Updates on previous articles B25 plane crash and missing Cherrie Mahan

Two articles I published in last couple months have popped back up in news.
Regarding the B-25 that crash landed in the mon a recovery group has asked permission to check out and dredge the gravel pit where they believe it has sunk.

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/6448999-74/plane-group-bomber#axzz37sNuwaV4

Also in the news they have re-examined the site where Cherrie Mahan disappeared many years ago sadly no new evidence 

http://www.wtae.com/news/new-search-made-in-cherrie-mahan-case/27015936?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=wtae-tv%2Bpittsburgh#!bh2JBh

The town which people like to make fun of its name has a not so funny unsolved murder

Deery Pa. also known by the joke derry area  if you say it wrong  has a long history of being a quiet but big railroad town in Westmoreland County situated between US 22 and US 30
 not much goes on here except for a major  pedestrian accident involving the railroad as people try  to illegally  cross tracks in town instead of using the approved crossing and end up getting hit.
I have been thru the town several times as a short cut  from Fayette County to Altoona
So it was quite the shock in this town  when a murder was committed on a young woman 22 year old Samantha Lang on March 27 of 2007 in her Derry Twp home.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/03/26/victims-family-increases-reward-in-derry-twp-cold-case/

Its hard to believe no one heard or saw anything in this little town where everyone knows your business not even a $50,000.00 dollar reward has brought forth any leads .

So it makes you wonder was this some one local or is it a serial killer the case looks and sounds all to familiar to a case in West Deer Twp ,Bethel Park  and Arnold  all 4 women alone at home and viciously attacked and not one drop of evidence over many years.

The police have no clues and psychic family contacted is no better.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/psychic-murder-victims-family-you-will-get-closure/nfgxy/

Update : Sad ending for elderly missing Washington county man

Sadly they found 88 yr old  George Pochibas body this afternoon on a grass field  about a mile  from his home  It appears searchers never checked the fields in this area and concentrated on the wooded areas instead.
He was found by a farmer cutting hay in his  fields .

http://www.wtae.com/news/body-found-in-washington-county-believed-to-be-that-of-missing-man/26865074#!bbT2du

Pittsburgh was one of the city's visited the summer the Ringling Brothers Circus Tent caught fire The Tragedy could have well happened here and still unsolved

July 6th 1944 would turn into a day of Tragedy when the Ringling Brothers  and Barnum & Bailey Circus Tent would catch fire  in Hartford Connecticut  where 167 people who came to see the circus that hot sunny afternoon never made it home.
 http://www.circusfire1944.com/

http://troytaylorbooks.blogspot.com/

The actual cause of the fire and who caused it  or how it started has been debated even to this day but it is known the fire was so devastating because the tent material was waterproofed using gasoline and paraffin   wax.

But few people realize this tragedy could have played out right here in Pittsburgh as the circus made a stop in Pittsburgh east Liberty community a couple of weeks before the Hartford Tragedy .
It was during the war years and a chance to get away from the stress of war means the tent would have been packed here and many more lives likely would have been lost. But with luck the circus went off with out a hitch and proceeded on. Pittsburgh was very worried about Nazi Spy's coming to do sabotage  during the time period  as Black out drills where also conducted  yet no one knew the very danger they faced by simply attending the circus that summer .

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.

The haunted J&L Mill shop 2# on Pittsburgh's South Side no steel worker ever went back there by them selves unless they where looking for trouble.

I will never forget the one afternoon  in late 60's my mom and brothers and I went to pick up my dad from the mill and he was over an hour late getting out the mill gate . When he did finally come out to the van he had a very worried look on his face one of the workers he knew was missing in the Jones & Laughlin Massive  mill Complex he never checked out and my dad spent time looking for him.

 The worker would be found by a rescue crew later that evening  he had fallen and broke his leg and could not get help getting out  and his banging brought the crew to him but not with out its harrowing moments because he had fallen back in the old Mill shop 1 # and  2 #  area which was haunted by 40 dead steel workers souls who perished  after falling into a vat of steel  or other accident and noises he made trying to get attention caused just that much more tension going back to explore and find him. There was a bronze marker to all those who died in the mill on end of the old shop 2#  that was visible to public but I  do not know what happened to it after they tore down the old mill in 80's

http://www.popularpittsburgh.com/pittsburgh-trivia/spirits-of-the-steel-mills.aspx

My dad will tell you story's of when he had to go back into the old Shop 1# and  2# one time looking for possible parts to use to repair an old crane. 

he heard the wind blowing and banging and flapping of steel siding like there was a storm outside yet it was a perfectly calm summer day.

Old shop 1# and 2# in South side - thank you John Cross for photo image. 

