A message from God ? Strange case of lightning striking a church causing damage but not causing a power surge or fire .

It was a warm summer Sunday morning when the congregants where attending services at Christian Community Church  in  a former Presbyterian church when a fierce thunder storm came up  and there was a tremendously loud noise.
The 4 point  steeple on the church was struck by lightning and one of the points  was destroyed.
 and is in the process of being removed.

Miraculously there was no fire or power surge despite the fact the lightning tore a hole thru the roof of the steeple which contained plenty of old wood inside.It appears the water pouring in during the storm prevented any thing from catching fire and there was no physical damage to the structure holding up the spire ,
 although there was significant water damage it was confined mostly to the floor areas directly below the steeple.
In a weird kind of irony a Catholic Church up the street was struck by lightning a week later and its vast pipe organ damaged.

While plenty of jokes all in fun  have gone around  that God was sending a message he was not happy a non denominational church moved into a former Presbyterian church .It appears the church has been hit before even thou its not the highest point in the block.
Needless to say the current non denominational church plans on installing lightning arrestors as they have found out this is not the first time the church has been hit and with the arrestors hopefully it will be the last.

Unsolved Arson fire of Waltmire Pharmacy in Spring Garden section of Pittsburgh leaves more questions than answers

It happened earlier this spring 2 men force open a door and then catch a local pharmacy on fire they did not take anything just burned it down.Was it revenge  was its a dispute  or some one just trying to cause a ruckus in the neighborhood ? or was it something else?  thats the questions waiting to be answered  and will not be until the suspects are caught . Local news station KDKA TV 2 have released video images of the men and Pa Crime stoppers  is offering a $1000.00 reward and is asking for help in identifying the  men involved.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/10/15/crime-stoppers-offering-reward-in-spring-garden-pharmacy-arson/

The pharmacy has operated for many years in Spring Garden Valley neighborhood of Pittsburgh's North Side  serving young and old a like  and did not deserve to have this done to them. Luckily with help from the community they are making a come back and hopefully with a tip the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

A Workers Body in the concrete used to build the Westinghouse Bridge ?

One of what appears to be one of the longest running myths involving the George Westinghouse Bridge which carry's US 30  The Lincoln Highway over the town of East Pittsburgh  and the Turtle Creek Valley is that there are workers embedded with in the concrete who fell in during the massive concrete pour .I drive over the bridge every few weeks and looked into the story and
well it is nothing more than an Urban Myth . The bridge was done in many large pours  but not all at one time and no worker fell into the concrete and was entombed. In fact if this did happen  it would threaten the integrity of the concrete.  All work would stop and the section of concrete removed and re-poured  according to structural engineers . Penn Dot dept of engineering has come out on numerous occasions over the bridges many celebratory years and refuted any one being stuck in the concrete .

http://www.city-data.com/forum/pittsburgh/614587-urban-legends-pittsburgh-2.html

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/hoover.asp

http://pgdigs.tumblr.com/post/99612496911/1932-the-george-westinghouse-bridge-pittsburghs

But the rumor persists. Same for the Hoover Dam , Brooklyn Bridge etc. Now yes workers did get severely hurt and there was at least one possible death of a worker falling off the structure but falling into and remaining in the concrete ? No it did not happen. How ever the bridge has been the end point of many desperate people lives when they jumped the 200+ feet from and took their lives at least 30 body's have ended up below the bridge since it was built in 1932. and the bridge has had many  deadly vehicle accidents on it especially in winter time and many desperate actions of those attempting suicide have closed the bridge and played out as well.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19480117&id=6lsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H00EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3503,396844

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19890405&id=FrBRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_W0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5299,709843

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19640819&id=PtgNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5720,2263673

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20031105&id=recyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g3ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6668,4071475

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19470324&id=eXYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6561,3073839

They say Reverend Clifton is still at his typewriter doing his Sermons at WAVL 910 AM in Apollo ?

I have been the Contract Broadcast Engineer at WAVL 910 AM  in Apollo Pa actually Kiskimetas Twp  since 2000  The Christian based Station which started in 1947 by the Reverend  Cecil F.Clifton   WAVL was one of the first stations in the nation to offer brokered time to ministers to deliver their sermons .

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

http://www.wavlradio.com/

While the original studios where once located in downtown  Apollo they moved to the transmitter site in late 50's after a fire devastated a whole block of buildings including the studios of WAVL 

while the studios are now located in Kittaning the transmitter site studios  are still occasionally used for live broadcasting .

  The building which sits in the middle of several large parcels  of ground has a very isolated feeling so working there late at night can put some people on the edge. 

But several of the former on air personality's  who worked there late at night claim to hear what sounded like typing upstairs where The good Reverend would prepare his sermons.I have been there many late nights and not heard it but I usually am making noise adjusting and doing preventative maintenance so I can not verify it. However I know we get birds and squirrels in the attic so it may even be them making the noise. But AM stations are kind of creepy anyways because you can often hear voices  coming from the transmitter even with out a radio turned on and strong AM radio waves can cause all kind of other phenomena as well.
So if it is Rev. Clifton staying up late working  I bet its one of his best sermons ever.