vol. 133 - no. 242 county unusual accident officials...
TRANSCRIPT
Vol. 133 - No. 242
Mostly cloudy then be-coming partly sunny. Cold with highs around 15.
Full report, A2
14 pagesClassified ......................... B4Comics ............................. A5Lifestyles ......................... A4Lottery ............................. A7Opinion ........................... A6Public Notices ............... B4Sports ............................... B1
75 Cents
• James L. Jones, 69• James Modaffare, 52
Authorities say a man apparently searching for warm clothes or a place to sleep got trapped in a clothing collection bin and died. A7
Playoffs unlikelyThe playoffs are practi-
cally off the table for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, apparently, is planning ahead to 2014. B1
Bear attacks girlA black bear attacked a
teenager in central Penn-sylvania as she hunted deer on a family farm. B6
Unusual accident
Tomorrow’s Forecast
Index
ObituariesA7
MORE INSIDE
Page B2
By Elaine Haskins
DuBOIS — The vision is becoming a real-ity.
The remodeling of the center courtyard at the DuBois Area High School has made much progress since the idea originally started nearly two years ago. The vision of seeing teachers taking their students out-side on a nice, warm day to the serene and beautiful center courtyard at the school was
seen by former Principal Roger Collins and English teachers Danna Billotte
and Lauren Aughenbaugh, as well as others, to work towards renovating the area.
“We’ve had visions for awhile. We just started looking at trying to use our court-yard space. I’ve always thought about hav-ing different activities and programs out there,” said Collins, who is now the assis-tant to the superintendent, in a previously published Courier-Express article. “In the spring, I think it would be really nice to have our after program out there following our ac-ademic awards, athletic awards. It’s kind of been something we’ve aspired to have hap-pen and we have had a number of people as-sisting and planning.”
The goal is for the courtyard to be the fo-cal point of the school, Collins said. When a person first walks into the school, the first thing they see when they look to the left when walking down the hall is the court-yard.
The first phase of the project started in August 2012 when a large, white gazebo was installed.
The second phase of the project started in April when a work party got together and started cleaning the canvas. The Bea-ver statue was renovated by high school art
Progress continues on school courtyard project
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013
By Kimberly Finnigan
CLEARFIELD — The Area Transpor-tation Authority will have to do without a resolution for support from Clearfield County.
A motion to approve the resolution for local support died for lack of a second at Tuesday’s Clearfield County Commission-ers meeting.
The motion was tabled at last week’s meeting for further review.
Commissioner Mark McCracken made the motion to approve Tuesday but neither Joan Robinson-McMillen nor John Sobel seconded it.
Robinson-McMillen said there is mon-ey in the county’s budget set aside for lo-cal support but it is not assigned to any specific agency. The county also provides a transportation contribution to DuFast Transit.
Robinson-McMillen said it is her un-derstanding that there is enough money in ATA’s fund balance that local services will not be impacted for about three years.
She said the decision not to approve the resolution is part of a “work in progress” between the county and ATA for more transparency in the ATA’s finances and meetings.
“Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth to get any information from them,” Sobel said. “We shouldn’t have to file a Right-to-Know request for a board we fund.”
County officials withhold ATA $$$
Clearfield County
Shown in front of the new gazebo and the recently installed brick walkway in the center courtyard of the DuBois Area High School are, from left, Assistant to the Superintendent Roger Collins, English teacher Lauren Aughenbaugh and Principal Jeff Vizza. The courtyard is in the process of being renovated to make it a focal point of the school. The gazebo was the first phase of the project and installed in August 2012. The walkway was part of the second phase of the project and was completed just over the last few weeks. The third and final phase of the project includes the landscaping and is expected to start in April when the weather breaks. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
One of the ways money for the beautification project for the DuBois Area High School’s center courtyard has been raised is to sell engraved granite pavers for the walkway. Shown is an engraved paver bought by students in memory of Lance Cpl. Joshua M. ‘Tino’ Martino of DuBois. Martino, a 2012 DAHS graduate, died March 18, in Hawthorne, Nev., as a result of in-juries sustained in a military training mission. To the right of Martino’s paver is an engraved paver for retired teacher and athletic director Pam Murdock, also Martino’s aunt. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
Shown in the center courtyard at the DuBois Area High School is the Beaver mascot statue, which was recently renovated by art teacher Jenna Gaston and art students at the high school. The Beaver had to be relocated by the district’s maintenance staff because it was in the way of the path to the gazebo. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
By Cathy Moore
FALLS CREEK — The 2014 budget for Falls Creek was unanimously passed at the borough council meeting Monday evening.
Finance Committee Chairman Jim Kaschalk presented the budget, with
no tax increase.The 7.6-mill real estate
tax levy means the owner of a $50,000 property will pay about $380 in property tax-es to the borough. Residents also pay property and other taxes to Jefferson County and the DuBois Area School District.
Agreements were signed
with Lu Inzana to continue as borough consultant and with Pat Lavelle to continue as solicitor in 2014.
Lavelle and Inzana spoke about the confusion sur-rounding correspondence from Berkheimer, which took over tax collection from Central Tax Bureau.
The borough received
a bill for $268.56 for owed taxes. Lavelle said he wants specifics from Berkheimer explaining how it reached that amount. He said he felt the only explanation is that Central Tax Bureau didn’t pay correctly.
Inzana said he talked with Berkheimer and ex-plained that the borough
uses Keystone Collections Group in Clearfield because borough residents are in the DuBois School District.
Inzana feels the amount due is arbitrary and ex-plained that the money was collected and sent to Central Tax Bureau.
Lavelle and Inzana ad-
Falls Creek budget approved with no tax increase
By Cathy Moore
FALLS CREEK — The Washington Township supervisors adopted the 2014 budget without a property tax increase Tuesday evening.
The township’s 3.5-mill property tax levy means the owner of a $50,000 proper-ty will pay about $175 in real estate taxes to the township. Residents also pay prop-erty and other taxes to Jefferson County and the Brockway Area School District.
Attending were Supervisors Chairman Steve McClelland, Supervisor Bob Hrin, re-elected Supervisor Harold Wilson and newly elected Supervisor Bob Hetrick. Su-pervisor Mike McClintick was absent.
Donna Cooper of the Jefferson County Solid Waste Authority asked for continued monetary support from the township. “I appreciate the support you’ve given us. In 2012, the latest year for statistics, Wash-ington Township was the third most-used site,” she said.
Washington Township budget has no tax increase
See ATA , Page A7
See Courtyard, Page A7
DuBois
See Washington, Page A7
See Falls Creek, Page A7
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