Anglers Currents

Edward W. Manhart, recently retired Director of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's Bureau of Law Enforcement, was recently recognized for his distinguished career with a banquet in his honor. Manhart ended his 30-year career with the Commission in December 1998. He began with the Fish Commission on June 3, 1968, as a "fish warden." Later that year, he graduated with the Fourth Class from H.R. Stackhouse School of Fishery Conservation and Watercraft Safety, where he was elected class president. After graduation, he was assigned to Luzerne County. 

In 1972, Manhart was promoted to the position of Waterways Patrolman Supervisor II at the Commission's Harrisburg Headquarters. In 1977, he was then selected as Deputy Chief, Law Enforcement Division, Bureau of Waterways. He was promoted to Chief, Law Enforcement Division, in 1981. When the division became a bureau in 1987, Manhart was its first director. 

Manhart is credited with enhancing training and equipment for waterways conservation officers and their deputies. He didn't merely oversee the enforcement of laws, but influenced the creation of ideas such as boating-under-the-influence and homicide-by-watercraft laws. 

Manhart's many accomplishments have earned him statewide and national recognition. In 1993, he was awarded the International Game Warden Fraternalism Award, and in 1996, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pennsylvania Wildlife Federation. Manhart was also honored at the 1998 meeting of the Northeast Fish and Wildlife agencies. 

"Throughout the years, Ed Manhart developed and changed the Bureau of Law Enforcement and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Code for the better. The changes he was instrumental in accomplishing didn't just benefit this agency, but in the long run improved the fishing and boating opportunities we enjoy in Pennsylvania," said Commission Executive Director Peter A. Colangelo. "During a distinguished career of service, Ed Manhart was a leader and supervisor, a teacher and mentor, a conservationist and outdoorsman, and a friend." 

Math classes from the Iroquois Junior/Senior High School, in Erie, have donated the proceeds from the sale of snacks at a school dance to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. According to Jane Hackenberg, teacher for the 7th and 8th Grade math classes, the students voted to give the profits from the snack sale to support PFBC programs. Joseph Viscuso and other members of the class like to fish, and they concluded that the Commission would be a worthy recipient of their funds. 

Peter A. Colangelo, Executive Director of the Fish and Boat Commission, thanked the math classes for their support. "The thoughtfulness of the class members and their obvious concern for the work of the Commission has touched us all," Colangelo said. The monetary gift was accepted as part of the Commission's "Conserve 2000" effort to raise funds through voluntary donations to help protect Pennsylvania waters. 

Front row (L to R): Joseph Viscuso, Michelle Horvath, Nick Roschow; back row (L to R): Rachel Oleski, James Goodman, Holly McIntire, Tim Wolf. 

Front row (L to R): Jeff Strayer, Tom Sean Tease; back row (L to R): Anthony Zmijewski, Shawn Hoibarten, Tom Jakobic, Justin Talasyk, Sherry Zuck.

Fish Warden William E. Shoemaker

Fallen Officer to be Honored

In August 1921, District Fish Warden William E. Shoemaker was shot and killed while making an arrest in Bradford County. To honor Warden Shoemaker, the Commission applied for his induction into the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. The Commission received word this past January that the induction request was accepted. A candlelight ceremony at the Memorial will be held May 13, 1999, at 8:00 p.m. The public is invited. 

The Commission also plans to purchase a new headstone for the grave site of Warden Shoemaker, in Laceyville. A date has not yet been set for the placement ceremony. 

Be sure to read the full-length article in the upcoming July/August PA&B detailing Warden Shoemaker's story. For more information, contact the Commission at 717-657-4545.

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commissioner Donald N. Lacy has been named the 1999 Berks County Outdoors Sportsman of the Year. 

Lacy, of Reading, was presented the annual award recently at the Hamburg Hunting and Fishing Expo. He was honored for his commitment to outdoors heritage and his many years of volunteer work with the Izaak Walton League and the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs. Lacy served as president of the Berks County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs for six years and secretary for 12 years. He is also a past secretary of the Southeast Division, Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs. Lacy has served on the Board of Directors of the Izaak Walton League and as president of the Berks County Chapter of that organization. 

Lacy was appointed to the Commission by Governor Robert Casey in 1992. He was elected Commission president in 1997 and has served as chairman of the Education and Publications Committee. He was instrumental in the Commission's recent acquisition and development of the Five Locks property along the Schuylkill River, in Berks County. 

Along with his long list of outdoor-related contributions, Lacy has also served on the Muhlenberg Township Board of Commissioners, and as a board member for Capital Blue Cross and the Berks County Association of the Blind. 

In 1866, a convention was held in Harrisburg to investigate pollution, bad conditions in mountain lakes and streams, and the stopping of spring shad runs by dams. As a result, the General Assembly enacted, and Governor Andrew G. Curtin signed into law, the Act of March 30, 1866 (P.L. 370, No. 336), which created the position of Commissioner of Fisheries of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

Governor Curtin named James J. Worrall as Pennsylvania's first Commissioner of Fisheries. He served in the late 1860s. 

As part of the PFBC's efforts to explore its heritage as one of America's oldest fisheries conservation agencies, we are seeking more information about our first Commissioner of Fisheries, James J. Worrall. We are looking for biographical information and a portrait or photograph of Commissioner Worrall. 

If you or anyone you know has information (family histories, genealogy, or otherwise) about Jame Worrall, please contact the PFBC at the following addresses: Executive Director, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, P.O. Box 67000, Harrisburg, PA 17106-7000; e-mail: dguise@fish.state.pa.us.

Northwest Region Assistant Supervisor Robert Nestor is the 1998 recipient of the Erie County DUI (driving under the influence) Advisory Council's annual Law Enforcement Award. Nestor's dedication and commitment to DUI Enforcement and education in Erie County were recognized last October at the DUI Council's seventh annual conference. 

Nestor's 1998 accomplishments in the area of BUI (boating under the influence) enforcement and education include making three BUI arrests, teaching five basic boating classes, chairing the first and second annual Erie Safe Boating Festival, working on the annual Erie Safe Boating Committee, and chairing the Erie Safe Boating Task Force and the Children's Health Fair. 

WCO George Geisler (left), northern York County, presented a Commission award for 50 years of service to the public by the Starview Sportsmen's Club. Club president Ken Heindel Sr. accepted the award and an aerial photograph of the club grounds that WCO Geisler took.