Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society
of Pennsylvania, Inc.
Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church,
Manheim, PA
Sunday, April 3, 2016
President
Tom Walczak called the meeting to order at 2:07 p.m. and led us in the Pledge
of Allegiance.
NEW MEMBERS AND GUESTS:
Michael (Mike) Rudnick from Reisterstown, MD. Tim McLaughlin announced that he and Connie
Francis were married on April 1, 2016 at Poole Forge Bridge (PA-36-01). He introduced Connie as his wife.
Tom
thanked all who participated in setup, baking, and buying for today’s bake
sale, and those who contributed to the church’s food drive. A basket is now available for monetary
contributions to the church food drive.
Tom
reminded members the minutes are in the box for review and approval later.
TREASURER’S REPORT (Bob Kuether). We have one new member, Arnie Alexander. We have 372 members for 2015-2016.
MEMBERS’ REPORTS.
Mike Rudnick
reported on progress at Jericho (MD-03-02 & MD-12-01) in Kingsville,
MD. The bridge will open on Monday April
25th with an opening ceremony starting at 11:00 a.m. He also visited Loys Station (MD-10-03 #2) in
Frederick County which looks good, Hunseckers (PA-36-06#2) and Turner’s
(PA-05-19) which both had considerable graffiti in them. He also noted a billboard on 79 traveling
towards Bedford promoting Bedford County covered bridges.
Tim McLaughlin
visited Red/Wertz (PA-06-06) noting side boards were missing.
Joe McCarthy
announced that repairs to Knox (PA-15-15#2) have been completed but the bridge
will not open until Labor Day due to problems with sewage system. Rapps (PA-15-14) has a hole in the side and a
few broken timbers where a tree floated downstream and hit the bridge. The
lumber has been ordered for Speakman #1 (PA-15-05) which will arrive 2nd
week of July. The rebuild should be done
by sometime late August. Bitzer’s Mill
(PA-36-04) has been closed as both portals were damaged by a truck or heavy
farm equipment.
Pat Cook
placed articles on the bulletin board about Dimmsville (PA-34-02).
Ginny Eyrich
found two boxes of birthday cards with covered bridges on them, including Sachs
(PA-01-01).
OFFICERS’ REPORTS
President Tom Walczak visited Jericho last evening and got some nice pictures
of the finished bridge. He noted that
Hollingshead (PA-19-34) has a hole in the roof due to high winds.
First Vice
President Jim Smedley
– Jim discussed the headache bar with dangling chains and cans at Jericho. The main reason is to protect the counties
against liability. These will alert a
driver that their vehicle is too big to go through the bridge but not cause
significant damage to the vehicle. He
mentioned the especially long guard rails, noting that they are meant to
protect vehicles from going over the embankments and damaging the wing walls.
The deadline for the summer
issue of PA Crossings is June 5th, the date of our meeting at
Kreidersville.
Second
Vice President Ray Finkelstein
– Ray announced that on 6/12/2016 there will be a 175th Anniversary
Celebration at Bogert’s Covered Bridge (PA-39-01) in Allentown – Restoration of
Bogert’s Covered Bridge.
He received the following information from Karen
El-Chaar of the Friends of the Allentown Parks.
“As regards the cost, the
Allentown Parks Dept and I met with the engineering firm who restores covered
bridges. It will cost approx. $1.5 million to restore the bridge; a Band-Aid
fix which will cover perhaps 5 more years is about $200,000. The design plans
for restoration are approximately $150,000.
P. Joseph Lehman, Inc. is the firm who did the inspection. The
city would have to put out the project for bid. Our organization would try to
raise the bulk of the funds and would look to grants primarily.” The
TBCBSP will take part in the celebration.
Ray put some info up front if anyone is interested.
In
March he took a trip with Bob & Judy to help map out our Safari and
realized that it is not easy to run a safari.
Last week he visited Knecht’s
(PA-09-02) which is good shape and Sheard’s (PA-09-06) and found the floor boards in poor
condition but the rest of the bridge looks good. Yesterday he stopped by the Kutz’s Mill (PA-06-05)
which is in good shape.
