NEWS

Two more local bridge projects were supported by Commissioners Nancy Grupp, Paul Heimel and Barry Hayman at their Nov. 3 meeting. Grants of $20,000 each were approved for the Elliott Street Bridge in Austin and the Hillcrest Road Bridge in Bingham Township.

Each year, the commissioners invite local governments to apply for a share of the Pa. Act 13 Bridge Improvement Restricted Use Fund received by the county through a state fee on shale gas wells.

Under Act 13, county commissioners have the authority to distribute the funds as they see fit, as long as they address at-risk bridges. Commissioners Nancy Grupp, Barry Hayman and Paul Heimel, together with the County Planning Department, developed a system whereby the money is expended according to an evaluation/ranking framework to address the most critical needs. Several other counties have since adopted the Potter County system as a model.

Under Act 13, Potter County receives $40,000 annually in the Restricted Use Fund. Details can be found on the county website, pottercountypa.net, under the Planning Commission tab. More information is available from Potter County Planning Director Will Hunt at 814-274-8254.

At 9:33 AM on Thursday, Roulette ambulance has been dispatched to Trout Brook Road for a woman ill.

Bradford, Pa.:  The Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative (KQDC) announces that Saturday, 12/3, is the last chance hunters will have to get their deer to the two KQDC Deer Check Stations in order to get into the cash raffles.  The two DEER CHECK STATIONS are on SR 59 just east of Timberdoodle Flats Trailhead and at the Willows Restaurant on SR 346 west of Bradford.  Both check stations will be operated from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Hunters bringing in antlerless deer will be eligible for a $500 raffle.   Hunters bringing in an antlered deer will be eligible for a $250 raffle.

All deer will be weighed, measured, and aged for FREE for hunters.  Hunters will receive a fluorescent orange KQDC hat for bringing their deer to the check station. 

The KQDC is managed for Quality Deer and a Quality Forest Ecosystem to provide a Quality Hunting experience.  Other goals are to provide quality forests for landowners to manage for timber products, local employment, numerous outdoor recreation activities, and quality habitat for all wildlife.

The Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative is an on-going demonstration, begun in 2000, of how hunting can be used to meet the goals of multiple publics for managing deer.  A partnership of forest landowners, forest managers, biologists, hunters, and local businesses developed the program which relies on hunters to manage deer density on a representative forested area.  The program is conducted on a 74,000-acre forested demonstration area in northwestern Pennsylvania.

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Bradford, PA — The United Way of the Bradford Area has awarded the fourth round of Quarterly Impact funding.  This funding stream is available quarterly throughout the year. 

The agencies receiving the fourth quarter funding are; CARE for Children’s McKean County for Cribs, Destinations-Bradford Emergency Housing Program, Evergreen Elm Therapeutic Swimming Program, Willow Creeks Sportsman’s Club Youth Conservation Day and the Bradford Community Pride Lion’s Club’s Senior Center and Living Christmas Giving Program.

Innovation and Impact funds are available to qualifying 501 ( c ) 3 organizations in Bradford, Smethport and Port Allegany.  Innovation applications do not have a request limit but are subject to availability of funds.  Impact applications are capped at $1,500.00 per request and again, are subject to availability of funds.  An announcement will be made in January for the submission of applications for 2023’s first quarter.  If you have questions regarding Innovation and Impact funding through the United Way of the Bradford Area, Inc., please call the office at 814-368-6181 or email us at admin@uwbanews.org.  Information regarding lines of funding are also available on our website at www.uwbanews.org. 

Galeton weather for November was fairly normal. Daytime highs were mainly in the 40s and morning lows were in the 20’s . However, it did hit 60 on the 6th and it dropped into the teens from the 19th through the 24th. We reported 6 foggy mornings. 

Tomorrow is the beginning of meteorological winter.  The lawnmower may officially be put away until spring unless of course you would like to have them set outside to look at as a reminder that mowing season will be just around the corner. Now is the season when snow shovels should be brought out and a snow blower or blade installed on the tractor. Just a reminder.

Now to get back to the details of the November report.   The average high temperature is 45 degrees and the average low is 28 degrees. The average rainfall total is 3.07″  This year we received 4.69″ and last year we recorded 1.63″  Snowfall.  This year we received 4.3″ last year 5.2″  We had 2 days with 1″ or more snow on the ground with the greatest depth of 3″ on the 16th. We had 5 days with at least a trace of snow on the ground.

In three weeks we will begin to see longer days.

Henry W. Lush, National Weather Service Observer

BRADFORD, Pa (November 23, 2022)– Beacon Light Behavioral Health System, an affiliate of Journey Health System, recently purchased the vacant 4,500 square-foot building, formerly housed by Bright Beginnings, at 17 Derrick Road in the Foster Brook Plaza at Bradford, Pennsylvania. Renovations will begin soon to prepare for relocating Beacon Light’s Custer City Private School there, next year. Classes at Custer City will resume until then.

“This move was the result of a recommendation that came out of a master facility plan that the agency engaged an independent architectural firm to complete,” said Journey Health System’s President and CEO Guy Signor. “The Custer City School building met our needs for the past 30 years, however the costs in utilities, distance from our main campus and upkeep were not ideal for our staff and students. This new location is newly constructed and offers better efficiency and accessibility. Our plan is to eventually sell the Custer City property, but until then the baseball field will remain open to the local leagues.”

