The Republican Party continues to hold the registration edge of eligible voters in Schuylkill County over the Democratic Party heading into next week's primary election. But both have shown a decrease in their numbers.
The GOP has a registration total of 39,662 while the Democrats have 35,481, a difference of 4,181, according to the latest figures. In 2013, the GOP total was 39,837 and the Democrat total was 35,716. There are 84,407 eligible registered voters for the May 20 primary election.
Our granddaughter Kiele, 17, is ending her junior year of high school. She wants to attend college and has plans to enter the medical field.
In preparation for her college enrollment, her parents have arranged for her to visit colleges and universities recently. Her visit to Duke was an eye-opener. She couldn't believe how beautiful the campus was and how expensive the tuition is.
Here is the list of the Tamaqua Area School District Academic Achievement recipients:
Abe Hassan Memorial Scholarship: Joann Butkus
Air Products and Chemicals Award: Robert Arner, Avery Banavage, Joann Butkus, Nichelle Pucklavage and Jared Sharpe
Alice Konecny Memorial Scholarship: Stefanie Gensure
Arnold Delin Award: Talli Matukonis
Bailey's Building Supplies Top Votech: Cory Schuetrumpf
Benjamin Herring Memorial Scholarship: Makayla Boyle
Beta Sigma Phi Sorority Award: Joann Butkus
Class of 1946: Rachael Jones
Ron Boltz of Pine Grove and Carolyn Bonkoski of Orwigsburg are running for two of the three seats available for Republican State Committee.
Boltz is currently a county committee person and a Pine Grove School Board member, while Carolyn is a county committee person and district leader in the Schuylkill County Republican Committee.
The old stone bridge that carries Bridge Street in Lehighton across the creek through Baer Memorial Park was highlighted by the greens of blooming trees this week. The area was serene, with only the sounds of birds and the water swishing over the rocks.
One ringy dingy…two ringy dingy. Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?
These lines were made famous by Lily Tomlin when she starred on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In in 1970.
Her character was named Ernestine. She portrayed a nosy, condescending telephone operator who sported a 1940s hairstyle complete with a hair net.
A $400,000 project to replace the roof on Schuylkill County's prison is coming nicely, Warden Eugene Berdanier told prison board members Wednesday.
He said some of the smaller sections have already been finished, and that the tower is also being worked on.
Berdanier expects the project to be finished in about three weeks.
Commissioners in February hired Budget Renovations & Roofing, of Shamokin, to do the job for $404,975. Budget was the lowest of six bidders for the project.
A Schuylkill County court judge has denied a Tamaqua's man's appeal of his sentence for robbing another man at knifepoint on Oct. 11, 2012.
Roosevelt Warden, 45, of 400 N. Pine St., Tamaqua, had appealed his three- to six-year sentence under the Post Conviction Relief Act on the grounds that his lawyer was ineffective at a pretrial suppression hearing resulting in his plea deal.
The annual Carbon County Hall of Fame banquet will be held on Sunday, May 25 at Memorial Hall in Jim Thorpe.
This year's inductees are:
Lehighton - Norm A. Frey; Jr; Robert Andrews; Lee "Put" Kuntz.
Lansford - Ellen Ogozalek; Eileen Ogozalek; Tom Rosahac.
Coaldale - Angel Donovan; Bill Edwards; Vince Gildea.
Tamaqua - Frank Yusella; Wayne Shickram; Stan Dakosty.
Jim Thorpe - Keith Miller; Drew Benyo; Dale Burnhauser.
Palmerton - Gene Behler; Georgianna Messinger; Kathy Beck Dekorte; Donald Holland.
To the Lehighton Area School Board,
I would like to thank the school board for finally making a decision to move forward and stop stalling and no more studies! We did enough of that which cost the district money! In the long run building a new elementary school will save the taxpayers money! Along with moving forward with the All Sport Complex, building a new elementary school maintaining one building will cost less money to maintain. Example: repairing roof over three buildings, heating, ground maintenance. Replacing one roof cost a lot less than three.
