February 15, 2012

ALLENWOOD — A Muncy man, believed to be under the influence of bath salts, is facing charges after resisting arrest in Union County. Police say around 5:00p.m. Sunday 50-year-old James Kaye was walking along Route 15 in Allenwood looking into car windows and disrupting traffic when police were called. Kaye had to be tackled by a police officer and three other people helped hold Kaye down until he was handcuffed.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

STATE COLLEGE - Former Penn State administrator Gary Schultz wants a judge to throw out the perjury and failure to report abuse charges he’s facing. In a motion filed Tuesday, Schultz’s attorney argued Schultz thought the allegation of abuse told to him by Mike McQueary, then a graduate assistant football coach wasn’t serious and not a crime and therefore his opinion can’t be deemed false. In addition, his attorney argued Schultz’s statements to the grand jury investigating Jerry Sandusky can’t be corroborated by what McQueary said at a preliminary hearing in December. Schultz and former Athletic Director Tim Curley are accused of lying under oath about what they knew of a 2002 incident involving Sandusky and a boy that McQueary testified he saw. On Monday, Curley filed a motion to dismiss his case, saying the death of former head football coach Joe Paterno means prosecutors don’t have a second corroborating witness to prove Curley lied.
(WGRC)

LOCK HAVEN - The second of two Clinton County men arrested last October on felony narcotics charges for marijuana growing operation has been sentenced to prison. The Express reports, 45-year-old Robert Nicodemus Jr. of Loganton, appeared Monday in Clinton County Court before Judge Craig Miller, who sentenced him to 7 to 23 months in the Clinton County Prison. His co-defendant, 33-year-old Shawn Miller, of Woodward Township, was sentenced last month to 11 to 23 months in the Clinton County Jail. Miller and Nicodemus were charged after police found a growing operation in a garage at the Nicodemus home and several other plants in a nearby field.
(WGRC)

NORTHUMBERLAND – Reports say the Viking Energy Plant in Northumberland County’s Point Township is closing its co-generation facility. That facility used the burning of wood products to produce steam and electricity. Nineteen employees will be without work by April 1. The steam was sold to the Furman’s canning plant and the electricity was sold to the local power grid. Officials at Furman’s say with the abundance of natural gas in our region, the company can afford to switch to natural gas to produce steam for the plant.
(WGRC)

BELLEFONTE - As expected, the Centre County commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved an amended 2012 budget, which includes a $2 million increase for a planned 911 improvement project. The $2 million will come from the county's reserve fund and will not mean any increase in taxes. The $82 million spending plan now has a $7.6 million fund balance. The budget was originally approved in December, but the board, with two new members - Chris Exarchos and Michael Pipe - reopened the spending plan after it was seated in January.
(WGRC)

BLOOMSBURG - Could downtown Bloomsburg see a parking garage in its future? The issue surfaced during this week's Town Council meeting. Tim Wagner of Downtown Bloomsburg, Incorporated told council his group is behind the concept. The parking garage could come to fruition if a study is undertaken. Town Council also gave their approval to the Streater Field Master Site Plan which has been on the table since last summer.  The plans include a football field along with a couple of soccer fields and a baseball diamond. The filed are located near the confluence of the Susquehanna River and Fishing Creek.
(WGRC)

WILLIAMSPORT - On Monday, Governor Tom Corbett signed a bill honoring a state police trooper killed in Lycoming County over 42 years ago. The bill which was introduced by 23rd district State Senator Gene Yaw has been signed into law and will name the Route 15 Bridge over Mill Lane in Old Lycoming Township as the Trooper Gary Rosenberger Memorial Bridge. Rosenberger was shot and killed while conducting and undercover narcotics investigation in December of 1970 in Old Lycoming Township.
(WGRC)

DANVILLE — Yesterday was the 14th Annual Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s Food Checkout Day and the Ronald McDonald House in Danville got a big boost. Ten counties, including Northumberland, Snyder, Montour and Union counties collected over $20,000 in food, supplies and monetary donations for the charity. Officials with the Ronald McDonald House say, to date, Food Checkout Day has raised over $239,000 for the Danville Ronald McDonald House. The House offers care to families of critically ill children being treated at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
(WGRC)

