January 25, 2012

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN – A truck stolen from a car dealership in Schuylkill County.  State Police are investigating the theft of a 2005 Ford F-250 Diesel Crew Cab pick-up truck.  The truck is blue and tan.  It was taken from Ryan Brothers Auto Sales along Route 61 in North Manheim Township between 6 last night and 10:30 this morning.  Anyone with information about this truck theft should call State Police at Schuylkill Haven.
John Callahan (WGRC)

NORTHUMBERLAND – A business and the community step up to help a Northumberland County little league get back up and running.  Wendy Herrold asked the federal and state governments for $16,000, and they tactfully declined the 250 Little Leaguers she represents, but a grocery-store chain and others are set to help out instead. Shikellamy Acorn Little League Park in Northumberland sustained about $16,000 worth of water damage to the playing field and concession stand during September flooding. That concession stand supports the organization.  FEMA said they couldn’t help because the concession stand is not a home, and a small business loan was also denied. Then Weis Markets stepped in.  Weis Director of Public Relations, Dennis Curtin tells the Daily Item, starting Sunday, Weis Markets on Market Street and North Fourth Street in Sunbury will hold a special three-week "checkout" program.  Every person who checks out will be asked if he or she wants to make a donation to the Little League.  Weis Markets will match the donations up to $2,500.  Sunbury Youth Baseball League is set to discuss how they might be able to help as well.
(WGRC)
 
HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority today approved low cost loans to two area municipal authorities, one in Columbia and the other in Snyder County. Senator John Gordner says, the Berwick Area Joint Sewer Authority and Middleburg Municipal Authority had projects approved by PENNVEST.  In Berwick, the $5.8 million project will involve separation of storm water and sewer lines to eliminate sewage overflows into the Susquehanna River during periods of high water.  PENNVEST has approved a $5.3 million loan for the project.  In Middleburg, a $2.9 million project will involve continued efforts to rehabilitate the system serving the borough and Franklin Township.  The Middleburg Municipal Authority today received approval for a $2.2 million loan, and previously received a $700,000 Commonwealth Financing Authority grant supported by Senator Gordner.
(WGRC)

HARRISBURG - The Commonwealth Financing Authority today released $3.15 million for completion of the Danville Flood Control Project.  The project not only represents the final component of the borough’s flood protection system, but is also a critical component of the decision making process related to the flooded Danville Middle School.  In December, State Senator John Gordner and State Representative Kurt Masser called on the CFA to approve the project.  Danville Area School District officials continue to meet with state and federal emergency agencies to plan a strategy for reconstruction of the Middle School.  Certain funding strategies and decisions are contingent upon the location of the school.  If the school is maintained at the current site, completion of the flood control system is necessary.
(WGRC)

SHAMOKIN DAM – Police are continuing their investigation into a crash in Snyder County that sends a Milton man to the hospital. The crash happened around 7:30 last night on Route 11 just north of the Route 11 and 15 spilt in Shamokin Dam. Police say 30-year-old Scott Fultz suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Geisinger Medical Center after his Jeep swerved off the southbound lane and crashed into a rocky embankment then crossed the northbound lane where it crashed into some guard rails.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

ASHLAND – Two people were taken to Geisinger Medical Center following a collision at an intersection in Barry Township, Schuylkill County. The crash happened just after three Tuesday afternoon at the intersection of Route 901 and Buery’s Road. Police say 76-year-old Clair Wolfgang of Lavelle pulled out into the intersection colliding with 65-year-old June White of Cressona.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

MIFFLINBURG – Investigators will look for the cause of a blaze that hit a Mifflinburg home last evening. The fire at 505 Hilltop Lane in Mifflinburg was reported around seven p.m. There were no injuries and a cause was not determined. The American Red Cross is helping those affected by the blaze.
(WGRC)

MAHANOY CITY - Nine people are homeless after a Tuesday afternoon fire at a double home on West Market Street in Mahanoy City. Firefighters were called out just after five p.m. to 409/411 West Market Street and found fire and heavy smoke in a second floor room of the home rented by Joseph Vezo and Jennifer Taylor. Taylor, Vezo and their six children were left homeless along with neighbor Eva Negron. Mahanoy City fire Chief Randy Kalce tells the Republican Herald the fire started on the second floor of the Vezo home and was contained to that area. A cause of the fire is under investigation and a state police fire marshal will be called to assist. No injuries were reported.
(WGRC)

