Historic Livingston County organ receives $30,000 in repairs thanks to community fundraising
"It's a chorus of angels," said Don Thompson, who has served as caretaker of the organ for the last 30 years.
Thompson has been taking care of the Hartland Music Hall project by project, mostly on his own.
"The acoustics in the building are just about perfect," he said.
It's a Kilgen organ that sits inside the hallowed music hall. It was made in St. Louis in 1932, and Thompson calls it a jewel.
"The organ console is here, and in the back of the stage, there's a room with 780 pipes in it," he said.
It isn't difficult to imagine just how much upkeep an instrument like this needs. Back in 2022, the organist who services Hartland's organ began recommending some repairs.
"We asked him for a quote, what would it cost, and they gave us a number of $30,000, which we didn't have budgeted and is a large number for something that we wanted to keep going," said Sarah Neidert, director of Cromaine Library.
That kicked off multiple phases of fundraising. First, a grant from the Hardland Consolidated Schools Foundation.
"[Then] a concert as a fundraiser, and it was a wild success. We raised $12,000 to fund the second phase of repair," Neidert said.
In that second phase of restoration, parts of the organ were removed from the building.
"The whole front was taken off, repaired, taken off-site, oiled and lubricated," Neidert said.
The hope now, Neidert said, is that any repairs in the future will be smaller and the organ will continue to sing her song.
"Hopefully, it will be something we can fundraise for on a lower level to keep maintenance up," Neidert said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Florida Python Challenge 2025: More than 900 hunters competed for $25,000 in prizes
With Florida's annual Burmese python hunt wrapping up Sunday (July 20) at 5 p.m., the next phase of the 2025 competition will be the announcement of the winners, including the $10,000 grand prize recipient for most pythons caught. According to Lisa Thompson, spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, this year's winners will be announced "in a few weeks after all data has been processed and verified." A total of $25,000 in prize money will be distributed to winners in three categories − professional, novice and military. More: Florida python hunter describes python bite: 'Like a mouthful of hypodermic needles' How many hunters participated in the 2025 Florida Python Challenge? This year's competition started at 12:01 a.m. on July 11 at eight competition locations. Thompson said there were 933 total registered participants this year coming from two countries (U.S. and Canada). That was up from 857 participants in 2025. "And we had 30 states represented (including Florida)," Thompson said. Florida Python Challenge 2024 results. 195 pythons removed Last year, according to FWC, 195 Burmese pythons were removed. Ronald Kiger (20 Burmese pythons removed) was the 2024 Grand Prize winner. How serious is the python problem in Florida? Burmese pythons have wrought destruction in the Florida Everglades. They've contributed to the decline of small mammals including raccoons, opossums, bobcats, foxes, marsh rabbits and cottontail rabbits. A recent study revealed that Burmese pythons can eat prey much larger than previously reported. Scientists observed a Burmese python swallowing a 77-pound white-tailed deer, nearly 70 percent of the snake's mass. What is the Florida Python Challenge? The Florida Python Challenge is a ten-day competition encouraging participants to remove Burmese pythons from seven Commission-managed lands in South Florida. According to FWC, the event is held to raise public awareness about invasive species in Florida, like Burmese pythons, that are a threat to the Everglades ecosystem. Where was the 2025 Florida Python Challenge held? The Florida Python Challenge took place at these eight competition locations:Big Cypress Wildlife Management AreaEverglades National Park Florida Python Challenge 2025 prizes Along with the$10,000 top prize for the most pythons caught, this is the breakdown by category: Professional Category Most Pythons Professional Category $2,500 Most Pythons Professional Category Runner Up $1,500 Longest Python Professional Category $1,000 Novice Category Most Pythons Novice Category $2,500 Most Pythons Novice Category Runner Up $1,500 Longest Python Novice Category $1,000 Military Category Most Pythons Military Category $2,500 Most Pythons Military Category Runner Up $1,500 Longest Python Military Category $1,000 Burmese pythons in Florida must be humanely killed If you catch a Burmese python in Florida, you must humanely kill the snake where it was captured. Transporting live pythons is not allowed. Two steps must be completed to kill a python humanely: Step 1 - Target the brain: The application of the tool should