May 2011 #127

Keeping Music in the Pennsylvania Schools

On the cover: Remembering the Civil War: Punx’y Goes to Battle

PAHS Grad Spreads Awareness about the Importance of Arts Education through Beauty Pageants

By Jade Emhoff of Hometown magazine

(Cover photo by S. Thomas Curry)

‘Punxsutawney Hometown’ magazine © Copyright 2011 — All Rights Reserved.

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or Autumn Kunselman, a 2003 graduate of Punxsutawney High School, pageant life is not about image and fame but rather about advocacy and awareness for something she has been passionate about all of her life – music.

“Growing up, my grandparents and parents filled our house with all sorts of music,” Autumn said.

While surrounded by music all her life, Autumn first became involved with theater and musicals when she landed a role in a local performance of The Sound of Music when she was ten years old, which was

Throughout middle school and high school, she was involved in music and theater as much as Punx’y’s school and community programs allowed.

“Visual arts, music, and theater programs were unpopular, understaffed, and were usually met with a tiny voice of community support,” she said. “However, the fighting few were an inspiration to me. My love of music and theater took flight under the nurturing guidance of a small and unlikely arsenal of individuals – my piano playing next door neighbor, my church choir, caring family and friends.”

Having much experience with the performance aspect of music and theater, when Autumn started college at Clarion

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Miss Pittsburgh Autumn Kunselman (Photo taken

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2005.”

This is when Autumn’s perception of pageant life began to change, and she realized there was much more to it than looking good in a swimsuit.

“I saw all of these girls serving as role models in their communities. They all had platforms in which they were advocating for good causes, and they were all very well-rounded people,” said Autumn.

Although she said going to a pageant was a great experience, she was not yet convinced about putting herself out there in

art Director Melissa Salsgiver Graphic artists Melissa Salsgiver Carol Smouse Nicole McGee Emily Altomare All material submitted becomes the property of Punxsutawney Hometown magazine.

How to Get in Contact With Us: Mary Roberts ................................(814) 938-0312 Bill Anderson ................................(814) 472-4110 Tracey Young ................................(814) 938-9084 Our Office......................................(814) 938-9141 Our Fax..........................................(814) 938-9507 Our email address: hometown@mail.com Our business mailing address: P.O. Box 197, Punxsutawney, PA 15767 With our office located in: Railroad Building, Suite 100 North Penn St., Punxsutawney, PA 15767 yearly Subscriptions: $36 — First Class Mail

- Continued on next page Autumn Kunselman with students from Longview School. (Submitted photo)

performed by the Punxsutawney Theater Arts Guild (PTAG).

“My mom saw an ad … and encouraged me to try out for a part. I got it, and this sparked my interest for music and theater even more,” Autumn said.

One musical led to another, and Autumn become an active member in the PTAG for many years, securing roles in Meet Me in St. Louis, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Oliver, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nunsence, and the leading role in Snow White.

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University, she grew an interest for the business side of music, which led her to major in music business. Clarion is where Autumn was introduced to the idea of pageants by one of her sorority sisters, Anna, who frequently competes in them.

“When Anna told me she did pageants and suggested I should too, I had a negative perception of them and thought that it may work for her, but it’s not for me,” she said. “But then she talked me into going to one of her pageants, Miss Mid State, in

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policy makers and community leaders, and she sits on the Board of Education and Community Development for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to engage local students and connect the symphony at a community level.

“Statistics have shown that music and the arts in general prove increased team work, persistence, creativity, and critical thinking. Music makes you smarter,” she said.

Since 2006, Autumn also has shared her passion, knowledge and advocacy in the Punxsutawney area. She has been holding music programs for grades K-3 twice a year at Longview School, where her mother is a teacher.

“I am able to speak with students and their parents about the importance of music each year at the Spring Sing,” Autumn said.

The majority of Autumn’s involvement and drive for SmART has been a result of her involvement with pageants. In 2009, she was first runner-up in Miss Three Rivers/Miss Golden Triangle/Miss Allegheny Vally and in Miss TriCounty/Miss Presque Isle. She was then crowned Miss Jewel of the West in April 2009, which allowed her to compete in Miss Pennsylvania American in June 2009.

“After competing in Miss Pennsylvania, I aged-out of the of the American system, so I then began competing in Miss Pennsylvania International pageants, where I am eligible to compete until age 29,” she said.

Autumn has achieved Miss Pittsburgh International titleholder for 2010 and 2011,

Music in Schools Continued from previous page

front of hundreds of people and performing and competing in pageants herself. A couple of years passed and after graduating college Autumn began working parttime at the Center for Young Musicians located in Wexford and Sewickley, both near Pittsburgh, and part-time at a restaurant as well.

“I really started to miss singing and the performance part of music, so when another friend I was working with at the restaurant mentioned pageants, we decided we would begin doing them together,” she said.

A great deal of preparation is involved before competing in pageants, and one of them is choosing a platform.

“Each contestant chooses a platform, a cause, belief, or philanthropy that she is passionate about. Many girls choose something that is close to their heart or a part of their life, and I have chosen arts education as mine,” Autumn said. “I chose to call it SmART to imply the necessary role of art being fully educated.”

After Autumn chose her platform, she took off running with it and began getting involved in her local community schools, where she advocates for the importance of music education at school board meetings.

She has also participated in Arts Education: a Community of Inquiry in Pittsburgh (AE: CIP) to advocate arts education to

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Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 3

The Call to Arms in 1861 Punx’y’s Involvement in the Civil War

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By S. Thomas Curry of Hometown magazine century and a half have passed since the Civil War began in April 1861.

Over the next four years, states and local groups will be marking the 150th Anniversary of “the War” with a variety of events. Organizers for the national “reflection” on this troubling time in U. S. history will refer to the programs and events as a “commemoration,” not a celebration, of that period.

There is no question in the minds of historians that the Civil War was the most important event in the life of the nation. It saw the end of slavery. It brought the nation back together as united states.

From that conflict, and its sufferings, its fatalities, political divisiveness, family separations, and physical destructiveness, there are family stories from North and South, including Punxsutawney, that have kept the War and its history alive over many generations.

The War isn’t really past. Whether we read the facts, or read the stories, whether

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Buried in the old North Findley Street Cemetery is Capt. E. H. Little, a young Punxsutawney lumber operator who was killed in hand-to-hand combat at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. (Hometown file photo)

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A burial spot for many local men who had fought in the Civil War from its beginning in 1861 to its end in 1865 is the little town cemetery on North Findley Street. (Hometown file photo)

by farmlands. It had grown to include small frame houses and shops and mills that supported farming and lumbering. In the census of 1860, the population of Punxsutawney was 415 people, with around 100 of them listed as “taxables.”

The surrounding townships had a total population of around 3,500 with nearly 700 “taxable” adults. Perry Township was the largest in number of residents (1,073) and Young Township second highest (776).

The native forests of pine and hemlock in this hilly area of Jefferson County had been cleared for the settlements and farmlands.

No longer were the sun’s rays kept out where people desired to live and work.

When the ground could not be planted and harvested, lumbering was still the biggest industry. At this time the roads were rough, but people were arriving and buying their little plots of land. Then when lumber became cheap, plank streets came to the village.

The town could boast of having flouring and saw mills, a blacksmith and wagon shop, a carpenter shop and a tin shop, a spinning wheel and chair factory, shoe and boot makers, general stores, a gunsmith, a post office and a few hotels. This growth primarily centered around the “square” that Rev. David Barclay had designated for public use in his town plan.

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House, The Eagle Hotel and Tavern, the Weaver Hotel and the Mahoning House, (local people would call it The Campbell House). In 1860, Henry Jennings bought the hotel and began remodeling it as his Jennings Hotel. It had become apparent then that there was a need to provide accommodations for the traveling public, or temporary lodging for new settlers until they could establish a place, or business, of their own.

The Forest House, was located on the corner of Union Street at South Gilpin Street, (just outside the western boundary of Findley Street of the town). It was a popular stopping point on a road that was heavily traveled into Punxsutawney from Indiana.

By 1860, four church denominations had been established in town, three of them sharing the same “meeting house” built by the Presbyterians in the park. The Presbyterians had shared space with the Baptists and the German Lutherans. With a growing membership, the Methodists were worshipping in their new red brick church on West Mahoning Street that had replaced a little one-story frame building on the spot.

In the fall of 1860 the Presbyterian congregation began construction of their own new red brick church on the corner of Mahoning and Findley streets and the Baptists were beginning construction of their first worship house on North Jefferson Street.

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6 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

Following the Civil War, many area war veterans of the “Grand Army of the Republic” became members of the E. H. Little GAR Post #237 that was chartered in 1888 in Punxsutawney. The group posed for a Memorial Day photo, 1911, during the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. (Hometown file photo)

Call to Arms

sworn in and after. Fort Sumpter (sic) was fired on and the call for troops followed immediately.”

Continued from page 4 That there were strong feelings on the slavery issue can be found in his personal through the years of the Civil War. statement on the subject. Recalling some The undeveloped land of the “public old-time Methodist preachers, he rememsquare” would have many uses over a quarbered one of them with these words, “... Mr. ter of a century that included baseball Wheldon commenced to preach. At a later games, circuses, political rallies, a militia day he allowed his politics to interfere with training ground, fireworks, growing grass his usefulness. He was on and hay, and letting the cows the losing side politically in and pigs to roam, until it was the North especially among transformed later into a more the Methodists. The last beautiful “public park.” time that I talked with him Some of the new settlers he acknowledged that he had would build their new frame made a mistake. He said he houses beyond the eight should at least have kept his squares of the original plan mouth shut on politics. He of Punxsutawney, in areas took the wrong side during west of Gilpin Street in a the war (1861 to 1865) in wooded area where are now reference to Slavery and Sethe “mansions’ of West Macession and etc. Nearly all honing Street. East of the of the Methodists were AboMahoning Creek, by way of litionists. Most of them that the framed covered bridge were not Abolitionists left built near the previous fordthe church and some joined ing spot at the end of Union other churches.”

