Reaching Your Full Potential
Each of us has a different calling given by God, and it's bigger than the jobs we do. Discover how to fulfill the Lord's deeper purpose for your life, with this lesson from Dr. Stanley.
Each of us has a different calling given by God, and it's bigger than the jobs we do. Discover how to fulfill the Lord's deeper purpose for your life, with this lesson from Dr. Stanley.
Dedication of the Main Street Bridge at the county seat as the “World War II Veterans Memorial Bridge” has been scheduled for Memorial Day. The Pa. General Assembly approved the designation.
All World War II veterans and their family members are encouraged to attend the brief ceremony, which will follow an 11 am parade and traditional Memorial Day service at the courthouse square.
Shirlee Leete of Coudersport has been organizing the ceremony in cooperation with Rep. Martin Causer. A highlight will be presentation of certificates of appreciation to those World War II veterans in attendance, as well as survivors of deceased WWII vets.
Those who plan to attend are asked to contact Shirlee Leete as soon as possible so that the certificates can be prepared in time for the ceremony. She can be reached by phone at 814-335-2738 or 814-274-8627.
NOCKAMIXON--New state permits have given a gas drilling company a way in. Nockamixon officials and environmentalists are taking more legal steps to keep the drillers out.
Big rigs could be rolling into Nockamixon anytime now.
A drilling company has renewed its efforts to start exploratory drilling for natural gas in Upper Bucks, a move that has brought local officials and environmental advocates out in force. More...
Containing an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet of gas, the Marcellus Shale is thought to be among the largest natural gas shale deposits in the world.
Some natural gas wells in Lycoming County are producing significantly higher volumes of gas than expected. More...
Solid earnings during the first quarter continued to bolster the Potter County Employees’ Retirement Fund back up above its pre-recession level. Jeff Davidek, from the fund management firm C. S. McKee of Pittsburgh, attended Thursday’s meeting of the Potter County Retirement Board. He reported that the fund stood at $7.57 million entering 2009, and ended the year with a balance of $9.24 million. That more than erased the losses from 2008.
There was more encouraging news in the first quarter of 2010. The fund’s value grew by another 3.74 percent to a balance of $9.58 million as of March 31. Davidek noted that the fund was up by 4.52 percent over the past five years and 7.4 percent over the past seven years. For all of 2009 and through the first quarter of this year, the county’s fund has posted stronger gains in three major investment categories, when compared to standard indexes such as the Standard & Poor’s 500, the EAFE international equity index and the BC Aggregate Benchmark (fixed income).
Asked for a forecast of second quarter 2010 results, Davidek replied that April numbers were encouraging, while May has been disappointing. All five members of the Retirement Board — Commissioners Doug Morley, Paul Heimel and Susan Kefover, Treasurer Krista Miller and Chief Clerk Todd Brown — attended Thursday’s meeting.
Smethport couple arraigned after drug bust at their home
By MARCIE SCHELLHAMMER
Era Reporter
marcie@bradfordera.com
A Smethport couple was arraigned Thursday after a marijuana bust at their East King Street home Wednesday night.
Joseph Yehl, 23, and Katrina Holden, 22, are both facing charges after a McKean County Drug Task Force bust at their residence at 112 E. King St.
Potter County 4-H members will be helping out during a Rabies Clinic to be held on Saturday (May 22) at the courthouse square gazebo from 1-4 pm. Reduced-price rabies shots will be administered to dogs, cats and ferrets that are at least 12 weeks old.
The first time an animal is vaccinated it is good for one year. Every time after that, the vaccination protects the pet for three years. All animals must be on a leash or in a container. Cost is $5.00 per shot.
The Potter County Commissioners are staging a media event early next month to draw attention to the growing burdens that federal and state mandates are piling onto local governments. “Seeing is believing” could be the theme of the news conference that is scheduled for 1:30 pm Wednesday, June 2, at the Potter County Human Services headquarters in Roulette. County officials plan to pile tables with stacks of paperwork to demonstrate the burdensome regulations and administrative responsibilities that federal and state programs impose on counties.
Commissioner Susan Kefover, who served for eight years in an earlier era and returned to office in 2007, came up with the plan after observing the tremendous growth in the county’s administrative burden that had occurred over the two decades between her terms. The June 2 session is designed to encourage state and federal elected officials and administrators to consider the impact of their actions and policies. “It’s all about flexibility, simplicity and common sense,” Commissioner Kefover said. She added that constituents would be better served if counties had greater discretion in how they operate programs and expend federal and state funds, particularly within Human Services.
Commissioner Paul Heimel said lawmakers at the state and federal levels need to recognize that “one size fits all” regulations impose a heavier burden on rural counties, since they have smaller staffs than their more populous counterparts. Kefover noted that Potter County Human Services Administrator Jim Kockler spends an estimated 50 percent of his professional time engaged in meeting state and federal administrative/paperwork requirements.
