A mixed bag of thoughts this week
Robyn E. McClintock, district OH3 governor, paid a visit to the Brilliant Lions Club at its Feb. 16 dinner meeting in the club meeting room above the Brilliant branch of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County.
She was accompanied by her husband, Mike, on the trip from Wooster, and the topic of her visit was vision screening in schools. This is a Lions project that all clubs sponsor since the speech by Helen Keller at a Cedar Point convention urged the Lions clubs to help the blind.
McClintock told about a situation where a young pupil named Madison became a more productive member of her school and could color within the lines, something she could not do before getting glasses.
“There are so many vision problems in schools that it is staggering. If they had vision screening earlier, would some of these problems be avoided?” she asked. “I know of one situation where the screening found a brain tumor in a young pupil. It is my goal to do as many vision screenings as I can. My year as governor is half over, and I appreciate the opportunity to do as many projects as I can in the remaining time.”
The district governor installed Lamont and me as members of the Brilliant Lions Club. I am trying to find some worthwhile things that Lamont and I can do together, and we were asked to join by Jim Everson, the president, and decided it would be a good thing to do.
A Lions Club flag from District OH3 was brought by McClintock to be signed by members. She will then take the flag with signatures from all over her district to the Chicago convention.
The Lions Clubs, founded by Melvin Jones, have more than 1.4 million members all over the world. A convention will be held at Cedar Point on this 100th year at the very spot where Helen Keller stood and made her plea for the Lions members to help with the blind. McClintock urged members to attend the memorial session.
Marc Tinsman gave the invocation before the meal.
The club is having a Pittsburgh Pirates bus trip on June 30, with a $10 food voucher and fireworks after the game. The cost is $65, and there are still tickets available.
A donation was made to a local Girl Scout troop and the Brilliant Little League. Susan Nolan, principal of North Elementary School, gave an update on the Buckeye Local School District levy to appear on the ballot.
Regarding the vision screening, Everson explained that each of the four schools in the Buckeye system had a vision screening program with a machine that might not be as up to date as the one in Wooster but very thorough, with trained nurses to provide the procedure.
The next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. March 9 at the club room.
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With Boy Scout Week being observed in February, it was interesting to read that the highest award of the Boy Scouts, the Eagle award, was presented to Bill Sutherland, now residing in Cadiz, the first time for this to be received in the little community. He was a member of the Smithfield Troop for six years. Robert Ford received the Life Award, the next highest. Delbert Smith and Terry Burdick were awarded the Star Awards.
It was in 1963 when Sutherland received this high award. Since then there have been other Scouts in the village to have achieved this award, but Sutherland led the way.
Other awards given were: Scout First Class, Frank Kovach, Bruce Malone, Fred Stingle, John Thomasson, Jack Straus, Wayne Bell and Terry Wallace; second class, Bradley Kovarik, Earl Post, Jerry Straus, James Dunlap, John Kertoy, Jim Fox and Norman Della Coletta; and Tenderfoot awards, Freddy Ruth, Roger Burdick and Scott Tovinetti.
The Smithfield Fire Department was sponsor of the troop.
Adults taking the time to work with the young men were Ralph Ford Sr., Ralph Ford Jr., Jim Nightingale, Tom Straus, Lewis Sutherland, John Kertoy, Bill Thomasson, Bill Smith and Stanley Slaga, who was Scoutmaster then.
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I learned from Michele Specht, Jefferson, Harrison, Carroll and Tuscarawas county Farm Bureau organization director, that Kenny Walters, died back in the fall. He was the organization director the second time I attended the Farm Bureau Presidents Trip to Washington, D.C., to talk with their senators and congressmen. I think that was in 1993 or 1994. He was so helpful to me even though it was my second trip to cover the events for the Jefferson and Harrison county bureaus.
He introduced me to some of the top officials with Ohio Farm Bureau who made my coverage easier. I met Dean Simeral, who had a top Farm Bureau title, and I did a story with a local angle. It was a fun time. After 13 trips in 20 years, I had to give it up.
As Ken Mallernee, Harrison commissioner when I was covering that county beat, once said, “Don’t bother to run if you can’t get off the porch with the big dogs,” or something like that. We walked for miles and those with less numbers in their birthdays found it to be no problem. After several miles, I did.
I would just like to send my condolences to Ken’s wife, Suzie. She was a teacher at an Amish school, and I did a story on their learning facilities once.
Those were in the days when Kenny could be found running at least three miles a day. He was suited for the job he had because of his great personality and his knowledge of his four counties and their agricultural styles.
Now Paul Giannamore does great Washington, D.C., coverage.
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This being Black History month, I wanted to print a bit of history on a classmate of mine throughout Smithfield High School, Bob Mayo. Because we both had last names that start with “M,” he always sat in front of me in Latin, algebra and geometry. For English, Lamont was always in front of me.
Anyhow, Bob and I would always talk about the happenings of the day. I remember when Queen Elizabeth was crowned, I think that was in 1952, we were kind of excited about that and about Eisenhower getting elected president.
Getting to what I wanted to tell in the first place, Bob’s essay, “Young America Speaks,” was accepted for publication in the annual National Essay Anthology, being compiled by the National Essay Association of Los Angeles. This was in December 1952, when he was a junior. It was his second year to be accepted for the honor, as it happened when he was a sophomore, too.
He was valedictorian of our class and for the class day program, presented to the rest of the high school, he taught us to sing “The Happy Wanderer.” I still remember the part about “I love to sing, my knapsack on my back.” There was something that sounded like Latin yodeling in the song, too. Oh how Bob would laugh at that description! He is now deceased, dying much too young.
(McCoy, a resident of Smithfield, is food editor and staff columnist for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times. She can be contacted at emccoy@heraldstaronline.com.)
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