Landingville

The Up, Up and Away 5K, hosted by Real Options Care Net of Schuylkill County, will be held rain or shine beginning at 10 a.m. May 2 at the Schuylkill River Trail, 8 Church St. Runners and walkers are welcome, according to a release. Check-in and registration will begin at 9 a.m. Registration may be completed online at www.pretzelcitysports.com. The entry fee is $25 per runner/walker if paid by April 23 and $30 per runner/walker thereafter. For children 13 and under, the fee is $10. The course is flat, along the Schuylkill River. There will be a complimentary lunch for all participants. There will be prize drawings for all participants; people must be present to win. Medals will be awarded in top male and female categories. For more information, go online to www.realoptions.care or call 570-728-2135.

Lansford

Students from the Panther Valley School District, which includes Coaldale in Schuylkill County, recently took fourth place in a reading competition in which they competed with schools from Carbon and Lehigh counties. Students from throughout the state, according to a release, annually compete in the Reading Olympics. This year, there was a regional competition staged by the Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21. Students read from a list of books provided throughout the year and then met to answer trivia questions based on the books. Panther Valley’s team, called the West Point Readers, placed fourth in overtime after the initial competition ended in a three-way tie. The communities of Lansford and Summit Hill in Carbon County also are part of the Panther Valley district. Dennis R. Kergick, a Shenandoah native, is the Panther Valley superintendent.

Nuremberg

The Black Creek Township Recreation Committee will hold its annual community yard sale from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. May 26 by the township office next to the recycling center. The cost is $10 per participant. Those participating can bring as many tables as they like and can sell anything except food items as the committee will sell food and beverages. For more information or to sign up, call Lori at 570-384-3674 or Kay at 570-384-4441.

Pottsville

The Pottsville Rotary Club recently honored six high school students of the month. The students included Michael Botto and Elijah Wood of Pottsville Area, Taylor Miggins and Joseph Karmazin of Minersville Area and Cheyanne Morgan and Ryan McClosky of Nativity BVM. The students informed the Rotarians about their school and community activities and plans for the future.

Ringtown

A roast pork dinner will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. April 21 in the fellowship hall of St. John’s Lutheran Church, 106 W. Main St. The cost is $10 for a regular meal and $5 for a small meal. Children under age 5 will eat free. Advance tickets are required for the dinner. For tickets or more information, call the church office at 570-889-5203.

Schuylkill Haven

The South Schuylkill Garden Club and the Schuylkill County Master Gardeners are sponsoring a trip May 16 for a guided morning tour of Winterthur Garden, former home of Henry DuPont, who arranged the naturalized exotic plants of his garden as though they grew spontaneously by placing them in large drifts and groups that harmonize in color and form, according to a press release. The bus will depart at 7 a.m. from the Cressona Giant parking lot and return about 7 p.m. The cost for the day is $60 and checks should be made payable to SSGC or South Schuylkill Garden Club and mailed to Joyce Carlin, 25 E. Wood St., Pine Grove, PA 17963. The deadline is Sunday. For more information, call 570-345-0474.

Summit Hill

The Summit Hill Shade Tree Commission will host an Arbor Day program at 10:30 a.m. April 28 at Ludlow Park. The program will recognize the 150th anniversary of Memorial Day by planting trees in memory of the first Summit Hill veterans killed in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The trees are sponsored by the historical society. Other trees, according to a release, will also be planted in memory of other veterans and residents of Summit Hill. For more information on the memorial trees, contact Louis Vermillion or John Kupec. The public is welcome to witness the ceremonies.

Food lovers can savor a night out on the town while fine dining for a special cause.

Schuylkill Wellness Services of Pottsville — an agency that provides prevention education, case management for HIV and HIV/STD screenings — will hold its 21st annual Dine-Out on Tuesday.

The event raises funds for HIV/AIDs awareness programs. Each restaurant will donate 20 percent of the evening’s food receipts.

“We carried on that tradition, and it’s the only fundraiser for Schuylkill Wellness Services,” Marian Donlin, administrative assistant and HIV counselor, said Friday, of the dining fundraiser that launched in 1997. “All of our services are free and confidential. It doesn’t matter if you have health insurance or not.”

Four county restaurants will host the event, including Francesco’s at 10 N. Main St., Shenandoah; Greystone restaurant, 315 N. Centre St., Pottsville; Vito’s Coal Fired Pizza, 400 Terry Rich Blvd., Saint Clair; and Oak Hill Inn, 655 Route 61, Orwigsburg.

“They’ve (restaurant owners) been involved every year for a long time and we find volunteers to host at each restaurant,” Donlin said.

Diners can also participate in a raffle. The grand prize is $1,000 cash; 2nd prize, $250 Lowe’s gift card; 3rd prize, a round of golf and lunch for two at Mountain Valley Golf Course, a $125 value. Raffle tickets cost $5 each, or five for $20. Basket raffles will also be offered at the eateries.

Money raised will be used in the county to heighten awareness in the interest of prevention, and to offer local support to those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Schuylkill Wellness Services, 512 N. Centre St., Pottsville, is a United Way member agency. Other staff members include: Christine Morrison, RN, nurse/educator; Rusty Brennan, prevention education coordinator; and Henry Pruski, case manager.

Supporters raised about $5,000 at last year’s dine-out, Donlin said.

For raffle tickets or more information, call 570-622-3980. For reservations, call Francesco’s, 570-462-3451; Greystone, 570-628-4220; Vito’s, 570-429-1888; or Oak Hill Inn, 570-366-3881.

“We encourage reservations, but restaurants will welcome walk-ins,” Donlin said.

Contact the writer: ; 570-628-6007

POTTSVILLE — All the hours of training and sacrifice in the gym paid off for Chris Reed and Tim Burke as they were selected as the 2018 Mr. Coal Natural and Mr. Anthracite Natural, respectively, Saturday night.