Street, the Clawson and In the years before the war Wood families would be among the first to build in In 1897 two Civil War cannons was declared in 1861, it was what is now the East End were presented to the local GAR Pennsylvania law “that every and placed in the park. After able bodied man of proper section. To the north where post the park was redesigned in 1902. the Jenks Homestead had In a ceremony to “Peace” in 1910, age to be enrolled in the milibeen built on “farmlands” the cannons were relocated in tia and at least once a year to there would be new neigh- corners of the park fronting Ma- meet for roll call and drill,” honing Street. Since1976, they as recalled by another Punxbors, too. have been in the Heritage Area of Back in those days, it took park. (Detail from circa 1915 Post sutawney man, George Slaysman, about his youth. a long time for the latest Card) John Bair would remember news to get to the citizens of when these were held, “It was a great day rural towns and villages. People could get when they turned out to muster for us boys,” their news from mail delivered by stagehe wrote in 1919. “They had fancy uniforms coach, or the passengers visiting town, or and wore high hats with plumes of feathers by the postman on horseback. The local colored red, white and blue.” population was no doubt following the news He could remember the playing of “Yanabout the United States presidential camkee Doodle” by the fifers and drummers in paign of 1860 that resulted in the election the military company. “They trained on the of Abraham Lincoln as president. And they public Square and on the streets, and in would have picked sides on the campaign marching around they made it convenient to issue against slavery. The news about South stop at the tavarns (sic). In training they Carolina declaring a secession from the went through a great many manuvers (sic).

“Union” would surely be discussed among In my mind’s eye I see them yet. They had local patriots. And when six more Souththe old flint lock muskets with other accouern states also seceded in late 1860 to form terments to match.” He would also remema “confederacy” of Southern States, there ber encampments, with the last one held at must have been serious concern.

Punxsutawney in the fall of 1859 on land That feeling was expressed in 1919 in the near Gaskill Avenue that would later be the words of John Bair in his “Early RecollecNordstrom Brick Works. tions of Punxsutawney.” Bair, a retired As he recalled it, “It was considered a businessman, had recalled years of the Civil great event then. It was a gala time for War. He and his brother Lorenzo had eneverybody, especially the boys as it was a listed in the War in 1863. In a portion of his holiday time for all. Peanuts, Ginger Bread writing he shared, “I remember the strain and small beer for the young and plenty of that was on everybody and everything just fire water for the men and soldiers.” before the war, especially from the time that - Continued on next page Abraham Lincoln was elected until he was

Call to Arms

Price HQuality HSelection HService H

Continued from previous page Military companies were formed and the young men of the area were prepared for any hostility and threat to the Union of the States. When Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12, 1861, one of a few remaining Union-held forts located in the south, President Abraham Lincoln sent out a call to the states to send troops to recapture the fort and “preserve the Union.” With what appeared to the President as only a small “rebellion” he called for volunteers to serve for three months.

When the call to arms was sounded by the President, Punxsutawney contributed its share of able-bodied men. Initially, in April 1861 nine young men left Punxsutawney and vicinity as a part of the Pennsylvania volunteers, enlisting in Company I, 8th Regiment. In his “Early Recollections...”

John Bair listed the men to leave Punxsutawney: John Hastings, Alexander C. White, Steal S. Williams, William Bair, Samuel Depp, Samuel Hibler, Joseph N. Walkup, Arch Hadden, and John Stiver.

A meeting of citizens was held to make arrangements for entertaining the volunteers in Punx’y before they left, and also to arrange for their transportation by wagon to Brookville, on to Kittanning and then down the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh.

There were worship services in each of the churches in town. And when the drums began to beat at 11 o’clock, the small group of first volunteers assembled. The congregations rose and passed out of the buildings, leaving the ministers preaching. “The old men as well as the youth of our town joined in the procession and marched with us to our neighboring town, Clayville,” recalled another of the “old men” in the early 1900s in his own account of “Early Punxsutawney.”

To send family members and some of the community’s youngest off to “preserve the nation” would be an exciting moment for many. Among the courageous folk bidding goodbyes, there would be tears, too. The young men were mustered in on April 24th, 1861. For comfort, it was remembered this first call to serve would be for only 90 days.

The War did not end in three months.

These men returned home safely and began to enlist men for the 105th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. And the War continued on until April 1865.

(The Civil War stories will continue in future issues of Hometown magazine.)

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Music in Schools which enabled her to compete in Miss Pennsylvania International 2010 and 2011, where she was first runner-up and second runner-up respectively.

Currently, Autumn is investing her time and talent in a fundraiser for the VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education in America’s public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child’s complete education (www.vh1savethemusic.com).

“I just recently recorded my first album, ‘Autumn Leaves’ to honor the memory of my grandfather while ensuring that children still have music education available to them,” she said. “It is full of old favorite standards like ‘At Last,’ ‘Moon River,’ ‘Green Eyes,’ and ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’.”

A portion of the proceeds raised from the release of the album will be donated to VH1’s Save The Music Foundation.

Autumn said, “Advocating for arts education to me is giving back to those individuals who helped me grow and find my path, paying tribute to their generosity and guidance.”

To learn more about SmART and “Autumn Leaves,” visit Autumn’s blog at http://misspittsburghintl.blogspot.com.

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Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 7

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F

Community Happenings

rom the Chamber of Commerce and the Community Calendar at Punxsutawney.com, here are list the events and happenings in our area. n Commissioner Candidate Forum will be held on Tuesday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the main courtroom at the Jefferson County Courthouse. The forum will be moderated by Randy Bartley and is hosted

by TURN, PA Freedom Fighters, and local Chambers of Commerce. Sponsored by TURN and PA Freedom Fighters. Call 814938-4193 or 814-503-8337 for more information. n The Red Shoes will be performed by VanDyke & Co. and the Mahoning Valley Ballet on Friday, May 20 at 7 p.m. at the Punxsutawney Middle School. For ticket information call 814-938-8434. n Drawing Workshop with Marianne Fyda will be held at the Lattimer House, 400 West Mahoning Street from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for ages 15 and older. Free admission, class size is limited to first 25 people. Call for mandatory reservations. Sponsored by Punxsutawney Arts Association and Historical & Genealogical Society. Call 814275-1204 for information and reservations. n Punx’y Phil Fighters 5K Run / 1 Mile will be held Saturday, June 4, 2011 on the Rails to Trails located just of Route 36 South behind Prushnok Drive. Registration opens at 10 a.m. and the race begins at 11 a.m. All proceeds go to the American Diabetes Association. For more information or to pre-register please contact Kelly Ferrent at 938-0495. n Interested in Attracting Marcellus Shale Business? The Punxsutawney Area Chamber of Commerce wants to attract Marcellus Shale companies to our town…and to your business. Help us help you by contacting us about how you can be listed on our web site. Our goal is to create a web site that will have everything a Marcellus-related business might need to know when looking at Punxsutawney as a possible community in which to locate. Businesses of all kinds can have their information listed on the site. Types of businesses that could be of interest to Marcellus Shale companies include machine shops, auto repair shops, excavation, trucking/hauling, sand & gravel yards, laundry services, catering, and rental housing, including hotels, motels, and RV rentals, to name a few. Call the Chamber of Commerce today at 814-938-7700 x2 or visit www.punxsutawney.com/marcellus for more information. n Blessing of Bikes Set for May 22 If you are planning to ride the highways on your two-wheel motorized vehicle or your classic car, you may want to visit Grace United Methodist Church. Blessing of the Bikes and Show Cars will celebrate its third anniversary on May 22 in the church parking lot. Bikers and show car enthusiasts may begin arriving at 1 p.m. with the actual blessing taking place when the participants have arrived.

Pastor Paul Thompson of Cloe United Methodist Church will welcome the riders and drivers and will provide music for their enjoyment. Grace United Methodist

Church members will provide a picnic lunch for all who attend. You do not have to ride a motorcycle or drive a classic show car to come. Everyone is welcome.

Pastor Al Kimmel was the originator of the idea in 2009.

With the economy and high gas prices, there are more and more motorcycles on the highway. Many motorists do not take the time to notice the riders.

“We want everyone to enjoy the benefit of God’s blessing, said Pastor Kimmel. “Join us for the wonderful time of fellowship.” n Punxsutawney Country Club announces that the dining room is now open to the public! Two special nights in the club dining room are Thirsty Thursday with pizza, wings, and dinners and Early Bird Dinner Specials on Friday from 4-5 p.m. with dinners being served until 8:30 p.m.

Reservations are strongly recommended for Friday nights. In the bar, stop by and wel-

come new manager, Doreen Astorino!

Doreen and her husband Ron, who owned and operated the Blue Tavern/Astorino’s in Walston for many years. Finally, it’s golf season, so talk to Dan at the Country Club Pro Shop about becoming a member! For more information on the dining room, bar and golf, call the club at 938-8243. n Punxsutawney.com is maintained by the Chamber of Commerce for the community. Any area business or organization is invited to become a member of the Chamber of Commerce for as little as $65 for the year. For more information, visit Punxsutawney.com/chamber or call 938-7700.

To submit an event for the calendar, visit Punxsutawney.com/calendar and fill out the form.

• • •

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Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 9

23 Ways to work smarter in 15 minutes or less

By Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore getbuttonedup.com ow many times have you caught yourself thinking, "Well, I just have five minutes, so it's not worth doing X, Y or Z"?

Make use of those short windows of time and you'll suddenly feel like you've been handed extra-long days.

Sitting in the doctor's office? Skip the

H

A proven Conservative team for Jefferson County Commissioner our goal is to change the direction of the county from fiscally irresponsible and excessive debt to a fiscally conservative, responsible and growth oriented county that works for all the people. We will always keep you fully informed.

ira sunderland

We Are Here for you, tHe tAxpAyers. your Vote WiLL Be in your Best interest. the reason we’re running again: sunderland Black Administration

Mcintyre Corbin Administration

increase

Budget $11,530,772* $22,429,269** 99.995% Debt $3,447,680* $17,000,000** 358% Tax $6,017,026* $8,767,450** 46% they also voted for an increase in their salary while in office (December 2010)

David Black sr.

taxable value of your home was increased 333% by the current administration.

1 mill of tax now collects $876,000. *Information obtained from the Federal Audit. **Information obtained from Jefferson County’s 2011 budget.

Vote for the team that Listens — Cares — Acts Paid for by the candidates.

10 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

magazines and do one of the following. Got 10 minutes before the next meeting? Cross one of these off your list. You'll be delighted at what you can do in small windows of time.

Here are 23 ways you can work smarter in short bursts to maximize your time: 1. Make a to-do list. What you write down gets done.

2. Keep a reading file and catch up on articles. If you keep handy a file of things you want to read eventually, you'll have something productive to do whenever you find yourself waiting.

3. Clean up your inbox. If you're the kind who holds on to emails and have hundreds, or even thousands, in your inbox, use those random blocks of five minutes to set up folders and clean it out.

4. Keep a running phone-call list and return calls. Keep a small log with you or on your desk at all times to keep track.

