Wayne Independent (Newspaper) - December 12, 2006, Honesdale, Pennsylvania September Advertising 2533055 Classifieds 2536666 Wayne Countys Only Daily Newspaper News Desk 2533055 Circulation 2533055 Volume Number 237 December 2006 50 cents Newsstand Established 1878 Contributed photo ORNAMENT HUNT 16Honesdales 12th Annual Ornament Hunt will take place on December at 10 in Central Children are shown waiting with anticipation for the ornament hunt to begin at a past State Representative Peifer On The Job In 139th District By PETER BECKER Managing Editor HONESDALE It still says Birmelin on the parking stall pavement outside and new letterhead hasnt arrived but the new face of the 139th District for the State House is in Hes Michael Thomas newly elected representative for the people living in this He is continuing office space in the same location in Honesdale as Jerry who retired November 30th after 22 years as State Peifer shared how the transition is going and what he sees as top priorities for the year Although he and other State legislators wont be sworn in until January in the newly elect ed legislators assumed office December allowing a tran The new fresh man class of law makers are riow looking for or setting up offices in Many are still scrambling to find Ornament Hunt This Saturday HONESDALE 12th Annual Ornament Hunt will take place on December at 10 in Central This popular holiday sponsored by the Greater Honesdale Partnership GHP as part of its Honesdale for the will offer young children the chance to search for orna ments for a chance to win a Children will be divided into three age groups Kindergarten and younger first and second graders and third and fourth Prizes for the hunt are gener donated by greater Honesdale area This years chairpersons are Karen CEO of Apple Day Spa and Gail Executive For more information on the ornament please contact Gail Tucker at Mayor Warns Starrucca fine Over Creek By DIANE Independent staff writer STARRUCCA Mayor Jack Downton informed Starrucca Council members during their December 6th meeting that he had been speaking with a representative from the Department of Environmental Protection regarding the borough being in violation for not removing debris from Creek within a specified time I spoke to Chris Kulick from said at this time that Starrucca Borough is still in violation and is due for a fine for not removing the out of the Mayor Downton said Kulick also stated as soon as the is removed from the he would inspect the creek situation again and pull the violation if all was according to Mayor the only reason the borough has not yet received a fine is because DEP has been very When Mayor Downton inquired how soon the debris wiU be removed so that the bor ough could avoid paying a Daryl emergency liaison for the borough said the last he the matter was in the hands of the Daryl found it odd that DEP has not sent a letter to the bor ough secretary or solicitor for Mayor Downton asked council whether they planned on having the debris removed or pay a Daryl suggested contacting the bor ough Ronald Mayor Downton said it time council stop hiding behind their attorney DEP is doing their its time for this borough to do their council needs to get off of their fat heads and get these jobs done and get that creek job Youre council out of money youve spent X amount of money on the Quit playing with these attorneys and get the job done that needs to be If it were your own personal busi ness you would deal with you wouldnt have your attor ney playing this The meeting continued on with other topics including the proposed 2007 President Kirk Rhone request ed a motion to accept the budg Councilman Lou Gurske felt the budget should be thrown out because he felt it showed Rhone said he was comfortable with the budget as Local cit Robert Weldy asked if the legal protocol was to have public discussion on the budget before voting for acceptance or Discussion was held between council and citizens on various mistakes found in the budget including the change of payments from a 10 year operational loan to a 5 year loan which had been voted on at the beginning of the That change was not reflected in the 2007 A question was asked about a check numbered drawn from the General Fund and made out to the Treasury Department from Starrucca Borough for Rhone explained it was regard ing the letter received the IRS a few months ago inquir ing about incorrect paperwork sent to the IRS while Dean Rhone was the borough treas urer in Paul Everett mentioned the petition against borrowing toward the Buck Road Bridge which had been signed by 68 sent to council and read during correspondence You have a petition on that table with 70 signatures 68 of registered voters and ers this municipality that you have not even sent around the table because youre not interested in that That petition clearly asks this council to not follow through with Buck Road Bridge Everetts Loreda reminded council the bridge is a County bridge and not a bor ough Rhone asked those citizens Who is the burden of proof on When the answer was given back to Rhone of Rhone pointed toward the audience and said very quietly Citizens had felt they did show proof it was a County bridge when they were able to produce a court document dated 1917 that was edged by their previous solici tor to the countys solicitor as legitimate and legally Starrucca Borough Council meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7 in the community building unless otherwise Editors is the second of two parts on the Starrucca Council December Part one was pub in Saturdays suitable offices in their home Peifer said he was fortunate to have a good place where Birmelin had He said it made sense to keep this office where the public is and being in the same building with the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and Wayne Economic Development Peifer has hired Joseph retired CEO of The Dime Bank in to work as his field representa tive to travel and meet with constituents on when Peifer is busy in Cathy Salak has been retained as Office Debbie Gunnip is hired to assist with communications and tax As has been reported in the he related there has been quite a shakeup in Harrisburg with the election There are 55 new leg in the House of Although it appeared the Republicans would still have control of the a recount of absentee ballots appears to have placed the Democrats in