the view from my window...

Note: T his  Tribune-Review  article was originally published in 2002. According to  Trib  personnel, the article was re-dated to 2012 during an archiving process.  The individuals identified and the content presented within this article, as well as the by-line, support that the publication date has been changed.  [ Bold  emphasis has been added to the article.] http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_105713.html Delmont: We're not 'bad guys' in pump-station dispute PAUL PATERRA  |  Sunday ,  May 13, 2012, 4:19 a.m. Delmont Council members feel they have been portrayed as the "bad guys" in the continuing dispute with the Salem Township Municipal Authority concerning the Cramer pump station. With that in mind, council held a special meeting Monday night to tell its side of the story. "We have had it," said Councilwoman Cher Anderson. "We want to be heard." The pump station has been a bone of co...

Delmont Borough knowingly discharges untreated human waste into a primary source of this community's municipal water. This active contempt for public health and safety and for fish and wildlife habitats and natural ecosystems has been a hallmark of Delmont Borough for 20+  years. Delmont Borough council has indicated through its April 10 statement that the Borough is pursuing construction of a Sewage Interceptor. The purpose of a sewage interceptor is to hold excess sewage back on a temporary basis so it can gradually and safely be directed into the system for transport to the treatment facility. Delmont Borough has no excess sewage. During times of dry weather , the sewage system contains and conducts its sewage generally without issue for treatment to FTMSA in Murrysville. In fact, during times of dry weather, the Borough has excess capacity in the system . FTMSA allows for 259,000 gallons per day (gpd) to be pumped from the Cramer Pump Station for treatment. In dry wea...

These two posts are interrelated : "Sewage" Interceptor—Delmont Borough council's Disregard and Contempt for the Environment, for the Borough's Law Abiding Residents, for Sewer Rate Payers, and for Municipal Water Consumers Delmont Borough: We're Not the Bad Guys This post stands alone and speaks for itself : Is Delmont Borough Insured?

We made a photo presentation at the March 13 meeting of Borough council, documenting intentional sanitary sewer discharges onto our property and into Beaver Run on a nearly unabated basis the week of February 16 through February 25. Our presentation also included photos of erosion and other damages to streams, fields and mature trees on our property as a result of the Borough's excessive direct storm water run-off and of the debris left behind. During the "personnel/insurance committee" portion of the meeting, I asked if the Borough carried insurance coverage for the types of damages being perpetrated on our property . Borough solicitor Daniel J. Hewitt said he "would look into it" and requested a copy of our photo presentation to provide to an insurance claims adjuster. Here is Mr. Hewitt's communication to us with regard to insurance : Here is our response to Mr. Hewitt's letter : Most insurance policies carry a clause specifically excl...

You'll want to read my April 15 blog posts in this order: Property Owners Issue Cease and Desist Order to Delmont Borough Delmont Borough in Violation of PA Sunshine Act? What Delmont Borough's Statement of April 10 Means for Delmont Borough Residents and Delmont Sewer Rate Payers Watch for more updates in the very near future...

Delmont Borough’s Intent All you need to know about Delmont Borough council’s intent with regard to the Borough’s sewer system is contained at the end of the third-to-last bullet point of its April 10 statement: “Going forward, Delmont Borough will be working with the Department [that is, the PA DEP], Salem Township, Borough Residents, Delmont Sewer Rate payers and affected property owners to achieve the least costly solution to the benefit of everyone .” [emphasis added] Least costly for whom? The Borough’s true intent is to continue to force other people —Salem Township property owners (through the confiscation of yet more of their private property), Delmont Sewer rate payers (through a series of rate increases over many years—think MAWC), Pennsylvania tax payers (through grant monies and other assistance), and law abiding Delmont Borough residents (through both rate increases and state tax dollars)— to subsidize Delmont Borough property owners with illegal con...

Delmont Borough is in receipt of an order dated March 23, 2018, to cease and desist its illegal activities with regard to our property. The Borough has made no response to this order. We shared the order to cease and desist with the public at the April 10, 2018, meeting of Borough council. Council president Andrew Shissler stated that the Borough had no comment with regard to the cease and desist letter and that the Borough would issue a formal statement during the Borough’s sewage committee report. That statement was read into the record by sewage committee co-chair Stan Cheyne. We attach here the Borough’s entire statement: The Trib also posted a video of the reading of this statement as part of a related online article dated April 10, 2018: Delmont, DEP officials work on consent order to address storm water, sewage overflows And the Oscar Goes to… The highly rehearsed manner in which this statement was read and subsequent motions  made — the re...

Below are photos presented to Delmont Borough council at its March 13 meeting that document intentional illegal discharges from the Borough's sewer system onto our property and into Beaver Run on a nearly unabated basis the week of February 16 to February 25.  Following the presentation, my husband, Ed Rebitch, sought to engage Borough officials in a dialogue about these matters. ·        Noting that in periods of dry weather the Borough’s sewer system adequately contains sewage for transport to the treatment facility, and noting that during periods of wet weather the manholes on our property begin to discharge almost immediately during a rain event (indicating significant inflows of storm water into the system), Ed asked for specifics about the identification of Delmont property owners with illegal connections to the sewer system and corrective actions mandated by the Borough. He received the usual ambiguities:    ...

It was a beautiful Easter weekend here in southwestern Pennsylvania. Saturday was crisp but sunny. Early on Easter Sunday we woke up to blustery winds and rain, but all of that cleared out in time for our family dinner in the afternoon. We gathered together to give thanks for Easter blessings, to catch up on kids and grandkids and jobs and home renovations and upcoming travel plans, and to light the "grandma candle" in honor of the much-beloved woman who entrusted this property to her four children and their families. And I kid you not: as we all sat together in the living room, one of the blue herons I referred to in my Welcome! post of March 26 coasted across the lower field beyond our back windows to land, tall and dignified, near our pond. Breathtaking. This morning, following an overnight snow that created a (very) late winter wonderland, we were blessed with these views from those same back windows: All of this had melted away by mid afternoon, but what a gi...