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February 11, 2016
Wildlife demonstration educates Waynesburg area youth By CODY YANKULIC
For the Yellow Jacket
For many kids of elementary age, making a difference in the community isn’t high on the list of priorities, but Kory Taylor is a child of a different nature. On Wednesday, Feb. 3, Taylor and nineteen other children gathered at the Eva K. Bowlby Public Library to hear Wildlife Conservation Officer Bill Lubich speak. From 6 to 7 p.m., Lubich spoke about mammals native to Greene County and the state of Pennsylvania. He also brought in pelts and skulls to display. The event was interactive: anyone who wanted to touch the pelt or skull had the opportunity to do so. Lubich was brought to the library by Taylor. Taylor gave the idea to Family Literacy Coordinator Diana Moninger, who was in charge of planning the event. Moninger explains that Taylor gave her the idea last summer and told her that he felt the community needed
Kyla Wolper, Yellow Jacket
Officer Bill Lubich tought children about Greene County mammals and other animals native to the area. Those in attendance took part in the interactive demonstration, feeling the samples.
the event. With Taylor’s idea in mind, Moninger reached out to Lubich and the planning began. Moninger said she was saving the event for
the winter. “We wanted to do something as an indoor program,” said Moninger. Moninger’s plan was to have an indoor event during
the winter, coinciding nicely with Lubich’s work schedule. Lubich explained that during hunting season his job consists of “strictly law enforcement,” but starting
around February, the Pennsylvania Game Commission starts to do educational programs. Lubich also explained that the programs are usually by a request basis. Moninger was happy to have received support from the community, saying that there was interest in the community and thought the program would be educational for children and adults alike. Lubich was also happy to see the support from the community. “We’re usually not in the eye as much as other law enforcement officials,” said Lubich. “These help the public understand what we do and what role we play.” Moninger was happy with both attendance from the public and the information Lubich presented. “I thought it was a very educational presentation,” said Moninger. Lubich also had education in mind but education of a different sort. “Don’t handle wildlife,” said Lubich, one of his mes-
sages to the children. Lubich also had the intention of educating the community of what different wildlife were native to Greene County, as he displayed a variety of pelts and had several skulls sitting on a table beside him. Lubich would present a pelt or skull for the audience to look at and then give facts and information on the animal. Lubich then made his way around the room, with the pelt or skull he was holding, to let members of the audience touch it. In total, Lubich had eleven pelts and four animal skulls. Of the skulls on display, all were native to Pennsylvania except a mountain lion skull. This may not be the last time a night dealing with wildlife and showcasing them to guests is on schedule for the public library, as the event was well received and attended by the community. “I would very much like to have him come back,” said Moninger.
Local businesses form merchants' guild Valentines: New treats By TIM NERAL
Editorial Assistant
For months, local businesses have worked together to develop the Waynesburg business district. They’ve held meetings, discussed problems with their businesses and offered their counterparts possible solutions to those problems. They’ve held local community events, worked with local charities and organizations and funded holiday celebrations and festivities. All this time, they’ve done all these things without a name and with no structure. Now, that’s changed. The Merchants Guild is now official. “When we gang up together and collaborate, we have a larger pool of funds to get things done,” said Linda Winegar, owner of Artbeat Gallery and secretary of the new guild. Up until this point, the
community worked together to get their businesses known. Before, the community of regional entities had little organization to what they did. With an official guild, Facebook page and board members, Waynesburg establishments have a unified direction. Artbeat Gallery, 5 Kidz Kandy, Ruff Creek Crafts and Purse-n-ality are among the notable participants in the new guild along with B & B Jewelry & Beads, Fisher Antiques, The Fashion Shoppe, Four Horsemen Comics and Gaming and McCracken Pharmacy. “We’re in a field that we’re an important part of the community,” said Winegar. With a central focus and better organization, they say they can make a bigger impact. “Our main goal is to get more people to come to Waynesburg to shop and to
give back to our community,” said Donna Presock, owner of Purse-n-ality and president of the new guild. “We want to give back and help.” Presock’s shop has only been open for six months, but she already has a vision of what she wants Waynesburg to become. “There used to be some little shops, like Howard’s store,” said Presock. “There were more events, more sit down eating restaurants, more things to benefit the kids.” Now, many of those places are gone and Presock and her other members are determined to revitalize, regroup and put Waynesburg back on the map. Presock mentions there’s nothing here for kids anymore with the bowling alley and movie theater having closed down. “We’re doing events like the cookie caper, benefits to
help the food bank, helping the humane society,” said Presock. Upcoming events the Merchants Guild is planning include various Easter festivities, but the closest upcoming attraction is a chili cook-off that’s already being called “Cabin Fever Sunday.” Similar to the great cookie caper, there will be a wide assortment of chili at different locations through the business strip of Waynesburg on East High Street on a Sunday near the end of the month. Both Presock and Winegar said the guild wants to collaborate more with college students and the university itself. As Presock says, when the kids come back to school, she sees more people in Waynesburg then she’s seen in a long time. “If we had events like that and everyone worked together, it would show everyone trying to come back as a community,” said Presock.
