2 are charged

State Police from Troop J in Lancaster have charged two Harrisburg men in connection with the theft of scrap metal.
The charges stem from a traffic stop in the construction zone in Columbia on Route 30 at Route 441 between 9 pm., Tuesday and 12:50 a.m., Wednesday morning.
Trooper Reid filed charges against Efrain Rivera, 35, and Michael Keller, 30, both of Harrisburg.
State Police initiated a traffic stop in the area after it was found their van had over heated earlier in the night.
The investigation revealed the two had been out earlier in the night taking scrap metal from undisclosed locations in Dauphin and County County and were found in possession of vehicle parts such as radiators and catalytic converters.
Anyone who might be missing vehicle parts is asked to call State Police at 299-7650 and reference incident J01-1208114.
The two were later arraigned in the Harrisburg area. Other details were unavailable at presstime.

Events

Just a reminder
The Mount Bethel Cemetery Company will hold its Light Up the Night fund-raiser on Saturday,
The event will take place in the cemetery in the 600 block of Locust Street. The street will be block for the event. Proceeds from the event will go to the upkeep of the cemetery.
Events begin at 2 p.m. and run until dusk.
The events will include a craft, antique and art show and antique appraisals from 2 to 7 p.m. From 2 to 5 p.m. the Caretaker’s Cottage will have an open house. The VFW Band will play from 6-7 p.m. and throughout the event, food from local organizations will be available.

Authors and Artists show at Market
Columbia’s Market House will host an Artists and Authors Show from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 14.
Brett Nease from the Paranormal Activity Research Association will conduct tours of the dungeon.
There will also be entertainment for children featuring a magician and balloon twister.
For more information, call 684-5767.

Council recap

Mayor Leo Lutz said at Monday night’s borough council meeting, the letter he sent to the police department was to remind them about their responsibilities to the public.
What the mayor and the borough got was more than they bargained for. The police officer’s union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. A spokesman for the police union said it is one of three they have against the borough.
The union filed the charge because the borough did not discuss with them a code of conduct for officers, which they said was part of the letter.
Monday night, the mayor defended his letter.
“From time to time I get letters, phone calls or have sit down conversation with citizens about a member or the police department,” Lutz said.
When that happens, he addresses the complaints with the department.:
“We just listen to what people say and forget about it,” Lutz said.
Recently, the mayor had a complaint about the police department and said he sent the letter, dated Aug. 4, because there was nothing in writing about how the complaint was followed up.
Lutz said it is tough to meet with all the officers at one time, so he chose to write the letter.
He thought it was just to remind the officers how they are to act both on duty and off duty.
In the letter, Lutz reminded the officers they are to treat citizens in a courteous, helpful manner, citing a number of examples. The letter also speaks of how officers are to handle follow up calls and how they are to act on duty as well as off duty.
“To me, a reminder is a reminder, but their attorney objected to the letter,” Lutz said adding the police union through its attorney objected because they thought they would be punished or dismissed from their positions if they violate a code of conduct placed at the end of the four page letter.
“My job is to discuss the department with the citizens and remind them how they should conduct themselves,” Lutz said Monday night.
In the letter, Lutz writes, “you attitude and appearance reflect the image of Columbia Borough to those yo come in contact with. It is expected that you are to enhance the image of Columbia Borough and not degrade it.”
He also approached off duty issues as well.
“Whether you like it or not, the public expects police officers to conduct themselves in an exemplary manner when off duty,” Lutz writes.
“For example, having a few beers is one thing, visible intoxication is another, Relaxing at a pub with a couple of friends is one thing, being drunk at a local establishment, party, or other event is unacceptable,” Lutz wrote.
“Loud and boisterous noise is equally unacceptable and quite frankly, the public does not like to see this of their officers,” Lutz continued writing.
Lutz explained Monday night that the code of conduct, which was part of the letter to the department was an example of one he found used in London, England.
The code addressed the following issues.
• Honesty and integrity.
• Fairness and impartiality.
• Politeness and tolerance.
• Use of force and abuse of authority.
• Performance of duties.
• Lawful orders.
• Confidentiality.
• Criminal offenses.
• Property.
• Sobriety.
• Appearance.
• General conduct.
As a note to the code of conduct, Lutz wrote the “primary duties of those who hold the office of police officer are the protection of life and property, the preservation of the peace, and the prevention and detection of criminal offenses.”
“This code sets out the principles which guide police officers’ conduct and does not seek to restrict an officers’ discretion, rather it aims to define the parameters of conduct within which discretion should be exercised.”
In the final part, Lutz wrote that “police behavior, whether on or off duty, affects the public confidence in the police service. Any conduct, which brings or is likely to bring discredit to the police service may be subject to sanctions. Accordingly, any allegation of conduct, which could, if proved, bring, or be likely to bring discredit to the police service should be investigated in order to establish whether there was a beach of the code and if formal disciplinary action is appropriate.:”
There were no names of individual offers named in the letter.
“I did my job,” Lutz said.

