Katherine M. Hardes, Great-grandmother

Katherine M. Hardes, 87, of Port Allegany, died Sunday (July 28, 2013) in the Lakeview Senior Care & Living Center, Smethport.

She was born Dec. 24, 1925 in Coudersport, a daughter of Lewis and Mary Hall Franke. On October 16, 1948 in Sweden Valley Methodist Church, she married Ward C. Hardes, who died July 18, 2010.

Mrs. Hardes was a graduate of Coudersport High School.

Mrs. Hardes was employed by Port Allegany Elementary School in the cafeteria. She also worked for the Cameo Doll Factory in Port Allegany and Smethport Specialty and Robert Scherer Insurance Agency of Port Allegany.

She enjoyed sewing, cooking, and tending to the needs of her family.

She is survived by
Two sons: Michael (Linda) Hardes of Port Allegany, PA, Terry J. (Nancy) Hardes of Port Allegany, PA
Four Grandchildren: Joe Hardes, Leslie (Tom) Troupe, Colleen Hardes, and Sara Hardes
Two Great Grandchildren: Abby Troupe and Joshua Michael Hardes.
One sister: Dawn Hammond of Midland, PA, and many nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband.

There will be no visitation. A graveside service will be held at 10:30 A.M., Wednesday, July 31, in Fairview Cemetery, Port Allegany, with the Rev. Randall Headley, pastor of the Port Allegany United Methodist Church officiating.

Memorials may be made to the Port Allegany Ambulance Service or the Veterans Memorial Home, Port Allegany. Online Condolence may be made at www.hartle-tarboxfuneralhomes.com

Arrangements are under the direction of the Hartle-Tarbox Funeral Homes, Inc., Port Allegany.

Swim Team Defeats Barcroft

The Community Swim and Dive Team defeated Barcroft from Bradford in Tri-County Swim League action with a score of 328-173 Thursday, July 25.  Quadruple winner from Port Allegany was AJ Edgell.  Triple winners included Jesse Decker, Madeline Smith, Ben Edgell, Gabe Trimbur and Jeff Stehle.  Leigha Nelson, Willow Sauers, Brielle Budd, Reagan Hutton, Sarah Fair, Daniel Finn, Taro Tanaka, Jordan Shaffer, Ailiana Saltsman and and Logan Hutton doubled for the Port team.  Other first place winners from Port Allegany included Austin Hamilton, Dalton Stepp, Syrus Sauers, Drew Evens, Jocelyn Lilly, Eli Petruzzi, Hannah Lathrop, Emi Tanaka, David Talkington, Monica Johnson, Allison Lathrop, Steve Bressan, Lauren Fair, and Mary Rosenswie.  Coaches for the Port Allegany team are Jordan Edgell and Kiersten Kio with Dive Coach Tony Edgell.  Pictured during the Breaststroke contest is Shane Lawton.   In the second photo,  the older swimmers dive into the water with starter Matt Lawton in the background.  Pam Fischer Photos

Scenes from the Square

Concerts on the Town Square continued Thursday night with a performance by Crowne.  Also pictured are some of the crowd enjoying the concert and another appearance of the alpacas from Cinco C's Alpaca Farm, a part of the Farmer's Market  also held each Thursday in conjunction with the concerts.  Coming up - August 1, Kane Guitar Choir; August 8, Carl and Joanne Campbell; August 15, Joel Anderson and RSVP; and August 22, Years Gone By.  Pam Fischer Photo

McKean County Fair Queen Candidates

 

The candidates for the 2013-2014 McKean County Fair Queen contest are pictured after their visit in Port Allegany Thursday, July 25.  While in Port Allegany, the group visited at the Senior Center and the Rotary Club.  Pictured, left to right, are Miss Bradford, Melanie Bizzaro; Miss Kane, Sierra Lister; Miss Port Allegany, Bryana Baer; reigning queen, Mary Rosenswie, from Port Allegany; Miss Smethport, Emily Housler; and Miss Otto-Eldred, Brittany Sanderson.  The 2013 McKean County Fair takes place August 10 - 17 at the fair grounds located on Route 46 South in Smethport.  The Queen Coronation will take place August 17 at 8:00 p.m.  Pam Fischer Photo