The Mr. Anthracite Natural was a closed competition to those who live, work or attend school in the five-county anthracite region, which includes Schuylkill, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland and Carbon counties. Mr. Coal Natural was open to everyone. The natural part of the title meant competitors had to be drug free, meet the National Gym Association Drug Testing Guidelines and subject themselves to a polygraph test.

Reed, Pine Grove, won Mr. Coal Natural, beating out four other lifters for the title. His secret?

“Dedication and consistency,” Reed said. “You have to make it your lifestyle, nothing short of that.”

Reed gave credit to his wife’s support and encouragement to get back into weight lifting after a yearslong hiatus from a gym.

“It means a lot to tell the family I’ve succeeded in this journey,” Reed said.

Burke, Girardville, won Mr. Anthracite Natural after defeating five competitors and also took home several other trophies, including Most Muscular, Mr. Coal Novice and Classic Physique. He echoed Reed’s belief that dedication is what earned them their awards.

“Keep moving forward,” Burke said.

Warren Egebo started the Mr. Anthracite Natural competition in 2013 and added the Mr. Coal Natural competition last year. Egebo said the work and effort the competitors put into preparing for this show and other shows epitomizes the work and effort coal miners put into retreiving coal.

“The quality of competition gets better every year,” Egebo said. “They work hard in the gym.”

The competition was dedicated in the memory of Kyler Baughman, runner-up in last year’s Mr. Coal Natural event who passed away from the flu last December at age 19.

“We dedicate this show in memory of Kyler. He was a great representative of this sport,” Egebo said.

Contact the writer: dbarr@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6011

One man’s trash sometimes touches the heart.

In the window of a small storefront on Church Street, Taylor, Lackawanna County, a miniature museum of empty glass bottles, stones and other once-buried oddities reveals what contractors unearthed while replacing old Scranton bridges during the last decade. The storefront serves as a PennDOT construction management field office.

“Our inspectors are out there, they come up with something interesting, boom, it goes in the window,” said Pat McCabe, a PennDOT construction project manager. “There’s no particular theme here, just something that might be interesting.”

The small array features 34 shockingly intact and generally pristine bottles — most from the early 20th century — found in the earth around the old Rockwell Avenue, Harrison Avenue and Linden Street bridges.

The bottles include some from the Woodlawn and Brown & Wright dairies in Scranton; from Father John’s Medicine, a cough medicine manufactured in Lowell, Massachusetts; from the Hires Co., a small bottle that held an extract for home-brewing root beer; and castor oil, which, as a grandparent might recall, tasted nasty and relieved constipation and other stomach maladies.

Old horseshoes; a rusted steel pin that coupled coal cars; an equally rusted railroad spike; anthracite slag from when Scranton had iron mills; a jagged ball of iron and coal, the waste of coal-fired steam locomotives; arrowheads; stones that Native Americans used to keep fishing nets submerged; and plain old stones that struck Tom Austin as interesting looking.

Little holes pocked into one yellowish stone give it a smiley face.

Austin, a PennDOT construction inspector, founded this collection.

“This one makes me happy,” Austin said of the smiling stone. “You’re out there, you’re always looking down, you’re always looking at (stone) aggregates, you’re always looking at backfill, you’re looking at all sorts of stuff. So you just see a bottle sticking up and (you say), ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ (you) pick it up and put it in your pocket.”

After that, it goes in the window, noticed later by little kids walking by — mostly during the summer — with grandparents or parents, whose eagerness to teach the next generation leads them to pop open the entrance door and ask, “Can we come in for a look?”

McCabe sometimes welcomes them and explains where it all came from, how 100 years ago Scranton collected coal ash separately from regular trash to reuse it.

“So they didn’t have all the high technology and high-grade stone like they do now so they used to go up to the dump, get the coal ash and just fill behind the bridge abutments with coal ash,” McCabe said.

He told how bottles — broken and unbroken — got thrown into the mix.

“That was in someone’s trash at some point,” Austin reminded later.

You would never fill holes in the earth around a bridge that way now, but it worked.

Almost 100 years later, as they replaced the old bridges, inspectors and construction crews plucked all this stuff from the earth around them.

“It’s kind of cool, you’re getting kind of a snapshot of what was going on in Scranton right around the turn of the century,” McCabe said. “You kind of feel bad if something survives the last 100 years only to get crushed now.”

Looking at a Moran’s Sparkling Beverages bottle — once filled with soda, now with dirt — McCabe remembers the 1960s when a “Mr. Moran” still delivered soda from his Hazleton-based company once a week to the McCabe family homestead in Scranton’s Minooka neighborhood.

“I guess we’re all kind of little kids at heart,” McCabe said.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147

SNYDERTOWN — A Shenandoah woman died from injuries she suffered in a crash Wednesday in Northumberland County.

State police at Stonington said the crash occurred around 5:40 p.m. on the north side of Snydertown Road.

Police said Kaylee Pukiewicz, 21, was an occupant in a Mitsubishi Montero Sport that was being driven on Snydertown Road when it went off the north side of the highway and rolled multiple times, causing extensive damage to the vehicle.

Police said the vehicle came to a stop on its roof facing east in a wooded area, and that Pukiewicz suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police listed Pukiewicz as an “occupant” of the SUV, not indicating whether or not she was the driver.

The investigation into the cause of the crash is continuing, police said.

Contact the writer: fandruscavage@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6013

When opioid drug misuse leads to death, coroners find the substance almost never works alone.

As the nation wages war with what’s increasingly called a “polysubstance” epidemic, involving more drugs than just opioids, scientists and public health officials say they lack sufficient data to fight it.

