The alert came over my iPhone as I was picking up my son from Shawnee Elementary School Thursday afternoon. Sinkholes had developed in Palmer Township following a water main break along Northwood Avenue. I wasn't expecting breaking news and had no press pass or notebook. So I grabbed my son and told him we were going for a ride. Heading over the bridge over Bushkill Creek, we went for the intersection where Northwood crosses Tatamy Road. It's always a busy intersection facing Northwood. Turn left and you head to the Palmer Park Mall. Go right and you're on your way to Tatamy. Head straight …

This March, there really has been madness when it comes to some major incidents in Palmer and Forks Townships. Especially Fridays. For two straight weeks, the police and fire departments of Forks and Palmer Townships have been working in overdrive handling crime scenes. Last Friday, the Palmer and Forks police departments were involved in busting up a major marijuana distribution operation from a Forks home. Later that day, Palmer police were involved in pressing charges against a resident involved in allegedly trying to coax a young girl to send him naked pictures on Facebook. And this …

So there I was after a long day Tuesday getting snuggled up under the blankets in bed watching a movie. It was around 7:15 p.m. and dinner was finished and I was watching "A Few Good Men" for the zillionth time. Then I heard them. Out in the distance, I could hear sirens. And my first thoughts were, "Oh, no..." A little more than a week earlier I was covering the Forks Township Board of Supervisors meeting when I heard the alarms. Since the agenda was lengthy, I was kind of hoping it wasn't anything major, but then the alarms kept coming. Then I got an alert about a house fire. So I bolted. I…

It's one of my favorite aspects of the job: covering my township governments. Palmer and Forks townships both have a Board of Supervisors and both have some great people who serve as township officials in various roles. Going to the meetings has become like seeing family, and I get to do it often enough. In Palmer, the supervisors meet the first and second Monday of each month and the fourth Tuesday. In Forks, the board holds a work session the first Tuesday of the month with the regular meeting on the third Thursday. And even though I get the agendas, you never know just what is going to …

It seems these days like children in the Easton Area School District don't go to school that much. Well, at least it seems that way. On Friday, students had another in-service day—for the second straight Friday—and another off-day comes with the Presidents Day holiday Monday. Then throw in a two-hour delayed opening and the school week comes up rather short. Throw in some sick days of late since the new year started for my son...and it all adds up. Yeah, we all know that children are required by state law to go to school 180 days a year and EASD students may have to make up some days at the …

Are you singing the blues? Those "I'm Way Too Cold, I Hate the Winter, It's too Dark Too Early" Blues. I never get excited about the start of a new year. Once the ball drops in Times Square to launch Jan. 1, you'll find me heading for the covers, hoping to hibernate until the sun shines brightly sometime in the spring. This year, I clocked into bed at 12:09 a.m. Why celebrate another new year? It's another year of being older, of watching time slip away too quickly, especially the older you get. And what are you actually celebrating anyway? It's going to be a good month or two of freezing …

School officials have a tough task at hand these days: ensuring our children's safety. With the fatal school shootings in Newtown, Ct., over a month ago, the news of that bloodshed is still on the minds of most parents. And any incidents at a school these days can send parents into a frenzy. After all, we want our children out of harm's way. The recent bomb scare at Easton Area Middle School early last week is a perfect example. School officials, as the middle school principal told the Easton Area School Board at a meeting last week, followed procedures by the book. But that book did not have…

They don't make winters like they used to. Back in the day, say the mid-to-late 1970s, snowstorms used to not just hit a region, but pound it into submission, shutting down everything for days on end. I remember growing up in Morris County, N.J., and hearing that snow was on the way. You knew that there'd be no school, but also basically no life in general for a little while. That could be rough since I had a paper route and had to battle the elements. These were real snowstorms, not just a few inches or so. Januarys and Februarys were brutal. Those storms would leave a foot of snow on the …

You see the commercials as soon as Christmas is over and the new year kicks in. They're right up there with any advertisement talking about taxes. We're not just talking about the common cold; we're talking about flu season. And this one apparently is off to one of the worst starts ever for this dreaded illness that seems to haunt everyone once January arrives. On Thursday night, the flu led off one evening newscast. Health officials certainly put the scare in everybody, saying that influenza is storming the states, sending people off running to the doctor or out to the pharmacy. It seems …

We used to watch for him. As children, we'd look out our windows up into the northern sky on Christmas Eve and seek out Santa Claus and his sleigh. Back in those days, the 1970s, there were no Santa trackers on the Internet. (There was also no Internet and smart phones or much technology.) We did things the old-fashioned way back then, putting out a plate of cookies and milk for Saint Nick, listening to old records as Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis and the Carpenters filled our hearts and minds with holiday cheer. Hopefully, by that point of the season, we may have already sat on …

