North Huntingdon to dedicate renamed Shafton Bridge
North Huntingdon officials will dedicate the bridge in the Shafton neighborhood of the township to a former firefighter at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Bridge Street.
The township will rename the bridge in memory of the late Christopher Ritenour, a Shafton firefighter who died on June 6 at age 51. The bridge will be renamed the Chris Ritenour Memorial Bridge.
Ritenour, who worked at Fontana’s Cafe in North Huntingdon, spent many hours on the bridge, watching and photographing the trains that rolled along the Norfolk Southern Corp. tracks below it, according to family and friends. Ritenour also was a social member of other fire departments.
The North Huntingdon commissioners in June approved a resolution to rename the bridge in Ritenour’s honor. A fundraising effort through a social media page raised about $1,700 for signs at each end of the bridge, designating its renaming in honor of Ritenour.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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