TODAY'S NEWS: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2010

LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

FRIDAY'S GAMES

EASTERN CONFERNCE CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIP

PINE GROVE 28, WYOMING AREA 20

DISTRICT 4 CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIP

DANVILLE 38, MT CARMEL 28

SATURDAY'S GAMES

EASTERN CONFERNCE CLASS A CHAMPIONSHIP
　
HOLY CROSS AT MAHANOY AREA 1PM-WPPA

DISTRICT 11 CLASS 1A CHAMPIONSHIP

PIUS THE TENTH AT SCHUYLKILL HAVEN 7PM-WPPA

DISTRICT 11 CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIP

NORTH SCHUYLKILL AT NORTHERN LEHIGH 7PM-T102

THINGS PROGRESSING IN SHENANDOAH MURDER CASE

THE MAN ACCUSED OF SHOOTING A SHENANDOAH WILL LIKELY BE CHARGED IN A CAPITAL CASE. SCHUYLKILL COUNTY JUDGE JACQUELINE RUSSELL, DURING A PRE-TRIAL HEARING ELUDED TO JULIUS ENOE THAT ALTHOUGH SHE DIDN'T RULE ON THE CASE AT THE TIME THAT IT IS EXPECTED THAT PROSECUTORS WILL BE ALLOWED TO SEEK THE DEATH PENALTY IF HE IS FOUND GUILTY. ENOE WAS IDENTIFIED BY TWO ACCOMPLICES THAT HE INDEED WAS THE TRIGGER MAN IN THE MURDER OF BRUCE FORKER IN SHENANDOAH ON MARCH 16 OF THIS YEAR. HIS ACCOMPLICES ARE BOTH INTENDED TO TESTIFY AGAINST HIM. A TRIAL DATE WAS NOT SET IN THE CASE AND INDICATIONS ARE THAT THE TRIAL MAY NOT START UNTIL MARCH OF NEXT YEAR. ANOTHER PRE TRIAL HEARING IS SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 2ND AT 1:30 P.M. IN COURTROOM NUMBER TWO.

CONTROLLER'S REQUEST TO PAY ACCOUNTING FIRM DENIED

THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS HAVE DENIED A REQUEST BY CONTROLLER MELINDA KANTNER TO PAY THE ACCOUNTING FIRM THAT ASSISTED HER OFFICE IN PREPARING COUNTY FINANCIAL REPORTS. THE REQUEST TO USE $4,800 DOLLARS OF TAXPAYER MONIES TO PAY MAILLIE FALCONIERO AND COMPANY OF POTTSTOWN FOR THEIR SERVICES WAS REFUSED BECAUSE THE MOVE WAS NEVER APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONERS AND WOULD BE IN VIOLATION WITH THE COUNTY CODE. KANTNER FEELS THAT THE MONEY SHOULD COME FROM THE FUNDS BEING PAID TO POTTSVILLE ACCOUNTANT SAM DEEGAN WHO WAS CONTRACTED LAST YEAR IN THE ROLE OF EXTERNAL AUDITOR. KATNER HAS ALLEGED THAT DEEGAN FAILED TO PROVIDE DRAFT COPIES OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, DEEGAN CHARGES THAT THERE WAS A LACK OF COOPERATION FROM KANTNER SO HE WAS UNABLE TO PROVIDE THE INFORMATION. IT IS NOT KNOWN WHEN AND HOW THE BILL WILL BE PAID.

