Officials ring new bell

ELDRED — The Town of Highland has recently reconstructed the belfry and bell as it appeared in November 28, 1917 when the town hall was the school gymnasium for Eldred residents. This reconstruction was made possible by a grant from Sullivan Renaissance, Sandra Gerry, Sullivan First and the volunteers of the Town of Highland.

The official ringing will take place on August 19 at 2:00 p.m., at the town hall in Eldred.

After the ringing, a presentation will be given for the first and second place winners of a contest that the town held for a “Town Logo.” Light refreshments will follow the ceremonies. All are welcome to come for the presentations and dedication.

Suspect charged in hit-run death

BUCKINGHAM TOWNSHIP — Pennsylvania state police have charged 52-year-old Wyoming County man in the June 23 hit-run accident that claimed the life of 71-year-old Starlight resident Pritam Singh.

After police charges were filed on August 10, Barry W. Weiss of Tunkhannock voluntarily turned himself in to state police on August 14, at the Wayne County Courthouse. He was arraigned before District Magistrate Bonnie Lewis and charged with one count of felony homicide by motor vehicle, one count of felony causing an accident involving death or person injury, a misdemeanor DUI charge and a misdemeanor property damage accident charge.

Weiss was released after posting $75,000 bail, to return for a yet unscheduled hearing in late August.

Death of Northumberland county child
ruled homicide

HONESDALE — The death of a six-year-old girl, whose body was found in the woods near the Coal Township High School in Northumberland County, reportedly has been ruled homicide.

Jasmine Lynn Stoud was last seen playing outside her home on August 11. Her body was found the following day, a half mile away. Coal Township Police have said a significant amount of evidence was collected at the crime scene.

Jasmine was the daughter of 28-year-old Rebecca Diaz of Honesdale. The child was said to have been enrolled in Honesdale’s elementary school this fall.

Sullivan County will sue BOCES

MONTICELLO — The Executive Committee of the Sullivan County Legislature on August 9 agreed to sue Sullivan County BOCES to recover $111,000 in program funds, which the county was forced to provide after earlier allotted state funding was withdrawn.

A 2000 State Education Department audit found that BOCES made an error in filing aid forms for early intervention programs for the 1994-1995 school year.

Although BOCES provided the programs, the aid grant was ruled invalid because of the error and the state took the $111,000 program cost back from the county, which administers the early intervention funds. BOCES and the county reportedly had negotiated fruitlessly for months to find a settlement prior to the decision to move to litigation. Sullivan settled out of court recently for a similar dispute over $87,000 with the Liberty school district.