WGRC Christian Radio

COLEVILLE - Fire crews from Centre, Clinton and Mifflin Counties were called in to fight a raging house fire this morning in Centre COunty the fire was reported right around 5:30 this morning to 307 Lower Coleville Road in the village of Coleville near Bellefonte. Logan Fire Company Chief Fred Bruno says the two-and-a-half story wood frame home was fully engulfed in flames when his crews arrived. The man who lived in the home got out safely but, Bruno says the house along with his belongings are a total loss. Crews had trouble getting water on the blaze as fire hydrants in the area did not have enough water pressure so water had to be trucked to the scene. There were no injuries. A State Police Fire Marshal was at the scene trying to determine a cause. The chief says he doesn't feel that the fire is anything suspicious.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

PLEASANT GAP - We now know the identity of a Bellfonte woman who was killed when the car she was riding in crashed early Sunday morning in Spring Township, Centre County. 25-year old Julie Webster of Bellefonte, died from injuries in the crash in the 500 block of East College Avenue in Pleasant Gap about 2:30 Sunday morning. The driver, 21-year old Shawn Meter of Pleasant Gap, was listed in critical condition today at Altoona Regional Health System Trauma Center. Police said Meter was travelling at a high rate of speed when he lost control of the car and it rolled several times in a field.
Both Webster and Meter were flown to Altoona where Webster died. Police tell the Express, the investigation is continuing.
John Callahan (WGRC)

NORTHUMBERLAND - It was an S-U-V hitting a utility pole that closed part of Route 147 this morning in Northumberland County. That stretch of Route 147 is open again just north of Northumberland Borough after a sport utility vehicle hit a utility pole. The crash happened about 10 this morning and brought down the utility pole and its wires onto the roadway. That forced police to close a section of the road. The driver of the SUV was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Another crash was reported nearby when a truck went over an embankment off of Route 147 across from the Stuck Brothers store. No word on injuries in that crash.
John Callahan (WGRC w/WNEP)

SHAMOKIN - A Northumberland County man crashes while driving with a suspended license. State Police say 30-year old James Early of Sunbury was driving along Route 61 in Shamokin when he swerved to avoid hitting a vehicle in front of him just after 7 this morning. His S-U-V went into a culvert, then hit an embankment and flipped onto its roof knocking over the sign for Northumberland Memorial Park. Early was wearing a seat belt. He was taken to Geisinger Medical Center with what police say was a moderate injury. Early will be charged for driving with a suspended license.
John Callahan (WGRC)   

MIFFLINBURG - A Mifflinburg man is jailed in Union County facing a list of charges stemming from two incidents Sunday. Mifflinburg police say 19-year-old Craig Pursley was charged with stealing a wallet from a vehicle on Cherry Street in the Borough around 6:15 p.m. The wallet was returned to the woman. Then around nine p.m. police were called to a home for a stabbing incident.There they found Pursley stabbed, and he blamed a woman for stabbing him during a domestic dispute. Further investigation revealed Pursley actually stabbed himself, and tried to get the woman in trouble.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

SUNBURY - A Northumberland County man is jailed on drug charges. A search warrant was executed yesterday by the Northumberland County Drug Task Force at the home of Jay Scott Kessler Junior along Snydertown Road in Point Township. Officers seized 56 grams of marijuana, just over a gram of cocaine, LSD and a large amount of cash. Kessler is jailed on $75,000 bail. Police continue to investigate and additional charges are pending.
John Callahan (WGRC)

WILLIAMSPORT - Department of Environmental Protection staff found 20 operational and safety violations on 16 trucks during a July 22nd landfill inspection at the Wayne Township Landfill in Clinton County. DEP regional staff inspected 45 trucks and discovered 20 violations among 16 trucks, including eight violations for transporting residual waste with no preparedness, prevention and contingency plan; five violations for a leaking load; two violations for holes in the tarp; two violations for transporting residual waste without proper safety equipment; one violation for not having proper signs; one violation for waste not properly enclosed; and one violation for a discharged fire extinguisher. All of the violations were against the haulers, not the landfill.
(WGRC)

MONTOURSVILLE - The delivery of bridge beams to Route 864 in Lycoming County, about four miles north of Montoursville, will affect traffic on Routes 87, 973 and 864 tomorrow. The beams will be coming off of Interstate 180 to the bridge work zone, but due to the size of the beams, the delivery trucks will have to back in from Route 87 to the Route 864 work zone, about two miles east of Route 87. But it gets more complicated. In order to make the turn from Route 87 to Route 864, the delivery trucks must be facing south, so they will first be heading north to the Route 973 intersection at Slabtown so they can turn around and head south. Six bridge beams are expected to be delivered between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. tomorrow. Motorists traveling Routes 87, 864 or 973 north of Montoursville tomorrow may wish to consider alternate routes.

