HEADLINES:
4-H Members Qualify For State Horse Show
Tax Collection Committee Created
Amazing Work By American Red Cross
Democracy Works In Gibson Township

4-H Members Qualify For State Horse Show
Submitted By Susquehanna County Cooperative Extension

Twelve Susquehanna County 4-Her’s will compete at the 2009 State 4-H Horseshow in Harrisburg October 23-25. These 4-H members have competed at a county and district level and will now get the chance to compete with other 4-H members from the entire state. Members qualifying are: Emily Cavanaugh, Ashlynn Cobb, Morgan Duke, Sondra Fallon, Samantha Graham, Sierra Hall, Katelyn Kvergas, Ashlee Lattner, Nathan Moyer, Amber Peterka, Liana Stinson, and Samantha Turner. Congratulations and good luck to the State 4-H Horseshow qualifiers!

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Tax Collection Committee Created
Submitted

The Susquehanna County Tax Collection Committee held their first meeting on Monday, October 5 in the County Office Bldg., Montrose. The Committee was created per Act 32 Earned Income Tax which requires the governing bodies of each political subdivision within a tax collection district that imposed an income tax prior to July 1, 2009 to appoint a delegate to this committee.

Tax Collection Committee - Al Wildenstein, Barbara Mihelc, Ted Place

As required by law, the Chair of the governing body of the County, Commissioner MaryAnn Warren chaired the meeting until officers were elected, with Chief Clerk Sylvia Beamer recording the minutes and County Solicitor Michael Gathany available to answer questions. This meeting was primarily to elect a Chairperson, Vice-Chair and Secretary and set the next meeting date and place.

Twenty-three of the 25 voting entities were in attendance. There was also representation from several non-voting municipalities. Barbara Milhelc, representing Forest City Borough was unanimously elected as the Chairperson, Al Wildenstein of Mt. Pleasant Township as the Vice-Chair and Ted Place of Auburn Township as the Secretary.

The next meeting will be held Thursday, October 29 at the Lenox Township Building at 6:30 p.m.

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Amazing Work By American Red Cross
Submitted By Kathy Ashby

I would like to make people aware of just how important the Red Cross is to the families of the military. People who have never used the service don’t seem to understand that they are emergency aid workers. We are used to seeing the Red Cross help during fires and floods and collecting blood. That’s all true, however there is so much more! Recently my family had an incident where my son, Richard D. Wagner, Jr. was deployed in Iraq. When he left he knew his wife was pregnant with their first child and that he would not be home in time to see the birth; as disappointing as that was it is the nature of his job and he and Anna accepted it.

The baby was due July 7, 2009. I received a phone call May 19 that Anna (being a brittle diabetic) was rushed to the hospital and was near death and the probability of saving the baby was slim. I was in shock. I went to the armory to see how to find my son and get a message to him; even though he was regular Army, they were wonderful.

They said "call Becky" - Becky being Becky Naylor of the Red Cross office in Montrose. It was late... maybe 10 p.m. or so... but she returned my call immediately. She made the necessary calls and got the information and went immediately to work. 24 hours later Ricky called me in tears and said that his request had been denied. Some kind of paper work glitch. But Anna was worse. I never slept that night. At day break I called Becky again and she said come on up to the office and we will see what we can do.

Between New Milford and Montrose I got another call - Anna was worse. I had to go to Texas or I would loose them both. I again called Becky and she said “go, I will find out what is going on." I left it up to her and God. I flew all night and arrived in Texas at 6 a.m. While at the airport I got a call from both Becky and Ricky - he was on his way.

Richard D. Wagner, Jr. holding his firstborn son before returning to Iraq.

Unfortunately Ricky did miss the birth of his son, but he was there by the time they put him in the ICU and was there when Anna woke up. There were a lot of decisions and a long week of ups and downs but he was there for his wife and child.

I am glad to announce Ryland David Wager is doing well. But if not for the efforts of Becky Naylor and the Susquehanna Chapter American Red Cross, I am not sure things would have worked out as well. Thank you Becky for all you do and for the amazing work of the American Red Cross.

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Democracy Works In Gibson Township
Submitted

On October 5 at the Supervisor's meeting in Gibson Township, a room full of township residents saw democracy at work. The Supervisors were presented with 34 pages of petitions containing 648 signatures of Gibson Township landowners, taxpayers and residents who are opposed to their township’s being a part of the Eastern Susquehanna County Partnership’s zoning coalition.

Pictured above Rick Marcho presents the petitions to Supervisors Christopher Burdick (Chairman), Harold Shay, and Leonard Bartkus.

A group of concerned citizens had spent the past several weeks going door-to-door with the petitions so they could inform their supervisors how the residents felt about the zoning proposal.

After receipt of the petitions and further discussion, the supervisors represented the majority’s request - and voted to withdraw from the Eastern Susquehanna County Partnership and its zoning coalition. The residents were encouraged to see that democracy works in Gibson Township!

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