A three-day, cat-in-a-tree drama in Hometown ended on a happy note Saturday when a rescuer wearing climbing gear scaled a 90-foot oak tree to reach a troubled feline.

The incident began early Friday when residents of the Lincoln Park neighborhood noticed the sounds of a cat crying high above.An orange tabby, believed to be a stray, had spent Thursday night, and maybe Wednesday night, too, some 50 feet high."He was up there at 7 a.m. when I came out to take my daughter to the bus stop," said Roy Houser of 22 Lincoln St.The cat was crying and meowing and so Houser and wife Shellie placed cat food at the base of the tree, hoping the treat would entice the scared cat to come down sometime during the day when things calmed and nobody was nearby.But the cat food trick didn't work.The Morris-the-cat look-alike was still there at 5 p.m. and had climbed higher.Shellie Houser contacted the fire company and then Sgt. Duane Frederick, Rush Township police, was notified.Firefighters Andrew Tite and Zack Filloy of Hometown Fire Company secured additional help and an aerial ladder from Gary Perna, chief engineer, McAdoo Fire Company.Perna arrived with the aerial truck about 5:30 p.m. and Tite climbed all the way up to the top of the fully extended ladder, reaching the area where the cat was resting.But the cat wanted no part of a rescue. When he saw the ladder reaching up toward him, he scampered even higher.Ultimately, he made his way to a new resting spot an estimated 80 feet high. At that point, he was beyond reach and further rescue attempts had to be scuttled."We ran out of ladder. We can only go to 75 feet," said Tite.Early Saturday morning, the cat was still crying from high in the tree."I am still calling everyone I can," said Houser, a teacher at Panther Valley School District. "I called animal rescue and even the game commission. I have now appealed to Facebook," she said.Her pleas paid dividends when three former students stepped forward.Robert Coccio with his friends' assistance, Eric McFadden and Nathan Wehr, came and climbed the tree 90 feet and got the cat down," said Houser."Unfortunately the cat ran and I couldn't get her a forever home. Maybe she will be back. I am so very thankful to those boys. Robert came right before work to do this for us," she said.The three young men are graduates of Panther Valley High School and former students of Houser.