(WGRC)

COLEVILLE - Fire crews from Centre and Clinton Counties rushed out to fight a blaze this morning. The fire was reported right around 5:30 a.m. at 307 Lower Coleville Road in the village of Coleville that's near Bellefonte in Spring Township. The first crews arriving on the scene reported the two-and-a-half story home to be fully engulfed in flames with flames shooting from all sides of the building.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

BELLEFONTE - Police in Centre County are looking for the driver of a Dodge Ram truck that hit a car in the rear while trying to pass it on Route 150 injuring two people inside the car. That happened just after seven Monday night in Boggs Township. Police say the driver of the car Sadie Borowski and her passenger Lena Holderman both 18-year-olds from Bellfonte were taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center for what police call moderate injuries. The driver of the truck, a white man with a beard took off from the scene. The truck is black in color with chrome wheels and a chrome push bumper and was last seen headed toward Milesburg. Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call state police, Rockview.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

SHAMOKIN DAM - Police in Snyder County are looking for a hit and run driver. Shamokin Dam Police say just before 11 yesterday morning a woman and her two young daughters, 9 and 3-years old, were rear ended at the stop sign on the north ramp to the Veterans Memorial Bridge by an S-U-V that drove off after the accident. The 9-year old was hurt badly enough to need medical treatment. Police are looking for a dark colored Ford Explorer, possibly green, being driven by a heavy set blonde woman. Police say several other people were in the vehicle at the time of the incident. Anyone with information should call Shamokin Dam Police.
John Callahan (WGRC)

SHAMOKIN - A Sunbury man is charged with theft and related counts for stealing scrap metal from a Northumberland County recycling center and then selling the same scrap he stole back to the company. Police have charged 42-year-old Stephen Kasmetskie. Police say between June first and last Wednesday Kasmetskie would break into Stoneroad Iron and Metal steal the scrap and move it to a wooded area just outside the business. Then during business hours he would sell the scrap metal back to the company.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
    
MCVEYTOWN - Police harvested a crop of marijuana plants from along the Juniata River in Mifflin County. The 17 pot plants were found in a corn field in Oliver Township on Saturday.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

SUNBURY - A 57-year-old Sunbury man is jailed on sexual assault charges involving a mentally-disabled man. Tipped off by the victim's sister, police caught Duane Whitenight, in the act. Police described the victim as a 64-year-old man with the mental capabilities of an 8-year-old. Whitenight is jailed in the Northumberland County Prison on $100,000 bail.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

MOUNT CARMEL - A 32-year-old Mount Carmel man is in Northumberland County Prison in Sunbury after being charged by Mount Carmel police with having indecent contact with two 14-year-old girls. Luis Torres, is jailed on $100,000 cash bail.  Torres is charged for the incidents which happened in May and on June 25th.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

BELLEFONTE - A former North Carolina professor was sentenced yesterday for raping a 12-year-old Julian boy in Centre County Court. 44-year-old Kenneth Meyers, was sentenced to 40 to 80 years behind bars after being convicted in May of the Christmas Eve 2008 assault. Meyers, a 1987 Penn State graduate who lived in State College for a while before moving to North Carolina, lost his job teaching creative writing at Wilson Community College in Wilson, North Carolina, because of the charges. If Meyers should ever get out of jail he will have to register as a Megan's Law offender with the state for the rest of his life.
Jim Diehl/John Callahan (WGRC)

POTTSVILLE - A Pottsville man was sentenced to six to 14 years in state prison for a stabbing incident in Pottsville in 2009. 43-year-old Todd Richter, who stabbed a man in January 2009 was handed the sentence Monday by Judge D. Michael Stine.  A jury convicted Richter on June 4th in the stabbing of Travis Kromer of Pottsville at Kromer's home. Kromer has recovered from his injuries. Richter was also ordered to pay over $46-thosuand dollars in restitution.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

