Category: default || By jt3y

In most places, when there's a duel ...

Wait, stop --- because no one has duels. What year is this, anyway?

OK, so, hypothetically, if people were still holding duels ... which they're not ... but if they were, the accepted custom is "pistols at 10 paces." On the "field of honor," no less.

But in Versailles Borough, they use shotguns behind Tygart Steel.

Aaron Burr must be rolling in his grave.

According to published reports in the Post-Gazette A Local Newspaper, two men were arguing over a woman. They agreed to settle their differences mano-a-mano, down at the riverside. One brought a baseball bat. The other brought a shotgun.

(Helpful tip: Don't bring a baseball bat to a gunfight.)

The slugger wound up with a neckful of birdshot and was treated at UPMC McKeesport hospital. Both are now charged with aggravated assault, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment by Allegheny County police.

I've said it over and over again: We are in no danger of needing a Mon Valley chapter of Mensa any time soon.

. . .

Speaking of Versailles: Was anyone aware that there is a hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing and research laboratory in Versailles?

I was down near Tygart Steel a few weekends ago (just neb-nosing, not participating in any duels) and noticed that the former National Carbide Die plant at the Juniper Street railroad crossing is now occupied by something called "HydroGen LLC."

HydroGen describes its products as a spin-off of fuel cell technology originally developed by Westinghouse Electric Corp. in the 1990s. When Westinghouse began disintegrating, the rights to the fuel cell products apparently changed hands several times and wound up with HydroGen.

My old cow-orker Dan Reynolds wrote an article in the Pittsburgh Business Times about HydroGen a few months ago, but I'll bet most people in the Mon-Yough area have no idea that it's there. (I haven't seen anything in either A Local Newspaper or the Greensburg Astonisher.)

There are 25 employees, and according to Dan's article, HydroGen wants to recapture hydrogen produced by manufacturing processes like coke production. Hmm, where locally do they make coke? You got it --- U.S. Steel's Clairton Works.

The Westinghouse connection, and the proximity to Clairton Works, go a long way toward explaining why HydroGen is in Versailles.

Over the summer, investors agreed to purchase more than $25 million worth of common stock in HydroGen, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and HydroGen has signed a five-year lease in Versailles. According to its annual report, the company is also partnering with Case Western Reserve University's Wright Fuel Cell Group. (That explains the Plain Dealer's interest ... HydroGen has also moved its corporate office to Cleveland to take advantage of a $1 million grant from the state of Ohio.)

Don't take my word for it. Download HydroGen's annual report and read more for yourself. If this technology pans out, and if we can keep HydroGen in Versailles or vicinity --- right now, those are big "if's," I suspect --- this could be a major asset to the Mon-Yough area.

Even bigger than, say, our current flea-market based economy.

. . .

To Do This Weekend:

• Lots of big football games on tap. Duquesne (5-3) is trying to keep its playoff hopes alive when it takes on conference rival Wilkinsburg tomorrow at home. Kickoff is 1:30. ... my alma-mater, Serra (7-1) plays Geibel down in Connellsville at 2:30 p.m. Saturday ... it's a grudge match tonight on Mockingbird Hill as traditional rivals Norwin and Penn-Trafford go at it. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ... and your McKeesport Tigers play the Big Macs of Canon-McMillan tonight down in Worshington County.



• Elsewhere, Bootsie's on O'Neil Blvd. hosts the Dallas Marks band tomorrow night. There will also be a costume party, with prizes. Call (412) 672-1120.



• And it's the last weekend for the McKeesport After Dark Haunted House, located at 503 Fifth Ave., across from City Hall. Hours are 7 to 11 p.m. tonight and Saturday. Donation: $5 per person.