HARRISBURG - The state Public Utility Commission Chairman Robert Powelson says the agency is “staffed up and ready” to implement the impact fee law on the natural gas industry when it takes effect in just under two months. For about an 18-month period, Powelson said the PUC will outsource the collection of the fee to a third private company. Powelson made his remarks to a Tuesday Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing.
(WGRC)

WILLIAMSPORT – In Lycoming County, Old Lycoming Township residents have been receiving letters from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission telling of a permit application by a company looking to withdraw ground water for use in the gas industry. Centura Oil wants to draw out about 250,000 gallons a day from a site along Lycoming Creek Road in the Township. The residents brought their concerns to Township supervisors yesterday, many of them believing that the water withdrawal would subsequently affect their drinking water supplies. The application is under review and no permits have been issued as of yet.
(WGRC)

WILLIAMSPORT – More information released about a deadly shooting in Lycoming County that happened Monday night.  Williamsport Police say 42-year old Thomas Schmitt of Allentown was the person shot in the 1000 block of Franklin Street in the city just before 10:30 Monday night.  32-year old William Kemp of Williamsport is locked up charged with criminal homicide and several related counts.  The Sun-Gazette reports, Schmitt and Kemp, who had just met, argued at the home of Mike Updegraff and his girlfriend, Kirsten Radcliffe where Schmitt had been staying since December.  Kemp then retrieved the gun from his vehicle and fired five shots in the direction of Schmitt, hitting him at least once in the neck.  Schmitt died on the way to a hospital.  Police say Updegraff, Radcliffe and Schmitt had been drinking at a bar when Radcliffe left after a disagreement with Updegraff.  She accepted a ride home from Kemp and then invited him inside where Updegraff and Schmitt had just returned.  Updegraff ordered Kemp to leave setting off the incident.
John Callahan (WGRC)

MOUNT PLEASANT MILLS – A man cited for a crash in Snyder County.  Troopers investigated a crash this morning that happened around 6:30 on Route 104 in Perry Township near Potato Valley Road.  25-year old Justin Herbster of Beavertown was on his way to work when his car went off the roadway and hit an embankment.  Police found that Herbster was driving with a suspended license.  Herbster was also cited for the accident.  He was wearing a seat belt and was not injured.
John Callahan (WGRC)

POTTSVILLE - A man and a woman from Schuylkill Haven suffered injuries Tuesday afternoon when their sport utility vehicle struck the median at Schuylkill Medical Plaza in Pottsville. The crash happened just after one p.m. on Route 61. Police say 48-year-old David Hoffecker suffered a head injury and was flown to the Lehigh Valley Medical Center. His passenger 45-year-old Christine Hoffecker was taken to Schuylkill Medical Center South for treatment of what was believed to be minor injuries.
(WGRC)

MONTANDON – One homeless after a fire damaged a trailer in Northumberland County. A neighbor reported seeing smoke coming from the trailer at 97 Decany Street in Montandon just before Midnight on Monday. That’s inside the Montandon Trailer Park.  A fire marshal said an electrical short in a lamp started the fire that caused moderate damage to the trailer home and killed a dog. Shelly Reese got out of the home unharmed and is being helped by the Red Cross. The Daily Item reports, the trailer, owned by Mike McCollugh, is uninhabitable.  The dollar value of the loss is not yet known.
(WGRC)

BELLEFONTE - The state’s Superior Court has ruled two men charged in an armed robbery and burglary spree in Centre County can face trial again.  A judge denied attempts by 29-year old Anatoliy Veretnov, and 23-year old Maksim Illarionov, to bar a retrial in their case on the grounds of double jeopardy. The same appeal by co-defendant 25-year old Dmitry Litvinov, was denied last week. During their trial in 2011, another co-defendant, 30-year old Alexei Semionov pleaded guilty. The judge granted a mistrial, and the other defendants appealed.  Semionov is scheduled for sentencing on February 21st.  Illarionov was convicted of illegal weapons possession and is serving a state prison sentence of 15 to 30 years.
(WGRC)

