Month: July 2022

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Mohegan

A powerful victory to Crazy Cute

WILKES-BARRE PA – Crazy Cute (Art Major) won easily in the $17,500 distaff pacing harness racing feature on Sunday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono – and may have finished with some more left in the tank.

Crazy Cute and driver George Napolitano Jr (Curtis Salonick Photo)

The 6-5 favorite, a daughter of Art Major who now has earnings of $304,805, left three-wide but backed off when seeing that A Better Game and Nuttinbuthebest to the left were similarly-minded; the latter took the lead near a :26.2 quarter, then posted midsplits of :55.2 and 1:23, with Crazy Cute making a big move towards the leader nearing the last-named split.

Around the far turn, the pacesetter and first-over were even, but soon after coming off the bend, Crazy Cute made powerful surge to quickly draw away, finishing under a George Napolitano Jr. hold and still stopping the timer in 1:51.1. Trainer Gilbert Garcia-Herrera owns the winner of two straight with Barbara Arnstine.

CRAZY CUTE REPLAY

The American Harness Drivers Club of amateur horsemen made its way to Pocono on Sunday to contest two $11,000 trots. Both races were won by AHDC veteran Tony Ciuffetelli, who brought a pair of sharp horses with him from Saratoga en route to victory.

In the feature handicap division, Ciuffetelli was looking to tuck second with Magic MVP (My MVP) near the quarter when the hole was shut on him, and it may have been the best thing to happen to horse and driver, as they pressed on to command. Despite late pressure coming from every direction, they held on for a 1:58 victory over the 15-year-old favored TSM Photo Bugger, three-wide for close to three-eighths of the mile, by a nose; Chief Justice threaded…

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Nanticoke

Little League: Back Mountain American hands Sowyersville/West Side first loss

Back Mountain American broke open a tie game by scoring five runs in the top of the third inning,and the held on to defeat Swoyersville/West Side 8-6 Friday in District 31 Little League Major Baseball.

The loss was the first for Swoyersville/West Side (3-1). BMA improved to 1-3.

Mike Viglone struck out six over the first four innings to get the win. Lorenzo Zangardi, who reached base twice, tossed the final two innings to close the game. Zangardi retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth on four pitches.

George Rolland had two hits for BMA and drove in two runs. Nick Dalessandro had an RBI single in the third.

Ryan Gensel drove in one run with a double for Swoyersville/West Side, while Derek Rukstalis singled in two. Evan Zagorski tripled home two runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Northwest 4, Kingston/Forty Fort 2

Cole Cavuto allowed two runs in 4.2 innings with six strikeouts to pick up the win as Northwest defeated Kingston/Forty Fort.

Devon Albee finished game for save.

Connor Mason led Northwest with two hits. Caleb Ide, Cole Cavuto, Jack Kingsbury and Liam Thomas also contributed with hits.

Damien Eastman led KFF with three hits.

DISTRICT 16

MAJOR BASEABALL

Plains 16, Nanticoke 6

Tyler Daugherty picked up the win in relief as Plains defeated Nanticoke in four innings.

Plains’ bats came alive in the third and fourth innings with Nolan Franchella and Reilly Hossage each had two hits and three RBI. Blake Dunsmuir added two RBI, and Teague Stahovic and Ben Thomas each had two hits for Plains.

For Nanticoke, Joe Korus took the loss. Nanticoke got home runs by Trey Mishanski and Owen Komoroski.

Township 8, Wilkes-Barre 3

Township beat Wilkes Barre as Dominic…

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Munsee

How a canoe trip on the Thames is reviving an endangered Indigenous language

When Ian McCallum put a canoe in the Thames River for the first time last August, he was looking for more than an adventure. He hoped it would help him see the river through the cultural and historical lens of his ancestors.

Now, the two-day journey from London to Munsee, Ont. has inspired a book as part of a wider effort to revitalize the endangered Lunaape language, also called Munsee.

The new language resource is called Asiiskusiipuw wiichkuneew Munsiiwak, translated to Canoe Trip on the Thames River. It teaches basic Lunaape vocabulary by highlighting the sights and sounds along the river.

