GAZETTE THE CENTRE COUNTY
www.CentreCountyGazette.com
Celebrate Festival Week! People’s Choice Festival & Central PA Festival of the Arts
July 13-19, 2017
FESTIVAL WEEK
The week will be busy as the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College and the People’s Choice Festival are under way. Food, games and live entertainment will be featured at both events./Pages 17-24.
Volume 9, Issue 28
FREE COPY
A ‘breathtaking’ comeback
Little Leaguer overcomes brain tumor to star for Bellefonte By PAT ROTHDEUTSCH sports@centrecountygazette.com
BELLEFONTE — The Bellefonte Little League All-Stars’ 11-1 victory over State College in the District 5 championship game on July 10 was a special experience for every player on the Bellefonte team. For one Bellefonte player, however, winning the championship — or just playing on the team for that matter — was especially moving and significant. Bellefonte third baseman Kaden Clark had other things to think about after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor
six months ago. It was an event that put literally everything in his life on hold. “Starting in January, about halfway through the month, I was having problems with my eyes,” Clark said. “It was going on for a long time, but it really started to kick in and happened more often, like twice a day. “So, then I went and had it checked out, and it turns out that they said I had a brain tumor. Over this one week, I went from them giving me the news to them operating on me within three or five days. “From then on, I had no idea that I was going to play. Back in January, I could not see myself here now.”
Clark underwent surgery to remove the tumor, which proved to be non-malignant. Any surgery of this type, of course, KADEN CLARK involves many risks, but the procedure was successful. “They had to remove the tumor,” Clark said, “and it was in the back, right above the vision center and left Comeback, Page 5
2 big highway projects could see new life
ROCKING BEAVER STADIUM
By SEAN YODER syoder@centrecountygazette.com
TIM WEIGHT/For the Gazette
MORE THAN 30,000 people visited Beaver Stadium on July 8 for the venue’s first-ever concert booking — Happy Valley Jam. The concert featured music from country stars such as Big & Rich and Chris Young. Superstar Blake Shelton, pictured at left, was the show’s headliner. See a full recap of the concert, as well as more photos, on page 34.
Local planners are looking to see how they can leverage more funds and advocate for the advancement of two major highway projects that have long been dormant. The Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization’s coordinating committee gave the nod to staff recently to use some of the organization’s base funding for studies and advocacy to move forward with interchange improvements at Interstates 99 and 80, as well as options for the Routes 322, 144 and 45 corridors. Both projects have been technically inactive, and have no funding allocated to them in short- or long-range plans. More firm official support will be required to locate funding and move forward. If elected officials give their backing to continue the course of a project, it will be up to the planners to make it as appealing as possible to the state and federal agencies that administer funds. There is heavy competition for major
highway projects, and statewide needs far exceed what PennDOT can allocate, said Tom Zilla, principal transportation planner for CCMPO. The CCMPO Coordinating Committee, which sets policy, gave its informal support to help advance the two projects at its June 27 meeting. Zilla said a formal vote could be taken as early as September. The data refresh for Routes 322, 144 and 45 is expected to take approximately two years, and will take into account safety, traffic and environmental data, with a focus on what may have changed since the early 2000s when the last study stopped due to lack of funding. After the data refresh, public outreach will begin, which could be wide-reaching as it would affect multiple municipalities. The $3 million is only to be used for data refresh and will not include an alternatives analysis. There was never a single solid project that rose above all others in talks about improvements to Highway, Page 5
Accessible trail eyed for Bald Eagle State Park By SEAN YODER syoder@centrecountygazette.com
HOWARD — Jerry Regan has already helped to build one accessible trail in Pennsylvania, and now he hopes to organize another at Bald Eagle State Park. Regan was part of the construction of the accessible trail at Hawk Mountain in Kempton in 2015, when he was president Police Blotter .................... 2 Death Notices .................. 6
THIS IS an artist’s rendering of part of an accessible trail project targeted for Bald Eagle State Park.
of the Sanctuary Association there. The trail has less than an 8 percent grade and can be traversed by wheelchairs. There also are benches every 100 feet for people to stop and rest on their trek up to a lookout and education center. “When we built that, I think it really changed our thinking,” Regan said. Accessible trail, Page 6
Opinion ............................ 9 Health & Wellness .......... 10
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Education ....................... 13 Sports .............................. 25
Family Matters ............... 30 Around & In Town ......... 32
Puzzles ............................ 36 Business .......................... 37
Deed Transfers ............... 38 Classifieds ....................... 39
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