DANVILLE - A Montour County grandmother faces criminal charges for allegedly giving her daughters huge, unauthorized discounts at the day care center where she worked.  54-year old Karen Kruleski of Danville, had been an employee at Busy Little Beavers in Danville for 15 years.  Police say she was in charge of meeting with parents, filling out and signing contracts for child-care services and sending out bills. Owner Jennifer Enterline discovered that Kruleski, who has seven grandchildren attending the day care, had been giving huge discounts for the care of five of her grandchildren even after Enterline had agreed to allow two of the seven to have care at no charge, and the others to have care at half price. The Press-Enterprise reports, that according to court documents, Kruleski billed them at between 11 and 25 percent of full price.  Kruleski's self-created discounts cost the day care more than $16,500 between 2009 and the end of 2011.
(WGRC)

HARRISBURG - A Perry County man who pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a pre-teen Harrisburg girl was sentenced yesterday to 5 years of probation.  39-year old Pedro Toomey of Newport pleaded guilty in October. The Patriot News reports, Toomey was accused of fondling a 10-year-old girl during an incident in the city in 2009.  Toomey will have to register with police as a sex offender for 10 years.
(WGRC)

LOGANTON – A buggy hits a rock and a parked car ejecting a passenger in Clinton County.  Troopers say an Amish buggy driven by a 16-year old boy went off of Rockey Road in Greene Township and hit a decorative rock and a car just before 11 the night of January 29th.  24-year old passenger, Sadie Kaufman of Loganton, was ejected from the buggy but suffered only a minor injury.  The driver and another passenger, a 17-year old girl, were not hurt.
John Callahan (WGRC)

LEWISBURG - Officials of White Deer Township and the Friendship CB Radio Club have agreed to work together on sewage disposal at the 17-acre Friendship Park in New Columbia under an extended injunction issued yesterday in Union County Court.  The Daily Item reports, at issue is a plan to control raw sewage that the township claims is polluting nearby wells and streams during summer gatherings that can attract as many as 1,000 people to the group's campground.
(WGRC)

BELLEFONTE - New industry will be coming to the former home of Cerro Metals in Centre County.  Navitus, an investment group composed of local companies Shaner Capital and G.M. McCrossin, as well as British equity firm Hadleigh Assets, recently purchased the 173-acre site in Spring Township along Axemann Road. The group plans to refurbish the site and reopen it as a business park.  Eddie Lauth, CEO of State College-based Shaner Capital tells the Centre Daily Times, the newly named Titan Energy Park will be marketed primarily but not exclusively to the natural gas industry and its booming activity in the Marcellus Shale.
(WGRC)

BEAVERTOWN - The mayor of a relatively small borough in Snyder County has received a big honor. Out of all the mayors in the United States, Mayor Cloyd Wagner of Beavertown has the title of Mayor of the Week. It's part of Reader's Digest magazine's We Hear You America contest. Wagner has been mayor of Beavertown in Snyder County for more than two decades. Now that's he's been named Mayor of the Week by Readers Digest magazine, he's trying to get used to the national recognition. He is one of only 16 mayors in the U.S. to receive the honor from Reader's Digest. In addition to Mayor of the Week, the people of Beavertown are in the running to win another contest by Reader's Digest. They can win $5,000 just by getting your vote to fix up the community building. As part of the We Hear You America contest, 18 communities in the United States will get at least $5,000 each, and Beavertown is close to winning. And the Mayor would like to see the money go towards fixing up the borough building.
(WNEP)

WILLIAMSPORT—Folks in Sullivan County will have a chance to discuss an Air Quality plan approval application from Central New York Oil and Gas. The Department of Environmental Protection will hold a hearing tonight at the Muncy Valley Area Volunteer Fire Company beginning at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will allow the public to voice its concerns about the project. The Air Quality Plan is for the construction of a compressor station in Sullivan County which includes two natural gas-fired engines to provide power to natural gas compressors. Staff from DEP’s Air Quality program will be present to explain the application review process, provide more information, and hold a question and answer session. For more information, visit www.dep.state.pa.us.
John Fellon (WGRC)