Year: 2023

Visitors converged on the National Watch & Clock Museum at 5th & Poplar on Tuesday for an impromptu car show. Here are some photos of the event:

When: Columbia school board meeting, June 15.

What happened: The school board unanimously approved the adoption of the final budget for the 2023-24 school year beginning July 1.

By the numbers: The $31.36 million budget comes with no tax property increase. The board also passed a resolution for the commitment of the June 30 fund balance; the resolution determines the area where money within the budget will be allocated throughout the year. The real estate tax millage rate will remain unchanged at 26.46, or $26.46 in taxes for every $1,000 of assessed taxable property valuation. The homestead and farmstead exclusion will reduce tax bills by about $430.93 per qualifying property.

MORE HERE.

On June 28, 1863, during the Civil War, Union militia under Maj. Granville O. Haller and Col. Jacob G. Frick burned the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge to prevent the advance of Confederate troops. Civilian volunteers from Columbia had mined the bridge at the fourth span from the Wrightsville side, hoping to drop the whole span into the river. However, the charges only splintered the support arch, leaving the span passable. As Confederate troops advanced onto the bridge, Union forces set fire to it near the Wrightsville side. They had earlier saturated the structure with crude oil from a Columbia refinery. The entire structure soon caught fire and completely burned in six hours. [Source: Wikipedia]

The burning of the bridge was a significant event in the Civil War. It helped prevent the Confederates from advancing into Lancaster County, and it may have even changed the course of the war, since it precipitated the Battle of Gettysburg. 

The July 11, 1863 edition of The Columbia Spy featured an account of the bridge burning, an excerpt of which is shown here:

Here’s the text of the above:

“All the troops except some of Colonel Thomas’ 20th Regt., having withdrawn across the bridge, the rebels being close on their heels, the match was applied to the mine but failed to accomplish its object. The object was to destroy a span or two of the bridge and defend the rest. To this end cannon had been placed under Captain Stevens and volunteer artillerymen from the hospital so as to rake the bridge. But owing to the suddenness of the rebel approach this was not accomplished and as Gen. Couch had ordered that “in no case must the enemy be allowed to cross the Susquehanna, the torch was applied by military authority, and the coveted prize, for which the rebels so skilfully maneuvered and which was so essential to their schemes of invasion, was given to the flames, the rebel advance on Philadelphia being thus finally checked. The rebels tried to extinguish the flames, but soon the crackling flames rolled toward either end. The wind bore upstream, the Columbia fire engines were busily engaged to save a part of the bridge. But in vain. The whole bridge was consumed, burning during the night, and as span after span fell into the water, they floated away like so many burning ships.”

Front page of The Columbia Spy, July 11, 1863

At the time, the bridge was the longest wooden covered bridge in the world. Its construction was financed by the Columbia National Bank, and in 2003, it was calculated that the Federal Government owed $170 million dollars for the bridge’s destruction. (The original claim was for $100,000.) Congressman Joe Pitts tried to get the government to pay up in 2003 – but to no avail. 

According to https://yorkblog.com/:
In 2003, Rep. Joe Pitts took up the cause. By then, with interest, the claim had grown to $170 million dollars. According to the Star News, August 31, 2003, he joked that he would push Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to include payment for Columbia’s lost bridge in reparations to rebuild war-damaged bridges in Iraq “just for fun.” However, White House Office of Management and Budget spokesman Trent Duffy replied that the claim had expired and added, “The bridge might have to be counted, with bravery, as Columbia’s contribution to liberty.”

The meeting packet is HERE.

Gayle Johnson | For LNP | LancasterOnline

When: Columbia Borough Council meeting, June 13.

What happened: Council members voted 6-1 not to renew their agreement with Columbia Borough School District to train and pay a community safety officer to work for the district when classes are in session and to work for the borough when students are not in school. Council member Sharon Lintner cast the only vote to preserve the agreement.

Details: The contract, which pays $95,415 per year, is set to expire around Aug. 14. No one currently holds the job. The school district covers $42,419 of that cost while the borough pays $52,996. Although the borough pays 30% of the officer’s salary, it funds training and uniforms, which increases the municipal portion, Mark Stivers, borough manager, said after the meeting.

More: School board President Charles Leader, Vice President Lauren VonStetten and members Sandy Duncan, Sonya Duncan, Kathleen Hohenadel and Christine Misciagna attended the meeting. At times, school board and borough council members spoke over each other.

