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September 01, 2020
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NEWS
Smethport’s Lutz competes as dual-sport athlete at Houghton College By NATE STEIS SMETHPORT, Pa. — Smethport High School graduate Caleb Lutz was born to be around athletics. His grandfather was a football coach, his father a basketball coach and he’s now a two-sport athlete at Houghton College. Lutz spent this past academic year playing basketball for the Highlanders. The Smethport native served as point guard for the Hubbers during his high school hoops career, and he put up 14 points, seven assists, and five rebounds a game as a senior. He was a North Tier League All-Star as well. Lutz was also a standout in soccer as a center midfielder for the Hubbers for three seasons before the soccer program combined with Port Allegany for his senior season. The Gators captured the Northern Tier League title over Coudersport in his final scholastic season. Lutz was also an accomplished javelin thrower and qualified for the District 9 meet multiple times. Initially, he was not going to
Photo provided Smethport graduate Caleb Lutz warms up before a Houghton College basketball game last season.
compete in college as a thrower, but when the coach at Houghton learned he could help the program, he tracked down Lutz to join. Although he did not get to compete in track and field in his first year of college, he’s excited
and hopeful he will get to do so in the spring of 2021. After leaving high school, Lutz was thinking about a career in engineering, but has since changed his major to exercise science with a pre-physical therapy
track. Leaving Smethport for New York for his first year of college was not always easy, as he did not play as much as he was accustomed to. However, he made the adjustment from point guard to shooting
From yard sale to spay and neuter fund: local woman has a plan
By JOELLEN WANKEL
Millie Williams has long been a champion for animals. Her desire to help has her hard at work again, this time for the benefit of the Port Allegany area. A McKean County native, Williams left the area to volunteer her help after Hurricane Katrina. She started out helping with the animals abandoned during the hurricane, then later spent time traveling through various states and providing help to the animals in those areas, especially cats. She was known for her motorhome, which has her nickname, “Minnie” displayed on the side. Williams has returned to the area, and her motorhome is parked. Despite experiencing heartache, loss and the onset of a global pandemic, Williams has a plan underway to provide help to animals in need. Her plan is to create a fund that will help trap, spay and neuter feral cats, with her primary focus to be on the Port Allegany area. The story begins when Williams visited the SPCA to adopt a cat named “Cricket.” Due to some unforeseen issues, Williams could not bring Cricket home that day, but she did come home with a new furry friend — a dog.
File photo Cricket, a former resident of the McKean County SPCA, made an appearance in The Era in 2019. The adoption of this friendly feline helped inspire Millie Williams to create a fund to help trap, spay and neuter feral cats in the Port Allegany area.
“That was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Williams said. She and her four-legged friend did not forget about Cricket, however. The cat, too, found a forever home with Williams at a later date. During her visits to the SPCA, she discovered that there is not currently a program for trap/spay/neuter of feral cats that is directly associated with the SPCA. Upon discovering this, Williams saw a need she could help fulfill. She also has noticed a number of feral cats in the Port Allegany area. She feels that creating a fund will help address the feral cat problem through a trap/spay/neuter program and also help cat owners have their pets spayed or neutered and further reduce the growth of the feral population. Williams hopes to have the McKean
County SPCA oversee the fund once established. Williams recently helped a friend get three outdoor cats trapped and spayed and has a plan to take two male cats to the veterinarian to be neutered Aug. 31. However, she knows the problem extends well beyond these felines and surgeries cost money. Such an undertaking can be difficult to fund. Williams saves cans to help offset the costs, much like the McKean County SPCA does. “I’ve always saved cans for some reason. I can bring in a lot of money with that but not enough,” Williams said. Williams is in the process of reducing her household goods and also items left behind by tenants in housing that she rents out. These items will be organized for a yard sale on Labor Day weekend.
Williams plans to put an ad in the paper closer to the sale dates with details. She has also reached out to an individual she hopes will come in to help her organize an auction or an online sale of the items she has on hand. Following that project, Williams hopes to create a small “new-to-you” style shop in her home, so she can raise money yearround to help fund the spay and neuter of feral cats. For those who have put aside items but aren’t interested in having their own yard sale, and for those who have had a yard sale and aren’t sure where to take the items that remain, Williams can provide a solution. She is currently accepting donations to the sale to further benefit the SPCA. Items can be dropped off to Williams at the old country store, located roughly five miles south of Port Allegany on Route 155, heading toward Keating Summit. Items for the sale are visible outside, as is Williams’ motorhome. The store is located across from an old church currently operating as a glass museum. Anyone who would like to make a monetary donation to the trap/spay/neuter fund can do so through Williams as well.
guard in his first college season. In limited action, he shot around 50 percent from the field as well as from behind the arc. “That gives me some confidence going into the next three years,” Lutz said. “I’m glad
the coaches trusted me in those moments and I hope they remember me as someone who is a capable shot-maker when needed.” Some of Lutz’s favorite memories from sports include defeating Coudersport to win the North Tier League in soccer as a senior. “Being able to represent Smethport means everything to me,” Lutz said. “I love being able to go home and get a workout in with my friends or being able to shoot. While being away from them is tough, our team at Houghton is incredibly close, and we do everything together.” One game that was bittersweet for him was being able to be a part of Houghton’s victory over Pitt-Bradford in the Highlanders’ opening game of the season. This game was at Pitt-Bradford, and he was able to see friends and family. With three years of college sports left, Lutz is going to enjoy the experiences he has left. He will also remain active in athletics as he also hopes to coach youth basketball at some level.
Saint-Gobain, Sizemore recognized with manufacturing leadership awards
PORT ALLEGANY — Saint-Gobain North America recently announced that it has been recognized with three Manufacturing Leadership Awards by the Manufacturing Leadership Council, a division of the National Association of Manufacturers. The company was honored for its outstanding achievements in both the Sustainability and WorldClass Manufacturing categories; additionally, Saint-Gobain employee Burlan “B.A.” Sizemore was recognized with an individual award in the Next-Generation Leadership category. Sizemore is a 2014 graduate of Smethport High school. Saint-Gobain’s wins in the Sustainability and World-Class Manufacturing categories further support its efforts in both of these areas. The company was honored in the Sustainability category for its continuous commitment to driving improvement in resource efficiency across operations, evident in its long-established environmental impact reduction work and long-term goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Saint-Gobain’s award in the World-Class Manufacturing (WCM) category recognized the company’s WCM model for operational excellence and continuous improvement through reduc-
ing wastes in operations. “As a company, SaintGobain aims to further the manufacturing industry with our work in both sustainability and world-class, lean manufacturing,” said Mark Rayfield, CEO of SaintGobain North America. “These awards are validation of our work in these areas, which is only continuing in the years to come. On behalf of everyone at Saint-Gobain, we are honored to receive these awards that truly cement our place as industry leaders.” The awards also highlight Saint-Gobain’s commitment to supporting and educating the next-generation workforce. Sizemore joined SaintGobain as part of the company’s 2019 Essentials of Manufacturing program, an early career college recruiting initiative developed to identify, hire and retain the talent needed to fill emerging roles in manufacturing. The Next-Generation Leadership award recognizes his contributions and achievements on several projects that demonstrate new ways of thinking. Saint-Gobain will be recognized at the Manufacturing Leadership Awards Gala, which is to be held on the last day of Rethink: The Manufacturing Leadership Council Summit at the JW Marriott Marco Island in Marco Island, Fla.