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Looking back

5 min read

A look at some of the headlines gracing the pages of the Observer-Reporter and Waynesburg Republican this week in Greene County history:

Race sparks growth in voter registration

WAYNESBURG – Interest in the presidential primary race apparently sparked a growth spurt for Greene County’s voter registration rolls, for both Democrats and Republicans.

According to information released Tuesday by the county elections office, the number of Democrats in the county grew by about 2 percent since the last election cycle in November. The Republican Party grew as well, but at a slower rate of about 1 percent.

“We had a lot of applications,” said Frances Pratt, the county’s director of elections. “We see that usually for each presidential election.”

Voters had until March 24 to register or change their political party in order to vote in the April 22 primary. In the weeks before the deadline, Pratt said her office was quite busy accepting and processing the registrations.

Pennsylvania has a closed primary system, meaning only registered Republicans and Democrats can vote for their parties’ nominees.

Most of the excitement in this primary concerns the Democratic presidential race between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton.

KDH Defense Systems moving to new location

KDH Defense Systems is moving its operations from the former Fechheimer Brothers plant in Jefferson to a building in the Paisley Industrial Park in Cumberland Township.

And Ammeraal Beltech Inc., which manufactures conveyor belting at a plant on Browns Ferry Road in Cumberland Township, plans to move next month into the Fechheimer building.

KDH, which closed its Jefferson plant in January because of a canceled government contract and then reopened the plant two weeks later when the contract was reinstated, has moved to the former Montec Hydraulics Inc. building in the industrial park.

The move will help KDH accommodate a continuing increase in customer demand for its products, Dave Herbener, KDH president, said.

“Our Greene County employees are a strong, loyal and productive team,” he said. “And I am very enthusiastic about our decision to further expand our presence in Greene County as we continue to gain national market share at KDH.”

West Greene High School band will take a spring trip

ROGERSVILLE – Sometimes a simple change of direction makes all the difference.

Members of the West Greene High School band might have been upset last week when the school board nixed their opportunity to compete in a band festival this spring in Toronto, Canada. Come May, though, the band will still head to a competition, only for this trip, the students will be traveling south as opposed to north of the border. The school board approved the new trip at a meeting the board recessed last week.

“Same dates, same competition, same everything,” said band director Mark McCullum. It’s even roughly the same six-hour drive.

The difference is that the group will not enter a foreign country when the band makes its trek to Williamsburg, Va., to participate in the Fiesta-Val Band Fest May 8-11. Apparently, that was enough of a variation to prompt an approval from the board, as long as the nation’s terror alert does not progress to the highest status.

If the band did not make the trip, McCullum estimates that parents and the band booster organization would have lost $11,000, combined. The group already made many reservations with a travel agency; the down payments of which are non-refundable, but are transferable to the Williamsburg event.

Costs for the trip are covered through fund-raising and parents’ contributions. The school district pays no upfront cost.

Uniform policy elicits similar reaction from many SCI-Greene guards: Stick it

WAYNESBURG – An effort by some corrections officers at the state Correctional Institution at Greene to show their support for U.S. troops in Iraq may get them into hot water with the state Department of Corrections.

Several guards at the maximum-security prison began wearing crossed flag pins backed with a yellow ribbon about two weeks ago to show their support for troops in Iraq.

Though employees were told Wednesday to remove the pins because they violate the department’s uniform policy, many have refused to comply with the order.

“They want to show their support for our troops,” said Diane DeMarco, business agent for the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, which represents 520 employees at SCI-Greene.

By showing support for the troops, they also are showing support for many of their fellow employees, she said. “I’d say 90 percent of our members are ex-military or are currently serving in the reserves or National Guard,” she said.

$100,000 worth of equipment destroyed in fire

ROGERSVILLE A sawmill in Rogersville, which the owner said contained equipment that would cost more than $100,000 to replace, was destroyed by fire Wednesday.

Five fire companies were called to fight the fire, which broke out at da mill owned by Jim Frey of Smithfield at da location almost within view of the Rogersville fire hall.

The large building estimated to be about 125 feet by 30 feet, collapsed before firefighters arrived in the scene.

“It was gone when we first got there,” said Todd Moore, chief of the Center Township Volunteer Fire Co. “There was nothing there’ it was completely down.”

Moore said firefighters, who were called at 1:25 a.m., were able to save only a number of stacks of lumber piled up in the sawmill yard.

2 safe crackers caught in act by town police

Two safe crackers from Washington County were captured inside the Waynesburg Milling Company plant at Waynesburg late Friday night after two special policemen spotted them at work inside the building.

He two unarmed men, who were flushed from hiding places just under the roof of the rambling three-story building.

Tjey had some $1,350 stuffed into their pockets, police said. The safe in the milling company office had been “peeled” and opened.

Waynesburg Police Chief James Watson credited alertness and cool thinking on the part of special patrolmen Charles Martin and Francis Phillips with leading the roundup of the two men.

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