Tuesday, November 30, 2010

P-G: Blekko: Odd name, interesting concept

Blekko. No, TechMan didn't swallow a bug. Blekko (blekko.com) is a new search engine that has among its founders three former classmates at Mt. Lebanon High School.

Rich Skrenta was a ninth-grader in 1982 when he decided to pull a prank on friends. He wrote a computer program called Elk Cloner on his Apple II and put it on a floppy disk that he handed out to friends. It turned out to be the first known computer virus "in the wild," that is, traveling from machine to machine.

After a career in the computer business, his latest venture is Blekko, and the name indicates that Mr. Skrenta has lost none of his mischievous sense of humor. Among the co-founders of the company are Michael Markson and Bob Truel.

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Trib: Temporary storage becomes issue in Mt. Lebanon

Mt. Lebanon officials want to regulate how long residents can keep portable storage units — going by brand names such as "PODS" — on their property, under legislation introduced this week.

Such portable storage units are usually dropped off by truck, loaded or unloaded by residents and picked up again to be moved to a new location or put into long-term storage. Under the proposed ordinance, none will be permitted in the street or blocking a public sidewalk.

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Lebo Citizens blog launched

I just received an email announcing a new blog, Lebo Citizens. From the announcement:
Do we really need another blog in Mt. Lebanon? Yes, we do! This blog features articles that aren’t published on other Mt. Lebanon blogs. The comments reveal information that the School District wants to keep quiet. We’re connecting the dots for you.
On the blog itself, the “About Lebo Citizens” blurb elaborates:
Lebo Citizens is a blog about the high school renovation in Mt. Lebanon, PA. The site is run by Elaine Gillen, who also designed and maintains www.lebocitizens.com, the website of Concerned Citizens Of Mt. Lebanon.

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Sunday, November 28, 2010

The Almanac: Exchange program benefits ML teacher

Mt. Lebanon elementary foreign language teacher, Elaine Palmer, was awarded a grant for the Uruguayan Educator Exchange Program through the Educational Seminars Program sponsored by the Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.

The grant made it possible for Palmer to host María Emilia Galagorri Nolé, an elementary English teacher at Eduardo Victor Haedo No. 6 in Mercedes, Uruguay, for a return visit to the Mt. Lebanon School District.

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The Almanac: Dogs and cats highlight local artist's exhibit

Dave Klug always loved to draw including tracing the line work in children's magazines popular when he was young.

Now, at age 44, Klug of Mt. Lebanon has his drawings in magazines designed for the younger generation, like "Highlights."

Classified as an illustrator who works on commission, Klug has a simpler definition, "I draw for a living."

For the next two weeks, some of Klug's finest work emphasizing dogs, cats and a few birds will be on display at the entrance to the Mt. Lebanon Public Library.

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The Almanac: Cousins form tight bond through football

Before Woodland Hills (9-3) abruptly ended his high school football career, Andrew Kuhn from Mt. Lebanon envisioned a Thanksgiving celebration that featured practice with teammates and fellowship with family. As a senior, he had hoped to be playing in the WPIAL championships set for Saturday at Heinz Field.

While the 29-22 overtime loss to the Wolverines ended the Blue Devils' 10-1 season, the defeat hardly dashed all of Kuhn's holiday plans. On Thursday, Kuhn will still play football and feast on food with two of his dear teammates: his cousins, Dylan White and Matthew Ehland.

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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon High School project moves forward

The Mt. Lebanon High School project is back on track after getting preliminary approval Tuesday night from the municipal planning board.

It was the second time the planning board, which reviews development proposals to ensure they meet Mt. Lebanon's zoning codes and regulations, voted on the controversial $113.3 million renovation project.

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Trib: Mt. Lebanon's Batteer finishes his dominant WPIAL career

He never got to play in Hershey — the site of the PIAA soccer championships — but there was very little about the career of Mt. Lebanon's Zach Batteer that wasn't sweet.

In his four seasons, Batteer was among the most dominant players in the WPIAL. He saved his best year for last, finishing this past season with a personal-best 28 goals and 12 assists.

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P-G: Marine honored at his old school

Marine Corporal Ben Kiernan, just back from Afghanistan, visited Howe Elementary School in Mt. Lebanon this week, where he was greeted with patriotic songs, flag-waving and lots of high-fives.

