You don't have to be a geologist to notice that northeastern Pennsylvania is a special place. It has mountains, plateaus, valleys, gorges and coal mines-with many variations of often rugged and picturesque landscapes.

To find out why northeast Pa. is the way it is, it wouldn't hurt to consult with a professional geologist like Brian Oram. Oram is an administrator in the Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, and the director of the Center for Environmental Water Testing Laboratory at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre.

Palmerton's football team didn't get to see Bangor junior quarterback Scott LaValva in person at all last year, but they had heard a lot about him.

With the Slaters the bye team for the Blue Bombers in 2008, the two teams didn't meet.

LaValva put on quite an exhibition as he scored all five of his team's touchdowns in a 33-18 Colonial League win to spoil Palmerton's Homecoming game.

"He's definitely as good as advertised," said McArdle afterwards. "He's as good and as tough as they say he is and he's only a junior."

There were no balloons. No cake. No party in the barn.

It was just another day at Hahn's Cloverleaf Dairy, Inc. in Palmerton.

Well, not quite.

On Sept. 17, brothers Roger (Rocky) Hahn, 63 and Dean Hahn, 58 both got up just like any other morning and went to work.

But their hearts and hands celebrated their 40th anniversary as owners of the dairy.

In their own way, Rocky and Dean celebrate the dairy every morning when they wake up, knowing they're going to get to do what they love, which is farming, milking cows and selling their own product.

Flail - 1. (noun) hand threshing instrument consisting of a wooden handle at the end, of which a shorter stick is hung as to swing freely;

2. (verb), to thrash, to beat hard;

3. North Schuylkill junior defensive back Kody Flail.

Kody Flail earned his own place in the lexicon, as a synonym for "opportunistic", following his remarkable performance against Tamaqua Friday night.

All teams strive for perfection.

The Tamaqua girls soccer team is experiencing it.

With a decisive 4-0 victory over Upper Dauphin last night, the Lady Raiders improve to 14-0 on the season and 11-0 in the league. With one more win, the Lady Raiders will clinch the Schuylkill League Division 1 Championship for just the second time in school history. With three more wins, Tamaqua will make history with its first undefeated regular season.