Thursday, March 12, 2015

The back story on the Columbia Plaza shooting

ColumbiaPaOnline has done extensive research on the February 3 shooting in the Columbia Plaza parking lot and has posted the results HERE.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

PA open-carry handgun rules: 'We have created a minefield of regulations,' advocate says

On Feb. 3, Ashley Curry, 31, of Columbia, got into an argument with another woman in the parking lot of a Columbia shopping center.
Roland survived, and Curry was charged with ethnic intimidation, aggravated assault and related offenses.
She was not charged, however, with a violation of Pennsylvania's Uniform Firearms Act — the state's overriding list of gun laws.
That's because, "She had a valid license to carry a firearm," Columbia police Chief Jack Brommer said.

What I saw March 11, 2015

 Fastnachts
Got some today


 Hawk on Barber

The Coffee Grill is coming.

Houston Street blocked off due to gas leak


Final phase of Ironville Pike construction to begin next Monday

PA Joins Two More States in Banning Use of 'Climate Change'

A former employee of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) said that she had been "explicitly ordered" to remove all references to climate change from the DCNR's website. She said the orders came from then-Gov. Tom Corbett's administration.

Judge: No reduced bail for Ashley Curry

A Lancaster County judge has reinstated original bail conditions against a womancharged with shooting another woman last month in Columbia.
Ashley Rose Curry, an inmate at Lancaster County Prison, must now post $100,000 to make bail.

A rush to judgment?

Unanswered questions linger in the February 3rd Columbia Plaza shooting.  ColumbiaPaOnline is investigating the case and has reported preliminary results here:
http://www.columbiapaonline.com/2015/03/11/the-other-side-of-the-story-part-1/

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

It's a bird, it's a plane . . .

It's . . . um . . . a plane. A C-130 to be exact, like the ones that flew over on Sunday morning.

This plane circled the town twice today, as if in a holding pattern, at about 3 p.m.  One flew over at about the same time yesterday.

631 South 13th

Today . . .

Messin' with the monolith

Construction crews worked on the monolith at the Route 441 bypass project today . . . 






In these two shots, the ladder dangles as it is hoisted away with a crane . . . 


Take that, Winter!

Borough crews worked today to remove snow along Lancaster Avenue.  Let's hope that's the last of it.

Monday, March 9, 2015

A good day to work outside

Work continued today on the Columbia Plaza facelift after a long hiatus due to the recent claustrophobia-inducing winter weather.

Car on the tracks


Emergency personnel were called to the scene of a car stuck on the railroad tracks near the entrance to Columbia River Park shortly after 4 p.m. today. According to Columbia Borough Police, the driver erroneously drove the car up the runway between the sets of tracks after suffering a medical incident that caused him to veer off the road at the railroad crossing on Route 441. After the car traveled a short distance, the front passenger-side tire crossed one of the rails, snagging the vehicle. The driver was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The car was freed and removed by Midway Collision Shop.









Columbia woman to trial for shooting outside Mussers

A Columbia woman is heading to trial for allegedly shooting another woman last month outside a market.
Ashley Rose Curry is charged with aggravated assault and related counts for allegedly shooting Jamie J. Roland outside Musser's Market at 960 Lancaster Ave.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Out for a Sunday flight

Five C-130s thundered over River Park at about 11:20 this morning and then turned left at the Wrights Ferry Bridge, proceeding westward to parts unknown.








94 years ago - Columbia fire dept. arrested for arson

This article from the March 9, 1921 edition of the New York Times recently appeared on the radar.
(Click on image for larger, clearer view.)

As oil trains continue to derail, top Pennsylvania officials demand federal action

An analysis of those in danger in case of an oil train fire released last week by PublicSource showed three schools and a day-care center in Marietta and Columbia within the evacuation zone of Norfolk Southern's Port Road rail line along the Susquehanna.
They are the Susquehanna Waldorf School in Marietta, Little People Day Care in Columbia, and Park Elementary School and Our Lady of the Angels Catholic School in Columbia.
"The potential for disaster is too great to ignore," Gov. Tom Wolf wrote in a Feb. 27 letter to President Barack Obama in which he said oil train safety is a top priority for his administration.

Making fasnachts was a 40-year tradition for this Columbia family

For 40-plus years, it was a tradition for her family to make fasnachts at the Columbia church that is Lancaster County's "Fasnacht Central."
Former Columbian Josetta Grimes, now of Ohio, submitted this photo of her mother Bernice Stein (on the left) and her aunt, Rosemary Donnelly, who are twins, with NBC-TV's Williard Scott when the "Today Show" weatherman came to Columbia to broadcast in 1989.
The whole family has helped with fasnacht-making at Columbia's Holy Trinity Catholic Church for years, Grimes recalls.

There’s no proof Daylight Saving Time saves electricity, so why do we even bother?

The overall DST effect on electricity consumption runs counter to conventional wisdom: DST results in a 1-percent overall increase in residential electricity demand, and the effect is highly statistically significant.

Central PA road crews patch potholes

With sun shining and temperatures in the mid-thirties, balmy conditions after the last few days, PennDOT trucks were still working along US Route 30 outside Columbia Borough in Lancaster County on Saturday.
Instead of filling their plows with snow, they were filling potholes with gravel.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Ready to beam up

The Enterprise is waiting down by the river to beam up anyone who is tired of the winter that will not end.

(Photo by Ingo Paulussen)

Monday, March 2, 2015

Cottage fire at the riverfront today

Several departments responded to a report of a cottage fire along the river this afternoon and had the situation controlled in a short time.








"Tired" of this

 Remember that tire that was out on the ice last Saturday?

 Well, it wasn't there today.

 It had been right there at the end of the footprints. Yes, footprints (leading right to left).

As a "public service," someone had walked out onto the ice, retrieved it, and placed it by this sign.