HANOVER, Pa. (WHTM) — Local communities are voicing their concerns after photos were posted to Facebook of a Hanover Area Jaycees Halloween parade float that depicted Holocaust symbolism in Hanover Thursday night.

The float, entered by St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Hanover and towed by Metcalf Cleaning LLC, depicted a replica of an Auschwitz concentration camp gate with the phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei,” which is translated to “Work sets you free.”

The phrase is a prominent symbol of the Nazi concentration camps that killed over six million Jewish people during the Holocaust, according to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.

The Most Reverend Timothy C. Senior, Bishop of Harrisburg, said in a statement, “The inclusion of this image—one that represents the horrific suffering and murder of millions of innocent people, including six million Jews during the Holocaust—is profoundly offensive and unacceptable. While the original, approved design for this float did not contain this imagery, it does not change the fact that this highly recognizable symbol of hate was included.”

The York Jewish Community Center, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and the Jewish Federation of Harrisburg also released a joint statement in response to the incident:

“These acts, intentional or not, cause fear and pain for Jewish individuals and all who understand the weight of these symbols. We appreciate Bishop Senior’s acknowledgment of the harm caused and his apology on behalf of the Diocese. Recognizing the impact of such imagery is a vital step toward understanding, healing, and preventing similar incidents in the future.”

YORK JCC, JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA, AND JEWISH FEDERATION OF HARRISBURG

Galen S. Shelly, who identified himself as the creator of the float in the comment section of the original post, wrote a lengthy statement apologizing for the incident, saying, “In that I have erred and will gladly offer this apology for not realizing there were other ways to interpret a part, especially without knowledge of the whole.”

Metcalf Cleaning LLC also apologized for pulling the float that contained the Nazi imagery and slogan, saying, “At the time, we were unaware of its meaning and significance. We recognize that we should have taken a closer look at the float prior to the parade, and we are truly sorry for that oversight.”

Takeaways

Charleston Battery: The Battery’s hopes of a third consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference Final were dashed by their visitors as the highest-scoring team in the regular season was unable to find a decisive moment across 120 minutes of action, with the shootout defeat bringing back memories of its loss in the 2023 USL Championship Final.

Rhode Island FC: Having suffered notable shootout defeats to rival Hartford Athletic in the group stage and Sacramento Republic FC in the Semifinals of the 2025 USL Jägermeister Cup, Rhode Island came through from the spot on this occasion, taking five strong penalty kicks to earn its place in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Key moment

Rhode Island FC’s Hugo Bacharach followed the miss by the Battery to open the fourth round of the shootout with a goal, cementing his side’s advantage on the way to victory.

Key stat

Rhode Island recorded 163 passes in the final third as the visitors held more possession in the attacking half than the Battery, with 32.4 percent of the game played in Charleston’s defensive third.

USLChampionship.com Player of the Match

Koke Vegas, Rhode Island FC – Vegas recorded a four-save shutout, making key saves twice on Cal Jennings, and commanded his penalty area impressively throughout the contest.

Scoring Summary

No Scoring

Penalty Shootout

Charleston Battery – Aaron Molloy, scored; Rubio Rubín, scored; Arturo Rodriguez, missed; MD Myers, scored

Rhode Island FC – JJ Williams, scored; Hamady Diop, scored; Maxi Rodriguez, scored; Hugo Bacharach, scored; Aimé Mabika, scored

VERNON — The demolition of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant will be “99 percent complete” by the end of the year, according to a recent estimate from the chief executive officer of Yankee’s owner, NorthStar Group Services.

Scott State, in a telephone interview from his home in Arizona, said that crews have been making good progress in this fall’s good weather, and the reactor building’s wall and interior would be down to the ground by Thanksgiving.

According to recent photographs of the reactor building, there are still concrete walls standing. At one point this fall, two large excavators, which had to be hoisted to the top of the reactor building by a super-large crane, were tearing the building apart, from the top down.

“We plan to have it down to ground level within the next four weeks,” he said.

According to the memorandum of understanding NorthStar has with the state of Vermont, it must remove all structures that are within four feet of ground level, and that will take until Christmas, State said.

The concrete is very thick in the foundation, about two to three feet thick. He estimated the foundation goes 40 to 50 feet into the ground, but the vast majority of it would be left in place.

The company has until 2030 to complete the decommissioning of the Yankee site, and has long said the job would be complete by the end of 2026, but that most work would be done by 2025.

State said all the concrete rubble from the reactor building is being stored on site, but will eventually be shipped to west Texas, at the low-level radioactive waste facility run by NorthStar’s partner, Waste Services.

After the reactor building’s demolition is complete, the concrete will be shipped over a six-month period, State said. He said there is only room for two rail cars at a time to be loaded at the Yankee site.

“Mid-summer, next fall, all that stuff will be gone,” he said.

NorthStar, which bought the Vermont Yankee plant from former owner Entergy Nuclear in January 2019, actually started decommissioning several months before the sale was completed and approved by state and federal regulators.

NorthStar’s plans called for immediately demolition, rather than putting the plant into what essentially is cold storage, the plan adopted by Entergy. Under that plan, no work would have been done at Yankee for decades.

State said that additional field work, site assessments, sampling, studies and reports will take up the rest of 2026, when the company will seek final approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

With the government shut down and continued understaffing at the NRC, State said that approval could take longer than originally expected.

Recent soil testing near the reactor building revealed contamination of PFAS or “forever chemicals,” at significantly above Vermont standards. That contamination is believed to have come from a fire at the plant’s electrical transformer in 2004, on the non-nuclear side of the plant.

The reactor building, which is the last major building left at the 140-acre site, was almost as big underground as it was above ground, State said. The reactor building, which housed the reactor core plus the spent fuel pool, was about five stories high.

The reactor building is located next to the storage site of the radioactive spent fuel from the 42 years the plant operated. The spent fuel is stored in giant concrete and steel casks, and it will remain after decommissioning is completed.

According to the state memorandum, the deep foundation may be left in place after testing shows it is clear of any radioactivity.

NorthStar agreed that the reactor foundation hole would not be filled with the rubbleized concrete from the demolition, but “clean fill,” State said, which will be trucked in to the Vernon site.

He said the other nuclear decommissioning project NorthStar is doing, Crystal River 3 in Florida, will use its rubble-ized concrete for fill, which State said is standard practice – but not in Vermont.

“We will not backfill until the NRC releases the site,” he said.

There are two large trust funds paying for the demolition and clean up work. The second, smaller fund will pay for site restoration. The larger $600 million fund was paid for by the utility customers of the original owner of Vermont Yankee, the Vermont Nuclear Power Corp.