Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
JANUARY
Central Cove FFA members Ashley Sollenberger, Faith Brumbaugh and Katheryn Longenecker received Keystone FFA Degrees. Longenecker was the third child of Doug and Yvette Longenecker to receive this award. Lydia Byler, Lindsey Koontz and Lauren Over of Northern Bedford FFA also received Keystone Degrees. Representing Williamsburg FFA, Ashley Brubaker, Dylan Hartman, and Lane Frederick received Keystone Degrees.
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Nason Medical Center welcomed its first baby of 2022 on Jan. 3. Cayde Christian Collazo was born to Rebecca Shoup and Christopher Callazo of Claysburg.
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Greenfield Township Supervisor Matthew Treon passed away. He served as the township's road foreman. The board observed a moment of silence in honor of Treon and a couple people spoke about his contributions.
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Williamsburg Borough Council voted against allowing Martin General Store to sell alcoholic beverages. Less than a month later, Martin General Store asked the council to approve an intermunicipal transfer of a restaurant liquor license from Tyrone Borough to Williamsburg. Though the council voted nay once again, Martin officials discovered that council approval was not needed and began selling alcohol.
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The first big snow storm of 2022 brought six inches of snow to the Cove from Sunday evening, Jan. 16, to Monday morning, Jan. 17.
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Curryville Water Authority received a grant and a loan to install 7,500 feet of water line connection and an additional chlorine booster injection system. This project would allow Curryville to connect to Martinsburg Municipal Authority.
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Claysburg-Kimmel and Spring Cove school districts received grants to improve school safety. Claysburg-Kimmel used a $25,000 grant to install a keyless entry system for the elementary school. Spring Cove will use one grant of $25,000 for the purchase of school safety and security equipment for district facilities. Spring Cove's grant for a police officer was $40,000 for the 2021-22 school year and an additional $20,000 in 2022-23.
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Marshall Wally Ritchey started a series on his basketball experience in the 1950s and 60s. The series ran over a span of 5 weeks and covered Ritchey's time at Northern Bedford County through college.
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Doris Dibert finished her series of columns on black families in the Cove. These articles began in September of 2021 and finished in January of 2022.
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FEBRUARY
Two of the four Cove-area school districts saw an increase in their graduation rates from the 2018-19 school year to the 2019-20 school year. Spring Cove jumped from 94.89 percent to 99.28 percent, while Northern Bedford's rate moved from 88.52 percent to 97.1. Claysburg-Kimmel had a 100 percent graduation rate in 2018-19, which dropped to 95.38 in 2019-20. Williamsburg's rate fell from 97.14 to 88.89 percent.
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Williamsburg football players were recognized at Juniata Valley's Fall Sports Banquet. This banquet came after Williamsburg's first year in a co-op with Juniata Valley.
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A shed caught fire in Martinsburg. Utility lines were knocked down during this fire. The Herald office lost internet during production, and the paper had to be physically brought to the Altoona Mirror on a hard drive.
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Martinsburg and Blair County entered an intergovernmental cooperation agreement to declare as a Second Amendment Sanctuary. This means the borough and county prohibit the use of public funds in violation of the Second Amendment. Twenty-five other municipalities entered this agreement as well.
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Martinsburg Fire Department completed a new addition on the fire hall, which included three truck bays, a chief's area, and a lounge area.
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Following Darren McLaurin's retirement in December 2021, Mark Loucks was appointed as the new superintendent of Claysburg-Kimmel School District. Loucks graduated from Central and worked there as a teacher, dean and assistant principal. He served as a principal at Juniata Valley Junior and Senior High and Claysburg-Kimmel Elementary School before becoming superintendent at Forbes Road School District.
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Claysburg-Kimmel's Bailey Garver hit the 1,000-point mark.
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Williamsburg's Historical Society met for the second time to establish the group's goals, which included becoming a non-profit organization, contacting attorneys for help, and looking for a grant to renovate the Williamsburg Public Library basement.
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Dorothy Koontz of Williamsburg celebrated her 102 birthday.She worked for the Williamsburg School board until she was 90 years old.
