Nicholas Hilton didn’t need a magic carpet Sunday, as he won the 25th Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando, Florida, with a time of two hours, 17 minutes and 52 seconds.
Matt Trezza of Fox 35 Orlando shared video of the victor crossing the finish line and noted Hilton was the first American to win the race since 2004.
I GREW UP IN: Exeter Township, but I was born in Reading.
I NOW LIVE IN: Exeter Township.
FAMILY: Wife, Kelly; sons, Felix Jr., 17; and Ian, 10.
EDUCATION: I graduated from the Exeter Township School District. After graduation, I enlisted in the U.S. Army and was active duty 1986-90, followed by serving in the Pennsylvania National Guard. I was hired by the Reading Police Department and graduated from the Reading Police Academy, and I attended and completed many law enforcement and criminal justice credit courses toward degree completion.
MY ROLE: My duties include crime prevention and deterrence, prosecution of criminal offenders, traffic safety and maintaining the quality of life the residents deserve. In addition, I am responsible for the supervision and administration of our department, which has 11 officers. This entails ensuring the officers receive the proper training and equipment and are cognizant of crime, traffic and resident concerns within the borough, as well as conducting and following up on all necessary investigations.
THE MOST REWARDING PART OF MY JOB: The opportunity to meet so many different people and have an impact on their lives.
SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED ME: My father, who inspired me the most. He taught me the value of treating people properly and honestly, as well as the meaning of hard work and that you make your own breaks in life. I remember him telling me, “If you do a job you love, you will never work a day in your life.” I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a police officer and I am grateful I have the opportunity.
MOST MEMORABLE CAREER MOMENT: While still working with the Reading Police Department, I participated in the candlelight vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. Once you witness it, it will never be forgotten.
YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW: While on active duty with the U.S. Army, I participated in several rotations of guarding the East/West German border before taking part in the demolition of the Berlin Wall to re-unify Germany. Also, I enjoy spending time with my family, especially at the beach, as well as reading, working out and practicing karate with my sons.
For years, Mike Shaffer traveled to different states and gave up his weekends to coach his sons’ youth teams to basketball success.
This summer, there was a role reversal of sorts as Shaffer’s two boys met up in Alabama to cheer on their dad’s three-on-three team at the National Senior Games.
Shaffer’s Atlanta Spartans didn’t take home a gold medal, (nor silver or bronze), with a 1-6 tournament record. But playing competitively in a division for 65- to 69-year-olds keeps Shaffer motivated; the participation certificate is just a bonus that now hangs beside his favorite sports memorabilia.
A lifelong player of basketball and lover of sports, Shaffer, 68, has now competed in two National Senior Games and aims to get back for a third in 2019, keeping in shape by training at his Oley Township barn and playing in local pickup games.
The 2017 games, held June 2-15 in Birmingham, were open to athletes age 50 and older in 19 sports. More than 10,500 athletes participated in 800-plus events, making it the largest multi-event sporting event for seniors in the U.S.
Pennsylvania sent 248 athletes to this year’s competition, with 153 medaling.
Mike and his wife, Lori, watched a few other events while there, finding inspiration in a 101-year-woman who competed in the 100-yard dash and intense play on the pickleball courts.
Shaffer first picked up a basketball at 4 or 5, and the sport has always remained a part of his life. Basketball was something he could play informally by himself, while in the Navy, attending community college or on pretty much any blacktop he could find during his truck-driving career.
Before playing in the Senior Games with a Mechanicsburgbased team in 2015, the highlight of his basketball career was an intramural stint at the University of Kentucky. Given the Wildcats’ status in the upper echelon of NCAA basketball, Shaffer likened it to playing varsity at most other schools.
While raising a family in California, he coached his sons’ teams and traveled to tournaments around the country.
But when he wanted to hit the court as a player again, options were scarce.
“It was really hard to find old people’s games,” he joked.
Once he moved back to Pennsylvania, however, Shaffer starting joining pickup leagues around the region. Until about 10 years ago, he played with similar-aged opponents at the Jewish Community Center. After that closed, he played a few games at Wilson High School before finding a weekly group at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Amity Township.
Once a week, he heads to the church’s fellowship hall to play in a 16-and-over group; the two other players closest to his age are 53.
But that doesn’t mean the young guys take it easy on Shaffer. At Amityville court, they call him “Kobe,” gentle ribbing in honor of the 38-yearold retired Los Angeles Laker. And younger teammates and opponents force him to play hard: He’s been taken out in midair and busted his head open, much to Lori’s chagrin.
“Most of the time when I fall, though, there’s about four hands offering to help me up,” Shaffer said.
All of that physical play was good preparation for the Senior Games, where Shaffer came away with a black eye and sore ribs from two separate elbowing incidents.
The half-court games were fiercely competitive, and most other teams knew each other well. As a member of an outof-state team, Shaffer had no real chance to practice plays or talk strategy.
The night before their first game in the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, he finally met his teammates and shot around on an open court. But the guys never came up with an answer for teams with much taller players. Height, says Shaffer, becomes an additional advantage as mobility decreases with age.
