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Battle for Second Ward council nods spotlighted

By Rachel R. Basinger, DAILY COURIER
Friday, May 16, 2003
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Rachel R. Basinger can be reached at rbasinger@tribweb.com or 724-626-3536.

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MOUNT PLEASANT - Mount Pleasant's Second Ward is the borough's election battleground this spring, the only district where nominations for council seats are being contested.

Democratic voters there will choose two of the five candidates hoping eventually to win four-year terms on council. All but one of those candidates also are seeking the single two-year seat that's available.

On the May 20 primary ballot, incumbents Bonnie C. Barber, Joe Bauer and Gene D. Rosky, along with newcomer Remo Caschera, are listed for both the four-year and two-year nominations.

Democrat Patience C. Barnes is seeking nomination to the four-year position only.

The lone Republican in the race, Phil Davis, filed for both the two- and four-year seats.

  • Barber, 53, of 633 S. Geary St., is seeking her second term on council, where she heads the recreation committee. A former member of Mount Pleasant Area School Board and its long-range planning committee, she belongs to the ladies auxiliaries for the borough's volunteer fire department, Veterans of the Vietnam War and Disabled American Veterans. She is a member of the local historical society and a United Way volunteer.

    Barber said she worked within her recreation committee budget and was instrumental in offering free Sunday concerts in the park. If re-elected, she said she would "strive to make our parks a better place to bring your children" and "to ensure that our town remains safe, viable, special and welcoming to all who reside within our boundaries and for those who pass through."

    Barber is married, with three children and three grandchildren.

  • Barnes, 57, of 3 Vine St., is a public school teacher making her second run for a council seat. A graduate of Ramsay High School and Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala., she has business and sales experience as well. She is involved with her church, in Uniontown, and has helped to put up signs for Mount Pleasant's Glass Festival.

    Barnes said she has financial expertise to offer. "I've learned more about borough government in the last two years É and I believe I have a lot to offer based on my personal skills. I have a willingness to work, I'm honest and I think I could be an asset to the borough."

    Barnes is single.

  • Bauer, 42, of 607 N. Geary St., is seeking his second term on council. A chemical beverage specialist for Reinhart Foods, he is a Southmoreland High School graduate who earned credits from the University of West Florida while he was in the service and later received an associate's degree from the Greensburg Institute of Technology.

    Bauer has been the district commander for the VFW for the past year and is commander of VFW Post 3368. He is fund-raising chairman for the glass festival and serves on the borough's 175th anniversary committee. As a councilman, Bauer said he has worked on reapportionment, helped the borough buy police cruisers, and opposed both the drug abuse clinic and the self-serve gas stations that have tried to come into the borough.

    "I think I've done a lot for people and I try to do what they want," he said. "I'm running again because I think more things need to be done in the borough and I think I can help accomplish that."

    Bauer is married and has a son.

  • Caschera, 68, of 624 S. Geary St., is a Latrobe Steel retiree who has a background in banking. A Marine Corps veteran who served in the Korean War, he has taken classes in finance and banking at Lycoming College and Bucknell University.

    He has been director of the Williamsport Junior Chamber of Commerce; treasurer and vice president of the Lycoming County Credit Executives Association; auditor, recording secretary and vice president of the Polish Falcons No. 147; and a member of the United Steelworkers of America Local 1537 in Latrobe.

    "I think I'm qualified because of my leadership qualities and I think my education background and what I've done in the past is a big thing," Cashera said.

    He is married, with three children and seven grandchildren.

  • Rosky, 68, of 642 S. Geary St., is seeking a second term on council. A retiree who worked at Modulus Corp. at Iron Bridge and Laurel Highlands Foundry in North Versailles, Allegheny County, he served 24 years on the Mount Pleasant Area School Board for 24 years and 25 as the borough's zoning officer.

    A Hurst High School graduate, Rosky furthered his education while serving in the U.S. Air Force.

    Rosky said he originally sought a council seat because he wanted to help update borough ordinances. "I still hope to accomplish that," he said. "It's definitely needed in this day and age, because they're outdated."

    Rosky also is running for school board. Should he win both a board and a council seat, he said he would look at the makeup of both bodies and select one position.

    "I do the job to the best of my ability and I have the time to do it," he said. "I'm interested in the Mount Pleasant school system as well as the É borough where I'm a property owner and taxpayer."

    Rosky is married, with two children and three grandchildren.

    Elsewhere in the borough, two incumbents - Democrat Michael Tabita in 1st Ward and Republican Phyllis Mercurio Newell in 3rd Ward - are running unopposed.


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