Thursday’s high, 42; Overnight low, 34; .42” rain
FRI-PERIODS OF RAIN, HIGH 51
FRI NIGHT-LOW 41
SAT-RAIN, HIGH 45
SAT NIGHT-RAIN, LOW 42
SUN-RAIN TAPERING OFF, CLOUDY HIGH 56
SUN NIGHT-LOW 31
To hear today’s forecast, click on arrows below.
Coudersport Snow fest still scheduled for Saturday…Dog Sled race near Wellsboro cancelled but alternate plans are in place….Injuries reported in a three-vehicle pile up in Otto Township Thursday….Local firefighters called out for possible natural gas leak…Burglars damage door and filing cabinet in Elkland’s notary public office.
To hear today’s podcast, click on arrows below.
Photo by John Eaton
Mary Beth Logue is shown with one of her Alaskan husky sled dogs. She will have eight to twelve of her huskies with her at the Pine Creek Rail Trail at 9 a.m. this Saturday, Feb. 24 for a display and presentation.
The lack of snow on the Pine Creek Rail Trail coupled with a forecast that calls for the temperature to rise to 55 degrees this Saturday, Feb. 24 have led organizers to cancel the inaugural Canyon Sled Dog Challenge, a mid-distance event to test the abilities of teams of 6 or 8 dogs and their musher, running from Ansonia to Tiadaghton and back.
Instead, a special free event for the public will be at the Darling Run Access to the Pine Creek Rail Trail at 9 a.m. this Saturday. To get to the Darling Run Access, take Route 6 to Shippen Township, turn onto Route 362, drive about 1.5 miles, turn right, enter the access area slowly and park.
Mary Beth Logue, a mid-distance sled dog racer who lives in Trout Run, Pa. will have eight to twelve of her Alaskan huskies with her at Darling Run as well as racing equipment and supplies
Volunteers from Second Chance Animal Sanctuaries will be at the Darling Run Access with beverages and snacks available for purchase with all proceeds to benefit the animals in their care.
At 11 a.m., this Saturday Logue will also have her huskies, sled and equipment on display at the Burnin’ Barrel at the Ansonia Valley Inn in Shippen Township (GPS Address: 5440 Route 6, Wellsboro, PA 16901). This will give people a second opportunity to meet this musher and her dogs and dress like a musher and stand behind her sled to have their photos taken for free. The Burnin’ Barrel will open at 11 a.m. for lunch. There will be three varieties of Straub beer on tap. A representative from Straub will be on hand with a limited supply of T-shirts and pint glasses. .Straub Brewery of St. Marys, Pa. is the sponsor of the challenge.
The organizers of the Canyon Sled Dog Challenge include the Pennsylvania Sled Dog Club, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Bureau of Forestry and the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce. “We are planning to hold the Canyon Sled Dog Challenge in 2019 if there is enough snow
If there is enough snow, there will be sledding, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. If it is cold enough to allow borough employees to create a rink in the park, there will also be ice-skating. Children and adults are asked to bring their own equipment. A limited number of snowshoes, cross-country skis and ice skates will be available to borrow and use at the park during Snow Fest.
New this year is the Snow Fest 5K Run/Hike. Entry and waiver forms can be picked up, completed and dropped off at the Coudersport Elementary School at 802 Vine Street and at the Coudersport Borough Office at 201 South West Street through Friday, Feb. 23. “Registration will also be in the main pavilion beginning at 12 p.m. on the day of the event,” said Adam Clinger, organizer. There is no entry fee. Everyone will participate for free. The 5K will start at 1 p.m. near the main pavilion. The 3.1-mile out-and-back course will be well marked and easy to follow plus people will be stationed along the 5K to ensure no one gets lost. The runners and hikers will follow a trail that starts in the park, pass the Coudersport Mobile Home Park and Coudersport Reservoir where they will turn around and head for the finish line near the main pavilion. Prizes will be awarded in two categories, children 12 and younger and adults, 13 and older.
