Daily Archives: July 9, 2013
UPDATED: Pottstown Middle School Teacher Charged In Sexual Assault Of Girl, 8
Editor’s note: This is a bad week for role models with a local police officer charged with retail theft and a teacher charged with molesting a child. Very upsetting!
(Updated 3:15 p.m.) NORTH COVENTRY — A Pottstown Middle School teacher has been charged with multiple felony counts of aggravated indecent assault involving a child.
Jared P. Leimeister, of North Coventry, posted bail and was released from the Chester County Prison on Monday.
The 33-year-old teacher was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old after police spoke with an 8-year-old girl who spent time with Leimeister between October 2012 and February 2013.
Leimeister is listed as an eighth-grade science teacher, according to the school district’s website.
West Penn Power Parent To Close 2 Coal-Fired Plants In Western Pennsylvania
FirstEnergy Corp., the Ohio-based parent of West Penn Power, said it will shut down two coal-fired plants in Western Pennsylvania in the next three months.
The two facilities — Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station in Masontown and Mitchell Power Station in Courtney — represent more than 2 gigawatts of generating capacity, about 10 percent of the company’s total.
Harrisburg Strains To Eliminate Condemned Buildings; Residents Simmer Over Fire Hazards, Nuisances
HARRISBURG–In the 2000 block of Susquehanna Street, routine home maintenance included pruning a neglected tree to eliminate a ladder animals used to enter the upper floors of two condemned homes in the middle of the row.
It included dealing with encroaching mold from the condemned homes’ soggy beams. It included adding boards at his own expense to keep out squatters, a neighbor said.
Harrisburg has about 400 vacant buildings whose status is considered “emergency” due to hazards and eyesore they pose or criminal activity they attract. The city expects to demolish 35-40 this year — the most it can do given budget constraints and staffing shortages, said Robert Philbin, the chief operating officer.
“All I can tell you is the city is doing the best it can do,” he said.
CBS 21 Weatherman Attacked While Jogging Says He Feels ‘Fortunate’ Incident Wasn’t Worse
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Dauphin County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Kirk Clyatt left his Second Street home early Sunday morning for one of his typical runs through the streets of Harrisburg.
The CBS 21 weatherman said he enjoys blowing off steam and taking in the “visual elements” as people pour out of bars across Restaurant Row and other city establishments.
Clyatt, 54, learned the hard way that it’s also a prime time to become the victim of violence.
In an interview Monday, Clyatt recounted a harrowing encounter in which he said he was attacked around 2:15 a.m. by a group of people as he jogged on Green Street.
Luzerne County 911: No Calls Missed
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A thorough review Monday of Luzerne County 911’s computerized database refutes a claim made by Hazleton’s police chief that callers could not get through last week to report a man was shot, the interim 911 director said.
The database logs all calls made to the center — including those not picked up by a phone operator — and there were no missed calls in the half-hour period before the July 5 shooting, interim 911 Executive Director Fred Rosencrans said.
On Friday, Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea blasted the county emergency dispatch agency, saying the victim remained bleeding on the street after the 1:40 a.m. shooting because people at the scene couldn’t get an answer at 911 until 2 a.m.
“I am saying with certainty it didn’t happen the way it was portrayed,” Rosencrans said.
Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/659924/County-911:-No-calls-missed
Wilkes-Barre Police Deal With Wild Weekend
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
WILKES-BARRE — City police remained busy Monday after a violent weekend that involved a deadly shooting, a crash involving an officer, an arrest of a man who allegedly carjacked a cab at gunpoint and a burglary in which a suspect put a knife to the victim’s throat.
• Police released no new details Monday of a fatal shooting behind 174 S. Grant St. early Sunday morning.
An autopsy performed by forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross determined Vaughn Kemp, 24, of Park Avenue, suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Kemp’s death was ruled a homicide. Kemp was attending a party when he was gunned down at about 1:20 a.m. No arrest has been made.
Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/660031/W-B-police-deal-with-wild-weekend
Scranton Just Wild About Derek Jeter
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lackawanna County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
SCRANTON — Casey Prudente chased a rumor and wound up with a story even she finds hard to believe.
Lucky she has the pictures to prove it.
When the captain of the New York Yankees calls you over to his car, it doesn’t matter if the light has turned green. Traffic on a Scanton corner waited Sunday morning while Derek Jeter snapped photos with Prudente and three friends.
When the passenger window rolled down and he called them over, she was thrilled. The Scott Township resident had been waiting at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center since 7 a.m. Sunday, hoping Jeter might be staying there.
