Print Edition Highlights - August 16, 2012

Two years after fire, Filey’s parish rebuilds and hopes to grow within community
By Erica Smithson
Photos by Curt Werner
The entrance to the new Filey’s Church is off of Filey’s Road. The driveway runs beside the cemetary. The front of the church is pictured above.

____On August 12, two years to the date from which Christ Lutheran Church, Filey’s Parish was completely destroyed by a fire caused by a lightning storm, parishioners were able to come back home for the first services in the church’s new building. Though the building is not entirely finished—worshippers had to sit on lawn chairs instead of pews—the services were a way to mark the journey of the church’s rebuilding and how close its congregation has become in that time.
____Signs of the fire were spotted the morning of August 12, 2010, by a father who had dropped off his daughter at Filey’s Learning Center, the daycare program held in the church. While returning to his car after the drop off, Jim Miller saw smoke coming from the front of the 116 year-old church. Miller went back inside the church and with his wife and daycare director Kelly Sheibley, the three walked through the church to determine the source of the smoke. They soon noticed that the steeple was full of smoke. They then gathered all of the children and other helpers inside of the church at the time and walked them outside and away from the building. Sheibley called emergency services around 7:19 a.m. By the time Carroll Township police sergeant David Smith arrived on the scene, the entire structure of the church was involved in the fire. Neighbors of the church reported hearing lightning strikes that morning as early as 6:15.
____Luckily, not all of the children slated to be in the daycare center that day were present when the fire was discovered. By 9:00, as many as 40 children would have been inside. The children were prepared for how to respond in case of a fire, but the overall event was very intense. Fifteen fire companies and 30 pieces of apparatus helped to put out of the fire and stayed until 3:30 that afternoon. They were called back at 7:30 that evening because the fire had rekindled.

Photo by Mark Ryder
Construction of the new Filey’s Church is expected to be completed at the end of this year or early next year. In photo, Tim Mortensen with eciConstruction welds a top support beam on the overpass of the new facility. The original church was destroyed by fire two years ago.

See the August 16, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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Wellsville Fire Co. annual carnival starts tonight
By Erica Smithson

____The Wellsville Fire Company will hold its annual carnival this Thursday through Saturday, August 16-18. Featuring food, games and community fellowship, the carnival serves as the fire company’s largest yearly fundraiser. It will be held on the grounds beside the company’s station at 95 Community St., Wellsville.
____The carnival has been a staple ever since the fire company’s inception 71 years ago. What began as a one-day picnic fundraising event has in recent years turned into a three-day affair over the third weekend in August. The event takes six months to prepare. Along the way, fire company members, the company’s ladies auxiliary, and 200-300 volunteers from the communities of Wellsville, Dillsburg, Mechanicsburg, Dover and others in the surrounding area, help to put it all together.
____“This is our biggest fundraiser. It provides for most of our operational budget and basically keeps us going throughout the year,” said Wellsville mayor, fire company member and carnival chairman, Andy Slothower.

See the August 16, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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New police contract ratified
By Peggie Williams

____Carroll Township supervisors ratified a new contract with their police force. Officers will get a 2 and a half percent pay raise each year for the next three years.
____There was one dissenting vote by Nancy Livingston, who said in an interview after the August 13 supervisors meeting, that she didn’t think it was fair that the police should get a raise when so many others, including the township staff had gone without. “In this economy raises shouldn’t be automatic. It’s just not right”
____In other business, approval was given to two final/minor subdivision plans including one to Lorne and Yvonne Seifert and one to Charles and Mary Hockenberry.

See the August 16, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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Bike enthusiast partners with New Hope, others to get people moving
By Zack Smith

Photos by Zack Smith
Messiah College students Andy Hollinger, Jean Zipagan and Aaron Troyer lend a hand to Recycle Bicycle once a week.

___ On a warm, but pleasant Tuesday evening, Ross Willard is at his bike warehouse in uptown Harrisburg showing a youth how to “true” a wheel—that is, adjusting the spokes to straighten out a bent wheel rim—on an old Huffy. The Harrisburg youth picked out the bike from the warehouse that's loaded with bicycles of all makes, models and eras.
___ A man from a Harrisburg halfway house, who didn't wish to be identified, worked with a volunteer bike enthusiast to replace a chain on an old Schwinn road bike so he would have something to ride while he job searched.
___ There is a catch for the man and youth, or anyone else in central Pennsylvania looking for a bicycle: They must get the bikes ridable, themselves. That's precisely what Willard's organization, Recycle Bicycle, does.

Ross Willard helps recipients earn their bikes by teaching them bicycle repair techniques at his Recycle Bicycle warehouse in Harrisburg.

See the August 16, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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A Summer To Remember
By Curt Werner

Photo by Curt Werner
The Dillsburg 11-12 year-old Little League team takes a lap around the field with their Pennsylvania Section 7 Championship banner. The team finished sixth in the state.

____A favorite sport to play in summer is baseball. A young ball player dreams of hitting a home run with bases loaded, catching a fly ball in the final inning or pitching a perfect game with a no hitter.
____Neighbors living near ball fields can hear the loud cheers and the crack of a bat in the early evenings.
____Young ball players from the age of seven to twelve found success playing baseball this summer. Three Dillsburg teams played in the Clarence Boyd Championships and three played in the district fourteen tournament.
____The seven and eight year old Clarence Boyd team was managed by Kyle Ramp, with coaches Joey Augustine, Frank Robell and Brian Bonin. The players were Dawson Ramp, Jaiden Augustine, Timmy Bonin, Riley Robell, DJ Daggs, Jacob Hamm, Andrew Wolf, Derrik Stine, Nathan Harlacker, Brandon Keeney and Mason Yohn. The team was 4-0 in pool play and the playoff record was 1-2 in double elimination format in the semi final round.

See the August 9, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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The Dillsburg 11-12 year-old Little League team takes a lap around

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