Local News-Friday, June 29th

The Schuylkill County Commissioners Wednesday approved the renewal of a three year contract with the Berks County firm hired to oversee the County’s Mental Health/ Mental Retardation Program. The renewed service agreement provides for Service Access Management to oversee the spending and management of the program for the period July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2010. The Commissioners also approved SAM's first year administration budget amounting to just over $2.5 Million Dollars and the distribution of just over $20.6 Million Dollars of the next fiscal years service dollars. Those agreements run from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008. After several years of MH/MR budget overruns the county decided in 2004 that the MH/MR Programs fiscal problems were insurmountable and hired Service Access Management to oversee the program. At last weeks work session. MH/MR Administrator Dan McGrory told the Commissioners that the relationship between the County and SAM "is going very well." The Commissioners also accepted a performance and fiscal review of SAM's work for the county performed by a health care consulting firm from Mechanicsburg. Stanalonis & Associates review indicated that the relationship with SAM will result in the efficient and effective use of County funds and resources.

A city man was arrested for trespassing and public drunkenness in Pottsville Wednesday night.
Officers were called to a home on Norwegian Street around dinner time Wednesday, where Cory McCabe had entered the home of Catherine Walters. She asked McCabe to leave her home several times, but he ignored her. Police found him several doors away, visibly intoxicated. He was taken into custody on charges, arraigned and is lodged in the county prison.

The Diocese of Allentown is making some changes in how parishes are organized to study a possible restructuring. The parishes will be placed into 33 deanery regions, as recommended by the Diocesan Pastoral Council. Committees made up of clergy and two lay people from each church will meet to look at possible church consolidations or restructuring, according to the Allentown Diocese website. The regions range in size from two to nine parishes, mostly based on location. The pastoral council will provide guidelines for the study of consolidation and/or restructuring of the parishes. Each deanery region will use the guidelines to make recommendations if any parish changes should be made. Individual churches will also undertake their own self-study. That process is expected to be completed by September, and the results used in conjunction with other information gathered in the process. The list of churches and their breakdown by deanery is available by logging on to allentowndiocese.org.

A manufacturer in Delano is undertaking another expansion. Poly Plastic Products in Delano's Majic Industrial Park, a manufacturer of polyethylene bags and sheeting, has commenced its seventh expansion, according to company president Steve Redlich. The company moved from New Jersey to Schuylkill County in 1983. The original building was 30-thousand square feet and with the completion of their current expansion, the company will have a total of 173-thousand-square feet of manufacturing space. Redlich reports that Poly Plastic Products has experienced substantial growth in the past six years, increasing sales from $13 million for the year ending June 2001 to $50 million in the current year. In the past 2 years, the company purchased over $5 million in equipment to enhance their production capacity.

Two people were hurt following a crash on a wet Route 61 last night. 19-year-old Nicole Gulden and her passenger, Rasheem Whatley of Philadelphia were driving north in Darkwater when their car ran off the road in the rain. The car went up an embankment and flipped over on its roof. Both had minor injuries but refused treatment. Her car had to be towed. The accident happened around 7:30 Thursday evening.

The County’s Solid Waste Department will be able to recover 50% of the costs of its annual fall annual clean-up campaign. The Department received approval from the County Commissioners on Wednesday to register their clean-up campaign with the Department of Environmental Protection’s Household and Small Business hazardous waste collection program. The DEP program enables the county to recover 50% of the costs to collect, transport, and recycle scrap tires and electronics. The 2007 fall clean-up will be held September 17th though the 29th.
In other business, the Commissioners awarded a contract to Harry Depue, Inc. of Bangor for a bridge replacement project in Branch Township on a low bid of $362-thousand-dollars.
Bids were opened for Phase-One of a general construction project at Sweet Arrow Lake. Four bids were received for General Construction, Electrical and Plumbing. The tentative contract award date is July 11th. The Commissioners also approved an agreement for the sale and purchase of an agriculture easement between the county and owners of 61.4 acres of land located in Wayne Township for the purchase price of $61,140. The Commissioners announced that the Courthouse will be closed on Wednesday July 4th in observance of Independence Day. The Commissioners work session that week will be Tuesday, July 3rd at 10:00am in the Hofmann Room at the Courthouse.