5. Pay bills. If you haven't already signed up for e-statements and electronic bill payments, take a few minutes to do that, too.

6. Track your budget. Download a free budget-tracking form -- visit www.getbuttonedup.com and click on "tools & giveaways." Keep it in your to-do notebook and write down where you've spent your money when you have a few minutes to spare.

7. Order gifts for your gift closet. Stock up on gifts you can stash away in your gift closet for later use.

8. Make a list of doctor appointments.

Do you let years pass between appointments? Stop. The next time you find yourself twiddling your thumbs, call and make checkup appointments, even if they're six months out. Ask the receptionist to email or phone a confirmation.

9. Go for a walk to clear your head. It's

amazing the difference a five- or 10-minute stroll can make.

10. Sort through snail mail. The vast majority is likely junk. You can probably zip through a big stack in just a few minutes.

11. Organize your gift cards. Get a wallet like Buttoned Up's GiftCard.log that enables you to keep track of cards and the amount/expiration date on each one.

12. Make maintenance appointments for your car.

When was your last oil change? Is your inspection date coming due soon?

Don't wait until it is too late or your car breaks down.

13. Make a list of the things that bug you at home (such as loose drawers or missing handles) and a shopping list of what you need to fix them. Then the next time you're out and about, buy what you need at the hardware store so you can deal with them once and for all.

14. Tackle the junk drawer(s). Set the egg timer for five minutes and go to town on each one. Be ruthless about tossing stuff.

15. Organize takeout menus. Grab a folder or binder from your home office if you have one to spare and use that to keep them. If you don't have one, keep the menus together with a clip or rubber band.

16. Order prints of digital photos. Organizing photos can seem like a massive job. Rather than stressing over putting together a perfect album or scrapbook, just order prints of a few great shots.

17. Order frames to display those prints.

They don't have to be perfect or expensive.

18. Research a vacation or project.

19. Water the plants.

20. Make a birthday list and set up ecards.

21. Make a cheat sheet of fun things to do or places to go on rainy days.

22. Pick up five things and put them in their correct spots. Pick a room -- any room -- and take this small step. The bigger the items, the greater the impact.

23. Do something thoughtful for someone else! Send an email letting the person know how much you care, or call -- or even stop by and give a hug. Your day will get a whole lot brighter, too.

(The writers are co-founders of Buttoned Up, a company dedicated to helping stressed women get organized. Send ideas and questions to yourlife(at)getbuttonedup.com. For more columns, go to scrippsnews.com.)

• • • Hometown magazine ... online, all the time www.punxsutawneymagazine.com

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W indgATe Vineyards & Winery Windgate wines, gift baskets, wine-making supplies & wine-related books & merchandise New Wine Releases: Chocolate Covered Cherry

and Late Harvest Vignoles & as always the Eye of the Shadow

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Punxsutawney Community Center Revitalized:

Open House Saturday, April 30

Caterina’s Dolce Cucina Gluten Free Paninis, Muffins, Biscotti Desserts and Salads

Wireless Internet Mother’s Day Gifts Arriving Daily Gifts Under $10 Downtown, Punx’y • 938-8781

R.D. Brown Memorials All Cemetery Needs

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314 N. Findley St.,Punx’y • 938-2100 Outdoor Display Daily 9 to 5; Sat 9-12 • Sun & Evenings by Appt.

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AuTO • HOME • BuSINESS • LIFE

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T

By Jade Emhoff of Hometown magazine

he Punxsutawney Area Community Center would like to invite you to an Open House to experience their improved and advanced Fitness Center on Saturday, April 30. Stop in anytime from

8 a.m to 5 p.m. to check out their six new treadmills, five new bicycles, four new ellipticals and other body building equipment. Prizes will be given away every hour, and you can enjoy a free work out on this day. Aside from additional and improved equipment, the fitness center also has a revamped atmosphere with various murals provided by the Punxsutawney High School 8th and 9th grade students.

Fitness Center rates are $5 per day or $30 per month, and they offer a family rate of $55 per month.

Their normal hours are Mon.-Thurs. 7 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.; Fri. 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The center is staffed at all times to provide you with instructions about the exercise equipment. For more information call 938-2320.

• • •

Hometown magazine Online — All the time

P

unxsutawney Hometown magazine can now be read and enjoyed by anyone around the world.

The entire edition, as it appears in print, is available by going to our new website at: www.punxsutawneymagazine.com and clicking on the magazine icon appearing in the middle of our home page.

Every page, every story, every advertisement is now there for you to read at your convenience. You can flip through the pages, enlarge and move the pages around

to make reading easier, and even print them. In addition, you will find information about our staff, back issues and special sections. More features will be added in the future.

Readers are reminded to let their families and friends outside the Punxsutawney area know of our new website … especially nice for the PAHS spring athletes who have family and friends living out-of-town.

Hometown magazine, online, all the time.

• • •

richard l. Fait

Darlene Stuchell

Funeral Home

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12 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

“We Serve As We Would Be Served. . .

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Mother’s Day Buffet Sunday, May 8th from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. adult: $16.95 • 8-12: $8.95 3-7: $5.95 • 2 and under: Free Lamb, Roast beef, Stuffed chicken, Ham, Baked Italian Cod, Parsley potatoes, Mashed potatoes, Sweet potato soufflé, 2 vegetables, Penne w/ red sauce, Penne aglio et olio, Italian tomato salad, Tossed salad, Desserts

Reserve your 2011-2012 wedding or party today! new management: tony “Jiggers” Gigliotti is in charge of the food service offering his years of experience in family dining and featuring homemade recipes. doreen Astorino is now running the bar $25 social membership required to purchase alcohol.

• non-Smoking atmosphere • Handicap Parking • 4 high-def big screens • Outside deck for dining • Competitive pricing • Happy hour 6-8 • Daily specials and legal gaming tickets.

• golfing memberships & specials available

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Printed 04-11

Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 13

TRAilhEAD

Gallery

WE FEATURE LOCAL ARTISTS’ WORKS

CUSTOM FRAMING

Let us frame that special keepsake or photo 124 West Mahoning St. Downtown Punxsutawney

Clean Affordable Apartments

Reynoldsville Office 1039 Grant St., Reynoldsville

653-7804

Part I: Securing the Iron Works

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Jefferson County Housing Authority (814) 938-7140 1-800-585-5303 TTy/Tdd 711

Coal Brings the Iron Works to Punxsutawney

Management Office 201 n. Jefferson St., Punx’y

A

By PRIDE for Hometown magazine

panic, as it was called then, or a depression as we might call it today, brought the Iron Works to Punxsutawney. Beginning about 1893, the economy which had rapidly expanded during the late 1880’s due to extensive building of railroads had stressed

look is growing brighter,” Punxsutawney News, March 1, 1893 Mining companies rotated available work among all the miners in attempt to keep them working.

This enabled each family to have some income. When unemployment peaked at about fourteen percent, the May 27, 1896 issue of the Punxsutawney Spirit reported: “No. 12 mine, Anita, was shut

Rental Assistance provided Section 8 Housing by the U.S. department Choice Voucher Program of Housing & Urban development

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232 hampton Avenue 814.938.1101 539 West Mahoning Street 814.938.1125 stbank.com

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Mahoning Creek west of Punxsutawney about 1900. The site selected for the Iron Works may have looked similar to the visitors who came to view it in 1895. (S.J. Sharp collection photo)

the country’s banking system to the point of financial collapse. The McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 placed 48 percent tariffs on imported goods, increasing prices and further slowing the economy. The United States, at that time, was operating on currency backed by both gold and silver.

The economic panic triggered a run on the nation’s gold when foreign governments and American citizens demanded gold for their paper money. This slowdown of the economy lasted for about seven years. Only the Great Depression, as a result of the stock market crash in 1929, was greater than the panic of 1893.

As the economy crumbled, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad went bankrupt, beginning the declines in the railroad and mining industries. Unemployment was reaching double digits in 1893 when the Punxsutawney area began to feel the impact. Articles in the newspapers attempted to put a positive spin on the situation: “Work at the BerwindWhite Company’s mine No. 4 below Horatio, is reported to be improving. The lack of work has been seriously felt by the miners of that slope and we trust the out-

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14 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

down last week. About 150 men were employed there. There were also 26 men taken out of No. 11 and 19 taken from No. 10. A number of the men, perhaps half, were given employment elsewhere. Just at this time the coal business is extremely dull, but it is expected to brighten up pretty soon.”

At this unlikely time, a proposal was made to locate an iron smelting works in the Punxsutawney area. E.M. Parrott, of Rochester, New York, came to Punxsutawney in March of 1895 to look for land on which to place an iron works.

While in town he met with a local committee who showed him some available properties. In early November 1895, the committee took the proposal to the public. The Punxsutawney News, in its November 13th issue carried two articles on the proposed iron works. The first article reported on the public meetings that had been held to inform community members of the possibility of locating an iron works in the area. The need for the community to provide some financial support was stressed. It was estimated that $25,000 to $50,000 would need to be

raised locally to bring the iron works to Punx’y.

The second article stressed the benefits the to the people of Punx’y and asked for contributions: “If the operating of an iron plant such as Rogers, Brown & Co, propose building would mean anything for Punxsutawney and vicinity it would mean a great deal. The proposed plant it is said will cost $200,000 and the circulation of a part of that sum among the workmen who will put up the plant will be of incalculable benefit in the William Arthur Rogers, senior way to stimu- partner of Rogers, Brown & lating busi- Co., Iron Manufacturers. Mr. took advantage of the ness; but that Rogers opportunity to open an iron would not be works in Punxsutawney. all in the way (Photo courtesy of Chuck of monetary LaChiusa) - Continued on next page

Dr. rick Bishop Tel: 814.938.3111

Fax: 814.618.1037 rick@drrickbishop.com www.drrickbishop.com neW lOCatiOn 119 West Mahoning St., PuNx’Y

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Iron Works Continued from previous page

circulation. It is stated that such a plant would give employment to from 200 to 300 men. That means daily wages ranging from $1.50 to $3.00 or about $1500 a month would be put in circulation in our midst all the year round. It would also mean 1000 to 1500 mouths to feed and people to clothe, besides hundreds of other mechanics and laboring men that would flock to this place in the advent of such an industry being located here.

That would mean that the farmer would sell more produce and a greater demand for such produce would bring better prices. The merchants would also come in for his share of increased trade. It would mean a jump in real estate. Building lots that cannot now be sold at any price would find ready buyers. Houses that are begging for renters would not long be idle. If you own property in this vicinity which you would like to sell or rent would it not pay you to help get this work here? Most assuredly it would.