Now how all this haunting started I have heard several stories
Including after a worker fell into vat and vaporized they would pour off a small amount and let it cool an give it to the family as a memorial and the tainted steel was then pored in a hole at the plant and discarded
and when renovations at the plant disturbed these old tainted pour offs which had workers who fell into them that's when the haunting's started.
The above article link also mentions Slag Pile Annie and I have never heard that story and know plenty of old steel workers who worked the south side works including several uncles none of them mentioned it  so this story appears to be just made up. Women did work the mill during WWII but never heard of any dying and they never would have been allowed do do any extremely dangerous jobs around the furnaces.
However one of my dads friends tells the time a worker was killed in the slag pits when water jet was turned on at wrong time . They used the jet on hot slag which granulated it to make it easier to handle and sell for use in driveways.

The mill has been replaced by a shopping complex and cinema and I have not heard of any further haunting's where the theater now sits on the old mill site.
So its either a bunch of old retired steel workers like my dad telling tales or there was something to it.
Of course now that the mill is long gone we will never be able to do further investigation of it.

Update on Young woman found in waste transfer facility in Grove City

Unfortunately a family s worse fears have been realized the body of young woman found earlier this week in a waste transfer plant .
Has been identified as 16 year old Gina Burger of Austintown Ohio

http://www.wtae.com/news/workers-find-womans-body-in-mercer-county-landfill/26668998#!5zltC

She went missing Monday evening as an endangered Runaway which means she was running with a known rough crowd of individuals .possibly one of them is the one who stabbed her and dumped her into a dumpster to be discovered in Pa.

Police now have the who and the how , they need to fill  in what happened and where  and who is responsible .

UPDATE : 18 year old male has been arrested in case further news to follow

A new mystery a young womans body found at a Mercer Waste Transfer Facilty What it takes to solve a case like this.

Just imagine you have been working all day in 80 degree heat in waste transfer facility  the stench so bad you have to take breaks your day is just about over when you come across something odd .
At first it looks like foot but then to your horror its a woman's mangled body. You shut down the line and call the foreman and he calls 911 soon police and coroner are on scene.
Well this is exactly what played out last evening Wednesday June 25th 2014 at a waste transfer facility in  Grove City Mercer County.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/womans-body-found-landfill-grove-city/ngSdq/

As Sherlock Holmes would say the game is a foot

But this is no game as investigators start putting the pieces together .

First the crime scene meticulously recorded in every detail. Next coroner removes the young girls body for examination .

As autopsy results are being prepared investigators are determining a time line for where possibly the body came from and what truck brought it and at what time it was brought to facility.  Its a very big area 2 states and multiple county's. My bet is it came from Youngstown area very rough crowd over there last couple times I worked  in the area. 

Who is she?  detectives are  working on description of victim and notifying other agency's in attempt to find out who she is. Possibly they will get a DNA  or finger print hit from evidence collected during autopsy  if she has a criminal record or some one will  call saying they know some one fitting description is missing. 

Is it a tragic accident or a homicide?

That's just one of the questions the autopsy will try and answer .

Was she homeless sleeping in dumpster or drunk from a party and fell in and unfortunately crushed or is this a body dump or was she stabbed strangled etc. 

Who, What ,Where Why  these are the questions that need asked and suspects and persons of interest will need to answer depending if its an accident or a homicide. 

 A jealous boyfriend, a rapist killer?
The way she is dressed in jogging work out clothing was she kidnapped from a trail  or gym then killed.

Developing a suspect and then a case  prosecutor can pursue after a suspect is linked.

This is what can take the longest time once suspects are identified being able to link them to the crime.

sometimes thou there are no answers Who or why?

In all over 20,000 man hours will be spent on this case and hopefully with results. 

Famous Pittsburgh Area resident John M. Phillips Ceremonial Chiefs Outfit has gone missing and no ones talking

One of the Honor Organizations with in  Boy Scouting is  "The Order of The Arrow  "also known as OA  it has 3 ranks  Ordeal, Brotherhood and Vigil  I made it to brotherhood in the Kiasutha Lodge which no longer exists and was renamed and merged over the years.

http://www.oa-bsa.org/misc/basics/

http://www.griesmyer.com/Pages/kiasutha_57_s1a.aspx

By time I was fully able to participate my work schedule often had me working weekends which kept me from attending  the weekend events ,and a certain family resented my belonging in the first place due to the fact on my mothers side of family they where deeply involved  with native Americans in the late 1700's . My 7th great uncle John Heckewelder  was a missionary who worked with Native American Tribes  right here in Western Pa. and wrote a book about them  and there customs and brought many to Christianity . He is one of our nations forgotten historical figures.
 Instead of welcoming me and my contributions I was often shunned by some because I had real Indian connections and they did not. The link below is a short bio on my uncle

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=184

  

Too bad for them and there ignorance and pettiness  no in fact Shame On Them for acting the way they did..

