News Clues: January 4, 2001

News Clues
Just Enough News To Keep You Wondering

Gangs of Cons Clean Up
In an attempt to brighten the shady side of the city, Dauphin County Commissioners John Payne, Lowman Henry, and Anthony Petrucci are winterizing two of Harrisburg’s blighted properties. With work details from the county prison, the commissioners have made 1167 and 1169 Market Street safer this winter by removing scrap and junk from the homes and sealing them to prevent trespassing.

Currently on the county’s repository list, the properties are available for sale from the Tax Assessment office to qualified public buyers for a minimum bid of $300.

"Using our prison work crews is an excellent opportunity to clean these abandoned properties and determine if they are salvageable," Petrucci said, alluding to the Dauphin County Dept of Community and Economic Development’s supervision of the project. The DCDCED will direct the clean up and conduct an inspection of the homes to determine the likelihood of reconditioning them into once-again habitable residences. An analysis will be available in the spring of 2001.

Guests Bring
A Ton of Food for Thanksgiving
In a twist of the Thanksgiving tradition, guests delivered food instead of consuming it. Over 2,100 pounds of food, to be more precise. In exchange for each food item delivered, the guests received one ride ticket to be used at Hersheypark Christmas Candylane.

For over 10 years, Hersheypark has sponsored the Food For Fun Drive, an annual Christmas food campaign benefiting more than 300 food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters by donating the food to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. This year’s drive yielded 200 more pounds of food than last year’s.

The Food Bank services 17 counties in Central PA and another 11 counties through affiliates and is able to provide nourishment to hundreds of hungry Pennsylvanians every day.

Porn Gets Legal Boot
From School/Library Nets
On December 21, President Clinton signed into law the Children’s Internet Protection Act. The Act comes as a result of the compromise between Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Rick Santorum to keep pornographic, obscene, and harmful materials on the Internet from being accessed via schools and libraries that receive universal service assistance (e-rate) funding. As part of the compromise, e-rate recipients will be required to follow community-directed Internet use policies which must include blocking, filtering, or monitoring systems that will prevent minors from being exposed to inappropriate content online.

Community involvement will be ensured through public hearings. Keep your eyes open for the one in your town.

Wine Shop Opens in Strawberry Square
A wine shop featuring five Pennsylvania wineries has opened its doors in Harrisburg’s Strawberry Square shopping complex. With participating wineries from as far as Lake Erie and as local as suburban Harrisburg, the shop, Pennsylvania Wine Shop, is the first co-op store of its kind in Central Pennsylvania.

The shop will feature a vast selection of wines, ranging from classic European varieties — such as Chardonnay and Merlot — to such winter favorites as spiced apple.

The participating wineries at the Pennsylvania Wine Shop are Blue Mountain Vineyards, Brookmere Farm Vineyards, Laurel Mountain Vineyard, Presque Isle Wine Cellars, and Westhanover Winery.

Strawberry Square is located on Third Street, Harrisburg.