Then be as liberal as you can, for if the plant goes to a neighboring town there will be a great number of empty houses and store rooms in this place and Clayville than there are at present. There will be fewer people to feed and clothe, and consequently a lack of demand for produce would bring prices down. The bottom would drop out of real estate values and rents; while if it is possible to get the plant here the state of affairs would be the reverse. We would ask that property owners think of this matter in the

Engineer J. Kennedy’s concern about low-lying land was validated in October 1911, when the Mahoning Creek flooded West Mahoning Street and the Iron Works.

The building in the center of the photograph was the business office of the Punxsutawney Iron Company. (S.J. Sharp collection photo)

proper light and decide for themselves who is to be benefited by such an industry.”

The people of the Punxsutawney area were not the only ones who would benefit from the iron works. Bion H. Butler, in an article in the Pittsburgh Times, reprinted in the Punxsutawney Spirit in the January 8, 1896 issue, gave more reasons for the relocation. In 1895, Rogers, Brown & Co. was one of the largest producers of pig iron in the world. Rogers and Brown had been monitoring the eco-

nomic situation and began talks with Adrian Iselin, of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg Railroad, who had large mine holdings in Jefferson County. An iron works at Punxsutawney would make economic sense. The smelting operation, which had been purchasing coke from the Punxsutawney area and paying to have it transport to Buffalo, could eliminate the freight cost by having the smelter closer to the coke ovens. The railroad, would still haul coal and coke to Buffalo for the foreign market, however instead of haul-

ing empty cars from Buffalo back to the mines, the cars could be loaded with iron ore for the smelter. The freight cost for the ore would be at a reduced rate because any amount would be more than the railroad was currently making by hauling empty cars. The iron company and the railroad would both profit from this arrangement.

In early December 1895, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Brown, and their engineer, Mr. Kennedy, came to Punxsutawney to look - Continued on page 18

Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 15

Happy Mother’s Day!

West End

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JefferSon wholeSAle grocery

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REGISTER BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 4

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Wed, Thurs & Fri 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sat 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sun 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Punxsutawney Hometown magazine’s Mother’s Day Giveaway. register to win the great gifts on next page.

One winner per participating listing on next page.

21920 Rt. 119 N. Punxsutawney

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Contest rules: 1. No purchase necessary. Clip and complete coupon on this page and mail to: Mother’s Day Giveaway, Punxsutawney Hometown magazine, P.O. Box 197, Punxsutawney, PA 15767.

2. All entries must be received by Wednesday, May 4, 2011.

3. One entry will be selected for each participating business through a random drawing from all entries to be held in our Hometown office on Thursday, May 5, 2011.

4. By participating in the contest, all entries are subject to contest rules.

5. One entry per envelope please.

6. Winners will be announced in the June Issue.

Happy Mother’s Day!

All you have to do to register to win is clip, or photocopy, and complete the coupon and mail to:

Mother’s Day Giveaway Punxsutawney Hometown magazine P.O. Box 197, Punxsutawney, PA 15767 Punxsutawney Hometown magazine’s ‘Mother’s Day Giveaway.’

Mother’s Name____________________________________ Entered by________________________________________ Address___________________________________________ City______________________ State_______Zip_________ Phone___________________________________________

The way banking should be.

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Roseman's Florist & Gifts hanging Baskets for Mother's day, fresh Arrangments & Gifts 126 W. Mahoning st., punx’y ◆ 938-7364

16 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

Books • Bibles • Cards Music • Gifts • Jewelry Precious Moments Collection Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Graduation, Wedding Gifts 191 Main St. BROOkvILLE

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Reagle's NOTARY See Us for Your Registration Needs.

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We now issue over the counter registration cards and stickers.

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Independent Auto Parts of America

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Sat. 7:30 a.m. - Noon

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Enter Mom to Win One of These Great Gifts

Solid Oak & Cherry Furniture made by amish Craftsmen “Quality Doesn’t Cost...It Pays!”

Rt. 119 between big Run & Sykesville Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 427-2720

Wal-Mart Certificate Allstate - Jody D. McCullen 133 East Mahoning St., Punx’y 814-938-8942 $25 Gift Certificate Christian Book & Gift Shop 191 Main St., Brookville 814-849-7800 $50 Savings Bond CNB Bank 559 W. Mahoning St., Punx’y 814-938-2615 $25 Gift Certificate Comet Market W. Mahoning St., Punx’y 814-938-6961 $25 Gift Certificate for the Grocery Store of Your Choice Christ the King West Long Ave., DuBois 814-371-3180 $10 Gift Certificate Country Cone Rt. 36 North, Punx’y 814-938-2058

Relaxation Basket ($25+ value) Gigliotti Chiropractic & Naturally Healthy 217 W. Mahining St., Punx’y 814-938-7851 Dinner for Two Gimmicks Restaurant 208 Ridge Ave., Punx’y 814-938-7100 $20 Gift Certificate Grandma’s Kitchen Rt. 36 North, Stanton 814-849-6396 Hanging Basket Hanzely’s Garden Center Rt. 119 South of DuBois 814-375-0305 $25 Gift Certificate Joyce’s Greenhouse Rt. 119 S. of Punx’y 724-286-9722 $25 Gift Certificate Korner Kupboard Antiques 502 Main St., Reynoldsville 814-653-2178

$25 Gift Certificate Double M. Ceramics 333 W. Main St. Reynoldsville 814-653-2792 $25 Gift Certificate Fairlady & Company 100 W. Mahoning St., Punx’y 814-938-1255

Cozy Blanket Kengersky Nationwide Insurance 52 Notary Lane, Punx’y 814-938-3092

Abundance Songbird Feeder with bird feed and gardening gloves Mahoning Valley Milling Co. 318 Indiana St. Punx’y • 814-938-8850

Hanging Basket Gift Certificate ($25 value) Reagle’s Notary 203 E. Main St., Big Run 814-427-2361

$25 Gift Certificate The Medicine Shoppe 132 West Mahoning St. Punx’y • 814-938-3011

Mixed Flowering Hanging Basket ($30 Value) Roseman’s Florist & Gifts 126 W. Mahoning St. Punx’y • 814-938-7364

15 Tanning Sessions (Valued at $40) The Pool Guys 119 Roberts St., Punx’y 814-938-9396

Golf Shirt S&T Bank 2 Locations: Hampton Ave. & Mahoning Office

Gift Basket Posh Pets Grooming Salon 542 S. Main St., Punx’y 814-938-8921

$25 Gift Certificate Thistle & Pine Celtic & Country Collectibles 7570 Rt. 119, Marion Center 734-397-2442

Gift Basket ($25 Value) The Official Punxsutawney Phil’s Souvenir Shop Downtown • 814-938-7700

$20 Gift Certificate Walker Auto Parts Indiana St., Punx’y 814-938-4235

$25 Gift Certificate Pizza Hut Rt. 119, Punx’y • 814-938-2400

Lovely Gift Basket Wal-Mart Supercenter 21920 Rt. 119, Punx’y

$25 Gift Card Punxsy Hometown Pharmacy Groundhog Plaza, Punx’y 814-938-9150

$25 Gift Certificate Yoder's Furniture Paradise Road Punx’y

A true feeling of home...

• new Chapel • Beautiful countryside location • Continuing Care retirement Community • Personal Care • two Dementia Care Units Private rooms/suites • adult Day Care Home Support Services

Christ The King Manor Dedicated to a Life filled with Purpose and Happiness

1100 West long ave., DuBois

814-371-3180 • www.christthekingmanor.org

Auto Home Life Business Kengersky Insurance Agency Matthew E Kengersky kengerm@nationwide.com • (814) 938-3092 52 Notary Lane, Punx’y, PA 15767

HANZELY’S nursery and Garden Center

Trees, Fruit Trees, Shrubs, Bulbs, Bagged Mulches, Garden Supplies, Silk Flowers & Much More!

Rt. 119 South of DuBois

• 375-0305

Mon.-Sat. 9 to 8; Sun. Noon-5

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Wed. 1-3 p.m. & 7-9 p.m.

Store Hours: Mon. - thur. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. & 6-9 p.m.; Fri & Sat. 10-5 p.m.; Closed Sun. 333 W. Main St., Reynoldsville

653-2792

www.doublemceramics.com

local registered Pharmacists

Michael Horner, Kim Horner (missing from photo)

Joe Presloid & Jennifer Moore Open: Mon.- Fri 9 to 7; Sat. 9 to 2 132 West Mahoning St. Punxsutawney

938-3077

Punxsy Hometown Pharmacy Gift Shoppe at the Punxsy Plaza Yankee & Swan Creek Candles Majesty Bells Windchimes Joan Baker Designs stained glass art Candle warmers New Spring items Have Arrived!

938-9150

Large selection of gift items including

uPS Shipping Center gift cards, gift baskets & greeting cards

Gigliotti Chiropractic

invites you to attend Mayflower trunk Show!

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and Naturally Healthy WE OFFEr a COmplETE sTOCk OF QualITy nuTrITIOnal supplEmEnTs • Ear CandlEs • aCaI • spIru-TEIn • TEas • FIsh OIl • BIOFrEEzE • VITamIn d • hEalThy hands & FEET CrEam • plus muCh muCh mOrE 217 W. mahoning st. punX’y

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Fairlady & Company 100 West Mahoning Street Punxsutawney, PA 15767

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Call 814-938-1255 for more information Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 17

Fresh Air Fund Looking for Punx’y Families

S

pring is here and that means summer is just around the bend. You can enjoy a perfect summer this year by inviting a Fresh Air child into your home. Approximately 5,000 New York City children visit host families in the summer. Hosting a child does not take much — a little room in your heart and home — the experience creates and friendship memories that will last a lifetime. The idea of the program is to show the kids that there is another way of life. Many hosts have said the experience is as enriching for their own families as it is for inner-city children.

The program began when Rev. Williard Parsons, in a small rural parish in Sherman, PA, asked his congregation members to be hosts for children from New York City.

Residents in and around Punxsutawney

area can help light up the faces of a child this summer by hosting a low-income resident of New York City. Children coming the first time are 6 to 12 years of age. Children who have visited here before can come until 18 years of age and stay longer than two weeks.

The children are covered by medical insurance and liability insurance. They also have a medical examination before leaving new York. The Fresh Air Fund provides transportation to the area.

This summer the children will be coming to Punxsutawney July 5 to July 19 and to Indiana August 10 to August 19.

If you are interested in the program please call chairperson Celine Tersine at 814-938-8416. An application must be filled out to process hosting a child.

• • •

d.e. LiMiTed FAMiLY PARTneRSHiP

We Buy old Coins, Coin Collections & Gold Jewelry

dEL

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• DEVELOPERS AND PRODUCERS Of NATURAL GAS

Winter Hours: tuesday 12-5 449 Main St., Reynoldsville (under the Elk’s Club sign)

CAll todAy!

(814) 603-2999

328 Indiana St., Punx’y • 938-8850

Jefferson County Register & Recorder

at the proposed site for the iron works.

They met with a contingent of citizens and they discussed the proposal. Mr. Rodgers found the friendly attitude of Punxsutawney’s citizens reassuring. Mr. Brown and Mr. Kennedy visited the proposed site for the iron works near the Clayville Depot. They found it to be convenient to railroads and the mines.

The site was an old bed of the Mahoning Creek which had developed into a long winding swamp. It was situated between the two boroughs, Punxsutawney and Clayville.

According to Sydney Smith in his “I Remember” column in the Punxsutawney Spirit in May of 1953, it had once been a wild area filled with butter nut, water maple, birch, oak and spruce trees and eider bushes. It was a rustic place where children of Punxsutawney and Clayville explored and played. A run, or stream, which began at a spring near the Jehu home meandered through a huge culvert under West Mahoning Street, into the old creek bed, and contributed to the swamp.

A dance platform had been built there and young people from Punxsutawney, Clayville, and the developing mining communities came to dance to the music of accordion players. Today this land is the site of the Punxsy Plaza.

The company was concerned that the land was low lying and would need to be raised to keep the iron works from flooding. Engineer Kennedy estimated that it would cost an additional $25,000 to fill in the site. The Punxsutawney people were confident that the site could be adequately filled. Although the company did not reject the site at this meeting, the concern was noted and an inquiry about

OPEN DAILY 8-5 ~ FRI. 8-7 ~ SAT. 8-3 FISHING SUPPLIES AND LIVE BAIT OVER 100 YEARS IN BUSINESS

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(Editor’s Note: The resources used in the preparation of the February 2011article, “The Early Story of Mass Transit in the Punxsutawney Area,” were: “Trolleys from the Mines: Street Railways of Centre, Clearfield, Indiana & Jefferson Counties Pennsylvania,” by Richard C. Albert; “Pennsylvania’s Street Railways,” by Benson W. Rohrbeck, and the local newspapers of the time period. These are available the Punxsutawney Memorial Library and the Punxsutawney Area Historical and Genealogical Society. Resources used in this article may also be found at these two community facilities. This article has been prepared by PRIDE – Punxsutawney Revitalization: Investing, Developing, Enhancing. PRIDE is a nonprofit organization which brings together residents, business people, community leaders and civic organizations, to improve the business districts in Punxsutawney. PRIDE is working to develop a Coal Memorial to enhance the economy of the Punxsutawney Area. Comments on this article may be directed to PRIDE, P.O. Box 298, Punxsutawney, PA 15767) • • •

WACHOB’S

DeCKer’S COinS & JeWelry

mAHONING VALLEY mILLING COmPANY DiAne MAihle Kiehl

Iron Works Continued from page 15

the possibility of another site in the area was made.

On December 24th a telegram was received by W.W. Winslow, the chairman of the local committee stating that Rogers, Brown & Company accepted the Punxsutawney proposition, subject to a few changes of minor details. Punx’y celebrated with the blowing of the fire whistle and bold headlines in the Christmas Day edition of the Punxsutawney Spirit. The news sparked speculation that Punxsutawney was destined to become a manufacturing center with many spin-off industries. W.O. Smith wrote in his editorial, “When such men as Adrian Iselin and Rogers, Brown & Company, take an interest in Punxsutawney it augers well for her destiny.”

local registered Pharmacists

Market

Michael Horner, Kim Horner

427-4211

Joe Presloid & Jennifer Moore

(missing from photo)

100 W. Main St.• Big Run

Made-to-Order, Homemade

FRESH DOUGH PIZZA DAILY

GROCERIES LOTTERY

Open: Mon.- Fri 9 to 7; Sat. 9 to 2

132 West Mahoning St., Punxsutawney

OPEN Mon.-Fri. 7am - 9pm•Sat. & Sun. 8am - 9pm

GREENTREE LUMBER Custom Homes & Cabins Custom Lumber • Log Siding Post & Beam Structures Sheds & Pole Buildings • Log Furniture

Smicksburg 814-257-9878 PA# 019608

938-3077

TOnell’s JeWelry We Buy Old Gold Platinum & Silver

Your Black Hills Gold Headquarters

Brookville

849-7135

Hometown Magazine ... Online All The Time...

www.punxsutawneymagazine.com 18 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram are registered trademarks of Chrysler Group, LLC

Printed 04-11

Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 19

On each new day, we have new chances

By Sharon Randall Scripps Howard news Service long time ago, I was friends with a young woman I’ll call Becky. She was 18, I was 21. We had little in common except for the fact that we were both newly married and looking forward to a lifetime of happily ever after.

At 17, Becky had lost her mother to cancer. Within a year, she was pregnant and married.

I remember visiting her soon after her baby boy was born. She was so proud of him, so

A

in love with him, so determined to be a good mother to him, just as her mother had been to her.

But things don’t always go as we plan.

When her marriage broke up, Becky took off, left the baby with his father’s parents.

The next time I saw her, her little boy was almost 3 years old and I was nine months’ pregnant with my first child. She needed somewhere to stay until she could find a job and a place to live. She talked about getting her son back and making up for lost time.

So for several weeks after I came home from

the hospital with my newborn, Becky slept on our couch, cooked our meals, washed our clothes and did her best to be helpful.

I was sorry to see her go, but I was proud of her for wanting to make a home for her child. mother What doesn’t want that?

What mother doesn’t dream of the person her child will grow up to be, and want to give him every chance in life? Becky tried. Despite struggles in her life, rocky relationships and failed marriages, she tried to do right by her boy.

We lived 150 miles apart and saw each other only once or twice a year. Our boys

YOU’Re inviTeD TO An

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20 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

played together on occasion when they were small, until they were teenagers, doing their own things.

Once when I called, Becky said her son had been arrested on drug charges. It was the first of many arrests to follow.

You know how some people never seem to catch a break? Ten years ago, Becky’s husband — the love she spent a lifetime looking for — died suddenly of a heart attack. And her health went from bad to worse.

Over time, it became harder to reach her. I didn’t call often — not nearly enough — but there was usually no answer and no machine to leave a message.

I can’t remember when we last spoke. Yesterday, when I tried to call, I let it ring a long time, hoping she would answer.

I wanted to tell her how truly sorry I am, how it broke my heart to hear the awful news that her son had died.

I wanted to say I’ll always remember him as a sweet-natured, well-mannered, easy-tolove boy, always quick to smile.

I wanted somehow, yes, to ease my guilt at not having done more, or been more in his life. But that was not to be.

When she didn’t answer, I hung up the phone, wrote a long note and mailed it to the last address I had for her.

Today, while at the market, I struck up a conversation, as I am wont to do, with a young woman and her infant daughter. (“What’s her name?” “How much does she weigh?” “Are you getting any sleep yet?”

All the usual questions.) We talked at length, trading stories, where we were from, how long we had lived here.

Suddenly I realized she was in a place where Becky and I had been once — young mothers with babies and no family nearby.

Lucky for me, unlike Becky, I’d had friends I could count on.

So I gave the young woman my card and told her to let me know if she ever needs a break or just wants to talk. And something in her laugh made me think she just might take me up on it.

We can’t go back and correct old wrongs.

We have to live with our regrets. But the great thing about today is, every day that we’re alive, we get a new chance to do something right.

(Sharon Randall can be contacted at P.O. Box 777394 Henderson NV 89077 or at randallbay(at)earthlink.net.)

• • •

3 re-Elect

JEff PisarCik

for JEffErson County CommissionEr • Experience • Qualified • Dedicated paid for by the candidate

Special Thank You from Run or Walk for Someone Special

Dr. Nathan C.

STEBBINS Comprehensive Eye Care E DELED OFFIC NEWLY REMEROvE OUR PATIENTS

Your Center for Quality, Advice and value

TO BETTER S

hAnzelY’S nursery and Garden Center

“A

mazing”! That is what can be said about this year’s Run or Walk for Someone Special.

The past few years, the event keeps growing and growing, but this year we had 100 more participants than last year! Over 400 people raised more than $45,000 to help those

within Jefferson County and the DuBois area with disabilities.

All these funds are used to provide services at Camp Friendship which is sponsored by the Arc of Jefferson County.

Camp Friendship holds 2 summer camps and an Autism camp each year. The average cost to hold these camps is $100 per

week per child. This event makes it possible for the campers to attend for free.

They receive healthy meals/snack, certified teachers providing them with activities, and a time to make new friends!

We would like to give a very special thank you to Flatirons Development, LLC for being our major sponsor! We would also like to thank our top money collectors; Josh Golembiowski; $4688.00, Michael Tattersall $1826.66, and Linda Lyons $1381.00. The top money collecting schools were: SSCD; $1654.00, Luthersburg Elementary; $783.75, and Punxsutawney Area Middle School; $320.00.

The top money collecting groups: Wills Walkers; $4164.31, Team Came So Far; $1210.00 and Erin Cameron’s Group Daycare; $907.31. We also want to give a very big thank you to the businesses and people in our community and those from out of town who came, donated, and supported our event!

Without you; the Run or Walk for Someone Special would not be a success.

• • •

What’s more beautiful than a hanging basket for Mother’s Day?

Seasonal Bedding Plants Vegetable Plants • Herbs Expanded Line of Perennials Unique Selection of Pots & Planters 4 Miles South of Punx’y on Rt. 119

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814-938-5920

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Mon.-Sat. 9 to 8; Sun. Noon-5 Rt. 119 South of DuBois • 375-0305

ThAnK YOU from

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THIS YEAR’S SPONSOR:

CHOOSE FROM THE BEST SELECTION AROUND. • • • •

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• 724-286-9722 • Mon-Fri 9-8; Sat 9-6

Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 21

Visit Our

Tree Shopping Center...

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Rt. 422, 10 Miles East of Indiana • (724) 463-7747 Shopping Center Open Daily: Mon-Sat 8 to 5

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22 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

814.938.3111

rick@drrickbishop.com www.drrickbishop.com

Bronze in cemeteries luring new-age ‘grave robbers’

I

By Bill Straub Scripps Howard news Service

t was still warm in Milwaukee last October when a young couple pushed a baby carriage through quiet St. Adalbert Cemetery in what appeared to be a leisurely, peaceful, mid-autumn stroll.

