Today's News-Friday, August 10th

The Minersville Area Battlin Miners baseball team was honored during Thursday's County Commissioners meeting. The Commissioners presented the team and coaches with a proclamation acknowledging their hard work and determination which led to the PIAA Class A State title. The Battlin Miners are the first county baseball team in 11-years and only the second county team ever to win a state championship. In other business, the County opened bids for the demolition of 12 properties in eight municipalities. The bid award date is August 22nd. Bids were also opened for renovations to the sprinkler system at Rest Haven. The bid award date is August 15th. In other business, The Commissioners adopted a resolution designating SEDCO as the Industrial Development Organization under the Local Economic Development Assistance Program.

A former Schuylkill Haven borough manager and councilman is throwing his hat into the ring for County Commissioner in November. John Kotch has announced that he is conducting a write-in candidacy for the county's highest office as an Independent. Kotch, who has lived in Schuylkill Haven for many years, served as Borough Manager in the 70's, and was also a member of borough council. He is no stranger to the political scene, having been a candidate for Commissioner on several previous occasions, as well as being a candidate for the state Legislature. One of Kotch's hot button items is his desire to see a county home for veterans, as well as fiscal reform. Incumbents Robert Carl and Frank Staudenmeier are running for re-election on the Republican ticket, while current Democratic Commissioner Mantura Gallagher is seeking another term. She is joined by Schuylkill County Sheriff Francis McAndrew, on the ballot. Tamaqua businessman John Schickram is also a write-in candidate.

A Pottsville man is charged with several offenses after an incident in the city Tuesday afternoon. Police report that 24-year-old Brandon Starr was driving his car in front of the Schuylkill County Prison and swerved in front of two women and a baby as they were leaving the prison, and stepped off of the curb. The women said that Starr came very close to hitting the stroller, but they were able to avoid contact with the car. Starr was located by police on Wednesday and he was taken into custody. He's charged with reckless endangerment and simple assault. He is in the Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of bail. Police say that Starr was already on probation.

Tidewood Industrial Park in Rush Township is expected to welcome a new tenant. The unnamed company, which distributes sporting goods and decorative pots, is expected to occupy the Tidewood West space within a few weeks. It is expected that the new tenant will bring about 25 jobs to the area, according to representatives from MBC Development, the new owner of the building. Hanesbrands Incorporated was the former owner of the property, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corporation. MBC is affiliated with Miller Brothers Construction Company of Schuylkill Haven.

A display of high-tech gadgetry and flashy cars took place during the kickoff event of the Great Pottsville Cruise last night. The Generation X Sound Off and Car Show at the Yorkville Coney Island brought out some of the best in sound systems and souped-up vehicles around. Contestants in the sound off brought their cars to the line and cranked up the sound systems reminiscent of a rock concert in a stadium. Judges hooked up a sound pressure meter to determine the decibel level that the car’s sound system put out. For those in attendance, it was a lot of fun to see the amount of work that car owners put into their machines. The Great Pottsville Cruise continues tonight with a Sock Hop at Pine View Acres with music of the Mudflaps. Tomorrow, enthusiasts can cruise in to downtown Pottsville at two locations, at Jerry’s Classic Car Museum in the afternoon, and at the Downtown Coney Island on North Centre Street in the evening. Sunday is Cruise Day, beginning with breakfast in the morning, all the way through till fireworks at Veterans Stadium in the evening. The cruise begins forming around 10am, and the two-hour cruise celebration rolls out at 4pm Sunday.

Schuylkill County will not be participating in the state's Gypsy Moth Suppression Program. At Thursday's board meeting, the Commissioners accepted the recommendation of the Schuylkill Conservation District not to participate. District Manager Craig Morgan said that the program is a suppression, not an eradication program and only certain qualifying lands in the immediate vicinity of homes would be sprayed which may or may not have the positive results sought by the property owner. He also said it will soon become more complicated for counties to spray. He said the Department of Agriculture is looking into requiring counties to contact everyone within spray blocks due to an incident this year at a hotel where spray drifted onto a neighboring property and a customer was exposed. That almost prompted a lawsuit. Cost is another factor. He said the state increased the price per acre from $7.00 to $12.00 and based on potential acreage sprayed in the past, Morgan said the County's cost could exceed $500-thousand-dollars. Land owners who wish to have their properties sprayed at their own expense can obtain a list of private sprayers by calling the local Bureau of Forestry Office at 385-7800 or by visiting the DCNR website at http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/.

