Harry Funk stories, Page 13
Youngsters learn first aid in Hampton Little Medical School program
You don’t have to be a Boy Scout to, as the motto goes, be prepared. “Let’s say you’re in the school lunchroom, and somebody is eating a grape,” Dr. Kim Roth told youngsters attending day camp at the Hampton Community Center. “And they start coughing and holding their throat a...
Gateway theater camp builds on ‘Mamma Mia’ momentum
If sports teams can build on momentum, performing arts programs can do so, too. On the heels of a hugely successful spring musical at Gateway High School, supporters from the school district teamed with Monroeville’s Parks and Recreation Department to offer a weeklong summer theater camp for aspiring actors, singers...
Lady Mustangs lead Plum soccer camp
They may be knee-high to the proverbial grasshopper, but they know how to shoot and score. And they’re learning how to get better. Girls as young as kindergarten, 56 strong, signed up for a soccer camp conducted by members of the Plum High School Lady Mustangs, perennial participants in the...
Rock Talks: Plum enthusiast presents on Led Zeppelin, myriad other topics
In an unprecedented violation of marketing orthodoxy, the British band Led Zeppelin released its fourth album in 1971 with nothing on the front cover but a painting of an old man carrying a bundle of sticks. A turn of the gatefold jacket reveals a similarly wizened, wizardlike figure standing atop...
Western Pa. produces next Rotary International president
This time next year, she’ll be leading a million-plus-member worldwide organization. Yet to her friends — and folks she’s just met, for that matter — Stephanie Urchick represents the veritable definition of down to earth. Ask Al DeLucia of Bethel Park, who’s known her for three decades. “She’s Stephanie from...
Bean Bootmobile makes Plum appearance
You’ve heard of the Batmobile. Now picture a 13-foot-high, 20-foot-long, road-ready replica of a famous brand of footwear. That’s the Bootmobile, created for the venerable outdoor-oriented company L.L.Bean, and the shoe-shaped vehicle made a recent stop at the Sampson Family YMCA in Plum. “We are out on the road to...
Cruises for causes: Car shows in Monroeville provide opportunities for philanthropy
The start of a recent Sunday looked as if it might interfere with Bob Guiliani’s plans. “When I came down here this morning at 9 o’clock, I had my wipers on,” he said. “It was raining.” But precipitation eventually gave way to sunshine, meaning that the day’s car cruise at...
Getting your goat: Oakmont event celebrates everyone’s favorite ruminant
If anyone can get your goat, she’s Monica Shields. She can get you a goat — or for better effect, at least half a dozen — from her Beaver County farm to take care of unwanted vegetation. And she can get your goat knowledge up to a point where you’ll...
Acts sought for Bethel Park Battle of the Bands
Musicians, get those demos ready. As part of its Park and Play series, Bethel Park Recreation will host a Battle of the Bands on Sept. 2, with five acts to be selected for a set on the stage. “We’re looking for bands that are going to be family-friendly and appeal...
Everyone learns at Bethel Park’s Camp Invention
Teachers still are learners. “I never knew who invented the Bose speaker,” Melinda Romito said. “I never thought about it.” She discovered the answer while serving as an instructor for, appropriately enough, Camp Invention. An educational program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the camp took place in Bethel...
All-Chevy Show scheduled for Bridgeville
The Batmobile of 1960s TV fame may have been a Ford product, but Scott resident Perry Minnis does a good job of evoking its appearance with a Chevrolet. Given his family history, that’s appropriate. “My dad was a general manager for Ford, and I always wanted a Corvette,” he said...
Bridgeville business, John B. Conomos Inc., marks 125 years
New arrivals to the immigrant processing station at Ellis Island often received new names, thanks to various languages and alphabets being lost in translation. Such was the case in 1890, when a teenager from Greece attempted to introduce himself as John Theodore Megalokonomos. As far as the U.S. government was...
