Imagine going to work at a place that was had been robbed at gun point, had multiple bomb threats and just experienced a fire.
An electrical fire broke out Thursday evening around 4:30, Friendly’s on Columbia Avenue had an electrical fire which lost customers and caused them to close down for the night.
I pulled up to work early expecting to sit in my car and listen to music for a few minutes, like I normally do.
A co-worker of mine came down to my car to tell me that I’m probably not going to be working tonight, which would be the third night in a row because I’ve been sick.
She explained to me that there was an electrical fire and the first responders were on their way.
Shortly after I heard the news, two fire trucks came blazing into the parking lot followed by police officers.
I didn’t see smoke or flames so I was wondering what was such a big deal.
The firemen ran into the building with flashlights and giant fans while the police officer talked to our manager.
I didn’t really see the need for someone to be directing traffic, but there was. I then noticed that vehicles coming up and down Columbia Avenue decreased their speed and the traffic director was just keeping them moving. We didn’t need an accident and more responders on the scene. There was already too much going on.
They weren’t there too long before people were coming out saying everything should be fine. We just couldn’t go in or reopen until the electrical people came to inspect it.
My manager came to the understanding that we were probably not going to be able to open again that night, so she sent most of us home.
I don’t get why everything happens to this Friendly’s.
Penn Manor students going to jobs after school or their parents trying to get to work in Lancaster may have to take a detour after a bomb threat was issued for the city Monday morning.
At 10:15 a.m. , city police and K-9s trained in explosives detection were sweeping the Prince Street Parking Garage, according to a news release from Lancaster City Police Lt. Todd Umstead.
Lancaster police said a anonymous call was made at 3 a.m. reporting there was bomb in the Prince Street parking garage.
“I did hear about it when I woke up this morning ,which I didn’t think anything of it, but any threat means it could be potentially true,” said senior Noah Kuhn who lives in Lancaster City.
Police believe the bomb threat “stemmed from an ongoing investigation” and has no ties to the announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death, the release stated.
Lancaster City police evacuated several blocks of downtown Lancaster in the early morning hours, due to what they termed a credible threat in the Prince Street Parking Garage.
Roads were blocked in the city Monday morning. Photo courtesty of Lancaster online newspaper
Before noon, a second search was being conducted. The first search found no traces of any explosives, according Umstead.
“We believe that things will be back to normal by noon,” said Lancaster police Chief Keith Sadler.
Residents in the first block of West King Street, the first and 100 block of North Prince Street, the first and 100 blocks of North Queen Street and the first block of West Orange Street were evacuated to the Franklin & Marshall College Alumni Sports & Fitness Center on Harrisburg Avenue.
Traffic was detoured from streets surrounding the garage. Also, police officers checked all businesses and homes to ensure that no one was inside.
Traffic was moving around the city through the morning. North Duke Street was open, as were other streets removed from the threatened area.
However, the shutdown affected a large group of workers due to the closed streets.
The outcome could just be a false alarm but the police aren’t taking any chances.
With the nuclear disaster in Japan continuing to be problematic, Americans are starting to wonder how it could potentially effect us here and what to look for when it does.
Unfortunately, radiation is impossible to detect from just human senses and most people do not own a radiation detector. So, instead, the U.S. government is taking steps to shield its inhabitants from the possibility of radiation illnesses.
So far, the amount of radiation found by these tests in American soil from the Fukushima plant disaster has been minimal.
Small traces of radiation were found in milk on the west coast of California shortly after the Fukushima disaster, but according to John Moulder, a professor of radiation oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, these traces of radiation are not a threat.
“This amount of radiation is tiny, tiny, tiny compared to what you get from natural sources every day,” Moulder commented about the situation.
Woman being tested for radiation. Photo courtesy fukushimatragedy.com
Fish, however, have been more of a worry as seawater off the coast of Japan has been radiated to 7.5 million times the legal limit after 11,000 tons of radioactive water that was used to cool the plant was dumped into the Pacific Ocean.
The current nuclear situation has people around the world in fear of what is to come, but here at Penn Manor, students are hardly disturbed.
“I haven’t even thought about it,” senior Ande Olson said. “I mean I’ve thought about the crisis, but I never even considered it affecting me.”
These radioactive fish have officials uneasy as they wonder how it will effect the world’s seafood industry since the Japanese seafood industry has been struggling since the tsunami hit its shores on March 11.
