September 26, 2018

COVER STORY

Banana Factory’s expansion

ArtsQuest representatives approached the Bethlehem Historic Conservation Commission Sept. 12 for input on plans to dramatically alter the block of buildings that make up the Banana Factory Arts & Education Center at the Sept. 17 meeting. ArtsQuest CEO Kassie Hilgert, MKSD architect Todd Chambers, and Joe Klocek of Boyle Construction provided the board with a detailed presentation on the project for 25 West Third St. The proposal calls for the demolition of five of the six buildings in the complex and construction of a new four-story structure on the site of the current plaza and parking lot. The representatives explained that the programming the organization provides has outgrown the facilities. Instead of relocating elsewhere, they said ArtsQuest is determined to remain there in order to serve the needs of the nearby community.

By Ed Courrier

 

ENTERTAINMENT

Oktoberfest introduces new events

The inaugural Stein Hoisting Championships, Weiner Dog Parade, DRAGTOBERFEST drag show, Flame Nouveau belly dancers and 3-on-3 Beer-Tag are among the many new highlights guests can enjoy for free when they attend the eighth annual Oktoberfest at SteelStacks, presented by Lehigh Valley International Airport Oct. 5-7 and 12-14.

By Nate Jastrzemski

 

LIVING BY FAITH

I thought I was done with Sunday school

Oki! As I sit here, I wonder what I should share. Should I share my current thoughts, feelings and fears? Or should I go the safer route and share more from my first few months? I know the purpose of writing this column is to share the challenges I face, in addition to the culture, but the challenges from this month are still problematic and still too close to the surface. Instead of the current events, I think I will take you back in time to when I first moved here.

By Carina Stoves

 

PEOPLE

Ross: ‘Data is the raw material’

Technology policy expert Alec Ross spoke on “Innovation Education and the Industries of the Future” as part of the Cohen Arts & Lecture Series at Moravian College Sept. 12. An expert on innovation, cybersecurity, and internet freedom, he is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Industries of the Future.”Ross is the former Senior Advisor for Innovation for the State Department and was named one of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine and Huffington Post’s “10 Game Changers in Politics.”

By Michelle Meeh

 

SPORTS

Pates still undefeated

A goal-line stand late in the third quarter helped reignite Freedom’s offense, setting the stage for its win over Whitehall as their offense erupted for 21 points in the final period to remain undefeated. With Whitehall knocking on the door after stringing together an 18-play drive that ate up most of the third quarter, the Patriots held firm at their own 2-yard-line, stopping running back Allen Negrete short on fourth-and-two as he attempted to draw the Zephyrs within one score.

By Steve Andres

 

FOCUS

It’s all happening at the Lehigh Valley Zoo

Smart fun is to be found this fall at the Lehigh Valley Zoo, Schnecksville, Lowhill and North Whitehall townships, Lehigh County. There is an event or exhibit for every member of the family to enjoy nearly year-round. The 29-acre zoo, located inside the 1,100-acre Trexler Nature Preserve, offers a safe and engaging wildlife experience for all ages who can get up close and personal with animals from around the world. The Lehigh Valley Zoo is home to approximately 300 animals representing 104 species, 36 of which are classified as endangered, threatened, or species of concern.

By Dawn Ouellette

 

OTHER STORIES

Bethlehem: Taste & Tunes Oct. 7 at new venue

Bethlehem: Donchez cracks down on rentals

Bethlehem: Turbin plan spins on despite legal hurdles

Bethlehem: HCC approves peel-off signage

Bethlehem Township: Anderson Campus to get helipad
fountain Hill: Residents speak against feral cat ordinance

Lehigh County: County may do away with cash bail

Lehigh County: Scenes from the Allentown Fair

Opinion: The same 10 people

Reflections: Opening day of school by Ed Gallagher

Saucon Valley: District finds ‘favorable’ class size

South Bethlehem: ‘City Light’s focus of task force meeting

 

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Center for Animal Health and Welfare

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Student profiles

High school news reports

 

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September 19, 2018

COVER STORY

‘Real Men Wear Pink’

Family,  friends, supporters, and of course the 20 candidates of the “Real Men Wear Pink” campaign, gathered in the Lehigh Iacocca dining room Sept. 6 to celebrate the big reveal of the faces of nominees behind the campaign, and everything they are contributing to the fight against breast cancer. These men are supporting the American Cancer Society by vowing to wear pink every day of October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Men in local businesses throughout the Lehigh Valley community have been nominated by colleagues and family members to raise funds and appear at several Amerian Cancer Society events to shed light on the important health concern that has touched the lives of many of the “Real Men Wear Pink” nominees and an alarming number of people nationwide.

