LANCASTERONLINE
These days, Jon Loreto, a lifelong Columbia resident, gets paid to splash the night sky. A subcontractor with New Castle-based Pyrotecnico, Loreto will do 22 shows this season for the budget-conscious Barnstormers as well as bigger shows on the Jersey shore and elsewhere. His fireworks will light up downtown Lancaster on Friday night.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Columbia man behind fireworks displays at Barnstormers games dreams of the big time
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Jim McClure: History's harvest of York in Civil War
YORK DAILY RECORD
In Wrightsville and Hanover in 1963, Gettysburg 100 featured parades, speeches and other well-attended Civil War observances.
Midway between those two boroughs, in York, a single-page reprint in The Gazette and Daily served as the only evidence that the City of York played a role in the Civil War. That page reproduced its predecessor's coverage of the Confederate invasion of York County in the days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
About 11,000 Confederate troops moved through the county, about one-sixth of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
They were rebuffed from crossing the Susquehanna River when Union troops first fought them feverishly and then stopped them cold by burning the mile-long bridge connecting York and Lancaster counties.
MORE HERE:
http://www.ydr.com/history/ci_23503928/historys-harvest?source=most_emailed
But seriously . . . Is the bridge falling apart?
Last week, inspectors checked the underside of the Veterans' Memorial Bridge from various points on land and water. They hammered at the location shown above and dislodged concrete, shown below.
The area within the caution tape and sawhorses in the background contains concrete fragments that had previously fallen from the bridge. Closer views of the fragments can be seen HERE.
Concrete has also fallen from the bridge at other areas, including near the arches close to Rotary Park.
Re-bar is visible overhead at some locations where concrete has broken off.
On the upper side of the bridge, steel cover plates are missing from large junction boxes containing electrical wiring. The boxes line the sidewalk that runs from Columbia to Wrightsville.
Cover plates are missing from many recessed compartments in the side of the bridge, along the sidewalk. These compartments, also, contain electrical wires that most likely feed bridge lamps.
Some of the junction boxes show signs of possible prying, as shown here and below. The boxes have also become convenient trash receptacles.
More exposed wiring
Damage is apparent on the Columbia and Wrightsville ends of the bridge, as well as at several points in between. The bridge is under PennDOT's jurisdiction, but its current condition will undoubtedly reflect negatively on the river towns of Columbia and Wrightsville during the upcoming 150th anniversary of the burning of the Civil War bridge.
What I Saw Recently
A curious comment HERE appeared on this blog on April 9, 2013 relating to security (or lack thereof) at the water tanks near Laurel Hill Cemetery. Since the commenter listed his identity as "Anonymous," I can't vouch for the veracity of the claims, but the comment bears a second look: