Naturally, stories focusing on neighbors and friends are well-read every year – including these five that were among the most-read stories on post-journal.com over the past 12 months. Less than a month ago readers were drawn to a story not about man, but efforts to save man’s best friend who had fallen through the ice of a pond in Sherman.

Peanut, a 4-year-old golden retriever, needed to be retrieved herself after she fell through the ice of a pond at her family’s home. Stanley Hose Co. Rescue Squad 282 performed a dramatic rescue of the dog after receiving a call at 12:32 p.m. Sunday. The dog had fallen through the ice at the home of Aaron and Melissa Lyon on Harrington Road.

Melissa Lyon said she and her husband were working on their farm when Aaron noticed their two puppies acting strangely by the side of the pond. Upon investigating, they discovered that Peanut had fallen through the ice and was struggling to get out.

“I called 911 quickly when I realized we could not get her to safety,” she said. “She would try to get out, and flip over backwards and go under water. I was afraid she would get stuck under the ice.”

Members of Stanley Hose Co. rescue Peanut, a 4-year-old golden retriever after she fell through the ice at her family’s pond. Photo courtesy of the Stanley Hose Co.

Four members of Stanley Hose Co. responded on Rescue Truck 282, while three additional firefighters came in their personal vehicles, said Second Assistant Chief Brett Cook. When they arrived, the situation was dire.

The dog had walked out to the middle of the pond and fell through the ice, Cook said.

“She was pretty lethargic, but she was still lightly treading water when we got to him,” he said.

The members of the rescue squad were prepared for action upon arrival, Cook said.

“Two guys, Ray Spacht and Kyle Rhebergen, got changed into wet suits on the way out there,” he said. “They got out of the truck and rushed right into the water.”

Ryan Dexter salutes after formally accepting command during a change of command ceremony recently at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.

The two men reached the dog while Cook and the other responders brought out ropes and rescue equipment. Once they got ropes to Spacht and Rhebergen, they were able to pull the dog to safety, Cook said. “I don’t think it was more than two minutes from the time we arrived until we got the dog out,” he said.

Mrs. Lyon said she was overwhelmed with the response of the firefighters. “There’s not enough thank yous for this,” she said. “They treated her just like they would treat anyone. I love to live in a community where people know each other and care about each other’s families.”

Cook said this sentiment has always been part of Stanley Hose Co.’s philosophy. “Everyone’s dog is a part of their family in our eyes,” he said.

SUPER BOWL SIRIANNI

Hitting the rewind button to February, Chautauqua County celebrated its first Super Bowl-winning head coach. Of course, in the wake of the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 9, one question on many local sports fans’ minds was if Nick Sirianni, the Eagles’ head coach, would be able to attend the Chautauqua County Sports Hall of Fame banquet during which Sirianni was to be inducted along with Jessica Anderson, Tom Anderson, Anthony Barone, Stephen Carlson, Mark Edstrom, Ron Frederes, Nick Kahanic and Aaron Leeper.

Jamestown native and Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, right, lifts the Vince Lombardi Trophy next to quarterback Jalen Hurts after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59 on Sunday in New Orleans. AP photo

“I regret to inform my friends and supporters from home that I will be unable to attend Monday’s Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame banquet,” said the Philadelphia Eagles head coach in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “The demands on my time after the Super Bowl victory make it impossible to travel.”

Nick Sirianni joins his father Fran and older brothers Mike and Jay in the Hall of Fame. Nick Sirianni was introduced as the Eagles’ head coach in January 2021. And, as Post-Journal sports editor Scott Kindberg noted before the 2025 Super Bowl, Sirianni has led the franchise to four consecutive postseason berths, including record-breaking campaigns that resulted in a Super Bowl 57 loss to Kansas City and then a victory in February’s rematch.

“As boring as it sounds, you don’t think about it,” Sirianni told Kindberg a few days after Philadelphia defeated Washington 55-23 in the NFC Championship Game. “It’s, ‘How are we going to win this next game?’ Maybe at the end of this year I might think of that or maybe at the end of my career I’ll think about that. I’m just grateful for this team and grateful for the people I get to work with every day.”

Despite all his success, Nick and his often-fiery personality have been a lightning rod for criticism by media and fans alike, particularly after Philadelphia’s struggles at the end of the 2023 season and its .500 record through Week 4 in the 2024 campaign.

