Bears, etc.

Hines from Heinz: As mentioned in a previous blog, Hines Ward is featured on a TV program with CHS student Carlton Dennis. The show will air on USA Network at 4:00 west coast time (I've already set my timer to record) so I am assuming it will play at 7:00 pm this Friday on the east coast.The quote from a Daily News article reads in part, “Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward and Clairton City School District junior Carlton Dennis will be featured as part of an upcoming documentary.” Divittorio goes on to explain that USA Network will do aa series beginning Feb. 10 entitled “NFL Characters Unite,” a series designed to help students deal with racism, bullying, and other forms of abuse. Featured will be Steeler great Hines Ward and CHS junior Carlton Dennis. Ward, the MVP of Super Bowl XL, spent time at CHS having lunch with the students, attending an assembly, and spending time with Carlton." Just one more snapshot of our community in the headlines for something good.

"Keep those cards and letters and checks coming in:" Sue Wessel tells me that the donations to help the three-time winners of the Pennsylvania State Championship Clairton Bears have begun to flow in. The kids need your help for the once-in-a-lifetime experience. Let's face it, as good as the Bears have been, most of the team will not earn scholarships for their football prowess, and for those who do it is unlikely that they'll ever win a championship. The experience of having been part of such a phenomenal run is something the young men will remember for a lifetime. Please send your donations to help cover the cost of the rings to:Sue Wessel, 512 N. 6th Street, Clairton, Pa 15025. Make checks payable to the "Clairton Athletic Champions Club.”

Just like the walls of Jericho: If you remember your Sunday School lessons, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. Many of the locks on the Monongahela River look to suffer a similar fate. According to a recent investigative report by Tribune writer C. Togneri, "When three barges broke loose 10 days ago on the Monongahela River, bouncing off bridges, forcing road closures and slowing the morning commute, the accident resulted in yet-another unscheduled waterway closure in the Army Corps of Engineers' Pittsburgh District.

While most closures are not nearly as spectacular, they are common, according to local and national waterway officials. They promise to get worse.

Western Pennsylvania's 23 locks are old and, in some cases, crumbling, officials said. The Dashields lock and dam on the Ohio River has unstable chamber walls that move when vessels pass. At Lock and Dam No. 2 on the Allegheny, large chunks of concrete have fallen off chamber walls, risking vessels and crew. At the 76-year-old Montgomery Lock and Dam on the Ohio, the gates are so old and weak that two gave out in 2005 after loose barges crashed into them, although they are designed to sustain such a hit.

Combine that with continued cuts to federal funding for maintenance and operations, and the region's waterways are not only unreliable for industry, but approaching a "scary" status, officials said.

"We already have double the national average of unscheduled outages, and with cuts to federal funding, we're going to quadruple the national average this year," said Jim McCarville, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission. "When you think about it, it's really quite scary."

In a nation full of aging waterway infrastructure, Pittsburgh's is the oldest. Designed to last 50 years, about half of locks in the United States are 50 years or older, according to statistics from the Army Corps. In Western Pennsylvania, 66 percent are 50 years or older. The Emsworth locks on the Ohio River are 91 years old, and of the eight locks and dams on the Allegheny, the youngest, in Rimer, is 74 years old.

"They are aging and fatigued," said Jim Fisher, chief of operations for the corps' Pittsburgh District. "The only good news is that we know there are major problems."

Rimer and another Allegheny lock, at Templeton, have been shut down because there is no money for upkeep. Commercial vessels must call 24 hours in advance to pass.

Federal funding for maintenance and operations in the district is expected to drop for a second straight year, from $101 million in fiscal year 2010 and $83.3 million in 2011 to $71.4 million in 2012, according to the corps. The 2012 number is a projection; officials expect to get the final number in days, said Dan Jones, an Army Corps spokesman.

"We're doing no more major preventative maintenance," Fisher said.

The corps oversees nine locks on the Monongahela River, eight on the Allegheny River and six on the Ohio River. Its repair fleet -- which responds to vessel and lock emergencies and maintains the locks and dams -- has slashed hours of operation from 24 hours to 16 hours a day, Fisher said.

In the Jan. 19 accident, two coal barges headed for U.S. Steel's Clairton Works got loose near the Liberty Bridge. One floated to the Ohio and sank; the other struck a moored barge filled with sand at Frank Bryan Inc., a South Side construction materials supply business. It ripped that barge loose, then pinned it against a Smithfield Street Bridge pier. The Coast Guard is investigating the cause.