All of these factors contributed to the officials’ decision to raise Japan’s nuclear crisis to level seven, the maximum level and equivolent to that of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.
Only time will tell how the disaster will play out, and officials believe it will be a long time indeed as predictions for the clean-up have gone in excess of a few decades.
There’s a prince, a ballroom and a bundle of luck. Many teens in Lancaster County may have their fantasy wishes granted with what Penn Manor promoters are calling “the dance party of the year.”
The year of 2011 has had a lot of dance parties, this one, its promoters promise, will be the best one yet.
“I will feel relieved after the party. There is a lot of pressure riding on everything going well. There’s a lot of high expectations and we don’t want to let people down,” said Summy.
Penn Manor students Cheyenne Weber, Marc Summy and Connor Hughes will be hosting the “dance party of the year,” at the Lancaster Convention Center, Saturday April 30, from 8:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m, doors opening at 7:30 p.m. The show will star a guest who has lyricized his way into Philly’s rap game, know as the “Prince of Philly,” Tayyib Ali.
Over 1,500 people have confirmed their attendance on the party’s Facebook site. Over 100 online tickets have been sold and more than 300 have been sold in person.
When Weber posted his Facebook status that he’d be selling tickets at the mall, he sold 50 tickets in two hours.
“We have a place that holds 2,000 people and we need 800 people to show up in order to break even. Any more people that show up is just a bonus,” said Weber.
That shouldn’t be a problem. The party is becoming the most talked event in schools all around Lancaster county.
“The party’s growing popularity has definitely skyrocketed in the past week, everyday I hear more and more excitement about it. Everyday I hear about a different school finding out about it and it’s spreading like wildfire,” said Summy.
“I’ll be there dude, I’m telling everybody,” said a local to Hughes while posting fliers in Lancaster city.
According to Weber, the event was planned over a month ago and the planning trio “got lucky.”
“We were lucky when it came to booking Ali. Hughes’ friend Jeff Yofray is best friends with Ali, so it wasn’t too hard to book him. We were also lucky in booking the Convention Center because they are always having events,” said Weber.
Tayyib Ali's, "Keystone state of Mind," has become one of his more popular songs
He recalled, “Everything fell into place.”
The dance party-throwing trio is not only providing this event for people to have a good time, but they are doing it to give back to the community.
Matt Mora, a local rapper from Manheim Township will be opening for Ali.
“That’s our way of giving back,” said Weber, noting they are giving a local the chance to show off his budding talents.
This may turn out to be a great experience for everyone going, and it has already been a great and learning experience for the boys.
“It’s been a great business learning experience. I’ve talked to many important people,” said Weber.
“I’ve learned a great deal of responsibility comes along with doing something like this. You need to make sure you don’t get ripped off or taken advantage of just because you’re a kid,” said Summy.
“This party means a lot to me. It proves to kids that we can follow through with our ideas. A lot of kids thought it was a fake event, but no. We’re making it happen,” said Summy.
But the possible worries over a party like this has not escaped the planners.
What if a fight breaks out? Kids show up under the influence and ruin their moment of fame? Or worse, what if Ali doesn’t show up and the people don’t get what they paid for? All concerns that the planners have taken measures to prevent.
“I will feel relieved after the party. There is a lot of pressure riding on everything going well. There’s a lot of high expectations and we don’t want to let people down,” said Summy.
Hughes said the group’s security, liability insurance and the venue has helped ease their worries.
“I’m also frightened that with all these schools coming together that everyone gets along. We don’t want anything bad to happened that would cause us to end the party early. That is my biggest fear,” Summy recalled.
All the boys can do is wait.
If you want to know what happens, come out and have a great time at the LCC Dance Party.
It has been suspected that over the past few years, with the prices of yearbooks increasing, that sales have actually decreased.
But a few facts may prove that theory wrong. Yes, the price has increased to $61 at base, and $85 on distribution day, but the demand seems to be staying at a constant rate.
“Yearbooks are set (this year) at a base price of $61. But the price increases as time goes on,” said three-year yearbook coordinator Doug Anderson, “On the day of distribution, the price of the yearbook increases to $85 which is because of the compensation for what we’ve pre-ordered and sold. If three sell, we only end up paying for the production of one.”
