Local News-Monday, March 5th

Ongoing work on the water system in Mahanoy Plane prompts a water boil advisory. Customers who live in Mahanoy Plane are under a water boil advisory until further notice. They may also experience low water pressure as a result of the work.

Two Schuylkill Haven men were killed in a one vehicle crash early Saturday. The crash occurred just after midnight, when 24-year-old David Peiffer Jr., and his passenger, 18-year-old Ryan Walters, were eastbound on Route 443 in North Manheim Township, apparently at a high-rate of speed. Peiffer lost control, spun clockwise across the eastbound lane, and struck a tree, snapping it into three pieces, then traveled along the east berm of the road and struck a second tree, splitting the car in two. Both men were ejected from the vehicle. Neither were wearing seatbelts. Peiffer and Walters were pronounced dead at 1:30am by Sch. County Deputy Coroner Mark Wessner. State police are continuing their investigation.

A New Ringgold woman is dead following a crash Saturday afternoon in West Penn Township. 18-year-old Randi Salem was traveling east on the Clamtown Road when her car was struck on the driver’s side by a vehicle driven by 28-year-old Eric Jones of Allentown. Salem was pronounced dead at the scene. Her passenger, Jessica Ulrich was not reported to be injured. Jones, nor his passenger, Richard Jones of Lehighton, were both uninjured. The crash happened around 1:30pm Saturday.

The ReDCo Group has responded to the review report issued by Parente Randolph. Thursday afternoon, a public meeting was held at the County Courthouse to unveil the findings of the three-year review of service provider contracts for Schuylkill County’s MH/MR program with the Pottsville-based firm. Sunday afternoon, The ReDCo Group released a statement to WPPA/T-102 News. Chief Operating Officer Virginia Schenk said that the company provided services to consumers based on the budget, and that no over-billing ever occurred. She went on to say that every dollar spent was authorized by former program and county authorities, and that former county administrators failed to develop an internal budget process to track spending. Schenk said that ReDCo did not receive a full copy of the review until Friday, and that their Chief Financial Officer Len Bolinsky is studying it now in order to prepare a respond to the findings.

A massive fire damaged 9 homes in Coal Township Sunday. The blaze was reported around 4pm at the rear of a home on Eagle Avenue, and spread quickly. Fifteen people are reported to have been left homeless. Fire crews were on-scene late into the evening. No cause has been determined, but an investigation is expected to be conducted today. Smoke from the fire spread across the city of Shamokin during the height of the blaze.

Students at St. Clair Elementary/Middle School are getting off on the right foot this week with a good breakfast. In observance of National Nutrition Month and National School Breakfast Week, students from Kindergarten through 8th grade will receive free breakfast during homeroom this week. School officials say that kids who eat unhealthy breakfast, or skip it altogether are at greater risk for being overweight. Those who have a good breakfast score higher on tests, have fewer discipline problems and visit the nurse less.
The program is made possible by the school, Coca-Cola of Pottsville, Mission-Nutrition Food Service, the St. Clair PTA and Professional School of Photography.

A Sheppton girl who was reported missing by state police last Thursday has been found. We reported to you Thursday morning that 15-year-old Marilyn Hughes was reported missing by her mother Wednesday night. She was reported to have left her home with a man in a green Honda Civic. State police say that she was found Sunday. No further details about the circumstances of her disappearance were released.

If you need a passport for travel abroad, you need to apply today. Schuylkill County Prothonotary Peter Symons issued the advice to all out-of-country travelers to apply for their passport well in advance of their departure date, due to recent changes in passport requirements. Those delays are causing delays in processing. Symons said that his office has been told that routine delays for processing passports are 10 weeks. The expedited passport process, which costs more, is currently taking 6 weeks. His staff is advising people who need a passport in less than 6 weeks to apply in person at the Philadelphia Passport Agency.
People with plans to travel out of the country this summer should apply for their passports now.