Pottsville News

Christine Joyce's latest property-tax bill has dashed her dream to move from an old house with a tiny kitchen to a brand-new place in the country with a spacious yard.

A $38,000 plan to sever a breezeway connecting two Schuylkill County-owned buildings will proceed sooner than expected after a fire destroyed much of one of them, county commissioners were told Wednesday.

To the Editor: The City of Pottsville is losing one of its finest servants. Capt. Joe Clarkson of the Pottsville Police Department has announced his retirement. Capt. Clarkson has long been a fixture of the downtown Pottsville community. He has represented both his profession and the City of Pottsville in the highest regard as a true role model and community leader. The employees and owners of Murphy Jewelers would like to commend Capt. Clarkson for his distinguished service, leadership and, perhaps mostly, for his friendship. His diligence to his job will be sorely missed by the downtown commercial district, and especially at Murphy Jewelers. After getting to know Capt. Clarkson over the years, you know he is an empathetic, knowledgeable and trustworthy person. While acting as the finest example of upholding the law, Capt. Clarkson was always quick to offer a kind word of concern or a joke to lighten the mood. Upon his retirement, the City of Pottsville will certainly be losing one of its finest. Patrick J. Murphy Owner Murphy Jewelers

Kathy Waschek placed an urn containing her sister's ashes on a lectern, and poured her heart out Friday to a Schuylkill County judge about how her sibling was murdered.

About an hour later, Waschek and other friends and relatives of Roseann D. Barrett walked out of the courtroom upset at the sentence, their faith in the justice system shaken.

Judge John Domalakes sentenced Barrett's killer, Joseph A. Cress, 43, of Girardville, to eight years and four months to 16 years and eight months in state prison for third-degree murder.

A midair collision between medical helicopters June 29 killed six people near the Flagstaff Medical Center in Arizona.

By Bud Angst Schuylkill County Coroner Joseph Lipsett has declared the 1985 death of 13-year-old David Willington Reed a homicide.

The county has some free help to clean up the 1912 Building in Schuylkill Haven, but one official said Wednesday money could still be going down the drain. “The county might have actually made money,” county Controller Melinda Kantner said at Wednesday’s commissioners meeting. “But we’ll never know that since it was never opened up for bid.” The 1912 Building — unused for about 15 years and recently sold along with 34 acres of land to the Penn State Schuylkill Advisory Board for about $655,000 — became a dumping ground for broken chairs, old computers and other items that accumulated over the years. In April 2007, the commissioners approved a resolution authorizing Bruce Krokus, Tamaqua, to remove any items “deemed valueless.” Krokus, who began the cleanup effort last spring and described himself as an “independent contractor,” is receiving no compensation for the work but is allowed to sell anything left inside to scrap metal dealers or other buyers. “There is no percentage going to the county,” Kantner said. On Wednesday afternoon, several men who “work for” Krokus were removing sheet metal and other items from the building. Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Krokus said he’s made little profit from the deal and the job has cost him “more than anticipated.” Still, Kantner maintains the items could’ve been rounded up by county employees and sold. Or, Kantner said, the contract should’ve included a percentage given back to the county.

A 28-year-old New York City man who was part of a large-scale drug ring in Pottsville and Saint Clair was arrested Tuesday with cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana, police said. Pottsville police Cpl. Dennis Wiederhold said Zachary Guichard of Brooklyn, N.Y., was arraigned on charges of possession of controlled substances, possession with intent to deliver controlled substances, delivery of controlled substances and possession of drug paraphernalia. Wiederhold also said the investigation was continuing and additional arrests are expected. Guichard was committed to Schuylkill County Prison unable to post $75,000 straight cash bail set by on-call Magisterial District Judge Carol A. Pankake, Tremont. Wiederhold said officers were called to 512 N. Centre St., Pottsville, for a drug-related incident and found marijuana and a large supply of packaging materials inside Apartment 2E. At the scene, the corporal said officers learned from interviews that marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were being sold from the apartment. The interviews also provided information that a large-scale drug distribution ring was selling from the apartment as well as several others both in Pottsville and Saint Clair, police said.

An investigation Tuesday into a drug-related incident in Pottsville led several local police departments to seize more than $11,000 worth of illegal drugs from a Saint Clair home and arrest a New York man on several drug-related charges. Zachary "Dread" Guichard, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is in Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of $75,000 straight bail, and faces charges of possession of controlled substances, possession with intent to deliver controlled substances, delivery of controlled substances and drug paraphernalia charges after he was discovered in a Saint Clair home with cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia in what Pottsville police are calling a "large scale drug arrest." The arrest came after Pottsville police were dispatched to 512 N. Centre St., Pottsville, for a drug-related incident Tuesday. During the investigation at that location, police found marijuana and a large amount of packaging materials in apartment 2E. Interviews done at the scene revealed that marijuana, crack cocaine, cocaine, and methamphetamine were sold from the residence, and that a large scale drug distribution ring was selling from that residence and several others in Pottsville and Saint Clair. Police also received information that Guichard, also known as Dread, was currently at 16 E. Patterson St., Saint Clair, with a large amount of narcotics.

