Sunday, October 31, 2010

P-G: Game of the Week: Mt. Lebanon 14, Upper St. Clair 10

Mt. Lebanon running back Luke Hagy needed a lift from his teammates. Then, he carried the Blue Devils the rest of the way.

Hagy atoned for two first-quarter fumbles by rushing for 153 yards and the winning score to lead Mt. Lebanon to a 14-10 victory against Upper St. Clair Friday night at Mt. Lebanon Stadium.

"My teammates had a big impact on that," Hagy said. "I was a little upset after fumbling. They came up and picked me up."

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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Trib: No one hurt in Mt. Lebanon house fire

There were no injuries in a two-alarm fire Friday that damaged a home in Mt. Lebanon, fire Chief Nicholas W. Sohyda said.

The blaze, reported shortly after 7 p.m., caused significant damage to a second-floor bathroom and sent smoke billowing throughout the two-story house on Ella Drive, Sohyda said. The residents were not home when the fire started.

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Friday, October 29, 2010

The Almanac: ML Brew Fest will benefit veterans

My dad was a veteran, a handsome man in his military uniform. Even though I was a baby when he served our country, a photo I have of him in his Army khakis is my favorite. It's the picture I have in my mind when I look at his name engraved on the veterans monument in Canonsburg.

Traditional monuments or living memorials can be seen in most communities across the U.S., built as a reminder of the sacrifices of men and women who served to protect our freedom.

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The Almanac: Luck no lady: Lebo girls earn WPIAL runner-up title in tennis

Being seeded No. 5 in the girls’ WPIAL team tennis tournament did not sit well for Mt. Lebanon. In setting out to prove the scholastic tennis world wrong, the Blue Devils pulled off a runner- up finish in the district and qualified for the PIAA tournament for the first time.

“We as a team and within our own tennis community knew of the potential and level of skill of these players.While other schools may have been surprised, we were not shocked by our showing,” said Lebo coach Ginny Hall. “If we gave it our best, we felt we’d get to this point. I couldn’t be any prouder of my girls. They worked hard and remained focused.”

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The Almanac: Lebo ladies ready for cross country championships

While the cross country season has been one of ups and downs for the Mt. Lebanon girls, head coach Ron Schreiner hopes their roller coaster ride continues on the upswing.

The Lebo ladies enter this Thursday's WPIAL champion-ships fresh off a fifth-place showing last week during the Tri-State Coaches Association Meet. The meet typically is an indicator for the district championships. It was held Oct. 21 at Coopers Lake in Slippery Rock, the same course as the Oct. 28 finals.

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Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Almanac: Mt. Lebanon man tests knowledge on Jeopardy!

Vito Cortese, now of Mt. Lebanon, won $5 for his efforts as a contestant on Junior High Quiz about 30 years ago when the television show was hosted by Ricki Wertz.

As for how much money he recently won as a contestant on Jeopardy! well, the South Hills will have to wait.

Cortese, 45, will make his first taped appearance on Jeopardy! Nov. 3. He can't say how long he remained on the shows taped at the end of August, or how much money he may or may not have won.

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P-G: High school parking still meeting topic in Mt. Lebanon

The five-member Mt. Lebanon commission Monday talked about 23 extra parking spaces the school district needs to comply with zoning requirements for its planned $113.2 million high school renovation project, municipal manager Stephen Feller said.

No decision on the agreement was made at the public meeting. Mr. Feller said the commission would vote Nov. 8 on the ordinance.

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Trib: Mt. Lebanon school project hinges on 40-space parking lot

Opponents of the $113.3 million high school renovation project in Mt. Lebanon said last night that the municipality has a chance to send the project back to the drawing board, after commissioners introduced an agreement to share a parking lot near the high school property.

A formal agreement to share the 40-space "Commissioners' Lot" on Mt. Lebanon property behind the high school stadium could let the proposed renovation project meet the parking requirements of the municipal zoning code. The code requires at least 523 parking spaces, but the renovation plan has just 505 spaces without the shared lot.

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Changes Coming To 701 Washington Road?

It has come to our attention that a number of the tenants of 701 Washington Road (the building at the corner of Washington Road and Alfred Street) have received letters stating that their leases will not be renewed or extended beyond August 2011. The businesses in this building are as follows:
  1. Soundcolor Productions
  2. Monte's Barber Shop
  3. Angie's Antique Center
  4. Mt. Lebanon Shoe Repair
  5. Facade
  6. Christian Science Reading Room
  7. Resonance Violins
  8. Art by M.A.
  9. Morris Landscaping
  10. M.E. Maloney LCSW
  11. Joseph Cvitkovic PhD
  12. Barbara Marsh PhD
  13. Hetz Marsh ACSW DMIN
  14. Massery Photography
  15. Tom Underiner ~ Pixel River
Does anyone know anything more about this? Any ideas on what may be happening to the building?

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P-G: Man accused of slipping woman date-rape drug

A Mt. Lebanon man is in Allegheny County Jail after Bridgeville Police filed seven charges against him for allegedly giving a date rape drug to a woman.

Dean Barbaro, 50, of Gilkeson Road, was charged with unauthorized administration of an intoxicant, criminal attempt, delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, all felonies; reckless endangerment of another person and possession of a controlled substance, both misdemeanors; and a summary charge of harassment.

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Mt. Lebanon Mom Holds School District Accountable by Blogging (Update)

Updated 2010-10-27 11:00 with follow-up from Mrs. Stang.

Last week when Sadie Stang received her son Niko’s evaluation report from the Mt. Lebanon school district, she couldn’t believe how many mistakes it contained. In one paragraph alone, her family found no fewer than six spelling errors. More troubling, portions of the report were hard to understand, in places almost incomprehensible.

“These evaluations are done every three years by the school district. They should be of the utmost importance. If this report was put together so carelessly, how can I trust that it is an accurate assessment of my child?” she said.

Mrs. Stang said that her family has received other reports from the school district that also contained obvious errors. But this report was riddled with them.

“I have never seen anything quite like this one,” she said.

Rather than address her concerns to the school district, Mrs. Stang decided to do something else. She went public.

On Thursday, 21 October, 2010, she wrote about the report on her blog, “PJ’s and clay and autism... oh my.” In a post called Say it ain’t so, she presented her readers with a single page of Niko’s re-evaluation report. Her 18-year-old daughter, Alexandra, a recent graduate of the Mt. Lebanon school district, had proofread the page, circling the errors. The page was littered with circles.

Shortly after the post appeared on Mrs. Stang’s blog, word began to spread, soon reaching the school district. Within hours, the school superintendent himself, Dr. Timothy Steinhauer, emailed Mrs. Stang about the report, echoing her dissatisfaction and promising a corrected version shortly.

The email, however, did not have the intended effect. Its opening words were “Dear Ms. Stand.” Mrs. Stang’s name had been misspelled. It was an innocent mistake, but hard to ignore, given the circumstances.

“It put salt in the wound, to say the least,” she said.

Dr. Steinhauer quickly followed up with an apology, but the first impression had taken hold, with Mrs. Stang forwarding his email to the entire school board and posting a copy on her blog.

The school district, citing confidentially requirements for personnel and student matters, declined to comment on the specifics of this story. A spokesperson, explaining the evaluations in general, said that evaluation reports are presented to parents in draft form and then finalized during meetings that include parents, teachers, and relevant administrators.

Mrs. Stang said that the report she received was not marked as a draft.

And that’s where things stand at present: one family, angry and frustrated; one school district, not looking its best; and one community, watching to see what will happen.

If there’s a lesson to be drawn from all this, it’s that email and blogging have altered the balance between schools and parents. In the past, aggrieved parents had little choice but to follow the arcane policies of schools and governments to have their complaints heard. Now parents have a new option: go straight to the public.

In this case, exercising that option drew a speedy response from the school district’s superintendent – effectively the CEO of a $100-million company. That’s more than most parents with similar problems could have hoped for ten years ago.

Will that response be enough? As of this writing, Mrs. Stang is still waiting for that corrected report from the school district to arrive. When she gets it, what will it say?

My guess is Mrs. Stang won’t hesitate to let us know. Just watch her blog.

