Downtown business map now available
EBENSBURG -- The Ebensburg Area Business Commission and Main Street Partnership have created a downtown map of the central business district. “We want to make downtown Ebensburg as accessible as possible,” said Christine Strugala, Community Development Director. “This map shows where all of our downtown businesses are located and will help visitors navigate through town easier.” Nearly one hundred businesses are highlighted on the map, as well as, the Cambria County Courthouse, Municipal Building, Ghost Town Trailhead, Gazebo Park, and several churches and schools. The map will be posted in a kiosk at the trailhead of the Ghost Town Trail, and available at the Young Peoples Community Center. Maps will also be available at the Ebensburg Borough office, at several downtown businesses, and on the Borough’s web site at www.ebensburgpa.com! “As the county seat, people from all over visit Ebensburg,” said Adam Murphy, President of the Ebensburg Area Business Commission. “Providing visitors a map to tour the community will give them a chance to visit downtown businesses they may have not ordinarily been aware of.”

Links to area photos
-- We've had a few mentions of photos of the area recently on the guestbook and through emails to us. These are not pages associated with our site, so we won't be able to answer any questions about them. Here are a few links we received:
Rusyn Villages Under Dukla
Ed photo album 1
Ed Photo album 2

HELP!
-- We've had some requests for help from visitors to the site. Unfortunately, we weren't able to help them, but thought that another visitor may be able to. If you can help any of these people, please send us your information and we will be sure to forward it to them or put you in contact with them. Thanks for your help!
--My wife has 1947 & 1948 Barnesboro High School year books in excellent condition.  Any interest?
-- Stefancik and Falatek - My name is Jim Smith. I am trying to find more info about my family. My mother and here family is from the Barnesboro area. Her maiden name was Stefancik (with diacritical marks above the "S" and "C"). Her mother's maiden name was Falatek (they are all Rusyn). By the way, I was really surprised to see your photo on the internet of  St. John the Baptist Greek Catholic church. The exact same photo was used on a postcard that my mother gave to me years ago!!! She was baptized/chrismated in this church in 1924 (I think the one that burned down?). Anyways, back to the point of the email. I am trying to get more info on my great-grandfather Jan Stefancik. He emigrated to the US and was married to Elizabeth Kristof. He was born in 1873 in Slovakia and died Dec. 25, 1918 in a mining accident in Barnesboro. I am trying to get the church death record of him. I have a picture of his grave, which apparently has a chapel. The dedication name plate on the chapel is: St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church Chapel (erected 1990). My problem is finding which church this chapel or cemetery belongs to and therefore the source for the death record. I was told that this cemetery is in Spangler. My ultimate goal is to find out what village he came from. I am going to Slovakia this June and am trying to find Stefancik  and Falatek relatives. Any info you might have on Stefancik or Falatek would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.
-- Can you please let me know if anyone has a 1961 or 1962 yearbook from Barnesboro High School to buy, borrow, or just look at for a couple minutes?  Thanks, Tom
-- I’m looking for old Bishop Carroll High School yearbooks (1976 thru 1980). I lost my 1977 and ’78 yearbook during a move to Mesa, AZ 20 years ago. Any help locating these would be greatly appreciated. - Thanks, Steven
-- Coal Miner Death - I would appreciate any information you are able to provide concerning the death in a coal mine of a miner whose last name was spelled either MATVEY or MATWEY.  I do not have his first name. According to the information I have, this miner was killed in a coal mining accident in the early 1900's.
-- Classic Car to Rent? My friend is getting married this December, 2005 in Johnstown Pa. She and her future husband don't want to do the limo thing. They would rather have a romantic few minutes between the ceremony and the reception. She has told me she would like to rent a classic car that would accomodate the two of them. She wants to do something original. She has asked me if I know of anywhere she could call about renting a classic Royce or pretty much anything... she wants it to be original and not like any other wedding she has been to. We have been having trouble finding a place to rent this kind of vehicle in the Johnstown/Somerset area... I would love to surprise her with this as a gift... Can you possibly put me in touch with anyone who would be willing to rent out their car for the day... and maybe even drive... She wants the event to be very special if you could give me any direction in who I should call to find this type of service it would be a huge help...
-- Photos of Our Area - we've had requests for more photos of the area on our site. Do you have old or new photos that you would like to share? Email them to us! We'd be glad to add them for you!
-- Cambria, PA? I had a relative that lived and worked in Cambria, PA in the early 1900's. What is that community known as now? I was not able to find it on the map. Thank you, Camille.
-- Yearbooks / Area History and Information - We at the site are looking for area yearbooks and histories and information on area communities. We have had many requests for these. If you know where they can be acquired, please contact us.
-- Centennial History of Barnesboro - I read somewhere about a book, "Centennial History of Barnesboro" printed in 1994. Do you have any idea who I might be able to contact regarding purchasing this book? Thank you, Janet. (This is a request we have gotten many times. If you know where any of these hard to find books can be located, please let us know.)