immediately result in the python losing consciousness. Draw an imaginary line between each eye and opposite jawbone. The brain is located where the two lines intersect. Apply the tool to the target area (brain) to achieve an immediate loss of consciousness. Step 2- Destroy the brain: Immediately and substantially destroy the python's brain by manually 'pithing' which prevents the python from regaining consciousness. How many Burmese pythons are in Florida? "Burmese pythons are hard to find due to their cryptic coloration and secretive behaviors, and their low detection probability is a major challenge to effective python control and research," according to Florida Fish and Wildlife. However, conservative estimates by the USGS put the Burmese python population in the Florida Everglades region in the tens of thousands. Can Burmese pythons ever be removed from Florida? Because Burmese pythons are distributed across more than a thousand square miles of southern Florida, including all of Everglades National Park and across the southern coast, the chances of completely eliminating the snake from Florida is low. Controlling their numbers and preventing their spread out of the area are critical goals for conservation efforts and land managers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: How many pythons were caught in the 2025 Florida Python Challenge? Solve the daily Crossword
Buzz Feed
29-06-2025
- Buzz Feed
29 Unforgettable Quotes From Teachers
Redditor u/shea_eina recently shared an X post by @artcrimeprof in r/meirl that said, "Does anyone else have something a teacher said burned into their brain? Mine is when I answered a question in a seminar my first semester of grad school and the professor responded, 'Ah, Thompson. Quick but wrong, as usual.'" Here are some of the memorable teacher quotes that really stuck with former students: "I was failing calculus during my senior year. My teacher came up to me and said, 'I honestly don't think it's mathematically possible for you to pass this class.' I asked, 'Are you sure?' He sighed and said, 'Yes, I'm sure. I'm a calculus teacher.'" "Me: 'Sorry for being late.' Teacher: 'No worries. Sorry for starting on time.'" "Myself and 13 other of the 'best and brightest' in my suburban high school were in AP calculus A, the most advanced math that you could study in that school. Our teacher was going over some parts of projective geometry and, as we struggled, he remarked, 'A 14-year-old French kid living in the 17th century came up with this and you are having trouble figuring it out. You aren't that smart.' It was exactly what kids in our position needed to hear." "My high school physics teacher liked to scream: 'This isn't Burger King math. You can't have it your way!!!'" "My AP English teacher told me, 'You grow flowers on your bullshit,' after reading one of my essays. I think it was the first time a teacher used the 's-word' in front of me. It's still one of my favorite compliments." "I said, 'I could be wrong, but isn't it xyz?" to a question the teacher asked that nobody knew the answer to. He was a hardass and would not move on until someone answered, so I threw a guess out. He said, 'Well, you're right. You are wrong.'" "'You have to know where the box is in order to think outside of it.' There was more to it, but that was the essence." "'If any of you have any comments, write them on a piece of paper and put it in the suggestion box.' Said while pointing at the recycling bin." "It wasn't me, and I don't even remember the question, but my high school earth science teacher asked a question to the kid in the back who clearly wasn't paying attention, and he responded, 'Uhh, 7.' And my teacher was like, 'Hmmm, a NUMERICAL response. Interesting, but the answer is sedimentary.' Still cracks me up randomly." "'Write what you're thinking. Don't think about what to write.' —English teacher from 20 years ago." "My friend's teacher once told her, 'The wheel is turning but the hamster is dead.'" "Biology teacher: 'Hey [classmate], put your phone away before I take it.' Classmate: 'I don't have my phone.' Teacher: 'I observed chimpanzees for three months in order to graduate. I know when you are using your phone.'" "I told him my dream was to be a singer. He said, 'With that voice?' Then he studied my face and said, 'Not with that face either!'" "My math teacher once told me, 'Don't try to understand math. Just use the formula and calculate.' My math grades actually improved after this wisdom." "A teacher once told me, 'Nobody's going to pay you to stare out a window.' Well, I became an air traffic controller and got paid very well to do just that." "'That was a rather astute answer considering you didn't read the book.'" "High school language arts teacher giving us a lecture on grammar: 'There is a big difference between a man who is hung and a man who is