LAWRENCE COUNTY Government study gets under way

Students from Westminster College will serve as commission interns.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The study of Lawrence County government got off to a slow but productive start.
The nine people elected to study the structure of the county's government met Thursday to set meeting dates and elect officers.
The group will have nine months to meet and look at the organization of county government and then make any recommended changes to voters for the 2002 November general election.
Thomas Shumaker, who spearheaded the effort to get the study commission referendum on the ballot in this past election, was named interim chairman. Shumaker asked that they revisit the position in about six weeks to see if anyone else was interested in serving as chairman.
Helen Jackson was elected vice chairwoman; Gary Clark was elected treasurer; and Janet Verone will serve as secretary.
The group agreed to ask the three next-highest vote getters to attend future meetings as alternates. They will become study group members if anyone resigns. The next-highest vote getters were Robert Baird, Charlotte Sheffield and Michael Servedio.
Interns: Study commission members also agreed to allow Westminster College students to serve as interns. They will help gather information for the commission. Professors from the school's political science and economics departments sent a letter to the commission offering their students' help.
The study commission's next meeting will be at 4 p.m. Jan. 8 in the county government center. Keith Robb and Michael Foreman, local government policy specialists from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, will give study members an overview of what other studies in the state have included.
The group's regular meetings will be at 4 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month.