May 29, 2002 15 min read

Dear Editor: The reassessment in Greene County must be stopped on the grounds that it has not been done accurately or in a timely manner. At a recent informal meeting at the assessment office, I noticed errors on the information they had collected. These errors would have been caught had they conducted an accurate review of information.

The purpose of a reassessment is to verify that all parcels are accurately described and that the value reflects fair market value.

During the last reassessment a group of citizens filed a lawsuit. As a member of Greene TEA (Tax Equity Alliance) a few others and I conducted interviews with the man who owned the company hired to do that reassessment. At first, the company did not want to disclose how it did the reassessment but since a lawsuit was pending, we had the right to discovery. Most people will not believe, as I did not, that the reassessment was conducted from the seat of a car with a video camera. The man explained that it is too time consuming to stop at each house and that reviewers were harassed and threatened by property owners. He further explained that from the videos and pictures he could obtain all the information needed. I found that he was right, by counting things like roofing shingles and foundation blocks or from an object of known size (car, swimming pool, even a bicycle) in the picture he could indeed size the house.

This stage of the process is where this reassessment has gone astray. The assessment office did send people out to collect current photos (current as of two years ago), but then they apparently dropped the ball reviewing this information. They have concentrated more on scanning the photos into computers than on reviewing what information they contain. Any tech savvy 13-year-old can scan a photo into a computer, he could animate a little dog in the yard and make little smiley face balloons come out of the chimney; very impressive but it is not a reassessment.

In my case, I had torn down a shed on my property. Since it was down a year or two before the latest reassessment, I assumed the change would be noted. However, no one noticed the 300-square-foot building had been razed. Nor did they notice that a claimed 10-by-10 porch roof was indeed only 5-by-6. Nor did they notice that the depth of my house was 16 feet not 21 feet, resulting in an appraisal of 546 square feet rather than 416 square feet. That makes 500 square feet of structures that I would have been assessed on.

I find this intolerable but that is not the worst of it. I immediately set out to find comparable parcels from which I could judge the fairness of my proposed assessment. I was confronted by the dilemma that by this time all the other similar parcels had major additions in the two years since the reassessment pictures were taken, and these changes were not reflected. When I called to make an appointment with the chief assessor, I was told that he was taking no appointments until the reassessment was over.

I feel helpless. It is my hope that by writing someone will step forward to help. It irks me that someone today can collect thousands in welfare and not even get a lean against their property. And that others who get up at 6 a.m. every day to run their own business can lose it over a small amount of back taxes.

Louis R. Varndell Sr.

Greensboro

Awareness holds key to avoiding tragedy

Dear Editor:

One of the most difficult things that I have to deal with in my life is the death of our young people, particularly when the death is a brutal and tragic one. What is more heart rending than lost lives taking place every day on our highways?

I used to think that the most amazing act of unconscious living was to be living in a world where people are dying all around you and to never think seriously of your own death as an inevitable consequence of being human. You know what I mean. Do we really try to find out what is really going on here? Do we look around and realize that if the young can be taken from us with such careless indifference to the feelings of their friends and parents and teachers, what can happen to the most physically fit can happen to us all at any moment.

Haven’t you all had a close brush with disaster at least once while driving? I have several every week while commuting back and forth on Route 40.

I look at my death every day as a possibility awaiting the right combination of events in order for the cosmic tumblers to click into place and the doorway to eternity will yaw its great jaws and swallow my spirit in one lip-smacking gulp.

I am once again trying my darndest to be helpful to my kids – who drive too fast, who fear nothing, who amaze me that they live in a world (a slaughterhouse really) where people all around them are dying everyday yet never pause to think seriously of their own death. Every rational parent tries to be helpful to his kids without any desire to control or dominate his young adult children’s circumstances. What should or would be a reasonable suggestion to them concerning aware and alert driving practices?

I silently see them, as they need to be in a dangerous world full of indifference to the aims and ambitions of the human ego personality. They are alert, healthy, prosperous, considerate. That is what I silently wish for them. When it comes to driving, I see them taking time to prepare for their automobile travels in a conscious and purposeful manner with full intentions to arrive safely at their appointed destinations every time they sit down behind the wheel and strap their seat belts firmly and snuggly into place.

