Former Columbia Borough school board member fills vacant seat

By a 6-2 vote, the board appointed former board member Sonya Duncan to a vacant seat on the board.

This seat was initially set to be filled by Katherine Miller, who was elected to the board in November. After moving outside the district, Miller was not sworn in as a member and her seat was declared vacant.

Jeffrey Detz, chief financial officer of the Columbia-based Kleen-Rite Corp., also submitted a letter of interest. In his interview with the board he highlighted his business and volunteer experience. Detz received votes from board members Jason Price and Ryan Sexton. Board members Charles Leader, Matthew Wardecker, Sandy Duncan, Devon Fisher, Lauren VonStetten and Kathleen Hohenadel voted for Duncan.

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SEVERAL COLUMBIA PROPERTIES ARE ON THE AGENDA FOR LANCASTER COUNTY LAND BANK MEETING

From the agenda:

New business: (a) resolution authorizing a memorandum of understanding with Habitat for Humanity for the redevelopment of the parcels on South Fifth Street in Columbia, including 233, 237, 239 243 and 245 S. Fifth St.; (b) resolution authorizing disposition of 921 Spruce St., Columbia.

3 Columbia cemeteries held Wreaths Across America ceremonies this weekend

Three cemeteries in Columbia held Wreaths Across America ceremonies this weekend.

Mount Bethel Cemetery, 700 Locust St., hosted a Wreaths Across America event at noon on Saturday to honor veterans, living and deceased, from all branches of the military.

Community members participated by laying wreaths on graves of the more than 600 veterans buried at Mount Bethel Cemetery.

Retired Army Sgt. Major Spike Gaylord Grant emceed the program. Several retired veterans laid wreaths, as well: Harold Thomas, Coast Guard; Sandra Duncan, Air Force; LuAnn Grant, Army; Harry Knighton, Navy; Jason Price II, Marines; George Biagio, Merchant Marines; and Albert Storm, representing POW/MIA.

Vet21 provided the 21-gun salute. A color guard also participated.

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Zion Hill Cemetery's ceremony was held at 1 p.m. on Sunday, December 19, at 553 N. 5th St..

Zion Hill is a restored historic cemetery dedicated to 18 African American residents of Columbia who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. The ceremony featured a color guard from the Lancaster Fencibles; speakers Mark Stivers, Columbia's borough manager, and Sharon Lintner, vice president of Columbia Borough Council; and two members of the Columbia Historic Preservation Society, historian Christopher Vera and Tony Williams, reading the names of the interred. William Kloidt gave the invocation.

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A Wreaths Across America ceremony was held at Laurel Hill Memorial Gardens, 845 Laurel Hill Road, at 2 p.m. Sunday. Participants laid wreaths in remembrance of veterans buried there. A color guard consisting of veterans also participated in the ceremony.

Obituary: Dr. Carol Lynne Powell

https://lancasteronline.com/obituaries/dr-carol-lynne-powell/article_db607984-5ebf-11ec-adce-233935681752.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share 

'A significant gift': Local woman's collection of warped plants from around TMI headed to Smithsonian

Mary Stamos admitted she had no grand plan for her collection of misshapen plants when she first began plucking them from the area surrounding Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the wake of the partial meltdown in 1979.

She simply planned to preserve the warped vegetation to share with her neighbors, believing the plants' abnormal appearances were the result of radiation released during the accident — radiation that she feared could also have ill effects on the people living in her community.

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Columbia man indicted by federal grand jury on drug trafficking charges: Justice Department

A Columbia man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of drug trafficking, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jose Alvarez-Carrillo, 65, was indicted on two counts of distribution of methamphetamine and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on Dec. 15, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said in a news release.

Alvarez-Carrillo committed the offenses in York County between April and May 2021, said U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus.

The case was investigated by the FBI and state police.

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Wrightsville Borough Council vice president says he is intentionally skipping meetings

In the waning days of their terms on Wrightsville Borough Council, members Rick McDonald and Frederick Smith Jr. have skipped two or three meetings, leaving the York County council without a quorum.

And Smith, who is council's vice president, said that for him it's intentional. He disagrees with council President Eric J. White's approach to filling a seat on Borough Council and two upcoming vacancies on the Wrightsville Municipal Authority.

"The filling of these three vacancies by a lame-duck council are great injustices in my opinion, which I could not stop by being present and voting," Smith said in an email. "But I could stop them by not being present at all. So that is what I have chosen to do."

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