Jeffersonian DemocratThursday, July 17, 2014

Brookville, Pennsylvania • volume 150, numBer 30 • single CoPy PriCe 75¢

Section AEditorial ....A 2Church..... .A 5Obituaries.A 6Social........A 8

Section B Sports B 1 Notices.... B 5 Classified .. B 6

this week’s news

BLUE RIBBON BUNNY — Maverick Riddle, a member of the Livestock Unlimited 4-H Club, proudly shows off “Mint Chip,” one of his entries in the Jefferson County Fair. He also has Hershey and her six Baby Kisses at the fair. Additional photos from the fair are featured on Pages B 4 and B 8. (Photo by Patti Slaughter)

Jefferson County Fair underway

OLD AND NEW — Church member Randy Alderton and Pastor Jim Fillhart stand in front of what will be the main entrance to the new worship center for the Roseville Inde-pendent Chapel. Many items from the old church, including the steeple, are being incorporated into the design of the new church. (Photo by Patti Slaughter)

By Patti Slaughter“To us it’s a miracle. We

knew God was going to do it someday, but now it’s going on,” said Pastor Jim Fillhart as he walked through the shell of what will soon be the new Ros-eville Independent Chapel.

About eight years ago the pastor and some members of the church realized that the congregation was growing and would need a larger church. Last year in April ground was broken for the new church, just a short distance from the pres-ent church, east on Route 322.

CBF Contractors of Sligo was selected as the general con-tractor for the building project. The main part of the building will serve as a fellowship hall and a temporary sanctuary. A permanent sanctuary will be added “as soon as possible, as funds dictate,” said the pastor.

A modern kitchen, Sunday school rooms, a nursery, large rest rooms and offices for the pastor and church secretary are

New Roseville Chapel ‘is a miracle’

included in the design. A “cry room,” located at the back of the sanctuary, will give parents a place to take their babies “and still feel like they are involved in the service,” he said.

At the back of the church is ample room for a playground area for the children and a courtyard which can be used for outdoor weddings and oth-er ceremonies. The sidewalk in front of the church will feature memorial bricks.

“We are trying to imple-ment as much as possible from the old church,” he said. The steeple from the old church has already been erected over the main entrance of the new church.

The new facility will be more than just a new location for the congregation. “God has put us in this position to make a difference for the communi-ty,” Pastor Fillhart said. “We’re building it for God, but view it as a community church because the community helped us build it.” He said about 80 percent of the money for the project has been raised, making only a small mortgage necessary. “We couldn’t be here without the support of the community. It’s amazing how many people have shown an interest or just stopped by to see how things are coming along.”

Pastor Fillhart said the new church “is not just a Sunday

morning” worship center. “We have a seven-day-a-week min-istry. If God’s going to make a difference, we can’t be avail-able just a few hours a day.”

Once the congregation moves into the new facility, the old church will be offered for sale. “Since the church has been there for 100 years, and out of respect for our neighbors (the Church of Christ), we will be very selective in who buys the church,” he said. “We are praying that God has already selected a buyer.”

Because the contractors “are so far ahead of schedule,” the congregation may be mov-ing into the new church early this fall. At that time, a dedi-cation service will be held dur-ing a Sunday morning service, followed by open house hours during the week.

“We’ve been blessed,” said the pastor. “We feel God has a lot of good things in store for the community and for Ros-eville Chapel.”

We’re building it for God, but view it as a community church because the community helped us build it.

Pastor Jim Fillhart

By Patti SlaughterBROOKVILLE — The

2014 Jefferson County Fair got off to a stormy start Sunday afternoon when strong storms crossed the county.

Early in the afternoon the horse pull, Sunday night’s grand stand event, was can-celed due to the severe weather forecast.

Rich Alderton, Jefferson County Fair Authority member

and chairman of the event, said, “I talked to some of the pullers and they said they would rather not take a chance. It was not an easy decision to cancel the pull, but I would rather be safe.”

Tuesday afternoon Fair Au-thority president Lorie Park said, “We’re trying to get rid of the mud, but I think we’ll have a good week.”

