Today’s news and information gleanings from here and there!
Quote for today … “Creekside Cafe, 1519 Habecker Road, Columbia. A dog in the food facility. A bowl of water on the floor in the food prep area, indicating the presence of a live animal on the premise of the food facility; repeat violation of 2015. What does it take to get a place closed…..even for a few days for repeat violations.” – A comment following the Lancaster Online article about restaurant inspections.
- Borough takes the topic of expensive Legal Notices in the “newspaper of general circulation” to the citizens with a “survey.”
- According to the Website notice: “A number of municipalities and non-municipalities, who are legally required to place advertisements in a newspaper of general circulation, have already switched from LNP to CPBJ: The County of Lancaster’s Sheriff Department with respect to Sheriff Sales; The Columbia Borough School District with regard to, among other things, their soliciting Requests For Proposals, RFPs, the Dauphin County Tax Bureau, East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County and Jacobus Borough in York County, among others.”
- Among the reasons the Pennsylvania State Law on Legal Notices is to insure that a broad section of citizens has access to the information. Again, we wonder why the above municipalities do not include LEGAL NOTICES on their own Websites. Lancaster County’s Sheriff Sales are online. Columbia Borough does not post legal notices at their Website – though there’s virtually cost to inform citizens and shareholders this way. Neither does the Columbia Borough School District.
- There are, however, 87 comments following the letter-to-the-editor about dissolving the school district post at the “You know you’re from Columbia PA if …” facebook page.
- Why would these entities not put their money (or their FREE LEGAL NOTICES) where their mouths are? Or why would these entities want to publish LEGAL NOTICES in publications with virtually readership in the area … could it be because they do not want citizens and shareholders to know? See this previous Columbia news, views & reviews article.
- In Western PA, a tax collector, also a constable, is charged with “collected about $320,000 in cash and more than $740,000 in checks intended for the borough and school district that he converted for his own personal use.” – WENY-TV
- “The US Catholic church has poured millions of dollars over the past decade into opposing accountability measures for victims of clergy sex abuse, according to state lobbying disclosures.” – The Guardian
- “Has your church joined the emerging movement to end child sexual abuse?” See more at: http://scclanc.org/clergy-congregation-care/safechurch/#sthash.p1QXVNOf.dpuf
- “Assassination” at Carlisle American Legion – Pennlive
- From Ad Crable’s column in today’s LNP – Always Lancaster, we learn that “On Saturday, June 25, the first annual Susquehanna May-Fly Festival will be held on the banks of the Susquehanna in Wrightsville. The free event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will include live music from the Vinegar Creek Constituency trio, free kayaking and canoeing provided by Shanks Mare Outfitters, artisans and craft booths, educational exhibits by local environmental groups, face painting and other family fun.”
- It’s the way of government in the search for ways to pay for insatiable spending: “‘Everybody’s just reaching and grabbing,’ critic says of Philly soda tax” – Pennlive
- Creekside Restaurant racks up violations in Lancaster County restaurant inspections. – Lancaster Online
- York County inspections – The York Daily Record / York Sunday News
- Click here to go to the state’s Website of inspections … and the listing of the violations at each location. The statewide directory lists inspections for all municipalities in York County and Lancaster County.
- … except those in Columbia – Columbia persists in having its own inspection system with its own forms and inspection items – rather than the one used statewide.
- “A couple walks into a filthy restaurant… ” (editorial) – The York Daily Record Editorial Board
Columbia news, views & reviews 
To dissect this a bit more, the borough claims a savings of about $4,000 annually would be realized by switching legal advertising to CPBJ. If only one tenth of the residents bought the subscription at a reduced rate of $45.00 that would cost those residents in total $45,000. This is not about saving money.
And wait until citizens try to find online listings for Legal Notices at the Central Penn Business Journal Website (http://www.cpbj.com/)!
LNP – Always Lancaster’s Website ( http://lancasteronline.com/ ) does display Legal Notices.
So, too, can citizens find online listings of Legal Notices here (http://pa.mypublicnotices.com/PublicNotice.asp) – The Website is “MyPublicNotices.com in collaboration with participating newspapers and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association brings you public notice advertisements from throughout Pennsylvania.”
There’s an old saw about “cutting off one’s nose … ” that may apply here.
oh darn, I’m an” outoftowner” heard good food was a go at Creek Side, but now don’t know if I should take my dig there for a dinner treat or go it alone, any advice?
Yeah, seeing the scope of the inspection violations was shocker for many of us who’ve been there. Maybe, it’ll be a wake-up for the folks in charge.