Local News
UPDATE: Citizens weigh in on planned school
Some suggest merging districts
SHARON — Sharpsville resident Richard Wiley grew up in Sharon and graduated from Sharon High School in 1957.
He has a lot of great memories from attending class in what is now Case Avenue Elementary School. His senior year both the football and basketball teams won state championships, something Wiley, 72, remembers fondly.
The halls those athletes walked will become just that — a memory — now that Sharon school directors have decided to raze the building and construct another at the site behind or in the same footprint.
“I hate to see it gone,” said Amadeo DiNardo, 88, a 1939 Sharon High graduate, who was out running errands on the chilly Tuesday morning.
Wiley, who was having breakfast at Niko and Lou’s in downtown Sharon, said he’ll be sad when the building is no longer standing, but said he hopes things work out well for the community.
He said he worries about senior citizens and future generations on the hook to pay for the school.
“As far as I’m concerned … with the economy the way it is, I think the money could well be used elsewhere,” said Wiley, adding that he wasn’t being critical of the school board and was speaking “respectfully.”
Other folks out and about Tuesday morning weren’t quite as politically correct about spending $20 million on another school building.
When Daronica Cozart, 33, of Sharon, heard how much the board planned to spend on a new building she said, “Wow. I think that’s a lot of money.”
“That’s nuts,” said Duchess Pope, 26, of Sharon, who rents and said she’d think twice about buying a home in Sharon if the real estate taxes keep climbing to pay for the new building.
“They don’t need it,” said Wilberta Ganzy, a Farrell native who moved to Sharon in recent years because of the senior apartments available.
When asked about the pricetag of a new school, DiNardo matter-of-factly said, “You’ve got to spend money.”
Ms. Ganzy, 72, who stopped by the Korner News Stand, noted that people are leaving the area because there aren’t many jobs available. And fewer residents means fewer kids going to school.
Levio Baldarelli III, 22, of Hermitage, said he hadn’t heard about the school board’s decision but thought the best move would be building a new school in the parking lot behind the current building so the district wouldn’t have to bus Case students somewhere else.
Baldarelli was having breakfast with his father, Levio Baldarelli Jr., 62, who also lives in Hermitage but runs a business in Sharon and owns a number of rental homes.
The elder Baldarelli said he agreed with school director John Outrakis’ opinion — he was one of seven members who voted to keep the school at its current location — and that moving the elementary school to the Hermitage line, a proposal favored by board President Melvin Bandzak, would be “foolish.”
Harvey Newby, 71, of Sharon, said he understands that they need a new school for the kids, but wondered if the Case Avenue site was the best place for it.
“Is there enough room for a school that big?” he asked, suggesting maybe officials ought to consider a complex that could hold all the grades.
Some people in the Shenango Valley are proponents of consolidating school districts, as most schools have been losing students over the years and that trend is expected to continue.
“They need to merge with someone,” said Ms. Ganzy.
Wiley also said he thought Shenango Valley school districts ought to look into merging.
“What do you have to lose?” he asked.
Newby, whose grandchildren attend Sharon schools, said he didn’t think merging districts was necessarily the answer to the problem.
DiNardo said a lot of people don’t like the idea of sending their kids to another town for classes.
Ms. Cozart said she thinks merging Sharon and Farrell schools is a “bad idea.”
“The kids don’t get along,” said the clerk at The Hot Spot.
That rivalry will make it harder on teachers in the classroom, said Ms. Cozart, who rents.
Ms. Pope, who is a newspaper carrier, agreed.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she said, noting that there’ll be more kids to deal with and there’s a “lot of differences” between them.
Transporting the students to schools farther away would also be an issue. Right now, the majority of Sharon and Farrell students walk to school.
A man walking in downtown Sharon who refused to give his name said that while a new school may be needed, officials need to use common sense in making such decisions.
“Face it — Sharon has probably the largest percentage of people living here (in the Shenango Valley) that are retired,” the lifelong resident said.
He noted that the Case Avenue building, which was built more than 85 years ago, is probably one of the most structurally sound in the area.
Investigating a consolidated district “should be top priority,” he said, adding that sports fans and administrators concerned about their paychecks are probably the biggest obstacles for such a move.
While merging school districts may not be the right way to go, he said maybe school directors should look at combining some buildings within the districts.
He said the population is dwindling so that will mean fewer students in the coming years.
Another man having breakfast at Niko and Lou’s counter who didn’t want his name in the paper noted that if the Case building had been properly maintained over the decades, perhaps such drastic measures wouldn’t be needed now.
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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
