Sewickley Herald

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The Sewickley Valley’s Home Weekly Newspaper

VOL. 51 NO. 11
SEWICKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1954
Price Ten Centi
PARKING FMES CUT TO 25c airi S100
'Y' Drive Officials Check Returns
David B. Oliver Hi (teit) and Jtiarton S. Semple examine returns in their ettort to reach 'a goal of $30,000 for the 1954 Operating expenses of the Sewickley YMCA. Both young men are active on the ‘Y’ Board of Directors and members •f the Finance Committee. Mr. Semple is president of the Sewickley ‘Y’.
(Story on Page 23)
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Osborne Council Passes Wage Tax Ordinance And Amends Zoning Law
Residents Under 18 Exempted From Payment of Wage Tax To Be Collected By Carl Rhoads
Osborne Council, at its regular meeting Thursday, March 11, passed a wage tax ordinance to become effective May 1st which exempts persons less than 18 years of age from payment of the tax;; passed on third and final reading an amendment to the zoning ordinance which increases the required frontage of lots; set today, March 18th, as the date for an adjourned meeting to discuss a sub-division ordinance, which has been under study by a committee for the past two years; turned over to Solictor John A. Emery property taxes to be liened at once; authorized the borrowing of $1,500 when needed until taxes come in; authorized advertising for bids for the collection of garbage and rubbish; approved the action of the borough engineer in stopping the building of a house on Glen Mitchell road, pending receipt of a plan to connect with a sewer; accepted with regret the resignation of Kirk Stroh as CD chairman for the borough; appointed Carl M. Rhoads, tax collector for the wage tax and decided to fix his compensation at a later meeting.
At the last meeting, Osborne took off tho occupational tax and passed the real estate tax at 15 mills. Information received since then indicates that die Osborne School District voted Monday to reduce the school real estate tax 1 mill in anticipation of collecting half the wage tax after July 1st. Frank O. Over, who had voted against the wagfe tax at the last meeting, announced in tho light of the new developments, he Would favor it. The tax ordinance closely follows that of Edgeworth, Sewickley and the Heights, but Was changed to exempt everyone under 18 years of age. The 1% levy will begin on May 1st and con-
tinue until December 31st.
Carl Rhodes, the elected tax collector, was appointed collector of the wage tax, with his compensation to be determined at a later meeting. The ordinance levies the tax only on residents, who must file an estimate of their Wages, commissions and' salaries on or before June 15th. Full payment may be made on that date, or Vi then and the other half on or before December 15, 1954 with a final report on or before March 15, 1955. If taxes are overpaid, the taxable will receive a refund from council, within 60 days, Without interest. If unpaid, the balance must (Continued on Pago 16)
West Conference Convention
The West Conference of the Pittsburgh Synod will meet at St, Paul’s Lutheran Church on March 22nd for its Spring Convention, beginning at 9 a. m. with Holy Communion, to be followed by business sessions in the morning and afternoon. Delegates will eat dinner at noon at the church.
Speakers include The Rev. James N: Frank, President of the conference, who will deliver the sermon; The Rev. Edward K. Rogers, D.D., who will report for the Synod; The Rev. Frank M. Brown, D.D., who will report on Lutheran World Action, and The Rev. Phillip W. Seiberling, D.D., who will give a report on die 100th Anniversary of die Orphan’s Home and Farm School of Zelienople, Pa. Pastor T. Wilbur Eslien-aur will be die host pastor and will also serve as the Secretary of the Conference.
Organ Recital At St. Stephen's
SIXTH OF DEDICATORY RECITALS ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Julian Williams, organist and
Sewickley Council Eliminates $3 and $5 Fines For Parking Violations
Parking Authority Proposes Plan to Encourage
Parking On The Off-Street Lots
Sewickley council, at its regular meeting Monday night, passed an ordinance eliminating the $3 fine for second and $5 fine for third offense in parking violations; heard a proposal by the Parking Authority to use envelope-type parking tickets on the parking lots so violators could put in the exact amount of change to pay for the time they used and deposit it in a box on the lot, rather than going to the borough building and paying a 25c fine; received bids on a new rubbish packer body and a new police car; heard a report of $8,500 collected on the new wage tax to March 13th and paid $6,831 for the 138 10c meters, saving $341 in cash discount.
Council also heard a report on the use of the new oxygen masks at last week’s bad fire; referred a complaint about car parking on Dickson Road and Ellis Hill to the police committee; agreed to change one lane parking on the Division Street lot to diagonal and remove the meters at the Walnut street entrance to the Green Street lot as soon as they are officially turned over to the borough; heard that about 75% of the parking tickets ,are being paid for at the 25c rate; discussed the sidewalk repair program and the tree program for the spring; received notice from the state that the completion of plans for sewage treatment is long overdue and received an offer for the borough’s lot on Chadwick Street.
master, will give the last of .a series of six dedicatory organ recitals at St. Stephen’s Church next Sunday afternoon at 4:00 o’clock. The program is being presented in memory of Francis J. Cluley, for whom the Choir organ was given to St. Stephen’s by his wife.
