Notes From Last Week

We are sooo far behind. With home work and all the things I try to cover it's all I had time for. It started Thursday with a special Crime Watch Committee meeting & the Steelers game. Then there was the football game on Friday. By the way, my teams were 2 & 1 this past week. Steelers pulled one out in OT. The Tigers clawed out an impressive win Friday. Only the Buckeyes let me down. At least it wasn't a conference game. Saturday was the Robert's Family Evening of Entertainment. Sunday I did a little on-the-job training at the River Museum. Then Monday it started all over with a Board-of-Education meeting. We'll have something on each later on.

In a piece in Sunday's newspapers WPD Lt. Ed Wilson was found not to be in any violation of department policy with actions going back to the 2007 Yost murder investigation. I won't go into details and only say it was closure on this matter. As Chief Scarabino was quoted as saying "the department is moving forward now" and that is good news. Wilson, a long time member of the department, is a good guy & a good cop.

Not happy with AARP and their endorsement of the health care changes? According to a piece in last Tuesday's Pittsburgh Trib-Review there is an alternative with the American Seniors Assoc. They have "stood firm against national health care" according to the report. AARP members have been leaving in droves over this issue. Check it out for yourself at http://www.americanseniors.org/.

Recently released & former Congressman Jim Traficant seems to be making noises for another possible run for office with all the press he has been getting. I could be wrong but I'm getting that feeling. Even though he was convicted of wrong doing and served a prison sentence he can still run for office.

Nice write-up by the MJ's Chuck Greenwood last Friday on WHS senior Marcus Allison. This outstanding student & athelete was sidelined with a spinal injury and can no longer play football. He's getting along ok but the risk of additional injury keeps him on the sidelines. Although greatly disappointed he hasn't let it stop him and still participates with everything and anything he can do with the team. He can play basketball. His positive attitude & determination is inspiring, even to an old goat like me.

Wellsville's first case of prosecuting a pit bull owner for failure to have liability insurance on his dog went through Magistrate Court last week. He was found guilty, fined $150 and given a suspended 10 day jail sentence. State law requires that owners of a pit bull or any mix of pit bull have liability insurance for their dogs.

Village employees were treated to lunch last Friday by Rev. Darlene Zanders on behalf of Wellsville's Ministerial Assoc. It was in appreciation for all that village employees do in their line of work. Zanders has been the ministerial liaison to the village for the last six years according to Jo Ann Bobby-Gilbert's report in last Saturday's newspaper. That was a nice gesture by the association providing a little thanks for all they do.

Homer Laughlin's Fiesta ware was written up in another Pittsburgh Trib-Review article this past Monday. The brightly colored dinner ware was born doing the Great Depression and proved popular back then to brighten up tables doing those hard times. It's just as popular today for the same reasons.

According to an article in yesterday's MJ natural gas prices are the lowest since 1999. It will gives us people who heat with gas a break on our bills in the coming months.

Got a hankering for spaghetti? According to Gibby of Gibby's Mini-Mart you can never get enough. Tonight the Alumni Activities Committee is holding a spaghetti dinner at the Alumni Center from 4 - 7 P.M. Friday the Volley Ball team is holding a fund raising spaghetti dinner at the high school before the big game against Southern Local. It's 4 - 7 too and carry outs will be available at both. Good time to get out of the kitchen and support these two good causes.

Big car show tomorrow out at Calcutta Health Care at their 2nd Annual Car Cruise. It starts at 5:30 and promises to be bigger & better than last year.

Also on tap for tomorrow in Wellsville is a Spirit Parade & bonfire in anticipation of the "Black & Blue Brawl" Friday night against the Indians of Southern Local. The Spirit Parade will form up and get started at the Daw Middle School at 7 P.M. It will end up at the stadium where they will have a bonfire to heat things up. Join in and lend your support to the Tigers.

Half-time at the game Friday is going to be special. Students from Garfield, Daw Middle & the High School will be performing Michael Jackson's Thriller dance. I've been told it is all being brought together by Band Director Jennifer Gooch and it will be something you won't want to miss.

Football t-shirts are being sold at all the schools this week for only $10 a shirt. You'll be wanting one for the parade, bonfire & game.

At the game Friday night will be your last chance to be guaranteed a shirt when you register for the "Dash for Mat's Bash" to be held October 3. The Longs will be on hand to sign you up.

