DON McCORMACK
Paying a visit to the variety store...
On the verge...
The remarkable tale, “Season of Resurrection,” stands a very good chance of having an amazing conclusion.
If they can prevail in their Week 10 high school football game against visiting archrival Conneaut on Friday night at Corlew Stadium, Joe Kearney’s Edgewood Warriors will go down as having made the biggest turnaround from a winless season in Ashtabula County.
Ever.
As in, all-time.
With their hard-fought 14-7 victory at Jefferson in the 58th battle for the Edward P. Hoadley Cup on Friday night, Kearney’s Warriors matched the effort of the 1961 Geneva Eagles.
That Geneva team, which had gone 0-9-1 in 1960, bounced back with an impressive 6-4 season for coach Brian Burke.
Those six wins after a winless season the year before are the most in county history.
The 2009 Warriors improved to 6-3 on the season with the win at Falcon Pride Stadium on Friday night and if they can get past a beleaguered Conneaut bunch this week, they will stand alone as having made the biggest turnaround one season after having gone winless the year before.
Kearney’s crew didn’t just go winless last season, unlike the 1960 Geneva team that tied South, 8-8, the 2008 Warriors weren’t afforded that opportunity with overtime, so they lost all 10 games.
In fact, Edgewood entered this season with a 12-game losing streak hanging around their collective necks.
All of which combines to make the “Season of Resurrection” one of the best stories to come out of these parts in recent memory.
Thankful?
In a recent column, I asked you, Loyal Readers, to write and tell me who and/or what you are thankful for, with the idea we can combine them to make an excellent near-Thanksgiving centerpiece package.
To this point, I’ve received several “Thankful Fors” and, to be quite honest, they are in a word — tremendous.
Reading how you feel about the special people in your world simply warms my stone-cold heart, Loyal Readers.
So please, take a few moments and let me know at your earliest convenience.
You can send them to me through the wonders of email at donmac@suite224.net, or by fax at 998-7938 or, best of all, by “snail mail” at P.O. Box 2100, Ashtabula, Ohio 44005-2100.
I haven’t set a hard deadline yet, but I will in the near future. So while time is not of the essence, sooner is certainly preferred to the alternative.
Reminder
Parents of varsity high school student-athletes in our coverage area, if your youngster will earn a letter this fall and has an overall grade-point average of 3.5 or better, you are eligible to be a candidate for our annual Scholar-Athlete team.
Your respective athletic director received forms a week ago and they deadline to have them back in the hands of your AD is Friday.
Mini matters
Atlanta Shriners are dealing with a big loss after thieves made off with most of their mini-cars.
Shriner officials said thieves stole seven mini-cars from a storage facility in suburban Atlanta, leaving the charity short on vehicles for upcoming holiday parades.
Police spokesman Det. Cliff Chandler said Monday that burglars broke into the Nabbar Temple’s storage unit earlier this month.
He said they also took a dune buggy, an air compressor and large tool box.
Perhaps Jon “Little Red Man” Hall was in need of a new vehicle.
Fright night
A Baltimore city police officer delivered the fright of a lifetime to a haunted house employee, pulling a gun on the chain-saw-wielding man at the end of his act, authorities said Monday.
Sgt. Eric Janik, 37, was charged with assault and reckless endangerment for pointing his service handgun at the worker, who was dressed as Leatherface, the killer from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Baltimore County police said.
The employee, Mike Morrison, followed Janik and several other people up a staircase Sunday night at the end of the haunted house tour in a bid to get “one last scream” out of them, police said.
When the group exited into a parking lot, Janik pulled his gun and pointed it at Morrison from less than 10 feet away, according to police and Morrison, who said he dropped the chain saw, put his hands up and backed away. The saw had no chain.
Only then did Janik identify himself as a police officer, said Morrison, who retreated into the building.
“I started shaking pretty bad,” he told The Associated Press.
Another employee of the House of Screams called police.
According to charging documents, Janik smelled of alcohol and told police two different stories about what he did with the gun. First, he denied drawing the weapon, but later he said he pointed it at the ground.
Morrison and two other witnesses told police that Janik pointed the gun at Morrison’s chest.
Janik had no listed number and a voice mail for his attorney, Shaun Owens, was not immediately returned.
A security guard had been following Janik’s group, which included his 9-year-old daughter, through the haunted house because Janik appeared to be drunk when he arrived, House of Screams owner Tony Sapanero said.
Morrison said Janik’s daughter appeared to be disturbed by his act, in which he pretends to cut one woman in half and disembowel another with the chain saw.
Janik was suspended with pay after police commanders learned of what happened and could be without pay after a hearing Tuesday morning, city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
City police officers are required to carry their service weapons while off duty within city limits and can carry them at their own discretion outside the city, Guglielmi said.
Slimy guy
A man has been arrested in Norway trying to smuggle two dozen snakes and geckos into the country by hiding them under his clothes.
Customs agent Helge Breilid said Monday the 22-year-old Norwegian citizen was apprehended in the southern town of Kristiansand after getting off a ferry from Hirtshals, Denmark. He said the man had 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos under his clothes.
The Associated Press contribued to this report. McCormack is the sports editor of the Star Beacon. Reach him at donmac@suite24.net.