Consider your situation, and I think you'll find the same is true for you. Set out with the intention of helping someone, and invariably someone else receives help, too.
You.
One of the regular features of my seventh grade language arts class, for instance, is called "The Quote of the Day." On most days, I put two profound sayings sometimes motivational, sometimes instructional, but always, I hope, enlightening on the chalkboard with a key word missing.
Strange things have been happening in kitchens all around town in the Tamaqua School District.
Eggs have been exploding in microwaves, soda has been spewing from bottles, ice cream has been left to melt on countertops, unpopped popcorn kernels have been counted, gummy worms dissolved, iPods charged with oranges and bread slices left on plates until mold formed.
It was 1945 when Austrian immigrant Ernest Scheller started an aluminum pigment manufacturing plant in Stamford, Connecticut.
In 1963, he moved the plant to Lansford, later expanding to a facility in Hometown. He called it Silberline, after the German word for silver.
First his son and then his grandson joined the family business.
Blue Ridge Rifles Muzzleloader Club, located along Coon Club Road off Route 183, south of Summit Station, a self-supporting organization founded in 1976 and a member of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association and the Pennsylvania Federation of Black Powder Shooters, is holding the Eastern Pennsylvania Rendezvous and Muzzleloader Shoot, Thursday-Monday, May 22-26. There is pre-1840 primitive and modern camping on the 22-acre site with firewood and water provided, but no hook-ups.
The IRA charitable exclusion, as well as corporate taxation, are among the issues that will be taken back to the office of a state senator.
Those were among the issues raised by members of the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce during their monthly luncheon on Tuesday.
Peter Kern, chamber president, told members he received a phone call from the office of state Sen. Robert Casey and spoke with the regional manager.
Kern said the regional manager has scheduled for him and Borough Manager Rodger Danielson to meet with Sen. Casey's representative on May 20.
Along Route 248, a few miles south of Danielsville, there is a service station and mini-mart called 5-Eleven on the east side of the highway.
The large sign on the building bears a striking resemblance to the signs on 7-Eleven stores.
Too much of a resemblance, says 7-Eleven, which has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Allentown alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition and trademark dilution by the Lehigh Township business.
Editor:
I am 83 years old and I have lived in Lansford all that time. I was born in Lansford (Kline Avenue), delivered by a midwife. Boy, was my dad proud.
Living here all that time, I have seen Lansford go from a nice, prosperous town to a dump. People had jobs in mines and factories, and people were friendly.
My mom worked in the Kidde Clothes for 12 cents an hour, and my dad worked in the No. 10 Mines.
Palmerton Police Department is investigation the following incidents:
Public drunkenness
Daniel Cressley, 37, of 745 Edgemont Ave., Palmerton, was cited for public drunkenness. The violation occurred on May 2 at 9:52 p.m. at Mauch Chunk Road and Franklin Avenue.
Speeding
Jeana Ziegenfus, 30, of 727 Lehigh St., Apt. A, Bowmanstown, was cited for speeding. The violation occurred on May 8 at 6:18 p.m. in the 600 block of Mauch Chunk Road.
Lansford has a new barbershop.
Leighton Brown has opened the Master Barber shop in the Lansford mini-mall on West Ridge Street.
Lansford Alive staged a ribbon-cutting for the shop.
Brown, a native of Queens, New York, moved to Lansford in 2007. He got his barber's license in New York state and transferred it to Pennsylvania through reciprocity.
He said he presently operates the barber shop by himself but soon will have his wife, Megan, joining him to do nails. Megan is a licensed nail technician.
He officially opened for business on March 8.
A Times News editor will be honored by the Philadelphia Press Association for winning three awards in its "Best of the Best" media competition.
Donald R. Serfass, Tamaqua, who serves as the Times News' features and human-interest managing editor, captured three PPA awards, including taking top honors in column writing and business writing.