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Mark Barnhart and NPC, Inc .; Ernest P. Diehl; Rev. Taylor L. and Ella (Weyant) Dively; Clair and Rachel (Colebaugh) Feather; and Musselman's Grove joined the Claysburg Hall of Fame. The ceremony was held in April.
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Roaring Spring ARCH delivered cookies and coffee to local heroes, including the Friendship Volunteer Firefighters, the Roaring Spring Police Department and Conemaugh Nason.
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MARCH
PennDOT conducted a traffic safety study of the Route 36 corridor from I-99, Exit 23, to Cross Cove Road. Representatives held an information open house at Friendship Volunteer Fire Company's fire hall to show the public their plan to improve the Woodbury Pike and East Main Street intersection, as well as the Woodbury Pike and Cove Lane Road intersection. Final design for this project is due between fall 2022 and fall 2023, with bids in December of 2023. Construction would begin in spring 2024 and finish up the following fall.
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Northern Bedford Elementary visited Morrisons Cove Memorial Park's Huntsman Bowling Alley. Students received awards based on the highest scores by grade. Winners included Cooper Imes, Daniel Wiest, Josalinn Zelanko, Lillian Mellott, Lillian Doroba, Christian Moyer, Maddie Pierce, Dreygan Oberman, Kyrian Hardwick, Kaylee Barton, Alexandrea Snider, Brady Black, Jake Keller, Bristol Barton, Emilee Beach, Ava Verbit, and Asher Reffner.
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Roaring Spring's Faith and Grace Learning Center was visited by Miss Pennsylvania Meghan Sinisi for Read Across America Day. Sinisi read "Oh, The Places You'll Go" to the preschool class.
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The Brickhouse Bistro opened in Williamsburg. Jessica Lilly and her husband Christopher Schemeck purchased the building on West Second Street and opened the restaurant with the help of Lilly's family.
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Martinsburg Grace Brethren performed "Don't Miss the Grace of God," a musical written by local musician Ellen M. Stuckey. Stuckey wrote the script and music for the show.
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Morrisons Cove Memorial Park hosted the Class of '29 Basketball Tournament. Hollidaysburg, Spring Cove and Northern Bedford won first, second and third place, respectively.
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Friendship Volunteer Fire Company acquired Carter Kits, which are sensory bags filled with items that are intended to help firefighters communicate with children with autism. The bags include a weighted blanket, noise canceling headphones, sunglasses, fidget toys and non-verbal cue cards.
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Maxwell Transit recognized bus driver Brian Figard for 25 years of service. Figard started bus driving with the intention of driving for a few years. "A few years turned into 25," Figard said.
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Faith Assembly of God Church, Roaring Spring, said goodbye to its housekeeper, Carrie Rightenour after 30 years of service. Rightenour was given a bouquet of flowers and thanked for her faithful service.
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Williamsburg High School's principal, Michael Jones, resigned after five years in the position. Jones stepped down to pursue a career in ministry.
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Morrisons Cove Memorial Park board members announced that the annual J4 celebration would be the Cove Carnival for 2022. This took place a week after July 4.
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APRIL
The Morrisons Cove Herald announced it would be moving into the Morrisons Cove Memorial Park building. The office officially moved in May.
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Spring Cove School Board began discussing the possibility of having a high school musical this school year.
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Aubrey Suter, 9, of Woodbury had art featured in Sports Illustrated Kids. Suter drew a picture of Kenny Pickett, who was the Pitt quarterback at the time.
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Second Street Cafe and Bakery opened in Williamsburg. Cheryl Bassler previously had a restaurant in the airport and a bakery in Woodbury.
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Penncrest announced that it would be buying Mid Penn Bank in Williamsburg. Mid Penn was the only bank in the town, so the announcement was met with much relief.
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Northern Bedford County School District was honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.
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Twenty-nine members of Claysburg-Kimmel FBLA attended a conference. Twenty members placed in the top ten at the conference, held in Hershey.
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The Blair County Sports Hall of Fame chose Bailey Garver of Claysburg-Kimmel and Parker Gregg of Central as the recipients of its annual scholarship. Garver was recognized for basketball and Gregg was recognized for football.
