Mansfield Gazette, The (Newspaper) - October 13, 2004, Mansfield, Pennsylvania The Mansfield The Marketplace 12 pages one section Support OUT Troops year No 1 an edition of The Wellsboro Gazette per copy Next section of Route 15 to open by the end of October hu October 13.2004 The Gazette 22 By the end of this month Route 15 from Tioga Township to will be a access highway By Oct 29 the new section from north of Blossburg to south of Mansfield will officially open On or about the is when we hope to open that section of Route 15 to said district three community tions coordinator Rick Mason has scheduled a bon cutting ceremony for that day at Mason said State trans- secretary Allen D Biehler HE and other ies have been invited to the event The new section crosses the Tioga River north of Blossburg runs to the east of Covington and joins up at the south end of the Mansfield bypass The current section of Route 16 from the southern end of the Mansfield bypass to the tion with Route 660 will be re- signed as another part of 660 Traffic headed to will be directed in that direction Old Route 16 will be rerouted to allow people to drive from Covington to without using the highway This six-mile section of way cost nearly million which was spread out over three con- tracts earth work bridges and paving contractors are tually slightly ahead of schedule on the project which was nally slated to wrap up this No- according to Mason Contractors had their share of problems on the project however In November of last year a large section of the bridge north of Blossburg fell during construction and had to be replaced Also a soil slide near ton had to be stabilized That added some major lenges to the Mason said Completion of this project ia yet another piece of plan to build Interstate 99 which will eventually run from the Turnpike at Bedford to near Painted Post Route 220 from Bedford to and Route 15 from to Painted Post is the future corridor The first upgraded section of Route 15 was a few miles from Williamsport's Foy Avenue to Hepburn ville In Tioga County the section around Liberty opened in 1997 The section from Liberty to opened next After that the section from the Mansfield bypass to the lion Welcome Center opened Next up after the Blossburg section opens according to son is the short section from the center to the intersection with Route 287 and the section from 287 to Lawrenceville at the state border New York state is still trying to budget the estimated million to make upgrades be- tween the border and Presho which is still two lanes New York also has plans for their own welcome center for traffic The vania Welcome Center near Tioga is accessible to bound traffic bound traffic Lancaster County family to be featured in Explore Pa segment on Tioga County hu f a i Volunteers help transform state into bird watching area by C R Clarke A family of four from Lancaster County toured Tioga and Potter counties this week as part of a new PBS television program on Pennsylvania called Explore Pa The segment will be aired on Barre local channel and several other PBS stations in February According to a press release from Harrisburg the originator of the new series Ex- Pa is a new style of travel series for television which takes viewers on tours of Pennsylvania that integrate the state's deep tural and heritage resources with spectacular outdoor experiences to create itineraries for every kind of traveler The producer Heather Woodridge said the stars of the program families from various areas of the state were found through an open casting call hi June According to the casting call which was sent out throughout the state families and couples with diverse backgrounds and lifestyles were sought to star in the weekly travel aeries They would be sent on a two to three day getaway to one of Pennsylvania's travel tions their every move by television cameras The family selected to tour our area was the Kimmel family from Lititz As part Of the con- tract the family had to document their preparations for the trip in- a visit to the children's classrooms where they inter- viewed their classmates The family of four Craig Cindi and their children Samantha 12 and Cody 10 arrived in the area Sunday where they checked into the Penn Wells Hotel and then visited the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum From there they back to Wellsboro where they enjoyed some shopping at Main Street Antiques Peggy's Candles and Gifts Stained Glass tions and Oh Sweet Memories Cindi Kimmel said the family really enjoyed their visit to Tioga and Potter counties despite the unseasonably cold weather durine their visit It is really beautiful and the people are so she said during a stop Monday at Miller's Purely Maple near Hills Creek Lake Business owners Dale and Melanie Miller treated the family to a tour of their maple products production facility located on the north end of Hills Creek Lake Though the sap won't be ning until next year Dale Miller demonstrated how sap is col- by tapping a maple tree and then showed the sugar house where maple sap is turned into delicious syrup from which other products such as maple cream maple butter maple sugar and maple candy are made For more information about Miller's Purely Maple see com After they visited Miller's the family traveled to Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon where they toured exploring the petting zoo From there it was on to Manhattan Station in Potter County where they enjoyed mini golf gem mining and shopping The day ended with ing at Cherry Springs State Park Tuesday the final day of their adventure the family visited Leonard Harrison State Park and Kathryn's Overlook of the canyon to view the beautiful fall foliage They explored the canyon with the help of Mountain Trail Horse Center and spent the hiking and biking along the Rail Trail through the yon by Chris Bird watchers duck hunters and boaters can now access an excellent habitat just outside of Wellsboro Volunteers from the Audubon Society with the help of the Pennsylvania Game sion spent the summer building structures at State Game Lands 313 in Delmar Township The bird area is located dn the northern Dresser Road off Route 287 There are