“A future drug epidemic could even be more problematic with current gaps that we have in our data,” said Brian Piper, Ph.D., an assistant professor of neuroscience at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine who studies drug use.

He says the overdose epidemic, which the National Institutes of Health estimates claimed 64,000 American lives in 2016, needs more attention by coroners and medical examiners.

For example, death certificates for fatal car crash victims often attribute death to “multiple traumatic injuries” without details such as broken bones or head wounds. That might suffice for highway safety engineers, but it’s critical that health officials know their enemy more intimately, Piper said.

“The public policy is really driven by overdose deaths, and the overdose deaths are under reported,” he said.

Death records from many counties in Pennsylvania often lack detail on the specific drugs that cause death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The nation’s largest public health agency uses death records to root out trends, but Pennsylvania’s record keeping lags behind almost every other state.

Schuylkill County Coroner Dr. David J. Moylan III said Friday that he tries to detail the drugs involved in deaths his office investigates.

“If there’s more than one drug, we’ll actually list the drugs,” Moylan said. He said he lists them in order of toxicity in the death.

Moylan said listing the drugs is important.

“(I’m) just trying to be thorough. We have to report our data to the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration),” and that is easier to do if the information is on the certificate, he said.

Moylan said he always has blood tests done and often adds urine tests. That is vital in the case of heroin, which the body gets rid of quickly, he said.

“You have to test both the urine and the blood” in those cases, although doing both is expensive, Moylan said.

He said that, whenever possible, he consults with the victim’s family before preparing a death certificate.

But, still, other counties in Pennsylvania do not include such information regularly.

Luzerne County Coroner Bill Lisman said he keeps toxicology results for overdose victims, but the drug-specific data seldom makes it on the death certificate, he said. Sometimes he includes it if it’s a single drug, but that’s rarely the case.

Deadly arc

Lisman described an arc in deadly substance abuse over the last three years.

At the start, people died from highly addictive prescription painkillers, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone.

Now that doctors face heightened scrutiny for their prescribing practices, addicts turn back to illicit drugs as narcotics grow harder to get.

“They’re almost all combinations of heroin, fentanyl and some prescription drugs,” Lisman said. “A big percentage of our drug deaths are the illegal cocaine, heroin and synthetic fentanyl coming out of China.”

Fentanyl is a highly potent opioid — many times more powerful than heroin — that drug traffickers cut with other drugs because it’s cheap and accessible.

If a victim has more than one drug in his or her system, Lisman may write something indicating a heart attack caused by “polypharmacy” or “adverse reaction to drugs,” he said.

“Very plainly, it’s a judgement call on my part,” he said. “On very few occasions do we list drugs specifically.”

His philosophy is two-fold.

From a practical position, he said he lacks the manpower to amend death certificates retroactively. To accurately update his archives, he must dive back into years worth of records to link toxicology reports to certificates.

Beyond that, families fear dragging out an already painful ordeal. Death certificates are not public record in Pennsylvania, however, family members and those with power of attorney can request them to wrap up final arrangements, for example closing bank accounts or selling assets. The theory goes that just as laws seal medical records for the living, the dead deserve privacy.

“I don’t think it needs to be public, if my son or daughter or your son or daughter (dies of an overdose),” Lisman said of the drugs in the system of an overdose victim.

Piper said he has heard that argument and disagrees.

“We live in a society where there’s stigma related to death and dying,” he said. “There’s stigma related to substance abuse. And, when you put the two of those together, that’s a very unfortunate combination.”

Philosophical split

Only 55 percent of 2016 overdose death records in Pennsylvania list at least one drug, according to a recent report by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The state ranked second to last for listing all drugs that led to death.

Coroners’ philosophies on drug data in death certificates vary dramatically from county to county.

“I think our role as coroners is to, as accurately as we can, describe what happened to the person,” said Lackawanna County Coroner Timothy Rowland, who details toxicology on all fatal overdose death certificates.

Years ago, concerned families, fearful of marring their loved ones’ memories, would ask whether drug information must be in the records.

“Now families are putting in the obituaries that they died from a drug overdose,” Rowland said. “I think families are so sick of this that they want families to know.”

Like Moylan and Rowland, Susquehanna County Coroner Anthony Conarton also details the drugs revealed in toxicology tests.

“I know a lot of coroners are against that, and I’m not quite sure why other than trying to protect the family,” he said. “But, in today’s society... they already know what we’re going to find.”

Stronger data on fatal drug cocktails could give scientists and public health officers more tools in fighting the addiction crisis, Piper said, but there’s another side — the human side.

Beyond nailing down what people are using, he wants to see what leads users to get hooked in the first place.

“The other factor that often gets lost in this story is the combination of multiple drugs and the preexisting health conditions that individuals have,” Piper said. “That’s another side that’s hopefully going to get more attention down the road.”

Peter Bortner, a staff writer for The Republican-Herald, contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: joconnell@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9131; @jon_oc on Twitter

MINERSVILLE — Applying for grants for community improvements was one of several topics discussed at the borough council meeting Tuesday.

The council took action to apply for a state multimodal transportation fund grant to be used in the area from borough hall to Fourth Street. Funds would go to sidewalk repair, street lighting, possibly a bus stop bench and other improvements.

Entech Engineering, the borough engineer, will submit the application to the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Funds come from the Commonwealth Financing Authority. Ian Mahal, council vice president, said the project could range from $500,000 to $600,000. Usually municipalities must pay a 30 percent match, however, this year the match is zero.

The council also approved submitting a grant application to the DCED Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program. Engineering costs would be shared between the borough and the Minersville Little League. The borough wants to renovate the Fourth Street Playground at an estimated cost of $60,000. A grant could be awarded for $51,000, leaving the borough contribution at $9,000. The Little League project involves bathroom renovations, a batting cage floor/Astroturf, batting cage roof and netting for the outfield and infield. The projected cost is estimated to be $123,500. Grant funding could total $104,975, leaving a $18,525 match from the Minersville Little League.

