Bethlehem Press

Backed by a strong presence from Nazareth Ambulance Corps (NAC) employees, a paramedic's well-delivered speech convinced Northampton County Council to delay its decision to award a contract for Gracedale residents to LifeStar Response, a non-emergency medical transport service.

In 1908, a group of Fountain Hill citizens met in the basement of the old Electric Laundry building, located at Bishopthorpe and Cherokee streets, to organize a new Evangelical and Reformed church. This would be the third church to organize in Fountain Hill. With the help of the Tohickon Reformed Church of Bucks County, the group was able to build their church within the year. In 1925, the congregation expanded the church with an addition. The congregation was renamed Grace Community United Church of Christ in 1965. Due to dwindling membership, the church was closed in 2003.

Four years after open and frank discussions regarding the deteriorating Nitschmann MS, Bethlehem Area School District directors are planning similar events in the hope of finally determining a plan for the aging structure.

Friday, September 28

Celtic Classic, 5 to 11 p.m. Spring, Main, Conestoga and Lehigh streets. Call 610-868-9599 or visit www.cca.us.com.

Saturday, September 29

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church tricky tray, 11 a.m.; drawing 5 p.m. 1900 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Tickets at the door; www.standrewsbethlehem.org, call 610-865-3603 or email saec@ptd.net.

Celtic Classic, 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Spring, Main, Conestoga and Lehigh streets. Call 610-868-9599 or visit www.cca.us.com.

In April, a three-judge Commonwealth Court panel told Bethlehem Township that its zoning ordinance needed an overhaul. A failure to provide for prisons made the ordinance unconstitutionally exclusionary. Township commissioners, at their Sept. 4 meeting, decided unanimously to advertise an ordinance that will allow for prisons in agricultural zones. They are doing so over the objections of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC).