Needed? Leaders as these. | Faith-based community leaders as Rev. Jason Perkowski: “I’ll put myself in front of (pepper spray). To protect the crowd.” Perkowski is “pastor of Faith United Methodist Church and Oregon Community United Methodist Church, both of Lititz, put themselves as a barrier between police and protesters.” – Lancaster Online

“Silence in the face of injustice is wrong.” | Norristown Police Chief Mark E. Talbot Sr.:

“I am encouraged that such a hideous act of violence has been met by an avalanche of demands for justice and fairness.

“The question becomes, what’s next? Where do we go from here? Do we continue to respond to this death with additional violence and suffering? That doesn’t seem to make sense. Some have delivered rhetorically inept statements indicting individuals and advocacy groups for daring to resist the insidious and brutal mistreatment that they are working to change. Clearly, that doesn’t make sense either.” – The Reading Eagle

Really? | “The world-famous whitefly hatch that is beginning on the lower Susquehanna near Columbia and Wrightsville soon will build to a feverish intensity, eventually leading to the Columbia Borough Police Department shutting off the insect-attracting streetlights on the Columbia-Wrightsville bridge over the river, and then moving upriver.” – Penn Live

Library will begin curbside pick-up service today.

LEGAL NOTICE – 2020 Meeting Dates | “Notice is hereby given that the following Board of Health meetings will be held at 7:00 PM in the Borough of Columbia on the dates listed for 2020 and will be held in the Municipal Building at 308 Locust Street St., Columbia, PA. 06/22/2020, 07/27/2020, 08/24/2020, 09/28/2020, 10/26/2020, 11/23/2020, 12/28/2020.

“If you are a person with a disability wishing to attend these meetings and require an accommodation to participate in the meeting, please contact the Columbia Borough Office at 684-2467.” – Published in today’s LNP – Always Lancaster and posted at the borough Website.

Reminder! | “6/9/2020 Borough Council Meeting Info UPDATED and new attendance guidelines”

Michele Eve Sandberg/Shutterstock

Defund the police | A few days ago, a majority of the Minneapolis city council voiced their intent to defund it’s police department. What exactly does that mean? Get rid of the police department? No, it’s a movement to redirect and reallocate taxpayer funds. “Defunding the police does not mean stripping a department entirely of its budget, or abolishing it altogether. It’s just about scaling police budgets back and reallocating those resources to other agencies.”

This Rolling Stone article explains it further: “A Practical Guide to Defunding the Police: Activists are demanding cities ‘defund the police.’ Here’s what they mean.”

Columbia news, views & reviews has posted over a dozen articles and items about community policing over the past 10 years, posts as this one and this one:

“The Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office is supporting national efforts to implement the recommendations outlined in the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Report. The Task Force recommendations provide meaningful solutions to help law enforcement agencies and communities strengthen trust and collaboration, while ushering the nation into the next phase of community-focused policing. The Task Force recommendations are divided into six pillars:”

“Justice in My Town | Medium and small cities confronting American police brutality, systemic racism.” – The Lebanon Daily News

Do as I say. NOT | “Despite big promises, US has delivered limited aid in global virus response.” –  TheWorldNews.net

They walk among us! | “Virginia man who blew off hand making bomb may have planned to target ‘hot cheerleaders’: FBI” – Penn Live