John M. Fray, Webmaster
Phone (724) 494-6569

Community News and Events
  























AFC Playoff Bracket

Hous. 30

Pittsbg. 6

Los An. 3

N.Eng. 16

Buffalo 27

Jacksvl. 24


> Houston



> N. Eng.



> Buffalo

   Denver























The Steelers made it an interesting season. Let's look forward. I think Mason Rudolph should be the starting quarterback. If Aaron Rodgers wants to stay, he can serve as a quarterback coach.












The 2025 Flu Season is hitting hard and early. The CDC reports that eight percent of patients visiting health care providers are doing so for flu-like symptoms. That is the highest percentage since 1997 when that statistic was first recorded.












Havana Syndrome
New Development
Switzerland Tragedy
Ceiling Soundproofing Ignited












In twenty five years from 1971 through 2005, there were three spies who the U.S. government identified as working against our country. The first was Jonathan Pollard who was spying for Israel. He served a few decades in prison and was released. The second was CIA specialist Aldrich Ames who was imprisoned for life. He died in prison in the early part of 2026. The last was FBI analyst Robert Hanssen who was sentenced to life in prison and who died on 2023.












Betula, Pennsylvania, was a thriving lumber community in McKean County from 1910 to 1922. The main product was barrel staves. The town dissolved after the forest in the surrounding area was logged out. In the 1930s, the site became a ghost town. Over the decades since, all signs of the town vanished.























The Town's Marquis:



















The Temperature reached almost sixty degrees on Thursday afternoon, Jan.8,

















From January 1955:

Peanuts Comic Strip:
















Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in a Photo Snapped a Year or More Ago:



January 11, 2026: Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has rebuffed threats from President Trump that "time is running out to make a deal." President Trump has ordered that no more oil or money shall flow from Venezuela to Cuba until Cuba agrees to terms with the United States. President Miguel Diaz-Canel is a member of the Communist Party of Cuba. Previously, Cuba received monetary assistance from Russia, but that aid stopped about ten years ago. Cuba has been receiving assistance from Venezuela, but President Trump has put an end to that.















January 2026:
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control board is offering state residents a lottery-based chance to purchase one bottle of a top shelf whiskey bottled by Buffalo Trace Distillery which is located in Kentucky. One bottle costs $149.95, plus 18% surcharge for a public service program, plus 6% PA sales tax.
















January 1972: Story of Amazing Survival

A passenger jet operated by an airline from then-Yugoslavia violently came apart in mid-air. Over two dozen souls were aboard. Only one survived. She was flight attendant Vesna Vulovic. The official report is that fragmentation of the jetliner occurred at 22,000 feet. There is a contrary theory (which is generally discredited) that fragmentation occurred at 3,000 feet.

















The island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea is the site of a giant facility which contains carbon dioxide in both gaseous and liquid states. In its liquid state, the carbon dioxide is contained in massive storage tanks. The conversion of carbon dioxide from its liquid state to its gaseous state creates a gaseous flow which powers turbines connected to generators which produce electrical power. The electricity used to compress and cool the gaseous carbon dioxide to its liquid form is provided by solar panels. That electricity is stored in a massive lithium ion battery. That compression/cooling stage transpires overnight. In the morning, the liquid carbon dioxide is heated and allowed to expand. It moves from the storage tanks to an immense bladder. Along its way, the gaseous carbon dioxide spins the turbines as mentioned above. The bladder fills with the gaseous carbon dioxide during the day. After the bladder is totally filled with the gaseous product by late evening, it is ready to be compressed overnight so that it can be contained in its liquid state in the holding tanks. In the morning, the cycle continues as explained above.
















On Friday, January 2, 2026, the NCAA Division I Football Championship Playoff Series has the number of remaining teams down to four. They are Oregon, Indiana, University of Miami (Florida) and Ole Miss.


























One-Hundredth Anniversary of
the Shooting of a Jersey Devil

In December 1925, a Jersey Devil got shot in the butt by a poultry farmer. At least that is how the story goes. No photos of the carcass exist, although it is said that many were snapped. The story was big in the newspapers. The previous wave of news stories of the unearthly creature had been in 1909.

Of course, the lore of monsters roaming or flying about the wilds of New Jersey goes back centuries. It was in the mid-1800s that the legend morphed into its present incarnation of a scrawny demon-like howler dashing though the woods at breakneck speeds.

In the spirit of such legendary mischief-making, New Jersey hockey fans voted in 1982 to have their newly acquired NHL hockey team christened "The Jersey Devils."










