Hamburg upholds denying Firetree permit

If you've attempted to reach our Web site at berksmontnews.com, you may have noticed that it is not working at the moment. We're on the case, however. In the meantime, I attended last night's zoning hearing to determine the validity of John Leonforte's denial of a building permit from Alcat Reentry. It had planned to lease the Windsor Knitting Mill to Firetree Ltd. to operate a "halfway house".

Leonforte, Hamburg's zoning officer, denied this permit and Alcat (now Orange Stones Co.) appealed the decision. Following last night's decision, a crowd of about 35 cheered the borough's decision.

By Joshua Sophy, Item Editor

Hamburg's Zoning Hearing board nearly unanimously backed the decision of its Zoning officer, John Leonforte, in denying Orange Stones Co. (Firetree Ltd.) a building permit for the former Windsor Knitting Mill, Pine St. in Hamburg. The non-profit corporation planned to operate, among numerous roles, an 18-bed halfway house, a fact which troubled neighbors.

Members Mary Alice Wertz, Ronald Musser Jr., Ray Dunkle and Robert J. Gust all voted against the Firetree appeal. Anthony Merklinger did not vote because he missed the first session of the hearing, held Aug. 25, when a balance of testimony was presented. The board registered only a voice vote, and has 45 days to submit a response detailing its position, and the reasons for the vote.

Earlier this year, Alcat Reentry Inc. (which has now become Orange Stones Co.) purchased the former Wright's Knitting Mill in Hamburg for $1.5 million. Firetree Ltd. was going to lease the property to run its operation. The building was to serve as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility and detoxification center, a place where addicts attempt to "get clean." It submitted an initial building permit to Leonforte, which he denied. Less than a week after the first denial, and following some amendments, it submitted a second building permit, which Leonforte again denied.

Firetree decided to appeal this second denial, thus bringing about this month-long hearing. A decision in August was impossible because Hamburg failed to properly "post" the property, or improperly inform the public about the hearing. Since that first hearing, at which Firetree defined what it planned for the former knitting mill and Leonforte defended the reasons for his denial, the borough made all legal ramifications and called for a continuation.

After nearly 55 minutes of impotent legal wrangling Monday about the validity of both the hearing and the existence of Alcat Reentry Inc. as a registered corporation, only one new witness testified, Dennis Capozzolo, president of Alliance for Building Communities, an Allentown-based non-profit which owns a neighboring knitting mill to Wright's, in which a senior citizen-exclusive condominium cluster just opened. Capozzolo testified against the idea of having a proposed Firetree facility next door to his property.

"Seniors deserve a quiet atmosphere. They have a right to feel secure," he said under oath.

He also testified that opening such a facility in that specific neighborhood in Hamburg would taint his original conception of his property fitting into that scheme.

"We were supposed to be the jewel of that neighborhood," he said. "I don't believe it is the best use of that area."

Under cross-examination, Daniel Schranghamer (representing Orange Stones Co.) attempted to show that Capozzolo was not aware of the plans, as submitted, and presented a line of questioning to that tone. Capozzolo said he didn't know how many parking spaces, employees or what Hamburg's zoning plan was, though he testified he was concerned about those specifics of the Firetree plan in his sworn testimony.

"There's a stigma attached to that type of business," Capozzolo said, adding that his corporation's aim is simply to "provide affordable housing."

He added, "It causes some fears. I don't believe the two purposes can co-exist."

It was Capozzolo's testimony, especially, that tipped the scales in Gust's vote in favor of Leonforte's denial. Aside from being concerned about the proposed location being in a flood zone - established at the August hearing - Gust said the "halfway house" being located next to the senior condos was concerning.

"I didn't think of it until he testified about it," he said. Schranghamer could not pinpoint his company's next move. He said he's likely to wait until the Zoning Hearing board issues its written reasons for the denial before acting again.

Hamburg Red Cross volunteer bearing brunt of Ike

Hamburg's Sandra Kehl is one of two Berks County volunteers now stationed in Fort Worth, Texas, as the American Red Cross responds to Hurricane Ike.

The massive Category 3 Hurricane slammed ashore very early Saturday morning, directly impacting Galveston Island, and the city of Galveston. The storm's remnants - still a Category 2, then 1 hurricane - then slammed into Houston, the fourth-largest city in the U.S. Some estimates have more than 6 million people without power this morning as the southeast Texas coast must wait to see how 100+ MPH winds and drenching rains damaged the area.

I've been glued to The Weather Channel since about Hurricane Andrew, and haven't seen Jim Cantore yet this morning, so it can't be good.

