David F. Dramble David F. Dramble, 59, a lifelong resident of Bellevue, died Monday, November 5, 2018. He was the son of the late Blair and Shirley Dramble; father of Danielle (Shawn) McCommon and Jessica Dramble; grandfather of Dylan McCommon; brother of Donna Veiock, Sharon Jones and Connie Dramble; also survived by his beloved dog "BooBoo." Dave loved cars, bikes, anything on wheels, and could always be found tinkering with one of them. He strongly believed in being an honest, hardworking man, and was always selflessly lending a helping hand to anyone in need.

As a result of the Community Development Block Grant Ben Avon received, the borough was able to put out bids for handicapped ramps on Walnut Road and Virginia Avenue. Two bids came in, and council voted unanimously to accept the low bid of $24,268 from DePasquale Construction Services. Earl Bohn was absent.

Ken Opipery said the work cannot be done now because of the cold, but with council having given approval, it can be started when the weather breaks in the spring.

Harold Gearhart, 32, of Avalon, was arrested for a state parole violation warrant following a traffic stop on Oct. 31.

Robert Brown, 70, of Avalon, was charged on Nov. 1 with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

On Nov. 1, a 63-year-old Avalon resident reported identity theft.

Prior to last week’s matchup in the WPIAL final, soccer Coash Tom Angell acknowledged the challenge that his team faced.

“This is our second WPIAL final in the last four years and we are very excited for the challenge that we will see from an excellent Greensburg Central Catholic team,” Angell said.

He said that going into the game, the team felt that GCC had two strong players and that if “we defended them strongly then we could beat them with our remaining nine, because we felt we had a deeper team.”

On the last weekend in October, both the Avonworth and Northgate cross country teams competed in the WPIAL championship meet at California University of Pennsylvania.

The Avonworth boys' team finished 13th out of 28 teams, led by sophomore Jackson Habala, who finished 27th overall out of 210 runners, and qualified for the PIAA state championship race in Hershey, PA on Nov. 3.

Barbara Ann Crumbaker Teves, 80, passed away surrounded by her family in Sarasota, FL in October 2018. She was born in September 1938 at Suburban General and grew up in Pittsburgh. She was educated at Brown University; she served in the first wave of the Peace Corps; traveled the world extensively, and had a career as a psycho-therapist for 25 years in Beaver County, PA and Dare County, NC.

With even the traditional Republican strongholds in the North Boroughs voting for Democrats in Tuesday’s general election, local voters turned out en masse and helped push forward the nation’s “blue wave.”

Framed in large part as a referendum on the Trump Administration, the usually ho-hum midterm election drew record-breaking crowds of voters across the country this year. That trend was clearly evident in the North Boroughs, where voter turn-out usually hovers around 20-25 percent.

On Oct. 16, an Avalon resident reported a lost passport.

On Oct. 18. Avalon Police were called to Cleveland Avenue concerning a vehicle into a retaining wall. Police say no one was injured.

A hit-and-run occurred at the intersection of Florence Avenue and Locust Street on Oct. 18.

A Harrison Avenue resident reported a stolen bicycle on Oct. 21.

On Oct. 21, a taxi cab driver reported that a passenger he had transported did not pay his fare.

By Joseph Szalinski

The Northgate Flames (0-10, 0-7) suffered their final loss of the season to the Laurel Spartans (6-4, 5-2) at home on Saturday, Oct. 27. Laurel had just come off of a win against Sto-Rox a week prior, while Northgate played a nearly evenly matched game against Bishop Canevin,, which they ultimately lost.

A.W. Beattie Career Center has announced that senior Rebecca Hapeman, from Northgate, was selected from a pool of candidates to represent the career center at the 2018 SkillsUSA Western Region Conference, which will be held Oct. 31 through Nov. 2 at Seven Springs Mountain Resort.

SkillsUSA is a national student leadership organization for students in career and technical education programs. The organization focuses on career-readiness, skill-based training, competitions and developing expertise for job interviews, public speaking, problem solving and more.

Bellevue Council got its first look at Mayor Emily Marburger’s proposed 2019 budget at Tuesday’s regular council meeting.

Under Bellevue’s home rule charter, the mayor is required to submit a proposed budget to council by mid-November, at which point council has full power to change anything and everything the mayor has proposed, and advertise its own budget for a public hearing and eventual adoption.

By MEL PERKINS

Last Saturday afternoon the Northgate Flames battled the Crusaders from Bishop Canevin, and even though the Flames came out holding the short end of the stick, they showed why football is a game that has endured for almost 150 years. Northgate lost 41 - 35, but the game was more a microcosm that magnified the struggle that small communities like Bellevue and Avalon have been up against for decades now, and how they've been determined to fight and never give up, hoping to get those communities back to the thriving towns they once were.