The natural gas industry has created jobs in central Pennsylvania, but residents say there are economic consequences as well. Photo by Eric Zerkel

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Just over the Susquehanna River, along freshly paved streets, the taupe stucco facades of hotels jut out in rows, blotting out the old church steeples and glass storefronts of small-town Pennsylvania.

This is the new Williamsport, a city transformed from a quaint logging town into a bustling corporate hub by the natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation below ground.

“It has truly been an amazing renaissance,” said Vince Matteo, president of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.

Over the past four years, Matteo said he has seen more than 100 new businesses sprout up in the county, leading Williamsport to be named the seventh fastest growing metropolitan area in the country.

“I’ve been involved in economic development chamber work for 31 years and have seen good times and bad times, and from an economic development standpoint I’ve never seen something this good before,” said Matteo.

But outside of Williamsport, on the stretches of farmland and rolling hills, locals see little of the “boom” of the natural gas industry. Leading some to question whether the industry will have a real and lasting impact on local rural communities.

“The natural gas industry is extractive by nature,” said John Trallo, 60, of Sonestown, Pa. “There is a short-term boost for the area when they have to set up the wells, but once the wells are in the ground, the jobs move on.”

Trallo lives 45 minutes outside of Williamsport, in neighboring Sullivan County, where he said he sees little evidence of the positive economic impacts that Matteo and Williamsport experience.

Instead, Trallo said he has witnessed the slow decay of many staple businesses of the area as the demand for business follows “frackers” to Williamsport.

“The mom and pop stores, the campgrounds, the farming supply stores, we’re just watching them disappear,” said Trallo, who runs his own small business – a music lessons and instrument repair shop – out of his home. “The jobs that we’re losing, once they’re gone, are not coming back.”

While drill sites are located hours outside of Williamsport, workers use the city as an industrial hub, booking up hotels, and shipping out in company provided econo-vans to areas in Bradford, Sullivan and Susquehanna Counties.

With so many new temporary residents, Matteo said that jobs are not only created within gas companies, but also are taking hold within Williamsport.

“There is a trickle down effect,” Matteo said. “You have all these companies that are doing work on the Marcellus Shale, but they are spending money in our hotels, in our restaurants, and in our stores.”

Twenty miles east, in Moreland Township, Drake Saxton sees little of the trickle-down. Saxton said that the high presence of out-of-state workers was a clear sign that the gas industry wasn’t concerned about the local economy.

“Take a look at the license plates on the cars around here – Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma – if they (the gas industry) are so good at picking up the local economy then why are they all still here?” said Saxton, 64.

Saxton runs a bed and breakfast and said the negatives of workers coming in and out of town drowned out any small economic impact felt locally.

“Let’s talk about the rest of what the frackers are bringing us – an increase in crime, ruts in the road a foot deep, blocked off roads, increased rent – it’s like they are saying get a job with the oil/gas industry or die off,” said Saxton.

Saxton’s business was recently put on hold, when massive ruts created by the trucks carrying water to and from drill sites kept him from being able to drive on and off his property for weeks.

“I couldn’t get out, the ruts were this deep,” Saxton said, as he stretched his hands apart the length of his torso.

Though the business has slowed the past few months, as gas prices have risen, trucks still drive through the streets of Williamsport on their way to drill sites. Something Matteo said he has no problem dealing with.

“There are impacts (from this industry) that aren’t positive, but overall if you asked me if I want them to be here with the additional problems and issues, or not be here, I’d say I’d want them to be here, and have people have these additional jobs,” Matteo said.

But for Trallo, jobs are the last thing on his mind.

“This is just another boom, and once they (the gas companies) are gone, what do we have left?” Trallo said. “This area is going to lose its charm.”

On a typical morning, Erica Jones wakes up, eats a hearty breakfast, puts on her running gear and heads for the door.

Along the way she will pick up running partners, but not the typical type. Her cohorts aren’t people, they’re dogs.

Jones, 32, of Harlem, N.Y., is a professional dog runner for Happy Pants NYC one of the numerous dog walking services that don’t just walk dogs, they run them.