By Leslie Regan

 

COMMUNITY

Hispanic center hosts backpack event

The Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley opened its doors to hundreds of area students and their families for a back to school backpack giveaway Aug. 25.  Several community partners and sponsors combined their resources to present the event with each student receiving a new backpack filled with tablets, pencils and pens. Families lined the 500 block of East Fourth Street in Bethlehem patiently waiting for the 10 a.m. entry to start. Photo: MEGA Radio office manager Maria Rivera hands out backpacks to children at the back-to-school experience.

By Dana Grubb

 

LIVING BY FAITH
Ground blizzards, black ice and long-ago injustices
When I moved to Montana, people here asked me if I was used to snow. Was I ready for the winters?  I responded that I was from the Poconos in Pennsylvania, a part of the Appalachian mountain range. Sure, I was ready for winter and snow. Yes, it is true: I am used to snow – snow that comes from the sky and stays put. But in January, I learned about what locals here call a ground blizzard. I knew what a blizzard is. I was living in Allentown in 1996 when a blizzard hit, and we had all the snow piles to enjoy we could handle. I was about 8 years old at the time, and it was amazing to walk to school a week later with the snow still piled high over my head. Here, that same amount of snow is nothing. Photo: A snow plow clears the road to Browning, Montana. Ground blizzards create drifts so high it seems as though snowplows have not been on the road.

By Carina Stoves

 

E

NTERTAINMENT/CULTURE

31^st Celtic Classic opens Sept. 28

The Celtic Cultural Alliance (CCA) announces the 31st presentation of the Celtic Classic Highland Games & Festival Sept. 28-30. The Celtic Classic has blossomed into one of the largest Highland Games and Festival in North America. Annually, over 250,000 visitors come to Historic Bethlehem to join in this celebration of all things Celtic. This year brings many new features that are sure to be crowd-pleasers. From the traditional Highland Games events and haggis-eating contest, to the junior fiddle competition and instructional ceili dancing, there is an abundance of fun activities to experience for festivalgoers of all ages.

 

SPORTS

Football: Becahi beats Parkland

For nearly 15 minutes of game action last weekend, or a quarter-and-a-half, the Bethlehem Catholic High School football team looked like it was going to be another victim of the Parkland High School football team on its home turf.  It could not get anything going and the Trojans defense, normally stifling to the point of consistently recording shutouts, had not yet allowed a point to the Golden Hawks.

By CJ Hemerling

 

LV FOCUS

Fighting for 100 years

The Great Depression, 1933. Joseph Zeller and his younger brother Frank are promoting fights for a gangster. Joe is a lad of 14 and is learning the ropes of human nature and the difference between what people say and what people do. Joe’s mother, Frances, has already passed. His father, Carl, runs a tavern in Campus, Illinois, and later, Godley, Illinois, and the elder Zeller is concerned about the influence the operation has on the youth so he moves the boys to southern Indiana to live with their aunt Josephine, who has several farms and supplements her income by making moonshine, most of which is transported to Chicago. “We had to work hard and do the best we could,” Joe recalls. “I did what I could on my own.”

By Stephen Althouse

 

OTHER STORIES

Bethlehem: Auditor clears Charts Arts; condemns current laws

Bethlehem: Roy and LaBelle respond to state auditor’s report

Bethlehem police: Robbers arrested

Bethlehem: Annual Knights of Columbus sale a great success

Fountain Hill: Renovation costs eased by $750K grant

Hellertown: Electric Hero owners honored after closure

Lehigh County: New budget to buy assets, forgo debt

Readers say: The importance of community journalism, local news

Saucon Valley: Board approves rec swimming membership

 

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September 12, 2018

COVER STORY

Addressing survival sex

In the Lehigh Valley, affordable housing is difficult to find. Due to unforeseen and often unpreventable circumstances, many people find themselves without assets or support and are forced out of their homes and onto the street. Although there are programs and organizations devoted to helping these members of the community, the available resources are often scarce, sometimes leading already-vulnerable women to become even more vulnerable.