They are effectively functional and independent now, fully capable of participating in society, according to the best abilities which God, their parental training and academic school has given them. They are receptive to learning and understand the advantages that go to the aware and the awakened. I will continue to suggest ways to them about what they can do to help themselves and others to a successful life, minimizing the law of accident.

Yet the parent’s burden of love lets them be themselves. Allows them freedom to either be responsive or remain as they are. I will never try to force them to be safe. Nor will I fear that my silent work to see them as aware and safe drivers done is useless.

The best thing a parent can do is to assist them to awakening and grow in realizing just what kind of world they are functioning in out there – life is an accident waiting to happen, and probably will.

I owe them frequent reminders and will continue to provide them with further evidence and proof that will be useful in helping them to realize the only logical choice: I am fully aware of the great responsibility that I take for the lives of others and of the feelings of those who love me every time I sit behind this wheel. I intend to drive in such a manner as to arrive safely each and every time. Even though I have no guarantees, due to the unforeseen and unexpected, my intention to arrive at my destination remains my top priority and purposeful intention.

Rather than open old wounds caused to our community by placing blame or fault-finding in the matter of past student deaths on our highways, won’t you think for a moment about the power of avoiding automobile accidents which God has given you – awareness.

S.R. Pohaski

Uniontown

Respecting remains of deceased

Dear Editor:

Picture this scenario: Your loved one has passed away, and you decide to have them cremated, a difficult decision at that. You call your local funeral director or cremation society and arrange for services. Days later you receive the cremated remains of your loved one for memorialization. Months pass and the grieving becomes better, day-by-day. A news flash comes across your TV stating that a local crematory has been found to have stored unembalmed deceased human remains in the woods and in a lake behind their place of business.

Hundreds of rotting and decaying remains have been discovered in storage vaults and temporary graves. These human remains were to have been cremated but due to negligence of the crematory owner (the incinerator was not working), never were. The delivered cremated remains to families of those deceased are found to be nothing more than crushed concrete and potting soil. Then the horrifying news that your loved one was entrusted to that same crematory.

You say that it could never happen in Pennsylvania like the above scenario played out four months ago at Tri-State Crematory in the state of Georgia. How wrong you would be.

It is of the utmost importance that you be aware of House Bill 2407, which could bring important new oversight to crematories in our state. This bill was drafted by Rep. Harry Redshaw and hearings by the PA House Committee on Professional Licensure will be conducted on May 29 and 30.

How will this bill affect the present cremation situation? It will protect consumers by providing clear identification and tracking of remains that are cremated. It will provide specific oversight of crematories where none exists and to have teeth, must include all crematories, no matter where they are located. It will protect the funds paid in advance by consumers for cremation services (currently the funeral law allows cremation services to be sold only by a licensed funeral director who is closely regulated).

It is imperative that this important piece of consumer protection legislation be considered as law to avoid similar problems aforementioned in Georgia. Don’t allow a chance of it happening to you.

Robert B. Ferguson Jr

Scottdale

Covered in dirt and neglect

Dear Editor:

I have been holding off writing this letter for some time now, but I just can’t stand it anymore.

I was born and raised in Uniontown and have lived here all my life. I think this city is the filthiest it’s ever been. As I drive around town all I see are yards with weeds that haven’t been cut for months. Houses that should either be fixed by the owner or torn down. There are just too many eyesores in this town, and there are a few on South Mount Vernon Avenue. I know the city had one burned down, but we have a lot more, so let’s not stop there.

Next are the streets. Why is the city paving alleys when half the streets need paved? I think we need to get our priorities straight. (Streets first, then alleys.) If that’s not bad enough, we have people who dig up the road for one reason or the other and patch it when they are done. Why isn’t it ever patched right? It’s either left as a hump or a dip and that’s the way it stays. Maybe that’s the way Uniontown (the city dump) likes it.

