Salisbury Township Commissioners next week will hear Lehigh County's proposal to add a detox center next to its residential treatment center for prisoners at 1600 Riverside Drive in Salisbury.

The Salisbury center would offer seven detoxification beds for addicts, with a typical stay of three to seven days, according to a proposal submitted to the township. It also would have 24 beds for rehab clients, who normally stay for 28 to 42 days.

The proposal is the latest attempt to provide detox services that haven't been available in Lehigh County since St. Luke's Hospital closed its operation in 1996. Clients would come from referrals or walk-ins.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24, at the municipal building, 2900 South Pike Avenue.

This from Allentown spokesman Mike Moore:

Allentown residents interested in improving communication and increasing public safety in their neighborhoods are invited to the kick-off announcement of the Allentown Neighborhood Resident Leader training March 7 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Hospital Conference Center.

Light refreshments will be provided.

During training sessions that will take place in April, participants will learn how to communicate and work with their neighbors, how to work with city/county government and other necessary resources, how to have a block you’re proud of and how to be an empowered and dynamic leader.

The session is open to residents interested in coordinating neighborhood activities for the first time and to current leaders who want to rejuvenate neighborhood activities.

The Neighborhood Resident Leaders program helps residents to connect with each other and with the city.  “The City of Allentown is better when we all work together,” Mayor Ed Pawlowski said.

The sessions will provide 12 hours of training during four sessions: April 5, 12, and 19 and 30. All sessions will be held at Sacred Heart Hospital Conference Center. For more information, e-mail Alexander@allentowncity.org or call 610-437-7679.

The last day to register for the kick-off event is March 4.

Starting next fall, Parkland freshmen who want to continue studying drums, trumpets and other instruments in band classes will need to commit to performing outside of the classroom as well -- at football games, parades and other events.

The mandate, which is set to begin with incoming freshmen in 2011-12,has some middle school parents asking to district to reconsider putting the "marching" into "marching band."

Parents say it's an added outside commitment for already busy kids and it could affect their course scheduling. Parkland administrators promise to consider each student on a case-by-case, giving them priority on the classes they'd like to schedule.

The school says its a change that's necessary to bump up the flagging number in the marching band, which numbered 40 musicians last year.

Do you think the young musicians at Parkland should have to join the marching band?

So you somehow managed to screw up Valentine's Day. Here's your shot to redeem yourself.

Williams Township is hosting a Valentine dance at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Station #1 Firehouse, 2500 Morgan Hill Road. The cost is $25 for a couple and $15 if you're single and still trying to find your true love.

Music will be provided by D.J. John Harvey, and the event is BYOB.

For ticket information contact Darlene at 610-559-8693.

Macungie Borough Council will likely discuss the status of Manager Chris Boehm at its next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 22. [The board is meeting Tuesday because Monday is a holiday.]

Council met in private Tuesday night with Boehm to discuss her job performance. The state Sunshine Law allows, but does not require government agencies to hold executive sessions to discuss personnel issues.

Boehm today declined to comment on the meeting, saying council would make a statement Tuesday night.

Boehm's future with the borough has been uncertain for months. Some council members have raised concerns about her job performance. At the board's most recent meeting, a majority of council members shot down a proposal to keep Boehm on staff for at least another year.

Word that some on council have been considering replacing Boehm prompted a number of residents and business owners to write to the borough and speak out at public meetings in support of Boehm. Others have said they've experienced unfair treatment by Boehm.

Council meets at the Macungie Institute auditorium, 510 E. Main St., Macungie.

(Photo by Douglas Kilpatrick) 

Following last week's explosion at 13th and Allen streets that killed five people, we initially had trouble finding people who knew the victims at 542 N. 13th St.: Ofelia Ben, 69, her granddaughter Katherine Cruz, 16, and her 4-month-old son Matthew Vega.  

On Monday night, during a memorial service, I spoke with Steven Vega, Katherine's boyfriend and Matthew's dad, and Matthew's grandma Ivette Vega. There wasn't enough room to get their story in today's paper but I'm going to share it now.

The horror began when Katherine's line disconnected in the middle of a phone conversation with Steven. It was around 10:45 p.m. on Feb. 9, or the moment the blast occurred:

The East Penn School Board has announced changes to the school calendar to make up for days lost to the winter weather. The extra days mean that June 20 is now the last day of school.

