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Lycoming County’s public safety director presents plan to ease staffing shortage

When someone calls the county’s 911 center, it’s usually at a time of crisis in their lives. Currently that department is operating significantly below the 18 personnel that they are authorized to have with 11 positions vacant, a situation that may not be resolved for some time due to the training, background investigations and medical screenings involved once the appropriate candidates are found. “It’s not a comfortable number to say out loud, but I think the board deserves honesty. The public we serve deserves a department that owns where it is and what it plans to ...

Former 911 dispatchers share thoughts on possibility of future ‘public safety disaster’ in Lycoming County

Warning that the county is facing a possible “public safety disaster,” particularly as seasonal threats of thunderstorms approach, James Pfleegor, a retired 911 dispatcher, urged the Lycoming County commissioners and Public Safety Director Forest Rothchild to find a short-term solution. Referring to the plan to resolve the staffing shortage at the 911 Call Center, which had been presented to the board by Rothchild, Pfleegor said that it might meet the needs in the long run, but not the immediate concerns. “It looks like he does have a good long term program, but your problem ...

Attorney’s concerns include water, proximity of proposed egg farm in Muncy Creek Township

“It is not just a case where ‘it’s allowed to be here, so let’s let it happen’ . . . sometimes just because something can be done does not mean it ought to be done.” That is what attorney Layne Oden, who lives half a mile from the proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) and solar farm by Sunny Side Up Farms and Bollinger Solar LLC, said in closing remarks during a conditional use hearing for the proposed CAFO, which would consist of five-barns housing 350,000 chickens and Bollinger’s 52,000-plus solar energy facility on land zoned for agricultural ...

Second man to stand trial in 2023 Williamsport murder

Just shy of four months after Benjamin Villanueva III was found guilty for the 2023 shooting death of 39-year-old Jermaine Derick Mullen, a second man has been ordered to stand trial for the killing. Davon Tamel Grissom, 38, will face charges of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit ...

Resident adds complaint to lawsuit against Muncy Township officials

A Muncy Township resident has amended her civil complaint in Lycoming County Court adding that the township has not elected a board chair or vice chair. Cori Cotner, in her lawsuit alleging Sunshine Act violation, names the township Planning Commission, township Supervisor Terri Lauchle, ...