April Operation Our Town Meeting held

Rebecca Fry and Kylie Barony

This month’s Operation Our Town meeting was held on Wednesday, April 11 at 7:00 a.m. at the Bull Pen.

First on the agenda was Tyrone’s April 21st Clean-Up Day in celebration of Earth Day, which was April 22. 50 Boy Scouts, 10 Girl Scouts, and 10 Grier School students were expected to help with the clean-up. Last year 83 workers took part in the event. This year they expected to have around 100 workers total and planned to feed them lunch.

In terms of the Neighborhood Watch, small magnets with many emergency phone numbers were created for distribution. At the Neighborhood Watch meetings, the leaders discuss with volunteers how to know what suspicious behavior is, how to report suspicious behavior, and how to be involved in this program.

 Also noted in the meeting’s minutes was the fact that three police officers were recently hired in Tyrone, for a total of six full-time police officers. In addition, Tyrone Police Officers will now be trained to ride bicycles around town in a way that can be more successful in locating crime without scaring away suspects.

 The Illegal Drug Update portion of the OTT meeting reported that150 PA stores have been shut down for selling premium ultra-glass cleaner, marketed for $28. The group member also shared that heroin is becoming more common in Blair County and is sold for $40-$50 per bag, which is an increase. In addition, the committee member shared that Tyrone is known to be one of the hot spots for bath salts.

Other discussion topics included gas prices, the June 9th Faith Day at Reservoir Park and a potential tobacco-free law at the Northern Blair County Rec Center.