When overtaking a bicycle in your vehicle, you must allow 4 feet of distance between yourself and the cyclist. Only pass when it is safe and legal to do so.
Visit https://bit.ly/PARideABike for more information on bicycle safety and laws in Pennsylvania.
This week’s photos of Columbia
According to the Mission 22 website the organization is “dedicated to healing America’s veterans when they need it most — right now. We offer treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury, substance abuse and all of the issues veterans are facing today.”
I went to Columbia today and took a friend to support the small businesses who have been so hard hit for the last 3 months and ran into your “meter freaks”…. I have heard how these meter people literally jump on a car the minute the time expires…. well – I just received your $10 “Welcome to Columbia” for the sake of 3 minutes. Not like I was gone for an hour and a half on my quarter…… I guess you don’t want people coming to shop in your town and to help it flourish….. I won’t be back.
The Columbia Borough school board chose the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 to conduct the search for a new superintendent, despite continued calls from the community to retain current Superintendent Tom Strickler.
The intermediate unit, one of three options the board considered during Thursday night’s four-hour virtual school board meeting, will search for Strickler’s replacement at no cost. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association would have cost $5,000, and Templeton Advantage would have cost $9,800.
Tonight, June 19, 2020, the Kracker Beez will be playing music throughout Columbia in their trailer beginning at 6:30 pm and ending at 8:00 pm. The Kracker Beez will play a variety of music from classic rock, pop and R&B from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. This is in lieu of the normally scheduled concerts in the park. Attached is a map showing the route. As the band plays during the route, they will also stop at 12 different locations throughout town to play for approximately 3 to 5 minutes (see dark circles on map). Social distancing and adherence to PA Department of Health directives are required. The rain date for the event is Saturday, June 20, 2020.
Sourced via CRIMEWATCH®: https://lancaster.crimewatchpa.com/columbiapd/10552/post/music-through-town-event-kracker-beez
Fifty years after opening its first store in Lancaster County, only one Kmart will remain after the West Hempfield Township store closes this summer.
The store at 3975 Columbia Ave., which opened in 1992, will likely close by the end of August, according to a store employee. A manager on Monday confirmed the store is “definitely closing,” but said he couldn’t say when. He deferred further questions to Kmart’s parent company, Sears Holdings, which did not respond to a request for comment.
The store’s property is owned by Seritage Growth Properties, which earlier this month announced it had reached an agreement to terminate leases at the 17 properties where it rents to Kmart and Sears — including the West Hempfield store — if the stores close by the end of September.
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Columbia Borough Council meeting, June 9.
Council passed a resolution authorizing borough manager Mark Stivers to issue temporary sidewalk cafe permits to local restaurants to help them adapt to COVID-19 restrictions. This was the first council meeting to be held in the yellow phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus reopening plan, so up to 14 members of the public were allowed to attend in person on a first-come, first-served basis. The meetings continue to be streamed on Facebook Live as well.
The borough will charge no fee for the sidewalk cafe permits. They will normally take one to two days to be approved, Stivers said. A 4-foot-wide pathway must be established and maintained along the public sidewalk to meet the requirement of the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act. The resolution also makes it possible for open container laws to be waived, allowing consumption of alcohol within clearly defined limits in the sidewalk cafès.
Police policies and procedures: Mayor Leo Lutz provided an update on Columbia Borough police policies and procedures in response to recent international protests regarding police brutality and racism after George Floyd, a black man, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. Lutz said the borough’s policies and procedures were reviewed by a consultant last year and that the borough will continue ongoing review of its policies. Councilman Todd Burgard said there have been no complaints about police use of force under current police Chief Jack Brommer.
Of police brutality, Lutz said, “We don’t play that game in Columbia, and if any officer wants to play that game, they won’t be an officer very long.”
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“I join the many law enforcement agencies who support this legislation recognizing that transparency and law enforcement are not mutually exclusive. I commend Attorney General Shapiro for leading this effort and bringing together many voices to call for this necessary change in hiring practices.”
Columbia Spy 