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Police plan needs more public input

Residents of Old Lycoming Township, in the very near future — August or September — the township supervisors will have to make an extremely important decision about the existence of the Old Lycoming Township Police Department. Their decision will concern regionalizing Old Lycoming Township Police Department (OLTPD) with the Tiadaghton Valley Regional Police Department (TVRPD is Jersey Shore’s police force and Porter Township’s police force). Once the two departments regionalize OLTPD will no longer exist. This process has been going on over the past two years, with almost no ...

Reflecting on getting COVID-19 where I least expected it

After two years of dodging COVID, it finally got me where I least expected it: at an outdoor garden party on a sunny afternoon. A friend of mine hosted a small group in her backyard to say goodbye before moving away. We did all the usual things one does at a goodbye party: we chatted, snapped group photos, and ate snacks she had cleared out of her pantry. Just as my family and I were getting ready to leave, a final guest showed up whom I hadn’t seen in some time. I hugged her, excited to connect before we headed home. After five minutes of catching up, my family and I left the party ...

Drilling not the way to energy independence

In a recent editorial published on July 2 (“Until Other Solutions are Feasible -- Support Drilling”), the Sun-Gazette uses its platform to support Pennsylvania’s continued use of oil and gas, arguing that – in addition to providing jobs -- the ongoing exploitation of our fossil fuel resources is the only practical way to avoid energy dependence on other nations. The editorial states that domestic drilling “creates jobs that pay well enough to support families and to support communities.” Recent studies that measured prosperity in counties in the Appalachian region affected ...

Swimmer drowns in river near Muncy

MUNCY — A Montour County man drowned Saturday night while swimming in the Susquehanna River along River Road in Muncy Creek Township, according to Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. and the state police. The man’s identity had not yet been released as of Sunday night, but police said he was in his late 30s and believed to be from the Danville area. However, officials said he had three different addresses. “He was out in the middle of the river. A person on the shore saw him start to struggle in the water and went out in an attempt to reach him, but he was not able ...

High school reunions — time, distance can’t cut wire of coming of age together

High school class reunions are like a box of chocolates. You don’t know what you’ve got until you open them. If the reunion is the 50th – excuse me, 50th plus one, courtesy of the pandemic – there is an amazing amount of chocolate to open. The quizzical part every five years changes. You start out wondering who is married, who is not, who got the job they wanted and who did not in the 20s to who has kids at home and how we all are progressing along a professional ladder in the 30s and 40s to grandkids and health situations and where everyone has planted roots in the 50s to ...

A week that changed one woman’s mind about the COVID-19 vaccine

“I would rather get COVID than get the Vaccine.” One week later I changed my mind. My mother, my daughter, and I were driving back from Wyoming last August after two weeks of vacation fun. The highlight of the trip was a huge country and western concert featuring Blake Shelton. We shared the event with tens of thousands of his loyal fans, and even though COVID was still on the rampage, we weren’t worried – the concert was outdoors. It was during that trip that I was asked if I was vaccinated against COVID and answered with the statement I soon regretted. It’s just that I ...