COLUMBIA SPY

Join Samuel S. Lewis State Park’s Environmental Educator, Curtis Sherwood, for a free kid-friendly weekly nature series! Meet on the deck at Columbia Crossing to explore exciting topics including Bird Watching, Amphibians, Totem Poles, and more! Tuesdays 10-11 a.m. MORE INFO: http://www.susquehannaheritage.org/event/hour-with-a-park-ranger/2017-07-11/

A federal judge ruled recently that the Williams Partners can condemn land owned by nuns at the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, just outside Columbia, but not before an outdoor chapel dedication ceremony tomorrow. Williams attorneys had wanted to seize the land before the dedication. Following is the backstory of the company's plan to extend its natural gas pipeline through land owned by the nuns. COLUMBIA, Pa. -- A group opposing a natural gas pipeline scheduled to go through land owned by some Pennsylvania nuns has built a prayer chapel on the proposed right of way. Lancaster Against Pipelines and the sisters, The Adorers of the Blood of Christ, plan to dedicate the chapel at a prayer service on Sunday. Williams Partners is the group building the pipeline across 183 miles of Pennsylvania. It has asked a Lancaster County judge for an emergency order to seize the land. A ruling on that is pending. The company's spokesman says the chapel is a "blatant atte...

Monday, July 3 State police vehicle at Miles Bixler's office. *** Tuesday, July 4 During Wrightsville's fireworks display on July 4, Wrightsville and Hellam Township Police pursued a vehicle across the Veterans Memorial bridge. The vehicle pulled over on the Columbia side of the bridge near Rotary Park. When Columbia Spy arrived on the scene, police were handcuffing the driver of the vehicle, who was then led away and placed in a police car. A partially empty liquor bottle was sitting atop the vehicle, presumably placed there by the driver or police.  A visibly upset female was sitting in the passenger seat, and police were attempting to talk to her. Unfortunately, the crowd on the sidewalk (and in Rotary Park) was a bit unruly and shouted and jeered at police. One of the officers asked the crowd to be calm, because he was trying to communicate with the female passenger. At 9:45 p.m., the situation still had not been totally resolved. ...

Several new signs were mounted yesterday and today (July 5 & 6) at the former Exxon gas station at 15th Street and Route 462 - and the existing Sunoco station beside it. The project is a first stage in expanding the Sunoco station. The Exxon station, which also housed a "snack mart" and ATM, shut down a few years ago. Its signs were removed yesterday. Workmen then installed a new sign frame . . . . . . using a "bucket truck" and crane. Today, a new Sunoco sign was installed inside the frame. The soon-to-be Sunoco building will also house a laundromat, according to a worker on-scene. The existing Sunoco station got a small facelift - another new sign. Obviously, the pricing display is yet to be programmed.

According  towncharts.com , Columbia Borough has the highest percentage of renter households to total households (41.6%), as compared to other area municipalities.  The percentage is higher than the national average. Columbia also has the fourth smallest number of owner housing units (58.4%) - as compared to all the other places in the area. The figures come from most recent demographics data available from the Census Bureau released in December of 2016. Figure 5 shows the percentage of renter households to total households. Columbia indicates it has 41.6% Renter Percent which is at the top of all other places in the area. Figure 6 shows the number of owner housing units and it has 58.4% Owner Percent which is the 4th smallest Owner Percent of all the other places in the area. Other Columbia statistics, such as demographics, economy, education, and healthcare are also available at Town Charts  HERE .