Update (Wednesday, 27 October, 2010)

In the comments for this story, Mrs. Stang has written to Blog-Lebo with an update about the whereabouts of the revised report she was promised. She says that she learned this morning that the report was emailed on Friday – but not to her.

“You’re never going to believe this one. This important document was emailed to the wrong email address,” she writes.

She’s now concerned that her son’s evaluation report, supposedly confidential, may have been sent to a complete stranger.

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WTAE: Mt. Lebanon Police Caution Children Of Stranger Danger

Recent child luring reports prompt Mt. Lebanon Police to caution children of stranger danger.

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Monday, October 25, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon intersection to get upgrades

The Mt. Lebanon intersection where a jogger was struck and killed by a sport utility vehicle will get larger, clearer signs and crosswalk markings in the hope of making it safer, officials said.

A stop sign where Beadling Road meets Washington Road will be replaced with one that's 3 feet wide and 7 feet closer to Washington Road; Beadling Road will get "Stop Ahead," "Pedestrian Crossing Ahead" and "No Parking" signs in the area leading to the intersection. Crews will paint a diagonally striped crosswalk across Beadling and a stop bar across the lane prior to the crosswalk.

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Saturday, October 23, 2010

Trib: Sharing parking lot in Mt. Lebanon may end holdup

An agreement to formally share a parking lot in Mt. Lebanon Park could resolve zoning problems holding up the renovation of nearby Mt. Lebanon High School, but not before the municipality and school district spent nearly $27,000 taking the zoning issues to court.

The Mt. Lebanon Board of School Directors this week approved an agreement to share the 40-space municipal parking lot off of Stadium Drive, giving the planned $113.3 million high school a total of 545 parking spaces provided the municipality approves and signs the agreement.

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Trib: Hagy leads Mt. Lebanon past Peters Twp.

Running back Luke Hagy scored all three touchdowns for Mt. Lebanon on Friday night at Peters Township Field, but it was his defense that shifted the momentum.

The junior intercepted Austin Hancock in the end zone late in the third quarter, then scored his third rushing touchdown from 2 yards on the ensuing drive to lead Class AAAA No. 3 Mt. Lebanon (8-0, 4-0) over Peters Township (4-4, 1-3), 27-15.

"That was a big turning point in the game, obviously, but I thought our defense in the second half stepped up overall," Mt. Lebanon coach Chris Haering said.

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Thursday, October 21, 2010

P-G: Mt. Lebanon police have line on purse snatcher

Mt. Lebanon police have identified a person of interest in an incident last Friday in which a woman was robbed of her purse while she was walking on Washington Road.

Lt. Aaron Lauth described the man as white, in his 20s, 5-foot-8 to 6-feet tall, with a thin build, wearing a blue knit cap, a dark hooded sweatshirt with the hood up and dark pants.

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Trib: Il Pizzaiolo offers comfy, cozy Italian charm

There's a deliciously secretive feel to the wine bar at Il Pizzaiolo in Mt. Lebanon.

The main dining room is open, expansive and brightly lit with big plate glass windows that make it open to inspection from passers-by on busy Washington Boulevard. It's the sort of place that families, singles and office workers might seek for a quick meal of Southern Italian cuisine.

In contrast, the wine bar is tucked away in a separate structure behind the main building and reached by climbing a staircase and pushing open the anonymous-looking door.

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Trib: Mt. Lebanon boys, girls get top seeds

The top of the WPIAL boys soccer Class AAA playoff bracket has a familiar look.

After Wednesday's seeding meeting, the Mt. Lebanon boys soccer team was awarded the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL's highest classification for the third season in a row. The Blue Devils are reigning champs in AAA and edged Bethel Park for the Section 4-AAA title. They'll also receive a first-round bye before hosting the Pine-Richland/Franklin Regional winner next Thursday in the quarterfinals.

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P-G: Parking flap nearing a fix in Mt. Lebanon

Mt. Lebanon school board president Ed Kubit said this week that the district believed that it had found a remedy for its parking space problem.

The district, which is planning a $113.2 million high school renovation, requested two variances from the zoning hearing board in April, one for lot coverage and one for number of parking spaces.

