Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

There may never be a better opportunity to acquire affordable artwork than at Monday’s silent art auction at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The minimum bid for any of the approximately 50 pieces is just $5, and a “buy it now” bid of $25 will secure any artist’s work. But most pieces will go for more than the minimum and some for more than $25 as bidders find themselves moved more by the tug at their hearts than the pull on their wallets. Monday’s Art From The Heart silent auction at the Quick Center, which begins at 6:30 p.m. and is open to the public, continues a collaboration between the arts center and area elementary schools. It’s a partnership that uses arts education as a vehicle for helping fourth-graders make a difference in the lives of others. The auction will feature art created by fourth-graders at Olean’s East View Elementary School, as well as some works of St. Bonaventure students who have been involved in the project. Winning bidders w...

More than 30 health and safety related agencies will provide screenings and tests as well as demonstrations at the University of Pittsburgh’s annual Health Fair next week. The event, sponsored by Pitt-Bradford’s Office of Health Services, is free and open to the public. It will be held Thursday, March 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Mukaiyama University Room in the Frame-Westerberg Commons. Free screenings include a mental health screening by Pitt-Bradford Counseling Services; body composition screening by the Pitt-Bradford Division of Sport and Exercise Science; and oxygen saturation screening conducted by the Great Lakes Home Healthcare Services. Donnia & Co. will offer massage therapy, and Full Circle Complementary Therapy will present reiki massage, a technique used for stress reduction and relaxation. Other vendors include Adagio Health; Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services; American Cancer Society; Bradford Family YMCA; Bradford Regional Medical Center Behavioral Health Services...

ST. MARYS, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will offer a class on government for those who are interested in learning more about government structure or just need a refresher. The class, “Understanding Government” will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. April 6 in Room 201 at the Community Education Council of Elk and Cameron Counties. The cost is $29 per participant. Participants will be able to learn about the local, state and federal government. The class will discuss topics such as how to navigate the system, the importance of voting and how legislation is developed. This class will also help those interested in running for office refresh themselves on the basics. For more information or to register, contact Continuing Education at (814) 362-5078 or contined@pitt.edu . For disability related needs, contact the Office of Disability Resources and Service at (814)-362-7609 or clh71@pitt.edu .

St. Bonaventure University theology professor Oleg Bychkov, Ph.D., has been awarded a national fellowship that will significantly advance work in the areas of the history of medieval philosophy and theology. Bychkov, professor of theology and chair of the Department of Theology, won a one-year National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to continue his edition-translation of the student report (version “A”) of John Duns Scotus’ (1265-1308) Parisian Lectures on Peter Lombard’s Sentences, to be published by the Franciscan Institute Press. The project was started in the late 1990s by the late Fr. Allan Wolter, O.F.M., a foremost North American scholar of Duns Scotus. The project was continued in the early 2000s by Bychkov, first in his role as an assistant and collaborator of Fr. Wolter, and after 2003 on his own. To date, the project has resulted in the publication of a Latin text (without a critical apparatus) and an English translation of Book One (two volumes totaling some 2,50...

The Lady Panther Basketball Team hosted its 10th annual camp for children of all abilities on Saturday. Since its inception the Lady Panther Mini Camp has provided the opportunity for both boys and girls with motor and learning deficiencies to play ball. In the fall of 2001, former Lady Panthers Head Coach Daly Ann Fuller approached CARE for Children about the possibility of doing an adaptive basketball camp for children with special health care needs. She liked that the camp would give the players the opportunity to step outside themselves to appreciate the ability to play college level ball, and give back to the community. After Coach Fuller left Pitt Bradford, each subsequent coach, adopted the camp and made it their own. “The camp gives the athletes an opportunity to spend some time with local children,” said Lady Panther Coach Molly Brennan. “This event has been going on for 10 years and I think it is important that it continues, our student- athletes need to be involved in the c...

The McKean County Republican Committee will hold its Spring Dinner on Thursday, April 21, at the Pennhills Club in Bradford. Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Sam Smith will deliver the keynote address. Smith will discuss a number of issues and challenges facing the Commonwealth, including the state budget proposal and efforts to cut state spending, as well as government reform and job creation initiatives. The event begins with a social hour at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Cost of the dinner is $25 per person. RSVP no later than April 15 by calling Brenda Dunn at 814-465-3534 or by e-mailing mckeancountygop@gmail.com .