ANOTHER FIRE IN THE COUNTY FRIDAY NIGHT

NO ONE WAS INJURED WHEN FIRE BROKE OUT INSIDE A HOME FRIDAY NIGHT NEAR KLINGERSTOWN. NO ONE WAS HOME AT 1173 RIDGE ROAD WHEN THE FIRE WAS DISOVERED. MAHANTONGO FIRE COMPANY ASSISTANT FIRE CHIEF JIM STUTZMAN FEELS THAT FIRE MAY HAVE ORIGINATED IN THE CENTER OF THE HOME, HOWEVER INVESTIGATION INTO THE ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE BLAZE HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED AT THIS TIME. THE CALL WAS RECEIVED AROUND TEN AFTER SIX BRINGING EMERGENCY RESPONDERS FROM ELEVEN COMMUNITIES INCLUDING THE ENGLEWOOD FIRE COMPANY, BUTLER TOWNSHIP AND MAHANTONGO FIRE COMPANY'S RAPID INTERVENTION TEAM. WHEN FIRE FIGHTERS ARRIVED FLAMES WERE ALREADY SHOOTING THROUGH THE ROOF LEAVING IT SEVERELY DAMAGED. THE FIRE WAS CONTAINED IN ABOUT AN HOUR.

FRACKVILLE BOROUGH COUNCIL LOOKING TO TRIM BUDGET

THE BOROUGH COUNCIL OF FRACKVILLE HELD A SPECIAL MEETING THURSDAY NIGHT TO ADOPT A PRELIMINARY BUDGET, HOWEVER THE MEETING WAS A LINE BY LINE LOOK AT CHANGES AND COST CUTTING MEASURES. THE EARLY ANALYSIS SHOWS A SIGNIFICANT SHORTFALL HOWEVER IT APPEARS THAT THE COUNCIL IS TRYING TO FIND OPPORTUNITIES TO TRIM EXPENSES. A COMPUTER GLITCH CAUSED AN INACCURATE COUNT OF FIGURES MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO FIND ALL OF THE ANSWERS. COUNCIL IS OPTIMISTIC THAT A BALANCED BUDGET CAN BE REACHED WITH THE REDUCTION OF CONTRACTED SERVICES AND CUTTING PLANNED PURCHASES.

YORK, Pa. (AP) - A judge says prosecutors may seek the death penalty against a Pennsylvania couple accused of killing their adopted 7-year-old Russian son. The York Daily Record/Sunday News reports motions by Michael and Nanette Craver to prevent capitol punishment were denied. Prosecutors say the boy was tortured. The couple said he hurt himself.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia police say a woman has come forward to report being assaulted by a man matching the description of a suspect who may be connected to the strangulation deaths of two women in the city's Kensington section. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports she told police the man choked her until she lost consciousness.

BUSHKILL, Pa. (AP) - The Pennsylvania Game Commission says an 879-pound black bear brought down by a bow hunter is the heaviest ever recorded in the state. David Price shot and killed the 17-year-old bear in Pike County on Monday. The Pocono Record reports the game commission says the bear had an estimated live weight of 879 pounds.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Regulators have shut down small banks in Florida and Pennsylvania, lifting to 148 the number of U.S. banks that have failed this year as soured loans have piled up. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday took over Gulf State Community Bank in Florida and Allegiance Bank of North America in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama has invoked the memory of former President Ronald Reagan in chiding Republicans for not acting on a U.S. nuclear treaty with Russia. In the weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says the GOP have forgotten Reagan's principle of "Trust but verify." Obama says the treaty is "fundamental to America's national security."

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate's top Republican says Democrats should concentrate on extending soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts during the lame-duck session and not waste time on issues like gays in the military. In the weekly Republican radio and internet address, Sen. Mitch McConnell says failing to extend the tax cuts will cost even more jobs. He says workers and small business owners don't need more bad news now.

MOAB, Utah (AP) - A rugged canyon along the Colorado river in Utah is where law officers are concentrating their search for the suspect in the shooting of a state parks police officer. The victim was critically wounded. Grand County Sheriff Jim Nyland says the suspect's car has been found and officers think the gunman fled on foot into a nearby canyon along the Colorado River, about 20 miles west of Moab.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - An exit strategy from Afghanistan and long term support for the country are being fine-tuned behind closed doors at a meeting of NATO leaders in Portugal. Despite the withdrawal of troops, NATO officials stressed that the alliance will maintain a military presence in Afghanistan far beyond the end of the transition.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A brief power failure at a water purification plant has prompted the most widespread boil-water order in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. The order effects the entire east bank of the city. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports the order was issued early this morning after the power failure caused a massive drop in water pressure. A water superintendent calls the advisory precautionary.