Cheer

It is still early in the process, but Friday’s Sheriff’s Sale at the Butler County Government Center came with good news. Deshon Woods, the parcel of land despoiled years ago during an ill-fated and controversial VA Healthcare Center project run by Ohio-based developer Westar, has a new owner.

To be precise, the land is on its way to having a new owner after being bought for $1.205 million by Penn Township resident Ted Cranmer, who said Friday he bid on the project for a “local entity.”

When VA Butler Partners, an arm of Westar, defaulted on a $8.36 million mortgage with AmeriServe Trust of Johnstown, the land seemed to be in real danger of sitting clear-cut, vacant and ugly for the future. The company had clearly overpaid for the property, and the concern was that the controlling financial institutions and potential owners would be unable to reach an accord on the land’s present value.

Now there is a real possibility that the land will be put to use. Cranmer pledged on Friday that Deshon Woods would be “fixed up.” At this point, there’s no telling exactly what that means. But the future of nearly 21 acres in Butler Township just got a little less uncertain.

Jeer

The partisan and bitter budget impasse in Harrisburg is lowering the already low public perception of both Gov. Tom Wolf and Republicans controlling the Legislature. But the budget mess goes beyond frustration — it will cost taxpayers money.

State Auditor General Eugene Pasquale reports that as of December, underfunded school districts across the state have borrowed about $1 billion and incurred $40 million in fees and interest.

This will cost taxpayers. Either local property taxes will have to go up to cover these noneducation costs or the state will reimburse the districts for these costs, with taxpayer money.

In this region, the McKeesport School District paid $11,000 in interest on a $5 million loan while the Plum School District took out a $14 million loan that will cost $46,000 in interest over 100 days, plus $12,500 in fees.

The Butler School District reported this past week that it has not had to borrow yet, but will run out of operating money by the end of the school year and will have a $330,000 deficit by the end of June. Earlier, Butler’s board approved a $16 million line of credit, but that has not been tapped yet.

Lawmakers and Wolf should look to cut state spending in some areas to properly fund schools. They could look to Connecticut, where the governor, a Democrat like Wolf, announced a plan to trim the state workforce to save money. Wolf and Republican lawmakers should end the 20015-16 budget crisis and release money to schools. Then, they can get to work on the 2016-17 budget.

Cheer

Not many towns can boast an Olympic medal-winning athlete. Butler has Eric Namesnik, a swimmer who began his career at the Butler YMCA and ultimately won silver medals in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and the 1996 games in Atlanta, Ga. His two silver medals were for the 400-meter individual medley. Namesnik died in a car accident in Michigan in January 2006.

At the Butler YMCA, Namesnik’s records have stood for three decades — until earlier this month, when Butler Y swimmers David Bocci and Sam Deemer broke four of his youth records.

Bocci and Deemer broke Namesnik’s records for 11-12-year-olds at the Western Pa. YMCA District Championship at Penn State University.

Namesnik still has records at the Butler YMCA, but Bocci and Deemer are certainly leaving their mark in the record books.

Bocci and Deemer are levelheaded about their accomplishments, understanding that their trajectories might not take them all the way to an Olympic medal. But they have a healthy attitude and use Namesnik’s records as motivation to continue to improve their times as they move up the YMCA age brackets and compete at the high school and college levels.

Cheers to Bocci and Deemer and to Namesnik whose remarkable accomplishments will continue to provide inspiration to other swimmers at the Butler YMCA.