Go HERE for information.
Infant Ibuprofen Recalled from Walmart, CVS, Family Dollar
Nominate your favorite nonprofit for an Ugly Website Makeover from Columbia-based Sparrow Websites
This holiday season, give the gift of a website makeover to your favorite nonprofit!
Sparrow Websites is giving away one free nonprofit website makeover to a local organization that you nominate. After all, no one deserves an ugly website.
The process is simple – and the drawing is live on FB at 3pm on Sunday, December 23rd!
For more information go HERE.
Public is invited to Columbia River Park Phase III Meeting December 11
Columbia River Park, already a very special place for residents and visitors alike, has the potential to be a riverfront showcase of cutting-edge public access, recreation, and interpretive features.
Columbia envisions a space that bridges the urban and natural environment, explores the vast industrial history and culture of the region, and allows all to experience the great recreational opportunities of the Susquehanna Riverlands.
On Tuesday, December 11, the Columbia River Park Advisory Committee will be holding a public meeting for everyone interested in the future of Columbia River Park. Please come out and join in the discussion…view the preliminary site development plan… and share your thoughts.
COLUMBIA BOROUGH POLICE DEPARTMENT NEEDS HELP TO IDENTIFY A MAN INVOLVED IN THE THEFT OF WALLET – 900 BLOCK OF LANCASTER AVENUE | Columbia Borough Police Department
The Columbia Borough Police Department needs your help to identify a man who is a suspect in the theft of a wallet from a business in the 900 Block of Lancaster Avenue. If you know the identity of this man please contact the Columbia Borough Police Department at 717-684-7735 or text LANCS to “847411”.
Date:
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Case Status:
Case Type:
Case Region:
December 2018 Columbia Borough Meeting Calendar
Hooked on Crocheting at the Library – Tuesdays, December 4 & 11
Traffic Alert – Entrance to the Veteran Memorial Bridge – Toys for Tots drive to begin next Monday
The SWOX Toys for Tots Drive will begin on Monday, 12/10/18 at 6:00am (at the entrance to the Veterans Memorial Bridge) and runs continuously through Friday, 12/14/18 at 6:00pm. Please be alert for vehicles entering the travel lane from the “jug handle” at the entrance of the bridge.
About Town 12/2/18
This week’s photos from around Columbia…
(Click/tap on photos for larger, clearer images.)
“The Returned Soldier” at Locust Street Park
Some folks incorrectly call this statue “The Unknown Soldier.”
The statue of a World War I doughboy commemorates “the patriotic spirit, valor and heroism” of local participants in America’s wars, but the sculptor slipped in an anti-war message by showing some effects of war: the head wound and the thousand-yard stare.
So, who does what here?
Nobody home again?
Garland-festooned wrought-iron fence on South 2nd
And a little further down the block – these guys are ready for the season.
Here’s a close-up of one of them.
A new sign at the traffic lights at Front and Walnut
These guys were working on the lights there this week.
Apparently synchronizing them
Yep, red on one side of the tracks, yellow on the other
Believe it or not it works better this way by helping to keep vehicles from getting stranded on the tracks.
Yellow hearse
Notice the sign on the hearse. The vehicle has reached its destination.
Saviors don’t abide by earthly laws. They sometimes ignore permits and HARB rules, too.
Mausoleum at Holy Trinity Cemetery
Androgynous angel with cloud emanating from its hand
MOOSE!
Blocking the 300 block of Cherry
(Submitted photo)
Tree all agleam on Chestnut
A closer look
Wreath on historic door on the 500 block of Walnut
Rube Goldberg was here!
What could possibly go wrong?
Watching the watcher watching
“Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a raise it’s no surprise that they’re
Giving none away, away, away”
– “Money” by Pink Floyd
Looks like something that could be posted at he US-Mexico border.
Fallen star
Illegally parked
Old-fashioned cellar doors
Night lights in the day
Night lights at night
Hope they’re yard-trained
The borough is considering paying several thousand dollars for a parking study, but here’s a free study of some random samples:
No vehicles on the 300 block of Locust this past Friday night.
None at the public lot at the bottom of Locust
Saturday morning: the 400 block of Locust
And the first block of North 4th
Conclusion: No additional parking needed
Conclusion: No additional parking needed
Down at River Park: frosty leaves
Hopper garage
Looks like Santa’s about to hatch.
Does that mean he’ll be born again?
Manor School datestone
Manor School – now apartments
Right behind those windows was the office of the principal, Mrs. Hardnele (prononunced “HARD NAIL”). An apt name for a principal.
Atop the one peak is some sort of finial
Close up
If he looks anything like that, get out of there, quick!
Ghost rider on the trailer?
Brett Kavanaugh was here.
Possibly the coolest garage in town –
(Of course, everyone knows the Dirty Harry line.)