Keepsake postcards available
-- A frequent visitor to the site has come up with a really nice keepsake postcard custom printed with Barnesboro, Spangler or Hastings. If you are interested in more information, or would like to purchase one, visit his postcard page.

Buying or selling? Let us help!
LOOKING TO PURCHASE -- a home in the Northern Cambria Area.  2-3 bedrooms, large lot or a few acres. Must close prior to September 2006.  Prefer rural. Garage a plus. Also WANTED TO BUY: late model, mid size to luxury car with low mileage. Respond to this e-mail rettwolf@aol.com
FOR SALE --2003 Nissan Frontier, Crewcab. 6,000 miles, LIKE NEW - balance of factory warranty, supercharged, power everything, cap, visors, shield. $20,500.00 Call 814-472-5283. Leave message if not home.
FOR SALE -- Complete DJ Business. I am selling a complete set of DJ equipment. All lights, truses and speakers are included.  Everything is here to start your own DJ business today.  If interested please e-mail me at eve_long425@yahoo.com to make arrangements to see all the equipment. Asking $3,500. 
-- Have something to buy, to sell, to trade? Let us help! Just send us your information and we will add it to the site.

Local artwork to be chanced off for art show
EBENSBURG -- The “Art in Bloom” committee would like to announce a unique and exciting opportunity! To help promote the 8th Annual Ebensburg Spring Art Show at the end of April, the committee will be chancing off a piece of donated artwork beginning Monday, April 3rd. Theresa Prostejovsky, a local artist, donated the watercolor painting titled “Geraniums in Bloom”. The artwork will be displayed in the lobby of First National Bank in downtown Ebensburg from April 3rd – 21st. Chances can be purchased for $1 each, or 6 for $5, at the bank during normal operating hours. They may also be purchased at the show, being held at the Cambria County Courthouse, on Saturday, April 22 nd from 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. and on Sunday, April 23rd from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. “Art in Bloom” is sponsored by the Ebensburg Area Business Commission and Main Street Partnership. The show is partially funded through a grant from the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance. Please visit www.ebensburgmainstreet.com for more information about the exhibit.

Art show this weekend
EBENSBURG -- 8th Annual Ebensburg 'Art In Bloom' Spring Art Show will be held this weekend, April 22nd & 23rd at the Cambria County Courthouse. Exhibit hours are from Noon-6pm on Saturday, April 22nd and from 11am-4pm on Sunday, April 23rd. Admission is FREE! For more information call (814) 472-8414 or or visit www.ebensburgmainstreet.com.

Winners of Ebensburg holiday decorating contest announced
EBENSBURG --The community has spoken! Over 550 votes were cast online (www.ebensburgmainstreet.com) and at the Ebensburg Borough office for the community’s favorite decorated homes and businesses in Ebensburg! The first contest was for participating homes in Ebensburg Borough and Cambria Township. Winners are as follows: White Lights category = 109 West Horner Street, Colored Lights category = 708 East Sample Street, Best Scene = 954 9 th Street (Colver, Cambria Twp.) Personalized ornaments with a picture of each winning property will be awarded to the three winners, as well as, other various prizes. The second contest was for participating businesses in Ebensburg Borough and Cambria Township. Over twenty businesses decorated their storefronts for all to enjoy. Hair Expressions by Tracy took first place, followed by Fox’s Pizza Den in second place, and High Street Emporium in third place. Each winner will be awarded a personalized ornament and a free 2006 membership to the Ebensburg Main Street Partnership. For more information, please contact Christine Strugala at (814) 472-8414 or cstrugala@ebensburgpa.com!

Ebensburg Area Business Commission officers: Front (l-r): Dr. Kerry Kirsch, Adam Murphy, Audrey Liscomb, Lou Hribar. Back (l-r): Charlie Shingle, Francine Filkens, Roni O'Donnell, Vivian Keilman. Absent: Tim Houser, Carol Rummel, Rene Damin

Ebensburg Area Business Commission elects new officers
EBENSBURG -- The Ebensburg Area Business Commission, an eleven-member board, appointed by Council, focuses their efforts on improving the economic vitality of Ebensburg's business community. They assist with the development of programs designed to recruit new businesses, retain those established and encourage reinvestment within the commercial district. They are also responsible for oversight of the Ebensburg Main Street Partnership and coordinating many of Ebensburg's special events. Adam Murphy, partner of Shrift Small Business Network Consulting in Ebensburg and employee of Concurrent Technologies Corporation in Johnstown, has been elected President of the EABC. Murphy is a 1998 graduate of Central Cambria High School and 2002 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. Dr. Kerry Kirsch, of Kirsch Orthodontics, has been elected Vice President. Followed by Lou Hribar of Northwest Savings Bank as Secretary and Audrey Liscomb of First National Bank as Treasurer. Other board members include: Rene Damin (Damin Printing), Vivian Keilman (High Street Emporium), Charlie Shingle (Computer Shop), Roni O’Donnell (O’Donnell Photography & Graphic Design), Tim Houser (Askew-Houser Funeral Homes), Francine Filkens (HealthSouth) and Carol Rummel (PotatoFest Chairperson). Although board members are appointed to five-year terms, officers are elected yearly.