Council talks trash

Until a few weeks ago, local trash haulers such as River Valley, Johnson and Gamby’s helped Columbia by emptying trash receptacles in the downtown area and the borough parks.
No more. That job belongs to Waste Management of York. The move to take the trash business out of town has angered not only haulers, but members of borough council as well.
The trash collection was a topic of discussion at Monday’s borough council meeting, with council admitting it knew nothing about the change.
“We were doing trash cans and we gave the borough a reduced rate,” said Ted Johnson of Johnson’s Disposal.
Johnson said only one of the local haulers, River Valley Disposal, was notified of having to bid for the services.
Borough Manager Norm Meiskey explained that information to trash haulers was sent out by using the yellow pages of the telephone book and if the local haulers weren’t listed, they didn’t get the information. The borough manager acknowledged that Johnson wasn’t on the list, but wouldn’t have been chosen because of problems with his trash collection.
Bob Kline of River Valley, also objected to the borough’s method.
“Why go to the phone book, when there’s a list of licensed haulers?” Kline asked the council.
Meiskey said that no such list existed. He also said that letters were sent out and those who didn’t want to bid on the services, just didn’t. The borough manager also said that Gamby’s Disposal didn’t want to bid on the trash collection.
So after going through the process, because the cost was under $10,000, which would have forced the borough to seek bids, not quotes for the trash service, Waste Management was awarded the service.
Kline provided some details on Waste Management’s plan, saying that the York company’s bid was for 12 cans and after going around and counting the cans, his was for 24, plus six in parks.
“Had I bid the same package as Waste Management, I would have saved the borough $762,” Kline said.
Before council had a chance to address the issue, a few citizens spoke.
Those who spoke didn’t like the fact the service was taken out of the hands of the local haulers, considering they volunteered their time for events such as the Spring Clean-Up in April.
“Waste Management won’t volunteer in April because they don’t care about this town,” said Shirley McBride.
John Neidig wanted to know if council voted on the change.
“Was this voted on and passed by the council in an open forum?: Neidig asked.
“It was handled by the borough manager,” said Council President Sandy Duncan. “We are reviewing it.”
“This is cowboy stuff,” Neidig said.
Meiskey said that if there is an error, the borough will investigate it and correct the error.
“Waste Management had the lowest quote and we must go with whoever quotes the lowest,” Meiskey said.
Said Councilman Vern Detz, “this is on the top of my list to find out what happened.”
“I was taken back by this decision, because we just found out when it became public knowledge,” Detz said.
“This will not be a dead issue with this borough council and will be acted upon. There will be a resolution to this,” Detz said.
“Council was not aware of this decision, relieving local haulers,” said Councilwoman Mary Barninger.
“I am troubled by this determination,” she said.
“We must do what we can to promote local businesses and we have to support

Police charge 2

Two people were charged in separate incidents and placed in Lancaster County Prison following weekend disputes in Columbia.
Both incidents happened on Manor Street, police said.
In the first incident, police were dispatched to the 500 block of Manor Street at 3:14 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 9, because of repeated calls of a male walking in the area, causing damage to cars and property.
When police arrived on the scene, they found David Guzman, 18, of 15 East Walnut St., damaging a car in the 700 block of Plane Street. When approached by police, Guzman failed to comply with several verbal commands and a taser was used.
Police said Guzman damaged eight vehicles, with damage ranging from broken windows to body damage. Also, one window was broken with a bench and another had a traffic cone thrown through a window.
Off. Brent Keyser charged Guzman with nine counts of criminal mischief, as well as one count each of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, public drunkenness and underage drinking.
He was arraigned before District Magistrate Jayne Duncan and committed to prison.
About two hours later at 5:13 a.m., police were dispatched to the Fourth and Manor street area for a report of a female standing outside armed with a hand gun. While en route, police were told at least one shot was fired.
Upon arrival, police found between three and five people standing outside at 404 Manor St. and were able to determine that the female who fired the shot entered the home and was still armed, and did fire a shot at another person, who was not hurt.
After securing the area, police were able to talk Alicia Loreto, 28, of 404 Manor St. out of the residence after five minutes.
A nine millimeter handgun, along with nine live rounds of shells were found inside.
Off. Matt Leddy charged Loreto with one count of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and disorderly conduct.
Loreto was arraigned before Duncan and also placed in Lancaster County Prison.

Just say no

Here is Cheryl Stansbury's story from Monday's council meeting in Columbia.

