VOL. 137 — NO. 52

THURSDAY,

MAY 14, 2015

$1.00

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[L-V photo by Evanne Gareis]

STUDENTS AT Redbank Valley Primary School in New Bethlehem got to enjoy the beautiful weather last week when the PTO hosted its annual Spring Fling on Friday, May 8. The event-filled day featured many in-door and outdoor activities including games,

face painting and special presentations. Af-ter decorating their own pots, second-graders (from left) Lydia Shick, Isaac Gourley, Mylee Harmon, Jasmine Joiner, Laci Campbell and (back row) Johnathan Slack planted flowers inside for their craft.

[Photo by Kisha Mangiantini]

REDBANK VALLEY High School crowned its prom king and queen during the prom-enade on Friday, May 8 at the school. Kol-bin Altobelli (right), the son of Michael and Janna Altobelli of New Bethlehem, was crowned king, and Leah Roudybush, daughter of Michael and Jodee Roudybush of New Bethlehem, was crowned queen.

RIMERSBURG – Union High School recently an-nounced the top students for the Class of 2015.

This year’s valedictori-an is Eric Seary, and the salutatorian is Brooke Kriebel.

The two will speak at the school’s graduation ceremony on Friday, May 29.

Seary is the son of Bob and Lori Seary of Sligo.

His school activities in-clude football, basketball, track, National Honor Society, TAG, yearbook, Physics Club, Gridiron Letterman Club, Round-ball Club and the All Sports Club.

Seary has volunteered with the school’s food drive, Goodwill fundrais-er and blood drive.

Following graduation, he plans to attend Penn

State’s DuBois campus to pursue a degree in civil engineering.

Kriebel is the daugh-ter of Patrick and Vicki Kriebel of Rimersburg.

Her school activi-ties include senior class president, president of Yearbook Club and Prom Committee, and vice president of the National Honor Society and Art Club.

Kriebel has volunteered for Hope For Your Future, and is employed by Union High School as an extra-curricular activities sign language interpreter.

Her future plans in-clude attending Clarion University of Pennsyl-vania to major in early childhood education.

Top students named at UHS

ERIC SEARY AND BROOKE KRIEBEL

By JOSH WALZAKL-V Editor

NEW BETHLEHEM – Many people would con-sider the Redbank Val-ley Public Library to be a community hero, so it’s only fitting that the theme for the 25th anniversary of the library’s signature event, Art in the Park, cen-ters around super heroes.

“Every Hero Has A Sto-ry,” is the theme of this Sunday’s Art in the Park, to be held noon to 4 p.m. in New Bethlehem’s Gum-town Park.

The silver anniversary event will include a num-ber of superhero-themed crafts and activities, along with the event’s art show, stage performances, ven-dors, food and more.

Library director Erin Joyce said that several changes have been made

Art in the Park takes flight on Sunday in Newbie By RON WILSHIRE

L-V Correspondent

RIMERSBURG – Tiffany Horner, a junior business major at Clarion Universi-ty and Union High School graduate, bought a busi-ness this year with help from the Summerville Brothers Economic Devel-opment Fund.

After working at Sny-der’s Dairy Bar for the last four seasons, Horner thought it would be a good time to take the plunge and become a business owner. Snyder’s was owned by Jeff and Julie Raybuck from Sligo and they were interested in selling the business.

“I had worked here for the Raybucks for about four years,” said Horner. “I’m a business major at Clarion University and I decided that I didn’t want to be an accountant for

the rest of my life. I re-ally enjoyed my job here, so I thought it was a great opportunity and the tim-ing was right because the Raybucks were ready to get out.”

The new “Taste-T-Freeze” on Route 68 near Rimersburg opened this spring and already offers some changes.

“We’re sticking with just soft serve, we’ve added a few burgers to our menu, we’ve changed prices around a little bit, and added a few sizes in differ-ent things,” said Horner. “I think we’ve changed quite a bit.”

Hours of operation are 3 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Horner first checked the Clarion County Communi-ty Bank for financing and

Loan $$ helps student scoop up business

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As we move into May, and become more and more removed from the seemingly endless winter we endured this year, we welcome each and every sign that spring, and sum-mer, are at hand.

The latest signal is that the Gumtown Market, fea-turing locally grown foods, baked goods and more, will open for the season on Friday, May 22.

The farm market will be held every Friday from 12:30 to 5 p.m. in Gum-town Park along Water Street in New Bethlehem.

The market is growing this year, as its pavilion is expanded and new ven-dors are welcomed.

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By JOSH WALZAKL-V Editor

KITTANNING – The summer boating season is getting ready to begin, and river enthusiasts will have more options this year thanks largely to a Kittan-ning-based group that has been working for the past couple of years to reopen the upper Allegheny River locks.

Linda Hemmes of the Allegheny River Develop-ment Corp. (ARDC) was on hand last week as county leaders signed the final papers that make the lock reopenings possible.

With the help of grants, donations and money from numerous fundraisers, Hemmes said the ARDC will be able to open the four northern-most locks

on weekends, holidays and during special events this summer.

Hemmes told coun-ty commissioners Dave Battaglia, Bob Bower and Rich Fink that it will cost $3,740 per day to operate the four locks, and that the ARDC continues to raise money to keep river travel open.

The commissioners unanimously approved the agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, noting that the county only served as a pass-through for the public-private part-nership between the corps and ARDC.

The locks to be opened as part of the agreement include Lock 6 at Kelly Sta-tion, Lock 7 at Kittanning, Lock 8 at Templeton and

Allegheny River locks to open next weekend

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By EVANNE GAREISL-V Staff Writer

MADISON TWP. – More than 15 Madison Town-ship (Clarion County) resi-dents gathered last week to air their concerns about the conditions of several roads in the township.

During the regular Madison Township su-pervisors meeting on May 5, the residents touched on a variety of road-re-lated complaints, ranging from questions about road bonding to the supervisors’ priorities when it comes to road repair.

Supervisors Denny Montgomery, Benjamin

Stitt and John Buzzard asked the group to be pa-tient and reassured them that road work is a top pri-ority in the township.

“Just give us a little time to get around to every-thing,” Montgomery said, noting that the township does not usually hire ad-ditional summer help. “There’s only three of us and it’s going to take a while to get around to ev-erything.”

One concern raised by the residents was whether companies using township roads were meeting the re-quirements of road bond-ing, and whether bonds

Road conditions spark debate in Madison Twp.

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