Following is a list of the recent snow days, along with the corresponding makeup day next to them:

January 18 -- June 16

January 21 -- June 17

January 27  - June 20

February 1 -- March 11

February 2 -- April 21

If the district is forced to cancel school in the coming weeks because of inclement weather, it plans to make up days on April 25, June 21, June 22 and June 23.

(photo by Kevin Mingora)

This from Mike Moore, spokesman for the city:

The Allentown Health Bureau has a limited amount of Shingles vaccine that is available to residents of Allentown age 60 years or older who have never been previously vaccinated against shingles. To obtain this vaccine, please call the Allentown Health Bureau at 610-437-7754 to schedule an appointment. This vaccine was purchased through grant funding and is limited to individuals that meet the above criteria.

This from Sam Martinez, youth coordinator for Allentown's Weed and Seed program:

We have a huge family fun night event Feb. 24 at South Mountain Middle School. Families can enjoy a great night of fun, entertainment and get community resources from after school programs and parenting classes. We will have over 20 community agencies represented that night.

For more information, check out the event's flyer here.

Officials at the East Penn School District have made quite clear the fact that this year's budget season is going to be a tough one.

A confidential district memo [it's no longer confidential because it's been circulating in the community] outlines no tax increase scenarios that would include a variety of cuts, including layoffs, a sports team and extracurricular activities.

School Board president Charles Ballard has said there is no specific intent to implement any of those cuts.

But as the school board makes its way through the budget process, the district is looking for ideas for the public on potential cost-cutting measures. East Penn recently posted a survey on its Web site asking for suggestions. You can respond here. The district also is asking for suggestions on how to increase its revenue stream.

Last month, the school board voted against limiting the property tax hike in 2011-12 to the state-imposed 1.4 percent cap. The board is expected to further discuss the preliminary budget at its 7:30 p.m. meeting on Monday, Feb. 14.

The East Penn School District will be holding kindergarten registration for the 2011-2012 school year later this month.

Children enrolled for the upcoming school year must be 5 years old on or before Sept. 12, 2011.

Following are registration dates for the district's elementary schools:

Shoemaker: Feb. 28.

Wescosville and Lincoln: March 1.

Macungie and Jefferson: March 2.

Willow Lane: March 3.

Alburtis: March 4.

The district asks that parents have a completed registration packet and appropriate documentation on registration day. Also, parents are urged to bring their future kindergarten student along because the schools will be doing vision and speech/language screening.

Those who have not received registration packets in the mail, can get the information on the district's Web site. The site also has links to each of the elementary schools.

For additional information, call the office of the Assistant to the Superintendent at 610-966-8321.

(Photo by Emily Robson)

It's pretty rare that taxpayers go to the lengths of praising municipal workers for a job well done.

So we thought it was worth noting that the public works department in Lower Macungie was on the receiving end of a "good job" comment recently.

Ann Friedenheim, a Lower Macungie resident, at a recent public meeting described the township's snow plowers as "incredibly efficient" and "right on it."

"I think they've done a tremendous job," said Commissioner Roger Reis. "I think they've been taxed quite heavily by this weather."

(photo by Jane Therese)

Lower Macungie Township has rescheduled a meeting on the possible closure of the Orchard Road railroad crossing. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 at the Hills at Lockridge Community Center, which is located on Scenic View Road between Gehman and Orchard roads.

The previously scheduled meeting was postponed because of a snow storm.   

The second marking period has ended -- finally.

It seemed like a long time for students and teachers because the snow days pushed back report card distribution in a number of schools.

But now reports cards have gone out and honor rolls are rolling in to The Morning Call. We are using the internet -- again -- to publish the names of those students who deserve recognition for their outstanding dedication to their books.

Here's to the Honor Roll at Notre Dame High School.

Download Notre Dame Honor_Roll_2nd_Q_10-11

Police regionalization was again the hot topic at Nazareth Borough's council meeting Monday, with plenty of potshots to get the action going.

First off, councilman Jack Herbst successfully passed his motion to block the purchase of a new Crown Victoria police cruiser. If we're going to be abolishing the police force anyways, he reasoned, why are we making an investment in it?

Police committee chairman Larry Stoudt, who voted against the measure with fellow members Thomas Heckman, William Matz and Frank Maurek, begged to differ, saying the borough will be left in the lurch if one of the cruisers breaks down.

