Southwestern Berks County practically free of [reported] violent crime

by Steve Reinbrecht

Despite political rhetoric designed to terrorize us and polls that show many Americans live in fear, it’s been very safe recently in Southwestern Berks County, according to police reports.

Western Berks Regional Police responded to a fight Sunday, Sept. 18, just after 9 p.m. in the 100 block of West Penn Avenue, in Robesonia.

Two friends got into an argument and then a scuffle in a borough backyard, Western Berks Regional Police Chief William Schlichter said.

Once police arrived, things were settled, and no one was charged, he said.

The area had one burglary report in September, also in Wernersville, on Monday, Sept. 12, in the first block of East Penn Avenue.

Burglary rates are good measures of quality of life and security, so it’s heartening to see so few reported in the area. The idea of a desperate intruder entering my house and tearing it apart looking for my [non-existent] treasure is terrifying. I know burglary victims feel violated and may grieve over the loss of their domestic inviolability. Hard to tell, but maybe we can credit effective police and neighbors who know each other for the lack of burglaries.

Anyway, this lone burglary in September was mundane – nothing of value stolen from an abandoned building, with no leads, Schlichter said.

Sinking Spring police reported an “opium-cocaine” possession on James Street on Sept 2.

Sinking Spring Police Chief Police Chief Lee Schweyer said he couldn’t reveal precisely what drug was possessed because it is under investigation.

See the August crime report for Southwestern Berks

Police in Wernersville, Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg and Sinking Spring reported 32 crimes together in September, down from 46 in August.

Most were very minor, though they might not have seemed that way for the victims. There were four reports of disorderly conduct, four of fraud, five DUIs, six thefts and four acts of vandalism, all spread out across the area.

Many frauds that local police report are cases of stolen identity or credit card fraud, said Detective Chris Stouch. If someone in Estonia steals your credit card information and sells it to someone in Los Angeles who uses it at a Wal-Mart there, your local police get the investigation.

So far in October, police reports comprise similar crimes.

Nothing in September compared to the murders and suicide that month in Sinking Spring that horrified the world.

Consultant: Sinking Spring needs expert legal help to fight PPL

by Steve Reinbrecht

The consultant in charge of fulfilling Sinking Spring’s revitalization thinks it’s time to hire a specialized lawyer to spearhead the fight against PPL Electric Utilities’ plans to run a 69-kilowatt transmission line through the borough.

The borough will hold its monthly revitalization meeting tonight, Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., and the topic is sure to arise, said the consultant, Sam Loth, shepherd of the BOSS2020 project.

The public is welcome.

The power company says it needs the line, and a 100-foot-wide easement under it, to make the local electrical grid more reliable. The company is not considering options.

Borough officials say the line would destroy their plans to fix intersections and build shops and housing. The project has had more than $5 million in investment, according to Loth.

PPL has backed off from similar proposals in other places, and perhaps an experienced lawyer could find out how others have beaten a giant utility, he said.

Based in Allentown, PPL has about 10 million customers and saw $7.7 billion in revenues last year.

“Spend the five grand it’s going to take to hire a big-gun lawyer,” Loth said Wednesday.

The borough has many people lined up with it. Opponents of the PPL plan includes the borough council, planning officials, dozens of residents and state Rep. Jim Cox and state Sen. Dave Argall.

Landowner Randy Robitzer says he won’t grant an easement to PPL through the golf course he owns on the route.

I've had trouble reaching council members, but one told me he opposes PPL's plan.

“The borough most definitely should try to stop this. It will directly affect our redevelopment efforts by taking away valuable land,” Councilman Brian Hoffa told me in an e-mail Oct. 6.

“Obviously, as a member of council and a resident directly across from the proposed power line, I do NOT want to see this power line installed. This will be a severe detriment to our redevelopment efforts as well as spoiling a lot of nature-scape,” he wrote.

Wernersville launches new website to inform residents

by Steve Reinbrecht

Wernersville borough has a new website to provide important information to residents.

Here is the link: http://www.wernersvilleborough.org/

A resident who knows about website technology said he noticed that his hometown’s website was unsatisfactory, so he offered to create a new one.

Keegan Worley, a 2008 Conrad Weiser High School graduate, is the financial controller for Runwell Solutions, an outsource IT company based in Wyomissing.

At their meeting June 1 [according to records I just looked up on the new website], supervisors voted 3-0 to pay Runwell Solutions as much as $4,400 for the website.

A state grant will help pay for the website because it will have information about recycling, environmental education and green technology, officials expect.

“It’s letting my neighbors know what’s going on in Wernersville,” Worley said. He noted that the borough also has a new Facebook page to engage with residents.

Supervisors President Steve Price said launching a better website has been on a back burner for years. Wernersville had been using a site hosted by Berks County, which staff had trouble even accessing.