The recital will feature music by Buxtehude, Bach and Purcell, among other composers. The public is invited to attend this final recital of the series.
An ordinance amending the original choir-¡ ordinance regulating parking was passed
three readings eliminating the $3 fine for second parking violation and $5 for the third violation. The $3 and $5 fines had not been levied for years, due to the difficulty in determining second and third violations. The rubber stamping of tickets early this year contained the warning about the higher fines and made many persons fearful of parking in Sewickley, once they had received a tag.
Robert Angros, president of the Park-
Stubborn, Smoky Blaze Causes $12,000 Damage To House On Crescent Avenue
Antique Furniture Destroyed As Family Loses
Everything To Raging Flames
(Picture on Page 21)
A blaze which roared unchecked and undiscovered until it had burned through the living room floor caused damage estimated at $12,000 to the house and possessions of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Ford, Jr., at 911 Crescent Avenue, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Unfortunately for the Fords, there was no one in the house at the time and neighbors across the hill on Dickson Road thought the red glare from the flames was Mr. Ford burning some rubbish. Smoke carried down the valley by the evening breeze carried the smell of burning ,wood all over the eastern end of Sewickley, but it was not until 8:17 p.m. that Mrs. Lucian Diggs, of Kevin Avenue, discovered the blaze and called Sewickley firemen.
Knowing the water situation on Crescent Avenue, a steep winding hill road off Nevin Avenue, Fire Chief Wade Baltz ordered all three fire engines to the blaze and laid a 2% inch hose from a plug at Nevin and Cochran to the house, which is built on a bench hollowed out of the hillside. When firemen arrived, dense smoke was pouring from every crevice of the building and there was a dull red glow in the living room. Donning smoke masks, the liose crew, led by Chief Baltz through, the kitchen, found the cellar stairs completely burned through and the woodwork in tho kitchen blazing furiously. Another crew was outside, squirting water from the second 1% inch hose line into the cellar where the flames were everywhere. A third hose crew Went in by the front door and stopped just short of a huge hole in the middle of the living room floor, where fire had
burned away both joists and floor! The portion of the floor on which the hose crew was standing was held up only by the gas furnace, as the joists had been burned through underneath. The two streams soon had. the fire in tho cellar under control.
Ladders were placed to the second ■floor and nozzlemen left there to squirt any flames which appeared while axe crews moved in to check the hot partitions, Everywhere the firemen cut through the hdavy wire lath holding the. thick plaster, it seemed, there was fire in tho partitions. The blaze bad burned itself to spaces under the roof as the house was an old one, remodeled, so there were no fire stops in the partitions. Holes were chopped in the roof, too, to extinguish tho flames which had reached that far, Since there had been additions built on (Continued on Page 21)
mg Authority, presented a proposal de.-signed to eliminate anxiety parking on the off-street parking lots. The proposal, which was referred to the police committee for further study and may he the subject of a special council meeting, if adopted, would provide a different, envelope-type tag for the parking lots. Persons who parked overtime could place the exact change to cover the time in the envelope, sign it and chop it into a box on the lot, instead of making the trip to the borough building to drop the fine of. 25c in the meter there. All day parking on the lots would be discouraged by tagging ears in the lots more than 3 hours.
Mr. Angros also stated that signs would be needed to explain the new system, if it is adopted. He invited council-men to attend a meeting on Wednesday night at which the Burgess of Wilkmsburg and the Secretary of the Wilkinsburg C h a m b e r of Commerce explained the park and shop plan which ■ has been successful in that community. It was never intended that the lot parking should be the same as street parking and prpposed that a special committee of couneil be set up to settle administrative problems of the lots with the Parking Authority. Such a committee should be in addition to the parking advisory committee which’ is to study the entire parking and street direction situation. Mr. Atwood stated that the advisory com-i mittee would be appointed this week.
Mr. Purdie, chairman of tire poliee committee, asked for more time to study the proposal. He said that the Parking Auhority and Police Committee, at a recent meeting, had agreed that the stalls on the Division Street lot, at the western end, at least, should be made diagonal, instead of straight and the three meters removed from the Walnut Street entrance to the Green Street lot. However, those changes cannot bo made until the lots are turned over officially to the borough. Mr. Decker said he wrote a letter to McNeil stating that the lots were completed, except for the signs and the protective coating, When McNeil reports back’ to the Parking Authority in writing, the lots will be officially turned over to the borough. A special meeting of council may be held to discuss the Parking Authority’s proposal.
Mr, Purdie reported that nearly 75 per cent of tags have been paid at the 25c (Continued on Page 16)