Octorara JULY 29, 2026
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EVENT CALENDAR I
SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
REACHING MORE THAN 3,720 HOMES
A New Way to Keep Score
Life Turned Upside Down BY LOGAN MOYER
She eventually connected with Wendy Rhoads at Ab-Salute Twirling in Ephrata and began formal training, eventually competing in competitions. Gurel never twirled with Octorara’s marching band, but she was the feature twirler in all her four years at Temple University as part of the school’s Diamond Band. “I’d say it’s kind of like a mix of dance and gymnastics, kind of like a cheerleader position,” Gurel said. “You’re trying to engage the audience, and it’s a big way to show
Karly Burkhart was only five months removed from treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma when she found out that her youngest son, Grant, was being diagnosed with FOXG1 syndrome, an ultrarare genetic disorder that affects less than 2,000 individuals worldwide. Many children with FOXG1, sometimes referred to simply as “FOX”, never speak properly. Furthermore, 70% of children with the syndrome never walk independently. Grant and his older brother, Logan, live on a dairy farm in the Southern End with their parents, Burkhart and Troy Kirk. As you can imagine, making an old farmhouse handicapped-accessible will be no small, nor cheap, challenge for the family. “It’s a big fear of ours on how we’re going to figure out how to get him around the farm and the rough terrain,” Burkhart said. “This is our lifestyle, and we can’t really change that. Figuring out how to adapt has been a difficult thing.” Grant struggles with severe development delays. His parents took him in for genetic testing after he was not hitting milestones that many kids his age were. While his family is hopeful, there is a strong chance that Grant may never be able to live independently. His only chance of doing so is extensive physical therapy. Many individuals with the syndrome also have to eat out of a feeding tube. Very little of what Grant will need to survive is covered by insurance. “We just want what’s best for him,” Burkhart said. “We want to be able to provide the therapies
See Twirling pg 5
See FOXG1 pg 2
BY LOGAN MOYER
townlively.com/ events
t takes a village. Octorara Area Little League has its village. The league’s homebase, Lions Park in Christiana, ne e d e d a ne w s co re board on the main field. T he ne w s coreb oard, donated by Houghton Enterprises, was recently installed by a group of nearly a dozen dads on a warm Monday night at the park, 4 Sadsbury Ave., Christiana. The new scoreboard is nearly twice as large as its predecessor and can be controlled remotely and A group of dads spent hours installing the new scoreboard on a Monday night. wirelessly from anywhere around the field. Previously, wired been what we call our grand slam scoreboard. They have kids in the cables had to be run from the sponsors,” said Craig Fackler, league; they want to see everything dugouts to control the scoreboard sponsorship coordinator for the elevated.” Octorara Area Little League rosLittle League. “The Houghtons remotely. “ T he Houghton family has have donated everything for the tered about 215 kids last season, See Scoreboard pg 4
OCC
The Diamond Girl BY LOGAN MOYER
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Gurel, a Parkesburg native, was an integral part of Temple University’s Diamond Band.
A Diamond Girl feature twirler. That’s a mouthful, but it means so much to Octorara alumna and Parkesburg native Mallorie Gurel. Twirling was in Gurel’s blood. Her mom was a baton twirler, which gave her a natural interest in twirling, dancing and cheerleading when she was growing up. She started twirling when she was 9 years old. “She introduced it to me when I was 7 or 8,” Gurel said. “Then I would beg her to put me in lessons.”
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