Their time had come. The malfunctioning clocks that faced north and south atop Sovereign Bank’s 120 S. Centre St. location in Pottsville for decades were taken down two weeks ago, according to Jim Brennan, district executive for Sovereign Bank in Schuylkill County, who ordered them to be removed. “We were just unable to repair it any further,” Brennan said Monday. While the clocks were local landmarks, according to David Derbes, president of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County, passersby took the 12- by 12-foot timepieces for granted and saw them as just part of the landscape.

Only a few of specialty brands come from old-time regional breweries with roots deep in the 19th century. D.G. Yuengling & Son in Pottsville, Pa., the nation's oldest beermaker, was founded in 1829, the first year of Andrew Jackson's presidency. Photo courtesy Wetten Importers Inc. (ENLARGE) European beers have hundreds of years of a head start over their U.S. counterparts. Compared with Europe's oldest brewers, however, Yuengling is exactly what its name means in German: a "young man." The Het Anker brewery in Mechelen, Belgium, traces its history to 1369, when records of the local brewers guild show the receipt of a penny in dues from a man named Jan in den Anker. The company managed to survive the conflagrations of the 20th century, although German occupiers melted down part of the brewing equipment during World War I, and grain rationing forced it to produce a tepid, barely alcoholic brew during World War II.

Recent meetings of the Schuylkill County Commissioners that have featured clashes between the Commissioner Chair Mantura Gallagher and County Adminsitrator Darlene Dolzania on one side and Controller Melinda Kantner on the other, Last week’s commissioners’ workshop meeting, however, reflected a relatively rare spirit of cooperation and good well as Kantner took the floor to commend Dolzani for authorship of a Revised County Travel Expense Reimbursement Policy. Stating that she had carefully reviewed the new Dolzani-authored policy statement governing employee requests for reimbursement, Kantner said, “I know you put a lot of time and effort into it” and “I want you to know that the Controller’s Office will be applying this policy to reimbursement requests presented.” Commissioner Gallagher, however, was not present to enjoy the relatively calm meeting atmosphere. Gallagher was vacationing last week.

Prosecutors are seeking to keep a Pottsville man on death row after a Schuylkill County judge ordered a new trial in his first-degree murder case. The state attorney general’s office filed an appeal Wednesday of President Judge William E. Baldwin’s ruling that Ronald G. Champney, 57, should get a new trial for the June 4, 1992, killing of Roy Bensinger. Senior Deputy Attorney General Andrea McKenna filed her appeal in the county court. It will be heard by the state Supreme Court, which considers cases involving the death penalty, instead of the state Superior Court.

Two people had to be extricated from their vehicle by the Pottsville Fire Department after a one-vehicle crash Saturday at 20th Street and Howard Avenue, police said. Pottsville police said Jonathan Montag, 22, of Pottsville, was traveling west on Howard Avenue at 2:36 a.m. in a 2001 Jeep Cherokee and ran a stop sign, striking a stone wall at St. John’s Cemetery. Kaitlyn Hostetter, 18, of Pottsville, was a passenger in the vehicle. Montag and Hostetter both suffered injuries and were transported from the scene by Pottsville EMS, police said.

A 60-year-old Pottsville man is in Schuylkill County Prison after waving a handgun at two males riding bicycles along Race Street on Saturday, according to Pottsville police. Authorities said Frederick Richardson, 224 N. Second St., pointed a Taurus six-shot revolver at Anthony Lynn and William Hesse, both of Pottsville, at 5:59 a.m. Lynn and Hesse were riding their bicycles along the 100 block of West Race Street. Richardson was arrested at the scene and the gun, along with several other firearms and ammunition, was taken from the scene. Richardson was arraigned via video before Magisterial District Judge Carol A. Pankake, Tremont, on weapons charges and numerous related offenses. He was taken to county prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Over the past few weeks, we have watched the catfight between Schuylkill County Controller Melinda Kantner and County Administrator Darlene Dolzani grow from a clash of egos to a public relations war and then to an all out civil lawsuit. Some courthouse commentators and political opponents have found the feud entertaining, while others brush it off as nonsense. The Clarke Report has discovered a more devious angle in this saga. I believe that Dolzani’s lawsuit is the first step in a Democratic Party plot to remove Kantner from the controller’s office. Dubbed “The Bipolar Controller” by other row officers and county employees, Kantner has not made many friends or allies within the courthouse since succeeding Gary Hornberger in January. Besides this feud with Dolzani, Kantner has also sparred with County Solicitor Eric Mika over her speaking out of turn during Commissioner’s workshop meetings, with State Sen. James Rhoades over an unsigned county contract obligation that she refused to pay out, and with the Commissioners themselves over the perceived mishandling of the sale of the 1912 building. In addition, my sources within the Schuylkill Democratic Party told me that Kantner was involved in a heated argument with US Rep. Tim Holden a few weeks ago. Kantner allegedly told Holden “I don’t care what your father did”, a comment which reportedly sent Holden on an expletive laden verbal rampage. As a result of these disagreements, Kantner finds herself politically isolated. Republicans never believed she was qualified to hold the office of Controller to begin with and now the consensus within the Democratic party is that her inability to get along with anyone has made her nomination and subsequent election a horrible mistake. One county employee who wished to remain anonymous told me, “She just doesn’t know how to talk to people. Everyone hates her.”

