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Austin • Coudersport • Crosby • Eldred • Gifford • Kane • Lewis Run • Mt. Jewett • Otto Eldred • Port Allegany Ridgway • Roulette • Smethport • Turtlepoint
Photo Provided Local women marched at McKean County Courthouse on Saturday joining millions of women holding Bans Off Our Bodies marches in Washington, D.C., and towns across the country. Nationwide, women are asking elected officials to vote for a law which makes reproductive rights — including abortion — the law of the land before the Court has a chance to reject the longstanding law.
Local women marched at McKean County Courthouse BY MANDY COLOSIMO Local women marched at McKean County Courthouse in Smethport on Saturday, joining with millions of women holding “Bans Off Our Bodies” marches in Washington, and towns across the country. Women, and even a few supportive men, joined at the Courthouse for brief comments and then a march around the building. The march was organized by Harriet Nevil
and other women and was concerned with the status of Roe v. Wade which, according to a leaked opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court, is on the verge of being overturned this summer. Nevil, a retired registered nurse, has seen a few things over her 73 years and has been more than willing to share some of her memories in hopes that more will listen, and “stop the bans on our bodies.” Back before Roe, before abortion was legal,
women would meet for an appointment at the house of an abortionist. Hence the name kitchen table abortions. “Who knows what was used at these places, but many women would bleed and we would get them in the emergency room,” said Nevil previously, “for too many it was too late.” She is afraid that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, and the decision on abortion legality is in the hands of the states, this is what women will be going back
to.
Nevil is not alone. Nationwide, women are asking elected officials to vote for a law which makes reproductive rights — including abortion — the law of the land before the Court has a chance to reject the long-standing law. Roe v. Wade has been a landmark case in this country. However, it has been under attack for many years. The decision to make abortion legal in the United States has been one of the most debated topics for
over 50 years. With this new round of controversy, Nevil said last week that she is, “Frightened, very frightened, where is this headed next” said Nevil, “what right will they take from us next? “We have to have this
conversation. We have to draw a line in the sand. This is a right. I am scared, I am so afraid we are going to go backward.” Hopefully, the marches across the nation over the weekend grabbed the attention that was needed.
Grant applications for DeMott fund due July 1 the environment and health and social services within the Port Allegany School District. Applicants should be 501( c) ( 3) tax exempt organizations, a school or municipality or religious organization. MCCF Board reviews applications based on the applying organization’s
stability; the impact its work has on the community; the feasibility of the project; and the role a grant from the Joe DeMott Fund would play in the overall project. The online grant application is available at www. mckeancountyfoundation. org and will be submitted via email to mccf@
mckeancountyfoundation. org. Grant requests for 2022 should not exceed $600. Applicants will be able to complete the grant application entirely online through the Foundation’s online grant system. Contact MCCF with any questions at 814-834-2125 or the sites given above.
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MAY 24, 2022
AAA: Nearly every state above $4 per gallon PITTSBURGH — Gas prices are 13 cents higher in Western Pennsylvania this week at $4.520 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report. The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in Bradford is $4.576; in Brookville, $4.517; in DuBois, $4.503; in Erie, $4.494; and in Warren, $4.599. With the national average cost for regular gas steadily climbing, three
states—Georgia, Kansas, and Oklahoma—are still holdouts for crossing the $4 per gallon mark. The national average for a gallon of gasoline is now $4.48 which is 40 cents more than a month ago and $1.43 more than a year ago. The increase is primarily due to the high cost of crude oil, which is hovering near $110 a barrel. At the beginning of last week, the price of crude oil decreased due to global
market concern that crude demand will suffer as COVID lockdowns in China remain in place. However, crude prices reversed course at the end of the week over growing market worries that Ukrainian and European Union actions against Russian oil and natural gas companies could spark retaliation by Russia, which would lead to more market disruption and uncertainty.
