Wows & Scowls
Wow: Brandon Daveler, 18, rendered a quadriplegic after a 2005 motorcycle racing accident, hasn’t let the setback get him down. Daveler recently graduated from Laurel Highlands Senior High School and has already begun course work at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus. Family and friends marvel at his positive attitude and motivation, which is worth admiring. Scowl: Someone reportedly stole 400 feet of steel rails, valued at $18,000, from a railroad spur owned by Fay-Penn Economic Development Council. The crime wasn’t deterred by the fact that the rails were laid in a semi-remote area between Smithfield and Georges Township. Thievery is getting pretty bad when someone will rip up railroad tracks to make a quick buck. The bigger question is how the theft, which likely required use of special equipment, went unnoticed.
Wow: Sisters Samantha Kemp, 10, and Angel Brennsteiner, 5, of McClellandtown recently had their long hair trimmed as donations for Locks of Love, an organization that provides hair prosthetics for children who’ve developed medically related hair loss. It’s an unselfish act worthy of recognition.
Wow: Uniontown’s Morgantown Street streetscape project, which aims to improve Morgantown Street from Main to Fayette streets, may get started this year. The state has allocated a nearly $1 million grant and the city has allocated $300,000 state block grant money for the project. The project has been delayed since 2002, when the South Street improvement project ran over cost estimates.
Wow: Recently reopened Brownsville Tri-County Hospital is planning a July 31 open house and dedication of the newly remodeled facility. The festivities will begin at 10 a.m. and end at 8 p.m., and will include guided tours.
Scowl: Brownsville property owner Ernest Liggett continues making appearances before a magisterial district judge because of building code violations. Most recently, Liggett was ordered to pay $3,500 in fines and costs. Four additional citations have been filed against him for high grass and weeds. And three more citations, withdrawn on technicalities, will be refiled. In the meantime, the blight lives on.
Scowl: California University of Pennsylvania plans to charge students, faculty and staff for parking on campus starting in 2009. Students will shell out either $504 or $355 for an academic year, making higher education more expensive.