Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 101

PG East: Thursday, August 25, 1988 Aircraft enthusiasts hope to land museum mit a preliminary financial statement showing that he has enough private funding to get the project off the ground. "Wp simnlv cannot allow someone 4f" tit 5. mar epaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii By Thomas J. Porter Jr. Post-Gazette Staff Writer Aircraft buffs who hope to establish an aviation museum at the Allegheny County Airport have launched a petition drive to convince county officials that the project enjoys widespread support.

Thomas E. Bridge, president of the North American Warbird Museum in Gibsonia, said organizers of the petition drive have garnered the names of nearly 5,000 area residents. "Our goal is 10,000 names," Bridge said. "If it takes more than that to convince the board of commissioners and other county officials there is genuine local interest for the museum, then we'll get more." He and others want the county to donate space at the West Mifflin airport to park 15 to 20 vintage aircraft for public display. The county is not in the business of giving away valuable public lands "to every person or organization with a dream," said Scott O'Donnell, county aviation director.

"Nobody here is saying there is anything wrong with the museum idea In fact, the county Department of Development said it would be willing to work with Mr. Bridge in getting some federal assistance," O'Donnell said. "But it is essential he meets some basic criteria to assure us and the public his idea is feasible." The county first would require a market study to determine whether there would be enough interest to' support such a facility. Secondly, county officials want Bridge to sub 4 m. fetfllflili the Riverview Community Center.

J. i I nit Wmnin. Maureen Aber relaxes with a book in enior center just being Enterprise Zone money goes to Monessen, others "If you think a senior citizens center is old people sitting in chairs and staring into space, you should come here. Maureen Aber to haul in 20 old aircraft and park" them on valuable airport lanas wun-out some kind of plan It wouldn't he fair to our tenants or the citizens. We're challenging Mr.

Bridge to put something in writing," O'Donnell said. Bridge said it is his organization's hope that the petition drive will serve as a preliminary market study. Joining the North American War- bird Museum in the signature cam- paign are the Pittsburgh chapters of the Air Force Association and the Vietnam Veterans Association, Bridge said. The museum was incorporated i about four years ago and is in the process of changing its name to the North American Museum of Flight, because its collections will not be limited to military aircraft. The organization has acquired several aircraft, such as a Lockheed P2V Neptune submarine chaser and bomber used in Korea ana Vietnam and a World War II T-50 Bamboo Bomber.

Many are parked at air- fields outside the state. The county granted museum officials space at the airport to park the Neptune while it is undergoing; repairs. Bridge said the plane was toured, by thousands of visitors during the; recent Allegheny County Air Show "This alone proved to us that there is genuine puDiic interest in vintage aircraft," he said. The grant also will be used fori administrative, architectural, engi-; neering, inspection and technical; assistance to Enterprise Zone busi-j nesses and promotion of activities.) Donora will receive $30,000 of the $125,000 total allocated to Washing-' ton County. The grant will help the! Mid-Mon Industrial Development! Association establish a small busi-1 ness incubator in the borough I The Enterprise Zone program is! administered by the state Depart-j ment of Community Affairs' Bureau! of Community Planning.

The pro-! gram will distribute $13 million to 35 enterprise zones in 1989. Since 1982, Enterprise Zone program grants "have stirred private investment totaling $275 million, resulting in the creation of 6,000 new jobs and the establishment and expansion of 800 businesses," ZempreU' li said. Wave pool to close The Boyce Park Wave Pool will close Monday through Friday then reopen for the Labor Day weekend, Saturday through Monday when it will close for the season. days except for Halloween. Tickets will be $3 for adults and $2 for children.

Next year, the Jaycees will have to find a new location. Biddle said the township plans to raze the structure to build a fire substation there. Bridgeville Federal engineers are studying why the ground has been shifting under six houses on Terrace Street in Bridgeville. Borough engineer Robert Bannon told council last week that a report on the problem is expected in September from the Bureau of Abandoned Mines Reclamation. The report will recommend solutions as well as pinpoint the cause.

