Cattaraugus County 4-H looking forward to ‘Out of This World’ fair
LITTLE VALLEY — 4-H members from across the county have spent recent months preparing their projects for the Cattaraugus County Fair, to be held July 26 through Aug. 2.
Over 250 young exhibitors are working hard to put the finishing touches on a variety of projects — some youth are fine-tuning their recipes to bake a blue-ribbon worthy pie, while others are training livestock for their show ring debut.
This year’s 4-H theme is “Outer space,” which fair attendees may notice while browsing through the exhibits with a variety of decorations.
While the animals are judged in the show ring, exhibitors are also judged on the presentation of their stalls in the barn with criteria including the cleanliness of the stalls and the creativity of their decorations.
The Mary Elizabeth Dunbar Youth Building, located in the Corporate Building, will also be filled with crafts, baked goods and educational booths, among other things, and is certainly worth a visit.
There are daily livestock shows for fairgoers’ entertainment, along with the 4-H Meat Animal Sale rounding out the week on Saturday, Aug. 2, starting at 10:30 a.m.
Remedies for creaky floors
Hardwood floors are coveted features in many homes. The National Wood Flooring Association says wood floors are the most environmentally friendly flooring options available. In the United States, the hardwood forests that provide flooring products are growing twice as fast as they are being harvested. Furthermore, wood floors can last for many generations and require fewer raw materials to produce than other flooring options. That means less waste may end up in landfills.
Hardwood floors can endure for decades in a home, but over time those same floors may need some tender loving care to keep them looking good and working as they should. Squeaky floors are a common nuisance that homeowners may experience. Squeaking is often caused by movement and friction between floorboards. Treating the problem involves identifying the underlying issue.
Loose hardware
Squeaky floors may be due to the loosening of the hardware holding the floor in place, says The Home Depot. When nails or screws no longer are secured tightly, the boards can rub together. The noise heard is the sound produced by rubbing. Tightening or replacing the hardware can help reduce the squeaking.
Counter-snap kit
method
This Old House says this kit method is a great way to fix squeaks without damaging the floor. Once the source of the squeak is located, drill a 3/32-inch
pilot hole through the hardwood flooring. Then insert a screw through the kit’s depth-control fixture and into the pilot hole, and drive it until it automatically snaps off below the wood surface. Follow this up by filling the hole with wood putty that matches the floor color. Once the putty is dry, lightly sand the area to blend.
Use a shim or shims
Sometimes the floor may squeak because of a gap between the joists and the subfloor. Filling the gap with a small piece of wood called a shim can help alleviate the gap or gaps.
Drive up screws
If a squeak is just in one spot, The Home Depot says that you may be able to drive short screws from below into the subfloor.
Small gaps
For small gaps between boards, sprinkle talcum powder or powdered graphite between squeaky boards to reduce friction. Wood filler applied with a putty knife also may work. For larger gaps, use a liquid filler designed for wood floors.
Homeowners also can
visit their local home improvement center for other hardware solutions designed for underfloor repairs to remedy squeaks. Many work from underneath the floor and
For more information about the Cattaraugus County 4-H Program, contact the 4-H office at (716) 699-2377 or email cattaraugus4h@ cornell.edu.
involve mounting plates or brackets to sure up the floor.
Squeaky floors can be problematic, but noises can be banished with some repair work.
Photo Provided
A group of 4-H members exhibit their goats at the 2024 Cattaraugus County Fair.
Parents often do everything within their means to keep their children safe in and outside of their homes. Throughout the years, child safety seats have helped reduce the risk of serious injuries to children while riding in vehicles. However, incidents of hot car injuries and deaths have increased.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates about 40 children a year die from heatstroke after they were left or became trapped in a car. Roughly one child every 10 days loses his or her life in a hot car. The NHTSA also says there have been more than 950 hot car deaths among children since 1998. The National Safety Council says nearly every state has experienced at least one death of a child succumbing to heat stroke in a hot car since 1998. The agency reports that a record number of 53 children died after being left in hot vehicles in 2018 and 2019.
Pediatric vehicular heatstroke (PVH) poses a serious threat. Health experts warn that a child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s. When a child remains in a vehicle without ample ventilation, that child’s
body temperature can rise quickly, turning into a dangerous situation. Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104 F.
Many children who were injured or killed in PVH incidents have parents and caregivers who are thoughtful guardians. No one sets out to “forget” their child in a car. Since younger children sit rear-facing in safety seats, sometimes their presence is obscured. Those who are rushing around or parents with miscommunication may not realize their child is in the car seat. It is essential that parents and caregivers get in the habit of always checking the back seat before locking the car doors. Heeding some additional tips also can prevent PVH.
• Leave your purse, wallet or another item in the back seat so you are forced to go in the back to retrieve it. This is an added security measure to check the back seat and ensure the car seat is empty.
• Never leave a child in a vehicle unattended for any length of time, even if you only intend to run into a store for a few minutes. Rolling down the windows or parking the car in the shade does little to adjust the interior temperature of the vehicle.
• Write a note or place a stuffed animal in the passenger’s seat to remind you that a child is in the back seat.
