Harry Funk stories, Page 10
Bethel Park joins Wreaths Across America in honoring veterans
While active in the U.S. Marine Corps, Devlin Robinson fought in both hotbeds for post-9/11 American military action, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was in the same general age range of two Army servicemen from near his Bridgeville home, a few years older than Russell Kurtz of Bethel Park and slightly...
‘Sustained us through this heartache’: Neighbors continue to help Franklin Park family honor late son
Signs dotting Franklin Park’s Brook Park neighborhood show a smiling young man, either giving a thumbs-up in front of the car he restored or celebrating his graduation from the University of Dayton. Perhaps the cheeriness exhibited in the photos prompts passersby to smile, themselves, until they notice the word “memorial”...
Monroeville plans to hire new municipal manager
Retirement has arrived for Timothy Little, who attended his final council meeting as Monroeville’s municipal manager on Dec. 12. Council voted unanimously to advertise an ordinance appointing his successor, Alexander Graziani, with a vote on his approval expected in January. The ordinance includes approval of a contract that establishes the...
Conditional use approval helps cause for digital billboard in Monroeville
A billboard with rotating digital images may be coming to Business Route 22 in Monroeville. On Dec. 12, municipal council voted 3-2 to grant a request by Wolfgate Devco LLC for a conditional use as permitted in a municipal C-2 commercial district, paving the way for what is proposed as...
Gateway School Board caps tax increase, elects president
An increase in Gateway School District’s real estate tax rate is capped at 5.3% for 2024. The school board voted Dec. 5 to approve a resolution vowing not to exceed the index established for the district by the state Department of Education. Legislation adopted as Act 1 of 2006 calls...
Hampton Township School Board caps tax increase
A 1.15-mill real estate tax increase will be the maximum in Hampton Township School District for 2024-25, and early projections have the number slightly lower. The school board on Dec. 4 approved a resolution not to raise the rate by more than 5.3% over the current year, a figure that...
Remembering Wright’s: Members of same family owned Heidelberg business for 106 years
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part story. Read the first part. During its 106-year run as a Heidelberg family business, Wright’s Seafood Inn doubled as home for its owners, starting with W.C. and Mary Wright with the opening of the Valley Hotel in 1898. Great-grandson Dave Davis...
‘Don’t Stop’: No-Shave November philanthropy continues for Hampton police
No-Shave November is extending into “Don’t Stop December, January and February” for Hampton police officers. Members of the department are participating in the annual effort to raise awareness about cancer while raising money for charity by letting facial hair take its natural course. “Our department policy, when it comes to...
Bethel Park increases taxes on real estate, earned income
As the longtime president of Bethel Park Council, Tim Moury has worked on municipal budgets each year going back to the 1990s. His final effort in that regard comes with a tough choice: raising the real estate tax rate by .75 mills and the municipal portion of the tax on...
‘Bridgeville in 1223 A.D.’: Historian discusses long-ago local inhabitants
Under what now is Interstate 79 as it passes through the westernmost part of Bridgeville, a settlement flourished nearly a millennium ago. Historian John Oyler remembers some related local folklore. “Anybody my age who grew up in Bridgeville heard about the Indian mound on Gould City Hill all their lives,”...
Grinch greets limo-loading gift givers in Monroeville
Combine one of the holiday season’s biggest stars with a seriously stretched vehicle, and you get to deliver a slew of seasonal cheer. That’s what the organizers had in mind with a load-a-limo event featuring the Grinch, which was held Nov. 25 event in the parking lot of Dr. Cleveland...
Bethel Park restaurant serves 400-plus free Thanksgiving dinners
During their Thanksgiving vacations, Sara Impellicceiri and members of her family would partake in free holiday dinners. “But I never helped volunteer for one, because I just never had the opportunity,” the Bethel Park High School junior said. “So being able to do this has been a great experience.” She...