The Historical Society will be holding a Wellsville version of the Antiques Road Show Saturday at the River Museum form 1 - 3 P.M. We'll have more on that as soon as I finish here.

The monthly Buckeye Water District meeting is tomorrow morning at 9 A.M. at Village Hall. There will be an Engineering Committee meeting following the regular meeting for the Salineville project.

October is National Clergy Month and Mary Heaton is sponsoring an Appreciate Your Clergy Gathering on Sunday, October 4. It will be held from 2 - 4 P.M. at the New Life Worship Center located at 1329 Main St. It is open to all area churches, their members and ministers. Food and refreshments will be provided and it is a good opportunity to get together with each other and our spiritual leaders from the community.

Now we can get on to other things...

ole nib

Tigers Make The Devils Blue

Last night, Friday, September 11, 2009, the Wellsville Tigers just out ran on offense and their defense dominated the Lisbon Blue Devils for maybe all of the game except for about two minutes late in the 4th Quarter. I think The Review's Mike McElwain summed it up best in this morning's paper when he wrote "Lisbon was outmatched and unable to stop the Wellsville running game".

The Tigers ended the night with 330 yards rushing and held the Blue Devils to just 140 combined yards for the night. Most of the game was played on Lisbon's side of the 50-yard line. Jeremy Carter took game honors with four touch downs and 183 total yards on 15 carries. With his speed and some wide open running lanes Carter made it look easy. Wellsville didn't need the passing game last night and only attempted two tosses.

The Tiger offense ran most of the game in the "Power-I" formation with Nick Broughton at QB and Carter, Bubba Dowling & Chad Elliott in the backfield. It worked well. They were vastly improved on holding onto the ball with not one single fumble. Last week they dropped five of them.

The Tigers finished the night with a final score of 44-7. Wanting to beat the traffic I left with less than five minutes in the 4th Quarter with the score at 38-0. In that time Lisbon finally got on the board but the Tigers, heavy with substitutions, answered that with a touch down of their own. The Tigers are now 3 & 0 on the young season and play back-yard rival Southern Local next Friday at home. I'll bet the stands are full on both sides for that game.

If you want to get to the Southern game in time to get a good seat and don't want to take the time to fix something for supper stop by the high school. The girls Volleyball team is putting on a home made spaghetti dinner from 4 - 7 P.M. at the school before the game. It only cost $6 for adults and $3 for children. No fuss, no muss and you'll only be three blocks from the stadium. Nicole Amato's mom promised everyone will be fed in plenty of time to get to the game.

Got up to Wellsville's press box last night. In the lower right hand corner of the collage above are three familiar faces at WHS sporting events with Mike Kerr, Steve Creaturo & Skip Hamilton. Mike handles the controls for the score board, Steve does the P.A. and Skip was doing the spotting. Across the field Joe, Roger & Bud were doing their usual fine job broadcasting the game on wkmxlive.com in the other press box. Joe told me the game films are now being shown on http://www.wellsvillealumni.com/ after they get them loaded up. Sparky Miller handles all the technical stuff back in the studio. Prior to the kick-off an observance was held for the victims of 9/11 and especially for Wellsville's own Cathy Salter.

Great game Tigers.

ole nib

Viet Nam Veterans Moving Wall Memorial

Veterans, especially Viet Nam era veterans, are folks that I hold in high esteem. I'm partial to the ones that served in Nam because I'm one of that group. However, regardless of what era, I have enormous respect for any man or woman that answered the call to serve at any time since this great nation was founded. They, and all that supported them, are what made this country what it is today. Still today we have many sons & daughters that are carrying on the American tradition insuring not only our freedom but the freedom of others in far off countries.

Viet Nam was an ugly, politician's war. Our goal was honorable and that battle could have been easily won with America's military might if it hadn't been for the politicians. It was unpopular with the folks back home. When we first came home from over there we were scorned for obeying our call to duty. It took a long time for people to realize that the members of the military that served in Nam were just doing their part. Gradually people began to realize that what made that war ugly was the meddling of the politicians, many of them that had no idea what they were talking about. Today there are hundreds of thousands of us Viet Nam vets aging into our retirement years. We are the ones that came home that were still breathing.

The names on the Viet Nam Memorial are names of nearly 59,000 Americans that gave their lives defending American principles. The wall is a somber tribute to each and everyone of them for making the supreme sacrifice. The permanent memorial is located in our nation's capitol.

