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Issue 8 — Thursday, September 21, 2017
 
Festival Thrives 2nd
Year In Town

MILFORD — Main stage events at the Milford Readers and Writers Festival were very well attended, and the authors featured there helped pull attendance to other venues featuring local writers.

That was the snapshot of the weekend events delivered by festival board member Bob Levine on Tuesday.

"The events on the Main Stage (in the Milford Theatre) were a great success, and attendance was up from the previous year," Levine said. It's only the second year for the festival, but "Love Letters" in the theatre Friday night and the Saturday afternoon event with Lee Child were virtually sold out.

New this year was the pop-up book tent, where fans could go to buy authors' books and get them signed. Levine said there were "a huge number of locals there," and Milford-based writers also gave readings in the tent, which was pitched behind the Hotel Fauchere.

"Almost all of the local panels were SRO: the Grey Towers conservation panel, the women writers event at the Waterwheel, they were almost hanging off the rafters," Levine said.

These and other free panels drew large audiences, he said. The main stage events were all ticketed.

— Chris Jones

Supervisors Disagree
With Narrowing Of
Broad Street Curve
By Dakota Hendricks

MILFORD — Milford Township decided not to respond to a request from the Milford Borough Council to send a letter of support for the Borough's newest streetscape improvement plan.

The Borough, in conjunction with the Milford Enhancement Committee, has proposed a plan to remove the turning lane on the curve of Broad Street between John and George Street and narrow the street by installing curbs and sidewalks.

The Borough believes the plan will significantly reduce traffic speeding into the town and make that section of road safer. Both Supervisors Gary Williams and Gary Clark strongly disagree with the project. Williams said the project would only cause traffic problems for anyone attempting to turn into the Shell station and slow traffic down unnecessarily.

Supervisor Penney Luhrs was not at the meeting.

The Supervisors moved the discussion of what to do with the Milford Township Building's heating and air conditioning to the next meeting. Chairman Clark said he wanted all members of the Board to be present.

Dollar General requested the Township return their bond to them; however, the Board is not satisfied that Dollar General has fulfilled all the changes laid out in their conditional use approval. The Board will be following up with Dollar General and will withhold the bond until they are satisfied with the property.

The next Board of Supervisors meeting will be on October 2nd.

Another Pedestrian Struck
By Vehicle Making Turn
By Chris Jones

MILFORD — Milford Police Chief Jack DaSilva had some words of warning for both pedestrians and drivers after an accident last month in which a pedestrian got run over in a crosswalk at West Harford and Seventh Streets.

DaSilva said the Aug. 23 accident, in which a 20-year-old Milford woman suffered an ankle injury, was the second serious one he remembers in which a pedestrian in a crosswalk on a main street was hit by a car making a left turn from a side street.
The previous accident occurred at George and Broad Street and resulted in a fatality, DaSilva said.

"Pedestrians need to watch the side street as well as the street they are crossing," DaSilva said.

In the August accident, which happened on a clear day at 11:40 a.m., DaSilva said the pedestrian was walking from the north side of West Harford towards the tire store and the driver was turning left onto West Harford toward the grocery store.

The driver didn't realize she had struck someone until the vehicle, a Chevy Trailblazer, went over the leg of the pedestrian, who had been knocked to the pavement. She suffered an ankle injury and was taken to CMC in Scranton and released the same day, the chief said.

DaSilva said the post between the windshield and the driver's side window can create a blind spot where the pedestrian is, and meanwhile drivers focus on oncoming traffic as they make a turn and don't see the pedestrian.

Although crosswalks in Milford are marked with "yield to pedestrian" signs, they are aimed at drivers on Broad and Harford, not the side streets.

 
 
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Official Paper More Than
Forty Years

MILFORD — Although it has been publishing much, much longer, the Pike County Dispatch has been the newspaper of record for the County of Pike for more than 40 years. That means the Dispatch is the place to go to find out about public meetings, estate notices, bids, public hearings, real estate sales and transactions, and Sheriff sales.

The Pike County Commissioners listed the Dispatch as an official newspaper for legal notices during their opening meeting of 2014, and once again, during their annual reorganization meetings on the first business day of the New Year, most of the other municipalities in Pike County followed suit. So far, Milford and Matamoras Boroughs, and Westfall, Dingman, Delaware, Shohola, Blooming Grove. Milford and Lehman Townships have made it their business to have the Dispatch as an official newspaper.