It might be three strikes and no place to go for former State Representative Tom Armstrong, who is looking for a halfway house to house sex offenders.
In May, Armstrong of Marietta, was forced to move the offenders from an building in Conestoga Township, after residents complained.
So he moved the offenders into his house in Marietta. Last week, Marietta Borough Council was forced to deal with the issue after a number of residents complained.
Armstrong’s ultimate location is Columbia. Monday night, it was Columbia’s turn to hear from residents, who don’t want the sex offenders moving into Columbia. The home on South Fifth Street is within two blocks of the Park Elementary School and Our Lady of the Angels School.
At its meeting, council said it is taking steps to prevent Armstrong from moving the men to Columbia.
Most of those in attendance at Monday’s council meeting, wanted to address the Armstrong situation. After one of the residents spoke, Mayor Leo Lutz stepped in and explained how the borough was attacking the issue.
Biddy Helton of Mountville sparked the discussion when she asked council if there would be a spot for the house in Columbia.
“I read in the newspaper that the location in Marietta was only a temporary residence for the three sex offenders until the Columbia property was ready,” said Helton. “So, will there be a spot for them in Columbia?”
“The borough is doing everything it physically possibly can and will use every legal means necessary to protect the residents and their children,” said Borough Manager Norm Meiskey. “No stone has been unturned.”
Councilwoman Mary Wickenheiser assured the public that council has been on top of things.
“From the time that the house failed in Conestoga, we were on it. We don’t want it in Columbia and we will do everything we can to prevent it,” said Wickenheiser.
According to resident Louise Birk, living beside an Armstrong property is unpleasant. She lived next door to a property that Armstrong owned and she said the police were every other night.
“He sold the property, and the police haven’t had to come around at all,” said Birk. “Do all you can do, please. You have a good community.”
Mayor Lutz told the public where council stood on the issue.
“We don’t want these folks in Columbia. We have been working really hard to revitalize the community and something like this would not work with what we are trying to do. So we don’t want it,” said Lutz.
Helton also questioned council on whether federal funding was involved and council was unaware of the funding for the house.
“If someone is getting federal dollars to run a program as this, then people have a right to say whether they want it or not, because they are paying for it,” said Lutz.
Currently, there are no laws in Lancaster County restricting where sex offenders can live. Megan’s Law simply requires them to report where they are living and
Lutz said that the Adam Walsh Bill doesn’t affect Pennsylvania. According to Lutz, House Bill 164 does it all. It restricts where they not only live, but where they can go. It assigns penalties according to the seriousness of crime. With this bill, some offenders, depending on the seriousness, will not be permitted within 200 feet of a school, playground, or day care center. Some offenders may even have to wear an ankle bracelet, so authorities know where the are at all times.
Resident Donald Haines thanked council for a job well done. Haines moved to Columbia about two years ago and he said he’s noticed much change in that two year time period.
“There is such tremendous pride in this community, and it’s important that we are bringing the right people in,” said Haines. “Something like this will discourage family people from moving in and those are he kinds of people we want. I would like to commend council and say thank you for the hard work you’ve done in preventing this blemish.”
Helton also commended council on doing such a good job.
“I went to Marietta’s meeting and they wouldn’t really discuss anything,” said Helton. “I commend Columbia Borough Council for updating the public on what’s going on and for caring and working so hard to stop it.”
Resident Connie Beury agreed. “I just wanted to say ditto,” said Beury. “I think council is doing a great job.”
The public can help stop it too. According to Council President Sandy Duncan, the more concerns that are expressed publicly, the more help it is. Duncan asked the public to keep this a hot button item in their conversations, because community input is important.
Another way to help is to help get the House Bill 164 passed. Lutz asks that the residents contact local legislators and ask them to pass it through.

Pickets at Council meeting

arrying signs, about 15 members of Columbia’s Service Employees International Union 668 held an informational picket prior to Monday’s borough council meeting.
The union, which consists of 25 highway and wastewater department workers, along with office workers in the municipal office and police department, is in the process of negotiating a new five-year contract with the borough.
Members of SEIU has been working without a contract since December 2007, said Harry Howard, union head.
Howard said prior to the start of Monday’s council meeting, the borough’s final offer isn’t good enough for the union.
“What they offered us is very degrading. We would end up paying the borough to work here,” Howard said.
Howard said the union has entered into the fact finding part of negotiations. The borough, the union said, has offered them lump sum payments twice a year and is proposing an increase to employees’ contributions for health care.
Howard said the union blames Borough Manager Norm Meiskey for the lack of a new contract. Meiskey was not at Monday’s meeting as he was attending a seminar.
The union has authorized a strike. Howard said Monday, no date has been set.
He said there is a possibility they will hold an informational picket again Saturday during the Cruisin Columbia Car Show, which will be held downtown.
“We want to get the fact finding back and get back to the bargaining table,” Howard said.
“On one hand they (the borough) pats us on the back and tells us how good of job we are doing, but then they think we are the worst people around,” Howard said.
As the meeting started, the workers made their way inside the council chambers. They got some support inside.
“We are blessed to have good workers in this borough. There should be an agreement with them,” said Herbert Spiese of the 200 block of Perry Street.
“We’ve been negotiating with them since last June,” said Council Vice-President Mary Wickenheiser.
“You are going to lose some of these people if you don’t treat them right. It’s important to the workers have a real good, living wage,” Spiese said.
Later in the meeting, Councilman Vern Detz said he couldn’t help but notice the union’s presence.
“I echo Mr. Spiese’s comments,” Detz said.
He said he was a little disappointed that the union used the media to get the word out about the lack of a contract.
“It made for an ugly sore eye for the borough,” Detz said.
“I was a little disappointed this got out before fact finding was done and hoped the fact finding would have taken place first,” Detz said.
“Now we have to deal with it,” Detz said.
“The borough wanted to see the facts come back before we invite you back to the bargaining table,” Detz said.
Howard countered Detz’ comments by saying the fact finding is complete and the union had received the borough’s final offer.
“It’s a done deal,” Howard said of the fact finding.
Wickenheiser said the borough was waiting for the fact finder to be named before proceeding.

