Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

I'm on one. See ya in a week.

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director A local contractor has concerns about the way the Office of Community and Economic Development conducts business regarding home rehabilitation projects, and he brought those concerns to Bradford City Council Tuesday night. Bob Baker of Baker General Contracting had questions about why he wasn’t getting bid announcements for projects, and also about how the projects are advertised and awarded. The questions led to heated exchanges between Baker and OECD Executive Director Sara Andrews, and even prompted Mayor Tom Riel to bang his gavel and ask for order, and Councilman Rick Benton to scold people about being polite. Andrews and City Solicitor Mark Hollenbeck explained that OECD is simply a conduit between the homeowners and the contractors and, therefore, the same rules that apply to bids for city-related projects do not apply to the home rehabilitation projects. Eventually, Andrews said she would make sure bid announcements are sent to Baker, an...

A former Bradford resident is in a Washington County, PA, jail after being accused of beating his 5-month-old son until the baby was almost dead. 25-year-old Keith Anthony Long was picked up last Monday in Olean, NY, where his former girlfriend lives with their two children. He was taken to Washington County on Friday, and is jailed on $110,000 bond. Police were notified on September 16 that the baby was being treated at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh for life-threatening injuries. The baby suffered severe injuries to his head, torso and arm and had little or no normal brain function, according to court records. During their investigation, police learned that Long allegedly also assaulted the 5-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, Christa Bolen. The girl told police Long hit her in the face on multiple occasions, kicked her and threw her into the refrigerator. Court records also indicate that Long flicked a cigarette ash in Bolen’s eye when she was pregnant, and that a temporar...

A couple from Ulysses is in jail on half a million dollars bail each after being arraigned on more than 200 weapons and drug charges. In a fax sent to WESB and The HERO, police say they searched the home of 44-year-old Robert Martin and 35-year-old Cynthia Zurawa because, due to his past criminal history, Martin is prohibited from having a firearm, and they heard that he had weapons in his home. Police found 28 firearms, switchblade knives, a stun gun and upwards of 30,000 rounds of ammunition. Police also found quantities of illegal controlled substances including morphine and marijuana, along with more than $24,000 in cash. Martin is in Potter County Jail. Zurawa is in Tioga County Jail.

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will dedicate the Harriett B. Wick Chapel in a ceremony at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30. The celebration is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will follow. “It has been a dream of the university for quite some time to have a chapel on campus,” said Dr. Livingston Alexander, president. “The Wick Chapel will fill an important need on our campus in providing a place where students of any religious denomination can worship in a manner consistent with his or her preference.” In addition to Alexander, other speakers at the ceremony include the Rev. Leo J. Gallina Jr., pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church; Rick Weinberg ’94 of Temple Beth El; Dr. Patricia Beeson, provost and senior vice chancellor; Craig A. Hartburg ’73-’75, chairman of the Pitt-Bradford Advisory Board; Howard L. Fesenmyer, member of the Advisory Board Executive Committee; Dr. Gautam Mukerjee, associate professor of economics; and Erik Aus...

The YWCA Bradford will honor opera legend Marilyn Horne at a reception at noon Oct. 7 at the agency home at 24 W. Corydon St. Horne will be guest of honor at an open house and luncheon being held to recognize her role as the YWCA’s honorary membership chairman. We are so pleased to have Ms. Horne visit our agency,” said executive director Amy Pierce. “There is probably not a more well- known woman from Bradford in the entire country and Ms. Horne’s life, in particular, reflects our values as an agency.” When she was selected to head the membership campaign, Horne had praised the YW as an agency which embraced the ideals which have guided her life — “eliminating racism and empowering women.” Among other programs, the YWCA Bradford offers the county’s only safe house for victims of domestic violence, provides comprehensive care for victims of sexual assault, and operates a homeless shelter for women and children. Horne had been on the opera stage for many years until her retirement in 19...

Kathy Bryant and Nanci K. Garris will perform the two-woman play “Grace and Glorie” as the opening of Bradford Little Theatre’s 14th season Oct. 8-10 at the auditorium of the First Presbyterian Church, 54 E. Corydon St. Under the direction of Diane Kerner Arnett, the duo will bring to life the funny and poignant friendship between 90-year-old Grace, an independent mountain woman, and 40-something Glorie, a transplanted city slicker with an MBA degree from Harvard. Playwright Tom Zeigler draws the collision between these women’s very different lives with a humorous hand and genuine respect. Grace is determined to face death the way she has lived, while hospice volunteer Glorie is equally determined to show Grace a “better” way. When Glorie first visits the “granny cottage” where Grace is spending her final days, Grace can’t quite understand why the woman is there. She first tells Glorie: “listen, honey, I don’t mean to be undriendly, but whatever it is you’re sellin’, I’m sure I’m was p...

