University Park, Pa. — A Barnesville, Pa., family professed their Penn State pride, and it won them a nationwide contest. For this year’s Blue-White Game at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, April 22, Ed and Barb Tarconish will tailgate with daughter Emily, a Penn State journalism student, and 11-year-old son Jake, in their 22-year-old RV, newly renovated courtesy of RV Rescue and the “RVtoday” television show.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man saved a couple from a burning RV in Jacksonville, Florida.

Brian d’Amico makes a living by helping others, so when he saw the camper burning, he claimed it was just his nature to stop and see if anyone was trapped inside.

“That’s my nature, you know. I stopped because that’s what I do. I help people, I help people everyday. I work with Builders Care and it’s all about helping people and so I just let it carry on into this,” d’Amico said. “I don’t think about things like that. When somebody has a need, I just jump in there and help them. Even if there’s fire.”

D’Amico and several others rushed over to help get a couple out safely. They are going to be okay, but the mobile home is destroyed from the flames.

There was no word on what caused the fire.

Many baby boomers look forward to hitting the open highway in a motor home. But the cross country trip is costing more than many bargained for thanks to higher gas prices. Wichita Falls may not have the comforts of cities like Dallas or Oklahoma City, but it is a place where many RV motorists can park for the night. Some of these travellers who are trying to enjoy a free roaming vacation are starting to feel the impact when they fill up.
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Mother Nature has not been kind to the Coquille Economic Development Corp. in recent months.

Due to weather-related misfortunes - namely the devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005 and the Bay Area’s prolonged rainy season - the 102-spot RV park currently under construction on the North Bend waterfront, beside The Mill Casino-Hotel on U.S. Highway 101, will arrive both later than expected and with a heftier bill attached.

CEDCO, the business arm of the Coquille Tribe, broke ground on the 8-acre RV park in September 2005. Shortly afterward, the hurricane season of 2005, notably the destruction wrought in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, started driving up the cost of building materials.
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It’s one of the great ironies of modern motoring.

As gas prices have climbed over the past year, motorists have shied away from giant-size sport-utility vehicles. But Americans ownership of recreational vehicles - a segment that includes enormous motor homes - is at an all-time high.
Local RV enthusiasts can see many of the newest, state-of-the-art RVs today through Sunday at Cal Expo, site of the 26th annual Spring RV Show. The Sacramento show kicked off its four-day run Thursday.
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The smell is usually the first thing animal rescuers can recall.

And that’s what hit Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service officers when they arrived at a familiar home in Otis Orchards last week.

“It’s almost overpowering,” said Nancy Hill, director of SCRAPS. “It’s pretty typical of hoarding cases.”

Eighteen cats were living in an RV parked at the property in the 6200 block of North Idaho Road. Last Friday, officers found the cats living in “horrific and filthy” conditions, with many of the animals sneezing, their noses filled with mucus, Hill said.

Property owner Carol McMullen said she had no idea who owned the cats when she was interviewed by animal control officers, Hill said.

But McMullen is no stranger to SCRAPS.

In 2004, she was found guilty of 13 misdemeanors related to the inhumane treatment of 61 dogs, cats, rabbits and turtles on her property. Her son, James McMullen, was found guilty of three counts of various poor animal treatment.

James McMullen spent a day in jail in 2005 when officers found he violated his probation by keeping more than 10 animals on his property.

This time, Carol McMullen’s daughter, Kelly Covey, claimed to own the 18 cats. Covey arrived at the SCRAPS shelter Wednesday with two dog-carrying crates in the bed of a pickup truck and asked for the cats back, Hill said.


Covey was then charged with 18 counts of confining cats in an unsafe manner and one count of operating an unlicensed commercial kennel, all criminal misdemeanors. Covey told officials that she lived in Idaho, so animal control officers had to release the cats, Hill said. Officials advised Covey that she could not keep the cats in Spokane County and that the animals’ medical condition needed attention.

Animal hoarding cases are becoming commonplace, Hill said.

“There seems to be a trend in Spokane County where we’ve had more cases with multiple animals,” she said. “Animal hoarding is becoming a serious issue.”

There are alternatives to hoarding animals, Hill said. People who have an interest in helping pets can volunteer at pet shelters, she said.

“People love animals and care about them, but they’re just trying to do too much,” Hill said. “We have to understand we’re making a lifetime commitment.”

Animal owners in Spokane County cannot have more than four cats and four dogs on their property unless they have a kennel permit.

Once produced in Wakarusa, Yellowstone RVs are “Ham Cans” to 43-year-old Henry Wallace. He lives out of state and buys the old RVs to fix them up. He likes the vintage look.

To Goshen resident Hazel Weaver, 88, those early Yellowstone Coaches mean something else. The egg-shaped, shiny aluminum travel trailers provide proof her late husband, Elmer Weaver, knew what he was talking about when he told her, “If they can build trailers, I can too,” more than a half century ago.

Flop. That’s what skeptics told Elmer he should name the trailer if he ever really built one. He balked.
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