Third Vice President Steve Wolfhope – Steve visited Herr’s Mill (PA-36-21)
which continues to be in very sad shape with the sag in the middle seeming even
worse. He saw a small non-authentic
bridge, Beaver View. There was a plaque
commemorating an Eagle Scout project which was likely for the park area around
the bridge. He mentioned a pleasant ride
he and Gloria took on a Strasburg motor car.
Fourth Vice President Tim Cohen – Tim attended the McLaughlin wedding
at Poole Forge which he says was ‘awesome’.
Historian Fred J. Moll – Fred has been doing a lot of research on covered
bridges. Last month while researching he
held in his hands a bridge document that is 212 years old. On Tuesday night, April 5th, he
will be on Berks Cable TV at 9PM on a program called “Wheels along the
Road.” On Monday morning, April 25, at
10AM he will present his program on Berks County Covered Bridges to the
Muhlenberg Senior Group. Also on Sunday,
May 1st at 2PM he will be at the Berks County Heritage Center giving
a special program on Berks County Covered Bridges. This program will feature the 1984
rehabilitation of Wertz’s Covered Bridge.
The program includes a rare photograph of Arnold Graton who was present
at the bridge in 1984 to tell us how to save the bridge. The program will be presented in the barn
next to Wertz’s Bridge.
Recording Secretary Gloria Smedley – In March, Gloria and Jim stopped by
Shaeffer-Campbell Bridge (OH-37-05) in Belmont County OH, and Hughes Bridge
(PA-63-17) and Bailey Bridge (PA-63-08 #2) in Washington County, PA.
Corresponding Secretary/Program Chair Pam Heisey - No report.
Treasurer Robert Kuether – In March Bob and Judy and Ray and
Linda Finkelstein traveled to New England to plan for the safari. They saw 24 bridges during the trip.
REPORTS OF ILLNESSES OR DEATHS
– None.
OLD BUSINESS – Jim presented the following report on
the 2017 Covered Bridge Calendar.
·
We
had 152 photo submissions this year, more than any other year.
·
23
members submitted photos, far more than any other year.
·
Photos
included in the calendar are from 12 photographers, including 3 who have never
had a photo in the calendar and 2 who have not had one for a few years.
·
5
of the bridges in the calendar have never appeared in any of our previous 8
calendars.
·
Eight
counties are represented.
·
Bonnie
Shultz has the highest rated photo.
·
Calendars
should be available at the May Anniversary Dinner.
This year’s
calendar contest was very successful and he thanked everyone who supports our
calendars by submitting photos, serving on the rating committee and those who
will purchase the calendar.
NEW
BUSINESS
See PA Covered Bridges Week May 7-15,
2016 – Tom contacted the Governor’s Office and has received the official
proclamation. Ray Finkelstein read the
proclamation. Tom will do a short ‘live’
interview on Channel 27 on May 6th promoting SPCBW. The interview is a 3 minute segment which
will air sometime between 12:30 and 1:00pm on a program called “Good Day PA.”
Bob presented an update on next
month’s New England safari. A fourth day
will be offered to visit 7 more bridges and stay in Brattleboro, VT for those
who are interested in extending the safari.
NEW COVERED BRIDGE ITEMS
Judy Kuether mentioned that we have
sold $27 worth of merchandise in our first month at the Lancaster Visitors
Center store. New member Mike Rudnick
purchased one of our covered bridge steins at the center.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES – March minutes were approved as
presented.
Today’s program was given by Steve Wolfhope, entitled “Covered Bridges of
Parke County, Indiana & Surrounding Counties”
NEXT MEETING
Our Next Meeting will be our Fifty-Seventh Anniversary
Dinner on Saturday, May
7, 2016 at Dutch-Way Farm Market Restaurant, Gap, PA, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT - The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted
by Recording Secretary, Gloria Smedley
April 7, 2016