Cruisin Columbia

Columbia’s downtown will be packed with cars next Saturday as the fourth annual Cruisin’ Columbia car show will be held from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Locust Street and some of the side streets.
The show is one of the biggest car shows in Lancaster County.
The show, which began on the Route 462 Bridge as part of Old Home Week four years ago has gone from more than 200 cars to close to 300 this year, if not more.
Barry Doutrich, the organizer of the event and said this year there is a whole day full of entertainment. Between 7-10 a.m., the cars and motorcycles will begin to arrive and be parked on Locust Street between Second and Fifth streets, which will close the street. Also during that time, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will host a breakfast.
The Market House will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., which will feature antiques and crafts. The show begins at 10 a.m. with the National Anthem and music by DJ Charles “Skeeter” Snyder. There is a Twist and Jitterbug Dance Contest at 11:30 a.m. and a top 10 prize drawing and dice toss at noon.
This year, the show will feature more than 300 cars from all over Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, Doutrich said.

For more, see this week's edition of the Columbia Ledger.

Tree trimming info

The Columbia Shade Tree Commission is advising property owners with street trees that PPL Utilities will be in the borough during May.
The utility will be trimming back tree limbs and branches that are close to power lines.
They will be in the following neighborhoods:
• South 14th Street between Lancaster Avenue and Manor Street.
• Eighth Street between Chestnut Street and Lancaster Avenue.
• Seventh Street between Chestnut and Locust streets.
• Sixth Sixth between Walnut Street and Lancaster Avenue.
• South Fifth Street between Locust and Mill streets.
• North Third Street between Poplar and Chestnut streets.
• Chestnut Street between North Eighth and 10th streets.
• Walnut Street between North Fifth and Ninth streets.
• Locust Street between Sixth and Ninth streets.
• Cherry Street between South Fifth Street and Lancaster Avenue.
• Union Street between South Fifth Street and Lancaster Avenue.
• Union Street between South Fifth and Short Sixth streets.
• Manor Street between South Fourth and Florence streets.
• The intersection of Fourth and Poplar streets.

Arbor Day

The Columbia Shade Tree Commission and the Columbia Tree Society will celebrate its 17th annual Arbor Day, Friday, April 25 at Janson’s Park, Sixth and Cherry streets at 6 p.m.
Ron Sahd, president of the Janson Foundation will serve as master of ceremonies. Father Kenneth Lawrence of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church will offer the benediction and invocation.
Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz will make remarks and Tim Dugan, representing the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will present the borough with its 16th consecutive National Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA Award.

With Pride

Columbia will celebrate its annual Pride Day on Saturday, April 26 from 9 a.m.-noon.
Sponsors of the event are asking residents to come out and help clean-up the community.
Designated clean-up sites are Rotary Park, Second and Chestnut streets; Columbia River Park, Front Street; Janson’s Park, Sixth and Cherry streets and Locust Street Park.
Sponsors of the vent are the chamber, Rivertownes PA USA, the Columbia Park Rangers, Columbia Borough, the Columbia Economic Development Corporation, the Columbia Board of Health and the Kleen-Rite Corporation.
For more information or to sign-up contact Glenn at 684-5249.

Do you know your neighbor?

Do you know who is living next door to you?
It could be doctor, a lawyer, your best friend and someone you’ve known for years. It could also be a sexual predator.
That topic was discussed at the April meeting of Columbia Borough Council when a resident spoke about her concerns when a registered sex offender, registered under Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law moved into a neighborhood on Manor Street.
The resident expressed concern after the Columbia Police Department passed out flyers in the neighborhood alerting residents to the fact a sex offender had moved into the neighborhood.
“The residents are worried if the children there are safe, if they can let them out to play and not have to watch them,” the resident said.
At the meeting, Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz asked that the residents of the area “come together to keep an eye on this person.”
“They need to report any suspicious activity,” the mayor said.
He also suggested that parents sit down with their children and talked about what to do and not do if there is an incident involving the predator.
According to public information that can be obtained through the Megan’s Law website, www.pa.meaganslaw.state.pa.us, there are 10 registered sex offenders living in Columbia Borough.