Wearing his Marine uniform, Mr. Kiernan listened as administrators, teachers, community members and students thanked him for his service. He used a cane to walk and stand because of injuries he received when an improvised explosive device, or IED, exploded during a routine patrol.

Many Howe students had been writing letters to Mr. Kiernan while he was overseas, said principal Michelle Murray, so they were excited to meet him.

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Friday, November 19, 2010

Tom Purcell: On Meter Maids and Democrats

As we contemplate the impact of the disbanding and absorption of the parking authority into the municipality, Mt. Lebanon native Tom Purcell's article "On Meter Maids and Democrats" from three years ago raises some interesting points about our parking authority that are relevant to what is going on in Mt. Lebanon today.

Tom's web site: www.tompurcell.com

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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Trib: Cost may climb to pull up to curb in Mt. Lebanon

Parking rates could rise once the Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority shuts down and turns its assets over to the municipal government, a move that will force two nonprofits to find new homes.

Mt. Lebanon's commissioners last week ordered the parking authority to disband by 2012 and to immediately start handing over revenue from tickets written by municipal police officers. To cover about $85,000 in lost revenue from those tickets in the meantime, the authority might have to raise rates at meters and garages by a yet-to-be-determined amount, said Chris Musuneggi, who was elected chairman of the parking authority's board last week.

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Veterans Memorial Funding Committee Releases Video

The Veterans Memorial Funding Committee has released a video describing the project and how people can help to build it. The description of the video on YouTube is as follows:

"Learn about the Veterans Memorial proposed for Mt. Lebanon Park and how you can get involved. Featuring former Steelers running back Rocky Bleier. Produced by J.W. Stehle in collaboration with the Mt. Lebanon Public Information Office."

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P-G: Groundbreak set for vets memorial in Mt. Lebanon

Memorial Day 2011 will be a big one in Mt. Lebanon when it comes to honoring veterans.

That is the target date for the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Mt. Lebanon Veterans Memorial to be built on Morgan Drive at the entrance to Mt. Lebanon Park on property owned by the municipality.

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P-G: Holiday tour in Mt. Lebanon raises funds for Children's Hospital

For two women whose homes will be featured in the annual Howard Hanna Mt. Lebanon Holiday House Tour, the driving force behind their elaborate decorating is the season itself.

"It's an absolutely wonderful time of year when we celebrate the holidays with the people we love, and I do all of these rooms specifically for my huge family," Louise Vuono said.

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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon agrees to dissolve parking authority

Officials of the Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority must vote their organization out of existence or be replaced by board members who will.

Mt. Lebanon commissioners passed a resolution Monday to dissolve the authority by 2012.

"It just seemed in the end that there were too many impediments to continuing to operate as two separate entities," said Commissioner Dave Brumfield. "The financial gains through consolidation far outweigh the losses."

The 3-2 vote directed municipal Solicitor Phil Weis to work with the parking authority -- which owns, runs and maintains Mt. Lebanon's parking meters, garages and surface lots -- on a plan to cease its operations no later than Dec. 31, 2011.

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WPXI: Where Are You Most Likely To Get A Parking Ticket?

In many of the area's communities, parking meters are a big business. Target 11 obtained parking ticket data from several areas and has compiled a list of where drivers are most likely to get a parking ticket if the meter runs out.

Homestead makes the top five places that have issued the most parking tickets. Last year officials there wrote 7,823.

Coming in at number four on Target 11's list is Wilkinsburg with 8,275 tickets written last year. Bridgeville came in third place with 8,695 parking tickets issued in 2009 and Sewickley came in second place with a staggering 17,799 parking tickets written last year.

Mount Lebanon ranked number one on the list of places with the most parking tickets issued last year. Parking enforcement officers handed out 21,983 tickets in 2009.

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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Creativity and confidence propels founder of Groupon, Mt. Lebanon native Andrew Mason

Luke VanGombos was the new kid at Mt. Lebanon High School when he discovered one of his classmates was rather unusual.

"The first time I ever hung out with Andrew, he was going a week without wearing any shoes, and eating just pizza," said Mr. VanGombos, an account manager for FirstGiving, an online nonprofit in Boston.

"Of course, he had to cut out the soles and wear just the tops, but I thought that was pretty cool."

Years later, strange and often wonderful ideas are still buzzing around Andrew Mason's brain: "The biggest thing I struggle with is what to do with the ideas I have now," said Mr. Mason, who just turned 30.

