Join Bob Barrickman and the gang at Coaches Corner on Wednesday, November 9 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Robert’s Roadside Inn. Special guest coaches this week is Aliquippa’s Mike Zmijanac and Riverside’s Ron Sciarro.
Election Day is Tuesday…and Beaver County election officials are predicting a high voter turnout, between 70 and 75 percent. Beaver County has 118-thousand registered voters, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans by about 16-thousand. There are 20-thousand new voter registrations for tomorrow’s election. The election is for president and vice-president, U-S Senate, several state offices and local Senate and House seats. Polls open at 7 a-m and close at 8 p-m.
Beaver County’s 2017 budget hearings continue today. The hearings are between the county department heads and row officers and the commissioners. The meetings scheduled for today include the sheriff’s office, jail offices, the public defender’s office and the department of public works. The hearings – which began on Friday – are being held in the commissioners’ conference room of the courthouse.
Tune in to Beaver County’s only live on the air radio auction this and every Tuesday from 1:45 to 2:00 P.M. Call 724-843-1888 or 724-774-1888 to join the show and bid on merchandise and certificates from local Beaver County, PA and surrounding area businesses.
Winning bidders will be announced on the air and then are instructed to call WBVP and WMBA offices at 724-846-4100 following the program to confirm their bids. Items can be paid for and picked up at WBVP-WMBA, 1316 7th Avenue in Beaver Falls, PA 15010 between 8:30 A.M. and 5 P.M. weekdays.
Gun violence was the topic of discussion in Rochester High School’s Little Theater last night with about 80 persons in attendance, including District Attorney David Lozier. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano was also there. She reports that Lozier said an open discussion meeting was organized for the event about the ongoing violence in the county The district attorney said the violence effects every town in the county.Anthony Thomas, originally from California told the group he was robbed, at gunpoint several times, and was arrested for drug trafficking sent to prison and was” in the hole” for 15 months He was facing a life sentence for the charges His comment to the crowd was”We need to get a center to educate the kids , there a lot of senseless murders. He said he missed a lot of things because of his selfish ways. he added that prison isn’t somewhere nobody wants to be.”‘ Brian Gillborn was shot leaving a bar and is now confined to a wheelchair because he is crippled . Jerome Riggins said he lost his brother and friends due to gun violence , his mom Ursula also addressed the crowd. Jeanine Cleckley lost her son 4 years ago, was shot in the back and died, he left behind to young daughters, she said , and it’s hard being around them, because they look like him. She told the group gun violence isn’t the answer.”‘ :We need to get together and figure it out, if there is a way I can help, I will”” Pastor Larry Vreen of Word of Life Church in Monaca said”We need resources to navigate this violent environment.””Randy Bacon, a Rochester native, now living in Harrisburg , said Beaver County is not the same , it needs to get back to being a community.” Sandy Gill, Aliquippa School Board member that leads a group of girls called the DREAMERS. She told the group that she and her committee instill self worth in the girls grade school to high school. Gill told the group that 5 of the members will graduate college. She worked at the jail and is very involved volunteering , what we teach in the homes, teach it in the streets. Ursula Riggins, also of Aliquippa said “We need a community based group for parents.””Her son was also killed because of gun violence, it’s a now win situation, she said.Kids are locked up with adult prisoners., I can’t get mad at the police. “We’ve got a God that gives us a second chance.”” Joellen Character discussed Amercore, a group that connects the school and community . She is a community liaison.”We’re here to help”. Rick Hacker, Rochester’s school resource officer , said “I hope I can guide and mentor some of these kids” Rochester Twp. police officer, Sam Piccininni, who also worked in the boro as an officer for over 25 years said the hardest thing he had to do is to go” and tell a parent their child is dead.””
Today kicks off a series of 2017 Beaver County budget hearings that will be held in the commissioners’ conference room of the Beaver County courthouse. There will be a total of 38 meetings that will include the county commissioners, financial administrator Ricardo Luckow and the row officer/ department head who oversees the particular section of the budget that’s being addressed. Today’s meeting begins at 2 p-m and will involve the coroner, the library commission, central services, records management…and victim witness. The meetings will continue thru December 1st.
Firefighters were called to the scene of a house fire in Patterson Township this morning. The fire broke out at a vacant home in the 13-hundred block of Darlington Road shortly after 8:00 this morning. A total of five local fire departments responded to the scene to battle the flames. No injuries were reported. That fire is not under investigation, according to local officials.
As the Beaver County Commissioners face another sizeable budget dilemma for next year, they have some questions they’d like answered before they vote on the new budget. Budget director Ricardo Luckow told the commissioners yesterday that they face a 10-million-dollar deficit in 2017. But commissioners Tony Amadio and Dan Camp told Mike Romigh on Teleforum on Beaver County Radio this morning that they want to know more about revenues. Comissioners chairwoman Sandie Egley did not appear on this morning’s program.
Aliquippa City Council met last night in executive session and once they reconvened, terminated firefighter Christopher A. McCune, based on a ruling by the fire civil service commission. According to Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano, he had been suspended without pay for operating the city’s ladder truck and had a blood alcohol level of .22. Engineer Ron Rizzo and City Administrator Sam Gill met with Penn DOT Dist. 11 last Monday about hazardous steps going up to the Henry Mancini Bridge. Council voted unanimously last night to remove the steps., instead of replacing them. Had they been replaced it would have cost $62,000. City Administrator Gill outlined what was discussed at last week’s Vacant Property and Blight Review Committee’s briefing on what it is expected of them.Coordinator Alicia Hunt Williams and Gill prepared a chart showing the eight zones in the city and explained what is expected of the committee members, and council and the public were given an overview last night. Mayor Walker said that the city does need help to get us on the right track.” A city guide will be printed for all residents listing regulations, events, and other valuable information , he said. The last one was printed in 2012. Councilman Donald Walker announced that all 4 Little Quips football teams are playing for the championship, and he’s coached 15 years and it’s the first time all 4 have made it to the championship.
Fedele Eberhardt, 25, of Aliquippa is being sought by Aliquippa police on a felony warrant for the shooting of a 23 year old resident last Wednesday evening, Chief Don Couch said. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano reports that the shooting took place on Plan 11 extension. Eberhardt absconded from state parole, and is armed and dangerous Chief Couch said.