Spangler native heads DoD Institute
By Army Master Sgt. Christopher Calkins and Mary Ann Chevalier
DEOMI Public Affairs
PATRICK AFB, Fla. -- Only a month shy of hitting her one-year anniversary as the Commandant of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, this Navy officer -- a native of Spangler, Pennsylvania -- is making waves.
-- Navy Capt. Kathy Contres, daughter of John and Phyllis Contres, is making her mark felt as she oversees a joint-service school supporting all Department of Defense and U.S. Coast Guard equal opportunity and equal employment opportunity program requirements.
-- Contres, the Navy’s highest-ranking female Hispanic Line Officer on active duty, entered the Navy in 1980, after receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Education with an emphasis in Sports Medicine, from Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania.
In February 1981, she received her Navy commission at Officer Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island. Her initial duty assignment was at the Naval Audiovisual Center in Washington, D.C.
-- Now, after a quarter century of distinguished service to her country -- in various locations (just to name a few) from Guam to Hawaii to the Pentagon, to western New York, where she served as the Commanding Officer of the Buffalo Recruiting Command -- Contres now finds herself in her most challenging position to date.
DEOMI, well-known as the Defense Department’s “center of excellence for equal opportunity and equal employment opportunity training, education and research,” is currently in the process of undergoing many to-the-root changes.
-- “Not everyone does well with change, myself included” Contres said, “but in order for us to survive as an Institute and to consistently contribute to the Global War on Terrorism by supporting the ‘war-fighter in the field,’ some drastic changes in the way we do business had to be made.
-- “It’s not been an easy process to go through, for any of us,” she said.
-- One of the biggest changes is the complete make-over of the Institute’s Equal Opportunity Advisor Course. For more than a decade, the course has been taught over a 15-week period. Now, mostly due to real-world demands, “Team DEOMI,” as she is fond of saying, has shortened the course by five full weeks.
-- “And we still had to be able to ensure that they (the students) will be getting the same quality education and training they’ve received since we opened our doors in 1971,” Contres said. “I’m confident that, that will be the case.”
-- She won’t have to wait long to find out; the first 10-week class in DEOMI’s history begins April 4.
-- Contres is also in charge of ensuring the Institute meets the requirements for a stringent re-accreditation process that will happen in the next few months.
-- “With all the moving parts we have around here -- DEOMI teaches more than 1,200 military and civilian students each year -- the re-accreditation of the Institute takes top priority. No question, without their ‘blessing,’ we would be pretty much a tooth-less tiger. Why would anyone want to come to an educational institution that has no validity? They wouldn’t,” she said.
But she quickly added she is 100 percent positive getting that much-needed “stamp of approval” won’t be a problem.
“We have a lot of very smart, very dedicated folks working here who know the importance of this whole process. Many have been involved before and seen it first-hand. It won’t be up to me to ensure we get our re-affirmation; they’ll do it for me -- for all of us,” she said.
-- Other on-going DEOMI projects include the distance-learning objectives her team is currently working on, and a newly instituted, computer-based, organizational climate survey.
“In today’s fast-moving military, we have to keep up with the pace of things. If our customers can’t find the time to come to us, we have to find a way to get to them,” she said.
-- Contres keeps that pace up in her personal life as well, reaching out to mentor and guide members of the civilian and military communities alike. This outreach has garnered her much respect, admiration and well-deserved recognition, too.
-- Her most recent awards include; a 2005 Las Primeras Award from MANA, (a national Latina organization), a leadership award from Latina Style magazine, the Society of Mexican American Engineers & Scientists Medalla de Oro award, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers President’s Award and the Association of Naval Services Officers Leadership Award.
-- Capt. Kathy Contres -- Commandant, leader, innovator -- full speed ahead.