More information is available in this week's edition

No to trucks

At Monday’s borough council meeting, Mayor Leo Lutz said plans to relocated Route 441 and get the big trucks out of the downtown continue to move forward.
Earlier in the day, Lutz and Councilwoman Mary Wickenheiser attended a meeting of the Lancaster County Transportation Technical Advisory Committee.
“They assured us the project is on schedule,” Lutz said.
But the completion of the project won’t be until at least 2015. Lutz said one of the things that made the committee take notice there is a huge problem with the big trucks in Columbia was a letter he read and pictures he showed that he received from someone who lives along the truck route.
The letter talked about the foundation of the resident’s house being damaged by the trucks and also cracks on the resident’s porch.
“I shared the letter and it had an impact on the committee,” Lutz said.
“We must stay on schedule and keep this project moving forward,” Lutz said.
But between now and when the relocation is completed, what can be done to let the trucks know they are causing problems in Columbia?
Borough Council approved the purchase of scales, a van and equipment to begin inspecting trucks for safety when they travel through the borough. In addition to getting the equipment, police will be trained to do the inspections and issue citations.
Columbia had already budgeted for the purchase of the equipment and at least $40,000 in revenue in 2008.
“This is another step that shows we are serious about relocating Route 441. We make to make sure the trucks that are coming through this borough are legal,” said Councilwoman Mary Wickenheiser.

Read more in Thursday's Columbia Ledger.

Skate park info

There’s no denying that sometime down the road, Columbia will have a skate park.
Just when and where is still a little bit up in the air, depending upon who you ask.
At Monday’s four-hour marathon borough council meeting, the future home of the skate park was discussed. The discussion came as the result of an other move by the council to ban the use of skateboards, skates, etc., not only in the downtown business district, but Routes 441 and 462 as well.
“I understand that we are locked into Rotary Park,” said Councilman Vern Detz. “I only caught wind of this recently.”
If the site of the skate park is indeed Rotary Park, it was news to the council. One reason was because a site on Commerce Street under the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge, near Rotary Park was deemed unacceptable by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

For more, read this week's Columbia Ledger

We made the big time

When there are television cameras in Columbia, it usually means there is something bad happening.
But Monday, the bright lights of the television cameras weren’t in town highlighting something. They were using Columbia as a representative of “small town” America to gauge reaction to remarks made last wee by Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.
Campaigning in San Francisco, Sen. Obama commented about working class voters from small towns.
“Its not surprising, then, they get bitter,” Obama said in San Francisco.
“They cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” Obama said.
Those remarks got the brain waves moving at ABC World New Tonight. They were looking for a small town to see what the reaction was.
That brought Jake Tapper, a producer for World News Tonight, along with a camera man and two technicians to Columbia.
Tapper basically was looking for small town America and he got it. Tapper said York and Lancaster cities weren’t considered and Columbia was chosen over Wrightsville because it had a lot more to offer.

Watch the news

Columbia is expected to be featured tonight on ABC's World News Tonight at 6:30 p.m.

They are in town talking about comments made over the weekend by Presidential candidate Obama about small towns.

Fire Department holds banquet

More than 100 people attended the annual membership banquet for the Columbia No. 1 Fire Department Saturday night at the Park Plaza Hotel on Centerville Road.

The department honored its members for their commitment during 2007 and reviewed two videos, one on training the department did and highlights of some of its responses.

The speaker for the event was Matthew Tobia, a battalion chief of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department in Maryland. Tobia, along with Dale Dommel, master technician from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, assisted the department with some of its training.

Dommel served as master of ceremonies.

Those honored at the banquet included:
• Denny Hershey, Firefighter of the Year.
• Tom Wise, Member of the Year.
• Keystone Polish Concrete, the Joseph Zercher Award, given to a person or business in good standing with the department.
Keystone Polish Concrete donated a new floor for the engine room, which would have cost the department $20,000.
• William Ney, Chief’s Award.
• Mitchel Lutz Jr., the Lutz Honorary Presentation.
• Pat Hallacher and Elsie Hower, Special Recognition for helping with fund-raising and bingo.
• Chief Lenny Urey, former chief of the Wrightsville Fire Company, a Distinguished Service Award.
• Deputy Chief Joe Felus, a Recognition Award for writing grants for the department.

A1 is A1

A new restaurant has recently opened in Columbia.

A1 Buffet and Grill, which has a variety of Chinese food, steaks and other food, recently opened at 15th Street and Lancaster Avenue, across from Anvil International.

