End of the run

Tulpehocken's season came to an end Friday.

The Trojans fell, 1-0, in their second round match with Wyomissing in the PIAA Class AA girls' soccer championship.

Ultimately, the season ends for Tulpehocken, but not without a District 3 Class AA title to its credit - no small feat, indeed.

Look for a recap of the season and a special feature in the next Item, due out June 4.

Carl Hess at the Hamburg Memorial Day parade

On Monday, Item photographer Carl Hess followed the Memorial Day parade route and captured some great images.

One thing I've noticed and have written about for other papers in the past is the lack of attendance at small town parades. I know this town has the Mother of All Parades in the fall, but there's really no better weather for a parade than the sunshine that closed out our long weekend.

Since this is my first Hamburg parade, I am not sure what past events have been like, nor am I going to assume all parades are poorly attended, but from the looks of some of Carl's shots, I had more people over on Saturday night than were at the Memorial Day event.

Too often we overlook the reasons why we're given days off from our jobs, and should always be aware of a veteran or current soldier's efforts, especially since we're still in a state of conflict and so many Americans live in harm's way on a daily basis.

The people currently serving or who have served are and were a long way away from a parade, and hopefully for future patriotic days such as Memorial Day, the community could show some more support.

Thanks to Carl for being one of those who did attend the parade.

Shots from the District 3 final: Tulpehocken 2, Fleetwood 1

BerksMont photographer Harold Hoch was at Friday's District 3 Class AA girls' soccer championship and brought back some great shots of the victorious Trojans team.

As I mentioned in another post, the Trojans defeated Wyoming Seminary in the first round of the PIAA tournament and now face a tough test against Wyomissing.

Here is Harold's work from Friday ...

Tulpehocken moves on

After defeating Fleetwood to win the District 3 title last Friday, the Tulpehocken girls' soccer team took another step Tuesday evening at Exeter High School toward a PIAA title.

Tulpehocken defeated Wyoming Seminary in its first round match of the state tournament, 3-2. The Trojans will now face Berks foe Wyomissing, which had its way with Philadelphia Academy Charter, 13-0. Overcoming a stern test can only build character for a team which has enjoyed success and bitter defeat already in the same season.

The second round match is scheduled for Friday night.

Tomorrow I will get a slideshow of BerksMont photographer Harold Hoch's work from the District 3 final on the blog, and hopefully the Item site, too.

A trip along Old 22.

I may have found my new, favorite country road.

I grew up (to a degree) along Sweet Arrow Lake Rd., outside Pine Grove in Schuylkill County, and though it was like a PennDOT paved prison to a waiting-to-break-out teen, now that I'm a bit more mobile I've learned to appreciate the serenity (Serenity, Now!) and the importance these roads have on our communities.

Before 10 days ago, I would have had a better chance of hitting Old 22 on the map with a dull dart than I would have finding it in the car, and it happened to be the road I leave work on every day! Thanks to Shawn Fitzpatrick and Google Maps, I found it, and found it to be "quite breathtaking" (that's two Seinfeld references in one post and going for the cycle).

On my way back from Upper Bern Elementary, I decided to veer off-course and do a little exploring. Keep in mind, I am a bit terrified (even with a keen sense of direction) of exploring too much of Northern Berks for fear of ending up in northern Adams County or western Lebanon County.

Luckily I had the BerksMont-issue Nikon on hand, and its battery was full and decided to snap a few pictures of my trip. I've converted them into desktop backgrounds for you computers. Right now, however, they'll only look best if your screen resolution is set at 1024x768, but they may work if you just Right-click and set it as your background.

Let me know if these work, or if "they lack." These are the first three in the series. I have a few more to add, and will do it Wednesday ...

Click here to see this image by its lonesome (much easier to set as your background)

Click here to see this image by its lonesome (much easier to set as your background)

Click here to see this image by its lonesome (much easier to set as your background)

A holiday? Never heard of it.

I must start by apologizing the the readers who've been on this blog since it started not too long ago. It's been a while since I've had a day off and this past weekend I got to enjoy three of them in a row. How lucky!

But now it's back to the grind and we're busy working on the next issue of The Item all while this week's paper hits the stands today. You may notice several slight changes to the look of your paper, but you also may not. It's subtle.

Last week, getting two papers together to honor the early Memorial Day deadline, was a bit hectic, but everything got done. You will notice, however, we haven't got much Memorial Day coverage in the paper because of that deadline, but I'll do my best to recount the Hamburg happenings through the blog as we continue through the week.

