Patty Simko couldn't help but smile Thursday even though it was admittedly a very difficult day for her. As officials with the Middle Monongahela Industrial Development Association broke ground for their new industrial park site along Interstate 70 in Fallowfield Township, Simko's thoughts were with her late husband. Rudy Simko had served as president of MIDA until March, when he was struck and killed by a vehicle in South Park. He had been a driving force in the plans to convert 256 acres off the Bentleyville exit of I-70 into the MIDA Business Park 'This was Rudy's dream,' said Patty Simko. 'This is what he envisioned. This day, Rudy is here, but this day is for the people who are going to work here. 'I just have to accept that he is in another place looking down.' Chuck Muia, president of MIDA, called the day 'wonderful.' 'This is a part of Rudy's dream,' said Muia. 'It will be excellent when it's all filled.' Lue Ann Pawlick, general manager of MIDA, called the groundbreaking 'a new beginning.' She said construction should begin early next month, and that's there already been interest in the park. 'We're already being looked at and we don't even have it built yet,' said Pawlick. 'The reason we're doing this is we need to have this ready to attract businesses.' State Sen. J. Barry Stout (D-Bentleyville) lives about two miles from the business park site. 'I've lived in the greater Bentleyville area since the late 1940s and I'm very familiar with the economy of Bentleyville and Fallowfield,' said Stout. 'The economy has changed from the days of steel and coal. We have to create economic opportunity.' Dave Simko was thinking of his father as he watched Thursday's groundbreaking. He told Pawlick that his father was 'up there watching.' 'He was doing his best being a dad and father. His family came first. Then he tried to do his best for the community,' Dave Simko said.

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