But I also suspect they are behind the disappearance of John M. Phillips   Ceremonial Chiefs Outfit.

He also worked with Indians  in the late 1800's and  early 1900's  and was known by them as Chief Silver Tip  the honorary name they gave him after rescuing a bear with silver tip  of fur on its head in one of his many western adventures. A boyscout district where I grew up  was named silver tip in his honor since he helped to start the scouting program but the name has since been changed.

http://wiki.carrick-overbrook.org/John_M._Phillips#This_article_is_from_the_Carnegie_Museum_Carnegie_Magazine_Sept._10th._1990_Issue

The last time I saw his outfit was in 1977 while at Camp Guyasuta in Sharpsburg  helping out during a camporee and members of the Kiasuta Lodge  mostly who where with silver Tip district

 found it in storage  above the little store  called the outpost where scouts could buy refreshments and get swimming pool passes ,for the pool. It was in a large silver colored tin box about 4 ft long and 2 foot wide. It was supposed to be restored and displayed and never was.  It has never been seen  from again no one knows what happened to it and people who where  around with me when it was taken down have all scattered  or left scouting and everyone denies or can not remember  the meeting ever took place or has no idea what I am talking about  because it has been 35 years since it was last seen . I personally believe it was sold off to a private collector , for a huge sum.

Thats what The former Allegheny Trails now Laurel Highlands  council does sell things donated to them then take the money and waste it.  They operate like the big money no name no conscious museums and corporations do around here .  Whats that again in the Scout Oath about Honest, Trustworthy  and Truthful or is that only when you where a scout growing up and now it no longer counts .
the OA and Scout Council  executive could not even bother to show up at his John M. Phillips  State Marker dedication why should I be surprised about this.

http://loneeaglescout.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-one-of-founders-of-bsa-was.html

Picture of Mr. Phillips with outfit he was given

I helped  with others to get Mr. Phillips his State Marker at his former homestead in Carrick I would really like to find his outfit have it restored and properly displayed as would his relatives.
But with so many selective memory's of people I once called friends who do not have the balls to stand up admit they where there and say what happened the outfit it is lost to history and another insult to John M. Phillips and Native Americans who gave the outfit to him.

Harry " Pittsburgh " Phil Strauss an unusual name for a Mobster who was never in Pittsburgh

Jewish born Harry Strauss  who became known as " Pittsburgh Phil Strauss"  was one of the most prolific contract killers of the mafias  Murder Inc hit squad said to have killed at least 100 individuals and as high as 500 people he was found guilty of murder in  1940 and electrocuted in the electric chair "old sparky " at Sing Sing Prison in New York.

Records show he was never ever in Pittsburgh at any time in his life time but possibly got the Moniker
Pittsburgh  by saying to an early criminal associate he was like a Minor League
Ball Player  practicing his skills and waiting to be noticed by the big guys one day.

Was he possibly referring to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team and Honus Wagner who became famous in early days by  starting at the bottom and working his way up?
Did Harry ever get that right becoming the mobs number 1# killer .
 I am sure most people who live in Pittsburgh area like me wished he never adopted our city's name for a moniker.
of course there was never any effort to officially denounce it by proclamation or editorial in local papers  either after his death. But then again Mobsters in Pittsburgh have always been secretly admired even thou they where criminals.

http://www.j-grit.com/criminals-murder-inc-harry-pittsburgh-phil-strauss.php

http://www.carpenoctem.tv/mobsters/pittsburgh-phil-strauss/

30+ years and still no answers in death of Tillie Shilling in Bethel Park and or why recently a man tried to kill but was shot dead by a shop owner

Bethel Park is a middle class white collar community along the  T- trolley line   with fine shopping and dining  Big Vol. Fire dept excellent schools and a great Big south park next door.
Not the kid of place you expect to hear about serious  crime but recently a  Young man was shot dead by a music shop owner  after he attacked the owner and his wife with a baseball bat  for no known reason.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2013/04/28/Bethel-Park-store-owner-kills-

attacker/stories/201304280259

But with this attack brings for some community members it has brought bad memories of the Killing of 

Tillie Shilling in  August 15,1983

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/25-year-old-murder-mystery-re-emerges-411346/

This is also the sale year 3 young girls went missing and 2 never found  The Girl from Peters Twp right next door to Bethel Park had been beaten and viciously murdered  when found a coincidence I think not.

3 different county's right next to each other and no one looking at any possible connection scary

 1983 was an extremely dangerous year to be a a woman young or old. Period in this corner of the state.

it was all over the news all these murders and no answers in any of them all cold.  

A real tragedy.

Mud Slip a very strange geological condition in W. Pa when ignored by designers Kills like it did along Sawmill Run blvd.

There was an ambitious plan by developers along Pa.65 in Kilbuck  to turn the old Dixmont State Hospital Property into a Walmart Plaza.They started filling in the property and raising its level when all of a sudden there was a collapse and millions of tons of dirt went sliding out on to Pa. 65 and Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks completely blocking traffic and luckily no one was hurt. It has cost the developer$ 65 Million Dollars so far and the hill is still not stable.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20060927&id=9fFRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V3IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5708,2807546

The developer and his Engineers have been ruined financially and  failed to recognize and respect a more deadly accident in the  City of Pittsburgh's West End section decades earlier.

As you approach the intersection of  Sawmill Run Blvd. and Woodruff Street just before you go under the old Concrete Railroad Trestle for the abandoned Wabash Railroad you will see a very large rock sitting there on the corner behind a wooden spoke fence.
Not much more than a rock sitting there but a very significant one which taught The state of Pa. the City of Pittsburgh and its contractors and engineers not to mess with mother nature.
For this rock is one of the many which killed a bulldozer operator and 2 motorists  when Blasting was being done on the hill side to remove rock and stabilize the hill.
Engineers and blasters assured everyone they could safely blast rock. Have a 15 minute waiting period then allow traffic to flow thru. They where very wrong after one of the blasts  and things went very wrong.
I was in the North Side that day working on a job when a Got a call from a used car dealer customer on  W. Liberty Ave. who needed service I finished up the North Side work and started heading into the South Hills When I hit a high amount of traffic on the Liberty Bridge  and then it came over the radio.
There was a terrible accident where they where blasting to clear rock along and the hill had come down and crushed vehicles. I was able to slowly get over the bridge and thru the Liberty Tunnels and up W. Liberty to customer by then it was all over the TV as he had a small set on in the sales office.
After stopping all traffic blasting then waiting 15 minutes to be sure it was safe they let traffic thru the area when the hill side gave way. Trapping and Killing a Bulldozer operator a motorist and tractor trailer driver.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19830224&id=5lUvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=39oFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3775,4318648

Why did it happen it was because of a very well known dangerous geological condition around Western Pa. called " Mud Slip "
Do not show it respect and it will kill you when building known all the way back to even the days when
Native Americans roamed the area.The Monongahela river is an Indian term loosely translated stands for river bank of sliding rocks.  But warnings in both cases where ignored when previous slides where ignored.

It is caused by the way the sediments and  soft rock layers came together to form the geology of the region.

http://pittsburghgeologicalsociety.org/landslide.pdf

It is also described on page 37 in Pa geology guide link below

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_014597.pdf

The soft porous rock allows for water penetration and dirt  and with the freeze thaw action  allows layers of rock to break off after a hillside is dug into. You have to allow for a gradual slope and cut in steps  or benches as they are called when you cut into a hill not a steep 90 degree angle unless you properly reinforce it.  Which was not done in both cases years of exposed outcropping allowed the stone to blow outward and give way.  There was  a prior slide in both cases and this area in particular is none for the extreme dangers it poses and likely hood of it happening . Its like a house of cards and must be properly managed to prevent problems. As you can see in case below before the sawmill run accident no bench cut in but afterwards  there where and there has been no further incidents.
http://www.dappolonia.com/pdfs/pprofile77.pdf

How does an 88 year old man disappear earlier this month without a trace where is George Pochiba ? /Sadly we now know

When I have seen what friends have gone thru dealing with loved ones who have severe dementia  like has happened in my family or Alzheimer's my heart just breaks for them that's what makes the disappearance of 88 year old George Pochiba  so difficult to understand.

http://www.wtae.com/news/search-for-scenery-hill-man-george-pochiba/26434562#!1shpw

Where can he be they have used  state police helicopters , tracking dogs and hundreds of people have been looking for  him how far could he have possibly gone. Scenery Hill is a very scenic rural area I have been thru on US 40 The national road many times full of unique shops and boutiques  and its  a large area to cover but the people looking know the area like the back of there hand .
Is it possible he is staying with some one and there not letting family know ? was he abducted? Did he fall in a hole or old well  and has perished? all these terrible thoughts goes thru your mind.
I just hope this story has a happy ending for all.
 But Georges case is all too just familiar , one of many elderly who go walking away from there homes never to be seen alive again and as  in most cases they sadly end when there remains are  found months some times years later by hunters or hikers.
I sure hope this is not the case for George and all turns out well.
Having dealt with friends whose relatives develop dementia  they often revert back to memory's when they where young and possibly this was what George was trying to do to get back home or some where from earlier in his life.
If you where a fan of the Sopranos TV show  you will remember a episode where elderly Junior Soprano went wandering into his old neighborhood and was luckily found by the police. A late friend of mines mom when she developed dementia kept looking for the young daughter who had died decades ago  in the 30's from illness .Its heart breaking to watch them go in and out one day they know who you are the next your a stranger to them .

