Last year’s black bear harvest was light, but weather permitting, the Pennsylvania Game Commission expects hunters to have good opportunities afield in the upcoming bear seasons.

“Pennsylvania’s black bear population has numbered 14,000 to 15,000 for at least eight years now,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. “Because our bear population now covers almost three-quarters of the state – and includes a number of world-class trophy bears – Pennsylvania has become one of the top states for bear hunters. Every bear hunter heads afield in Pennsylvania knowing he or she has a chance to see a bear and to possibly take a huge one that weighs 700 to 800 pounds.”

Weather impacted the opening day of last year’s traditional three-day November bear season, but hunters still took 2,360 bears by the time the state’s slate of bear seasons closed. The opening day is almost always the best day of any season, because hunter participation is generally the highest.

The 2007 bear harvest compares with 3,122 in 2006, and 4,164 in 2005, the state’s best bear kill. Already in this decade, which still is not completed, hunters have taken more black bears than in any other decade since the Game Commission began keeping bear harvest records in 1915.

To view the rest of this article, as well as five other articles about bear hunting, please visit the Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency website: http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=11&Q=175437

FREE TO ALL! An event not to be missed! Musical entertainment in the museum house both nights, December 5th and 6th, from 6:00pm-8:00pm provided by Dr. Terry Musselman and Dan Mack. Entertainment in the Visitors Center on Friday December 5th from the Wayneaires Musical Group from Waynesboro High School.

The UPS Store. located at 2011 East Main Street in conjunction with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, is giving a long-lasting, life-changing gift to local children this holiday season.

Through Wednesday, December 31, The UPS Store will be selling $1 donation cards to benefit the Toys for Tots Literacy Program. Every $1 donation will help the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation buy a book for a deserving child in the Waynesboro community. Between November 17 through December 17 The UPS Store will also host a book drive to collect new, age-appropriate books, providing yet another opportunity for the community to help local children in need improve their reading skills.

”The holiday season is the perfect time of the year to give a child the gift of hope,” said The UPS Store franchisee Renee Heare. “Now days, a dollar doesn’t seem like much. But, for as little as a dollar, the literacy program can purchase a book for a child in need and instill a passion for reading.” It is found that 33 1/3% of children in the fourth grade can not read. That is why it is so important for our community support to this program.

The UPS Store is open Monday thru Friday 8:30 am to 6:00 pm and on Saturdays 9:30 am - 1:00 pm. For more information, call 717 762-9127.

Launched in March of this year, the year-round Toys for Tots Literacy Program offers our nation’s most economically disadvantaged children the ability to compete academically and to succeed in life by providing them direct access to books and educational resources that will enhance their ability to read and to communicate effectively.

Since then, the Mail Boxes Etc. and The UPS Store® network has collectively contributed more than $300,000 to the Toys for Tots Literacy Program through a variety of activities, including in-center donation card campaigns, coin box collections, special events and sponsorships.

Since 2005, the network has teamed up with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, donating more than $1.5 million to brighten the lives of thousands of children nationwide.

For more information, please visit www.ToysforTotsLiteracy.org.

About The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is a not for profit organization authorized by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Department of Defense to provide fundraising and other necessary support for the annual Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. Now in its 61st year, Toys for Tots provides joy and a message of hope to economically disadvantaged children through the gift of a new toy during the Christmas holiday season. Our gifts offer these children hope, recognition and a positive memory they will cherish for a lifetime. Many of the gifts we provide, such as books, games and sports equipment, make a significant contribution to the educational, social and recreational development of these children. In 2007, Marines distributed gifts to 7.5 million children in over 600 communities nationwide. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation relies on individual donations from the American public as well as support from corporate sponsors. For more information, visit www.toysfortots.org.

About Mail Boxes Etc.
Mail Boxes Etc. and The UPS Store retail locations are franchised by Mail Boxes Etc., Inc., a UPS subsidiary. Together Mail Boxes Etc. and The UPS Store locations comprise the world's largest franchise network of retail shipping, postal and business service centers, with more than 6,000 locations around the world. In the United States, Mail Boxes Etc. and The UPS Store locations are independently owned and operated by licensed franchisees of Mail Boxes Etc., Inc. Outside the United States, locations are owned and operated by MBE master licensees or their franchisees. For additional nformation, please visit www.theupsstore.com or www.mbe.com.

Many of the state’s furbearer trapping and hunting seasons are underway and, based on comments from Pennsylvania Game Commission field officers, hunters and trappers should have a good year. The general trapping season - for coyotes, foxes, raccoons, opossums, skunks and weasels - opened Oct. 26 and runs through Feb. 22. The season for mink and muskrats is Nov. 22 to Jan. 11; beavers, Dec. 26 to March 31.

Raccoon hunting season began Oct. 25 and closes Feb. 21, and the season for skunks, opossums and weasels runs from July 1 to June 30, except for Sundays. Red and gray foxes hunting season opened Oct. 25 and runs through Feb. 21, including Sundays. Coyotes have a year-round season (July 1-June 30) and can be hunted on Sundays, too.

Pennsylvania also has bobcat hunting and trapping seasons in nine Wildlife Management Units (WMUs 2A, 2C, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D and 4D) for the 1,435 individuals who were selected in the Game Commission's annual bobcat permit drawing. The bobcat hunting season started Oct. 25 and closes to Feb. 21, except for Sundays. The bobcat trapping season opened Oct. 26 and runs through Feb. 22.

Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe pointed out that the Keystone State is lucky to have trappers, houndsmen and predator callers, who all play an important role of the Commonwealth's wildlife management program.

To view the rest of this news release, as well as two other articles on trapping and furbearer hunting seasons, please visit the Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency website: http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=11&Q=175444

Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today announced that 40 of the 45 licensed elk hunters harvested an elk during the season that was held Nov. 3-8. Additionally, of the 10 licensed elk hunters who participated in the September season, two harvested an elk.

For more information, please visit the Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency website: http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=11&Q=175423

The Quincy Village Model Railroad Club (QVMRC) will hold a Second Annual Open House on Sunday, November 30 from 1:00 PM until 4:00 PM in the Quincy Village Retirement Community Winter Building located on Orphanage Road, Quincy, PA. This is a wonderful opportunity to tour incredibly detailed model railroad displays and enjoy holiday cookies and punch!

Following the Open House on November 30, the QVMRC will host day tours during the month of December on T/W/TH 9:00–12:00, SAT 10:00-12:00 and 1:00-3:00, and SUN 1:00-3:00. M/F, tours are by appointment only. No tours are scheduled on Christmas day.

Established in 2003, the QVMRC continues to design and build interesting displays in several rooms of the Winter Building. The HO layout is a growing project that currently includes a mine and sidings, working lights, country and small town scenes and cityscapes. The club also has large O and G gauge Christmas layouts that children will find especially entertaining.

There are many different skills involved in a model railroad hobby such as: planning and development, woodworking, sewing, painting, electrical applications, and many more. The attention to detail will delight and amaze you!

Quincy Village, a continuing care retirement community located in Quincy, Pennsylvania, offers independent and assisted living as well as skilled nursing care and rehabilitation. Situated on a picturesque hilltop with 360 acres overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains, Quincy Village is conveniently located near interstates 81 and 70 with easy access to Waynesboro, Chambersburg and Hagerstown and is just 60-90 minutes from Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

For more information about the Quincy Village Model Railroad Club Open House, please contact Sue Smith, Director of Community Life & Volunteer Services at (717) 749-2317.

Pennsylvania Game Commission officials – Dr. Christopher Rosenberry, Deer and Elk Management Section Supervisor, and Jerry Feaser, press secretary – will appear on Pennsylvania Cable Network’s “PCN Call-In” program on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. Viewers of the hour-long program can call in questions to PCN toll-free at 1-877-PA65001 (726-5001). (Waynesboro -- channel 20)

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What Time Do the Polls Open and Close?
Polls in Franklin County will open at 7:00am and close at 8:00pm. Registered voters who are in line at 8:00pm will be allowed to vote. Due to the heavy voter turnout expected voters should be prepared to wait in line.

Am I still registered to Vote?
To search for your voter registration status (Active or Inactive), your party affiliation, or your polling place address log onto the SURE Public Portal at www.pavoterservices.state.pa.us.

Where do I go to Vote?
There are seventy-five (75) polling places in Franklin County and you need to go to the polling place assigned to you based on your residence address. Check your registration card for the polling place location or log onto the SURE Public Portal www.pavoterservices.state.pa.us. This website will also provide directions from your home to your polling place.

Whom do I vote for?
Registered voters will be voting for the following offices: President of the United States, Attorney General, Auditor General, State Treasurer, Representative in Congress, Senator in the General Assembly, Representative in the General Assembly plus a statewide referendum question. A sample ballot is available on the County website at www.co.franklin.pa.us or may be obtained from the Franklin County Commissioners' Office, 14 North Main Street, Chambersburg beginning on Thursday, October 30th. The entire ballot including a list of polling places will be published in the classified section of both the Public Opinion and Record Herald on Thursday, October 30th.

What do I Need to take with me to the Polling Place?
If you are voting in an election district for the first time, you will need an approved form of identification, either photo or non-photo.

Is My Polling Place Handicapped Accessible?
The only polling place considered inaccessible in Franklin County is the Orrstown Town Hall in Orrstown Borough.

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The Pennsylvania Game Commission is expecting hunters to encounter a sizeable wild turkey population when they head afield for the opening day of wild turkey season Saturday. And finding birds this fall may be easier than it was last year.

For more information, including five articles related to the upcoming season, please visit the Pennsylvania Game Commission at the State Wildlife Management Agency website

The Franklin County 4-H Therapeutic Riding program provides horseback riding to young people with special needs. In order to do this it takes up to three volunteers for each rider. Right now we don't have enough for each of our lessons. If you want a great experience in working with young people and horses, we could use some help on Mondays at 3:30 PM, Wednesdays at 9:00 AM or 3:00 PM, Thursday at 3:30 and 4:30 PM and Saturday morning at 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM or 1:00 PM. Our lessons are about an hour long and will be every week from now until mid December.

This will be one of the more rewarding things that anyone can do as a volunteer. You will get plenty of exercise and you will need to be able to run short distances. You may also get to see profound changes to these young people as they bond with their horse and do things to improve themselves in order to ride. All of these riders in these time slots have some type of autism and we are trying to show that horseback riding can help children with autism. If you can help, please call (717) 263-9226 and let us know you when you can help.