Year: 2016

Motorcycle hits van, cyclist thrown

Emergency crews responded to the scene of a vehicle accident today at 5:17 p.m. on Lancaster Avenue, near the entrance to the Columbia Plaza. Reportedly, a motorcyclist traveling east on Lancaster Avenue collided with a westbound van that was turning left into the Plaza parking lot. The motorcycle hit the passenger side of the van near the rear wheel and spun into the opposing lane.  The cyclist was thrown about 50 feet from the point of impact before coming to rest in the westbound lane. The motorcycle’s front wheel assembly broke off during the collision.
The female cyclist, who was wearing a full face helmet, was conscious at the scene and was treated by medical personnel before being transported by ambulance. The van, a Chrysler Town & Country LXi, sustained passenger side body damage and a rear driver’s side flat tire.  The male driver of the van appeared to be uninjured.

Website lists Columbia data – home sales, crime rates, costs

Go HERE to visit the website CityData.com which offers facts and figures about Columbia Borough.  The data appears to be accurate; the site often lists its sources and includes bar graphs comparing Columbia’s figures with state averages. Unfortunately, the data is several years out of date. However, anyone following local trends over the past few years could estimate current figures with a fair degree of accuracy.

Following are examples of information found at the website:

 Columbia home sales from 2012 through the third quarter of 2014

 Crime rates 2001-2013

 Religion in Columbia

Local government payroll as of March 2012

About Town

Columbia Plaza parking lot this morning.
 Words of wisdom

 Out for a walk

 This starling was sitting on a fence in Avenue H.

 Unafraid of the camera, he started to sing.

 He may have thought he was auditioning for American Idol.

 Afterward, he stopped and looked, as if to ask, “How’d I do, folks?”

 Yardwork at the former Cookman Church at Sixth and Chestnut

 He’s been metal-detecting around town a lot lately.
Here he is in Locust Street Park.

 Hangin’ with the goyles. The gargoyles, that is.
(Global Time Wizard, 500 block of Locust)

 Pit lovers assure us that it’s not the breed, it’s how they’re raised.

 Door numbers – well, that’s a start.  Now fix the rest of the building.
(North Second and Locust)

 Lined up and ready to go.  Yard waste pickup began April 4.

Delusions of grandeur

Then the king had one more question of the child: “How many seconds are there in eternity?”

And the boy replied: “In the hinterlands of Pomerania, there is a mountain made of the hardest diamond. It’s one hour deep into the earth, one hour up toward the sky, one hour long and one hour wide. To this mountain comes a little bird, once every hundred years, to sharpen its beak.”

“And when the bird has worn away the whole mountain, the first second of eternity will have passed.”

11 great places for a bike ride in Lancaster County

Northwest Lancaster County River Trail

The 14-mile Susquehanna River stretches from Columbia to Falmouth near the Dauphin County line. Families with younger children can do the Columbia-to-Marietta section of the trail. Start at the newly opened Columbia Crossing River Trails Center in Columbia River Park and ride the trail north through Marietta.

MORE:
http://lancasteronline.com/sponsored/countdowntosummer/great-places-for-a-bike-ride-in-lancaster-county/article_2e4ca11a-0d3e-11e6-a669-af3d5217465d.html

Officer attacked by aggressive dogs – one dog is shot

According to Columbia Borough Police, on April 28, 2016 at approximately 10 a.m. the Columbia Borough Police Department was dispatched to a rear yard of a residence in the 100 block of South Fifth Street for a report of two aggressive dogs running at large in the area. The caller told the dispatcher that he had attempted to exit a vehicle several times and the dogs “chased” him back into the vehicle.

A Columbia Officer arrived on scene and walked towards the caller’s vehicle when two dogs ran at the officer as he approached. The officer attempted to retreat, and the dogs chased the officer. When the dogs closed in on the officer, he pulled his service weapon and fired at the first dog as it was lunging at him. Both dogs stopped and retreated. The uninjured dog returned a short time later and started to approach the officer again. The dog then ran into a break in a fence a few yards down. 
Several officers responded to canvass the area. The owner of the dog was located. The injured dog was located in the 100 block of South Third Street on a porch. It had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. 
The injured dog was taken to a local veterinarian by the owner and did not survive the incident. Columbia Police are completing their investigation into any PA Dog Law violations.