2007_02_25_archive

Animal emergency contigency plan being created

People with pets or livestock in Lehigh and Northampton counties will

want to know three women who make up the counties' Animal Response

Team, Laurie Bianco, Tory Schadler and Rosemary Scardion. They are

putting together a disaster plan for tens of thousands of Lehigh

Valley farm and domestic animals, including poultry, cattle, pigs,

sheep, horses, dogs and cats.

Their charge is to prevent the kind of devastation that occurred most

recently during Hurricane Katrina, when animals were left behind to

run wild or die because there was no rescue plan for them.

The three-woman team has started to put together a database of

information on where animals can be temporarily housed and who has the

vehicles and know-how to rescue large or small animals in the event of

large-scale catastrophe.

Animals are the No. 1 reason people refuse to evacuate their homes

during an emergency, resulting in many deaths, said Bianco, who in

addition to being a co-leader of CART has been an equine and canine

rescuer for many years.

''People died because they didn't want to leave their pets. We need to

be more proactive. Animals have to be provided for across

Pennsylvania.''

The state's 67 counties were given guidelines by the Pennsylvania

State Animal Response Team, formed in 2004 following 1999's Hurricane

Floyd, which claimed the lives of millions of animals.

After Floyd, states were informed that they have to provide an animal

rescue plan or face loss of federal funding under the Department of

Agriculture's Emergency Management Disaster Relief and Preparedness

program.

Lehigh and Northampton county emergency preparedness coordinators

decided to combine their efforts. But only minimal progress was made

until the nation took note once again -- at the number of animals that

perished after Hurricane Katrina.

Now there is an all-out push in the Lehigh Valley to get at least 40

volunteers on board by summer and have the participation of animal

groups such as 4-H clubs, veterinarians, groomers, pet stores, farmers

and animal shelters.

Bianco is confident they will get community support.

''I'm the organizer, Tory owns K-9 Kampus kennel [in Fogelsville] and

is a 30-year firefighter and Rosemary is in the public eye [as a

real-estate agent],'' Bianco said. ''We're a very good team.''

Another component is to develop an awareness campaign to educate pet

owners on the importance of keeping up-to-date pet records and to

micro-chip animals so they are easier to track if they are displaced.

They plan to encourage pet owners to keep a ''pet emergency kit''

ready, which should include a few days worth of medication, medical

and vaccination records, a leash, collar, identification, water, food,

toys, bedding and a labeled pet carrier.

''This is a nationwide push,'' Bianco said.

For more information:

610-442-0128 or www.pasart.org

posted by NET @ 10:02 AM 0 comments links to this post

Easton condo development approved

Ashley Development Corp.'s $40 million project to demolish the former

Marquis Theatre on S. Third Street and build a 10-story high-rise with

143 condominiums and a three-level parking garage has been approved by

Easton historic commission.

City Council now will consider a certificate of appropriateness for

Ashley to complete the project called The Majestic in the downtown

historic district. Council must also approve a $143,000 contribution

from Ashley to refurbish nearby Riverside Park.

But the Historic District Commission made no decision on Ashley's $11

million project to convert the former seven-story Pomeroy's department

store on Northampton Street into a 30-unit condominium complex with

underground parking.

The two sites are less than three blocks apart, but one project will

start from scratch while the other attempts to refurbish a more-than

100-year-old building that's been vacant since 1976. Ashley is trying

to replicate Pomeroy's from the early 1900s.

posted by NET @ 9:58 AM 0 comments links to this post

Open Space takes spotlight in Cunningham speech

Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham recently cited some goals in a

speech to Allentown Rotary Club: making farming a viable career and

promoting regional cooperation, an important one for him.

With his formation of the county's Council of Governments, an

organization of local municipal leaders, ''we are sowing the seeds of

trust and partnership that will some day grow into a very progressive

government structure that moves beyond the parochial and thinks beyond

our own backyards,'' Cunningham told the group at the Crowne Plaza in

Allentown.

posted by NET @ 9:43 AM 0 comments links to this post

Developer donates land for open space in Bucks

Richard Zaveta, who runs Zaveta Construction Co. and lives on a

146-acre farm off Perry Auger Road in Tinicum Township, has agreed to

donate a conservation easement to his land.

The deal means he still owns the land, but gives up any right he or

future owners have to develop it. The easement is appraised at about

$14,000 per acre, officials said, or a little more than $2 million

overall.

He said it's important to preserve increasingly scarce farmland in the

area; he also said his company has worked on several building projects

recently that have developed less land than they could have by using

larger lots and other methods.

Bucks County's government has spent years trying to conserve farms.

Thus far, more than 9,000 agricultural acres have been preserved.

posted by NET @ 9:41 AM 0 comments links to this post

Canal park in Easton preparing for busy spring season

The federal government will provide about $300,000 to fix the

most-recent flood damage at Hugh Moore Park in Easton.

Park officials want the work done by April 20 so they can begin

running their canal boat tours in May, said Rob Rudd, executive

director of the National Canal Museum, which operates the park.

The work includes repairing the Lehigh Canal bank and the parallel

towpath. That needs to be done before the canal is filled with water

for the tours.

The flood caused more damage to Hugh Moore Park than the two previous

floods combined, Rudd said. Those floods, in August 2004 and April

2005, caused a total of about $176,000 in damage.

The 260-acre park is vulnerable to flooding because it rests on an

island between the river and Lehigh Canal. The park's main attraction

is a ride on the canal via a mule-drawn boat.

The park also has picnic areas and walking and biking trails. The

National Canal Museum opened its Emrick Technology Center there last

year, a museum of industrial and transportation history.

posted by NET @ 9:39 AM 0 comments links to this post

As you may be aware, usually stars at the Oscars get ridiculously

glass sculpture from designer Simon Pearce and 100,000 lbs of CO2

reductions from TerraPass. In addition, TerraPass included a energy