Running for Success by Meghan Witcop, 2015

On Thursday October 27th, the cross country team went to the WPIAL championships.  Both teams were hoping for a win, even though it would be a tough race.  With the weather in the low 40s, freezing rain and the trail a massive mud pit, no one knew how they would perform.  As the races neared the excitement started to build and the jitters began.
Up first were the girls.  The team consisted of Mary Hannon, Leyla Turcios, Vicki Grant, Amanda Carmichael, Swati Rajprohat, Erica Belloma, and Natalie Sena.  The girls ran hard in horrible conditions and placed 17th out of 35 teams.  In cross country, only the top four teams forward to States.  As an individual, the top twenty runners not including the qualifying team members are invited to States.  Mary Hannon who came in at the time of 22:12 is heading to States.
Finally, it was the boy’s turn to run.  The team consisted of Matt Haupt, Nick Kocent, Ryder Ballou, Ian Schrenk, Dominic DeSalle, Greg Suehr, and Alexander Michalenko.  The team placed 7th out of 42 teams.  Even though the team isn’t going to States, three individual runners qualified for States, Matt Haupt, Nick Kocent, and Ryder Ballou.  Ryder Ballou is the first ever freshman to qualify for States.
The State Championship is on November 5 at Hershey, Pa.  We wish all the runners Good Luck!

Think Pink by Lauren McDonald, 2012

OLSH fans participate in the WPIAL ‘Pink Out’ for breast cancer awareness on Saturday, October 29th.

Texting and Driving Ban in Pennsylvania by Ellen DiMartini, 2013

We say that every seven seconds an angel gets it’s wings.  Did you know though, that about every three hours someone dies from a texting related accident?  Over the past few months, the State House has been revising and negotiating the bill to ban texting while driving.  Yesterday the long debate on whether this bill would happen came to rest.  The House voted 188 to 7 to approve the bill for Pennsylvania.  The bill has to be sent back to the Senate for some language tweaking before moving on to the governor, Tom Corbett.  The process should not take long and once approved by both Pennsylvania will join the 30 other states that have past the texting while driving ban.

Senate Bill 314, states that drivers of all ages are prohibited from using interactive wireless communication devices for reading, writing, or sending text messages while driving.  Many Officials are for this bill including Representative Josh Shapiro.  He has been pushing for this anti-texting bill since the beginning.  He said, “This has been a long time coming.  This will no doubt make our roadways safer.”

With this bill, police will be able to pull over anyone texting without having any other problems. Although they can arrest you for texting, they cannot do it for cell phone use, but they can add it as an offense if a driver is pulled over for another offense.  This ban on texting while driving has a generally favorable review from drivers in Pennsylvania.  Folks from Northern Tier say that it is about time.  While this ban cannot stop drivers from texting while driving, it will hopefully make them think twice before texting and driving.

Haunted Hallway by Brandon Duerr, 2012

On October 28th, the students from the OLSH Clarion newspaper staff teamed up with the “Make-A-Wish” foundation to put together a very spooky and fun-filled haunted house. The Haunted Hallway was set up masterfully by the Clarion staff with the help of many other volunteers  which included parents, teachers, and even other students. The maze was intertwined throughout the senior commons upper and lower levels and included some very scary monsters within its limits.   In the cafeteria, there was plenty of good food and drinks to munch on after escaping the maze and its frightening fiends. The Garbera Family also hosted a “Make-A-Wish”  Chinese Auction full of great prizes. If one ventured down the long hall and into the music hallway, the horrific sights and sounds of the zombie infested  “Little Shop of Horrors” and Audrey, the giant man-eating plant would terrorize any brave soul that came by.  Also hiding in the dark were a wicked witch, who shared her fleshy feast and President Lincoln reminisced about his famous haunts.A lot of money was raised in OLSH’s efforts on Friday. The Clarion raised 580 dollars from door admission and the Chinese Auction and refreshments made over 700 dollars for the “Make-A-Wish” Foundation.  This major success of course would not have been possible without the a lot help and the OLSH Clarion staff would like to send out a special thanks to all these volunteers.

 

Qaddafi Killed in Libya by Sam Ritter, 2013

On October 20, Libyan leaders reported that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who had ruled Libya for nearly forty-two years, was dead. The reports came after an attack on a convoy leaving Qaddafi’s hometown of Surt. The convoy left around 8:30 local time, and was set upon by an American Predator drone and French warplane before covering two miles. The convoy was stopped, and Anti-Qaddafi fighters chased after people fleeing from the convoy.

Libyan rebel leaders say that Qaddafi was found hiding in a drainage pipe, wounded but alive, and that he was taken away in an ambulance to die afterward. However, cellphone picture and video evidence from the events seem to show a different scenario: that Qaddafi was executed by the rebels. The videos showed Qaddafi being beaten and dragged through the streets after being taken captive. There is no clear evidence whether he was still alive when he was taken away in the ambulance.

Most Libyan citizens, as well as a large portion of the Arab world, do not care the way that Qaddafi died, and are simply happy that he is gone. NATO is expected to announce the end of its campaign in Libya, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy says that Qaddafi’s death means the end of military intervention in the country.

Libyan leaders on the National Transitional Council (NTC) must now decide what to do with Qaddafi’s body, and how to move forward. Under Islamic tradition, burial should take place as soon as possible, but NTC officials say that they will hold onto the body for a few days. There is speculation that the burial will occur in secret, or possibly at sea, so the final resting place cannot be turned into a shrine by followers, but no decision has been made yet.

Official inquiry of the circumstances of Qaddafi’s death is expected to occur.