June 2014, Another great month for Knox, Pa! Summer is here, everything is GREEN GREEN GREEN and growing around town. Gardens – flower beds – yards, everything has popped up like toast! It’s a real pleasure to take a ride around town and have a look around. Knox is looking fantastic! Some would say we’ve had our share of rain here this month, but it sure has things growing, and these copious rainfalls have filled our wells full of good clean cheap Knox Water. Folks have been out working in their yards and gardens on the sunny days, foot traffic is high everywhere all over town. It’s great to see everyone out and about!

KNOX SENIOR CENTER….Speaking of out and about, the new Knox Senior Center had their kickoff open house party at the Knox Fire Hall on June 25th. It was a full house, great event. Now, starting Tuesday, July 1st, the Knox Senior Center will be open every Tuesday from 8:30am to 3:00pm at the fire hall there. Lets get the word out; it’s a great thing for our seniors to enjoy! Open to seniors 60 years and older, this new senior center of the Clarion Area on Aging is a relocation of the St. Petersburg Senior Center. The Clarion AAA hopes to reach more seniors with this “more central” location for western Clarion County joining AAA centers in Clarion, Rimersburg, and Leeper. We say thanks to Executive Director Stephanie Wilshire and the Clarion Area Agency on Aging for coming to Knoxerland!

NEW FIRE TRUCK….The next time you’re out near the fire hall, check out the new fire truck! Personnel from Knox Volunteer Fire Company went down to Myersdale, Pa., and drove home the new truck earlier this month. The fire house gang really worked hard raising the funds to purchase this new truck (right at $500K) and they are real happy to have it in their stable up there. We sure are lucky to have these great dedicated Knox Volunteer Fire Company people who CARE about our community. They walk the walk, day in and day out, always there to help us out in any way. Congratulations to Knox Volunteer Fire Company Station 570!

CROSS WALK….The intersection of SR338 and SR208 needs to have a crosswalk installed so people on foot can get across this intersection in a safe manner. This intersection becomes especially dangerous for all the kids running across it in bizarre manners to get to the store. When the state re-did this intersection back in 2010, they removed the “crosswalk” buttons (electric) that would assist folks by staging the lights up there; they said there isn’t enough foot traffic to warrant the crosswalk. I want to re-petition the folks at PennDOT to come and do another study on this intersection and the intersection down near the Riverside store (Huston Ave & SR338) and maybe after another “look see” at both of of these intersections and they will see it differently? And, hopefully they will take corrective action for the safety of the folks on foot who need to be able to cross these two intersection in a safe manner. I have talked with Greg Barrett (Keystone School Board) and Keystone School District Superintendent Shawn Algoe asking for their support in this matter. They are behind it 100%, in fact, it was Mr. Algoe who suggested the intersection at Huston Ave and SR338 be added to the “look see” list we intend to petition PennDOT about. Knox Borough Council is also in full support of asking PennDOT to do another study on these two intersections. We are going to wait for school to resume in the fall before we ask them (PennDOT) to come up and take a “look see” at these cross points. We prefer them to be doing their study at these crossing points during the times when school is in.

KNOX POLICE…Chief Jason Bowen and Officer Larry Drake have been in place doing their jobs for some 6 months now since I swore them in back in January. They are both doing a fantastic job, and I say congratulations to them! They really have tuned into our community well, and it’s on automatic now these days. Knox Borough is fortunate to have these two officers on our police force.

KNOX BOROUGH MAINTENANCE….Had lots to deal with after those huge rains we had. Woody and company were out and about cleaning up the debris at the bottoms of all the steep streets; one of the many things they deal with when the monsoon rains hit town. We are lucky to have these people in place, always helping someone out in any way they can. I hear it all over town, people constantly tell me good things about our maintenance force. Yeah!

CLOVER AVENUE….The construction work up on Clover is now complete. Contractors have the new gas (main) line installed and have finished repaving the street and poured some new walkways up there. There is some cleanup work at hand, but for the most part, it’s finished and it looks great up there again. Yahoo!

KNOX, PA is really doing great these days. If you’re from out of town, come visit the friendly confines and have a great meal and one of our fine eateries (Carriage Inn, Pizza Shop, Reeds Pizza, MACS Bar & Grille) and then go to the world renown Knox Bakery for dessert & take home goodies. Lots of great Knox goodness around here, Farmers Markets are running every Friday up at Peanut Park. Come on over and dive right in…….It’s all good!

Mayor Frank Agnello
Knox, Pa.