charge by an extremely narrow 102 to Republicans retained a majority in the State All new legislators went through a five day orientation program in We were told not to change par Peifer Supposedly were looking for Republican House legislators are put on the with the shift in Also on January there will be an election for Speaker of the Peifer comment ed there are many tled people as nominees are identified from each Top issues Important issues he said he wishes to see tackled include increasing the State Police presence in rural where there is a noted short Another issue of priority he was the need to bring the State share of education fund ing from about 37 percent to 50 in line with the Pennsylvania The State has been loath to raise but Peifer said the legislators must work together to resolve this undue burden on local school Peifer expressed doubt that the present touted solution for property tax reform through legalized will solve all the He also shared serious misgiving with gaming due to the social ills that it can which itself adds to the tax Property tax reform will come with big he pre with such a new large class of His solu he would be to shift the burden from farmers and senior centers and increase the sales tax percent This would not include broadening the range of what goods are but a gener al perhaps going from 6 to percent on what is taxed I support an added sales tax with direct dollar for dollar reduction in property he Peifer also looks forward to supporting elected county and municipal officials as much as he For as State he can look for low interest loans for the sewer expansion project in Retail Stealing Items From Vehicle Reported HONESDALE On December 4th the Honesdale Borough Police arrested 18 year old Katrina Dotter of Greely and a 17 year old of Honesdale for retail Dotter and the juvenile entered on Main where they were observed by a manager tak o ing cosmetics and placing o them in their two then exited the when the manager confronted The manager found both individuals to be in possession of stolen items and contacted the Both Dotter and the juvenile were issued citations for retail theft and will required to appear before District Magistrate Bonnie State police are investigating a reported theft from a and dam age caused to a second both at the Comfort Route the overnight hours 30Dec Wayne Independent photo by Peter Becker Michael Peifer at his office in a few days after he took office on December He can also push for more funding in the State budget that will assist in repair of bridges and highways in the Applying experience He has applied to be put on House His top picks include Appropriations Finance Tourism Agriculture Continued on page 2 Parties Fight For Control Of House By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press Writer AP The question of which party will claim majority control in the state House of Representatives will not be answered definitively for at least several and per haps not for several A Chester County judge on Monday told lawyers involved in a recount of ballots in a race to return to court Wednesday to state their positions on how to Democratic lawyer Clifford whose candidate Barbara Mcllvaine Smith edged out Republican Shannon Royer by 23 said he wants to have the ballots run through a different model of optical scan ning machine than the type that was used in the 7 general He said that process could be completed in just three The Democrats ended up with a 102101 majority after Novembers Their edge was secured when Chester County officials settled the race three weeks after the Republicans have said they are concerned about evidence that some ballots may not have been properly and have proposed a hand count that they estimate will take about two With a hand count you can actually eye the ballot said Al spokesman for House Speaker John Every expert weve spoken to said if you run this through a differ ent youre just going to get a different The point here is to ensure that technology doesnt get in the way of counting the Levine accused Republicans of trying to use the recount to gain advantage in the 2 election for House Bowman said his partys only objective is to get a fair If Smiths margin holds the Democrats will reclaim majority status after 12 years and would be poised to elect Greene County DeWeese as Smith and Royer competed to succeed Republican Elinor who retired after serving 15 Smith runs a water treatment company and Royer has been a Republican House They are both for mer West Chester Borough Council Chester County Judge Howard Riley also is con the Democrats appeal of decisions by county elections officials to disallow certain provisional and absen tee DeWeese and have been elected by their respec tive caucuses to be the new and speculation is rife as to who will claim the next Either party could entice members from the other side to switch allegiance or even simply not show up for the vote by the full Republicans went into the fall election with a 10993 with one open seat that had most recently been held by a In the Senate the Republicans margin did not Stolen Vehicle Found In Hospital Parking Lot Mark Brian South Toms reported that the windows were smashed out of his cle and an digital camera and checkbook were The windows were smashed out on a second owned by Bette of Revere but nothing was police State police remind citizens to not leave property in plain view in their This is an open invitation to lowlife said Trooper John the investigating The Honesdale Borough Police Department is investigating a stolen vehicle that was ered in the parking lot of Wayne Memorial Hospital on Park The a 1993 blue Dodge Caravan displaying a New Registration of was recovered by the Honesdale Borough Police on December 7th at 10 The vehicle stolen from Saratoga Springs NY between November 2006 11 and November 28 at Anyone with information about this vehicle is being asked to contact the Honesdale Borough Police at 570 are investi gating an attempted burglary that occurred at Sports Shop at Routes 6 and At about December a person or persons tried to pry open the rear doors of the but were unsuccess ful and fled in a 1990s black or blue car with frontend dam including a driverside Anyone who was in the area at the time and noticed anything suspicious or out of the ordinary is urged to call state police at Honesdale at Trooper Patrick Zirpoli is the investigating
