Quakertown News Archives

“The fact that he waived his preliminary hearing shows he's willing to cooperate. We'll take that into consideration”

An 86-year-old Upper Bucks County man is accused of running an illegal garbage dump where authorities allegedly found everything from asbestos, spilled waste oil and damaged lead batteries to ash heaps and ... via PhillyBurbs.com

The principal of a Quakertown Community School District middle school has retired midyear, in a decision that came as administrators prepared to fire him, a school board member said Friday.

Richard A. Zinck, 54, who headed Richard E. Strayer Middle School in Richland Township for 19 years, announced he was leaving at a school assembly held March 19.

He has been replaced in the interim by Cindy Lapinski, one of two assistant principals at the school.

''We know that he resigned, and if he wouldn't resign he'd have been terminated,'' said Paul Stepanoff, a Quakertown school board member. ''We have to trust the administration that whatever happened rose to the level that they needed to fire him.'' Read more

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND RESEARCH will be discussed at 7:30 p.m. today at the Hilltown Township Municipal Building, 13 W. Creamery Road. via The Morning Call

Springfield is looking to neighboring municipalities for help in fighting a proposed power line from running through the township. via PhillyBurbs.com

“For many years, the program was sponsored by the Great Valley School District, based in Delaware County”

Grammy Award-winning trombonist Bill Watrous will perform with students in the Quakertown School District tonight, marking the revival of the school's artist in residence program. via The Morning Call

Part of the borough lost power this morning around 7 causing a traffic headache at the largest and most heavily traveled road through the borough (Routes 313 and 663). Traffic lights were reported out and homes on the North side of Mill St. were without power.

Problems with the underground feed system are to blame.

Power is expected to be up and running sometime this afternoon.

for the entire story see http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-03212008-1506914.html

It's back to federal court for Milford and Coyotes Show Club. An attorney for the Milford-based strip club announced Thursday he will reinstate a First Amendment lawsuit against the Upper Bucks township.

For the past month and half, The King's Men have been actively engaged in a fight to prevent a sexually oriented business (SOB) from remaining open in Milford Township, Bucks County (about 3 miles from TKM's headquarters). The "Coyotes Show Club" successfully opened on December 14, 2007 through a temporary license as a sports bar. The Coyotes Show Club owners lied to the Township Supervisors about their proposed business operation and then upon receipt of their license immediately filed a federal lawsuit against the township on the grounds that their Constitutional rights were being violated.

On February 6, 2008 at a public hearing for the township supervisors, The King's Men officially entered the battle as concerned citizens. After assuming a leadership role at this hearing, TKM decided to officially intervene in the proceedings by retaining the services of Virginia attorney Patrick Trueman, a former U.S. Justice Department offical and legal expert on sexually oriented businesses. Trueman served in the Administration of President Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and headed the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

[The below information is taken from a Press Release issued by The King's Men, Inc. on March 18, 2008]

The King's Men told the Milford Township Board of Supervisors in a legal filing that a permit must be denied to the Coyotes Show Club. TKM stated in its memorandum that Coyotes violates Pennsylvania's so-called BYOB law, Title 18 Pa. C.S.A. Section 7329. The law prohibits "any lewd, immoral, or improper entertainment" at a Pennsylvania bottle club. TKM's memo stated that Township Board must include restrictions that prohibit nudity, performer/patron touching, and the removal of doors in private rooms where customers have private sessions with club strippers. "The Coyotes strip club permit should be denied, but, if for any reason a permit is granted, state law requires that these conditions must be imposed," said Mark Houck, President of The King's Men. "We told the Township Board that no one has a right to run an unregulated sex club in our community," added Houck.

I am happy to tell you that the Milford Township Board of Supervisors has decided to put in place the restrictions that TKM put forth in their memorandum of law.

Upper Bucks needs better jobs and roads and more state aid for education, two Democratic hopefuls for the Pennsylvania House said Wednesday.

Next time you get pulled over, the borough will have another set of eyes watching you.

The brave men and women of our community have gotten a boost in helping fight crime, and fight fire. The Quakertown Police Department will be obtaining Police Mobile Data Terminals (MDT's) and dashboard cams in most police cruisers. A grant worth $15,000 will go toward the cost with the borough paying about $50,000. These devices enable all traffic stops and all police activity to be documented which would enable police investigations and the district judge happy. This means if an issue were to come up, it could save you, the taxpayer more money in any potential lawsuit and most importantly, can save lives.

Additionaly, in a seperate grant, the Quakertown Fire Dept. has gotten a grant worth $171,000 to replace SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus') Along with water, and gear, this is the most important piece of equipment and can help save lives. Generally, depending on what the SCBA is made of (generally steel or composite material cylinders), they need to be replaced every 10-15 years. Congressman Murphy helped obtain this grant according to the boro.

Support your brave men and women of your community, give back and show support!