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P-G: Woodland Hills trumps Mt. Lebanon in overtime thriller, 29-22

Lafayette Pitts flashed a smile as wide as can be as he walked off the turf at Baldwin High School on Friday night.

But just like many of his teammates, Pitts was at a loss for words.

After playing in the game that just took place, it shouldn't have come as much as a surprise.

In a wild game that featured countless big plays and plenty of drama, Pitts scored his third touchdown of the game in overtime to lift defending champion Woodland Hills to a 29-22 win against previously undefeated Mt. Lebanon in a WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinal.

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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Letter: To Pay for Government Spending, Mt. Lebanon Should Boost Real Estate Values

In the following letter to Blog-Lebo, reader and frequent commenter John Kendrick offers an interesting analysis of Mt. Lebanon real estate. He argues that Mt. Lebanon ought to raise the value of its homes if it is to pay for its government’s spending habits:

To the Editors of Blog-Lebo:

Below are a histogram and descriptive statistics of all residential assessed property values in Mt. Lebanon. The data was generated on January 4, 2010. I would like to leave the interpretation of the data to the readers, but I would like to point out that:
  1. The statistical distribution is not normally distributed (i.e., does not follow a normal curve);
  2. We are 95% certain that the true mean of the population is between $164,021 and $167,283;
  3. We are 95% certain that the true median of the population is between $144,500 and $147,000.

My personal opinion is that our community cannot absorb the tax burden to pay for the looming school district and municipal expenditures. Therefore, we will need to enact economic development policies that will increase property values. I would like to know what the community would like to suggest, and I will offer two ideas of my own. My suggestion is that we think of a ways to increase the value of Mt Lebanon real estate. These are my two ideas:

Idea 1: The School District and the Municipality enact policies and programs to move the properties that have an assessed value in the first quartile of the distribution to the fourth quartile of the distribution. One approach would be to initiate a program that would do the following:

When any person voluntarily sells a home with an assessed value less than $115,000 and the buyer agrees to tear-down the home and replace that home with a new home, then the school district will abate the property tax for 5 years. This program would be open to 50 homes per year for 5 years. In the end we would have replaced 250 homes in the first quartile with an assessed value under $115,000 with 250 homes having an assessed value over $199,600. In principle, the tax revenue from each home site would double.

Idea 2: The School District would abate the school district real estate tax for any residential homeowner over the age of 59-1/2 years. This should impact about one-third of the homes in Mt Lebanon. For many years our community has experienced “The Process” where people relocate to our community to educate their kids, and then the move upon graduation to avert the high school-district taxes. There are several aspects of this idea that appeal to me, but one is that I would expect the number of homes “coming to the market” every year to decline since the motivation to avert high taxes would disappear as the homeowners age. Basic supply and demand suggests that as the supply is curtailed then the price of the available property should increase.

Do either of these ideas appeal to the community? Would anyone else like to suggest any alternative approaches?

Sincerely,
John Kendrick

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Friday, November 12, 2010

P-G: Mt. Lebanon man wins $68,000 on 'Jeopardy'

Mt. Lebanon resident Vito Cortese won more than $68,000 on "Jeopardy" Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.

The 45-year-old software engineer and Italian translator is the reigning champion, but he won't be back on the show until at least Nov. 22, after the two-week Jeopardy College Championship is completed.

You can see video of Vito after each of his wins on the Jeopardy web site.

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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Trib: Woodland Hills, Mt. Lebanon meet again in WPIAL quarterfinals

Pat Goff remembers the day a decade ago when he watched Mt. Lebanon win the WPIAL football title.

"It's hard to describe, but it was something special," said Goff, who was a second-grader when he joined his family at Three Rivers Stadium to see Mt. Lebanon defeat Woodland Hills, 14-13, in that 2000 title game.

"It was definitely the talk of the town," he said.

Ten years later, he's the team's starting quarterback and has helped bring that excitement back to Mt. Lebanon. But, again, Woodland Hills stands in the way.

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Coming Soon: My Big Fat Greek Gyro


A recent visit to Washington Road brought a smile to my face as I saw this banner in front of the former home of Zipper Blues. My Big Fat Greek Gyro started as a restaurant in Peters Township and has expanded to locations in White Oak, Wexford and Cranberry. Lucky for us, they'll be coming to Mt. Lebanon in the near future!