The new website has copies of meeting minutes, which are approved records of all the discussions and votes at public meetings. It has the names of staff, elected officials and committee members. And you can read the ordinances that deal with dogs, trash and weeds, and snow and ice.

Borough office workers will have an easier time keeping the site updated with minutes, events and weather-related news. The site should reduce calls from residents who can find their answers online.

Deal adds 42 homes to development plans in Lower Heidelberg

by Steve Reinbrecht

Lower Heidelberg officials have approved changes to plans that would add 42 housing units to a long-in-the-works development at Sweitzer and Wagner roads.

The owner, Glen-Gery Shale Brick Corp., of Wyomissing, has agreed to build 135 homes in cluster-style development on about 50 acres of the 170 acres it owns in the bucolic spot. The company would give 35 acres to the township.

Berks County courts have been overseeing the project under an agreement reached after the township's zoning hearing board refused to grant the project a special exception in 2005.

The company has not submitted actual plans showing the new layout.

Original plans showed 92 homes on lots between 1 and 3 acres – 50 of them south of Sweitzer Road and 42 on the north side.

The new agreement calls for 135 homes in cluster-style development only on the south side of Sweitzer. The land on the south side of Sweitzer is relatively flat and used to grow crops.

It would give 35 acres on the north side to the township. Much of that land is wooded and steep. Part of it was a quarry.

Under the change, the builder will get to sell more units, and can avoid building on the steep slopes on the north side. The township gets land to preserve or use for recreation. Higher density adds traffic to narrow lanes and more demands on police and fire services as well as the Wilson School District.

A county map shows a creek flowing through the middle of the parcel. The plans in the township office show flood plains but no creeks or wetlands. 

Minutes from the August 2016 meeting minutes state that supervisors voted 3-0 to:

“Allow Glen Gery to build additional homes, increased from 92 to 135, in exchange for Glen Gery giving the township 35 acres of land for public use.

"The land is on Rebers Bridge Road down to Wagner and halfway to Sweitzer. lf a developer is willing to give the land, the Township is willing to take it and hopefully be able to develop it as a park. Ms. Johnson noted that the land is currently being farmed, and will continue to be farmed until the Township decides what to do with the parcel. The only other land owned by the Township is the parcel housing the Township building."

South Heidelberg has a new township manager

by Steve Reinbrecht

South Heidelberg has a new township manager.

Supervisors voted 3-0 on Thursday night to hire Sean McKee to the township’s top administrative post. His salary is $83,000.

No further information about McKee was immediately available. Supervisor Richard Hummel, reached by phone, declined to comment. I could not reach the other two supervisors, Thomas Byrne and David Schaeffer.

The township’s 2016 budget is $3.5 million. The latest township manager, Ron Seaman, left the township Aug. 12 to be Berks County’s chief administrative officer.

Supervisor Richard Hummel said the week before the meeting Thursday that he had been happy with the process to select a new manager.

Office manager Shelly B. Keehn has managed operations since Seaman left.

South Heidelberg is poised to hire a new manager

by Steve Reinbrecht

South Heidelberg Township supervisors are planning to vote to appoint a township manager at their meeting tonight, Supervisor Richard Hummel said.

The latest township manager, Ron Seaman, left the township Aug. 12 to be Berks County’s chief administrative officer.

Hummel said he was happy with the process to select a new manager, adding that he’s been through it before.

The search attracted qualified candidates from across Pennsylvania, he said.

The township has operated “very smoothly” since Seaman left, Hummel said, crediting competent department chiefs.

So is he sure the township, with a population of 7,300 or so, really needs a manager?

“I’ve given a lot of thought to that,” he said, laughing.

His conclusion is that the position is vital for township operations, considering how responsibilities, requirements and demands for services for municipal governments have expanded over the past 20 years.

“It’s difficult to run a township of any size without a manager,” he said.

The township hired Seaman in May 2003.

Office manager Shelly B. Keehn, who has managed operations since Seaman left, would not release information about the search for a new manager.

She said the best way to find out is to come to the meeting tonight, at 7 p.m.

Two land subdivisions move ahead in Lower Heidelberg

by Steve Reinbrecht

A plan for four new housing lots in Lower Heidelberg moved forward Monday night at the planning commission meeting.

Planners also agreed to recommend a plan to subdivide an 8-acre wooded property at State Hill and Evans Hill roads.

In the first project, the planning committee voted 5-0 to recommend that supervisors give final approval to the Paper Mill Estates project at 3344 Paper Mill Road.

The owner, listed in county records as Sandia Partners LLC & RS Investment Group LLC, wants to subdivide four 1-acre residential lots along a cul-de-sac from about 43 acres. The property and an existing house sold for $1 million in October 2015.

In the other project, the owner, David Seip, wants to divide an 8–acre lot at 3440 State Hill and Evans Hill roads and sell about half to Leonard Liebman, an adjacent landowner. No construction is planned.