Yearbook prices are showing signs of price increases, but not by very much. Photo by Faith Walauskas
Last year 1150 yearbooks were pre-ordered and that supply had “basically sold out.
“In 2010, they sold out entirely” said Anderson, “Which is better than my first year being in charge of yearbook; we had ordered too many, basing the amount on the year before, and ended up paying for a couple hundred during the pre-order that never ended up selling.”
Yearbook orders are placed in the beginning of February, and after that you can either order one on the Jostens website, which stay up until distribution day, or you could buy one straight from Anderson for the increased price.
“Last year, 963 copies were sold though Jostens,” said Anderson “and then about 50 were sold on distribution day. They’re either sold through them or us.”
As of right now, 903 of the 1050 yearbooks ordered this year have been sold, which will only make 122 available on distribution day for anyone who hasn’t bought one but would like to.
When it comes to the raising of prices, it should be understood that in 2008 and 2009, the base price of a yearbook was $59, and 2010’s base was $61, only a two dollar difference.
“Production prices went up over the past few years,” said Anderson “one of the reasons why we’ve raised the price some.”
It’s got a hidden agenda and you could fall prey. An article released by the American Academy of Pediatrics recently named a condition it called “Facebook Depression.” The group said that social networking sites, such as Facebook, can cause kids to become more susceptible to depression. Researchers still disagree if this is a real condition, or if social networking sites just contribute to an already depressed person.
“I don’t use Facebook and I think it saves me a lot of stress,” said Hannah Willet.
It’s not a surprise that Facebook can make people feel down in the dumps, especially with status updates that can hurt kids’ feelings and destroy self confidence. Many teens post exactly how they feel, even if it can single people out. In addition, social networking sites allow for students to be intimidating without even trying, due to the lack of in-person confrontation.
“Everyone instantly runs to Facebook to put angry statuses about their life and then everyone sees it and comments are made that can make people feel bad,” said Devin Yecker.
Photos are popular on social networking sites, but if you find out you weren’t invited to last Friday’s party, this feature can leave you feeling a little left out.
Yecker said she can remember hanging out with her friends and seeing on Facebook that they had an event invitation that she didn’t. It didn’t leave her feeling too good.
The site also allows kids to become isolated. Some teens spend hours in front on the computer checking their account and viewing others’ profiles. Instead of hanging out with friends, they turn to messaging them on Facebook. Interaction among peers becomes a thing of the past, and kids no longer take part in much needed face-to-face communication.
AP Psychology teacher Maria Vita said she can see where researchers are coming from when they say social networking sites can cause depression. The self serving bias is a term used to describe how people blame others when something goes wrong, and credit themselves when something goes right. People who are depressed, according to Vita, don’t have a self-serving bias. If someone posted a mean status about them, they’d assume they did something to deserve it.
Some researchers say pediatricians should ask about the amount of time their patients spend on the internet and how it makes them feel, during regular check-ups.
If you’re worried Facebook is affecting you, doctors may suggest spending less time on the site.
Drivers be wary next time you cross a Pennsylvania bridge.
For the fifth year in a row, Pennsylvania tops the charts in percent of poor conditioned bridges throughout the nation. 26.5 percent of PA bridges were reported as structurally deficient.
This is compared to a national average of just 11 percent, less than half of PA’s percentage.
There are about 54 structurally deficient bridges in a 10-mile radius of Penn Manor High School.
These include SR3032 which crosses the Conestoga River just down the road from the school. South Creek Road bridge which crosses the Little Conestoga, as well as Eckman Road Bridge.
A deficient bridge is not necessarily unsafe, but needs to be monitored or repaired and does require significant maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement.
“There is a large inventory to keep up with,” said Greg Penny, the Community Relations Coordinator for PennDot.
The rating system to determine if a bridge is up to standards has three components, the deck, superstructure and substructure.
The substructure connects the bridge to the ground. The superstructure rest on the substructure and supports the deck. The deck is the part of the bridge that is driven on.
Each component is giving a rating out of 10. If any component of the bridge is scored a four or lower, the bridge is rated structurally deficient.
Bridges rated deficient are inspected every year, instead of every two years when most bridges are inspected. Bridges scored very high may be inspected up to every four years.
“The bridges have been active for a long time,” said Penny. “Rendell started the Accelerated Bridge Program so we get more money to address more bridges.
