Gov. Corbett at ACF: Touring a factory with the governor

Yesterday, I got to tour the newly reopened ACF factory during Governor Tom Corbett’s visit. It was a gorgeous day outside for his speech and tour.

Some reporters don’t like the “politician tours a business/factory” stories. Me, I love them.

The tours are an interesting look into a business you might not normally get, while you get to have some interaction with some of the most influential people in the state/nation.

Everyone’s happy to be there and talk to you and get photos, so it’s a win/win for everyone.

So Here’s a pictoral journey through my ACF tour with Corbett with commentary.

 

Here’s the governor ready to go with his hard hat on.

Prom Perfect: Some personal favorites

The Daily Item’s annual Prom Perfect competition is coming to an end soon as the Valley’s prom season wraps up.

We’ve gotten almost 300 entries, something that is amazing and is able to showcase a wide variety of photos.

Naturally, as a lover of all things sparkly and ostentatious, I’ve enjoyed seeing the pictures and have selected a few of my favorites.

To see all of the photos, go to our Facebook page.

A fake legend in Williamsport – starring Nick Cage? Um, OK.

A friend of mine posted this story on Facebook, saying Nicolas Cage was signed on to do a movie about an urban legend about the largest mass disappearance in U.S. history which happened at a hotel outside of Williamsport, allegedly.

[Note: Yahoo and Variety updated the story to say Cage hasn't officially signed on yet.]

Um…what?

I went to college in Williamsport. I’ve lived in the Valley for the majority of my life and I’ve never heard of this. Ever. Not once.

So I went to Google for answers. And the answer is complicated.

It appears to be a story contrived to scare up publicity for the movie with the crew that currently in Williamsport making a documentary about the hotel.

Here’s a version of the legend, from Hotel33Dissappearance.com:

Williamsport, PA: On May 10, 1953, police discovered that all 32 people that were in the Grand Hotel on opening night— including guests and staff – disappeared. They vanished without a trace; their possessions left behind. The city boarded up the hotel and swept the story under the carpet.  It became an urban legend, a myth, and residents started referring to the property as “Hotel 32.” In early 1993, the hotel was reopened and turned into a haunted tourist attraction. On April 10, 1993, three boys—Troy Belger, Rob Laden and Jacob Carr—spent the night in Hotel 32, Jacob Carr was never to be found again.  On April 12, 1993, Detective Richard Kaminsky died while interrogating the two boys regarding their missing friend.  Shortly after, the hotel mysteriously burned down and “Hotel 33” would become the center of a controversial haunted house tale for years to come.

So this is a move to conjure up some publicity for the movie and the city? Why am I so offended?

Here’s some commenters on the movie’s Facebook page saying it better than I could:

Anthony Leone: Never mind, it’s a fake. You know, faking events actually leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths. This is the age of the internet where facts can easily be searched. (Or just a few simple phone calls.) But now that I know that it’s a faked and people are being lied to, I really don’t want to see the movie now. Had Hotel 33 just came right out and been truthful that they are making a new movie and the events aren’t real, then I would have seen it.

Michael Blackwell:  I’m all for a good ghost story Melissa, but not this crap they are trying to push. If you want to use our town for a ghost story, than at least use something like Allison’s Grave that has a history. Don’t make up a history and try and tell everyone it happened.

Theresa Brundage: Dear people of Williamsport, We’re filming a horror movie in your city and we hope you like it. It’ll be a great economic boost for the area and we think it’s good story. We won’t insult your intelligence by shoving a flimsy charade down your throats and insist it’s all fact. – Hugs, Hotel 33 (There I fixed it for ya).

Newspapers – Preserving family history for posterity. Just ask my dad.

Recently, my father brought home an old copy of the News Item he found in his childhood home. It was pretty cool to see how wide old newspapers were and how much things were back in the 1970s – I believe bananas were 9 cents per pound.

Here’s the front page to get a sample of how big that is:

That’s eight columns. Most papers today are six, and a skinny six at that in some cases.

But even though that is cool, we wondered why the newspaper had been preserved. Something special had to have happened that would cause my Mam and Pap to save the paper.

After we flipped the front page over – we didn’t have to guess any longer.

See that handsome devil to the far right? That’s none other than Greg – in his about 16-year-old glory. He was newspaper boy of the year.

And he still looks exactly like that. Just with more gray hair.

So there it is, newspaper preserving these precious memories that would have been lost for all eternity – so that your kids can look back and laugh at you.

Just kidding – we only laughed a little bit…..OK, a lot.

Love you dad!

Minuteman – what’s going on?!

The last two days of this week have been eaten up by the raid at Minuteman in Milton – and there’s one question that just keeps popping up: What is going on and what do the law enforcement agents think is going on?

Here’s out coverage so far.

[One thing not mentioned: the massively awesome sunburn I got from standing outside Minuteman Wednesday morning. I'm going to have to wear shirts that cover my forearm for the forseeable future to cover the ridiculous farmer's tan I got.]

I don’t have any sure answers and those people that do aren’t talking right now.

So I’m just putting it out there once again: If you work at Minuteman or have some insight and want to talk, contact me at awislock@dailyitem.com or Francis Scarcella at fscarcella@dailyitem.com.

And check back at dailyitem.com for the latest we have on the situation.

 

Chief Zerbe: Which side are you on?

It’s what has become one of the most hotly debated topics in the Valley – whether or not embattled Chief Donald Zerbe should be allowed to walk away from allegations he offered speeders the opportunity to donate to the Hartleton Playground Fund or whether he should face the music.

Zerbe wasn’t too nervous at a hearing yesterday. He was also supported by Hartleton’s mayor at the hearing.

And people online seem to be behind him mostly, as well. Here’s just a small sampling of comments from a Facebook post yesterday:

What’s the right thing to do?

I don’t know – there’s a fine line to walk between punishing people for wrongdoing and letting them completely off the hook.

What do you think – do you support Chief Zerbe?

Bonus Photos: Freeburg fire

On Saturday evening as many people were in the middle of enjoying their three-day weekend, a house fire broke out in Freeburg, Snyder County.

It was pretty big too, the fire spread to an adjacent, historical building and pretty much demolished both buildings.

The smoke was really bad and stuck to my clothes afterward – I think it might still be there.

Here’s a couple photos that I took on the scene there of the buildings: