Your Award-Winning News Source for the Upper Delaware River Valley Region Since 1975
Vol. 40 No. 37
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SEPTEMBER 11 - 17, 2014
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UDC: Pond Eddy bridge work ‘going to get somebody killed’ By DAVID HULSE
Heister was doubtful of her authority to ban traffic, but Henry insisted that “you have the authority.” UDC Chair Andrew Boyar said, “Our minutes should reflect that someone with river safety experience has warned that somebody is going to get killed.” Boyar concluded that the PennDOT plan “ain’t gonna’ work. We can either wait or express a red flag.” “There’s a red flag already,” Heister said. Rajsz recalled that former NPS Superintendent Sean McGuinness expressed concerns about the plan last year, and those concerns were among issues that PennDOT failed to address. Boyar directed that a letter to PennDOT be drafted expressing the safety concerns and the agency’s “reneging” on their promise to provide follow-up. In an unrelated issue, Heister reported that NPS is documenting what has become an annual event: the release into the river of raw sewage from the Masthope Mountain community treatment plant in Lackawaxen Township over the Labor Day weekend. Heister said the transitional summerfall weekend apparently draws maximum use of the properties every year, but “the state has declined to do anything because there’s no dead fish.” No Lackawaxen Township delegate attended the meeting. Last month, UDC approved a letter to the township suspending the $200 monthly expense stipend because the township has failed to attend for a three-month period.
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ARROWSBURG, NY — The Upper Delaware Council on September 4 directed the drafting of a letter to Pennsylvania authorities warning of the danger of state plans for boating traffic during upcoming construction of a new Pond Eddy interstate bridge. The action came during National Park Service (NPS) Superintendent Kris Heister’s report of a recent pre-construction meeting with PennDOT officials who plan to build an equipment access causeway across the full width of the river. The causeway would provide only a single break, that would be bridged, with overhead clearance of four feet, for boating traffic. Heister’s report of the meeting prompted Lumberland Supervisor Nadia Rajsz to complain that local township officials had not been notified of the meeting. “[PennDOT] promised to follow up after our last meeting and we’ve never heard anything more,” Rajsz said. Berlin Township UDC Delegate Al Henry further warned that Heister’s report of the boating passage exposed a “major safety concern. They’re going to get somebody killed.” Henry, who is a retired Upper Delaware NPS supervisor, said “The causeway [during earlier construction of the BarryvilleShohola bridge] at Barryville was only half-way and they had people injured.” Heister said she felt that the precautions taken in that instance were not enough. Henry said that if the causeway plan was done, river traffic should be banned at the site.
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Collecting tires from the West Branch
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iver guide Patricia “Sam” Decker was one of 32 volunteers and nine drift boats that answered the call to help clean up the Mud Flats above Balls Eddy on the West Branch of the Delaware River. Many bags of trash were collected and an astonishing number of old tires. The day was organized by the West Branch Anglers, Friends of the Upper Delaware River (FUDR) and Patagonia Inc. According to Jeff Skelding, executive director of FUDR, there will be two river cleanups planned for 2015. You will find more about this river cleanup in this week’s fishing column, The Incomplete Angler, by Andy Boyar on page 31.
EDITORIAL: Monarchs:
CURRENTS: Music
endangered species?
from cigar boxes
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SPANNING 2 STATES, 4 COUNTIES, AND A RIVER THAT UNITES US
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