Cleaning The Save Folder

Have you been on wellsvilleohio.net lately? This Jeff Haugh picture is on the home page and I thought it was just about the neatest picture I've seen in a long time. Jeff told me he was coming home from work one morning down 25th Street hill when he saw this and said "whoa". He backed up and got his camera out. It's rare to see a double rainbow and even rarer to catch the image. Thanks Jeff for letting me share it. There must be a pot of gold in the ville somewhere.

Since next week is going to be busy I wanted to clear the deck with a few things I've been saving to comment on.

We've all heard about the the machine they brought in to drain the sludge out of the digesters at the sewage plant. That's being accomplished and soon should be done. Since then other problems have surfaced and village officials are looking into possibly over hauling the plant. They are kicking around some big numbers dollar wise and are working with the G,G&J engineering firm, CC Engineer's office and the Ohio Public Works Dept. They are having a meeting tomorrow and we'll have to wait and see what develops. They are looking into if any grant money is available and at the very least may have to go with a zero interest loan.

Earth Tech not only bills us for our sewage they have a contract to operate and maintain the filtration plant at the tune of $16,000 a month. Somewhere along the line the ball got dropped with communications between them and village officials. Earth Tech recently got bought by United Water headquartered in Harrington Park, NJ. United Water is part of Suez Environnement which I believe are in France.

In other village news I've been told if they can work it into the budget they are looking at a couple of new cruisers for WPD. It's through the state and if things work out they are '08 cars with no mileage on them. They are also looking at a new pot hole patching machine. It uses hot patch but before applying the patch the machine cleans out and squares off the hole. Hot patch holds up better than the cold stuff and cleaning & squaring up the hole makes it adhere even better. Sure hope they can find a way to swing that.

The new sidewalks with the paving stones are done and the mounds of dirt have been leveled out in Broadway Park. Once the grass starts greening up those fresh patches of dirt it is truly going to be a beautiful spot in the village. With the fountains going and the new walks it is very attractive now. They hope to have something worked out for the big fountain for next year. It's still unsure how they are going to go. I was told yesterday that the Shade Tree Committee is working on getting benches not only for the park but for different areas in the village. It's not definite but they are working on it.

In court news this week the J C Amato trial has been pushed back until February. This last delay was still yet for more testing. It was assumed BCI would do the testing as part of what they did & BCI said they didn't know it was wanted. Ed Wilson and his legal team withdrew his slander/defamation lawsuit against the mayor from CC Common Pleas Court. It's possible they may refile through federal courts and drag the village back into it. Judge Tobin had previously found the village exempt in the suit. We'll have to wait and see what develops. I'm sure Tom G. is keeping an eye on it.

Our county wide 911 system finally got up and running this past Thursday. We started paying for it in 2003 through our phone bills. I think any calls from the ville will go to the East Liverpool center which is one of five answering centers. When a call comes in the center's computer not only shows the name & phone number but the address, listed occupants and the appropriate agency to contact. With a push of a button the call gets immediately transferred saving precious time in an emergency situation. Next up is a development for locating calls from cell phones. They're estimating 18-24 months for that and I imagine that will require tying in some sort of satellite technology.

The WHS Tiger football team got thumped by McDonald for their first loss of the season last Friday night. According to what Coach Skinner told the papers they just couldn't get things working after taking a 12-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Here's hoping they get back to their winning ways against Western Reserve Friday at Nicholson Stadium. Good luck guys.

The remnants of Hurricane Ike is starting to move in. Things are ablowing. Be safe...

ole nib