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“Perkasie First” group concerned with rise in electric rates
May 19, 2010
Photo by Andy Stettler
By Emily Morris
Managing Editor
Three years ago, a group of Perkasie Borough residents upset about the cost of the new Menlo Aquatic Center and other issues in town gathered together under the name “Perkasie Pride.”
They put up a slate of four candidates, all of whom were elected and currently sit on council. Two years later, they repeated the process with a slate of five more candidates, all of whom were elected to council in the fall of 2009. At least four of the candidates, current Councilors Marty Gahman, Rich Hendricks, Jim Purcell and Maria Slowik, had been on council in the past for varying lengths of time and at various points in time.
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Piling up: A tale of trash in Perkasie and Sellersville
May 19, 2010
By Erin DuBois
Staff Writer
Since the dawn of time, it’s been an embarrassing yet unavoidable problem. Some claim the problem goes back as far as 400 B.C., when Athens established the world’s first municipal dump.
British Victorians enjoyed the convenience of dumping trash out the window, regardless of the heads of unsuspecting passersby, while early New Yorkers fretted not that visitors hailed the city as ‘“a nasal disaster, where some streets smell like bad eggs dissolved in ammonia,’” according to BFI’s trash timeline.
At the turn of the 21st century, refuse disposal is a more civilized but no less contentious prospect. Like a modern day tale of two cities, Sellersville and Perkasie residents wage very different battles where trash is concerned.
Q&A on the Perkasie Borough Electric Program
May 19, 2010
Photo by Andy Stettler
This story and the accompanying information was compiled as part of the News-Herald’s Ben Franklin Project, which is designed to open up the news process and get the community involved in generating story ideas, asking questions and supplying information about life in the area to create a more interactive newspaper in print and online that reflects the community it serves. Most of the questions, besides preliminary background, answered in this story were generated by residents and shared with the News-Herald via our Facebook and Twitter accounts or via e-mail over the past several weeks. The answers are the result of a three-hour interview between News-Herald Editor Emily Morris, Perkasie Borough Manager Dan Olpere and Assistant Borough Manager Andrea Coaxum held Thursday, May 13.
Shopping local offers support to local economies
May 18, 2010
By Jennifer Mohan
Staff Writer
Lately, it seems as if everyone is looking for new ways to become more “green.” What better way to start than by examining the green in your wallet and how you choose to spend it.
At first glance, shopping locally can sometimes appear to be more costly. Many items purchased at smaller, locally-owned businesses can often carry a larger price tag. However, in many ways spending your money at local businesses can be one of the most economically savvy things you can do. Not to mention the added benefits to the environment.
What exactly is “Shopping Local”?
Perkasie council wants to stop spinning its wheels on wind turbine
May 18, 2010
Photo by Ken Zepp
By Erin DuBois
Staff Writer
Perkasie’s wind turbine, placed proudly in Lenape Park in 2006, has become more of an eyesore than a landmark in recent years, according to Perkasie Borough Councilman Matt Aigeldinger.
“It doesn’t move even on the windiest of days,” Councilman Matthew Aigeldinger said at the May 17 council meeting. “It’s a bit of a joke.”
Aigeldinger suggested the borough look into ways to donate the wind turbine to a school in the borough or find some way to make it educational, and several on council agreed.
Perkasie was awarded the 35-foot, 1.8 kW turbine through the Small-Scale Community Wind Project, which Gov. Rendell revived after a lengthy dormant period.
Habitat dedicates three new homes to local families
May 18, 2010
Photo by Ken Zepp
By Erin DuBois
Staff Writer
Three families received the keys to their new homes at a Habitat for Humanity dedication ceremony on May 15. The Stitchery, at 815 West Chestnut St, Perkasie, was formerly home to the Hubbert baseball factory andfh the Pennridge Senior Center.
The Women Build Program, GMAC, and First Savings Bank of Perkasie, major donors to the project, presented the families with their keys.
A special guest at the ceremony was the oldest living relative of the Hubbert factory’s founder.
“She was thrilled with what we’re doing with the building,” Linda Andrews, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County, said.
Phone scam warning issued in Bedminster Township
May 16, 2010
By Bob Keeler
Staff Writer
There have been recent reports of residents getting calls from a person claiming to be a family member and asking that the person send money to the caller in Canada, police Chief Mark Ofner said at the May 12 Bedminster Township Board of Supervisors meeting.
Others have been told they won a lottery and will receive the money after first sending in a payment.
“People need to be mindful not to respond to those scams,” Ofner said.
With the coming of spring, there are also scams by people claiming to be driveway pavers or to do other unsolicited work around the home.
Board Chairman Eric Schaffhausen said residents should also be careful of identity theft, which he knows about from personal experience.
Sellersville weighing options for water systems
May 16, 2010
By Bob Keeler
Staff Writer
Note: This article was one of several suggested by community members at the News-Herald’s Benjamin Franklin Project town hall meeting at Sellersville Theater 1894. It is still a work in progress. Feel free to comment or add questions. If you’re a Sellersville water system customer, do you drink the water? If not, what do you use as an alternative?
A little more than half a year after the federal Environmental Protection Agency ordered Sellersville Borough officials to find a way to remove arsenic from a second well in the borough’s water system, that work hasn’t been completed. What has been done, though, are studies to help decide what to do next with not just that well, but the entire water system.
Poll: Perkasie Residents, are you satisfied with your current trash system?
May 14, 2010
For years, the Perkasie Borough has been plagued with issues concerning trash and recycling system.
The current system is “pay as you throw,” with residents buying special borough-labeled trash bags that cover the cost of most of the collection, but the borough just instituted a $35 annual fee to help cover the administrative costs for running the program, which also helps cover a $119,000 deficit in the system.
Recycling is free, including curbside recycling once a week, however, pick-up only collects newspaper and cardboard once monthly. Residents can also use a recycling dropoff center for most recyclables, including newspaper and cardboard, located behind the borough’s public works building.
Hilltown increases Mill Road bridge funding
May 12, 2010
By Jennifer Mohan
Staff Writer
The Hilltown Township Board of Supervisors voted to increase funding for its Mill Road bridge design project at its Monday, May 10 meeting.
The board voted unanimously to increase the township’s contribution to the design of the Mill Road bridge project from the original $300,000 to $578,000.
“Just to make this clear,” Supervisor Jack McIlhinney said, “this is only for the design, not for the construction, of one 28 foot bridge.”
“This is going to be one hell of a bridge,” Supervisor Barbara Salvadore said.
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