Borough resident Kerry Kerschner talked about quality of life in the borough. He said there are absentee landlords and what he believes are drug transactions taking place in public.

“There was some drug activity going on right in front of my house,” Kerschner, South Street, said.

He asked if foot patrols could be brought back.

“I’ll be honest with you, we just don’t have the manpower,” Minersville Police Chief Michael Combs said.

He said the police are active in pursuing drug-related offenses.

“This town is never going to get better until we address this problem,” Kerschner said.

Council President Jamie Kuehn said council members want people to feel safe.

Kerschner asked why something can’t be done to landlords who rent their homes to tenants if it is known they permit drug activities to occur.

“This isn’t a place to raise a family anymore,” he said.

Mahal said the borough has a nuisance ordinance.

Research will be conducted about what can be done, council members said.

In other business, the council voted to have the recreation committee set the pool rates. Mahal, who is on the recreation committee, said the recommendation by the committee will be mentioned at the next council meeting.

The council also voted to advertise for bids for the 2018 street paving project.

Contact the writer: ; 570-628-6028

The constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor are Orion the Hunter’s faithful companions in our Pottsville starry skies.

Orion is one of the best known and most recognized characters in the night sky. He’s certainly the king of the cold winter heavens, surrounded by a gang of bright stars and companion constellations like the hounds of winter. Get a good look at them now in the low western sky after sunset because a month or so from now they’ll already be below the western horizon in the early evening.

According to Greek and Roman mythology, Orion was a nocturnal hermit hunter who was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods. Because of his father’s genes, Orion had super human strength and abilities that gave him a huge advantage over the beasts he hunted down. His only weapon was his mighty club, which he would use to take out the critters he skillfully stalked.

Of course, every good hunter has his faithful hunting dogs, and Orion’s best friends were his big dog, Canis Major, and his little dog, Canis Minor, which are Latin for big and little dog, respectively. They’re also seen as constellations adjacent to the great hunter Orion.

Orion’s big dog, Canis Major, is easy to find. From our view, it’s just to the left of Orion, and as you can see it really resembles a dog. The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, marks the dog’s nose. Just use the three stars in a row that outline Orion’s belt as a pointer to the left, and you’ll run right into Sirius.

To the lower right of Sirius is Mirzam, a dimmer but distinct star that marks the hound’s elevated paw. To the lower left of Sirius you can’t help but notice the triangular pattern of stars that outlines Canis Major’s hind end, hind leg, and tail. As Canis Major journeys across the sky from east to west in response to Earth’s rotation, the big doggy appears to be begging from his master.

At either end of Canis Major are noteworthy stars. Sirius, at the nose, is not only the brightest star of the constellation, but is also the brightest star in the night sky. Its brilliance is partially due to the fact that it’s a star larger than our sun, but is mostly because it’s so much closer to us than most other stars. It’s only 8 light years away, while most other stars we see at a glance are an average of 100 light years away. By the way, just 1 light year equals almost 6 trillion miles!

At the other end of Canis Major is Aludra, the star at the end of the big dog’s tail. It’s certainly nowhere near the brilliance of Sirius, but it’s one heck of a star!

It’s estimated by astronomers that Aludra is almost a billion miles in diameter, more than 10 times the diameter of our sun. The reason it has a reasonably humble appearance in our sky is that it’s more than 3,000 light years away! The light that you see from Aludra tonight left that great star before the year 1000 B.C.!

As majestic as the constellation Canis Major is, Orion’s little hunting dog Canis Minor is kind of a joke by comparison, at least in my opinion. It’s basically just two stars, Procyon and Gomeisa, and that’s it. It’s easy to find. Just look for the next brightest star you can see directly above Sirius. That’s Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor. Gomeisa is a fainter star just to the upper right of Procyon. How those two stars outline a dog is anybody’s guess. Maybe it’s a wiener dog!

The constellation Orion and his hunting dogs all make contributions to one of the coolest configurations in the sky, the “Winter Triangle.” In your mind’s eye draw a line from the bright star Betelgeuse at the armpit of Orion the Hunter to Sirius in Canis Major, and then up to Procyon in Canis Minor. You’ll easily see that those three bright stars make up a perfect equilateral triangle from our vantage here on Earth.

Enjoy the hounds of heaven before they go into summer hiding!

Celestial hugging

this week

On Tuesday evening, right after evening twilight, the new crescent moon will be just the left of the bright planet Venus below the Pleiades Stars Cluster in the constellation Taurus the Bull. On Wednesday evening, the crescent moon will be fatter and parked to upper left of Venus. Don’t miss it!

(Lynch, an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist, can be reached at mikewlynch@comcast.net)

Pine Grove Township — Matthew M. and Wendy J. Brandt to Matthew M. Brandt; 297 Suedberg Road; $1.

Scott L. Butler to Nicholas J. Reber; 201 Birds Hill Road; $1.

Citibank NA to Nicholas J. Reber; 201 Birds Hill Road; $43,000.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Schuylkill County Crime Stoppers and state police at Frackville are asking the public to help identify a man responsible for an attempted theft around 7 a.m. Tuesday in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81 in Foster Township.

Police said the man was trying to steal the wheels and tires from a 2012 Chrysler 200 owned by EZ Rent A Car Inc., Pottsville, that was disabled on the shoulder of the highway at mile marker 114.1.

The man was seen by a passing motorist who stopped, thinking he was the owner of the vehicle and attempting to change a tire.

When the motorist approached the man, he jumped into his vehicle and fled the area north on I-81, police said.