Swimming Lessons Fun Day

Levi Wilfong is pictured in a kayak (provided by swimming instructor Jacob Stehle) as other members of the class wait their turn.  "Fun Day" was held Friday, during the last day of the second session of swimming lessons.  Children were permitted to bring beach balls, diving rings and other pool toys.  Alexis Reed Photo

Fall Soccer

Fall Soccer Registration is ending and Fall Soccer is starting soon.  Any players ages 4 - 14 interested in playing contact Matt Lawton at 642-2993 or pick up a registration form at the S. W. Smith library.  In the above file photo, Noah Archer is pictured taking the ball down the field.  Pam Fischer Photo

Rotary Report - 7/18

The Port Allegany Rotary Club met Thursday at the Moose Family Center.  Pictured is President Bob Hartle with guest speaker for the day, Ken Bennett, a fellow Rotarian from Slippery Rock, who spoke about the Mustard Seed Project - a school in Uganda.  The schedule for upcoming weeks includes July 25 - Fair Queens; August 1 - Club Assembly; August 8 - Square Clean Up; and August 15 - PureThirst/Matt Burnette.  There were 19 Rotarians present for a reportable attendance of 73 percent.  The lucky Rotarian of the day was Marty Moses.  Alexis Reed Photo

Dance Registration

Sandy Johnson School of Dance will hold registration at the studio, 79 Lower Portage Road, August 5, 6, & 7.

Hours are 6:00pm - 8:00pm.

Sandy offers Tap, Ballet, Jazz/Hip Hop, Rhythm and movement

For more information contact Sandy:

(814) 642-9315
sandilynnj@yahoo.com
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Representative Martin Causer News

11th Annual Senior Citizens Expo Next Friday 

Please join me for the 11th Annual Senior Citizens Expo on Friday, Aug. 2, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Sports and Fitness Building gymnasium.




Dozens of vendors will be on hand to talk with senior citizens and their families about services available to support and assist them. Among the vendors will be: Office of Human Services Area Agency on Aging, Greater Bradford Senior Activity Center, McKean County Conservation District, Bradford Family YMCA, various emergency service agencies and health care facilities, AARP and more. There is no cost for admission, and lunch will be provided. 

For more information, contact my Bradford office at (814) 362-4400. A second expo is being planned in Roulette on Friday, Oct. 11. Looking forward to seeing you at one or both of these great events! 

*Please note the offices in Bradford and Coudersport will be closed on Friday due to the expo. Anyone in need of assistance may contact the Harrisburg office at 717-787-5075. 

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Stop By My “Office” at the Potter County Fair

The Potter County Fair kicks off this weekend, and as we have done in past years, my office will have a table full of information on a variety of state programs available to anyone who stops by. The table will be staffed weekdays during the late afternoon and evening. Stop by if you have a state government concern you’d like to share, or just stop by and say “hello.” We look forward to seeing you!

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PHEAA Launches Pilot Program for Online Education Students

Recognizing the growing number of students pursuing college degrees online, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) is launching a pilot program to extend state grant benefits to those students.

Currently, PHEAA’s state grant program is available only to students who earn 50 percent or less of their college credits online. The 50 percent limit applies to the student’s enrollment pattern per semester, as well as for the duration of the student’s degree program of study.

Under the pilot program, students earning up to 100 percent of their credits online may qualify for grant assistance, if they are attending a participating Pennsylvania school and otherwise meet grant program qualifications.

PHEAA is now in the process of collecting applications from qualified higher education institutions, and those are due by mid-September. PHEAA will then review the grant applications of students who were turned down for state grants because they exceeded the 50 percent threshold for online education.

Students who are found to qualify for grant funding under the pilot program will be notified later this fall, likely in November. Students need not take any other action at this time.

This is an important step toward modernizing the Pennsylvania State Grant program to better serve the changing needs of our students, both traditional and non-traditional. The five-year pilot program is being funded through PHEAA earnings and will not impact the traditional state grant program, which this year will provide an average award of $3,127 to an estimated 157,000 students.

Herzog asks commissioners to restore $94 C&G forest rate/By Martha Knight

Clean & Green forest land tax fairness crusader Jim Herzog addresses the McKean County Commissioners about yet another increase in tax rates on forest reserve. Shown from left are Herzog, chief clerk Audrey Irons, commissioners Cliff Lane, Joe DeMott and Al Pingie, and solicitor Dan Hartle.  Martha Knight Photo

SMETHPORT—Tuesday morning Jim Herzog continued his personal appeal to the McKean County Commissioners Joe DeMott, Al Pingie and Cliff Lane, to honor the $94 per acre rate for all forest reserve land enrolled in Clean and Green (C&G).

