ErieBlogs.com: Erie PA News and Events for Friday May 4, 2007

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Erie PA News and Events for Friday May 4, 2007

Posted by Dennis on May 4, 2007

Kevin Mahoney fo Erie PA was named a Carnegie Medal winner yesterday by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. The law student at Ohio State University had recently graduated from Penn State University and still was living in State College the morning of April 2, 2006. Mahoney and Matthew Emmerling saved Seth Mattleman and others from burning, State College, Pennsylvania, April 2, 2006. Mattleman, 20, was asleep in the 2 1/2 story house he shared with other university students, some of whom were also inside the building. Fire broke out before dawn on the back porch of the house and, spreading rapidly, entered the structure, including into Mattleman’s first-floor bedroom. Emmerling, 21, university student, was nearby when he saw the fire. He and Mahoney, 22, who was walking nearby, responded to the front of the house, where they entered through the front door, shouting to alert any occupants. Two of the residents fled the building. Although dense smoke limited their visibility, the men entered Mattleman’s room and shouted for him to leave, but Mattleman was disoriented. Emmerling grasped him about the arms and pulled him to the front door and outside, Mahoney following. Emmerling and Mahoney then re-entered the house, through a side entrance, and went upstairs, where they evacuated the second floor of at least one occupant. Finding a disoriented man in a bathroom on that floor, Mahoney pulled him by the arms to the stairs, and they stumbled partway down before exiting the house along with Emmerling. Flames soon engulfed the interior of the structure and destroyed it. Mattleman suffered burns and was treated at the scene. He recovered. Emmerling suffered smoke inhalation, for which he sought medical attention the following day, and Mahoney sustained a minor ankle burn. They too recovered.

The Greater Erie Board of Realtors released the April real estate sales figures. The numbers include all sales in which a property transfer tax was paid including residential and commercial properties as well as vacant land. In April 2007, 369 properties were sold for $50,385,529. This compares to the 409 sales worth $45,385,426. Ouch. That’s about a 10 percent drop in transactions. The 2007 sales figures were artificially inflated by a few big commercial transactions including the closing of the sale of all the area Perkins Restaurants. You can view the April 2007 Erie County PA property transfers here.

Erie Insurance (Nasdaq: ERIE) announced financial results for the first quarter 2007. Net income was $56.4 million for the first quarter of 2007, a 13.9 percent increase from $49.5 million for the same period in 2006. Net income per share-diluted increased to $0.88 per share, compared to $0.73 per share in the comparable quarter in 2006. The policy retention ratio increased to 89.7 percent and they gained 13,500 policies.

Fairview Township has become the first local governmental agency in the area to capitalize on the use of the services offered by eDynaQuote.com for the reverse auction process with the purchase of an emergency electric power generator. eDynaQuote.com is based in Erie, yet other local government bodies aren’t using the service and the taxpayers suffer.

Lovecraft’s Pillow, a movie by Mark Steensland of Erie, will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Erie hometown hero and SuperBowl XLI Champion, Bob Sanders, announced that he is establishing a FREE football camp open to football players entering grades 7 through 12 from Erie County. The Bob Sanders Skills and Drills Football Camp will benefit the Erie Chapter of Special Olympics. The camp will be held at Gannon University Field and is being funded through a partnership with Hamot Sports Medicine. The clinic will be held on June 22 and 23 from 9 am to 5 pm.

The Erie SeaWolves trailed by a run heading into the bottom of the ninth, but pulled off their first comeback win of the season en route to a 5-4 victory in front of the largest crowd of the season at Jerry Uht Park. The SeaWolves begin a weekend series with the Harrisburg Senators (Washington Nationals) on Friday night at Jerry Uht Park; 6:35 first pitch. RHP Eulogio De La Cruz (2-2, 5.48 ERA) is on the mound for Erie and is coming off of a complete game loss in Bowie. RHP T.J. Nall (0-5, 5.00 ERA) takes the hill for Harrisburg.

