Street sweeper

The Tamaqua street sweeper will begin making its weekly rounds this week which means residents will go back to making sure their vehicles are moved from certain streets before 5 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.Permanently posted streets include Broad, Pine, Mauch Chunk, Railroad, Center, Berwick and sections of Swatara and Nescopec Streets.Additional streets will be posted in advance, the day before they are scheduled to be swept.Any vehicle not moved is subject to being ticketed and towed at the owner's expense. The schedule is subject to change, depending on work schedules and weather conditions.Heroin town hallA town-hall meeting to discuss "Heroin - A Rural Epidemic" will be heldtoday in the Tamaqua Middle School Auditorium.Organized by Todd Zimmerman, an adjunct professor of History at Lehigh Carbon Community College, the town hall is an effort to address the growing problem of opiate drug abuse. Guest speakers will be Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania Physician General; Gary Tennis, Pennsylvania Secretary of Drug and Alcohol Programs; Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas Judge James A. Goodman; and Carbon County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph Matika.The event will begin at 6 p.m. and the public is welcome to attend.Rush-Ryan seniorsThe Rush, Ryan and Delano Senior Citizens Inc. met March 22 at the Ryan Township Fire Company in Barnesville with 45 members in attendance. The business session was conducted by President Eleanor Schmerfeld.Chaplain Kathleen Valentine offered the invocation "The Way Before Me." Merle Andescavage, Cindy Schroeder and Maryann Laughlin were added to the sick list.A number of upcoming events were discussed, including the anniversary dinner on May 10 at the Mountain Valley Golf Course in Barnesville; the annual picnic on July 26 at St. Peter's Grove in the Locust Valley and the Christmas party on Dec. 6 at Capriotti's in McAdoo.Readings were offered by Shirley Becker and Ruthann Feane.The group meets the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at the fire company. The next meeting will be held April 12. Anyone 55 or older is welcome to join.D.A.R.E. graduationThis year's

D.A.R.E. program graduation will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 6 in the Tamaqua Middle School auditorium.Help will be needed that morning for setup.Bible studyVictory in the Word Ministries is conducting a Christian Outreach Ministry through a series of Bible study fellowship sessions on Wednesdays at the Tamaqua YMCA. The sessions are held from 7 to 8:30 p.m.The Y is located at 1201 E. Broad St. in Tamaqua. The public is welcome to attend.Contact Kathy Kunkel at 570-668-1250 or

kkunkel@tnonline.com. Contact the Times News at 800-443-0377 or

tneditor@tnonline.com.