Our Own Bradford Area High School Marching Owls

A Salamanca man will spend 60 days in jail for violating orders of protection. 20-year-old Barry Snyder III was sentenced Monday in Cattaraugus County Court for failing to obey an order of protection on September 13, 2008, in Salamanca, and on July 27, 2009, in Olean. Snyder will also spend three years on probation. ~~~~~~~ An Olean man will spend six months in jail for having stolen guns. 19-year-old Jonathan Fye was sentenced Monday in Cattaraugus County Court. At the time of his arrest, police said Fye stole one gun from a Town of Hinsdale house in August of 2009, but had other guns in his possession that were stolen from the same house by someone else. fax from Cattaraugus County DA's office

Rick Lazio has dropped out of the New York governor’s race. Lazio lost the Republican primary earlier this month to Carl Paladino, but won the Conservative Party’s votes. "And, while my heart beckons me forward, my head tells me that my continued presence on the Conservative line would simply lead to the election of Andrew Cuomo and the continuation of an entrenched political machine," Lazio said in a news conference. But that doesn’t mean Lazio is endorsing Paladino. He says he’s not convinced that Paladino will improve the state either.

By Ruth Gentilman Peterson Publicity Chair ArtWorks at the Depot Artist and gallery receptions are free to the public and a great opportunity for residents of the area to meet local artists and learn about media and inspiration. Refreshments are served. October 1 is the second of three ArtWorks First Fridays and features two local wood artists: wood turner Jack Northrop of Kane and wood intarsia artist Rob Hart from Clarendon. Both Northrop and Hart are juried PA Wilds Artisans and Gallery Artists at ArtWorks. Jack Northrop…“I turn bowls knowing each piece is going to be different. I let the wood tell me what I'm going to make out of it. I may start out with one idea and end up with a completely different piece. It’s addictive,” says Northrop of his art. “I use local hardwoods and salvage (or scrap) wood for my art; black cherry, walnut, maple, butternut, locust, sumac and others. I use pieces left from logging -- pieces left in the woods after timbering, pieces from veneer logs ...

The Otto-Eldred High School Marching Band performs selections from The Who's "Tommy" during Saturday's Autumn Classic at Parkway Field.

It feels like Christmas in September for Foster Township, supervisor Jim Connelly Jr. told WESB and The HERO this morning. He says Bob Baker of Baker Contracting volunteered his company’s time and some supplies to put a new roof on the pavilion at the township’s community park. Township Secretary Jennifer Gorrell says Baker knew the township had been talking about the need for a roof on the pavilion, and he decided to do it as a community service. His company, along with Union Sales Corp. and Armor Building Supply in Olean, donated supplies for the project, which was done last Wednesday and Thursday. “That’s a nice thing for someone to do,” Connelly said.

The University of Pittsburgh has been awarded a $499,256 grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to continue an adolescent offenders study, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today. Through the grant, the University of Pittsburgh will continue to conduct the Pathways to Desistance study, an ongoing investigation of how serious adolescent offenders stop their involvement in crime and make successful transitions to adulthood. This study is a multi‑site, collaborative, longitudinal research project following 1,354 serious juvenile offenders. The study identifies variations in patterns of desistance from antisocial activity; and examines the role of social context, developmental change, and system involvement in promoting change. The study provides empirical information needed to improve decision‑making by court and social service personnel about juveniles, future risk and amenability to treatment, as well as guidance for ongoing policy debates a...

US Forest Service news release: The Allegheny National Forest (NF) has announced a forest-wide sign installation project currently underway that, when completed, will bring the forest in compliance with the 2005 Travel Management Rule. The sign-installation project is expected to be completed by summer of 2011. Forest officials want to assure the public that the management of their roads and facilities will not be changing as a result of the new signs. These signs are intended to provide additional information to the public and reflect travel management information already provided on the Motor Vehicle Use Map. These maps are provided free of charge at all Forest Service offices, and are also available on our website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/allegheny/ under ‘Items of Interest’. A link to the 2005 Travel Management Rule can also be found on that web page.

