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By Jill Brown

With the full house on November 10, 2016, at the Donora Council meeting, President of Council Dennis Gutierrez began the evening with a prayer. That night surely did need the blessing.

As Public Address began, Donora resident Francine Smith was first to speak. She said that violence took place in her residential area, referencing a stabbing that took place during a bar fight outside of Chubs Pub on November 5. She said, for residents of Castner Avenue, “It caused fear in our neighborhood.”

Kevin Smith said of the same violent incident, “My daughter had to wake up and see people being stabbed. I would just like something to be done so that this never happens again.”

Another resident approached the bench with pictures to pass out of the bloody tragedy. He said, “Why didn’t Stevie, the bar owner, come up and try to help us? This should have never happened. Also, I would like to thank Officer Keith Charlton for talking to my daughter and calming her down.”

A resident continued, “It’s a shame that three people got stabbed that night, and we have to hear about it on Facebook…”

Jim McDonough, owner of Junk and Disorderly stated, “I’m halfway speechless. I was going to tell you that we have a wonderful town, and I woke up the other day and saw blood on the streets on the news. You have three good businesses that stay open after dark… I want to see a leader say we stepped up, and we took care of this.”

Mayor Donald Pavelko responded by stating, “The LCE came in on Tuesday, and [Chubs Pub] is no longer allowed to stay open after 11 p.m. I told him, ‘Steve, up your prices.’”

In other Public Address, DeAnne Pavelko, Mayor’s wife stated to Councilman Jim Coulter, “I’m ashamed to learn that you used borough envelopes from the Halloween parade from our children. Shame on you, James Coulter!”

Councilman Coulter replied, “The problem is your husband. You should get out of here, and take him with you.”

DeAnne Pavelko went on to cite illegal dumping at the borough’s incinerator place, which elicited shouts from crowd. McDonough yelled at Council, “What are you dumping at the incinerator?”

The crowd then began yelling at Council, and Gutierrez moved to adjourn the meeting. Attendees got up to leave.

Mayor Pavelko stopped people in their tracks by reading from a speech he had previously prepared. Pavelko said Councilman Dale Shawley called him on November 1 to tell him dump trucks had been in use in the area of the incinerator. When Pavelko came to the site, the dump truck driver pointed directly at Coulter when asked who gave permission to dump there. Pavelko said a street department employee also said Coulter asked him to open the gate at the facility on October 29. “This is after the DEP mandated that the site be cleaned up…At this time, I am demanding Councilman Coulter to resign,” said the mayor.

Residents shouted at Coulter, “What kind of council are you running here?”

Mr. Tim Durka, streets supervisor, stated that a soil analysis was performed by him, and he denied having any wrongdoing in it.
The meeting was adjourned due to the shouting matches.

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