two Dresser Roads which do not connect This was a jungle in said Audubon Society member Dr Bob Ross You could not get in here without great difficulty The area is a marsh land that at one time supported celery farming It is one of the state's better bird and duck habitats That was true even before this year's work Volunteers and Game sion employees worked Tuesdays Thursdays and Sundays between July and October Ross said that he got the idea for the improvements after visiting other wildlife refuges The Game Commission con- a path leading from a small parking area to the boardwalk The volunteers built an tion blind and a boardwalk to the blind The boardwalk extends about 300 feet into the marsh The society had to obtain a wetlands ment permit to do the work The blind features five windows two of which are lower so people can sit and watch or for children to see the buds do SOCIETY members from left Dr Bob Ross and Emily watch birds from the newly constructed Wind on State 313 In From the bund bird watchers can observe all kinds of wildlife like mallards wood ducks marsh wrens herons the endangered American bitterns Virginia rails snipes bluebirds hawks and Geese Other wildlife like bear and deer and also inhabit the area The blind allows people to ob- verse and photograph nature without disturbing the wildlife The wildlife are somewhat shy and Ross said Future plans for the blind which resembles a small shack include a poster showing the cal birds and a book for visitors to record the birds that they ob- serve in the marsh There are also plans for road signs leading travelers to the area Ros B no ted that the marsh is part of the Susquehanna Birding Trail System People will come from long dis- tances to see these Ross said Summer is the best time to Ob- serve birds Ross related In the fall and spring birds use the marsh during migrations In the winter the marsh is mostly zen but a few springs provide habitat for ducks and bluebirds Ross pointed out that it is rare to have such a good birding tat The marsh has fish and in- sects to provide food also noted that the land is an emergent marsh meaning that plants grow out of the water It ia also a fairly large body of water measuring about two miles long and about half a mile wide Hunters will also benefit from improved access to the marsh said Steve Gehinger Game Com- mission land There is nothing illegal about hunting from the blind he said hut there is not much room in the windows to use a gun Many hunters Gehinger said prefer to hunt from canoes The new facilities and trail allow cess for that too This benefits the hunters as well as the bird watchers and one who wants to bring a canoe Please see BIRDS page Staff in the county's ment Office have been in the field review past two months as a cyclical ment gets underway We will always be in ment said Chief Assessor Deb Crawford She was on hand at the Oct 12 commissioners meeting to explain the need for an amendment to a 2001 tion that provided for periodic updates That resolution had given 2006 as a base year but she said there was no way her staff could com- plete the necessary field work by then The amendment changed the base year in which the year new assessment notices will go out to 2008 The new tax base will BO into effect in 2009 Crawford said land sales went up dramatically after the last re- assessment and that because of sales values are getting out of whack quickly Already field assessors have found things we didn't know were including houses for which owners were not paying taxes The cyclical reassessment is the only to maintain equity she said adding that her staff will be able to do the work for dreds of thousands of dollars less than it was done in the past regarding receipt of the cost of the ongoing work will in reimbursements from the IV E be budgeted annually Commissioner Mark Hamilton said there the com- missioners can do about property taxes except lobby at the state level for tax reform We want to ensure he said Commissioner Erick Coolidge was not present for the meeting Crawford stressed that erty values will not be changing now unless triggered by a ing permit In other business reviewed a memo from Chief Probation Officer Dave reassessment tns J V J federal funding stream This is unbudgeted revenue which I am sure is welcomed during a rent budget Stager wrote He explained that accessing this new funding source required an enormous amount of paperwork de- mands on the part of staff and was a month process He said he hoped the funds which are Social would continue to be available without a ing reduction in state allocations This is a tremendous asset to the taxpayers of the said Hamilton In other money matters Hamilton said work had not yet begun on the 2005 budget and that no public budget hearings would be scheduled Commissioners Approved a change of status for Robert Basalyga from Human Services Department manager of information services to Tioga County information technology director The position was then created by the Salary Board and a increase in salary was proved They also approved a change of status for Simon Shaw from director of information to information technology technician The Salary Board also acted to create that position arid set the salary at per hour a decrease for him new tion is technically a demotion Hamilton conceded Vogler said the for continuity and training of and will al- low for better and more decisions regarding software and hardware purchases Rescinded the hires of Olive Elmes and Betty WeUer as em- ployees in the Voter Registration Office then approved dent contractor agreements with them The pay will remain at per hour We decided it was tar to hire them as independent contractors than as employees Hamilton said Future of agriculture What is the future of ture in What will the farm s look like and who will the farmers What will be the real coat in money and in social and ecological terms of Weather Page 12 The Marketplace THURSDAY Mostly cloudy chance of a little rain FRIDAY considerable cloudiness tin possible Panthers homecoming The North Penn Panthers homecoming football game against the Canton Warriors left the home fans basking in the warm glow of victory Friday Oct 8
