COLUMBIA SPY

MORE: http://lancasteronline.com/insider/friends-family-seek-answers-on-why-columbia-teenagers-shot-at/article_402660b8-5845-11e6-a31f-cf7630330579.html The article also states: "In August 2015, he was involved in a fight over a Confederate flag at Sixth and Locust streets . Rentas removed a flag from the back of a truck, his mother confirmed Monday afternoon." (Actually, the incident occurred at Sixth and Walnut. Columbia Spy first made the connection between the two incidents in a previous article.)

August 01, 2016 Baltimore, MD  -Today, NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks released the following statement after the arrest of Marquell Rentas and Trenton Nace in the non-fatal shooting of four police officers in Columbia, Pennsylvania. 'Yet again as a nation we are an unwilling witness to alleged violence against the police. While much is yet unknown in the circumstances of the arrests of Marquell Rentas and Trenton Nace, the NAACP is profoundly concerned about hostile actions against police and committed to nonviolent means of change. 'The NAACP is committed to ending moments such as this by steadfastly condemning brutal violence against the police and police misconduct. Neither form of violence is an excuse for the other. Such realities go against the values of America and the values of the NAACP. 'The events in Columbia this weekend are disheartening, but this particular incident creates an opportunity to improve police-communi...

Everyone is welcome to attend the 4th Annual National Night Out event on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Glatfelter Memorial Field. The Borough will have a recycling booth with free items for the kids.

Columbian Joe Nikolaus was one of several candidates to run unsuccessfully for recently vacated council seats.  Nikolaus offered the following assessment of the process and of council: 

In a recent letter to the editor to LNP, Columbia Borough Manager Greg Sahd responded to a recent article that suggested the borough was cowed by LNP's lawyers. Sahd stated: "Columbia is a heritage-rich yet financially poor community. We believe in providing our community with every opportunity to tell us how to spend its hard-earned money. And it did. By a margin of nearly 3 to 1, citizens asked Columbia Borough Council to continue advertising with LNP, even though it cost them and fellow taxpayers twice as much. We respect our citizens’ wishes. We stayed with LNP not because of your Philadelphia lawyers’ attempt to intimidate us, but only because of the respect we have for the voices of Columbia’s citizens whom we ultimately serve." The full text of the letter is HERE . The original article is  HERE .

Friday morning's shooting incident in Columbia in which two teens shot at police officers has been picked up by an online publication titled Bearing Arms, which is apparently affiliated with the National Rifle Association.  The article's pro-gun slant unfortunately devolves into a slam against the press for creating a culture that puts police lives in danger. The article states, in part: "This attempted assassination of Columbia, PA police is being largely ignored by a mainstream media attempting to dodge responsibility for the officers they’ve put at risk by crafting anti-police narratives . . ." The complete article is  HERE . The following information is from the  Columbia Borough Police Department's Crimewatch  page:   Marquell Robert Rentas Marquell Robert Rentas, 17 of Columbia as an adult with the following charges after an incident on 07-29-16. Attempted Criminal Homicide of Law Enforcement Officer Conspiracy to commit Cri...