It's really the Day the Music Died. Saturday, Dec. 8, marked the 32nd anniversary of when John Lennon was killed in New York City. If you were too young to experience the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., then you remember this date. Like the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, these two dates back-to-back make us pause around the holiday season to recall such tragedies. What was truly tragic was that Lennon was just returning to the music business after a five-year retirement to raise his young son. He had just delivered -- with wife Yoko Ono -- …

This is truly the most wonderful time of the year. As it should be. December's arrival brings with it Hanukkah and Christmas and possibly lots of snow. And as we all battle crowds around stores and malls and honk horns at other motorists who may take our parking spots, we need to remember that this time -- of any throughout the whole year -- is when we should muster up all the warmth and kindness we can possibly show one another. This is when mankind -- and womenkind -- should be on its best behavior. We should give cheery "Ho, Ho, Ho's" like Santa Claus and slap each other on the back. We …

The turkey had been eaten. The football had been watched. And the advertisements had been read. All that awaited me on Thanksgiving was waking up the next morning and starting my traditional holiday shopping on Black Friday. Except that Thursday night seemed like a perfect opportunity. So much for tradition. It was around 9 p.m. when my son Joshua and I decided to brave the elements and see what brave new world was out among this sea of new shoppers who were turning Black Friday into Black Thursday night. We were thinking about heading to the Palmer Park Mall when it opened at midnight, but I…

The complaints are numerous. Parents in the Easton Area School District are wondering why their children aren't in school so much these days. They complain about it at parent pickup. They moan about it on Facebook. And they express unhappiness about trying to find childcare for half-days and off days because they are working full-time jobs. One parent even told me that when you count up the days, children will only be in elementary schools -- at least in Shawnee Elementary School where my son attends -- for nine full days during November. OK, I count 10. But still. Are children spending …

Christmas in July? It's becoming quite possible. Every year it seems, retailers set up for the Christmas holiday shopping season a little earlier. One day, you're soaking up the last few rays of sun at the beach or Jersey Shore on Labor Day weekend and the next day it's Christmas. It's like we can't even enjoy the change in seasons anymore or other holidays that get overshadowed by the retail machine. With this economy, it should be no surprise to anyone. Retailers want to reap in the green during the fourth quarter of the year, knowing that January and February -- the worst economic times of…

Imagine a world without power? After many of us were left in the dark from Hurricane Sandy, pondering that possibility is actually quite realistic. For almost a week, many people in Forks and Palmer townships, elsewhere in the Lehigh Valley and along the East Coast have been waiting for the lights to go on again after they went out when Hurricane Sandy ripped through the region. For some of us, the power outage was only minor -- maybe a day or so. But others are still without electricity and they might not get it back for a week after Sandy's arrival. It should be obvious to all of us that we…

Hurricane David. It was probably the first hurricane I remember. As Hurricane Sandy hits the Lehigh Valley, I decided to write about hurricanes past. The first I really remember was Hurricane David. Probably around 1979-1980. I had just started middle school in Morris County, N.J., and the storm hit us at night. Back then, you never got these major bulletins about a storm's arrival and there was no Internet. I was sleeping when I heard this crash and looked at a live fiery wire that was bursting outside my bedroom window. Well, I bolted from the room. The storm had hit some big trees in front…

It's wonderful living in my patch of Forks Township. As I look out my back window when heavy rains fall, I watch the water flood immediately, wondering if it will find my way into the basement. Usually it builds up and then flows down the street, transforming into a massive river that collides with the overflowing Bushkill Creek and floods out the corner of Zucksville Road and Bushkill Drive. It's the No. 1 flood zone for Forks and the road closure is a pain in the neck since it cuts off our main passage to Palmer and Lower Nazareth townships, where our retail life exists. So here I am on …

They are elected as our representatives. They are given a position of power to represent the residents of a town or district, state or country. They are put in place to make decisions that should be in the best interests of the constituents. And they also have to take shots of criticism, sometimes sucking up their pride and not responding or reacting. Go to any municipal meeting in Palmer and Forks townships and wait for the public comment portion of the meeting. Often, township officials will face the ire of frustrated residents who are unhappy with their lot in life, what their neighbors …

There was a song back in the mid-'80s that was pretty catchy. It was one of those one-hit wonders and sung by a group called Timbuk 3. "The Future is So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades." Catchy tune and certainly one that you could sing in Forks Township. The future of Forks Township is a big topic these days throughout town. Seems like everyone is discussing it in some fashion. So what's the future for the "Cottage in the Woods?" What should be done with the building next door? What will happen to the Braden Airport? What's going into the Park Plaza at Sullivan Trail? The Business and Commerce …