I Like Pike: News and notes from Pike County, Pa.

Eastern Pike Regional Police Department plans seat-belt enforcement activities as part of a national Click
It or Ticket seat-belt enforcement mobilization, from May 21 through June 10.
The law enforcement activities will be conducted May 30, 2012 and June 6, 2012 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Routes 6&209 and other roadways in Matamoras Borough and Westfall Township.

The enforcement, coupled with educational outreach efforts, will raise awareness of a law that went into
effect in December. The primary law states all vehicle occupants under 18 must wear a seat belt. Drivers and front-seat passengers over 18 years old who are cited for another traffic violation will receive a second ticket if they’re
unbuckled.

PennDOT data for Pike County shows that in 2011, 3 people who were killed in crashes were not wearing their seat
belt.

Reporters are supposed to offer all sides of a story, but once in a while, a topic is so controversial that it is tough to find someone willing to risk the consequences of offering a public opinion.

I had no luck finding a local voice opposed to same sex marriage for a story that ran Friday, describing local reaction to President Obama’s newly found support of marriage equality.

That is, until Friday morning, when the story was already published.

A pastor from a Pike County church called at 7:45 a.m., thinking he would get voice mail.

He said he spoke to a few other pastors and they decided not to comment on the issue.

You see, it’s an election year, he said, and they didn’t want to alienate anyone.

Apparently, his comments would have had that effect in Pike, the county with the highest concentration of same-sex house­holds in Pennsylvania.

Church folks like to say that all are invited to worship the all-loving-God.

To publicly talk about views on homosexuality, some churches (not all) would be forced to admit that members of the LGBT community are, at minimum, looked at differently, and such an admission is not so welcoming.

The problem is not that homosexuals create awkward social situations (they attend church, too) by being at coffee hour where a church-goer, or God forbid, an impressionable child, may have to deal with their demands: We’re here, we’re queer, get me a muffin and let’s chat.

No. Lots of church people say, we will be nice. That is what we are called to do. You know, “love the sinner, hate the sin.”

That judgmental phrase is frequently used in church to address the gay issue, but it isn’t used when there is a lot of sinful judging going on.

Bigots fixate on what they say is the deviant sex lives of the LGBT community. It says right there in the Bible, they will point out, that it is an “abomination,” and with that, they feel free to judge, making sex the only dimension of an LGBT person’s life.

It seems wrong, especially for those who profess to be bound to the command “love one another,” to endorse discrimination of anyone.

North Carolina voters this week approved a constitutional amendment that bans same-sex unions, but it’s not fair to have a vote on marriage equality because the LGBT community is a minority population.

Their issues will never matter to the majority, unless we really do start loving our neighbors.

There are 1,138 benefits, rights and protections provided on the basis of marital status in federal law that are denied to same-sex couples.

How do loving people continue to deny equality?

No comment.

It's not quite this bad.

My desk is a mess. Let’s see what papers are taking up space.
Here is a report from Milford Police regarding Daniel Mcelnea, 23, of Milford. He was accused of using a credit card number, stolen from his job at the West Harford Street Xtra Mart, to buy $1,800 worth of Marlboro and Newport cigarettes. At the time Mcelnea was on probation for stealing around $2,000 in cigarettes in 2010 from his former employer, the Turkey Hill across the street, Milford Police said. Why does a guy need so many cigarettes?

Let’s thumb through this 28-page copy of the 2011 Pike County Planning Commission annual report. It shows various work the commission was in involved in last year. In November, Planning staff participated in a trail raising party held at the East Stroudsburg North School District campus. The day was spent grubbing out a new trail that will help teachers and students access the outdoors. One day the trail will connect with others in Pike’s open space greenway network. Work on the trail continues in 2012.

North has a huge campus with plenty of unused space. It is strange that you rarely see people playing at one these campuses during off hours. When I was a kid, we used the school yard as a gathering place to meet, fly kites and hang out. The empty parking lot on the weekends was the perfect place to ride bikes and later, learn to drive. I guess the North campus is just too far for any kid to walk to.

Too bad. The area could use a place where kids can congregate and socialize.

Parks, parks everywhere and not a place to play.

What else is on this desk? A dog biscuit? What is that doing here? Too nice to throw out. I’ll hoard it a bit longer.

How about an agenda from the Pike County Commissioners March 14 meeting? Grimm Construction was awarded the contract to replace the roof on the Porter Township building with a bid of $35,000. The project will use $17,000 in state grant money. Grimm handled the $11 million construction of the new Pike emergency training complex in Blooming Grove.

Here is a copy of the working budget for the facility department at Delaware Valley School District. Department heads were told to tighten their belts by four percent next year. The bottom line in the facility department for 2011-2012 was $2.78 million and the proposed for 2012-2013 is $2.69 million.
They have budgeted $7,000 for paint; $1,200 for locker repair and $789,000 for
electricity. Attend a budget work session and you will see that department heads
agonize over every line item.
I’m still knee deep in papers. Maybe the desk
will look neater if I put everything in one tall stack later, after
lunch.
Where did I put that biscuit?

A dozen people gathered in front of the American flag in on Broad Street in Milford in observance of the National Day of Prayer. Prayer was
led by the Rev Ben Willis of the First Presbyterian Church in Milford. Prayers were said for government leaders, members of the military and media, people in the workplace, education, church and families.

The Pennsylvania Bar Association presented three Awards to the Pike County Bar  Association during its recent conference of county bar leaders in Lancaster.

Local attorneys  Elizabeth Erickson Kameen and  Kelly Gaughan were in attendance to receive awards for community support, educational programming for lawyers and presentation of a Golden Anniversary Practicing Law Award.

community support

In November the Pike Bar Association gave $20,000 to the United Way of Pike County to help replenish food banks in Pike County.

During the holiday season, the association sponsored its annual Children’s Christmas party and donated gifts for children at the Center for Developmental Disabilities for Children and also provided separate funding for the center in
excess of $15,000.  The Pike County Bar Association is also  involved in other charitable efforts.

Continuing legal education programs

The Pike County Bar Association sponsors legal education programs for local lawyers.  In 2011, the local bar sponsored a full-day continuing legal education presentation with 17 speakers. The majority of the speakers for the fast-paced live program were local judges and lawyers.

Legal practice award

In 2011, the local association also honored Attorney Sanford Beecher’s fiftieth anniversary of practicing law.  Atty. Beecher was presented with Pike County’s first Golden Anniversary Award for consistently demonstrating high ideals of the legal profession.  The Pennsylvania Bar Association  also dedicated a large photographic portrait of Attorney Beecher made by local photographer Tom Duncan to hang on a wall in the courthouse in recognition of Beecher’s lifetime accomplishments.