Sewickley Herald

              4
Serving:
Aleppo
Bell Acres
Edgeworth
Glenfield
Haysville
Leet Township
Leetsdale
Osborne
Sewickley
Sewickley Heights
Sewickley Hills
Vol. 87 No. 27®
The Sewickley
Herald


Thursday, July 5, 1990
19 Gateway Press Newspapers
SUBURBAN PITTSBURGH'S LARGEST CIRCULATION
50*
QV fire case receives '91 day in court
A hearing for a juvenile accused of arson in connection with Jthe fire at Quaker Valley Junior High has been postponed until Jan. 8,1991.
Beverly Bush, assistant administrator of Allegheny County Juvenile Court, declined to give a reason for the postponement.
, The hearing has been rescheduled several times since the juvenile was charged with arson.	.
The Allegheny County fire marshal) determined that accelerants had been used to start the March 15 blaze at the Har-baugh Street building in Sewickley. Estimates of the damage are How in excess of $500,000, according to Dr. Leroy Kite, Quaker Valley School District superintendent.
Pennsylvania law prohibits certain information about juveniles charged with crimes and specifics* of the cases from being divulged.'
j QV junior High
repairs arson damage
k Local teacher offers * views on education

Village voices heat up on flag-burning issue
11 Former 'Letterman' i/jK to lift young voices
m*
H ' ■ Fetterolf defies odds
o
,, in summer lacrosse
it .
ftv
$.11 *
Wm. McChesney dies, Alcoa executive
t / Calligrapher has talent f fit for a (future) king
Born an the 4th of July
ABIGAIL MAGOVERN is a real Yankee Doodle Dollie: She celebrated her first birthday with Uncle Sam yesterday. The Sewickley Heights lass is the daughter of Jamie and George J. Magovern. She Observed the big event with her. brother, George J. Magovern III, 4i2.
(Photo by Doug Kaup)
Spring break makes waves
QV board, teachers' union disagree on length in 1991
By Greg Hohman
Getting past the topics “Spring Break” and “Kennywood Day" wasn’t a breeze for members of Quaker Valley School Board last week.
The board voted to continue its policy of giving students a week off for spring break. The 5-2 decision overrides a plan proposed by Quaker Valley’s administration and teachers’ union that would have shortened recess by three days.
Speaking out against the board’s action was Richard Taylor, president of the teachers’ union. Taylor said a week-long spring break was supposed to be timed with people’s vacations, thereby lowering absenteeism.
However, according to Taylor, “This has not proved.to be true.”
Board member Jocelyn Chapin countered by saying a two-day work week was deemed “ineffective.”
The motion affecting the school calendar included other items. However, as no other issue prompted discussion, the nays would appear to reflect opinion. Voting for the motion were Dr. Michael M. Zahorchak, president; Mrs. Chapin; Chester Fossee; Dr. David Hennessey; and Genevia Mozolak. Rejecting it were Joyce Cortese and Cordelia Glenn.
Absent were David A. Nimick. vice president, and board member William Clark Luster Jr.
Taylor suggested the board was not giving due regard to the input of “people who are seriously involved with that process and people who teach."
Spring Break ’91 links two weekends. It will run from Monday, March 25, through Friday. March 29.
Zahorchak, who was not present when the subject was discussed in committee, said a new format would be given “serious consideration for the following year."
Taylor’s response: "Too many things need to run because of convenience, but not the realities.”
Parents can expect to hear about a survey on the future of the school picnic at Kennywood Park sometime in the fall.
Kate Sawyer, representing Edgeworth PTA, wondered how one can call the event a “school picnic” when teachers aren't obliged to be there. Nor can a day spent almost exclusively on rides be described as a “picnic" in the usual sense of the term. Mrs. Sawyer pointed out.
Both she and Zahorchak agreed Kennywood Day should be at the end of the school year. ---------------Cont’d on p.3
Pros, cons aired on Leet fire-safety ordinance
By Jerry Pelley
Leet Township’s proposed fire safety ordinance met with some objection from a Sewickley land developer last week at the township’s third public hearing on the matter.
Robert Murrer, who owns eight empty lots in Leet, questioned the cost estimates arrived at by the township fire chief for installing fixed smoke detectors and sprinkler systems in new buildings.
Under die proposed ordinance, all new homes of more than 1,500 square feet and all multi-family dwelling units mustinstall fixed, “hard-wire" smoke detectors and automatic sprinkler systems. All new homes, regardless of size, must install the smoke detectors. Existing homes are exempt,
That distinction may explain the public apathy toward the proposal; So few are affected by it. Fifteen people, including four township coiriniissiohers, the fire chief, and two parties interested in land development, attended last week’s hearing,
Murrer told the commissioners the cost of installing the prescribed equipment was somewhere near twice the amount estimated by Fire Chief Tom Powner, Powner, who has travelled the country and worked in association with the National Fire Academy in preparing the ordinance, estimated the cost of installing sprinklers at approximately $1 per square foot of floor space,
Powner said that in Harrisburg the cost is 92 cents a square foot, and that in Prince George’s County, Md., the estimate is $1.40 per square foot. “Nobody in the nation has gone over $1.50 a square foot,” Powner said.
Some 500 municipalities across the United States — 15 or 16 in Pennsylvania — have passed similar ordinances.
Murrer told the commissioners that his estimates, derived from Marshall-Swift, a nationwide supplier, Were from $1.72 to $2.62 per square foot, and could run as high &s $13,700 per dwelling unit, Add to that,
Cont’d on p.2