"This was approved as a budget item, and even if we go regional, you’re lucky if you know anything about going regional till the end of this year," he said, dropping the microphone on the table in frustration. (Frequent council-goers will note that's kind of his thing.)

Conversation then moved into a wandering debate on whether or not council should authorize the highway department to shovel sidewalks and charge negligent homeowners for the work. At one point, council considered passing a resolution essentially instructing borough workers to... well, do their job.

It got to the point that motion sponsor Maurek threw up his hands and said, "All I’m going to say is that I’m sorry I brought this up." (More on that later.)

Finally, Mayor Fred Daughtry took the stage in a suit jacket and jeans, carefully laying out his (still vague) vision for a regional police department. He again alluded to the fact that the days of the borough beat cop are over, that Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney aren't coming back to Mayberry.

(Interestingly enough, The Andy Griffith Show is actually an example of a regional police department at work. Although he spend most of his time in Mayberry, N.C., the fictional Andy Taylor was  the sheriff of Mayberry County, and therefore a member of the very kind of police force Daughtry is proposing to form. Thanks to an astute Morning Call reader for pointing this out.)

One of the mayor's big statements was that politicians shouldn't be managing the police force. Inexperienced councilmen have no business playing police commissioner, he said. Charles Donello took offense — who's to say, he asked, that a council of 9 people can't figure out how to run a lowly police department?

Mayor Daughtry got a little heated in his reply.

"You can’t even sit here and decide how you want to remove snow from the sidewalk – and you want to run a police department?"

Wow. Want some more salt for that wound?

Daughtry's going to talk to more people and get back to council with options. Stay tuned. 

Macungie council on Monday night voted to ratify a new three-year police contract.

The terms of the deal have not yet been released. If and when the union signs off on the deal, we'll get the details out as soon as we get a copy of the contract. It's not known when the union will vote on it.

The union and council previously confirmed they had reached a tentative deal, a move that allowed them to avoid costly arbitration. The Macungie Borough Police Officers Association's previous three-year contract expired at the end of 2010.

The department has four full-time officers and four part-timers.

In 2010, Sgt. Travis Kocher and Cpl. Michael Mullen were paid $53,851 and $52,707, respectively, according to borough figures. Patrol officers received salaries of $50,440.

Of course, the contract talks came at a time when the police department also was in the middle of an ongoing dispute with Mayor Rick Hoffman over his access, or lack thereof, to the department and its records.

On Monday night, Council President Guy Ramsey asked Mayor Rick Hoffman to drop his lawsuit against the borough and police department to spare the borough mounting legal costs.

Hoffman said he would consider the move, provided council allows him to do his job.

(Macungie logo from borough's Web site.)

The Bethlehem Area School Board plans to reopen a vote on whether to grant developers a special tax district to help them build a residential community at Martin Tower property. See the link to the story and then take our poll.

The East Penn School District will host a discussion on public health issues affecting children from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24, at Willow Lane Elementary School, 6135 Sauerkraut Lane, Lower Macungie.

Dr. Sarah Stevens, who is board certified in internal medicine and adolescent medicine, will provide information on how to help children stay healthy.

The school district says Stevens is an advocate for a comprehensive, home/school/community approach to child and adolescent health.

Northampton County’s bank returned $18,700 stolen in a fraudulent check cashing scheme, as Easton Police continue to investigate the matter.

A county accountant discovered there was more money going out than coming in after reconciling a bail account statement that arrived in mid-January, said Controller Steve Barron.

Barron said timely checking of bank statements was among the internal controls he put in place after a former chief deputy clerk in the criminal division embezzled more than $100,000 from the county from 2003 to 2005. Before that, he said, the statements could languish.

Barron said the county’s bank, Lafayette Ambassador, might not have returned the money before the conclusion of the criminal investigation if the county accountant Brandon Dunstane didn’t catch the fake checks when he did.

Barron, who’s running for re-election this year, made the announcement in a press release Monday morning.

Last week produced an unusual series of emergencies on Allentown’s Tilghman Street.

* Near Eighth Street and Tilghman on Monday, Jan. 31, a Little John’s Pizza delivery man was robbed by three men who threatened him with a knife. The robbers took $150. No one was hurt.