The golden boy of the state GOP has some issues with his cohorts in Pottsville. Scott Thomas might be carrying the entire state party on his back with all the great publicity as of late, but that doesn’t seem to impress those on the Pottsville City Republican Committee as they refused to invite the newly elected state committeeman to last week’s city convention. Thomas, the youngest person to ever be elected as an officer to the state GOP, was the highest vote getter in the April primary vanquishing such party mainstays as George Moyer, Mary Beth Dougherty, and Boots Hetherington. Yet, he was a noticeably absent from the annual city gathering where members select their leadership and set their agenda for the November general election. The move doesn’t surprise The Clarke Report at all. Even though the county party has made some strides with embracing newcomers to the political process and those with opposing viewpoints, the city committee seems like it is not yet ready to come along. As was reported here, Thomas ruffled the feathers of city committee stalwart Howie Merrick at the county convention two weeks ago, as they were involved in an animated verbal joust following the floor debate over the endorsement process. At one point Merrick physically threatened Thomas, which led myself and Tom Yarnell to leave the conference room to ensure that everything was alright. Ultimately, Yarnell took Merrick’s side while I monitored the situation from across the room (I wanted to make sure that the much smaller Thomas didn’t get thumped by a grown-ass man). It seems this skirmish carried over into Merrick and Yarnell’s decision to blackball Thomas from the city convention. Despite all the work that Thomas has done for that committee and GOP candidates for city office, it seems that the slightest of ego bruising results in getting the cold shoulder from establishment types. Personally, I find Merrick and Yarnell’s “lesson” to the young Thomas to be both petty and stupid. Thomas is quickly becoming the face of Pottsville politics. Young and old alike respect him. They support him at the polls and will follow his lead as we move forward. For a city party that can’t seem to get ANYONE elected, you’d think they’d jump on his coattails and see where he can take them. Instead, they choose to alienate the best thing they have going for them. But hey, that’s the Pottsville GOP for ya . . . . always cutting off their nose just to spite their face.

With many eyes focused on the fast approaching presidential election in the fall, the Schuylkill County democratic Party has decided to get a head start on preparations for 2009. The Clarke Report learned earlier this week that a key figure in county politics is in the process of stepping down in order to give his chosen successor an incumbency edge leading into next year’s elections. Sources tell me that Pottsville Mayor John D.W. Reilly is expected to step down from his post within the coming months to be replaced by City Councilman Jim Muldowney. This decision has to enrage Michael Halcovage, the uber-popular Pottsville City Councilman and attorney, who looked to be a shoe-in for the democratic nod in an open primary. However, now that Reilly and the Pottsville dems have decided on the infallible writ of succession, Halcovage must decide whether to buck his own party leadership by contesting the nomination or slink into the background behind Muldowney and wait for his coronation in a few years. Of course, if Mike really wants to be mayor now and believes he would be a superior choice to Muldowney, he could always pull a PJ Symons by turning his back on a lifetime of ideals and values to opportunistically switch parties in the lead-up to the election . . . . .

The Pennsylvania budget signed into law Friday includes $10 million for the proposed Pottsville-based intermodal project, which carries an estimated $19 million price tag, according to city and state officials. “I think what it shows us is how much support this project has from our legislative delegation. From day one they have come forth on this project. It’s exciting. It’s nice to see things coming together,” City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar said of the downtown project, which will include a bus terminal, railroad station and county visitors bureau headquarters. In addition to $7 million in federal grants and $3 million in state and local funding, the 2008-09 state budget infusion might be all the funding the project requires, Palamar said. “This state grant should be a great deal of what we need, but I hesitate to say we don’t need any more for any other source. But it sounds like we have all the money that we need lined up,” he said. Palamar said the project is in the design phase; the city hopes to break ground in 2009. “I believe it would be a two-year project, so it would be operational by 2011,” Palamar said.

A Pottsville area cabinet maker recently turned the City of Pottsville Bike Path & Jogging Area into a nature exhibit by adding signage. Two weeks ago, Stephen Buzalko financed and coordinated the installation of 36 signs, identifying the prominent plant and tree life along the path, which extends from the area near JFK Pool to Woodglen Road. “I was just trying to identify some sights along the way. I walk that path almost every day with my wife and my dog,” Buzalko said this week.