Upper St. Clair Scout joins ranks of female Eagles
Girls can be Eagles, too. Molly Walsh, 16, joined the growing number of females earning the highest rank attainable in Scouts BSA, previously known as Boy Scouts. “She knows what she likes. She pursues it,” her father, Bethel Park School District Superintendent James Walsh, said. “And we just sort of...
‘Spartans at Thermopylae’: Centennial marks Carnegie residents repelling KKK throng
As the sun set on a summer Saturday a century ago, a dentist named Hiram Wesley Evans arrived at a Scott Township farm where as thousands of men already were gathered. In between pulling teeth, Evans (1881-1966) served as imperial wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and...
Library StoryWalk planned for Verona
Books don’t have to be, well, books. Along a fence in an Oakmont Carnegie Library garden is a StoryWalk, a series of laminated poster-sized pages from a selected children’s volume set up sequentially so youngsters can enjoy an educational stroll. And the concept looks to be coming to Verona. During...
‘Pop-up’ distributions at Gateway High School help hundreds each month
For Thanksgiving, a group of Moss Side Middle School mothers arranged a “pop-up” food distribution that served more than 40 families. “We noticed how many people we helped, and there was more of a demand,” organizer Jennifer Czyzewski said. “So we wanted to go ahead and do it districtwide, and...
‘A vegan version of everything’: Festival at Monroeville convention center showcases animal-free fare
Folks who are vegan, forsaking food derived from animals, tend to field the question: How do you do it? Rebecca Gilbert enjoys telling people that these days, it can be a breeze. “I mean, there is a vegan version of everything. The foods that we know and love, that we’re...
Verona’s audit shows healthy financial state
Verona achieved the fiscal feat of going from a balance-sheet deficit at the end of 2021 to a substantial surplus one year later. The borough’s 2022 municipal annual audit and financial report shows retained earnings of $457,811 as of Dec. 31 in Verona’s general fund, as compiled by certified public...
Monroeville treats community to July 4 paradeVideo
If Halloween is the gold standard for kids collecting candy, Monroeville’s Fourth of July parade can lay claim to the silver. Through the generosity of participants tossing treats toward the crowd, youngsters were able to go a long way toward filling sacks with goodies, without having to wear costumes and...
‘Aphelion’: Abstracts featured in Monroeville Public Library exhibit
Astronomy enthusiasts will recognize July 6 as aphelion, the day when the earth is at its farthest point from the sun in 2023. “It’s the closest cosmic event to our show opening on the 8th,” Monroeville artist Jay Winter said. As such, he chose “Aphelion” as the name for his...
Hampton resident promotes coexisting with coyotes
What may seem like all of a sudden, coyotes aren’t just cartoon characters on television anymore. “They’re very prone to getting media attention,” Hampton resident Jamie DeHart said. “One event out of how many days in the year, and all of a sudden it’s front-page news.” Whether they simply are...
Camp Invention tradition continues at Gateway High School
The future of Camp Invention at Gateway High School was in question after James Pottinger stepped down as director after the 2022 session. “I saw how the kids didn’t want camp to end. They loved it so much,” Chris Jordan, a camp instructor at the time, said. “And I thought,...
Gateway hosts Special Olympics event after Summer Games cancellation
What was supposed to be a special day for Special Olympics athletes ended before it began. “They were on their way on the buses, and we had to call all of them and say, ‘Turn around.’ It broke our hearts,” Jessie Merckle said. As sports director for the Three Rivers...
Playground equipment returns to Lions Park in Bethel Park
Playgrounds have come a long way since the days of bolting together iron bars and sheet metal atop a sea of asphalt. “There are federal and state guidelines on what you have to do with playground equipment. It’s pretty extensive,” Bethel Park council member John Oakes said. “There’s even a...
Interfaith Celebration of Women’s Ordination hosted by Temple David in Monroeville
The first woman in the United States to be ordained as a rabbi by a rabbinical seminary was Sally Jane Priesand, in 1972. A few years later, a middle school student at the time in Schenectady, N.Y., contemplated the possibility of joining those ranks. “I was aware that there were...
