March 2023

Dear Editor:

Please remind county residents that upcoming local elections are their opportunity to make their voice heard, for elections have consequences.

We have two elections coming up.

VILLAGES:  Residents of the villages of Alfred, Almond, Belmont, Bolivar, Canaseraga, Cuba and Richburg should mark calendars for Village elections taking place on Tuesday, March 21^st. Village officials determine your village tax rate. Confirm or update voter registration status at www.alleganyco.gov/departments/board-of-elections

SCHOOLS:  Tuesday, May 16^th is the date for public school district elections in Allegany County. Voters in each district elect members to their school board AND vote on the school’s budget (and hence the taxes that are levied to support it). 

A person may vote in their school district election and in all matters placed upon the official ballot if such person is:

• A citizen of the United States
• At least 18 years of age
• A resident of the school district for at least 30 days prior to the vote
• Registered with the school district or with the Allegany County Board of Elections

School district voters not already registered with the county must confirm their eligibility by contacting their school’s district office a few days prior to election day.

Local elections are often decided by one or two votes. Any resident that doesn’t vote has no business complaining about the outcome. This IS our money and our chance to have a say.

Ly Kesse

Representative, Alfred District 1

Allegany County Democratic Committee

Bradford, PA – Bradford Regional Medical Center (BRMC), in partnership with ConnnectLife, will be hosting a community blood drive on Tuesday, March 14. The blood drive will be located in the main lobby of the hospital and will run from 10 am to 3 pm.

All donors will receive a Fowler’s chocolate bar, a voucher for a buy 1 get 1 beer from Fattey Beer Co., only donors 21 and over are eligible, and a $5 lunch voucher for the hospital cafeteria. Every pint of blood donated can be responsible for saving up to three lives in our local community. 

ConnectLife is Western New York’s only community blood bank which means every drop of blood donated remains local. The organization supplies about 70% of the local blood supply, supporting area hospitals such as Bradford Regional Medical Center, Brooks-TLC Health Network, ECMC, Oishei Children’s Hospital, Buffalo General Hospital, Millard Filmore Suburban Hospital, Eastern Niagara Hospital and Olean General Hospital.

            Anyone can make an appointment at www.connectlifegiveblood.org with the sponsor code 000468 or by contacting Kim Murphey at (814) 362-8298.  Walk-ins are also welcome!

Due to the content and length, this week’s “Weekly” is being sent in two parts — “A” wrestling season recap. And “B” ON THE HORIZON look at the upcoming men’s and women’s tennis season and FLASHBACK look at this past week’s action.

30AWeekly2022-23/March 5-12

WildcatWeeklyHighlights2022-23 for immediate release

(NOTE: You are receiving this sports information release because one or more athletes from your coverage area compete on a team at Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.)

Penn College wrestling celebrates season of success

Talk about a tall order in his first NCAA Division III National Championship appearance.

Pennsylvania College of Technology freshman Isaac Cory (17-2) was scheduled to wrestle his opening match in the 184-pound weight class against Alvernia University’s Isaac Kassis, who has more than 30 wins this season, with top-seeded defending champion Jaritt Shinhoster, of Wisconsin-Whitewater (29-2) awaiting the winner.

The challenge doesn’t get much bigger than that.

Facing Kassis on Friday morning, Cory won 3-1 with a sudden victory takedown.

Wednesday, March 15 at 7 p.m. in the Coolidge Theatre at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro, the Deane Center’s History Comes Alive Series will continue with Jill Lawrence portraying Betsy Ross, the woman who designed and made the first American flag.

After the performance, the audience will be invited to ask Lawrence questions.

Betsy Ross was an American upholsterer who was credited by her relatives in 1870 with making the first official U.S. flag known as the Betsy Ross flag.

Most historians dismiss the story but Ross family tradition holds that General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and two members of a congressional committee—Robert Morris and George Ross—visited Mrs. Ross in 1776. 

Mrs. Ross convinced George Washington to change the shape of the stars in a sketch of a flag he showed her from six-pointed to five-pointed by demonstrating that it was easier and speedier to cut the latter. There is no archival evidence or other recorded verbal tradition to substantiate the story of the first U.S. flag, which apparently surfaced in the writings of her grandson in the 1870s.

Ross made flags for the Pennsylvanian navy during the American Revolution. After the Revolution, she made U.S. flags for over 50 years, including 50 garrison flags for the U.S. Arsenal on the Schuylkill River during 1811.