The man was described as being about 6 feet tall with a skinny build and a scruffy beard. He fled the area in a white early 1990s Chevrolet Cavalier, police said.

Schuylkill County Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 for information on the identity of the man responsible for this crime or any other unsolved crime in Schuylkill County.

Callers are asked to refer to case 04-15-18 when calling with information about the attempted theft in Foster Township.

Anyone with information is asked to call Schuylkill County Crime Stoppers at 877-TIPS4SC (877-847-7472).

Callers can also relay their information directly to state police at Frackville at 570-874-5300.

All information received will remain confidential.

Contact the writer: fandruscavage@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6013

TOWER CITY— For the 12th year, the Williams Valley High School paid tribute to one of the area’s own with the Les Brown Big Band Festival.

Les Brown, who was born in nearby Reinerton in 1912, was a big band leader and director of Les Brown and the Band of Renown. Brown and his band performed with Bob Hope for almost 50 years, including 18 trips on Hope’s USO tours in Korea and Vietnam. The Band of Renown was the house band for the Steve Allen Show, the Dean Martin Show, Bandstand Review and the Hollywood Palace in the 1950s and 1960s.

Joel Guldin, the festival chairman, said 13 years ago, a Pennsylvania marker was established in Brown’s name and a big dedication ceremony occured. The following year, he asked if the celebration would be a yearly event and when he was told it was not, he took over and created a yearly tribute “to keep the people aware of the musical heritage in the valley” and celebrate Brown’s memory, according to Guldin.

Guldin hopes to make an impact on students in the Williams Valley School District by acknowledging that Brown came from that area of Pennsylvania. Guldin said Brown set a goal and accomplished it and believes today’s students can do the same.

“If he can do it, so can they. You can make it happen,” Guldin said.

Special guests were Jack Redmond and Hal Espinosa, both former members of the Band of Renown. Redmond was the former lead trombonist with the band, and Espinosa was the band’s lead trumpet player. Redmond began playing the trombone after seeing the Ice Follies and admiring the orchestra instruments as a child. Redmond picked the trombone because he liked “the one that goes like this,” he said, while making a sliding motion with his hand.

He joined Brown’s band in 1968 after word of his playing ability was mentioned to Brown.

“They needed somebody on lead trombone and I got the call. That’s always been my thing, big band. It’s what I’ve always enjoyed,” Redmond said.

Espinosa followed a year later in 1969 as the band’s lead trumpeter. His musical career started with influence from Harry James, a movie star and trumpeter, and Espinosa later joined James’ band before joining Brown’s. Both said their favorite memory of their time in the band was the overseas USO trips playing for soldiers.

“That was the highlight of my career,” Espinosa said.

“They were the greatest crowd in the whole world,” Redmond said. “Those guys, all they wanted was to hear something from home.”

Contact the writer: dbarr@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6011

The state Department of Transportation has several projects planned for Schuylkill County roadways this week, according to Sean A. Brown, safety press officer for PennDOT District 5, Allentown.

The projects, to be done from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., include:

• Pothole patching from Monday through Thursday on Interstate 81 in Butler and New Castle townships between Exit 119 (Highridge Park Road) and Exit 124 (Route 61) with lane restrictions.

• Pothole patching from Monday through Thursday on I-81 in Delano and Kline townships between Exit 131 (Route 54) and the Luzerne County line with lane restrictions.

• Pothole patching from Monday through Thursday on I-81 between Exit 104 (Route 125) and Exit 112 (Route 25) with lane restrictions.

• Shoulder work/widening Monday through Friday on Route 339 between Mahanoy City and Brandonville with lane restrictions and flagging.

• Pothole patching from Monday through Friday on Route 61 in East Norwegian, New Castle and Butler townships between Pottsville and Ashland with lane restrictions and flagging.

• Inspection work Wednesday on Schuylkill Mall Road in Ryan Township between Route 61 and I-81 with lane restrictions

• Pothole patching from Monday through Friday on Route 209 between Tamaqua and Coaldale with lane restrictions and flagging.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting 511PA.com, which provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 825 traffic cameras. The 511PA service is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices by calling 5-1-1 or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website. Follow regional PennDOT information on Twitter at twitter.com/511PAAllentown.

HECKSCHERVILLE — A brush fire spread to an abandoned garage in Cass Township on Saturday, bringing firefighters from multiple companies to the scene.

It was just before noon when firefighters were called to the area of Valley Road and Highridge Park Road for a report of a brush fire, but the call was quickly upgraded by the Schuylkill County Communications Center after flames spread to a large garage.

Robert Ryan, chief of Clover Fire Company, Heckscherville, said the large garage is owned by Reading Anthracite Co. and is located on its property just off Valley Road.

The garage had not been used in years and contained old tires and other items of little or no value.

After receiving the call for the brush fire, Ryan said, firefighters from Heckscherville, Minersville and Gordon responded and a tanker taskforce was quickly activated, bringing additional tanker trucks from other areas of Schuylkill County.

The brush fire was fueled by slight winds, extremely dry leaves and other materials in and around the garage.

“It was definitely started by the brush fire. It just went up. It was so old and so dry,” he said of the garage.

Ryan said the decision was made to contain the fire but not risk any manpower by taking an offensive approach to the blaze.

“It was a surround and drown operation,” the chief said. “There were no lives involved and it wasn’t worth getting anyone hurt.”

Ryan said it is not known how the brush fire started.

The fire forced the closure of a section of Valley Road, just off Highridge Park Road, for several hours while both fires — the garage and brush — were brought under control and extinguished.

Contact the writer: fandruscavage@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6013

Aggressive driving results in 2 cited

HIGHRIDGE — Two people escaped injury when their vehicles collided around 3:20 p.m. Friday in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81, at mile marker 121 in Butler Township.

