Caught Up

Well, I think I got caught up on stuff that I been putting off or missed while we were out of town. Here's some things that caught my eye.

The new, enhanced additions to the Election Board's web site is a handy tool. You can double check to see if you're registered to vote and where you go to vote plus a lot of other information that you might want to check on. It even tells you when the last time you voted.

Last council meeting was mostly about getting a good grip on handling finances in the village. That is an absolute must if we're going to keep out of the red. Running the village is not any different than running a business.

Coming September 6 is the fifth annual village yard sale to raise money for the Fix Up - Clean Up Committee. It has been growing steadily and they expect it to be even bigger this year. There are only two more work days scheduled for this year - Sept. 6 & 20.

Could someone explain to me what a "then & now" purchase order is for? It's a new term to me for business matters and no explanation was given in the newspapers. Council approved a "then & now" contract for Pusateri Excavating.

ODOT was suppose to start fixing the land slide this past Monday on the Route 45 hill just out of the ville's limits. This has been a continuous problem over the years in different spots on that hill. Ain't a whole lot there to stop the erosion of the hillside. The increase usage with the "coal bucket" trucks over the last several years has probably added to the instability of that hillside. Maybe ODOT should be thinking about weight restrictions on the portion between the ville and Hillcrest. Between Mother Nature & the trucks the problem with land slides isn't going to go away.

Did you see Tom Giambroni's story that the state is offering financial incentive to the county health board to reconsider their dropping out of the smoking band enforcement? Guess the state is finding they can't handle it either. The incentive package is for $4,200 max at $70 a pop. That's not much considering the number of complaints filed since the law went into effect. They got to do better than that if they want to put some teeth into that law.

There was an AP story in the MJ the other day saying that doctors are accusing health insurance companies of endangering patient care with their pre-approval requirements. The insurance companies are saying that doctors are driving them out of business with ordering excessive tests and medical procedures that are unnecessary among other things. In the middle of all this is the poor patient that just wants to find out what is ailing them and what they have to do to get better. I get the impression that there is a serious greed factor in all this.

Speaking of greed, they are telling us heating bills for this coming winter are going to sharply rise over what we paid last heating season. According to a story in the ER it doesn't matter what type of heat you have you're going to have to dig deeper to stay warm.

Kudos to Todd Lynch & his team from Wellsville's Stevenson foundry on the volunteer job they did repairing the 100 year old vase in the cemetery at the Longs Run Church out in Calcutta. The vase was destroyed by vandals and the guys at Stevenson took it upon themselves to restore it back to its original splendor. Stevenson foundry is the ville's oldest manufacturing plant that dates back to the 1800s and has been in the same location since it started.

While handing out plaudits thanks should also go out to the folks at Tommy Mackall VFW Post 5467 for donating to the ville's police and fire departments. Every little bit helps and the money is going to good use. The money to WFD is going to be used for a new chain for their ventilating saw. The money to the WPD is going to be put toward funds to start a juvenile fire-bug counseling program that Marsha Eisenhart is trying to get going.

The handicap ramp at the flood wall has been made usable. They used asphalt to build it up to the concrete portion and it looks like they cleaned up the gravel around the area. Was it something we said?

The county's 911 system is still looking good to get up and running on 9/11 this year according to reports in yesterday's newspapers.

Tomorrow night at the Tiger's home opener they are suppose to induct this years class into the WHS Athlete Hall-of-Fame. It's scheduled for half time and then they are going to have a brunch Saturday morning at the high school. Prior to that the Alleycat Brigade will be holding a fund raiser at Dalonzo's. Stop in and get a bite to eat before you go down to the game.

Ok, that catches me up...

ole nib

Sheriff To Resign

Today's papers brought us the headline news that CC Sheriff Dave Smith will resign his position by the end of the week. We all know the story of Smith's indiscretion with his arrest last fall for DUI.

His resignation should come as no surprise. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that it would probably come sometime before this fall's elections. He's got his 30 years which makes him eligible for a nice pension and another job lined up at Mountaineer. Overall he has served us well with a distinguished career in law enforcement.

This latest move is nothing more than playing politics. With Smith's early retirement as sheriff the County Republicans have the right to name someone to fill out the unexpired term. As the papers noted that will be Republican candidate for sheriff Ray Stone. That means Stone will be an incumbent candidate for the position when we go to the polls in November. Don't be surprised if you see "Sheriff Stone" mentioned in a lot of press releases and news stories in the next couple of months. There may even be some "Re-elect Sheriff Stone" political propaganda. That will get us - the voters - thinking "Sheriff Stone" by the time we go to vote. It's politics plain and simple.

