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Sentinel Morning Update: Business incubator in the works in Mechanicsburg
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The former Wilcox Forging Company site in Mechanicsburg could be the future location of a business incubator center.
John Gross & Co., Inc. may be two months away from submitting a land development plan to the borough planning commission, said Brian Gross, president of the wholesale grocer which now owns the 5.8-acre foundry site on East Allen Street.
He explained how the plan is to construct a 20,000-square-foot building that could be divided into sections and leased to start-up businesses trying to get established.
Gross said the last remnant of Wilcox Forging -- a 22.5 ton hammer mill -- could be removed from the site within the next few days and shipped to a manufacturing plant in Hatfield, PA.
A salvage crew will build an overhead system of pulleys to hoist the heavy piece of equipment up to five feet off the ground before workers dismantle and load its parts onto a flatbed truck, Gross said.
Wilcox Forging operated for 111 years before the company ceased operations in 2001. Ronald Anderson took over ownership of the property and was removing debris and selling off heavy equipment from the site.
Investigators suspect acetylene torches touched off the October 2003 fire that destroyed the forge at 320 E. Allen St.
Along with the rest of this story from Sentinel reporter Joseph Cress, here's what else to look for in today’s print and on-line editions:
Residents work to give education to prisoners
Sue Ricker never intended on teaching at a prison when she went off to study psychology at Shippensburg University.
But that’s where she ended up in 1977, working as a volunteer at Cumberland County Prison while completing her practicum for the Carlisle Youth Service Center.
It started with arts and crafts for men, but later blossomed into programs for both men and women. Ricker also began leading Bible study during her eight years as a volunteer before the opportunity to teach Adult Basic Education (ABE) and General Equivalency Diploma (GED) classes opened up.
As the population increased during the 1980s, the prison wrote for a grant to fund the program. Up until then, it had been supported and directed by the Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC) of Carlisle.
After securing the grant in 1987, the prison split the program into two positions and Barbara Weary came in to teach the GED portion.
Weary was working for the West Perry School District at the time, trying to help at-risk kids in an instructional support program.
“I’m still working with at-risk,” she said before sitting down Tuesday morning to begin a session with inmates on work release.
Since Ricker and Weary partnered to teach the program 21 years ago, approximately 400 students have received their GEDs while incarcerated at CCP.
4-year-old to take the stand in Mt. Holly rape case
A recent development in a Mt. Holly Springs case involving rape charges against a now-13-year-old boy means that a 4-year-old girl will be taking the witness stand against him.
The Sentinel is not publishing names to protect the identity of the children involved.
“I have mixed feelings,” said the girl’s mother Wednesday. She doesn’t want her daughter to have to see the boy again, she said, but at the same time she knows she will have to answer to her daughter someday about how she handled the situation.
“I want her to know that I did everything possible” to see justice done, she said.
The incident happened on Aug. 13, 2007, while the boy was babysitting the girl in her home. He was charged with rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
In May the boy, represented by Cumberland County Juvenile Public Defender Ron Turo, admitted his guilt in court. Judge Kevin Hess was to make a disposition of the case, but on Tuesday the boy withdrew the admission.
“It was necessary,” was all Turo said Wednesday of the withdrawal. The boy remains in a facility for dependent children, he said.
“We’ll have a trial in juvenile court,” said District Attorney David Freed. Throughout the case, he said, prosecutors have taken the position that the boy needs to be found an adjudicated delinquent.
Carlisle remembers Irish hero of the Revolutionary War
Folk songs of the Emerald Isle rose above the crickets as night settled in the Old Town Cemetery.
A dozen people holding candles gathered around in a circle to pause and remember a leader among patriots.
Names of long dead soldiers were read aloud, blending with the message of unity and tolerance in pursuit of freedom.
“We Irish love and appreciate a good cause,” said Thomas Kane, president of the local Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Every year, the General William Thompson Division of the Irish Catholic organization holds a tribute in honor of their namesake — a Revolutionary War hero and the first commissioned colonel in the U.S. Army.
“You will hear some people say Thompson was a Presbyterian or an Anglican and not a Catholic,” Kane said Wednesday. “Several local churches have claimed ties to Thompson and have support for these claims, but that is not what this is about.”
Instead, the local division chose Thompson as its namesake, not because of his religious affiliation but because he led other Irish of many faiths into battle to form a new nation where one’s religion would not be the controlling factor.
“We took his name because of what he represented,” Kane said. “Those brave men and women went to war for liberty and freedom of religion, a cause many in other nations still fight to possess today.”
Morning Update
The Sentinel Morning Update runs every weekday by 8 a.m. to take a look at what we have planned for our newspaper and Web site. Feel free to offer any suggestions, questions or feedback to jpratt@cumberlink.com