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Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Free Haircuts For Veterans

Are you a veteran? Do you need a haircut? If so, you're in luck this Thursday because Eileen Byrum, propreitor of Monte's Barber Shop on Alfred Street, is offering free haircuts to all veterans in honor of their service on Veterans Day.

If there are any other businesses in Mt. Lebanon offering specials or discounts to veterans, please let me know and I'll post them here as well.

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P-G: Mt. Lebanon tentatively approves parking agreement

The five-member Mt. Lebanon commission on Monday unanimously approved an ordinance authorizing a shared-parking agreement between the municipality and the school district.

It's a step that members of the Mt. Lebanon school board have said will remedy the district's parking space problem as it attempts to gain approval for its high school renovation project.

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Monday, November 08, 2010

Letter: School District Lax on Safety and Honesty

Reader Pam Scott, who has been a member of both the Educational Specifications Committee and Design Advisory Committee for the high-school renovation, writes with the following letter:

Dear Blog-Lebo Editors:

Saturday afternoon I wrote a letter to the Municipal Commissioners urging them to vote “No” on the Shared Parking Agreement with the School District. The reason I asked them to vote “No” is because the District has too often shown itself to be dishonest and/or inept when it comes to managing its facilities.

The School District should change its way of thinking and just come clean with the community about the true state of the high school buildings.

Why should the Commission, parents, students, staff, or residents trust a District to properly manage such a large project when the District does the following?

1. Goes out of their way to discredit and misrepresent their relationship with Dirk Taylor. Anyone reading the papers or watching the Board meetings will be familiar with this incident.

2. Misrepresents the amount of asbestos in their buildings. For example, much talk has been made of the sprayed-on asbestos in Building C, but no mention of the same sprayed-on asbestos in Building F (see results for Sample F-07-01: “Tan, Fireproofing, Homogeneous: 4% Chrysotile [asbestos]” on page 34 of the RTK-requested document “Report of Bulk Sample Analysis for Asbestos”).

3. Cuts corners with asbestos regulations. For example, after a bucket overflowed, causing ceiling tiles to collapse into the student activities director’s office in September, the District substituted their own hodge-podge air clearance testing instead of the required-by-law air clearance testing for this asbestos-release episode. (See see SE Technologies’ log on page 4 of MTLSD RTK Request #2010-84.) This is dishonest and/or inept. (Under the asbestos-in-schools regulations (AHERA) that have been in place since the 1980s, a major fiber-release episode consists of the falling or dislodging of more than three square or linear feet of friable asbestos-containing material. If these episodes are less than 160 square feet or 260 linear feet or less, air clearance for these episodes may be done using the PCM method instead of TEM, but five samples are required to be properly collected and analyzed; the District merely collected and analyzed two.)

4. Makes up their own standards. The District claims to have followed the appropriate protocol with respect to radon in the high school while substituting their own hodge-podge testing instead of standard accepted protocol. The lab report they received for their “long-term test” is clearly marked “Delay between end of testing period & return to the lab may increase reported radon concentration. Consider retesting. Your Alpha Track results are valid but do not meet the EPA protocol for long term testing of 91 to 365 days.” For the District to then go out and tell staff, students. and the community that they have “followed the appropriate protocol” is dishonest and/or inept. (See the AccuStar Labs report on page 3 of MTLSD RTK Request #2010-79.) Similarly, the District regularly substituted “Modified AHERA” for genuine AHERA air clearance testing during the elementary school renovations. (See the asbestos reports which AHERA requires to be available for viewing during regular office hours at each school as well as the District’s administrative offices.)

Sincerely,
Pam Scott,
Member, High School Educational Specifications Design Committee
Member, High School Design Advisory Committee

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Photography Showing to Benefit Parent Resource Network

On Monday, 15 November, 2010, Robert Strovers’s new photography exhibit, “New Work,” will be unveiled at an event to benefit Parent Resource Network. The opening reception begins at 7 pm and will be held at 5151 Penn Avenue in the former 5151 Gallery space.

Mr. Strover is known for his photography of Pittsburgh, capturing the city’s characteristic buildings, bridges, and neighborhoods.

“This will be my first public showing of any significance in quite some time and will feature images on several types of media including canvas, aluminum and, of course, fine art and photographic papers,” Mr. Strover wrote about the event.

Parent Resource Network provides outreach services for families nationally and in Mt. Lebanon that have children born prematurely, with chronic illness, and/or congenital disorders.

