I'm PJ O'Connell and I work for Penn State Public Broadcasting.

And over the past 25 years, we have produced nearly 100 documentaries on life in rural America, Pennsylvania style.

It is perhaps the only such collection of real-life programs in American television.

And the Pennsylvania Parade has been representing those documentaries in order to recall and reconsider the important issues, events, and individuals of the past quarter century.

Few of these subjects have ever appeared in Newsweek or People Magazine.

But to viewers in rural Pennsylvania, they have a special significance.

They are our history.

WOMAN 1: Some people want to be poor, as far as that goes.

They don't want to keep playing.

They don't want to-- You can be darn poor, but you can still be proud.

Please help.

Please help.

Please help.

Please, please, please.

Please help.

Please help.

Please help.

Please, please, please.

JACK SITKIN: Stan, Stan.

Look, that's ridiculous.

If you want to sue me.

I told you before.

Strike up the band.

Come on.

Somebody said to me.

Yes we're really in it with you, Charlie.

WOMAN 2: We can watch and see to it that baby's being fed, Judy.

There's one thing that-- Yeah, she may choke it to death.

But she feeds it, right?

Call the Black mafia.

Those people.

And I said, bomb this town.

And kill people to make this thing right.

And they think I'm crazy.

But the way you talk like this is to stir people's mind.

You use psychology on people to see-- NARRATOR: These are the images and sounds of a generation.

And the archives of a way of life.

Help.

Help.

Help.

[theme music] PJ O'CONNELL: Documenting rural America has been the goal of the Rural America Documentary Project of Penn State Television.

Film and videotape that displays and preserves a way of life for current reflection and for future study.

Documentaries of every kind.

A child with cancer.

A surgical patient waiting.

A grandmother dying.

Small town politics.

Rural religion.

Education in action.

Memories of the past.

Plans for the future.

Fun for tonight.

For over 20 years in over 75 productions, Penn State Television has watched and recorded and learned from the lives of our people.

The people of rural America.

I'm 28 and I got four kids.

And I'm also married.

[chuckles] PJ O'CONNELL: It began on a dead-end gravel road in one of the mountain hollows in Central Pennsylvania.

It began with Darlene.

Open, friendly, talkative.

From her, we learned to listen.

[baby fussing] DARLENE: Just wait a minute.

By the time I get her wet, there'll be a draft coming through there.

How about that, dirty face?

Dirty face.

How come you're so interested in what we do?

INTERVIEWER: We've, frankly, had a hard time getting people to talk to us about problems.

You were willing to talk, so that's why we came out.

Well, I suppose if you was in my shoes, you'd be willing to talk to most anybody.

INTERVIEWER: Well, I don't know.

Apparently some people don't.

Well, maybe some people-- I don't know.

Maybe they don't care.

Or maybe they care for nobody but themselves.

You know what I mean?

INTERVIEWER: Yeah.

Of course, I was brought up in a childhood that we loved each other.

When we had time to be together.

But when one of us was sick, well, it broke up the gang.

But we always cared what happened to one another.

If some one of the neighbor kids would get sick, we'd all go together and get her something to get well.

A get-well card or something.

And well, you know how it is.

My neighborhood, there was nothing but boys.

There was a gang of boys.

How about that?

INTERVIEWER: I thought that was what every young lady wanted.

Not me.

I hate men.

[chuckles] All men want just what they get.

That's it, sweetie.

They want to make kids and they don't want to daddy them.

Of course, her daddy is alive.

And he's willing to take care of her, if I was forcing.

But I'm not going to force him.

Because it's his responsibility.

Flappy little.

[giggles] Tickle on her belly and she's laughing.

[laughs] A cold night.

PJ O'CONNELL: Darlene was instrumental in the development of the Rural America Documentary Project.

In producing a five-part series about poverty in rural America, we learned the importance of observation.

That by watching and recording, we could begin to understand.

Take a picture.

Ha, ha.

OK, fine.

[banging] [patient groaning] Nurse?

OK, fine day.

Does that sound good?

WOMAN 3: Yeah.

OK. Now, that decision was made by the head nurses here.

So if there's any static-- But she's been sick at home for six weeks.

She's a dehydration with anemia.

NURSE: How old is she?

75.

I think there's a nephew that came up with her.

But he didn't know too much of what was going on.

PJ O'CONNELL: We could begin to understand the complexities of a community hospital.

GUARD: I don't fear nobody.

You can't really fear somebody.

Because, let's face it.

