The on going Arson Spree in New Castle and Lawrence county WHO is behind it and WHY I think I know the Why?

Arson its been with us since The time of the Bible in fact it is even mentioned in the Bible.

Arson is used for many purposes. for Revenge , To cover Evidence of a Crime, to Terrify ,Threaten and Scare people and Most Importantly for Profit.

So take your pick it seems that for the past 10- 15 years there has been Arson  Fire after Arson Fire in or around New Castle and at least 2 big Arson Rings busted up and people imprisoned for it. But Why.

What is it that could possibly make New Castle such a target.
There have been no big development plans announced other than a planned Horse Racing Track and Casino which does not seem will be built  Other than individuals looking to accumulate property by acquiring it cheaply thru shills why would they be accumulating it. Or is it just a big Fire Insurance scam?
One thought does come to mind.

New Castle has lots of flat area that could be developed for warehousing in particular for HUB facility's for shipping for big box stores ,Amazon etc.
It is also very close to major Interstates I-79 and I-80 and I-376 US-422 and US-19 runs thru it.
Also there is a heavy concentration of Train routes thru it a perfect place to transfer from train to truck .
New Castle has CSX lines which run thru and next to it and CSX like Norfolk Southern is developing a Stacked truck trailer Inter-modal  rail system and new castle is in the running .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodal_freight_transport

This means that flat development land will become very valuable in the near future.

Consider also the fact that by time the Inter-modal is in place that the New Locks to the Panama canal will be open  allowing bigger ships to pass thru and there will be a significant in flux of cheap materiel now being brought to  the East Coast Ports  almost doubling there imports /exports and all this material will need shipped to and from the Mid West as manufacturing and warehousing increases  and whats the best way to the Mid West ? That's right Rail and Truck  and New Castle sits right in the middle of the whole thing as a gateway to the Mid West.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_expansion_project

That's why so many rail lines like the Nickel Plate ran thru the area at one time.

http://nkphts.org/history.html

With easy access to Great Lakes and Cleveland  , Toledo and other Big Mid West City's  etc.
Yes when you take in the big picture it looks like this is why all the arson's scare the people out swoop in with shills buy up the property and wait for the buyers who need warehousing and manufacturing space.
Think I am crazy do the research. Do not forget there is a giant Walmart Hub just over in Ohio as well.
Just look at all the Arson's down in McKees Rocks another place being considered for the Inter-modal facility. Think its a coincidence I do not.
So then who is behind all this and going to be making the big bucks? I leave that up to you to investigate and speculate .
Needless to say if I am right they have very carefully covered there tracks and its going to take Federal effort to get to the bottom of it and why Lawrence County officials have not already called for Fed help or maybe they have .
This whole thing could also be behind so many arson fires in Beaver County as well.
Lets face it if the predictions about the Panama expansion is true it is going to be another industrial revolution in this area as manufacturing comes back to Western Pa. and warehousing and manufacturing is looking for flat ready to develop pads for the new facility they want to build.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pad_site

It appears I may be on the right track about railroads because recently this developer a little bit north of new castle  wants to develop a rail siding

http://www.sharonherald.com/news/local_news/article_845af5f0-2e4e-11e4-90fe-001a4bcf887a.html

200-600 Pounds of Missing Nuclear Materials from Apollo and Parks Twp. Processing Plant during the Cold War where did it go?

As I ride by the site in Parks Twp where they are cleaning up trenches filled with Nuclear waste from a former nuclear fuel manufacturer NUMEC Nuclear Materials and Equipment Company once owned by Atlantic Rich Field and then Babcock & Wilcox as I go up to take care of WAVL 910 AM  I use to ride by a fenced in field where the plant once stood and there was a run of the mill rent a cop guard watching the main gate.Then one day I ride by they are putting big stone block wall around trailer and then I see Homeland Security Police sitting armed in Blazers . What was going on.
Well it appears while cleaning up the trenches once used to dump low level nuclear waste  they found some really hot nuclear materials that should not have been there.

http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/complex/babcock-wilcox.html

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/03/14/Federal-report-finds-nuclear-waste-underestimated-at-Armstrong-County-site/stories/201403140175

With this in mind it brings back all the nagging story's bout several hundred pounds of highly enriched uranium which went missing from the factory's in Apollo and Parks Twp.
Run by NUMEC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apollo_Affair

Known as the Apollo affair it is no wonder the uranium can not be accounted for when you look into the whole situation and see how poorly this facility was run and how loosely they kept nuclear safety policy's in effect as well as security.
Multi Million dollar lawsuits are still on going over all the major cases of cancer residents claim came from the loose handing on nuclear material and no doubt some of the high level stuff missing may well be up in those trenches and in air and water and grounds around Apollo and Parks Twp.
Was my Colon Cancer partly to blame on working in the area we will never know .

