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

Question for today… “Joe Pitts refused to tell citizens where he stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2012 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders.” – VoteSmart.org Website

• At 11:46 am, the absent Website is back home. Columbia’s citizens are reconnected.

• At 6:09 am, the Columbia Borough Website is still “dark.”

Visitors to www.columbiapa.net will not find the Columbia Borough Website tonight. Instead, they’ll see the above. Don’t know why? Maybe the borough changed it’s URL and did not tell anyone? Maybe the registration lapsed? It’s curious, because nothing was said about it at the borough’s monthly council meeting that ended at 8:22 pm.

• Last night’s council meeting. The entire council, the mayor, the solicitor, the borough manager and the borough financial officer held the monthly council meeting which was convened at 7:02 pm and adjourned at 8:22 pm. A half-dozen or so community participants attended; a few made comments.

• The mayor, likely in response to a media report about the K-9 conflict in Columbia, determinedly stated and re-stated, “Columbia Borough has and will have a K-9 officer.” Columbia K-9 Campaign officers, Connie and Michael Buery, also the borough council president, had no public comment.

• The council voted unanimously to accept an offer for the construction of a cell tower; Councillor Jim Smith noted that the company has “sweetened the pot” by buying radios for the borough’s fire police resources and other offerings.

• A few residents made observations about the tone of communication the borough uses. One pointed to the recent Columbia Borough fall-winter newsletter that featured a “biased” narrative of the borough’s sewer system. Another made a plea for the borough’s consideration and appreciation of citizens’ parking plight in the borough’s inconsiderate notice about street cleaning: “STREET SWEEPING NOTICE: Regardless of whether the street sweeper is running or not, residents are required to move their vehicles during the times posted on the signs. You may be ticketed if you do not move your vehicle during the posted hours.”

• In response to the citizen’s plea for a number to call to find out whether individual streets would be cleaned, financial director Georgianna Schreck responded that the borough is close to having a new phone system installed and the call-in program would be restated.

• In a discussion about Columbia’s very high school property taxes, the mayor restated his intention to have representatives with tea party affiliations come to his next Community Update meeting on October 23 at 7:00 pm at the Consolidated Fire Department at 265 South Tenth Street. While recent revision to property tax to support school districts legislation at the state has been stalled, the mayor is going to invite David Baldinger and/or Keith Wilkes to attend that meeting. Wilkes headed the  of the 9-12 Project of Central PA – read more about David Baldinger here.

• Wonder whether Ted Cruz will show, too?

• To be continued, tomorrow.