Pop quiz
NORTHERN CAMBRIA -- A visitor to the site has submitted the following bit of local trivia. I did alright I guess, how did you do?
1. What was the brand of shirts made at the shirt factory?
2. What was the hang out for the young people behind the shirt factory?
3. How many movie theatres were there in the area?
4. What was the name of the bus stop in Barnesboro?
5. Where did the area kids go swiming (in a pool)?
6. How many 5 & 10s were there and what were the names?
7. What was the name of the local coal company?
These are the answers I was given:
1. Van Heusen
2. Roller rink
3. Three: 2 in Barnesboro, 1 in Spangler.
4. Sabella's
5. Barnesboro Pool, also Patton. And I think Patton had one before Barnesboro. I was from Watkins and we dug ours on the hillsides. We had 2.
6. 2 - McCrory's and Woolworths. (Many of the answers we recieved were McCrory's and G.C. Murphy's - had Woolworth's changed names?)
7. Barnes & Tucker

Hardware store reopens under new name
EBENSBURG -- The Ebensburg Area Business Commission and Main Street Partnership are proud to announce the grand reopening of a popular downtown hardware store, which closed only days ago. “I decided to reopen the former Lee’s Hardware because of tremendous community support,” said Barb Lego, former employee of Lee’s Hardware. “I’ve renamed it Lego Hardware and am excited about this incredible opportunity to continue to serve this community.” Lego Hardware is located at 219 West High Street in downtown Ebensburg. “Everyone has been stopping in and thanking me for reopening,” continued Lego. “Ebensburg is a great place to do business.” The hardware offers plumbing, paint and paint supplies, tools, electrical and general hardware parts, as well as, provides glass and pipe cutting services. Other services include fixing windows and repairing screens. Lego Hardware is open Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Please call the store at (814) 472-5570 for more information.

Art show applications now available
EBENSBURG -- Applications for “Art in Bloom- The 8th Annual Ebensburg Spring Art Show” are now available. Scheduled for April 22nd & 23rd at the Cambria County Courthouse, the show is open to all artists, both amateur and professional. The categories for entries are: Painting (Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor), Drawing (Charcoal, Pencil, Pen & Ink), Photography/Computer Generated and Digital Art, 3-Dimensional (Sculpture, Fiber Art, Ceramics) and Mixed Media. The entry fee is $5.00 for each work entered. Applications are now available online at www.ebensburgmainstreet.com or call (814) 472-8414. The application deadline is Monday, April 10 th. We are happy to announce that “Art in Bloom” has been awarded a grant in the amount of $912.00 by the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance.

Newly renovated health club to host open house
EBENSBURG -- The newly renovated ShapeShifters Fitness, located in the Cambria County Industrial Park in Ebensburg, will host an open house for the community from February 20th through February 25th, 2006. “We just finished a major renovation of the facility,” said David Irwin, Owner and Certified Personal Trainer. “We added new yoga and massage therapy rooms, several new pieces of exercise equipment, satellite radio and television entertainment systems and state-of-the-art sports flooring.” During the club’s open house, first-time club users will get a free, one-day pass to use the club’s facilities, including a free tanning session, to use on the day of their choice. Free chair massages will be offered on February 20 th. On February 22nd, the club will offer free belly dancing and yoga classes. A free fitness seminar will be held on February 23 rd. There will also be equipment demonstrations throughout the week and special drawings. ShapeShifters Fitness provides strength, cardio and flexibility equipment, as well as, racquetball and walleyball. Group exercise classes are also available, including kickboxing, aerobics, butts and guts, yoga, relaxation and belly dancing. ShapeShifters Fitness is located at 162 Industrial Park Road, Ebensburg. Company membership plans are available. Please call (814) 472-8573 for more information.

Pyramid Healthcare Open House
EBENSBURG -- Pyramid Healthcare opened an office in Ebensburg in November, 2005. Meet the staff and learn about Pyramid Healthcare programs for adults and adolescents! Open house at Ebensburg Outpatient Office, 101 West High Street, Second Floor Suite 120. Tuesday, April 4th, 2 PM - 4 PM . Contact: Andrea Young, Email: ayoung@atlanticbbn.net, Phone: (814) 935-5203.

Opening weekend at museum
ALTOONA -- Opening weekend at the Railroaders Memorial Museum, April 1st & 2nd. Enjoy the FREE Model Train and Railroad Collectibles Show in Memorial Hall, including Harley Burkett’s HO Scale Model Train Layout.
-- This year our “Tracking the Bunny Scavenger Hunt” has been set for Sunday, April 2nd beginning at 11:00AM. The first 500 children, ages 12 and under, will receive a FREE Easter basket courtesy of Walmart and candy courtesy of Forever Broadcasting with the price of admission. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children ages 5-17. Under 5 is always free! For more information call 1-888-4ALTOONA, email at community@railroadcity.com, or visit our website at www.railroadcity.com.

What a slacker...
-- Hi all. I am referring to myself as the slacker. First I trash the community calendar - still haven't figured out how I managed that, then I slack on site updates. Well, I did get the town links to the left fixed, though most do not link to anything. Thanks to my niece for letting me know that bothered her. Now maybe she can rest easy. It is now up to you, visitors to the site, to help put some content on those pages. Be sure to send your submissions to add!

Daylight Savings time. Spring Ahead one hour! 2am Sun., April 2