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near her brain, and required surgery to stop inflamation. She was transported to UPMC Presbyterian and the surgery began. During the surgery, doctors discovered Morgan has a blood disorder called Factor V, which caused the blood clot. Despite this abnormal finding and repair of the blood clot, doctors do not see a direct correlation to the stroke and are looking for the reason that she had it. " Wh e n w e t o o k t h e breathing tube out, that’s when we found out that Morgan couldn’t talk,” said Karla McDowell. “She can comprehend everything, but she just can’t get it out.” Morgan spent four days in ICU and then started rehab. Now out of surger y, Morgan is the subject of a study to find out why someone her age experienced a stroke, which is more common for older people. She can now give oneword answers and has been able to walk a little distance on her own strength. “It’s not the best yet, but she’ll get there,” said Karla McDowell. “It’s been an experience I hope a parent never has to go through.”
Karla McDowell said they are getting through it together, with the support of family and friends across the country. “We have a prayer chain going in eight states,” Karla McDowell said. “Prayers do work. We’re living proof of that.” Karla McDowell knows that the road to recovery will be a slow one, but she is not surprised by the progress. even though the doctors continue to be. Everyone is taking it one day at a time and relying on prayer in the tough moments. "We may never be at 100 percent,” said Karla McDowell, “but I know my daughter, and she will fight to where she can get to maybe 85 or 90 percent. She’s going to try to get to 100… but it will be a process.” Kienholz agrees, and says Morgan’s performance on the basketball court directly translates to her everyday life. “She’s not a person to give up,” Kienholz said. “She’s going to try as hard as she can to get back to where she was.” As Morgan’s progress increases, Karla McDowell is confident her daughter will continue to fight. “She’s making a comeback like you would not believe.”
added over $8 million to the business tax base and generated almost $1.4 billion in new investment,” said Shark. Through such efforts, Fay-Penn works primarily to grow Fayette County’s economy. It partners with government organizations, fellow economic development groups and private businesses and acts as a ‘gateway' for anything businesses need to grow and become sustainable, according to Shark. “We provide comprehensive, second-to-none business development services through our staff or our
partners to make our clients more competitive in a global marketplace,” said Shark. Fayette County is one of the most impoverished counties in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, but Shark said FayPenn’s efforts will continue to help strengthen the county’s economy. “[In the future] we’ll be strengthening ties with partners to form more cohesion for economic development throughout the county,” said Shark. “This will allow us to be more effective and efficient in getting businesses established here and ensuring our workforce is qualified to do the jobs that are available.”
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for providing them with a Catholic education. “I’m a product of a Catholic school and appreciate the sacrifices my parents made,” said Harrington. Harrington feels blessed and lucky to be at JFK and her students give her more than she could’ve ever wanted.
“[For] being a new principal here at JFK and for how our staff and students worked so hard for Catholic Schools Week, it exceeded my expectations,” said Harrington. The first National Catholic Schools Week was in 1974 and continues to be a main celebration in Catholic schools across the region.
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a laugh. Both stores offer unique gift options for Valentine's Day, appealing to Waynesburg University students and other Greene County residents. The Perfect Arrangement sells different items from the various flower arrangements to stuffed animals, candy boxes and decorations – B owman says the store has “gifts of every sort.” The business has its usual deals for this holiday but also went outside of the box this year and is promoting a special new gift – burlap and lace arrangements. “Every year we want to come up with something different to give to our customers, and this year it is the burlap and lace arrangement,” said Bowman. As Perfect Arrangement has its special deals, 5 Kidz Kandy has several holiday deals of its own going on through the weekend. Vliet ordered in special holiday packaging to make their gifts “stand out” more to their buying customers this week. Vliet said their strawberries and chocolate covered Oreo brand cookies will be covered in special Valentine’s hearts and placed in holiday packaging. O t h e r it e m s 5 K i d z Kandy are specializing for the holiday are the custom Valentine’s hearts where customers can pick the box they would like and then
can fill it with whatever candy they want. There are also strawberry trees, or “towers,” where the strawberries are placed together in order to resemble a tree. Bowman said Perfect Arrangements has unique gifts, and therefore it attracts a couple more Waynesburg University customers around Valentine’s Day than they normally do. Vliet said that most of the customers coming into the store are the general population, but she does get a notable number of Waynesburg students who make their way down to the store. She said there haven’t been as many Waynesburg students down to the store placing orders this year as opposed to last, possibly because of their busy schedules. “But it could just be that the university guys are waiting until the last minute to order their strawberries,” Vliet said jokingly. Last year there was “a good bit of male students” who came in and made purchases around Valentine’s Day, according to Vliet. B oth the Perfect Arrangement and 5 Kidz Kandy w i l l have t heir hands especially full until Sunday evening, but it’s not something they are angry about. “[I’d just like to add] that we are here to help knock your significant other’s socks off,” Vliet said with a laugh.