A1 Buffet is open Monday through Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Fridays and Saturdays doors open at 10:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. On Sundays they are open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Prices vary depending on menu items, but typically lunch buffet costs $5.95 a person, and dinner costs $9.95.

For more information, call 342-2643.

Bike auction is a hit

With spring underway and some day soon, the weather turning nice, residents are starting to think about getting outside and riding their bikes.

For those who don’t have a bike, Columbia Borough offered residents a chance to purchase a bike at a cheap price.

More than 90 bikes, of different styles and types were available for purchase at the

Columbia Market House on Saturday. The borough held an auction of bikes that were stolen or found in the borough.

It was Columbia’s first bike auction in two years.

The auction started at 1:30 p.m. and lasted for about an hour.

“The bike have been accumulating in the Borough’s basement and it’s time to distribute them,” said Borough Councilman Mike Beury. “These bikes have been confiscated, stolen, or just found.”

The bikes were sold as is. Residents had the option of registering it by purchasing a license for $1, in case the bike ended up stolen or lost.

A large majority of the bikes sold for under $20.

Spring clean-ups to start

Now that the calendar has turned to Spring, another sure sign that warmer weather is just around the corner starts next week in Columbia.

The borough and its Board of Health will begin its annual Spring Clean-ups, starting Friday, April 4 and continuing each Friday through April 25.

Here are the dates and areas for the clean-ups:

Friday, April 4, the area of Sixth and Locust streets south and east to Lancaster Avenue to Shawnee Run and Trinity House.

Friday, April 11, the area of Sixth and Locust streets north and south to Front Street to Route 30 and west to Colonial Metals.

Friday, April 18, the area from Sixth and Locust streets east to Union National Bank and the Columbia Consolidated Fire Department and the east end town.

Friday, April 25, the area of Sixth and Locust streets north from CVS to the Devonshire Court area, Cloverton Drive and Columbia High School.

All clean-ups begin at 8.a.m.

Kandle Bingo for K-9

The Columbia K-9 Campaign will hold a Kandle Bingo on Sunday, April 2 at 1 p.m., at the Columbia VFW, Fourth and Manor streets.

The doors open at noon and bingo begins at 1 p.m.

The cost is $20 for 20 games.

Proceeds from the event benefit the police department’s K-9 Officer Max.

For more information, call 684-5435.

Perry Street update

Two years ago, nine homes in the 200 block of Perry Street were destroyed by a fire. While some have rebuilt their homes, two years later, the recovery continues.

The Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority has stepped to the plate to assist with the recovery.

“Over the last year we have met with the residents and citizens to do a planning process to redevelop the area,” said Karen Bousquet, a Community Development Assistant for the Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority.

Bousquet said the residents were a little hesitant at first about the government’s involvement.

Find out more in this week's Columbia Ledger.

Letter

There is a Letter to the Editor in this week's edition of the Columbia Ledger dealing with the problems with the proposed truck route.

Find out who wrote the letter and who they invited to town to discuss the problems.

Fire update

There are very few places in Columbia, where there isn’t a fire hydrant on almost every street corner.

There are exceptions to every rule, however.

One of those exceptions is if fires break out on the far reaches of the borough where there isn’t a hydrant on every street corner.
One of those areas is the eastern end of the borough, which borders West Hempfield Township.

Thursday, firemen found out just how critical it is to have a hydrant on every corner as fire destroyed 10 garage bays on Deascenti Drive at Franklin Road, just inside the borough limits.

Since there wasn’t a hydrant on every corner, first-arriving firemen had water trouble trying to extinguish the blaze. Because the nearest hydrant was more than a mile away from the fire scene, a large number of tankers from fire departments in Lancaster County had to be called in and relays set-up to attack the fire.
Monday, Columbia Fire Chief Charles Anderson said while reviewing the incident because of the lack of hydrants in the area, three extra tankers will be added to anymore responses in the area.

For more, along with a page of pics, read this week's Columbia Ledger.

No to trucks

At it’s meeting Monday, Columbia Borough Council passed a resolution not to allow trucks on any streets in town, except Route 462 and 441.
While it won’t take care of the major problem of eliminating major truck traffic, the move will curtail what streets those big trucks can travel on.

Monday’s move limits truck traffic on the remainder of the borough’s streets, except if they are making local deliveries. The reason for the move, council said was simple. Because of congestion caused by the big rigs, the trucks were looking for shorter routes around Columbia, often times using other streets not designed for trucks, to avoid congestion in the center of town.

While that move might seem like a minor one, council continues to dig in for a major fight as it attempts to secure funding for the relocation of Route 441 around Columbia.

Currently, the $12 million project is on life support.

The borough and Mayor Leo Lutz have spent much of the last three weeks, since it was announced the project might be in trouble, contacting county, state and federal government officials and legislators.
The borough is again circulating petitions throughout the community, asking residents to sign to showing support for the alternate truck route.

