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State Police Thank
Responders Who
Found Lost Boy
By Chris Jones
SHOHOLA — State police thanked the numerous agencies and volunteers who responded and helped find a Shohola Elementary School student who was missing in the nearby woods for up to five hours on Friday afternoon, Feb. 8.
Police said the response was "swift, organized and professional." It included a state police helicopter and a K-9 tracking team.
The call for a search detail was issued at 2:20 p.m. after the student apparently walked out of the school, didn't return and was unable to be located for more than an hour.
Friday afternoon was sunny with a temperature of 50 degrees, dropping into the 40's by the time the boy was found around 6:15 p.m. near the intersection of Route 6 and Twin Lakes Road and transported back to school, receiving medical attention before being returned to his family.
The following agencies assisted in the search: Milford Police Dept., Pike County Sheriff's Dept., Delaware Valley School District Police Dept., Pike County EMA, Shohola Fire Dept. Dingman Township Fire Dept. and Ambulance, Milford Fire Dept. and Ambulance, DCNR Fire Warden, Lehigh Valley Health Medevac and PA-SERT Eastern Region.
Justice Muir Won't Seek Second Term
HAWLEY — Magisterial District Judge Shannon Muir announced Monday that she will not seek re-election to a second term. Muir's office in Hawley covers the jurisdiction of Blooming Grove, Greene and Palmyra Townships. She was elected to a six-year term in November 2013.
Magisterial District Courts have statutory jurisdiction in the following areas: civil cases for money damages not to exceed $12,000; landlord/tenant complaints for nonpayment of rent and/or eviction; emergency Protection From Abuse proceedings when the Court of Common Pleas is not in session (evenings and weekends.) Also, minor traffic offenses and summary criminal offenses such as disorderly conduct and harassment; preliminary arraignments and preliminary hearings for all adult misdemeanor and felony cases filed. Muir released the following statement: "Six years ago, the voters of Palmyra, Blooming Grove, and Greene Townships put their trust in me to serve as Magisterial District Judge. It has been one of the greatest honors of my life.
"After much discussion with my family, I have decided not to seek re-election. At this time, we believe this is the best decision for our family and for my continued personal and professional growth. I look forward to serving my remaining term of office and then returning to the practice of law. As I look positively towards this next chapter, I want to offer my heart-felt gratitude for allowing me to serve the citizens of Pike County."
Muir's term runs through the end of 2019.
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!
Amended Tax Law Closes
Online Booking Loophole
By Wayne Witkowski
MILFORD — Online booking agencies for overnight establishments in Pennsylvania must now pay a hotel tax under an amendment enacted earlier this year.
Act 109, first signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf on Oct. 24 last year makes online booking agents such as the locally popular AirBnB as well as Home Away, Travelocity and Expedia websites, among others, responsible for paying the 3 percent tax. It went into effect Jan. 22.
The loophole stems from the original Part V of the state Tax Reform Code of 1971 that covered brick and mortar overnight booking sites but obviously did not include online booking services.
The legislation not only includes hotels and motels but bed and breakfast establishments and residences used as short-term rentals.
Without that legal requirement, booking agencies were not held responsible for paying the tax. Some agencies that did collect it diverted the collected tax elsewhere into their budgeted services.
Many agencies that did honor the tax paid it at a reduced rate. Online booking agents routinely purchase rooms at a discounted wholesale rate in order to offer discounts through their sites, so those taxes may be based on the discounted rate.
The new amendment taxes the wholesale rate. It requires booking agents to register with the county treasurer where the overnight destination is located.
It cost the Pocono Mountains, which covers four counties that include Pike, some $385,000 annually in lost revenue over recent years, according to the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau .....For more information pick up a copy at a local vendor or subscribe.
County Unveils New Paper Ballot Voting System
By Chris Jones
MILFORD — Starting with a primary election this May, Pike County voters will break in a new voting system, one that requires them to hand-mark their ballots and then feed them into a scanner.
What seems like a backward step from the previous touch-screen system will actually speed up voting and give voters "comfort" in hand-marking ballots, according to presenters who introduced the system at last week's Pike County Commissioners meeting.
They also said voters would be able to fix voting mistakes such as over-votes and missed lines when the scanner identifies them after the voter has inserted a ballot.
A touch screen will be provided with each scanner for visually impaired voters who can't use the paper ballot.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania mandated the new system because the paper ballots provide a way of auditing the tabulation in the scanner machine. The new machines, one per voting district as opposed to the previous set-up where some districts had multiple machines, cost a total of $206,000, but state aid will cut that in half.
The new system will incur an additional expense, however, for "privacy booths" where the voter stands to mark the ballot with a pen. Under the new system, several voters can be marking ballots simultaneously, and then when they are finished, quickly feed them into the scanner, said John Hastings of Dominion Voting, which manufactures the system. Dominion was also the manufacturer of the previous machines used in Pike County. Hasting said Dominion's scanners are used in 33 states.
"We've had a good history with Dominion," Commissioner Ron Schmalzle said......For more information pick up a copy at a local vendor or subscribe.
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