THE ISSUE: Its Friday, the day we take a few moments to highlight the good news in Lancaster County and the surrounding region. Some of these items are welcome developments on the economic front or for area neighborhoods. Others are local stories of achievement, perseverance, compassion and creativity that represent welcome points of light during the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic and with other difficult developments enveloping our nation and world. All of this uplifting news deserves a brighter spotlight.
Last year, we praised the members of the Conestoga River Club who helped to clean up that river after the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought as much as 8 inches of rain to parts of Lancaster County. In addition to pulling tree limbs and other natural debris from the waterway, the hardworking crew hauled out picnic tables, tires, benches and even a portable toilet.
But the work is never finished for these environmental warriors, and LNP | LancasterOnline outdoors columnist Ad Crable highlighted their latest efforts Sunday.
(The) 135-member Conestoga River Club and the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association have cobbled together an impressive $60,000 in grants to draw up a comprehensive plan for rehabilitating the river and its inadequately equipped paddling water trail for 30 miles, from Brownstown to the rivers marriage with the Susquehanna at Safe Harbor, Crable wrote.
Such work will reap great benefits for those who want to use the river recreationally. But Todd Roy, the Conestoga River Clubs president, doesnt want to stop there. He hopes that increased recreational usage of the Conestoga will spark local interest in existing efforts to address agriculture and urban stormwater runoff, as well as combined sewer overflow pollution in Lancaster city, Crable wrote.
Those needed efforts include placing vegetative buffers along key spots, planting trees and removing invasive plants from riverbanks.
Our message is, the river belongs to us, and that means its our responsibility to care for it, Roy said. The first effort is to make it more accessible and usable and highlight the need to get more people invested.
The efforts are necessary because the river still runs chocolate brown, as Crable describes it, after moderate or heavy rainfall, and most of its 62 miles are on the states impaired list for recreation.
Conservation efforts will take years and require a great deal of funding and sweat equity. But Roy and his clubs members are driven by a vision of what the Conestoga could be.
I want to see 7- and 8-year-old boys and girls playing in the river and having fun and waving at the fishermen, he told Crable.
We applaud the work of these stewards, who are striving to make that vision a reality.
In other good things:
Richard Mendez was sworn in this week as Lancaster citys first Hispanic chief of police.
At Tuesdays Lancaster City Council meeting, a crowd of nearly 40 people, including friends, family and police officers, gave Mendez a standing ovation and waved Puerto Rican flags, LNP | LancasterOnlines Jade Campos reported.
Mendezs father is Puerto Rican. The new chief of police, who was born in Lancaster and graduated from J.P. McCaskey High School, has served as the interim chief since May and is a 22-year veteran of Lancasters police department.
Its a historical moment (for) a Latino to serve Lancaster city, so Im sure our community, who is 30% to 40% Latino, is going to be very happy to see you succeed, council member Janet Diaz said.
LNP | LancasterOnlines Dan Nephin profiled Mendez last month and, in that article, Lancaster Police Officers Association President Steve Owens had this praise for Mendez: Chief Mendez knows the people. He knows their personalities. He knows their families. Hes empathetic to things going on in their life. That being said, he gets done what needs to get done.
He sounds like a great fit for an important job, and we wish him well.
Warwick High School teacher Jeffrey Wile has been named this years Exemplary Computer Science Educator in Pennsylvania for his work to expand computer science education to all students.
One of his accomplishments was starting a local chapter of the Computer Science Teacher Association to help teachers connect with and learn from one another, LNP | LancasterOnlines Ashley Stalnecker reported.
Reflecting over the past several years, I am thrilled with how far our computer science program at Warwick has grown and how Warwick students have taken advantage to learn computing skills in my classroom, Wile said in the news release from Warwick School District.
STEM instruction is vital for this generation of students. Its heartening that there are so many great teachers like Wile in Lancaster County who are dedicated to inspiring and instructing young people.
Finally, hats off to a local athlete. Manheim Central High School graduate Will Betancourt earned a silver medal in wrestling at the Pan-American Championships in Oaxtepec, Mexico, earlier this month.
Wrestling in the 61-kilogram division of the freestyle competition, Betancourt, who was representing Puerto Rico, lost the gold medal match to Ohio State recruit Nicholas Bouzakis, who was the U.S. competitor, LNP | LancasterOnlines Burt Wilson reported.
Betancourt will wrestle for the elite Penn State University wrestling program this year after previously being a student-athlete at Lock Haven University and Ohio State. He had 147 wins and captured an individual state championship on the wrestling mat while at Manheim Central.
We congratulate him for his impressive achievements and wish him success as he grapples with new challenges.
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