Veterans to be Honored in Somerset County

Memorial Day in Somerset County will be celebrated at the County Courthouse at 9:30 a.m., in the annual ceremony sponsored by the Somerset Memorial Day Committee. Former Commander Charles H. Prince of the Pennsylvania Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars will speak. Prince is a U.S. Navy veteran who served on the USS Missouri during World War II. In addition to the speaker, wreaths will be laid at the county’s war monuments and a 21-gun salute will sound. The yearly Memorial Day Parade will follow the ceremony; Somerset County Comprehensive Plan Coordinator Kerri Burtner says the procession’s Honor Guard is special this year. “We’ve been able to find local soldiers who have recently returned from Afghanistan or Iraq who will be carrying the flags and the rifles through the town for the parade, and we’re real pleased with that,” says Burtner. The parade will proceed for about 6 blocks west along Main Street in Somerset.

Refunds for Bad Gift Certificates

A national gift certificate company filed for chapter seven bankruptcy last week and that has some Chambers of Commerce feeling the ripple effects.
Dayton-based CertifiChecks had operated gift certificate programs for hundreds of chambers of commerce.
Somerset Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ron Aldom says the gift certificates were part of a very successful buy local and spend local program. He says there were $22,000 in gift certificates purchased last year, and there is no way to tell how much of the money was spent. Now that CertifiChecks is no longer doing business, remaining certificates are not redeemable. However, Aldom says there is an obligation to residents and business owners to refund the locally bought certificates. It was a difficult decision to make, but he says he would not want to leave anyone "high and dry".

Aldom says to bring the certificates to the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, located at 601 North Center Ave. in Somerset, in order to receive a refund. The chamber will be offering paybacks through the end of the month. With the program being so successful, he says there are intentions to reinstate it with another company.

Somerset County Prison Board Deals with Overcrowding

The Somerset County Jail is running into a problem: it has too many inmates. The prison, which has sufficient space for male inmates, is running out of room for females. The jail has only 12 beds for women prisoners and when all are filled, the guards must resort to keeping some women in a holding cell. When the male population exceeds a prison capacity, men can be sent to other state prisons, but since only two state prisons house females, they must be sent to another county prison. The jail then incurs the cost of transporting the female inmates to another county and a nominal fee by the recipient jail. Somerset County Prison Board President Judge John Cascio says contrary to some reports, the Board is not considering paroling inmates as a viable solution to overcrowding. Instead, the the board will discuss alternative solutions at a meeting on Thursday.

Ralphton Desires Connection to Quemahoning Pipeline

Somerset County officials are working with U.S. legislators to secure funding to build infrastructure which will essentially connect Ralphton with the Quemahoning pipeline, a 22-mile pipeline that supplies water to municipalities from just north of Jennerstown to Somerset. County spokeswoman Kerri Burtner says the funding will be used to connect Ralphton with the Municipal Water Authority of the Township of Jenner which is in turn connected to the pipeline. Ralphton residents currently rely on wells for their water which can pose a problem in times of drought or in the event of a fire. Currently, there is no contractual agreement between the Municipal Water Authority of the Township of Jenner and Ralphton but Burtner says one is in the works. Plans for the infrastructure are already completed. The county will know if money for the project is secured with the passing of the 2009 federal budget.