Still other claim the material was lost in all the piping as uranium was processed  or it was diverted to Israeli intelligence for use in there nuclear program either way 200-600 pounds of highly enriched uranium is unaccounted for. So many unanswered questions that never should have been allowed to happen in first place had rules been followed and facility properly run. there are plenty of people including Government inspectors who should be up on charges and in prison but so many are dead from Cancer  there is no one to hold accountable as time has now passed.

A Child found in a basket on a doorstep Christmas Eve 1928 whose mother was never found . But whose abandonment helped to create a world wide charity

When a group of 11 men from show business back round  set up a Charity for Children on October 10 1927 never in their wildest dreams did they ever realize just how big " The Variety Club " would become. But it was an even bigger surprise when on Christmas eve 1928 a child would be found in a basket outside there head quarters  with the following note.

Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of show business and pray to God that you will look out for her.

(signed) ‘A Heartbroken Mother’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety,_the_Children's_Charity

They would never find the girls mother and at age 5 arranged for her to be adopted by a family and be kept away from publicity to live a private life

She grew into a beautiful young woman who would go on to serve her country and much more

http://varietythechildrenscharity.org/our-history/

This is just one of many cases of children abandoned in 20-30's many to be sent to orphanages where they where not very well treated in too many cases.

But in this case although she never found out who she really was at least she had a first name and helped propel an organization world wide.  

Edward Surrat that Thing you feared in a Dark Alley , Who haunted this area in late 70's leaving behind more questions than answers.

You can still see many of the old farm property's out by the Greater Pittsburgh Airport   in Findlay Twp. that had hastily put up mercury lights on them in late 1970's when an animal  From Alliquippa by the name Edward Surrat was running around  Western Pa. on a drug fueled killing spree. A former Vietnam Combat Vet and Long Haul Truck Driver he sits in a southern Prison with 2 life sentences with no chance of parole an old man now in his late 70's .
Thou he has confessed to certain murders he was never charged and they are considered cleared many questions still remain why how and where his victims remains are which he claims can never be recovered.

Looking into the eyes of  a true evil animal 

Look Deeply into the eyes of this menacing individual who gave people nightmares for months as they lived in terror each day where they next and the constant heart ache of not knowing where your loved one is if has admitted to killing them.
His specialty was attacking couples shot gunning to death the male and then raping terrorizing and killing the female.
One haunting case Surrat is linked to  is a young couple attacked while sitting in a van near the airport the young man killed the young woman vanished.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19781022&id=nVcdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qlkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7054,1967213

In all he is suspected of over a dozen attacks in several states many victims he claims are unrecoverable

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19990321&id=88MiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hrYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1140,5183912

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=20070225&id=frwiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1rUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4831,5908261

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19780716&id=nOEhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YVgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6486,8080

http://www.post-gazette.com/frontpage/2007/02/27/Serial-killer-admits-to-2-Findlay-deaths-in-
1977/stories/200702270145

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19780810&id=jYBIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=O20DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5561,1390803

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19800509&id=dBBZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oW0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6881,1958018

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19780722&id=JBleAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hF8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3855,3137500

I have included the original  newspaper articles and follow up links above so you can get to know the face of true evil and can see just how terrifying it was in the late 70's when surrat was running free.
Why he did what he did he blames on his service in Vietnam and not getting help.
He and other Vietnam vets who seemed to go mad where the inspiration behind the Rambo series of Films.
I know many Vietnam Combat  Vets and they are fine outstanding individuals and they never went mad so whats was Surrats excuse he has none other than fact that he  allowed his own self to become an animal.
Despite not getting treatment from the VA
What drives a man to go so insane as to kill again and again  having not been in the situation these men have endured I will never know but why do they trigger off and others serve honorably  come home and it is another day?

Pittsburgh has its own Stone Henge mystery near McKees Rocks bridge

Thousands of people drive by them everyday along Pa. Route 65 next to the Mckees Rocks Bridge about a dozen old concrete piers  in a circular  sticking out of the ground next to a Duquesne Light Company Sub Station .
No one seems to know there purpose.

Where they once used as a Military gun Platform for Anti Aircraft guns during WWII ?
Possible no one remembers

Stilts for a water or oil tank ? also possible

They held a building which was used by river men to watch the barge fleet below ? that's more likely
but no one seems to know.

I hope to poke around them some day and come up with the answer.