State police at Frackville said Michael D. Beck, 53, of Clarks Summit, was driving a 2006 Chevrolet 3500 truck in the left lane as Dmitry Zhuravel, 21, of Camillus, New York, was driving a 2008 Audi A4 in the right lane.

As Zhuravel came across a slow-moving vehicle in the right lane, he switched into the left lane in front of Beck who honked his horn, indicating he had been cut off.

A short time later, Beck passed Zhuravel on the right and suddenly swerved into the left lane, causing the left corner of his truck to strike the Zhuravel vehicle, causing damage to the hood and right light cluster, police said.

Police said Beck continued north as Zhuravel motioned for him to pull over but Beck responded with various hand gestures and refused to stop.

An uninvolved motorist contacted 911 to report the incident. Both Beck and Zhuravel traveled to the next exit where Beck pulled into a gas station and began fueling his truck.

It was at that location that police said Beck refused to provide Zhuravel with his information as required by law.

As a result of the incident, Beck will be charged with careless driving and hit and run to attended vehicles, police said, adding that Zhuravel will also receive a citation for a violation of the state Vehicle Code.

Woman wanted on bench warrant found

MAHANOY CITY — A woman was jailed after being picked up by Mahanoy City police for an outstanding warrant on Wednesday.

Police said officers were called to the 400 block of West Maple Street around 6 p.m. for a report of a vehicle accident and, at the scene, Patrolman Thomas Rentschler found Sharleen Mooney, 41, of Mahanoy City.

It was learned that Mooney was wanted on an outstanding Schuylkill County bench warrant, and she was subsequently taken into custody and committed to the Schuylkill County Prison.

3 not hurt in

2-vehicle crash

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Three people escaped injury in a two-vehicle crash around 8:05 p.m. Thursday on Route 61 at Manheim Road in North Manheim Township.

State police at Schuylkill Haven said Kathleen M. Wingle, 72, of Schuylkill Haven, was driving a 2003 Toyota Highlander north in the passing lane as Kevin R. Martin, 63, of Reading, the driver of a 2005 Peterbilt tractor-trailer, was stopped in the same lane for a red light at the intersection.

Police said Wingle failed to see the stopped Martin vehicle and ran into the back of it.

Both drivers and a passenger in the Wingle vehicle — Tami L. Ross, 49, also of Schuylkill Haven — were not hurt, police said.

Schuylkill EMS and Schuylkill Haven firefighters assisted at the scene.

Barnesville

The Ryan Township Fire Company, Route 54, sponsors bingo games beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursdays. Doors and the kitchen open at 4 p.m. All are welcome. For more information, call 570-778-1732.

Lykens

The Upper Dauphin Area Middle School has been recognized as a School to Watch by the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education. It is among 36 middle schools in the state that have achieved the award and the official celebration and presentation of a banner will be held at 1 p.m. May 7. Becoming a School to Watch, according to a press release, is a three-year process that begins with a rubric to self-assess middle school best practices. The school then takes steps to improve its practices, then submits an application and awaits visitation by an evaluation team. The team will again visit the school for the May 7 celebration. For more information, email Jared Shade at shadej@udasd.org or Kathleen Landa at landak@udasd.org.

Mahanoy City

The Mahanoy City Public Library is sponsoring a fundraiser trip to Mohegan Sun Casino on May 3. The bus will leave from the former Service Electric lot at 9 p.m. and depart from the casino at 4 p.m. for the return trip. The cost is $25 per person with $25 slot rebate and $5 food voucher from the casino with a valid photo ID. To make reservations or for more information, call 570-773-3365, 570-778-6956 or 570-929-1012.

Pine Grove

Health screenings by Life Line Screening, hosted by Twin Grove RV Resort Cottages, 1445 Suedberg Road, will be held on May 16. People will be able to learn about their risk for cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, diabetes and other chronic, serious conditions. Packages start at $149. Advance registration is required. For more information, call 877-237-1287 or go online to www.lifelinescreening.com.

Pottsville

The Schuylkill County Council of the Arts will present A Night of Jazz, Blues & Classic Rock ’n’ Roll at 7 p.m. April 27 in The Lodge at Sharp Mountain. Tickets are $15 each. Entertainment will include Same Time Next Year, the J.R.K. Trio, special guest Ron Stabinsky as well as The Kurious. For tickets or more information, call 570-622-0360.

Schuylkill Haven

The Schuylkill County Walk to End Alzheimer’s group will meet Tuesday in the Walk In Art Center. The group is a nonprofit that maintains a Facebook page to keep followers up to date on events, fundraisers and related matters, according to a release. Kristie Ondisco is the chairwoman and WIAC studio artist Phyllis Gallagher is the co-chairwoman. For the upcoming meeting, two times are scheduled for the convenience of anyone who wishes to become involved. The meeting times are noon and 6 p.m. For more information or to become involved, call 570-640-2457.

Shenandoah

Shenandoah Valley School District 4K and kindergarten registrations will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday by appointment only, according to a district release. To schedule an appointment, call 570-462-2796. Registrants will need a completed packet, three proofs of school district residency, the child’s birth certificate and updated immunizations.

Tamaqua

A blood drive by the Miller-Keystone Blood Center is set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at Lehigh Carbon Community College Morgan Center, 234 High St. For more information, call 570-668-6880. Miller-Keystone, a nonprofit, is the sole blood provider for the Lehigh Valley Health Network including LVHN Hazleton and Schuylkill as well as for St. Luke’s University Health Network including St. Luke’s Hospital-Miners Campus, Coaldale. It also is the sole provider for the hospitals in Lehighton and Palmerton.

GIRARDVILLE —– Green was everywhere Saturday as the borough’s residents finally celebrated St. Patrick’s Day nearly a month after the holiday occurred.