It’s expected that the Erie Otters will take Seaforth’s Ryan O’Reilly, a center on the Toronto Jr Canadiens minor midgets, first overall in the Ontario Hockey League draft which will begin on Saturday morning at 9 am. O’Reilly’s older brother, Cal, just finished his first year of professional hockey with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals after three seasons with the Windsor Spitfires. A sister, Tara, played for the Carleton University women’s hockey team. And his father, Brian, is the mental and physical coach with the University of Toronto’s women’s basketball team.

The Ontario Hockey League announced today that Derrick Bagshaw of the Erie Otters has been selected as the winner of the Roger Neilson Memorial Award as the OHL’s top academic player attending university or college. Bagshaw attended Mercyhurst College and Gannon University during the 2006-2007 Season and maintained a GPA of more than 3.5 in five courses. The Oshawa, Ontario native, who turns 21 on Saturday, was also named the OHL Midwest Division Academic Player-of-the-Month in November. “I’m very honored and I just want to thank everyone from the Erie Otters for all the help,” Bagshaw said during a conference call held this afternoon announcing the award. “Education is certainly important to me and this shows how hard I worked at it.” The Roger Neilson Memorial Award was introduced following the 2004-2005 season in honor of Neilson, a former high school teacher turned coach who enjoyed a lengthy career in the OHL and NHL. Neilson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and was honored with the Order of Canada in 2002. He passed away in June 2003 after a long fight with cancer. Bagshaw, a 2004 honors graduate of McDowell High School, completed his OHL eligibility in 2006-2007, his fourth season as a member of the Otters. In 242 career games the forward turned defenseman collected 19 goals and 26 assists for 45 points. His 242 games played ranks tied for the sixth most in franchise history.

Mercyhurst North East is the 3rd seed at the Region III Division II Junior College baseball tournament. In the opening round on today, Alfred State will take on Mercyhurst North East at Noon.

Goaltender Ryan Zapolski was named first team all-North American Hockey League. Zapolski, a native of Erie, PA and a Mercyhurst College recruit this fall, led all goaltenders with a North American Hockey League-record 42 wins (42-8-1 record). He finished third with a 2.32 goals against average, tied for third with four shutouts, had a league-leading .929 save percentage and topped all netminders with five assists.

The Mercyhurst College Center for Public Safety will be conducting tests for area firefighters seeking state certification on May 4 and 5 at the Erie County Public Safety Training Facility in Franklin Center. Sixteen firefighters from the Lakeshore, Westlake, West Ridge, and Erie fire departments will take part in written and practical challenge testing, and upon successful completion, will receive Firefighter I certification from the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy.

The Erie Art Museum Contemporary Music Series presents Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem in concert today, Friday, May 4, 8 pm in the Erie Art Museum’s Annex, 20 East 5th Street. Tickets are $12 for non-members, $10 for Museum and JazzErie Members and $6 for students and seniors.

The Seventh annual Black Bass Workshop, sponsored by Pennsylvania Bass Federation, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and a host of other agencies, and fishing and conservation groups, is set for today, May 4 at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center in Erie. Professional angler Joe Balog will present a program on the latest techniques for catching smallmouth Bass in Erie. A limited attendance fishing outing is scheduled slated for May 5. The workshop is open to the public. For more information, call 814-833-7424 or e-mail lwoznicki@state.pa.us.

The Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail will host a “wine and cheese weekend” May 5-6, with 15 wineries participating.

After four years of work on land and at sea, Daniel Barnard’s full 10 movement “Requiem for a Sailor” will be publicly sung in its entirety for the first time on Sunday, May 6. “Requiem” grew out of research undertaken after Barnard, a member of the music faculty at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, decided to create the first major musical effort that honors Erie’s maritime heritage. To underscore the piece’s celebration of community, Barnard invited the voices of the Behrend College Choir, the Erie Philharmonic Chorus, the Edinboro University Chamber Choir, the Harbor Creek High School Choir, and soloists from Mercyhurst College to perform the 40-minute work under his direction. Fittingly, the concert will take place in the H O Hirt Auditorium of the Erie Maritime Museum, 160 E Front St. A composer lecture with Barnard will begin at 3:30 pm, to be followed by the performance at 4 pm; both are free and open to the public.

