Looking back
A look at some of the headlines gracing the pages of the Observer-Reporter and Waynesburg Republican this week in Greene County history:
Board approves parking lot plans
Waynesburg Zoning Hearing Board Monday approved plans submitted by Waynesburg University to construct a new parking lot at the corner of Wayne and Morris streets.
The board granted a special exception to permit construction of the 21-space parking lot on what is now a vacant lot next to the university gymnasium.
The entrance to the parking lot will be on Wayne Street.
The board required the university to landscape the west side of the lot, bordering Morris Street, to make it fit in better with the surrounding area, which includes a park across Wayne Street.
The board also approved a plan to allow Jeanette Perry to operate a beauty shop at 295 S. Morris St. The shop will be in a converted garage at the southeast corner of Morris and Elm streets.
The board included several restrictions as part of its approval, including limiting the hours of operation and requiring Perry to accept customers by appointment only.
Martin sentencing scheduled
WAYNESBURG – A New Geneva man convicted and sentenced to death last month for the rape and murder of 12-year-old Gabrielle Bechen will be formally sentenced at a hearing next month.
Jeffrey R. Martin, 51, of New Geneva, was found guilty May 9 on all counts, including first-degree murder and child rape, following a six-day trial. On the following day, the jury decided Martin should be put to death for the crime.
Greene County Judge H. Terry Grimes, who presided at the trial, has scheduled Martin’s formal sentencing for 9:30 a.m. July 24.
Martin was convicted of raping and strangling Bechen on June 13, 2006, when she came to the Dunkard Township horse farm where he worked. He then used a backhoe to dig a grave, where he placed her body, and hid her all-terrain vehicle and belongings elsewhere on the farm.
Searchers looked for the girl for five days before two volunteers found the girl’s ATV buried in manure. That discovery led to Martin’s arrest and his eventual confession to the killing.
SCI nurses to picket today
WAYNESBURG – Nurses at the State Correctional Institution at Greene will join their peers from 17 other state prisons when they hold an informational picket from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. today to protest proposed budget cuts that may cause prison overcrowding.
The nurses’ labor representative, Pennsylvania Health Care Union, District 1199P of Service Employees International Union, claims that prison overcrowding and a lack of trained, qualified nurses undermine safety and pose a public health risk.
Without enough state nurses, the union said that inmates may not receive proper treatment for highly infectious diseases like tuberculosis, AIDS and hepatitis C. This may pose a risk to the families of all prison staff as well as to the communities into which the prisoners are released.
“Prison overcrowding and inadequate public health services pose a health risk to the community that not enough people are aware of,” said John High, a registered nurse from SCI-Greene. “In a prison setting, if you don’t have adequate training or enough staff, you put yourself, your co-workers and your community at risk.”
District 1199P is the state’s largest and fastest growing health care union, representing more than 20,000 members, including more than 8,000 registered nurses in hospitals, nursing homes and state-operated health facilities.
Disabled serve notice at Waynesburg restaurant
WAYNESBURG – A small group of people, including five in wheelchairs, protested at a Waynesburg business Friday, claiming the business owner and landlord failed to respond to a request to meet to discuss accessibility to the business for people in wheelchairs.
The group, most of whom reside at Avalon Court in Waynesburg, picketed outside Washington Street Cafe at 68 S. Washington St. during the noon lunch hour. Two stone steps that lead into the cafe prevent the building from being accessible to people in wheelchairs.
John Lorence, an advocate for Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living, who accompanied the group, said members plan to visit all Waynesburg businesses this summer to discuss the issue of building accessibility.
The group decided to protest at the cafe because the business owner and landlord failed to respond to a letter sent them seeking a meeting to discuss accessibility to the building, Lorence said.
“We wrote them a letter asking them to meet with us by May 31, and there has been no response,” he said. “Today, we brought it to the public’s attention.”
However, the business owners, John and Robin Koloski, and the landlord, Joann Roberts, disputed the group’s allegations.
County considers selling Curry home
WAYNESBURG – The Greene County commissioners are actively considering sale of the Curry Memorial Home to a private corporation.
At their meeting Thursday, the commissioners confirmed that they have had inquiries from three firms that are interested in purchasing the 111-bed nursing facility.
“They are all major companies that operate nursing homes,” board chairman Kelce Mosley said, although he declined to identify who they are or what the selling price might be.
“We are definitely interested, and have asked the county solicitor to look into the legal questions involved,” he said.
$2 Million Budget For Central Greene
The Central Greene School District will have its first $2 million budget in 1968-69, and an eight-mill increase in the real estate levy (from 42 to 50 mills) will be necessary to finance it.
An across-the-board hike of $300 a year for all teachers; proportionate pay raises for administrative, clerical and maintenance personnel; increased services and a general rise in operating costs are cited as reason for the increase over the current school year.
In addition to the 50 mill property tax, the district will continue to levy a one percent earned income (wage) tax, a one percent realty transfer tax and a $5 per capita tax.
The $2,132,202 budget represents an increase of approximately $180,000 over 1967-68, of which $90,000 will go into increased pay roll and $30,000 to meet increased security, retirement, medical insurance and similar employee benefits.