NEWS

Potter County Animal Assistance Project (PCAAP) is an incorporated nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) status dedicated to advancing the cause of animal welfare and the prevention of animal cruelty in Potter County. The program is currently in need of volunteers willing to raise funds, grant researchers/writers, sponsors, trappers, and administrative workers. The PCAAP board of directors has announced a public meeting to be held on Wednesday, May 31 at 6pm at the Coudersport Area Recreational Park (C.A.R.P.) main pavilion located on CARP Park Road in Coudersport. If you are interested in lending your time and talents to help animals in Potter County, please come to the meeting. If you are unable to make the meeting but would be interested in helping out, please contact Lori Hansen by phone at 814-507-1388, email at lhansen@zitomedia.net, or message Potter County Animal Assistance Project on Facebook.

The organization began with a dedicated group of volunteers in 2012 and is governed by an elected board. Seed money for PCAAP was provided by the Helen Fath Greene Memorial Fund. Helen Fath Greene was a former resident of Potter County who left a bequest to the PSPCA for the benefit of domestic animals in Potter County. Over the nine year period from 2012 through 2021, PCAAP has funded the spaying/neutering of 7,650 cats and dogs. Through our foster program, we have found homes for 786 cats and kittens. Each year, PCAAP has been able to apply for funds through this grant. Last year, 2022, the grant from which PCAAP received the bulk of their funding was awarded elsewhere. In light of this reduction in funding, PCAAP has found it necessary to temporarily discontinue some of the programs that were previously offered in order to focus on the Trap/Neuter/Release (TNR) and Abandoned/Homeless Programs. TNR is a proven means of controlling free roaming cat populations. Every community in Potter County has free roaming cats and PCAAP volunteers work with residents in these communities to control these populations. Free roaming cats (cats without a known home) are humanely trapped and provided veterinary care including spaying/neutering, a rabies vaccine and a general vet check. They also have their left ear “tipped” to show that they have been through a TNR program and can no longer reproduce. They are then returned to the location where they were trapped. If that location is a free roaming cat colony, a PCAAP colony caretaker, who is most often a local resident, feeds and cares for the cats and monitors the health of the outdoor colony. The PCAAP Homeless/Abandoned program has helped many Potter County residents with the spaying/neutering of free roaming cats that they have adopted into their homes.

PCAAP is in the hopes of bringing back all their programs, including the low income program that assisted low income applicants, senior citizens and veterans with the spaying/neutering of their pets, and the emergency medical program that assisted local residents with unexpected emergency veterinary bills, providing that the funding can be raised to do so. 

From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. starting this Sunday, May 28 and continuing on Sundays through Aug. 27, the Nessmuk Rod and Gun Club is hosting skeet shoots at its outdoor range at 4646 Route 287 in Delmar Township, 6.5 miles south of Wellsboro.

The Sunday dates are: May 28, June 11,18, 25, July 2,16, 23, 30, Aug 6, 13, 20 and 27.

The skeet shoots will continue each Sunday into October, weather permitting. September and October dates will be announced in August.

The fee to shoot skeet for members and non-members 18 years of age and older is $6 per round of 25 clays. Skeet shooting is $3 for youth ages 12 to 17.

Shooters have to provide their own shotguns and ammunition. Eye and ear protection are required.

For more information, contact Skeet Shoot Coordinator John Davis at johndavispa@gmail.com or 570-439-1300.

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, including the Panther Shop and Hanley Library, will be closed Monday, May 29, in observance of Memorial Day.

The university’s Marilyn Horne Museum and Café located on Veterans Square will be open. The museum is currently hosting an exhibition of elaborate opera costumes on loan from the Sarasota (Fla.) Opera. Learn more at www.marilynhorne.org.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is investigating a bear attack that resulted in non-life threatening injuries to two children Monday in Wright Township, Luzerne County.

The children, ages 5 and 14 months, were treated for bites and/or scratches and released from Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

There are few details about the incident or what might have provoked the attack, which occurred while the children were playing in the driveway of their home.

The Game Commission has set two bear traps in the area, and if a bear is caught, there is the potential through DNA testing to positively identify whether it is the same bear involved with the attack.

In general, Pennsylvania’s bears avoid contact with people and attacks are rare. When attacks do occur, it often involves a situation where a bear is cornered and not given an opportunity to flee, or is triggered by a dog confronting a bear, and the dog’s owner becoming involved.

The bear involved in Monday’s incident likely isn’t prone to attack. The attack more likely was triggered by some unknown circumstance. But if the bear involved in the attack is caught, it will be euthanized as a precaution.

Pennsylvanians are advised at all times to keep their distance from bears, which are strong and fast creatures. If encountering a bear, it’s important to let the bear know you’re there. Getting a bear’s attention by vocalizing or waving at it, often is enough to make it move off. Bears sometimes stand their ground, and might employ more aggressive measures, like popping their jaws or bluffing a charge at a person, stopping short. But even in these types of cases, a bear usually will give a person the chance to back out of an encounter.

Bears have a natural fear of people, but they can lose some of that fear when living close to people, and especially if they’re fed. For this reason, it is unlawful in Pennsylvania to intentionally feed bears. But even without intentional feeding, bears can be drawn to properties where they can find an easy meal at a birdfeeder, by raiding compost bins or trash cans, or toppling a charred grill. Those who live in bear country might consider removing these potential food sources from places where bears might get them, and where bears have been a problem recently, such items definitely should be removed.

Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans said his thoughts are with the children injured in the attack.

“This is an unfortunate incident and I’m relieved to hear their injuries aren’t severe,” Burhans said.

Pennsylvania is home to about 15,000 bears, and thousands and thousands of encounters between black bears and people, and overall, few conflicts arise. 

For more information about living safely and responsibly with bears, visit www.bearwise.org.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) today announced that all driver license and photo centers, including its full-service center in Harrisburg, will be closed Saturday, May 27, 2023, through Monday, May 29, 2023, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. 

Customers may still obtain a variety of driver and vehicle products and services, including all forms, publications and driver training manuals, online through PennDOT’s Driver and Vehicle Services website, www.dmv.pa.gov.    

 Driver and vehicle online services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and include driver’s license, photo ID and vehicle registration renewals; driver-history services; changes of address; driver license and vehicle registration restoration letters; ability to pay driver license or vehicle insurance restoration fee; driver license and photo ID duplicates; and driver exam scheduling. There are no additional fees for using online services.

A complete listing of PennDOT driver and photo license center closings in 2023 is available online. If you are planning to visit one of PennDOT's On-Line Messenger Service Centers, please call ahead for hours of operation during holidays.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadway miles by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following twitter regional alerts.

Penn College has scheduled a full-time clock-hour Practical Nursing Program to begin September 11, 2023, in Wellsboro and at the Education Council’s Coudersport office. Students in the full-time program will graduate in September 2024. A part-time program in Wellsboro only is scheduled to begin June 8, 2023, and students will graduate twenty-two months later.

Qualified nursing instructors provide classroom instruction in theory and nursing skills. Affiliation with UPMC allows for clinical experiences at UPMC Wellsboro and UPMC Cole. Other local healthcare affiliates are also utilized. Graduates earn a certificate in Practical Nursing and are eligible to sit for the NCLEX-PN exam for licensure (LPN). Graduates find jobs in hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, private homes, physician offices, and other health-related offices.

Penn College’s Practical Nursing Program can help give you a great career boost! For more information or to get an application, call Marie Van Ess at (570) 724-7703 or Janine Morley at (814) 274-4877.

Click on this Link for complete unofficial results of the May 16, 2023 Primary Election. Includes state, countywide, municipal, and school boards.

Emporium/Coudersport, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Potter and Cameron County Maintenance announces the following work schedule for the week of May 22 – May 26, 2023, weather permitting. Motorists should travel with extra caution in these and all work areas. Motorists should be aware that due to the nature of highway maintenance and emergency work, crews could be working on any highway at any time of the day or night.

Cameron County 0240

Bridge Cleaning:

Mowing:

• State Route: 872 (Potter County Line to SR 120 intersection)

Slide Repair:

• State Route: 872 (Potter County Line to SR 120 intersection)

Crack Sealing:

• State Route: 872 (Potter County Line to SR 120 intersection)

Spray Patch:

• State Route: 120 (Elk County Line to Moore Hill Road)

The following work is scheduled to be completed by contractor, weather permitting:

Richardson Tree & Landscape Company, Inc– Tree Trimming

State Route:  46 (Rich Valley to the McKean County line)

Traffic control:  Traffic along SR 46 will be utilizing flaggers.

Potter County 0260

Bridge Repairs: 

• State Route: Shinglehouse Area

Sign Repairs/Replacement:

• State Route:  Various SR throughout County

Shoulder Cutting:

• State Route: 44 (Coneville to Shinglehouse)
• 4017 (Sunny Side Road)
• State Route: 4010 (Honeoye Street)

Pipe Replacement:

• State Route: 1011 (Hickox/Ulysses Road)

Patching:

• State Route: 6 (Coudersport area – Sheetz to Courthouse)
• State Route: 44 (Coudersport area- Courthouse to Rubbertown)

Ditching:

• State Route: 1008 (Cross Road)

The following work is scheduled to be completed by contractor, weather permitting:

Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc– Roadway/ Bridge repair

State Route:  6 (Port Allegany to Coudersport) Contractors will continue with roadway repairs and drainage upgrades.  Bridge structure repairs will continue at the intersection of SR 6 and Trout Brook Road intersection.

Traffic control:  Traffic along SR 6 will be utilizing flaggers during work hours, multiple work zones may be in project area, including temporary traffic signals at Trout Brook Road intersection.

Nestlerode Contracting Company, Inc– Bridge replacement

State Route:  1011 (Hickox/Ulysses Road)

Traffic control:  Detour will be in place, traffic will use State Route 1012 (Jackson Road), State Route 49, and State Route 1011.

The Wellsboro Growers Market will be open next Thursday, May 25 from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the front lawn of the First Presbyterian Church at 130 Main Street in Wellsboro, next to the Green Free Library and every Thursday  through  Oct. 12, weather permitting. 

Among those who will be there are Liz McLelland of Yorkshire Meadows, Linda Baldassari of New View Farm, Kathy Siegrist of Bakery 303, known as “the pound cake lady” and Staggering Unicorn, which specializes in fruit wines and a variety of wine slushies.

Growers, bakers, candy makers, maple producers, artisans, craftsmen, musicians and others who want to participate on May 25 or at an upcoming market are asked to email Jeff Berry at wellsborogrowersmarket@gmail.com.

For updates on who and what will be at the market, visit the Wellsboro Growers Market Facebook page.