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Saturday, September 20, 2014
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Closing the crossing Residents come out to tell their concerns By D onna B arker dbarker@bcrnews.com
MALDEN — Malden/Zearing area residents have heard from Burlington Northern Santa Fe representatives who want to close one of their railroad crossings, and the residents aren’t liking what they hear. About 30 area residents attended Tuesday’s meeting in the Malden Fire Department to hear from Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) representative Dave Johnson on the railroad’s proposed closing of the 2750 East Street
railroad crossing, about one-half mile west of Zearing. The crossing is under Berlin Township jurisdiction. Berlin Township Highway Commissioner Bruce Gibson told the assembled crowd he was contacted last spring by BNSF about the company’s proposal to close the railroad crossing. He told them it wouldn’t be appropriate to consider the proposal until there was a public hearing to get the information out there and have questions answered. Any decision to close the crossing is not one to be taken lightly and did not have to be made that night, Gibson said.
In explaining the proposal, Johnson said BNSF has been looking at closing crossings since 2000 for safety reasons, to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities. The Zearing crossing is currently a two-track crossing, with a third track approaching from the east. There are also two other tracks, farther from Zearing, which currently tie into the main tracks. BNSF wants to extend the three tracks to go through the crossing. With that, BNSF does not want five tracks going through a crossing for safety reasons. Also, the short distance between the existing crossing and the adjoining road is another safety concern, he said.
See Railroad crossing Page 4A
Tax hike Princeton taxpayers will see a one-time increase By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Princeton taxpayers will see a one-year adjustment to their property tax bills next year when it comes to paying for general obligation bonds for the Princeton Public Library. In his report at this week’s meeting of the Princeton City Council, Princeton City Manager Jeff Clawson explained the refinancing of the library’s general obligation bonds was done about six months ago to secure a lower interest rate. When working on the refinancing ordinance, the attorneys had inadvertently abated the property taxes for the library bonds for the current year, which means taxes for the library bonds were not included on the tax bills paid this summer, Clawson said. Since the city has to pay $155,000 each year on those bonds, the city will get that needed money this year from the city’s reserves, Clawson said. The attorneys’ recommendation is to recoup that abated tax money by having residents pay a double amount for the bonds on next year’s tax bill, and then go back to the regular payment the following year. As an example, the taxpayer with a $150,000 property pays $59.90 each year for the Princeton Public Library bonds, but for this one time, they would pay about $120 for the bonds next year, Clawson said. After that one year, the amount would go back to the $59.90 for the next eight or
See Princeton Page 4A Year 168 No. 113 Two Section - 28 Pages
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BCR photo/Goldie Currie
Students from the Area Career Center got the chance to tour the construction site of the future Hall High School on Thursday. The students were led by superintendent of the project Jason Samolinski and project engineer Mike Roggeman. Many of the students on the tour are looking to pursue careers in construction management, architecture and engineering.
A close-up look at the new Hall High School Area Career Center students tour the new building, site By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
SPRING VALLEY — Students from the drafting class at the Area Career Center got the chance to tour the construction of the future Hall High School Thursday morning. It was an great opportunity for students, as many in the class are looking to pursue a
career in areas of construction management, architecture and engineering. “When Mr. Struna (superintendent of Hall High School) offered us to go on a tour, I couldn’t wait to get the students over here to see it,” explained Shawn Schwingle, who teaches the drafting class at the career center. “This opportunity puts the
actual theory in place when they see it. We talk about it in the class, and here they get to see it first hand,” he said. Upon their arrival at the construction zone, the students met inside a construction trailer with the superintendent of the project, Jason Samolinski, and project engineer, Mike Roggeman. Together the two explained
the software they’ve used in engineering and designing the new school and also got the chance to talk a little bit about their individual roles in construction project. They also talked to students about their education background and how they got to where they are today in their careers. Following the brief meeting, students grabbed their hard
See Tour Page 4A