Elections, drilling and sacrifice
A number of notable events occurred in 2012 in Butler County.
They touched all corners of the county, from a new president at Slippery Rock University to Buffalo Township where a new middle school will be built.
They touched all kinds of people, from residents concerned about a proposed sports complex and others worried about the impact of the natural gas industry in their communities to candidates and their volunteers in this year's election.
Also, a county man died while serving his country overseas.
Here is a look back at some of the top events and issues that shaped our lives.
The Dec. 14 Newtown, Conn., school shootings rocketed school security to the forefront of challenges schools faced in 2012.During the weekend of Dec. 15, many Butler County schools arranged for armed police officers to be posted on their campuses until long-term security measures could be arranged.Otherwise, a bright spot occurred in September, when the U.S. Department of Education named Seneca Valley Middle School a National Blue Ribbon winner. The honor places the school among the top tier of schools nationwide, recognized for its academic excellence.But, mainly, Butler County educators adjusted to another round of state budget cuts for the 2012-13 school year while struggling to raise their students' results on state tests, to prepare their students for new Keystone Exam graduation tests, to change curricula to meet the new Common Core standards, and to initiate a new teacher evaluation system beginning in 2013-14.Although the districts eliminated 255 jobs within two years, beginning in 2011-12, school budgets continued to grow, as did the taxes to pay for them. School property taxes went up in Butler, Freeport, Karns City, Moniteau, Seneca Valley and South Butler school districts.Taxes stayed the same or fell for Butler County residents in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley, Mars and Slippery Rock school districts. They also stayed the same in the Union School District in Clarion County.To save money, two districts also began to close schools.The Karns City School District closed Bruin Elementary School in June to save $500,000. Bruin students mainly were sent to Chicora Elementary SchoolThe Butler School District expected to save $500,000 per year by closing Center Avenue Elementary School until it was learned that the district would lose some state construction reimbursement funds and disrupt many families' routines. After adding busing costs, administrators said savings would fall to about $216,000 and stay there through 2017-18.Instead, the school board agreed to develop a long-term plan that could eventually close multiple elementary schools, since enrollment is falling.Meanwhile, the Freeport School Board agreed to close the 90-year old junior high school in Freeport and to build a new, $31 million middle school for the sixth through eighth grades on the Buffalo Township campus.The school will open in the fall of 2015 and the district will close its borough Kindergarten Center then.Residents in the Slippery Rock School District voted down a proposal to increase property tax rates to help finance renovations to the district's high school and
Several longtime educators retired in 2012.Robert Smith, president of Slippery Rock University since 2002, left the university and was replaced by Cheryl Norton in June.Ed Fink, superintendent of the Butler School District, retired after 43 years with the district. He was superintendent for 17 years. Mike Strutt, assistant superintendent for secondary schools, was promoted to the superintendent's job.Brenda Brinker retired as superintendent of the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District, after five years. David McDeavitt, Allegheny-Clarion Valley High School principal, took her place.William Pettigrew, Mars School District superintendent, also announced his retirement after 25 as superintendent. He said he will leave by Dec. 1, 2013.• SRU: Slippery Rock University welcomed Norton to replace Smith. Norton had been president at Southern Connecticut State University from 2004 to 2010.A major construction project at SRU came to a close when the Robert M. Smith Student Center opened at the end of the summer. The $38 million, 106,869-square-foot building features a ballroom, offices, dining services and other amenities.The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties voted to authorize a strike in November. The union, which represents more than 6,000 faculty, including about 475 at SRU, has been working without a contract since June, 30, 2011. However, the union said that the earliest it might call a strike is the spring.• Catholic high school: It was literally a groundbreaking year for the new Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School as construction crews already have the steel skeleton built for the project.Crews broke ground on the 180,000-square-foot building in June and moved quickly to erect the structure. The $71 million project is being built on 71 acres in Cranberry Township.The school is on track to be completed in January 2014, while it will open to about 1,000 students later that year.• SV, Mars districts: It was another year of budget deficits and staff reductions at the Mars and Seneca Valley school districts.Seneca Valley's school board overcame a $4.8 million deficit created by increased pension costs and decreased funding from the state.The board did so by initiating a property tax increase of 4.4 mills.The board cut 15½ teaching positions and four administrators to cut expenditures. In addition, the board cut some paraprofessionals' hours.It also mandated that administrators, secretaries and the custodial staff have four-day work week in the summer.The budgetary headache wasn't much better in Mars, where the board passed a $38.8 million spending plan that avoided a property tax hike.The budget initially had a $2.5 million deficit, a number that was whittled down by the elimination of teaching positions and programs.In November, the Mars board and teachers agreed on a new contract.
