Press And Journal
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
VOLUME 123 - NO. 10
12 PAGES
TWO CHARGED IN BOTTLE BOMB INCIDENT
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By Noelle Barrett and Jim Lewis
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Press And Journal Staff
On his birthday, Carl F. Biter and a friend made homemade bombs out of toilet bowl cleaner and plastic bottles and exploded them on two Middletown streets – and now face a long list of charges, including felonies, according to authorities. Biter, 29, of North Union Street, and David Cucullo, 28, of Lawrence Street, were arrested by Middletown police and Carl Biter charged with two counts of risking a catastrophe, four counts of arson with an explosive, three counts of criminal conspiracy, four counts of recklessly endangering, four counts of possessing explosives, four counts of criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and attempted criminal misDavid Cucullo chief. Please See BOMB, Page A6
Handley to run for council seat By Daniel Walmer
Press And Journal Staff
Thomas Handley, a former supervisor of Middletown Borough’s electric department, has resigned from the Middletown Borough Authority to run for a seat on Middletown Borough Council. “I want you to know that I did not do this in haste,” Handley said of his resignation from the authority. “I feel that, because I’ve decided to run for council, I am going to direct my time and attention toward that.” Authority member JefPhoto by Daniel Walmer frey Miller and authority Thomas Handley secretary Leslie Givler had previously resigned following a Wednesday, Feb. 13 meeting at which Miller and Handley were consistently out-voted 3-2 by a new majority of members appointed by the current borough council. Handley’s res-
Daylight Saving Time Begins March 10 • 2 a.m.
Press And Journal Photo by Jim Lewis
The Brownstone Cafe is reflected over an electric sign in the window of a tattoo parlor across North Union Street.
ELECTRIC SLIDE? Press And Journal Staff
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iddletown and PPL electric customers may soon see a decrease in electric rates. Middletown Borough Council voted at its Monday, March 4 meeting to advertise an ordinance to set a new residential electric rate at 10.6 cents per kilowatt-hour and a commercial electric rate at 9.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, plus demand charges. The rate change represents a 2-cents-per-kilowatt-hour decrease from a recent 12.6 cents-per-kilowatt-hour variable rate, and comes about as the borough begins its new electricity purchase contract with Exelon Corp., according to Council President Christopher McNamara. The contract reflects council’s policy to cap electric rates at 3 cents per kilowatt-hour above the borough’s purchase price, he said. Middletown has a municipal-owned electric distribution system, but purchases wholesale electricity from a supplier – previously, at a variable rate from AMP Ohio that caused the rate the borough charged to customers to fluctuate monthly. Under the new wholesale supply contract with Exelon, which council approved in 2010, residents would be charged the same 10.6 cents per kilowatt-hour rate each month. “That’s what the people will consistently pay from this time going forward,” McNamara said. Still, the Exelon contract requires the borough to purchase electricity at a more expensive price than the current market rate, according to McNamara and Chris Courogen, borough secretary and director of communications. “It’s very easy now to criticize what that council did in the past, acting so far ahead of time and locking it in at the rate it is now,” Courogen said. “To be fair, nobody had a crystal ball and nobody could predict [what rates would be].” The borough is currently attempting to renegotiate the contract with Exelon to further reduce rates, McNamara said. Meanwhile, PPL, which provides power to Highspire, Steelton and Lower Swatara Twp., is reducing its residential electric generation rates from 7.544 to 7.237 cents per kilowatt-hour.
from www.pressandjournal.com. Visit our website to cast your vote. VERY NOT AT ALL
In Middletown, council considers reducing electric rates, while PPL cuts rates in neighboring communities By Daniel Walmer
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The 0.307 cents per killowatt-hour electric generation decrease – which will only apply to customers who stick with PPL as their electric generation supplier rather than choosing an alternative supplier – will lower the electric bill for the average PPL customer by about $3, according to Bryan Hay, a spokesman for PPL. The utility defines the average customer as using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per billing cycle. The decrease is “largely as a result of low natural gas prices,” Hay said. “The energy it takes to go through the line is at a low point right now.” Unlike in Middletown, where the 10.6 cents per kilowatt-hour rate will be the total amount customers are charged, PPL’s 7.237 cents per kilowatt-hour electric generation rate is only part of a customer’s bill. Electric generation represents about 60 percent of a customer’s total electric bill, according to Eric Epstein, a state government watchdog and chairman of TMI Alert. In fact, the decrease will only help to offset an increase to PPL’s electric distribution rate of $3.56 for the average residential customer that took effect at the beginning of January. The electric distribution charge pays for the transmission of already generated electricity to the consumer, and all PPL customers pay it, even if they purchase their electric supply from an alternative provider. Commercial PPL customers also saw a 1 percent distribution charge increase in January. Epstein warns that as utility infrastructure ages and needs to be replaced, electric distribution rates will continue to go up. Middletown customers don’t have to worry about PPL rate increases, but the town has long been known for high electricity bills – some say because of high electric rates, others because of high usage from poorly insulated homes in the borough. Despite action by Middletown’s council to reduce electric rates in 2012, Courogen acknowledges it’s still a struggle for many residents to pay their bills, particularly in the winter. “There is a huge problem in Middletown with overdue electric bills,” he said. “It is a long-standing, ongoing problem. The so-
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NEWS Council appoints Shafaye to authority
Please See ELECTRIC, Page A6
Middletown Borough Council appointed A.B. Shafaye, a Middletown resident and senior instructor of engineering at Penn State Harrisburg, to the Middletown Borough Authority at a meeting on Monday, March 4. Shafaye replaces Jeffrey Miller, who resigned. His term will expire in January 2016. Shafaye said he agreed to serve on the authority, which owns the borough water and sewer facilities, because he was told that “there are potential problems with the equipment that maybe I can help resolve” that are related to his displine of engineering. Shafaye is the fourth member of the five-member authority to be appointed by council since September.
