Limerick Township Budget To Fund More Police

Location of Limerick Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

LIMERICK — Township residents will see their taxes increase slightly this year as the board of supervisors voted to approve the proposed budget with no changes.

Although taxes will increase 25 percent, as they did in 2012, the raise is actually less than half a mill.  The rate went from 1.516 mills to 1.895, meaning a property in the township assessed at $150,000 would have a year-total tax increase of $56.85.

The $8,010,752 budget was approved 3-1 at a Dec. 18 meeting.  Thomas J. Neafcy Jr. was the sole vote against the budget. Kenneth J. Sperring Jr. was not at the meeting, according to township manager Dan Kerr.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130103/NEWS01/130109881/limerick-township-budget-to-fund-more-police#full_story

Murderer Caleb Fairley Continues To Seek New Trial

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Just throw the key away!

NORRISTOWN – Despite his court-appointed lawyer and a Montgomery County judge determining his latest appeal has “no merit,” a former Upper Merion man convicted of the 1995 murders of a Limerick mother and her toddler daughter is continuing his quest for a new trial.

Convicted double murderer Caleb Bradley Fairley has filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Superior Court, appealing county Judge William R. Carpenter’s Oct. 23 order that dismissed Fairley’s latest attempt to overturn his convictions in connection with the September 1995 strangulation deaths of Lisa Marie Manderach, 29, of Limerick, and her 19-month-old daughter Devon, in Collegeville.

Fairley, according to his notice of appeal filed in county court, appears to be representing himself in the Superior Court action.  In his latest appeal, filed under the state’s Post Conviction Relief Act, Fairley asked the judge to vacate his two life prison sentences and to grant him a new trial, or in the alternative, a new sentencing hearing.

In September, county Assistant Public Defender Timothy Peter Wile, who was appointed by Carpenter to represent Fairley after Fairley filed the original appeal on Sept. 17, indicated in a letter to the judge that his “conscientious review” of Fairley’s claims revealed no “issue of arguable merit” and therefore it is “legally without merit and frivolous.”  Wile, chief of the public defender’s appellate division, maintained Fairley’s petition for a new trial “lacks any basis in either law or fact and is, therefore, frivolous.”

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20121129/NEWS01/121129384/convicted-double-killer-caleb-fairley-files-state-appeal#full_story

Robbers Allegedly Hammer Way To Rolexes At Philly Premium Outlets

Location of Limerick Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

LIMERICK TOWNSHIP, PA — Three men allegedly used hammers to smash their way to Rolex watches at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets Saturday night while the store was open for business.

Amin Shabazz, Brian M. Sheed and Willie Hawkins Smith, all 21 and from Philadelphia, were taken into custody after reportedly leading police on a chase that crossed into Chester County and allegedly dumping the items they stole.

Roughly $64,000 in Rolex watches and jewelry was taken from Ultra Diamonds Saturday night when the Limerick Police said three men armed with a hammer and wearing bandannas entered around 7:45 p.m.

The robbers allegedly smashed a glass display case with the hammer, took watches and jewelry, placed them in a bag and fled to a red Buick.  The car was then seen heading to Route 422.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20121104/NEWS01/121109804/robbers-allegedly-hammer-way-to-rolexes-at-philly-premium-outlets&pager=full_story

 

Limerick Shutdown Affects Mid-Atlantic Power Supply

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When an explosion Wednesday morning caused operators to cut power to one of two nuclear reactors at the Limerick Generating Station, it had an impact on the power supply to the entire mid-Atlantic region.

One of two reactors was shut down at 8:39 after an electrical problem caused by an explosion in a transformer cut power to a turbine cooling system, officials said.

And, while only a portion of Berks County lies within the 10-mile emergency zone around the Montgomery County nuclear plant, losing just one unit affected some businesses throughout Berks and the region, said Ray Dotter, spokesman for the PJM Interconnection, the King of Prussia-based agency that regulates the regional electric supply.

Each Limerick reactor generates enough electricity to power 1 million homes. That power has to be made up somewhere, Dotter said.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=399805