You can't really walk down here, through here, walk back through the kitchen and feel so at ease.

Because a lot of these individuals are in here for murder.

Very gruesome murders.

And what would make them do it then that wouldn't make them do it now.

PJ O'CONNELL: We could hear the professional and personal anxieties of a prison guard.

REPORTER: Orson Welles, power hungry press lord in Citizen Kane.

Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, the dogged team from All the President's Men.

Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.

Our image of newspaper reporters owes more to comic books and the movies than to reality.

PJ O'CONNELL: We could begin to understand how everyday community institutions could shape our lives.

And how other community institutions could serve our lives when help was needed.

INTERVIEWER: Did you have a big garden at your place back in Sheffield?

I did have.

I don't have any home anymore.

[chuckles] There's only this.

This room.

PJ O'CONNELL: Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The United Methodist Nursing Home.

Besides the problems of caring for the elderly and the problems of paying for that care, we learn something about being old.

But they told-- I called back to see how you were.

I'm better than I was.

Yeah, you look better.

PJ O'CONNELL: And in a quiet corner of the home, we met a remarkable woman.

Those pictures are from television.

We'll play it.

We'll play-- Those men.

Oh, really?

They're going to take pictures now.

I bet they're taking mine now.

And I don't want mine taken.

Oh, well, you're a sweetheart.

No.

Am I taking too much?

The best thing of all, you're better and you're here yet.

What are you doing now?

PJ O'CONNELL: Elsie Wooster was dying.

And since she had been a nurse most of her life, she knew it.

And she shared that experience with us and with our audience.

Let's see.

I had to take you at that time or I can't get your perm in for Christmas.

NURSE: Going to be a party tomorrow.

The auxiliary women always come and give a party for the residents here.

You see, she's so afraid she was going somewhere where they wouldn't take care of her.

And I could understand how she'd feel.

Nobody likes change, no matter how old or young we are.

Hey, how about the guy that's in hospital?

Do you know?

He lived at Gamber House?

What's his name?

He's in intensive care.

I had to go right to bed.

NURSE: Well, what do you want to do?

Dance or something like that?

I mean, you've been up all day.

Pick up.

Can you pick it up?

Hold your head up.

Let me hold it.

A little higher.

Fill in all my bangs, huh?

Mm-hmm.

Well, what do you think?

Oh, I guess that's all right for an old lady I think you look pretty good.

Mrs. Wooster is Dr. Steckles'.

And I know this lady.

I saw her an evening when she had her last spell.

She has just terrible congestive heart failure.

She goes into pulmonary edema quite frequently.

She is, I don't believe ambulatory at all anymore.

Is she almost-- NURSE 2: Bed to chair.

She goes into the chair.

But she's almost totally bedfast and she's diabetic.

Blood sugars in range into 300s.

I think she's skilled covered.

I know the-- Her insulin was increased last Saturday.

Because her sugars had been shooting way up.

She's skilled care, I'm sure.

But the amazing thing, she can tolerate some things now.

Dr. Amsler wants her to have physical therapy, walking in the parallel bars so she can take one or two steps.

And she even tolerated having a perm did the other day.

It's amazing.

Well, I couldn't tell you.

I didn't know what these people said the first time you were here.

Then I got so much better.

[hospital announcement] Next day I got better.

I believe I've got better.

Everything's going to look good.

I'm due improved in my talking.

I mean, loud.

INTERVIEWER: Some days pretty good.

And some days pretty bad.

[soft chuckle] Oh, well.

I can just live till after Christmas, I'll be happy.

NURSE 3: She told the girls Christmas morning that this is the day she was going to die.

And she was semi-conscious through the morning.

Took some liquids at noon.

In the early afternoon, the girls took her back some gifts from under the tree.

And she acknowledged them and wished them Merry Christmas.

She got a big smile on her face and thanked them for the gifts.

And then through the afternoon, she declined quite a bit.

At [turning pages] 4 o'clock her son came in.

And her condition was weakened.

He was with her until almost 5:00.

And he sat with her.

And at 5:00 he left.

And her condition became much weaker.

Her breathing ceased about 5:10.

Dr. Persing and Mrs. Nicely and Reverend Walker were in.

And the mortician was called.

At 7:00, her body was released to the funeral home with her personal effects.

[fire roaring] What is creating this situation at the moment?

Is that you're end covering or what?

MAN (ON PHONE): No.

A lot of consumers and fabricators had their inventories down to rock bottom.

We're losing a lot of metal rates, right there in between slag off now.

