1. INDEX
Columns
…page 2
Local News
…page 4
National News
…page 6
International News
…page 10
Arts and Culture
…page 16
Personal Ads
…page 18
Sports
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The Paper Press
October 4, 2015 FREE
PITTSBURGH — The
driver of a tractor-trailer
lost control of his rig Fri-
day on Interstate 79 North
near Bridgeville, caus-
ing his rig to ricochet off
a concrete barrier, cross
both northbound lanes, go
over the grassy path that
divides the highway and
then flip, spilling thousands
of pounds of a hazardous
resin onto the southbound
lanes.
State police closed
the southbound lanes at
the Bridgeville exit soon
after the 8:02 a.m. accident
and they did not reopen
until 8:10 Friday night.
The state Depart-
ment of Transportation
and Weaver Environmen-
tal used a bobcat to pick up
43,000 pounds of paraloid,
an acrylic polymer used to
make plastics.
“When it’s exposed
to air, it has the potential to
be explosive,” said Bill Sac-
co, assistant district engi-
neer for PennDOT, adding
that the resin was picked
up “very gingerly.”
“At one point they
were going to pick it up
with shovels by hand. They
further studied this stuff
and determined that it was
safe to use a bobcat on it,”
Sacco said.
The driver of the
1998 International Trac-
tor, Robert Thomas Abel,
34, of Jacksonville, Fla.,
was northbound on Inter-
state 79 between a rest area
and the exit ramp for Brid-
geville when the accident
occurred. He was treated
for minor injuries at Can-
onsburg Hospital.
After Abel drove
the tractor-trailer onto the
right berm of I-79 North,
police said, the tractor-trail-
er struck a cement barrier,
crossed both northbound
lanes and drove onto the
medial strip, going down
one side and up the oth-
er, into the left-hand lane
of I-79 South, where it
flipped over, splitting open
the trailer.
State Police Cpl.
Michael Taylor said he did
not know how fast the
driver was traveling when
the accident occurred or if
any charges would be filed
against Abel. The own-
er of the rig is JB Hunt
Transport Inc. of Oklaho-
ma City.
Betsy Mallison, a
spokeswoman for the state
Department of Environ-
mental Protection, said
two members of the de-
partment’s emergency re-
sponse team went to the
scene.
The cleanup was
complicated.
“They can’t use wa-
ter because it would make
the road very
Please see Semi on page 6
BY KEVIN BEGOS
Associated Press Writer
PITTSBURGH - For
years, anti-drilling activists
have claimed that fracking
can have disastrous conse-
quences - ruined water and
air, sickened people and
animals, a ceaseless parade
of truck traffic.
Now some critics
are doing what was once
unthinkable: working with
the industry. Some are
even signing lucrative gas
leases and speaking about
the environmental benefits
of gas.
In one northeast-
ern Pennsylvania village
that became a global
flashpoint in the debate
over fracking, the switch
has raised more than a
few eyebrows.
A few weeks ago,
Victoria Switzer and oth-
er activists from Dimock
endorsed a candidate for
governor who supports
natural gas production
from gigantic reserves like
the Marcellus Shale, albeit
with more regulation and
new taxes. Dimock was
the centerpiece of “Gas-
land,” a documentary that
galvanized opposition to
fracking, and Switzer was
also featured in this sum-
mer’s “Gasland Part II,”
which aired on HBO.
“We had to work
with the industry. There
is no magic wand to make
this go away,” said Swit-
zer, who recently formed
a group that seeks to work
with drillers on improved
air quality standards.
“Tunnel vision isn’t good.
Realism is good.”
For Switzer, the en-
dorsement was a nod to
reality; for some of her
onetime allies, a betrayal.
Either way, it was a
sign that anti-drilling ac-
tivism is evolving, with
some opponents shifting
tactics to reflect that shale
gas is likely here to stay.
Plenty of anti-drilling ac
Please see Fracking on page 11
BY WARREN SCOTT
WELLSBURG - De-
spite heavy rain Saturday
morning, organizers and
vendors of the Wellsburg
Applefest persevered and
were rewarded with rela-
tively dry weather, albeit
cool temperatures. Those
who turned out were
treated to a variety of
food, entertainment and
activities.
The festival con-
tinues today with amuse-
ment rides, an assortment
of food and crafts, music
by Easy Street at noon,
the Tim Ullom Band at
2 p.m. and the National
Pike Pickers at 6 p.m. as
well as the Anything Ap-
ple Contest at 1 p.m.
The contest has
been expanded this year
to include not only apple
pies and dishes made with
apples but also crafts with
an apple theme.
Saturday’s festivi-
ties included the crown-
ing of the winners of
the Applefest Pageant as
well as a talent show in-
volving various ages and
a pumpkin-carving con-
test for children. Winners
of those events will be
announced in the near fu-
ture.
In its 37th year, the
festivalwasinspiredbythe
discovery of the Grimes
Golden variety of apple
in Wellsburg in 1902. The
legendary Johnny “Apple-
seed” Chapman is said to
have supplied seeds for
the apple, from which the
Golden Delicious apple
was developed, to Thom-
as Grimes, a public offi-
cial whose farm was near
the present site of state
Route 27.
Michael O’Brien,
co-chairman of the Ap-
plefest committee, has
appeared as Chapman
during the festival and
for a sign for the Grimes
Golden Apple Roadside
Park established near
Grimes’ farm.
This year, apples
were again served in
various ways, including
bagged, with caramel on
a stick, as fritters, in cider
and as apple butter.
Since the festival
began, members of the
Follansbee Community
of Christ Church have
served up hundreds of
jars of apple butter, of-
ten while manning a large
kettle of it nearby. The
kettle was missing Satur-
day because of the morn-
ing rain, but the group
was more than prepared
for the sale, having begun
Please see Fest on page 4
Mallis Morris, 4, and Lena Craft,6, both of Follansbee, enjoyed a ride at the Wellsburg Applef-
est Saturday. The festival continues today on the Wellsburg Town Square and Charles Street with
amusement rides, live music and a variety of food and crafts.
The driver of this tractor-trailer lost control of the rig on I-79 North near Bridgeville. When the rig flipped, it spilled thousands of pounds of hazardous resin. The accident forced the closure of the
southbound lanes of the interstate for about 12 hours.
Some anti-drilling activists
find new ways to fight
fracking problems
Locals flood
Apple Fest
despite
rain
Tractor-trailer overturns on interstate