Alaska

Kay and Mary Guessford of Halfway celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with family and friends at the home of their daughter and son-in-law, Deanna and Curtis Shank of Falling Waters, W.Va. The Hawaiian theme sit-down dinner was also hosted by the Guessford's other three daughters and their husbands, Deidra and Scott Herbert of Allentown, Pa.; Denise and George Gouin of Shepherdstown, W.Va.; and Debra and John Sharatt of Hagerstown. The Guessfords grandchildren served the guests. The Guessfords were married Aug. 9, 1952, by the Rev. J. N. Evans in the parsonage of the Church of God on South Artizen Street in Williamsport.

The firestorm of media criticism, newspaper headlines, online community forum topics, back office and roundtable discussion resulting from Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate has caused nearly as much controversy and commotion in the 2008 race for the White House as the historic Democratic Party primaries contest between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Within minutes of the McCain announcement, political pundits from coast to coast expressed views - both pro and con - about what appears to be a decision resembling the "change" Barack Obama proclaims and maintains as a key campaign message.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Republican John McCain said Tuesday he's satisfied that Sarah Palin's background was properly checked out before the Alaska governor joined the Republican ticket. He predicted that public excitement about her candidacy will increase after her address to the GOP convention on Wednesday. McCain visited fire houses in Ohio and Pennsylvania on Tuesday, and was due to arrive at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday. Asked about whether Palin's background was thoroughly checked out before he selected her, McCain told reporters in Philadelphia: "The vetting process was completely thorough and I'm grateful for the results.

andrear@herald-mail.com Retired Washington County educator-turned-photojournalist Joe Byers said crafting a good story is like drafting a good lesson plan: They both need to catch people's attention and be interesting and informative. Since retiring in 2000 from his 30-year career as a principal and teacher in Washington County schools, Byers has devoted much of his time to writing stories for such outdoors-oriented publications as Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, American Hunter, Safari and Bowhunter.

Eric Payne was in elementary school when his father taught him and his brother how to hunt small game on their farm near Cearfoss. Payne, now 31, said his father, Art Payne, never imagined the pastime would evolve into a passion that would take his younger son to remote parts of the world in search of record-size animals. He said his father sometimes says that if he would have foreseen how much time hunting would take his sons away from home, he would never have gotten them started.

o KTUU-TV coverage of fatal crash DILLINGHAM, Alaska (AP) -- An amphibious plane carrying former Sen. Ted Stevens crashed into a remote mountainside during a fishing trip, killing the state's most beloved political figure and four others and stranding the survivors on a rocky, brush-covered slope overnight. Three teenagers and their parents, including the former head of NASA, were on the plane when it plowed into the mountain Monday afternoon with so much force that it left a 300-foot gash on the slope, federal investigators said.

Legend has it that following the Greek triumph over the Persians at Marathon in 490 B.C., a man named Pheidippides was sent running the 26 miles to Athens to announce the victory, then he promptly dropped dead. That's only about half the distance participants in the JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon ran on Saturday, but in fairness to Pheidippides, the Athenians sent him on a 140-mile round trip to Sparta asking for help a couple of days before that final trot to Athens. In 2010, Tom Gozora crossed the finish line looking as if he had been in a battle, his face bloodied and teeth cracked when he fell on the Appalachian Trail just seven miles into the race.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - He was shot at, his dogs were killed and corrupt city officials put out contracts on his life. And that was just in one remote town in Alaska - a small dot on the map of Nick Mangieri's life. Mangieri, who moved to Berkeley County earlier this year after three large oak trees fell on and nearly destroyed his home in Maryland, has written and published three books about his life experiences. Titled "Broken Badge: The Silencing of a Federal Agent," "Frozen Shield: Alaska Cover-up" and "Passport to Danger: The Diary of an Adventurer," Mangieri's self-published books are all nonfiction.

Chambersburg teacher recalls 1991 Iditarod race By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro Photo: KEVIN G. GILBERT / staff photographer CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - About 75 New Franklin Elementary School students sat wide-eyed Tuesday afternoon as Urtha Lenharr talked to them about driving sled dogs across the Alaskan Arctic wilderness. Lenharr, 51, a Chambersburg Area Middle School teacher, spent 17 years in Alaska teaching Eskimo children in their far north migratory hunting and fishing camps.

-FEB. 6, 2009 On Feb. 6, 2009, True Alan Hubler, 63, a well-known Realtor in Montgomery and Frederick counties, and a long-time resident of Gaithersburg, Md., passed away of lung cancer at Heartland Hospice in Columbia, S.C. (True was a nonsmoker.) He was a graduate of the University of Maryland (Cum Laude), served with the Army in Vietnam and taught middle school for several years prior to entering real estate. Mr. Hubler and his wife, the former Edythe (Edie)