“You come in and they’re just knocking stuff over they’re so happy to see you” Jones said of the dogs she runs.

With over 1.5 million dogs living in the city, many being large breeds in small living spaces, many dogs are left with little room to release pent up energy.

But companies like Happy Pants NYC, provide a rigorous work out. Athletes are hired to take dogs on a vigorous 30-45 minute run during the day, a time when they might otherwise sit idle while their owners are at work.

Jones recently moved to the city from California after quitting a desk job in finance, because she really wanted a change of pace, she said.

“This is my full-time job now,” she said with a smile.

Jones said for her, it’s the best of both worlds. She has run in seven marathons, and combining her love of dogs and passion for running seems to suit her well.

“It’s totally perfect, I love running, I love the dogs,” Jones said. “I love being outside, running is easy and fun for me.”

She heard about dog running while still in California, and even tried putting up ads to seek out people who might be interested in having their dogs exercised, but she said it was difficult to find clientele in an area where open spaces were readily available and many people had their own yards for pups to run in.

So immediately after picking up her two dogs and moving across country, she went online and applied for a running position with David Haber’s company, Happy Pants NYC.

“I think the ad said something like, ‘Do you love to run? Do you want to get paid to run? Do you love dogs?” she said.

Checking yes to all those things, she met with Haber and was approved to proceed to the running test.

“He wanted to see if I could run basically,” she said laughing. Not a problem for Jones, who held her own during the 45-minute trial run around Central Park with Haber and one of the dogs.

Haber, 39, from the West Village, worked in marketing for years before starting Happy Pants NYC.
He wanted to try and do something on his own, less structured than his previous corporate jobs, and when he saw dog walkers around the city he’d wonder if it was something he could make a living out of doing.

Then, about four years ago, he began working as a runner for a company that specialized in dog running and did odd jobs on the side to make ends meet.

“After my commitment to them was finished, I basically went off on my own and tried to do something similar,” he said.

Haber combined his long-time love of dogs and his desire to run a business into Happy Pants NYC (“pants” as in the panting a dog makes when it’s happy after a long run).

At first Haber was the only runner, and with clients emerging in areas scattered around Manhattan, he was literally running all over the city.

Now he’s got multiple runners and clients all over the city. His business is doing well, he said. Prices start at $32 for a 30-minute run and clients choose how many visits per week they’d like, ranging up to five 30-minute visits for $115 per week.

“In the beginning it was just me and I was running sometimes up to six or seven times a day,” he said. “I think I was logging like 15 or so miles.”

Haber’s legs were so sore at night, he could barely sleep, he said.

Soon after he began to build a larger clientele, he started hiring runners to help take the load off, he said.

“The key criteria is definitely someone who loves dogs and has a great temperament to them” he said.

It is important that his runners are able to withstand running long distances, which is why he typically hires experienced athletes, but more important to Haber than athletic ability being able to trust them with the dogs.

“We develop such a close bond and relationship with the owners, and their dogs,” he said. “They’re affording us a lot of opportunities and sort of trust to be in their home and take care of their dogs that people value sort of at the same level as their kids,” he said.

One such client who entrusts her pooch about three times a week in the care Haber’s company is Dr. Nina Mohr, a veterinarian at City Veterinary Care in the Upper West Side.

Mohr, 41, from the Flatiron District, owns a yellow mix-breed named Banana. She said he had some behavioral issues before exercise was introduced into his routine. Mohr started running him years ago, but doesn’t have the time to do it as often as she’d like, so about three times a week, one of Haber’s runners at Happy Pants take’s Banana out to run.

She said dog running is a great alternative to dog parks and dog walking, which don’t offer the energy release that running does, especially for working breeds like retrievers and schnauzers, whose natural instincts are to be moving and working.

“They’re in an apartment, they sleep when we’re gone, they don’t do anything,” she said.

As a result, dogs do sometimes develop behavioral and even medical issues like arthritis and weight problems, but those who can get enough exercise, usually see improvement in these areas, she said.

