A few local municipalities in our region are having issues with their municipal buildings, but it sounds like elected officials in one Northeastern Pennsylvania township are certainly due for an upgrade.
For more than 50 years, government business in Pike County’s Lackawaxen Township has been done in a converted chicken coop.
Some are crying foul over the $1.6 million cost of a proposed new building, though township supervisors say it’s desperately needed. Township Administrator Shawn Roe says files are stored in boxes on a dirt floor.
The proposed complex would also include a new garage, allowing all of the township’s vehicles to be stored inside year-round. Township officials say with some stored outside now, equipment is deteriorating from exposure to the elements.
— Hey, we have a some new entries today for our stupid criminals file.
Let’s start with the guy in New Bedford, Mass., who is now facing charges for trying to break into an unmarked state police cruiser — with two state troopers sitting inside.
Trooper Paul Gifford says he and his partner were inside the vehicle in a convenience store parking lot on Monday night when they spotted a man “eyeballing” other cars in the lot.
Gifford says the man tried the door of one car, and finding it locked, moved to the idling cruiser. When he couldn’t get in the police car, he moved to a third vehicle.
That’s when police emerged from their car and made the arrest.
Gifford says his vehicle has tinted windows and it’s possible the suspect could not see that two people were sitting inside.
Jose Alvarez Nieves is charged with attempted larceny of a motor vehicle.
— A man accused of checking out hundreds of books and DVDs from libraries around the Denver area and then trying to sell them will be doing all his library borrowing from now on behind bars.
Denver prosecutors say 34-year-old Thomas Pilaar was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered Tuesday to pay $53,549 in restitution. He pleaded guilty in May.
Of an estimated 1,400 books and DVDs that were taken, about 500 have been recovered.
Denver Public Library estimated it had lost $35,000, while Douglas County said it had $11,000 worth of overdue items.
Authorities were tipped off by a woman who recently bought books on Craigslist and noticed (guess what?) the library identification stamps.
— And finally. police in Forrest City, Ark. weren’t able to catch their man after a high-speed chase through town, but the cell phone he left behind gave away his identity.
The chase started just before 11 p.m. Monday after officers received a call about people “fighting in the street with guns,” police said. When police arrived, they managed to block one car from getting away. The man in that car spoke briefly with officers before speeding away — and the chase was on.
The man crashed his Toyota Camry into a house and ran away, police said. But as officers searched the car, the man’s cell phone rang and the caller asked for the suspect by name.
Police declined to name the man Tuesday but said they were still searching for him.
News
Mid-Daily Items: A governmental coop
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Warden demotes four bosses
Northumberland County Prison Warden Roy Johnson was able to trim about $135,000 in expenses by demoting four supervisors.
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DJ pumps up audience
Every Tuesday evening, Richard Grogg can be found spinning tunes at possibly the most well-attended dance in Snyder County.
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Agency closes adult center
Union and Snyder County caregivers have had to look farther and wider for another program that can offer respite because the Agency on Aging can no longer afford to provide the service.
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New Berlin pushes to acquire school
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Second suit filed to stop sewer merger
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School grants in works
MILTON -- How school funds will be distributed through Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed block grant program, which combines four basic education budget lines, still needs to be worked out, the governor said at a press conference Wednesday.
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Corbett: Low taxes help generate jobs
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Viking Energy to close April 1
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Getting caffeine fix as easy as taking deep breath
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Move over, coffee and Red Bull. A Harvard professor thinks the next big thing will be people inhaling their caffeine from a lipstick-sized tube. Critics say the novel product is not without its risks.
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Jerry Sandusky argues for local jurors, suggests delay
HARRISBURG — Jerry Sandusky wants jurors in his child sex-abuse trial to be chosen from the community where he lives and is suggesting a trial delay may be the best way to address the intense publicity generated by the case.
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Warden demotes four bosses