Planners decided that a potential driveway for the property, which plans show emerges precisely at the intersection of State Hill and Evans Hill Road, is permitted. They voted 5-0 to recommend that supervisors approve the plan.

The next supervisor’s meeting is Oct. 17.

Monday’s was the first meeting for new planner Dean Hartman. He replaced Seip, who resigned from the planning commission and board of supervisors in September. 

Lower Heidelberg needs help to celebrate 175th anniversary

by Steve Reinbrecht

In 1842, Francisco Lopez discovered gold in California, starting a rush.  Mexican troops invaded Texas, briefly occupying San Antonio.

And Lower Heidelberg was founded.

Township officials are asking for help to plan a big event to celebrate the township’s 175th anniversary next fall.

For one thing, they will invite residents with historical items to display them.

For example, a man recently showed township officials a Native American stone tool he had found that looked like an ax. Residents might have maps, photos and other documents that reveal township history. Some might have artifacts from mills, one-room school houses or old family homes.

The outdoor celebration will be at Green Valley Country Club the weekend of Sept. 9 and 10, 2017. Details will be worked out.

If you want to get involved, the township will hold a meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 in the township building to start planning.

The event will need volunteers and vendors.

Call the township at 678-2133 or e-mail lhaag@lowerhbtwp.org for more information.

The township had a 150th anniversary in the picnic grove at St. John’s (Hain’s) United Church of Christ.

After accidents, Wilson School District changes rush-hour traffic rules

by Steve Reinbrecht

Drivers will have to mind new traffic rules starting Tuesday when parking or dropping off students at Wilson High School.

The goal is to help prevent “Mad Max” scrambles at parking lot exits, according to a note from Superintendent Curt Baker. Click here for a map.

The biggest changes will be at the entrance into the high school’s big parking, where Curtis Road crosses Dwight Road into the high school’s big parking lot, opposite St. Peter’s UCC.

In the mornings from 6:50 a.m. to 7:55 a.m., drivers will be allowed only to enter. 

In the afternoons from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., drivers will be allowed only to exit.

No changes will apply to events held outside the school day.

“We will also have staff deployed to attempt to calm the ‘Mad Max’ rush to exit.”

There have been at least four vehicle crashes on school property since school started Aug. 29, Baker wrote.

Drivers dropping off students also have changes.

“We will be attempting to reduce the double parking/stopping that is currently taking place on Grandview Boulevard in the mornings,” Baker wrote.

Drivers are encouraged to drop students off at another place -- on the Whitfield side of the Lower House.

Drivers dropping off students at the Lower House should enter the lower parking lot off Dwight Street and follow the cones around the upper half of the parking lot. 

Despite clown threats, Wilson plans classes as usual Wednesday

by Steve Reinbrecht

UPDATE [10 p.m. Oct. 5] No clown hostility was reported at Wilson School District schools.

Wilson School District will hold classes as usual Wednesday -- although extra police will be on patrol -- after somebody made repeated “clown” threats against district schools, Superintendent Curt Baker said Tuesday night. He contacted residents by e-mail just after 10 a.m. and in a phone message just after 8 p.m.

Police “do not believe the threats contained in the messages to be credible,” Baker said in his message. “In an abundance of caution, police will increase patrols of our schools.”

A message posted Tuesday morning on Instagram, an online social medium, said:

“We will be coming to the following schools tommorow [sic] at 12:30: Reading HS, Governor Mifflin, Wilson Hs, Twin Valley. REMEMBER WE DID WARN YOU. There will be 3 of us at each school Love, gigglez.”

Berks County detectives were investigating “clown related threats” toward those four districts, according to a post on the Berks County district attorney office’s Facebook page.

Spring Township police said “several individuals” received the"threats" on Instagram.

High School Principal Chris Trickett sent a message to students about the hostile messages and thanked those who “quickly notified our teachers and principals. The prompt relay of information from social media is necessary and greatly appreciated."

Students were discussing the messages and that teachers were reassuring them, district spokeswoman Kristin Kramer said Tuesday afternoon. 

Early messages mentioned the high school, and later messages also mentioned the “MS.” The district has two middle schools.

Baker said he would not hesitate to send his own children to school.

Detectives ask that anyone with information call 610-478-7171.

Here is a recent bulletin about clown threats from the state police:

A number of clown related social media posts were displayed this past weekend regarding threats towards school districts in Pennsylvania and throughout the country. Some threats stated that a clown would arrive at the school and “shoot all students and teachers,” while another threat stated they “weren’t clowning around.” Most of the social media posts were attributed to a “clown joke,” possibly linked to numerous clown sightings throughout the nation and the world.

These sightings have not been validated and there are no known threats to schools in Pennsylvania. Residents are encouraged to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to their closest police department.

