Thoughts Bouncing Off My Window II

Did you happen to catch the piece last month of the opening of Fisher Mini Barns distribution place in Negley? It is runned by Wellsville native Paul Monte. Although I wish he would have located in the 'ville I would like to wish Paul good luck with his new business. I think Paul is one of the sons of the late Sam Monte clan that ruled the upper end of Commerce Street years ago.

Also I would like to extend well wishes to the folks of St. Francis Animal Shelter for their continuing efforts to get the village dog pound up and running. Sadly it is something that is very much needed in town and I'm grateful they stepped up when the village could no longer afford to run a pound. The people of the shelter have toiled long and hard to make this a reality.

Kudos also have to go out to Nunzio Lombardozzi and the Fix-Up, Clean-Up Committee for once again helping to clean up some of our unsightly messes. This is truly a community effort by all involved. They meet the first Saturday of the month from 10AM - 2PM. If you're free and want to get involved I think they meet at Village Hall to get started.

Well, the primary has come and gone and the stage is set for the November elections. County wide the voter turn out was only 12.5%. If you were part of the apathetic 87.5% that didn't bother to vote you should be ashamed of yourself. Unless you're actually one of the winning candidates, voting in any election is your strongest voice you have in having a say on how things are run, whether it is local, county, state or national. I don't know how many people are registered in Wellsville but there were only a total of 856 votes cast for council. That doesn't seem like much to me. Incidentally, Joe Soldano was the only candidate that knocked on my door. His efforts got him the most votes of all the other contenders for council. I was sorry to see Diane Dinch lose. Although there was a lot I didn't agree with her about she did bring another voice to the table.

The "politicking" has already begun for the mayor's race. It was reported that at last night's council meeting Independent Mayoral Candidate and current Street Committee Chairman Don Brown and Joe Surace exchanged words about last week's meeting for the new road from Wellsville Terminals. Mr. Brown said he did not know about the meeting. Oversight? I think not. If you know Don Brown you know he is very easy to find and if nothing else he is very accessible. Keep tuned. It's already beginning to look like a very interesting race for the mayor's job is beginning to take shape.

Speaking of the Wellsville Terminals a meeting was held last week to get things kicked off for the building of a new half mile road for the coal buckets to exit the Wellsville Terminals & the tankers from Marathon. Preliminary cost studies have been done and ideas kicked around for grant applications and other ways to pay for the project. It was explained that there isn't enough space to make the street a two way avenue. There's a lot of entities involved in this project. Maybe at the next meeting they will include the Street Committee.

It seems Wellsville Terminals are getting serious about controlling the drag out. They are going to do some paving to enhance the clean up of the dust, install trenches and bigger water pipes to the truck wash and planning a better sprinkling system to hold the dust down. They are even using some kind of chemical dust retardant to hold the dust down. It's lime green in color and it got some of the residents in that neighborhood concerned that it might be toxic. After checking it out thoroughly the Fire Dept. said it was harmless. From what was reported in the papers the folks at Wellsville Terminals were spraying it on a little too thick and some of it got out on Nevada Street.

What's going on with County Prosecutor Robert Herron asking the state to appoint a special prosecutor for Wellsville's Ed Wilson & Bob Morehead? Morehead, a Wellsville native, is our County Health Board Chairman. Ed Wilson has already been tried and acquitted of any drug charges. Wouldn't it be double jeopardy to bring that up again? Let it go. Morehead was previously investigated for improper use of a Health Board credit card. There was a finding for recovery of some five thousand dollars and if memory serves me correctly Mr. Morehead agreed to repay that amount. So what's going on here? I think there is a lot not being said and have a feeling that there is something going on behind closed doors. It will be interesting to see what comes from all this. The State Auditor refused to act on Officer Wilson but did appoint a special prosecutor for Morehead's shenanigan.

Finally, I would like to comment about 31 year old Salem resident Richard Elrod. It was reported in the Morning Journal last week that he was caught and admitted to keying a car because it was decorated with Pittsburgh Steeler's stuff. Here's a man that needs to get a life. With all that's goes on within our world this bone head gets incensed with Steeler decorations on a car. It's not even football season. He obviously has issues.