Our main story this week is focusing on the changing face of education for Hamburg elementary students. I've never had the pleasure of learning in a brand new school, but what's in store for students set to attend the new Tilden Elementary school should be quite exciting.

It will truly be "Out with the Old" as the schools I visited last week were in desperate need of some updates, though they keep a certain intimate atmosphere. Every new school I've attended seems rather antiseptic at first, but so does a new house until it's made a home.

In Sports, the deadline (again with the deadline) forced us to miss the Tulpehocken girls' District 3 triumph over rival Fleetwood, securing a championship and a high seed in tonight's PIAA tournament first round match against Wyoming Seminary at Exeter HS.

Also, be sure to check out the story on Page 13 of the Kutztown woman winning a new Ford Mustang at Schlenker Ford in Hamburg. I won't deliver any spoilers here: the short story is definitely worth a read.

Keep checking back for those Desktop Backgrounds I promised on today's Front Page, too.

Happy reading!

And it already feels like Thursday.

Who wants to talk about a case of the Mondays?

At The Item, it's production day ... and boy are my arms tired. Today, and select hours over the weekend, most of the paper comes together on the computer, to the layperson. Toward the end, my eyes get a little bleary and my saving grace is something called a "soft proof."

By the end of the day, I'm so tired, I'm wired. It's a strange feeling. I've gone on very little sleep since Saturday night but all I can do is think about the next paper. Maybe that's because it's due on Friday this week, not Monday, because of Memorial Day.

Don't fret. There will still be plenty of time to digest the latest Item.

In it, you will read about the fly controversy in Upper Bern Township. Being from Schuylkill County, I've taken in my share of breathtaking vistas, but the backdrop of the mighty Appalachian Mountains is quite impressive in this valley.

But for Gerald Lutz and neighbors along Mountain Road, they're finding it increasingly difficult to enjoy their scenic panorama as a nearby chicken farm's malfunctioning pipe has caused all sorts of havoc.

Normally the chicken farmer would take the fowl manure and sell it, but this broken pipe emptied into the manure, rendering it worthless, so the farmer spread the waste in fields adjacent to the properties along Mountain Road.

I got "lucky" and visited with the Lutz family on Sunday afternoon. It had been cloudy all weekend and according to the Lutz' the flies hadn't been as bad, but by the time I arrived, the sun began to peek through the sky and suddenly, the flies swarmed.

Like a fool, I left the window in my car open a crack, and this morning I had about 50 to 100 winged friends joining me for the ride down 61 from Pottsville. They were still there when I left work this evening, shortly after 7.

But my 50 to 100 is nothing compared to what people living in Upper Bern Twp. are enduring. Fly strips and traps are no use. To think this has been an on-and-off issue for nearly 20 years is almost maddening, and a shame.

My story focuses on these residents' fight for some help from anyone, and I focus on the most recent township supervisors' meeting (from last Wednesday) and the frustration that's clearly evident in voices of the residents.

You'll also read about the upcoming District playoffs (soccer, baseball and softball) and a wrap up of the District 3 track and field championship from this past weekend. Local athletes brought home a lot of hardware from Shippensburg, to say the least.

Of course, since the paper only comes out once a week, you can return here for scores of local interest as they occur.

Happy reading!

An issue too soon forgotten

The amount of people falling below the poverty line increases every day, and people won't realize the issue affects their hometown until they see it first-hand.
It seems many news outlets glaze over this issue, and I haven't seen too much coverage of the Letter Carriers' union annual food drive, Stamp Out Hunger. This is a story I've covered numerous times in Pottsville, and there, it seemed to grow each year. But at some point, the amount of people needing the service of the food bank will exceed the amount of people donating.
All people had to do was set out a bag of non-perishable food items for the mail man or lady to pick up last Saturday morning. Hamburg and Shoemakersville postal officials were rather surprised to see someone covering this story and I'd like to take a closer look at hunger and poverty in this region in the near future.
In the meantime, I've cataloged last Saturday's giving in this video slideshow ...

Still seeking submissions

In the May 14 edition of the Item, I put in a brief looking for submissions RE: the three Hamburg Area Elementary schools slated to close by the end of the month. I am planning on a special feature in an issue coming up very soon, but would really like some community feedback and hopefully some memories of attending these schools.

If you're a former student, teacher, or staff member at Upper Bern, Strausstown or Hamburg Elementary, I'd love to hear from you. Please either comment on this post, call the Item at 610-562-7515. Photos are great, too, and we can make arrangements for you to drop them off here at the office, or if you feel like you'll never get them back from us, you can wait while they're scanned.

Another sports post?

As expected, Tulpehocken and Hamburg made it through to the second round, really the first round, of the District playoffs. This system is a lot like the Stanley Cup playoffs. Everyone seems to make it to the postseason. A total 31 teams have extended season in Class AA.

Some of those District dreams ended Thursday, though. As I said, Tulpehocken had no trouble whatsoever with Lancaster Christian, winning 12-0. Hamburg shut out Biglerville, 4-0.

This will set up Saturday matches in the Round of 16:

Tulpehocken will play Central Catholic, which beat Shippensburg, 3-1, to advance. Hamburg will face a much tougher test, playing Wyomissing, a 5-0 winner over Camp Hill Thursday. If both local schools win those matches, they'd face each other in the next round (quarterfinals).

Good to be back in the saddle, unfortunately I was in the wrong town.

I've spent a lot, some say too much, time in Schuylkill County. So, I've been working in Hamburg for about the last two weeks now and I can tell it's going to take some time to adjust. Take, for instance, my geographic blunder of Wednesday night.

For this week's paper, I'll be featuring the struggle some Upper Bern Township residents are facing from a local chicken farmer and a catastrophic fly problem. The regularly scheduled meeting was sure to be a barn-burner and was excited into get back onto the saddle of covering some hard news for the Item. I never met a tense municipal meeting I didn't enjoy covering -- I just really feel the need to tell people's stories, and this is some story.

How appropriate, I thought, "Back onto the saddle. Shartlesville. Sheepskin Shop. What a coincidence!

I was sure the easiest way to get to Shartlesville was down Route 183. My brothers were playing a Little League game in Orwigsburg at 5:30 p.m. and I was due at what I thought was the home of Pat Garrett's Sheepskin Shop at 7 p.m. There was no way I would make the game (or the beginning of it, at least) and to the meeting early enough to make myself known among this group of strangers.

Just to be sure, before hitting the road, I ran a Google Maps search to see if getting to the game was going to be a reality. Sixteen minutes? Apparently I confused Shartlesville with Strausstown, or Strausstown with Shartlesville.

So I saw the first three innings of the game, made it to the proper destination - Shartlesville, for sure, and there is no Sheepskin, just a gigantic miniature village - and got a front page story for the next Item.

Without providing too many spoilers, the residents of Upper Bern Twp. face an uphill battle against regulations, hearsay and a lot of flies. And by a lot of flies, take the worst you could imagine and double it.

What? Is this this going to be some sort of sports blog, or something?

Hardly.

But in this week's paper, we listed the girls' qualifiers from the region at the District 3 Championships in Shippensburg this weekend. The boys' qualifiers were not released as of press time and I wanted to let everyone know who has qualified ...

Listed will be the event, the athlete's seed, and the name.

110m hurdles: (20) Jeremy Barr (Sr., Sch. Valley). 100m: (22) Giuliano Caloiero (Fr., SV), (25) Josh McNeil (So., SV). 1600m: (4) Tyler Riegel (So., Tulp.), (8) Jason Hartman (Sr., SV). 440m: (13) Anthony Care (So., Tulp.). 4x100m: (13) Schuylkill Valley. 200m: (19) Derek Gaul (Fr., SV), (24) G. Caloiero (Fr., SV). 3200: (3) T. Riegel (So., Tulp.), (11) J. Hartman (Sr., SV), (17) Kyle Wagonseller (Sr., SV). 4x400m: (14) Schuylkill Valley. High Jump: (10) Cameron Pierson (Sr., Tulp.). Pole Vault: (1) C. Pierson (Sr., Tulp.), (2) Dresdan Gordon (Jr., Tulp.), (6) Jas. Hebbert (Jr., Tulp.). Long jump: (10) Derek Gaul (Fr., SV). Shot put: (1) Massimo Caloiero (Jr., SV).

It appears the first day of the Track and Field Championships will be quite soggy and some of the events have already been moved indoors.

District 3 schedule change

On page 10 of today's paper, you'll see a schedule for the District 3 girls' soccer championship, which was scheduled to start today. But the District has rescheduled the first round matchups for Thursday.

For local hooligans, matches of note in the first round are:

Tulpehocken vs. Lancaster Christian, at 7 p.m.
Hamburg vs. Biglerville, at 4:30 p.m.

Tulpehocken is ranked 4th in District 3's own Power Rankings and should be able to coast in the first round of the playoffs. If the Trojans win, they'll get the No. 4 seed in the tournament, and play the winner of the Central Catholic/Shippensburg match.

