VOL. 20, NO. 21 SERVING CLARION, CLEARFIELD, ELK, FOREST AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES JUNE 1, 2014

Classified ............................... D1Crossword ............................ C5Entertainment .................... C6Finance .................................. D1Food ....................................... C1Health/Fitness ..................... C4Lottery ................................... C8Opinion ................................. A6Outdoors .............................. B4Public Notices ..................... D2Scoreboard .......................... B3Socials .................................... C3Sports ..................................... B1

• James Hale, 86• Virginia Marnati, 77• Shirley Ingram, 55• Homer Kearney, 96• Mary Akenbak, 96• Geraldine Reed• John Snedden, 81

INDEX26 pages

ObituariesPage A2

STATE COLLEGE (AP) — Nick Hoffman, managing editor of The Courier-Express in Du-Bois, has been elected president of Penn-sylvania Associat-ed Press Managing Editors.

Hoffman was named to the post at the group’s annual conference Fri-day.

Hoffman, who has worked for the Courier-Express for 30 years, the last 13 as managing editor, succeeds Patricia Walker, executive edi-tor for Calkins Media in Levittown, as president.

Nick Falsone, man-aging editor of The Ex-press-Times in Easton, was elected vice presi-

Hoffman named PAPME president

Tri-County/Courier-ExpressTrack & FieldAll-Stars

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More than

in savingsinside

$19000

By Kimberly Finnigan

kfinnigan@thecourierexpress.com

DuBOIS — Summer Camp is a tradition which has con-tinued for generations. There are camps for sports, music, recreational activities, just about any activity which comes to mind.

One local summer camp, Camp Confidence, has been helping campers with special needs enjoy the summer fun experience since 1969.

Grace Marshall has been involved with Camp Confi-dence since 1979. She took some time off while her children were growing up, but said she was all too happy to get in-volved again.

The camp was started by the DuBois Junior Women’s club.

“It was their idea to offer a day-camp for kids with dis-abilities and also a respite for their parents,” Marshall said. The camp was held at a private camp, owned by Dee Hib-ner, near Home Camp. About 16 campers attended the first session of Camp Confidence. The program used to run for two weeks instead of just five days.

Camp Confidence changes livesfor both campers and volunteers

By Katie Weidenboerner

katiew@thecourierexpress.com

JOHNSONBURG — A local artist is working on a mural on Market Street that will commemorate local war heroes.

This is the first large scale facade project done by the Johnsonburg Com-munity Trust in some time. The non-profit organization is a group of concerned citi-zens with the goal of “spruc-ing up” the downtown area, particularly Market and Center streets.

The mural, located at 501 Market St., is inspired by “War Stories,” which was the cover of the Satur-day Evening Post on Oct. 13, 1945. Local World War II veterans, the late George Cherry and Vic Chirillo, are depicted in the mural.

Chirillo, who is in his late 90s, owns the building and received a Silver Star, the third highest military decoration for valor which is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.

Johnsonburg Community Trust President Ron King remembers seeing Cherry walking around town until the very end in his World War II hat. Cherry also told stories about helping to load “the bomb” after the bomb-ing of Pearl Harbor.

King said the mural also has special meaning because during the time period of Norman Rockwell’s fame, the Johnsonburg paper mill pro-

duced much of the paper Rock-well’s works were printed on.

“The paper they pro-duced was used by a lot of the magazines that he did artwork for your Life, your Saturday Evening Post, was all produced on paper from here,” King said. “In fact, he (Rockwell) had been here several times through-out his early career.”

Around April 20, artist Tom Copella of Ridgway began hand building scaf-folding to paint the two 21-

foot by 21-foot murals. The first mural with the veter-ans took about a month to complete.

The second mural will be of an eagle with MIA and POW flags. The second mu-ral will be started by next Wednesday, weather permit-ting, and it will take about two weeks to complete.

Copella has been paint-ing murals for 15 years.

The artist starts with a

Heroes remembered

The Johnsonburg Community Trust as well as the families of World War II veterans George Cherry and Vic Chirillo have joined together to commission artist Tom Copella to create two 21-foot by 21-foot murals at 501 Market Street in Johnsonburg. (Photo by Katie Weiden-boerner)

Artist Tom Copella of Ridgway works on the finishing touch-es of the first mural Thursday afternoon. Copella will start the second half of the mural next week. (Photo by Katie Wei-denboerner)

Campers arrive at last year’s Camp Confidence at Camp Mountain Run in Penfield. The camp is a free program for children and young adults, ages 3-21, with disabilities. The camp provides activities such as arts and crafts, music, na-ture activities, physical education and the opportunity to try new foods and make new friends. The camp will be held June 16-20. (Photo submitted)

New graduates from Brockway Area High School peform a choreographed toss of their mortar boards Friday after their graduation ceremony. (Photo by Paul A. Wilson)$1.50

HOFFMAN

The mural, located at 501 Market St., is inspired by “War Stories,” which was the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Oct. 13, 1945.

Two muralsspotlight World War IIveterans

See Heros, A3

See Camp, A10

See Hoffman, A2

A1 Front Page