State police are investigating an attempted theft of a utility trailer full of scrap metal early this morning in Annin Township. They say sometime between 4 and 4:45 a.m. sometime tried to remove the trailer with a tow strap, but left the trailer on Route 155 just a few feet away. The attempted theft happened on Route 155 and the Red Rock Road parking area. The items belong with Water Miles of Port Allegany. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact state police at 778-5555.

A Dunkirk teenager is facing charges after an incident early this morning. Fredonia Police and sheriff’s deputies were investigating an altercation at 1 a.m. in the village, which led to the arrest of 18-year-old Nathan Moshier. Deputies say Moshier was involved in the altercation and was also driving a vehicle that got into an accident in Pomfret. He allegedly left the scene of the accident. Moshier will appear in Pomfret Court at a later date.

A Bradford woman suffered minor injuries in an accident at 4 o’clock Friday afternoon on Olean Road, about a mile south of the New York State line in Otto Township. State police say a car driven by 35-year-old Rhonda Sue Bennett went out of control after traveling off the road and into the gravel. The car went over a guardrail, hit a utility pole, hit multiple trees and rolled onto its roof. The car had to be towed from the scene. Summary charges have been filed, according to a news release sent to WESB and The HERO.

One of the men arrested in November’s drug raids in Bradford, and charged in October in the state attorney general’s Operation Stateline Crackdown, is going to state prison. 24-year-old Dontrell Wise of Buffalo was sentenced Friday in Warren County Court to 14 to 60 months in state prison for possession with intent to deliver cocaine. Operation Stateline Crackdown focused on using sources in Buffalo and Jamestown to take drugs to Warren County and surrounding communities. http://1490newsblog.blogspot.com/search?q=dontrell+wise

WELLSVILLE, NY - An official representing French President Nicolas Sarkozy will make an extraordinary exception to policy by traveling to the Southern Tier to present two local World War II veterans with high honors, according to Senator Catharine M. Young, (R,C,I-Olean). Robert Sweet and Larry Hannigan will receive the National Order of the Legion of Honour in the grade of Chevalier from Colonel Vincent de Kytspotter during a special ceremony at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 26 at the Wellsville Manor Nursing Home. Originally, the veterans had been requested by the French government to travel to the French Embassy in New York City to accept the honor in recognition of their role in liberating France during World War II. The award typically is presented on French soil. It is a tradition that was founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 to recognize outstanding achievement in the military. Unable to make the long trip due to health reasons, family members contacted Se...

As we told you earlier today, Bradford is the Northeast champion in Weather.com's Toughest Weather City Tournament, and we now move on to the Final Four. Our opponent is New Orleans, and I asked News 4 Meteorologist Mike Cejka which city he would pick. He says – no pun intended – but it’s a tough call. He says New Orleans has the hurricane threat and occasionally has severe thunderstorms, which sometimes produce tornadoes. But, he said, our severe thunderstorms produce tornadoes, too, and our frequency of twisters is greater than much of Western New York. To counter the hurricane threat in New Orleans? Lake Effect snow. And, in case you forgot about Lake Effect snow Kimm Brown suggested I post a picture to remind everyone. So, here you go: Voting starts Monday and goes through 5 a.m. Wednesday at Weather.com .

A resident of Cheyenne, Wyoming, has been sentenced to a year of probation for having marijuana and other drugs on the Allegheny National Forest during last summer's Rainbow Gathering. 23-year-old Richard James Arnold has also been ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. He pleaded guilty to having marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms and DMT on July 1 during the gathering that was held in the Queen Creek area in southern Warren County.

A Salamanca teenager is facing charges for allegedly breaking into a number of businesses and condos over the last few months. Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s deputies say 18-year-old Kyle Cooper kicked in the doors on 13 condos in the Snow Pine Village in Great Valley, and stole flat screen TVs, DVDs and alcohol. He also allegedly broke into the New Beginnings Fitness Center and Norton Hardwoods, where he took checks and cash. He’s also accused of breaking into Eddy’s Restaurant in Great Valley and taking cash. Cooper is charged with burglary, grand larceny and petit larceny. He’s in jail on $5,000 bail and investigators say more charges may be filed.

