Author: SPY

DA says Lancaster County-wide police force would save money, solve more crimes

Stedman has been an advocate for regional policing: the consolidation of numerous, smaller departments which work under separate contracts for separate bosses.
His vision for Lancaster County includes keeping Lancaster city police as is, but combining the county’s dozens of other suburban departments.

Council overrides mayor's veto in unanimous vote

All seven council members voted to override Mayor Lutz’s veto of the borough’s 2015 budget at a special Columbia Borough Council meeting Wednesday night. Surprisingly, the mayor supported an override of the veto before a vote was taken.

“I would suggest you override my veto, so that we can get on with the budget. The purpose of my veto is to have the discussion that we’re having here now,” Lutz said, citing the need for transparency in the budget process. He suggested that council have separate budget meetings in which residents can comment, because the borough “owes it to the taxpayers.” Lutz also pointed out changes made to the budget without his input as another example of why increased transparency is needed.

[A clarification: A previous post on this site stated that the mayor arrived at the December meeting of the whole, wearing a jacket with a police logo. After tonight’s meeting, the mayor informed us that he purchased the jacket and did not receive it free of charge.]

[More meeting details to follow.]

"National Milk Day" to be celebrated Sunday at Columbia's Turkey Hill Experience

Turkey Hill is celebrating “National Milk Day” Sunday with a free sample of milk for everyone who visits a top Lancaster County visitors’ site, the Turkey Hill Experience in Columbia, just up the road from the dairy.
MORE:
http://m.lancasteronline.com/news/local/national-milk-day-to-be-celebrated-sunday-at-columbia-s/article_f07290cc-95d2-11e4-9d82-47130855fb9f.html?mode=jqm

Charlie Hebdo Mohammed Cartoons with English Translations

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/U56q428amN0&source=uds
I am posting this video as a show of solidarity with our French brothers and sisters at Charlie Hebdo magazine, whose offices in Paris were attacked today by terrorists. At this writing, 12 people are reported dead and many wounded. Police are currently searching the city for the attackers.
Charlie Hebdo is a satirical magazine that has often poked fun at the “prophet” Mohammed. Their offices have been attacked in the past.
If you can’t see the video, follow (Copy and paste) the link shown below:

http://youtu.be/U56q428amN0

DA's office gets $22,312 grant to extract data from cell phones

The Computer Forensic Unit of the Lancaster County District Attorney’s office has been using Cellebrite for the past three years and has examined hundreds of mobile devices. The UFED (Universal Forensic Extraction Device) is portable and can be readily used in both the laboratory and field.
MORE:

The US Supreme Court ruled that the warrantless search and seizure of digital contents of a cell phone during an arrest is unconstitutional:

Keystone Testing – Columbia Borough School District

Students at the Columbia High School will participate in the winter wave of Keystone Exams or make-up exams from January 7, 2015 through January 21, 2015. Students who are currently enrolled in a Semester I class for Algebra I, Biology, and/or Literature will be taking these exams.  Students who have these classes scheduled during Semester II will take their exams in the spring.
Pennsylvania school code allows interested parents to review these exams prior to having their student participate with the testing.  Arrangements to view the tests must be made with the high school principal, Ms. Maura Meiser, by calling 717-684-7500 to set up an appointment. 
Additional information on the the Keystone Exams can be found at the following link:

Budget fight in Columbia about more than a police car

From an editorial in this morning’s edition of lancasteronline:
Mayor Leo Lutz gave two reasons for vetoing Columbia Borough’s hold-the-line budget for 2015: a budget process he saw as not including the public in discussions and council’s failure to include the lease of a new police cruiser.  Borough Council has scheduled a special meeting for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the borough building, 308 Locust St., to discuss overriding the mayor’s veto.  The votes of five of the council’s seven members are required to override a veto.
MORE:
http://m.lancasteronline.com/opinion/editorials/budget-fight-in-columbia-about-more-than-a-police-car/article_39232d9e-92be-11e4-b69c-a7a455783b30.html?mode=jqm