Local and regional media representatives will be invited to attend the event, as will township and borough officials, who may bring their own stacks of paperwork to add to the display. The public is also welcome. More details will be announced.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2010
HARRISBURG - The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania announced today that it is representing two anonymous Twitter users who have criticized State Attorney General Tom Corbett on a social networking site. Corbett's office asked a grand jury to issue a subpoena earlier this month to Twitter demanding the identities of his critics.
"Any subpoena seeking to unmask the identity of anonymous critics raises the specter of political retaliation," said Witold Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania and one of the lawyers representing the Twitter users. "It's a prized American right to criticize government officials, and to do so anonymously."
The subpoena seeks the subscriber information of two Twitter accounts, bfbarbie and CasablancaPA. The subpoena, which asks for records to be turned over by Friday, May 14, was issued by the attorney general's statewide investigating grand jury on May 6.
Twitter has advised the ACLU that they have not disclosed the account holders' identity, after receiving an objection from a user to the production of subscriber information. It is Twitter's policy to delay production in such cases to provide the user an opportunity to assert his or her rights.
A news account earlier today reported that the Attorney General's Office appeared to justify the subpoena by claiming that they needed to know the identities of the Twitter users because they suspected that it was a former legislative aide, Brett Cott, who had been convicted in the Bonusgate case and who was using the blog to "attack and malign the investigative and prosecutorial process, which resulted in his conviction." If true, they argued, this would justify imposing a harsher sentence. The ACLU questions whether seeking evidence in aid of a sentencing proceeding is an appropriate use of the grand jury system.
"The ACLU's concerns are that using the grand jury process in aid of seeking evidence for sentencing is improper and that using the court to unmask political critics is unconstitutional retaliation that violates the First Amendment," said Walczak.
The ACLU's lawyers have entered discussions with the AG's Office, asking them to withdraw the subpoenas. If the AG's Office refuses, the ACLU expects to file a motion to quash the subpoenas.
"For a candidate who is campaigning on his desire to protect the privacy of Pennsylvanians who are affected by the new health care bill, Attorney General Corbett shows a disturbing lack of interest in the privacy of critics who, in the best tradition of American democracy, have chosen to criticize his conduct of office anonymously," said Paul Alan Levy, a lawyer with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is working with the ACLU on the matter.
In addition to Walczak and Levy, also representing the anonymous Twitter users are Barbara Zemlock, a lawyer with Post Schell in Harrisburg, and Mark Sheppard, an attorney in the Philadelphia office of Montgomery McCracken, Walker and Rhoads, LLP.
Miguel Alberto "Mike" Martinez 76, of 126 South Ave., Bradford, formerly of Burnside Ave., passed away Wednesday May 19th, at the Bradford Regional Medical Center. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced by the Hollenbeck-Cahill Funeral Homes Inc. On line condolences may be made at www.hollenbeckcahill.com
Eldred Borough ambulance service moves into new building after arson fire
By TOM FREER
Era Correspondent
O_Eera@yahoo.com
Bradford business woman files civil lawsuit in federal court against state police trooper
By MARCIE SCHELLHAMMER
Era Reporter
marcie@bradfordera.com
The Environmental Quality Board (EQB) has approved stronger discharge regulations that affect natural gas drilling wastewater, but the rules must clear other hurdles to be implemented statewide. Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection said the regulations will “better enable the state’s Marcellus Shale reserves to be developed without sacrificing the health and quality of Pennsylvania’s vital water resources.”
DEP Secretary John Hanger said the regulations ensure that drilling wastewater containing high concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) does not pollute water supplies, damage industrial equipment, or endanger aquatic life. Next, the standards move to the Environmental Resources and Energy committees in the state House and Senate, as well as to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) for a 30-day review period.
Under the new regulations, wastewater discharges must meet a concentration threshold of 2,000 milligrams per liter and wastewater discharges from drilling operations cannot exceed 500 mg/l. DEP said the tougher standard was set for the drilling industry because drilling wastewater is so heavily polluted and because drillers have options other than returning water to rivers and streams, such as reusing and recycling it, or injecting it deep underground. Several states — including Texas, Oklahoma, New York, Iowa, Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee — prohibit returning any drilling wastewater to streams.
In addition, EQB members approved proposed rules that will strengthen Pennsylvania’s well construction standards and define a drilling company’s responsibility for responding to gas migration issues. The new rules will require well operators to conduct quarterly well inspections and report results to DEP.
The proposed regulations must now be reviewed by the Attorney General’s office and published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin for public comment.
The board also enhanced rules governing erosion, sediment control and stormwater to protect streams, reduce flooding, and cut sediment and nutrient pollution. Those rules also go on to the General Assembly and to the IRRC for a 30-day review period.
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Members of the Ulysses Township Board of Supervisors will be meeting at 10 am Thursday (May 20) at the Potter County Solid Waste Authority building to review the permit application for an electricity generating facility using wind turbines. The Fox Hill Wind Energy Project calls for 55 turbines, each more than 400 feet tall, to be built on high-altitude farmland.
AES Corporation, which has leased property to build the turbines, hopes to begin construction by late spring or early summer. Members of the Potter County Planning Commission reviewed the project plan at their May meeting and provided recommendations to Ulysses Township. The Solid Waste Authority building is located along Rt. 49, just northeast of the village of Gold.