A man who died in 1993 is suspected, by some, to have been the murderer of Elizabeth ("The Black Dahlia") Short whose body was found in a vacant Los Angeles lot on January 15, 1947. The birth name of the man is Marvin Skipton Margolis. In his adult life, he sometimes went by the name Marvin Merrill. His name came under scrutiny because an amateur sleuth discovered that it is one of several names which could fit the cipher hint which the person claiming to be the Zodiac Killer included in one of his letters to police in 1970. In my opinion, there is a reasonable chance Margolis could have killed Elizabeth Short. They cohabitated for about a month not long before her murder. As for the possibility that Margolis committed the Zodiac murders, one intriguing link is the hand-printed letter "M" which is similar among the Black Dahlia and Zodiac mailings to the police.



American Samoa sees an all-time high yearly rainfall total in 2025.






The movie Godzilla (1956) is an allegory for the horror of nuclear warfare. The original cut contains views of the bodily burns of victims of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. Those views, comprising about fifteen minutes of screen time, were cut from international releases. The screenplay, cinematography, special effects, acting, editing and musical score have garnered widespread acclaim. The subplot of the scientist committing suicide concurrent with the destruction of the creature serves as homage to the anguish nuclear scientists realized after the fruits of their work was unleashed on the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Here is a link to a YouTube file which speaks to many interesting aspects of the film:

Godzilla (1956)





Here is a flashback image from August 2, 1966. Someone snapped a photo of a milk can at the Lawrence County Fair. It is said that in the background there appears a UFO. I can not make heads or tails out of the image.



The December 21 Solstice gathering at Stonehenge drew many participants. One of them was a black cat, probably brought along by a spectator.




Dec.15: Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor commits suicide with his handgun.

He had been struggling with mental illness since the horrific February 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman High School. He was twenty six year old at the time of his death. Before the February 2018 massacre, he had been an outstanding student with high aptitude in the field of computer science.




















































Last evening, Thursday,
December 8, 2025,
The Confluence music
venue featured the delightful duo,
Justified, which thrilled all of us,
even The Grinch, with terrific
renditions of songs of various
styles, including faith and belief.


















Mark Gerek (1948-2002) was a founding talent of American Samoa radio station KKHJ (KHJ93). He served as engineer and morning on-air personality until his tragic death in a swimming accident. in the 1990s, KKHJ blossomed from a dream to bring top-forty music and news to the island, which has its largest community located in the village of Pago Pago. Mr. Gerek worked tirelessly to help get the station up and running in the island's topography which is not friendly to construction of radio towers and installation of telecommunication cables. The humble company which founded the station was eventually bought out by South Seas Broadcasting, Inc. However, from the start, the station has maintained a website by which its over-the-air broadcasts can be web-streamed by listeners around the word. Mark Gerek:



Listen to the web stream of
radio station 93KHJ   .













WHAT OBJECT LANDED IN KECKSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, AT ABOUT 5:00 PM ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1965?

ANSWER: Maybe nothing, or maybe the capsule of a U.S. Military Missile.

KNOWN FACTS:

In the late afternoon of that day, multiple telephone reports were received by radio and television stations from southern Canada, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, of a streaking light in the sky. In the 5:00 PM hour in Kecksburg, PA, a military presence descended on the rural community. It was concentrated in a wooded hollow. By the 8:00 PM hour, the military presence departed.

REPORTS OF HAPPENINGS WHICH MAY NOT BE TRUE:

The departing convoy of trucks and other vehicles contained a flatbed truck with an object strapped to it. The object appeared to be acorn-shaped. It was covered by a tarp. There are conflicting reports as to the size of the object.

ANALYSIS:

As unlikely as it my seen, there may have been multiple objects streaking across the skies that afternoon between Canada to Western Pennsylvania. There may have been a bolide (large meteor). The thruster of a Soviet rocket may have burned up on re-entry. An American test missile may have separted upon descent. The rocket portion of the missile may have landed in Lake Erie, and the partially guided capsule may have made its way to Kecksburg where it made a relativley soft landing.

WHAT THE OBJECT WAS NOT:

It was not a spacecraft of extra-terrestrial origin.

It was not "Die Glocke" (The Bell) time machine said to have been constructed by the German Government in 1945.

John Fray, December 8, 2025















Splendid Christmas Tree In The
Ellwood City Community Plaza


Photos from the Dec. 5 Light Up Night:



























New Year's Day, Jan, 1, 2026
Four Inches of Snow Last Night
Temp. to Drop to Ten Deg. Tonight













Jan. 11, 2025:
So far this winter, the La Nina effect has prevailed, with a good bit of rain and snow, but it may soon end.












