Recent Stories

Articles by Cassandra Douglas

August 8, 2017

The Public Works Construction is ‘Progressing Well’

The demolition of the Ellwood City Public Works Building and a few other surrounding lots is progressing well, according to Borough Manager, Robert Villella. As part of the Ellwood City Revitalization project, the demolition and rebuild of the Public Works Building was deemed one of the top necessities. “The previous building was extremely outdated and not efficient, and in some ways even dangerous for our workers, the layout was impractical, making it hard to store the necessary items, and it was becoming an eyesore in the community. Overall it was just in not only the workers best interest, but also…

August 3, 2017

Adult Dance at Ewing Park Pool

The Ellwood City Borough Council Parks and Recreation Committee will be hosting the first Adult Dance at the Ewing Park Pool. The Committee has hosted a youth dance for the past two years and decided it would be a nice change to host an adult dance. “We decided to host the adult dance to give the older residents something to do, while also promoting our parks facilities – we are one of the few remaining local communities that still have a public swimming pool.” Judy Dici, a committee member stated. Anyone over the age of 21 is welcome to swim,…

July 27, 2017

Art On The Avenue Expected To Be a Hit

Judging by how well last year’s Author Fair went, library director Veronica Pacella expects Art on the Avenue to be just as popular. “It was such a hit last year, everyone had a great time. We had upwards of 250 people attend the Author Fair last year, the library was so crowded I couldn’t even get to all of the authors to speak with them because they always had a crowd around their table,” Pacella said. “We had 25 authors last year and we will have 28 artists this year – so we expect an even bigger crowd.” Art on…

July 26, 2017

Children’s Art Camp: ‘Art Camp is Torture, this is Fun!’

Marianne Hilke, a long-time art enthusiast and instructor, is teaching the four-day-long children’s art camp at Daysprings which started Monday. The camp is from 10-11:45a.m. with a snack break intermission. Each day the children watch a short video about a famous artist which is followed by art projects done with graphite, pastel, crayon and colored pencil. Today, the students, aged 7-9, learned about critically acclaimed artists Pierre Renoir and Walt Disney – then used colored pencil to recreate a Renoir painting and graphite to sketch Mickey or Minnie Mouse. “The children get to do fun and creative things while simultaneously…

July 24, 2017

Shop for Suicide Awareness

What more could a girl ask for – shopping while benefiting a good cause! Ellwood City LuLaRoe retailer, Samantha DeJoseph is hosting a clothes-shopping fundraiser for the benefit of the American Foundation for Suicide Awareness (AFSA). “The Human Services Center has put together a team of people to walk in the Lawrence County Out of the Darkness Walk on September 16th, and this fundraiser is to help the HSC crew raise money for AFSA,” DeJoseph explained. DeJoseph, who has started working for LuLaRoe as a retailer because she agrees with the way the clothes are designed to empower women to…

July 21, 2017

Ellwood City “Revivalization”

Over thirty youth enjoyed a program on yoga presented Tuesday evening by Ashley Smith, a yoga instructor from Ellwood City, as part of the enrichment component added to the youth’s daily arts and crafts projects supervised by Joseph Cioffi. They were given information on the subject and then eagerly participated in several poses such as the Shavasana pose (pictured). Ashley emphasized the health related impact that yoga can have, especially for stress relief, that all ages can benefit from. “Many people have the misconception that yoga is only about strengthening your body, but really it’s also about training your mind and…

July 21, 2017

Return of the Color Run

The Ellwood City Color Run was such a hit last year that the organizers, Stacie Hackett and Kim Rangel, decided to do it again this year. “It was a huge success last year with over 150 runners – everyone was dosed in color having a great time and we raised a lot of money for the cheerleaders,” Hackett stated. After looking for different fun ways to raise money for the benefit of the Ellwood City Cheerleaders, Hackett noticed how well the color runs did in other communities and thought maybe it would do well in Ellwood too. “We were looking…

July 20, 2017

Barry Quick Mart Celebrates Grand Opening

After spending nearly six months turning the former service station into a lively convenience store, the owners of Barry Quick Mart, located on Line Avenue, are joined by their family, friends, and customers to celebrate their grand opening today until 4p.m. Kuldip and Malkit Singh co-own the store together, which features general convenient store items, food, and gas pumps, two of which are full service, and they’re already pleased with the customer support. “Business is picking up every day and the community has been very supportive. We heard about the business opportunity and pursued it. We are not here to…

July 20, 2017

Local Boxer Prepares for First Professional Match

Rosalindo Morales Jr. is a 23 year old graduate of Lincoln High who has been pursuing a boxing career since the young age of 13. After starting boxing as a hobby at the Ellwood City Police Boxing Club, his dedication towards the sport finally paid off when he was recently signed to professionally box full time. “Being professional has been my main goal since I started. I was excelling in the ranks and I have a lot of experience so I definitely believe I’m ready for the professional league,” he said. Before starting his professional career as a boxer, Morales…

July 19, 2017

Boy Scout to Erect Charles Follette Jr. Memorial

The heroism of a Lincoln High Eagle Scout was slowly getting forgotten as generations passed – but one Neshannock Life Scout is determined to keep the young hero’s legacy going. On October 2, 1942, 14-year-old Charles Follette Jr. was attending a Lincoln High School football game working as crowd control for the Eagle Scouts to ensure spectators stayed off the field. During the game the seniors were doing a fundraiser by wheeling a gasoline powered popcorn roaster around the stadium to sell popcorn. Somehow during the game the machine caught fire and Follette and a few of his fellow scout…