NORTHUMBERLAND — A West Milton pastor and a Bloomsburg University professor were among 101 people honored as “citizen journalists” by the American Civil Liberties Union’s Central Susquehanna chapter Sunday night.
More than 100 people gathered at the Front Street Station for dinner and to recognize the recipients of the ACLU’s Thomas Paine Awards. These people had letters to the editor and op-ed pieces published in The Daily Item, among other local and regional publications.
The Rev. Leah Schade, pastor of United in Christ Lutheran Church, West Milton, won the Mark McCollough Religious Leadership Award, recognizing her for her “religious leadership and exemplary and tireless efforts” to bring attention to environmental issues, particularly hydrofracking.
Wendy Lee, a professor of philosophy at Bloomsburg University, won the Clyde Peeling Critical Thinker Award, also for her work and teachings on environmental issues such as fracking.
The Thomas Paine winners who attended represented a broad range of writers and topics, everything from Pennsylvania’s voter ID law to bullying to fracking to gun control and ownership.
They were invited one by one to accept their awards and say a few words. Some simply said thank you, and others championed their causes, such as Lana Golden, recognized for an October letter to the editor in The Daily Item about pro-life issues.
“So much is going wrong today,” she told the crowd, “but write about it and see the reaction you’ll get.”
Dr. Robert Lamparter, honored for his writings about health care, advocated for more disclosure to patients about the cost of doctors’ services. Sue Laidacker, recognized for her editorial efforts about fracking, said she “wants it banned, not regulated.”
Five Selinsgrove Area High School students were among those honored. Their letters to the editor in The Daily Item were an assignment from teacher Harvey Edwards as part of their studies of “The Crisis” by Thomas Paine.
Executive Director Reggie Shuford, of the ACLU’s Pennsylvania chapter in Philadelphia, encouraged everyone to keep writing to newspapers and other media, saying such efforts have helped the ACLU in its fight against the voter ID law and with its current priority, criminal justice reform.
Lewisburg Region
ACLU chapter honors citizen journalists
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Eighteenth-Century Architecture is a Focus of Dale House Tours Every Sunday
LEWISBURG — Every Sunday, from 2 to 4 p.m., tours are given at the Dale/Engle/Walker House, owned and operated by the Union County Historical Society.
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Photo exhibit opens at library's new art gallery
Brienna Flewelling, New Columbia, holds up a couple of her photographs that are now on display in her exhibit at the Union County Public Library.
LEWISBURG — The inaugural exhibit in the new art gallery at the Public Library for Union County will feature the photography of Brienna Flewelling.
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Volunteers at Eastern Union County Food Bank needed
LEWISBURG — High school and university students who are in the Lewisburg area over the summer months are asked to consider volunteering two hours of their time to serve the needy in our community by carrying bags of food at the Eastern Union County Food Bank.
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Library to host second annual summer reading photography contest
LEWISBURG — Attention all shutterbugs, it’s time to “dig into the unknown” with The Public Library for Union County’s second annual amateur photography contest “Union County: Off the Beaten Path,” in conjunction with the annual summer reading program.
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The Dale/Engle/Walker House Provides Opportunities for 18th-Century Interest Groups
LEWISBURG — The Union County Historical Society’s 1793 Dale house is being used increasingly by those interested in 18th-century life and events.
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Dig Into a Cause with the Union County Library System: Bookmarks & Backpacks program launched for tornado victims
MIFFLINBURG — Monday, May 20 is a day many people will never forget as the entire nation watched as an EF5 tornado terrorized the town of Moore, Okla., leaving in its wake lives lost, homes destroyed and schools desolated.
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Serious forecast shuts down Lewisburg pool today
LEWISBURG -- The Lewisburg Community Pool will be closed Thursday in light of the severe weather forecast for the Valley, Pool Manager Tim Lagerman announced.
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Painting workshop for kids scheduled for July 2
LEWISBURG - The Packwood House Museum 2013 Summer Program for Kids features a painting workshop from 10:30 a.m.to noon July 2 at the Top Floor Studio, 434 Market St.
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Day center encourages county inmates to study and work
Marah Walter studies for her GED at the Day Reporting Center in Union County on Monday morning.
LEWISBURG — After a little more than three months in operation, Union County’s new prison diversion program, a Day Reporting Center, was on display Monday for a tour by commissioners from neighboring Snyder and Northumberland counties and the media.
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BZ Motors Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep Helps Raise $1,130 for White Deer Elementary School
LEWISBURG — BZ Motors Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep helped raise $1,130 in funding for White Deer Elementary School with Chrysler brand’s Drive for the Kids™ program. The fundraising event was held on May 3 in conjunction with the elementary school’s School Fair.
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League of Women Voters' chapters lauded for work on voter ID
LEWISBURG — Pennsylvania’s voter identification law goes to trial next month, in part thanks to the work of the state chapters of the League of Women Voters for keeping the hot-button issue out front, a social justice expert told the group’s statewide convention Saturday in Lewisburg.
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Lewisburg welcomes League of Women Voters convention
The Union County Commissioners passed a resolution naming Saturday, June 8, 2013 as League of Women Voters Day in Union County. The resolution is in honor of the Lewisburg League's work to promote citizen participation in government and its hosting of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania convention, June 7-9, 2013 at Country Cupboard. Pictured from left to right: Marilyn Brill and Janice Bigelow from the Lewisburg League; John Mathias, John Showers, and Preston Boop, Union County Commissioners.
LEWISBURG — The League of Women Voters of the Lewisburg Area rolls out the welcome mat today as host of the annual statewide convention, a first for the nearly 60-year-old chapter.
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Eighteenth-Century Architecture is a Focus of Dale House Tours Every Sunday