The inveterate C&G rate crusader’s appearance at the commissioners’ regular fourth Tuesday meeting parallels an action in the Court of Common Pleas seeking a writ of mandamus, essentially compelling the county to apply to all forest reserve the $94 per acre use rate earlier affirmed by the county’s Board of Assessment Appeals.

The mandamus action is aimed at getting the $94 rate, affirmed by the county’s Board of Assessment Appeals (BoAA) last October, when they granted Herzog’s request to repudiate the $255-per-acre change notice issued for Herzog forest reserve land. Now new change notices have gone out, reflecting another use rate increase, this one to $280.

Last year’s C&G rate hike was enacted by the commissioners in the form of a resolution, a practice Judge William F. Morgan declared invalid, earlier this year. Affected C&G forest reserve landowners were taxed at the higher rate in 2013, unless they had appealed from last year’s change notices. Most had not, some having been told it would be costly and fruitless to do so.

This year’s use rate increase was adopted and announced to the commissioners by the county’s chief assessor, Angelia Tennies. Her office mailed out new change of assessment notices, different from those issued on BoAA letterhead last year. The recent notices are on letterhead with McKean County Assessment and Revision of Taxes across the top. Herzog provided the commissioners with a copy of one he had received, and commented that he is not aware of a county agency with that name.

That change of assessment notice shows the assessment on a tract of C&G forest reserve from $12,840 to $38,250, apparently based on the recent use value change to $280 per acre, from the $94 affirmed for Herzog last year. The market value is given as $30,000, making the new C&G value seem to be above market value.

By law, C&G use value must be a preferential, or below regular market value, rate. The county’s assessment is applied by the county, municipalities (townships) and school districts.

A point Herzog had not mentioned in previous presentations to the commissioners is that the county owns 103 acres of forest land. Of course it does not pay property taxes nor enroll in C&G, but, Herzog pointed out, it does not cut trees in its forest regularly, deriving income from the land.

For the state’s or county’s approach to valuing forest reserve land to make sense, for annual tax purposes, there would have to be annual, or at least frequent, partial harvests, Herzog maintains, but “there are decades between cuts” on the county’s forest land, just as there are on C&G forest reserve. It takes 80 to 100 years for hardwood species to reach timber harvest size.

“If the true figure were properly calculated by the state, the values would be about one tenth of the present ones,” Herzog said.

Herzog repeated his past charges that the rate increases applied specifically to C&G properties constitute spot assessment, a practice forbidden by law.

He also scolded the commissioners for countermanding decisions of the BoAA, “which you appointed.” Herzog noted, “Their decision can not be arbitrarily changed without a court order.”

Herzog also declared that the new 2014 use rate of $280 set by the assessment office, which eliminates species-based calculations of use values, violates Act 158. “All forest reserve landowners have a right to claim a use value based on species, as found by a forester,” Herzog said. He noted that whether to use species use value or weighted average is the landowner’s call.

Later Herzog mentioned that it is easy to appeal vacant C&G forest property (as opposed to acreage where there are structures) because only a few lines on the appeal form would need to be filled out. Appeals must be filed within 40 days of receipt of the change of assessment forms mailed earlier this month.

In regular agenda matters, the commissioners:

• learned that there were no bids to open, on a roofing project at an “Old County Home” building;

• approved service provider agreements as requested by the Department of Human Services, subject to review by solicitor Dan Hartle;

•authorized a grant agreement with the state Department of Public Welfare for the Medical Assistance transportation program carried out by the Area Transportation Authority, covering fiscal 2013-14, to cost about $774,940;

• authorized exoneration of $75,395.01 in per capita taxes for years 2003 through 2012 (compared with about $95,000 in delinquent per capita taxes collected by the county Tax Claim Office, according to Pingie);

• approved payment of $6,250 to the Office of Human Services for their fourth quarter allotment for 2012-13; and

•approved a 2013 aid application from Annin Township for $5,994 to be used to patch and repair portions of Birch Run Road and Champlin Hill Road.