“I think there are tremendous benefits, cardiac benefits, orthopedic, all kind of things,” she said.

Mohr believes strongly in exercise for dogs. Not only does she recommend running and other forms of exercise to patients, she also swears by it with her own pooch.

At 11 years old, Banana is still in great health and has the spirit of a young pup, Mohr said.

“Before I started running with him, he was sort of more destructive, “ she said. “He had separation anxiety.”

But the running has mellowed him out, she said.

Inside this wooden container sits the flag that covered Johnny Kihm's casket when his body arrived at Dover Air Force base. Photo by Chris Palmer.

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Cecelia Kihm’s life changed the day that two strangers knocked on her front door.

It was April 19, 2011. Kihm, 51, a freckled, sandy-haired pre-school teacher, was at home in her green-carpeted living room watching the television show “Ellen.”

She opened the door to two Army soldiers, standing in uniform on the concrete steps in front of her brick rowhome in the Castor Gardens section of Philadelphia.

“When I looked at them, heat just went down my body,” she said.

Her baby-faced 19-year old son, Johnny, had deployed to Afghanistan a month earlier. Several members of his unit had died already, including three that week.

She invited the soldiers in. After taking a few seconds to collect her thoughts, she asked them to deliver the news.

Her son was dead, they said. Killed in combat.

During sleepless nights since Johnny had enlisted, Kihm told herself that if this day ever came, she wouldn’t react like characters do in movies. No violent crying, no denial, no hitting the messenger.

But she was overridden with grief. She kept saying, “It’s too soon. It’s too soon.”

She went upstairs to tell her oldest daughter, Marybeth, who was 24 at the time.

“I didn’t even know how to say it,” Kihm said.

Her husband John, just returning from work, collapsed in agony when he saw the two men in his living room. He cried on the adjacent dining room floor.

And Kihm’s middle child, daughter Meghan, who was then 21, threw up after she was told.

“It was horrible,” Kihm said.

This scene – a family torn apart by news of a young soldier’s untimely death – is not uncommon. As of April 28, 2012, nearly 6,500 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since the Afghan War began in 2001. Thousands more have died in non-hostile situations, through circumstances like training exercises, illness, or by suicide.

But all military families who lose a loved one have to deal with a variety of unique challenges, according to Ami Neiberger-Miller, a public affairs officer with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS).

“The experience of military loss is so unique,” she said.

According to TAPS research, more than 80 percent of military deaths are traumatic and unexpected, catching family members by surprise. Military families are often thrust into the spotlight after the death, forced to take up the role of spokespeople to the media and strangers who want to honor the family and the fallen soldier. And some military family members suffer from insomnia, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

“There’s no rulebook to guide families and help them,” Neiberger-Miller said. “It’s a long journey.”

For the Kihms, just over a year after Johnny’s passing, the sadness that comes from being one of those families, shrunken by war, never ends.

“I always feel like I’m stuck in that two week period, from when we found out until when we buried him,” Kihm said. “It doesn’t feel like we just had a year. It doesn’t feel like it at all.”

Marybeth, now 25, put it more succinctly.

“It sucks,” she said.

“If you’re going to be in it, you’re going to be in it.”

At Cardinal Dougherty High School, Johnny ran cross-country and wrestled. But he was especially drawn to the Marines “Delayed Entry Program,” which gives individuals under the age of 18 a chance to work with soldiers to prepare for enlistment at a later date.

Once a week, he trained with the Marines, and throughout high school he dreamed of enlisting after graduation.

In March of his senior year, though, he changed his mind. After high school, he spent a semester at the Abington campus of Pennsylvania State University.

But his interest in the military wouldn’t stay suppressed for long. After his first semester of college, Johnny returned home for Christmas break and told his parents he had made up his mind: he wanted to enlist.

Kihm wasn’t exactly thrilled, but she had told her son when he was in high school that she would support him if he decided to join.

“I knew that’s what he wanted,” she said.

Johnny and his parents considered both the Marines and the Army, and eventually decided that the Army would be a better fit. He enlisted, and on March 1, 2010, deployed to basic training at Fort Benning, in Georgia.