Both were denied, so the district appealed the decision to the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. A judge last week upheld the ruling of the zoning hearing board. Superintendent Timothy Steinhauer said at this week's meeting that the cost of the appeal to the school district was $19,000.

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P-G: Loaded backpacks from Mt. Lebanon travel to Louisiana

Washington Elementary School of Mt. Lebanon met Washington Elementary School of Washington, La., earlier this month when four staff members from the school district here drove a truck filled with hundreds of donated backpacks and school items to the Louisiana town 150 miles northwest of New Orleans.

Washington Elementary's Inclusion Team started brainstorming in the spring about ideas to promote a spirit of helping the less fortunate, said second grade teacher Dori Oldaker. In the past, the team has led events such as canned food drives and collecting gently used sports equipment for local programs.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

P-G: Mt. Lebanon clears man in child luring scare

Mt. Lebanon police said today they have identified the man who approached a 12-year-old girl while she was walking on Robb Hollow Road Monday afternoon and believe there was no criminal intent involved in the incident.

The police department on Tuesday posted a report on its website that a 12-year-old girl told police she was walking home from volleyball practice at Jefferson Middle School Monday at 5:23 p.m. when a gray or taupe-colored station wagon or crossover vehicle pulled up next to her. The vehicle had several softball-sized dents on the right rear passenger door.

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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

P-G: Another child luring reported in Mt. Lebanon

The Mt. Lebanon Police Department today reported another apparent attempted child luring, the latest of several reports of similar incidents in southern and western suburbs in recent weeks.

According to the department's website police blotter, a 12-year-old girl told police she was walking home from volleyball practice at Jefferson Middle School Monday at 5:23 p.m. when a gray or taupe-colored station wagon or crossover vehicle pulled up next to her. The vehicle had several softball-sized dents on the right rear passenger door.

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P-G: Mt. Lebanon school board extends superintendent's contract

The Mt. Lebanon school board on Monday night approved a 4.5 percent raise for superintendent Timothy Steinhauer and extended his contract expiration date one year to June 30, 2014.

Dr. Steinhauer was hired by the district in June 2009 with a contract that ran through June 30, 2013, and a salary of $140,000.

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WPXI: Teen Who Attacked Girlfriend With Hammer Remains In Custody

A Pittsburgh-area teenager who attacked his ex-girlfriend with a hammer and then tried to kill himself by jumping in front of a trolley will remain in custody.

Last year, a judge found Robertino DeAngelis, 18, guilty, saying he intended to kill Sarah DeIuliis in the October 2007 attack in Mount Lebanon.

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KDKA: Second Annual 'Pink Out' To Take Place Oct. 29

Last October, more than 70 high schools in Western Pennsylvania participated in a "Pink Out" during their football games in order to increase breast cancer awareness.

This year, they'll do it again.

The idea for the "Pink Out" started with determined Mount Lebanon Cheerleading Captain, Ellese Meyer, who had recently lost her mother to a fight against breast cancer.

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Sunday, October 17, 2010

School Board to Give New School Superintendent a Raise and Contract Extension (Updated 2)

Update 2010-10-18: As expected, the school board voted at tonight’s meeting to extend the superintendent’s contract by one year and raise his salary by 4.5 percent. The first vote was unanimous; the second 8-1, with James Fraasch dissenting.

[There’s been a lot of discussion about whether giving the new school superintendent a raise and a contract extension is a good idea, given the school district’s well-publicized problems of late. The Blog-Lebo portion of that discussion has occurred, so far, as an off-shoot of a completely unrelated story. But it’s clear that there’s interest enough in the topic to merit a story of its own, so here it is. —Tom]

On Monday, 11 October, 2010, the school board revealed at its discussion meeting that it intends to extend the contract of the new school superintendent, Dr. Timothy Steinhauer.

Steinhauer was hired by the school board on 8 June, 2009, to replace superintendent John Allison, who had left the school district after receiving an attractive offer from Wichita Public Schools in Kansas.

Steinhauer’s contract was to expire on 30 June, 2013, but the school board, expressing praise for Steinhauer and his performance, intends to extend it by one year at the school-board meeting on 18 October, 2010. The extended contract will expire on 30 June, 2014.

