Archive
April 11th, 2011
PUNXSUTAWNEY â The Punxsy baseball team has been a notoriously slow starter the past few years.
When the Chucks won the state title in 2007, they followed a 6-5 start by winning 10 of their final 12 games. Last year, Punxsy's seventh-straight District IX Class AAA Championship team started 3-7.
Monday, in a change from years past, Punxsy continued its quick start behind home runs by Tyler Skerkavich and Ty Zimmerman when it improved to 4-0 after a 16-9 victory over Class AAAA DuBois.
PUNXSUTAWNEY â Punxsy senior Dave Roberts had to fight hard to pick up his first win of the season Monday afternoon at Punxsutawney Area High School.
Roberts, the Chucks' No. 1 singles player, lost the first set 7-5. After forcing a tiebreaker by winning the second set, 6-3, he fell behind by three points in the tiebreaker.
He rebounded and came back to earn his first win of the season with a 10-7 win in the tiebreak, which helped Punxsy (1-2) beat Clearfield, 9-0.
Alexander âJakeâ Testut III, 66, Punxsutawney, died Wednesday, April 6, 2011, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
He was born on Long Island, N.Y., a son of the late Alexander Testut II and Dorothy Wottawa.
Mr. Testut was a veteran of the Vietnam War, having served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years before his medical discharge.
He enjoyed fishing and spending time with his grandchildren.
PUNXSUTAWNEY â Punxsutawney Borough Council learned Monday that the ATA building project along North Findley Street has been placed on hold indefinitely.
Borough Manager Ben White said bids to construct a terminal came in higher than what ATA had to spend on the project.
White said that St. Marys is going through a similar situation, as its terminal project was also bid and came back too high.
PUNXSUTAWNEY â Brett, the Jefferson County Sheriffâs Departmentâs K-9 unit, may be close to retirement, but his master and handler Sheriff Carl Gotwald Sr. would like to see him perform a few more sweeps â ideally, in Punxsutawney area schools.
Monday, board President Gary Conrad, who had invited Gotwald to speak to the board, said he would like to offer Gotwald and Brett an open invitation to search the schools, provided that Gotwald has a class schedule.
PUNXSUTAWNEY â Two of the latest inductees into the Punxsutawney Sports Hall of Fame are Dominic âMickeyâ Barilar and Roger Raybuck.
Dominic âMickeyâ Barilar
Barilar is a 1950 graduate of Punxsutawney High School, as well as a graduate of Clarion State Teachers College.
While serving in the U.S. Army, he spent 18 months in Germany as the Colonelâs driver of a staff car, later graduating from IUP with a masterâs degree in education in 1963.
BROOKVILLE â A special meeting of the Brookville Area School Board was held Monday, where board members discussed possible options for reducing spending by nearly $2 million.
Potential reductions include eliminating more than 20 staff members and reducing spending on athletics and extracurriculars.
âThis, obviously, is not something that we like to do,â Superintendent Sandy Craft said. âThe people on our staff are people from our community that work hard, but this is a must with where we are.â
April 10th
BROOKVILLE â The weather wasn't quite perfect, with permanent gray skies above, but Punxsy boys' track and field was glad to compete in a meet without having to battle snow Saturday at the Brookville Invitational.
Last Tuesday, the Chucks competed in the snow during their dual meet at Brookville.
Punxsy coach John Smith said that he was happy with some of the individual performances his team finished with. No team score was kept.
"We came away with some good performances on a cool, windy day," Smith said. "All day we hoped for a warm-up (in temperature) that never came."
BROOKVILLE â Punxsutawney girls' track and field team had four girls place, including a first place finisher, at the Brookville Invitational Saturday.
Milea Schall took first place in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:53.8.
Punxsy coach Barry Young believes that consistency is Schall's best quality.
"Milea ran very well in the 3,200," Young said. "She is so consistent. As a coach, this is what you want from a runner. She came close to placing in the 1,600 with a fine time of 5:35.1."
Blaine E. Todd, 79, Salem, N.J., passed away Monday, April 4, 2011, at the Memorial Hospital of Salem County.
He was born in 1932 in Punxsutawney, a son of the late John and Edna (Lingenfelter) Todd.
He was the fifth child of three brothers and four sisters.
In 1951, Mr. Todd graduated from Punxsutawney High School and began a two year stint in the U.S. Army, where he served a 16-month tour in Korea.
In 1953, he was the Fort Worth Golden Gloves Boxing Champion.