“I think, at the end of the day, I don’t act and talk and think like anyone else,” he said. “I am who I am. It’s actually helped me with the players. Who cares what anybody else thinks? The players are smart. They’re going to see through it if you’re not being yourself. I think it’s so important. … Your identity is who you are and what you’re going to lean on in the next game. You don’t get to the spot you got to as a head coach and say, ‘Now, here is who I’m going to be.’ I don’t think it works that way.”

Madison Kehe on July 24, 2024 dressed in scrubs, ready to leave her job at Ed Shults Ford to drive to an evening class at Great Lakes Institute of Technology in Erie, PA.

DEXTER TAKES THE REINS

Readers were also drawn to the success of Ryan Dexter, a Randolph native who earned a major promotion in the U.S. Navy earlier this summer. Dexter has flown Navy Blackhawks and Seahawk helicopters around the world. Now, he’s leading the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville after serving as the station’s executive officer since February 2024. Dexter took command from Capt. Greg deWindt during a recent change of command ceremony at the base.

Dexter is a Randolph native who graduated from Roberts Wesleyan College in May 1995 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology.

“This base has been here over 85 years now and I’m the 53rd person to do it so it’s a huge honor,” Dexter told television station WOKV. “It’s a huge base and, as I said in my remarks, this town loves this base and it supports the sailors and civilians here more than any other town I’ve ever seen, so it’s great to be here.”

Dexter enlisted in the Navy in May 1996 and later earned his commission via Officer Candidate School in February 2000. Dexter earned his Naval Aviator wings in September 2001 and completed initial training as an H60-F/H pilot at Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) Ten at NAS North Island, San Diego, Calif., in 2002.

NAS Jacksonville includes more than 110 tenant commands including 17 squadrons, 22,000 civilians and sailors, along with their families.

“It’s a transition of authority. It’s as much for the sailors and crew and the folks to say ‘we’re passing the baton of authority on to the next person,'” deWindt told WOKV. “I have the confidence in (Captain Dexter) to be able to take over; they should have the same confidence as well.”

HEALTH CHALLENGES DON’T STOP KEHE

Madison Kehe’s life had been the normal, full life of most young people until college. She was a gymnast from age seven until an injury resulting in surgery ended participation in her senior year. During middle school, she enjoyed being in Winterguard and when she was in eighth grade, she began playing her French horn in the high school marching band. She held down a part-time job in 11th and 12th grades and all the while she was an honor student. As a new graduate, she was excited and ready to begin the education that would launch a career in diagnostic medical sonography. She had started a job at The Fish in Bemus Point that summer and commuted from school on weekends until they closed in the fall.

It’s what happened in college – and the way Kehe dealt with it – that drew readers in when her story was published in November. Shortly after beginning the first semester of her freshman year at Alfred State College, she noticed a small lump in her mouth. Due to the COVID-19 shutdown, her dentist was only taking emergent cases.

“They kept rescheduling my appointments for two years,” says the young woman.

In May 2021 she went back to her weekend schedule of commuting home in order to work at her job and worked full-time throughout the summer months. She was able to attend her college classes on a religious exemption, but was not able to do the clinical internship the second year, because of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. She made the decision to leave school at the end of the first semester in December 2021 because she could not get a degree without interning in a medical facility. Her mother’s employer hired her a few months later when she became a title clerk at Ed Shults Ford.

“I noticed the lump was getting bigger and I knew that wasn’t good. In August 2022, I told the dentist’s office I had to be seen. After a biopsy was taken, I was referred to UB Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.”

A second lump on the other side of her mouth was discovered. Biopsies proved both lumps were benign, but she was told she needed surgery. She then had a consultation with more in-depth scans.

A 6½ hour surgery was performed at Roswell Park on December 12, 2022 when 11 perfect, white teeth were extracted and the lower left jaw was removed in preparation for a cadaver bone graft. A high rejection rate went along with that option for surgery, but the doctor encouraged her to go with that method, because it was less invasive.

Five days later she was sent home on a feeding tube, which she filled with the contents of boxes kept at the foot of her bed. The refrigerator she had used to store snacks and drinks in her dorm room at college was now beside her bed holding ice for the small bag she held on her swollen face.

“Because I’m young and healthy, it could have taken better, but my body didn’t agree with it and started pushing it out,” Madison said.

Travel in the Buffalo area was prohibited due to a Christmas storm. When the roads opened on December 28, emergency surgery was performed at Oishei Children’s Hospital where there was an open operating room. The graft was removed and a cement placeholder was put in its place to allow healing.