“I have been pleased with [Steinhauer’s] performance... We have suffered from a little uncertainty in the superintendent’s position in the previous couple of years, and I hope that by the contract extension and other provisions we can secure the position for Dr. Steinhauer, for the foreseeable future,” said Ed Kubit, president of the school board, during Monday’s discussion meeting.

The school board also intends to give Steinhauer a 4.5% raise, increasing his starting salary of $140,000 per year to $146,300.

What do you think?

I’ve already revealed that I’m taking a favorable view of the raise and contract extension, a view I expect many people to find surprising. Based on the emails I’m getting, I know many of you don’t agree with me. So if you have something to say, either way, now’s your chance: Let’s hear it.

Updated 2010-10-17 15:20 with quotation from Ed Kubit, school board president.

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Saturday, October 16, 2010

WTAE: Police: Woman Has Purse Stolen While Walking In Mt. Lebanon

A 50-year-old woman had her purse stolen in Mt. Lebanon Friday night after a man threatened he "had a knife," police said.

Mt. Lebanon police Lt. Aaron Lauth said the woman was walking in the 600 block of Washington Road at 9:29 p.m. when the man came from behind and tried to take her purse from her shoulder.

Police said a struggle ensued and the woman fell to the ground.

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Trib: Behind running game, Mt. Lebanon rolls

Luke Hagy has had a number of outstanding games for Mt. Lebanon this season but none quite like he had Friday night.

The junior running back ran 28 times for 317 yards and two touchdowns, as the Class AAAA No. 3 Blue Devils defeated Bethel Park, 21-7, at Mt. Lebanon Stadium.

"It shows that our line is playing great this year," Hagy said. "I'm finding the holes, and it's working out so far."

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Friday, October 15, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority counters municipal merger offer; chairman resigns

The Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority is reluctant to move in with the municipality if it means giving up too much of its independence.

The authority's board of directors last night turned down a deal offered by the Mt. Lebanon commissioners that would have moved the authority offices into the municipal building and pared down its employees by eliminating positions, collecting fines through the municipal tax office and sharing tech support and office supplies.

At the end of the meeting, however, at least one job had been cut: Board Chairman Alfonso Frioni, Jr. resigned effective last night, later citing the stresses of the debates over the authority's future.

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Why Didn’t the School Board Pursue the Shared-Parking Option Earlier? (Updated)

Updated 2010-10-16 15:55 with details from school-board director Jo Posti’s blog post about the school district’s zoning appeal being denied.

Over on his blog, Commissioner Dan Miller writes about being inundated with questions about the school district losing its zoning appeal. He guesses that the school board is likely to respond by resurrecting an idea the municipal planner had suggested a couple of years back – a shared-parking agreement between the school district and municipality for the Commissioners’ Lot. This agreement would provide the school district with the additional parking needed to meet zoning requirements.

To give residents an idea of how long it takes for the gears of government to turn, Commissioner Miller offers a potential timeline for the school district’s detour through the municipal government, first to obtain the parking agreement and, following that, re-approval of its plans.

The timeline begins with this Monday’s school board meeting, where the board could vote to pursue a shared-parking agreement. The proposed agreement would then go to the commissioners. If they approve the agreement, the school district could then submit parking-enhanced plans to the planning board. The planning board could then meet in December or January to grant preliminary approval of the plans and to recommend to the commissioners that the plans receive final approval. Finally, the commissioners could vote on the planning board’s recommendation – in late February or, more likely, in early March 2011.

I gather that the school district would be able to continue with the high-school project after receiving preliminary approval from the planning board in December or January. Still, that’s quite a detour.

Which raises the question: Why didn’t the school district pursue the shared-parking option earlier?

The option was recommended to the school district two years ago. The school district knew it lacked adequate parking back in March, when the zoning hearing board told it so. So why pursue a time-consuming court appeal to an uncertain conclusion without securing other options? Court cases are always a gamble. If the school district had such an obvious way to hedge its bet, why didn’t it?

The only reason I can fathom is that the school district didn’t think it needed other options; it thought the zoning appeal was a sure thing. If that’s the case, what made it so confident? On its merits, the case didn’t look strong to me, so the sure-thing explanation seems hard to believe.