So make it your business to keep up with all the news in Pike to print, including official business and legal notices from your town.

To find out where to buy your copy of the county’s official newspaper or to subscribe for home mail delivery, click here.

The Voice Of Pike County
Since 1826

The Pike County Dispatch is not only Pike County's largest circulation weekly newspaper, it is also the oldest.

Founded as the Eagle of the North, it has been in continuous operation reporting news and covering local events since 1826. It is, and always has been, the mainstay in keeping the local citizenry informed. Today, subscribers are as far afield as California and Florida

The Dispatch has covered the historic events that have shaped Pike County for almost as long as that history has been in the making.

Over the years, hometown news has shared pages with national and world events, and world events were sometimes right here in Pike County, Pennsylvania.

Its pages carry news of joy and sorrow, homespun advice, births, deaths, marriages, spats, feuds, political controversy, scandals, murders, heists, social affairs, dedications--in short, all the news in Pike to print.

Look for the Pike County Dispatch at local news dealers, and read all about it!

Festival Headliner Charms The Audience
By Chris Jones

MILFORD — If you never read a single line by thriller author Lee Child you might rush out and by one of his novels after hearing him speak last Saturday as headliner at the Milford Readers and Writers Festival.

Child held a full house at the Milford Theatre in the palm of his hand, spinning amusing anecdotes about the writer's life, deftly handling publisher Steve Rubin's probing interview questions and turning them into an entertaining slant on writers and readers from an author who doesn't take himself too seriously, even though he is wildly successful.

This November, Child's 22nd Jack Reacher novel will hit the bookstores and e-readers. Rubin calls the franchise "a billion-dollar brand," and Child succeeds by giving readers what they want: a knight errant without portfolio, permanent residence, job, or wardrobe, just an ever-changing mission to settle scores and move on.

"We need this guy … he's baked into our psyche," Child said of his hero. Jack Reacher "can be anywhere and do anything," and Child keeps him fresh by avoiding predetermined plots and just "closing my eyes and typing."

If that sounds too easy, it's not. Child considers himself a slow writer, "smoking and tearing my hair out" to come up with three pages a day on his book-a-year commitment to his fans.

Asked if he thinks about quitting, he replied, "It's not the point of an entertainer to say no … but I would stop if I felt I was 'phoning it in... for complete story, get this week's issue.

 
DRBC To Revise Regulations
On Fracking In Delaware Basin

WEST TRENTON, N.J. — The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) adopted a resolution on Sept. 13 taking the first step for revising regulations addressing natural gas development within the Delaware River Basin.

The revised draft rules, to be published no later than Nov. 30, will include prohibitions related to the production of natural gas utilizing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing within the Delaware River Basin.

The resolution was approved by a vote of three in favor (Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania), one opposed (federal government), with New Jersey abstaining. It initiates a new phase in the rulemaking process.

"A ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin is a tremendous step in the right direction, on an issue that we've been battling for years. We commend Governor Cuomo and the other Commissioners who voted in favor of this resolution.

"New York State banned high volume fracking because of the overwhelming scientific evidence of its threats – especially those to public health. And we support the governors' votes, which we see as the only course to protect our water, air, health and communities," said Wes Gillingham, Associate Director, Catskill Mountainkeeper.

"Now we need to take the ban to its logical end: also protecting the Basin from fracking water withdrawals, waste storage, and gas storage," he said.

As directed by the approved resolution, The revised draft regulations will also include provisions to ensure the safe and protective storage, treatment, disposal or discharge of hydraulic fracturing-related wastewater where permitted and provide for the regulation of inter-basin transfers of water and wastewater for purposes of natural gas development where permitted.

The procedural resolution and an updated set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), along with additional background information, can be viewed at www.nj.gov/drbc/programs/natural/.

Following publication of the revised draft regulations, the public input process will include one or more hearings and ample opportunity for written comments. The commission will undertake no action on the revised draft rules until the public comment process is completed. The commissioners will consider changes to the revised draft regulations that may be appropriate based on the comments received.

Details about the public hearing(s) and instructions for submitting written comments will be included in the notice of proposed rulemaking. Interested persons are invited to regularly check the commission's web site at www.drbc.net and follow DRBC on Twitter (@DRBC1961) for information as it becomes available.

Written or oral comments received before the draft rules are published and the comment period officially opens will not be included in the rulemaking record.

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