MIDDLETOWN
No increase in pool passes
Please See HANDLEY, Page A6
Council sets meetings between public, advisors By Daniel Walmer
Press And Journal Staff
Photo by Don Graham
A search crew from the Middletown Volunteer Fire Department arrives at the Susquehanna River to look for missing Upper Allen Twp. man David Hoke.
Missing man’s clothes found in river By Daniel Walmer Press And Journal Staff Investigators have discovered clothing in the Susquehanna River near the Middletown boat dock on South Union Street “consistent” in description with clothes worn by missing Upper Allen Township resident David Hoke. Hoke’s car was found near the boat dock on Sunday, Feb. 24 abandoned, unlocked and running. Middletown police were notified Tuesday, Feb. 26 of a possible sighting of Hoke’s body in the Susquehanna, according to Middletown
Police Chief Steven Wheeler. After a search of the river involving Middletown police, Lower Swatara Twp. police and state police and the Londonderry and Middletown fire departments, Wheeler told the media that “a body has not been recovered at this point.” However, items that “appear to be items of clothing” were recovered, he said. Officers have been conducting witness interviews to find information about Hoke’s disappearance, and the search for his body Please See MISSING, Page A6
Middletown Borough Council is planning a series of three ward meetings and a town hall meeting in March to “allow residents to hear updates about issues facing the borough from the professional experts advising council,’’ according to a borough media advisory. The borough has “been very actively seeking to inform the public of what’s going on in Middletown,” and the meetings are another way to keep the public informed, said Chris Courogen, borough secretary and director of communications. “It’s an opportunity for people to come out and hear what’s going on in the borough, without any filter, without anybody twisting facts,” Courogen said. “They can get the information first-hand, they can ask questions, they can hear it from the professionals who’ve been called in to help solve the rather significant problems facing Middletown.” The meetings – three ward meetings held on consecutive Thursdays beginning on March 7, followed by a town hall meeting on March 28 – will include presentations by borough Police Chief Steven Wheeler, borough solicitor Adam Santucci, bonds and debt consultant Jay Wenger, and budget and financial advisor Mark Morgan. Courogen said he did not know for sure if the
professionals would be paid for their attendance, but he assumed they would be paid. The presentations will be followed by a “brief” question-and-answer period, he said. Council Vice President Robert Louer Sr. sees the meetings as an opportunity for people who do not attend council meetings to come ask questions and learn about the issues facing the community. People frequently ask him questions about council issues outside of meetings, Louer said, but he has to be careful what he says because of ongoing litigation – that’s why the meetings will include the professionals who know what they can and can’t say. “All of the questions these people ask, we have an answer,” Louer said. “We expect to lay out as much information as we possibly can.” It’s not the first time in recent months that town meetings have been held in Middletown: The Rev. Vernal Simms, pastor of City of Refuge Church in Middletown, has organized four town meetings since September. All council members were invited to the meetings, Simms said, but none attended. But Courogen said the ward meetings will be different from Simms’ meetings because “these are not political events.’’ “These are informational for the residents to be able to hear directly from the experts,” he said.
The Olmsted Regional Recreation Board froze the price of season passes to the Middletown Community Pool at last year’s rates during a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 28. The board is offering sale-price passes at $210 for a family of four that lives in the Middletown Area School District and $140 for a single pass for district residents. Nonresidents can buy a family pass at $225 and a single pass for $200. Prices will increase on May 16. The pool opens May 25. Those interested in a pass can e-mail slayton@raiderweb. org, call 948-3318, or go to the board’s office in the lower level of the Main Street Gym. The board is still in the process of conducting its search for a pool director, said board chairman Barbara Layne said. Former director Amy Burrell left last summer to become Royalton’s borough secretary.
Please See COUNCIL, Page A6
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