 There are tracking wrist bands and alarms  available  to help prevent wandering even systems which can be put on a loved ones home for a few hundred dollars but most people do not know they exist or when they do inquire unscrupulous dealers want thousands of dollars for a system which costs $300.00-500.00
This is where we need help from corporations and charity's  to help family's with these tracking systems being put in place .Because it happens all the time especially in Western Pa. where we have the 2nd biggest elderly population behind Florida . No family should ever have to go thru what the Pochibas are now going thru . Its not fair we have the technology to prevent it and we are not using it.

Update : Sadly  They have Found Georges body in a grass field near his home

http://www.wtae.com/news/body-found-in-washington-county-believed-to-be-that-of-missing-man/26865074#!bbT2du

A Horrifying Robbery and Murder of Shop keeper and 2 customers just over the state line over 40 years ago goes unsolved.

East Liverpool  was once a bustling town along the Ohio River  just across the Pa. State line and the thinnest section of the W.Va. panhandle as its known at Chester where you can see the worlds largest tea pot
Located along US 30 the town was once considered the china and pottery capital of the world  I  Remember riding thru East Liverpool on Sunday drives my dad would take our family on and passing all the china  outlet shops of the E. Liverpool Factory's  including ones  located along US 30  in Imperial  Pa.  such as Scio China near Pittsburgh which unfortunately burned to the ground couple decades back.
But it too became a victim of the rust belt when the steel mills went down not needing all the ceramics used in industrial  steel process and cheap foreign imports only a couple factory's now exist in the whole valley .
Still a beautiful old town to ride thru where you can still see some of the industrial kilns and tour a pottery museum it was also the scene of a most horrific robbery murder of a shop keeper and his  2 customers in. 1973

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2011/01/03/Documentary-details-Ohio-cold-case-from-1973/stories/201101030181

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19730804&id=8koNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Dm0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3621,499351

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19730731&id=rOtVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2EANAAAAIBAJ&pg=6249,4225070

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19730801&id=3-sjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nFQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7339,23555

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19730802&id=4OsjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nFQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5554,420204

I was just old enough to be entering high school when it happened and remember  hearing about it on evening news.

It was a hot day when the robber or robbers came into used furniture-antique store of elderly  Earl Tweed and during the robbery  2 possible customer's who walked in on it where also killed a pregnant 22 yr old Linda Morris and her 4 yr old daughter Angela  in a most horrific beating and stabbing .

Just blocks from local police station. 

The robbery and murder was like none before and drugs and junkies where not yet at the point of proliferating in the Ohio valley  and crimes where small in the town. 

With US 30 just 2 blocks away  it could have been a transient and the Lady walking in with her daughter just complicated matters  during the robbery and beating or it could have been some one local but for as violent as this murder was you think some one would have heard or saw something with the murders happening around what is beloved to be the noon hour.You think some one would have heard a scream.

One angle I do not know if police looked into was fact Mr. Tweed  had rental property's was it some disgruntled renter or was it some one who came to inquire about a rental and instead decided to go for the money they possibly saw?

1973 was also the time when Debbie Makel was killed in a most horrific fashion in Rices landing Pa.  as well any link. Was this a serial killer on the prowl? 

Some day hopefully we will know thru DNA but I am afraid once again the killer will have long been dead or too old to truly prosecute. 

It appears from Google Earth the ramshackle shop no longer exists US 30 is to the left

A body found in Pieces all over Allegheny County and a Murder Mystery still unsolved since 1988

Like something out of a Edgar Allen Poe Novel as a head is found in a dumpster  in North Versailles  and what appears to be a lung in a garbage bag in North Braddock  and other body parts are found all around Allegheny county in the winter of 1988 and into  the spring of 1989   A most heinous of murders which played out almost everyday as the search for more body parts went on .
The victim it was determined was Anthony Michalowski

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19890403&id=4-UNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_W0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5377,269736

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19890105&id=sJ5RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6636,751720

 A young man with a history of drug use  and living on the street  and getting into trouble by himself or with his brothers and who was last seen on Christmas eve  at his family home asking for $3.00 which he promised to repay.

The coroner at the time Joshia Perper determined that Anthony had a high amount of drugs in his system and was probably unconscious when decapitated. 

But who he aggravated to the point they would do this to his body has never been determined .