But it was more than that. The couple, caught on a surveillance camera, was using the walk to steal bronze flower vases that families had attached to the crypts of their loved ones — vases that go from $120 to $200.

The baby stroller was used to conceal the stolen items — seven vases in all. The cameras were in place as a security measure as a result of similar, earlier thefts numbering more than 100 at St. Adelbert and Mt. Olivet Cemetery on the city’s south side.

Authorities surmised the bronze items — made of an alloy that contains copper, which is commanding astronomical prices these days — were sold as scrap.

That incident was part of a nationwide spate of cemetery heists now unfolding, as crooks make off with bronze headstones, pry bronze plaques off the graves of veterans, yank up decorative bronze urns and even steal half-ton bronze sculptures and heavy bronze doors from crypts.

According to local news accounts, in March alone, a man was charged with stealing 158 cemetery vases in High Point, N.C., worth a total of $30,000; a cemetery in Nashville, Tenn., lost 140 vases to thieves; and in Washington, two sculptures — one weighing 800 pounds — with a total value of $250,0000 were stolen from historic Rock Creek Cemetery.

Centuries ago cemeteries often were popular sites for thievery, although it was more of the grave robbing sort as physicians and others — think “Frankenstein’’ — sought fresh bodies for experimentation.

These days the honored dead remain generally undisturbed but items adorning their burial plots are illicitly removed and often sold to recyclers or fenced.

Copper theft has long proved to be a lucrative profession for crooks, particularly when the price is elevated as it is now. Scrap copper is going for about $4.50 a pound and scroungers will go to great lengths to grab and fence it.

Decorative pots at gravesides are an easy target. Bryan Jacobs, executive director of the Coalition Against Copper Theft, based in Washington, said cemeteries provide easy access, open spaces and limited security beyond simple fencing.

“They can get in and out of cemeteries very easily,’’ Jacobs said. “This has been a problem for four or five years. These guys will get copper from anywhere they can. It’s absolutely appalling.’’

Robert Fells, executive director of the In-

ternational Cemetery, Crematory and Funeral Association in Sterling, Va., said the bronze vases and urns, often used to hold flowers, are a regular target because they are easily moved.

Last February, for instance, police in Robertsdale, Ala., arrested a brother and sister team and charged them with stealing almost 200 bronze cemetery vases. Police said the pair acted indiscriminately, removing the pots from the plots of children, veterans and a former city police chief. The value of the vases was placed at $300 each.

“There’s a rash of these things that come and go in different areas,’’ Fells said.

“It’s an on-again, off-again kind of thing. I don’t know what triggers it. From time to time cemeteries try to police their grounds because these things usually occur after dark.’

Ruthie Shapleigh Brown of the Connecticut Gravestone Network noted that the bronze vases aren’t the only items that turn up missing.

“With such profit to be had, is it a wonder that our cemeteries are such vulnerable targets?’’ she said. “How many cemeteries have you been to where you’ve seen large portions of iron gates and fences — maybe up to 80 percent - already missing? Statuary urns, lambs and angels are disappearing at alarming rates and being purchased by garden lovers, unaware that this old statue probably came from someone’s gravesite.’’

Anything containing the precious metal appears ripe for the picking. In Brookline, MA, last September, two bronze plaques, valued at $1,200 and $1,075, disappeared and were assumed stolen. The plaques were big and heavy — one measured two feet by eight inches while the other was 18 inches — and bore the names of families buried on the grounds, one dating as far back as 1899.

Jacobs, of the anti-copper theft coalition, said the cemetery thefts “are as low as these guys get’’ but asserted that the problem is “much wider and deeper’’ than graveyard pillaging and it appears to be growing. Efforts are underway to eradicate the problem.

“One reason the situation is not as bad as it was in 2008 - the last time copper prices jumped — is because a lot more states have done really good work at putting some basic laws on the books that we think are deterring the crime,’’ Jacobs said.

About 30 states now have some sort of copper theft law, Jacobs said. “Even some of the most basic ones that just make the scrap yard ask for identification for material, that is the primary deterrent,’’ he said.

The coalition is hoping for federal legislation to set minimal requirements for scrap yards dealing in copper and other precious metals.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com) • • •

Lyme disease is more prevalent, due to better reporting, diagnosis

By Pohla Smith Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I

n retrospect, Jennifer Mankoff, now 37, believes she was infected with Lyme disease either during a trip to Ligonier, Pa., in 2005 or while hiking in Frick Park in Pittsburgh in the fall of 2 0 0 6 .

She got a rash, one whose cause was never diagnosed, after the Ligonier trip, and she actually picked a tick off her leg after the hike in Frick Park.

Either way, the Shadyside, Pa., woman, an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, got sick later in 2006. She’s not exactly sure when the symptoms started, but she was so ill that she had friends come stay with her when her husband had to travel in December.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria carried by ticks most commonly referred to as deer ticks, although entomologists now identify them as blacklegged ticks. They have been infected as larvae and nymphs, which feed on birds or small mammals.

Adult ticks prefer deer. Any stage can feed on humans, potentially passing on the disease. It is the most common tick-borne illness in North America and Europe, and, says Lyme disease researcher Andrew J. Nowalk of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, it is a “devastating disease for patients who have it.”

The infection, once located primarily in New England and the mid-Atlantic and north-central states, is moving westward through Pennsylvania.

In 2009, according to a state-by-state report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pennsylvania had 4,950 confirmed cases plus 772 probable ones. That’s up from 3,985 cases in 2004.

But those numbers are deceptive, say both Stephen Ostroff, director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Epidemiology and acting state physician general, and Kevin Griffith, medical epidemiologist officer in the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases.

There are several reasons for the statistics besides a simple spread of the Lyme bacteria. They include a change in the CDC reporting procedure that has led to increased surveillance, Griffith said; what Ostroff calls “a greater recognition and appreciation” that has led to more testing and identification of Lyme; and an increase of people moving into previously wooded, high-risk areas.

The CDC also has recently changed the definition of a positive Western blot, the test used to confirm the presence of Lyme antibodies in the blood, which also could lead to more reported cases.

Nevertheless, Ostroff sees a geographic spread of the Lyme bacteria.

“When you look at it nationally, the numbers are increasing, and we also see ... a westward movement,” he said.

Similarly, Nowalk cites both greater awareness of Lyme and a spread of the

Lyme bacteria as reasons for an increase of two to three times the number of cases — he estimates a total of 60 or 70 — seen by Children’s Hospital last year. He also said experts believe the “true number” of Lyme cases is two to three times greater than that reported.

Symptoms of Lyme disease can range from a rash that looks like a bull’s-eye (erythema migrans) to flu-like complaints to nervous system problems like facial paralysis and cardiac ailments like heart block, as well as arthritis.

If diagnosed early, the disease is easily cured with antibiotics.

“The later the diagnosis, the longer the duration of antibiotics you’ll need,” said Nowalk, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases and assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

How long a duration is a matter of some controversy that can be traced to the fact that some symptoms can linger for a very, very long time. “There can be a lot of damage or symptoms that can last months or even years,” Nowalk said.

Some doctors believe those lingering symptoms mean the treatable form of the disease has developed into an untreatable autoimmune disorder they call post-Lyme disease syndrome.

Other physicians and groups call the lingering ailment chronic Lyme disease, and some of them advocate very long and varied courses of antibiotics. In some cases, insurance companies have denied coverage of that treatment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend two, two- to fourweek courses of antibiotics, citing three federally funded studies that showed longer courses were not beneficial and had been linked to serious complications.

Most of the doctors contacted for this article said they use the CDC guidelines.

(Contact Pohla Smith at psmith@postgazette.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

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Roethlisberger talks wedding plans, media scrutiny

By Ed Bouchette Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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he 2005 season turned out even better than Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger imagined, and his first Super Bowl victory at season’s end wasn’t the only one that involved a ring.

That August at training camp at Saint Vincent College, he met a Steelers fan from New Castle, Pa. named Ashley Harlan. On July 23, only a week before the Steelers are scheduled to report to training camp (pro-

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vided an NFL lockout of the players is lifted by then), Roethlisberger and Harlan will marry.

“I think a small part of her is hoping we hold out for a week so we can honeymoon,” Roethlisberger said Wednesday. “I told her I was laughing with coach (Mike) Tomlin; he said ‘You guys might have to have the honeymoon suite at Saint Vincent.’”

The 29-year-old quarterback spoke for the first time publicly since Super Bowl XLV during an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He confirmed for the first time the news that broke of his engagement to Harlan over Christmas and talked about his future wife and their summer wedding plans.

“I was surprised at how much media attention it was getting — it’s just an engagement. I never expected it to be on the front pages of all the papers and websites. There was speculation what our invitations would look like and who is coming! It almost seemed surreal, it was like a movie or something, it was weird.”

Some of those stories detailed a “wedding” gift registry at various department stores, which in reality was a registry for Harlan’s bridal shower. Because of the publicity, she has received packages from unknown people who have bought gifts for a shower they will not attend.

“We’ve gotten a lot of gifts from people we don’t know,” Roethlisberger said.

They expect more than 500 people at the wedding that will be in the Pittsburgh area.

The guest list includes all of his teammates along with coaches and team executives.

They’re still looking for somewhere to hold the reception after trying to rent the Consol Energy Center, which is booked for a World Wrestling Entertainment show. Guests will be asked not to bring gifts but make donations to Roethlisberger’s foundation. He will give any gifts to Ronald McDonald House and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. “I don’t know if it’s ever been done before, but it’s something I wanted to do and she’s on board. We’re just hoping that people who come to the wedding give a dollar or a thousand dollars or whatever it is, and at the end

we’ll put it all together and write a big check to Ronald McDonald House and Children’s Hospital and put everyone’s name who donated.”

It may be a relatively short engagement but the relationship was much longer in the making. After finishing practice in August 2005, Roethlisberger walked through part of the Saint Vincent campus, ran into a fan and started talking to him. The guy had a sister, Ashley Harlan.

“We were kind of on and off for five years — almost six years now — so I’ve known her for a while. It’s not like a random new person. We dated awhile ago; we have been friends ever since.”

Roethlisberger said he was determined to not only change his image but also change his ways since he was publicly humiliated — but never charged — after a female college student claimed he sexually assaulted her in a Georgia bar 13 months ago. Players say he has become a better teammate and friend, and many from the media covering him to those working in the front office have noticed a change in attitude. He has stayed out of the limelight, intentionally, and avoided talking even after news of his engagement first leaked in January.

