Vol. 134 - No. 29 DuBois officials praise...

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Vol. 134 - No. 29 Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 20s . Full report, A2 14 pages Classified ......................... B4 Comics ............................. A5 Lifestyles ......................... A3 Lottery ............................. A7 Opinion ........................... A6 Public Notices ............... B4 Sports ............................... B1 75 Cents • John Daugherty, 73 • Judith A. Dreese, 73 • Miriam Haag, 85 • Thomas S. Marshall , 98 • Enoch Simcox, 92 A 10-year-old girl has been cited for reckless driving after her mother’s SUV crashed into a Divi- sion of Motor Vehicles of- fice in the Denver suburb of Parker. A4 Boy in safe Central Pennsylva- nia firefighters rescued a 9-year-old boy who was locked in a safe at a store. A7 Bronze medal United States’ Julia Mancuso competed in the slalom portion of the women’s supercombined at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Mancuso won the bronze medal. B1 10-year-old driver Online n This week’s ques- tion - on the newspaper’s homepage at www.thecou- rierexpress.com - asks How much of the Win- ter Olympics do you plan to watch? Tomorrow’s Forecast Index Obituaries A7 MORE INSIDE Page B1 DuBOIS — The Treasure Lake Property Owners Association is looking for a new general manager and a new chief financial officer. In an eblast/email sent to prop- erty owners Monday, the TLPOA said, “On February 7, 2014 the Treasure Lake Property Own- ers’ Board of Directors accepted the resignations of Robert Romo, Treasure Lake General Manager, and Dan Johnston, Treasure Lake CFO. Robert and Dan have decided to pursue other interests and the TLPOA Board of Directors wish them good luck and thank them for their service to Treasure Lake.” The announcement continued, “The TLPOA Board of Directors has begun a search for their re- placements. During the interim, Gary Spiegel has graciously agreed to assist Treasure Lake during our transition.” Spiegel, a Treasure Lake prop- erty owner, previously served as TLPOA looking for new manager TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014 First-graders at DuBois Central Catholic Elementary recently celebrated their 100th day of school by partici- pating in “100” activities through the day, according to teacher Brenda Aravich. From left, Lauren Jenkins, Johnny Varischetti and Tess Stewart display their artistic creations by filling in the “Big 100” using candy, marshmallows and cereal. (Photo courtesy DuBois Central Catholic) By Nick Hoffman [email protected] DuBOIS — The DuBois City Council and administration Monday praised the firefighting response to an apartment complex fire Saturday and all those who supported it. Council members Eddie Walsh and James Aughenbaugh, Mayor Gary Gilbert, Manager John “Herm” Suplizio, police Chief Ron LaRoton- da and Controller Lisa LaBrasca said all those involved did “a great job” on a “long day” in which 10 fam- ilies were left homeless by a fire that gutted the Seven Kitchens complex on East Park Avenue. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the families” devastated by the fire, Suplizio said. Fire Chief Lou Emerick was at a post-fire evaluation meeting Mon- day night and was unable to attend the council meeting but, for his part and on Emerick’s behalf, Suplizio thanked all those who responded. “Everybody pitched in,” Suplizio said, noting that council members, the mayor, city officials were part of the response, “not watching, but helping.” That, he said, “is not the norm” in many places and is “some- thing to be proud of.” Firefighters from DuBois, Sandy Township, Sykesville and Reynolds- ville responded along with the city police shortly after noon Saturday. The city’s Public Works Depart- ment worked long after the last flames were extinguished salting and clearing East Park Avenue of ice that built up as temperatures hov- ered in the teens. Numerous businesses pitched in with food and beverages and any as- sistance they could offer. The state police fire marshal said the fire originated in unit 134, which is in the middle of the com- plex. The occupant had a candle lit on an end table and unknowingly placed a blanket on the candle when she went to the kitchen. The blanket ignited. A new roof was built over the pre- vious roof before the owner, Scott Blose of DuBois, bought the build- ing. Between those roofs, the fire DuBois officials praise firefighters By JoAnn Seltzer [email protected] ST. MARYS — The St. Marys Area School Board approved spend- ing $10,500 to do an executive search for a new superintendent during Monday’s school board meet- ing. The board approved the retire- ment of Superintendent of Schools Ann Kearney, South St. Marys Street Elementary School Principal Bob Grumley and Business Manag- er Cindy FinGado, effective June 30. Board members Pat Rezmerski, John Mulcahy and Stacy McKee were not present. During Thursday’s workshop meeting, Kearney presented a letter of resignation to the board