Blessing of the Animals - Part II

This past Sunday, October 4, 2009, was the Feast of St. Francis. St. Francis is widely accepted as the patron saint of animals. Although "Angel" Connie Carmichael tells us the tradition of blessing the animals can be traced back to the 4th Century with St. Anthony Abbot. St. Francis didn't come along until nearly 900 years later. That would be a good argument among Medieval historians but none the less St. Francis gets the honor.

This Blessing was sponsored by the Alley Cat Aid Brigade with the help of Father Peter Haladej, Pastor of Wellsville's Immaculate Conception Church and EL's St. Als. All pets were given a St. Francis metal after the blessing.

It was a nice turn out and like the one in EL last week there were all kinds of dogs and a few cats. I would estimate there were around 30 pet owners there on a cloudy, chilly Sunday morning.

It was a wide array of dogs and cats. There was Highway, a kitten adopted by a couple of the ACAB angels. There was a 17 year old cat named Timmy who has traveled all over the eastern part of the USA. Timmy is leash trained and is shown in the lower right of the collage. The pup in the blue blanket is a senior canine citizen trying to keep warm. Penelope, a four month old dachshund, was there giving everyone & anyone kisses. Merfilu, a nine week old tea cup poodle, was a bit more skittish staying close to her human. There was a beautiful blue eyed husky, therapy dogs and other canine companions of questionable heritage. Many of the dogs & cats were rescue animals. The owner of the two dobermans said he bought one and the other was a rescue dog that began life as a racing dog.

It's always heart warming to witness the TLC owners have for their pets and go out of their way to get the Good Lord's blessing for them. It was obvious that all of them greatly appreciated the efforts of the ACAB in arranging the opportunity. The ville is blessed to have two groups that give freely of their time providing events like this.

Thanks ladies...

ole nib

Dash For Mat's Bash A Big Success

Saturday was a busy day in the ville. Following the Harvest Moon Festival there was the Dash for Mat's Bash later on toward the evening of October 3. The "Dash" was the brain child of Wellsville residents Tim & Annie Long. It was organized to raise money for the Mathugh Johnston Scholarship Fund. Since the scholarship fund was founded a senior WHS football player has been awarded one for the past two years at the annual Awards Assembly. Next spring I believe they are also going to have a second scholarship for a senior female athlete.

I never knew Tim Long until he showed up at a Council meeting this past summer seeking approval to block off the streets. Both the Longs and a host of others had already been busy lining things up. That was just the beginning of hard and dedicated work a lot of people put in organizing this first annual event. There was soliciting donars, begging, ordering shirts, taking registrations and other administrative details. By the start of the race there was 270 registrants. In a note yesterday Tim said "I am truly humbled and proud of the entire village". He could add overwhelmed to that.

The race was dedicated to the memory of Mathugh Johnston and Bob Grimm. The WHS cheerleaders were there at 3 o'clock Saturday passing out the race packets that included t-shirts and race numbers. The WVFD & WFD made the fire station available for their use. Later on the firemen and members of the WPD provided traffic control for the race participants. Tri-County had an ambulance and crew on hand for just in case emergencies. Thankfully they were not put to work. Rev. Dirk Hall was there to offer benediction and he took part walking in the race. There were bags of treats & pumpkins for all the young ones. Medals were awarded to the first ten male and female finishers and donated door prizes were drawn. There was a list of sponsors and others that assisted that is too long to mention individually. Never the less they were all deeply appreciated.

The race/walk went from Village Hall up Main, across 9th, up Riverside to 6th and back down Main to finish at Village Hall. It was 1.2 miles long. There were participants from toddler age on up through all age brackets. Mary Johnston, Mathugh's grandmother, walked the route along with Mrs. Gail Grimm, Bob Grimm's wife, just to mention a couple of names. The over all, number one, winner was Megan Monte. Megan and her younger brother Mario had just competed in the Stark County Cross Country meet earlier in the day. Marcus Allison came in second. Jeff & Susie Haugh had just returned from taking part in the Buddy Walk in Richmond, Ohio. That's an annual big walk for the National Down Syndrome. They said there was over 50 participants from this area down there. Bob Long's grandson, Lorenzo Ferrera, came up from Benwood, WV, to take part in the race. Lorenzo was in the golfer costume with knickers. Bob was his caddy.

For a first time event it was an impressive turn out. It just made you feel good with the number of folks that showed up to take part and helped with what I consider a worthy cause. It's more proof positive that the ville is indeed some place special.

We had over 280 pictures of the "Dash". I tried to get a good cross of everything in the two collages. Unfortunately there were many other good shots that I couldn't fit in and for that I apologize. As always you can click on either picture to enlarge. The guys from wkmxlive taped everything and I think that will eventually show up on the WHS Alumni site.