BELLEFONTE — Firefighters battled a fire that broke out Tuesday in a building on 348 East Bishop Street in Bellefonte that once was a school, and now is an apartment building. Bellefonte Fire Chief Fred Bruno tells the Centre Daily Times crews were able to contain the flames to the basement-level apartment where the blaze began around 4:30 Tuesday afternoon. One firefighter and one resident in the 18 unit apartment were taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation. No other injuries were reported. Most of the building’s residents were allowed back inside the building Tuesday night.
(WGRC)

MIFFLINTOWN - Police have made an arrest in a brutal assault and robbery that happened October 14th, 2011 at the Swarey Saw Shop on Billyville Road in Fayette Township, Juniata County. Police have charged 44-year-old Tracey Scott with robbery and related counts. He’s jailed on $50,000 bail in the Juniata County Prison. Police say shop owner Joseph Swarey was allegedly attacked by Scott with an axe handle. Swarey was struck about the head, face, and back but was able to escape and call for help. Police say Swarey, identified Scott as his attacker in a photo line-up.
(WGRC)

WILLIAMSPORT – A 25-year-old Williamsport man has been charged with numerous drug charges in Lycoming County. Police say Donovan Butler is being charged after an undercover drug informant bought crack cocaine from Butler three times over the past year. Police say they made the controlled buys from Butler in October November and December, 2011. Butler was arrested Tuesday and jailed on $50,000 dollars bail in the Lycoming County Jail.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

LEWISTOWN - A total of six students from Mifflin County High School and Mifflin County Junior High School are facing drug-related charges after a series of recent arrests. The Sentinel reports, the arrests were made earlier this month over the course of a three-day period, involving three reported incidents, two at the Mifflin County High School and one at the Mifflin County Junior High School. The drugs included prescription drugs, marijuana and synthetic marijuana. All those involved were charged through the juvenile court system.
(WGRC)

MIDDLEBURG – Police are investigating a couple of thefts in Snyder County. Police say three guns were taken from a home in Centre Township, near Middleburg. The guns were discovered missing just before midnight, last night. Police also say someone used a pry bar to break into Customized Images in the Courtyard Offices complex along the Old Trail in Selinsgrove, sometime between eight Monday night and eight Tuesday morning. The thief got away with about $130 dollars in cash from the business.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

LEWISBURG – Some thieves got away with 350 feet of copper welding leads from a quarry in Union County. Police say the copper was taken sometime between five p.m. Thursday and eight a.m. Monday at the quarry in Buffalo Township operated by Eastern Industries of Lewisburg.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

MIFFLINBURG – A Chester County man has been charged in a June burglary in Mifflinburg. Police have filed felony burglary charges against 18-year-old Chase Cowden of Honey Brook. Police say Cowden and John Chamberlain broke into Mr. B’s and Son’s Outlet store at 365 Chestnut Street in Mifflinburg sometime between June 6th and 30th 2011 and stole numerous items. Some of those items police say they recovered at an apartment Cowden leased in Mifflinburg.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

MIFFLINBURG – Three from the Mifflinburg area have been charged with felony burglary and related counts following a break-in at a home in Lewis Township, Union County back in December. Police have charged 24-year-old Michael Shetterly the Second, 26-year-old Chad Rathfon, and 19-year-old Amanda Wright with the break-in December 8th at the home along Boop Road. Police say the three pushed in an air conditioning window-unit to get inside the home and stole around 100 DVD’s which they then sold for drug money. All three are jailed in the Union County Prison on $25,000 bail each.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

MIDDLEBURG –The former treasurer of the Midd-West Field Hockey Association in Snyder County has been charged with stealing more than $6,000 and forging checks totaling nearly $20,000 during her 2 1/2-year stint as treasurer. The allegations came to light in November when association officials received a call from a bank to discuss the account. Middleburg Police have filed charges against 44-year-old Patricia Lightner of Middleburg. The Daily Item reports, she faces forgery, access device fraud, theft by unlawful taking, a receiving stolen property charges. Police say Lightener issued checks from the Associations account to herself and withdrew cash from the account for her own personal use.
(WGRC)

WILLIAMSPORT - Two Williamsport Bureau of Police officers who are suspended without pay continue five years after their arrests to fight their cases in court. One of the officers, 46-year-old Thomas Ungard Jr., former head of the Lycoming County Drug Task Force, is in the process of appealing a verdict. His assistant on the drug task force, 42-year-old Dustin Kreitz, is taking his case to trial beginning today in Lycoming County. Kreitz will appear before Potter County Senior Judge John Leete. Their arrests stemmed from an investigation by prosecutors with the state attorney general who discovered Ungard sold task force vehicles through "straw purchases," and Kreitz may have destroyed task force records. In July, Ungard was found guilty by jurors of tampering with public records and theft and not guilty on eight other related charges. He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation. Kreitz has entered a no contest plea to theft.
(WGRC)