Last week we were privileged to have a half size replica come once again to EL's Thompson Park. It's called the moving wall. The last time it was here was in 1994 and who knows if it will ever get back here. Getting it here was the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of dedicated people. It started with Navy veteran Ron Simmons enlisting the help of others who in turn went out enlisted the help of even more people. It was the culmination of a lot of planning, begging and just plain sweat and toil.

It resulted in what is always an impressive display of that memorial. Even more impressive was the arrival of the wall, it's assembly and all the ceremonies and the people who took any part in making it all possible. It was extremely well covered by the local media and they did themselves proud. It was a moment of pride for all those in the tri-state area that made it work or just visited it while it was here. It was all in honor remembering those who's names are engraved on that wall.

Thanks to Ron Simmons, all the sponsors and to each and everyone that contributed in anyway to making it possible. It's special to me and I thoroughly appreciate you efforts.

ole nib

American Legion Post 70 Helps Village

Earlier in the summer representatives of American Legion Post 70 approached Village Council seeking permission to clean up Mill St. The street runs along side of Post 70 from Wells Avenue to the parking area in the rear. The home of Post 70 was originally an office building and infirmary for the old American Sheet & Tin Mill.

Mill Street was a brick street at first, as are many of our streets in Wellsville. Over the years the brick was covered over with several layers of blacktop. Lord only knows how long ago a fresh layer of blacktop was put on or how many layers there were. The last few years that street was looking like a war casualty with large patches of blacktop missing as shown above. Many spots were all the way down to the original brick surface.

The first plan was to strip off all the old blacktop and level out the bricks underneath restoring the street to its original condition. It was thought it would be an attractive compliment to that historical building. All work and equipment was being furnished by the American Legion and their members at no cost to the Village. Many of them are experienced in all kinds of construction.

When the old blacktop was stripped off it was very apparent that the old brick surface was in much worse shape than originally anticipated. It was beyond restoring. Once again they approached Village officials asking permission to again have it blacktopped at their expense. They were given the green light and this past Wednesday West Point Paving was there putting on a thick layer of blacktop that should keep that street smooth and looking good for years to come.

Being one of the first side streets that travellers coming into the Village from the east see it really made a difference in appearance. Even though it is a short street that improvement furnished by Post 70 is a big Village enhancement. It's co-operative efforts like this that make Wellsville some place special.

I can't speak for Village officials but I would like to say a big T H A N K S to the folks of Post 70 for your generous contribution.

ole nib

Biddy Bird's Secrets

That's the title of a new children's book published just this year by a former Wellsville resident. At the Chamber's Business After Hours the other evening I had the honor and privilege meeting the book's author. She's retired from the family business, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother and a very gracious lady.

Mrs. Virginia L. (Bush) Hall, shown above, is an alumni member of WHS Class of '49. Shortly after getting out of high school she relocated to Cleveland. A couple of years after that she met a fellow that originally came from Alabama. They became life partners and have been married for 58 years now. Virginia & William Hall had three children of their own and now have nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Virginia is a first time author. When asked what prompted her to write a children's book she replied it was something she had been thinking about for five or six years. Last year she decided to go ahead and do it. The book is published by Xlibris Corp. Illustrations was done by Daphe Hall-Booker, Virginia's daughter.

It's a heart warming tale about a bird named Biddy who befriended a lowly but very talented ant named Ellie. The story takes place in the fall of the year when Biddy & her flock were preparing to fly south for the winter. It's a tale of adventure that made even me feel good. I can't wait to read it to my grandchildren.

The book is available for $12 by e-mailing orders@xlibris.com, or calling 1-888-795-4274 toll free or by contacting Mrs. Hall direct by calling a 1-330-425-8657. Virginia said any orders she gets will be sent to Holly Development and can be picked up at their office on Main Street.

If your order from Virginia I think you'll save on shipping & handling and she may even autograph it for you. I was lucky to get an autographed one and it will be one of my treasures I cherish.

Virginia, it was a pleasure meeting you, William & brother Howard. Come back and see us often.

ole nib

Chamber-of-Commerce Business After Hours - September '09

Holly Development played host to yesterday evening's monthly Chamber-of-Commerce Business After Hours at their place in the former Perpetual Bank facilities on Main Street. There weren't any block busting new announcements but we were brought up to date on a few items of interest to the village. At the July Business After Hours Save-A-Lot's Henry Nemenz announced their plans for the $2 million dollar expansion and remodeling in Wellsville.


