Sewickley Herald

              *»■
A Gateway Newspaper
A Tradition Since 1903
Sewickley Herald
50 cents	Wednesday. February 25, 2004	Volume 101, Issue 9
Samantha Selleck and her dassmates at Edgeworth Elementary learned about many disabilities during an Awareness Day. See Page 11.
NEWS
The War Memorial Park playground project continues in its fund-raising efforts. See a view of what is planned an Page 10.
SPORTS

ISffl#

Sewickley Academy defeats OISH 63-43 in WPIAL quarterfinals. SeePage 19.
Local News....................2
Opinion.......................6
Tempo........................11
Obituaries................15-17
School .........................18
Sports.......................19
RealEstate ............23
WHEN DUTY CALLS
AFTER A lifetime of dedicated service to the Edgeworth VFD, Vic Rossi still enjoys gearing up and visiting the station.	Photo by Rache, weaver
Volunteer has 60 years of service <
By Rachel Weaver__________________________
Staff writer _____________________________
When someone serves the Edgeworth Volunteer Fire Department for 25 years, he becomes a life member.
Vic Rossi, 90, earned that distinction 35 years ago.
“It gives me something to do and it keeps me out of trouble,” he says.
Rossi, an EVFD member since 1937, moved to Hays Lane in Sewickley in 1917 after being bom in England. In 1920, Rossi’s father bought a house three doors down from Rossi’s Woodland Road home in Edgeworth.
A1931 graduate of Sewickley High School, he left town during World War II when the military needed airplane mechanics. With experience from the Pittsburgh School of Aviation and his work as a show phot, Rossi became a naval air gunner and spent 26 months in the Pacific Islands.
When his service was over, he returned to his hometown and joined the fire department serving later as secretary and assistant chief.
Over the years, Rossi, a retired carpenter who worked on many Sewickley area homes, watched the department equipment evolve from rubber raincoats and boots to the sophisticated gear of today.
“Years ago, firemen didn’t have pagers and there was. no siren. When an emergency occurred, the borough secretary ran outside and rang a loud bell.
“Because most men didn’t have cars, you’d see them running to the department or coming down on bicycles,” says Rossi.
While he’s assisted with hundreds of fires over the years, the worst incident Rossi remembers occurred at Sewickley Academy in the ’70s.
“It was -15 degrees when we got the call. Five different companies came to help and we still lost it,” he says.
He also witnessed tragic accidents on Ohio River Boulevard, several in which passengers were burned.
“It was rather traumatic,” he says. “If you think you're going to belong (to the department) ---------------------- Continued on P«go4
ALEPPO
Board member resigns from police chair
By Rachel Weaver __________
Staff writer___'	______
Aleppo Commissioner Richard Starr submitted his resignation from the police committee chair position at last week’s board meeting.
last month Starr, Commissioner Carolyn Smith and former board member Samuel Trapp were added as party defendants to Aleppo Police Chief Richard Trapizona’s defamation complaint against former township manager Patricia Flaherty.
“I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time,” says Starr.
“I didn’t want to make any decisions involving the chief of police where people could say I made them for the wrong reasons.”
Oliver Poppenberg, board president, was voted into the police chair- position 3-1 with Commissioner Carolyn Smith opposed.
In other board news:
B Bernard Rubb, township solicitor, announced he’d reached an agreement regarding tile township’s litigation against former township manager Flaherty by withdrawing the township’s appeal regarding her unemployment compensation and settling the township’s counterclaim regarding her severance and benefits.
“I decided to withdraw and settle tiie counterclaim. There was no case there. I didn’t feel the cost would justify it," said Rubb.
Flaherty’s 10-month period as the township’s first manager ended last September with commissioners arguing she’d been terminated prior to her resignation.
------— Continual! on Pago 3
Call	your nevystips at 412-809-1191 or e-mail Sewickley.Herald@gatewaynewspapers.c6m
G