A Salamanca woman is facing charges for selling drugs, and the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force says more arrests are expected. The task force and Salamanca Police executed a search warrant at the Summit Street home of 47-year-old Margaret McGowen and found “a quantity of crack cocaine,” which they seized along with money. McGowen is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. She’ll appear in court on April 8. The task force says the arrest stems from a lengthy investigation into the sale and distribution of narcotic drugs in Salamanca.

Members of the criminal investigation unit of Coudersport State Police are investigating a burglary that happened overnight at the Galeton Borough Building on Bridge Street. At the time of the news release (11:39 a.m.) investigators were still on the scene. No further information is available at this time. Police say they will release more information as it becomes available. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Coudersport-based state police at 274-8690.

Five of the men accused of fire-bombing the home of St. Bonaventure University students in October have been indicted by a grand jury. Mark Braithwaite, Gary Coleman, Adam Peterson, Donald Phearsdorf and Calvin Weis all face arson and reckless endangerment charges. Investigators say in the early morning hours of October 17, a fight prompted seven men to conspire to throw a fire bomb into the Allegany apartment. The 5 men are scheduled for arraignment on April 4. Two people have already pleaded guilty in connection to the incident. Steven Sprague of Olean will be sentenced May 2. Andrew Piccirillo of Portville is scheduled for sentencing on May 23.

OMG and LOL are now in the Oxford English Dictionary Online, along with other popular terms IMHO, TMI and BFF. Other new additions to the dictionary include FYI and muffin top, which describes the protuberance of fat above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers. And for the first time in its 127-year history the dictionary has added a symbol with the introduction of a picture of a heart -- made famous by the "I 'heart' NY" tourism campaign -- used as a verb meaning "love." For more on this story, go to OED.com .

The four candidates for the second judge position in McKean County participated in a candidates' forum Thursday night at Pitt-Bradford's Bromeley Family Theater. The event was hosted by the McKean County Tea Party and the History and Political Science Club at Pitt-Bradford. Candidates Tony Alfieri, Tony Clarke, Chris Hauser and Michele Alferi-Causer answered questions on a variety of issues, including prison over-crowding and saving money in the county judicial system. Dr. Stephen Robar, an assistant professor of politicial science at Pitt-Bradford, moderated the forum. You can listen here and here .

Bradford is the Northeast champion in Weather.com's Toughest Weather City Tournament, and we now move on to the Final Four. Bradford got there by beating Philadelphia, Cleveland and Nantucket. The latest victory came against Caribou, Mainie -- by 540 votes. We now face New Orleans. In the last round, Bradford got 3,559 votes. New Orleans got 1,877, edging out Brownsville, Texas. Voting starts Monday here .

By Kimberly Marcott Weinberg Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing Students from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences had the chance to meet with their counterparts in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday in a video dialogue. The designated topic for the hour-long discussion with students from American University in Cairo was whether U.S. foreign policy favors Israel over Arab countries. First, however, the American students had a chance to ask questions about the ongoing revolution in Egypt that ousted its autocratic president, Hosni Mubarak. “I was really impressed with their candor,” said Jude Harter, a social studies education major from Clarendon. “We’re reading the headlines; they’re living the headlines.” Harter found the Egyptian students very willing to discuss the situation and clearly used to doing so. “This is the air they breathe,” he said. Students in Bradford bega...

A Florida man has pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit bank fraud at ATMs across the country, including at the Seneca Allegany Casino and the Salamanca Bingo Hall. 52-year-old Siu Cheung and 8 co-defendants fraudulently obtained the credit and debit information of hundreds of bank customers and used those account numbers to produce counterfeit credit and debit cards. They then used those cards at ATMs across the country to withdraw cash, eventually stealing $510,500, according to a news release. On Dec. 12, 2009, Cheung and several others were charged after search warrants were executed in three hotel rooms and a van they rented in Salamanca. Cheung is the final person to plead guilty in the case. Sentencing will be at 9 a.m. July 20 in Buffalo.