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/sports/mc-jeter-scranton-20130709,0,5844141.story#ixzz2YZ2nCGNy
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Pittsburgh’s Chatham Village A Model For Urban Planning
A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As modern architects experiment with new forms of urban life, Pittsburgh’s Chatham Village has been tucked away for decades on Mount Washington, the work of 1930s architects who apparently were ahead of their time.
Resident David Vater, 59, works as an architect from his home, and he heralds the work of urban planners Clarence S. Stein and Henry Wright to anyone who will listen. Mr. Stein and Mr. Wright designed Chatham Village in the early 1930s under a commission from the Buhl Foundation, hoping to create a revolutionary new neighborhood organized around shared spaces.
“The idea was that rather than having to look at all that clutter and the cars and the streets, they would hide the streets,” Mr. Vater said. “Instead of putting the street up the middle [of the houses], they’d put grass lawns up the middle, and gardens. The grass lawns would be places for people to walk and enjoy and for children to play.”
A lifetime separates Mr. Stein and Mr. Wright from today’s urban planners, but their Chatham Village project is a quiet but important predecessor for modern architects. For example, Seattle designer Ross Chapin’s contemporary “pocket neighborhoods” — small-scale neighborhoods oriented around shared spaces — are almost identical to Mr. Stein and Mr. Wright’s concept.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/home/Chatham_Village_a_model_for_urban_planning.html#YBj9oXDrOTOuzSL2.99
Confusion On Snowden Aceptance Of Venezuela Offer
MOSCOW (AP) – NSA leaker Edward Snowden accepted Venezuela‘s offer of political asylum, according to a posting Tuesday on the Twitter account of a Russian lawmaker with close ties to the Kremlin. However, the tweet disappeared a few minutes later.
It was not possible to immediately reach Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee who has acted as an unofficial point-man for the Kremlin on the Snowden affair.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130709_ap_0b0fb18277a24f71a8942167a3fcf8b0.html#4e2FSiYYPEGvTSSi.99
Norristown Planning Commission To Review Senior Housing Proposal For Former Kennedy-Kenrick High School
Location of Norristown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
NORRISTOWN — The proposed 208-unit senior housing project at the former Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic High School will add 69 new vehicle trips during the weekday AM “peak” hour and 93 new vehicle trips during the weekday PM “peak” hour, according to a traffic impact study submitted to the Norristown Planning Commission.
The June 27 study, produced by Traffic Planning and Design (TPD) of Pottstown, and the preliminary site plans by the developer, Hallman Retirement Neighborhoods of Pottstown, will be reviewed by the planning commission at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The proposed $50 million project will include 46 units and a community center in the former high school, two multi-family buildings with a total of 98 units, 28 townhouses and two single-family homes for residential staff on the main school property at Johnson Highway and Arch Street. The plan also calls for the former convent building to be razed and a 36-unit building and a separate, two-story retail/medical office building to be built in the former parking lot off Arch Street.
Two driveways will be built on Johnson Highway including a full-access driveway and a limited-access (egress only) driveway located 200 feet west of Arch Street. full-access driveways will be built on Arch Street.
Reading Fire Chief Surprises Mayor With Immediate Resignation
In a surprise move Monday, city Fire Chief David W. Hollinger resigned for personal reasons after a little more than a year on the job.
Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer said the chief came back from vacation to hand him the resignation, which was effective immediately. Spencer said he accepted it with regret and wishes Hollinger well.
“I’ve been making it clear: I did not ask for his resignation,” Spencer said. “I was surprised. I believe he was doing a good job.”
Hollinger, 53, could not be reached for comment. He and the firefighters union had battled over several issues, but it’s not known if that had any role in his resignation.
DA Says Parolees Dumped In Berks
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Editor’s note: Glad the Berks County DA is saying enough already. Seems like the “powers that be” target certain communities to be a dumping ground for what nobody else wants in their back yard. Residents of Pottstown and Norristown know this very well!
District Attorney John T. Adams said Berks County is becoming a dumping ground for out-of-county sex offenders who have completed their state prison sentences.
Adams wrote a letter to Michael Potteiger, chairman of the state Board of Probation and Parole, asking that the department stop paroling sex offenders from other counties to Berks.
Another concern he raised was that so many were being paroled to the New Person Ministries halfway houses in Reading and Cumru Township.
Many of the sex offenders, he said, have committed crimes against minors, including rape.
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