By Katya Hrichak

 

LEHIGH VALLEY

Diocese to open recovery school

The Diocese of Allentown announced in a press event Friday the planned opening of the nation’s first Catholic-run high school for students recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. The Kolbe Academy will open its doors next September to up to 90 ninth-12th grade students in need of an environment specifically designed to cater to recovery, where curriculum, staff and counselors are all focused on teens in need. Photo: Dr. Brooke Tesche Tesche said Kolbe Academy is the first Catholic institution of the kind, and will be able to offer the added benefit of faith in students’ recovery efforts.

By Nate Jastrzemski

 

COMMUNITY

Bethlehem Twp., Freemansburg
recognize Frank Petho’s 100^th birthday

Bethlehem Township Commissioners also adopted a resolution honoring Miller Heights resident Frank Petho on his 100th birthday. Petho, who is still rather spry for his advanced age, fondly remembers the trolley car where he would meet his father after work. Petho worked at Bethlehem Steel Corp. for 40 years, both as a crane operator and then as a research assistant.  He is also the sole surviving founding member of the Freemansburg - Bethlehem Township Little League. He helped build the baseball diamonds in 1944 with machinery from Bethlehem Steel and stone donated from the quarry. Photo: Bethlehem Township Board of Commissioners President Michael Hudak delivered newspapers to Frank Petho as a boy, and delivered a proclamation honoring the centenarian just in time for his 100th birthday party.

By Bernie O’Hare

 

SOUTH BETHLEHEM

Steeples and Steel tours keep history alive

When the 19th century immigrants flocked to Bethlehem to work, first in the iron works, then later as steelworkers, they brought their families along. These families arrived with steamer trunks, suitcases and their religious beliefs as well. Since many did not speak English, the Windish, Germans, Italians, Hungarians, and those from other ethnic backgrounds clustered together in segregated neighborhoods to be around folks who spoke the same language as they did. Photo: Joe McCarthy, at center, provides a look into the history of Holy Infancy Roman Catholic Church at 312 E. Fourth St. He described the structure as gothic revival with high arches, peaked windows and repeating patterns. The stained glass windows and various paintings around the walls tells a visual story of Jesus, in keeping with a tradition. “Going back to the Middle Ages, people couldn’t read or write. The stained glass window was a storybook. It told the story of the Bible,” said McCarthy.

By Ed Courrier

 

LIVING BY FAITH

Learning to be a good teacher

Oki! When I moved to Montana, I thought that I knew how to be a great teacher. I knew what the textbooks said, and I did really well in my classes at Lehigh Carbon Community College and Bloomsburg University, but boy have I learned a lot in the past few months.

Yes, I know the facts and theories, however I didn’t know how to put them into practice. In fact, I am still working on it; teaching is quite a difficult job. I think the books leave out the part about students bringing in their own personalities, attitudes and experiences to your classroom and how one deals with all that. Photo: Have you ever looked into the eyes of a hungry child? Have you ever learned that a child you know is without food at home? How easy is it to concentrate when you are hungry?

By Carina Stoves

  

BETHLEHEM SPORTS

Freedom tops Parkland

The Freedom and Parkland football programs have played each other in some important games recently. The two teams have not only met during the middle of the regular season when a win propels that team to a postseason run and a loss damages that team’s aspirations of a conference crown, but they have also squared off in the District 11 6A final each of the last two years.

By CJ Hermerly

 

Becahi knocks offLiberty

John Truby took all the blame after the final whistle blew at BASD Stadium last Saturday night. With Liberty battling Bethlehem Catholic on a rainy night, the Hurricanes special teams let the game slip through their hands.

By Peter Car

 

LV FOCUS

A 9/11 remembrance

The journalist Mary McGrory, when she couldn’t bring herself to write about John Kennedy’s funeral, said, “In the presence of great grief and emotion, write short sentences.” I am always humbled to remember the fallen, those who didn’t come home on the 11th of September, 2001. I was living on the same block as the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home then, and I can still hear the sound of bagpipes mewling in the early morning as another firefighter or policeman was laid to rest.

