Dec 20, 2014 2 min read

Three homicides and the demolition of a historic six-story building on High Street in Waynesburg made news this year, but it was the explosion and fire at Chevron Appalachia’s Lanco well pad in Dunkard Township that injured one worker and killed another that was the top story of 2014 in Greene County as voted by the Observer-Reporter’s Greene County office.

The Feb. 11 fire at two of the three wells on the pad burned for four days before extinguishing themselves but continued to emit natural gas until capped the last week in February.

The worker who died was identified as Ian McKee, 27, who was employed by Cameron International, a Chevron contractor. McKee was listed as unaccounted for until Feb. 27, when his remains were found at the site.

Also, three people are facing homicide charges in two separate killings, while a third, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution-Greene, pleaded guilty to killing his cellmate.

Randy Flynn Anderson, 52, of 472 Morford Road, was charged with shooting Terry S. Weyrick while the two were drinking at Anderson’s home in Aleppo. On July 21 a Wind Ridge couple was taken into custody for extradition to West Virginia related to a triple homicide in Littleton, W.Va., on Jan. 13. Samuel Lee Spencer, 25, and Natasha Lynn Burns, 26, of 420 W. Roy Furman Highway, are charged in the stabbing deaths of husband and wife, Michael, 63, and Carmen McDougal, 55, along with the McDougal’s friend, Jimmy Kisner, 48, of Aleppo. In November, an SCI-Greene inmate pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter for killing his cellmate Jan. 10. Raphael Moses Spearman Jr., 24, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 6 to 20 years for killing Ronald Yarbough, 22, of Cresson.

Also in the news was the demolition of the historic People’s National Bank and former county office building on High Street, a fatal fire in Center Township, and a spate of bomb threats at Jefferson-Morgan Mddle-Senior High School.