Have Your Say on County Hazard Plan

The Hazard Mitigation Plan is a living document communities—including Palmer and Forks Townships—use to reduce their vulnerability to hazards.

If you think there is room for improvement in the way Northampton County and individual municipalities handle hazards—like Hurricane Sandy—you have until April 8 to voice your opinion on the Bi-County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan. The Hazard Mitigation Plan is a living document communities like Palmer and Forks Townships use to reduce their vulnerability to hazards, like extreme temperatures, hailstorms, windstorms, building collapses, terrorism, nuclear incidents and more. Northampton County Emergency Management Services and the Lehigh County Emergency Management Agency are asking for public input as they finalize an update to the plan. According to a Northampton County press release: "Hazard Mitigation Plans form the …

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Palmer Bike Path Work Progresses

Palmer Township officials hope to have bike path opened by mid-May.

Work on Palmer Township's bike path is progressing. Palmer Township officials say they are targeting a mid-May opening for the bike path. Public Services Director Tom Adams said that paving, top soil and grass seed work is being done by the public works department and more will be done once the ground thaws. He also stated at the recent Board of Supervisors meeting that a contractor is clearing a bike path section that endured the wrath of Hurricane Sandy in late October, causing major tree damage along the Lehigh River. "We're making progress on the Lehigh River bike path," Adams said. Township Manager Christopher Christman said that the bike path remains closed until further notice. Adams said the goal is to have the bike path open …

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Palmer Donates Fire Equipment for Hurricane Sandy Relief

Palmer Township supervisors approve a motion to donate equipment to help fire departments that suffered during Hurricane Sandy.

It came without fanfare. And it took only a few minutes. But at a recent meeting, the Palmer Township Board of Supervisors made a nice gesture to help out Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The board approved a motion to donate surplus fire equipment to fire departments that suffered during Hurricane Sandy. "It's a great thing to do," Supervisor Bob Lammi stated before the motion was approved. The donation calls for surplus fire equipment such as old hoses and nozzles and chain saws. "We were looking to donate to a group helping out the New York and New Jersey fire departments who lost stuff from Hurricane Sandy," Supervisors Chairman Dave Colver said. "We certainly wanted to help communities impacted by Sandy," Colver said. "It's a small …

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Palmer Bike Path Closed Until Further Notice

Palmer Township officials hope to get section of bike path along Lehigh River open for spring use.

Palmer Township's bike path isn't open yet after all. While Dave Carr, who heads Palmer Township's beautification committee, reported that it's now clear sailing -- or biking -- from Fairview Park to Riverview Park, township officials disagree. Township Manager Christopher Christman said Friday that the bike path remains closed until further notice. A section of the bike path endured the wrath of Hurricane Sandy in late October, causing major tree damage along the Lehigh River. Public Services Director Tom Adams said in an email Friday that "because of safety concerns, the Lehigh Bike Path in Palmer Township has been and will remain closed until further notice." Adams said it was announced at the November Board of Supervisors meeting that …

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Palmer Bike Path Clear of Hurricane Sandy Debris

Palmer Township Beautification Committee reports that bike path along Lehigh River now open after being closed for four months.

For four months, a section of Palmer Township's bike path had endured the wrath of Hurricane Sandy. When Sandy hit in late October, major tree damage was caused along the Lehigh River. That section of the bike path was closed until all the trees were removed. It's now open. Dave Carr, who heads Palmer Township's beautification committee, has reported that it's now clear sailing -- or biking -- from Fairview Park to Riverview Park. The storm swept through Palmer Township, causing major flooding and uprooting trees throughout the township. Some people and businesses were without power for a week and some places like the Palmer Park Mall and Palmer Township's municipal building were without power for days. The storm also prompted Palmer …

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Supervisors Notebook

Hurricane Sandy Cleanup Discussed in Palmer

Palmer Township Public Safety Director meeting with FEMA representative about Hurricane Sandy.

Sewer engineering services and Hurricane Sandy topped the short Palmer Township Board of Supervisors meeting Monday. In basically a meeting to clear some housekeeping items, the Palmer supervisors first resolved some issues that will allow Gannett Fleming to continue providing sewer engineering services for 2013. Last year, the township dissolved its sewer authority. But Gannett Fleming will be kept on to complete projects after the firm agreed to some liability language changes in their agreement which had come up about three weeks ago. In other business: In departmental reports:

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Forks Township Woman Helps Hurricane Sandy Victims.

Forks Township woman sends supplies to New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy's wrath.

Forks Township and Palmer Township -- like most places in the Lehigh Valley -- were battered by Hurricane Sandy. But no place took the brunt of the storm worse than New Jersey, specifically the Jersey Shore. A Forks Township woman, though, has helped seven families get back on their feet by collecting and donating supplies, according to the Easton Express-Times. Rhonda Honor-Deloge says that hearing personal stories of those whose homes were ravaged got her in gear, the story states. Anyone interested in helping Rhonda Honor-Deloge's cause should contact her at  rdeloge1225@gmail.com.

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Sandy Victim Gets $37.74 in Insurance for Destroyed Home

Woodbridge homeowner Jason Crea's house was totaled in Hurricane Sandy. He took out his anger on a $37.74 check from his insurance company in a sign letting the world know his plight.

NORTHERN JERSEY -- Drive down Watson Avenue in Woodbridge, and you'll notice an odor. It's a musty, moldy smell that permeates a street that some say was the hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy's storm surge back in October. On a sunny day in January, you hear the sound of workers roofing a house denuded by the hurricane, or chucking out yet more storm-damaged possessions. Every other house, it seems, has a neon-orange tag noting the building is unsafe to enter. Even among all this leftover misery, Jason Crea's Watson Avenue home stands out. Not just because it's the hardest hit home on the hardest hit street in Woodbridge. Or because the basement walls on both sides of the steps were blown out by the storm surge. It's the big sign that Crea …

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$60 Billion In Sandy Recovery Aid Shelved by Congress

Frank Lautenberg, Chris Smith and other New Jersey-area congressman rip Congressional leadership for failing to pass the bill

Officials from New Jersey and other state hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy blasted Congressional Republicans on Wednesday for not passing a bill that would fund $60 billion toward recovery efforts. Since the outrage, a vote is now expected to come as early as Friday. See Patch photos of Ocean City, N.J. after the storm Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg said in a press release that the move denies aid to "families, communities and businesses that were devastated by one of the worst storms to ever hit the United States. “Denying emergency aid to Superstorm Sandy victims is a new low for House Republicans,” Lautenberg said. Lautenberg said Congress should put partisan politics aside, as it does for other disaster recovery efforts, and "extend a…

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2012 Year in Review: National News

We begin a Year in Review segment highlighting the top news of 2012.

It was quite a year on the national news front. In late November, everyone raced for tickets as the Powerball lottery hit its highest figure ever -- $550 million. That came after another national lottery earlier in November: the presidential election. President Barack Obama won a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney. But there might have been little chance of seeing Obama start his next four years when talk turned to the Mayan calendar calling for the end of the world on Dec. 21. Well, we're still hearing and writing about it. NASA even offered an explanation as to why the world didn't end. Unfortunately, though, we weren't able to avoid catastrophe. The first came in the wake of a storm as Hurricane Sandy pounded the …

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