Kehl is joined by Reading's Janice DeCoster, another Red Cross volunteer, in Fort Worth. They had been stationed at Florida. They left that state on Tuesday, the Red Cross announced. They will be volunteering by aiding evacuees who may be out of their homes for some time.

The Item will be attempting to reach Kehl to have a story in next week's edition of the paper. It looks as though Kehl and all Red Cross volunteers will have a tough week or two ahead of them as they deal with the obvious devastation.

Hamburg football highlights: vs. Annville-Cleona on Sept. 5

Last week I attended the home opener for the Hamburg Hawks football team.

Coming off a tough 21-20 loss in Week 1 to ELCO, a game which Hamburg led 20-0 at halftime, the Hawks definitely wanted to avoid another letdown. Annville-Cleona provided a tough challenge for Hamburg, and this game came down to the final minutes.

Hamburg can thank its defense for keeping Annville-Cleona out of the end zone just enough last Friday, and Jordan Ernst for some inspiring clutch plays on the final scoring drive.

Click this link to see Ernst's performance, including the game-winning score.

Sept. 11 remembered

It will be one of the days we'll be able to remember where we were, exactly the moment you heard. Me? I was sitting at my desk in Shenandoah, in northern Schuylkill County, dreading having to make a contact on a story: some guy had a license plate from Guam on an RV in front of a house on Cherry St. in Shenandoah.

Susan Gooch also remembers the day fondly and wrote about on her blog yesterday:

9/11, I REMEMBER!!!!!!!! Just as those from WWII remember Pearl Harbor, I will never forget what happened when the planes crashed into the buildings in New York, or when the plane crashed into the Pentagon, or when the plane crashed into the field here in my state of Pa.

On the morning of 9/11, my Sarrah and I left on our morning ride to school. It was a beautiful blue sky day here in Pa., just like it is here in Pa. today. I said my LOVE YOU'S and goodbye to my Sarrah at school and drove back to my house, listening to the radio. At that point, there wasn't a thing on the radio about New York

As I pulled into my driveway, I could see my neighbor and friend Dolly standing on her front porch. Looking like something was wrong, something in her face was telling me that something was wrong. Dolly said as I got out of the car,"SUE, can you come in here for a second???" I asked her what was wrong as I almost ran to her house. Yes, she looked that upset. As I walked into her living room, she told me to look at the t.v. As I looked at the t.v. I saw a picture of the World Trade Center in New York with smoke billowing from it. I said to Dolly,"Is it just on fire or did something HIT IT???" She said that a plane had hit it. As I stood there staring at the t.v. I thought to myself. "HOW IN THE WORLD, could a PLANE hit that BUILDING, on a CRYSTAL CLEAR DAY LIKE THIS" And then as she and I were watching the t.v. the SECOND plane HIT. I said to Dolly,"I HAVE TO GO HOME, I KNOW NOW, that we're being ATTACKED!!!" and "I GOTTA CALL BILL!!" So, I ran across the street to my house and called Bill. As I was doing that, my caller i.d. went off on my phone. It was my Rachael out in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was crying, because she has a friend that worked at one of the Trade Center Towers. I put her on hold and went back to my Bill. I told him that he and his co-workers needed to turn on the t.v. and to stay safe. Then I went back to my Rachael. As she and I were both watching our t.v.'s and talking on the phone, the news channel showed a picture of the Pentagon, and smoke was coming out of it. At that point, I was crying and told Rachael that I was really getting scared. That I was thinking about going and getting Sarrah out of school. If something was about to happen worse than it already was, I WANTED my SARRAH HOME!!!! And then as we were saying goodbye, the news station said that there was another plane, and it was missing somewhere over PA!!!! That was ITTTT!!!!! I said goodbye to Rachael and quickly drove to Sarrah's school. As I got into the office, I just blurted out,"I want my Sarrah NOW!!! " and there were MANY other parents behind me doing the same thing. All I thought about was the fact that we were very possibly at WAR, being ATTACKED, and who KNEW how bad it could GET. In the back of my mind, I kept seeing that movie,"Red Dawn" over and over again. Was that what was happening in my COUNTRY!!!!?????