December 5, 2025, saw a record low temperature in Ellwood City and surrounding areas. The previous low temperature for the date was ten degrees. The temperature in Ellwood City on December 5, 2025, at 6:30 AM was seven degrees.












HANDEL'S "MESSIAH"
The New Castle Song Club Chorus

Sunday, Dec. 1, 2025. 3:00 PM.

The Stone Castle Abbey



The gathered are shown standing
for the Hallelujah Chorus.













WPIAL / PIAA  2A   "Double A" Football

Ellwood City Defeated Keystone Oaks, 35-13, Oct. 31.

Steel Valley Defeated Ellwood City, 42-6, Nov. 7.

Steel Valley Defeated Western Beaver, 34-7, Nov. 14.

Seton LaSalle Defeated Steel Valley, 21-14, Nov. 22.

Farrell Defeated Richland, 32-14, Nov. 22.

Farrell (Section 10 Champs) Defeated Seton LaSalle (WPIAL Champs), 40-19, Nov. 29, at Ellwood City.

Southern Columbia Defeated Farrell, 43-22, Dec. 5. Southern Columbia won PIAA Championship













The website GreatCircleEarth (dot) com is fun to access in order to determine the true distance from one point on the globe to a distant point. Here is a visual which emphasizes the true distance from Los Angeles to London.




Lake Milton is Ohio's tenth-largest man-made lake. The dam was constructed between 1913 and 1917 by the City of Youngstown. In 1984, ownership was turned over to the State of Ohio. The Lake and its shoreline are now managed by the Ohio State Parks Service.

The weather on November 12 was seasonal for this time of the year. A moderate breeze was from the west.

Here is photo snapped at the east side of the lake on the Mahoning Avenue Causeway.













THIS IS A NICE SONG FROM
OVER FIFTY YEARS AGO

Here is mostly forgotten light-rock song from the early 1970s.

The song is
"Look At You Now" by Blue Ash
.

















Lawrence County
Neighborhood
Dec. 26, 2025













LIFE IN
NORTHERN BEAVER COUNTY
IN 1985

The Video to a Classic 1985 Music Recording was Captured Partially in Northern Beaver County.

The recording is "Life in a Northern Town" by the musical trio The Dream Academy.


The song and video are intended as a fractured nostalgic yearning for the 1960s. Ironically, it captured something different, but just as significant - the inovations, creativity and fears of the magnificent "Big Eighties."

A brief scene of the Bridgewater area is said to be in the video. The screen grab of Route 51 signs shown above appears at the 1:40 mark.

In Northern Beaver County in the mid-1980s, Babcock & Wilcox / McDermott Steel closed. Just south along the Ohio River, LTV (formerly Jones & Laughlin) closed, also. The courthouse in Beaver, traditionally an enthusiastic venue for discussing sports and local happening, took on a dreary pall. Home foreclosures were starting, housing construction was down, people were losing hope. One saving grace was the Pittsburgh Airport not far southeast along the expressway. Many smart high school graduates took to the airport, said "Bye Bye" and never returned. Eventually, the area shook off the rust and rebounded to a reasonable degree. However, the scary strains of that era remain in the minds of residents of my generation. The Dream Academy hit a home run in capturing that theme. Here is the link to the YouTube file for that haunting musical masterpiece:
"Life in a Northern Town' by The Dream Academy

John Fray, Oct. 30, 2025
























UFO reports along the East Coast of the United States continue to file in with no letup to the sightings in sight. Many of the reports are along the nature of the classic April 26, 2013, report from Puerto Rico which includes video of a relatively small spherical object traveling at a high speed and descending to the ocean surface. That particular UFO skipped along, and, at one point, broke into two pieces which continued skipping and which eventually submerged into the water. NOTE: Debunkers have looked at that video and have concluded that the object was something of low mass (maybe a balloon) which was propelled by the ocean wind.

Some of the current reports describe traveling lighted spots visible below the surface of the coastal waters.

The following map shows where some recent sightings have been reported:


Here is a link to a recent article: NY Daily Post UFO Article


Friday, November 7, 2025, 11:30 PM

It was a good season for the Ellwood City Lincoln High School Wolverines football team, despite its loss this evening at Steel Valley High School in the second round of the Class 2a WPIAL playoffs.

Congratulations, Wolverines!