Progress at Florence and Manor
Sidewalk seats for watching the cars go by
Some of the older folks will remember a spider monkey that lived in the back part of this house on Manor Street.
Hooked and wired
The National Guard stored its vehicles here on Manor Street back in the day.
Old-timey car ornament on South 4th
Convertible
That’s a lot of ODs.
A rooftop “thumbs up”?
Periscope on rooftop?
Informative apartment building plaque
Hermansader’s Victorian Mansion
Second floor herringbone door
New door, not HARB-approved on North 3rd
So there’s that missing grocery cart.
CHiPS bell tower
300 block of Locust
Close-up of one of the rosettes
Columbia United Methodist Church
Back on Walnut Street – the 500 block
This section was poured last Thursday and covered with plastic.
Friday morning it was still not completely dry, as can be seen from the footprints and tire marks.
About those tire marks: A witness reported seeing a man in a wheelchair doing donuts on the concrete Friday morning.
Later, the witness heard a Pennsy worker saying, “They forgot to use accelerant” for the concrete.
Female downy woodpecker ready to peck
Overspray on Walnut
Here’s the dilemma. Certain borough officials want citizens to pick up trash around town when they see it. But if you pick up this bottle, you’ll be charged under the open container ordinance.
Shadow of reality
This may have been posted before.
Notice the face on the handle.
No, we’re not cleaning this up.
Ditto
This just can’t be right.
All spiffed up –
Shiny new fence behind Hotel Locust
At the former Masonic Center
Coming up at St. Paul’s Episcopal
Out for a jog
Oh, there’s Santa now, stocking up with flowers at Royer’s.
Unfortunately, he won’t be making deliveries any time soon.
This was a common sight on Walnut Street recently.
The beauty strips on the north side of the 600 block were filled in with concrete. Here’s the work in progress.
A few sinkholes opened up at 647-651 Walnut during the project but were filed in with concrete.
Another look at the not-so-beautiful strips
Looks like the strips on the other side of the 500 and 600 blocks will remain grass.
About to fill ’em in
Filling in the strips with concrete.
By the way – safety cones? They got ’em.
Let’s continue.
Almost done
Digging up down the block
Pretty close to that gas line
Sawing the sidewalk
Still there – a beauty strip in need of beautification on 462
Weed-enshrouded gate over garage door
At Mount Bethel Cemetery, the Statue of Hope is pointing to the sky.
But why?
There’s why. A C-130 – citizen of the sky.
Overhead
And flying away
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” but a broken down mail truck might.
Borough set to fix Grinnell Avenue water problem
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The 1000 block of Grinnell Avenue is currently closed to through traffic. The borough is set to fix a water problem there. (Note the spray-painted lines at the bottom of the photo.)
The borough is finally taking action on a long-standing water problem on Grinnell Avenue. As Columbia Spy reported previously HERE and HERE, water from an underground spring is continuously coating the road surface between 10th and 11th streets, creating slippery conditions. The water is being pumped to the road surface via residents’ sump pumps.
According to Zoning and Planning Officer Jeff Helm, the borough proposes to fix the problem by running an 8-inch drain pipe in a beauty strip along the sidewalk on the south side of the street. Homeowners’ drain lines will then connect to the pipe, which will be capped at the 11th Street end and connect to a new catch basin at 10th Street. The water will then flow down 10th Street to an existing catch basin on Barber Street. Homeowners will also have the option of connecting their downspouts to the pipe. The seven homeowners affected will need to sign an easement allowing access and maintenance to the piping.
Currently, Grinnell Avenue is closed to through traffic. No work schedule has been publicly announced for the project, although lines have been spray-painted along the beauty strip and at the 10th Street intersection in preparation for excavation.
Man allegedly sets fire in bay of car wash, causing $20,000 damage
Salvatore C. Batto III
The Columbia Borough Police Department investigated a fire on November 30, 2018 at 3:00 pm at the KleenRite Carwash located at 502 S Sixteenth Street in Columbia Borough, Lancaster County, PA. When Officers arrived they found a large bay of the main building had sustained significant damage to the interior caused by fire. They learned that a witness had extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher. One witness observed a male inside the bay starting the fire and when he was confronted he fled on foot.
West Hempfield Township Police Officers located a male matching the description of the actor a short time later about four blocks from the crime scene. The actor was wearing a hooded sweatshirt that had burns on the sleeves. He was positively identified as the actor setting the fire. The PA State Police Fire Marshall assisted with the investigation. As a result, Salvatore C. Batto III a 35 year old male of Paradise, PA was arrested for one count of felony Arson and one count of felony Criminal Mischief.
Estimated damage to the building was approximately $20,000. No persons were inside the immediate structure at the time of the fire. Salvatore C Batto III was taken to Lancaster County Central Arraignment and is awaiting arraignment. All parties are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Arrest Date:
Friday, November 30, 2018
Case Number:
34823-11-30-18
Columbia Spy 