For more information about the event, see the event announcement.

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Saturday, November 06, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon pummels Plum

Mt. Lebanon, the No. 2 seed in Class AAAA, scored on offense, defense and special teams, as it rolled to a 35-14 victory over Plum in a WPIAL first-round playoff game Friday at Mt. Lebanon Stadium.

The Blue Devils improved to 10-0 and will play Woodland Hills in the quarterfinals next Friday at a site to be determined. The Wolverines stopped Norwin, 45-7.

Junior Luke Hagy was the workhorse again for Mt. Lebanon. He carried the ball 27 times for 170 yards and two touchdowns and added an 85-yard punt return for a score.

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Trib: Mt. Lebanon considers stormwater fee

Mt. Lebanon could be one of the first municipalities in Western Pennsylvania to enact a special fee for repairing, maintaining and expanding its aging stormwater system, officials said.

Part of Mt. Lebanon's $28 million budget introduced this week includes a monthly $5-to-$6 fee that would go into a separate fund for storm sewers. The amount of the fee would be adjusted for each property, based on the area of "impermeable" surfaces such as pavement, sidewalks and roofs that prevent rain from soaking into the ground.

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P-G: Candle fire in Mt. Lebanon extinguished

A candle caused a fire in a Mt. Lebanon apartment building Friday night.

Mt. Lebanon fire department Lt. Bob Gaetano said the fire broke out about 10:30 p.m. Friday when a candle left burning in a sixth-floor apartment ignited a small bookshelf.

The sprinkler system was activated and controlled the fire which did not spread to other apartments. Three floors were evacuated.

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Friday, November 05, 2010

WPXI: Video: Mt. Lebanon's Vito Cortese Wins Again On 'Jeopardy!'

Mt. Lebanon's Vito Cortese won again on "Jeopardy!" Thursday's win brings his two-day total up to $48,485.

View the video:

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Thursday, November 04, 2010

The Almanac: Decisions on high school must benefit all

NOTE: The following letter to the editor appeared in the November 3, 2010 edition of The Almanac

Decisions on high school must benefit all

I have attended school board meetings, and have been actively involved with the current high school project.

Lately the last few meetings have been very distasteful to observe. I have witnessed behavior from adults who are in favor with the school board, and who have been unbelievably disrespectful to anyone who wasn't in agreement with them.

This certain group has belittled, ridiculed, laughed, and passed notes writing things such as, "she doesn't know what she's talking about - she's an idiot".

As the note passes around, each person takes their turn laughing in lieu of listening to the speaker. One man actually was tapping his pen as though to suggest he was the time keeper for the speaker and as to imply, "you are running over of your time allotment".

That's disgraceful behavior. I can't decide if this group rules the school board or if the school board rules them. Either way, no other voices are being heard because nobody wants to stand up and be ridiculed by these people.

We didn't have to go down the path of pitting one group against the other. This is all our community not just a certain group. Decisions should be made for the benefit of all.

I think everyone is in agreement. The high school needs a lot of major renovation, no doubt. We need a school that is safe, healthy, clean, and to be a functional learning environment for the children. We certainly don't need grand entrances with major wasted space. What is the purpose of this? Why are we spending the money for grand entrances? This is a school to serve one main purpose....to teach our children. Can't we compromise and do away with these excessive expenditures, and keep some of the long term taxpaying residents in their homes?

We already borrowed $75 million, why isn't that enough? Other major school districts have built entire new high school campuses for that amount yet we can't? Everyone knows and expects estimated projects to exceed their expected budgets. The total now is $113 million. Even adding a modest 8 percent cost overrun...revises the total to $122 million....and growing.

I sold real estate for eight years throughout all of Mt. Lebanon. No potential buyer that wasn't from the community ever asked me if we had a turf football field or a modern sports complex or even if we had a swimming pool. They did however ask where Mt Lebanon ranked on the national and state levels for grade averages and academics.

Why do we need all of the additional glamour added to the school? It will not make our students better students. It's all just an unnecessary added expense to the bottom line of the budget.

I am asking this school board to have a heart and put this community back together. Keep people in their homes. It's never too late to take some of the unnecessary expenses away, and make this community whole again.

On a project of this size, the people should have had the right to vote and be heard to make it morally acceptable. If the people were giving the right to vote to approve the project costs then so be it.....but the majority haven't spoken so let's not have it all come down to a group of people that bully any opposing speaker yet to be heard.