“I really thought he was going to be alright.”

Johnny Kihm in his Army gear. Photo provided by the Kihm family.

In June 2010, after completing basic training, Johnny moved to Fort Drum, N.Y., with the 10th Mountain Division infantry unit. He was supposed to stay there until May 2011, when the unit would be deployed to Afghanistan. But the deployment date was moved up two months. They shipped out on March 17, 2011.

Kihm had two phone conversations and four Facebook chat sessions with Johnny while he was overseas. She kept a record of all the interactions in a datebook.

“I would sit by the computer and just look for that little dot to appear,” she said, waiting for him to sign on to Facebook.

Her last phone call with him was on April 15, 2011. The conversation was brief, but he said they would talk more later.

He died four days after the call.

Before Johnny’s death, the possibility of losing her son never felt real, Kihm said. But now, the reality is inescapable.

“Some days it’s more like day one than day two,” she said.

“All this wouldn’t have happened if that wouldn’t have happened.”

While the Kihms grapple with Johnny’s death on a daily basis, they have also found various ways to dedicate themselves to new causes in his memory.

John, Johnny’s father, has taken up volunteering at the Philadelphia Veterans Comfort House, a shelter for homeless veterans.

Cecelia sends boxes of supplies – cigarettes, magazines, Red Bulls – to Johnny’s unit (a pack of cigarettes is accompanied by a note, telling the soldier on the receiving end that they have to promise to quit smoking).

One of her more recent efforts was to style pillowcases for the unit members.

And after finding out that the soldiers don’t have anything to put into the pillowcases, she decided that her next goal is to figure out a way to send the troops pillows.

Together, the Kihms established a foundation – the Pfc. Johnny Kihm Memorial Fund – that, among other activities, is raising money through events and t-shirt sales to refurbish a United Service Organizations lounge for military members at the Syracuse airport, near Fort Drum (the Kihms declined to say how much money they’ve raised so far).

And they’ve received countless gifts, tokens of support and donations in Johnny’s name – occasionally from complete strangers – which they in turn donate to the foundation, or use to buy supplies for the care packages.

Ingrid Seunarine, a bereavement counselor in New York City who directs grief counseling programs for Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, said that it’s common for people to donate time and energy to various causes after the death of a loved one. Doing so, she said, can help individuals cope with the loss, while also honoring the memory of the deceased.

“You have to keep that connection in your heart,” she said.

“It never stops.”

In the year since Johnny’s death, the Kihms have been visited by scores of wounded warriors and other supporters, wishing to pay their respects to the fallen soldier’s family.

Kihm said she has a deep sense of gratitude for the gestures and the soldiers who go out of their way to support them, especially those in the 10th Mountain Division.

“I feel like they’re mine,” she said.

But she also said that at times, unexpected visits, combined with the milestones that pass without her son – Memorial Day, 9/11, his unit’s first extended period of leave – can make it feel “like the viewing day never stops.”

After a few hours of talking about Johnny, with the smell of a home-cooked meal wafting through her living room, the pain in Kihm’s heart surfaced. With her eyes welling up, she recalled a moment that happened at Johnny’s funeral.

During the ceremony, she said, she reached out and touched her son’s closed casket.
Then she put her hand on her husband. Marybeth had her arm around him as well.

Kihm then whispered to Meghan, telling her to reach over and touch Marybeth.

And they formed a chain, linking Meghan, to Marybeth, to John, to Cecelia, to Johnny.

“We were all holding each other,” she said, her voice quivering.

Later that day, the Kihms would bury Johnny at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Northeast Philadelphia.

But at that moment, they sat together as a family for the last time.

“It was beautiful,” said Kihm, fighting off tears.

In a night where no surprises were expected, none were had. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has won all five states up for grabs in today’s primary elections.

On the ballot today were Romney, former Senator Rick Santorum (who dropped out too late to have his name wiped from the slate), former Congressman Newt Gingrich and Congressman Ron Paul.

