today’s news and information gleanings from here and there! 

• Today’s Weather! 
• Today in History!
• Traffic Cam Rts. 30 & 441
• The Official Time! – Population Clock (U.S. and World)

Quote for the day: “Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary.”  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

• “The Pilot Club of Lancaster with its partner the West Hempfield Township Police Department will launch Project Lifesaver in northwest Lancaster County this month. Project Lifesaver is a nonprofit public safety program designed to locate people — including those with Alzheimer’s disease — prone to wandering.” – MyColumbiaNews

• Last night’s Columbia Borough special budget meeting began at 5:04 pm and ended at 7:29 pm. At the meeting, five of Columbia’s Borough councilors – councilors Barry Ford and Renae Sears did not attend – met with the borough manager, the borough’s finance manager and department heads (police, wastewater treatment, highways, codes, public works) to preview the “wants and needs” of the 2012-2013 budget. During the meeting, the work session participants grappled with the realities of operating their departments efficiently while maintaining prudent cost controls sought by the Councilors. In the “solutions-seeking” meeting, the borough manager and public works director restated that grant funding has diminished and that trend would continue. The mayor and police chief argued that the police department is understaffed; the mayor stated that the number of calls to County 9-1-1 and directly to the Columbia Police Department exceeded 19,000 calls a year. The mayor stated that Columbia’s calls for police exceeded every municipality in the County except for Lancaster City and Manheim Township. The police chief requested that council consider the addition of an additional “on the street” officer. At the end of the separate department budget expenditure presentations, the Councilors praised the department leaders for their candor; their input and the hard work each does to save money for the Borough’s taxpayers. They also thanked each for making time to stay beyond the regular work day to attend the fact-finding meeting. Though each of the department leaders was excused from the meeting following the department budget briefing, all elected to stay through the meeting. One of the department leaders, explaining his reasoning for staying through the meeting, chimed in, “this is better than Jerry Springer.”

• “The Lancaster Catholic High School community gathered Tuesday to mourn a senior, who lived in Columbia, killed over the weekend in an accident in Union County.” – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era [Obituary here]

• Sandusky’s last quarter – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era

• “Max Schultz of Camp Hill knew he might have witnessed one of the world’s most bizarre wedding parties. But he didn’t imagine his cell phone video of it would travel the world.” Read the article and watch the video at the Harrisburg Patriot-News Website.

• The three-car train chugs along past houses, caves and woods where lazy leaves fall slowly to the ground. Inside the 1916 Pullman car, riders on the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad sing along to an accordion playing ‘I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.’ Everyone from toddlers to senior citizens knows this song, and most of the songs that come after it. This train runs five times each October weekend, taking passengers on an 11-mile trip that sometimes feels like a trip back in time.” – Harrisburg Patriot-News

• “Columbia blogger Joe Lintner photographed Saturday’s Bridge Bust, sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center. See more of Lintner’s photos on his blog, ColumbiaPA17512.” – MyColumbiaNews