Today's news - Friday, June 27, 2008

Skook-a-Palooza cancelled

The Skook A Palooza event has been cancelled. The music fesitval, originally scheduled for this weekend at the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds, then moved to Club Paparazzi in Frackville, has been cancelled and the organizer, Neil Moyer, arrested for using a stolen ATM card. The Republican and Herald reports that Moyer was arrested on charges of using a stolen ATM card and made a withdrawal of $105 dollars from a checking account. Moyer was picked up by Pottsville police on a warrant from Schuylkill Haven PD. Moyer reportedly posted bail. The benefit concert was scheduled to help local charitable organizations. It had to be moved due to contract issues between Moyer and FARM, the parent organization of the Schuylkill County Fair. Moyer reportedly was unable to satisfy terms of the rental agreement.

Fire destroys Cressona home

A Cressona woman’s home was destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon. 78-year-old Betty Moyer was not home at the time of the 2pm blaze. She lived alone there. Incident Commander John Woleschok (wall-eh-shock) tells us what they found on arrival:

WOLESCHOK

The home was filled with alot of stuff, according to Woleschok, making access to the inside of the home difficult. Firefighters had to vent the roof in several places to fight the blaze from the attic. Crews from Cressona and a number of other communities were on scene to provide relief due to the heat and humidity, working in platoons to fight the fire. State police fire marshal John Burns said that the fire started in the dining room of the home, possibly caused by a light fixture. Damages are estimated at more than $35-thousand-dollars. Cressona Assistant Fire Chief Jim Krammes Jr. suffered a laceration to his hand. An adjoining property had exterior damage.

Man steals prescription drugs

Tamaqua police are looking for a robber who stole painkillers from a borough pharmacy Thursday. The suspect, described as a white male, wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and a handkerchief over his face entered Shafer's Pharmacy and demanded Oxycodone from a store clerk. The clerk handed over a handful of bottles and the suspect fled. He was last seen getting into a dark colored vehicle driven by a white female, headed toward the Coaldale area. Police say that the drugs were valued at $500 dollars, but have an estimate street value of more than $20-thousand-dollars. Anyone with information about the robbery should call Tamaqua police at 668-6100.

Assault in West Brunswick

An Auburn man is jailed following an incident Wednesday night. Around 10pm, Schuylkill Haven state police were notified that a domestic dispute was taking place at 2144 Market Street, Auburn.
36-year-old Brian Galen and Karen Spotts were arguing. Galen left, and returned a short time later, breaking down a back door. Galen is accused of slapping and pushing Spotts, and a 13 year old female, and reportedly threatened to shoot a 15 year old male with a sawed-off shotgun. Galen was arrested and charged with aggravated and simple assault, reckless endangerment, terroristic threats and possessing a prohibited offensive weapon. Galen was arraigned via video conference at the Schuylkill County Prison.


Coal mine accident investigation report

Federal and state investigators say a coal miner killed last week by falling debris at an eastern Pennsylvania anthracite mine was working in an unprotected area. Investigators could not immediately say why Robert Carey was in a section of the mine that lacked ceiling supports. Forty-five-year-old Carey was killed June 16 by falling rocks or coal inside the Harmony Mine near Mount Carmel. He was an assistant foreman from Shamokin with nine years of experience. Tom Rathbun, of the state Department of Environmental Protection, says a joint investigation by the agency's Bureau of Mine Safety and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration found that roof supports were in place as required in other parts of the mine. Officials have given the mine's owner, Mount Carmel-based UAE Coal Corp. Associates, permission to resume normal production. Carey's death was the third fatal mining accident in Pennsylvania this year.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissionofficials are expected to appear Friday before a state Housecommittee considering the proposed 75-year lease of the turnpike.But the House Transportation Committee chairman says he stillthinks the idea is "insufficient to achieve what the goal ishere."

LONDON (AP) - A group of British lawmakers is criticizing Heinzfor pulling a TV spot that showed two men kissing. Six legislatorsfrom the governing Labor Party say the decision was"ill-considered" and likely to offend homosexuals. They'recalling on the Pittsburgh-based ketchup maker to reconsider.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - Geisinger Health System says 400employees at its South Wilkes-Barre campus will lose their jobs ina restructuring of its two Luzerne County medical campuses. Thechief medical officer of Geisinger Northeast says same-day, urgentcare and outpatient care services will continue at the SouthWilkes-Barre facility.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The City of Philadelphia has a new 10-year,10-step action plan to revitalize the Delaware River waterfront.Mayor Michael Nutter says it will begin with a transformation ofthe Penn's Landing Corp. The agency has been marked by secrecy andscandal since its creation in 1970.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The state Department of Agriculture saysthe emerald ash borer has been found in Mercer County. The invasivebeetle was discovered in Butler and Allegheny counties last summer.Officials are surveying this year to gauge whether the insect hasspread.

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stocks are headed for a lower open today,even after yesterday's tumultuous dive. Already, oil is above $142a barrel. Ahead of today's data releases, the Dow futures fell 57,to 11,405.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton aren't justtalking like they're on the same page after a bitter presidentialprimary, they're showing it, in a town called Unity no less. Thetwo will campaign together in the New Hampshire town today.

YONGBYON, North Korea (AP) - The most visible symbol of NorthKorea's nuclear weapons program is gone, as the communist regimeblasted apart the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor. Thatcomes 20 months after Pyongyang detonated a nuclear bomb,confirming its status as an atomic power.

BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military says a ceremony handing oversecurity in Anbar province to the Iraqis is postponed becausesandstorms are in the forecast. The announcement also comes a dayafter a suicide attack in the province killed more than 20 people,including three U.S. Marines. No new ceremony has been scheduledyet.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Paramilitary police and bands of rulingparty militants in Zimbabwe are hauling people into pollingstations to vote in the country's presidential runoff election.Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai (SVAHN'-gur-eye) got the mostvotes in the first round, but withdrew from the runoff after anintense campaign of state-sponsored violence against his backers.