As an observer, Lori Shaffer was more frank.
“If you can shoot, you can win,” she said.
Despite the loss, Shaffer has no plans to let up on his hoop dreams. He’s back to training with regular sessions of cardio and plyometric-style workouts inside his non-air-conditioned barn and shooting drills at the 10-foot hoop attached by twoby-fours to the outside.
“I guess I’ve always stayed with it because it’s the kind of sport you can do yourself,” Shaffer said.
Not to say he doesn’t rope his friends into a friendly game now and then.
Lori Shaffer said her husband has been known to start a game when he’s supposed to be grilling for guests.
To qualify for the next games, Shaffer will have to qualify through the 2018 state games. He’s played in both the Keystone and Delaware games before, and will look for a local team if there are enough players in his age range.
“It’s just fun, and very competitive at the same time,” he said. “Some guys, we’re still intense for old people.”
Hospital names director for infection prevention
The Reading Health System has a new medical director for infection prevention.
Dr. Debra Powell started in the position Monday after serving as chief of the infectious disease section for the health system.
Powell replaces Dr. Robert Jones, who is pursuing a new career with Quest Diagnostics in Virginia.
Powell joined Reading Health in July 2008 and is a provider with Reading Health Physician Network — Infectious Diseases
She currently serves on several committees with the health system, including the Reading Health System Professional Practice Evaluation Committee, the Reading Health Physician Network Quality Improvement Committee and the Reading Health System Infection Control Committee.
Powell, along with Jones, also co-hosted a “Good Thyme for Life” fundraiser for Co-County Wellness Services.
She completed a two-year fellowship in infectious diseases from Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, following a three-year internship with Reading Hospital.
Jim Miller just loves people who can’t keep a secret. In fact, as the self-proclaimed “chief cook and bottle washer,” not to mention owner, grape grower and winemaker, at Moon Dancer Winery, Ciderhouse and Taproom near Wrightsville, York County, the Berks County native’s livelihood depends on it. He said people stop in all the time and realize they’ve stumbled upon a gem, then go through that internal tug of war over whether to let others in on their little secret. More often than not, they do. The winery’s picturesque location — it’s perched on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River — combined with its libations, food and entertainment are plenty to keep people coming back once they’ve made their way there. And really, finding the place isn’t that difficult at all.
Once you arrive, you may feel like you’re far from anywhere, but in reality you’re just a few miles off the beaten path where Route 30 bridges the Susquehanna, linking Lancaster and York counties.
A long road to winery owner
Miller grew up in Pennside and graduated from Exeter High School in 1982, then got a degree in forestry and worked as a bond trader for 20-plus years before stumbling — somewhat literally — into the winery business.
After buying eight acres of farmland in 1994 for its scenic view, then building a house on it, he bought 1,800 California grapevines and planted them on five acres behind his house to escape the rigors of mowing grass.
The vines took off, aided by the topography and microclimate associated with being situated so close to the river.
Before long, Miller was selling his harvest to area wineries, including Pinnacle Ridge and Manatawny Creek in Berks County. Meanwhile, he had started dabbling in winemaking, and he kept adding more vines year after year.
Late one night, on the long drive home from delivering grapes to wineries, he turned to his parents, the Rev. Jim and Janet Miller, with this revelation: “We were doing all the work, and they were having all the fun.”
He decided then and there that instead of selling the grapes, he was going to start his own winery. By 2004, it was up and running in an inviting French country-style structure with a spacious 17-foot-deep cellar that was plenty big enough to grow into instead of out of.
But this was where the stumbling came in.
On the eve of the grand opening, Miller and a friend were carrying the next day’s main course — a pig — in a bin full of ice to its final resting place, when one of them — there’s disagreement as to whom — dropped his end of the load and Miller’s foot suffered the consequences.
He made his away across the river to Columbia Hospital, where he explained his misfortune to the emergency room physician. The diagnosis came back: a broken toe.
“We opened up at noon (the next day),” Miller said, smiling at his own predicament, “and at 1 o’clock these two couples came in, and we said, ‘Hey, how’d you hear about us?’ because we only had a couple of little signs along the road. They said, ‘We were just over at the Columbia Hospital, and the nurse said some guy opened a winery and dropped a pig on his toe last night.’ ”
For Miller, it was lesson learned.
“One of our strategies from the beginning,” he said, “has always been that word-ofmouth is our best advertising.”
A destination winery
Spreading the word about Moon Dancer, a name that harkens back to the Susquehannock tribes that once populated the area, and the splendor of the moon shimmering off the waters below, hasn’t been too much of a problem.
Miller recalled striking up a conversation one day with a man who was standing on the patio overlooking the river and talking on his cellphone.
“He said, ‘This is one of the best kept secrets,’ ” Miller said, “so I said, ‘Don’t keep it a secret.’ And he said, ‘I was trying to, but I just called two of my friends to come up and meet me here.’ ”
That seems to be the way it goes at Moon Dancer, which draws day-trippers from as far north as Long Island and southern New England and as far south as Washington, D.C., and Virginia.
“We get people from those outlying areas, and nine times out of 10 when they come back, they have two or three other people with them,” Miller said.