Carole Orlansky

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The Almanac: Mt. Lebanon collection nets more than 700 pounds of drugs

More than 225 households participated in the second pharmaceutical collection event sponsored by the Southwestern PA Household Hazardous Waste Task Force.

The four-hour event, held Oct. 23 at the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building, resulted in the collection of 66 pounds of controlled substances and 641 pounds of non-controlled and over-the-counter medications. A professional contractor, law enforcement officials and licensed pharmacists were on site to ensure all material collected was handled in accordance with all federal, state and local laws.

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The Almanac: Lebo goes after additional goals

Just a teenager, Paul Lang already has formulated his "bucket list" and last Friday, the Mt. Lebanon senior scratched off one of those items.

When his Blue Devils finally defeated Upper St. Clair, 14-10, they not only scored their first triumph against their long-time rival since 2001 but they also captured their first conference championship since going undefeated and winning a WPIAL title in 2000.

"This feels awesome," Lang said. "Our goal was to finish No. 1 in the conference and I've not beaten Upper St. Clair. So that's been on my bucket list."

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The Almanac: Seniors to have space at ML library

Baby boomers and beyond will soon have a dedicated space in the Mt. Lebanon Public Library.

Recently the library was awarded a $4,000 grant, supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, as administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries. After completing a competitive application process, six libraries in Pennsylvania were awarded grants to create "Senior Spaces".

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Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Trib: Mt. Lebanon plans fee, higher taxes

Mt. Lebanon officials on Monday released a proposed $28 million budget for 2011 that includes a new monthly fee for storm sewer repairs and a .48-mill property tax increase for road repairs.

Raising taxes would require the commissioners to overturn an ordinance they approved this year that prohibits increases for road projects. The municipality needs $1.8 million to rebuild a mile of roadway each year, but it has spent about half that each of the past two years, Municipal Manager Steve Feller said.

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P-G: WPIAL football playoff pairings released

The WPIAL announced playoff pairings tonight and Central Catholic (Class AAAA), Montour (AAA), Aliquippa (AA) and Clairton (A) were given the top seeds in the four classifications.

The playoffs begin Friday and finish with the championship games Nov. 27 at Heinz Field.

Here are the first-round matchups and all games are Friday at 7:30 p.m. Quarterfinal games will be at neutral sites:

CLASS AAAA

First round: Pine-Richland at Central Catholic; McDowell at Gateway; Bethel Park at McKeesport; Peters Township at North Allegheny; Plum at Mt. Lebanon; Norwin at Woodland Hills; Penn-Trafford at North Hills; Penn Hills at Upper St. Clair.

Quarterfinals: Central Catholic-Pine-Richland winnver vs. Gateway-McDowell winner; Bethel Park-McKeesport winner vs. Peters Township-North Allegheny winner; Mt. Lebanon-Plum winner vs. Norwin-Woodland Hills winner; North Hills-Penn-Trafford winner vs. Penn Hills-Upper St. Clair winner.

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2011 Manager's Recommended Budget Released

Municipal Manager Stephen Feller has released his 2011 Recommended Budget. Highlights include:
  • A proposed .48 millage increase in the property tax rate -- which equates to roughly $96 per year for a home with a market value of $200,000
  • Storm water fee of $5-$6 a month per dwelling to fund a series of storm sewer improvements
  • No proposed borrowing
  • No change in number of full time employees
  • Fund balance will deal with pension and health insurance costs and stagnant revenue

Read the full budget:

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Monday, November 01, 2010

Kenmont Avenue Gets the Halloween Treatment Once Again

Yesterday, on my way to Aldo Coffee, I strolled south on Kenmont Avenue. Soon after crossing Bower Hill Road, I was greeted by a strange vision.

White steamers filled the air. Shivering in the wind, they hung from every branch of every tree. The trees had become ghostly jellyfish, their filmy tentacles in search of prey upon the sidewalk.

Kenmont had been toilet-papered. Again.


Kenmont Avenue on Sunday afternoon, 31 October, 2010.

Seeing a gentleman washing his car, I asked him if the street gets “the treatment” every year. He said he had lived there for twenty-one years, and it’s happened every year he can remember.

When I asked him who did it, he wasn’t sure. Kids, he guessed.

So, what’s the story? Why Kenmont? Anybody care to fill me in?

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