The annual parade was postponed due to inclement weather. This was the 15th year for the parade, and residents and visitors were letting their Irish side show in their apparel and accessories, both on their homes and bodies.

Green shirts, hats, toys, flags, banners and posters were visible up and down the parade route on Main Street as the parade drew near.

James Barrett was wearing a green Ocean City, Maryland, shirt and a green felt hat that looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss novel. It was designed to look like a giant beer mug, complete with handle on the side. He said he picked up the hat at last year’s parade. He was sitting on a front porch a few feet from the parade route, so he had a good view of the show passing by him. Barrett, who is half Irish on his father’s side, was joined by his son, Cody, and Richard Schultz. Barrett’s wife had to work; otherwise, she would have joined them.

“It’s usually the three of us,” Barrett said of his family. “It brings a lot of people out. It’s nice to have an event that brings people back together.”

Amanda Snyder was visiting Girardville from Marion Heights. She had a green and white shirt that read: “Party don’t start ‘til I walk in” and a headband with a green bow. Her St. Patrick’s Day plans every year consist of visiting various establishments during the day and partaking in the day’s festivities. A month past the holiday wasn’t going to dampen her mood.

“Keeps traditions alive. They’ve been doing this for many years. Everyone’s Irish today,” Snyder said.

It’s possible no one was more Irish than Angie Rieprich. Rieprich was born in Dublin, Ireland, and came to the United States when she was 2 years old. She’ll be returning to Ireland in September for two weeks to reconnect with family members.

Rieprich was covered in green from head to toe, as her T-shirt, necklace, bracelets, flip-flops and toenails were all various shades of green. Her favorite part of the parade is the bagpipes.

“It brings everybody out to have a good time,” Rieprich said.

Contact the writer: dbarr@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6011

Altamont

The West Mahanoy Township Police Department will host a Coffee With a Cop session from 6 to 10 a.m. April 27 at the Altamont Fire Company, 209 S. Green St. near Frackville. Township residents are invited to stop by, have their morning coffee and speak with township police.

Pottsville

Four county restaurants will host a special dining event Tuesday to raise funds for Schuylkill Wellness Services, an agency that provides prevention education and case management for HIV and HIV/STD screenings. Participating eateries include Francesco’s, Shenandoah, 570-462-3451; The Greystone restaurant, Pottsville, 570-628-4220; Vito’s Coal Fired Pizza, Saint Clair, 570-429-1888, and Oak Hill Inn, Orwigsburg, 570-366-3881. Each restaurant will donate 20 percent of the evening’s food receipts to SWS. “Simply enjoy dining at one of Schuylkill County’s best restaurants and be a participant in bringing awareness and help for a good cause,” organizers said in an event flier. There will also be a special Dine Out raffle with a top prize of $1,000 cash, second prize of a Lowe’s gift card worth $250 and a third prize of a round of golf and lunch for two at Mountain Valley Golf Course, Barnesville. Raffle tickets are $5 each or five for $20. For raffle tickets or more information, call 570-622-3980. SWS is a participating agency of Schuylkill United Way.

Pottsville

Schuylkill United Way will host the Capt. Jason B. Jones Memorial Day of Caring from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 11 at public parks and health/human service nonprofits throughout Schuylkill County. The day of caring event was created to match volunteers to service projects at partner agency groups that facilitate health and human services for free or little cost to county residents. Projects can vary from gardening to painting, depending to volunteers’ interests and skill sets. All volunteers and projects must be registered through Schuylkill United Way. The contact is Christine Johnson, director of community relations, at dircomrel@schuylkillunitedway.org. United Way also is reaching out to elementary schools in the county to join in a letter-writing campaign for U.S. military personnel in honor of Jones. All letters will be sent to Operation Gratitude to be matched with a care package. Schools wishing to participate should call United Way at 570-622-6421 or via the aforementioned email. Jones, a Blue Mountain High School graduate, died at age 29 on June 2, 2014, during an assignment with special forces in Afghanistan.

Shenandoah

Registration for Shenandoah Valley School District 4K and kindergarten is set for 1 to 4 p.m. today by appointment only, according to a district release. To schedule an appointment, parents/guardians must call 570-462-2796. Registrants will need a completed packet, three proofs of school district residency, the child’s birth certificate and updated immunizations.

Summit Hill

A blood drive by the Miller-Keystone Blood Center is set for 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, 462 Ludlow St. For more information, call 570-645-2664. Miller-Keystone, a nonprofit, is the sole blood provider for the Lehigh Valley Health Network including LVHN Hazleton and Schuylkill as well as for St. Luke’s University Health Network including St. Luke’s Hospital-Miners Campus, Coaldale. It also is the sole provider for the hospitals in Lehighton and Palmerton.

Tamaqua

Horses & Horizons Therapeutic Learning Center Inc. is looking for volunteers to help with its special program of therapeutic horseback riding for children and adults with special needs. HTTLC is a registered nonprofit organization that is staffed entirely by volunteers and located 10 miles south of Tamaqua near Route 309. It offers, according to a press release, therapeutic riding lessons on Monday and Wednesday evenings from the end of April through October. The center will hold a required volunteer training session for new lesson volunteers from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Anyone who wants to volunteer to help with riding lessons is required to attend this hands-on training. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer should call volunteer coordinator Jane Ostroski at 610-298-2546 or email her at jeohhtlc15@gmail.com, or Elaine Smith at 570-386-5679 (elshhtlc1@gmail.com). More information also is available online at www.horsesandhorizons.org.

NUREMBERG — More than 35 years worth of shows were on display Sunday afternoon as the Nuremberg Community Players celebrated a special anniversary.

Nuremberg Community Players began in 1983 by the Rev. William Knott. He defected credit to everyone involved because it took “people, a lot of people, to say OK, let’s do it.”