A geocaching trail with five hidden caches will provide fun and excitement for adults and children who want to give geocaching a try or are already hooked. Bill Daly, a geocaching enthusiast, will be in the main pavilion with sample caches (containers) and pamphlets on geocaching. He will also have global positioning system (GPS) units available for people to use at the park. Those who own GPS units are encouraged to bring them. A PowerPoint program will walk beginners through geocaching. It will be running continuously on a television set indoors in a building next to the main pavilion. “It should take between 30 minutes and an hour for participants to find all five caches,” Daly said. Participants will be within walking distance of the pavilion. “Find out how easy and fun it is to not only use a GPS unit, but to also go geocaching, a high-tech treasure hunt for all ages,” said Daly.
Returning to demonstrate his trebuchet will be Coudersport Borough Councilman Brian Ruane who is also the president of Potter County’s Habitat for Humanity.
The trebuchet will be set up in the baseball field next to the main pavilion with announcements made as to when and in what direction it will be fired.
Ruane and four of his employees at Northern Tier Trading Company at 239 Route 6 in Coudersport built the trebuchet to use during the first Snow Fest held on Feb. 14, 2015. He has demonstrated it at every Snow Fest since. “
“So instead of snowballs, the first year we filled balloons with water and tried shooting them. The water froze so we were actually shooting ice balls. One of them almost hit the scoreboard. We were asked if we could shoot something else that would not damage anything it happened to hit,” he said.
Mary and Larry Hirst and other members of the Potter County Bird Club will be at the interactive Winter Bird Feeding display to introduce interested youngsters and adults to the basics of identifying birds that visit backyard feeders. They will talk about the different types of bird feeders and birdseed and show youngsters how to make a treat using peanut butter and a pine cone that they can take home for the birds in their backyards.
Andy Kulp, Andy’s mom Betty Jean Kulp and Dawn Mahon will be selling hot dogs, chili, hot cocoa, coffee and water with the proceeds to benefit the To Fill a Backpack program “to send elementary and high school students to school with the supplies they need.”
Anyone is welcome to set up an outside booth or to do a demonstration. For more information, call the borough office at (814) 274-9776.
The Coudersport Volunteer Fire Department responded to a call of a possible natural gas leak Thursday night on Burrows Road in Sweden Township. Firefighters set up air monitoring devices and met with the owners. The property, including out buildings was thoroughly checked by fire department members, Department of Emergency Services Department of Emergency Services Coordinator Glenn Dunn and a Department of Environmental Protection staff member no combustible readings or lessening of oxygen levels were found. All units were back in service a couple of hours later.
Minor injuries occurred in a three-vehicle chain reaction collision at about 8:15 Thursday morning in Otto Township, McKean County. Kane based state police report the accident happened when a car driven by 45 year old Marjorie O’Connor of Eldred, while traveling east, hit a patch of ice and slid across the center line where it impacted a car driven by 75 year old Frank Hill of Rixford head-on. O’Connor’s car then spun around and was rear-ended by a car driven by 53 year old Johanna Peterson of Eldred.
About an hour later, both drivers escaped injury in a minor rear-end collision on Route 44 near the Bells Run Road in Ceres Township. A 53 year old man was going north on Route 44 when his vehicle spun out of his lane and into the opposite lane where it was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by a 23 year old man. Since there were no injuries and the vehicles could be driven away, the accident was considered “non-reportable” and thus the names of the drivers were not released.
No one was hurt in collision Tuesday afternoon in Ridgway Township, Elk County. According to Ridgway based state police, Carl Hanshaw of Ridgway drove his Chevrolet Blazer onto Route 219 from Beaver Drive in front of a Nissan Versa driven by Shara Franco of Dubois.l
State police at Mansfield investigated two recent burglaries in Tioga County. An unknown burglar forced his ay into the office of Edward Brimmer Notary Public on Route 49 in Elkland overnight Tuesday. The door handle and a filing cabinet were damaged in the burglary. And someone tried to enter a home on Red House Lane in Lawrenceville through a locked windo during the early morning hours of February 11.