The fifth annual Communication Campaigns mock trade show takes place Tuesday, May 8, from 10 am to 3 pm in the Great Room of the student union. The event, “Experience Erie Expo,” is free to all students and faculty. Communication students in the class were asked to devise plans for businesses and services that would be likely to succeed and benefit Erie residents. Some of the companies featured include an old-fashioned candy kitchen, jet ski rentals, a charter fishing company, and a cosmic arcade. Communication Campaigns is a class that focuses on proper marketing tactics for a new or existing company. Each group is required to complete backgrounders, brochures, press releases, and a form of electronic media in order to accurately express the overall feel of their company.

On Wednesday, May 9, Mercyhurst College welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jack Rakove, the W. R. Coe Professor of History and American Studies and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, where he has taught since 1980. His 8 pm address in Walker Recital Hall is titled “The Dilemma of Declaring Rights” and it is free and open to the public.

The Salvation Army in Erie will be celebrating National Salvation
Army week starting May 14. Throughout the week The Salvation Army will have several events ongoing to bring attention to the Erie Community of the many services and programs they provide. One of the major events that week will be the Kettles for Kids campaign. The recognizable Red Kettles will be located at numerous entrances of the Millcreek Mall. All proceeds from this fund-raising event stay in the Erie area, which will allow them to send less fortunate children to summer camps. The Salvation Army is looking for members of the community to help with this campaign by volunteering their time and standing with the Red Kettles. The Camp for Kids campaign kicks off on Monday, May 14 and continues through Saturday, May 19. They offer 2 separate shifts for individuals; they encourage large groups and organizations that have many volunteers to take a location for the entire day. Should you have any questions, please contact Dan Hanson at The Salvation Army at (814) 454-6497.

The Tragically Hip play the Warner Theatre in Erie, Pa on May 18. Reserved seat tickets are $31.50.

Penn State Behrend’s popular College for Kids returns this summer with over 150 weeklong classes to educate, entertain, and inspire young people ages 6 to 18. College for Kids courses begin June 11 and continue through August 10, with the exception of Fourth of July week. Classes are organized by age and held during morning or afternoon sessions, with before- and after-care available for an additional fee. Returning classes include past favorites in guitar, golf, knitting, word processing, PowerPoint, model rocketry, acting, sign language, and scrap booking instruction; World War II history, “Engineering MythBusters,” and “Dinosaur Discovery.” New courses this year: “Storm Chasing 101” taught by WJET-TV meteorologist Tom Atkins; two finance classes, “Kids and Money” for the younger student and “Show Me the Money” for teens; “Let’s Cheer,” “Conversational Spanish,” “Introduction to Chess,” “Star Wars and the Roman Empire,” “Crafts from the Beach,” “Space Camp: Return to the Moon,” and an investigation of the paranormal called “X-Files.” “We also have a very special opportunity this year for kids ages 12 to 18—a chance to paint a mural on the fountain in Perry Square under the direction of local artist AJ Noyes,” Mary Trott, College for Kids program coordinator, noted. “Because of the significance of this community service project, this will be one of the rare College for Kids classes that meets for a full day.” Perry Square fountain painting will take place the week of July 23. For artists not old enough to participate in the mural project or unable to commit to a full-day class, Noyes also will teach College for Kids courses in hand-sewing and beading, craft painting, nature drawing and painting, and portrait drawing. Costs vary by course but start at $70 per weeklong class. Before- or after-class supervision is available for an additional $10 per week. Schedule and registration information will be distributed through area schools and also is available by calling 814-898-6212 or clicking here. Mail and online registration will begin in early May. Participants are encouraged to register early for best class selection.

Dennis Weed