U.S. Steel depends on the Monongahela Ohio River system for transporting raw materials and finished steel to and from its Clairton, Irvin, and Edgar Thomson plants in the Mon Valley, said company spokeswoman Erin DiPietro.

"Without an efficient water transportation system, these plants would be significantly less competitive in today's steel market," she said.

Coal shipped to Clairton is used to make coke, she said. The coke is shipped to U.S. Steel blast furnaces in Braddock; Gary, Ind.; Detroit; Fairfield, Ala.; and Granite City, Ill.

Last year, there were 475 unscheduled closures of locks on Western Pennsylvania rivers, mostly from equipment failures, but also the result of rarer issues, such as loose barges and flooding, officials said. Unscheduled closings blocked river traffic for almost 9,500 hours combined, federal statistics show.

"We no longer have a reliable system. It's as simple as that," Fisher said.

The Coast Guard closed the Monongahela for two days while crews salvaged the loose barges. Traffic on the Ohio and Allegheny was not affected."

Clairton boy passes away: Under the "What ever happened to" category, Larry Clipper left home for a brilliant career in higher education. His recent obituary reads as follows: "LAWRENCE JON CLIPPER December 13, 1930 - January 22, 2012 Naval Veteran and Scholar Lawrence Jon Clipper, U.S. Navy Ret. and Emeritus Professor of English Literature, Indiana University at South Bend, died Sunday, January 22, 2012 in Good Samaritan Hospital, West Palm Beach, after a long illness. He was born December 13, 1930 in Clairton, PA to Rose T. and Eli Clipper. After graduating from Clairton High School, Class of 1948, Lawrence went on to Brown University on an NROTC Scholarship and graduated in the Class of 1953. He then served as a line officer in the U.S. Navy principally on three ships, the USS Newport News, the USS Wisconsin, and the USS Intrepid, during the Korean conflict. After his naval career, Lawrence went to The George Washington University, receiving his Master's Degree in 1958. He moved to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he earned his Ph.D. Lawrence taught at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA; Ball State University, Muncie, IN; and Indiana University at South Bend (IUSB), South Bend, IN. He taught at IUSB for 28 years, retiring to Florida in 1994. He performed scholarly work on the Victorians, in particular the writings of Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens. He published several scholarly works on G.K. Chesterton. Professor Clipper is survived by his wife, Patricia Clipper of West Palm Beach and their two daughters, Melanie C. Zatti of West Palm Beach and Stephanie Clipper of Washington, D.C."

Keep the home fires burning: Roger and Kathy Tachoir are Clairtonians to the core. In addition to having their business in Clairton they both take active roles in the community. Roger sits on the School Board and Kathy is president of the Clairton Chamber of Commerce and serves on the City Council. Kathy's family were the proprietors of Grisnik's Bakery across from the post office. Kathy recently sent us an email announcing two upcoming activities.
Saturday, May 26, 2012, 3rd Annual Clairton Chamber of Commerce 5kRace/ 2 mile Race.
Saturday, September 15th, 2012 from 12-5pm 7th Annual Clairton CommUNITY Day. If you live in the area, please plan to participate in both events. They could also use volunteers to help with the events so if you are able please email me and I'll pass your contact information on.

Can it be true? Finally, we heard from a questionable source about a local doctor. His business had been pretty slow. In fact one day he had only three patients. The first came in with a headache so he prescribed aspirin. The second came in with a stomach ache so he prescribed Maalox. The third was a local woman who came into his office and said, "Doc, I've been up in the mountains of West Virginia for six weeks and haven't seen a man. What can you do for me?" So he gave her eye drops.

A little blogging music Maestro… “My Little Town" by Simon and Garfunkel

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com
email: drforgot@cox.net



notify me now if I can count on you to volunteer or have any new ideas for us.

Clairton Today and Yesterday

The Spirit of Clairton History

Bears and Honeybears: The Clairton Bears knocked off another opponent. A Districts 7 (WPIAL); 5 football 2010 - Round 1 - Game 1. This time the victim was Carmichaels and the score was 42-0. The next playoff opponent will be Bishop Canevin next Friday. We will keep you posted. By the way, Clairton is the only team to advance in the playoffs from the Black Hills Conference. Fort Cherry, Chartiers-Houston and Brentwood lost their first-round games.

