Land Trust Becomes Nonprofit

The Westmoreland Land Trust has received nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service. This means funding will be a much easier process for them, and donations will be tax-deductible.

Chuck Duritsa, chair of the Land Trust Board, says the organization's purpose is to preserve open space in Westmoreland County. Attaining more property faster is now underway, and their potential land acquisitions are coming from both purchases and donations. He says the year-old Land Trust is unique to the county because it serves only the county and exists only for one sole purpose.

Coroner Requests More Room

Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha says his facility lacks sufficient space for the bodies he must store. He wants the county to build a new morgue and coroner's office with up-to-date equipment and more refrigeration trays. Currently, bodies are stored in the morgue at Westmoreland Manor, a county-owned nursing home. There are four refrigerated drawers at that locations, three of which can be used to store bodies. Bacha says he wants a new facility with about 18 storage drawers. He says the more space is needed because of an increase in caseload and an increase in the length of time bodies must be kept at the morgue. Bacha has spoken with Westmoreland County Commissioners about his need for more space, but no formal request for a new facility has been made.

Judges Appoint New Westmoreland County Commissioner

Judges chose Marine Corps veteran Chuck Anderson from a field of 22 Republican applicants to serve the remaining three years in the term of Republican Kim Ward, who was elected to the state senate. The two other commissioners are Democrats.

The 66-year-old Greensburg resident says he made the decision when he retired from the military to devote his time to the community, working with Rotary and the Service Corps of Retired Executives, or SCORE, at St. Vincent. Anderson says he's facing a steep learning curve in this, his first foray into politics, but the work he's done at SCORE in helping businesses create jobs is in line with what he sees as the county's big need: jobs, especially with the announcement of SONY's departure.

Anderson says he hopes to help the county government fulfill its role of establishing an environment where business can thrive.

Westmoreland Sony Plant to Close

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has confirmed that the Sony plant in Westmorland County will be among those closed in the coming months. The plant’s 650 employees make flat panel televisions. Demand for those products has been weak in the faltering economy and the technology has started to move away from the type of screen made at the Mount Pleasant facility. Sony says it is trimming about 4% of its worldwide workforce. The governor says the closing is not immediate and workers will be eligible for state subsidized job training. Sony is expected to shutter the facility over then next 15 months. The company shifted about 800 jobs from the Mount Pleasant plant to a facility in Mexico last year and closed a glass making facility and warehouse in Hempfield in 2006. That move killed about 350 local jobs. Rendell says he already has two companies that may be interested in the Sony campus. One is said to be a renewable energy company.

Catholic Parishes To Close in Greensburg

The Catholic Diocese of Greensburg says it's closing some parishes due to a drop in its number of priests and parishioners. The diocese will close 14 parishes later this month. Two others will merge and 26 will form new or modify existing priest-sharing agreements. The diocese provides a list of affected parishes on its website.

Diocese spokesman Jerry Zufelt says the decision came after a lengthy strategic planning process. He says most of the parishes that will close are small, and are located just a few miles from other parishes.

Zufelt also says the diocese has been working on recruiting more priests. The diocese currently has 83 active priests, but expects to have only 49 a decade from now.

The diocese covers Westmoreland, Fayette, Armstrong and Indiana counties.