Archive - 2012 - News Article
February 22nd
Members of St. Marys City Council were informed a new state regulation could supersede an oil and gas ordinance the city has been working on for over a year.
Zoning Officer Matt Pfeufer approached the council during Monday evening's meeting looking for direction in determining if the city's new ordinance is going to be in compliance with the state regulations. If changes are to be made, Pfeufer must instruct the city's planning commission to make the necessary revisions.
Reacting to Governor Tom Corbett's initial budget proposal released Feb. 7, officials at the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission [NCPRPDC] said they find the spending plan to be challenging.
"The state budget is definitely a tough budget with a lot of things that, if they play out the way they are in the proposal, will present challenges to a lot of people," said Eric Bridges, executive director at North Central. "It is a budget proposal and given that it is an election year, there will be a lot of legislative wrangling.
In a seminar at the American Legion building on Main Street in Ridgway Wednesday, two artisans participating in the annual Ridgway Chainsaw Carver Rendezvous, Roger Day of England and Bob King of Seattle, Wash., spoke about the processes involved in wood carving, as well as the technique and new technology geared toward the medium of wood.
Bob King, in his seventh year at Rendezvous, delved into the topic of spatial perception which he described as "something we all have in common, how we perceive objects in the world and their relation to us in space."
February 21st
County officials expressed their gratitude Tuesday morning to Mrs. Lucille Armagost-Grabofski, a Ridgway native who now resides in Erie.
She recently presented a painting to the county's commissioners depicting the Elk County Courthouse.
"She grew up in Ridgway and painted this in 2010 of our courthouse," said Elk County Commissioner Daniel R. Freeburg. "It's an oil painting on canvas and she did it in memory of her father, Jay Gordan Armagost, he was a police officer here and he died in 1950.
With a two-year contract drawing to a close in less than two months, county officials are reviewing bids from companies for ongoing recycling collections.
"The county is going to be ending a 2-year contract with ECSR [Environmental Coordination Services & Recycling]," said Bekki Titchner, recycling/solid waste coordinator for Elk County. "They've been providing services for our yearly household hazardous waste collection as well as ongoing collections for oil-based paints, pesticides, fluorescent lamps and batteries. The contract expires in April and we're rebidding for another two years.
Although Ken Tynan of Butler makes a significant portion of his salary carving bears, his true passion lies in creating comic book and superheroes. For this year's Ridgway Chainsaw Carvers Rendezvous auction, Tynan has stuck with what comes naturally to him and has created a massive roaring grizzly out of white pine, weighing in at 400 pounds.
The 52-year-old Butler native drew attention in past years at the Rendezvous with his big green Hulk sculpture.
Today marks the start of Lent, an annual period of sacrifice and reflection that lasts for 40 days, not counting Sundays, leading up to Easter.
Fr. Ross Miceli, campus minister at Elk County Catholic High School, explained that Sundays are not counted because "if you do the math, you end up with like 46 days before Easter, so you can't count Sundays."
February 20th
Each year organizers of the Ridgway Chainsaw Rendezvous offer morning seminars to both carvers and anyone interested in attending and learning more about the intricacies of the industry.
Seminar speakers offer a vast array of advice, tips and tricks. Many also welcome comments from fellow carvers as to what their experience has been regarding the specific topic at hand.
The first seminar on Monday featured Brad Bemis of North Brookfield, Mass., who spoke on "All About Wood," followed by Pat Holbert of Dalton, Ohio, who demonstrated how to make human faces.
Gary Anderson was elected to City Council on Monday evening following a Vacancy Board meeting held following the City Council meeting.
During the meeting each of the four candidates which submitted a letter of interest to Council had the opportunity to speak before the board, during which time they provided information about themselves, their education and employment backgrounds, community involvement and the reason they are interested in filling the position.
A request by the Jay Township Board of Supervisors for permission to remove mine refuse materials from Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) property in Jay Township was one of the issues discussed at last Thursday's meeting of the board.
The request involves "two [mine] spoil piles" on WPC property located off of Pine Avenue in Force and the materials referenced include mine spoil and shale, as well as a nearby "red dog pile" to be used by the township in road improvement projects.