No tax increase expected for Bridgeville
Bridgeville’s real estate tax rate is expected to remain the same next year, maintaining a consistent level since 2019. Borough council plans to vote Dec. 11 on adopting the 2024 budget, which calls for a rate of 6.5 mills on buildings and 10 mills on land. The budget for the...
‘Nobody’s happy about this’ : Board approves $341,000 in Gateway Middle School change orders
As renovations to Gateway Middle School continue well past the initially estimated completion date, more money is going toward the effort. The school board on Nov. 21 voted to approve $341,793.70 in change orders, representing deviations from the original scope of the project, with the bulk of the added expense...
’Tis the season for Hampton Band Association’s Holiday Extravaganza
The motto for the Hampton Band Association’s 12th annual Holiday Extravaganza could be: Bake it ’til you make it. “Our goal to the kids is to have 10,000 cookies,” high school band director Chad Himmler said. “So that’s what we are trying to do.” Besides the main attraction of music,...
Bethel Park JFK expert: ‘Warren Commission, I think, got most of it right’
Six decades after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a frequent lecturer on the subject agrees with the original official version of what transpired: “Even all these years later, I generally have come out and said, ‘The Warren Commission, I think, got most of it right.’ ” Bethel Park resident...
Hampton welcomes back barnstorming basketballers
Deciding not to mess with success, the Hampton Boys Basketball Boosters Club is bringing back what turned out to be a fan favorite. The trick-shooting, slam-dunking showmanship of the Harlem Wizards returns to the township after an initial visit for a 2022 fundraiser. “We didn’t know what to expect the...
Advent of Tess: Monroeville resident offers origami challenge
Perhaps you’ve marveled at someone taking a piece of paper and folding it to produce the shape of a bird or flower. That general practice served as Madonna Yoder’s introduction to origami. “It started with making my own toys during church services,” the Monroeville resident said. “I would sit there...
Remembering Wright’s: Heidelberg restaurant once drew customers ‘all the way down the block’
Editor’s note: This story will conclude in the December issue of the Signal Item. For fans of fine dining, Wright’s Seafood Inn was something of a paradise. Fans of singer Joni Mitchell will know the rest of the story. Yes, a parking lot now stretches across the spot that the...
Brewing Success: Student-run coffee shop in business at Chartiers Valley High School
Pay a morning visit to a coffee shop and watch the baristas be bombarded by beverage orders That would be right up Kendal Astor’s alley. “I love the stress and the pressure, like when there’s a whole line of things,” the Chartiers Valley High School senior said. “I work really...
Chartiers Valley High School honors veterans
Today’s second-grader is tomorrow’s grandparent telling a possibly incredulous child: “I once met a World War II veteran.” Fast-forward, let’s say, half a century, and an 8-year-old may be the one who’s hearing the story. Do the math, and you’re looking at the youngster being born a full 120 years...
‘Thank you for acknowledging my service’: Bethel Park resident offers perspective of woman veteran
The 1980s were a relatively quiet time for the American military, between the end of the Vietnam War and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. As a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Bethel Park resident Haya Eason — community members may know her as working at the municipal building — once tended to...
Visit winter markets at Bethel Park Community Center
A change in careers can be sweet. “I moved here after college to take a full-time job doing tax accounting,” Bethel Park resident Becca Battista said. “And then during the pandemic, I kind of had a change of heart and needed something a little bit more creative, rather than doing...
Saxophonist brings 6 decades of musical dedication to Monroeville concert
The sounds emerging from his father’s bedroom prompted young Calvin Stemley to knock on the door one day. How was it, the boy wondered, that Zackery Stemley Jr. could produce dazzling melodies just by using the three buttons on his trumpet? “Instead of him answering the question, he said, ‘Have...
Aquinas Academy presents Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ in Hampton
Four-plus centuries of Shakespeare fans can’t be wrong. Count a group of today’s teenagers among them. When Michael Flynn announced the Aquinas Academy of Pittsburgh’s 2023 high school play would be “The Tempest,” his students weren’t exactly thrilled about performing in something so antiquated. “They always want to do a...