Investigators are still looking into the cause of a fire that damaged a vacant School Street House Wednesday afternoon. The building owned by Guilder Investments of Springville, New York, has been unoccupied since March 6, according to a news release sent to WESB and The HERO. Bradford City firefighters were able to contain the fire to the basement area of the building. Damage is estimated at $10,000. Anyone with information about the fire is asked to call Bradford City Police at 368-6133 or the State Police Fire Marshal at 776-6136.

Christian McMonigal, Jr., PA-C, in cooperation with Lisa Tabbit D.O., will staff the facility Monday through Friday, focusing on primary medical care for the entire family. Patients can schedule appointments by calling 814/274-5577 from 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 8 to 11:30 a.m. on Friday. Same day appointments can be scheduled. After hour coverage will be provided by Express Care, CCMH’s walk in treatment center, located on the main floor of the Irwin Medical Arts Center at CCMH. "We are pleased to bring two competent and caring family medicine providers to Coudersport and to re-open the former office of Howard Miller, M.D. who had a long history of caring for area residents at that location. Dr. Miller will continue to care for adult patients at the hospital in association with his internal medicine partners. I'm confident that area residents will be pleased with the care available by Dr. Tabbit and Christian McMonigal," said Ed Pitchford, presi...

ALBANY – Bath salts that can produce a methamphetamine-like high and possibly have been linked to the deaths of two young men at Allegany National Forest would be banned under a new bill sponsored by Senator Catharine Young (R,C, I – Olean) and supported by several local law enforcement officials. “Bath salts can cause extreme anxiety, paranoia and psychotic episodes that have led to many reports of violence and self-mutilation. We need to prevent these type of horror stories from happening to someone else’s family,” said Senator Young. Often labeled "bath salts" and given innocuous-sounding street names like Ivory Wave, Bliss, White Lightning and Hurricane Charlie, these drugs can cause hallucinations, paranoia, a rapid heart rate and suicidal thoughts. Olean Police Captain Robert Blovsky said several local people had been recently hospitalized after abusing these substances and displaying suicidal behavior. “We talked to some of the peop...

This week's selections are: Tyler Gunsolus Tight End/Linebacker Olean High School Height: 5’9” Weight: Tyler hopes to study physical education at a presently undecided four year college with hopes of becoming a gym teacher. His awards include being named M.V.P. for baseball in both his junior varsity and varsity seasons, as well as the Nellis Award for ice hockey. Tyler sees his invitation to the Raabe Classic as an acknowledgement of his hard work and skill. His biggest thrill playing football was scoring his first varsity touchdown. His hobbies include playing sports like hockey and baseball. He is a fan of the Buffalo and his favorite player is Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles. Andrew Schroeder Running Back/Safety Gowanda Central School Height: 5’8” Weight: 148 lbs. Andrew plans to enlist in the Marine Corps after graduation and ultimately become a State Trooper. He was named to the sectional all stars and was a recipient of Gowanda’s “110% Award. When asked his ...

Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Hege, will perform in the seventh concert of the Friends of Good Music season at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 1, at St. Bonaventure’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The program will feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 as well as acclaimed violinist Corey Cerovsek performing Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2. “We are grateful to the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for its commitment to its audiences in Western New York. Their visit is always a highlight of the performance season,” said Joseph A. LoSchiavo, executive director of the Quick Center. “This year we welcome back music director Daniel Hege, and we look forward to hearing the charismatic violinist Corey Cerovsek performing Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2, which he has recorded with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra of Switzerland on the Claves label.” The Syracuse Symphony Orchestra quickly evolved from its beginning in 1961 as a community orchestra into a fully professional resident...

BUFFALO, NY — Saikrishna Yendamuri, MD, FACS, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Surgical Oncology and Thoracic Oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), has been awarded a $555,103 grant from the U.S. Army to develop a way to help predict which lung-cancer patients are more likely to have their cancer recur after surgery. People with early-stage lung cancer typically undergo surgery to remove the tumor, but unfortunately, as many as 35 percent of them see their disease return. Treating these patients with chemotherapy is associated with too many complications to advocate chemotherapy for all lung patents after surgery. Therefore, finding a way to identify those patients whose disease is likely to recur is important in determining who should undergo adjuvant chemotherapy and who may avoid it. Dr. Yendamuri plans to explore the potential of using microRNA profiling as a biomarker for non-small-cell lung cancer. MicroRNAs are small RNAs that regulate protein formation. By ...