I got home and as Sarrah and I got out of the car, we heard a large jet go over our house, really low. Our house is in the major flight path for the airlines, and we are always seeing them going over our house. BUT, this one, was REALLY LOW!!! We RAN into our house and at that point, I was once again on the phone with my Bill. I told him that I thought he should COME HOME. That I was scared, and Sarrah was SCARED. He said that he would get home as soon as he could. My Bill is an hour away from home, and I thought of all the things that could possibly happen if we really were at war, here in my own country. And I also KNEW, KNEW at that MOMENT, that the security that I had felt all of my life, living here in this country, that I would NEVER feel that same security AGAIN!!!! It is amazing now when I think about it, I even thought about what we'd do if we had to run for cover. Where would we go. Go to the Mountain I thought. There's LOTS of caves in the mountain. Who would have ever thought, that someone from the U.S.A. would ever get a THOUGHT in their head like that. BUT, I DID that DAY!!! I remember my Daddy saying many times, that one should NEVER allow the government to take away our guns. Because he said, "One day, we WILL be threatened by SOMEONE" and he said,"It's inevitable that someday SOMEONE will challenge us on our own ground, and if they did, and we have no way to protect ourselves, they can just WALK RIGHT IN" and they DID. On 9/11, on our own ground. And I thought many times that day about what my Daddy had always told me. And I WOULD protect my country, my family, and myself.

At the point of seeing all of the coverage on the t.v. from New York and at the Pentagon, I was almost in a trance, tears running down my face, my heart pounding. SUCH SORROW I've never FELT in my LIFE. As I watched people jumping from the towers, people crying and looking up in terror, as they saw those people jump. And then they said that a plane had crashed in the fields of Pa. I thought to myself, "THAT WAS THE PLANE WE SAW!!!" It was heading west when we saw it. The neighbors saw it and heard it too. And I remember all of the military jets that were in the sky over my house too. And yes, I was TERRIFIED!!!!

Bill finally got home from work, and I felt safer knowing he was here. We called all of our other children, making sure that they were o.k. And we sat here in the kitchen, glued to the t.v. set. All of us with blank looks on our faces, all of us THINKING about WHAT THIS MEANT. I remember watching that t.v. set, sitting here in the kitchen, until the early morning hours. I didn't want to go to bed. I had told Bill, that I was afraid to go to sleep. I didn't want to give up watch. WHAT IF, we all went to bed, and something happened, and we weren't aware until it was tooo late. But, I eventually did go to bed, and I just lay there, my heart pounding, and for the first time in my life, I was afraid to go to sleep, afraid that something terrible would happen, and I KNEW that the morning would bring a new day, truly a NEW DAY, one that would dawn with all of us knowing for the first time, that we were no longer totally safe in our beds.

That's what makes me HATE the terrorists soooo MUCH. That they could kill so many innocent people. That they could in the flash of a nano second, take away my feeling of security. That feeling that I was always safe, and that those kind of things happened SOMEWHERE ELSE, were suddenly gone. We were NOT SAFE ANYMORE.

The Friday after 9/11, I remember going outside, and looking around the neighborhood. There was no one outside. Everyone was inside, watching their t.v.'s, watching the digging and rescue in New York and at the Pentagon, and in the field of Pa. I thought to myself, that I just had to get everyone together. So, I went door to door, and asked everyone if they'd like to walk with me. Walk with me and we'd walk through this together. Before long, most of the neighborhood was together, we brought candles from our houses, lit them and we began to walk, we sang Amazing Grace, and other religious songs. We sang the National Anthem. We stopped every so often and someone would pray. We walked around and around the neighborhood, until it was very dark. And we all went home, feeling a bit stronger, and a bit more ANGRY at what had happened. And as we were doing that, the same thing was happening all OVER this COUNTRY. They had stirred up a hornets nest, those terrorist's who thought they'd smashed us. They AWOKE that pioneer spirit that nests within all of us who call ourselves AMERICANS. For so many years, that spirit laid dormant within us. The terrorists thought that we were so weak that we'd cave in from what they did to us. BUT OH NO, it WOKE US UP, and as far as I am concerned, it STRENGTHENED US. They truly did wake up a sleeping GIANT. We just had to get over the SHOCK, The SORROW, and then we WOKE UP.

So, tomorrow, I will REMEMBER. I will PRAY for all those who lost their loved ones. Those that had to carry .. that loss. Their pain that they are still going through is unfathomable. NEVER FORGET!!!!! NEVER!!!!! I just hope that we aren't getting so complacent, so complacent that we go back to sleep. SOMEONE has to KEEP WATCH!!!! BE VIGILENT. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN. They are still out there. NEVER FORGET THAT!!!!! Or, it will happen to us again, WHILE WE ARE SLEEPING!!!!!!! God Bless, and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!! Susie :