That also means that the ville's John Soldano will face an even more uphill battle in his bid as the Democratic candidate for sheriff. It can be done but it will keep him and the Democrats hopping. Both candidates are well qualified for the job but I'm still pulling for the guy from the ville and this end of the county. I think John will serve the county well and that includes us down this way. I'm hoping that "Sheriff Stone's" career in that office is short lived, just to the end of December.

In the meantime thanks for a job well done Dave Smith. Good luck...

ole nib

Police Brutality Or A Chance For An Easy Buck?

In a story on the back pages of yesterday's ER was the story of a Wellsville resident filing a law suit against the village in CC Common Pleas Court for alleged police brutality. Reporter Casey Barto only wrote about the complaint and what led up to it when that resident was arrested a year ago at Independence Square. There was no mention of trying to get comments from village officials, not even a "no comment".

Just reading the article one gets the impression that this young man was full of rage when busted a year ago. After being placed in the cruiser he proceeded to kick out a window and had to be shackled presumably to prevent additional damage or injury. He was charged with vandalism, inducing panic, possession of criminal tools and criminal damaging. Seems he was flashing a lighter that was shaped like a pistol at several people. Wonder what got him started in the first place? I don't get the impression he was being a model citizen that day. He doesn't like to pay income taxes. Court records shows Salineville took him to Small Claims Court for that in 2004. He spent 15 days in jail and was placed on probation for his actions last year.

Now he wants big bucks for the way he was treated at the time of his arrest. Can't say for sure but sounds like to me he brought it all on himself probably with verbal threats and his actions. We have to wait and see what comes out. It's too early with what little is known about this to make any judgements. However, after reading the article, my first impression is that young man has issues with seething rage and found himself a lawyer from Youngstown willing to take his money. So far it has cost him $250 for court fees plus whatever the attorney is charging him. That's money that could probably be better spent on counselling to deal with his issues. I just don't know.

As I said it's too early to make any calls one way or the other. Time will tell.

Oh, what tangled webs we weave...

ole nib

The Cradle of Liberty

Been wondering where I've been? Well, the missus & I took off to make a first time visit to Boston, Massachusetts, recently. It's a city nick named the "Cradle of Liberty" and some refer to it as the "Cradle of Freedom". It's where our country's forefathers drafted and wrote the Declaration of Independence which led up to the Revolutionary War, a war fought to gain American independence from England. It's a city founded in early colonial times nearly 200 years before Wellsville was even thought of. It was awesome.

As I said before I'm a lover of history but I certainly don't profess to be very knowledgable in colonial or Revolutionary War history. Touring some of the historical sites around Boston brought back a lot memories of things we were taught in grade school history lessons. Seeing some of the sites gave us a sense of perspective of some of our country's early history. The places we heard about and the events that took place actually happened there. The people really did exist that were part of those early times. We saw where some of them lived and where some of them are buried.

We found Boston to be a unique city with a lot of character. It is very tourist friendly and most of the historical sites are within easy walking distance. We were there only for a few days and found out you can't even come close to take in all that is available to see, even if you had a month's time to spend there. Just seeing some of the buildings with all the different architectural styles that date back over the centuries mixed in with modern sky scrapers is enthralling. To see some of the parks, especially Boston Gardens, was special. We would definitely recommend it and we hope to get back there ourselves someday. We saw quite a bit but there is still much more we would love to see.

Pictured above is Faneuil Hall (pronounced fan-yule) where John Hancock, George Washington, Samuel Adams and the fellows drafted and wrote the Declaration of Independence. The other picture is the old Massachusetts State House with the second floor balcony. It was from that balcony that the Declaration was first read to the public. See what I mean about being mixed in with modern sky scapers?

I'll be showing more pictures and a little of the history of some of the other places we saw from time to time. In the mean time I have to catch up with what's been happening in the ville. Did I miss anything exciting?

ole nib

Calcutta Health Care Center Open House

Yesterday's event at CHCC on Bell School Road was written up big time in both our local papers this morning. It was an open house affair to show off their remodeling and to introduce the new owner. I'm putting my two cents in because there is a Wellsville connection to that facility.

One of the papers said they estimated that nearly 1,500 people trooped through there yesterday. The biggest attraction was retired boxer Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini and today's middle weight champion Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik. They were there signing autographs. Both of those gentlemen are from the Youngstown area. Getting to meet "Boom Boom" was what got me out there. I'm not a huge boxing fan but I remember Mancini was hugely popular when he was fighting and from what I saw yesterday he still is. He has been out of the fight game for nearly 20 years.

