LAWRENCE COUNTY It may be a drag, but it's for a good cause

Contestants must dress in drag and perform in a talent competition.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- It's going to be an unusual beauty pageant.
The contestants -- all 23 -- will be men dressed in drag.
Some of Lawrence County's better known political, community and business leaders have agreed to participate to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society. All money raised will go to the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life this coming May in Shenango Township.
Organizer Paul Skuta said the idea blossomed from a Gene Hackman movie in which the actor dressed as a woman.
"It struck me as so funny. It works every time. If you want to get a laugh and make some money, put a guy in a dress. The more unlikely the guy, the funnier it is," Skuta said.
Contestants: Some of the unlikely contestants include New Castle Mayor Timothy Fulkerson, Lawrence County Commissioners Ed Fosnaught and Roger DeCarbo, Robert McCracken, Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce director, and Larry Nord, a New Castle School board member.
"I've always wanted to be a woman," Fulkerson said with a laugh. "My problem is getting my wardrobe together right now. I'm not sure if I'm going to be a blonde or a red head."
Those aren't worries for Fosnaught, whose wife found him a pair of size 14 pumps to wear.
"I think my chances are very good. I'm going to read poetry and I'm going to look good," he said.
McCracken is mum on his outfit and persona, only revealing that he isn't going be the average drag queen.
The judges will be looking for beauty and talent, Skuta said. All 23 contestants will be introduced, and 10 semi-finalists will be chosen.
After a talent contest, three finalists will be picked and asked a final question before the winner is declared.
The three female judges include two cancer survivors and an oncologist.
Personal issue: For Skuta -- who also plans to dress in drag as the mistress of ceremonies -- the pageant is a way to make light of a very personal and painful disease.
His wife, Carole Ann Skuta, died in 1999 after battling breast cancer.
"This whole thing in my own crazy way comes out of my tremendous love for her. We were married for 22 years. We met on the playground in the third grade," he said.
Skuta, who works at Weingartner's Florist in Neshannock Township, helped put together a Relay for Life Team of co-workers. Some have also been affected by cancer and came up with the pageant as a means to make money for the American Cancer Society.
He's even convinced his two bosses, brothers George and Thomas Weingartner, to be contestants in the pageant.
"I think it's a great idea. I think it's going to achieve the objective that Paul has established, and that is to raise money, raise spirits and raise awareness," George Weingartner said.
Skuta concurs.
"I remember when Carole Sue was sick for three and a half years, there wasn't a lot to laugh about usually. I know other people are in that same situation all the time. If we can give them a couple hours where they can forget their troubles and really laugh, that to me is more important than the money," Skuta said.