“We need to show county, state and federal government officials that this is essential,” Lutz said.

“We want to leave no stone unturned. We’ve been contacting everybody to plead our case,” Lutz said.

This week, Lutz said he plans to speak to a representative from Sen. Arlen Specter’s office and attend a meeting of the Lancaster County Transportation Advisory Committee. He also said there is the possibility of yard sign being purchased and placed throughout the borough.

The mayor said he had to talk residents out of protesting plans to pull the finances for the project by laying in streets in an attempt to block trucks.

For more, read this week's Columbia Ledger.

Traffic problems

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) began an $11 million project that will include bridge work and resurfacing of Route 30 between the Route 441 overpass and Prospect Road.

The project, the largest for 2008 in Lancaster County, will take until September of 2009 to complete, PennDOT said.

Need a bike?

Need a bike for the summer? Columbia Borough might be able to help you.

The borough announced today they are holding a bike auction at the Market House, Saturday, March 29, starting at 1:30 p.m.

The doors will open at 12:30 p.m.

Prospective bidders must register and have a bid card and provide photo ID to register.

Bike licenses will be available at the auction for $1.

Smoke could be seen for miles

More than 20 fire companies from Lancaster and York counties are on the scene of a major fire just inside the borough lines on Deascenti Drive at Franklin Road, about a mile or so off Route 462.

The fire on property owned by River Valley Disposal broke out about 12:43 p.m. and according to Lancaster County 911 was brought under control at 2:06 p.m.

The fire destroyed equipment bays on the property. The bays were leased by River Valley Disposal to Edie Waste, also of Columbia.

The first units on the scene could see thick, black smoke showing as they left their fire stations. We could see the smoke as we left the office and turned onto Fourth Street.

The major problem in fighting the fire was getting water to the scene. There were a large number of tankers on the scene, running relays from the closest fire hydrant, which was located on Route 462 at Oswego Drive, perhaps a mile from the fire scene.

At this time, no damage estimates or cause is available and firemen will be on the scene for many more hours.

Kelly Horn of River Valley said she was in the office when the fire broke out.

"We looked out and saw flames. It was already smokey," Horn said.

Employees of both River Valley and Edie were able to get their trucks away from the bays.

"No one (employees) were hurt. Everything but maybe one car got out," Horn said.

There were reports of a possible explosion on the property after the fire broke out.

"There was no explosion, but there were a couple of pops," Horn said.

"We don't know what happened," Horn said.

Steve Loreto is a sales person for Edie. It was his second day of work.

"There was a welder working on a dumpster," Loreto said.

"The building was completely destroyed," Loreto said.

Edie owns five of the eight bays at the business.

Jason Myers, an Edie employee, said he was welding when the fire broke out.

"I said to myself, it was getting awful hot in here. I looked around and saw the wall behind me stared to burn," Myers said.

Myers said he and other employees tried to put the fire out, with no luck.

There was a tank of diesel fuel near where the fire was burning, but it wasn't damaged.

On the scene, a few firefighters were being treated for heat problems.

We will have more as it becomes available.

Fire pics

Here are some of the pictures taken by Staff Writer Cheryl Stansbury from the scene of this afternoon's devastating fire on Deascenti Drive at Franklin Road.

Breaking News

There is a massive fire, which has just been brought under control on Franklin Road at Deascenti Drive, just inside the borough limits.

More than 20 fire companies have been on the scene since 12:43 p.m.

We are working on a story and will be posting pictures.

Truck route might be doomed

A multi-million dollar project being designed to eliminate heavy truck traffic in downtown Columbia is on life support.

The alternate truck route, or bypass, had been pulled off a transportation improvement program list for at least two years and may not make any lists at all.

Columbia Borough first learned that its plans for the truck route might be in jeopardy when they learned the plans were removed from the two-year list because the truck route was at least four years from construction.

There were recent reports that the truck route was dead because Governor Ed Rendell had pulled funds earmarked for the project to put into other road projects including the leasing of the turnpike and repair of bridges across the state.

Mayor Leo Lutz has spent much of the last two weeks contacting officials from the county, state and federal governments. He addressed the Lancaster County Commissioners and the County’s Municipal Planning Organization last week. He presented commissioners with copies of an old petition that Columbia residents were asked to sign more than a year ago when a public meeting was held at the high school.

For more, see this week's Columbia Ledger.

New officer sworn in

With her parents looking on, Columbia's newest police office Holly Arndt wsa sworn in yesterday by Mayor Leo Lutz.

Arndt will attend training school starting in a few weeks for six months. It's not expected that she will be on the streets, protecting and serving, until October.

Town Square is damaged

The Columbia Police Department is investigating an accident that caused thousands of dollars in damage to the Town Square at Fifth and Locust streets, late Tuesday night.

