Jonathan Winters, Funny Man And Comedic Inspiration, Dies At 87

Jonathan Winters as a truck driver (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jonathan Winters, the rubber-faced comedian whose unscripted flights of fancy inspired a generation of improvisational comics, and who kept television audiences in stitches with Main Street characters like Maude Frickert, a sweet-seeming grandmother with a barbed tongue and a roving eye, died on Thursday at his home in Montecito, Calif.  He was 87.

His death was announced on his Web site, JonathanWinters.com.

Mr. Winters, a rotund man whose face had a melancholy basset-hound expression in repose, burst onto the comedy scene in the late 1950s and instantly made his mark as one of the funniest, least definable comics in a rising generation that included Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman and Bob Newhart.

Mr. Winters was at his best when winging it, confounding television hosts and luckless straight men with his rapid-fire delivery of bizarre observations uttered by characters like Elwood P. Suggins, a Midwestern Everyman, or one-off creations like the woodland sprite who bounded onto Jack Paar’s late-night show and simperingly proclaimed: “I’m the voice of spring.  I bring you little goodies from the forest.”

Read more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/arts/television/jonathan-winters-comedian-dies-at-87.html?hp&_r=0

Lancaster Convention Center Sews Up Quilt Show For 3 More Years

Quilting is a tradition in Lancaster County and organizers of the annual downtown Lancaster quilt show hope to sew up that link between quilting and Lancaster.

The Paducah, Ky.-based American Quilters Society on Wednesday announced it would continue the show at the Lancaster County Convention Center for another three years.

The deal was inked a month ago when some 16,500 quilters attended AQS QuiltWeek in Lancaster.

The national organization called the fourth annual show and convention a success.  That attendance figure represents an 11 percent increase over 2012.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/837065_Convention-Center-sews-up-quilt-show-for-3-more-years.html#ixzz2QH8D8T4b

Renovo Citizens Criticize Police, Seek Answers

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

RENOVO, PA – The Renovo Police Department came under fire at this week’s borough council meeting, with citizens charging that there’s a lack of accountability and job performance among officers.

The Wednesday night session became a sounding board for a group of about 20 mostly long-term Renovo residents who believe the department is not doing its job properly, and council is not providing sufficient oversight.

The complaints also come just months after South Renovo Borough dropped shared police coverage by the Renovo officers, saying they didn’t believe the neighboring borough just across the West Branch of the Susquehanna River was getting its money’s worth.

Read more:  http://www.lockhaven.com/page/content.detail/id/544725/Renovo-citizens-criticize-police–seek-answers.html?nav=5009

Scripture, Swearing Unleashed At Wilkes-Barre Council

WILKES-BARRE — To get his point across at the city council meeting Thursday, James Gallagher quoted Scripture.

Bob Kadluboski used profanity.

Both speakers decried the administration’s failure after nearly four months to decide on whether to terminate the contract of LAG Towing as complaints mount against the company and its owner, Leo A. Glodzik III.

Gallagher, who regularly addresses council, said he tried to steer clear of LAG but was compelled to talk about it because he was sick of hearing and seeing about it in the news.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/428028/Scripture-swearing-unleashed-at-council

Blighted Pottstown House Owned By State Rep.’s Chief Of Staff

Editor’s note:  There are a couple of take away items here.  a.  The Pottstown Codes Department evidently can’t process an address change.  Does that require a $5,000.00 “donation”?  b.  The house is in poor condition and needs repairs.  c.  This illustrates the pitfalls of being an “investor” in Pottstown.  Most likely that amount of damage didn’t happen overnight, from the sounds of the report.  How often are problem properties being checked on by an owner or property manager?  It sounds like the house should be demolished except the owner owes money to the bank.  It will be a LONG wait until conditions improve enough in that neighborhood to make fixing up this property economically viable.  So just add another vacant property to Pottstown’s housing stock.

POTTSTOWN — The district chief of staff for state Rep. Mark Painter, D-146th Dist., is the owner of a Walnut Street home that the borough has recently identified as “blighted.”

The designation was advertised in the legal notices of Wednesday’s edition of The Mercury.

Michael A. Lavanga, who heads up Painter’s district office in Sanatoga and has appeared on his behalf at local government meetings, expressed surprise Wednesday when contacted by a reporter about the advertisement.

According to the legal notice, Lavanga has 30 days to make repairs to the property including repairing or replacing rain gutters, loose paint, windows and the front steps to 409 Walnut St.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130412/NEWS04/130419776/blighted-pottstown-house-owned-by-state-rep-s-chief-of-staff#full_story

Berks EIT Form Glitch Confuses Local Taxpayers

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

If you’ve been having a hard time getting the math to work out on your Berks Earned Income Tax form this year, you’re not alone.

Officials at the Berks EIT Bureau confirmed Thursday that there is a mix-up in some of the instructions on the 2012 tax form.

It has left some taxpayers perplexed as to why the form says they’re owed a refund when they thought they owed the bureau the amount.

The opposite also is true: Folks who thought they might get a refund are instead being told they owe it.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=468550

Reading Fightin Phils Set To Make Home Debut

The Reading Fightin Phils are off and running – maybe not quite as fast as last season, when they matched the best start in club history by winning their first five games and seven of their first eight, but they’ve gotten off to a positive start.

The Phillies won four times on a season-opening seven-game road trip to New Hampshire and Portland.  Not bad, considering how young the club is and how badly things started, with a 9-0 loss Opening Night.

Reading manager Dusty Wathan, whose roster includes 10 players making their Double-A debuts and 12 who are 23 or younger, said he likes what he’s seen the first week of the season.

“I think we’ve done a great job of being aggressive on the bases, of putting pressure on the defense,” said Wathan. “We, as an organization, want to emphasize that aggressiveness (this year).  We’ve been taking extra bases, our steal attempts are up.  I like the way we’ve been aggressive on the base paths.”

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=468571

Met-Ed To Invest $116 Million

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

The Metropolitan-Edison Co. plans a $116 million expansion of its electrical infrastructure in 15 counties, including Berks, the utility said Thursday.

In northern Berks, the FirstEnergy subsidiary will spend nearly $10 million to improve service and capacity for future growth in an area now serving 40,000 to 50,000 customers, according to Scott Surgeoner, Met-Ed spokesman.

On Thursday, workers tackled the upgrade at the Northkill substation along Route 183 in Jefferson Township. The project in Berks should be completed by June.

The area includes everything within the parameters of Route 183 north from Route 222 to Interstate 78, east to Route 61 and south to Route 222.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=468434