Notes From Last Week

Last week started off with the circus performance in town. It was sponsored by the Wellsville Area Ministerial Assoc. for a fund raiser. Some controversy was raised on the treatment of the animals since they are taken out of their natural habitat. We stopped by Monday afternoon just for the sole purpose to see how the animals were treated. Walking around with our camera we drew some attention from the folks with the circus company. It was a few hours before the first performance. After the newspaper article we didn't know what to expect.

We were treated with courtesy and got the impression our questions were answered with all honesty and truthfulness. The animals were well tended with water available and many of them in the shade of lean-to shelters. The two tigers we saw were playing like over sized kitty cats. The giraffes were gobbling up all the fresh grass they could reach. The elephants were like three flirtatious ladies wandering over to where we were standing. Their handler gave me the opinion that he considers them family. They each have a name and he told us the age of each one. Pictured above these ladies are in their 30s. Their life span is similar to humans and can live to 70 or 80. Like humans they get to retire once they reach their mid-60s. We didn't see one animal with ribs sticking our, or with sores or any other evidence of any type of mistreatment. The though occurred to us that our pet dogs & cats are not much different than the circus animals. Although not house pets they are domesticated and well tended. Not even dogs & cats are natural domesticated animals but if turned out to the wild to fend for themselves they would perish.

Mayor Joe Surace told us they had great crowds for both performances. He remarked that he was pleased with the support area residents displayed coming to the shows. Surace said WAMA gives everything back to the community. Hats off to the officers and members of WAMA for taking the chance on the circus. We know there was some nervousness on how it would be received. Surace said it was a great show to see. We're glad it was so successful.

Last Tuesday WFD Chief Bill Smith hosted a meeting of officials in a proactive move to find funding for repairs to our flood control system. Pushing 70 years old the system is in need of long over due replacements. There were representatives from our two U.S. Senators, Congressman Charlie Wilson, the governor, the Army Corp of Engineers, FEMA and county & village officials. Pumps for the system is one of the main concerns. Many of them no longer work and are so old replacement parts are not available.

The Corp said there is no funds for maintenance. FEMA said if the village is devastated with a flood they could help but had no help to prevent damage from a flood. Representatives from our federal officials said the next round of appropriations will not even be talked about until next February and then it would be a year to 18 months before any money would be available. The lady from the Governor's office didn't even offer that much. We walked away from that meeting with a feeling of doom. Should those remaining pumps fail the next time we're hit with a major flood we're in trouble.

Village officials and employees are very concerned and have done some fairly amazing work to keep what is still working functional. We heard a figure of $9.5 million just to replace the flood control pumps that no longer work. There is nowhere near that kind of money in Wellsville funds to even touch that. We were amazed that federal officials said they won't spend a few million to prevent billions of dollars worth of damage and possibly loss of life. As Village Administrator Jim Saracco remarked it's like shutting the barn door after the horse got out.

Kudos to Bill Smith for his continuous efforts. The slide presentation by Mark & Noah Allison was an excellent graphic illustration of the flood control system's condition. Maybe someday some help will be forthcoming. In the meantime we suggest everyone learn to tread water while praying Mother Nature continues to look kindly down on us.

One other thing that got our goat in last week's news was the Beaver Local ladies protesting about the students held out of graduating because they failed the OGT proficiency test. First off it's a state law that school boards have no choice but to comply with. Secondly these test are not rocket science problems. It's basic reading, writing and arithmetic that most students should be able to pass while in grade school. These ladies should take their protest to the homes of these students and their guardians. The tests are given in stages with multiple chances to pass them well before their senior year. Educators bend over backwards to prepare students for them. If a student doesn't pass these simple tests before graduation they need to look in a mirror to find someone to blame.

To wrap up this week's thoughts we were gladden to see BLHS student Jacob Lunders graduating with his class and having an honor student chord wrapped around his neck. We been following Jake since his tragic accident leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. His road to recovery has been long and hard but with his efforts and the prayers of many he is now able to propel himself in a wheelchair. Of all the graduation pictures we've seen in the newspapers that one has to be one of the greatest to see. Congratulations Jake. We're proud to see you haven't given up. Keep the faith...

ole nib