I can't understand that.

We didn't have mess ups like that before.

Then I don't want to make it.

Then take it the hell out of the furnace.

Because all we're going to do is go through an exercise of utility.

There's no guarantee that the goddamn 10 units putting that charcoal in flux is going to come out into the brass.

[fire roaring] REPORTER: This is an American business.

Another meeting in-- PJ O'CONNELL: The workaday world of the small business man.

Tough, active, competitive in every way.

In Lewistown, Pennsylvania, the Rural America Documentary Project watched Sitkin Smelting and Refining Incorporated do its work.

Now, what does that mean to me, Jack?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Jack.

Jack.

you know goddamn well that's just-- PJ O'CONNELL: President of the company, Lew Sitkin.

Don't put me off.

That's exactly what you're doing.

You're putting me off.

PJ O'CONNELL: The company began with Sitkin's father driving a junk wagon.

It became a high-flying stock on the American Stock Exchange in the early 1970s until the acquisitions bubble burst and the company's value dropped by 95%.

But the ride, up and down, was part of business for Lew Sitkin.

And it provided lasting memories.

LEW SITKIN: Hubert Humphrey's a great man.

And the wife and I were invited to have lunch with the Vice President in his offices in the senate building.

I was honored for the contribution that I had made to our industry.

And the Vice President invited us for lunch.

When we met the Vice President, he says, if anything I can ever do for you, give me a call.

Let me hear from you, and so on and so forth.

And he says, yes.

I said, you can do something for me.

He says, what's that?

I says, years ago I promised my wife.

We couldn't pay the grocery bill at the end of the week.

I says, don't worry.

I says, honey, one of these days.

I says, I'll be a success.

And I'll even take you to the White House.

I said, so I'd like to go to a social affair, attend a social function at the White House.

I mean, just in a kidding-- just an offhand remark, we were just kidding.

And he laughed.

And he says that might just happen.

[BRASS BAND PLAYING 'HAIL TO THE CHIEF'] LEW SITKIN: I recall when the telegram came, the girl up at the Western Union office was so excited, she closed the office and delivered it in person.

[laughs] From what I've been told, possibly we're the only couple from Mifflin County that has ever had a presidential invitation to a social affair in the White House.

That was quite a-- Stan, I'm not going to be placed in a position where I'm defending myself to you.

That's ridiculous.

I'm only telling you the situation as I know it.

If you want to sue me.

I told you before.

Strike up the band.

Come on.

I'm only telling you-- PJ O'CONNELL: Another sitcom.

Jack, Lew's son, was Vice President of the company.

A six and 1/2 day a week job that nearly filled his life.

But Jack found some time for other activities.

He was President of a local sheltered workshop.

And he was elected to the area school board.

And, as the camera recorded, he maintained strong personal views.

MAN 1: You're a school board director.

And you yourself admit that the parents don't give a damn about what happens.

JACK SITKIN: Parents are unaware of what's going on.

But your whole attitude of, they ought to take all these kids and throw them out of school.

JACK SITKIN: You've got about as much chance of curing a drug addict as you do an alcoholic.

BOTH: That's not true.

MAN 2: That's not true, Jack.

JACK SITKIN: You don't?

WOMAN: How do you know?

My son-in-law is a director of a halfway house in New York.

And he has, I don't know how many in number, but a lot of graduates that have graduated his program and have not gone back to drugs.

JACK SITKIN: What percentage?

About 3% go back to drugs.

JACK SITKIN: I don't believe it.

Well, it's true.

He has statistics to prove it.

I don't believe it.

MAN 1: You say that you don't believe him?

What are you basing your opinions on?

Tell me.

Tell me what you're basing your opinions on.

I don't think that you can take a young person, someone who's really on the hard stuff and have that degree of success in rehabilitating.

MAN 2: That's not true.

I don't believe it.

I'll bet you there isn't anything accurate about the way he keeps records.

MAN 2: Well, there is.

MAN 1: OK, so what do you want to do?

What do you want to do with the kid on heroin?

In 11th grade?

JACK SITKIN: I don't know what I can do about a kid with heroin.

What I'm saying is what we've got to do is stop the goddamn stuff.

And get the marijuana and all that shit the hell out of our society.

That's what I'm saying.

MAN 2: Well, how are you going to do that?

MAN 1: Yeah.

How do you propose to do that?

Tougher laws.

Tougher judges.

MAN 1: The laws aren't getting tougher.

MAN 2: They're getting more lenient than they are.

