andy morris, right, whitewave’s dubois plant manager, and...
TRANSCRIPT
Vol. 134 - No. 246
Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow showers. Highs in the lower 30s. Full report, A2
14 pagesClassi� ed ......................... B5Comics ............................. A5Lifestyles ......................... A4Lottery ............................. A7Opinion ........................... A6Public Notices ............... B5Sports ............................... B1
75 Cents
• Blair Collins, 57• Martha Kammerdeiner, 81• Carl T. Matthews, 67• Norma Murray, 84 • Mildred Yonushonis, 88• Beverly Yount, 66
Treasure Lake prop-erty owners wanted to talk about the post offi ce and the back gate at the ques-tion and answer session this week. A2
Woman killedA western Pennsylva-
nia woman was killed after a crane truck crashed into her SUV. A7
Rampage endsAn ex-Marine’s suicide
ended a violent rampage that left his ex-wife and five of her relatives dead a week after he lost a custody battle. A8
TLPOA holdsQ&A session
Tomorrow’s Forecast
Index
ObituariesA7
MORE INSIDE
Page B1
By Joy Norwood
DuBOIS — Area business people were given a glimpse into WhiteWave Foods at Tuesday’s Business Over Breakfast event, hosted by the Greater DuBois Area Chamber of Commerce.
Andy Morris, plant manager, and Christie DuBois, HR man-ager, at the WhiteWave plant in DuBois spoke to the packed room at the Best Western Conference Center in DuBois.
A major theme running throughout the presentation was one of environmental responsibil-ity through all levels of the com-pany. The international company, headquartered in Denver, con-tinually tries to decrease its foot-print. To that end it has decreased its greenhouse gas emissions 32 percent since 2006, decreased its waste going to landfills by 28 per-cent since 2007 and reduced its non-ingredient water usage by 6 percent since 2008.
The company has a commit-ment to producing food respon-
sibly, Morris said, adding that means that when someone is not standing over their shoulders, ev-eryone is still doing it the right way.
The company has had several firsts in its history. It was the first national brand to have plant-based beverages; the first to make an organic dairy brand nationally available; the first to introduced flavored coffee creamers and the first to launch prewashed salads.
WhiteWave is known for brands such as Silk Soy Milk, International Delight creamers, Horizon Organic Milk, Land O Lakes, Alpro and Earthbound Farm Organic.
Prior to 2013, the company was a part of Dean Foods. But in 2012 it completed a public stock offer-ing and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. In July of last year, the company completed its spin-off from Dean Foods and became an independent company.
But while the bottom line has to matter to keep a business growing, Morris said a company is only “as good as the people we
put around ourselves.” He noted that the 40 plus employees at the DuBois plant have an outstand-ing work ethic. They are part of the 3,800 people who work for the company in America. Another 800 people are employed in the Euro-pean division. The North Ameri-can division is headquartered in Broomfield, Colo., and the Euro-pean division in Ghent, Belgium.
In its commitment to the en-vironment, the company over the years, has taken action to redraw its freight lines to take as many trucks off the road as possible, set goals to reduce water usage, make its products recyclable, re-designed its packaging to reduce its carbon footprint, and more. In 2005, it was listed 10th on the En-vironmental Protection Agency’s top 25 largest U.S. green power purchasers.
Taking care of the environ-ment is not the only commitment the company has. It also stresses values in action with its employ-ees by encouraging them to volun-teer via community involvement
WhiteWave Foods focus of DuBois Chamber breakfast
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
Andy Morris, right, WhiteWave’s DuBois plant manager, and Christie DuBois, HR manager at the plant, pose for a photo after speaking at the Greater DuBois Area Chamber of Commerce event. The two shared the phi-losophy of the company as well as its history with a crowded room during the Business Over Breakfast at the Best Western Conference Center in DuBois. (Photo by Joy Norwood)
DuBOIS — DuBois City Police are inves-tigating a burglary that occurred in the 300 block of South Avenue early this morning.
Police were dispatched to the home just before 4 a.m. after receiving a report of a burglary in progress.
The victim told police he heard some-thing in his kitchen and when he went to see what it was, he saw two unknown men wearing black.
The victim said he pulled out his hand-gun and the men ran out of his house toward the cemetery at the top of South Avenue.
Officers searched the area, but the men were gone.
Anyone with information is asked to con-tact police.
City policeinvestigatingburglary atDuBois home
By Katie Weidenboerner
ST. MARYS — The City of St. Marys will not increase taxes in 2015.
The council unanimously voted Monday to uphold its current rates of taxation.
The city’s real estate millage rate is 18.3362 mills of which 12.5482 mills is for general fund; 1,908 mills, debt fund; 1.2 mills, fi re protection fund; 0.9 mill, recreation fund; 0.8 mill, street lighting fund; 0.58 mills, library fund; 0.10 mill, ambulance fund; and 0.30 mill, fi re hydrant fund.
A property with an assessed value of $50,000 will pay $916.82 yearly in city taxes. The city has not had a tax increase in four years.
It also voted to adopting the $7,524,553 general fund operating fund budget for 2015 which is balanced with $317,664 in cash carryover.
The $222,134 street lighting fund is also balanced by $47,980 in cash car-ryover.
The budget also includes: $262,581 fi re protection fund; $600,297 recre-ation board fund; $126,070 library fund; $21,742 ambulance fund; $67,075
St. Marys budgetapproved withno tax increase
Solid Waste/Recycling Co-ordinator Bekki Titchner presents a drawing of the proposed $2 mil-lion community recycling center building project. The Elk County commissioners approved the purchase of two parcels of land for the center, one of the first steps to moving the project forward. (Photo by Katie Weidenboerner)
See Budget, Page A7
By Katie Weidenboerner
RIDGWAY — The Elk County commissioners ap-proved Tuesday the purchase of two parcels of land which will be home to a new county recycling center if $2 million can be raised to build it.
The 1.4 acres of land is lo-cated on Ceramic Street in St. Marys in a contaminated industrial site across from where the current recycling center sits.
The Elk County Solid Waste Authority will pay $13,000 for the two land parcel purchase. The revenue comes from sale of the commodities at its cur-rent recycling center, dona-tions, and tipping fees from the landfi ll.
“None of the recycling pro-grams in Elk County have ever been paid for through tax dollars,” the county’s Solid
Waste/Recycling Coordinator Bekki Titchner said.
The majority of the land, 1.2 acres, will be purchased from North Central Enter-prises. In this agreement, if the authority does not build the recycling in four years the land will revert back to North Central and the authority will receive its money back.
Titchner said while it’s not her intent to fail, it is a safety net for the authority.
The recycling center opened at its current location at 45 Heritage Drive in the Stackpole Complex in Octo-ber 2010, collecting plastics, paper, electronics and bimetal and aluminum cans.
It has since outgrown the facility which is landlocked and provides no room for further growth. New facility 20,000 square feet.
This year 500 tons of ma-
Elk County Commissioners buy land for new recycling center
See Business, Page A7
See Center, Page A7
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