MAY
The Morrisons Cove Herald announced that it had won nine awards in the 2022 Professional Keystone Media Awards contest.
The awards are:
• George Berkheimer, First Place in Enterprise Reporting for his series, "How the Cove is Changing"
• Rick Boston, Second Place in breaking news for his story, "One Dead in Woodbury Fire"
• Allan Bassler and Anna Baughman, Second Place in Editorial for a series of editorials.
• Baughman and Bassler, Second Place in Feature Page Design. Baughman and Bassler also received Second Place in Sports Page Design.
• Boston, Honorable Mention in News Feature Story for his story, "The Cove's First Pride March"
• Allan Bassler, Rick Boston, Thomas Schmitt, Joe Ayers, Honorable Mention in Ongoing News Coverage for "How the Pandemic Affected the Cove"
• Gary Baranec, Honorable Mention in News Event Photo for his photo "It was like being sucker-punched"
• Lugene Shelly and Denny Shoemaker, Honorable Mention in Photo Story/Essay for "Ida Inundates the Cove"
Note: The award-winning photo appeared (again) on Page B-6 of the May 5 edition.
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Two candidates were vying for the Republican nomination for the General Assembly in the 80th District.Incumbent Rep. Jim Gregory faced a challenge from Trish Haight for the two-year seat. Gregory, who was first elected to the seat in 2018, was seeking his third term while Haight is making her first attempt at the office.
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A Williamsburg resident wrote a letter to the editor asking that attention be paid to a sink hole that had opened on Bear Crossing Drive.
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The Central Dragon Baseball team won the Curve Classic, defeating Bishop Guilfoyle, 18-2; Northern Bedford, 13-1; and Tyrone, 12-6.
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The Morrisons Cove Rotary invited Morrisons Cove Herald Editor Anna Baughman to BASICS/Rotary Career Fair at the Blair County Convention Center.The career fair gave area sophomores the opportunity to look into possible careers. All four Cove schools attended the fair, and Baughman met students from Central, Claysburg-Kimmel and Williamsburg who were interested in the field of journalism and writing.
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Spring Cove graduate Danielle Maurer had been working toward going on the television quiz show "Jeopardy!" since the early 2000s. In January, she found out she would compete, and the dream became reality when the episode was recorded on Feb. 15. The episode aired on May 6.
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Curryville Church, located at 1535 Curryville Road, held a service on May 1 to bless tractors and farmers. Pastor Chris Heinlein was installed on Sunday, May 15.
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A bridge in Freedom Township was closed indefinitely until officials could fully assess the damage and plan for repairs. County Bridge No. 69, located on Everett Road near the post office, was damaged last month when an entire side crumbled into the creek while workers were running new water and sewer lines.
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Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Jeff Coleman visited the Herald on May 9. Coleman was previously a Pa. representative and is running on a platform of returning "statesmanship and civility" to politics. He was one of nine candidates on the May 17 primary ballot.
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The Morrisons Cove Memorial Park offered a big "thank you" to the Central High School Scarlet Dragons Baseball Team and coaches for assisting the park in moving and spreading new playground mulch in Acorn Cove.
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Rising fuel costs forced volunteer fire departments to make some changes. With diesel at over $6 a gallon in May, some departments elected to not provide pool-filling services over the summer.
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Thirty-two Williamsburg High School students received their diplomas during Commencement activities on May 27.
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Williamsburg High School students were honored as the school district held its annual National Honor Society banquet/awards ceremony on May 11. This was the first time since COVID-19 that a banquet preceded the awards ceremony in the elementary cafeteria.
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Martinsburg native Darcy Heltzel was crowned the 2022-23 Blair County Dairy Princess. She previously was alternate for 2021-22 Princess Madison Benfer. Heltzel's alternate is Abigail England.
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At the end of an undefeated season, the Central Dragon Baseball team were the champions of the Laurel Highlands Conference. An 8-5 victory over the Forest Hills Rangers ended the undefeated season for the Dragons. Central won the District VI Championship, defeating Penns Valley on May 28 at Altoona's People's Natural Gas Field.
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As the Lady Dragons' regular season came to a close, an 18-2 record gave them the edge in the Laurel Highlands conference, putting them at the top. But a loss in the playoffs then brought the Lady Dragons' season to close. They finished with a record of 19-3.
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On May 21, about 240 members of Southern Cove Power Reunion and their families attended the annual awards banquet on the Power Reunion grounds.
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Blank Book and Keith Electrical Services of Roaring Spring replaced old light bulbs with new LED light bulbs in the Spring Dam fountain. The work is part of an upgrade to the fountain, including a new pump system.
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The Williamsburg baseball team fell just short of its goal in the PIAA Class 1A championship game, losing to Bishop McCort 7-4, in a game that was much closer than the scoreboard indicated.
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Thanks to community support and volunteers, the Martinsburg Community Book Sale held on May 26-28 was a success. The book sale is held annually, sponsored by the Martinsburg Friends of the Library to financially help the community library.
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JUNE
On June 1, the Herald opened the doors on a new phase of its service to the Cove community. On that day, supporters, friends and past owners and publishers of the Herald gathered to celebrate our move to a new home. As of that day, the Herald was officially in a new office space in the Morrisons Cove Memorial Park building.
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The Central High School graduation ceremony took place on June 2. Central High School presented 149 graduates for 2022.
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The Northern Bedford County High School commencement was held June 2 at Panther Community Stadium. NBCHS presented 68 graduates for 2022.
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Claysburg-Kimmel High School celebrated graduation on June 4 at Claysburg Community Park. Seventy-five students graduated.
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The VFW auxiliary in conjunction with the Claysburg, East Freedom, and Roaring Springs' police departments held the first annual "Family Freedom Festival" on June 4 at the East Freedom Fire Hall.
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Local businesses changed ownership in June. Smith Transport, a locally owned trucking company, was sold to Heartland Express for an estimated $170 million. Pristows Equipment Group, an outdoor power equipment retailer in Cambria and Somerset counties, acquired the Bobcat of Martinsburg dealership.
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The Central Dragons baseball team completed its perfect 27-0 season by defeating Lancaster Catholic in a game that didn't even go the distance. Central barely broke a sweat in its 13-2 rout of the Crusaders, becoming the PIAA Class 3A State Champions.
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The Central High School team of Gerald Brumbaugh of Martinsburg and Dalton Metzger of Roaring Spring brought five bass to the scale weighing 20 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the Major League Fishing (MLF) High School Fishing Presented by Favorite Fishing Open at Smith Mountain Lake. The duo qualified to compete in the 2023 High School Fishing National Championship.
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Dale C. and Doris E. (Black) Dilling of Raystown Road, Hopewell, observed 70 years of marriage on June 10. Mr. and Mrs. Dilling were united in marriage on June 10, 1952, by Dale's father in the home of Reverend E. Paul and Ethel Dilling, his parents. The couple has resided in that same home since 1965.
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More than 300 motorcyclists gathered in Williamsburg on June 5 for the 12th annual SPC Chad Edmundson Memorial Dice Run.
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Seven Garver YMCA Gymnasts qualified for the 2022 YMCA National Gymnastics Championships. The championships were held June 22-26 in Toledo, Ohio, at the SeaGate Convention Center.
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Williamsburg's Head Coach Bobby McCall decided to end his coaching career after 31 years. McCall had coached baseball in the Williamsburg area for 6 years.
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A ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the minimum 50-year prison sentence of Deauntay Moye, putting an end to the sentencing sagas of the two men who pled guilty to the January 2015 murder of 21-year-old Stephanie Waters of Roaring Spring.
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Eight members of the Central Cove FFA Chapter took part in the PA FFA State Activities Week held at Penn State University in June.
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The Fifth Annual Morrisons Cove Rotary Club and Dragon Pride Foundation Golf Outing held on Friday, June 24th at Iron Masters Country Club raised a profit of over $12,000.
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Editor's Note: This edition covered the first half of 2022. The Jan. 5, 2023 edition of the Herald will feature July through December.
The Herald staff thanks all who contributed to the paper this year and looks forward to more submissions, stories, photos and news in 2023.
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