For a time in this frantic, tumultuous, protracted primary season, it was thought that these Northeast states might have a meaningful say in the outcome of the race to the Republican presidential nomination. But when Santorum suspended his campaign on April 10th, Romney officially took on the mantle of President Barack Obama’s top challenger.

Now that the polls are closed and over 90 percent of the votes have been tallied, the results reflect an unequivocal win for Romney. According to the Associated Press, he received over 55 percent of the vote in each state, climbing up to nearly 68 percent in Connecticut.

Santorum’s numbers did not break 10 percent in any state except his home state of Pennsylvania, where he climbed to over 18 percent. Gingrich and Paul, however, raked in consistently modest but notable results — Gingrich topping 27 percent in Delaware and Paul approaching 25 percent in Rhode Island.

Romney’s victory speech reflected his new status as presumptive nominee, as he attacked Obama.

“Tonight is the start of a new campaign to unite every American who knows in their heart that we can do better!” he said from a celebration in New Hampshire. “The last few years have been the best that Barack Obama can do, but it’s not the best America can do!”

But the inevitability of Romney’s win also resulted in an extremely low turn-out. In New York City, even at a heavily Republican polling site, traffic was nearly non-existent. Public School 52 in Staten Island houses six election districts that are home to 1433 registered Republicans. But by 2:00 p.m., only a handful of voters had cast their ballot. In one election district with approximately 250 eligible voters, only two had checked the box for their candidate of choice.

Polling site coordinator Rosemarie Catrama has been working election days at P.S. 52 for five years, but this was one of the quietest she’s seen.

“I think most of the people know who the Republican primary candidate is going to be, so there’s not much to choose from this time,” she said.

Despite the certainty of today’s election results, the nomination will not be official until the Republican convention in late August, and Romney does not yet have the 1144 delegates he needs to lock that in. But tonight’s election results bring him much closer to the magic number.

The 2011-2012 Republican nominating contest began more than a year ago, well in advance of the first caucus in Iowa on January 3.

Until now, Romney was never able to completely break away from the pack. His front-runner status was always in question as Santorum surged and Gingrich held on.

Today’s sweep of wins finally gives Romney an official trouncing of his rivals. But it also puts to an effective end the roller coaster ride of a primary season has gone from something like Space Mountain to something more like the tea cup ride at Disney World.

Over a year ago, Donald Trump took the presidential primary stage. He grabbed attention by professing the “birther” argument, suggesting that Obama was not born in the United States even though the claim had been repeatedly debunked.

Herman Cain’s candidacy spiked and then plummeted this fall amid major gaffes and multiple allegations of workplace sexual harassment.

In August, 2011, Congresswoman and Tea Party firebrand Michelle Bachmann won what’s known as the Ames straw poll in Iowa, which some pundits said was a sign her candidacy stood a chance of victory in that state’s official primary contest. But her numbers did not sustain her, bringing her only a paltry sixth-place finish.

For a time it seemed that Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, might walk off with the nomination. His candidacy took off as conservative Republicans rallied around him. But after a memory meltdown during a live televised debate in which he could not recall one of the three federal agencies he would seek to shutter, his campaign floundered and never recovered.

Not long after he announced his candidacy for president, Newt Gingrich sailed off on a cruise with his wife. Soon, the political punditry declared his campaign dead as his organization seemed scrambled and his coffers seemed to run dry. But the former Speaker of the House made a surprise comeback in late 2011, surging in the polls and giving Romney yet another run for his money.

Gingrich’s numbers had cooled in the weeks before the Iowa caucus — the nation’s first primary contest. Few predicted Santorum’s win there, and it was indeed so close that the 34 vote margin wasn’t declared until more than two weeks later.

Since the primary elections started to roll across the country, most of the votes have been shared among Romney, Santorum and Gingrich, with nominal but consistent numbers going to Paul. Though Romney pulled out several victories, it was never enough to shake off his competitors and cinch the nomination.

Finally, with tonight’s cluster of unquestionable wins, the Romney campaign can officially call his nomination inevitable — something they had been hoping, and trying to do throughout the past year.