Sentinel Morning Update: Local hotels booked for presidential inauguration
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The third week of January is normally a slow time for local hotels and motels.
The holidays are over, tourism dries up and people hunker down for the winter.
“Typically, occupancy is around 20 percent,” said Lee Lemelman, general manager of the Hampton Inn in Carlisle.
But there’s nothing typical about the days leading up to Jan. 20, 2009 — the inauguration of the nation’s first African-American president.
“Hampton Inn has a ton of properties from here all the way south to Virginia,” Lemelman said. “All of them are being sold out real quick. Everybody is trying to find hotels and there is nothing real close.
“We are booked solid for that weekend,” he added. Lemelman estimates 95 percent of the inn’s 97 rooms will be occupied by guests coming from all across the country to attend the inauguration.
“I love it,” he said. “We would rather be busy.”
Heather Kattouf is general manager of the Comfort Suites in downtown Carlisle. Earlier this month, she said about 50 percent of the hotel is booked for the third week of January, although the typical busy season for Comfort Suites is April through October.
“It’s all related to the inauguration,” Kattouf said. “This is historic. Everybody is thrilled by it.”
Hotels closer to Washington D.C. are booked solid in anticipation of the event, she explained, so demand for available rooms has moved north.
“As rooms open up in the south, they are taken quickly and reservations further north are cancelled,” Kattouf said.
Dennis Patel is a manager at the Hotel Carlisle Embers Convention Center on the Carlisle Pike.
As of Monday, he said, 50 percent of its 265 rooms have been booked for that week. Of the reservations, about 25 percent are directly linked to the inauguration, according to Patel. Many of the rest are regular clients.
“There is not a whole of excitement yet, but who knows how many more people will walk in from the highway?” Patel said.
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:
Local supervisors talk health benefits
Like many local officials, South Middleton Township Supervisor Tom Faley is eligible to receive health insurance benefits from the township. But he chooses not to.
“I am uncomfortable claiming it, because it would cost the township over $10,000 a year,” Faley said.
Dickinson Township Supervisor Allyn Perkins agrees. He also chooses not to take advantage of his township’s health insurance plan.
“The decision to not take advantage of Dickinson Township’s health insurance plan is a continuation of my commitment to public service without seeking personal financial benefit,” Perkins said. “It gives me great pleasure to pass this significant savings on to the residents of Dickinson Township.”
As a dentist in private practice, Perkins said his decision to save taxpayers money comes at a personal cost.
“My primary health insurance coverage is through my dental practice group plan,” he explained. “This is an expensive benefit to provide, and I could save a substantial amount of money if covered under the township’s plan.”
Under the Second Class Township Code, state law allows township officials to receive health benefits paid for by taxpayers. Supervisors are eligible for township-paid insurance plans including group life, health, hospitalization, medical service and accident, paid in whole or in part by the township.
“It’s been in the code for years,” said Elam Herr of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. “Probably when it was put in, the cost of insurance was not what it is today.”
Herr said the boards of supervisors have the power to decide whether they are going to make the benefits available to themselves or not.
“It’s a local decision,” he said.
Four out of five South Middleton supervisors take advantage of the benefit for their part-time jobs.
South Middleton spends more than $42,000 annually on benefits for the four supervisors in addition to their annual salaries of $3,250 each.
Big Spring to hold annual basketball tournament
The Big Spring Holiday Classic is back in town this weekend -- with a few new twists.
Big Spring High School is set to host the third annual basketball tournament at noon Friday and 11:30 a.m. Saturday for boys’ and girls’ varsity and junior varsity teams across the state.
The variety of teams the tournament covers is a defining characteristic, said organizer Wes Bower.
“It started with a group of people that got together to put together the basketball tournament about three years ago,” he said. “We decided to try to do a little something more than basketball.”
Some of the money raised during the tournament is slated to go back into community basketball programs, he said, but most is to go to the Children’s Miracle Network, which distributes money to area children’s hospitals for treatment and research.
Without seeing the final figures for the fundraising, it’s hard to say how much will go where, Bower said.
The tournament’s past success with fundraising has also set it apart.
The first year, teams tripled the goal of $2,500, Bower said. They also topped their second-year goal of $10,000 by raising $15,000.
This year, the organizers hope to match last year’s total, he said, although it won’t be easy in these tough economic times.
“It’s not a really good year to go ask for money, but when we went to go ask people to open their pocketbooks, they gave,” Bower said.
The event could see a boost with the addition of four more teams, for a total of six games each day.
For the first time, the boys’ teams will include Northern High School, Lancaster’s Living Word Academy and Elizabethtown’s Mount Calvary Christian School. The girls’ side will see the addition of Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre.
And the classic has another secret weapon in the form of NASCAR garage and pit passes for the 2009 races at Pocono Raceway and Dover International Speedway.
Middlesex reaches agreement on dilapidated home
Middlesex Township supervisors have reached an agreement with Julie Johnsen to clean up her dilapidated property at 22 S. LeTort Drive.
The agreement gives the township the power to demolish a home that neighbors and officials have been trying to remedy for about 15 years. Supervisor Victor Stabile said demolition costs are not to exceed $18,000 — mostly tipping fees associated with dumping the contents of the structure.
A lien will be attached to the property, Stabile noted, enabling the township to recoup its expenses should Johnsen ever sell the land. The demolition could take place in March or April, Stabile said, noting the weather must improve first.
With the agreement in hand, the township withdrew a complaint in the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas seeking a court order upholding an existing condemnation notice for the property.
Stabile said the demolition is the best thing for all parties, especially Johnsen, who will be free to do whatever she wants with the cleared lot — as long as it’s permitted by law.
“I told Julie it’s probably worth more without that house on it,” he said.
After the township spent many years working with Johnsen, the issue moved forward earlier this year when police took pictures of her residence while looking into the trash problem on Route 11. The pictures showed major problems, including a hole in the roof and overgrown weeds over the lawn and in-ground pool.
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
