Local News
Greenville teacher ends secrecy: Jon Ross calls his firing a ‘vendetta’
GREENVILLE — Third-grade teacher Jon Ross announced Monday he is the unidentified employee who was fired April 20 by Greenville Area School Board, and he claims he was wrongfully terminated. “It’s me,” Ross said in a news release issued by the Pennsylvania State Education Association. “Let’s stop all the intrigue and get it out in the open now. It does no one, not the students, parents, community or colleagues any good to keep it a secret.” Michele Orahood, the district’s Right-to-Know officer, failed to respond to The Herald’s April 28 open records request for Ross’ name. That meant it was denied and withholding his name violated the state’s Right-to-Know law, Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, has said Ross, who is also president of the Greenville Education Association, was fired after years of successful teaching in the district, the release said “Apparently, some school board members believed every word of the superintendent (Pat Homer),” said Butch Santicola, PSEA spokesperson “In our opinion, it was nothing but a vendetta. We have no choice but to take every legal action possible to defend Mr. Ross,” he said Ross’ problems came to a boiling point last spring after the union gave a vote of “no confidence” in Superintendent Dr. Patricia M. Homer and two administrators, Santicola said As GEA president, Ross attempted to take concerns to Dr. Homer. He also told the board that district personnel used school equipment to perform work at Dr. Homer’s home during regular school hours “In our opinion, the actions of the superintendent were retaliatory,” Santicola said The union has filed charges with the state labor board against the school board, alleging Ross’ firing was an illegal, unfair labor practice. The first hearings in that matter are set for June 17 and 18 and Ross is also appealing the board’s vote to dismiss him “I am innocent and I want my job back and my name cleared. It’s just unbelievable. I am very lucky to have a support system of family, friends, co-workers and my union,” Ross said “I look forward to the time when my life can return to normalcy. I want things the way they were before this started. I did nothing to justify my dismissal. I want to teach. No educator should go through what has happened to me,” he said Ross’ prosecution and subsequent resolution will unfortunately cost taxpayers a considerable sum of money, even though it’s not the community’s fault, Santicola said Ross’ firing is not the first time he’s been at odds with the board. He was acquitted in Mercer County Common Pleas Court in 2000 of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old intern from Thiel College, Greenville, who was under his charge, according to Herald files The student, who was being mentored by Ross in 1999, testified that he kissed and fondled her at his parents’ Hempfield Township home, where he drove her on a lunch break to retrieve papers Ross denied touching her and her claims that he told her he controlled 50 percent of her college course grade. Character witnesses who testified on Ross’ behalf said he had a reputation as a truthful man.
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
Hermitage commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday to increase sanitary user fees.
Residents tapped into the Hermitage Municipal Authority lines now pay $95 a quarter. That rate will bump up to $105 a quarter on Jan. 1, under the proposed rate hike.
Two more hikes on Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2013, will result in the rates increasing 50 percent from the current fee. -
Water is on at Forrest Brooke
Water service has been restored at Forrest Brooke Manufactured Home Community after well problems left the 165-unit complex dry Tuesday.
A boil and conserve water advisory has been issued by the DEP and will remain in place until tests confirm the water is safe to drink, Forrest Brooke’s manager Pete Havens said.
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Storm damages trees, wires
Thunderstorms ripped through parts of Mercer and neighboring counties Wednesday night, downing trees and wires and keeping rescue workers on their toes.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher shortly after 8 p.m. said they were busy with calls across the northern part of the county. He said there had been a few reports of trees falling on homes.
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City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
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Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
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Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
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City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
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Near-complete addition to let man come home
Although the weather delayed the start of Penny and Paul Strechansky’s construction project by about three weeks, the end of the sawing, hammering and stapling is in sight.
“It should be done by the middle of next week,” Strechansky said of the 15-by-20 foot addition being built onto the back of his garage in Hermitage, which will be the new home of his grandson, David Johnson.
Johnson was critically injured in a car crash June 19, 2009, on what is now Interstate 376 in Lawrence County. The crash rendered Johnson, who just turned 21, blind and brain damaged. He is unable to care for himself.
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Man prison-bound for role in drug buy shooting
It may never be known for certain who fired the two fatal shots that killed a Sharon teen on Nov. 6 on Wallis Avenue during a botched drug deal, prosecutors have said.
But Christopher Swogger, 24, Sharon, was fingered by at least one other suspect as the one whose bullets killed John B. Hosey III, 18, of 422 Meek St. Swogger was sentenced Monday.
Swogger was sent to prison for 1 1/2 to 3 years for having a firearm without a license, ending his role in the criminal prosecutions of the drug deal turned shooting.
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Farrell, Sharon to revisit merger
Times are tough.
In Farrell Monday night, city council heard a grim financial report from City Manager LaVon Saternow.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” Mrs. Saternow said. “We could conceivably run out of cash by the end of the year. I don’t know how to put it more bluntly.”
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