In the end, it’s a mystery to me. If anybody can explain why the shared-parking option wasn’t pursued earlier, let’s hear it.

Update

On her blog, school-board director Jo Posti implies that a shared-parking agreement was, in fact, pursued but has just taken a long, long time:
[T]he parking agreement concept isn’t new but one that has required ongoing discussions regarding language and terms... It’s an agreement unique to the community that’s been given thoughtful consideration since there isn’t local precedent to model.
But Commissioner Miller’s account is somewhat different: “Some may also be aware that there were some discussions on [the shared-parking agreement] in April and May of this year – but until recently the issue was dead.”

So what really happened? Did the school district earnestly pursue a shared-parking agreement during its zoning appeal or didn’t it?

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P-G: Inside the Program: Mt. Lebanon football

At 6-0, Mt. Lebanon is off to its best start since 1999. The Blue Devils, the Post-Gazette's third-ranked WPIAL Class AAAA team, have outscored opponents by an average of 16.7 points per game. Junior running back Luke Hagy has scored 17 touchdowns for Mt. Lebanon and leads the Blue Devils with 948 rushing yards -- an average of more than 150 yards per game. Mt. Lebanon has two Division I football recruits on its roster in senior tight end Paul Lang (Michigan State) and senior lineman Tim Cwalina (Virginia).

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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon parking authority issue still uncertain

The Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority will vote tonight on whether to move in with the municipal government and start sharing some support services, but it's unclear if the board will accept the municipality's terms.

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P-G: Mt. Lebanon celebrates 40 years of soccer

Six years after Rod Agar helped found the Mt. Lebanon Soccer Association in 1970, he, his wife and their four children made a soccer ball float for the town's bicentennial parade.

Now, a photo of Rod and Julie Agar, their children and other youngsters standing in front of the six-foot-tall papier-mache soccer ball made of chicken wire is part of an exhibit on the history of soccer in the municipality.

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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

School District Loses Zoning Appeal (Updated 5)

Updated 2010-10-14 10:01 with details from the court’s opinion and order.
Updated 2010-10-14 10:20 with with minor changes for clarity.
Updated 2010-10-14 11:22 with with minor changes for perspective.
Updated 2010-10-14 18:14 with links to media coverage.
Updated 2010-10-15 09:20 with link to P-G’s extended coverage.

Yesterday in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, the Honorable Joseph M. James affirmed the Mt. Lebanon Zoning Hearing Board’s earlier decision that the Mt. Lebanon School District was not entitled to a variance for the currently planned high-school renovation.

The official opinion and order of the court is only nine pages long, so it’s worth a read. The opening paragraphs are particularly helpful, summarizing the school district’s attempt to comply with zoning code and, failing at that, its appeal to the court.

The opening also puts the appeal into perspective: “When the trial court takes no additional evidence, the scope of its review is limited to determining whether the [Zoning Hearing] Board committed an error of law, abused its discretion, or made findings not supported by substantial evidence.” So, for those plan-supporters who think the Zoning Hearing Board was shortsighted or somehow acted improperly, here’s the reality check.

Moving into the appeal, the school district had argued that it did not require the disputed zoning variance: the high school is currently nonconforming and, therefore, the school district had the right to change it, provided it did not become more nonconforming. No so, wrote the judge: “[T]he law does not relieve the School District from requiring a variance just because a nonconforming building currently exists on the property. Both the Ordinance and case law support this finding.” Although existing nonconforming buildings could “be continued” under the Ordinance, the judge noted, the school district’s plans call for a new building on previously vacant ground and do not qualify for this special consideration.

The school district had also argued that the challenges of high-school project were so great that complying with the disputed zoning requirements would be unreasonably burdensome. But the Zoning Hearing Board had found otherwise, and the judge affirmed that finding on the grounds that the school district had failed to support its claims: “The School District did not prove that the irregularities of the property caused the lot coverage nonconformities or limited the number of parking spaces. Secondly, the School District failed to prove that the property could not be developed without the requested variances.”

The judge concluded, “Based on the foregoing, the decision of the Zoning Hearing Board of Mt. Lebanon is affirmed and the appeal is dismissed.”

