Your Award-Winning News Source for the Upper Delaware River Valley Region Since 1975
Vol. 40 No. 34
Shohola summer marred by burglaries By VERA FRENDAK
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HOHOLA, PA — While other issues were under discussion at the Shohola Township meeting on August 14, it was dominated by the issue that has been clouding the township all summer. A burglar has been targeting Shohola cars and homes all season. No one has been arrested yet, or identified as a person of interest. Police Chief Scott Carney was present at the meeting, but made no official statement, except for commenting that the burglaries were the subject of an ongoing investigation. Local police did not return calls related to this article. The burglaries began sometime in June and have affected at least 20 individuals in all, although the exact number will probably never be known. The perpetrator seems to prefer relatively isolated homes in heavily wooded areas with few ways in or out via vehicle, and appears to be working alone. The incidents have largely been confined to the northern region of the township, the area closest to the Delaware River and Barryville, NY. Residents who live in the general area of Twin Lakes between Bee Hollow and the Barryville Bridge, or in the German Hill area, and who left cars unlocked overnight, had a good chance that the thief entered their car during the early morning hours at some point over the past few months. The thief appears to be looking mostly
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Tube riders picked up from river
Resident wonders ‘Where’s the adult supervision?’ By FRITZ MAYER
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KINNERS FALLS, NY — It’s not unusual to see large numbers of people floating down the Upper Delaware River on a summer’s day, but some in the group that were floating through Skinner’s Falls on August 14 were clearly distressed. There was a group of perhaps 50 girls, and according to Don Schlaefer, who lives on the Pennsylvania side of the river, some of them, who he estimated ranged in age from nine or 10, to 13, were calling for help. Schlaefer keeps a johnboat on the river; he jumped into it and took off to pick up some of the girls who were calling for help. He said it amazes him that there was virtually no adult supervision. He said, “The smaller ones, when they’re in the tube and they go through the falls, they don’t have a clue what’s going on, and they can’t reach the water with their hands to maneuver the tubes, and the river out here was filled with them.” He said that some of the girls could not control the direction of the tubes in the current. Some continued going down the river, and some headed to the riverbank. He said, “It seemed like there was no one there to tell them what to do.” He said there may have been one or two older girls, in the range of 16 or 17 years old, but for the number of girls on the river, there was surprisingly little supervision. So he went out and picked up about seven who were clearly having trouble and wanted to be rescued. He said he had so many girls in his boat that there was no room for tubes. He brought a rope to tow the tubes back to shore. He said the girls all said “thank you.” He said, “One of them was all the way down when I got to her. Her eyes were beet red, she was in tears, and she had one arm in the life jacket. She had slipped out of the thing.” He said that two of the girls had lost their shoes, making it more difficult for them to walk back to the launch site. He said he saw early on from across the river that there was an older girl trying to instruct the girls on how to steer the tubes. But, he said, “There’s a current here, and it was windy… so it’s complete havoc and somebody’s going to
TRR photo by contributed photo
Pennsylvania resident Don Schlaefer helps several girls up onto the shore after picking them up from the river at Skinners Falls. drown.” That sentiment was shared by Schlaefer’s wife Helen, who sent an email to The River Reporter about the event. She wrote, “They were all so scared. If he had not intervened, those girls would have gone down the river alone and someone might have drowned.” She said an event like this occurs every year.
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NEWS: Narrowsburg
CURRENTS: Woodstock
deck will be replaced
Music Festival at 45
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SPANNING 2 STATES, 4 COUNTIES, AND A RIVER THAT UNITES US
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