St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts organized the first major exhibition of the work of 20th century art deco muralist and mosaicist Hildreth Meière, which opened at the Quick Center in 2009. Now an expanded version of the show has traveled to the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., for an eight-month run. The exhibition, “Walls Speak: The Narrative Art of Hildreth Meière,” opened March 19 and runs through Nov. 27. The exhibition at the Quick Center brought together in one exhibition, for the first time, the sketches, studies in gouache, full-scale cartoons and models of the work of Meière, who created pieces for churches, government and commercial buildings, world’s fairs, restaurants and cocktail lounges, and even ocean liners in a career that spanned five decades. Meière designed mosaics and murals for buildings as prominent as Radio City Music Hall in New York and the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. She had more than 100 major commissions ...

The History/Political Science Club at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will host a candidates’ forum for those running for McKean County Common Pleas Court Judge in the municipal primary in May. The forum will take place at 7 p.m. March 24 in the Bromeley Family Theater in Blaisdell Hall on campus and is sponsored by the McKean County Tea Party. Dr. Stephen Robar, associate professor of political science, will moderate the event, which will feature all four candidates running for the position. Candidates for judge on the May 17 ballot are Tony Alfieri, Michele D. Alfieri-Causer, Anthony V. Clarke and Chris Hauser. For disability related needs, contact the Office of Disability Resources and Services at (814) 362-7609 orclh71@pitt.edu .

Painter and printmaker Constance Pierce, associate professor of visual arts at St. Bonaventure University, is one of 12 artists internationally to be invited to participate in “The Fifth Art on Paper” exhibition now under way at the Museum of Art in Toyota City, Nagoya, Japan. For Pierce, among the artists invited by guest curator Ryozo Morishito, it marks her second appearance in the exhibition in as many years. She participated in “The Fourth Art on Paper” exhibition in 2010. Pierce is exhibiting a new series of allegorical figurative watercolors titled “The Dance: Epiphany and Loss.” The images in this series are meant to bear witness to the joys and sufferings of the human soul. “My intent was to communicate the radiant energy and spirituality expressed by the human form in the epiphany of dance, as well as in the torment of suffering,” said Pierce. “The intense emotions of life’s darkness and light are synthesized and transfigured in the ritual of dance and I wanted my figures to ...

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford honored three high school students at ‘Women of Promise’ for their achievements in athletics, community service and the creative and performing arts at a luncheon this week. Dr. Leslie Rhinehart, director of counseling services at Pitt-Bradford, gave the keynote address titled “Thank You for Being a Star.” Being honored were Alexa Campbell of Portville (N.Y.) Central School for creative and performing arts; Kayla Hoohuli of St. Marys Area High School for athletics; and Samantha Whiteman of Archbishop Walsh Academy in Olean, N.Y., for community service. Campbell, the daughter of David and Darla Campbell, already has an impressive resume in the arts. Now 17, she began performing at the age of 7 as Gretl in the Broadway national tour of “The Sound of Music.” She toured the United States and Canada for 10 months as Max with “Dragon Tales Live” and spent three months touring the United Kingdom with Disn...

A Bradford woman waived her preliminary hearings on charges that she assaulted her mother, and stole purses from customers at Tops Market. 23-year-old Samantha Finland is accused of taking purses from the customers and hiding them under her child, who was in stroller, according to papers filed in District Judge Dominic Cercone’s office. She admitted that on July 25, 2010, she took the cash then threw the purse in the bushes near St. Bernard’s Church. She’s also accused of using her child to hide a stolen purse on July 28, 2010. On January 26, Finland allegedly knocked her mother to the floor, hit her and bit her. Police say when they found her several hours after the alleged incident she was “highly intoxicated.” Finland is jailed on $2,500 bail.