MAN 1: I mean, five, 10 years from now, marijuana is going to be legal.

I don't believe that.

MAN 1: It might not be legal.

But it won't be illegal either.

I think pretty soon, sooner or later, the community has to get disgusted with it.

And when you got kids, like I got a kid in junior high school right now.

And that worries the hell out of me.

Because I know, first of all, forgetting the medical aspect of it.

I know what society will do if that kid gets caught.

He's in trouble.

If he does it, he's in big trouble.

MAN 2: That's while it remains illegal.

He's in big trouble if they ever make it legal.

With me.

Because he's not going to tell me, at this stage in his life, that he's got to find a goddamn crutch to go from day to day to exist.

MAN 2: You do.

What?

MAN 2: Your Martini.

I'm not an alcoholic.

I'm not home four nights a week.

I don't drink anything.

As far as I'm concerned, right now, I never have to drink it.

I don't need it to exist.

I'm not sitting down here sneaking a drink all day long to cope with my business problems.

That's a private thing that I do on my own, if I choose to do it.

MAN 2: Well, what about the people-- But I sure as hell ain't going to let my kids do it.

Do you know the nicest thing you could do for me?

Give me a bigger wastebasket to throw your letters in.

It clogs up my-- [mumbling on the phone] Yeah.

Where's my Christmas present?

Personally speaking, it's been a number of years since I reached the conclusion that I was not going to run the largest corporation in the United States of America.

And that I was not as intelligent as Howard Hughes.

And that I have some talent and some directions.

But basically, if I can consider myself an average, good businessman, fine.

All right.

Is that how you put things on my desk?

You're so afraid of the camera, you have to come around the wall and throw things at me?

Here, come get this.

[chuckles] JACK SITKIN (ON VIDEO): Is that how you put things on my desk?

You're so afraid of that camera, you have to come around the wall and throw things at me?

Here, come get this.

[chuckles] Tell me how you feel about seeing yourself on television.

Well, I guess my first reaction is to-- I don't know.

I think I'm funny.

Honest to God.

I just have to sit here and laugh at myself.

What other things does your outfit plan, other than feeding the old people ice cream?

We're buying the water mattress for the Malta home.

Now listen, Jack.

If you have lay in bed-- JACK SITKIN: If you have to get laid, you should have a water mattress.

If you have to be sick in bed, you see how many bedsores you get on your-- JACK SITKIN: The sorority she belongs to.

Two of their pet projects, major projects so far this year are feeding ice cream to the people in the poor house and getting a water mattress for the women and the fellows at the Malta home.

And the ladies that are using it are 101 years old.

And I think anybody would say that about themselves really.

I'm not being egotistical.

But when you go through every day, you don't really pay that much attention to how you're acting.

But then when you sit back and see as someone else sees you, it's funny.

It really is.

There's a lot of crap that goes on.

I guess that's what keeps everybody sane.

But no, I enjoyed that very much.

I think I've learned a few things about myself this evening.

This is a man's world.

And what this is about, is about men's culture in a certain working class, rural place in this country.

That's no place for a woman.

In a foundry?

That's not just a question of because it gets warm in the summer and that you have sparks flying around.

I'm not saying that's it.

It's just that the camaraderie and things that are built up in there, that's men.

There aren't any women executives-- PJ O'CONNELL: The Rural America Documentary Project has always tried to generate a deeper understanding of our observations of people's lives.

In the case of Sitkin Smelting and Refining, a different point of view was offered by specialists in organizational communications who saw the company and its actions in a different light.

WOMAN 4: People died here in 1918 of the flu.

They had a hall that they used to have functions in.

And they put them in the hall, all the very sick people.

And the ones that went into this hall, they didn't survive.

They didn't have the sense then.

They didn't have the doctors.

She was nursing at the time with me.

And then they didn't even pump her milk out.

And that went hard.

I think that helped to kill her.

She was only 32.

Isn't that a-- left nine children.

[brass band playing] PJ O'CONNELL: Amidst reunion memories in an old coal mining town, we discovered the worst and the best of a time long past.

[children shouting] Sometimes, rural America is a lovely place with the thrills of whitewater.

Or the varying reactions to hunting season.

[gunshots] People travel many miles, spend lots of time, planning their one yearly vacation to come to the Northwoods and bag a buck.

[country music playing] Whitetail deer by thousands in the meadows Camps by the hundreds along the way 10% of the hunters that come up here are a bunch of you-know-what's.

