By Jim Laufferof Mainline Newspapers

The county-owned bridge onRed Mill Road in BlacklickTownship has been closed tovehicular traffic since 2009 —though folks on foot and on recre-ational vehicles often traverse itscondemned span. According totownship residents Joe and KarenGordon, in 2010 the CambriaCounty Planning Commission andthe engineering firm HF Lenz Co.,Johnstown, recommended that thebridge be completely removed.The Gordons attended theTuesday, Feb. 19, meeting of theBlacklick Township supervisorsand gave them a brief update onthe bridge. They noted that theplanning commission and HFLenz made their recommendationbecause of the low traffic alongRed Mill Road in the area of thebridge. When the Gordons askedboth for an estimated removal dateand about the possibility of replac-ing the bridge, neither the commis-sion nor the engineers offered atimeline for the bridge’s removalor addressed the possibility ofreplacing it. According to theGordons, they were told that iffunding became available, consid-eration might be given to address-ing the bridge’s removal. Theywere also told that the bridge wasnot a high priority, given the area’slow traffic.The Gordons believe that fund-

ing — in the form of PennsylvaniaAct 13 (Pa. HB1950) MarcellusShale impact fees — has become,or will become, available forCambria County to use in address-ing the dilapidated condition of abridge that it owns, a bridge that

has been closed for nearly fouryears. As reported in September2012, Cambria County was slatedto receive more than $166,000from the Marcellus Shale gasindustry as a result of Act 13. Inaddition, municipalities in the

county will receive slices of theimpact-fee pie, with the amountsdependent on the number of wellswithin their borders. For example,according to the webstie

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Vol. 92 No. 9 ISSN:1529-9910 Nanty Glo, Pa. Since 1921 Newsstand Price 75¢ 36 Pages

JOURNALTHE

Thursday, February 28, 2013

By Jim Laufferof Mainline Newspapers

Before the advent of 24/7 coverage by theCambria County Department of EmergencyServices and its 911 emergency number, res-idents of the 63 municipalities of CambriaCounty called their fire companies directly torequest ambulance service or to report anaccident or a fire. The standard practice for afire company during the decades before 911was to distribute cards that listed not only thenumber of the company’s “fire phone,” butalso the names of the company’s officers.For more than 30 years — perhaps closer to40 years — when a resident of JacksonTownship dialed the number of the town-ship’s volunteer fire company, the personmost likely to answer the call — regardlessof the time of day or night — was DorothyAmigh, who grew up and lived in the familyhouse located on Singer Hill. During most ofthose years, Dorothy was also the one whopressed the red button — labeled “siren but-ton” — located above the fire phone in herliving room. She blew the siren once for anambulance, twice for an accident, and threetimes for a fire. Dorothy pressed that red but-ton as soon as she had enough information togive first-responders. Generally, a callerwould hear the siren’s wail while he or shewas still on the phone with her — no doubt

drawing comfort from the fact that helpwould soon be on its way.In addition to having a fire phone in herhouse — other such phones were located atthe fire hall and at the chief’s house, amongother places — and the button to activate thesiren, Dorothy had a an alternate base radio,at first a 60-watt Motorola and later a 100-watt Motorola, with which she could keep intouch with firemen who carried remoteradios. According to Jackson Townshipsupervisor John Wallet, Dorothy would stayon the radio — her call letters were KRP753— and communicate with the firemen untilthey returned to the fire hall and reported “allclear” — regardless of how long the firemenwere at the site of an accident or a burningbuilding.Curiously enough, when Dorothy was firstapproached — in the mid-1960s — abouthaving a fire phone installed in her home andabout answering that phone, she was reticentand voiced concern that she might make amistake. Her father, Lou Amigh, encouragedher, noting that someone would always be atthe house with her, either him or her broth-ers. According to Wallet, after Dorothydecided to be a fire company volunteer, she“took the job to heart” and rarely left herhouse. “It got to the point where she

Jackson Township’s Dorothy Amighpressed this button countless times dur-ing the decades that she answered the firephone of the Jackson Township VolunteerFire Company. Photo by Jim Lauffer.

Dorothy Amigh laid to rest after decades of servingthe Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Company

LLeeaarrnniinngg iiss ffuunnJackson Elementary fourth-graders Eric Mertens (left), Amber Sims, and Tyler Gibson proudly display their state-related handiwork.They are students in Kathy Kupchella’s class. Photo by Jim Lauffer.

SEE SERVICE, PAGE 3A

Audit givesBVSD cleanbill of fiscalhealthBy Jim Laufferof Mainline Newspapers

“It is a good, clean audit thisyear.”So said Brenda Pawlowski ofKotzan CPA & Associates,Johnstown, summarizing her firm’saudit of the finances of theBlacklick Valley School District forthe fiscal year that ended June 30,2012.Pawlowski presented a boundcopy of the audit report to the dis-trict’s business manager, superin-tendent, and members of Board ofDirectors. In addition, one electron-ic copy will be sent to theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania’sBureau of Audits and the SingleAudit Clearing House.For the fiscal year, the district’sgeneral fund had revenues of$8,582,934 and expenditures of$8,276,338, resulting in a surplus of$306,596. The audit lists threesources of general fund revenue:Local sources ($1,554,669 or 18percent of revenues), state sources($6,592,436 or 77 percent), andfederal sources ($425,978 or 5 per-cent). Local funding comes prima-rily from real estate taxes($851,317), earned income taxes($324,607), and the collection ofdelinquent taxes ($105,083). Thecommonwealth’s Basic EducationSubsidy of $4,953,822 represents

Closed county-owned bridge given low priority

SEE BRIDGE, PAGE 3A SEE AUDIT, PAGE 3A