Today's News - Saturday, September 26th

HAVEN ROLLS OUT 21ST BOROUGH DAY

TODAY IS THE LAST SATURDAY IN SEPTEMBER, ALWAYS A GREAT TIME IN SCHUYLKILL HAVEN FOR BOROUGH DAY. WHETHER YOU’RE 5 OR 50, DOWNTOWN SCHUYLKILL IS THE PLACE TO BE TODAY FOR FOOD, ENTERTAINMENT OF ALL KINDS, GAMES FOR THE KIDS ON PARKWAY, MAGIC, IT’S THE PLACE FOR THOUSANDS TO GATHER. EASY PARKING FROM SEVERAL SPOTS AND TRANSPORTATION DOWNTOWN MAKES BOROUGH DAY A MUST SEE.

COURT TO HEAR PARISHONERS PLEAS

Parishioners who want to keep St. George Roman Catholic Church in Shenandoah from being demolished received a chance Friday to make their case in Schuylkill County Court. According to the Republican and Herald, Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin signed an order scheduling a hearing for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 7 on the petition of four parishioners of the oldest Lithuanian congregation in the United States to keep the Diocese of Allentown from razing the 1891 structure and selling artifacts from it. A petition filed earlier this week alleges the diocese was violating canon law by effectively negating the right of parishioners to appeal the church's closing to the Vatican. Also that the diocese is violating a 2002 agreement between the United States and Lithuania that requires preservation of important ethnic historic sites in each nation. The suit asks the court to issue an injunction requiring the diocese, the Most Rev. John O. Barres, bishop of the diocese, and Monsignor Bernard A. Flanagan, pastor of the church, to heat the building, continue to perform minimal maintenance on it and cease removing artifacts from it.

FALLEN FIREFIGHTERS TO BE HONORED

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY’S VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS AND THE HISTORICAL FIRE SOCIETY WILL HOST THEIR ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4TH AT THE FIRE TRAINING GROUNDS IN FRACKVILLE. A MEMORIAL SERVICE WILL START THE DAY’S FESTIVITIES AT 2PM TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE COUNTY’S 35 FIREFIGHTERS WHO DIED IN THE LINE OF DUTY. THE OPEN HOUSE WILL FEATURE A PARADE OF ANTIQUE FIRE APPARATUS, PUMPING DEMONSTRATIONS AND OTHER FIRE RELATED ACTIVITIES. FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL THE FIRE SOCIETY AT 462-4400.

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR THREATENED

Shenandoah Police are looking for a borough man accused of making terroristic threats against a school district administrator. As reported in the Republican and Herald, about 1 p.m. Thursday, Carlos Cintron left the grounds of Shenandoah Valley High School where he worked as a security guard through Anthracite Protection Services. School administration officials believed Cintron quit his job. While officials were packing the man's belongings, they found a note scribbled with profanity and threats against high school Principal Philip Andras, including slitting his throat. Since there was no date on the note, police are unsure when it was written. District officials called borough and state police and the county district attorney's office. Police obtained a search warrant for Cintron's home. He was not home at the time of the search. A warrant was issued for Cintron's arrest. He is believed to be in the Reading area.

RENDELL LOOKING FOR IDEAS TO HELP DAIRY FARMERS

Milk producers across the state are facing prices 40 percent lower than a year ago. Now, Governor Rendell is asking the state milk marketing board for their recommendations on how to help the State's dairy farmers survive the financial hardships. Under state law, the board is responsible for protecting the dairy industry and is charged with setting prices based upon conditions affecting the milk market. on the national level, Rendell and seven other governors from northeastern states called on U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack about offering debt forgiveness or extensions on usda loans for dairy farmers. Schuylkill County has a sizeable number of milk producers.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed says he won't try to hold on to the office he's held for 27 years. Reed lost the Democratic primary by City Council President Linda
Thompson. Reed could have waged a write-in campaign, but he said Friday that doing so would be divisive to the city.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A fourth employee of a social-services company is pleading guilty in a case linked to the starvation death of a disabled Philadelphia teenager. Patricia Burch admits she lied to a grand jury investigating the 2006 death of 14-year-old Danieal (dan-YELL') Kelly. Burch had said she never forged company documents.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A South Korean electric car company wants to build its first North American assembly and sales facilities in Pennsylvania. Governor Ed Rendell and CT&T Company officials said Friday that the facilities would create 400 jobs. The company is considering sites in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

DENVER (AP) - Prosecutors allege Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO'-lah ZAH'-zee) was on the verge of launching a terrorist attack on New York City, only dropping his plans when he realized law enforcement was on to him. But Zazi's attorney says the FBI has been unable to find any explosives or the chemicals allegedly used to make them.

NEW YORK (AP) - Iran's president says his country has complied with U.N. rules requiring it to declare uranium enrichment facilities six months before they become operational. President Barack Obama says Tehran is speeding down a path to confrontation and needs to "come clean" on all its nuclear efforts at an international meeting next week.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The G-20 Summit is officially over, but Pittsburgh police are still dealing with the thousands of protesters who flocked to the city for the event. After arresting 83 people during the two-day event, police say they arrested another 60 at an illegal gathering last night. President Barack Obama says the protests were more peaceful and smaller than previous world summits.

PORLAMAR, Venezuela (AP) - Some 30 African and South American leaders are gathering in Venezuela. Libya's Moammar Gadhafi is there, setting up camp in his trademark Bedouin tent and meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last night. Chavez says the meeting will focus on "the struggles of the South."

CAIRO (AP) - Osama bin Laden is demanding that European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan. In an audiotape that surfaced yesterday, the al-Qaida leader warns of "retaliation" against them for their alliance with the United States in the war.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - The death toll is climbing after two separate suicide attacks in northwestern Pakistan today. One car bomb detonated outside a bank affiliated with the army in Peshawar, where 10 people were killed and nearly 80 wounded. The second attacker struck a police station, killing at least six.

WASHINGTON (AP) - White House officials say President Barack Obama's goal of closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by next January is in doubt. They're facing a number of difficult issues, including setting up new rules for military trials, finding a location for a new prison to house the detainees and finding host countries for those who can be released.

MOORPARK, Calif. (AP) - Firefighters have a wildfire burning in Southern California 85 percent contained. Hot, dry Santa Ana winds had fanned the blaze across 27-square-miles of Ventura County, but have eased in recent days.

CONROE, Texas (AP) - A U.S. Marshals Service spokesman says jailed Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford is being treated at a hospital after being injured during a fight with another inmate at a private detention facility north of Houston. The spokesman says Stanford's injuries aren't life threatening.

BIG CREEK, Ky. (AP) - Authorities are releasing few details about the death of a part-time census worker in rural Kentucky. Bill Sparkman was found hanging in a cemetery two weeks ago. The man who found Sparkman's body says the victim was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Production was halted on the "Tonight Show" on Friday after host Conan O'Brien hit his head during a stunt. NBC says the comedian was examined at a hospital but isn't commenting on his condition or whether he's been released. But a statement issued by O'Brien indicates he's treating the incident lightly.