Published: September 10, 2008 10:41 pm      

In brief: Geistown Cub Scouts holding registration

Geistown Cub Scout Pack 25 will hold fall registration from

7 to 8 tonight at the Geistown fire hall, 631 Lambert Ave.

Boys entering first through fifth grades and their families can participate.

For information, contact Eric Lindrose at 262-7662.

Police probe stolen ATV

WINDBER – Authorities in Paint Township are asking for the public’s help in locating an all-terrain vehicle stolen Friday from a residence in Pretoria.

The vehicle was taken from an unlocked garage near a home along Route 403, police Chief Rick Skiles said.

The ATV is an olive green 2002 Polaris Sportsman 500 valued at $3,000 to $3,500.

Anyone with information may contact township police at 467-8444.

Food safety program offered

SOMERSET – Penn State Cooperative Extension will offer a ServSafe food safety certification and recertification training course Sept. 22 and 29 at the Somerset County Campus of Allegany College of Maryland.

The course, which will be held at 6022 Glades Pike in Room 30, is being offered to enable food-service operations to comply with a state Department of Agriculture requirement that such operations must employ at least one supervisory person certified in food safety.

Course hours are 9 a.m. to

5 p.m. Sept. 22 and 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 29.

An examination for those needing initial certification will begin at 1 p.m. Sept. 29.

The registration deadline is Monday. To register or obtain additional information, call the Somerset County Extension Office at 445-8911, ext. 7, or the Blair County Extension Office at 940-5989.

The instructors will be extension educators Dorothy Bromley and Sharon McDonald.

Republicans seek Cambria activists

EBENSBURG – Cambria County’s GOP leaders are trying to draw out more Republicans in northern Cambria County and encourage them to become involved in the party structure.

Republican activists in northern parts of the county traditionally would drive to Johnstown for early Saturday meetings at GOP headquarters.

Now, with high fuel prices and to make it more convenient, the Northern Branch of the Cambria County Republican Committee has been formed, spokesman Tyler Trimbath said.

The group’s meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at the Keystone Restaurant on old Route 22 between Ebensburg and Cresson.

Vince Golden of Portage is serving as president.

Chairpersons have volunteered for fundraising, public relations and recruitment.

Last month’s meeting focused on the candidates and how local Republicans could assist in their campaigns, Trimbath said.

The first fundraiser will be a gun raffle Sept. 21 at the Cassandra fire hall, with proceeds to aid various campaigns in the county. Details: 535-2271.

Report: Kids languish in foster care

HARRISBURG – Children who end up in Pennsylvania’s foster-care system encounter many obstacles to finding stable, nurturing homes, a statewide children’s advocacy group said in a new report.

Nearly 30 percent of all children statewide who are reunited with their families end up returning to foster care within a year, and that rate is as high as 40 percent in some counties, according to the report released Wednesday by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.

About 20,000 children are in foster care at any given time, and they typically stay there for 16 months, according to the report.

But the longer children remain in foster care, the less likely they are to find stable homes. More than 30 percent of all children who spend one to two years in foster care live with three or more different families, and 94 percent of all children who spend more than two years in foster care experience the same fate.