No solution to dispute

At the end of a 90 minute meeting Monday night between the Columbia Fire Police and Borough Council, there was no resolution to a dispute between the two groups.

Borough Council had requested the meeting with the fire police to reach a resolution to an almost two-year-old problem that saw the fire police stop working special events in the borough.

With about 10 of its members present, the fire police and borough council discussed what caused the problem. During the discussion, it seemed that the two groups were going to meet halfway and perhaps get the fire police back to providing security and traffic control at special events in Columbia.

But after hearing from Bob Hetter, who provided security for the Antique, Art and Craft Show and the Bridge Bust, two events sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce, the fire police said there would be no change in their status, that they would continue to respond to emergency calls such as fires and accidents only.

Hetter said he charged the chamber for the two events.

“I don’t put a uniform for under $35 an hour. I do that for a living and I had two people handle both events,” Hetter said.

“The fire police will only volunteer to do fires and accidents,” said Ken Murphy, a spokesman for the group.

See more in this week's Columbia Ledger.

Fire Police meeting

About 20 months ago, the Columbia Fire Police stopped providing traffic control and security at special events in the borough.
Those special events included the Chamber of Commerce’s Antique, Art and Craft Show, the Bridge Bust, the Cruisin’ Columbia Car Show, along with parades and athletic events at Columbia High School.
The fire police, who continued to respond to emergency calls, during that time said the reason was a $2,5000 cut in an appropriation from the borough.
While the borough worked to reach an agreement with the fire police back when the problem first happened in 2006, there has been very little done to resolve the dispute since.
That might be coming to an end.
Monday night, borough council announced it would hold a special meeting with the fire police on Monday night at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held in the council chambers at 308 Locust St. and is open to the public.

Information you need to know

Officials from the United States Environmental Protection Agency went door-to-door Tuesday handing out information sheets concerning the removal of radioactive waste from seven sites owned by Strube Inc. in Columbia, Mount Joy, Marietta and East Donegal Township.

According to Trish Taylor, community involvement coordinator for the EPA, the two-page handout informs residents within walking distance of the Strube sites about what is contained in the seven warehouses, health and safety concerns, information on what the cleanup of the sites will be and who to contact for more information.

The United States EPA is working with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in accessing and overseeing the cleanup of the seven sites in Lancaster County. The warehouses store miscellaneous items, including old aviation dials and instruments with radium paint, a mixture of combustibles and devices containing mercury. Taylor said the company is required to remove the radium containing items and “decommission” the warehouses.

Three of Strube’s facilities are located in Columbia and there are two in Marietta. The other two warehouses are located in Mount Joy and East Donegal Township, Taylor said.

Taylor said the EPA has developed a web site to address the Strube cleanup effort: www.epaosc.net/Strube.

For other information, contact the EPA at 215-814-5539, DEP at 787-2480, or the Lancaster County Emergency Management Agency at 664-1200.

Strategic Plan meeting

A Columbia Borough Strategic Planning Meeting will be held Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m., at the school district admin center, Fifth and Chestnut streets.

Grand openings

Please join the Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce in welcoming two new Columbia businesses.
A grand opening celebration will be taking place on Saturday, Feb. 2, for Flowers, Herbs and Art located at 411 Locust St., owners Emily and Jeff Gofus will be on hand to welcome you to their beautiful shop full of floral, wreaths, herbs, and local art and herb products.
The celebration will start at 10 a.m. with an official ribbon cutting at 10:30 a.m.

The following Saturday, Feb. 9, the Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce will be celebrating the grand opening of Freeform Athletics a martial arts and fitness center located at 520 Union St. in Columbia. The martial arts and fitness center is located in the former Shawnee Fire Company and will offer classes both for martial arts and overall fitness. The celebration will start at 10 a.m. with the official ribbon cutting taking place at 10:30 a.m.
The day will include food, music and fun and martial arts exhibitions.

For more info on either of these Grand Openings please contact the Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce at 717-684-5249.

Female cop hired

This is from Monday's Columbia Borough Council meeting.

You can read the entire story in Thursday's edition of the Columbia Ledger.

Holly Arndt won’t be a history maker in Columbia, but she will be the second of her gender.
Arndt was hired Monday night by borough council as just the second female police officer in the borough. Columbia has been without a female officer for about 15 years.
Arndt, who will start a six-month training course on March 3, probably won’t hit the streets of Columbia until the fall, according to Mayor Leo Lutz.
Arndt’s hiring was by a 6-1 vote. Voting for the hiring were Council President Sandy Duncan, Council Vice-President Mary Wickenheiser, Mike Beury, Mary Barninger, Mitch Cooper and Kelly Murphy. Voting against Arndt’s hiring was Vern Detz, explaining he wanted to see the need to hire another officer.
Also, council instructed the Civil Service Commission to begin the testing process for the position of sergeant.