If Hamburg wins, it will play the winner of the Wyomissing/Camp Hill match as the No. 12 seed. Round 2 will now be played Saturday. The semifinals will be played May 20 and the Finals set for May 23 at Hersheypark.

Since the schedule has changed, it definitely works out better for Item coverage of this tournament. I covered a lot of District 11 soccer throughout my career and am excited to see some "real" football here in Berks County.

My only recollections of Berks soccer is being on the receiving end of a sound thrashing at the hands of Tulpehocken's JV team in the mid-1990s.

Check back on Thursday night for some results from these matches.

The Hamburg Community-Wide Yard Sale

I just put together this photo slideshow of the Hamburg Yard Sale this past Saturday. I tried my best to get there at 7 a.m. when all the die-hards allegedly scoop up the bargains. I didn't see too much which caught my eye, but must admit my senses were a bit distracted not only from trying to get these pictures and a story for the paper, but also from the scent of barbecued chicken coming from Journeys Cafe, where the church was holding a Kaufmann's chicken fund raiser.

Check out this slideshow I put together last night ...

Edition No. 2 hits stands today

This is only my second paper "put to bed" as editor at the Item. I still haven't even put any personal effects in my office as it's been busy-busy-busy since Day One, or Minute 45, to be exact.
I had a great time this past Saturday gallivanting, as my mother says, about Hamburg and Shoemakersville.
I was in town to cover the Stamp Out Hunger food drive organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers. It's always good to see communities working together for a common cause, even if they didn't have to do anything more than leave a bag of non-perishable grocery items on their door step.
When I was in Shoemakersville, I met the Postmaster ... a Saint Clair native, who's been in charge of the mail for almost two decades.
"It's always good to see a Schuylk in foreign lands," I told him. He agreed.
I'm from Pottsville, and still live there, though with the price of gas, the move South on 61 is inevitable. A little note about Schuylks, once we get out of our native county, we seem to attract fellow "foreigners" as we consider ourselves past the border. If I ever have the chance to speak to you anywhere about town, I've been told I don't have the Coal Region accent, but can do an impression of people from any one of the ethnic regions of my native county.
This issue, you'll soon read, is really focused on community news, both municipal legislative content and some "around town" features. You'll also realize over time, I take the value of a small town very seriously, and I believe the disbanding of many small towns is what's leading to the downfall of our current economy.
Part of the role of the newspaper and the media is to engage its local readership in community events and news. You can only get the whole story by getting out in town. And though I just told you I consider myself a Berks foreigner, I am actively pursuing my native status ... and have the notebooks, and at some time in the future, the Carpal Tunnel, to prove it.
I love working the old-fashioned news beats, but always am looking for the real story, and what people can do to take action or participate. If we all fail to interact as a community, we're bound to become very self-centered individuals, and the definition of society (already altered), will have to be rewritten, like Page 5 did yesterday.

As always, consider my Inbox your personal dumping grounds for Community Information, good news about your neighbors, your thoughts on an issue in town (be it in Hamburg, Shoey, Perry Township, where ever). Tell me what you like about the paper, what you don't like and what you think we could do to make it better. That includes our Web site, BerksMontNews.com, and this blog, too.
Please consider, when sending photos destined for publication, ensure they are saved at 200 dpi. If you don't know what that is, ask a computer-savvy friend how you can check that on your computer. If you don't know anyone, then you can ask me and we'll get the picture in the paper.
Send it all to: jsophy@berksmontnews.com

Happy reading!

As promised ...

This is presumably the first blog entry done under the auspices of The Hamburg Item.
I am Joshua Sophy, the editor at the newspaper since Wednesday, April 30. I want this blog to serve as addendum, if you will, to the print version of the newspaper. I will do my best to provide a run-down of events throughout the week as they happen.
Of course, using the mighty tech that is the Web, we'll be able to bring you the news of Hamburg like never before.
It's been said print journalism is on the way out, and all people get their news from the Internet anymore. While a lot of people do get their news on the Web, they're all still reading something.
It is my intention to make the printed version of The Hamburg Area Item as enjoyable and engaging a read, week after week. I think everything is a story, and since they limit me to no more than two dozen pages a week, the savviest of papers can use the Web to bring its readers more news, in a more engaging and interactive format.
Consider your Hamburg Item connected. Feel free to send emails, share photos, videos, audio ... anything, with us. If you're a budding artist, this is the place to get your music or voice heard, your art seen or your writing read.