Sewickley Herald

              Tha Sawicklay Haraid: Wadnatday, FEBRUARY 10,1999- Paga A-1
^Gateway'P'Ublieations'Newspapejr
Serving Aleppo, Bell Acres, Edgeworth, Glenfield, Haysville, Leet, Leetsdale, Osborne, Sewickley, Sewickley Heights, Sewickley Hills
Vo I. 96, No. 6 v . . V:	- ■	' \A/ednesday, Februaryi0,1999
No roses can match those grown by Phillip Bondi, Leetsdale’s Roseman, but Valentine's flowers are aplenty at our local florists. See Page 11.
. SO Cpnts V
^	^ INSI Dt ;
Sports
■ Aaron Barries and Sewickley Academy teammates make every practice count as they progress up the rankings in their section.
■ Quaker Valley and Sewickley Academy students will present a celebration of Black History for the community. See
Page 10
Car Tab
■ Find out what's new in the car industry. See what top manufacturers are offering in cars, vans and trucks, and which ones make the "best buy" list.
▼ VALENTINE'S DAY
▼ SEWICKLEY
I he Real 1 hing
Council says no to condos at 44 Beaver
HOME WILL-always be where the heart is for the Wigtons of Glenfield. In this casual family portrait, Jim and Diane (seated) pose with their children, Kristopher (front), daughter Jaymie and R.J.
Wigtons share a special kind of love
ty Dmo 1 Dreeland Editor
The same smile greets you as she welcomes you into her extraordinary world.
She hasn't lost her easy way or her sense of humor. Brighteyed, spirited, giving, Diane Lohnes Wigton is still the same Diane except....
“My new birthday is Nov. 2, 1998,” she says.
An unusual statement, but an incredible day, to be sure, of a phone call, a rushed trip to Presbyterian Hospital in Oakland, preps for surgery and finally, wonderfully, the replacement of her left lung, Doctors made a six-inch cut on her back, broke three ribs and placed a lung into her body.
The wait was long — two years, eight months — for this gift of life, breath to a body that had suffered from a genetic form of emphysema called Alpha 1-Antitrypsin Deficiency, first diagnosed in April 1995.
“He’s with me,” she says of the nameless 17-year-old from Norfolk, Va.
“I’ve tried to write that letter 50 times, but how do I say ‘thank you for my life.'”
She felt his presence when she first sat down to compose that special note of gratitude, which would be sent through CORE, the Center for Organ Recovery Education, to the donor’s family. It would be their choice to correspond and give their son a name for Diane to keep forever,
“I’m special because I’m here.”
Home is Glenfield with her family, husband, Jim; daughter, Jaymie, age 16; and sons, R.J., 14, and Kristopher, 12.
“They got me through,” she affirms. “I want to plan their weddings, to be a grandma. I want to be there for them.”
And for her husband, who has taken on so many new roles — add doing laundry, cleaning and taxi service to his job as a heavy equipment operator — since the progress of her disease slowed her down.
Before the transplant, her lung capacity was below 30 percent in each, and she lived on full oxygen 24 hours a day.
"— Continued on next page
By Merit left**
_______iteff writer___________
In the last row of Sewickley council chambers sat Lee Ligo, muttering to realtors, Pat Casseia and Tom Potter, that he hoped the judgment was swift.
Twenty minutes later, Ligo’s fair complexion was visibly red and his footsteps echoed hard through the borough building as he made his way out. He had not heard what he wanted to hear.
With an authoritative tone, Michael Lyons, Zoning Hearing Board chair, denied Ligo’s request for variances required to convert 44 Beaver St. into condominiums.
“Maple Manor,” as the project came to be called, involved renovating the house, r.-.aintaining the house’s footprint and was, according to a letter written by potential tenant, Peggy Rea, a “realistic solution to rescuing a troubled property from obvious dereliction, while serving an undeniable housing need....”
However, neighbors of the vacated property banded together, petitioned the borough, hired attorney Kevin McKeegan and gave testimony before the zoning hearing board and a jam-packed audience at January’s meeting.
None of them were present for the board’s decision.
Larry Mock, who lives adjacent to 44 Beaver St. and spearheaded the resistance, was out of town on business for the decision. However, he did comment after the fact that the facts speak for themselves.
“We expected it,” Mock said.
“There was no community support other than the people who had a direct economic impact," said Mock, supplementing his original contention that the zoning is apparent.
Jim Trovato, another neigh-—— Continued on next page