The fair officially opened Sunday afternoon with a ser-

vice featuring Brookville’s Praise and Worship Team. Guest speakers were the Revs. Emily and Dave Koehler, pas-tor of the Beechwoods and Sug-ar Hill Presbyterian churches. With a text taken from Genesis 25 they spoke about the lives of Jacob and Esau, and the “new beginning” that their births presented.See FAIR, Page B 4

By Patti SlaughterBROOKVILLE — The

streets of Brookville have been painted purple as the town pre-pares for the annual Relay For Life.

In May 1985, Dr. Gordy Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Ta-coma, Washington, ultimately raising $27,000 to help the American Cancer Society fight the nation’s biggest health con-cern — cancer. A year later, 340 supporters joined the overnight event. Since those first steps, the Relay For Life movement has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, raising nearly $5 billion to fight cancer.

Brookville’s Relay For Life will begin at 4 p.m. Friday, August 1 and continue through 11 p.m. Saturday, August 2 at the Jefferson

County Fairgrounds. A kick-off rally was held

Friday evening at the site of Brookville’s Town Square.

Referring to the purple sneakers, ribbons and other decorations “coloring the town purple,” cancer survivor Rose Myers said that purple was not only the color for the pep rally, it is also the color of the Amer-ican Cancer Society and the Relay For Life. “Survivors are what we celebrate at the Relay for Life,” she said. “Every year we celebrate more birthdays.”

During the pep rally cheer-leaders from Brookville Area High School presented a num-ber of cancer fight songs. My-ers reminded the audience of “what cancer cannot do,” and music was provided by DJ Chris Morris.

The theme for this year’s Relay For Life is a beach party, with “Ride the Wave to a Cure” as the slogan.

This year’s goal is $81,000 to help find a cure for cancer.

There are already 15 teams registered for the Relay For See RELAY, Page A 10

Town paintedpurple forRelay For Life

MYERSBy Patti Slaughter

BROOKVILLE — “We are offering what we can with what we have,” said Brookville Area High School Principal Bob Rocco in response to questions about students failing to pass the state-mandated Keystone Exams.

At the Monday night work session of the Brookville School Board, parents ex-pressed concerns about why their children are not able to pass the tests, and what is be-ing done to help them.

“One of the frustrations of parents, teachers, administra-tors and students is what is happening with the Keystone Exams,” Rocco said.

“The part that we are spe-cifically dealing with now is that if kids aren’t passing the exams, the school district must provide support and supple-mental instruction,” he said.

Currently students must pass Keystone Exams in Alge-bra I, Literature and Biology.

Assistant principal Ruth-anne Barbazzeni said that “our goal is for you [students] to pass, to have the knowledge

the state feels you should have to graduate. We are trying to make the kids successful, but we aren’t being given all the information we need. Our goal is to help students graduate and be successful.”

School districts are being offered several options for help-ing students pass the exams; the administration is looking at each option carefully.

“If the state turns this over to the schools, we have the ability to create a program that meets our needs,” Rocco said.

The board decided to table its first reading of graduation requirements until more is known about the state’s inten-tions regarding the Keystone Exams as requirements for graduation.

One parent said he had al-ready started the process of transferring his son to another school, but after attending a couple of school board meet-ings and seeing the genuine concern and interest for the students shown by the admin-istration and board members, changed his mind.See EXAMS, Page A 3

Keystone Examsfrustrate BAHSadministration

Council to openDepot StreetBy Judi Anthony

BROOKVILLE — At Tuesday night’s meeting, the Brookville borough council voted to dip into their money reserves for street repairs and the Depot Street portion of the Rails to Trails. Following an executive session to discuss several matters, council vice president Phil Hynes, who also serves as chairman of the Fi-nance Committee, made the motion to remove $100,000 out of the borough’s Reserve Fund and into the operating budget to address street issues. Hynes said the move was necessitated by the need to address street

repairs in general as well as opening Depot Street.

During the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting residents of Rose Sid-ing Road, as well proponents of Trail Town, addressed the council.

Pamela Henderson ad-dressed the council about mak-ing Brookville a trail town by getting people in via Depot Street on the Rails to Trails. Henderson said the trail town concept has been adopted by a lot of local towns and “All roads lead to Brookville,” in-cluding Interstate 80 as well asSee DEPOT, Page A 4

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