State Rep. Brian Ellis, R-11th, helped to author Act 13 legislation, which was approved in April, to collect impact fees from Marcellus Shale natural gas well drillers.The money collected by the state Public Utility Commission was distributed in October to municipalities that have been affected by drilling. Butler County and its municipalities received about $2.2 million in this first distribution.Meanwhile, residents of The Woodlands, a rural development in Connoquenessing Township, continued to complain that a natural gas well drilled by Rex Energy has contaminated their water.Rex Energy and the state Department of Environmental Protection have studied the matter and have issued reports stating the drilling has not affected The Woodlands water.Several demonstrations were held throughout 2012 on the residents' behalf, as well as multiple bottled water collections to provide the families with drinking and cooking water.The matter remains unresolved.
The Highfield neighborhood protested against a proposed sports complex that was to have been built in that section of Butler Township.The inflatable sports complex, proposed by former major league baseball player and current Butler High School basketball coach Matt Clement and a partner, raised the ire of Highfield homeowners, who said their neighborhood is the wrong place for the complex.By early fall, the Clement proposal had been put on hold while the partners reconsidered the development.Another sports complex was announced this summer by Pittsburgh attorney Michael DeRiso. His plan calls for a 200,000-square-foot sports facility on the 71-acre Risch estate near the intersection of Routes 356 and 228 in Buffalo Township.The 4-acre facility will under a roof. It will be a two-story, steel-framed building with multiple fields and courts for lacrosse basketball, Dek hockey, baseball, softball and soccer.The entire complex is scheduled to be completed by late 2013.Also last summer, the Pittsburgh Penguins and UPMC announced they are considering Cranberry Township as home of a first-of-its-kind hockey-only training, practice and sports medicine facility.The team and UPMC, the region's dominant hospital network, hope to open the facility near Cranberry Woods, an office park that includes the headquarters for Westinghouse.According to reports, UPMC wants to open the site in the summer of 2014.
Butler County residents were impacted by three deadly arguments:On Sept. 28, Larry Karnes, 76, of Connoquenessing was arrested after allegedly shooting and killing his 19-year-old grandson, Austin Riddell, following an argument at their house.Karnes reportedly claims he was holding the gun to scare his 200-pound grandson, and the shooting was an accident.A day earlier, on Sept. 27, authorities believe Richard Neyman, 35, shot and killed Craig M. Haas during an argument on Haas' doorstep in the city.Neyman said that he was attacked before shooting Haas, 45, who died of a single gunshot to the chest.On Nov. 17, Ruth M. Angert of Clearfield Township allegedly shot and killed her husband, Larry B. Angert during an argument at their camp in Tionesta. She will be prosecuted in Forest County.None of these cases has yet gone to trial.Three other cases involving Butler County residents ended in prison time for high-profile defendants.Once-prominent Butler doctor David Evanko was ordered to prison for 6 to 15 years after his conviction for molesting a boy he first encountered as a 12-year-old Boy Scout in 1992.Evanko still faces a trial on allegations he inappropriately touched two Summit Academy residents.A former Seneca Valley Junior ROTC instructor convicted of molesting a boy was sentenced to serve 11½ to 22½ years in prison.Sgt. Maj. Kevin Johnson, 54, of Portersville was convicted in December 2011 of 20 counts of sexual assault and child endangerment.Patricia Smith of Cranberry Township was sentenced to serve 6½ years in prison for embezzling more than $10 million from a car dealership.Smith, a 58-year-old mother of three, worked as the controller for Baierl Acura in Wexford for 18 years. She admitted taking the money over a period of six years.