“It’s a language that’s under a lot of pressure for survival,” said McCallum, a language educator for the Munsee-Delaware Nation, located about 20 km southwest of London bordering the Chippewas of the Thames reserve.

A smiling man holds a book in front of a tree. ‘Canoe Trip on the Thames River’ or ‘Asiiskusiipuw wiichkuneew Munsiiwak’ was written by Ian McCallum and Munsee-Delaware community language speakers. (Submitted by Ian McCallum)

He’s one of two intermediate Lanaape language speakers on the reserve of the language that UNESCO say is critically endangered. The organization says there are fewer than 10 fluent speakers. 

McCallum says his book is a “reversal process of naming,” which he describes as an opportunity to “take back those naming rights for ourselves.” His goal is to help build an understanding of the river in the traditional vocabulary for readers of all ages. 

Community history 

The canoe trip was “a wonderful way to actually see what my ancestors and the mountain people would have seen when they arrived on the Thames in the early 1780s,” McCallum said.

The late Munsee-Delaware Chief Mark Peters was part of the canoe trip and described the history of the land, including where villages used to be in the 1800s. Peters died in June. 

McCallum counts himself lucky to…

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Mohican

Renovated ranch enjoys privacy near lake

With the updates, the original floor plan has been reconfigured to include a family room and hearth breakfast room as well as a laundry room, which has space for a hobby area or small office.

Patio doors in a hearth room open to a covered rear patio. The concrete patio stretches across the back of the house and has a pillar-supported roof, allowing for possible enclosure. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY KATHY TYLER

Patio doors in a hearth room open to a covered rear patio. The concrete patio stretches across the back of the house and has a pillar-supported roof, allowing for possible enclosure. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY KATHY TYLER

Patio doors in a hearth room open to a covered rear patio. The concrete patio stretches across the back of the house and has a pillar-supported roof, allowing for possible enclosure. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY KATHY TYLER

Formal entry opens off a front-porch nook to the frosted-glass front door that opens off the side. Wood-laminate flooring fills the foyer and continues throughout the entire house except the bedrooms, which have neutral carpeting. The foyer branches into the bedroom hallway wing that wraps around to the casual areas of the house.

The other branch leads to the formal areas, including a living room and dining room. Both rooms have picture windows while the dining room is also the pass-through to the bedroom hallway and kitchen.

Mosaic-glass tile accents the wall space and gives a little color to the totally renovated white and gray kitchen. White cabinetry fills two walls and surrounds stainless-steel appliances that include a range, dishwasher, microwave and refrigerator. An island offers bar seating for two and has additional storage. The cabinetry is complemented by light gray quartz countertops. There is a small pantry closet and bi-fold closet opens to mechanical system with additional storage…

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Delaware Tribe

‘Tourists’ In Our Own Homeland

Millions of people visit New York each year from around the world. They come to see Times Square or the Statue of Liberty, to work, to study. Yet they may not even know they’re in Lenapehoking, the land of the Lenape people, also called Lenape’ok or Delaware.

Our homeland spans the watershed ecology of the Delaware River, including also the lower Hudson River, and the Atlantic coastline from the mouth of the Hudson to the mouth of the Delaware. Today it holds places that are essential to the American identity, like Philadelphia and New York City.

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All of the sovereign nations of the Lenape people were driven out of Lenapehoking by plagues, war, exploitative treaties and scalp bounties. Our homeland was taken from us, but we are reclaiming our voices and our places there.

Last fall I traveled to Lenapehoking on assignment, bringing three other Lenape’ok with me: Lauryn French, Trinity Guido and my adult child, River Whittle.

But we weren’t tourists. We never could be, even if we’d never been there before. We were returning to our family — a place that’s woven into our identity and literally in our blood.

Parts of the trip were painful. We saw land that holds the bones of our ancestors, now covered in concrete and asphalt. We thought about the brutality inflicted on our people.

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But it wasn’t just that. There was also joy.

