It would make for good reading, I'll tell you that, because not too many 13-year-olds can say he broke his arm, took a ride on a helicopter and had his picture in the newspaper on consecutive days.
Yet, that's what happened last week when Nathaniel fell off his bicycle while jumping it off a wooden ramp that he had placed on a sidewalk near his Springfield Avenue home.
"The board broke, and I went flying over the handlebars," Nathaniel said Thursday. "When I landed, my right arm broke in two places, and I went to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh in a helicopter."
Nathaniel stayed the night and was released the next day, his arm in a cast.
"The (helicopter) ride to Pittsburgh was pretty good, but my mother (Amy Smith) was scared to death. I'm OK now, except I'm right-handed and now I have to do everything with my left," he said.
As his sister, Kelsey Wise, a sophomore-to-be at Wash High, said of her brother Thursday, "He's an OK kid, but because his arm is broken and is in a cast, now I'm going to be expected to do everything for him."
For his part, Nathaniel isn't sure he'll jump a ramp again. "Maybe not. I'll have to see," he said.
"Oh, he'll jump again, that's for sure, " Kelsey said.
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Somebody is going to have to explain how it is that gasoline at BP stations, among others, was priced at $4.05.9 per gallon in Washington earlier this week, while at the same time as few as 12 miles north on Route 19 in Peters Township, it was selling for $3.98.9 a gallon at other locations, including a BP station at Donaldson Crossroads.
Now, I could understand some price fluctuations along Route 19 in Pennsylvania, after all, from its southern border with West Virginia to Lake Erie, Route 19 covers about 190 miles. But 12 miles? That doesn't make sense.
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Anniversary waltzes
July 13 - Peggy and Roger Dankowsky of Washington, their 40th
July 15 - Barbara and Charles Hines of Marianna, their 40th; Debbie and Jay Moss of Houston, their 30th
July 18 - Clara and Curtis Jones of Washington, their 50th
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Birthday candles
July 12 - Wynona Irwin of Claysville, her 80th; Kathie Westlund
July 13 - John Duskey, Sheila Jean Gombita, Margery Perrin, Debbie O'Dell Seneca
July 14 - Bill Meeks Jr., Violet Stanek
July 15 - Carissa Boyer, Rose Kowcheck, Matt Wachtler, John B. Wheeler
July 16 - Richard Jordon, Marcia Kramer, Beverly Pabian
July 18 - Bill Meeks Sr. of Washington, his 80th; Bob White
Byron Smialek can be reached at bsmialek@observer-reporter.com.