vol. 135 - no. 111 more inside huston twp. residents...
TRANSCRIPT
Vol. 135 - No. 111
Mostly cloudy. Showers and thunderstorms likely in the morning then scat-tered thunderstorms with a chance of showers in the af-ternoon. Highs in the lower 70s. Chance of rain 70 per-cent.
Full report, A2
14 pages
Classi� ed ......................... B5
Comics ............................. B4
Lifestyles ......................... A4
Lottery ............................. A7
Opinion ........................... A6
Public Notices ............... B5
Sports ............................... B1
$1.00
•JuliaC.Curry,82•JuleW.MarcheSr.,81
An extensive report from the water commit-tee went down the drain at a recent Treasure Lake Property Owners Asso-ciation meeting. A vote to accept the committee’s ex-tensive report failed, due to a 4 to 4 tie vote of the TLPOA Board of Direc-tors. A2
Bee attackThree people were crit-
ically injured and a sher-iff’s deputy badly stung after a catering truck lost control and jumped a curb, hitting a tree and triggering a swarm of an-gry displaced bees. A5
Water report down the drain
Tomorrow’s Forecast
Index
ObituariesA7
MORE INSIDE
Page B1
By Julie Rae Rickard
CLEARFIELD — The last of three men charged with illegally killing one of the largest elks in the state was sentenced in Clearfi eld County Court Tuesday
Jeffrey Scott Bickle, 49, 117 Dub-linwood Dr., Bellefonte, pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful kill/take big game-closed season and several summaries. He was sen-tenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to 30 days to six months in jail and one year consecutive pro-bation. He was fi ned $10,450 and he
must pay more than $3,000 in res-titution.
In October, Frank Gordon Bu-chanan, 25, 224 Moose Run Road, Bellefonte, who was identifi ed as the shooter, pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful killing or taking of big game and summaries. He was sentenced by District Judge Jerome Nevling to 90 days to 18 months in jail. The third co-defendant, Cody Allen Lyons, 20, of Milesburg, pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced to 30 days to six months
in jail and one year consecutive pro-bation.
Buchanan shot the animals while sitting with his co-defendants in a vehicle at night in Karthaus. If the largest of these elk had been killed legally, it would have ranked as the third largest bull elk ever killed in Pennsylvania, according to a previ-ous Courier-Express article.According to the affi davit of prob-able cause, on Sept. 9 a concerned person contacted the Pennsylvania Game Commission to report a dead bull elk near Karthaus. A Wildlife Conservation offi cer investigating the case found the elk had been il-
legally killed at a proposed site for a generation plant on the River Hill Power property. The antlers were missing. It was determined the elk was just over two years old and was killed Sept. 8.On Sept. 15, an offi cer returned at night to the site to patrol the area where elks could be heard bugling. He saw a vehicle that he watched for a while before he heard a gunshot. The offi cer activated his emergency lights and instructed the occupants of the vehicle to get out of the vehicle and get on the ground. Lyons, who was in the backseat of the vehicle,
Bellefonte man sentenced for illegally killing elk
By Elaine Haskins
DuBOIS — Sandy Town-ship approved a modifi cation to its 2013 Community De-velopment Block Grant pro-gram last week.
Complying with the state Department of Community and Economic Develop-ment Block Grant Program Regulations, the township conducted a public hearing to receive comments on the modifi cation to its FFY 2013
CDBG Program.“The township originally allocated $107,549 of 2013
CDBG funding for the Platt Road Sanitary Sewer Exten-sion activity,” said Eugene Zanella of Stiffl er, McGraw and Associates. “The town-ship is proposing to delete the sanitary sewer activ-ity from the 2013 CDBG Program and transfer the $107,549 to the Merris Av-enue/Larkeytown/Slab Run/Fourth Street Waterline In-terconnection Activity.
“The interconnection ac-tivity is an existing activ-ity in the township’s 2011 and 2012 CDBG Programs,” Zanella said. “Additional funding is needed to com-plete this activity.”The modifi cation means there is currently no funding for the Platt Road Sanitary Sewer Extension Activity since the $107,549 is being transferred to the intercon-nection project, Zanella said.
During the public com-ment portion of the hearing,
John Tapper of Platt Road asked if there are plans to still do the Platt Road proj-ect.
“It’s still a project,” Zanel-la said. Initially, the town-ship was going to use the 2013 funds for Platt Road, but it needed more money to complete the interconnec-tion. Future funds could be allocated to Platt Road, but that decision would be up to the supervisors, Zanella said.
The township will con-
sider funding the Platt Road project with its 2015 CDBG program, Manager Dave Monella said.Tapper asked how far will
this set the Platt Road proj-ect back.
“Well, there was really no time frame at this point on anything anyhow to say it’s set back a year, it’s set back a year,” Monella said. “Until we start getting the allot-ments, say for 2015, or we start budgeting money next
Sandy Township modifies plans for CDBG projects
By Julie Benamati
PENFIELD – About six months after Huston Township’s water and sewer authori-ties merged to form one municipal authority, customers may see a huge increase in their quarterly bill.
Huston Township Supervisors unani-mously approved a resolution in October 2014 to merge the authorities into one – a decision that has proven to be unpopular with numerous residents and former author-ity members.
Carney Cataldo, a former water authority member, provided The Courier-Express with a copy of a letter that is being circulated to municipal authority customers.
The letter states that the authority pro-posed a drastic rate hike at its June 1 meet-ing, allegedly because the authority is losing a large amount of water each quarter due to water leaks in the lines. The letter says authority member Donald “Jingles” Lingen-felter made a motion to raise the rates as proposed and fellow member Robin Powers seconded the motion.
Cataldo contends that rates will change after the mid-June meter readings.
“The bad thing is, as of yet, (the author-ity) still hasn’t notified any of the people,” Cataldo said in a telephone interview Friday. “They sent a letter out that they were going to raise the rates, but never said how much. Some residents who are unaware will keep using water and get hit with a $100 to $200 increase in their water bill.”
But Huston Township Supervisor and authority chairwoman Nellie Bundy said Cataldo’s claims are false, and no final deci-sion was made at last week’s meeting. She did confirm that water rates will rise, but she said sewer rates will not. She also said the specific rate hike has not yet been deter-mined.
“As of right now, I can’t say what the rate is going to be,” Bundy said. “(The vote to raise the rates) started and it wasn’t fin-ished. Nothing was done. I’m not saying any-thing more until we really know what’s going on.”
Bundy said the municipal authority needs to make the final decision, adding that noth-ing will be final until the end of the month.
Huston Twp.residents may see jump in water/sewer bill
Members of the DuBois Area High School Class of 2015 are shown during Friday’s graduation ceremo-ny held at the DuBois Area Middle School. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
Members of the Class of 2015 at DuBois Area High School are shown before graduation Friday night at the DuBois Area Middle School. From left are: Megan Carolus, Emily Webster, Chloe Casteel, Madeline Sette, Tatiana Turkin and class President Ty Turkin. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015
Clearfield County
See CDBG, Page A7
See Elk, Page A7
See Huston, Page A7