As far as that goes, I wish the 10% would stay the hell home.

And the other 90% could stay as long as they wanted to.

[siren sounds] FIREFIGHTER: I get a feeling of satisfaction by answering alarms.

I feel that I've done something for my community.

PJ O'CONNELL: The small town fire department, one of the important centers of service and of social life in any rural community.

NARRATOR: --are the towns, fire companies, Reliance and Hope.

This is their story.

[brass band playing] FARMER: (SHOUTING) Come on, let's go here.

(SPEAKING) Come on.

Come on, don't be so dumb.

PJ O'CONNELL: Farming is still the biggest business in rural America and in rural Pennsylvania.

And it is still one of the most demanding.

Usually I get up at 4:30, unless I sleep in or something.

And it takes about three hours at the barn, if things go right.

It could take longer.

in the summertime, say from when the spring opens up in late April or early May to October or November, we're going from 4:30 in the morning till at least 9 o'clock every night.

In the wintertime it gets easier.

That's basically the way the days go around here.

Let us begin in the name of the father and the son, the holy spirit.

Amen.

The grace and peace-- PJ O'CONNELL: Religion is a fundamental force in human lives.

And for a year, we watched the people of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, exercise, in great variety, their constitutional right to freedom of religion.

What I'm saying is, Christians, what you and I need to do is band together and believe God.

Right.

REVEREND PAUL WONDERS: Hallelujah.

And let people not recognize-- PJ O'CONNELL: The Gospel Tabernacle Assembly of God, Hammersley Fork.

Isolated in the remote mountains of North Central Pennsylvania.

It was a country church, enthusiastically co-pastored by Reverend and Mrs. Paul Wonders.

[congregation singing] The way I got saved, it was over the radio.

One Sunday morning, and I couldn't go to church.

And I was at home.

I was in the family way.

And I had to stay home.

And this preacher, he said, mother, he said, you're so discouraged this morning.

He says you don't know which way to turn.

He said, won't you kneel there at your rocking chair?

And I was sitting on a rocking chair right in front of the radio.

And he said, won't you kneel right there and give your heart to Jesus?

And I said, Lord.

I said, I want to know and I'm not getting up here until I know.

And there's where I found the Lord.

Right in my living room, in front of the radio and a rocking chair.

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

For they love to stand-- PJ O'CONNELL: At a different point on the religious spectrum, Reverend Charles Mason, Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

Charlie Mason was an outsider, an intense urbanite moved by his superiors into a more rustic, rural community.

Or so he thought.

Mason was desperate to lead his congregation to deeper religious involvement.

And he arranged a meeting of his parish leadership, where discussion of their hopes and fears for the church would rekindle their enthusiasm.

What occurred was a powerful conversion of Charlie Mason to rural reality.

My deepest fear about the church.

Well, part of it is a personal inadequacy to do what is required of the pastor.

But another is that nobody will respond and that it will eternally be up to me to generate whatever happens.

WOMAN 6: Father Mason started and said that his deepest fears were two.

Personal inadequacy.

And the second one, that we won't respond.

That we won't pick up the ministry and we won't share it with each other.

That it's always his responsibility.

FATHER MASON: And out of that very little exercise, arose a serious sharing within in the whole group.

Carol Brown says to me, I'm not supposed to let my right hand know what my left hand is doing.

How am I supposed to let you know that I do care about the people in this parish and the people who live next door to me?

And I do think I'm doing exactly what you're talking about.

Well, shut my mouth.

There I am.

Part of what happened at that point, I think, is that somebody said to me, yes, we're really in it with you, Charlie.

And see, I'd never really had anybody in that parish say that to me before.

And that's why I'm sure I reacted negatively at that point or defensively.

And that's why there was that long pause.

Because somebody said yes.

And then we had to decide what to do next.

CAROL BROWN: It wasn't a question.

It was just a comment.

But that's a real serious thing here, conference leader.

MAN : No, stop it.

Well-- CAROL BROWN: You know, I feel like I am trying.

I feel like I am trying to help, I am trying to minister.

But if that's one of your fears, how do I help you take care of your fears?

I'll tell you.

Well, this is what I am more excited about today, than I've been about anything in a long time.

Because just this kind of exchange can happen, Carol.

Because for you to walk up to me on Sunday morning, or for me to walk up to you on Thursday afternoon and say, hey, what have you done for God lately is so bizarre as to be.

And this allows us to talk about it.

And I really appreciate you're saying.

CAROL: I don't come to you and say-- I had hoped that something valuable would happen.