They tell me Mancini put in about five hours without a break signing autographs and greeting folks. There was about a two hour waiting in line to get that autograph. They had to drag him away so he would be able to get to another engagement yesterday evening. That's the kind of guy he is and he was that way twenty years ago. Always a gentleman and very considerate of other people and that's what made me one of his fans.

The open house was something else too. There was hot food, pasta salad, snacks, soft drinks, ice cream sundaes and a chocolate fountain. They had a whole list of give-away prizes you could sign up for and it was all free just for showing up. They had also demonstration booths set up for medical stuff which was largely ignored. From what I could see the folks where there mostly for the celebrity attractions and the food. The kids seemed to enjoy Froggy from radio station WELA.

That place was opened in 1995 by a fellow named Tom Nordquist from Columbiana. Now here comes part of the Wellsville connection. Prior to opening that place Nordquist owned the old Mansion Health Care that was here in town. It was in that old house that still sits on Main Street across from the Catholic church. When they opened CHCC they moved the patients out there and Nordquist sold that house.

CHCC is a long term care facility plus an intermediate care facility offering an array of physical therapy, occupation & speech therapy and rehabilitation for patients that have had an illness, been in accidents or had some kind of reconstructive surgery. It's not just a nursing home. That's just part of what they do out there. They also have two other similar facilities up in the Youngstown area.

Tom Nordquist recently sold his interest to Joe Cilone from East Liverpool. Joe started out in the business as a nurse. Now here comes the other ville connection. Mrs. Cilone, Joe's wife, is a Wellsville native. She is one of Tom & Marcia Gaulitier's daughters. So, along with patients from the ville and employees from the ville, Wellsville is well represented out there. I'm just guessing at the spelling of Tom & Marcia's last name. I probably butchered it. Please forgive.

Pictured above is "Boom Boom" signing autographs, some youngsters taking delight with Froggy from WELA and his honor, Wellsville Mayor Joe Surace with the Tom Nordquist.

If you missed that shindig yesterday you missed out on a good time. I can vouch for the fact that when Joey & Stephanie Cilone throw a party it's a whale of a party. Thanks for having me.

ole nib

Nicholson Stadium

Here's the newest of the floodwall murals that was just recently completed. It's all done except for the sponsor's name that is usually put on the bottom.

I couldn't find much history on Wellsville's Nicholson Stadium. It's always been there in my memory but that's not the case. In a book titled Life And Times In Wellsville, author Nathan Morrison mentions that football games were played in Central Park until the mid-twenties and then were moved up the Hammond's Park. Central Park is where the high school sits today and carnivals use to be held.

This mural is showing a game between the Tigers and the EL Potters. From the clothes I would guess this was from a photo dating back to the late forties or early fifties. Didn't WHS quit playing the Potters back in the mid-fifties?

That game was a big Thanksgiving Day rivalry and it didn't matter if you had a losing season. If you won the annual "Turkey Bowl" you had a successful year. Mr. Morrison said that back in the twenties when he was in school football was "the" sport at WHS always drawing big crowds compared to what they would see for basketball games. Of course back then he said the gym was in the basement of the old high school. I imagine seating was sparse in that gym. Mr. Morrison also said that the rivalry between the two towns was always intense and he suspects it goes back to when the railroad first came to the ville. Wellsville got the railroad first but that's a different story.

Who was Nicholson and why was the stadium named after him/her? When was the stadium built? Perhaps some of the ville's history buffs can fill us in. From the type of construction I'm guessing it was built back in FDR's Reconstruction Days following the Great Depression.

Incidentally, WHS opens their season August 22 at Strasburg. They'll be at home the 29th against Toronto.

Gina is now working on the other end wall facing the street. There was a notice in this morning's ER that Johnny Albaneso's family has set up an account at Central Federal for donations to sponsor a mural of Johnny's Lunch. They are hoping to get the panel next to this mural. Johnny was always an avid supporter of Wellsville athletics.

This month would have been the 70th anniversary of the opening of that resturant. My mouth still waters for a plate of his french fries smothered in gravy!

ole nib

It's A Wrap

There was dancing in the street as the popular & local Route 45 Band entertained the crowd and closed out the 12th Annual Italian Festival Saturday night. The band was started by Karen & Tim Kelly and have been performing publicly since 1998. They're good. They always draw a crowd, especially when they play in town.

It was a beautiful week-end for both the Italian Festival & the Down Memory Lane event. From what I could see a good time was had by all.

Pictured above is the band and some of the dancers gettin' their groove on.

This is for you "Spoon"...

ole nib