The Schuylkill County Commissioners Thursday adopted a resolution requiring the state to pay the costs for prosecuting inmates who commit crimes and offenses in or around the county's two state prisons. The resolution was suggested by County Solicitor Paul Datte at last weeks work session, who explained that the State Corrections Department claimed state law required it to pay the costs only in escape cases. However in 2005, Montgomery County asked Schuylkill County along with other counties that have state prisons to join them in suing the state corrections department for reimbursement of the costs of prosecuting inmates for all crimes committed while in those prisons. Commonwealth Court ruled against the state and an appeal of the decision to the State Supreme Court was decided in favor of the counties. State prisons in Frackville and Mahanoy Township are among 21 state prisons.

Three people were taken to the hospital following a crash in East Norwegian Township last evening. The crash happened just before eight last night on the Port Carbon-Saint Clair Highway. Police 29-year-old Jay Fritz of Pottsville was speeding in his pick-up truck when he crossed the center of the highway and hit another truck head-on driven by 19-year-old Amanda Direnzo of Minersville. Fritz was taken to the Lehigh Valley Hospital where he remains in critical condition. Direnzo was taken to Reading Hospital where she's in fair condition. A passenger in her truck, 21-year-old Travis Umbenhen of Saint Clair was taken to Pottsville Hospital for treatment of what police called moderate injuries.

HUNTINGTON, Utah (AP) - A Utah official says the oxygen level where six trapped miners are believed to be is good enough to "stay alive." That is, if the men survived this week's cave-in.
There's been no sound detected over a microphone dropped some 1,800 feet into the mine.

BAGHDAD (AP) - A car bomb has killed at least eight people and wounded about 50 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. The explosion struck a market in a Kurdish area of the city, where ethnic tensions have been on the rise.

PENTAGON (AP) - The push is on to find 80,000 new Army enlistees before October. Recruiters are pulling in extra staff from around the service to help meet their annual goal. The Army is expected to announce today that it met its targets for July.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Senator Barack Obama of Illinois says he wants to tap into the "core decency" of Americans to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians. He and five other
Democratic presidential hopefuls participated in the first major forum to address gay issues, held in Los Angeles.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - No deaths or serious injuries are reported after severe storms flooded basements, toppled trees and cut power to many in the Pittsburgh area. Local officials declared a state of emergency in the wake of yesterday's storms.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Weather problems have disrupted air travel nationwide, and it's taking its toll on passengers at Philadelphia International Airport. US Airways says 530 flights were cancelled across the country on Thursday. One-hundred-thirty of those were out of Philadelphia. Those delays may last well into today.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - They'll be cleaning up and repairing damage today in the Pittsburgh area, where severe storms have flooded basements, toppled trees and cut power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. City and county officials declared a state of emergency after the storms roared through yesterday. Some people reported seeing funnel clouds.

LACEYVILLE, Pa. (AP) - Autopsies are planned today on a couple and their adult son shot dead in their rural Bradford County home. No arrests have been announced in the shotgun slayings of
60-year-old Joseph Colegrove; his 56-year-old wife, Marlene Colegrove; and their 36-year-old son, Michael Colegrove. Police have ruled out murder-suicide.

MERCER, Pa. (AP) - A Slippery Rock man has been sentenced to 24 to 52 years in prison for the beating death of his wife. Twenty-eight-year-old Scott Dunn admitted in June to beating his
22-year-old wife Brandi to death with a hammer and then setting fire to the house to cover up the crime on January 14th, 2006.

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) - A stretch of Route 219 in Somerset County has been renamed in honor of the victims of Flight 93. It's now known as the Flight 93 Memorial Highway. PennDOT Secretary Allen Biehler says those who travel the route won't forget the bravery of
those who died on the plane that crashed in a field near Shanksville on September 11th, 2001.