But I didn't really expect it to be with me.

I didn't expect it to be nearly such a personal experience.

Or that I would be the one called upon to be open and vulnerable.

I had hoped it would happen to them.

See, I am just like everybody else.

It was significant.

MAN 3: That's clever.

That's clever.

It's really, very good.

And at one point, a girl said, well, now, one of the things in the Bible says that I'm not supposed to let my right hand know what my left hand is doing.

How am I supposed to tell you that I really do care about people in this parish and the people other people in my life, and I'm doing what I think you're talking about if I'm supposed to be quiet and private about that?

And there was this long, deep silence.

And I made some wisecracks, some stupid remark.

And Roger said, well, now, Charlie, you maybe ought to listen to that a little.

Let's pick out a little deeper.

That's why we asked him to come.

It's that, as we were talking earlier this afternoon, that I've been playing a combination of ain't it awful and Elijah alone amongst those who are faithful.

MAN 4: I only I. I only I, Lord.

The only good guy you got left.

FATHER MASON: Good business.

Best business.

Go on, PGA.

Best thing in the world.

I wouldn't miss it for the world.

I cannot imagine doing anything else today.

There are days when I could.

It takes time for things to mature in God's good time.

And one of the things that these people are teaching me is more of a sense of stability and patience.

They really are.

That's something I need to learn.

I got flash.

But I don't have as much stability as they have.

And that's much needed in our world today, my dear.

They can use a little flash, but I can use the stability.

PJ O'CONNELL: Before 1960, the documentary was largely didactic and static.

Film equipment had been designed for the movies.

Most documentaries were acted and heavily directed.

In the 1960s, film equipment became lighter and more portable.

Observations of real life events, rather than intrusion and control by a director became possible.

The unobtrusive observations that resulted from this new equipment were of basic importance to the Rural America Documentary Project.

The ability to see and hear real lives in action has expanded our understanding of our communities and of ourselves.

[audience cheering] [band playing] Documentary and education can sometimes be fun.

(SCREAMING) You got to catch a ball.

MAN 5: What the hell is it?

That cost us the damn football game the other night.

PJ O'CONNELL: Education can also be distressing.

MAN 5: I tell you guys my-- Lack of concentration.

Tonight the ball in your hand.

PJ O'CONNELL: The Dubois area high school football team, the Beavers, had lost their first three games, then won two in a row.

Against neighboring Warren, Pennsylvania, the team tried to extend its winning streak.

NARRATOR: For senior Mike Hinkey, it's another long day.

MIKE HINKEY: Well, my sophomore year, the team was three and eight.

Four and seven the next year.

And this year, we lost the first three games.

And I started thinking to myself, we don't have it.

You started thinking about if you really had your ability.

If I was that good of a player, why couldn't I do something about it?

NARRATOR: Pat Heath, senior.

PAT HEATH: You know the season starts to get rough.

You don't know whether you want to play anymore or not.

There's times I think everybody wanted to pack it in and just forget all about it.

But we just didn't have the breaks.

We had bad breaks.

We had bad breaks all year long.

And no matter what team you're on, if you don't have the breaks, you're not going to win that much.

Because you got to have a lot of breaks.

[audience cheering, shouting] [whistle blows] PAT HEATH: That's a killer.

That's a team right there that shouldn't even have been in the game with us.

Fumble the ball on the one-yard line, first possession.

And I dropped a touchdown pass.

It should have been 28 to 0.

NARRATOR: But the score is 0 to 0.

Until Warren intercepts a pass and forces the ball down to the Dubois one-yard line.

[cheering] NARRATOR: And the Beavers have only 12 minutes to recover from the breaks, keep their winning streak and their hopes for a winning season alive.

Terry Eplinger watches.

Watches a Warren first down on the 15-yard line.

Bob Buriak watches.

Watch as a Warren halfback all the way into the end zone.

COACH: And they score a touchdown.

I don't think you wanted this game to be yours.

Jab right there.

NARRATOR: But the breaks are with Dubois this time.

The Warren touchdown is called back by a clipping penalty.

And the breaks continue in Dubois favor.

The pass is complete, but short of a first down.

Dubois has the ball.

PAT HEATH: There's less than two minutes to go in the game.

And we're on our own 30.

And they set their defense up to stop the long pass.

So we went with the sweep right.

And I got the ball.

I circled right.

[screaming, cheering] I was untouched the whole way.

Nobody even touched me.

