A Veterans Day service will be held in Bayne Park in Bellevue on Friday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m.

The keynote speaker will be SSG Matthew Claycomb of the Pennsylvania National Guard. Students from Lincoln Elementary will be part of the tribute. Refreshments will be served immediately following the ceremony.

There also will be a dedication at 1 p.m. of the monument created to honor North Boroughs veterans who were lost in the Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom conflicts.

Eric Cosmides has good reason to be leading up a team of volunteers who will assemble 800 brown bag lunches for cyclists riding in the Tour de Cure fund-raiser for the American Diabetes Association this weekend in Harmony, PA.

His efforts will serve as his senior project at Avonworth High School, but, more importantly, it will send a personal message of the need to find a cure from someone who has lived with diabetes for more than six years.

"I was diagnosed with Type I juvenile diabetes in May of 2005," Eric, 17, said.

The Avonworth High School softball team will present two lucky winners autographed Penguins memorabilia in a fund-raising raffle.

The raffle will be based on the Pennsylvania Lottery number on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011.

Each $5 ticket will have a chance to win two different prizes. The winner of the midday number will receive an autographed Mario Lemieux hockey stick. The winner of the evening drawing will get an autographed Sidney Crosby jersey.

Anyone who wants a ticket should call Debbie or Tracy Catanzarite at (412)741-1238.

Many of you have had the opportunity to meet my new BFF, Arthur. Arthur is a 140 lb. Great Dane who comes to work at The Citizen offices every day, and goes pretty much anywhere else I can get away with taking him.

Arthur came to me through the Pennsylvania Great Dane Rescue organization, which saves Danes who end up in kill shelters and those who have been neglected, abandoned, abused or surrendered by people whose circumstances have taken a turn for the worse, or those who just didn't realize that cute little puppy was going to get "that big."

Khiry Watts Khiry Templin Watts, 21, of Ohio Township, died Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Mr. Watts was a graduate of Avonworth High School, and played football and track. He is survived by his parents, Eric V. and Diane Templin; four siblings, Colt, Grant, Brooke, and Amy Templin; biological siblings; and aunts and uncles.

Pamela Ostop Pamela Anne (Jones) Ostop, age 46, of Pittsburgh, on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Loving mother of Chelsea Ostop; beloved daughter of Jim and Millie Jones; sister of Aimee Bauman (Roger) and Joshua Jones (Melanie); aunt of Samantha, Jacob and Valerie Jones. Services and internment private. Arrange-ments by T.B. Devlin Funeral Home.

Pauline Kent Pauline Pence Kent, 94, of Emsworth, wife of the late Harold E. Kent, died Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012.

The Avonworth School Board will vote next Monday on whether to apply for exceptions that will allow the board to to triple next year’s allowable millage increase.

Under state law, Avonworth is permitted to increase the property tax millage rate for 2012-13 by only .26 mills. Anything over that has to be approved by voters on a ballot referendum unless the district is granted exceptions to the referendum rule by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Kenneth Todoverto Sr. Kenneth M. Todoverto Sr., 81, of Bellevue died Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. He is survived by his wife, Loretta Todoverto; four children, Kenneth Todoverto Jr. and his wife Sandy, Janice Barry and her husband Mike, Carla Pritchard and her husband Glenn and Donna Boyer; his sister, Louise Killian; and five grandchildren, Brian Verlihay and his wife Steph, Steven Verlihay, Glenn Pritchard Jr., Becky Pritchard and Ally Boyer.

Gladys Weinzierl Gladys B. Pigoni Weinzierl, 90, of Ohio Township, wife of the late Joseph W. Weinzierl Jr., died Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. She is survived by two sons, J. Buster Weinzierl and his wife Sally and Michael J. Weinzierl and his wife Susan; her sister, Eva Stankunas; and four grandchildren, Mary H. Rolser and her husband David, Joseph, Andrea and Melinda Weinzierl. She was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Philomena Pigoni; and five siblings, Joseph Pigoni, Charles Pigoni, Vi Giovenelli, Betty Andrade and Mitzi Lasp.

Paul DeWalt Paul C. DeWalt, 61, of Avalon, died Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Klixbull DeWalt; three children, Zachary, Sarah and Jacob DeWalt; his mother, Inis DeWalt; his sister, Beth DeWalt; three brothers-in-law, Thomas L. Klixbull and his wife Janet, Richart J. Klixbull and his wife Susan and Robert E. Klixbull and his wife Eileen; a sister-in-law, Linda S. Sanderson and her husband Sandy; and nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Curtis DeWalt; and two brothers, John and Robert DeWalt.

James R. Davis James R. Davis, 68, of McCandless, husband of the late Carol S. Davis, died Nov. 4, 2011. Mr. Davis had been the owner of Jim Davis Auto Body in Emsworth. He leaves a son, James S. Davis and his fiancé Sharon Welfer; a sister, Linda (John) Provich; a niece, Melissa (Mike) Taylor; nephews, Joseph Weiss Jr. and James (Jamie) Weiss. Friends were received Tuesday at Simons Funeral Home and a service was held Wednesday in St. John's Lutheran Church of Highland. Contributions may be made to American Cancer Society, Southwest Region 320 Bilmar Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15205.

The Northgate School Board has agreed not to exceed the state inflationary index for a property tax millage increase next year, but that most certainly does not mean the district will avoid another tax hike.

Each year, the state determines how much a particular school district can increase property taxes without triggering a plethora of procedural hoops, including expedited budget timelines, requests for exceptions to avoid ballot referendums, and potentially court action and the referendum itself.