Then there are the so-called sidewalks. Come on let’s get real here. Most of the curbs were made to accommodate the handicap (which is wonderful), but once they get their wheelchairs up onto the sidewalk they can’t go anywhere as the walks are so bad wheelchairs can’t even maneuver over them.

I saw a man in an electric wheel chair going down a city road a few times on the berm of the road because he couldn’t go down the terrible sidewalks. You can’t imagine how close cars were coming to him. This is totally disgusting. I’m sure there has to be a code about keeping up your sidewalks.

The traffic lights are next. I know the city probably doesn’t have much say in this, but some of these lights really need upgraded with turning arrows. One example is the five-way intersection by the Mount Vernon Inn. This light desperately needs some turn arrows before some one gets hurt real bad or even killed. I saw a city worker fixing the light one day. As I was going by I said to him, why don’t you put some turning arrows on the light, and his reply was, “Why don’t you call PennDOT.” Why doesn’t the city call PennDOT and have this done before it is too late for someone trying to make a turn there.

I hope I haven’t bored too many people with my complaints, and I hope I covered everything that has been bothering me. I just can’t stand it anymore. Before anyone asks, yes I have complained to different city officials.

Jerry Lombardo

Uniontown

In defense of Brownsville’s school board

Dear Editor:

I would like to respond to the editorial concerning the hiring practices of the Brownsville Area School Board that was printed in the May 25 edition. First of all, the fact that job preference is often given to relatives, friends, political allies, etc. is not all that unusual. Why single out the Brownsville Area School Board as if this practice does not occur with other school districts as well as at all levels of local, county, state, and federal government. I would also wager that the Herald-Standard staff has also used this approach from time to time when hiring new employees. So why single out Brownsville?

I must take my hat off to Dr. Sally, Mrs. Broadwater and board president Mr. Brown for displaying enough courage and class to admit that this indeed does occur. Many other elected officials would try to deny that such practices occur even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. These three individuals as well as the rest of the members of the Brownsville Area School Board put in many diligent hours to make the district the best that it can be. Even though there may be times when we do not fully understand or agree with the decisions that are made, they still deserve our respect and support for the thankless job that they do.

I would also like to comment on the curriculum and services that are offered to the students in the Brownsville district. As a school psychologist I have consulted with many districts in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties as well as numerous districts in northwestern Pennsylvania. In my position, I have been exposed to many aspects of curriculum and instruction in the districts that I have consulted with, and I can honestly say that Brownsville is on par with, if not better than, the vast majority of the districts I have serviced.

One example where Brownsville excels is in the area of providing services for students with special needs. The district provides a full array of special education programs and related services for students with learning, behavioral, physical or social difficulties, and they have also been pro-active in the alternative school concept.

The district has a close working relationship with the local Intermediate Unit, which assists with these programs, and the district utilizes numerous social service agencies within the county such as Fayette County Drug and Alcohol Commission and Chestnut Ridge Counseling Services Inc.

I admit that test scores may not be as high as they are in some other districts, but it is also likely that these districts do not suffer from the poor economic conditions and social concerns that plague the Brownsville area.

These factors certainly affect student performance, but this is not the district’s fault nor should they be held totally responsible for rectifying this unfortunate and hopefully temporary condition. I myself am a graduate of Brownsville Area, and I doubt that I would be in my current career position without the prerequisite training that I received in Brownsville School District.

I would also like to commend Dr. Grant for the wonderful job that she is performing. Dr. Grant has numerous years in the education profession with the majority of those being in the Brownsville District. Considering Dr. Grant’s educational background and experience, she could have likely taken a job anywhere. She chose instead to work for Brownsville despite the fact (or maybe because of the fact) that she knew it would be a very demanding position. Her loyalty and dedication to Brownsville Area is refreshing.

I must admit that for the most part, I have always enjoyed reading the Herald-Standard, and I will likely continue to do so. My only request, however, is that you begin to focus on the many positive aspects within the Brownsville School District as well as the Brownsville area in general. If you must continue to focus on only the negative, please be objective and do not simply single out Brownsville.

George A. Bodnovich

Brownsville