photo by elaine haskins dubois middle school is...
TRANSCRIPT
For the latest in local healthcare news read
www.phhealthcare.org/magazine
ONLINE
NOW!
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
MORE INSIDE
Pedestrianhit by vehicle
Man walking in grocery store parking lot hit by vehicle. A2
americanLegion lauded
Grampian group recently recognized for ongoing sup-port of military families. A2
ruling afectsPa. lifers
Hundreds of Pennsylvania murderers who as teenagers were sentenced to life without parole must be considered for parole or given a new sen-tence, according to Supreme Court ruling. A5
Fed faces darkerglobal economy
Since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, the glob-al picture has darkened. Did the Fed err in raising rates? A6
ObituariesA9
• Alvin Conti, 95
• James Mauk, 78
• Bonita Walk, 75
• Donna Reilly, 76
Tomorrow’s
Forecast
Slight chance of snow
showers. Highs around
30. Low around 18.
Full report, A2
$1.00
Index16 pages
Classiied ..................B4
Comics ......................A7
Lifestyles ..................A4
Lottery ......................A9
Opinion ....................A8
Public Notices .........B4
Sports ........................B1
Vol. 136 – No. 017
Page B1
By Elaine Haskins
DuBOIS — Being “nice” matters in life and also at the DuBois Area Middle School.
Students at the middle school are nominated by the teachers, staff and adminis-tration as “nice kids” every quarter.
“The criteria is simply be-ing a nice person and exem-plifying the qualities taught through our character edu-cation program,” said Prin-cipal Wendy Benton.
Student recipients re-ceive a congratulatory letter from the principal, a bumper sticker for their parent’s ve-hicle, a free coupon to Buck’s Pizza and a certiicate of ap-preciation.
In addition, the students are photographed and their pictures are added to the Nice Kid Wall of Fame.
“We want kids to un-derstand that nice matters in life and especially at DAMS,” Benton said. “It truly makes a difference in our daily operations and im-proves the culture for learn-ing in the building.”
The idea began when the middle school’s Good to Great committee, a team of teachers, counselors and administrators focused on continuous school improve-ment, brainstormed ways to acknowledge and motivate students to strive to obtain “nice kid” recognition, Ben-ton said.
“That’s when Mrs. Diana McMullen offered to make bumper stickers and a large vinyl banner to display the pictures of the nice kids to promote the initiative,” Benton said. “Mrs. McMul-len exempliies ‘nice’ in ev-ery sense of the word. She created the banner and she creates the bumper stickers every quarter using equip-ment and materials from her home.”
McMullen, an eighth-grade learning support teach-er, does all of this out of the goodness of her heart, Benton said.
“The only compensation
she receives is the intrin-sic reward of knowing that she is part of the driving force behind making DAMS a great place to work and learn,” Benton said.
McMullen admits that her husband, James, helps her with the bumper stickers.
“I can’t take all the cred-it,” McMullen said.
McMullen said she and her husband decided to make the bumper stickers so par-ents of “nice kids” would have something to put on their ve-hicles about their child simi-lar to the bumper stickers for children who participate in sports or band.
“I have always believed that many kids are nice kids,” McMullen said. “A high percentage of the kids on that wall (of fame) do not participate in sports and maybe they don’t participate in band or chorus. I see all the cars out there driving around with a name and a
sport or a name and chorus, and many of those students on that wall, I never see on their parent’s cars. So, I thought, wouldn’t it be nice just for a parent to be able to say I have a nice child?”
McMullen mentioned the idea of making the stickers for the students to her hus-band and donating them to the school and he said abso-lutely.
“Anything I want to do for the school, he is on board with,” McMullen said of her husband. “I really wanted to make the bumper stick-ers because I think that is the highest complement a parent can get — when your child is away from you, that is when their true character comes out, and when they are being nice, that is such a wonderful thing for a parent to hear.”
Over the past three years,
By Eric Hrin
DUBOIS – Two road “turnback” agreements were lauded at the DuBois City Council meeting Monday night.
The resolutions for the agreements before council noted that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the city have agreed to transfer from state to municipal con-trol 1.35 miles of road – from DuBois Street at DuBois Ave-nue to Main Street at the intersection of Dixon Avenue near Penn Highlands DuBois.
Councilman Edward Walsh said the agreements were a long time coming. He thanked city manager John “Herm” Suplizio and PennDOT’s Gregory L. Sayers.
“Great job you two did,” he said.“It’s going to beneit the City of DuBois tremendously,
give us a lot more power over our own streets,” he added.The turnback has been in negotiation for about three
years, according to Suplizio and Sayers.PennDOT will pay the city for improvements it will make
to the streets and the city will then qualify for liquid fuels money for maintenance.
A copy of the resolution states that PennDOT will pay the City of DuBois $1,950,000.
Previously, Sayers said “it makes sense” to turn the streets back to the city while city engineer Chris Nasuti said they will be better served as local streets.
One immediate beneit will be the elimination of the permits from PennDOT to use those streets as a detour to Route 219 during the annual Community Days celebration.
The effective date of the transfer for the portion of the highway concerned is upon receipt of the cash settlement check.
‘Turnbacks’ get kudos in DuBois
DuBois Middle School is full of ‘nice kids’
Photo by Elaine Haskins
DuBois Area Middle School teacher Diana McMullen, left, and Principal Wendy Benton stand by the Nice Kids Hall of Fame in the school. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
Photo by Elaine Haskins
DuBois Area Middle School teacher Diana McMullen demon-strates how she and her husband, James, make the bumper stickers which are given to students who are named a “Nice Kid” each quarter.
“We want kids to understand that nice matters in life and especially at DAMS. It truly makes a difference in our daily oper-ations and improves the culture for learn-ing in the building.”
— Wendy Benton, DAMS principal
By Dianne Byers
Special to the Courier-Express
CURWENSVILLE — At a meeting attended by approx-imately 30 representatives of state, county and local entities yesterday, a plan for a Riverfront Gateway to Curwensville was unveiled.
The proposal, which is part of Curwensville’s anticipated Streetscape plan, will upgrade the entrance to the community and showcase the historical, educational and recreational as-pects of property adjacent to the West Branch of the Susquehan-na River along River Street and Bloomington Avenue and open up possibilities for new jobs through offshoot businesses.
Future components of the plan will add a connection from the David S. Ammerman Rails to Trails recreational path to Curwensville Area school complex, Irvin Park and eventually Curwensville Lake Recreation Area and suggests a pavilion be constructed near Riverside Stadium property that can be used by the school district’s instructors as an outdoor classroom.
Gae Kane, a member of the Streetscape proposal committee opened the meeting. She stated the Riverfront Gateway plan ad-dresses various zones proposed for development. Each has been broken into segments to provide options for implementation and funding.
“The elements are not ixed. They are open to change. This plan provides guidelines and standards. It is not a dictatorial document,” Kane said, adding the group is hoping for a lot of public input when it is presented to local residents in the coming weeks.
“We will get together to make decisions and include options the community wants to see. The inal decisions will be made by the community,” she added.
Hildred Rowles, chairman of the Streetscape committee, not-ed the idea of a gateway project developed during brainstorming
Riverfront Gateway plans unveiled
Submitted photo An artist’s rendering of what a section of the Riverfront Gate-way Park at Curwensville may look like in the future.
See Nice, A9 See Riverfront, A9