On April 24, 2023, Madison had her third and most involved surgery, which lasted 10-12 hours. At this time the twelfth tooth was removed and a very large section of her fibula bone and a skin flap with muscle and blood vessels attached was taken, as well as a corresponding artery, so the bone would have a living graft with its own blood supply. Besides the major surgery on her leg, the right side of her neck was opened to allow for work on the left jaw replacement. Many tiny vascular clips still hold the vessels in place so they can heal and create new collateral vessels.

Once again, she and her cat Phoebe spent the next month in Madison’s bedroom with the exception of the days spent at doctor appointments in Buffalo.

On October 25, 2023, outpatient surgery was performed to expose dental implants. The doctor discovered an infection in the chin area of the bone graft. The infection was cleaned out during the surgery and three of the dental implants were removed. She was put on an antibiotic. Part of that area of the bone graph still remains and it is healing well.

She returned to work the following Monday. Three days later, on November 3, as she was leaving for the day, she discovered she had forgotten her purse. As she went to her desk for the purse, she suddenly felt weak and collapsed with her mother watching. Leaving the purse behind may have saved her life, since she would have descended to the first floor via 24 cement steps or she could have been driving through Jamestown. She had no use of her right leg and little use of her right arm. She was taken by ambulance to UPMC-Chautauqua where it was determined she had had a stroke. This time she was flown to Buffalo General. An angiogram showed a blood clot in her brain therefore she was put on Heparin, a blood thinner, which caused a large hematoma on her leg. She returned home after staying a week in the hospital.

She remained on blood thinners, but after a few scans, the doctors thought it best for her to have brain surgery to reroute the blood supply around the damaged artery. The surgery took place on March 24, 2024, when she was hospitalized for two days. An artery that fed her scalp was moved and attached to the brain near the clot. She remained on a blood thinner while she was monitored with scans.

She returned to classes on July 24, 2024, but this time to Great Lakes Institute of Technology in Erie, Pa. In the beginning she was told only some of her credits would transfer, but thanks to one of her teachers for bringing it to the attention of a new dean, they were all accepted, saving her $30,000. During this time, she worked part-time and attended full-time classes. She has been commuting to Olean General Hospital to do her clinical internship since April. Her graduation from Great Lakes will take place on Dec. 19 and she will begin a full-time position on January 5 at the hospital in Olean. She will have three more dental implants placed between now and then.

“Through everything that happened there were a lot of devastating feelings while it was happening, but there is so much to be grateful for looking back. I’m thankful to be alive, independent and able to tell my story. I’m thankful for my family who helped me through the hard times and continue to help me mentally and physically. I’m thankful for my boyfriend and friends who stuck by me and to the many people who prayed for me and continue to keep me in their prayers to this day, even if I am a stranger to them. And I am thankful for the many doctors and nurses and all of the healthcare workers who have helped me along the way. Without them, all of the ‘what ifs’ could’ve been a reality,” Kehe said.

PULLING FOR PATTI

Lisciandro’s Restaurant has been a steadfast presence in downtown Jamestown for decades. So it was shocking to many when the restaurant didn’t open as expected a couple of months ago. Even more shocking was the Facebook post that explained why Chris and Patti Larson had to close the shop – Patti Larson’s ongoing fight and recovery from a benign tumor.

The fight began for Patti and Chris Larson in July when a large mass — the size of a cellphone, 15 centimeters long by nine centimeters, or almost six inches by four inches — was found in Patti’s chest. Chris Larson said they had to go to Roswell for treatment, but that it could not be removed until September 3.

“She had to have surgery similar to open heart surgery to remove it,” he said. “Four hour operation and it went well but she was told not to do anything for at least three months, and that’s minimum.”

Larson added that Patti is recovering well, but it just takes a very long time, adding that full recovery will probably take six months to a year. This has put a stop to everything at the restaurant for them for the time being, he added.

Larson’s story prompted benefits, including one hosted by Rand Machine, a local manufacturing company owned by Kurt Grimm who is a regular in the restaurant and who often ordered hundreds of sandwiches for all of his employees.”

Having this benefit organized for them means “a lot” Larson continued, saying that it will get them through the next five or six months of not having the restaurant open but still having bills to pay, even with insurance. Both he and Patti expressed their appreciation to have people in the community that care about them and are willing to organize something like this.

“We didn’t expect to have anything at all,” Patti Larson said. “We weren’t planning on anything, so when they asked us — well they didn’t really ask us, he said ‘we’re going to do it’. So it means everything to us. We never expected it.”

“We’re very thankful for their support, before, now and after,” Chris Larson said. “We just love feeding people. Our customers are also our friends.”