“It was something to do at the time and here it is still doing,” Knott said.

President Emerson Lindenmuth also credited everyone who either helped or supported the theater over the years.

“Without these special people, there would be no theater,” Lindenmuth said.

The first performance in 1983 was a choral performance of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat,” and the first play was “You Can’t Take It With You.”

And the performances haven’t stopped.

“We owe it all to the community,” Vice President Ann Bonacci said. “This community has supported from the very beginning. It’s time to look back and see what we’ve accomplished.”

Bonacci said the idea for the 35th anniversary celebration began a year ago. The scenes were selected from shows popular with the audience and they could be performed with original cast members, if those people could be found. The performance featured brief scenes from nine shows and gave an idea of the crux of the show. They were “Nunsense,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Peter Pan,” “Annie,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Willie Wonka, Jr.,” “Murders in the Heir,” “Funny Girl” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.”

Knott, who was visiting from Florida, said after watching the 35th anniversary event that he was looking forward to the 40th anniversary.

“It’s a good example of what a community can do when they decide to work together,” Knott said.

Contact the writer: dbarr@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6011

TOWER CITY — The Williams Valley school board Thursday approved half a million dollars in financing for the heating, ventilating and air conditioning project at the elementary school.

The HVAC financing will be for $565,620 through Mid Penn Bank. Business Manager Amy Tomalavage said it was a tax-free loan at an interest rate of 3.68 percent. Board President Daniel Stroup said the district was able to save $1 million to $1.5 million by “re-routing” the project.

The board approved the measure, 8-0. Director Tedd Johns was absent. In a related measure, the board granted Superintendent Diane Niederriter permission to sign on behalf of the district for the financing.

Other improvements at the elementary school also received the board’s nod.

Slough Flooring, Harrisburg, was approved to replace flooring in 15 elementary classrooms with vinyl composition tile at a cost of $60,641, put carpet in the library for $14,516 and place rubber treads, tile and risers in three stairways for $18,262.

A transfer of $500,000 to capital reserve was granted.

The board approved a three-year service agreement between the district and ALICE Training Institute LLC, effective July 1, 2018 through June 29, 2021 for $15,860.20. This service is for active shooter response training.

Basketball cheerleading coach Jann Stroup and boys’ basketball coach Dennis Kasper offered their end-of-season reports, and received thanks from the board for their efforts.

Stroup said she had a very good season, and the program was building with three new girls cheering. Most of the football cheerleaders also served as basketball cheerleaders, she said. Stroup was also hired Thursday as the head football cheerleading coach.

Kasper said this was the first year that the boys didn’t qualify for district playoffs in a long while. Weather-related schedule changes, a case of the team catching the flu and the football players missing the first 10 days of the basketball season were among some of the reasons. Kasper put the blame on himself for not having players as dedicated as they could be in the off-season.

“The young kids did well; the older kids did not,” Kasper said, noting the junior varsity record was 18-2 and the junior high team posted a 14-3 season.

He thanked the board for having an athletic trainer available, and thanked the cheerleaders for their spirit.

Contact the writer: ; 570-628-6007

HEGINS — A Hegins Township man asked the Tri-Valley school board on Wednesday why the district did not plan to attend a town hall meeting with neighboring schools to discuss school safety.

Steve Klinger said that while working as a former guidance counselor and educator in other districts, he’d experienced two school incidents of violence.

He wanted clarification on why Tri-Valley had not planned to participate in the Joint School Safety Taskforce town hall meeting, originally scheduled for March 21 at Upper Dauphin Area High School, Elizabethville. He said he believed the meeting was canceled due to inclement weather.

“I thought the town hall was a chance to network with others,” Klinger said.

The taskforce is a consortium of schools in northern Dauphin County and western Schuylkill County. It includes Halifax Area, Millersburg Area, Upper Dauphin Area, Williams Valley and Tri-Valley school districts.

Superintendent Mark D. Snyder said Tri-Valley is a part of that consortium, and Robert L. Felty Jr., elementary principal, is the district’s representative at monthly meetings. Felty noted the district is also a member of the Safe Schools consortium for Schuylkill County schools.

There was a scheduling conflict with another district event that evening (March 21), Snyder told Klinger. The district had also already held its own public meeting on school safety in February following a break-in at the Hegins-Hubley Elementary School.

Snyder said it was in no way a slight to the other districts in the taskforce, but that the March 21 town hall session would have been a replication of the event that Tri-Valley had hosted at its own high school with law enforcement.

“There is networking that does take place,” Snyder said.

Directors Kelly M. Carter, Guy M. Julian, Jennifer L. Reed and Roger D. Heidelbaugh were absent.

In other business, the board approved a renewal with Chartwells School Dining Services which raises some meal prices by a dime. The increased prices include: elementary lunch, $2.55; high school lunch, $2.80, and adult lunch, $3.90. There’s no increase in the elementary and secondary breakfast prices at $1.15, or for milk, at 65 cents.

The school year has also been extended. The school board revised the 2017-18 school calendar. Due to the closing of school on March 21 and 22, the district extended the school year to June 8, which will be the last day of school for students. In the event of additional closures, the school year may be extended the required number of days in June.

Director Carl D. Shankweiler acknowledged the April 4 passing of A. Donald Buffington. He had served on the school board for 35 years, contributed greatly to the community with his assistance to the Valley View Park Association and in local sports programs, Shankweiler said. Board President Jerry R. Beaver, who said he was a student when Buffington was on the board, also expressed the district’s appreciation for Buffington’s service.

High School Principal Charles W. Hall recognized Dan Scheib, PIAA state wrestling champion, and Logan Yoder, who was selected as Schuylkill County Scholar Athlete.

Contact the writer: ; 570-628-6007