Add onto the family's misery that they would loose another son Richard  to a suicide  which he committed  after he was arrested and lodged in the county jail. that summer 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19890627&id=ROlRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zm4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6743,8167299

There was even speculation he may have been a victum of the infamous Jeffery Dahmer which was a hot subject at the time.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19910726&id=_hwhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5mMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1116,4035513

Which proved to be false but Dahmer did live in Penn Hills as one time.

There was also speculation the killing was so horrific it was a message being sent to junkies your next if you do not pay up but there also appeared to be nothing to it as well.

The horrific killing and mutilation has gone cold  with no further leads and luckily there has not been another such case since then.

Was it a drug dealer so pissed it was a message?
was it a serial killer ?
Was it of a satanic ritual?
Was it some one local or from another city who did the deed? we will probably never know unless DNA was lifted and a future match is made.

New Castle and Lawrence County an area of many unsolved Murders and Arson's

Located along US-422 in the central section of Western pa. is located Lawrence county and its City of New Castle both with a long history of unsolved Murders back to 1800's  and Crimes which includes a current Arson Fire Spree .
New Castle was primarily a Railroad  connecting town with several railroads having junctions there including the famous Nickel Plate Road  and a heavy industrial manufacturing base which suffered like the rest of Pa when big steel went down.
I have spent a good deal of time around Newcastle when I was a kid being involved with collecting minerals and attending the mineral shows at the magnificent Scottish Rite Masonic Hall on the hill  and currently service customers in the town which suffered greatly and is now rebuilding and looking good.
However there are those determined to ruin it with a constant string of arson fires despite numerous arrests and convictions.

One of the oldest  unsolved criminal cases goes back to the late 1800's where a New Castle City Treasurer was killed during a robbery of the treasurers office  one criminal admitted to it but was discounted .

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60711FA3E5913738DDDA00894D9405B8985F0D3

http://www.lawrencecountymemoirs.com/lcmpages/744/murder-swamp-taylor-twnp-pa

It is also believed that a Cleveland Ohio Serial killer known as the Torso Killer may have dumped victims in a swamp in Lawrence county with it only being a 2-3 hour ride away.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19040109&id=eswiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DnMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2748,745854

While others say it was a totally different killer

When I was a member of the New Castle Mineral Club we held a yearly show open to the public at the big mason lodge and I would often stay over night as part of the security for it and to save driving back and forth from Pittsburgh aprox. 2 hr drive and we often had a New Castle Police officer they would hire especially when we hosted the national mineral show in 1976 and had a piece of the moon rock on display. Got to know several of them best guys you would ever want to meet and we often talked about the community and they said there job was for the most part dealing with locals who caused crimes very few strangers from outside the area caused problems as most people just bypass the town on US  422 bypass   Which is why some murders more than likely went unsolved  as there was no trail as they where done by outsiders . But this was
before the industrial base was destroyed in Lawrence county  it was mostly  Bar fights, bookies and gambling and domestic disputes with an occasional rare  murder.  But as industry went down and jobs where lost drugs came in and section 8 housing proliferated  New Castle became a battle zone. With constant series of Arson Fires , shootings and stabbings.Most of it due to drug activity with I-79 a well known drug Corridor which runs near the community .
While they have worked hard to keep the town from falling apart and keep crime low I feel perfectly safe working in town  and you know what areas to avoid like many city's  it is a constant battle in the town and I wish them the best in continuing to make the town shine like it once did.
The officers and officials of New Castle and ts surrounding Lawrence County are to be commended for their hard efforts in making Lawrence County a great tourist destination. 

Shawnee Chief's Corn Stalks Curse is it responsible for so many tragic Fires, Accidents , Deaths and Disappearances in the Tri State area ?

With all the things that have happened to me over the years  people often ask have you been cursed ?
My reply no I am still here and managed to survive whats happened  by Gods will and it was his will I went thru what I did to make me ready for when the Stage IV Colon Cancer came and be ready to battle it.

My 6th Great Uncle was a Indian Missionary John Heakewelder  and negotiated with many of the Indian Tribes  for the US Government  so if one of them is mad and put a curse on the family  for being double crossed because my Great uncle negotiated with them and you wanted to say yes this is why all the things that have happened in my life have happened so be it. But there are many family members who have not had any such issues. So to say its a curse is nonsense.

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-22B

Well the same question you may ask of the Tri State area of Pa. OH. and W.Va.
As many times when a tragedy happens they are quick to point to Chief Corn Stalk  and the Moth Man.
Yes really the Moth Man seems he shows up before a tragedy happens.
I can tell you this there are many creepy and scary places all over the tri state and there have been many Tragedy's  to numerous to even list  .  Is it a chiefs curse  the moth man or just human nature ?