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful seeking students for Young Ambassadors Program HARRISBURG — Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n (PennDOT), invites Pennsylvania rising 10th — 12th grade students to help keep Pennsylvania clean and beautiful through the Young Ambassadors of Pennsylvania program. The program was recommended in the commonwealth’s litter action plan, announced by Governor Wolf, in November 2021. Students will be chosen through a competitive application process. Chosen candidates will commit to nine months of service as an ambassador and represent and uphold the mission and values of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. Other responsibilities include: attending a virtual orientation, four virtual education and training workshops, and up to two virtual networking events, organizing and participating in at least one community cleanup event through Pick Up Pennsylvania, conducting one community education event or activity targeting peers or youth in the student’s community and promoting participation and community impact on social media. From September 2022 through May 2023, Young Ambassadors will build community stewardship by inspiring, engaging, and empowering Pennsylvanians to keep their communities clean and beautiful and develop civic leadership to champion and advocate for clean and beautiful communities across the state. “Litter in the Commonwealth has been and continues to be a major problem,” said PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian. “Annually PennDOT spends nearly $14 million for department personnel to clean up litter from the 40,000 miles of state-maintained highways and 150,000 acres of roadside real estate. We are proud to support this important youth-oriented initiative of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful as together we seek out stewards of our future.” “We are honored to offer the Young Ambassadors of Pennsylvania Program in partnership with PennDOT, which seeks to build community stewards and civic leaders by inspiring, engaging, and empowering young Pennsylvanians to not only keep their communities clean and beautiful but also to become ambassadors in their community
for our shared vision of a clean and beautiful Pennsylvania,” said Shannon Reiter, president of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful will provide education and training to program participants on such topics related to the impact of litter on roadways, litter prevention, waste management and recycling, civic engagement and related public policy, volunteer management, and social media marketing. The program will provide networking opportunities to not only build a sense of community within the program but also to promote professional development of
the individual students. “We know the students of today hold the key to a sustainable future. We’re excited to work with and guide this group of Young Ambassadors to implement change in their communities and the Commonwealth,” said Reiter. Students interested in applying should visit k e e p p a b e a u t i f u l . o rg and choose Programs, Education then Young Ambassadors of Pennsylvania or contact Kylie McCutcheon at 724-836-4121 x114 or kmccutcheon@ keeppabeautiful.org. Applications open in August.
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You can make a difference in a child’s life CONCERN has a need for foster homes in Potter County. Thanks to the guidance, love and support of foster families, children are experiencing a healthy, happy childhood. Learn how you can make a difference. For more information visit www.concern4kids.org 570-523-1297
BSA talks artificial turf, KFC BY MARCIE SHELLHAMMER The Bradford Sanitary Authority reported at Tuesday’s meeting that it is working with developers on a few projects in the area, including a proposed KFC at the former Dairy Queen building and with the Kessel Athletic Complex for a proposal for artificial turf. Following the meeting, Executive Director Steve Disney explained that the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford is proposing to replace the natural turf field with artificial turf, provide pedestrian walkways and expand the existing parking lot. The limits of disturbance will be approximately 6 acres. This will change the amount of impervious area for stormwater drainage by increasing it approximately .6 acres, he explained. “The facility appears to meet the rate and volume controls required by the stormwater ordinance,” he said, adding that the authority has requested
perc test data to confirm the volume controls will drain within the required timeframe. Regarding the proposed KFC, he said slight alterations were proposed for the building. “The property is limited to any significant stormwater best management plans or alterations due to the footprint of the property,” Disney explained. “Fifty percent of the site sheet drains towards West Washington Street and the balance is handled by a south catch basin in their parking/drive thru area.” Two new sanitary sewer hookups have been requested in Foster Township, one for a resident location for an existing dwelling that hadn’t been previously connected, and the second for a restroom at the new Koi and Goldfish Farm in the Lafferty Hollow Industrial Complex. “The developer anticipates no more than six employees over a given business day at 210 gallons sewage rate per
day,” Disney said. Engineer Jack Rae reminded the developer to have proper access points for cleanouts in the sanitary lateral. Both requests were approved. In other business, Disney said new catwalks and railings at the final clarifiers have been installed. Sanitary employees did the work, saving a great deal of money. The catwalks and railings will improve safety while performing tasks associated with the equipment. He explained several equipment demonstrations have been conducted lately. Golden Equipment demonstrated their midsized Regenerative Air model street sweeper last week for the authority and for the city’s Department of Public Works. Additional demonstrations from other vendors will be scheduled. Nozzles and underground CCTV cameras were demonstrated as well. The next authority meeting is scheduled for June 21.
Head-on crash sends two to hospital, serious injuries LEWIS RUN — Crews from multiple fire departments and the Lewis Run based State Police responded to a report of a head-on collision involving multiple patients and entrapment on Barnum Road, south of Artline Road, just after 7:40 a.m. last Thursday. Fire crews from Eldred Township Volunteer Fire Department and Eldred Boro made their way to the scene and assessed the situation; shutting down the road in all directions. Initial reports stated that Otto Township Volunteer Fire Department was on standby. According to the Pennsylvania State Police report, a vehicle driven by Alexis Layman, 24, from Olean, N.Y, was traveling south and negotiating a curve on Barnum Road when she crossed over the centerline. Layman’s vehicle struck, head on, a vehicle driven by Tammy Church, 58, of Eldred. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts; however, both drivers sustained
serious injuries. An initial landing zone had been set up by the Otto Township Volunteer Fire Department for Mercyflight. Then a second helicopter was requested. Layman was transported by the Bradford City Fire Department to a landing zone and flown to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
Church was transported by Priority Care Ambulance to a landing zone and flown to UPMC Hamot in Erie. The vehicles involved sustained disabling damages and were towed from the scene. Barnum Road was closed for several hours. Calls to fire officials were not returned by press time.
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Writing to remember the fallen of WWII By MANDY COLOSIMO Memorial Day is a day to reflect and remember the fallen soldiers and sailors. One way to do this is to tell their stories. By telling the stories of how they lived, where they fought, and the bravery they displayed, they will not be forgotten. The fallen from the Greatest Generation have not been forgotten. Though, it is getting more difficult to find information about all who were lost during World War II. There are many ways to help retain the stories for future generations. The Stories Behind the Stars organization has collected information about and written stories for around 15,000 of the fallen soldiers, but is on a mission to do so much more. SBTS has a goal of building a common database, through Fold3.com, for all 421,000 US WWII fallen soldiers and creating an app that can be used by anyone, free of charge. The U.S. will remember their fallen on Monday, May 30. Usually it is a day of grilling and shopping,
yet this year seems different somehow. The climate in the world has shifted, maybe. Too many places are at war or on the brink of battle. This year seems like more people will want to hear about those who came before them, what it was like back when, and who they should thank for the freedoms that allow the flag to continue to wave in the wind. Choosing one group is difficult. But, at the same time, it was easy. The Greatest Generation is the one which suffered the greatest number of casualties in recent times due to its involvement in World War II. World War II began in 1939 but the United States stayed out of the conflict until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, the U.S. declared war on Japan and thereby entered WWII. There were battles that stretched throughout Japan and Europe, until its end in 1945. The war was destructive. Death came by air, by sea, by land — it was devastating. A barrage of bombings could be
indescriminate and kill everything in its vicinity back then. By the time the numbers came in, over 16 million Americans had served in the Armed Forces (U.S.). Over one million were killed or wounded in action. Additionally, of the 130,000 prisoners of war, 15,000 did not return home. In 2004, the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. opened. A plaque stands in front of a curved wall and explains what the wall represents. For each star on the wall, a hundred lives lost are represented. There are 4,048 stars. Over 400,000 soldiers and sailors, Americans, were lost during the last world war. Many of these men and women were barely getting started in life, barely out of school or just recently married. Others had been on the battlefield before, had reenlisted because they considered it either the honorable thing to do or that it was their duty. The stars on the memorial represent nearly half
a million Americans who did not make it home from World War II alive. Writers, even those with little experience are encouraged to reach out and complete a volunteer form. Other jobs include help with data entry, database management, finding photos, researching to support writers, phone apps, and all the things related to the completion of this mission. Get involved in an effort that matters. To make these stories even more accessible, the organization is promoting the development of a smartphone app where anyone with the app can use their smartphone camera to scan the name of any of the fallen from a memorial or gravestone and get a link to read their stories right there. An Android prototype has been tested and it works. It will forever change the experience of visiting these hallowed sites. Partners FindAGrave.com and Together We Served both have smartphone apps that can access stories written by Stories Behind the Stars
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volunteers that are linked or saved to their platforms. As they are compiling the stories, not just those of the fallen everyone has heard about, but all those lost in the war, they are collecting photos and other documents and records from the war. A small number who earned noteworthy awards for valor or were part of famous stories (such as the five Sullivan brothers) can be located on Wikipedia. However, the stories of the overwhelming number of these men are not easy to find on the internet, if they exist at all. An ever growing cache of these records is being saved at thousands of locations accessible through the internet. Despite this wealth of source material, there
is no single database accounting for all of the fallen. In fact, there is no accurate official count of the U.S. WWII fallen. Across the country, volunteers are working tirelessly to build this database of stories or take what information is available and digitize it within the database. Many of these stories are already written but they are in hard copy, out-of-print books at local libraries, county archives, or VFW posts, or low traffic, obscure web pages. In the 21st century, there is no reason why these stories need to be so hard to find. If you or someone you know would like more information on Stories Behind the Stars, visit www. storiesbehindthestars. org
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