Woman charged with attempted homicide in car crash at Bob's Subs

BERWICK — The woman who rammed a car through the wall of Bob’s Subs on Sunday was actually aiming for her one-time fiance, court papers say.

Sharon A. Blalock, 40, of 911 W. Front St., was successful, hitting Michael Sink, who was riding on a motorized bicycle, before she smashed into the wall, according to Detective Reagan Rafferty.

She was arraigned late Sunday night on charges of attempted criminal homicide and aggravated assault.

Police said witnesses told them they saw Sink and Blalock arguing in the 100 block of West Second Street before the crash.

Firefighters battle two blazes near Buckhorn

BUCKHORN — Firefighters are battling two blazes near one another — one at a Hemlock Township house, another at a Mount Pleasant Township business.

The first broke out around 6 p.m. at 31 Hunt Club Drive in Hemlock Township. It was called in as a brush fire, but quickly spread to a nearby house.

In the second, called in about a half hour later, a fire broke out at Steve Shannon Tire and Auto Center at 1149 Millville Road — the store, not the warehouse.

We have reporters at both fires and will post more information as available.

Two allegedly fled taxi fare before man ran from cops

BLOOMSBURG — A York man not only fled from police here last week after they tried to question him, but he also stiffed the cab driver who drove him and a friend from York to Bloomsburg in her taxi, new arrest papers say.

Edwin Coston, 24, came to town last Wednesday with a friend, 21-year-old Dominique Davis of Dover, in a White Rose Taxi operated by Trema Spangler, according to police.

Spangler told police that upon arriving in town, one of the men told her to go to the 200 block of Iron Street so he could get money from his “grandmother,” charges state.

Berwick man found with meth

BERWICK — When police saw a man walking the streets alone with a backpack after 2 a.m. Friday, they thought he looked suspicious, arrest papers say. 

Before the end of their conversation with Olen Berry III, they had discovered $320 in crystal methamphetamine, $130 in cash and a digital scale, charges state.

At 2:05 p.m. Berwick Police spotted Berry walking in the 100 block of West Ninth Street. They asked if he was carrying anything they should be concerned about, police say.

Berry hesitated a moment and then said he had “a notepad,” according to arrest papers.

Armed and dangerous man sought by police

BLOOMSBURG — A man considered armed and dangerous is being sought by Town Police as the suspect who fled officers Wednesday afternoon, dropping a loaded handgun as he fled the vicinity of West Third and West streets.

An arrest warrant has been issued for 24-year-old Edwin Russell Coston of York, police said Thursday. They identified him as their suspect after a review of footage from nearby cameras and criminal database logs of people with the surname Coston.

Part of original Geisinger campus to be demolished

DANVILLE — A piece of Geisinger Medical Center’s campus that has been there since the hospital’s founding 104 years ago will soon disappear when the building for its former School of Nursing is demolished.

Work to tear down the deteriorating building, which graduated 3,638 nurses from its two-year program between 1915 and its closing in 1998, will begin some time in May, said Bob Markowski, Geisinger’s vice president of facilities administration.

Police seeking man accused of locking kids in closets

BERWICK — Police are looking for a Berwick man they say repeatedly locked two children in closets as punishment.

The youngsters, ages 9 and 5, also told police they slept in the closets, which had quilts, blankets and pillows on their floors.

One closet had a metal latch with a padlock on it, Children and Youth workers told police. The other was missing the doorknob on the outside, but still had an internal locking mechanism, which meant that someone had to place an object into the lock in order to open it, according to court papers.

Ex-Boy Scout official pleads guilty to theft

BLOOMSBURG — A longtime accounting specialist for the Columbia-Montour Boy Scouts of America pleaded guilty  Wednesday to stealing more than $5,000 from the local council.

Joyce A. Fisher, 62, of 20-A Gravity Hill Road, Catawissa, admitted misusing council credit cards on numerous occasions for personal purchases and paying bills, while also stealing up to $452 in petty cash kept at its Audubon Court office in Scott Township.

Berwick $2.49M lotto winner: Winner was a whim

BERWICK — A whim won a Berwick man $2.49 million dollars, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Lottery.

Officials from the Pennsylvania Lottery and Sheetz today presented a commemorative check to Luther Coleman Jr., a Columbia County resident who recently purchased a jackpot-winning Pennsylvania Lottery Cash 5 ticket worth $2,488,733 for the March 8 drawing. The jackpot was the highest in the nearly 27-year history of Cash 5, the Pennsylvania Lottery’s longest-running jackpot game.

Man killed while cutting down tree, police say

CLEVELAND TWP. — A 70-year-old man who was cutting trees along side his driveway was killed when one landed on top of him, police say.

Donald Jeffrey of 622 Pine Swamp Road used his chainsaw to cut down a large oak tree located about halfway up the steep driveway. Instead of falling forward across the driveway, the tree tipped backwards down the tree-lined slope — right where Jeffrey had been standing, said Locust Township Police Chief Allen Breach.

Just before noon, Jeffrey’s wife, Kay, came to check on her husband and discovered him trapped under the tree.

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