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

Question for today… “Veterans Day needs to be made user friendly for the young people today. All the saluting, pomp and circumstance confuses and embarrasses them to the point they avoid patriotic events such as this. First get rid of the Vietnam Era ‘Black Crying Towel like Shroud’ that limply hangs under our beautiful Stars and Strips.” – ORVAL E. Faubus, commentator to this Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era article. The writer also says “less than 5% of the force actually serve in harms why in combat infantry related MOS’s … .” [NOTE: Faubus’s claimed statistics about combat (arms) roles are suspect, he fails to incorporate the combat support injuries and deaths that occur when facing an ill-defined enemy in modern warfare. The statistics of deaths in the military incursions into Iraq and Afghanistan include IED attacks resulting in fatal and non-fatal casualties among combat support elements, as well as “tip of the spear” warriors.] To see the statistics war deaths, click here for Iraq; here for Afghanistan. 

• Click on the above graphic to see the agenda from last night’s Council meeting. NOTE: The name in the agreement in item Item II, 16, a. should read Covanta Harrisburg instead of Covento Harrisburg. According to the company’s Website, “Covanta Energy (pronounced coh-van-tuh) is one of the world’s largest owners and operators of infrastructure for the conversion of waste-to-energy (known as “energy-from- waste” or “EfW”), as well as other waste disposal and renewable energy production businesses.” Coventa Harrisburg is shown in the diagram in this article.

• Members of some of Columbia’s public safety complement gather around a borough resident who suffered cardiac arrest in September. The team of responders representing Columbia QRS; Susquehanna Valley EMS; Susquehanna Fire & Rescue Company responded along with Columbia law enforcement officers to provide life saving emergency medical support. Members of the responding agencies and their family members, friends and co-workers were at last night’s meeting to witness the recognition of the responding units. Leaders from Susquehanna Valley EMS and Columbia QRS presented award certificates to the first on-scene responders and stressed the importance of having seamless coordination among public safety resources. An October article in the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era stated that Susquehanna Valley EMS would begin “community CPR” (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training in several communities, including Columbia.

• What if the CEDC or the citizens initiative working on improvements for a Columbia “gateway” took on the eyesore in the core of downtown Columbia as an improvement project since the owner hasn’t?

• “Not only were Colorado homes damaged by the recent severe storms, flooding, landslides or mudslides, but many survivors also lost valuable personal documents.  The documents include everything from Social Security cards to driver licenses to credit cards.” Click here to see a partial list of ways to get duplicates of destroyed or missing document. – FEMA

• Mount Joy Township approves fire tax – LancasterOnLine

• A West Hempfield Township legal notice in the newspaper says it will “adopt the (2014) budget at the irregularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, December 3,2013.”