There is more to Clairton than just football even though it seems to get the most ink. A full complement of mens and womens sports has been a tradition of CHS for many decades. The band is among the many extra-curricular activities available to students and the majorettes, renamed Honeybears in the 1950s are among the pride of Clairton. Reader Gary Irvine sent me the photo of the majorettes circa 1952. It was a few years after the photo above that Benny Benack took over from Rutilio Rotilli as the head of the band and majorettes. Benny was a cool dude in those days. His parents ran the photo studio that took most of the school pictures and Benny was a prodigy. He regularly played his trumpet and led bands at Steeler and Pirate games and had the majorettes select a name for their group. They chose “Honeybears.

The drum major has not yet been identified but the girls, so talented yet still in high school, from left to right are: Peggy Manual, Nancy Irvine, Nora Fiore, Clair Cicchini, Viola Roberts, Mary Jane Pittman, Audrey Slate, and Agnes Martis. We also mention with sadness that Nancy Irvine recently passed away in Charleston, S.C. at age 75.

Cheerleaders: The majorettes of 1952 were complemented by a unique group of cheerleaders. Why unique? They were all male! George Kraynak, Michael Mihalov, Burt Finney, Roy Verbanes, Angelo Sgroi, and Paul LeDonne were the five male cheerleaders who, according to the Clairtonian, “… mastered the old standby cheers and added to the list, Sound Off, Where, Where, and Ichabod.” Whether 1952 or nearly 60 years thereafter, school spirit is alive and well at Clairton High School.

Not just a good football team: Most educators groaned when the federal government introduced the “No Child Left Behind” Act. The idea was a good one but the first problem was that it was an unfunded initiative, which meant schools were mandated to do several things including scads and scads of student testing, but no monies were provided with which to accomplish the task. Still schools were measured against one another and each year a report card, called, AYP, or Average Yearly Progress measures the success to which all students are held. In a recent letter, Clairton School District Superintendent Dr. Lucille L. Abellonio wrote, “We are extremely proud to announce that the district has achieved AYP status in reading and mathematics for the third consecutive year! Congratulations for all their hard work to staff and students.


“In order to continue our academic progress, there are many exciting changes planned for this year at Clairton City School District! The district is beginning a ninth grade academy at the high school level. There will be a wing on the high school floor which will house all ninth grade classrooms and faculty. This will establish a sense of community for those students and provide a vehicle to foster communication between staff members working with our ninth grade students. New courses are being offered in the High School. The departments offering the new courses include English, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics, Business Education, Family and Consumer Science, Technology Education and Art Education.

“Student court, the school newspaper, and the production of morning announcements are just a few of the new activities available for student participation. We are excited to begin Project Grad during the fall semester and provide academic support services and college access services to our high school students throughout the day. The program will be located in room 224.

“Some middle school students will participate in Read 180 a computer based reading program. This program is based on individual student ability and incorporates videos, teacher instruction and books with CDs for independent instruction.

“Elementary school will continue the academic academies and learning academies which were instituted last year. Children, parents and teachers have provided much positive feedback regarding the elementary program.

“We are welcoming a new social worker this year, Ms. Cassidy Yeager, who is coming to us from the Pittsburgh Public Schools and will be working with all our students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. She has many exciting plans for the coming year.

“The district received the Enhancing Education through Technology (EETT) grant in the amount of $50,000.00 which will be used to continue to integrate technology into classroom lessons. A new District website is being developed, and wireless network access will be available on the high school level as well as other common areas such as the cafeteria and auditorium.” A tip of the hat to the good Doctor and her staff.

Too many homeless: Homelessness is an issue in many parts of the country, and western PA is no exception. For the children of homeless parents the problem is even more acute. .Nicole Anderson, coordinator of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit's Homeless Children's Initiative, which covers nine southwestern Pennsylvania counties has conducted training sessions for districts outlining their responsibilities to homeless students. Clairton School District participated in a session and has developed a partnership with a local agency providing transitional housing for single parents of 24 children. On the first Wednesday of each month, high school guidance counselor Maureen McGarvey goes to Sisters Place in Clairton to check in with moms. On her first visit she gave them enrollment packets and a list of important numbers and dates. There must be a special lounge in heaven for people who do certain things on earth. That lounge would include military heroes, palliative care workers, and guidance counselors such as Maureen who go above and beyond the call for our children.


A follow up: Thanks to readers Doe, Shelby, and bill who forwarded us information Clairton Club 46. It is a social club run by volunteer firemen who drive Clairton Fire Truck #46. Word is that the cook is great and the fish frys are yummy. We’ll have to give it a try on our next visit.
A little blogging music Maestro… “You’re My Inspiration” by the Chicago.

