can be used to help pay the electric bill to light the bridge, once it is constructed.

Council will meet next at 7 p.m. April 4.