[band playing] COACH: I want to see who it was.

On who was it?

What number was nobody out there?

REFEREE: 74 push from behind.

74 push from behind.

Come on.

PLAYER: Hey, guys.

This game ain't over.

It ain't over, you guys.

Hey, guys, this game ain't over.

Can't give up now.

Seven seconds.

We can still do it.

Come on, you guys.

You got seven seconds.

MIKE HINKEY: Everybody says we lose enough, you get used to it.

I never got used to it.

I cried enough.

And I know Bobby Buriak, our quarterback, would just sit there and cry.

I wasn't ashamed about it.

You just can't take it.

The player that goes out there and puts his heart into a game and loses is going to be awful down about it.

Nice run.

Nice game.

Nice, run.

Hey, good luck.

Good luck.

PAT HEATH: We're all down.

There was tears shed.

Surprisingly, we never lost hope, though.

We always had the feeling that we could win if we wanted to.

We could really beat somebody.

But those losses.

They work on you physically and mentally, if you ask me.

ANNOUNCER: Again, you're welcome to come out for coffee.

PJ O'CONNELL: The season ended with a 4-7 record.

The lessons learned and the memories created may have had lifelong influence.

MAN 6: Having been duly elected Clinton County commissioners, solemnly swear that you will support, obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the constitute of this commonwealth.

And that you will discharge the duties of your office with fidelity.

MEN: I do.

NARRATOR: They are sworn.

They are official.

Commissioners of Clinton County, Pennsylvania.

Now, it is their job to manage county government.

To listen, to decide, to explain, and to lead.

For these tasks, the voters of the county have given them both responsibility and power.

These three men, for the next four years, are the powers that be.

[synth music plays] PJ O'CONNELL: Politics, along with religion, education, how we earn our livings, and how we take care of ourselves and our communities, is of fundamental importance in rural America, as it is elsewhere.

The powers that be showed intimately how local government works and sometimes doesn't work in one rural county.

My dad told me some things because he was in a war.

But I don't know much about it.

[children talking, shouting] MAN ON SPEAKER: Line up.

Let's go.

[trumpet playing] PJ O'CONNELL: How a community remembers its past can be important.

MAN 7: Present arms.

The last year at this time, it was when we first found out about Claire.

When I first found out, I didn't know what to think.

I wasn't really upset because I didn't understand what it meant.

You want it to be over with, like the flu or the cold?

You know what I mean?

Take two aspirins and go to bed and you'll be OK in the morning.

But-- I went away for a week for tests at a hospital.

When I came back, everyone at school knew.

They had all changed.

It was like I was going to die or something.

But I felt fine, except I'd been told I had (WHISPERS) cancer.

['GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN' PLAYING] PJ O'CONNELL: Claire, the daughter, died.

Wendy, the mother lives on.

Tragedy is not unknown in the lives of rural Americans.

Tragedy is definitely not unknown.

I thought, wow.

I know I have to go to the bedroom.

I know I have to do this.

You just know it.

So afterwards, I'd say, there's a nice dress in so-and-so's window.

So I'd get the dress.

And I basically, I prostituted myself to my father.

Abusers and victims are not a separate entity that sit over there in the corner while the rest of us sit here.

Victims are you and me.

We have the right to grow up in a society where people aren't hurting other people.

That you can walk down the streets, that your father, that your brother, that your lover, that your husband is not going to abuse you.

PJ O'CONNELL: Victim Services, Incorporated, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where community volunteers teach children to be careful.

Where victims are assisted in dealing with the consequences of crime.

And where long buried memories can be confronted in the company of knowing supporters.

What did you feel?

The first group that I facilitated of adult women who were sexually assaulted.

There were 10 in the group.

And they came in in utter shock to think that there were nine other people sitting around the room that had shared this same type of experience.

Because never in their lives had they been able to talk about this to anyone else.

And if anyone would like-- FEMALE NARRATOR: A local newspaper reporter has been invited to the first anniversary meeting of Marty Kozar's self-help group to hear about problems and progress.

A year ago, it's-- I don't know.

I was always crying all the time.

I wasn't any good for anybody.

And then after coming here with these other people, I feel better about myself.

And I also was able to confront my father.

And something good has come out of that.

We have a better relationship now.

He's admitted that what he did was wrong.

I don't have really anything to do with my family.

Because you told, our reputation was ruined.

And the day that they took my dad away, my one brother asked me, well, why did you do it?

And I said, I had to.

He beat me.

Well, you deserve a beat anyway, because you're a whore.