saying although the board had offered to extend her contract she had decided it was time to begin a new chapter in her life. Monday, the board approved us- ing the use of the Pennsylvania School Board Association Executive Search at a cost of $10,500 to find a new superintendent. The board voted 4-2 in favor of the executive search with board members Bert Sorg and Bryan Chi- appelli voting against it and board members Bob Luchini, Charlie Lip- tak, Matt Quesenberry and Cly- thera Hornung voting in favor of it. After the meeting Luchini said, “We felt this was a very important position within the district and we want to find the best person for it.” The executive search will include planning the search, recruiting pro- spective superintendents, doing the screening process and also partici- pating in the interview process. Luchini said he doesn’t believe the district has done this before, but many other districts have. He said it doesn’t mean the board will defi- nitely hire someone from outside the area, but they want to make sure they find the best person. This will allow the position to be advertised at least statewide. Sorg said he would rather the board look locally for a person first before spending the $10,500. He said it may come back the best per- son is someone local. Chiappelli said he feels the same way and that was why he voted against it. The board doesn’t intend to do a search of this extent for an elemen- tary school principal at this time, Luchini said after the meeting. The board approved the Inter- scholastic Athletics policy. The policy says athletes must meet aca- demic requirements to be eligible to play a sport. Eligibility is based on the number of failures instead of the number of passing credits. Stu- dents failing two or more classes in a quarter will be ineligible to par- ticipate in a sport for 20 schools days in the next quarter. If it is the last quarter of the year it would be ap- plied to the first quarter of the fol- lowing school year. School District to spend $10,500 in superintendent search By Kimberly Finnigan [email protected] CURWENSVILLE The Curwensville Borough Council continues to discuss issues with a construction project on Schofield Street. At last month’s council meeting, Councilman Mark Curulla had discussed prob- lems with the project. At Monday’s meeting, the council started to discuss the project, but ended the talks without finishing the discussion. Secretary Autumn Norris said the council had made an appointment with New Enterprise to visit the site and discuss the problems, but that meeting never took place due to the bad weather. Councilwoman Mary El- len Read said the council should have the borough’s engineer produce a list of the council’s issues with the project and send a letter list- ing the concerns to the con- tractor. Read said she had spo- ken with the contractor, who said he had never been ap- proached with any concerns. Read said she had re- viewed a check list from Hess and Fisher Engineers, but before she could go into detail about the list, council President Don Hoover said the council was getting out of order (on the meeting’s agenda). The council did not hold further discussion on the Schofield Street project. According to previously published Courier-Express articles, the Schofield Street project was to address prob- lems which started when the road began to collapse as well as repairs to storm drains, manholes and to re- surface and repave the road. At last month’s meeting, Curulla said he believes the project was “inadequate” to address the problems. Cu- rulla cited problems with crumbling pavement and with catch basins. Curwensville Council takes a detour on street issue See Detour, Page A7 See DuBois, Page A7 See School, Page A7 By Nick Hoffman [email protected] State House Speaker Sam Smith stunned the political es- tablishment in Harris- burg today by announc- ing that he will not seek another term this year. Sources familiar with the decision confirmed the news to the Courier- Express this morning. The Punxsutawney Republican, serving his 28th year in the Legislature and third as the House’s presiding officer, will re- tire at the conclusion of his term at the end of this year. Smith was first elected from the 66th District in 1986, succeeding his father, L. Eugene “Snuffy” Smith. Sam Smith is most recently credited for shepherding Gov. Tom Corbett’s $2.3 billion transportation bill through the House on its way to approval in the Sen- ate. Last week, Cris Dush of Brookville announced that he would challenge Smith in this year’s Republican primary election in May. Smith narrowly defeat- ed Dush two years ago on his way to his 14th term in the House. A formal statement by Smith was ex- pected later today. Rep. Smith decides not to seek re-election SMITH Treasure Lake St. Marys See TLPOA, Page A7 An affiliate of Penn Highlands Healthcare. TM www.drmc.org Physical, Occupational & Speech Therapy Please call 375-3372 DuBois, Brockway, Curwensville, Reynoldsville and Force. The skills you need and a name you can trust.