• Keep the car locked and keys out of reach. Children being forgotten in the car is not the only cause of PVH incidences. Sometimes kids hide or play in cars and become trapped. The NHTSA says 25 percent of PVH deaths occur after kids gain access to unattended vehicles.
• Be an observant bystander at all times. If you see a child alone in a vehicle, make sure the child is alright and responsive, then attempt to locate the parents. If the child seems in distress, attempt to break the window of the car and call for emergency services immediately.
Instances of PVH and similar accidents are not exclusive to summertime. A car can become hot quickly even if the temperature outdoors seems relatively mild, says Consumer Reports.
Various strategies can help prevent hot car
children.
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BY DEB EVERTS
STEAMBURG —
New pastor at Steamburg church aims to resurrect house of worship
Pastor Michael Brooks is a “saving grace” for a little rural church to overcome a challenging time. Of huge faith, he is on a mission to resurrect the Steamburg Community Church.
The Steamburg church has a “Little Engine That Could” kind of story with a congregation determined not to give up. The dedicated members have hung on through church closure and reopening, as well as the death of several pastors who intended to fill the pulpit.
Undeterred in the face of a seemingly insurmountable situation, the congregation has held hope to breathe new life into their little struggling church.
Congregation members
Connie Gross, Dick Morgan, Nancy Luce and Myrna Young have managed to keep services at the nondenominational church going for about three years by taking turns as lay pastors each week. After Gross passed away, the remaining members kept doing the services.
“That’s how we managed to keep the church open and going until God answered the prayer that we needed a full-time pastor,” Young said. “We’ve been doing this since the United Methodist Church shut it down. Then Rusty and Shirley Finch of Randolph bought the parish, church and grounds.”
According to Young, the congregation found Pastor Brooks by wordof-mouth through member Gayle Anderson, a sister of the pastor’s late wife,
God has taught me,” he said. “That’s probably what makes me a little bit different than other pastors. I haven’t been taught church doctrine, a specific religion and all of that. I’m more about people’s relationship with Jesus Christ than I am the religion of the church.”
Brooks said he encourages the congregation to build and work on their own relationship with God, because that is ultimately what he thinks Jesus Christ came to die for — to return people to a relationship with the Father.
“Your relationship with God is not going to look exactly like mine because we are different people. He has a different calling for your life than He has for mine, so why would they look exactly the same? I’m a sinner; I’m going to get (there) on my knees as a beggar. I don’t have any room to judge anybody,” he said.
things in the church, Young said. Morgan takes care of the music, Luce leads prayer time and she gives the children’s sermon.
Church attendance depends on a given day, according to Young. She said if the weather is bad, they have only six or seven show up, but it runs about 20 to 25 in attendance most Sundays and the numbers are starting to grow.
Brooks envisions a different kind of church for Steamburg. He thinks it’s going to grow, and it will be that church that is unusual, in the sense that they are not just interested in religion, doctrines and legalities.
“We want to minister to a broken world, and you
can’t do that by judging people before they even come through the door,” he said. “I think we’ll be different that way and stand out. God is going to bless that.”
He can relate to broken people because he’s been through a lot, including divorce, death, physical affliction and financial ruin. Now, 20 years later, God has called him again and has prepared him for ministry.
Sunday worship services are held at 11 a.m., and Bible study takes place at the church on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. The church is located at 2642 Lebanon Road. For more information, call Pastor Brooks at (716) 257-0765 or Young at (716) 354-4321.
Lani. Anderson told Luce about her brotherin-law, who had been filling the pulpit at a few other churches, and Luce contacted him.
“I prayed about it and filled the pulpit every Sunday at the end of January, February, March and then Easter Sunday,” Brooks said. “After Easter Sunday, they asked me when I could start full-time, and I decided to take the pastor position. May 4 was my first official Sunday.”
Prior to this position, Brooks filled in at several local churches, including the Little Valley Wesleyan Church and a church in the town of Red House.
“I’m not ordained, but I felt very called into the ministry,” he said. “Pastor Paul Moore of the Little Valley Wesleyan Church encouraged me to take the pulpit. He recognized that God was calling me and very much supported me in assuming the role.”
ORIGINALLY FROM Little Valley, Brooks attended Houghton University and majored in Religious Studies, but soon realized it wasn’t the path God was going to take him on.
“I stepped back, followed God and filled the pulpit every chance I got. It’s all led by the Holy Spirit and what
Along with his late wife, Lani, Brooks was co-owner and operator of the former Brooks Market in Little Valley and Cattaraugus. With the retail business in his blood, he’s now general operations manager for Ross John Enterprise, which owns the NAFCO Quick Stop, Burger King and car wash in Salamanca. Currently a Napoli resident, he has four grown children, Mackenzie, Shelby, Rachel and Michael Jr., as well as several grandchildren.
THE THREE LAY pastors who held things together until Pastor Mike’s arrival still do
Photo provided
The Steamburg Community Church has a new pastor, Michael Brooks, who is on a mission to resurrect the house of worship. Pastor Brooks (center) is shown with his daughter, Rachel, and son, Michael, at the church.