“Do I want to go back sad? I feel like there have been so many tears in the hundreds of years that we’ve been removed. My line has cried enough about our homeland,” Lauryn said. “I’m going to go and be happy. I am going to go and enjoy it. Everything in my line told me that was not supposed to happen.”

Returning To…

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Mohegan

Review: In touring ‘Where We Belong’ now at the Goodman, a Mohegan theater-maker forges a deep connection with her audience

In her solo play, “Where We Belong,” Madeline Sayet shares her story with such warmth, passion, honesty and humor that one feels honored to have spent an evening in her presence. And what a tale she has to tell. A Mohegan theater-maker, Sayet moved to England in 2015 to pursue a doctorate degree in Shakespeare, a journey that led her to question not only her identity and place in the world, but also her relationship to the 400-year-old playwright in light of his country’s colonial legacy.

Sayet’s autobiographical account is both deeply moving and thought-provoking — an essential story to be told as the United States grapples with the horrors of its own past. The Goodman Theatre presents the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company production of the play, in association with the Folger Shakespeare Library, as part of a national tour.

With breathtakingly beautiful language — though in English, rather than the language that was taken from the Mohegans — Sayet recalls the rich history of her ancestors, conveying the strong connections to the community and the land that continue to be cherished in their culture. Of course, there is also plenty of painful history that is seldom taught to students in the U.S. — the brutal war tactics of the colonial settlers, theft of traditional lands and forced assimilation of Native children in residential schools. And yet, even though “last” is “the only word people recognize associated with Mohegan,” Sayet reminds the audience that “we are still here.”

In the United Kingdom, Sayet feels alone as the only Mohegan and is dismayed by the casual racism of her fellow academics. On one especially lonely day, she makes an impromptu visit to Southwark Cathedral on London’s South Bank to escape a sudden rain shower. Walking through the garden after the clouds have cleared, she…

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Nanticoke

Mitch Brown Takes First Knights of Thunder Win

PORT COLBORNE, Ont. (June 30, 2022) – Mitch Brown earned his first sword on Thursday night at Humberstone Speedway, withstanding pressure from several challengers to take his first Pinty’s Knights of Thunder 360 Sprint Car A-Main win.

Mitch Brown and Brayden Cooley were on the front row for the 25 lap A-Main, and Brown took the early lead while Mack DeMan and Mikey Kruchka jockeyed for the third spot. DeMan was strong on the high side, especially in turns three and four, and drove around Cooley to take the second position on lap four. Cooley then tried the upper lane, but Kruchka drove around him on the inside to take third.

Brown lived up to his “Downtown” nickname, methodically running the low side lap after lap. DeMan began to track down the leader and was less than half a second behind when the yellow flag came out for Jim Huppunen’s flat tire. Kruchka was still in third at this point, but pulled off the track with brake and rear end problems just as the green flag was about to come back out. Cory Turner inherited the third spot as a result.

Brown held serve again while DeMan and Turner diced for the second spot until another yellow flag appeared for a Dan Nanticoke spin. Aaron Turkey then stopped with a flat tire just as the green flag was about to reappear, and when it finally did Turkey’s teammate Cooley brought out the yellow again with a front suspension problem. Cooley’s bad luck moved Ryan Turner and Travis Cunningham into fourth and fifth, respectively, with Brown, DeMan, and Cory Turner ahead of them.

The green flag stayed out only briefly, as things went from bad to worse for Huppunen, Nanticoke, and Turkey who all tangled in turn one. Huppunen and Nanticoke restarted, but Turkey’s night…

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Mohegan

1st Native American treasurer to push economic development

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WASHINGTON — Mohegan Chief Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba, the nation’s first Native American U.S. treasurer, comes from a line of chiefs who instilled in her the need to keep her tribe healthy and to survive.

“It’s our job to leave footprints on the path for those who come behind us — so they may find their way easily,” she said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press.

Now Malerba, 68, will bring that mindset to two new jobs in Washington: Last week President Joe Biden appointed her U.S. treasurer and overseer of a new Office of Tribal and Native Affairs at the Treasury Department.