Information available in the borough minutes. http://www.quakertownboro.com/ftp/february2008min.pdf

McGogney, his voice cracking with anger, voiced outrage over a profanity-laced, pornographic flyer attacking him and his family that was circulated in his Upper Macungie neighborhood by a group called “Friends of the Milford Township Community.”

The flyer attacking McGogney depicted two young women in sexual poses and called the Allentown-based attorney a pimp and a pedophile, while insulting his wife and daughter in sexually graphic language. The author vowed to continue harassing McGogney until Coyotes shuts down in Milford.

McGogney said the flyer has been turned over to the state police, local law enforcement and federal authorities. He also contacted the American Civil Liberties Union. He is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of whoever distributed the flyer, which incorrectly identifies him as the club’s owner.

Township supervisors suggested Tuesday night that they'll allow Coyotes Show Club to stay in business on Route 663 as long as it abides by a state law that would prohibit entertainers from dancing naked.

The club's attorney promised to take the township to court if dancers aren't allowed to take off all of their clothes during performances. That may set up a challenge to the state's law, which requires dancers to maintain at least a G-string and pasties.

''If they [impose those restrictions], we'll file a federal action against the township,'' said attorney Glenn McGogney, who represents Barnett Food Group, the club's operator.

Supervisors, who are trying to decide whether to issue a permit that would allow Coyotes to offer striptease performances, said they'll put the matter to a final vote at a meeting on Tuesday.

Supervisors in Milford could give a strip club the green light to operate tonight.

Just how the vote on Coyotes Show Bar may play out is unclear because the business' owners plan to reject some of the operating restrictions the township wants to place on them.

Required criminal background checks, business-hour limitations and time restraints on how long people can stand outside are some of the conditions that are not acceptable, said Glenn McGogney, attorney [and principal property owner] for Coyotes.

Pennsylvania's presidential primary is expected to attract many voters who either never voted before or haven't voted in years.

...those who haven’t voted since before the 2000 presidential election are at risk of having been removed.

Every year in Bucks and Montgomery counties elections officials send postcards to two types of voters: ones who haven’t voted in five years and ones whose addresses on their voter registration cards don’t match post office records, suggesting they have moved.

The little borough of Trumbauersville will soon be without a mayor. Albert C. Haynes announced his intention to resign the post effective on March 28 in a letter to Borough Council.

A six-year legal battle between PPL Corp. and 14 towns is poised to end without a winner.

The municipalities, which include Quakertown, Hatfield and Lansdale, intend to drop the federal antitrust lawsuit they’ve pursued since 2002 against the Allentown-based utility company in exchange for PPL dropping counterclaims against the towns.

CHICAGO The New York Stock Exchange has halted floor trading of Journal Register Co.

Journal Register has been hammered by the general Wall Street distaste for newspaper stocks, and in particular by the performance of its cluster of papers in recession-hit Michigan. It is also burdened with considerable debt, which has forced it to suspend its dividend, and explore the sale of assets.

A Candidate Forum has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19 at the James A. Michener Library, 4 and Mill Streets, in Quakertown. The undoubtedly spirited debate will be moderated by the League of Women Voters and will be sponsored by the Concerned Democrats of Springfield Township. Questions will initially be asked based on pre-submitted requests, but will also be taken from the floor.

Remember, when Woldow says something is illegal or improper or whatever, that is his opinion. Which is what the top of the page says in big letters. If he says someone in QCSD ignored a law, that doesn't mean they did, he is just presenting a case for why he thinks they did. Imagine a little invisible "In my opinion" before the start of each sentence...

-Richard Woldow, 03/13/08

Springfield residents are organizing a grassroots citizens group to fight a proposed power line that would run through the Upper Bucks township, a resident said Tuesday.

A community panel called on Richland supervisors Monday to commit to nearly doubling the size of the township police department to offer round-the-clock coverage every day of the week.

New York State Gov. Eliot Spitzer is joined by his wife Silda as he makes a statement to reporters during a news conference Monday, March 10, 2008 in New York.

Brian Kline has no qualms with Republican opposition, or even Democratic opposition labeling him as liberal or progressive.As the Richland Township native vies for the State House seat in the 145th General ...

Dear Editor: The anonymous campaign against Richard Woldow has intensified, now via e-mail. Whoever is behind it is trying to intimidate TFP into dropping Woldow's weekly column. This strategy is commonly used by tyrannical regimes if killing the journalist isn't an option.

It looks that Woldow is hitting some sensitive issues that the accusers cannot refute with creditable evidence. Silencing the accuser or bankrupting TFP are the only options left to them.

A Bucks County mother charged with arson and attempted homicide will face trial in just weeks.

Workers at a closing Bucks County roofing plant have voted to approve the company's final severance offer.

Quakertown school directors on Thursday voted to go ahead with plans to renovate the Milford Commons building for administrative offices.

A Richland woman tried to burn down her townhouse as her 4-year-old daughter slept upstairs, authorities said Friday.