Local News-Friday, Sept. 15th

Local law enforcement put another dent in the drug trade in our area with the arrest of two men yesterday. The Schuylkill County District Attorney's office reports that early Thursday morning, officers from four community police departments executed search warrants on a home at 103 North Berne Street in Schuylkill Haven and at the Country Squire Motel in North Manheim Township, looking for drugs, drug paraphernalia, cash and other items. Authorities seized a quantity of cocaine from both locations, and took 27-year-old Herbert Henderson and 21-year-old Hykeeam Harris, both of Philadelphia, into custody. The men had apparently been dealing drugs from both locations. They were arraigned and taken to county prison on $25-thousand-dollars cash bail. A 21-year-old Schuylkill Haven area woman is also expected to be charged in the case.

The ill-fated pay raise that Pennsylvania legislators voted themselves in 2005, then repealed it, is back in the news again. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has reinstated pay raises for
12-hundred elected and district judges. The court Thursday ordered the judge's pay returned to November's levels, when the pay-raise law was repealed in the wake of widespread public anger. But, the justices also said the Legislature violated the state Constitution by permitting members to accept the mid-term pay raises in the form of "unvouchered expenses." The law granting hefty pay raises to state lawmakers, the governor and cabinet officials, and judges was passed at two o'clock in the morning just before the General Assembly adjourned for the summer in July 2005. The sudden and secretive manner in which the vote was conducted, the size of the raises, and the legislators' circumventing the constitutional ban on midterm pay
raises brought widespread criticism for many months. With the November election less than two months away, the issue is sure to be contentious with incumbent candidates on the campaign trail.

A major financial institution with branches in our area is in the news again. Sovereign Bancorp, who has a major banking presence in the region, made headlines earlier this year when Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano acquired a nearly 20 percent stake in the Philadelphia-based company. The deal would allow Santander to purchase the remainder of the financial giant for $40-dollars per share. Sovereign CEO Jay Sidhu said at an investor conference in New York yesterday that he expects to ultimately sell the company, one of the largest thrifts in the US, to Santander. He also said that if Santander doesn't step in with a bid to buy the company, he expects that someone else will.

The Schuylkill County Commissioners Wednesday approved a request by the Office of Senior Services to apply for a $15,000 grant for improvements to the Shenandoah Senior Center. The Pa. Department of Aging grant will be used for accessibility, lighting and carpeting. A $200-thousand dollar grant application for selected renovations to the old Tremont High School was tabled until a rental agreement is worked out. The Office of Senior Services plans to relocate the Tremont Senior Center to the former High School. The building is owned by Ashland Regional Redevelopment Corporation. In other business, the Commissioners adopted a resolution reflecting a PennDot budget change for the aggressive driving project. The North Central Highway Safety Network said the new budget is just under $1.9-Million Dollars. The original proposal was for just over $2-Million Dollars. The Commissioners also accepted proposals from four firms for services during the 2006 annual County-Wide fall clean-up and electronics recycling event set for September 18th through the 30th. The Commissioners approved a $10-thousand-dollar budget adjustment for the Tax Claim Bureau. County Administrator William Reppy said the increase is necessary due to the larger than expected number of tax appeals.

An 8 month rape investigation has determined that the accusations were false in neighboring Northumberland County. State police at Stonington report that the alleged rape, which happened in November, 2005, turned out to be false. 33-year-old Heather Fisher of Shamokin told police that she was raped at a Shamokin home. The investigation led troopers to determine that no rape actually occurred. Fisher is charged with making false reports to law enforcement authorities. Those charges were filed with District Court in Shamokin.