Some of the reaction to his engagement coming so soon after his personal problems last year was met with skepticism.

“People will always have opinions of everybody and me, and that’s fine, they’re entitled,” Roethlisberger said. “But people who know her, know me, know us ... it’s funny because I’ve even had lot of fan mail through my website and stuff; people will write in and say — even before any word came out about an engagement — ‘Ben, you look like something’s different with you. You look like a happier person, you play happy, you smile more on the field.’

Part of that is because I’m a happier person, I’m in a happy place, but a lot of that has to do with her, too.

“People can say that it is whatever, but people who know and can see and are around us and know me, know that it’s something special when you find that person, and I’m extremely lucky.”

Harlan, a physician’s assistant who turns 27 in July, lives at home with her parents.

Roethlisberger cited the couple’s religious faith and beliefs as the reasons for not living together until marriage. He also hopes she can continue to live her life out of the spotlight.

“I try to protect her as much as I can. People (in the media) have gone to her parents’ house and have been doing some things.

That bothers me a little bit because it’s what I do for a living, I have to deal with it, but her parents and her, that’s not what they have to do. I understand it’s going to happen a little bit, but I’m still going to try to be very protective of the people I love — my family, my sister, my aunts, uncles, grandparents and now her. I try to be very protective of them because I don’t want her to have to be scrutinized over every little thing she does.”

(Contact Ed Bouchette at ebouchette@post-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter@EdBouchette. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

• • •

The rules of hunting, d.e. LiMiTed FAMiLY PARTneRSHiP ethics of a ‘free chase’ DEVELOPERS AND

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By Terry Tomalin St. Petersburg Times

y 9-year-old son loves the opening  scene  in  the  movie  “The Last of the Mohicans.� In case you  haven’t  seen  it,  the  film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel begins with three hunters running through the woods.

Chingachgook,  a  Mohican  chief,  his heir, Uncas, and his adopted “white� son, Hawkeye,  chase  an  elk  through  the woods. Hawkeye fires his long rifle and the  animal  stumbles  down  an  embankment. The three men kneel, in thanks and prayer, by the dying elk’s side.

“We  are  sorry  to  kill  you,  Brother,�

Chingachgook  says.  “We  do  honor  to your courage and speed, your strength.�

My boy had probably watched that sequence a dozen times before he finally got the nerve to ask me to take him hunting. I agreed, but told him I had a rule: “You shoot it, you eat it.�

Knowing that spring turkey season was nearing, I logged on to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s website  and  looked  for  the  nearest hunter-education class.

Florida law requires anyone born after June 1, 1975, 16 years or older, to pass a FWC  hunter-safety  course  before  they

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can purchase a hunting license.

The law allows a youth to hunt with a licensed adult for up to a year on a trial basis, but sooner or later they must take and pass the class.

The course, which is designed for 12year-olds  and  older,  takes  two  days  to complete. I took it 20 years ago, but decided to retake it with my son, thinking that when it comes to firearm safety you can never have too much training.

I was prepared for a certain amount of backlash from friends and family who do not  understand  why  I  would  want  to catch or kill my dinner. “If you are hungry,� my wife told me, “go to Publix.�

As my hunting-safety instructors would  later explain,  my son  and  I  are in  the  minority.

Roughly  5 percent of the population  is hunters.

Roughly  5 percent of the population  is against  hunting.  (These are  the  folks who  are going  to email  the newspaper and complain that I let my son watch the previously mentioned elk-hunting scene again and again.)

The remainder, roughly 90 percent of the  population,  doesn’t  hunt,  but  those folks also don’t actively oppose hunting.

That is why it is critical that the next generation of hunters, boys and girls my son’s age, learn the finer points of being a  responsible  hunter.  The  first  things young hunters learn are ethics, conservation  and  respect  for  both  land  and property.

They’re also introduced to more complex  issues,  such  as  the  rules  of  “fair

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Was James Earl Ray paid to kill MLK? Notes raise question anew

By Marc Perrusquia Scripps Howard News Service

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N

ewly discovered jailhouse notes written by assassin James Earl Ray seem to underscore an old question — did Ray get paid for the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?

An Oct. 18, 1968, report by deputies monitoring Ray at the Shelby County Jail discusses a single sheet of notepaper that Ray wrote on and then tossed in the trash.

“There are several interesting statements on this paper, one in particular which mentions $10,000 and promises,” says the report by cellblock supervisor B.J. Smith.

The report says the notes were turned over to prosecutors.

A copy of the notes, attached to the report, suggests they may be related to Ray’s infamous “20,000 Words,” an inventive alibi he wrote for his lawyers and sold to author William Bradford Huie. The notes mention Huie along with elements of Ray’s alibi.

The key passage that piqued jailers’ interest says, “I got a murder charge instead of 10,000 for listening to promises. No more fool pants.”

Re-examining King’s murder in 1977-79, a congressional committee found that Ray shot King, and that “his predominant motive lay in an expectation of monetary gain.”

James Beasley, 85, one of the original Ray prosecutors, said he doesn’t recall the sheet of notes. However, he said that at the time he and fellow prosecutor Robert Dwyer, now deceased, weren’t focused on a conspiracy but on preparation for trial.

Beasley said he cannot dismiss the pay-

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off theory, believing Ray fled to Portugal hoping to catch a ship to the white-supremacist nation of Rhodesia in Africa.

“Our whole idea was he wanted to be Mr. Big Man,” Beasley said. “And I really believe if he would have got to Rhodesia, beyond extradition, he would have written his memoirs.”

(Marc Perrusquia is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.)

• • •

‘free chase’ Continued from page 25

chase,” a concept that had been around since the Middle Ages. Even then, hunters understood that there must be balance in the pursuit of game.

In the late 1800s, the Boone and Crockett Club, founded by Teddy Roosevelt, established the “Fair Chase Principle,” which, according to the club’s website, “... is the ethical, sportsmanlike and lawful pursuit and taking of free-ranging wild game animals in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the animal.”

My son and I have since had many a long and spirited discussion over the concept of fair chase, and what it means to be an ethical hunter.

We both agree that three guys armed with flintlocks chasing a large animal through the woods equals fair chase.

More often than not, the elk gets away.

Occasionally, the hunter’s shot flies true and the whole village eats for a week.

We also agree that there is nothing fair about a “hunter” with a high-powered rifle hanging out of the window of an airplane taking shots at wolves. Unless, of course, the plane banks unexpectedly, the hunter falls out, lands in the snow and finds himself face-to-face with some angry canines. Then it’s game on.

However, all this talk about “chasing” could be a moot point. Turkey hunting, you see, doesn’t involve much moving around. Successful turkey hunters can sit for hours in a blind just hoping that a gobbler will come wandering by their hiding place.

Turkey hunting takes patience. And that is one thing you cannot learn in class.

(St. Petersburg Times fitness/outdoors editor Terry Tomalin can be reached at tomalin@sptimes.com.)

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Eastern cougar formally declared extint

By Morgan Simms Scripps Howard News Service or decades, many have believed the eastern cougar to be extinct. Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made it official.

During a recent study, the agency found no evidence to support the existence of the eastern cougar, a subspecies that once roamed from Maine to Georgia and parts of the Midwest. As a result, the agency will recommend the eastern

F

cougar be removed from the endangered species list, where it has been listed since 1973.

The decision does not affect the status of the Florida panther, another subspecies of cougar that’s listed as endangered.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the status review as required under the Endangered Species Act. Leading the investigation was biologist Mark McCollough, who spent the last five years combing through historical records, scientific reports and reported sightings to piece together the story of the eastern cougar’s demise over the past 200 years.

“I took the job thinking it would be relatively simple and straightforward,” McCollough said. “Little did I know what I was getting into.”

Fish and Wildlife received almost 600 responses in answer to a request for scientific information on the subspecies. Of the 21 states included in the review, none expressed the belief that the eastern cougar still exists.

Scientists attribute the eastern cougar’s downfall in the late 1800s to the decline of whitetailed deer — one of their favorite prey items — as well as bounty hunting.

The last report of a cougar killed in the Smoky Mountains was in the winter of 1920 when a farmer named Tom Sparks was attacked by a cougar while herding sheep. Sparks fought odd the cougar with a knife, and several months later, when a cougar was found, a deep cut was appeared on the animal’s shoulder blade.

Some believe the eastern cougar may have held on until the 1930s in remote areas like the Smokies and parts of northern New England. Yet even today, sightings of these large cats persist.

In its review, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concludes that most of these sightings are of captive cougars that have escaped or been released in the wild. The report says people typically are seeing the South American cougar, a subspecies that’s preferred in the pet trade, or wild cougars from the western U.S. that have migrated eastward into parts of the Midwest that were once part of the eastern cougar’s range.

Sifting through all of the records of cougar sightings in the eastern U.S. since 1900, McCollough came up with 110 cases that were well documented by evidence such as photographs or tracks. In cases where DNA testing was done on an actual carcass, the animal often proved to be the South American subspecies, McCollough said.

“You are what you eat,” he said. “With isotope techniques, we can determine whether an animal was raised on whitetailed deer or cat chow.”

Biologists say that in recent decades wild western cougars have established breeding populations in North and South Dakota, and that these animals now are migrating farther east into states like Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Pete Wyatt, regional wildlife program manager for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, said he believes it’s only a matter of time until wild western cougars find their way into Tennessee.

“The prey base is out there,” Wyatt said. “There are plenty of whitetailed deer, and we have large, unfragmented

tracts of land where they could repopulate.”

Down through the years, people have used the 800-square-mile Great Smoky Mountains National Park as an illegal dumping ground for all manner of exotic pets — everything from monkeys to emus. Last year the park had seven reports of cougar sightings — the average

annual number, according to park officials.

The park maintains that these sightings come from released pets and are not the result of a wild, self-sustaining population.

(Morgan Simmons is a reporter for The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee.)

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Isn’t that what neighbors are for?

By Sharon Randall Scripps Howard News Service hen the doorbell rang, I almost didn’t answer it. It was early (for us nocturnal types) and I looked bad.

I don’t mean a little bad. I mean seriously, plug-ugly bad. I hadn’t showered, dressed or put on any makeup and my hair looked like a wig for Edward Scissorhands’ grandmother.

But I was expecting a delivery I didn’t want to miss. So I took a swig of coffee, pulled on ratty sweats and ran to open the door.

It was my neighbor, Brett. I didn’t know that until he told me. He said his name and I blinked a few times until he pointed to the house across the street and I remembered.