Thanks to the Longs and all the others that put this all together. It was special. Tim tells me they are already kicking around ideas for the next one. Even if they don't make any changes or additions I'm looking forward to it.

ole nib

A "Howling" Good Time

This past Saturday, October 3, 2009, the angels of the Alley Cat Aid Brigade along with Wellsville's Chamber-of-Commerce jointly sponsored the first annual "Howlin' Harvest Moon Festival at the ACAB's facilities on Commerce St. It was designed by both organizations to provide an activity for everyone in the area. Through their efforts they had something for just about everyone from the young to those still young at heart.

There was crafts, food, flowers and lots of activities for the kids. They had pumkin painting and face painting. There was the fishing booth where no one trying it left with an empty hook. There was the money/candy loaded hay stack that proved to be immensely popular. It was hard to tell who was more excited - the kids searching through the hay for the hidden treasure or those surrounding the hay stack cheering them on.

On a beautiful day filled with sunshine it was a fun event that was perfect for a harvest festival. Thanks to all involved that got it together. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

ole nib

Wellsville Chamber-of-Commerce Dinner

The date has been set for the annual C-of-C dinner naming Wellsville's man & woman of the year plus the presenting of the Community Service Award. It came up fairly fast and was set to the availability of this year's keynote speaker.

This year's dinner will be held at the WHS Alumni Center on 3rd Street. It's scheduled for Monday, October 19. There will be a social get together from 6 - 6:30 with dinner to begin at 7 P.M. This year's theme will be "Wellsville - Rising Star on the River".

The keynote speaker will be our U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson shown above. This is the congressman's second visit for this occasion. Wellsville is honored that Wilson can make time for us in his demanding schedule. Dealing with stimulus funding, health care and cap & trade issues doesn't leave much free time. It should be an interesting address.

Tickets for the dinner are $25 per person and the dinner is open to the public. Reservations can be made by calling Chamber President Randy Allmon at 330-843-8475 or Connie Bauer at 330-532-5800. Seating is limited. Make your reservations as soon as possible.

There will also be a Chinese Auction and a 50/50 drawing.

ole nib

Wellsville Goes to 4 & 2

Last Friday, October 2, the Wellsville Tiger Football Team lost 13-6 at Berlin Western-Reserve. It was a heart breaking lost with the Tigers fighting until the end. With a Bubba Dowling pass just inches off the mark late in the 4th quarter the final result could have been much different. You certainly can not say the Tigers gave up. They just ran out of clock.

Undefeated Western-Reserve came out and scored twice in the 1st quarter. From then on until early in the 4th quarter it was all defense. Going 90 yards with 11 plays the Tigers got on the board with 11:07 remaining in the game. Wellsville had the momentum going in their favor later on but just couldn't connect with that pass. They had to turn the ball over and Western-Reserve took the knee to end the game and thank the Good Lord they got out that game alive.

Statistically the Tigers won the game with picking up 263 total yards to the Devil's 120. They had 187 of those yards rushing with fleet footed Jeremy Carter running for 143 of those. Wellsville had 13 first downs compared to Western-Reserve's eight. As Coach Skinner was quoted in the newspaper they "just kept battling". Although not the score we were hoping for it was a good game.

Wellsville returns home this Friday to take on Leetonia. That's always a good game and as the Western-Reserve coach said "they're not going to lose another game".

ole nib

BWD Engineering Committee - 10/2/09

The BWD Engineering Committee held a meeting this past Friday at the new Water Treatment Plant. According to Board-of-Director President Mike Ryan the meeting was called to issue the Permit to Proceed for Part A of the Salineville Water Project and to discuss potential expansion of the water district. Present were Engineer Committee Chairman Chuck Bibbee & committee member Tim O'Hara, BWD Solicitor Fred Emmerling, board member Jack Whitaker, Dave Sugar of Dave Sugar Excavating and Jon Blair of Dallis Dawson Associates.

Dave Sugar Excavating was the winning bidder on the $2.7 million contract for Part A of the Salineville Water Project. Mr. Sugar was there to put the final dots on all the i's by signing the multiple documents involved with that contract with Emmerling notarizing each and every one. Sugar advised that he will have two crews starting once parts are received. One crew will begin on Osborne Road near the Red Brick Church with the second starting on Forbes Road. He expected he will be starting a week from today. Sugar noted that with today's economy parts manufacturers are not stock piling anything. They are waiting for firm orders before producing any parts. Sugar has a March 7, 2010, deadline to complete Part A which is nearly eight miles of water line, valves and fire hydrants. It will run from Osborne Road to just past the Southern Local School complex.