How much the repairs cost depend on the bridge and what exactly the bridge rating is. Some components take longer to fix resulting in a higher cost.
According to philly.com, due to the $4 billion budget deficit, PA will repair 45 percent fewer bridges this year than in 2010.
PennDot will repair 320 bridges compared to the 577 in 2010. The budget will be about $780 million this year, much less than the $923 million last year.
Corbett plans to continue borrowing $200 million a year for the Accelerated Bridge Program.
To find out what bridges aren’t quite up to code in your area, visit t4america.org.
With the on-going crisis in Libya dragging on indefinitely, the conflict is affecting more then just people in Libya. It is also affecting American citizens as well as high school students who have very little information on this topic but know just enough to have an opinion of what is going on.
According to Penn Manor student Darrin Fry, “Obama wants oil for the United States, so that’s the only reason he wants to maintain peace in Libya.”
Libya is under control of Leader Muammar Gaddafi who has reigned supreme for 42 years. But Gaddafi turned on his own people, attacking them for wanting a new government with expanded civil rights
“Gadhafi is very reckless and needs to be thrown out of power,” said senior Noah Kuhn.
Involving the United States in Libya is going to have a high cost, according to some students.
“Were spending money that we don’t have,” said junior Dave Schneider.
Obama declared he would have a U.S. naval warship sail to the Mediterranean sea to try and help maintain peace in a country ran by a leader who is refusing to give up his power over Libya.
“Let it play out. We’re in everyone else’s business anyway,” said Darrin Fry, a 16-year-old junior from Penn Manor High School.
But there have been many different countries that are getting involved in this fight. The United States as well as France has sent several fighter planes to Libya to maintain peace but there has also been a report of a Danish f-15 plane roaming the skies as well.
Kuhn also said that he was surprise President Obama sent troops to Libya since he is “a pacifist liberal.”
Kuhn also said, “I thought his goal was to end the war (meaning the ongoing war in Iraq) not start another one.”
The United States has had several involvements with U.S. troops in Libya. In 1981 there were two Libyan jets shot down by U.S. troops. Also in 1986 and 1989 there were U.S. fighter jets shot down another set of planes from Libya.
The latest Penn Manor School Board meeting was held April 18 and, although not many citizens showed up to it, some had a lot to say.
One mother and daughter took their complaints about the daughter’s lacrosse coach to the school board who listened to the litany with interest but took no action.
Two student representatives from Penn Manor High School spoke about what is going on in the schools. They recapped on the spots seasons and what is going to happen during the upcoming weeks.
The board watched a power point presentation on the plan for students who have an individualized education plan, or IEP. The information told school board members that the state requires schools to increase the PSSA test scores of IEP students by 10 percent each year. The board learned that 95 percent of students with IEPs are educated in the district facilities while five percent have serious medical problems that need more attention.
Employee wages were discussed at the meeting. No decisions were made concerning the future of salaries considering the budget deficits faced by the district. It was noted that some positions in the school district are not being replaced. Seventy-four percent of the budget is for the professional staff, which are the teachers.
The last item discussed was the future of Hambright elementary school building. The two options are rebuilding it or remodeling it. The elementary students will be displaced only if the existing building is renovated. If a new school is constructed, the students will stay in the existing building until the new building is ready.
The next school board meeting will be May 2 at 7 p.m. at Manor Middle School.
Drinking and driving is common within various age groups, but Penn Manor High School is giving students the opportunity to take a ride in the Safety Bug.
“The Safety Bug, part of an innovative program developed by Pennsylvania Driving Under The Influence Association,” according to the website padui.org.
The Safety Bug
The Safety Bug is programed to demonstrate the feeling of losing control and operating a motor vehicle while being under the influence, hypothetically speaking.
The major difference with the Safety Bug is that it is the car that is “drunk” not the driver.
Any student at Penn Manor that has a valid license is able to sign up and drive the safety bug for the experience of what it would feel like to drive impaired.
“As you can imagine, lessons learned from a teen’s experience with The Safety Bug are likely to have a positive impact upon the participant’s future decisions- and help prevent risky behaviors, hopefully saving lives,” the website states.
The Safety Bug is a great teaching tool. Students don’t understand the risks of driving under the influence, but having the chance to drive the Safety Bug could change their opinion forever.