* At 18th Street and Tilghman on Thursday, Feb. 3, three masked men, at least two with handguns, robbed the TD Bank. They took cash, but again, no one was hurt.

* At Ninth Street and Tilghman on Feb. 3, a fire gutted a second-story bedroom and caused enough damage to displace 13 people in two rowhouses. No one was hurt, but fire marshals still are investigating how that blaze began.

* At 39th Street and Tilghman on Friday, Feb. 4, a fire was reported at the Wegmans store. It turned out to be more flash than flame. A pizza department refrigerator door short-circuited.

* At 14th Street and Tilghman on Feb. 4, a fight broke out at the McDonald’s restaurant. On teen suffered a broken nose. One was slashed with a plastic knife.

And this list does not include the Feb. 2 Upper Macungie Township accident at Route 100 and Tilghman Street, which closed a section of Tilghman for several hours.

Tilghman Street doesn’t often see that many police and fire stories in a full month. Sometimes news just happens in bunches.

Frank Warner

The format for the recreation board's funding has been a hot topic in Forks Township. What do you think about it?

The Department of Environmental Protection will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. March 1 in the auditorium of Wilson Area High School to accept comments on an application for expansion at the Chrin Brothers Sanitary Landfill in Williams Township.

The major permit modification application requests an expansion of 4.3 acres, according to a press release from DEP. 

According to the release:

The additional property proposed to be added to the permit boundary would be used as the new facility entrance and includes the scalehouse, scales, office, and would continue to be used for site support activities. Additionally, an existing leachate storage tank would be relocated to the proposed permit boundary expansion area. The proposed expansion does not include a change in the permitted disposal capacity, disposal acreage, or waste acceptance rates.

The department requests that individuals wishing to testify at the hearing submit a written notice of intent to Mark Carmon, Community Relations Coordinator, Chrin Landfill Public Hearing, PA DEP, 2 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701-1915, or by e-mail at mcarmon@state.pa.us.

The department will accept notices up to the day of the hearing. The written notice should include the person’s name, address, telephone number and a brief statement as to the nature of their presentation. Individuals are asked to limit their testimony to 10 minutes so that all individuals have the opportunity to testify.

In case of inclement weather, the hearing will be held Thursday, March 3, at the same time and location.

The East Penn School District is hosting its first Real Estate Seminar at 9:30 a.m. on February 17 at the administration offices, 800 Pine St., Emmaus.

The district says it will discuss how to "enhance the district in a mutually positive manner." School officials are encourage people who attend to share their thoughts about the real estate market and how it is affecting the district.

Also to be discussed are the district's annual report and navigating the district's Web site.

People planning to attend should contact Nicole Bloise at 610-966-8335 by Feb. 15.

Community gardens are a lovely thing to people eager to grow their own fruits, veggies and flowers but have nowhere to do it.

Looks like folks in the Lehigh Valley will soon have another option, thanks to a $7,500 grant the Community Action Committee is offering to a group(s) interested in building a community garden.

The grant comes via Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods, and will be given to a nonprofit group that either owns or controls a good location to start one.

The deadline to apply for consideration is March 25, and the money will be awarded in May. For full application details, read on.

Photo: South Whitehall Township community garden
Source: Lehigh County Extension Office

Did the snow and ice derail your plans for a night out in Bethlehem during restaurant week?

You have a second chance.

Twenty-two of the restaurants have extended their fixed price deals to Feb. 10. Breakfast price points are $5 and $10; lunch is $5, $10 and $15; and dinner $10, $20 and $30.

You'll also have the chance to enter to win gift certificates ever time you dine. The Parking Authority has offered free parking at the North and Walnut Street garages and tokens for meters on the South Side.

Here's a list of the participating restaurants: Apollo Grill, The Melting Pot, Thai Kitchen, The Tap Room, Jumbars, Confetti Café, Oilo Ristorante, Alando, Starters Riverport, Starfish Brasserie, Hello Burrito, Petra Mediterranean, Bethlehem Brew Works, 1741 on the Terrace, Tika’s Restaurant & Lounge, Cactus Blue Mexican Restaurant, Blue Grillhouse & Winebar, Mama Nina’s Foccacheria, Sotto Santi Pizzeria, Looper’s Grille & Bar, Molly’s Irish Grille & Sports Pub and McCarthy’s Tea Room.