82-Uncasty Farming, Saturday, March 28, 1998
Heather’s Comedy
Promotes Dairy Products
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
VENANGO (Crawford Co,)
Heather Riley has endeared herself
to hundreds in the role as a gum
snapping, overbearing waitress.
Not exactly the pristine image a
dairy princess usually portrays as a
spokesperson for the dairy
industry.
But, Heather’s spoof as a wait
ress impacts the audience in a way
most skits promoting the dairy
industry fail. •
Audiences erupt with hysterical
laughter as Heather finds fault with
an imaginary customer’s order
with such remarks as “Not French
fines—it’s bad for the gall Mad
der...She entices the customer
to change hii older from a burger
to a cheeseburger because “a bur
ger without cheese is a like a kiss
without the squeeze.”
Heather said. “I like to act and
be creative and silly rather than
serious.”
Despite Heather’s ability to
seemingly inject humor into any
situation, she is no stranger to seri
ousness. Her bubbly, outgoing per
sonality has burst forth through a
lot of pain.
The 17-year-old who seems
wise beyond her yean frankly
talks about “the most devastating
event erf my life that forced me to
become a better person.”
Heather was only in fourth
grade when her dad left the family.
Heather was heartbroken. “I
remember crying often and my
mom promising me with lean in
Maharaja la a Snow Leopard Bengal Cat. He Is only seven generations from the
Jungle and his Aslan Leopard Cat heritage. The Bengal breed Is a relatively new breed
of domestic cats.
Bengal Cats Spell ‘Alternative
Agriculture’ For Canton Couple
CAROLYN N. MOYER
Bradford Co. Correspondent
CANTON (Bradford County)
With a quiet yawn, Maharaja
stretches each paw as he contemp
lates his surroundings. Nearby.
Maharani naps peacefully, perhaps
dreaming of her ancestral land
the Asian jungle.
No, these are not wild cats con
fined to a zoo. They are Bengal
cats, a relatively new breed of
felines descended from an Asian
Leopard Cat, which are being
raised by Red and Beth Metcalf as
an alternative agriculture
enterprise.
her eyes that things will get
better.”
To a little girl. Heather didn’t
believe things could ever get better
without a dad. To make matters
worse, her great-grandmother with
whom she was close to died.
“I needed to grow up fast My
mother needed to get a job. I
learned to cook and do things
around the house,” Heather said.
Her mother’s nursing home job
kept her away during evening
hours, and it was redly tough
adjusting Heather said.
Grandparents often assisted in
caring for Heather, and her brother
Ron a year older than she, and a
younger sister Stephanie.
“My number one problem was
missing the love of my dad. I don’t
get to see him even now—it’s his
choice—not mine. That was really
tough to accept but now things are
100 percent better—not perfect—
but much better,” Heather said.
Headier said that before her dad
left she was quiet and prone to sit
in a comer and pout when things
didn’t go her way.
For emotional survival. Heather
was forced to verbalize her feel
ings. Now Heather finds it easy to
converse with people everywhere.
She learned to stop focusing on
missing the love of her dad and
concentrate on enjoying the loveof
grandparents, cousins, and friends.
She refers to her mom as “my
strength” and says the tough times
really drew her closer to her mom
and other family members.
*T do want to give thanks public-
Immediately one might ques
tion why the need to raise cats as a
form of agriculture. But to the
Metcalfs, the answer is clear.
“We were looking for some
thing to diversify with,” Fred
noted. ‘The cats we’re providing
are quality cats. We need to realize
that these cats fill a gap that ordin
ary cats can’t fill."
Metcalf, who teaches Vocation
al Agriculture at Athens Area High
School, and his wife also raise
Arabian horses, but they wanted to
do more with animals.
At first they tried to raise Hima
layas, but the breed standards
Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess Heather Riley signed autographs for her
many admirers at Munoz-Marin Elementary School.
ly to one person—God. He got me
through those tough times. He’s
given me talent, speaking ability
... .I’d never be where lam today
if it wasn’t for him,” Heather said.
In addition to improvements in
altitude and personality and know
ing that life does indeed get better
even when you’re convinced it
can’t. Heather sees other positive
results horn her dad’s abandon
ment. She’s confident she’ll be a
better parent because of her sensi
tivity to the hurts and needs of
children. She also is able to cheer
up many of her friends who are
seemed contrary to the health of
the animal. Beth noted that the ide
al look of a Himalayan is to have a
very flat, almost indented nose.
With that feature comes many
respiratory problems.
“Bengali were a welcome alter
native," said Metcalf.
“When we first heard of the
Bengali, we saw an ad in die Wil
liamsport paper. We fell in love
with their personality right away
and we saw them two or three
times before we bought them,”
Beth said.
When you think of the wild her-
(Tum to Pago B 4)
now suffering from the results of produced a calf every year since
their parents’ divorces. then thus multiplying her little
Although Heather doesn’t live herd to eight cows. She keeps them
on a farm, she has been involved in or her grandfather’s farm, where
helping on her grandparents’ farm they milk ISO Holsteins and raise
who live minutes away. She 70 replacements.
started showing Holsteins as soon “Showing cows is a big family
as she was old enough to join 4-H. thing,” Heather said. In addition to
She was seven years old when she she and her siblings showing, her
received her first cow. which has (Turn to Pag* B 3)
Beth Metcalf holds Weldon while Fred Metcalf hold* Wan
da, a brother/alster pair of Brown Spotted Bengal*. The Met
calfe began raising Bengal Cats as an alternative agricultur
al enterprise In 1994.