n Loyalton: The Upper Dauphin Area school board approved a three-year contract with an annual salary of $52,000 for Business Manager Mary K. Bateman in a 7-0 vote during its January meeting. Board members Jack Laudenslager and Anthony Matter were absent. The board members present also approved a request for retirement from Robert Hamera, who had 40 years of service in the district, to retire at the end of the 2012-13 school year; Jillian Palamar as a speech and language pathologist at a salary of $46,974; eliminating the employment of Christina Campbell as a personal care aide, effective Jan. 9, for economic reasons; Martha Altland for a 50-cents per hour increase for obtaining first aid and CPR training, retroactive to Oct. 18, 2012; a request from Jennifer Unverdorben for an additional five days of unpaid leave; classified and instructional substitutes; the purchase of new softball uniforms; program volunteers; a request from the seventh-grade class for a field trip to Washington, D.C., from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 2; a request from Megan Wallisch for unpaid leave through the first day of the fourth academic marking period; committing fund balance amounts of $2,262,222.65 for Capital Projects and $565,555.66 to PSERS Reserve; the first reading of 100-level and 200-level policies; the purchase of K-12 Sapphire as the district's student information system; and the high school course selection booklet, noting one quarter-credit course would be re-examined to see if it should be listed as a requirement or a highly recommended elective, or to see if the course could be offered to underclassmen.
n Mahanoy City: The Blessed Teresa Golden Age group is accepting reservations for a June 17 to 21 bus trip to Wildwood, N.J. The cost is $495 per person (double occupancy) and includes lodging, transportation, meal gratuities, four breakfasts, lunch and a Victorian fashion show at the Washington Inn, Cape May, plus a dolphin watch cruise, a visit to Stone Harbor, Historic Smithville and Atlantic City with cash bonus. The trip is open to the public. A $25 deposit is needed to hold a reservation. For more information or to make a reservation, call Elizabeth Frye at 570-773-1753.
n Pottsville: The Pottsville Free Public Library recently acknowledged the following honor donation: For Frances Nagle from Ione Geier.
n Pottsville: The Pottsville Area High School Guidance Department will host a FAFSA Completion Night for parents of seniors who will attend a post-secondary school in 2013-14. This session will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 5 in computer room 214 of the Pottsville Area High School. People must register by calling the high school guidance office at 570-621-2964. It is requested that parents bring all filed 2012 parent and student income tax information and important identification for the student attending school in 2013.
n Shenandoah: Parishioners from any parish can request to have a candle lit in the Father Walter J. Ciszek Chapel, 231 N. Main St. adjacent to St. Casimir Roman Catholic Church. Each candle burns for two weeks and the cost is $13. The intention and by whom it is requested is printed in the parish bulletin, which is now the same for all greater Shenandoah area parishes. Prayer of the Divine Mercy Chaplet and recitation of the Rosary at 3 p.m. Fridays is an ongoing devotion in the chapel by the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters and Associates. Everyone is welcome to participate. Ciszek, a native of Shenandoah and a son of St. Casimir parish, is a candidate for sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. He was imprisoned and detained in the former Soviet Union for nearly 24 years but continued to minister to people there despite the possible harmful consequences. The local research and paperwork for sainthood, done by the Father Ciszek Prayer League, have been completed and forwarded to the Vatican in Rome. The Baptismal font used for Ciszek's Baptism as an infant is still in use at his native church. When Ciszek was released from the former Soviet Union in 1963 in a "prisoner exchange," he returned home to celebrate a solemn Mass of Thanksgiving in St. Casimir church. He died Dec. 8, 1984 - the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception - and is buried at the Jesuit Novitiate in Wernersville.