Bushkill Man Charged with Possessing Child Porn

The Express-Times reports (read the article here) that a Bushkill man was charged with possessing child pornography.

A complaint in late January that the individual had taken improper pictures of a nine year old led to a search warrant, which resulted in finding video of two under-age girls, half naked splashing in a pond. Police seized computers, video equipment, and DVD's.

The 44 year old, Harold Moser, had previously been charged with receiving a stolen handgun, endangering the welfare of children, and corruption of children.

Naked Man Tasered at 7-Eleven

Yes it did happen, as one reader asked in the comments of a post earlier this week, a naken man in a frenzy outside 7-Eleven, yelled "let's go coppers" jumped on the hood of their car, kicked the windshield and then went after an officer, at which point he was tasered according to a report in the Express-Times (read it here).

Upper Nazareth resident, 32 year-old John Dilli was sent to the hospital and will face multiple charges. Amazingly, idecent exposure was not one of them.

Upper Nazareth to Ban Open Burning

Upper Nazareth Township is preparing an ordinance to ban burning material in drums or open space according to an article in the Express-Times (read it here).

Interim Chief Plan Discussed

The Morning Call reports (read it here) that Nazareth Council has begun discussions on appointing an interim chief following Chief Sinclair's resignation.

The Express-Times reports (read it here) that Sinclair has taken a position in West Conshohocken.

Martin on Main

The thrill of music, delicious food, artisans, and an excited crowd is coming to Nazareth. The Martin on Main Festival returns August 1st, 2009 from 12 to 8pm.

Come see what drew thousands of fans, friends and musicians last year as we meet again to celebrate music and Martin Guitar.

Live acoustic music will begin at 12pm, and headline performer and renowned blues artist Kenny Sultan will hit the main stage in Center Square at 2:30pm. Other shows will line Main Street throughout the day and SunSets North, a local band, will perform from 6 to 8pm.

Martin guitar raffle at 7:30

Teens Gone Wild

The Express-Times has two reports on Nazareth teenagers, one who destroyed his mother's home, and another who led police on a chase.

A 17 year old destroyed his mother's home on Monday (read the article here) by punching holes in walls, pulling parts of the ceiling down, and destroying other items.

A 19 year old faces 16 charges after police clocked him doing 44 mph in a 25 mph zone. When the police put their lights on he tried to out drive them, nearly hitting Pizza Joe's restaurant and eventually going through a corn field (read the article here).

Colbert Report - Media Gone Wrong

The Express-Times reports on the Colbert Report piece on the Tatamy boy who had his library card from Nazareth taken away because he should be using the Easton Library (read the article here).

The Report identifies the boy as being accused of being a 'thief' for stealing books from one library because he should have gone to another.

Unfortunately, Nazareth gets the black eye, when in fact it was Easton Library that called the family and our state regulations coupled with Tatamy's refusal to financially support the library that caused the problem (read the article on the situation here).

This is probably a good reason why one should not get their news from a comedy channel, and it should make one think and question each piece like this in the media we see instead of taking it as gospel truth.

I know, the Report is intended to be funny, and not news, but they should at least be factually accurate.

Annual Resignation of the Police Chief

Last year it was reported that Nazareth Police Chief had accepted a position with Drexel University only to have it indicated as a prematurely released press release. Now, the Express-Times reports that Chief Sinclair has resigned (read the article here).

The reason cited for the departure is a desire to work closer to home. Sinclair lives in Philadelphia. Nazareth waived its requirement that the Chief live within the Nazraeth School District for one year. Then the Chief took another job, said it was a mistake, had his contract renewed, and had the waiver extended another year.

We did not move the borough, following the hiring, nor did we misconstrue our proximity to Philadelphia. Citing this as a reason only supports the fact that we should have required him to move here in the first place, then it wouldn't be an issue now.

Many have questioned if Sinclair was reimbursed for travel (ie commuting), used a borough vehicle to do so (was gas paid for, extra milage added to a borough vehicle, etc), and there is the real issue of the Chief being immediately available in the instance when there was an emergency.

Moving forward, I hope the Borough strictly enforces its residency requirement and does not allow for waivers. There may have been gains in the department, but it also appears the residents absorbed costs we really didn't need to (he is using vacation and sick day until his contract expires so he is no longer working, but is getting paid according to the article).

New Schoeneck Moravian Web Site

The Schoeneck Moravian Church has a new web site that includes an extensive calendar of events.