Transcript of Vol. 134 - No. 29 DuBois officials praise...

Page 1: Vol. 134 - No. 29 DuBois officials praise firefightersbloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/thecourierexpress.com/cont… · er Cindy FinGado, effective June 30. Board members Pat

Vol. 134 - No. 29

Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 20s .

Full report, A2

14 pagesClassified ......................... B4Comics ............................. A5Lifestyles ......................... A3Lottery ............................. A7Opinion ........................... A6Public Notices ............... B4Sports ............................... B1

75 Cents

• John Daugherty, 73• Judith A. Dreese, 73 • Miriam Haag, 85• Thomas S. Marshall , 98• Enoch Simcox, 92

A 10-year-old girl has been cited for reckless driving after her mother’s SUV crashed into a Divi-sion of Motor Vehicles of-fice in the Denver suburb of Parker. A4

Boy in safeCentral Pennsylva-

nia firefighters rescued a 9-year-old boy who was locked in a safe at a store. A7

Bronze medalUnited States’ Julia

Mancuso competed in the slalom portion of the women’s supercombined at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Mancuso won the bronze medal. B1

10-year-old driver

Online n This week’s ques-

tion - on the newspaper’s homepage at www.thecou-rierexpress.com - asks

How much of the Win-ter Olympics do you plan to watch?

Tomorrow’s Forecast

Index

ObituariesA7

MORE INSIDE

Page B1

DuBOIS — The Treasure Lake Property Owners Association is looking for a new general manager and a new chief financial officer.

In an eblast/email sent to prop-erty owners Monday, the TLPOA said, “On February 7, 2014 the Treasure Lake Property Own-ers’ Board of Directors accepted the resignations of Robert Romo,

Treasure Lake General Manager, and Dan Johnston, Treasure Lake CFO. Robert and Dan have decided to pursue other interests and the TLPOA Board of Directors wish them good luck and thank them for their service to Treasure Lake.”

The announcement continued, “The TLPOA Board of Directors has begun a search for their re-placements. During the interim, Gary Spiegel has graciously agreed to assist Treasure Lake during our transition.”

Spiegel, a Treasure Lake prop-erty owner, previously served as

TLPOA looking for new manager

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

First-graders at DuBois Central Catholic Elementary recently celebrated their 100th day of school by partici-pating in “100” activities through the day, according to teacher Brenda Aravich. From left, Lauren Jenkins, Johnny Varischetti and Tess Stewart display their artistic creations by filling in the “Big 100” using  candy, marshmallows and cereal. (Photo courtesy DuBois Central Catholic)

By Nick Hoffman

[email protected]

DuBOIS — The DuBois City Council and administration Monday praised the firefighting response to an apartment complex fire Saturday and all those who supported it.

Council members Eddie Walsh and James Aughenbaugh, Mayor Gary Gilbert, Manager John “Herm” Suplizio, police Chief Ron LaRoton-da and Controller Lisa LaBrasca said all those involved did “a great job” on a “long day” in which 10 fam-

ilies were left homeless by a fire that gutted the Seven Kitchens complex on East Park Avenue.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the families” devastated by the fire, Suplizio said.

Fire Chief Lou Emerick was at a post-fire evaluation meeting Mon-day night and was unable to attend the council meeting but, for his part and on Emerick’s behalf, Suplizio thanked all those who responded.

“Everybody pitched in,” Suplizio said, noting that council members, the mayor, city officials were part

of the response, “not watching, but helping.” That, he said, “is not the norm” in many places and is “some-thing to be proud of.”

Firefighters from DuBois, Sandy Township, Sykesville and Reynolds-ville responded along with the city police shortly after noon Saturday.

The city’s Public Works Depart-ment worked long after the last flames were extinguished salting and clearing East Park Avenue of ice that built up as temperatures hov-ered in the teens.

Numerous businesses pitched in

with food and beverages and any as-sistance they could offer.

The state police fire marshal said the fire originated in unit 134, which is in the middle of the com-plex. The occupant had a candle lit on an end table and unknowingly placed a blanket on the candle when she went to the kitchen. The blanket ignited.

A new roof was built over the pre-vious roof before the owner, Scott Blose of DuBois, bought the build-ing. Between those roofs, the fire

DuBois officials praise firefighters

By JoAnn Seltzer

[email protected]

ST. MARYS — The St. Marys Area School Board approved spend-ing $10,500 to do an executive search for a new superintendent during Monday’s school board meet-ing.

The board approved the retire-ment of Superintendent of Schools Ann Kearney, South St. Marys Street Elementary School Principal Bob Grumley and Business Manag-er Cindy FinGado, effective June 30.

