Bedford Gazette du lieu suivant : Bedford, Pennsylvania • Page 1

Chester A. Arthur, our Canadian president? Page 13 Sports, Pg. 8 Yang tops Woods for PGA Championship States weigh drilling in parks Page 3 Bedford Gazette Bedford, Pa. Published Continuously Since 1805. One of America's Oldest Newspapers.

Vol. 204 No. 266 August 17, 2009 MONDAY Obama may drop 'public option' The report on Bedford Area School District's school facilities task force will be presented Tuesday. The advisory task force consultant, Dr. Jeffrey Miller, will present a final report at Tuesday's school board meeting.

The 7 p.m. meeting has been moved to the Bedford High School auditorium. The regular board room was standing-room-only last week when Hyndman school supporters attended. The task force spent several months examining the district's schools both buildings and operations and ended with three options to recommend to the school board. Two of those options include possible of one or both Hyndman schools.

The board is not expected to act on the recom- imendations until later this fall. Imler Volunteer Fire Co. will host its annual ox roast at the fire hall on Thursday Saturday. The weekend events begin a firemen's parade at 7 Thursday, followed by music and a kiddie tractor pull for ages 1 through 7 at 8 p.m. Friday, a cruise-in starts at 6 p.m.

At 7 p.m., children ages 1 through 10 can try to catch a bantie peep and at 8 p.m., the greased pig contest starts for ages 1 through 6. Seize Fire entertains at 8 p.m. Saturday, a chicken barbecue fires up at 11 a.m. One Lane will entertain at 7 p.m. 'Youngsters ages 7-12 can try the greased pig contest.

The event wraps up with drawings at 9 p.m. and fireworks lat dusk. All three nights there be food, games, pony rides, craft vendors and a Ibaked goods sale. The Progressive Agriculture Farm Safety Day will be held Saturday, Aug. 22, at the Bedford County fairgrounds.

Registration is 9 to 9:45 a.m.; activities are from 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Through hands- on activities, participants will learn how to prevent farm accidents and to reduce injuries. A special feature of this year's safety day is power-takeoff safety and tractor rollover prevention. Speakers will emphasize that children and adults are responsible for their own safety.

Registration fee of $3 includes lunch and a T-shirt; you can preregister by calling the cooperative extension office at 623-4800, Deaths. (Obituaries on Page 16) HECKMAN, Pauhne 87, of Manns Choice, died Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009. Arrangements incomplete at Mickle-Geisel Funeral Home, Schellsburg. Obituary in Tuesday's Gazette.

ICKES, 86, of Val- liey Road, Fishertown. WASHINGTON (AP) Bowing to Republican pressure. President Barack Obama's administration signaled on Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system. Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, tion officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession probably would enrage Obama's liberal supporters but could deliver a much-needed victory on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP ers.

Officials fi-om both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind when they returned to their districts for an August recess. Obama had sought the gavernmeBt to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured, but he never made it a deal breaker in a broad set of ideas that has Republicans unified in opposition. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that government alternative to private health insurance is "not the essential element" of the administration's Gazette Miller Down and out British and British colonial militia troops stand victorious over a fallen French soldier at the close of battle Sunday at Old Bedford Village, during the weekend's French and Indian War Reenactment. More photos, page 2. health care overhaul.

The White House would be open to co-ops, she said, a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory. Under a proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad, consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private Continued on Page 6 Panhandle first storm target of season PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Claudette was bringing heavy rain to the Florida Panhandle Sunday, likely becoming the first tropical storm to strike the U.S. mainland this year.

Claudette had winds of at least 50 mph, but was not expected to cause significant flooding or wind damage. Lurking more ominously was Tropical Storm Bill, which was quickly turning into a powerful storm over warm waters in the open Atlantic with sustained winds of 65 mph. Ana, a tropical storm that had also been churning in the Atlantic, had weakened to a depression. Skies clouded and bands of intermittent heavy rain moved on shore ahead of the storm, but the Panhandle was largely calm. Condominiums on Pensacola Beach warned residents to bring balcony furniture indoors with winds anticipated to strengten throughout the evening.

A trickle of cars and SUVs with surfboards on Continued on Page 16 Schools gear up to be swine-flu clinics WASHINGTON (AP) Hundreds of schools are heeding the government's call to set up flu-shot clinics this fall, preparing for what could be the most widespread school vaccinations since the days of polio. An Associated Press review of swine flu planning suggests there are nearly 3 million students in districts where officials want to offer the vaccine once federal health officials begin shipping it in mid-October. Many more may get involved: The National School Boards Association told the AP three-quarters of the districts in a recent survey agreed to allow vaccinations in school buildings. In South Carolina, "there will be a massive attempt to use schools as vaccination centers," said state Superintendent Jim Rex. He plans at least one vaccination clinic in each of the state's 85 school districts.

South Dakota started offering fi'ee children's vaccination against regular winter flu in 2007, and this year it plans to offer both kinds in many schools, said state Health Secretary Doneen Hollingsworth. Now come the difficult details: figuring out all the logistics in giving squirmy youngsters a shot in the arm or a squirt in the nose. That's in addition to measures being taken to keep the swine flu virus from spreading inside schools and to keep sick kids at home. Already, Lee County, schools have reported a few AP Photo This photo taken 29 shows would-be kindergartners rubbing hand sanitizer on their hands before going to lunch at a summer school program in Montgomery County's Brookhaven Elementary School, in Rockville, Md. cases of swine flu the first week of school, and a Louisiana high school football team reported 20 players sick or recovering from it.

To make sure students wash their hands, Minneapolis schools have outfitted every restroom with tamperproof soap dispensers, so students don't horse around with soap. And the district has a no- excuses policy to keep them filled. "It sounds so simple, but it works," district emergency management director Craig Vana said. Bismarck, N.D., is insisting that parents keep feverish children home. "We're going to have to be a little firmer on that this year than in the past," superintendent Paul Johnson said.

It can be hard to tell if a child has a bad cold or flu and swine flu and regular flu share the same symptoms. For many schools, a 100-degree temperature automatically means sending a child home. The goal is to keep schools open; federal officials said last Continued on Page 6 Bedford Gazette 424 W. Penn St. 814-623-1151 Visit Our Friendly Medical Dental StafH HYNDMAN 144 FIFTH HYNDMAN (814) 842-3206 and 112 Nomii RJciiARD BeDFORol (814) 623-8222 wwwJiyBdnMinhealth.org Weather Today The Forecast Patchy morning fog, then sunny.

Isolated showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Very warm with highs in the upper 80s. Chance of rain 20 percent. Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 60s.

state wiw E5i Phlto TOMORROW Mostly sunny. Scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 80s. Chance of rain 50 percent. Tuesday night: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Humid with lows in the mid 60s. THE OUTLOOK Partly sunny with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Humid with highs in the mid 80s. Wednesday Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 60s..