Instead of a bake sale or raffles to raise money for cancer, a Relay for Life team is putting on a show.
Sheilah Kittle, who is captain of her team, "Angel-Buds," said if she
mentioned a bake sale one more time, her friends were going to go for
her throat.
Instead, she brought up the idea of using a musical to raise money for cancer to her mom, who actually wrote the play.
"My daughter said, hey why don't we put a play on up here, so this is
what we're doing. She thought it would be ideal for for "Relay for
Cancer" that she's so involved with, and the kids are enjoying this,"
said play writer, Lois Miller.
"My great-great grandmother wrote this play. We're trying to cure cancer so people can feel better," said Gianna Rosado.
The actors in "The Good, The Bad, and The Elderly" are employees of Faxton St. Lukes Healthcare, and their families.
While being on stage is brand new for many of them, raising money for cancer is not.
"It means a great deal to all of us. Either we've had family members who
have been touched or friends. It's just special for us to be able to do
this. The more money we raise, maybe we shoot cancer in the foot," said
Sheilah Kittle.
Giving it her all on stage, Breast Cancer survivor, Karen Christensen is
all about finding different ways to keep money coming in for cancer
research.
"It's terribly exciting. It's really nice. It's a nice way for people to
get out and do something for it. I know many people in the audience
have had cancer, and will certainly enjoy seeing the friends of theirs
on stage," said Christensen.
Lois Miller is thrilled to have her first musical comedy writing in Utica, turn into a way to raise money for cancer.
"It's just nice to see it out there again because I had written it four
years ago. I had just kind of washed my hands of it all, but it just
seems wonderful and these kids are great, they are really good!" said
Miller.
Miller has also written a number of plays back when she lived in Florida.
The fate of the Trenton Town
Supervisor is in the hands of an Oneida County jury.
Mark Scheidelman who has
held the elected position for over twenty years is accused of sexually abusing
a...
Village of Herkimer residents may have experienced some traffic delays on the way to work this morning. Route 28 between the Herkimer Thruway entrance and 5th Avenue was closed for a flood control a...
Even more thunderstorms are sweeping through Central New York. Almost 700 people were without power in Oneida and Madison Counties last night, others suffered flood damage, and more rain is heading...
It's day two of the Mark Scheidelman trial. He's the Trenton
Town Supervisor accused of sexually abusing a ten-year-old boy.
The ten-year-old victim took the stand today as did his
13-year-old...
Village of Herkimer residents may have experienced some traffic delays on the way to work this morning. Route 28 between the Herkimer Thruway entrance and 5th Avenue was closed for a flood control exercise.
The State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Herkimer officials conducted a training exercise to erect a flood wall located under the thruway bridge and then tear it down. DEC officials say it's especially important to perform flood control exercises in areas prone to flooding.
"This flood wall that's underneath the thruway bridge here is very important if the Mohawk River and Barge Canal comes up and overtops the flood capacity of the village, it will hold the flood waters out," says Stephen Litwhiler, NYSDEC Citizen Participation Specialist.
DEC says this exercise is part of an ongoing effort to provide village officials with hands-on training, should an emergency flood develop.
Even more thunderstorms are sweeping through Central New York. Almost 700 people were without power in Oneida and Madison Counties last night, others suffered flood damage, and more rain is heading our way.
"There was a car completely submerged under water in front of our house, right here in front of our house," says Shirley Lamphere, West Utica resident.
Lamphere lives on Lincoln Avenue in West Utica. She says she's never seen flooding like this.
"We were carrying our kids through the water. It was up to our chests. It was completely flooded in our house, up to our steps and the whole basement is completely flooded out," says Lamphere.
Several streets in West Utica and some streets in North Utica suffered flood damage. Area officials say they were responding to numerous calls to clean debris and close roads.
"You couldn't really pass through here. It was really, really flooded," says Laura Harris, West Utica resident.
Harris says there was nearly 5 feet of water almost touching her front door.
"I was really scared so as I was looking at my front door window, the water was coming up high," says Harris.
Living on the first floor, she wanted to get to higher ground so she stayed with a neighbor until the rain passed.
And now there are signs of another big storm. But Utica Department of Public Works (DPW) says you can prepare.
"Any green waste that you have in the street, get it out of the street, put it on the lawn for now. That interferes with the flow of water into the catch basin especially with heavy rains and that's what picks up the debris and puts it on the catch basins which then in return, floods the area," says Dave Short, Utica DPW commissioner.
And the commissioner says the DPW is preparing also.
"We are monitoring our creeks and ravines again and we're letting everyone just get ready for the inevitable. We know the rain's coming, its just a matter of how hard its gonna come down," says Short.
We've learned that disaster can strike anywhere and anytime. Officials are again urging residents to keep an emergency starter kit, water, and flashlights on-hand.
It's day two of the Mark Scheidelman trial. He's the Trenton
Town Supervisor accused of sexually abusing a ten-year-old boy.
The ten-year-old victim took the stand today as did his
13-year-old brother who claims he saw Scheidelman inappropriately touching the
younger boy.
The incident reportedly happened last year on veteran's day
weekend at the victim's uncle's house where Scheidelman also lived.
It was an unplanned weekend at their uncle's house. The
victim and his brothers wanted to spend time with their cousin. Although the
kids didn't have a change of clothes the mom let them go anyway.
The ten-year-old victim checked in with his mom. "He
let me know that they were there and that everyone was safe," said the victim's
mother.
That was Saturday night. It was the car ride home on Monday
when the victim's mother became concerned.
She says the child was upset, but didn't want to talk about
it. The next day the boy spoke up and what came out of his mouth made his mom
go to the police.
The ten-year-old boy took the stand today- he told the jury Scheidelman
went under his clothing and touched his bare genitals.
He says he was sleeping next to Scheidelman. Defense
attorney, George Aney questioned the child asking why he told police and the
grand jury in his initial statement that mark touched him over his clothing.
The ten year old boy said he was embarrassed.
Investigator Todd Grant of the New York State Police
assigned to the Child Advocacy Center also took the stand.
He told the jury that in different crimes police can get all
the information at once, but with children and sex abuse crimes it can be
different.
"A lot of time with children they are so shy and embarrassed
about what happened to them that they give a little bit of information to
start," said Grant.
A recorded conversation between investigator grant and Scheidelman
was also played for the jury Wednesday afternoon.
The prosecution rested and tomorrow the jury is expected to
hear from Scheidelman as he is expected to take the stand Thursday morning.