Well first lets look at the Curse put on the area by the leader of the Shawnee Nation Chief Corn Stalk

"May the curse of the Great Spirit rest upon this land. May it be blighted by nature. May it even be blighted in its hopes. May the strength of its peoples be paralyzed by the stain of our blood.”

This was Chief Corn Stalks  parting words as he lay dying after being double crossed by the white man.
The whole story of which can be read in the  link below
http://www.prairieghosts.com/cornstalk.html

As far as all the tragedy's that have befallen those who live in the Tri- State for the most part it was because of mans own undoing.
When you look at the Matwain Coal Mining strike and massacre  when you look at the Hatfield s and Mcoy's Incident  or the Point Pleasant bridge collapse  its all mans own doing.

They talk about the Seven Deadly Sins and when you look into each and every disaster  one or more of them are a factor . Not a chiefs curse but mans own hand causing it. Which is what the Chief loosely said would happen when you read his words
Mans own Greed , Arrogance,Ignorance ,Pride  Stupidity and Uncaring selves.
But of course that does not explain all the strange things which have happened in the area which some seem almost supernatural so maybe there is something with a curse.
But trying to scientifically prove it that's another issue all together.

Better we allow Chief Cornstalk to rest in Peace and give the native Americans the respect the deserve than
fool with mother nature and gods laws but some how we never learn and pay the consequences.
Just like the chief said .

Fayette County State Troopers call it Fayettenam ! For a reason for all its violence . But did you know there is also treasure hiding there?

Fayette County  Known by Locals as Fayette Nam   has a long history of Violence, Murder, Arson ,explosions   Labor Disturbances , Mine and railroad disasters , Floods   and Mystery's

http://www.heraldstandard.com/law_and_order/cold_cases/

 Dubbed Fayette Nam By newly commissioned  Pa. State Troopers who work in the county as a break in for there eventual permanent duty posts  Fayette county is the perfect training ground for fresh troopers  which is mostly  rural  has few local police and has the highest rate of  Unemployment and Poverty in the State its no wonder it is in the evening news almost constantly.

With its rolling mountains and deep hidden valleys  there is plenty of story's and lore about the area.

One of the  things Locals warn you about are the Inbreeds and Mountain People who live in the more remote sections of the county.
You only need to go shopping in Connelsville  at Pechins Village  along US 119 on certain nights and see the characters there shopping when they come down out of the mountains . There is nothing you have seen on Face Book or Realty TV even comes close , having experienced the mountain people and inbreeds myself  while working in more remote areas of the county.

http://www.pechin.com/

But even with all the bad there is so much good to see and do there if your careful and mind your manners.

One persistent rumor that has always been it seems in the county is hidden treasure of 16 tons of gold and silver bars and coins  which was plundered  from troops escorting payrolls during Civil war  or stolen by Highway bandits and hidden away in caves  waiting to be discovered. It is even suggested a chest of treasure was left behind by British troops who where attacked in Braddock and left it along the trail some where in hasty retreat back to Maryland

http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Get-The-Paranormal-Report/596778

There is even the strange case of a relic which seems to be from middle east even being found in one such cave.

http://paoddities.blogspot.com/2013/05/was-queen-of-babylon-buried-in-fayette.html

If I was going to hide treasure or a body if I was a mob member Fayette county would be the place to do it with all its abandoned coal mines with deep shafts and deep hidden ravines and cutbacks you could easily hide something right in plain sight yet not be seen.
There was even rumors of a small silver mine up near Laurel caverns along US 40 in late 1800's

But the real treasures are the beautiful mountains and streams and water falls  which can be found on just about any back  road you take off of US 119 .

So if you go looking for treasure mind your manners and enjoy the day and just be aware of your surroundings .

Volunteer Firefighters and Arson the Deep Dark Secrets of the Thin Red Line

While one of the most horrific Arson Streaks by a firefighter  period was by a paid professional Fire Officer John Orr who is in prison  for life . It is rare a professional fire fighter is charged with arson.
On the other hand the Volunteer side sees 50 times the numbers of professionals who get convicted of arson.
The problem Volunteer depts do not have the resources and the rules to become a firefighter like paid company's and open their doors to all willing to help.
With this in mind you would think volunteer depts would do more to discourage such practice and look for signs of it but they do not . In fact there have been cases in PA where Convicted Arsonists  have served as Chief officers in PA. depts.
 It happened in  Braddock where an officer who was convicted of torching a grocery wholesaler was still serving despite the arson conviction.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20010413&id=-ehRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bnADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4895,1031639

 At Penn Hills Station 224# Point Breeze  where I once volunteered I left in complete and total disgust by what I saw going on by so called brothers.