Byron Carter told us a little of the history of Holly Development saying they began a few years ago by buying the Perpetual Bank building, the house with Mills Ins. next door and the parking lot next to that. A while later they also bought the building that housed the former Sky Bank on Main St. The company was started with Mr. Carter and his partners William Hall and the late Melvin Pullie.


Holly Development offers office & apartment rentals and they will remodel to any office renters specifications. They will also do construction and remodeling projects to customer specifications on other locations. Melvin Pullie spearheaded the construction of the road salt storage bin for Wellsville that is located behind Village Hall.


Not only is Byron Carter an entrepreneur he's an extraordinary chef. Served last evening was his famous barbecue chicken, his gumbo, mouth watering sweet potato pie and peach cobbler. It was all cooked up and prepared by the man himself. There were also finger sandwiches, snacks and ice tea. There was no excuse for anyone there to go home hungry. Even the Mayor broke off his diet to enjoy some of the irresistable entrees.


Henry Nemenz told us that they are very close to securing a financing package for the $2 million expansion and remodeling project mentioned above. Once that is accomplished Nemenz said they expect to start construction almost immediately. It should be completed within 90 to 120 days once begun. With everything new including shelving, coolers and freezers there will be no interruption in the grocery store when the new one is completed. They'll close at the end of their business day one night at the old store and reopen in the new building at the start of the next day.


When they do that remodeling will start on the old building converting it to a multi-purpose facility with a coffee shop, deli, bakery, restaurant and liquor store. The coffee shop will be their own design modeled after some of the franchises but independently owned & operated. Nemenz remarked that his expertise is in the deli and bakery business. In the early days of the Great Depression his father opened his first store in 1930. His deli sandwiches were enormous with the meat piled on to satisfy any appetite. He said his dad taught him to always treat the people right and that has been his philosophy all through his business career.


Nemenz said at his age he could retire but he enjoys what he is doing and feels an obligation to do what he can for the people that took care of him. Those people are the customers and the some 1,700 employees that work for his Save-A-Lot & IGA stores. Not forgetting where you came from and the people that got you there are important to him. He said he is excited about the plans for Wellsville as are many of us. Nemenz pledges to continuing bringing the "best bargains found anywhere" to the ville.

It was a thoroughly delicious and enjoyable time getting together with everyone there last night. Thanks to the good folks of Holly Development for their outstanding hospitality. I think it is safe to say that everyone there enjoyed themselves. Thanks for allowing me to join in.

ole nib

Back on July 27 we mentioned that if it all came together the "angels" of the Alley Cat Aid Brigade would be having a fall festival with a pet food give away, crafts, games and other entertainment. Since then they have joined forces with Wellsville's Chamber-of-Commerce and between the two groups it sounds like a fun time is in store that the whole community both young & those young at heart to enjoy.

It's to be held Saturday, October 3, at the Alley Cat Aid Brigade's facilities and the shoe tree on Commerce Street. It starts at 11 A.M. with activities to run until 7 P.M. There will be a pet food give away starting at 11 o'clock and lasting until supplies run out. If you can donate a small bag of pet food it'll go to good use. Although it's not required.

In addition to the give away there will be a whole slew of activities to enjoy. For the young ones they are going to have a money haystack. Think "finding the needle in the haystack". Along with that there will be face paintings and a pumpkin decorating contest among other things. A corn hole tournament will be held. There will be food & refreshments available. Raffles will be held for a Cherry 7-Up promotional bicycle, a Steeler's tent and a balloon filled with 100 lottery tickets among other items.

A limited number of eight foot spaces will be available for crafts and other vendors. It's $20 to reserve a space and reservations must be in by September 30. You must provide your own table and there is no electrical service available. Spaces can be reserved by contacting Connie Carmichael @ 330-532-9064, Connie Bauer @ 330-532-1057 or Randy Allmon @ 330-843-3475. Vendors are being asked to donate a bag of pet food but, again, it's not necessary.

The purpose of the festival is to promote Wellsville but it is designed for a fun time for the whole community to enjoy. It's free to one and all. Any funds raised will go to the two sponsoring organizations for future endeavors. It's another reason that makes the ville a little nicer place to live.

Come and enjoy yourselves. The "angels" promise you'll have a howlin' good time!

ole nib