What now?

As reported earlier on Blog-Lebo, the Mt. Lebanon Planning Board recently granted the school district preliminary approval of the renovation plans. This approval, however, was conditional on the school district receiving a favorable ruling in its zoning appeal. Having just lost that appeal, the school district now finds its plans on the wrong side of both municipal zoning and municipal planning codes.

So now the question for the school district is this: What’s Plan B?

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New High School Renovation Video Released

A 9 minute and 16 second long video entitled "MTL High School Renovation" was recently published this past weekend on YouTube. The video shows various adults and students discussing the need for the renovation of the high school. There is an uncredited/unnamed narrator to the video and the end credits state that the video was produced by "FNK Productions". The username for the video -- "justdiginlebo" -- doesn't offer any further identity to the producer of it.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon won't assume control of parking authority

Mt. Lebanon won't absorb the long-independent authority that runs the town's parking garages, lots and meters, but it may keep the agency closer.

The board of commissioners last night adopted a resolution to move the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Parking Authority from its office on Washington Road to an empty space in the Municipal Building, allowing the authority to sell off one or both of the converted houses it owns.

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Monday, October 11, 2010

Lebo History: The Game of Mt. Lebanon


Another garage sale, another piece of Lebo History. This time it's "The Game of Mt. Lebanon". According to the woman that I bought it from, this game was sold by high school students as a fundraiser. She couldn't, however, remember what they were raising funds for. A copyright on the game instructions says that the game was created in 1981.

View pictures of the game: Blog-Lebo's Flickr page

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Daily World: Partners In Education

A group of teachers from Washington Elementary School in Mount Lebanon, Pa., drove 16 hours to arrive at about 11 a.m. at Washington Elementary in Washington, La.

Their U-Haul trailer, which was parked in front of the school, bore a sign that declared, "Operation Backpack." Inside the trailer were backpacks for each student in the school, along with boxes of assorted school supplies.

It was a gift from the 397 kindergarten through fourth grade Pennsylvania students to the local 250 kindergarten through eighth-graders. It marked the beginning of a partnership between the two schools.

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Pgh Business Times: Concordia of South Hills marks turnaround

Concordia of the South Hills has reached record occupancy numbers, marking a financial turnaround a year after the facility was purchased out of bankruptcy.

The Mount Lebanon facility consists of 126 one- and two-bedroom independent living apartments, 48 assisted living units, 12 memory-support beds and 46 skilled nursing beds. Concordia will mark the turnaround with a celebration Oct. 26 at the Bower Hill Road facility.

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  • (Pittsburgh Business Times)

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P-G: Body of Mt. Lebanon man found in Ohio River

A man who was found dead Sunday in the Ohio River in Stowe has been identified as Michael Morton, 60, of Mt. Lebanon, the Allegheny County medical examiner said today.

Mr. Morton's body was found near a private boat dock in the Ohio River. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:15 a.m. the medical examiner said

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Thursday, October 07, 2010

WTAE: DUI Suspect In Mt. Lebanon Stroller Mom's Death Comes Home, Gets Banded

A young Mt. Lebanon man has returned to Pennsylvania and is being electronically monitored while he waits to go on trial for the death of a local woman who was pushing her kids in a jogging stroller.

Allegheny County Pretrial Services told Channel 4 Action News that Benjamin Cope, 20, was banded and fitted with his monitoring device Thursday morning. He is charged with homicide by vehicle while DUI, reckless endangerment and involuntary manslaughter.

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Trib: Reaction mixed to Mt. Lebanon revitalization

A new pavilion, some new concrete and banners urging people to "shop local" in Mt. Lebanon have some residents feeling a swell of pride in their little business district, while others are wondering if the face-lift was truly needed for the bustling Uptown area.

Last week, the municipality cut the ribbon on the $727,000 revitalization project during the last of the "First Fridays" celebrations, marking the official completion of the effort that included electrical work, lighting, plumbing, banners, signs and a new covered pavilion in the Clearview Common parklet along Washington Road.

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WPXI: Police: 2 Mt. Lebo ATM Robberies May Be Related

Police in Mt. Lebanon are urging people to be careful when taking money out of automated teller machines after two recent robberies.