hanged.'" "'Questions, comments, concerns? Bribes?'" "'Never rip a fart bigger than your own ass.' —My geo teacher in sixth grade." "I had a teacher in high school who also played for the SF Giants in the '60s. He once said to me with his loud booming voice, 'If you were as smart as you are loud, you'd be the biggest genius in the room!'" "While in a computer graphics class, the professor was explaining the math behind something, and it was going over our heads a bit, so we started zoning out. He noticed we lost our focus, so he said, 'Come on, guys, it's not rocket science.' And then he paused and thought for a second before continuing, 'Actually, this is used in rocket science, so pay attention!'" "'I have some errands to run while you do your quiz. If, for some reason, you feel the need to cheat on a 12th-grade drama class quiz, you probably have a personal problem I can't help you with.'" "'Nothing gets by me. I can hear the grass grow.' —Random substitute teacher." "'Put it in your brain and remember it.'" "'Sarcasm doesn't suit you.' That shut my wise ass up for the rest of the class and I still remember it to this day." "My government teacher said, 'If you make the rules, then you will always win.' Oof." "'In a word, no. In two words, no no.' —AP Lit teacher." "My sixth-grade teacher told me I have the attention span of a French fry." And: "'Don't be sorry. Be different.'" What's something a teacher said to you that you'll never forget? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form. Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
‘Model prisoner' Luigi Mangione whines about wearing handcuffs, bulletproof vest — makes request to judge
Luigi Mangione doesn't think he should have to appear in court with his hands shackled together and wearing a bulletproof vest. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's alleged assassin has been a 'model prisoner' at his Brooklyn lockup and thus should be allowed to wear 'court-appropriate clothing' when he's back in Manhattan court June 26, his lawyers say. Forcing the 27-year-old accused killer to continue appearing with his hands cuffed and sporting the Kevlar vest will 'perpetuate a false narrative that Mr. Mangione is an unusual danger requiring extraordinary security measures' and 'prejudice' him in the eyes of the jury, his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote in a legal filing. Mangione was characterized as a 'model prisoner' in his 167 days in pre-trial detention — never being cited for misconduct, requiring no special accommodations and even qualifying for an undisclosed work detail as a member of the general population at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, according to the filing. The University of Pennsylvania graduate is unrestricted during daily visits with his legal counsel at the MDC's common visitor area — a large open room with no barriers between people or groups, which include children and babies, lawyers wrote. Mangione, who is accused of fatally shooting Thompson, 50, in the back on a Manhattan sidewalk on Dec. 4, 2024, poses no threats to these people and thus should be 'treated just like any other pre-trial detainee, not like someone who is a heightened security or flight risk,' the filing argued. The alleged killer has further been 'a model defendant in court' who has been cooperative and respectful of law enforcement officials during the trial, counselors stated. Judge Gregory Carro was initially inclined to accommodate the defense's request to uncuff Mangione during court proceedings on Feb. 21, the court papers noted. 'Go ahead and uncuff him,' Carro said at the time, according to the filing. A court officer then approached the bench for an off-the-record conversation with the judge, who then denied the request, stating, 'For security reasons, they want him cuffed,' according to the filing. Court officers previously expressed concern for their safety when one googly-eyed groupie managed to sneak a heart-shaped love note into a pair of Mangione's argyle socks. 'Luigi, we are rooting for you! Keep your head held high and know there are thousands of people wishing you luck,' the note signed 'r/Free Luigi' read. Prosecutors warned at the time that future contraband smuggled into court could pose a risk to court officers. Lawyers for Mangione are not asking for his legs to be unshackled to 'provide reasonable compromise,' according to the filing. Uniquely forceful security is not new for Mangione, who Manhattan prosecutors claim killed Thompson as 'an act of terrorism.' Mayor Eric Adams was on the helipad alongside machine gun-toting NYPD and FBI agents in a show of force as the accused killer arrived in Manhattan for his first court date. Like most defendants on trial for murder, Mangione appeared without a bulletproof vest when he pleaded not guilty last year — wearing a red sweater, which quickly went viral online.
