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-Vol. 95 No, '12
Serving Aleppo, Bell Acres, Edgeworth, Glenfield, Haysville, Leet, Leetsdale, Osborne, Sewickley, Sewickley Heights, Sewickley Hills
- Wednesday, March 25/19,9$..
Mindy Cooper likes her bath-waterwarm. Hold the bubbles, please.
She’s groomed regularly at Precious Pets in Sewickley. See Page 9.
Sports
■ Practice makes perfect, ever, indoors, for QV's baseball team. Jordan Monahan attempts a bunt. For a season preview,
Page 23
Nows
■	Kristin Brown has come to Sewickley to direct the art and craft of Sweetwater Center for the Arts. She's got plans and style.
Page 4
Winners
■	The votes were tallied for this year's Readers' Choice Awards. See who the local business winners are beginning on
Page 13
▼ AT YOUR SERVICE ,	„ -; . ,	-, '
BURNING PASSION
Leetsdale Fire Chief Ernest Logan
Chief takes on familiar battles
Editor's note: Last week Gov. Tom Ridge honored those involved in Emergency Services by writing a special proclamation. These articles are a salute to the fire crews and chiefs of the Quaker Valley, just one of many groups who serve our communities.
By ShelioB bjgtn
__________________Staff tafeltM_______________
Leetsdale has a new fire chief, but he is definitely not new to tire game.
Ernest Logan has been fighting fires since the ripe, old age of 14. Now he brings his 26 years of experience to bear as the head of the borough’s volunteer fire department.
“If you’re crazy enough to go into a burning building, you’re crazy enough to do it for 20,30, or 40 years,” says Logan.
. Logan was appointed to his new position at the borough council meeting this month, and he already has plans for what he’d like to do with the department.
“First, I Want to expand training opportunities.”
Currently, the department trains once a week on Monday nights, The problem is that there are no sites in the borough for live fire
exercises.
For that, the department must travel to • nearby areas, such as the Beaver Valley Nuclear Training Plant. Another option is to train with other companies who do have abandoned buildings that can be used for live exercises.
This type of training is essential to the department, because the better trained a fireman is, the less likely he is to be injured.
“Our department has been pretty fortunate. We’ve suffered some bumps and bruises, but nothing major. My worst injury Was a second-degree burn,”
That’s saying something, considering Logan has been involved with some of the worst fires to erupt in the area. Leetsdale was one of 25 companies called to Dixmont State Hospital arson fire.
They also battled the fire that gutted Holy Family Institute in Emsworth, Nearly 45 companies were needed to squelch that blaze.
The department receives around 35-50 calls a year, but only two or three of them are for building fires. The rest are for automobile accidents or fires, security alarm
Continued on Pngo2
▼ SAFETY
Stop signs set to go at QVMS
By Dm Sthoefey
__________Staff writer_______
Drivers, get ready to put on • the brakes.
Because of safety concerns for students walking back and forth to the Quaker Valley Middle School, Sewickley Borough Council Has decided to put up two stop signs at borough intersections. One will be placed on Harbaugh at the Peebles intersection. And the other will go up on Backbone at Blackburn,
The motion was passed after Mayor Maiachy Whalen and Chief John Mook went on site and did an informal study of student and driver traffic patterns.
“The major problem was with drop-offs and pick-ups of the children by the parents,” said Whaien. “It was more related to adult driving practices than to student behavior.”
While Whalen noted two near-accidents involved from parents pulling away from the school, Bob Hague and C.B. Hays, councilmen, disagreed on stop signs as a solution.
“Stop signs are permanent and they affect everybody,” said Hague, noting that the safety precaution was only for the times when students go to and leave school.
“I don’t see the justification for putting up a stop sign for 24 hours a day when a crossing guard can do the job in half an hour.”
“What we’re trying to do here is to avoid an accident," Whalen responded, “and that is what the chief has endorsed as well as the school,”
Hays took issue that the borough had not consulted with the residents living in the areas where the stop signs were to go up and voted against the stop signs
The measure passed. Stop signs should go up some time at the beginning of April.