MVA in Lafayette Township, PA
Posted By Terry Wankel at BradfordPA.Info on January 2, 2010
UPDATED 1-3-10
At 9:38 pm, an MVA was reported in Lafayette Township.
The accident was reported to have occurred on Route 59, 2 miles west of Route 219, east of Music Mountain Road.
Shawn M. Wilcox, 37, Bradford, PA, was not injured in the crash.
Kane Troopers said the crash occurred as Wilcox was driving a 1998 Chevrolet Silverado westbound on Route 59. After passing another vehicle, Wilcox traveled through drifted snow and began to fishtail.
He over-corrected and spun counter-clockwise across the eastbound lane, striking a snowbank and overturning. The vehicle came to rest upside down on the south roadside.
Wilcox left the scene of the crash.
He will be cited for (Not) Driving Vehicle at Safe Speed; (Not Giving) Immediate Notice of Accident To Police Department; and Restrictions on Alcoholic Beverages.
Lafayette Fire Department assisted troopers on scene.
Dozens of citizens along the Pine Creek watershed, including some from Potter County, have been trained as volunteers to monitor the environmental impact of natural gas drilling in the region. A training session this month brought 50 volunteers, added to a network of 30 monitors trained earlier this year as “Water Dogs.”
A brief — but historically significant — ceremony will take place at noon on Monday, Jan. 4, in the courtroom of the Potter County Courthouse. Attorney Steve Minor will place one hand on the Holy Bible and take the oath of office to become President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for a 10-year term that expires at the end of 2019. He was elected in November to succeed John Leete, who is retiring after more than two decades on the bench.
Also during Monday’s ceremony, being hosted by the Potter County Bar Association, Coudersport attorney Andy Watson will be sworn-in as Potter County District Attorney for a four-year term that expires at the end of 2013. He was also elected in November by voters countywide and succeeds Dawn Fink, who has held the position for the past four years. Watson previously served as the county’s assistant district attorney.
Roulette Township was awarded the $60,000 grant a year ago. To date there has been no correspondence to Roulette from CDBG that the paperwork wasn't specific enough in detail. When calls were made to Joe Pagano's office regarding this grant, the township was told that because of the economic downswing, the money was not readily available.
Sunday, January 3, 2010 7:50:00 AM EST
I guess that I will chime in so that people are aware of the facts, even though I am sure that I will be chastised for it.
As poster Sunday, January 3, 2010 7:50:00 AM EST stated, the last that we were told was that the grant was approved but we would have to wait until 2010 to receive it because of the state funding crisis that took place in 2009 with the budget. The paperwork was all filed in a timely fashion and correctly. There are very specific details in the request, and until I read this article, had no inclination to the contrary from Mr. Pagano's office.
The detail specific grant request was to partially fund, Roulette Township was going to have to come up with $20,000.00 of the $80,000 project cost, a water system betterment. This betterment was in 3 parts. Replace approximately 200 ft of old cast iron piping at the bottom end of 4th Street, install a 150gpm pump in Well #4 increasing its output from 60 gpm, and to install piping from Well #4 to the distribution system to increase the chlorine contact time for the water from this well with the flow increase making it conform to state standards.
What you all need to know is this, the increase in flow from Well #4 is not something that the Township has pulled out of the air to make things better, it is a REQUIREMENT mandated by the DEP. We are required to either increase the flow rate from an existing well or drill additional wells to allow an increase to meet state defined requirements. The supervisors have spent thousands of dollars testing this well to insure that it is capable of producing the additional flow. It was decided that this would be the best and most cost effective manner of meeting the state requirements.
That being said, Roulette Township is mandated to do this betterment. It is not an issue of, not having enough money to do it so we will wait until we do. It must be done, and done within a specific time frame. If the Township does not receive this grant, the burden of the entire cost will be put on the shoulders of the Township. What this means to you all, is there will be no alternative, other than to secure a loan for the total cost, triggering a necessity for a substantial rate increase to all of it's customers. I am sure that this is something that none of you want.
So, rather than spending your time bashing the Township, the Supervisors, the Employees, the County, and the Presidents, your time would be better spent utilizing the link that was supplied in the article to email Mr. Pagano and tell him what you think.
Personally, I don't see how the needs of 1 family outweighs the needs of needs of 400+ families. I will be sending him an email next to make sure he knows what I am thinking as well. Let's hope that he will remember that the details were very specific in needs and requirements and reconsider his decision.
Sunday, January 3, 2010 11:07:00 AM EST
Thank you Jon for your input. I, too was not aware of any changes made to the funding from CDBG. If the township had infact made some errors when applying for this grant, we were not informed about any error, infact we were told that the funding was being delayed due to the economic crisis and also waiting to hear if the township needed to do another income survey. Somehow, now it has turned into "lack of detail" I also agree with you, instead of bashing the township, employees, the county, or whoever seems to be the bone of someone's contention, think past that and what this means to every tax payer in Roulette. You people that continually bash -- please stop as this is a very serious matter to the township and its residents.