The second part of the meeting was a brain storming session on possible expansion of the water district. Committee Chairman Bibbee said the mission of the water district is to improve the infrastructure of the county with a reliable water supply to make it attractive to new business locating here. Board President Ryan noted that it is expected that additional grant money for such projects will be available in the near future. Having "shovel ready" projects on the shelf ready to apply for such grants has proven successful in the past. "Shovel ready" means the project has been engineered with plans and cost estimates figured and are just waiting for funding to become available. The Salineville project was "shovel ready" and presently there is only one other project ready.

Bibbee noted that there are many areas in the county with residents having to restrict their water usage from their wells. In some places it is so bad that people only do their laundry once a week or even flush their toilets once a day. Also it was noted that the EPA is becoming increasingly restricted on well water quality for potable water. The day may come when well water won't be permitted for drinking and cooking.

At today's prices a mile of 8" diameter water line costs in the neighborhood of $250,000. The first phase of the Salineville project is 16" diameter pipe which is going to cost around $400,000 per mile. One board member noted that a neighbor had to have his well redrilled recently and it ran around $7,000. The tap-in fee per home is presently $3,250. It seems like a very high cost until you compare it to alternative costs. Also arrangements can be made to have that fee spread out over a three year period at 0% interest. Arrangements are also available with the County Treasurer to have tap-in fees made part of the semi-annual real estate taxes.

Two areas as potential customers immediately drew attention. One is the Rogers community and the other is Frederick Heights and two other housing developments in that vicinity. Both areas are on well water and it was noted that it would be relatively simple to supply with existing water lines already in place that are heading in those directions. These are just two of the potential areas that were looked at. Many others were discussed and it was suggested that if anyone would like to have a reliable source of quality water they should contact the Buckeye Water District. Everything would be considered.

In the mean time it will be recommended to the full Board to authorize a couple of projects to be engineered to be "shovel ready". If approved the first thing to be done would be a survey of potential customers in an area.

The next regular meeting of the BWD Board-of-Directors is scheduled for Thursday, October 15, at 9 A.M. at Wellsville Village Hall. Part B of the Salineville project is expected to published for bid this Thursday, October 8.

ole nib

Wellsville Meets Heritage Ohio

Right from the Heritage Ohio's "About Us" page this organization "was developed as a statewide, not-for-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and assisting people and organizations to protect and preserve our heritage. Historic preservation and downtown revitalization are vitally important in the movements to protect the buildings, landscapes, art, artifacts and landmarks we have inherited."

There are Wellsville residents that feel the ville is ripe for both historic revitalization and more importantly economic revitalization that they decided to take the bull by the horns. Encouraged by what the ville's Revitalization Committee has been able to do renewing some interest with just the floodwall murals they asked themselves why not? After some research on their own they approached that committee, members of city government and the Chamber-of-Commerce.

With a positive acceptance of the idea they contacted Heritage Ohio and this past Thursday, October 1. 2009, Jeff Siegler, Director of Revitalization for Heritage Ohio, came to town to explain their program. They have been in existence for 10 years now and are in partnership with the Ohio Dept. of Development. Again to quote their web page, their goal "is the historic preservation and downtown revitalization to enrich our quality of life, enhance our neighborhoods and revitalize communities as better places in which to live, work, invest and visit!" The idea started with one lady with a dream in Wooster, OH. Wooster is one of their model communities.

Sigler said the whole concept is developed with interested members of the community volunteering their time to get the program off the ground. The first step is to get four committees organized. One would be for Economic Development, one for Design, one for Organization and one for Promotions. Three of them are fairly obvious in their purpose. The Design Committee would concentrate on the appearance. The program is called Main Street Ohio.

Interesting to note is that Sigler said that for every dollar spent in town there is approximately 65 cents that stays in town. When you take your shopping dollars out of town to the malls and big box stores the return starts taking a sharp dive. It goes down to zero for every dollar spent when shopping on-line. Saving money at Wal-Mart is very expensive for hometown America.

The membership in the Main Street program is $1,000 per year at the network level. It is $3,300 a year to have a Heritage Ohio director. There is a one time assessment fee of $2,500. Being considered an Appalachian community might make the ville eligible for some discounts on those fees plus increase chances on being favorably considered for grant applications.

The whole idea for the program is to get the town cleaned up and more attractive to encourage support for local businesses and to be inviting to new businesses locating here. With an attractive appearance and a good marketing program it would encourage shoppers to support the community instead of leaving town to spend their shopping dollars. Heritage Ohio has 10 years experience leading the way. It's an idea worth looking into. I don't think Wellsville will ever be the bustling commercial center is was in the mid-1800s through the mid-1900s but there are many residents that would take pride in returning the village to being prosperous and attractive.

Shown above are Chamber members Connie Carmichael & Candy Bangor, Heritage Ohio's Jeff Siegler, and Chamber President Randy Allmon. More information on Heritage Ohio is available on their web site http://www.heritageohio.org/.

ole nib