Corry resident Chuck Trimble seems to have gotten the words to the classic baseball song wrong – it’s not “Take Me Out At the Ball Game.” Trimble suffered a heart attack at PNC Park a few weeks ago and happened to be sitting right in front of Dr. Christopher Post, a doctor at nearby Allegheny General. A nurse and an EMT were also nearby and with the help of one of the stadiums AED units, Trimble survived and received treatment at AGH. That’s more excitement than is usually on the field at PNC Park.
The African-American Concerned Pastors and the NAACP have scheduled a community meeting for September 28, at 7 pm at the Greater Calvary Full Gospel Baptist Church, 2624 German St. The group has finished their series of silent marches held over the past couple months, and is ready to air their concerns about matters affecting the community. Public officials will be invited to attend.
Millcreek Police Chief Tom Carlotti has informed the county that the Millcreek Department will not join the County 911 Center until operations there meet the level of service of their own dispatch team.
Sylvain Cote of the North East Police Department has been named Erie County Officer of the Month. All those years of playing tough hockey with the Erie Blades must have prepared him well for handling bad guys!!
Rowan Spracklan, young son of Mercyhurst Rowing Coach Adrian and wife Mia Spracklan, has been named a finalist in the Good Morning America ‘Cute Kid’ contest. The Spracklens started the adoption process in February 2008, and traveled to Ethiopia last January where they adopted six-month-old Rowan, an 11-pound, malnourished, very sick little boy who had been abandoned at 20-days-old outside a police station in Addis Ababa. You can vote for this fine Erie lad right here. Let’s make him a winner!
Rick Liebel of SafeNet is asking for donations of your old used cell phones. The phones will be altered and used for 911 calls by clients of SafeNet. Just remove the SIM card and drop off the phone at the office, located at 1702 French St.
The Community Blood Bank is asking for donations of your used blood. You can just drop it off at 2646 Peach.
There is plenty of road work going on all over the county, so you might want to leave for work a bit early and be prepared to wait.
General Electric is facing a bleak market in the near future, with no US companies presently ordering and other orders greatly reduced. The Wall Street Journal has more here. Chances are you know someone who works there and have heard about rolling layoffs. We know of people who were laid off most of July, have been back for a few weeks and will soon be off for a few more weeks.
After waiting for several years, Erie skateboarders will have a place of their own when Erie’s first skate park opens this evening at 15th and Poplar Street. We’re pretty good at the Tony Hawk games, but we think we’d still break every bone we have if we tried to skate at the park.
The Advertising Federation of Northwest Pennsylvania is now accepting nominations for the 2009 Creative Spark Awards, George Mead Distinguished Service Award, and Ad Person of the Year Award. Nominations can be made online at www.afnwpa.org now through Sept. 14. The Creative Spark Awards Celebration will be held on Friday, Oct. 2. Details and location will be announced soon. While the organization’s annual ADDY Awards held each spring largely recognize the work of art directors, graphic designers and copywriters, the Creative Spark Awards honor those “non-creatives” who bring out-of-the-box thinking to their roles as media representatives, account executives, printers and broadcast producers, just to name a few. Ad Person of the Year is presented to an individual or organization to recognize outstanding contributions toward the advancement of the communications industry in Erie and the surrounding area. The award should preferably represent achievement within the past year but may be given for cumulative contributions during the past three years. The George Mead Distinguished Service Award is presented to a current or past member of the AFNWPA (formerly the Erie Advertising Club) for distinguished accomplishments, for extraordinary service to the communications industry, or for unusual service to the organization. Nominees are not limited to current Ad Fed members or to persons from the immediate geographical area. For more information, or to nominate someone for these awards, visit www.afnwpa.org.
Sports
The SeaWolves came from behind to defeat the Harrisburg Senators in game one of Wednesday night’s doubleheader at Metro Bank Park, snapping a seven-game losing skid to the Sens. Erie also won the nightcap 5-1. Same teams tonight in H-burg.
Gannon Men’s Soccer defeated the University of the District of Columbia 4-2, while the Women’s team lost to Mercyhurst 1-0.
The Allegheny Women took the win over Westminister 1-0 on a goal by Becca Crissman. Goal Keeper Emily Darr had three saves.
The Edinboro football team will look to improve to 2-0 on the young 2009 season when Shippensburg visits Sox Harrison Stadium on Saturday, September 5. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Actually Erie's first skate park was behind the old Elby's Big Boy Restaurant that used to be accessible from 12th Street.
The store front is a plant wholesaler or a pool accessories shop now I believe and is next to the paint store and is only accessible from the road that is next to the U-haul business on Pittsburgh Ave.
We used to go there all the time when we were kids. They had a big bowl on the west side of the park and slopes all over – you could rent pads and helmets and they had a sort of small pro shop where you could buy new trucks and items for your board.
I was always kinda picked on by my friends since I rode “goofy foot” where I started with my left foot on the board. The boards were mostly fiberglass at that time, but a few had wooden boards.
It was always busy – that is until someone decided that the risks of injury or the risks of getting sued were too much and the site was simply bulldozed in. I bet it is all till there under the new buildings.
I am sorry, but I cannot recall the name of the park, but it was the real fist skate park.
It was called Wild Waves Skateboard Park. I believe it was a privately owned facility in which you had to pay to ride. It was not a free public skatepark like the one that has been constructed in little Italy. This is why it has earned the title “Erie's First Skate Park” Also don't forget about the now defunct Shebang Skatepark that was located on west 12th street near Pittsburgh Ave. This was also a pay-to-play business and not free to the public.
I remember that now – Shebang was in the Old Green Stamp Catalog Store. And then I think it was Century.
Regardless if Wild Waves was pay or not – It was a skate board Park which makes it first.