Terrace Street resident Effie Miller said large cracks have appeared in the ground by her house and in the side and foundation of her home. The crack in the foundation occurred near a gas line and the gas company warned her to keep an eye on the problem. Charles Berginski, borough administrator, said, "The borough will do anything it can to help. I do not want to do anything, however, until the report is in." Cranberry A compromise may soon be reached between Cranberry and builders who are unhappy with the township's proposal to require them to help pay for new roads. Up to 20 people are moving to Cranberry each week, and township officials say they will need at least $30 million in road improvements by the year 2000 to support the growth.

Angry developers who attended a public hearing earlier this month threatened to sue the township if the law were passed. They said the ordinance would be illegal because they believe state law does not give Cranberry the power to require such fees. But Cranberry Manager Sheldon Williams and a representative of the Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh have agreed that something could be worked out to head off a legal battle. "I've talked to several persons in the building community, and the sentiment seems to be that they would like to present some alterna- tives to the township," Williams sajd. if i'Si i I 1 1 11 iMIlll i nWlft Tii iTtr nftr many areas: your earning power, your authority, your teeth, your hair.

That's why a death can be so devastating," Aber said. The clinic changed the attitude of many of the participants from "don't cry" to "cry it out, kid. It's all right," she said. "We have a number of self-help groups and they help spread those lovely monsters called compassion, friendliness and caring." One program has a dozen people whose job is to telephone a few others daily to see that they are all right. "It gives them a purpose.

Everybody needs to be needed," Aber said. The group has visited the Seven Springs Resort in Somerset County and attended Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games and the Civic Light Opera. Located at 619 Fourth St. in Oakmont, the Riverview Community Action Corp. was formed in 1966 as a citizens group to fight poverty.

New parking areas are to be constructed to serve the growing number of people using the public library, recreational rooms and gymnasium at the center. Hannah Matthews, a Boyd Community Center and Library Association board member and chairman of the grounds committee, said the center is well on its way to meeting the goals of a land-use plan developed several years ago. The land-use plan was sponsored by the Squaw Run Area Watershed Association and was designed by William Swain, master landscape architect for the Downtown landscape design firm of Griswald, Winter and Swain. Several landscaping projects were planned for areas adjacent to the center's Lauri Ann West Memorial Library. The Story Telling Garden for children is complete.

It was sponsored by Countryside Garden Club, which also is sponsoring construction and landscaping of a library garden. In that garden, shrubs, trees, groundcovers and seasonal flowers will be used as dividers to create an outdoor reading room. Countryside Garden Club also is planning a country garden, which will be "a quiet outdoor retreat for meetings, art displays and musical performances," Matthews said. Fox Chapel Garden Club is sponsoring the development of a natural preserve of woodland greenery in the parklands called "Hedgerow." Woodland Garden Club is planting a shrubbery border and green buffer zone along the Powers Run Road side of the center's grounds. The Kindergarten Club has adopted a foundation planting project along the front and main entrance of the community center.

Handcrafted and painted signs, designating all areas of the complex, is the project of the Fox Chapel Area District Association. Matthews said committees of local volunteers have formed to undertake the renovation of the outdoor basketball courts and playground. The center opened five years ago. The facility was the former Boyd Elementary School, which closed in 1981. Baldwin The Baldwin-Whitehall school board hgs approved a pay raise for Judy Lutz Post-Gazette 1 socia Those were the years of the federal government's "war on poverty," when many grants and programs were available.

Over the years, the organization evolved into a community facility. The organization has a new executive director, Victoria J. Hersen, who was formerly the executive director of the American Lung Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania. She replaced James Richter, who resigned. The center gets about half of its funds from the county's Department of Aging and has fund drives to raise the rest.

Services the center provides to elderly people include home-delivered meals, a library, billiards, health care programs, screenings and more. Community services include a food bank, transportation to the center, income tax assistance and a card file of referrals for baby sitters, housekeepers, companions. A career counseling and job placement program also is offered. The center has placed 34 people this year and has a list of 80 people looking for a job. On Sept.

23, the center will hold its benefit dinner-dance in the Oakmont Country Club. some administrators before their contract expires. School Director Martin Schmotzer, the only member to oppose the $930 pay increase for 21 employees, said those employees received a $2,300 raise on July 1, 1987. Schmotzer said the contract that went into effect on that date doesn't expire until June 30, 1989. The 21 employees receiving the raises include administrators, principals and vice principals.