Autumn is one of the most wonderful times of the year in McKean County and the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau wants to see it through your eyes. The Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau, the official tourism promotion agency in McKean County, is sponsoring a photo contest for autumn photos that feature sites within McKean County. It may be a particular roadway, a hilltop or a cluster of trees on the street where you live. It could a “beauty” shot, a child jumping in a pile of leaves, wildlife, scenery or something you saw at a festival. Everyone has a special location to view the leaves and get photos each year. The ANFVB would like you to share those photos with the bureau. Photos submitted may be used in future promotional materials for the Allegheny National Forest region. “The fall season showcases Mother Nature’s work at its best,” said Linda Devlin, executive director of the ANFVB. “We are excited to see the area as viewed through the lenses of both visitors and r...

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has named Jill Ballard as its new executive director of institutional advancement and managing director of the Bradford Educational Foundation. Ballard comes to Pitt-Bradford from the Jamestown (N.Y.) Community College Foundation, where she had been the director of development for six years, overseeing the foundation’s capital campaign and annual fund, among other duties. Prior to that, she served as the director of scholarships and endowments for St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., where she had also been the associate director of annual giving. Ballard began her position Sept. 13 and reports to Pitt-Bradford’s president, Dr. Livingston Alexander. She will also be a member of the President’s Cabinet. “Jill Ballard is an excellent choice to continue the outstanding record of accomplishment established by Karen Buchheit,” said Dr. Livingston Alexander, president of Pitt-Bradford. “Ms. Ball...

The Coudersport High School Band performed in exhibition Saturday.

Iroquois was the only band competing in Open Class during Saturday's 31st Annual Autumn Classic at Parkway Field.

On Saturday, October 2nd, from 12:00 Noon to 4:00 p.m., visitors will be able to experience Smethport’s opulent past by going inside the history-rich homes built by elite entrepreneurs, bankers and politicians of the Victorian era. The self-paced Tour of Homes, sponsored by the Smethport Garden Club, includes the following highlights … Walk through the oldest home on the tour − State Senator Byron Delano Hamlin’s immaculately preserved Italianate mansion built in 1856. ~~ See the fabulously restored Queen Anne mansion built by Horace Hamlin Redfield in 1900. ~~ Visit the dramatically redecorated Elizabethan home built by Judge Joseph Bouton in 1905. ~~ Check out the beginning stages of a massive restoration of the Henry Hamlin mansion built in 1868. ~~ Trek through the spacious Orlo James Hamlin mansion, once operated as a B&B known as the Christmas Inn. ~~ Wend your way through Hamlin-McCandless Mansion built in 1891, now a popular up-scale B&B called Mansion District Inn Suit...

By Sandra Rhodes Visitor & Member Services Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau Mother Nature’s premier show of the year has just begun and promises to have at least a two-week run in the Allegheny National Forest region. Fall is Bigger in Pennsylvania and a prime example of that is in the Allegheny National Forest region, 513,000 acres nestled in the hills of northwestern Pennsylvania, located 90 minutes south of Buffalo, N.Y. This beautiful forest of hardwoods and hemlocks offers the perfect place to see the grandeur of autumn color at its best. The “show” in this area is always a feast for the eyes with vibrant hues of scarlet, orange and butterscotch yellow. Local forestry officials anticipate Oct. 2-10 as the peak for the best color this season, and are predicting vivid color due to the early warm temperatures and cool nights in the higher elevations of the Allegheny Plateau. One great way to see this canopy of color is to “Do 6” – meaning Route 6, the major west-east cor...

Police picked up a man for stealing 130 pumpkins and growing pot. In an e-mail sent to WESB and The HERO, Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s deputies say they received a call about a possible theft in progress at around midnight on Saturday in the Town of Great Valley. When they got there, the caller said her husband followed the suspect to his home on Route 219 near Ellicottville Central School. The man and the suspect were in the road arguing when deputies arrived. The suspect started walking back to his house and when deputies asked him to stop, he started running toward the house. Deputies caught up with him and, after a short struggle, took him into custody. Deputies learned that 38-year-old Samuel Beu Jr. took about 130 pumpkins valued at about $1,300. While deputies were searching the outside of the property to find the rest of the pumpkins, they found a large marijuana plant growing in a garden. Beu is charged with grand larceny, resisiting arrest, trespassing and unlawful growing of...