In addition to constructing special education classrooms for high school students under the age of 21, the preliminary site plan includes: an Autistic support room, calming rooms, cyber-school, the Like Skills program, staff offices and more.  The new site for the proposed name, “Beacon Light Academy”, is one-story for easy handicap-accessibility, offers free parking, more energy efficient space, overhead cost savings and is conveniently located near the main Beacon Light campus.

“The new location of our school will not only be beneficial for scaling business for the future but it will improve the learning environment for students, said Jennifer Gesing, MSEd, Beacon Light Behavioral Health System’s Executive Director. “This move is an example of our mission to ensure equity and excellence for all students.”

An additional office building at 58 Derrick Road was also purchased to relocate Beacon Light’s community-based staff from the school building. The 2,686 square-foot space will house the Intensive Behavioral Health Services and the Family Based Mental Health programs. These moves will bring the programs in close proximity to the main campus located at 800 East Main Street.

More information about the transfer of these programs and the Custer City Private School will be announced in the future.

Beacon Light Behavioral Health System was founded in the early 1900’s to provide services to children abandoned or orphaned by the early oil and lumber industries. Throughout its history, the agency has provided quality care to young people. As the needs of local society changed, Beacon Light Behavioral Health System evolved into a private, not-for-profit, social service agency providing quality, professional behavioral health and education services. Beacon Light Behavioral Health System’s continuum of care includes multiple programs of varying intensity that span across northcentral Pennsylvania. Regardless of the location and type of service accessed, qualified mental health treatment professionals provide individualized treatment planning and care.

For information about Beacon Light Behavioral Health System’s services, visit www.beacon-light.org.

OLEAN – Kathleen J. “Grammie” McGonnell, 71, passed away on Saturday (Nov. 26, 2022) at Olean General Hospital, surrounded by her loving family.

Born on March 15, 1951, she was the daughter of Clifford and Dorothy Taft Blakeslee. On May 25, 2002, at their family home, she married James McGonnell.

Kathleen was a 1969 graduate of Olean High School, then went on to attend the former Olean Business Institute and receive her certification in accounting. Kathleen retired as a civilian procurement specialist for the U.S. Navy.

She was a member of the Eagles Club Auxiliary, Portville American Legion Auxiliary and the Hinsdale American Legion Auxiliary.

Kathleen loved to do crypto-puzzles and mahjong. She was an avid sport fan, loved the Yankees and recently became a Buffalo Bills fan. Most of all she enjoyed watching her grandchildren play sports.

Surviving including her husband, is a daughter, Bridget (Michael) Retchless of Olean; two stepsons, James McGonnell II of Alden and Kurtis McGonnell of Salamanca; two sisters, Patricia (Phil) Smith of Olean and Sherry (Bill) Connor of Olean; two grandchildren, Sarah (Steve) Gerhard and Justin (Hannah Wilber) Retchless; three step-grandchildren, Marissa McGonnell, Grayson McGonnell and Kullan McGonnell; a special great-grandson, Colt John Gerhard; and many nieces and nephews with whom she was very close.

Preceding her in death, including her parents, was a brother, Amos Blakeslee; and a sister, Beverly Talbott Smith.

There will be no services at this time.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that memorial contributions be made to The Seeing Eye, a charity for the blind.

Online condolences may be made at www.framefuneralhome.com.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB) today adopted an emergency rule limiting volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and, as a co-benefit, methane emissions from existing conventional oil and gas sources, which will lower air pollution from conventional oil and gas sources in the commonwealth. 

The regulation mirrors a final-omitted regulation that the EQB adopted on October 12, and that the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) approved on November 17. 

Under the federal Clean Air Act (CAA), Pennsylvania has until December 16, to submit to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a State Implementation Plan, including regulations covering VOC emissions for all required oil and gas sources. 

Governor Tom Wolf determined that this emergency certified final-omitted rulemaking is necessary to ensure the commonwealth complies with the CAA and with Pennsylvania’s Air Pollution Control Act. The emergency rulemaking was undertaken after the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted to review the final-omitted version of the regulation, causing a delay in the regulatory process that would extend beyond the December 16 deadline. 

If the commonwealth does not submit this rulemaking to the EPA as a State Implementation Plan revision by December 16, federal highway funding will be withheld until the submission is made. For the upcoming fiscal year, federal highway funds subject to these sanctions are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars in “nonattainment areas” – regions that have not met air quality standards for ozone – in the commonwealth. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration and the EPA have identified several hundred projects in nonattainment areas that would not receive funding and would therefore not be completed or would be subject to delay. 

The Regulatory Review Act (RRA) allows an agency to immediately implement a final-omitted regulation when the Governor certifies that promulgation is necessary to respond to an emergency circumstance specified in the RRA. Today, November 30, Governor Tom Wolf issued a Certification of Need for Emergency Regulation finding that this rulemaking is required to prevent “the need for supplemental or deficiency appropriations of greater than $1,000,000.” (71 P.S. § 745.6(d)). 

The emergency rulemaking establishes the VOC emission limitations for existing conventional oil and gas sources based on Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) requirements consistent with the EPA’s recommendations. The EPA defines RACT as “the lowest emission limitation that a particular source is capable of meeting by the application of control technology that is reasonably available considering technological and economic feasibility.” 

These sources include natural gas-driven continuous bleed pneumatic controllers, natural gas-driven diaphragm pumps, reciprocating compressors, centrifugal compressors, fugitive emissions components and storage vessels installed at conventional well sites, gathering and boosting stations and natural gas processing plants, as well as storage vessels in the natural gas transmission and storage segment. 

This rulemaking will be effective upon notice or publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.   

View the regulatory package and other material from the November 30 Environmental Quality Board meeting.