The site is located at: http://www.schoeneckmoravian.org/

Keystone Exams

The Morning Call has a feature article on the proposed Keystone Exams, which would effectively serve as final exams for students and must be passed to graduate (unless your district opts out).

Interesting concept in theory, but when you merge the beaucracies of the state goverment with the school system, I'd imagine it will result in a lot of people making money at taxpayer expense and a lot of work on the teachers to modify their existing curriculum to fit the new tests (http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-5exams.6967863jul27,0,3737776.story).

What do you think? Should PA have a standard final exam that all students must pass in order to graduate?

Nazareth Hardware Goes South (Main St)

The Express-Times reports on what I noticed driving down Main Street the other day - Nazareth Hardware has moved from North to South Main Street (read the article here).

Tatamy Car Show - Sunday

Want to thank the reader that forwarded to me info that the car show in Tatamy is on Sunday:

This is their 15^th year and they attract around 150 cars

Weekly Blogosphere Round-up

Andy was the champ at keeping me up to date on Legion playoffs this season and he monitored all the inaction in Harrsiburg as our Senate and House attempted to finalize a budget.

Clonehenge has a shot of puppy henge (view it here), too cute.

From House to Home worked on cleaning up and renovating her pantry.

Steaming Cup claimed to be reporting vicariously through his 'friend' Herb who was at the shore, but posts from the beach from Monday through Thursday make me think it was Joe who was enjoying the sand, sun and skeeball.

Lehigh Valley Rambling's Bernie O'Hare on County Council: "Now how the hell am I supposed to write a witty and condescending blog about their goofy antics when everyone is behaving? Throw me a frickin' bone, people!" Bernie, if they aren't co-operating, visit the school board meeting - ought to be good stuff there.

Weird Nazareth interviews published author and Nazareth native Scott Morro.

Keeping cool in the summer heat and enjoying some R&R this week were Breakfast in the Valley, Tatamy Happenings and Lower Nazareth Forum.

Hobby Lobby to Open in Lower Nazareth

The Express-Times reports that Hobby Lobby will open in the former Redners location in Lower Nazareth (read the article here).

Memorial Hall to Fall?

The Express-Times reports on a meeting in Stockertown that debated the future of Memorial Hall, which the Borough bought in 2006, but now needs repairs that far exceed the cost to demolish it (read the article here).

Casino Commission Selected

Northampton County Council voted and approved the commission members who will dole out casino funds and the group included representitives from outside Bethelehem (read the article in the Morning Call here).

Legion Season Comes to an End

Andy Weaver has done a great job of keeping me, and everyone else up to date throughtout the legion baseball season, as the team had one of its best seasons ever. Here is his note from yesterday:

"Nazareth Legion Baseball Season came to a end Today with a 15-9 Loss to Norgywn finishing their season 27-4. I Would like to thank the whole team for giving me one of the best Summers of games I Can remember! It was exciting to go to all 32 games and see them play exciting ball. Thanks to all of them for the autographed Baseball! It been a season that I Don't think anybody ever thought would happen! Thanks Again!!!

And the Morning Call has a report on the game as well (read it here).

Congratulations to all the players for a great season!

More on the School Board Meeting

The Morning Call had an article on the School Board meeting (read it here) and it noted that the district will be considering an online course requirement for all students to better prepare them for college.

It also noted that PSSA results were out.

MS Swimming Pool Rumor

There has been a lot of talk circulating about the new MS swimming pool not being regulation. A reader today posted a comment and asked, so I reached out to Bob Furst, of Furst Architecture and here is his response (thanks for the quick reply Bob!):

In response to your e-mail request I can tell you categorically that any rumor(s) about the pool are false. We are currently in the final stage of construction (installing the shell tile) and will shortly have the pool dimensions verified and certified as required. There is NO indication at this point that there is any discrepancy.

I look forward to the future when everyone can experience the building first hand.

Robert A. Furst AIA, CDT, LEED AP

Principal, Architecture FURST Pc

Target to Open Sunday

Target will open 23 stores nation-wide on Sunday including the store located in Lower Nazareth Township according to a press announcement posted on Fox Business (read it here).

According to the release the LN store will have an expanded food market:

The 17 expanded food stores offer all of the merchandise found in our general merchandise stores with the added convenience of fresh food. This new format has an open-market layout and features new food additions including basic fresh produce, fresh meat and bakery goods. Each expanded food format store employs 100-250 team members and is approximately 135,000 square feet.