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WARREN, Pa. – With the year coming to an end, it’s time for our annual look back at the stories that mattered the most to our readers. We’ve already seen news and sports, now it’s time to see which columns caught your eye.
2022 in Review: Top News Stories • Top Sports Stories
We introduced a new column in the second half of the year, and readers quickly showed it was one of their favorites as four of the Top 10 spots are occupied by Pieces of the Past. A pair of fond farewells and calls to action also grabbed readers’ attention.
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Column Pieces of 2022:
10. Pieces of the Past: Sandals, Sidewalk Sales, and Old Stores
The other day I was looking for a pair of shoes. In the process, I rediscovered a pair of sandals. I hadn’t laid eyes on them for years! Correction: DECADES!
I was surprised to find them in excellent condition. I wore them only a few times. They were a “Sidewalk Sale” bargain from LOGAN’S Men’s wear. Logan’s was located in a classic multi-story building located on Liberty Street South of the picket-fenced one-story building on the corner of Third and Liberty. Today, Logan’s building is a memory only for people my age or older. It was demolished and replaced by the modern building that housed Cady’s Hallmark Card and Gift Shop.
The memories of old Downtown Warren flooded in.
9. There’s Actually Quite a Lot to Do
A sad realization occurred to me as my wife and I were getting settled in for the Farewell Angelina concert at Struthers Library Theatre last Saturday evening. Between concerts, films, and stage productions I’ve covered since we created Your Daily Local, I’ve been in the theatre more in the last two years than I was in the previous 30.
And I couldn’t help but think, having been born, raised, and spent most of my life in Warren County how many times I’ve heard, and admittedly said, that “there’s nothing to do here.”
It’s a sentiment heard often throughout the county, and though it’s been passed down through the generations, it couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s actually a lot to do in Warren County as long as you’re willing to go out and do it.
8. Rep. Bernstine, It’s Time You Get Put Away Like the Paterno Statue
Pennsylvania Representative Aaron Bernstine (R, Lawrence/Butler) is everything that is wrong with government in this Commonwealth and this country.
At a time when we are facing the highest gasoline prices on record, at a time when we are facing inflation not seen in 40 years, at a time when we are as divided as a nation as we have been in at least 50 years what does dear Rep. Bernstine decide is the most pressing need of the day?
The Joe Paterno Statue of course.
7. Pieces of the Past: Sherwood Refining Co.
When I was growing up on Warren’s East Side there was a dominant landmark on the Southside of the river across from United. It was the remains of another refinery. The 100-plus foot tall Sherwood Refinery stack.
Sherwood was an unusual refinery compared to others that were located here. With the proximity to rich Pennsylvania green crude. Unlike oil from out west, our crude developed from rotting green plants. Oil from Texas and other western states is tar-based oil. At the time, we had the perfect crude to make motor oil and gasoline. Sherwood had decided the waste guck was what he wanted.
If you visit an oil well in the area you will see a yellowish gel called paraffin. This element isn’t welcomed because it fouls machinery. Sherwood on the other hand loved it. It can easily be refined. Using a process developed in Corry by a chemist named Joshua Merrill the stuff could be turned into a clear, odorless compound called petroleum jelly. Commercially you call it Vaseline.
6. A Lasting Legacy
They left the court for the final time as almost all great athletes do. Not riding on the shoulders of their teammates, victorious against even the greatest of odds. No, those are stories most often left to Hollywood to tell.
For these great athletes, and make no mistake, they are two of the best to ever do it in Warren County, the final exit was one overcome with emotion. Spent from having given every ounce of energy, every last drop of sweat to try to will their team to victory just one more time.
When Warren seniors Riley Childress and Emma Ruhlman got their final curtain call with just over two minutes left in Warren’s 58-36 loss to Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs, it marked the end of a 4-year span of unparalleled greatness in Lady Dragons basketball history.
5. Let’s Help Each Other Finish the Race
Maybe it was simply a coincidence, or maybe something stuck. I can’t say for sure, but it was fitting that less than 24 hours after Marc Mero left Warren County, one of the main points of his message was on full display at War Memorial Field.
Titusville’s Kaleb Sopher limped across the finish line, victorious in the 200 meters by just 0.2s over Warren’s Ethan Best. After the finish, Sopher grabbed his hamstring and fell to the ground. Rather than ignore his opponent, or sulk about coming in second, Best immediately offered assistance to help Sopher stretch the ailing muscle.
Once finished, Best extended his hand to help Sopher to his feet.
4. Our Loss is Their Gain
It was both appropriate, and inadequate, that in the final moments of his final event, outgoing Warren County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Dave Sherman received a standing ovation.
Appropriate because there may not have been a bigger advocate for Warren County over the last decade than Dave, and inadequate because more of the county wasn’t on hand for the send-off.
Dave had asked if he could pen a farewell letter to Warren County for publication on Your Daily Local, which we readily agreed to. He sent a note late last week explaining why he wasn’t able to finish. Simply put, he was still more concerned with the future of Warren County than himself.
3. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
I was having a conversation with a friend over the weekend and we talked about how Warren County celebrates the Fourth of July.
Long story short, we came to the same conclusion – Warren does it right. Better than most, in fact.
It’s a weekend-long event, from the Food Truck Festival and all of its activities at Betts Park to the fireworks to the annual parade, everything about it is top-notch.
2. Pieces of the Past: Kinzua
When you scoot up 59 and pass the dam what do you think of? The majestic beauty of the scenery? Maybe you drive across the Casey Bridge and get a peak at the boats, or the people off to the right on the sand at Kinzua beach.
I know I don’t think like other people. I try to remember number 8. Up behind the beach, in the vicinity of the restrooms and changing areas is where the number 8 green of the Kinzua golf course was.
Every time I cross the Casey bridge I glance in that direction. In fact long after the dam opened you could still plainly see the round outline of the green. My dad and my brother played the last game of golf there before they were forced to close.
1. Pieces of the Past: The Red Barn
There is an office for a local construction contractor company on Pennsylvania Avenue East. If you’re a part of one age group, the building was once Noiban’s. I remember it as the Red Barn.
Red Barn restaurants were founded in 1961 by Don Six, Jim Kris, and Martin Levine in Dayton, Ohio. By 1963 the trio decided to try their hand at franchising. Before McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Burger King found their way to Warren a franchiser found Warren. Seeing United Refinery as an immediate source of traffic it was decided to build Warren’s first fast-food burger chain across the street.
Red Barn in Warren remained alive longer than any of the other Red Barns in the region. It featured a good menu of burgers, chicken, and fresh fries. Prices for a single cheeseburger were low enough that you could find enough money for one in the cushions of your sofa! Depending on who you asked, Red Barn’s Big Barney was created before McDonald’s Big Mac. A Barnful of Chicken was a great dinner all by itself.