A year ago, I was so depressed, I could cry endlessly, hours on end.

And I didn't have no idea why.

I couldn't go out of the house by myself.

My husband had to go with me.

Now, I've had the courage to face my mother, which I've never done before.

And just about two weeks ago, I wrote my father a letter.

And I think after writing the letter, it seemed to give me more power back.

It put me in more control now.

Instead of him being in control of me, I'm in control of my own body now.

Some people don't feel that you need to confront your perpetrator.

But in these two cases where they did, it was very successful.

At least the feelings they had were very successful.

And it's almost like you're not they're not victimizing you anymore.

The perpetrator is no longer able to victimize you.

Because they seem to have the victim in their power until they are confronted.

So we will share those letters.

Do you have your copy?

I'm not even sure when the incest started.

All I know is that the first thing I remember of my life is me in bed with you and you telling me that what you were doing to me was normal.

It wasn't normal.

And it sure as hell wasn't my fault.

I really did love you once.

And, at times I would get depressed because I realized that you're-- [sniffing] (TEARFULLY) because I realized that you never loved me.

But not anymore.

I've accepted who you are.

And I know that you weren't capable of truly loving anyone.

I called you once and asked you why you had abused me.

I need a Kleenex.

Thanks.

You said because I was your daughter.

And you could do with me as you please.

You were so wrong.

No one can own another person.

You abused me because it made you feel powerful and in control.

We sure fooled everyone, didn't we?

Everyone knew I was your favorite child.

But no one had any idea how I had to perform in the bedroom to keep your favoritism.

I would never wish my childhood on anyone.

You took my childhood, my innocence, and my body away from me.

I never knew that my body belonged to me and that I had the right to tell you no.

Even as I got older and started telling you no.

It still didn't do any good until I threatened to kill you.

And I honestly would have at a time of my life.

Luckily, I realized that you weren't worth it.

I hurt for these victims.

It gives you such a heavy feeling to think that a child's been robbed of her childhood because of some man.

It's a hurt that's really hard to describe.

Because you hurt for them so badly.

And you want to embrace them and say it wasn't your fault and it's OK. You were great.

You were really great.

Red delphinium blue.

Yeah.

PJ O'CONNELL: But life in rural America is certainly not all tragedy and stress.

Producers from the Rural America Documentary Project have found laughter and exuberance mixed into the serious business of daily living.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, from the Altoona Area High School Music Department, the spring musical, My Fair Lady.

I'm ready.

I'm psyched.

I'm going to kick butt.

Psyched.

I'm right, Cy.

I'm Cy.

All right.

Debbie.

If I don't hug you or something.

I love you.

OK. You're going to do great.

You do everything you can.

(SINGING) --pursue.

Someone's head restin' on my knee Warm and tender as he can be.

DEBBIE JOHNSON: I was afraid people wouldn't like me.

And some of the girls who tried out for the part and didn't get it didn't like me at first.

Just because they had wanted it.

But getting the lead in the show, it's just you.

It's just Debbie Johnson.

And it's different.

It was hard because everything I did, I was by myself.

There was no one else to rely on.

Boys the sun is shining for Alfred P. Doolittle.

A man was made to help support his children.

Which is the right and-- ACTOR: It all came together, then, at the end.

It was amazing.

We couldn't believe how well it takes the night of the show to really get you psyched.

And a person like me, I need audience.

I need to hear the audience to see if they like what I'm doing [performers singing] [audience applause] ACTOR: The performance was awesome.

We had no idea it was going to go like it did.

The feeling I got was, we worked for all these months.

And then you just think to yourself, why not give them everything you got?

[crying hysterically] (SINGING) I'm getting married in the morning.

Ding dong, The bells are going to chime.

[all singing] [audience applaud] [audience shouting] ACTOR: Curtain call.

I love curtain call.

I get excited.

And I just wait for a few seconds before I go out.

And there's nothing like applause.

We really did it.

We did it.

We did it.

Give me a hug, damn it.

(CRYING) Thank you so much.

Now you're going to make me cry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

That's all right.

It was wonderful.

It felt so good.

Thank you.

We're all going, did you see her?

She's magnificent.

Thank you.

We've reviewed just some of the productions of the Rural America Documentary Project.

The Pennsylvania Parade is providing a more complete look at this documentary archive.

And we hope you found this program and this series useful.

We also hope you'll keep watching.

For Penn State public broadcasting, I'm PJ O'Connell.

[outro music playing]