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JULY 1, 2021 | The Jewish Home
The balloon ride was a “bucket list” item for Susan Montoya, an assistant principal at an Albuquerque elementary school, who was killed in the crash. The ride was a goodbye gift from her colleagues since Montoya was scheduled to transfer to another school this upcoming school year. Montoya, 65, was onboard with her husband John Montoya, 61. John also worked in the school district as a special education assistant. Martin Martinez, 62, was a retired Albuquerque police officer who also worked in the school system. His wife, Mary Martinez, 59, was “very involved” in the schools. The pilot of the hot air balloon, Nicholas Meleski, 62, who had over 25 years of experience flying balloons, had a daughter who is a school counselor in the district. For now, police are investigating and are unsure of what led to the crash. “Every time you go out and fly, you’ve got your soul and the souls in the basket with you,” said Bill Noe, a hot air balloonist and friend of one of the victims. “And there’s always a possibility that something could happen that you don’t have control of.”
Amish Balk at Vaccination
It is proving to be tough to encourage the Amish population to vaccinate against Covid-19. Health care leaders in Pennsylvania Dutch County posted flyers about vaccinations at farm supply stores and at auctions where the Amish sell handmade furniture and quilts. They asked three newspapers widely read by the Amish to publish ads promoting the vaccine, although two refused to publish the ads. At two vaccination clinics opened in the area, only a handful showed. In Ohio’s Holmes County, home to the nation’s largest concentration of Amish, just 14% of the county’s overall population is fully vaccinated. In general, the Amish population lags behind the general population
in vaccinations. They are less likely to be vaccinated for preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough. A core part of their Christian faith is accepting G-d’s will in times of illness or death. Many in the Amish community believe that the community has achieved herd immunity because they have already gotten sick. “That’s the No. 1 reason we hear,” said Alice Yoder, executive director of community health at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, a network of hospitals and clinics. Additionally, they are absorbing the vaccine hesitancy prevalent in rural communities. During the first months of the pandemic, the Amish followed social distancing guidelines and stopped gathering for church and funerals. But when non-Amish neighbors and local elected officials began pushing back against state and federal mandates, the Amish resumed the gatherings, resulting in a surge of outbreaks last summer.
Up at Bat
coming a bat girl during a Zoom conference call, which also included ace pitcher Gerrit Cole. “Here at the Yankees, we have championed to break down gender barriers in our industry,” Cashman wrote in a letter to Goldman. “It is an ongoing commitment rooted in the belief that a woman belongs everywhere a man does, including in the dugout.” The Yankees informed Goldman of the honor as part of their Hope Week initiative. Each year, over five-consecutive days, the team shines a spotlight on a specific individual, family or organization worthy of recognition or support. The honorees share their inspirational stories with Yankees players, fans and the media while being surprised by the team. This week, Goldman, now 70 years old, found herself standing on the field at Yankee Stadium. “It was worth writing that letter, worth having that hope and worth pursuing it,” Goldman said. “Even if you don’t get it at first, you just keep going. “Sixty years thinking about this and here it is.” Goldman toured the clubhouse, met players and coaches, posed for photos with umpires and threw out the first pitch. She sported a full pinstripe uniform for her honorary duties. Play ball!
Pancake Pileup
It took Gwen Goldman sixty years, but she finally achieved her dream. The New York Yankees fan sent the baseball team a request to serve as a bat girl back in 1961, when she was 10. Her entreaty was denied then because the general manager, Roy Hamey, felt she wouldn’t feel comfortable in a dugout with men. “In a game dominated by men, a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout,” he wrote to her at the time. Gwen placed the denial on a bulletin board for the past few decades. Her daughter recently sent it to the current Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. Last week, Cashman surprised Goldman with the privilege of be-
Hy-Vee is now the proud recipient of a Guinness World Record and it’s just flipping over the accolade. The grocery store chain broke a Guinness World Record at a Missouri location by preparing a serving of 13,000 pancakes. It took 13 chefs at the store in Blue Springs 7 hours and 16 minutes to cook 13,000 pancakes last Thursday. Just to make sure that no pancake went unnoticed, a Guinness adjudicator was on hand to verify that the serving of pancakes broke the record of 12,716, which was set in Russia in 2017. The pancakes were donated
