My Personal Blog

As the Shenango Valley looks toward the future and the redevelopment of the former Shenango Valley Mall site into Hickory Fields, there is an opportunity to bring something genuinely distinctive to our community. My suggestion is simple:  Let's bring Penn State Berkey Creamery ice cream to the Shenango Valley on a regular, year-round basis. I'm not talking about another seasonal ice-cream stand.  I'm talking about a permanent destination where residents can enjoy the actual ice cream produced by the Penn State Berkey Creamery throughout the year. For Penn State fans in Mercer County, this would be more than another place to get dessert.  It would be a convenient way to enjoy something associated with Happy Valley without having to make the trip to State College. And that matters even more during the winter. A trip from the Shenango Valley to State College is already a significant undertaking.  During the winter months, when snow, ice and difficult driving conditions ...

Tonight I was in attendance for the Hermitage city commissioners' monthly meeting.  Each month's meeting begins at 6pm with a brief work session, where updates are shared on projects and the like.  After the work session, the monthly meeting begins.  In the citizens' forum portion, I challenged the city commissioners to help get the city a bookstore.  These were the exact words I said to the city commissioners: I'm here this evening to raise an issue that I believe deserves some consideration, and many of you may have seen my letter in the Sharon Herald last Wednesday.  Hermitage needs a full-service bookstore. Since the Shenango Valley Mall closed on June 1, 2024, we haven't had a traditional full-service bookstore in our community.  Residents of our fair city who want to browse a large selection of new books often have to travel to Niles, Boardman, Cranberry or even Erie to visit Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million, or rely on online shopping. I do not ...

Thirty years ago in spring 1997, I was a sixth grader at Delahunty Middle School.  Along with ninety other sixth graders, I spent one week at the McKeever Environmental Learning Center in Sandy Lake between April 28 and May 2. We reported to our homerooms as usual on the morning of April 28, 1997.  I had a suitcase packed with clothes for the entire week, an emergency blanket, a single use camera to take pictures, the Accelerated Reader book I was reading at the time, and the tree cookie I had made in Art on a previous Friday morning.  After tuning into Channel One News and our morning announcements, we hopped on board the buses that would take us to Sandy Lake and the McKeever Environmental Learning Center that would be our home base for the next five days where we would experience Sunship Earth. This trip was spearheaded by my sixth-grade science teacher, the late Paul Estock.  Upon our arrival, we were met by a series of counselors from Hickory High School's class...

As a Penn State alumnus from the class of 2010 and a lifelong Penn State fan living in Mercer County, I've been thinking about something I believe the community could use:  a regular social gathering for Penn State alumni, former students, fans and friends right here in Mercer County. I'm not talking about another formal meeting or a singles group.  I'm talking about getting local  Penn Staters together on selected Saturdays when the Nittany Lions are playing a home game. Imagine meeting at a local Mercer County venue a couple of hours prior to kickoff, enjoying some food, talking Penn State football, meeting other local Penn Staters, and participating in some Penn State-themed activities before watching the game together. Why Mercer County? There are plenty of Penn State fans and alumni in this area, but I haven't found a regular social gathering specifically designed to bring them together. That's an opportunity. Rather than expecting Mercer County Penn Staters to...

Nearly 20 years ago, I attended a dinner theater in Sackets Harbor, New York that left a lasting impression on me - but not for the reasons anyone would hope. I went expecting an enjoyable evening that combined a meal with live entertainment.  Instead, I left feeling disappointed and overlooked.  My experience that night made me feel that many attendees were not included in the meal service, and even when I asked I could get something as simple as nachos because I was hungry , the answer was no.  I went home wondering why the evening had turned out that way, and I was so upset that I cried myself to sleep. For a long time, I kept these feelings to myself.  It has taken me nearly 20 years to break my silence about why that experience affected me so deeply. The lesson I took away isn't that every dinner theater is the same.  Rather, it's that hospitality matters.  When people attend an event, they should feel welcomed, valued and included.  No one should...

While I was messing around with ChatGPT following the conclusion of the season of Jeopardy! Masters on Tuesday night, I asked how would my Jeopardy! tournament champions Melissa Eaton, Beth Work, Nick Cerroni, Derek Work, Cody Work and Peyton Columbus compare to the six players who participated in Jeopardy! Masters (Yogesh Raut, Victoria Groce, Andrew He, Paolo Pasco, Long Nguyen and Juveria Zaheer). ChatGPT told me that my six champions would make up a Mercer County All-Stars team going up against the very top tier of televised Jeopardy! champions.  It is a fascinating comparison, especially with my tournaments having a different purpose and structure. My very first champion Melissa Eaton would be compared to 2024 Masters champion Victoria Groce.  Like Melissa, who has earned one each of gold, silver and bronze in my tournaments, Victoria has done the same thing in Jeopardy! Masters. Beth Work, the winner of the Summer 2013 Tournament, would compare to Juveria Zaheer. Nick Ce...