WILKES-BARRE - A former Shenandoah police captain is free from home detention pending his federal trial stemming from a grand jury investigation. 37-year-old Jamie Gennarini will be free from electronic monitoring before his trial on charges he used his position in law enforcement to extort money. Senior U.S. District Court Judge A. Richard Caputo handed down that ruling yesterday in Wilkes-Barre. Prosecutors allege Gennarini extorted money from a local businessman and his family.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

MINERSVILLE - It has been three months since an arsonist burned down the Wynn-Ann Restaurant in Minersville and police think they will soon solve the case. Police have been actively interviewing people and gathering information about the April 24th incident, at also took out several buildings attached to the restaurant on Sunbury Street. Demolition of those buildings is underway. The residents of Minersville have been asked to remain vigilant about arson in their town, since several other suspicious fires happened in the area shortly after the arson fire.
(WPPA)

SELINSGROVE - Two Selinsgrove residents injured in a bomb blast in Uganda while doing mission work earlier this month are now back home and healing. Both Thomas and Pam Kramer of Winfield are resting well after undergoing surgery and skin grafts to their damaged legs during the blast July 11th in Uganda's capitol city of Kampala. The Kramers along with three others from the Selinsgrove area are all home and recovering from their injuries. One of those injured, Emily Kerstetter of Maryland, whose grandmother Joanne Kerstetter of Selinsgrove was also in the blast, remains in a world class trauma center in Johannesburg, South Africa where she has undergone several surgeries to repair her mangled right leg. On Sunday surgeons took a muscle from her back and transplanted it to her leg in a seven hour long surgery. Team members ask prayer that the muscle will not fail. More information on the team members can be located on a link at our website at wgrc.com.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

LOCK HAVEN - In Clinton County renovations soon will begin on the former Kmart building at 120 East Walnut Street in Lock Haven to house a new community center. Once completed, the Sun Gazette reports, the building will house a senior center, Head Start and Early Head Start programs. The project is being orchestrated by STEP Incorporated. The agency will also use a portion of the building for its headquarters in Clinton County. STEP Incorporated bought the building in 2006 for $600-thousand dollars. The estimated cost of the renovations is about $5.4 million dollars.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

KULPMONT - Aqua Pennsylvania Roaring Creek Division has begun two major water main replacement projects totaling $2 million that will improve service, water pressure and flow for residents in parts of Kulpmont and Mount Carmel boroughs, and Mount Carmel Township in Northumberland County and Conyngham Township in Columbia County. Project construction will take place between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Both projects are expected to be completed in October.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

BLOOMSBURG - The developer who wants to build new student housing at the top of Franklin Avenue in Bloomsburg got a cold reception from area residents and the Bloomsburg Planning Commission at a meeting last week. Developer Don Camplese tells the Press Enterprise the housing unit would expand the town's tax base and "move some of the pressure away from town in respect to student housing." But residents of the Franklin Avenue area said it would hurt their neighborhood. Camplese is asking the town to rezone the area for a mix of uses. With no firm decision, the planning commission will discuss the project again at its August 26th meeting. The commission will make a recommendation on the project to the town council, which makes the final decision on rezoning after a public hearing.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

SHENANDOAH - A groundbreaking ceremony Monday evening formally launched the construction of additional classrooms and upgrades for existing facilities in the Shenandoah Valley School District. Prior to the groundbreaking, the school board held a special meeting, which included the final approval on the contracts to include additional improvements in the existing buildings. The district has faced an overcrowding problem since the early 1990s. The major part of the project is to construct an addition to the elementary building for 34 new classrooms. The project also includes upgrades to current facilities, mainly due to age or to modernize. It will include a new elevator for the high school and new roof on the current elementary building. The estimated $16 million project is expected to be complete in time for the 2011-12 school year.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)

WILLIAMSPORT - Parents of students in the Williamsport Area School District are invited to some upcoming meetings being held by the new Principal of the School District. Michael Reed, new principal for Williamsport Area High School, is holding a series of meetings throughout the district to introduce himself and gather the perspective of parents, students and community stakeholders on the strengths and areas of needed growth at the high school. All meetings will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. through the month of August. For meeting locations go to wasd.org.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)