Regional news briefs

Ron Vail was among Emporium Rotary Club members meeting at the new Aroma Bakery & Cafe in Emporium. The club was hosted by the owner, Mary Kay McLean, and manager, Leslie Franceus. Aroma has 21 employees and offers dine-in, takeout and catering services. Delivery service is planned later this year. The name was chosen from 97 nominees and has its origins in the Bible. In other business, Rotary members were reminded that the annual Wine and Cheese Social will be held on Saturday, Feb. 23. Tickets will be on sale soon. Next club will meeting will be held on Jan. 8.

Fatal car crash

KERSEY - An Elk County man died in a two-vehicle crash on Rt. 255 last Friday evening when his vehicle slid out of control while passing and crashed into a car occupied by three teenagers. State police from Ridgway identified the victim as Darrell J. Palmer, 50, of Kersey.

Police said Palmer was driving a Nissan sedan south, near the Laurel Lane intersection in Fox Township, and passing another vehicle. His car slid across the northbound lane, swerved across both lanes, and back into the northbound lane, where it struck a Buick sedan being driven by a 17-year-old Johnsonburg boy.

Palmer, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, was ejected from his car and pronounced dead at the scene. The other driver, who was wearing a seat belt, suffered moderate injuries. Police would not identify the teen. A 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl traveling in his car were also injured. Their names were also not released by police.

Popular pastor retires

ST. MARYS - Congregation members of Shiloh Presbyterian Church in St. Marys have bid farewell to Pastor Bill Milligan and his wife, Edie. The Milligans, who have served at Shiloh since 1999, are retiring and are moving to Indiana, Pa.

Pastor Milligan will remain available to serve the church in a part-time capacity. He has served as chaplain of the Crystal Fire Department and has been active with the St. Marys Christian Food Bank. Pastor Milligan has also led the expansion of missionary and evangelistic efforts at Shiloh.

Church leaders are interviewing candidates for the position of interim pastor while searching for the next full-time pastor.

Flying to DC

BRADFORD - Bradford Regional Airport in McKean County is planning a public celebration to mark its maiden voyage of air service to and from Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. The Airport Authority and Colgan Air will co-host a public reception on the morning of Monday, Jan. 7, from 9:30 to 11 at the airport.

Bradford's hub city is changing from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. next week. Colgan will also begin flying under a new carrier, United Airlines. A 34-seat aircraft will service Bradford Regional under the same flight schedule now in place.

Airport officials hope the changes will build passenger levels and provide business and leisure travelers with more domestic and international destinations. Bradford Regional is one of nine airports across Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia that are transferring to Washington.

Dulles has 128 non-stop destinations, including onestop service to 26 international cities.

Kane going high-tech

KANE - The Borough of Kane is building a high-tech communications system to link current and incoming businesses to modern voice, data and Internet capacity.

Coudersport-based Zito Media has been designated to build and maintain the fiberoptic network. Zito Media also plans to service business and government users in St. Marys, Ridgway, Johnsonburg and other northcentral Pennsylvania communities.

They'll have access to modern digital telephone services, high-speed data connections that accommodate everything from tele-medicine in hospitals to distance learning and other real-team services in schools.

More garbage coming

SMETHPORT - Officials in McKean County are being pushed to support a plan to import garbage from a broader area and dispose of it in a landfill near Mount Jewett. If expansion of the Rustick LLC landfill in the community of Hutchins goes through as planned next year, the county could receive upwards of $1.7 million more in royalties.

Rustick purchased the former county landfill in 2006 and has applied for a permit to expand the facility by another 336 acres. That would allow Rustick to bury almost 20 million tons of additional trash.

A separate part of the plan involves building a railroad siding to allow the importation of garbage from Philadelphia and New Jersey.

The current board of McKean County Commissioners strongly supports expanding the landfill and has recommended that the incoming board continue that support.

Plan adopted

SMETHPORT - Meanwhile, in another major resolution, the commissioners agreed to officially adopt the county comprehensive plan, which has also been in development for several months.

The plan touches on housing, transportation and socioeconomic issues. About 150 project suggestions came out of a series of public meetings dealing with various aspects of the plan; the last plan was developed in 1977.

Commissioner Bruce Burdick said land issues represented the area of greatest concern and how to use that space for economic development.

Officials said the plan is available for public perusal at the county courthouse or from a link on the county's Web page.

New members coming

RIDGWAY - Leadership changes are coming with a regional organization that oversees economic development, job training and related government programs.

Five seats on the executive committee of Northcentral Pa. Regional Planning and Development Commission and a deputy director post must be filled. The board consists of county commissioners and industry representatives from Potter, Cameron, Clearfield, Jefferson, Elk and McKean counties.

County commissioners leaving the board include Christine Gavazzi of Elk County, Rex Read of Clearfield County, Tony Moscato of Cameron County, John Egbert of McKean County and John Torok of Potter County. Each will be succeeded by an appointee from among the new boards of county commissioners. Meanwhile, Deputy Director Howard Glessner, who has been with the agency since 1976, has retired.

County budget passes

SMETHPORT - The McKean County Commissioners have approved a $32 million county budget for 2008.

The spending plan holds real estate taxes at 6.75 mills, along with a per-capita tax that will stay at $5.00. Expenses will be up by about $1.5 million in 2008, due to rising fuel and utility costs along with higher pay for county employees.

The incoming board of commissioners has already been meeting and making several preliminary decisions. They plan to eliminate the high-paying county administrator position that the current board of commissioners established. In addition, Al Pingie, Judy Church and Joe DeMott plan to hire a new county solicitor and look closely at some of the other professional positions established by the outgoing commissioners.

Customer center lands

OLEAN, N.Y. - A company that was eying Coudersport for location of a customer call center has instead opted for a site in Olean, N.Y.

The Connection, based in Minnesota, was a finalist for occupancy of the former Tennis Center vacated by Time Warner in Coudersport. After state and county officials opted instead to strike a deal with another firm, The Connection worked out a plan to open its center at the former Cattaraugus County Empire Zone business incubator on Wayne Street in Olean. About 600 jobs will be filled incrementally over a two-year period. The company provides customer service for the telecommunications, financial and health care industries, handling more than 1 million calls each year.