Board members Pat Rezmerski, John Mulcahy and Stacy McKee were not present.

During Thursday’s workshop meeting, Kearney presented a letter of resignation to the board saying

although the board had offered to extend her contract she had decided it was time to begin a new chapter in her life.

Monday, the board approved us-ing the use of the Pennsylvania School Board Association Executive Search at a cost of $10,500 to find a new superintendent.

The board voted 4-2 in favor of the executive search with board members Bert Sorg and Bryan Chi-appelli voting against it and board members Bob Luchini, Charlie Lip-tak, Matt Quesenberry and Cly-thera Hornung voting in favor of it.

After the meeting Luchini said, “We felt this was a very important

position within the district and we want to find the best person for it.”

The executive search will include planning the search, recruiting pro-spective superintendents, doing the screening process and also partici-pating in the interview process.

Luchini said he doesn’t believe the district has done this before, but many other districts have. He said it doesn’t mean the board will defi-nitely hire someone from outside the area, but they want to make sure they find the best person. This will allow the position to be advertised at least statewide.

Sorg said he would rather the board look locally for a person first before spending the $10,500. He said it may come back the best per-son is someone local. Chiappelli said

he feels the same way and that was why he voted against it.

The board doesn’t intend to do a search of this extent for an elemen-tary school principal at this time, Luchini said after the meeting.

The board approved the Inter-scholastic Athletics policy. The policy says athletes must meet aca-demic requirements to be eligible to play a sport. Eligibility is based on the number of failures instead of the number of passing credits. Stu-dents failing two or more classes in a quarter will be ineligible to par-ticipate in a sport for 20 schools days in the next quarter. If it is the last quarter of the year it would be ap-plied to the first quarter of the fol-lowing school year.

School District to spend $10,500 in superintendent search

By Kimberly Finnigan

[email protected]

CURWENSVILLE — The Curwensville Borough Council continues to discuss issues with a construction project on Schofield Street.

At last month’s council meeting, Councilman Mark Curulla had discussed prob-lems with the project.

At Monday’s meeting, the

council started to discuss the project, but ended the talks without finishing the discussion.

Secretary Autumn Norris said the council had made an appointment with New Enterprise to visit the site and discuss the problems, but that meeting never took place due to the bad weather.

Councilwoman Mary El-len Read said the council

should have the borough’s engineer produce a list of the council’s issues with the project and send a letter list-ing the concerns to the con-tractor.

Read said she had spo-ken with the contractor, who said he had never been ap-proached with any concerns.

Read said she had re-viewed a check list from Hess and Fisher Engineers,

but before she could go into detail about the list, council President Don Hoover said the council was getting out of order (on the meeting’s agenda).

The council did not hold further discussion on the Schofield Street project.

According to previously published Courier-Express articles, the Schofield Street project was to address prob-

lems which started when the road began to collapse as well as repairs to storm drains, manholes and to re-surface and repave the road.

At last month’s meeting, Curulla said he believes the project was “inadequate” to address the problems. Cu-rulla cited problems with crumbling pavement and with catch basins.

Curwensville Council takes a detour on street issue

See Detour, Page A7

See DuBois, Page A7

See School, Page A7

By Nick Hoffman

[email protected]

State House Speaker Sam Smith stunned the political es-tablishment in Harris-burg today by announc-ing that he will not seek another term this year.

Sources familiar with the decision confirmed the news to the Courier-Express this morning.

The Punxsutawney Republican, serving his 28th year in the Legislature and third as the House’s presiding officer, will re-tire at the conclusion of his term at the end of this year.

Smith was first elected from the 66th District in 1986, succeeding his father, L. Eugene “Snuffy” Smith.

Sam Smith is most recently credited for shepherding Gov. Tom Corbett’s $2.3 billion transportation bill through the House on its way to approval in the Sen-ate.

Last week, Cris Dush of Brookville announced that he would challenge Smith in this year’s Republican primary election in May. Smith narrowly defeat-ed Dush two years ago on his way to his 14th term in the House.

A formal statement by Smith was ex-pected later today.

Rep. Smithdecides notto seekre-election

SMITH

Treasure Lake

St. Marys

See TLPOA, Page A7

A1 Front Page

An affiliate of Penn Highlands Healthcare.TM

www.drmc.org

Physical, Occupational & Speech Therapy Please call 375-3372

DuBois, Brockway, Curwensville, Reynoldsville and Force.

The skills you need and a name you can trust.