New pastor named at Keystone Baptist
The Rev. Rick Kauffman of Canonsburg has been appointed pastor of Keystone Baptist Church, 701 Wilmington St., Washington.
For 29 years, Kauffman has served pastorates in Dillsburg, Tionesta, Cecil and Clappertown, and then provided pulpit supply through Evangelistic Independent Church Ministries of Mt. Joy.
Kauffman has bachelor of theology from Toccoa Falls College in Georgia and a bachelor of science from Shippensburg University.
Before becoming a pastor, Kauffman was a newspaper reporter and editor for 11 years. He is a native of York and is married to the former Claire Hoch of Mercersburg
NICKEL MINES – Members of the Amish community are mourning the death of a Pennsylvania state trooper who comforted and befriended survivors of a 2006 schoolhouse shooting rampage.
Trooper Jonathan Smith died at home last week of pancreatic cancer. He was 47.
Smith was one of the first troopers to force his way into a barricaded one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines where a milk truck driver fatally shot five girls and wounded five others before killing himself.
The trooper helped carry the wounded girls outside. He also went on to befriend the survivors and the victims’ families.
A member of the Amish community told the LNP newspaper that they took comfort in knowing Smith was looking after them.
Fisher says the trooper “helped ease the pain.”