Quotables: “We would urge you to maintain this agreement,” Leader read from the school board’s prepared statement before the vote. School board members “are committed to the safety of our children and will take appropriate steps to ensure their security,” Leader said. “Our preference is to do this in partnership with the borough.”

Response: However, council President Heather Zink said statistics from Pennsylvania’s Department of Education fail to justify a need for such an employee. “Per numbers from the state, there isn’t a crime and violence problem at your schools,” Zink said and shared that Columbia schools reported one bullying incident during the 2021-22 school year, one fight at the high school, five fights at the middle school and two fights at the elementary school.

Opposing view: Lintner offered a different view. “Having a CSO in our schools promotes the safety and well-being of students in our district, which should be a priority,” she said in a June 20 text message.

More: Zink noted during a June 22 phone call that school board members approved hiring a security person in May. The district can pay for its own security presence at schools and call police officers if needed, she said. The person recommended for that position did not take the job.

Background: In August 2022, council and the school district agreed to pay for a safety officer after the police department had trouble filling the job for a school resource officer, who must be a member of the police force. Both jobs allow the employee to carry a firearm.

Details: A civilian can become a safety officer and create relationships with students while providing a first response from the police department. The position, however, has remained unfilled for most of the school year.

Dates: The first safety officer resigned after three days in September 2022. A second officer worked for six weeks before leaving the position last spring.

Coming up: Leader declined to comment after the vote. Council members and school board members indicated they will continue to negotiate a new agreement that could put a safety officer in schools in the fall.

Quotable: “We are trying to set up a meeting as soon as possible,” Stivers said during a June 22 phone interview.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/regional/columbia-borough-wont-renew-agreement-with-columbia-borough-school-district-to-train-pay-community-safety/article_70473472-12c2-11ee-9546-6f402ea86582.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

This week’s photos of Columbia

(Click/tap on photos to see larger, sharper images.)

Escaped hospital patients?

Gone fishin’

Ditto

Out for a ride

Dungin’ out on Franklin

Tyvek

Many visitors to town don’t know where the trail starts. This poorly placed sign might be part of the problem.

The Habitat for Humanity project as seen from Corn Avenue

Soon to be Chicken McNuggets

More signs from Wrightsville. PPL doesn’t appreciate signs like this on their poles, especially ones attached with staples and nails.  

It’s a good thing ET doesn’t rely on poles like this to phone home, even though his sticker is attached.

Many utility poles were installed around town over the past week.

Rumor has it that Bigler’s weight-lifting gym on Franklin is closing.

Remember when postal carriers wore uniforms?

There’s a familiar plate.

We are all just prisoners of our own device.

What?

Chalk for everyone!

A bluebird of happiness atop an obelisk at Mount Bethel

This white house next to a burned-out house just sold.

Deer at the ol’ airfield

What chapter and verse is FX4 OFF ROAD?

A baby praying mantis beginning its first rounds

Welcome to the world!

Fillin’ it in

One of the many holes dug into the 200 block of Locust this week.

Here are a few more.

This sign on the Wrightsville side needs some attention.

Let’s hope the bridge doesn’t collapse before the rehab project starts.

*****************

Aftermath of a water main break at 3rd & Poplar

Emergency personnel responded to several incidents this past week, including this one along Route 441 in which a bicyclist was found on the road.

On Saturday, there was a two-vehicle accident at 5th & Walnut, in which several people were injured. One of the cars had a Colorado plate.

It all began Saturday morning when a resident saw an adult cat and a kitten in a storm sewer at the top of the Columbia High School hill. They appeared to be trapped. On closer inspection, he noticed that the adult cat had an injured eye. Out of concern, the resident called 911.

The Columbia Borough Fire Department responded – but at the same time, another resident contacted a member of the Columbia Cat Action Team (CCAT) whose members also arrived on scene.

Firemen used a pry bar to remove the sewer grates, but the cats became alarmed and fled through a pipe at the bottom of the enclosure. Firemen then removed a nearby manhole cover to try to locate the cats, but the felines were nowhere in sight. Personnel did find, however, several underground pipes leading away from the area in different directions. Unfortunately, that meant the cats could have gone through any one of them. But all was not lost . . .

CCAT members set traps (above ground) in the area in the hopes of catching the cats so they can be tended to. So far, no luck – but CCAT members vow to keep trying.

If anyone sees a tortoise-shell colored adult cat and its kitten in the area of the high school, please contact CCAT via Facebook.