of the POCONO PLATEAU

Court rules in favor of Tobyhanna Township

Editor’s Note: The following is a press release from Tobyhanna Township. A call for comment to Ed Tutrone, president of TTVFC#41 was not returned by press time.

Hamlin is new king of Pocono Raceway

Wins record seventh NASCAR race at Long Pond track

The great Richard Petty, the late Dale Earnhardt, and driving stars of the past like Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Jimmie Johnson and even Jeff Gordon have never done it. So, who is the only driver to ever win seven NASCAR Cup Series races at Pocono Raceway? Denny Hamlin, that’s who.

A year after being stripped of his win when his car was disqualified, Hamlin drove the No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota to a record seventh win at the “The Tricky Triangle” on Sunday afternoon. Performing before a sold-out grandstand crowd on the 50th anniversary of NASCAR racing at Pocono, Hamlin outlasted the field and took the checkered flag for the HighPoint.com 400.

Hamlin’s victory broke a tie for most wins at Pocono with NASCAR Hall of Famer

Gordon, and gave the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran his 50th career Cup win and handed Toyota its 600th career NASCAR National Series triumph (177 Cup, 196 Xfinity, 227 Trucks).

“Stuff like this doesn’t sit in for a while,” Hamlin said in a post-race interview.

“When you retire and you got a bunch of time, you’re sitting there on your rocker on your back porch, you’re

See HAMLIN, page 11

On July 19, 2023, Judge C. Daniel Higgins, Jr., of the Court of Common Pleas ofMonroe County issued an Order compelling Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company (TTVFC) to vacate the Tobyhanna Township owned fire houses and to return nearly all the fire trucks and equipment in their possession totheTownship. The Court also ordered the Township has the right to conduct a financial audit of the fire company to determine the amount of township tax funds held by Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company at the time they voluntarily removed themselves from service in August 2022.

On August 15, 2022, the Tobyhanna Township Board of Supervisors enacted an updated fire ordinance. The intent of the updated ordinance was to ensure fiscally sound practices were being followed whenever tax funds were utilized. The Board also felt that since tax funds were used to purchase many of the fire vehicles and much of the equipment used by the TTVFC, the vehicles and equipment should be owned by the Township of Tobyhanna.

Once the ordinance was enacted, the Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company voluntarily removed themselves from being a recognized fire company within the township. Consequently, they were precluded from responding to fire calls within the township, however, Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company continued to respond to fire calls outside the township with the vehicles and equipment purchased with township tax funds. The Board of Supervisors felt it was inequitable and unfair for the township residents’ tax funds to subsidize this volunteer fire company to fight fires in other municipalities with the fire vehicles and equipment purchased and maintained by the residents of Tobyhanna Township.

Tobyhanna Township filed a Declaratory Judgment Action, in Monroe County Court, on August 25, 2022, seeking the return of fire vehicles and equipment purchased for Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company by the taxpayers of TobyhanSee TTVFC, page 9