The destination’s draws are many, starting, of course, with the wine.
Miller has purchased adjoining parcels of land through the years and now owns 40 acres — “it’s some of the best agriculture soils in the whole world,” he said — on which he grows eight varieties of grapes: cabernet franc, merlot, pinot noir, shiraz, chardonnay, riesling, chambourcin and cabernet sauvignon.
His wines range from dry to semi-dry to semi-sweet to sweet, the latter bottled under the Moondog Cellars label, with each named for four-legged friends of the winery. Rocky’s Mango, for instance, is named for Miller’s friendly sidekick, an Australian shepherd who handles onsite pizza-crumb cleanup without complaining a lick.
There are also four hard ciders, 10 taps for local and regional beers and spirits from Lancaster’s Thistle Finch Distillery.
Food comes out fresh and locally sourced from a woodfired pizza oven Miller and a friend built by hand from scratch off the side of the patio. It heats to 900 degrees and cooks thin-crust pies
the sauce and dough are house-made — in about two minutes.
Miller said he dubbed the oven Ta Ta Kua, a Paraguayan Indian word for fire hole, on the say-so of a customer from that South American country who told him they have been using similar ovens there for thousands of years.
Weekend entertainment at Moon Dancer is plentiful. Acoustic duos and trios perform free of charge every Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. and every Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
In addition, a concert series begins May 13 with the Moon Dancer Rock the Arts Fest and continues periodically through October. These events, which range from jazz to blues to country to reggae, typically have an admission fee, with tickets available at the door or in advance by calling the winery.
“We wanted a place where people can come and not just stop in and get a good bottle of Pennsylvania wine, but also stay for a while and make some friends and enjoy the afternoon,” Miller said.
He seems to have no regrets about leaving the corporate world behind in favor of his jack-of-all-trades gig at Moon Dancer, even though it’s really hard work.
“It’s about eight days a week,” he joked, “but you get the rest of the time off.”
James Seidel will celebrate his concert, “A Few of Our Favorites,” Sunday April 30, 2017 at 3 p.m. in the Scottish Rite Cathedral in West Reading. The program will include two guest soloists: cornetist William Stowman, trumpet professor at Messiah College, and alto saxophonist Alexandra Vargas, the 2017 winner of the Ringgold Band Young Artist Award.
After finishing the remainder of the season, Seidel will step down; meanwhile, the band is in the process of searching for a new director, he said. He said his decision to retire “wasn’t because anything went wrong; it’s because everything’s been going right.”
“The direction is good,” he said. “I have such great memories created by this band that I was able to share with my students.”
He was band director at Exeter High School until he retired in 2010.
Seidel was a 16-year-old studying trumpet with the late Walter Gier when he first played with the Ringgold Band. Gier suggested he perform in a 1967 concert by the band when Albertus Meyers, a former John Philip Sousa Band cornetist and director of the Allentown Band from 1926 to 1976, came to Reading to guest-conduct.
“After that, I was hooked,” Seidel said. “I was at every rehearsal and played every job I could, even while I was in college.”
A 1969 Exeter High School graduate, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Mansfield University and a masters in trumpet performance from West Chester University.
He became a cornet soloist for the band and then, in 1980, its conductor.
“I’ve gotten to play with Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band and toured with them, and I’ve had a lot of other great experiences,” Seidel said. “I’ve had an incredible ride, and a lot of it is because of the Ringgold. I found my passion as a young kid, and there’s a long list of people of Berks County who were supportive of me.”
The 165-year-old band is one of the oldest in the country, and “people did this because of their love and passion for playing great band music,” he said.
“When you walk into the building we own (at 3539-A Freemont St., Laureldale), and see the pictures on the wall, and realize you’re making history every time you walk in that door, it’s a very exciting thing,” he said.
During his tenure, many soloists have played with the band, including Jim Smith, a trombonist from Oley, who used the Ringgold to get back to playing after developing a medical condition and now plays in the Chicago Symphony; and Carol Jantsch, principal tubist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Seidel said that in planning Sunday’s concert, he asked members to submit their favorite pieces to him. He said he received enough for a seven-hour concert, but narrowed it down by choosing pieces that showed up on more than one list.
Among the works on the program will be Alfred Reed’s “Armenian Dreams,” Gustav Holst’s “First Suite for Military Band” (number one among college band directors), the Overture to Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Gomes’ opera “Il Guarany,” Percy Grainger’s arrangement of “Irish Tune From County Derry” (also known as “Danny Boy”) and “The Rose Variations,” for solo cornet and band, by Robert Russell Bennett, featuring Stowman.
Seidel also chose a new favorite of his own: the rarely heard “The Cry of the Last Unicorn” by contemporary American composer Rossano Galante. This piece tells the story of a unicorn who is the last survivor of a slaughter of unicorns by human beings; he is hunted and killed, and the horses, outraged, stampede the humans.
“It creates vivid pictures of what that would look like in sound,” Seidel said.
Seidel said that after he retires, he looks forward to playing in ensembles in which he’s not in charge, writing a definitive history of the Ringgold Band and spending time with his eight grandchildren.