 In fact  Firefighters at Penn hills  224#  and 223#
where suspected in helping   with arson in a string of barn fires in Plum Boro in the 80's and 3 Plum Boro fire fighters ended up charged  and another was sent thru ARD program for a  small fire at a Penn hills school  restroom and another time a chief got suspended after he allowed a friend in fire hall and he shows them video of fire he started and recorded on a VHS tape .

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19890728&id=SXQcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xGMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3305,6463781

http://www.hoopieworld.com/incidentsum/2007/031107_plum.htm

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19821215&id=s4JIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nG0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3972,3696992

So What drives these firefighters to do it.

Boredom seems to be one of the big things firefighters not having the big fire breathing dragon to fight get easily bored especially young firefighters who then decide to start some activity .It starts with small fires and leads to bigger and bigger fires or firefighters getting injured as was the case in Penn hills when Firefighters where caught pulling a fellow firefighter by inner tube around a Penn Hills park and would get injured

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1129&dat=19950316&id=qddRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bW4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6473,294911

Then there was the Ex firefighter thought to be behind false fire alarm tones being set off in Penn Hills  as well

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19960229&id=Xi8xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g28DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4549,7612372

Unfortunately Penn Hills has become the Laughing stock and butt of jokes in the tri state  for all its antics.
 Which never seem to stop.

Thankfully the Pa. Association of Arson Investigators which I belong  to and have taught electrical causes of fire classes , has started a" Hero's to Zeroes "
to help combat firefighters who get the itch to start fires .
But arson is just the tip of Firefighters and their behavior.

Theft of funds , Intimidation and threats to members ,being drunk on duty
Deliberately damaging property and hurting fellow firefighters, racism yes it all goes on and is too many time
it is condoned and not discussed and swept under the carpet .

 I will never forget as a kid when on the way home from my grandparents my dad spotted red flashing lights on an adjoining hill and took us to see the fire and one of the depts from Carnegie area showed up and firefighters where so drunk they fell of a ladder and got hurt trying to climb it.

When on a drill one night in a truck yard off Plum Street 224# firefighters loaded up and took several sections of large green  plastic sewer lines with them and shoved them in the squad  from  work being done in the truck yard ,because a fellow firefighter wanted to use them at his cabin to improve roadway into it.

They will all deny it but I was there and they where there and they know what went on.

or take the time before small fireworks became legal in Pa. at the time Pennsylvania had some of the strongest restrictions when it came to possession and setting of of fire works.
That did not stop Penn Hills Station 226# in one of there vehicles after being at a fireman parade from taking the vehicle and in there uniforms driving over the Ohio state line buying illegal fire works bringing them back and when confronted by a reporter from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review Reporter about the illegal fire works blowing it off by saying its no problems we know the local cops.

Just like always sweep it under the rug. a furious Penn hills council did nothing but give lip service.

Then there was the case of a drunk fire chief wrecking a fire truck in Indianola Pa.  but in that case the dept was dissolved after not correcting problems as was a dept in Fix Chapel who would not follow rules but that the exception not the rule when it comes to misbehaving firefighters .


I was also the exception when I filed a discrimination complaint against Penn Hills 224#  and several other firefighters have done the same with other depts to try and get the dark side which goes on with in depts. stopped.
This is why you will see so many firefighters belong to 3 or more depts over their fire career as they hop from dept to dept to try and find one where they fit in and work as professionals not clowns looking to slay the dragon and be heroes.

Sea Planes flying around Pittsburgh in 60's ? Yes they where here .

Pittsburgh has 3 rivers the largest inland port in the US  so to see all kinds of river touring craft would not be unexpected like the Gateway Clipper Fleet and the WWII Duck Boats. Trucks which float and take tourists around the rivers to see the Locks & Dams etc. You can even charter a helicopter
But at one time in early 60's you could get on a Sea Plane and tour the city as well.Sea planes? you think of them more for use on lakes but
located on whats now called the North Shore  a small fleet of Sea Planes operated for several decades near Brunot Island & Manchester. using the Ohio River for take offs and landings and the base was  located on the Allegheny River  near sixth street bridge .
 The service was started in 1940s  by William Graham  who also ran the  Pittsburgh / Butler  Airport at the time .

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19400512&id=jnIbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UkwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6050,1185619

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19470606&id=NfdPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IVUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5020,6735858

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19390820&id=CfUaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SkwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3471,1228614

I can not find a reason why the service was stopped had it gone bankrupt or was river land needed for development  or if owner had passed away and business not continued. But as a kid I remember standing on Mt Washington and seeing the planes take off and land on the Ohio in the early 60's .
There was also a sea plane base which operated near the Mckeesport -Dravosburg area as well up till late 60's  as well.