Jeffersonian DemocratThursday, December 25, 2014

Brookville, Pennsylvania • volume 150, numBer 53• single CoPy PriCe 75¢

Section AEditorial ....A 2Church..... .A 5Obituaries.A 6Social........A 8

Section B Sports B 1 Notices.... B 9 Classified .. B 10

this week’s news LETTERS TO SANTA Pages A 4-7

CHRONOLOGY Section B

A Christmas Tradition

THE CHRISTMAS STORY — The story of Christ’s birth is told every year through the traditional church pageant, like this one at the Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Brookville. This pageant was directed by the very patient Jean Hidinger and Jewel Sansom. (Photo by Randy Bartley)

WINTER WONDERLAND — Richard and David Pangallo have transformed their homes into a canvas of holiday de-lights. Located on Stone Road, just off of Route 36 north of Brookville, the display is open from 6-11 p.m. daily and is accompanied by music. (Photos by Randy Bartley)

Making spirits bright on Stone Road

STATE COLLEGE — Ac-cuWeather reports upon the millions of Christmas cards that hit store shelves each holi-day season, many are strewn with images of a homey dwell-ing tucked under puffy mounds of white snow.

While many dream of a similar white Christmas set-ting to fall during the winter celebrations, conditions do not always align to bring the pic-ture-perfect snowy scene.

This year’s conditions bring the highest chance of a white

Christmas for those across the Midwest, the Ohio Val-ley, the Rockies and portions of New England, according to AccuWeather.com Expert Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok.

White Christmas Prob-ability in Eastern US

A weak storm will produce light snow in the central Ap-palachians, western Virginia, Kentucky as well as across in-terior Pennsylvania this week-end, but some of it will melt in the following days, according

to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.

The same weekend storm will produce higher snow to-tals in New England, upstate New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. With up to 3 inches expected to fall, the snow should stay on the ground through Christmas, setting up a wintry scene.

As the bustle of holiday travel begins early next week, a second storm will impact the East Coast. In major cities like New York, Washington D.C.,

and Philadelphia, the storm will mostly be a rain event ac-cording to Anderson and the chances for a white Christmas remain low.

However, moving inland into areas like interior New England, the opposite will oc-cur. The storm will bring snow over the days leading up to Christmas, and residents can look forward to a snowy set-ting for Christmas day. Fol-lowing the storm, conditions will trend colder and the snow-cover will stay put.

ACCUWeather: White Christmas ‘probable’

Nothing concrete at Exit 81 industrial parkBy Randy Bartley

BROOKVILLE -- Local residents should not expect to see neon lights at the Hazen interchange any time soon. The Jefferson County Business Park, is owned, and is being developed, by Nine Star Capi-tal, LLC, of Brockway may one day have retail and industrial occupants but that day may be a year or so down the road.

Friday Brad Lachinsky, Di-rector of the Jefferson County Department of Development, said his department has been contacting retail firms and has had interest from several indus-

trial firms but there is nothing concrete at this time.

“We have been targeting retailers who currently do not have a presence in the region,” he said. “We have performed a market study to see what is needed in the region. No one has actually signed but we have had strong interest.”

Lachinsky said the park will be able to accommodate retailers along Route 28, oppo-site the Jefferson County Fair-grounds.

He said there has been some foreign interest. Last summer representatives from Mitsubi-

shi toured the site.“We hope to get some lots

ready over the summer,” said Lachinsky. “Nothing can hap-pen until we get water, sewer and a lift station in place.”

Once the Infrastructure Phase I, which is the water and sewer line and the lift station is completed Nine Star will be able to apply for permitting.

Gwin, Dobson & Foreman, (the engineers for the project), are applying for the permits.

In an earlier report Lachin-sky said there have been eight companies that have expressed interest in the site at the Hazen

interchange of I-80. The loca-tion of the site offers easy ac-cess on and off of I-80 making it a prime site.

The industrial park has been designated as a “Key-stone Opportunity Expansion Zone” (KOEZ). Prospective businesses willing to locate in the specific area will also be entitled to relief from certain sales and use taxes collected by the State.

For additional information, contact Jefferson County’s Di-rector of Economic Develop-ment, Brad Lachinsky, at (814) 849-3047.

County adopts‘modified’ budgetBy Randy Bartley

BROOKVILLE — The Jefferson County Commis-sioners adopted a modified $23,689,860 budget for 2015 Friday that does not call for any increase in county taxes.

Budget director Deb Hack-ett said the county had an-ticipated the use of funds in the unassigned balance in the general fund budget but those funds were now earmarked for potential increases in some de-partments in the coming year including the IT and finance department.

Hackett also said the fund balance for the restricted fund was reduced due to a request by the District Attorney to be able to use some of the confiscated funds, which are restricted, to hire an assistant district at-torney especially to prosecute drug cases.

Commissioner Jeff Pisar-cik noted there was no state or

county money being used for the new assistant district At-torney position.

Commissioner Paul Corbin said the county’s salary board would probably address that request at the meeting on Jan. 5. That meeting will be held at 10 a.m. in Jefferson Place.

Hackett said there is suf-ficient money in the fund bal-ance so that the county will not be in jeopardy.

At an earlier meeting, Hack-ett said there was no major increase in any of the county departments but a moderate increase in wages. She said the county was still negotiat-ing with four of the bargaining units representing county em-ployees and the final impact on the budget would not be known until those negotiations were completed.

A tentative agreement was reached with AFSCME Dis-

County explainsjail project decisionBy Randy Bartley

BROOKVILLE -- Friday the Jefferson County Commis-sioners answered several ques-tions about the proposed reno-vation and expansion plan for the Jefferson County Jail.

The commissioners had ear-lier approved “Option 1” which could cost the county as much as $10.1 million. The com-missioners action was based on a report completed by the architectural firm of Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates of Mechanicsburg.

“I was skeptical about this at first,” said Commissioner Jim

McIntyre. “But after further review, I am convinced this is something we must do.”

“The commissioners did not wake up one morning and say ‘we need a $10 million jail project.’ This decision was ar-rived at after careful study and review,” said Commissioner Paul Corbin. Corbin added this was the second study on the jail and possible improvements.

Commissioner Jeff Pisarcik noted the $10 million price tag was not set in stone. “It may be less,” he said.

See BUDGET, Page A6

See JAIL, Page A6

A1 Front Page