By Susannah Bianchi

 

OTHER STORIES

Another view: ‘Unopposed’ a key word in state house races

Bethlehem: Airbnb law ineffective

Bethlehem: Golf course funding approved

Bethlehem: UUCLV to mark 70^th anniversary

Bethlehem: Womens Club blankets meet needs of children

Bethlehem: Performers witness for peace

Bethlehem: Pack to school backpack event

Fountain Hill: Changes coming to volunteer fire dept.
Hanover Township: Rosenthal scaling back public service

Northampton County: Council ponders human services building purchase

 

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September 5, 2018

C

OVER STORY

Backstage at Musikfest

Twenty students of Liberty HS’s arts program participated in PNC Backstage Experience featuring a Q&A with closing night’s headliner Jason Mraz’s tour manager and a view of of the performers for the evening’s concert sound check. The program is a coordination of ArtsQuest and sponsor PNC Bank in its fourth year. This tour is in addition to ArtsQuest’s year-round arts program with the school district. The tour gives students an opportunity to see what jobs are available in the life of a touring band as they learn about live event production through the lens of Musikfest. Photo: Touring manager with Jason Mraz, Matt Swanson, discusses his personal journey to his position. Swanson said it was a good idea to take any job to get in the door, learn all you can and be available to work your way to where you want to be in a career in the music industry.

By Lori Patrick

 

HEALTH

Coping with Alzheimer’s, dementia

“Gentle on My Mind,” written by John Hartford, elevated Glen Campbell, a young Arkansas-born sessions musician, to stardom in 1967.  Fifty-one years later, his widow, Kimberly (Woolen) Campbell, described how Alzheimer’s disease ravaged the Grammy Hall of Fame singer’s mind. The presentation, at the first annual Lehigh Valley Caregiver Retreat at DeSales University recently for caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer’s or other dementias, featured Kim Campbell, co-founder of Careliving.org and Lori La Bey, founder of “Alzheimer’s Speaks.” Photo: Kim Campbell co-founded Careliving.org after her husband, Glen, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

By Jim Marsh

 

LIVING BY FAITH

Today the sun is shining

The area I am living in is full of legends and history. I have heard that early explorers found an abandoned village, and I wondered how they knew it was once a village. What kept the tipis from blowing away in the wind? Well, now I know. Photo: When a village is first created, the natives gather large rocks from the area and they would be placed in a circle around the base of the lodge. The rocks would be placed on the covering, like tent stakes. When the tribe moved on, the rocks would remain.

By Carina Stoves

 

C

LASSROOM

Dance Quilt

A patchwork of ballet, modern dance, and tap styles came together at the Lehigh Valley Charter HS for the Arts to end of last school year. According to artistic director of dance Kimberly Maniscalco, “The Charter Arts Dance Department’s ‘Quilt’ was the final product of a year-long repertory course that all dance students enroll in each year.” With the 2018-19 school year already underway, the instructors and students will soon begin many hours of work to craft a new quilt to be admired in the spring. In the meantime, “Dance Soup,” a showcase of student-choreographed work is scheduled for Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Photo: Morgan O’Donnell, Michayla Pannullo, Chloe Conahan, and Christiana Lenzer, make creative use of a couch for “Detach Upon Arrival,” choreographed by Rebecca Moyer.

By Ed Courrier

 

SPORTS

Freedom tops Becahi

Saturday night saw Bethlehem city rivals Freedom and Bethlehem Central Catholic face off in a key, early season meeting. The Patriots beat East Stroudsburg North (68-14) in their opener, and the Hawks beat Dieruff (54-6) in theirs, and both teams hoped to keep their perfect record through two games. This was a potential tone-setter for the rest of the season.

By Nicholas Seagreaves

 

LV FOCUS

‘Zaarathustra’ has a lot to say

With the start of September comes the start of another Allentown Symphony Orchestra season. The professional orchestra performs pops and classical concerts from September through May at Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown. Whatever we are performing, it is always a lot of fun for myself, musicians, and audience. This year, we begin the season in a very dramatic way. Many people remember director Stanley Kubrick’s film, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the 1968 film that utilizes the opening minute or so of Richard Strauss’s epic work, “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” translated as “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.”

By Diane Wittry

 

OTHER STORIES

Bethlehem: City asked to regulate strays

Bethlehem: Library book sale opens Sept. 12

Bethlehem: HARB approves 3 city project plans

Bethlehem Township: 229-home Green Pond project a go

Lehigh County: Priest charged with indecent assault

Lehigh County: Gaming grantees chosen

Northampton County: McClure predictions West Nile in humans

 

WEEKLY FEATURES

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Center for Animal Health and Welfare

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