Sewickley Herald

              ■
Hdardanell publication
Sewickley
Suburban Pittsburgh's Largest Audited Paid Newspapers
4r
Herald
Vol. 78 No. 4
<2&
Wednesday, January 19,1977
Twenty Cents
Winter grips Valley
anuary 1977 found the Sewickley Valley >ped in the icy throes of winter, nperatures dipped 14 degrees below > early Monday morning to set the lest weather on .record since they an recording the weather in the 1870’s. |*i lower temperatures were expected iday night.'
p relief above 15 degrees was predicted l late this week and more snow was licted to accompany the warming (?) d.
¡1 highways were treacherous with a of fender benders filling the police . Leetsdale. recorded 11 accidents ■een Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14 and
•bus, and van, both property of the eer Valley School District, were in-ad in a collision on Maple Street Ext., n Twp. Friday at 2:42 p.m. The bus, by Carole McQuaid, of Leetsdale, southbound and the van, driven by e C., Wachtel,- of Fair Oaks, was bound when the accident occurred, ges to both vehicles totaled $1,300. were no injuries. Icy roads caused iccidènt, Dr. Le Roy Kite said.
severe weather was not without t to thé police; burglary and auto irrests were missing from police ts.	.	.
supplies were sufficient but ing to run low in some boroughs, [elicopter owned by the U. S. Steel ran into poor visibility on Friday oon and flew low looking for a spot to finally putting down on the field i the Sewickley Ice Arena on River e.
aker Valley schools were closed fey because, of cold" weather as was -Sewickley Academy and the YMCA.
Leroy Kite said Quaker Valley ols would be closed on Tuesday and nesday at the request of Columbia St. James is going along with the icer Valley closing.
Wickley Academy cancelled classes
emen offer eciai sticker
e Sewickley Fire Department an-ces the reinstatement of its IN-[D / TOT Window ID Sticker program ¡sidents of the Boroughs of Sewickley, me, and Haysville. e program, which becomes ef-/ely immediately, is a window/door ification system allowing firemen to iware of invalids’ and/or tots’ Dom locations in homes and apart-s, This sticker system will be in use on fmanent basis and regulated by the cldey Fire Department in a uniform :e throughout the three participating lghs.
erested persons are asked te call the ;kley Police Department at 741-4111, ng name, address, and telephone >er. Members ef the Sewickley Fire etment will then make an ap-ment for installation of the ID
srchants-Garden eating cancelled!
fie joint meeting Sewickley Council of den Clubs and the Sewickley Board of deset for Thursday, January 20 at the Seworth Club has been cancelled mse of the weather. No new date was
- for the rest of the week. Dr. 'Nichols said this was at the gas company’s request.
In a conversation at press time with a .spokesman from Columbia Gas, the Herald learned Leetsdale industrial customers have had their gas supplies curtailed. The spokesman said schools have been requested to keep their heat at minimum levels. He also noted that residential customers have not been curtailed, but said extreme temperatures affect the pressure in the gas lines and residents may, as a result, notice some changes.
Fair Oaks firemen fought a blaze on Sunday which destroyed a cement block -garage close to the residence of John Duzicky above Ambridge Ave. The company was called out about noon. Chief Robert Montgomery estimated damage to the garage and house at $25,000. Vehicles inside the garage were destroyed by the flames, he said. Fair Oaks was assisted by the Bell Acres company.
Later in afternoon, Fair Oaks sped to neighboring Harmony Township where a house was on fire.,
Bell Acres Big Sewickley Fire Company was also called out on Sunday afternoon to put out a chimney fire.
' In spite of the severe icing conditions on the Ohio River, a channel remained open in midstream; About six vessels passed by Monday according to the Coast Guard station at Osborne.	•	.
Sewickley Borough mahager James'E. Donley is asking residents to bear with his garbage and trash collection crews during the extreme weather. The employees are encountering operating problems of both a mechanical and physical nature, he' said. Garbage collection is off schedule and the situation may continue for some time.
/


ICE SCULPTURE appeared in yards and public parks over the weekend leaving some to conjure up thoughts of future winter carnivals. Above Joe O’Leary and Tom Kopf (L to r.) put the finishing touches on some snow art in the O’Leary’s front yard on Beaver Road, Osborne.	(Photo by James Addison)
Subsidy— a losing battle for QV?
Quaker Valley is one of five Allegheny County schools districts which apparently will trun up losers in the state’s new plan for figuring state subsidy. The others are Carlynton’ Cornell, Swissvale, and Turtle Creek.
QV administrators and board members have attended every hearing held so far to protest the unfair arrangement. The most recent was Jan. 12 in Pittsburgh before the state's Education Committee. However, state representatives have been far from sympathetic.
When confronted with the facts, Commissioner of Basic Education, Frank Manchester replied, “There have to be some winners and some losers.” “Obviously, when it comes to getting money back from the state, QV has always been a loser,” said Board Finance Chairman Peter Zerega. “Last year our taxpayers raised 87 percent cf the budget locally. Only Mt. Lebanon, at 83.3 percent was even dose to us."
To make matters worse, QV will lose even more than the anticipated $90,000 if the state education budget is not increased by $250 million. So far, the govenor has steadfastly refused any increase. That $90,000, if it had to be replaced by QV local taxpayers, would cost 1.5 mills.
The present system for figuring subsidies divides the real estate market value in the district by the number of students, QV had high market values and few students. Approximately 600 QV area students attend private schools, thus lowering the state reimbursement,
With the new plan, gross income and property values will be added together and divided by students. As Mr. Zerega pointed
out at a hearing the gross income which will further inflate the value behind each student cannot even be taxed by school districts.
“The new plan is supposed to provide equity," Mr. Zerega said. “However, surely equity does not mean cutting our state aid so low that we cannot provide a reasonable quality of education. Quaker Valley Taxpayers have certainly done their part by shouldering , a tax burden much higher than some other districts in order to pay for quality education.”
In the opinion of QV board members, the new subsidy plan has another potentially costly implication. It appears that the plan would Shift the burden of special education costs from the state to, the local, district. Now, the state plays the difference in cost between normal QV expenditures and any
special school.
For example: At the present time, the cost of a student attending Craig-Technoma School for one year is about $4800. Of this amount, QV pays the normal per pupil expenditure of $1200. The Pennsylvania Department of Education pays $3600, Under the new proposal, it appears that this same student would be supported almost entirely by Quaker Valley - no matter how high costs rise.
Present plans call for an intensive battle to be fought against the unfair system for determining subsidies. However, Board Members have been cautioned that their -chances for success are limited because other districts in the same senatorial and legislative districts-make substantial gains under the new system.
Big sale in offing
The president of the Sewickley Heights Estates Inc, Lou Willar Jr. confirmed reports in Pittsburgh papers that a sale of 600 acres of undeveloped residential property in Bell Acres Borough is in the offing. However, Willard said there is no agreement of sale actually in hand.
The real estate deal will involve the Sale of land to Mrs. Cordelia Scaife May of Ligonier whose financial adviser Herbert V, Frayer said would develop the property in a “conservative, residential manner,” Included in the sale would be the property on which the Sewickley Heights
Golf Club'is situated. The golf club leases the land from the Sewickley Heights Estates Inc., present owners. It would not include the 80 homes which have been built on land ringing the golf club.
The Sewickley Heights Estates Inc., a group of 90 investors, gave lack of capital to complete the project as the reason for their interest in selling. The Estates firm has built three sewage plants, installed water and electrical lines, a water tower and some roads, in the project whose total investment cost has been $1.5 million.
Stmmt