The latest robbery happened Monday at the Dollar Bank ATM in the Virginia Manors shopping complex. A man was injured during the robbery, police said.

"It is a scary incident and I think a lot of people are concerned. A lot of people that get Mount Lebanon alerts have been concerned about the story," said resident Nick Roberts.

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Trib: Scout leads effort to re-dedicate Mt. Lebanon graves

When the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788, William Glenn was old enough to read it.

Born in 1775, the Scott Township man, a veteran of the War of 1812, is the oldest of eight veterans — six from the Civil War, two from the War of 1812 — whose graves in Mt. Lebanon received new markers this year as part of Stephen Crowe's year-long Eagle Scout project.

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Wednesday, October 06, 2010

WPXI: Judge Orders Man Charged In Jogger's Death To Wear Monitoring Bracelet

A judge ordered the man accused of hitting and killing a Mount Lebanon mother of three while he was under the influence of marijuana to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Benjamin Cope, 20, is out of jail on bond awaiting trial on a number of charges, including homicide by vehicle.

According to Channel 11 news exchange partners at TribLIVE, a judge reinstated an order Tuesday for Cope to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

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Monday, October 04, 2010

WPXI: Mt. Lebo, N. Fayette Police Warn Parents About 2 Luring Incidents

Police in Mount Lebanon and North Fayette are warning parents about two separate incidents where young girls were approached while they were walking alone.

Investigators said the vehicle and driver descriptions in both incidents are similar.

Mount Lebanon police said a 12-year-old girl was walking home from school on Thursday around 3:45 p.m. when a white minivan with a black stripe pulled up next to her at the intersection of Pinewood Drive and Maplewood Drive.

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P-G: Second robbery at ATM reported in Mt. Lebanon

A 64-year-old man was robbed today by a man with a knife after he visited an ATM outside the Dollar Bank in the Virginia Manor Shops on Cochran Road in Mt. Lebanon.

The incident marks the second time in less than a week that a person was robbed at knifepoint at an ATM in the Virginia Manor Shops.

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WTAE: Firefighters Undergo Grueling Training For Competition

Mt. Lebanon Fire Chief Nicholas Sohyda is highlighted in this video about training for the Firefighter Combat Challenge competition held this past weekend at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Congratulations to the entire Mt. Lebanon Fire Department team (Chief Sohyda, Platoon Chief Chris Buttlar, Platoon Chief Joe Thuransky, Firefighter Geoff Fournier and Firefighter David Tickel) on qualifying for the national championship competition!

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Sunday, October 03, 2010

93.7 The Fan - Luke Hagy on The Post-Gazette High School Football Show

The junior tailback from Mount Lebanon joins the Post-Gazette’s Mike White and MSA’s Don Rebel to discuss the trials and tribulations of being a rare three-sport athlete in Quad-A, and what he thinks has been the key to the Blue Devils becoming a contender…

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Obituary: Dr. Harry Charles Mavrinac

Former Mt. Lebanon School District administrator Dr. Harry Charles Mavrinac passed away on Thursday, September 30.

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WTAE: Supreme Court To Hear Mt. Lebanon Family's Vaccine-Seizure Case

A Mt. Lebanon family will play a role in the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decision about whether drug makers can be sued if vaccines cause serious health problems.

WTAE Channel 4 Action News' Jim Parsons reported that the Bruesewitz family wants to sue drug company Wyeth, alleging that their daughter, Hannah, suffered seizures as a result of the company's diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccine, but they've been told that federal law doesn't allow them to sue.

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WTAE: Week 5 Football Highlights: Mt. Lebanon vs Canon-McMillan

WTAE has posted a video recap of Mt. Lebanon's win against Canon McMillan on Friday night.

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Saturday, October 02, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon introduces 'star' in business district

For years, Mt. Lebanon's Uptown business district has been a paradox: a slice of downtown in a suburban setting; a walkable community that didn't take off until the Liberty Tunnels and automobiles opened up the South Hills to widespread settlement.

Last night, officials cut the ribbon on a $737,000 revitalization project along Washington Road, designed to add a touch of parkland and performance space to the businesses, offices and residences Uptown.

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