As part of the first role, her name will appear on all new U.S. currency. “I hope to sign the currency either Chief Lynn Malerba or Chief Many Hearts Lynn Malerba,” she said, referencing the meaning of her name within her tribe, “Mutáwi Mutáhash.”

In the latter role, she will be thinking of new ways to help tribes develop their economies to overcome challenges that are unique to tribal lands.

“Tribes cannot offer tax incentives on their reservations” in the same way that states and local municipalities would tax economic development, she said. She added that tribes haven’t been able to offer tax-exempt bonds for things like concert halls and golf courses like municipalities can.

Helping tribes develop plans to economically prosper will have benefits for the rest of the country, she said, adding: “When tribes succeed, everyone succeeds.”

The Mohegan tribe has seen success with various enterprises, including casinos and resorts on the reservation and in places like Atlantic City, the Las Vegas Strip and the international airport in South Korea. The WNBA team, the Connecticut Sun, also is part of the tribe’s portfolio.

As treasurer, Malerba’s duties will include oversight of the U.S. Mint, serving as a liaison…

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Nanticoke

Leonard H. “Bud” Dykins

Obituaries

Jun 27, 2022

Leonard H. “Bud” Dykins, 93, of Montoursville, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at his residence. He was born March 5, 1929, in Nanticoke, Pa., the son of the late Leonard Joseph and Evelyn Brown Dykins.

Bud graduated from Nanticoke High School in 1946. He also graduated from Bucknell University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1950.

He was married to the love of his life, the late Lois Kashner Dykins, for 54 years who passed away Oct. 16, 2011. They were married July 3, 1967.

Bud was employed as a chemical engineer at Merck for 20 years and at DER from where he retired.

He was a lifetime member of the Danville Elks. Bud was also a member of the Nanticoke Mason Lodge #332, the Caldwell Consistory and Faith United Methodist Church of Montoursville.

He enjoyed hunting and music. Bud was an avid New York Yankees and New York Giants fan. Bud loved spending time in the kitchen cooking meals with his family. His greatest enjoyment in life was spending time with his family and friends.

Bud is survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his aunts and uncles.

A Celebration of Bud’s life will be held on Wednesday, June 29, 2022 at 11 a.m. at Visneski Funeral Home, Inc., 42 W Mahoning St., Danville, PA 17821 with the Reverend Charles E. Gummo, retired Methodist minister officiating. Friends will be received from 10 to 10:45 a.m. Masonic Rites will be held by the Danville-Mahoning Lodge #224 at 10:45…

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Mohican

Close-to-home staycation options abound in and around Ohio

        Those of a certain age remember the upbeat ad campaign to “see the USA in your Chevrolet,” encouraging families to use the car to explore this beautiful country.
        That temptation to discover faraway wonders is challenged these days by the reality of gas prices that drain the household budget.
        Staycations – enjoying attractions within easy drives from home – are back in vogue, offering a chance to enjoy the treasures in our own backyards.
        Long ago, a close friend shared his thought that Ohioans should get to know their own state before setting off to more distant horizons. Personally, I enjoy a mixture of near, not so near, and far, but I thought his point was well taken. What we have right here really is very special and it’s hardly a second-best to stay close.
        Some of the great choices, including nearby spots in Michigan and Indiana, are obvious – Metroparks Toledo, Maumee Bay State Park, Put-in-Bay, Cedar Point, the Irish Hills, Imagination Station, the Toledo Zoo, and Toledo Museum of Art.
        Expand the circle a bit more and you can add Indiana’s Pokagon State Park, Mohican State Park and Resort, Henry Ford Museum, and much more.
        It’s likely one of Ohio’s biggest landholders won’t come to mind, even though it should be high on the list.
        The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District is the largest conservancy in Ohio, owners of 54,000 acres scattered along the Muskingum River and some tributaries in a watershed that encompasses 20 percent of the state. The District’s mission is straightforward – reducing the impact of floodwaters and conserving water. But in performing its mission, the Conservancy is able to provide services that are wide and varied, venturing heavily into premium recreation experiences.
        You…

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