Local News-Friday, June 22nd

A Tamaqua man is dead following a motorcycle crash yesterday morning near Lehighton.
Lehighton State Police report that 31-year-old Shane Stoeckel was driving his motorcycle north on Route 903, and was passing other vehicles at an apparent high rate of speed. Three other vehicles, traveling in the other direction were attempting to turn left onto Maury Road, two having made the turn. Stoekel's motorcycle struck the SUV driven by Julio Garcia of Jim Thorpe. The impact threw Stoeckel from the bike. He was flown to the hospital for treatment, but was pronounced dead by the Carbon County Coroner. The fatal crash happened around 9am.

Schuylkill Products Incorporated has scheduled more oversized load traffic that will affect motorists over the next several weeks. Today, beams will leave the company's Cressona yard at 7, 9 and 11am. They are bound for a Tioga County construction site. Delays are expected on Routes 901, 183 and 61. Starting next week, 2 beams each will move at 7, 9 and 11am on weekdays through July 12th. Delays are expected in the same areas as the oversized loads move to Tioga County. The company says that there will be no shipments on July 3rd or 4th.

The population at the Schuylkill County Prison stood at 326 Wednesday, higher than the average of 306 for June. Warden Gene Berdanier told members of the prison board during a meeting at the prison Wednesday that the rise in population is not a trend though over crowding remains an issue. Chairman Judge William Baldwin said population will peak during months of criminal court sessions. Overcrowding at the Prison, and what to do about it has been the subject of debate between the prison board and County Commissioners for several months. Previously, Judge Baldwin said that sometime in the future, overcrowding could lead the state to decertify the county prison. If that were to happen, he said the prison would not be able to accept inmates serving more than a six month sentence. Judge Baldwin and several other prison board members favor building a Prison Release Center on state property near the State Prison in Frackville. Approval for such a facility must come from the County Commissioners who are also Prison Board members. Proposals from three firms are presently under review by the county commissioners and one is expected to be selected to undertake the overcrowding issue.

The relationship between the county MH/MR Program and Service Access Management is "going very well", according to Dan McGrory, Administrator of the County’s MH/MR program.
McGrory was responding to an inquiry by Chairman Frank Staudenmierer during Wednesday's county commissioners work session. McGrory and Fiscal Officer Lisa Fishburn attended the work session, seeking approval for the purchase of two service agreements with SAM, and for approval of a performance and fiscal review of SAM's service to the county program. One agreement for just over $2.5 million dollars is for SAM's administration budget. The other, for just over $20.6 Million Dollars constitutes the distribution of MH/MR service dollars. Both agreements are for the period of July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008. Service Access Management of Berks County was hired by the county commissioners after successive years of budget overruns by the program. That prompted a decision in 2004 that the program's fiscal problems were insurmountable. The performance and fiscal review was provided by Stanalonis & Associates of Mechanicsburg, a health care consulting services firm hired by the MH/MR Program to assess SAM’s performance. The consultants gave a favorable review of SAM's work for the County after examining their internal controls, accounting and reporting processes and other pertinent safeguards. The firm also indicated that the relationship with SAM will result in the efficient and effective use of County funds and resources.

A forum was held yesterday in Pottsville to discuss Governor Ed Rendell's Prescription for Pennsylvania healthcare program. The event, co-sponsored by the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce Governmental Affairs committee and the Schuylkill Alliance for Health Care Access, was attended by about 30 people. Barbara Holland, from the Governor's Health Care office, outlined the plan, which proposes to give health coverage to more people who either don’t have insurance because their employers don't offer it, or because it's not affordable. A key component would charge employers who do not provide health insurance an assessment that would go into a fund to pay for coverage for the uninsured. During the 90 minute session, three members of the healthcare community addressed some of the issues that were not covered by the Rendell plan. Drs. Thomas McLaughlin and Robert DeColli, and Craig Hunt, an administrator at Pottsville Hospital, offered their opinions about the plan. A question and answer session was held with the audience after presentations were completed. Wayne Pace, owner of the local McDonald's franchises, said that Pennsylvania's unfavorable business climate was a hindrance to keeping good workers and offering competitive benefits to them, such as health insurance.

A Tower City man had minor injuries in a three vehicle crash in Tower City last evening.
Around 6:45pm, Evelyn Thomas of Joliett was attempting to merge into traffic on Route 209 from a parking space. She pulled her car into the path of a motorcycle operated by Richard Adams of Tower City. The cycle hit Thomas' driver's side door. He was thrown about 10 feet, and his bike slid for about 20 feet, where it hit the bumper of a parked car. Adams was treated for minor injuries.

The Schuylkill Conservation District recently received an award for spearheading the creation of an innovative mine drainage treatment system. A copy of the press release was made available to the media at Wednesdays County Commissioners work session. The system neutralized toxic discharge that flows into Catawissa Creek from the Audenreid Mine Tunnel.
The Conservation District says that five abandoned mines flow into the Mine Tunnel discharging an average of over 12-million gallons per day of aluminum contaminated AMD into the creek. The Conservation District and the Catawissa Creek Restoration Association worked with a consulting firm to design the system which removes two-thirds of the contaminates and triples the creek's acid-neutralizing capacity, restoring the creek as an aquatic habitat. The treatment system required eight acres and $1.8 Million Dollars to complete and was financed entirely by state and federal funds. The District says that a conventional treatment system would have cost an estimated $40 Million Dollars and required at least 116 acres. The Conservation District said the recreational tourism value of a restored fishery in the creek could show an economic return of nearly $1.4 Million Dollars.