Pillars to left of Intersection 

Its True at one time to get home some people had to go under the Edgar Thompson Steel Works Via a Haunted Tunnel

Before the Massive Edgar Thompson Steel Works expanded to its current site there sat at the mouth of Turtle Creek and the Mon River a small little town called Port Perry

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2004/01/21/The-town-prosperity-killed-Few-traces-remain-of-Port-Perry/stories/200401210124

Just a small town with 13 saloons and such.  to reach it you had to take Hamburg Road which was a tunnel that went under the Edgar Thompson mil site.

Port Perry as it looks today 

That was till WWII broke out and the town was needed to make steel for the war. 

Oh but the story does not end there .

Rumors have it the tunnel was haunted by a ghost of  dead steel worker who lost his life in the mill still others say its the jilted wife killed by her husband . To this day it is said workers avoid this area of the mill because of the strange goings on.

of course this is not the only ghost around Braddock  where General Braddock lost his life in a battle with indians and where a fabricating shop I take care of is rumored to be haunted by a ghost known as Airplane Joe ,who died at his machine he operated the day he was to retire. 

You can not get onto the  Port Perry town property any more  its all posted but you can see it from across the creek down Dooks Hollow area  only couple foundations can be seen. 

Will the Mystery of the B 25 Bomber that crashed into the Mon River and disappeared ever be solved?

A customer of mine recently bought some property on Neville Island right next to the Army Corp of Engineers headquarters on the Island  where they maintain a fleet of boats which maintains the locks and river navigation aides along the 3 rivers and when we see the guard walk past in evening we often wave to him One time he stopped  to shoot the breeze as we say and we got a big chuckle out of him when we asked if the Missing B 25 Bomber was being stored over in the secure facility.

Missing B 25 bomber you say yes on January 31st 1956 during the cold war a B 25 Bomber ran out of fuel and crashed into the Monongahela River. near Hazelwood section of the City of Pittsburgh .   after running into an emergency and trying to land at the old Allegheny County Airport That parts correct what actually happened to it and why all the secrecy that's a whole different story.

http://www.damninteresting.com/retired/the-lost-bomber/

http://robertgoerman.tripod.com/b25/

http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/transportation/a/b25_bomber_2.htm

I have talked to many who say they where working the Hazelwood Mill side or where fishing along river and who said they saw it go in and others who say they saw it being taken out.

Most from what I can tell just telling tales for the most part they where never there.

First off it was a very cold winter in 56 and secondly only a handful of people would have had any reason to even be working in that end of the facility which was where they handled barges and rail traffic and all these people stayed up overnight to see this done?  Nonsense if it was that secret government would have made sure no one was watching or disguised the whole operation .

It was rush hour when plane went in so many saw it go in taken out that's a whole different story.
You also have to remember there was a smaller military aircraft which went down  in 1954 in the mon and was hauled out near Clairton and many people get the 2 planes mixed up.

As far as all the cold war secret stuff .
well that's possible it was carrying some kind of payload there was recently the Dive Detectives  TV show which recovered a secret navigation unit from a similar plane in a lake in the Midwest which has since become declassified. We will never know and we do not need to know what was on that plane this was during the cold war and the country needed to stay safe.
As far as them pulling the plane out whole , they may have got a wing or other piece but to pull the whole thing out not very likely we just did not have a crane that tall on river to do it . There was the Monella II steam crane  it was designed for barges not planes.
So they probably found what they needed and let the rest fall beck in river and get swallowed.
 back in early 90's The old WIIC now WPXI TV was going to do a show on the craft and people backed out at last minute claiming they where threatened by government agents . Really? any one could call them up and act and sound like an agent. Now some one visiting them that's a different story  and even that could be fake agents so I do not think any government agent threaten them they where hoaxed.
 Besides any thing these so called witness where going to say has already been published. Really its just one of hundreds of military  planes which have crashed all over this country on training or official flights and not everyone is carrying secret stuff.
As far asthe truck driver calling and saying he hauled the plane to a military base in middle of night  don't think so this is when 3 shifts where common here plenty of people out and about. If the plane was recovered it was put on a barge covered and floated down the river to a base some where not trucked out.
Besides its just a voice on a phone no way to check it out and there are plenty of people who can make you believe any thing.
Just go back and listen to all the old Coast to Coast AM  Talk Radio shows Art Bell hosted and the anonymous phone calls he would get from truckers claiming all kind of stuff.

About the only thing left now of the plane  would be the Engines as the polluted river at the time would have made short work of the plane .
The river was running high at time of recovery and when it does only the most strongest river boats can ply it even today the rivers are an extreme hazard in high running conditions.

So what happened to the plane .
I have to go with the River Boat Captain who feels its in a gravel wash by the Glen Hazel bridge having been smashed down by another riverboat deep into the mud.
Hopefully some day they will find the engines and put all this conspiracy nonsense to rest but till then all the story's will continue and just keep being mistold and added on to.