Notes From Last Week

It's only the ninth day of January and we're already got the feeling we have had enough of winter. Although there's not that much on the ground the weather column in the ER this morning reports we've had 20.9" of snow so far this winter. Normal average is 13.5" and just in the last nine days we've had 10.1" since the New Year began. Yuck! If you happen to be around me somewhere, please, for your own safety don't tell how pretty the snow makes everything look. We can't tell you the last time the temperature has been above freezing. It seems like forever. The average has been 17 degrees. Normal for this time of the year is in the 28 - 35 degree range. Maybe Al Gore & some other tree huggers can tell us more about global warming. We can certainly use some warm thoughts about now.


On the County level the company contracted to supply public defenders has a contract for this year and are already back asking the Commissioners for additional money. Good luck. It was just reported this past Thursday that the belt tightening for the County is going to get tighter. Revenue for the County was down $2 million in 2009 with the biggest drop being a decrease in sales tax income. That means their carry-over cushion funds aren't there. County Auditor Nancy Milliken is already hinting that some County departments may be forced to look at laying off. It ain't pretty.


Speaking of Nancy Milliken... It was announced in yesterday's papers that she will be seeking re-election. Nancy has held that job since being appointed in 2000. She is the second candidate that we know of to announce so far. We believe the deadline for candidates to file for the May primaries is February 18. There's going to be a slew of them.


The Commissioners are going to take another try for the 1% sales tax renewal. It was soundly defeated in last November's General Election but that was blamed on how it was worded on the ballot. This time they are making sure the wording is plain to understand. Public hearings are scheduled for January 27 and February 3.


J.C. Amato's murder trial is getting some press. His lawyers asked permission to get their experts to examine a bullet related to the case. Acting Prosecutor Grimshaw wants to get Chris Amato disqualified as part of the defense team. Chris Amato may be called as a witness in the upcoming trial set to begin January 19. Status hearings were cancelled yesterday but the hearing is still going to begin on the 19th according to this morning's papers. We have to agree with the editorial in today's MJ. It's past time to get on with it.


Around town the author of the Dream Soup Village blog has thrown down the gauntlet regarding the Main St. program in their "Unleash The Hounds" article. It was published December 27 and is a thought provoking piece. Check it out at http://www.dreamsoupvillage.blogspot.com/.


Wellsville's Penny Traina must be beaming still yet. Her son Anthony appeared last Sunday on an episode of the Desparate Housewives t.v. show. Anthony is a WHS Class of 2005 alumni and lives in LA pursuing his acting career. It's pretty special when one of yours gets on a show broad casted nationwide no matter the size of the role. Maybe this will lead to bigger and better parts for the young man.


We went to last week's Council meeting and once again thought it was going to be a rambunctious one with the crowd in attendance. Past experience has shown with large crowds at the meetings it is usually because of some controversial issue. Not the case last Tuesday. Hopefully with the New Year we're starting to see more citizens take an active interest in getting things accomplished in the Village. Even the Mayor noted the numbers and thanked everyone for attending the historic meeting.


Kudos to WPD Officers Justin Wright & Glenn LaClair for their heads up actions saving a five year old boy from the freezing cold at 3:30 in the morning the other night. Working the grave yard shift most usually aren't that alert at that time of the morning. What first appear to be a bag blowing down the street was actually the young lad wrapped in his blankey. Although the situation surrounding this story is a sad one the two officers should be commended for doing all they could. Matt Stewart put it more succinctly than we are in his piece called "Mommy's Boy". What was heading for a sure tragic ending was averted by these two officers. They are heroes to us and the ville is indeed fortunate to have them on the force.


Ran into Justin Warner at the game the other night. His leave is about up and he's going back to serving our country. Justin is the son of Pastor Troy & Mrs. Warner and finished up serving a tour in Iraq just before Christmas. He's heading for Ft. Hood, TX, when he returns to duty. Hopefully Uncle Sam will let him stay there.


Talking to Todd Farnsworth last week we learned that Uncle Sam is apparently getting him ready to return for more duty in the Mid-east. Todd told us he had to report to Harrisburg yesterday to go through Warrior Leader School training. Todd said the school is to learn how to train future police officers. Todd is a sergeant in the Army Reserves. In his civilian job he works at the Elkton prison and he's a M.P. when on active duty. He has already served two or three tours in the Mid-east. He's guessing he'll eventually be back in Afghanistan after completing his schooling. May the Good Lord watch over these two and all the other Wellsville sons and daughters serving our country.


We started this article yesterday and then took a break to go to the girl's basketball game. Let's see if we can get it finished up this cold Sunday morning...


We haven't mentioned the Jr. High Teams yet this season but we do have to say "Go Tigers!" to the 8th Grade boys basketball team. According to the papers last Thursday the frosh team is undefeated with a record of 7 - 0 so far. They were to play at Leetonia yesterday (Saturday) but we didn't see any results in Sunday's papers. The 7th Grade boys stand at 4 - 3. The 8th grade Lady Tigers are 4 - 2 & the 7th grade 2 - 4.


We've previously mentioned the balance in the boy's varsity team. In yesterday's ER was a list of scoring leaders for area basketball teams that gives credence to that. The Tigers starting five are all listed among the leaders. No other school can say that. Jeremy Carter lead those five with a 15.3 point average, followed by Michael Johnston with 14.6, Jalen DeSarro with 14.1, Nunzio Lombardozzi with 13.3 and DeShon Pullie with 11.1. That's something. The girls had three on the list lead by Sophomore Mikyla Tipton averaging 18.2 point per game. We'll have more on yesterday's games later.


On the calendar for this week for Monday, 1/11, the BWD has a Pre-construction meeting at 10 A.M. at Village Hall. That's for Part B of the Salineville project. The Board-of-Education meets at 6 o'clock in the Superintendent's Office. There will be the annual organization meeting followed by the regular monthly meeting. The WHS Lady Tigers travel to Southern Local. On Tuesday, 9 A.M., 1/12, the Wellsville Area Ministerial Assoc. has their monthly meeting at Tonda's Place. On both Monday & Tuesday evenings at 7 the Potter Players Community Theater will be holding auditions for their next production called The Kitchen Witches. That play sounds like a fun one. The auditions will be held at the theater on 15th St. The play is set to be put on late February & early March. The WHS Boy's roundball team travel to Southern. Wednesday, 1/13., the WHS Wrestlers will be taking on East Liverpool & South Range at the high school starting at 6 P.M. Thursday the WHS Lady Tigers play Jackson-Milton at home. The Wellsville Carnegie Library is hosting Attorney Tim Brookes who will be presenting a program on Morgan's Raid at 6. Brookes is probably the area's foremost expert on Civil War history. That starts at 6 too. Call the Library for details. Friday, 1/15, the WHS Men will be taking on Jackson-Milton at home.

Looking a little down the road we thought we would mention this if you're making plans for next summer's All-Class Reunion. If you're traveling in from far away places you'll want to make plans to come a little earlier for this. We've been told that the Alumni Lip Sync are planning to hold two performances Tuesday & Wednesday before the reunion. That would be June 29 & 30. We guarantee you won't regret it.

Keep warm. It's suppose to get above the freezing mark this coming Thursday.

ole nib