TEXAS TWP. — Charges were filed Monday by the PA State Police regarding a the burglary of the Tobacco Road Store on Route 6 in Texas Township between April 10th and May 8th, 2008.

In the incident, which occurred between said dates, 616 cartons of cigarettes were removed from the business.

The estimated value of the stolen items is over $27,000, according to the police report.

PRESTON TWP. — Josh Bosket, 22, and Edward Russo, 25, both of Deposit, NY, both sustained injuries on Saturday following an accident between their two ATV four-wheelers.

The incident occured when the two took their four-wheelers onto the north travel lane of Route 370, “apparently at a high rate of speed,” according to the police report.

DYBERRY TWP. —  A horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Why the long face?”   That’s a joke.  What’s not a joke, and isn’t funny, is the condition Laurie Brinkworth of Dyberry Township, owner and operator of Ponytales Rescue, found her five year-old stallion Apache when she rescued him from a farm in Pottsville, PA.

About six weeks ago, Laurie found a distress call on an internet message board for horse rescuers, for “three stallions in urgent need.”  Going down to investigate, Brinkworth found three stallions penned together, having all escaped from their stalls and been trapped in the same fenced-in pen—which is a horse-boarding no-no. 

The owners, at the time, had been planning a move to North Carolina and had left the horses alone for the weekend.  With three stallions in the same pen, the older two mauled Apache.

The following closings have been scheduled by PennDOT in order to perform road maintenance on Route 81:

Two puppies were stolen in a Hamlin pet store break-in along with $480-$490 in cash.
“We just want the puppies returned safe,” said Kevin Siclari, owner of Pampering Your Pets, located in the Hamlin Shopping Plaza on Route 590, next to the Subway restaurant.
The two brindle colored boxers are eight weeks-old and valued at $750 each. A reward is being offered for their return.
The burglary occurred sometime between 8 p.m. Monday evening and 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.  

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Texas Township Supervisors turned down a request by Rusty Palmer to install a 40 by 48 foot sign at his Route 6 business. They said he failed to show why such a sign was needed and that they were sticking to the township ordinance which allows a sign to be only 30-feet high.

DAMASCUS TWP. — In a historic decision Monday evening, the Damascus Township board of supervisors voted unanimously to join the Upper Delaware Council, a partnership between municipalities along the Upper Delaware Corridor.

Membership in the Council makes available to the township state and federal grants that might not otherwise have been possible.

The council also serves as a united intermediary between municipalities along the corridor and a united front in approaching other government agencies in regard to issues concerning any and all municipalities contained therein.

Damascus is the 12th municipality to join the council, which includes eight from the New York side of the river and now four in Pennsylvania. 

Damascus is unique because it is the first township in Wayne County to join the council, in its 20 years of existence, as well as the largest tract of land along the corridor, on either side.

Attorneys delivered closing statements Monday morning in the trial of Susan Pevec, 30, the Browndale woman accused of burning her 14 month-old son in an attempt to gain full custody of the child.  She was fouund guilty on most counts.

 Proposed consolidation of Catholic churches in Wayne County could mean the closing of St. Joseph’s in White Mills, St. Rita’s in Gouldsboro, St. Cecilia, Hilltop, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lake Como in another year. In addition, St. Mary’s in Waymart and St. Juliana’s in Rock Lake could shut down in two years, if the suggested recommendations are followed.

 “It was met with much sadness,” said Father Martin Boylan, who is the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish, after announcing the recommendation to eventually close the St. Joseph’s church at White Mills, this past Sunday.

SWEET NECTAR— A vibrant green hummingbird enjoys Janice Pierson’s backyard in Waymart. “They’re funny little birds ...They’re darling,” Janice said of her frequent visitors, who flit from one flower to the next.

“We’re all students,” says Dennis Thorton of Guilford, N.Y.

WHITE MILLS — In an isolated grove in White Mills last Saturday, July 19th, the music all but stopped for a moment.  A bird chirped.  Someone shifted loudly in their seat.  That was only an interval, however, a 16th, maybe even 32nd note.  Seemingly seamlessly, Jerry Weldon carried the tune on solo-style, wailing and whopping on his tenor sax with nothing more to keep the beat than the tapping of his own foot, despite the full band on stage.  Two, three, maybe 20—its hard to tell—minutes letter, the band picked back up right where it left off and the tune carried on, as electric and intoxicating as ever.

Such was the wonder entrenched in every riff and melody played by the critically acclaimed David Leonhardt Trio, with special guests Nancy Reed on vocals, Jerry Weldon of Harry Connick, Jr. tour fame on the tenor sax, and Shelley Oliver performing tap dance arrangements with the band.  The Trio is composed of Leonhardt, Matthew Parrish on the upright bass, and Pennsylvanian Paul Wells on drums.

 If anyone has any information on any of these crimes, they are asked to contact the Pa. State Police at (570)253-7126, unless otherwise indicated: