Fountain Hill News

“I banged on the door and the guy came out”

A Palmer Township man faces felony charges after a man he beat was placed in a medically-induced coma because of his injuries, court records said. via Easton Express-Times

A sport-utility vehicle crashed and flipped onto its roof in Catasauqua about 6 a.m. Tuesday, closing Lehigh Street between Main and Poplar streets. via The Morning Call

For the past 12 months, the board of directors and the staff of the Forks Township Emergency Squad have worked to put their faltering ambulance service back on the right track.

It hasn't been easy, Board Chairman William Keifer Jr. said, recalling that from July 2006 to April 1, 2007, the service was shut down while the board sought ways to reduce its $278,000 debt and to try to recoup $700,000 in uncollected service charges and $21,000 stolen by its former director.

On Saturday, the squad will hold an open house to show what has been accomplished since service resumed last April. Read more

The Lehigh Valley needs to accept that increasing the amount of affordable housing is everyone's problem because without it, the region's economic expansion and the social mobility of residents are threatened.

So says Jeremy Nowak, an urban redevelopment official who was the keynote speaker Thursday at the Lehigh Valley's first-ever affordable housing summit. The day-long conference at the Hotel Bethlehem attracted 200 attendees.

''At an affordable housing summit, the most important message is that this is a mainstream problem,'' Nowak said. ''It is not just a social justice conversation.'' Read more

A 65-year-old jogger struck by a sport-utility vehicle in Lower Saucon Township yesterday remains hospitalized in fair condition.

Robert Rossell of Marick Circle in Lower Saucon Township was struck on Hickory Hill Road at Pleasant Drive about 4:15 p.m., and he was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill with head injuries, according to a police news release.

A nursing supervisor said Rossell was in fair condition this morning.

Police said witnesses told them that Rossell jogged from Pleasant Drive into the flow of traffic on Hickory Hill Road. The driver of the vehicle, David Kubisek of Hellertown, was not cited, police said. Read more

A fellow church member has been charged with killing a woman found shot in a Bucks County church in January.

Prosecutors alleged Tuesday that Mary Jane Fonder, 65, of Kintnersville, shot Rhonda Smith, 42, of Hellertown, out of jealousy.

Smith was found Jan. 23 with a gunshot wound in Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in rural Springfield Township and later died at St. Luke's Hospital-Fountain Hill. Fonder is a longtime member of the Springfield Township church.

'The defendant in this case had very strong feelings for the pastor in the church,' Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry said. 'She was jealous of the fact that the victim was getting attention from the pastor.' Read more

Critics of the one-way street proposal for south Bethlehem's Five Points intersection scored a small win last week when City Council directed Mayor John Callahan 's administration to consider other options first.

But how much of a chance there is to avoid turning sections of Wyandotte and Broadway into one-way streets is still unclear.

Public Works Director Michael Alkhal said he is meeting with traffic experts to take ''an honest look'' at the alternatives council discussed last week, but he remains ''skeptical'' that the suggestions will work. Read more

Twenty-six months ago, the Bethlehem Area School Board overlooked two Hispanic women for a vacancy and appointed an ex-board member who had previously lost a re-election bid.

The board's vote led to protests and then a federal lawsuit charging the district's at-large voting system of discrimination against Hispanics.

Today the board will be facing a deja vu when it votes to fill a board vacancy.

Once again, Hispanic residents are advocating that the vacancy be filled by someone who can better represent the district's growing Hispanic population, in this case Sis-Obed Torres Cordero. Read more

“If you want to get better, you've got to take your meds.''”

Eduardo Hidalgo's family never noticed anything wrong with him as a child, at least not the bipolar disorder later discovered by a doctor. via The Morning Call

A woman who gave birth to a baby last summer then left the newborn in a toilet, causing him to suffer hypothermia and an infection, was charged with child endangerment Tuesday. via Express-Times

The group of children, all of whom had lost someone they loved, hugged their stuffed bears close as storyteller Dovey Thomason wove a tale about a boy who, after losing his parents, was adopted by bears.

Leaning forward, the youngsters, some as young as 5, were told by Thomason that they are all now members of the ''bear clan,'' which watches over children.

The storytelling session, on the final night of a children's bereavement program held recently at St. Luke's Hospice in Fountain Hill, is one way the medical community of the Lehigh Valley is starting to embrace the concept of healing stories. Read more

The scene in a Lehigh County courtroom had been played out many times before -- in the same courtroom and in courtrooms around the state and country.

Too many times, a dismayed Lehigh County Judge Robert L. Steinberg observed.

Kirsten Grube and Jacqueline Horveath held hands and cried, saying they didn't intend what happened.

There were apologies. And regrets. And in the end, no one could change what happened on April 8, 2007, when 18-year-old Jacob Paul Gibson, who had been drinking, got into his car with 17-year-old Hillary Blair Benner, who also had been drinking, after a cookout in Allentown. Read more

Four months ago, Bath Mayor David D. Mosey was driving to a doctor's appointment for a stress test at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill. But he didn't make it on time.

State police say Mosey drove over a concrete median and crashed his sport utility vehicle into another man's vehicle as they both traveled along Airport Road in Hanover Township, Northampton County, resulting in several charges being filed against the Republican mayor.

On Thursday, Mosey, 54, of 125 Spyglass Hill Road, sought to have his criminal record wiped clean by waiving a preliminary hearing on charges of recklessly endangering another person and motor vehicle violations. As part of his waiver, Mosey's defense attorney said his client would try to enter a court program for first-time offenders. Read more

There's a highly contagious bug spreading around the Lehigh Valley that's already infected large metropolitan areas, high schools and college campuses nationwide. Symptoms include sweating, restless feet and uncontrollable smiling.

Some call it the jitterbug. Others know it as dance fever. Whatever you call it -- ballroom, swing, fox trot, tango, cha-cha -- it is known as social dancing. You know, the kind you do face-to-face with a partner, holding hands, with one leading and the other following. And you can find a dance hall to catch this condition just about any day of the week in the region. Read more

The way voters elect members to the Bethlehem Area School Board would change under a proposed settlement to a federal voters rights lawsuit filed two years ago by two Hispanic women.

Under the agreement released Wednesday, the system of electing nine at-large board members who represent the entire school district would be replaced with one designed to help a Hispanic candidate get elected.

The new voting system would have six at-large seats and three seats representing a smaller region, including an ''area where a predominance of Latino citizens live.'' Read more

Four people were injured in a two-car crash Sunday at Linden and E. Greenwich streets in Bethlehem, police said. via The Morning Call

More than 50 people packed Bethlehem's Town Hall on Tuesday to hash out whether a pair of one-way streets was the right way to solve traffic and parking woes at the congested Five Points intersection.

Some championed Mayor John Callahan 's proposal to turn parts of Wyandotte Street and Broadway one way, moving traffic through the historic commercial-and-residential neighborhood more efficiently, while restoring some parking for nearby businesses.

''It's a plan,'' said John Halleman, who lives on Wyandotte Street. ''It's not a great plan, but at least we get some parking again.'' Read more

A 28-year-old Easton man was flown to St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill after the car he was driving crashed into a tree about 2 this morning in Towamensing Township, Carbon County. via Easton Express-Times

“There were facts that needed to be cleared up”

A former township manager faces felony charges in an alleged drunken-driving crash last month that sent a pedestrian to the hospital. via Easton Express-Times

A man was flown to a Lehigh County hospital Wednesday afternoon after being involved in a two-car crash in Tinicum Township, police said. via The Morning Call