Cheers & Jeers
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Cheers: A big shout-out is extended to Dr. Charles Machesky, who has retired after spending 50 years as an educator and administrator in the Uniontown Area School District. “It was a productive and fulfilling career,” he told the newspaper earlier this week. “But I’ve started to slow down and things in education are speeding up. You have AI, budget issues, dropping enrollments and other challenges, and those things I won’t miss. But I’ll miss the daily interactions with the staff and students. That was always the highlight of my career – seeing students earn success, and the daily operations of the schools.” Since 2012, Machesky has forfeited his paycheck. His selflessness and generosity saved the district more than $2 million, which went toward upgrading facilities and equipment and textbooks. “I have a strong affection for the district, and it was an honor for me to be able to give back to the Uniontown Area School District.” We wish him the best in his well-deserved retirement.
Cheers: Cheers to the wave of new head coaches taking over local high school football teams this season with seven of the eight kicking off last Friday during Week Zero. Waynesburg Central’s Joe Kuhns, Laurel Highlands’ Aaron Raffle, Frazier’s Tony Battaglini and Southmoreland’s Dustin Shoaf each won their debuts with their new teams. Raffle’s win came in the area’s biggest rivalry against another coach who is starting out with a new team this year in Uniontown’s Tim Bukowski, 27-0. Kuhns’ Raiders’ 50-6 win over West Greene was special as his son Colby joined him on the sidelines for the first time as an assistant coach. Shoaf, the youngest of the group at 24 years old, also had an impressive first win, as the Scotties rolled past Valley, 40-0. Battaglini chalked up his first-ever victory in thrilling fashion, 43-40, as a fourth-quarter touchdown by Derek Diamond was the difference in the shootout. Brownsville’s Cody Castor and Beth-Center’s Tim Trump, whose team played Saturday afternoon, came up short in their first games but will attempt to secure that initial win this Friday. Scott Bryer will take the sidelines for the first time as Belle Vernon’s head coach this Friday as well with the Leopards hosting West Allegheny after playing a scrimmage during Week Zero. All eight of the local crew are first-time head coaches except Bukowski, who came to the Red Raiders after a successful run at Southmoreland, and Kuhns, who had taken a year off from coaching in 2024.
Cheers: Greene County will have another option in treating addiction later this fall when the Butler-based Gaiser Center anticipates opening a 10-bed withdrawal management facility near Carmichaels. “This is a much-needed service, and this is a service we don’t already have under Gaiser’s umbrella, said executive director Joe Mahoney last week. “And so this is an opportunity for us to bring our life-saving mission to a different county. And this is an opportunity for the county to expand its offerings as well for addiction treatment.” The center will provide an acute level of care for those who need medical oversight while withdrawing from heavy alcohol use. Construction on the site along Route 21 began several weeks ago.
Cheers: The efforts of about 100 volunteers are paying off for students at a number of Washington County’s elementary schools who will receive healthy snacks as they start the new school year. Designed to help combat food insecurity for children in the county, the LittleMoochi packs were assembled at CNX Southpointe in Canonsburg. Athena Petrolias, operations director for Food Helpers, a division of the Greater Washington Food Bank, said volunteers from the Heartland Restaurant Group, a franchisee of Dunkin’, would assemble enough of the packs containing nutritious snacks to take care of the first month-and-a-half of the school year. “It’s really a great way to start students off on the right foot at the start of a new school year. If you’re worried about where your food is coming from, you can’t be as attentive as you need to be and you can’t excel in the classroom,” said Mike Zappone, director of learning and development at Heartland.