SHARON Mayor: House won't be used for group home

SHARON, Pa. -- Mayor David O. Ryan said he has been assured by the owner of a house at Strawbridge Avenue and East State Street that the property won't be leased to a group home for male juvenile sex offenders.
Responding to a question from James Meier of White Avenue about reports that the group home would be put in that house, Ryan said Paul Knott, who owns the property, has assured him it will not. It also looks like the people promoting the project may be backing off, Ryan said.
"Nobody's in favor of this. Nobody," he said.
The site is less than a block from Sharon High School, about a block from Case Avenue Elementary School and about three blocks from St. Joseph's Elementary School.
A company called Phoenix Youth Services had proposed to put a dozen male juvenile sex offenders from Allegheny County in a group home there.
Councilman's comments
Councilman Lou Rotunno said he isn't so sure the project is dead.
"I think they're going to try to sneak it in somewhere," he said, adding that he's also heard a rumor that there are plans to put a halfway house for state women prisoners in a house on Euclid Avenue.
"There is no way we can stand for that," he said. "I just think we really, really have to stay on top of this."
Councilman Fred Hoffman said the city should also send a letter of protest to the state Department of Corrections about its Sharon Community Corrections Center, a halfway house for men on West State Street.
Hoffman said police have told him the facility is getting more and more sex offenders finishing their sentences there. That location is close to both West Hill and Brookfield Elementary schools. Those inmates shouldn't be in that area, he said.