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com
www.mifflintownship.org

Of Reunions and Other Victories

CHS Alumni

Remember the Cobras: Or the Bears depending on when you happened to have the good fortune to attend Clairton High School. We have mentioned the history of the school many times in this space – after the first graduating class in 1907, classes were held in various venues around town until a brand new red brick three story high school opened on Fifth Street (see photo above left). The high school became Fifth Street Grade School when the new (and current) high school was built (photo above right). Fifth Street Grade School was eventually demolished and the portion of Fifth Street that separated the two schools was permanently closed.

Back in the day: Seventy-five years ago 254 bright-faced boys and girls accepted their Clairton High School diploma. They graduated in the midst of the Great Depression and between two World Wars. Some achieved great things, others fought and died for their country, others had marriages, children, and careers. But nearly 20% of members of that class of 1935 took life one day at a time and are still around and in their 90s. Several were among the 600+ who showed up at the multi-year (classes of ’34 through ’70) celebration at Clairton Park recently.

Barb Ceryak was just in the seventh grade when the Class of ’35 graduated but she went to college and spent a career teaching girls physical education at the school. Rose Schepis DaBaldo, a junior when the class of ’35 graduated also became a teacher of shorthand, dictaphone and transcription (try explaining THAT curriculum to your grandkids).



Six members of the class of 1935 who were in attendance for their 75th high school reunion received special recognition. They included Jennie Prince Peterson, Martha Bickerton Shaver, Hilda Moresea Walsh, Andrew Sivak, J. Clark Leis and Peter Gimiliano. The previous class opted to not have a yearbook due to the hard times but Class of ’35 took up a collection to underwrite the project then sold the Annuals for $1.00 each! Ms. Bickerton (Shaver) traveled the farthest to attend – from California (the state, not the city). Andy Sivak will soon celebrate his 69th wedding anniversary, and Ms. Peterson has become a world traveler with her daughter and family members.



Jennie Peterson, along with a little help from daughter Diane arranged to have a tent and special cake, decorated with class photos of attendees. In preparation for the reunion the two women became expert detectives at tracking down class members, often using such tools as the Social Security Death Index. Ms. Jennie Peterson has been keeping track of class members since they graduated, but she has finally replaced her steno notebook with an email account and computer. She continues tracking and logging information in preparation for her 80th class reunion.

Back to the Bears: Clairton has had its problems with the demise of the mills. Of that there is no argument. However, the athletics teams, particularly the football team, have continued to prosper. They barely eked out a win (41-0) in the opener against Little Washington and were actually scored upon in the second game victory (55-6) against Western Beaver. The third game against Carlynton (which to me sounds like an uppity pronunciation of Clairton) was another blowout; 60-6. So far this year it has been Bears 156, Opponents 12.

But the Bears do not have a perfect record. They actually lost a conference game – five years ago. Last year the team won the state championship, won three out of the last four WPIAL crowns, and a total of seven WPIAL championships. The Bears have made 13 WPIAL championship game appearances and have been conference champs four consecutive years. I confess that while back for my 50th high school reunion in June I neglected to go into the school to see if it was tipping toward Fifth Street under the weight of all the trophies.

Sports quiz for the day: Which team has 33 wins since the start of the 2008 season and has more victories than any other school in Pennsylvania? If you guessed Clairton high school, you are correct. Ok, bonus question: Who comes in second in the WPIAL? That would be Clairton-spawned Thomas Jefferson High School which boasts 27 wins. I’m not sure if the band and Honeybears still gather at the high school on Friday night home games, then march to the stadium, as they did in the good old days, but the tradition of winning still wafts through the air on Football Fridays.

One of 16 passes on: Obituaries from Clairton include native daughter Irene Lehner who recently passed away. She was born Irene Randolph, one of 16 children born to steelworker James and his wife Sarah Jane Plaster Randolph. She dropped out of high school to help support her family and married William Lehner in 1941. She did not let a little thing like lack of a high school diploma hold her back. She wrote for the Clairton Progress and conducted metallurgical analysis for a steel mill during World War II. She learned the art of floral arranging and became known as one of the top florists in the area. Mrs. Lehner as active in Girl Scouts, Rainbow Girls, and many other church and service organizations. She was also very active as a member of the Clairton First Presbyterian Church. She went to eternal rest at age 92.

A little blogging music Maestro... “Memories are Made of This” by Dean Martin.

Dr. Forgot

http://drforgot.com

Unions and Reunions

The Tie that Binds

Reader comments: We get regular feedback from readers. Sometimes the blog misbehaves and refuses to accept the comments. Fortunately, when that happens I often get an email, such as the one recently from my editor in chief and occasional guest blogger Jill Urso. In response to a previous week’s blog on Easter traditions she writes, “My mother was the organist for the Lutheran church on Walnut Avenue in Wilson. I remember sunrise services on Memorial Hill at Clairton Park. They would rent her a portable organ and she would have to pump it with her feet to keep it going!!! We never missed a year even though sometimes it was freezing!”

Reunions and other ties: I’m not sure how unique Clairton residents and former residents are about keeping in touch with their roots. If Mrs. Dr. Forgot’s high school is any indication, Clairton is unique. Her graduating class, which got their diplomas a few years and a couple of thousand miles away from mine has had exactly one formal reunion in the decades that followed graduation. They also had a recent brunch with a couple dozen classmates getting together one morning at a local country club. But Clairton denizens, past and present seem to have a proclivity to get together more often.

Bears across the years: Each year at Clairton Park a multi-year reunion is held at the Lodge. This year it will be held Saturday, September 4 starting at 11:00 a.m. Although the focus is on graduating classes between 1934 and 1970, members of other classes have never been turned away. It is a casual, multi-family affair with folks bringing their own lawn chairs, drinks, and spouses. It is said that a class reunion is the true measure of the love of a spouse or partner, as it can be their most boring experience ever. Not so the multi-year CHS reunions. So many families, spouses, colleagues and friends stop by that being bored simply is not an option. The sponsors of the Multi-year Reunion Picnic have a web site: http://chsreunionpicnic.com.

Bears across the miles: So many ex-pat Clairtonians have migrated to the Sunshine State that a Clairton reunion is held annually in Ft. Desoto Park, Florida. This one is held when the chill is on in Clairton – the third Saturday in February every year. For photos, directions, and other information, see the website that discusses the CHS Florida Reunion: http://www.chsreunionpicnic.com/florida2009pics.html

Golden Bears to meet this summer: The Clairton High School class of 1960 was unique in a variety of ways. Students came from Finleyville, Elrama, West Mifflin, Jefferson Borough, Pleasant Hills and other parts of the globe to attend CHS in the closing days of the 1950s. As sophomores the Class of 1960 was so large that the school administration had to resort to creative scheduling to accommodate the huge number of World War II babies. This was accomplished by opening the theater up for use as a study hall. The theater had wooden floors that slanted toward the stage, that also doubled as gym class (then called “phys ed”) as well as serving as the basketball floor for high school basketball games. A few ne’er-do-well lads would sit in the back rows during study hall and roll marbles down the wooden floors, disrupting the few studies that actually occurred.

To alleviate the CHS overcrowding a brand new school was built out in the sticks. It was named Thomas Jefferson High School and the inaugural class was carved out of the sophomore CHS Class of 1960.

A half century in the blink of an eye: This June the CHS class of 1960 will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their graduation with a reunion. This class is both unique and special in that starting with the 10th anniversary the class has held a reunion every five years. Every reunion was well planned by a core of hard working class officers and well attended by alums who had roamed the globe – from California to France to Africa, and even a core group of locals who stayed nearby but attend each reunion. In the interest of full disclosure we must confess that we are a member of this class, but we also have a mailing list of well over 200 CHS alumni who read this blog regularly and we hear from others who have received the blog in an email. To those CHS classmates from 1960 who have not yet made plans to attend I encourage you to make your reservation soon. This one promises to be the best yet. Information can be found on the 1960 CHS website: http://www.clairton1960.com/

A Clairton Bear Football Legacy: Back in the “good old days” when men were men and women were glad of it, and you could tell one from the other even at a quick glance, Clairton was an athletic powerhouse. Swimming, track, basketball, football, and other sports were consistent winners in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) but none were ever state champs. That was only because there were no state championships until recently. The Bears football team came close a couple of times, getting knocked out in the semis or finals, but fame did not elude them long. The week before Christmas saw the Bears, which had previously won six WPIAL championships, win it all against Bishop McCourt. They are keeping up a rich tradition. So will the 1960 graduates reflect on the wins, losses, cheers, and tears this June. Hope to see you there.

A little blogging music Maestro… “Be True to Your School” by the Beach Boys.

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com