MIFFLINBURG -- A Mifflinburg family will pay over $11,000 restitution and submit to monitored care of two horses under a plea agreement in a Union County animal cruelty case involving their seven horses, one of which was found dead on their property. The Daily Item reports, Dale and Holly Radel and their daughter, Laura Radel, Who live along Red Ridge Road in Limestone Township, can keep two horses, according to the agreement filed Monday with District Judge Jeffrey Mensch. The family had faced 12 summary citations, filed by the SPCA stemming from March in which the agency seized six horses and one dead horse from the Radel property. The Radels were accused of failing to provide the horses with food, shelter, and veterinary care for the horses. The Radles will also submit to monthly inspections of their animals by SPCA officials.
(WGRC)

UNIVERSITY PARK - Flanked by current and past college football players the casket of Joe Paterno was guarded by the players for 45 minute shifts at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on Penn State Campus yesterday.  Tuesday morning was dedicated to private viewings, first for family and close friends, then for players, current and former, followed by a viewing for the football staff. When the public viewing began at 2 p.m. thousands of mourners were lined up on the sidewalk along Curtin Road for blocks waiting for over two hours to pay their respects. The public viewing was open until 11:00 last night and Penn State police said they expected 10,000 people would file past Paterno’s casket by Tuesday evening. Another viewing is scheduled today from 8 a.m. to noon. A private funeral service for the family will be held at 2 p.m. and will be followed by the funeral procession across campus and through downtown beginning about 3 p.m. Streets in downtown State College will be closed during the procession. A public memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at the Bryce Jordan Center. More than 10,000 tickets made available to the public at 10 a.m. Tuesday, were all claimed in less than 10 minutes.
(WGRC)

ALLENWOOD - For the first time in nearly 40 years, trains will be running in Allenwood, in Union County, perhaps by the end of 2012. The SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority will soon begin a nearly $2 million dollar project to provide rail freight service at Great Stream Commons, the business park in northern Union County.  The park will be served by the Union County Industrial Railroad. Funding for the project will be provided through Joint Rail Authority funds and the federal TIGER II grant which the Authority secured in 2010. About half the project’s cost will involve reconstruction of the White Deer railroad bridge. The Joint Rail Authority and Gregg Township Supervisors have planned a public meeting to present information about rail service in the Allenwood area. It is tentatively scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Wednesday evening, January 25th in the social hall of the Allenwood fire company, which is located on White Deer Avenue, off of Route 15.  
(WGRC)

HARRISBURG - State environmental officials want to give Marcellus Shale drillers an incentive to use mine water in drilling operations by offering a quick response to proposals within 15 days. The policy outlined at a public meeting Tuesday would couple the natural gas industry's need for massive amounts of water in hydrofracking and the longstanding problem of cleaning up 5,000 miles of waterway in Pennsylvania impaired by acid mine drainage. This goal was endorsed by the Governor's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission last summer. DEP plans to issue a position paper on the topic next month after getting more public comment. The paper will outline what policies and regulations should be adopted for treatment of mine water if needed, transport of water by truck or pipeline to drilling sites and storage before used in fracking operations. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission plans to consider a policy encouraging mine water use when it meets next month.
(WGRC)

HARRISBURG - Legislation to reduce the size of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives was approved by the House State Government Committee this week and now heads to the House floor for consideration. The process to change the size of the House requires an amendment to the state Constitution, which means the bill must be passed by two consecutive sessions of the Legislature and approved in a statewide referendum by the voters.
(WGRC)

WASHINGTON D.C. – President Barrack Obama last night delivered his annual State of the Union address in an attempt to show Americans where his administration is headed and what it is focused on in the coming months. In his State of the Union Address, the President laid out a blueprint for an economy that he says is built to last, an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values. Obama urged Congress to focus on building a nation where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules. Following Obama’s State of the Union Address two Central Pennsylvania Congressmen have weighed in on the speech. U.S. Representative Tom Marino, of Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District says since taking office three years ago, the president has contributed more to the deterioration of this nation’s middle class than any other president and more people now are dependent on the federal government than ever before. Marino says if Obama wants to help the middle class, he should look no further than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s desk to find the 27 job-creating bills that the House has passed within the last year. Meanwhile representing the 5th Congressional District, Representative Glen Thompson says while the President’s speech seemed productive, almost 2 million more Americans are out of work and the country has racked up three of the largest annual deficits in its history since Obama took office.  Thompson also says that while the President promised to commit to America’s energy independence he on the other hand denied the Keystone XL pipeline which has the potential to create thousands of jobs and add to our country’s energy security.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)