Solid earnings during 2009 brought the Potter County Employees’ Retirement Fund back up above its pre-recession level. A fund manager will report on the fund’s status through the first quarter of 2010 on Thursday (May 20) at 11 am, when the Potter County Retirement Board convenes. Board members are Commissioners Doug Morley, Susan Kefover and Paul Heimel, Treasurer Krista Miller, and Chief Clerk Todd Brown. The meeting is open to the public. A meeting of the Potter County Board of Commissioners will follow.
Jeff Davidek, from the fund management firm C. S. McKee of Pittsburgh, reported that the fund stood at $7.57 million entering 2009, and ended the year with a balance of $9.24 million. That erased the losses from the disastrous 2008. Davidek also noted that the fund was up by 3.96 percent over the past five years and 6.93 percent over the past seven years.
C. S. McKee was commended by the Retirement Board for management strategies that allowed the Potter County Employees’ Retirement Fund to experience stronger 2009 gains in three major investment categories, when compared to standard indexes such as the Standard & Poor’s 500, the EAFE international equity index and the BC Aggregate Benchmark (fixed income). The extent to which that trend has been carried into 2010 will be discussed at Thursday’s meeting.
Washington, D.C.—Dr. Thomas Butler, superintendent of Ridgway Area School District in Elk County, today testified before a U.S. House hearing on education stating that, “We need to transform our schools to meet the needs of the 21st century.” Dr. Butler said he faces three challenges to that transformation.
One of his challenges is that when they find exemplary programs it is difficult to find the time away from the classroom for the teachers to visit and learn from the program as other districts can be several hours away. Another challenge is the need for additional training and education for the teachers. It is often difficult to find higher education resources for professional development in a rural district. Finally he said, “The number one challenge that I experience in my job is the statewide and national educational bureaucracy that increasingly is more ‘top-down’, leaving very little room for local control and flexibility on my part so I can respond to the actual situation in the school district.” He said, “Sometimes we forget about what is best for the children.”
Butler testified at the request of U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-Howard, before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor as they examined, “Research and Best Practices on Successful School Turnaround.” Butler was there to provide input on how the Committee can support successful school turnaround in rural areas as they begin to look at reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also currently known as “No Child Left Behind”.
Thompson was the co-chair of the hearing at the behest of Ranking Minority Member John Kline of Minnesota, who had to be at another hearing.
“Today’s hearing addresses an issue critically important to the academic success of our nation’s students. In 2001, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires states and each school district to ensure students are proficient in reading and math by the end of the 2013-2014 school years,” Thompson explained. “For schools that are unable to make what their state has defined as “adequate yearly progress” toward achieving that goal, the law establishes a process to improve these struggling schools and protect the best interests of the students.”
Earlier this year, Thompson solicited comments from superintendents, school boards, teachers, and families across the Fifth Congressional district, in order to let their input serve as a guide for the upcoming ESEA reauthorization.
Butler credits the turnaround at Ridgway to teacher evaluation and collaboration that includes the teacher choosing two goals to accomplish for the school year. Then he said the teacher associations were supportive and the school board focused on student achievement and instruction and created five-year goals for student achievement and instruction.
Butler said that one of the solutions for small rural school districts is to have quality broadband internet access in the community and then to make sure that the schools have the capacity to utilize the technology and integrate it into virtual training.
“As policymakers at the federal level, we must remember each school is different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The Obama administration has introduced—and even promoted—several changes to the school improvement system that require school districts to implement one of only four school turnaround models,” Thompson said in his opening statement.
“There are a number of concerns, shared by members in both political parties, with the administration’s approach, which represents a more intrusive federal role in education policy that is better left to parents and state and local leaders.”
Michael A. Steck, 50, of 52 Hobson Place, Bradford, passed away Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 at The Pavilion at BRMC.
Born October 10, 1959, in Bradford he was a son of Rodney A. "Herk" Steck and Dolores R. (Chase) Winner.
He was a 1978 graduate of Bradford High School. After high school he moved to Florida and worked at Val Pak for a number of years. After returning to Bradford in 1992, he began working at KOA Speer as Senior Warehouse Person.
He was a member of St. Bernard Church, the YMCA, and participated in all forms of sports. He excelled in basketball, tennis and golf.
Surviving are his mother and stepfather: Dolores and Robert Winner of Bradford, his father and stepmother Rodney "Herk" and Carol Steck of Lewis Run, one son, Michael A. Steck Jr., of Wilmington NC, one daughter, Olivia Steck of Bradford, one step sister, Ruth Cox of Bradford, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sister, Kathleen A. Ryan who died June 30, 2003.
Friends are invited to attend a Memorial Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday May 22nd, at 2:00pm in St. Bernard Church with Rev. Leo Gallina, pastor as Celebrant. Burial will be in St. Bernard Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Hollenbeck-Cahill Funeral Homes Inc. Memorial contributions if desired may be made to the YMCA, or the American Cancer Society McKean Co. Unit PO Box 67 Bradford, PA 16701.
On line condolences may be made at www.hollenbeckcahill.com