About Town

'Tis the season...

Santa watching the skies

 Frosty painting the railings

 All the flagpoles are in at the bridge plaza.

 Sun-kissed snowflake

 Bridge lights

 A lot of snowflakes but not quite a blizzard

 Is this the bicycle "beam-up" zone?

 Christmas icons at the Lazy K

 More propaganda from the Williams Company

 There they go in the land of commerciality.

 The Columbia Fire Company needs volunteers.

 Night lights by day

 Santa welcoming you at Hermansader's

 Cellar grate spirit

 Christmas books at Mullen Books

(First block of Walnut)

 Out for a Christmas Eve drive

 Stars and STRIPS

 A unique snowman - and a unique way to recycle tires

(North 2nd)

 You know who they are.

(At the Knights of Columbus)

 Another unique snowman

 Christmas flowers on North 4th

 There's a nasty little tripping hazard.

(Along 462, near Columbia Plaza)

 Construction continues at the library.

 Another painted rock

(St. John's Lutheran)

 Reflecting

 Tree lights

 All lit up on South 15th

 Santa with offering

 Santa and reindeer conspiring to keep the secret from Mrs. Claus over who knocked over that candlestick.

 Attack of the clones?

(Twin sheep and twin people)

 Santa welcomes you.

 Electric flag

 Santa has been militarized.

 Where's the other eight?

 Christmas lights on North 5th

 Cross

(St. James Lutheran)

All lit up

(The tower at General Shannon's house)

New nonprofit saves Columbia's '2nd-chance home' from closing

In June, the Hersheys helped to establish Our Home of Hope, and the mortgage holder this month sold the property to the new nonprofit.

MORE:

http://lancasteronline.com/insider/new-nonprofit-saves-columbia-s-nd-chance-home-from-closing/article_32541ba2-e664-11e7-9134-eb0b0a22e5ba.html

Developers plan 100 high-end apartments in Columbia Borough and Lancaster city for millennials

In Columbia Borough, Eberly Myers would raze an empty, four-unit apartment building at 134 Locust St. and construct a four-story building there, with 33 apartments all offering views of the Susquehanna River.

Columbia Spy reported on this story previously HERE.

MORE: HERE.

Two-vehicle accident Class 2 Sunday afternoon

Emergency crews responded to a two-vehicle Class 2 accident Sunday morning just before 11 o'clock at Route 462 and Washington Street. A Toyota Camry sustained front end damage and a Jeep had rear passenger side damage.

Clock plaza takes two hits in two days, one from hit-and-run

The clock plaza on Saturday morning. Dislodged bricks can be seen at the corner of the wall.

The clock plaza at 5th & Chestnut recently sustained damage from two separate incidents on two consecutive days. A hit-and-run occurred Saturday evening shortly after 7 o'clock in which a cast iron casing was broken completely off one of a row of bollards. Neighbors reported hearing a loud bang and found pieces of the casing a few minutes later but no vehicle at the scene. Police responded promptly and investigated.

The end bollard in a row of bollards, with broken casing.

A piece of the cast iron casing

 The "pine cone" and mount at the top of the bollard are now unstable.

Another view, showing the damaged bollard on the end of the row.

In a previous incident, a vehicle hit the plaza wall, dislodging several bricks (shown below) shortly after 6 o'clock Friday morning. A witness reported seeing a vehicle pulled over on Chestnut Street by a Columbia police officer. The vehicle was facing the wrong way on the 500 block of Chestnut, which is one-way.

 Dislodged bricks from Friday morning's incident

A closer view

Bricks were also knocked out of line on the other side of the wall.

One-vehicle rollover briefly closes Route 30 East in Columbia; no injuries reported

The eastbound lanes of Route 30 in Columbia are closed briefly Sunday morning after a one-vehicle rollover crash, according to emergency dispatch reports.

MORE:

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/one-vehicle-rollover-briefly-closes-route-east-in-columbia-no/article_008bbf7a-e8a4-11e7-ad5e-43bc77eeed85.html

PA government spends $360K of taxpayers' money to investigate, settle sexual misconduct claims

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Records now show all three branches of Pennsylvania state government have settled sexual misconduct allegations since 2010, claims that included unwelcome touching, kissing and lascivious comments.

The running total of disclosed payments to settle claims and investigate complaints over the past eight years now stands at more than $369,000.

MORE:

http://lancasteronline.com/news/pennsylvania/disclosed-state-costs-for-sexual-misconduct-claims-top-k/article_15ec3f0b-86a6-5b13-b63f-87b25b8c8ccf.html