The superintendent, assistant superintendent, business manager and director of services will not receive the raise. The $2,300 increase has cost the district $48,300, and the $930 increase will cost taxpayers $19,530, Schmotzer said. At the Aug. 10 meeting, Schmotzer asked Director Lillian Orlandi whether she had a reason for giving the administrators a pay raise. "In my mind, yes," Orlandi replied.

She would not elaborate on her reason at the meeting, but later said she suggested the salary increase a few months ago because the administrators have more duties to perform. "We are not replacing one administrative position at the high school. The other administrator will assume his duties," she said. Administrators also will have more committee meetings to attend because of a staff development program approved by the school board, she said. Schmotzer said later that the administrators had asked for the staff development program.

He added that complaints about the job performances of some of the 21 people who were given raises had been brought up during the board's private sessions. Schmotzer said annual salaries for administrators range from $29,037 to $56,756 and will increase to a range of $29,967 to $57,686. "Why not renegotiate the service employees' contract?" he asked. "If the district is going to give raises, why not give it to the people who need the money?" Marshall The Cranberry Area Jaycees will hold'a haunted house fund-raiser in By Bohdan Hodiak Post-Gazette Staff Writer Being program coordinator of the Riverview Community Action Corp. a godsend to scores of oldsters in Oakmont and Verona has gotten Maureen Aber a husband and a job she loves.

Although the Oakmont organization provides many community services, its main focus is its senior citizens center. Last winter, Aber met her future husband, an early retiree, at the center. A whirlwind courtship ended her 13 years of single parenthood. She is so delighted with her new status that she has her children call her "Mrs Aber." The center, where she is starting her 11th year, is still her No. 1 professional love.

"If you think a senior citizens center is old people sitting in chairs and staring into space, you should come here," she said. "We're having a senior prom where everybody will get spiffed up. We have yoga classes when I can get a teacher. We've even had belly dancing," Aber said. There have been sing-alongs with Anthony "Pappy" Cacese, who's 89 years old and looks like a youngster OTHER PLACSS Here is news from other Pittsburgh suburbs.

Edgeworth Edgeworth Police Chief James' Creese plans to meet with representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers and Conrail to discuss ways of keeping people away from the Ohio River near the Dashields Dam. Because two men recently drowned near the dam in incidents two weeks apart, Creese proposes a fence along the river bank, he told Edgeworth Council last week. The borough runs along the river for about 1.5 miles. Most of the river bank has a steep drop to the water, but in some sections the bank descends gradually and people go to those sections to fish, as did the two drowning victims who went into the water at points 70 feet apart. On July 30, William Charles Damon, 34, of Pittsburgh dived into the water and struck a concrete slab about 2 feet beneath the surface.

On Aug. 13, Eugene Gibson, 41, of the North Side slipped into the river and drowned. Creese told council he will ask Conrail to post signs banning trespassing on its railroad tracks that parallel the river, and he said the dam's lock master had agreed to call Edgeworth police if he or his staff see anyone along the river bank. Mt. Lebanon The state auditor general has asked the Mt.

Lebanon school board to correct teacher certification irregularities or to forfeit more than $20,000 in state funds. The recommendation, one of two from Auditor General Don Bailey, resulted from a report on the district's 1985 and 1986 fiscal years. A review of teacher certification records indicates that four teachers may have been assigned outside of their area of certification, said Mary Ellen Bolish, a spokeswoman for Bailey. The assignments considered questionable were submitted for verification last winter to the state Department of Education's Bureau of Teacher Preparation and Certification, which has yet to act. "If the Education Department confirms that the four teachers were improperly certified," Bailey said in Monessen is getting a $125,000 state grant to help start new businesses and spur economic development.

Grants are also going to Duquesne and Donora because the state has designated the three communities as Enterprise Zones, according to State Sen. Edward P. Zemprelli, D-Clair-ton. Duquesne is receiving $125,000 and Donora, in Washington County, is getting $30,000. "These communities are committed to implementing programs that will generate local economic growth and investment," said Zemprelli, whose 45th Senate District includes the three communities.

Monessen will use $58,000 to establish a revolving business loan fund, Zemprelli said. About $50,000 will be spent on an economic development coordinator and planning consultant. Zemprelli said Duquesne plans to use $22,000 to establish an equity pool for new business startups. Duquesne also plans to spend $30,000 to improve the city parking lot. Officials hope to enhance the site so that it will eventually be bought by a developer.

Marshall this year on the condition that the project will be closed immediately if problems occur. When Jaycees representatives Michael Carioto and Brian Rhines asked the Marshall supervisors several weeks ago about leasing a building on Brush Creek Road for the project, they met opposition from the supervisors. The group has used the building at the former Allegheny County Industrial and Training School for Boys, also known as Thorn Hill, as a haunted house in October to raise money. When the request was made Aug. 3, Supervisor Roy Biddle expressed outrage over an incident last year in which a Jaycees member was accused of giving beer to teen-agers.

Biddle said a police report indicated the Jaycees were warned two years ago about the same problem. Carioto replied, "The person who did that last year was dismissed from the project and expelled from local and state Jaycees chapters." Carioto told the supervisors the Jaycees would make changes in its operation of the project this year. He later said the plans include increasing security inside and outside of the house and recruiting actors who are older than 21. When Biddle asked for a financial accounting, Carioto held up a stack of thank-you notes from groups that received donations from the proceeds of last year's haunted house. Carioto said later the project raised $12,000, half of which was spent repairing the house, improving the parking lot and paying for other expenses connected with running the four-week project.

He said $5,000 was donated to groups such as the Ronald McDonald House, Holy Family Institute, Lutheran Home for Children in Zelieno-ple, Cranberry Public Library, Cranberry Fire Department, Family Violence Alternative program in Butler and food banks in the northern suburbs. The supervisors on Aug. 11 granted approval on condition that if any incident occurs that requires police intervention, the house would be closed immediately. Carioto said the house will operate Oct. 7 through 31 from 7 to 11 p.m.

Sundays through Thursdays and 7 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays. It will be closed on Mon of 70. He can still play a mean saxophone, something he did professionally. The day's highlight for many of the participants is lunch, not for the food but the socializing, Aber said.

Elderly people often neglect to prepare nutritious meals and snack on junk food. "You have no reason to cook when you're alone, no one to appreciate it," Aber said. About 50 people "take lunch" at the center, chatting and enjoying each other's company. The center also has helped the elderly deal with grief. "Last year we had a rush of deaths.

The atmosphere was so heavy, everybody was in pain," Aber said. The center persuaded St. Margaret's Hospital to hold a clinic on bereavement and loss. "It's not just death that seniors have to learn to deal with, but loss in a written statement, the district must forfeit $20,778 in state funds. He also recommended that the board review assignments of all professional employees teachers and administrators to see that they comply with certification standards.

The report also said the Mt. Lebanon district was overpaid $2,616 in state vocational education subsidies because it submitted inaccurate daily membership reports to the Education Department. Superintendent Allan W. Blacka said the school board is aware of the auditor general's findings and that he is confident that the criticisms will be cleared up. The superintendent said he was also unhappy with the auditor general officials because they released the findings publicly "before the school board even had a chance to discuss it." Blacka said the school district has its employees "in the appropriate areas" but said the board will make the necessary corrections, if needed.

"If we have not calculated these numbers correctly, then we will reimburse the state," Blacka said. "I'm confident that we're not out of compliance on this. We've never been out of compliance in the past." The school board announced earlier this week that it had appointed a committee to look into the auditor general's findings. "It's not a matter of our saying 'We're right and you're Blacka said. "Those things can happen in a fairly large organization." O'Hora Extensive beautification projects at Boyd Community Center in O'Hara promise to place the former elementary school complex on the map as a north suburban landmark, thanks to an outpouring of community pride and spirit.

Six municipalities comprising Fox Chapel Area School District, 10 local organizations and many volunteers are rolling up their sleeves in an effort to transform the center into a showplace inside and out. Plans are under way to dot the 10 acres surrounding the community center with several theme gardens and natural areas. The outdoor projects are being individually, sponsored by garden clubs and cJimunity organizations..