Over the last few months, “creepy clowns” have been reported throughout the United States and the world. The media has reported incidents where clowns have stood on the street not moving or speaking, to incidents where creepy clowns attempted to lure children into wooded areas. These sightings have occurred in Wisconsin, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Colorado, Oregon, and Texas.

Many of these reported clown sightings have little to no evidence establishing their legitimacy, but it is fueling a clown panic throughout the country.

Due to the media coverage of clown sightings, many people want to become involved in the phenomenon. Over the past two weeks at least 12 people were arrested in Georgia, Alabama, and Virginia for making false reports of clown threats or chasing people while costumed.

This is not the first time a clown scare has occurred in this country. In the 1980s, clown sightings were reported in Boston, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Arlington Heights, among many other areas. Upon further investigation, police noticed that most, if not all the clown sightings, were witnessed only by children between the ages of five and seven.

The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) is providing this bulletin for informational purposes only. The PSP encourages reporting of suspicious activity by calling the toll‐free Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) Terrorism Tip Line at (888) 292‐1919, or via email at tips@pa.gov.

PPL defends decision to run power line through Sinking Spring

by Steve Reinbrecht

PPL Electric Utilities says the transmission line it plans to run through Sinking Spring is necessary to keep the electric grid strong and provide backup power during outages.

The electric company says there is little evidence such lines affect property values or create dangerous emissions.

Sinking Spring officials say the transmission line would wreck its plans for major redevelopment of the downtown.

PPL still needs to acquire easements, including in the Village Greens Golf Course along Broad Street. The owner, Randy Robitzer, said selling the easement would destroy his business and retirement plans.

Borough officials hope to develop the course as housing someday.

In a letter dated Sept. 30, the power company provided answers to "frequently asked questions" about the project.

This is a verbatim copy:

PPL Electric Utilities
State Hill – Berkshire Transmission Line
Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is PPL Electric Utilities proposing in the Sinking Spring area?

A: PPL plans to build a 1.3-mile 69kV transmission line that will tap into two existing transmission lines in the Sinking Spring area. The line is not designed to operate at more than 69 kilovolts. Single steel poles along the line are expected to be between 90 and 105 feet tall.

Q: Why is this project necessary?
A: Without this project, many customers could be left without power for an extended period of time if problems develop on the system due to strong storms, equipment failure, or other factors.

Q: My electric service is very dependable. Why add this line when there doesn’t seem to be a problem?
A: Part of PPL’s job is to ensure safe and reliable power and be ready to restore power in the event of an outage. This new line not only gives us a second source of power to feed local substations in Sinking Spring and Wyomissing, but it also helps us keep the grid strong and more dependable in the larger region.

Q: Won’t this new power line hurt Sinking Spring’s development plans?
A: We have already committed to avoiding conflicts with road relocation projects in Sinking Spring. Should development envisioned by the BOSS 2020 plan occur, we are willing to consider options for mitigating the effects of the line, which is tentatively scheduled to be in service in mid-2018. Mitigation for development can occur after the line is built.

Q: Did you choose this route because it is the least expensive to build?
A: Cost is one of a variety of factors we consider when building a new power line. All of our 1.4 million customers pay for improvements to the grid through their bills. We also consider things like potential effects on the environment, including the amount of any forested land that may have to be cleared.

Q: Won’t this power line hurt our property values?
A: We have no evidence that there is a long-term effect on property values from a project like this. There are numerous examples across our service territory where both commercial and residential development is close to our lines. The Hamilton Crossings commercial development along Route 222 outside Allentown is one example.

Q: How extensive was PPL’s review of potential routes?
A: Over a period of several months, we evaluated numerous routes for this new line, including one suggested by Sinking Spring. We discussed the project with many stakeholders, including state Sen. David Argall and state Rep. Jim Cox. In the end, the currently planned route makes the most sense based on all factors.
Q: Don’t you have to get approval from the state Public Utility Commission?
A: Transmission line projects under 100 kilovolts do not require review or approval from the PUC. We consider the same factors and take the same steps for lines under 100 kilovolts that we would take to build larger lines.

Q: How much room will the power line take up?
A: Our standard right-of-way width on 69kV lines is 100 feet — 50 feet on each side of the power line.

Q: Will you be taking property to build the line?
A: PPL works with property owners in order to obtain easements that enable us to build and maintain the power line. The property owner retains ownership of the land and is paid for the easement based on the market value of the land. We work hard to reach amicable agreements for easements. Seeking eminent domain is a last resort.

Q: I’ve heard this new line won’t even be used. Is that true?
A: This new line will be energized when construction is complete and provide operational flexibility in the region.

Q: I’m concerned about electromagnetic fields that will be created by the new line.
A: Current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level electromagnetic fields. Power lines, home appliances and electrical wiring all produce these fields. For more information on EMF, you can visit pplelectric.com/emf.