Four years ago, when my husband and I moved here, Brett was the only soul on the block who welcomed us to the neighborhood. In time, we’d meet others on the street or over the fence, but he was the only one who came to our door to offer a neighborly hand.

Isn’t that what neighbors are for? Brett scored big with me for that. He told me that he and his wife had bought the place across from us as a second home, but seldom got to use it. She was suffering from Alzheimer’s, he said, so they spent most of their time at their home in Arizona.

I wanted to hear more of his story and hoped for a chance to talk again. At times, I’d see a car in the driveway or lights that suggested someone was home.

But four years passed and I never saw him again until today.

Four years is a long time. Given how I looked, I’m sure he thought I’d aged considerably.

“I want to thank you,” he said, “for watching out for my house.”

When I shook my head, he grinned and said his nephew had told him what I’d done.

Oh, that. One evening, I spotted a truck in Brett’s driveway. Someone who was not Brett was cleaning out his garage.

Without giving it much thought, I stuck my head out the door and yelled, “Hello?”

W

Turns out it was Brett’s nephew, who swore to me he was acting with permission. I’m not sure what I’d have done if he had said, “Actually, I’m robbing this guy blind, and when I finish with him, you’re next.”

I grinned back at Brett. “It was nothing,” I said. “Isn’t that what neighbors are for?”

I was about to ask about his wife, when he told me she had passed away some months ago.

“Oh,” I said, “I’m so sorry.”

“She was ill for 10 years,” he said, “so I had plenty of time to grieve. I still miss her, but it’s not like a sudden loss.”

I nodded.

“My first husband died of cancer. He was ill for four years,” I said. “Grieving is hard. But it’s easier in some ways than living in dread.”

We talked for a while, saying more with our eyes than with our words, the way people do when they share in common something sacred.

He’s in town for only a few days, he said, but plans to be back soon and stay longer.

I hope we have a chance to talk again.

He can tell me his story and I’ll tell him mine. I’d like to share with him, if he wants to hear it, the advice a friend once gave to me: “The challenge for you now, having lost your loved one, is to live a life that is honoring to his memory, but at the same time, that life moves forward so that only one person has died and not two.”

Those words, for me, have been a life raft. Maybe he will find them helpful, too. Maybe we can be, not just neighbors, but friends. Maybe his nephew will help me clean my garage.

“Next time you’re here,” I said, “we’ll have you over for dinner.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I know,” I said, laughing, as I hugged him goodbye, “but it would be our pleasure.”

And isn’t that what neighbors are for?

(Sharon Randall can be contacted at P.O. Box 777394, Henderson NV 89077 or at www.sharonrandall.com.)

• • •

R.D. Brown Memorials 314 N. Findley Street • Punxsutawney • 938-2100

We have a full line of monuments, decorative stones, benches and more!

28 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

Homefix: A mysterious roof leak

By Dwight Barnett Scripps Howard News Service

Q:

I have a two-story home with an attached garage, and where the garage roof meets the second-story wall of the house I've had a persistent roof leak that no one seems to be able to solve. The home is brick with vinyl siding on the second story. The leak occurs down low where the siding meets the brick. Have you heard of this before and do you have any idea who I could call for my problem?

A: Anytime there's a change in elevation of a roof or a penetration of the roof, with examples being a chimney, a plumbing vent, a roof vent or a skylight, the potential for a leak is high.

To prevent leaks, flashings are installed to direct water away from the penetration or away from the vertical wall and back onto the roof shingles. When you have vinyl siding resting on a roof, the bottom trim that installers use is called a J-channel. When water runs down the siding, it collects inside the J-channel and can get in behind the siding and the flashing and drip down onto the ceiling below.

The solution is to put half-inch notches in the J-channel about every 3 to 4 feet to allow the water to drain rather than to collect in the J-channel. The same problem can occur at the edge of the siding where

a vertical outside corner rests on the roof.

It, too, needs to be notched at the bottom so water doesn't collect in the cavities of the outside corner.

And finally, kick-out flashing needs to be installed at the bottom of the roof next to the vertical outside corner to direct water away from the wall and into the gutter. A qualified roofer should be able to solve this problem.

Anyone simply wanting to caulk the joint between the J-channel and roof is looking for an easy way out and, in the long term, this will not solve your problem.

In extreme c i r c u m stances, it may be necessary to remove portions of the siding and the shingles and install a product called Ice and Water Shield. It is a rubber-based self-adhesive material that forms a watertight barrier between the wall and joint.

Once it's installed, you reapply the shingles and siding and you should never have to worry about a water leak in that area again.

(Dwight Barnett is a certified master inspector with the American Society of Home Inspectors. Write to him with home-improvement questions at C. Dwight Barnett, Evansville Courier & Press, P.O. Box 286, Evansville, Ind. 47702 or e-mail him at d.Barnett@insightbb.com) • • •

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Printed 04-11

Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 29

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(Editor’s Note: ‘From Our Past,’ researched by S. Thomas Curry, features items of interest from past editions of Punxsutawney and area newspapers.)

April 3, 1889 — Covode has four blacksmiths, one shoemaker, one harnessmaker, one wagonmaker and several carpenters and they all seem to have plenty to do.

Covode also has four school teachers, three of whom have finished their winter terms and the other has a few weeks to teach yet. (Punxsutawney News) April 13, 1911 — Mrs. Jas. S. Gray, has quite fully recovered from what was believed to be cancer of the face. From the left side there have been twelve of these tumors taken and the wound is now healed.

She is rejoicing accordingly. They were removed by plaster and not by the knife. (Big Run Tribune) April 20, 1904 — The Captain Hastings dwelling which was torn down recently, on West Mahoning Street, was one of the first frame buildings erected in Punxsutawney, but one dwelling, that now occupied by Mrs. Mary Monks, of Union Street, antedating its construction.

According to the statements of the oldest residents of the town the house was built

in 1844, by whom, it is not known. After being disabled in the War in 1862 Captain Hastings returned home and during his stay remodeled the building which remained as he had constructed it until it was recently torn down. (Punxsutawney Spirit) [Note: The mansion of Davis Goheen was built on the lot. The house is where Jesse DeChurch’s Salon is now located.]

April 22, 1896 — Henry Wingert, of Marchand, is having built at Sutter Bros. wagon shop in Clayville the first wide-tired wagon that will be seen in this community, and will receive the reduction in road taxes allowed by law to all those using such wagons. The tires will be four inches wide. Mr. Wingert says he is going to set the example for his neighbors to make better roads. (Punxsutawney Spirit) April 28, 1870 — A NEW DEVICE for swindling the unwary has lately been put in operation with considerable success. It consists of a circular announcing that the party addressed has been awarded one hundred and sixty (160) acres of land as heir to a deceased soldier, and requesting that $30 be forwarded to the writer for expenses of sale and transmission of the proceeds. It is a “sell.” (Punxsutawney Plaindealer) • • •

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938-2555 (general) or 938-5536 (genealogy) 30 – Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127

Workers at nordstrom Brick Works Established in 1864 by O.H. Nordstrom, an early settler in the Punxsutawney Area, the Nordstrom Brick Works produced bricks for many buildings in town. In 1897, Mr. Nordstrom purchased an Eagle re-press from the American Clay Working Machinery Company, Bucyrun, Ohio and began to manufacture vitrified paving brick. This machine enabled the production of 10 to 28 thousand bricks per day. Nordstrom bricks were used for paving the streets in Punxsutawney. After Mr. Nordstrom’s death in 1909, his son-in-law, S. Charles McQuown, operated the company until it was closed. (Photograph courtesy of the Punxsutawney Historical and Genealogical Society.)

Marriage is about love, but divorce is about money

By Tim Grant Pittsburgh Post-Gazette lthough love is said to be the most important part of a successful marriage, money is often a leading cause of divorce.

“The time to talk about money is not after you walk down the aisle and say, ‘I do,’” said Linda Descano, president and CEO of Women and Co. in New York. “It should become part of the conversation as soon as you realize you are in a serious relationship.

“When you talk about money, it can be an emotionally charged subject,” she said. “The emotions are not about money, but what it represents — security, independence and quality of life.”

Family law attorney Karen Ackerman said she is often surprised by the number of people who have no idea how much debt their partners have.

“There are people who don’t even know how much their spouse makes because their checks are not deposited into a joint account,” said Ackerman, a sole practitioner in Pittsburgh. “They don’t know how much iss available to their families or where it’s going.”

While researching his book, “Money and Marriage: A Complete Guide For Engaged and Newly Married Couples,” Matt Bell interviewed several divorce attorneys who told him that when marriages are on the rocks, couples are usually living separate financial lives.

“One person will take the couple to the edge of a financial cliff by racking up a lot of debt,” he said. “By the time the other finds out, there’s a lot of debt, and all respect and trust is lost as well.”

Recently married himself, financial adviser Anthony Criscuolo of Palisade Hudson Financial Group in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is convinced that full financial disclosure is the most important policy future married couples can have toward each other.

“The biggest mistake newlyweds can make is avoiding the money conversation completely,” he said. “Money issues will come up ... so by avoiding the money conversation, your marriage is essentially starting off against the odds.”

Couples should tell each other before the wedding about all debt obligations rather than waiting until the bills start coming in.

Each person should make a list of all student loans, car loans, credit card debt and even personal loans that he or she has received from family and friends, said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com, an online consumer resource for comparing card rates.

“Get copies of credit reports to verify all open accounts,” Hardekopf said. “One or both of you may enter the partnership with debt, but debt payments drain away money you could be saving to help reach financial goals.

“If either partner has problems with credit, your rental or mortgage application may be denied, or you may have to pay more money on loans with higher rates.”

Combining finances is no simple matter when people marry.

They may be just starting out in their careers and making a low income, or it may be a second marriage and one partner may owe

A

child support and alimony to a former spouse.

Will you have one bank account for all income and expenses, or will you start with three accounts — his, hers and ours? Financial planners say a joint account is easier to manage and will prevent some disagreements over dividing bills, but decisions should be shared.

“Money affects every decision you make as a couple,” said Scott Palmer, co-author of “First Comes Love Then Comes Money: A

Couple’s Guide to Financial Communication,” which he wrote with his wife, Bethany.

“Money will affect the grade of gasoline you put in your cars, even the brand of cereal you eat. There’s a financial component in every decision.”

(Email reporter Tim Grant at tgrant(at)postgazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

• • •

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938-0312 Punxsutawney Hometown – May 2011 - Issue #127 – 31

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