• Staff Sgt.Eric S. Holman, 39, U.S. Army explosive ordnance technician, of Evans City, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's Ghazni province on Aug. 15. He is survived by his wife, Terri, and the couple's adopted son, Misha.Holman, who was on his first deployment to Afghanistan, was honored by his unit, the 767th EOD Battalion, in a memorial service at Fort Bragg, N.C., on Aug. 22, then cremated and buried with full military honors on Aug. 27 at Mt. Nebo Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Holman received three posthumous military awards — the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service Medal — and some of his ashes were buried next to his grandfather, John David Holman, a World War II veteran.The remaining ashes were released by five members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team, Holman's former unit, while parachuting over Skydive Pennsylvania in Springfield Township, Mercer County, on what would have been his 40th birthday, Nov. 23.• Abie Abraham, 98, of Renfrew, Butler County's 1995 Veteran of the Year and a survivor of the Bataan Death March, died March 22.Abraham served with the U.S. Army's 31st Infantry in 1942 when the Philippines surrendered to Japan during World War II and survived the march, which killed more than 20,000 men, remaining a prisoner of war until he was liberated by American troops in 1945.• Andrew Yaracs Jr., 88, of Lyndora died March 26. He served as a radio operator in World War II with the U.S. Army's 517th Airborne Infantry Battalion. He founded the General Butler Vagabonds Drum and Bugle Corps in 1966. He was active in the American Legion, being named Post Commander of the Year in the 26th district, Legionnaire of the Year in 1985 and Butler County Veteran of the Year in 1992.• Reldon Cooper, 93, former Saxonburg mayor, died Aug. 22. Cooper co-founded Du-Co Ceramics in 1949, was a former chief of the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company and a deputy county coroner, former Saxonburg councilman and philanthropist.• Dick Settlemire, Mars mayor, died Oct. 20 at the age of 56. Settlemire first took office in 2002 and was in his third term. He had the bell from the decommissioned naval ship the USS Mars placed in the town square in 2008 and was instrumental in coordinating the borough's 4th of July celebration.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, of Butler was reelected to a second term in Congress. He defeated Democratic challenger Missa Eaton of Sharon. Kelly beat Eaton with nearly 55 percent of the vote.State Sen. Mary Jo White, R-21st, retired at the end of November after almost 16 years in Harrisburg. State Rep. Scott Hutchinson, R-64th, ran unopposed for her seat, and he takes office Jan. 1.Oil City Republican R. Lee James, a newcomer to Harrisburg, took Hutchinson's seat. He ran unopposed in the Nov. 6 election.State Sen. Jane Orie, R-40th, vacated her seat in May shortly before being sentenced to prison for a public corruption scandal involving illegal use of taxpayer funds. She was sentenced to 2½ to 10 years.State Rep. Randy Vulakovich, an Allegheny County Republican, defeated Democrat Sharon Brown in a special election in August for that seat. He will serve until 2014, when the 40th district will move to the eastern part of the state as part of redistricting.
The May issue of Smithsonian Magazine named Butler 7th on its list of the top 20 small towns in America.The second annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival Aug. 10-12 took over downtown Butler for a night before moving to the Big Butler Fairgrounds.The United Way of Butler County raised about $1.7 million during its 2011-12 campaign, up from $1.3 million a year earlier.On Sept. 15, Gino Crognale of Adams Township won an Emmy Award for his work as a prosthetic makeup artist on the set of “The Walking Dead,” where he transforms actors into horrific, undead creatures.Denver-based MarkWest Energy Partners agreed to buy Keystone Midstream Services for $512 million in May. Keystone operates two cryogenic gas processing plants near Evans City, a gas gathering system and an associated field compression station.
A federal grand jury investigation into allegations of criminal wrongdoing involving guards at the Butler County Prison ended quietly and without any changes at the prison.At least one correctional officer and one inmate were summoned by subpoena and testified in U.S. District Court in February.Jurors reportedly heard evidence in the case that followed an FBI investigation, which authorities said dated back to early 2011.Courthouse officials and county law enforcement authorities — some anonymously, some not — previously told the Butler Eagle that federal investigators were looking into claims of sex between female inmates and correctional officers in or out of the prison.Officials have said the probe is complete.
